I'm back already! For some reason today all I could focus on was getting another chapter in, this is quickest I've ever updated aye! I hope you like this one. There's a quote near the bottom, that I've changed due to Callie being bisexual, I hope it doesn't offend anyone – apologises if it does.
Over the next two months the new founding friendship between Arizona and Callie had become the most talked about gossip in every wing of Grey Sloan Memorial. Nurses were shocked to hear that the couple that once stood in the attending lounge screaming at each other were now known to sit with each other at lunch and display nothing less than smiles or laughter. Once a week the women would take Sofia out for the day, regarding they both had the same days off. It was their way of getting their friendship back on track without the interference of their friends or family. Most importantly it was a way of showing Sofia that they could still be a family.
On the other hand, Callie's relationship with Penny had become strained. They found themselves with very limited time to spend together. The time Callie had spared she would prioritise Sofia and with Penny her studies came first. They were lucky if they saw each other twice a week, which for surgeons twice a week would be seen as a lot. Every time Callie glanced at her girlfriend, she couldn't help but feel guilty. She had lied to Penny's face, Penny didn't have every part of her and never would. It had been months since the couple engaged in any sexual activity and for once in her life Callie was glad not to be having sex. She felt like her contribution to the relationship was overcome with nothing but small talk and awkward tensions to hide the guilt. Unfortunately Penny was in the dark, she was adamant their relationship had become strained due to work commitments.
"Doctor Torres OR 3 is ready for you."
Nodding in response, Callie Torres placed the clipboard behind the nurse's station and made her way into the adjacent patient room. In the bed was twenty two year old Hannah who had broken both her ulna and radius in her right arm. Hannah thought mattress surfing down her stairs had been a good idea to entertain her younger brother until she tumbled over the mattress and fell on her arm.
"Hannah how are you feeling?"
"Same old same old." The girl muttered, she was known in the orthopaedic wing of the hospital. She was a daredevil and would often break or fracture bones. No longer than five months ago was Hannah's last visit when she had broken four of her toes skateboarding.
"This surgery is more intense than your usual treatments, I'll be re-aligning the bones and holding them in place with two metal pins."
"Wait till I tell Johnny that I'm half robot." The girl laughed as she thought about how her younger brother would react. "Is Doctor Robbins going to come and see me?"
Shaking her head gently Callie propped herself up against the edge of the bed. "You'll be in a cast for six weeks after, then I expect you back in six to seven months for a check-up okay? Doctor Robbins has the day off today, but I will tell her you popped in for round... What is it? 20?"
"Round 12 actually Doc!" Hannah and Callie both smirked at each other. "I promise to come back."
"I will be able to schedule the next surgery for the removal of the pins once we've redone some scans."
Hannah nodded in agreement as her bed was wheeled out of her current room towards the elevator. Callie hung around to ensure Hannah was safely in the elevator before making her way to the OR. She could feel the adrenaline starting to rise in her body. No matter what surgery she done, she always felt the rush of adrenaline. There was no feeling better than stepping into the OR.
…
"So tell me about this woman!" April chirped as she brought the mug of coffee closer to her lips.
"She's called Jennifer, we met at Joe's a few nights ago." Arizona confessed as she too brought the mug of coffee to her lips.
April had quickly become Arizona go to woman, ever since the gala night both surgeons had caught wind of their connection. Apart of Callie, Nick and Tim Arizona couldn't remember the last time she could truly say she had a best friend. A best friend that she didn't end up falling into bed with or had the awkward moment arise when deep feelings were starting to be felt. April had leaned on Arizona heavily through Samuel's death and her divorce. Even though Arizona hadn't confided in her during her own child's death, April still made sure she was available whenever her friend needed her.
"You're seriously going there again?"
"Going where?" Arizona was confused, totally and utterly confused.
"How many women have you picked up from Joes?" The redhead asked.
"Like four?"
