Lucky Enough

by Forever Calzona

After 2 long years of shuttling her daughter across the country from Seattle to New York, Arizona Robbins recognizes Sofia needs both mothers in her life and decides to follow her ex-wife across the country. Both women have already realized they had a love that only comes around once in a lifetime, will they be lucky enough for it to come around again?

118. Chapter 118

"What do you think we should take to Maria's brunch today?" Callie asked as she put a steaming cup of peppermint tea in front of Arizona, kissed her on the cheek, and sat down next to her. As Callie sipped her coffee, she noticed though Arizona wrapped her hands around the cup as she always did, she made no move to drink it, nor did she answer her question. Looking over, she found her wife staring out into the backyard, deep in thought with a pensive expression on her face. Taking a small pale hand in hers, she asked, "What is it honey? I can tell something is bothering you." Arizona sighed heavily and answered, "I'm just thinking about what Sofia said last night. She seemed so upset. Do you think we've given her enough attention? Are we too focused on the babies?" Callie glanced down the hall to make sure their daughter's door was still closed, linked their fingers, and replied, "I mean, we have to focus on the babies to some extent. There's no denying that they are coming and we need to be prepared. The fact that we are doing it all at once, it may seem like a lot. At the same time, I feel like we've remained consistent with Sofia, we haven't faltered. I feel like we have given her plenty of attention. We still have our family days and do the things she likes to do, we're celebrating the fact that this is our first Christmas together as a family and sticking to our old traditions as well as adding a few new ones. When it comes to the babies, we've made sure to emphasize her role as the big sister, including her in everything involving the babies, the ultrasound appointments, the maternity photos, even some of the purchases."

Arizona knew Callie was right, but she couldn't stop the tears that escaped when she replied, "I know, but it broke my heart when she said she was afraid…how could she ever think any of us wouldn't love her anymore. She's been our whole world." Callie wiped the tears from soft pale cheeks and realized that was the core of her daughter's concern. Sitting back, she softly explained, "That's why she's so afraid honey. We are both the youngest, so we don't understand that fear. For almost nine years, Sofia has had all of us all to herself. She's been our only child, our only focus, she was the first and only grandchild on both sides, your parents and my dad doted over her and now my mother and Aria spoil her rotten. As much as she wants siblings, even though she told us in the beginning there was enough love to go around, she never imagined there would be three at the same time, and now that it's getting closer, getting more real, she's getting more scared. It makes sense. I'm honestly surprised it hasn't come out sooner." Arizona took a sip of her tea and contemplated Callie's words, though she couldn't remember Timmy treating her differently when they were younger, he definitely showed a little resentment when they got older and she wanted to tag along everywhere.

Though she could see the concern lift a little, Arizona's face was still tense, so Callie asked, "What else is bothering you?" Arizona ran her hands through her hair and admitted, "Not that I'm complaining because it turned out to be the best for all of us, but don't you remember what happened the last time Sofia was upset about her situation? How she acted out in school…refused to go, stole field trip money…" Callie nodded and asked, "And don't you remember how just yesterday you told her how proud we were of the way she handled things, how she expressed her emotions in a mature way? She's growing and learning how to express her feelings and I'd like to think that she learned that by watching us, how we've changed. I think we just need to keep doing what we are doing." Arizona smiled then, a genuine smile, started to protest when Callie tugged on her hand, snapped her mouth shut, then moved to sit on her lap, and murmured, "Thank you for talking me down." Callie rubbed her stomach, brushed their lips together, and teased, "Honestly, I'm surprised it took you this long." Arizona chuckled and returned, "Well between our tribute from Pink and keeping my promise about the lingerie, I was rather distracted most of the night." Just thinking about their evening activities got Callie excited again and her hands started roaming beneath Arizona's soft worn t-shirt.