"Multiple that by four and you have a rough number. I thought we agreed that you were going to go somewhere else?" April had spent many days trying to get Arizona to try out new bars but by the looks of things Arizona always gravitated back to the place she knew best.
"What is so wrong with me dating girls from Joes? I dated Callie didn't I?"
April scoffed as she raised her eyebrow to her friend. "Look where that's gotten you? Divorced and living with an intern."
"Don't be so anal April! I had many amazing years with Callie not to mention I have a daughter."
"Ok ok let's change the subject before we end up talking about Torres for hours on end. What is Miss Jennifer like?"
Both the women laughed, she had a tendency to bring Callie into the conversations lately. With her and her ex-wife getting on so well, she didn't see the issue with talking about her anymore.
"She's a high school teacher with a sense of humour that is just so refreshing!" Arizona smiled as she told her friend. Jennifer had approached her towards the end of the night and offered to buy a drink. Arizona was reluctant to stay for another one, it was her turn to take Sofia to kindergarten in the morning. She had learnt from her mistakes that handling a stubborn Sofia in the morning with a hangover was never a good idea. On this occasion, when Jennifer pressed her over and over for a drink the pediatric surgeon agreed. A glass of wine, one margarita and two tequila shots later, Jennifer was writing her number on the palm of Arizona's hand.
"Where you taking her?"
"That's the best part about it, she's cooking me dinner. I can't remember the last date I had were it was at a house."
"Simple yet romantic! This Jennifer has good taste!" The two shared a laugh. "Let's hope she's better than Wendy!"
Arizona had chosen that moment to drink her coffee but the moment she heard the women's name she couldn't help but lose control. The coffee came hurling out her mouth in seconds.
"Oh my god April! I thought we agreed never to speak of her!" Arizona's eyes widened as she wiped her mouth.
"Come on! That was the best first date story I've ever heard, how was you to know taking her to a seafood restaurant would make her have diarrhoea!"
"Can we stop? It took me a month to get those images out my head!"
Arizona and April spent the next five minutes laughing as they spoke of that awful night. The date with Wendy was one of the worst dates she had even been on, the moment Arizona had dropped Wendy off home she had vowed it would never come up again. Well, that was until she told her best friend. April now had the upper hand in their friendship, she could ruin Arizona's reputation in a heartbeat. Not that April would it maliciously but having the upper hand was something she loved.
"Ok ok I'll stop!" April laughed as she tried to control her breathing. "Onto more important topics, who are you going to invite over for your birthday next week?"
"No one because I'm not doing anything, its Callie's weekend with Sofia so Alex is coming over for a bit."
"Nope…nope, you're having a birthday party Arizona. It will be something small, only a few people. Get Callie to bring little Sofia over, so you can see your girl on your birthday. "
Arizona rolled her eyes and slumped down in the chair. "Why do I have to? Callie never made me do anything I didn't want too."
"That's because she distracted you by sex, you got sex more times on your birthday then I did in my whole marriage!"
Feeling slightly awkward, Arizona grabbed her car keys and phone. "Moving on, I have to pick up Sofia from kindergarten so you can see yourself out. DeLuca isn't home, so there's no rush."
…
Arizona walked through the halls of Grey Sloan Memorial swinging her hand which was linked with Sofia's. Every day Sofia would come bouncing out of kindergarten rearing to tell anyone the exact recall of her day. Her face would light up when she mentioned what they were learning or who won the game of tag.
"Mami said tonight was turn to pick any movie!" Sofia cheered as she skipped a few steps in front of her mother.
"That's a big job bug, reckon you can handle it?!"
Sofia stood suddenly in her tracks, she turned to her mother. Standing up straight Sofia tried to puff out her chest as much as she could. "I didn't hear an answer soldier!"
Holding her hand near just above her eyebrows Sofia acted out a salute gesture. "Yes Momma!"
The mother and daughter smiled before high fiving one another. "Momma you sounded just like pops!"