Arizona parted her lips, gladly welcoming Callie's tongue and let out a soft moan as her own body started tingling with arousal. As a tan hand moved to cover a full alabaster breast, a door opened down the hallway and both women groaned at the interruption. Pulling her hand from her wife's shirt, Callie muttered, "Damn it!" Arizona, mourning the loss of her wife's hand, buried her head in her warm tan neck and growled, "You can say that again." Then feeling the body beneath her stiffen, she asked, "What's wrong?" Callie whispered, "Where are the elves?" Arizona giggled and suggested, "Wait for it." Within seconds, they heard their daughter giggle and call out, "Mommies! Come look." Knowing the voice was coming from the bathroom, Callie accused, "What did you do?" Arizona stood up, smirked, and replied, "You'll have to come see." She then walked toward the bathroom with just a little more sway in her hips than the occasion called for.

Once they reached the bathroom, Callie let out a bark of laughter, both at the surprised expression on her daughter's face, as well as at her wife's creativity. Scrawled across the mirror in toothpaste was the message, 'Good morning Sofia' and the culprit, Dr. Perky Rainbow Sprinkles was holding a brand new electric toothbrush with Sofia's most recent favorite character on the handle and a tube of her preferred toothpaste. Meanwhile, Star Dancer was relaxing in the sink covered in cotton balls, which Callie assumed was supposed to be bubbles, with an avacado face mask and tiny pieces of cucumber on her eyes and next to her was a bottle of Sofia's favorite bubble bath and a gift certificate for a day of pampering at Stevie and Jordyn's salon. Callie leaned down to whisper in Arizona's ear, "Very clever." Arizona smiled brightly, popping her dimples and quietly returned, "Self-care is extremely important Calliope." Their daughter seemed to agree as she exclaimed, "Look, they got my favorite things and Santa must know I loooooove getting my hair and nails done! When can I go?" Callie chuckled and replied, "Why don't we make an appointment over break before Christmas so we all look nice before the family comes." Arizona nodded in agreement and Sofia jumped up with excitement, then suddenly remembered why she was in the bathroom, and pushed her mommies out into the hallway, commanding, "Okay, privacy please." When the door was shut in her face, Callie called out, "While you're in there, take a shower, we are going to Maria's for brunch."

Walking toward their own bedroom, even though she already knew, Arizona asked, "What is this brunch for anyway?" Callie shrugged and answered, "She said it's been a while since we've all gotten together and with the weather the way it's been, thought it would be nice to catch up." Arizona smirked and inferred, "So it's as close as we're going to get to hearing her say she misses us." Callie laughed and answered, "That about sums it up." Walking into the bathroom, she reminded her, "You never answered me, what are we going to take over there?" Arizona took her shirt off, threw it in the dirty clothes basket and responded, "Since she said the theme was a Mexican Fiesta, I figured I'd try your Tia Ana's chiles rellenos quiche recipe and we can throw together a shrimp and veggie salad." She looked up to see Callie staring at her from the bathroom door, snapped her fingers in her face and asked, "You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" Callie nodded and replied dumbly, "Hot…you're making someone…something hot." Arizona laughed, stepped into the shower and knew it wouldn't be but mere seconds before her wife joined her for a very steamy shower.

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Feeling a gust of wind, Arizona looked up to see an extremely frazzled looking Addison walking through the patio doors making a beeline straight to the coffee pot. Bending down to take the quiche out of the oven, she asked, "Rough night?" Pouring extra sugar into her coffee, the redhead groused, "Rough morning, I thought it would be a good idea for Elfis to bring Henry his very own mini guitar…pro tip…it wasn't." Arizona tossed her head back in laughter and shared, "Oh yeah, learned my lesson when Dr. Perky brought Sofia a karaoke microphone one year. I thought cutting my ears off with a blunt scalpel would be less painful." Addison laughed and asked, "How did you deal with that?" Arizona smirked and answered, "I sent it to Callie's house with her." Just then Callie walked into the room and asked, "Sent what to my house?" Arizona pretended to be remorseful and replied, "The karaoke microphone." The brunette scowled and muttered, "Oh, thanks for that by the way." She picked up her own cup of coffee, took a drink and explained, "Yeah, the batteries died and it just so happens none of the stores in Seattle carried AA batteries." Both of the other women laughed and Addison lamented, "That doesn't help the guitar issue at all." Callie cringed and asked, "Don't you know by now that parenting rule number one is no musical instruments?" Addison tilted her head and huffed, "I thought it was those creepy singing animals." Arizona covered the quiche with aluminum foil, shook her head and corrected, "Those are a close second." Addison scowled and wondered if there was some sort of memo she missed.

Callie nodded in agreement, went to the refrigerator, took out the shrimp and veggie salad and asked, "Aren't you all coming to Maria's brunch with us?" Addison hesitated, looked at Arizona, then replied, "Henry and I are. Ahhh…Jake has some big project he's working on and the draft is due in the morning. He and Henry are finishing up our dish now though." Callie arched her brow and asked, "Jake and Henry are making it?" Addison grumbled, "You want it to be edible right?" Callie shrugged and responded, "Good point. What are they making anyway?" Addie took a sip of her coffee, furrowed her brows, trying to remember what her husband said he was making and muttered, "Some fruit salsa thing with cinnamon chips." Arizona turned from the refrigerator with a piece of cheese in her hand and declared, "Mmm that sounds delicious." She took a bite of her cheese, thought for a second and added, "Then again, everything sounds delicious right now. Go get your son, I'm hungry." Callie laughed, looked to their friend and directed, "You heard her. I refuse to deal with hangry pregnant Arizona." Addison laughed, started for the door and muttered, "As if normal hangry Arizona is any better." Arizona called out, "I heard that." Addison rushed out the door before she could get hit with anything and went to get her son and the passing dish.

Once they were in the car, Henry and Sofia sat in the third row seat and compared notes about what their elves have been doing and the gifts they brought while Addison sat in the back seat and asked all about their maternity pictures. Still having the book in the car and being the proud mommy that she was, Arizona passed the photo album of the pictures Sofia took to Addison and told her all about the photography clinic and camp they signed her up for. Flipping through the pages, Addison turned to Sofia and declared, "Wow kiddo, these are great! You have quite the eye." Sofia beamed, then looked to Henry and asked, "Do you want to come too? It's really fun." Henry shook his head and replied, "That looks cool, but I want to take music lessons." Callie looked in the rearview mirror to catch Addie's eye and the red head explained, "Jake told him if that's what he was really interested in, he'd find someone to start teaching him how to play." Henry added, "I don't just want to play, I want to be a singer too!" That made Sofia remember who they met last night and gasped, "Guess who we met at the tree lighting!" Addie asked excitedly, "Who did you meet?" Sofia nearly bounced out of her seat and squealed, "PINK!" Addison's head snapped around to glare at her two friends, who haven't said a word about it and asked, "Seriously?" Arizona started to answer when Henry cut in, "I told you it was them mom!" That lady on TV said, "Sofia this song is for your mommies or something like that." Arizona tried to explain again and Addison held up her hand and commanded, "Oh no! It's too late now."

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As soon as the door was opened, Henry and Sofia ran into the house looking for Bella, and Callie found herself being repeatedly hit with a tea towel as Maria scolded, "I can't believe you met Pink and didn't even know it was her!" Hoping to stop the attack, Callie shoved the hot dish of chiles relleno quiche into her friend's hands and asked, "Wait? What? How did you even know about that?" Lorraine rushed to relieve Arizona of the large bowl of shrimp veggie salad she was carrying and responded, "We were all watching it on TV. We wouldn't have known if she didn't say Sofia's name. We knew it had to be you." Callie turned to Addison and declared, "See we didn't tell anyone." Addison nodded and snapped, "That's just it! You didn't say a damn word!" Arizona took off her coat, hung it in the closet, then went into the kitchen to help set up. She huffed when Callie pulled out a chair at the dining room table, indicating for her to sit down, but knew after being on her feet entirely too much yesterday, she needed to do as she was told. Callie then turned and suggested, "Maybe we knew we were having brunch today and wanted to have you all together before we told you." Maria carried a tray of skirt steak and a bowl of taco salad to the table, plopped them down unceremoniously, turned on her friend and skeptically asked, "Were you?" When Callie rubbed the back of her neck nervously, she knew the truth and muttered, "I thought so."