The day he met his new born granddaughter Daniel Robbins had sworn that he would teach her the ways of being a true militant at heart. Whenever he walked through the door, Sofia would always stand straight and salute. The sight always pulled at Arizona's heart, her mom would often joke that Daniel was trying to roughen Sofia round the edges. To Callie and Arizona, Daniel was just bonding with his little solider.
The pair carried on walking till they reached Callie's office. Sofia stood on her tip toes before knocking on the door. The door opened within seconds and Sofia barged her way through.
"Oh hey Sofia!" Callie spoke, sarcastically. The brunette smiled and moved out the way so Arizona could walk past.
"I hear it Miss Sofia's turn to pick a movie!" Arizona spoke as she placed Sofia's back pack on the table.
"I've completely ruled out frozen, I do not need to hear those songs anymore!" Arizona couldn't help but let out a belly laugh which in turn made Callie laugh.
"Hannah was in again today." Callie mentioned.
"Again?" Arizona sighed "What did she do now?" Hannah had been a long term patient of Arizona's as well as Callie's. She had started breaking bones at age eleven. Arizona often joked that Hannah only broke bones to see her.
"Nothing serious in a matter of speaking, broke both bones in her left arm while showing Johnathan the entertainment of mattress surfing."
Arizona smiled and nodded, she remembered the countless times her and Tim would surf down the stairs with their mattress. Most of the time it ended in them being caught by the Colonel, even then the brother and sister would laugh for days on end about the thrill. "Let me know when she's back in for a check-up and I'll pay her a visit." Callie nodded in response.
"Sofia shall we go pick up some doughnuts for desert?" Callie asked her daughter, not really needing to ask her. The answer was automatically going to be yes.
"YES YES YES!" Sofia bounced around on the couch Callie had in her office. "Momma come too?!"
Looking at her mami for confirmation, Callie nodded. "Fancy coming with me to get the world's cutest girl some doughnuts?"
On any other day Arizona would have jumped at the chance of spending more time with Sofia, and Callie for that fact. Stupid Stupid Stupid date. Why did her date have to be tonight?
"Uh... Bug I can't tonight, momma has to go visit a friend. How about we do doughnuts after school next week?" Arizona gently spoke as she lowered herself to her daughter's level. She could see Sofia's lip starting to drop. She kissed the little girl on the top of her head hoping it would stop the 'rainstorm tap' from opening, luckily the small kiss of comfort did the job.
Sofia moved away from her mother to grab her bag pack and sat back on the couch.
"You have plans?" Callie asked as she hurriedly collected everything she needed into her bag.
"Yeah, I have a date." Arizona confidently spoke, she wasn't going to sugar coat her plans. Her ex-wife had a girlfriend, she had moved on. Unless it concerned Sofia, the brunette had no say in what she did.
"Oh." The revelation of Arizona's date hurt Callie more than expected. Her facial expression dropped and she stared deeply at Arizona. "Well, I um... I hope you enjoy it." Callie held her hand out towards Sofia gesturing for the little girl to take it.
Arizona tried to figure out the emotion Callie was showing, she had mastered recognising almost every emotion Callie showed. But this one. This was hard to tell.
"Well we best be going, I promised someone doughnuts" Callie looked back at Arizona. "Enjoy dinner with your friend." The brunette quickly exited the room with the little girl leaving Arizona stood there feeling bewildered and confused.
Friend? Arizona had to bite her tongue. Friend? Was Callie really going to go down that route? She couldn't help but feel the anger start to bubble inside her. While she grieved the loss of their marriage, Callie was out having dates with every Tom Dick and Harry. Well, every Tom Dick and Lucy. Why wasn't she allowed to go on a date?
Reaching for her phone Arizona began to text Callie. She couldn't explain the anger she felt at that current moment. 'I was going to invite you to my birthday gathering next week but by your blatant disregards about the nature of my plans, you can drop Sofia off for a few hours instead...'