Arizona picked a piece of shrimp from the salad, nibbled on it, and trying to protect both of them, declared, "In our defense, she had her face and head covered and mostly talked to Sofia. Callie had her back to her and I couldn't see her at all. When she got on stage and made that announcement…it was just so…shocking…" "Surreal!" Callie added. "Embarrassing!" They both said at the same time. "Embarrassing? How the hell could Pink dedicating a song to you be embarrassing?" Addison shrieked. Callie shook her head and admitted, "It wasn't that. It was…that song. I mean, most couples have a love song, which we have, but to have a breakup song…and not even know it was the same song…it just…" Callie stumbled to explain. In a rare moment of empathy, Maria offered, "It's just further proof that you two never stopped loving each other, that you belong together." She continued preparing their brunch and didn't realize everyone stopped to stare at her. Looking up, she asked, "What? It's not like nobody knew. Well, nobody but you two hardheaded assholes." Arizona shook her head, laughed and quipped, "Aaaand she's back."

After settling the kids down at the small breakfast nook with their plates and mango smoothies, the adults all gathered around the dining room table. After pouring the paloma cocktails for everyone, Maria hopped up, rushed to the refrigerator and exclaimed, "I almost forgot!" She took out a tall glass, filled it with ice cubes, then poured an off-white creamy substance to the top, garnished it with a fresh cinnamon stick, and carried it to Arizona. The blonde unleashed her super-magic smile, popped her dimples and asked, "Oh my God, is this horchata? Did you make this just for me?" Lorraine snorted and replied, "Honey, this is all for you. Dr. T told us about your cravings for spicy foods, specifically those of Latin origin, so we decided to design the menu around it." Choked up, Arizona started waving her hands in front of her eyes and muttered, "Damn pregnancy hormones. Thank you, that was very sweet and also awesome." Callie looked around at all the decorations, the Mexican themed food and drinks and added, "This really is amazing, we should pick a theme for all of our little get togethers." Then, looking around the table, she asked, "Where's Miguel? Isn't he joining us?" Fortunately she looked down to take another bite, so she couldn't see the panic on the faces of her companions and finally Maria answered, "Marco asked him to help with a job he had to do. He figured since it was either that or be outnumbered by us, he'd rather work." They all laughed and relaxed when Callie seemed to buy the excuse.

While they continued to eat and complement each other on their dishes, Arizona asked, "Where's Kim?" No one could miss the concerned expression on Lorraine's face as she pondered how to answer the question. She put down her fork, looked around the table, and though these people were her family, she still worried about how they would feel about what she had to say, but she knew she had to get it off her chest, so she started, "I suspected almost from the beginning that Kim and Julie were a couple, that they had deeper feelings for one another beyond friendship. I didn't know…I wondered how the baby's birth would affect that." Everyone nodded and Lorraine continued, "Since Nicholas was born, Kim has practically moved into Dr. Herman's place. She's taken care of the baby and Julie while she recovers. She hasn't said as much, but she considers that boy her son, I know she does. I just worry…I worry she's too young to take on that responsibility, to have a family, to make a decision that will affect the rest of all of their lives. I mean, what if down the road it doesn't work out and she and Nicholas get attached, it would destroy her, and what would it do to him?" Callie and Arizona looked at one another, they each knew what the other was thinking and wondered who would say it first and most tactfully.

Finally Arizona wiped her face with her napkin, glanced across the room to see her daughter laughing and playing with the other children, turned her attention back to Lorraine and gently explained, "I know you have absolutely nothing against same sex couples and you are in no way prejudice or bias, but let me ask you this, if Kim were the biological parent, would you be as concerned as you are now?" Lorraine furrowed her brow in confusion and Arizona explained, "Thousands of heterosexual teen couples have children every year and more often than not, it's by accident and neither parent is ready. I understand the concern because Kim is not the biological parent, there's more of a risk that she could become too emotionally invested and then the relationship may not work out. But right now, I feel like Kim is doing all the right things, she's stepping in as the second parent like any good partner would do. She didn't run and that shows her maturity, her willingness to take on such a responsibility." Lorraine looked around the table sheepishly, and explained, "That's not what I was trying to say, but I guess that's what I implied. My apologies."

Arizona shook her head and responded, "There's no need to apologize, I guess, maybe this situation hits close to home for several reasons. But with Kim, not being the biological parent, knowing how that baby was conceived, she stayed, she still loved Julie, she took care of her during her pregnancy, during her injuries, she was not only there for the birth, but she also brought the baby into the world." Callie reached out and took Arizona's hand, though she'd heard Julie tell the story of how Nicholas was conceived and how she and Kim got together, was there to witness the birth, in all the excitement, she'd never really taken the time to make the parallels between the relationship of the two girls with hers and Arizona's, it was almost uncanny. Arizona squeezed her hand and continued, "We're all mothers here and all of our children were conceived and born in different ways, but no matter how they were born, if you gave birth to them or not, the very first time that baby was placed in our hands, something shifted in our hearts and that's what made us a mother. It doesn't matter if you're sixteen, twenty-six, or thirty-six, if you never wanted kids or if you wanted ten kids, when you looked in that baby's eyes, you just knew." Realizing the truth in her wife's words, how scared she was to take Sofia home, Callie added, "Neither of those girls are READY to be a mother. But they are now and they will do most of their growing right alongside their son. It's up to us, their family, to make sure they go down the right path. We can be scared for them, we can worry about them, but we need to love them and show them they aren't alone. If the time comes and they don't work out, we fight for what is best for Nicholas and as his Godparents, Arizona and I will make sure he doesn't get hurt in the process."

Addison reached out, took Lorraine's hand, and offered, "You aren't alone either. We are here to support you, listen to you, and give you comfort when you need it. We know that girl is your daughter too, no matter how old she was when she came to you. You have every right to be concerned." Maria smirked then gasped and shrieked, "Oh my God! That makes you a grandma! You're not worried about Kim; you're worried about being a grandma!" That broke the solemn mood and Lorraine looked to see if the kids were listening and in a very rare moment for her, muttered, "Fuck off," only making everyone laugh harder. As the women continued to talk and laugh at the table, the kids ran off to play with the bracelet set Sofia brought with her at the prompting of her mothers.

Just as planned, Sofia, Henry, and Bella came running down the hallway, Sofia excitedly proclaiming, "Mama, Mommy, we made bracelets with the babies' names on them!" Feigning annoyance, Callie scolded, "Sofia, we told you we were keeping them a secret." Sofia looked down to the floor, trying to hide her smile and apologized, "I'm sorry, I'll go take them apart, I just…" "Oh no you don't! Let me see those." Maria commanded and added, "We've been dying to know those names!" Sofia looked up to her mommy who huffed, threw her hands up, then slyly winked at her and muttered, "Fine! You might as well show them." Addison sat with her glass near her mouth covering her grin the whole time. She couldn't wait to see their reaction to these ridiculous names. Sofia shuffled over to Maria, dropped the bracelets on the table, then scurried away so no one would see her laughing. She knew Bella's mommy would go crazy like her mama used to do.

Excited to see the long awaited names, Maria lifted the first bracelet and flatly asked, "Tulio?" Callie nodded and chirped, "It's Latin, it means 'one who leads,' we thought…" "I know what it means! What the hell kind of name is that?" Maria snapped. She picked up the next bracelet, read it, stared at Callie first, then Arizona, then back to Callie, pointed to Arizona, and asked, "Did you let her pick this? What the fuck kind of hippie ass name is Rainbow?" Callie stood up and barked, "It's not a hippie name, Rainbow is a sign of hope! A beacon after a storm and we have weathered one hell of a storm. We chose that name together. Aside from that, these are our rainbow babies, so we are not changing it!" Arizona tucked her lips between her teeth, impressed her wife came up with that on the fly, leaned over and whispered, "Excellent job babe." Callie kissed her cheek and replied, "I expect you to do just as well on the next one." Arizona nodded and replied, "Oh I did my research." Addison was absolutely positive Maria was about to have a stroke. Her face was so red and Lorraine, well, Lorraine just looked catatonic at this point, they may have shocked her into a coma.

Maria looked at their older friend and asked, "Aren't you going to say anything about this? How the hell can you keep quiet about these fucked up names?" Lorraine blinked, shrugged, and retorted, "I'm not sure why you're so upset. Honestly, what did you expect from people named Arizona and Calliope?" Addison couldn't hold it in and broke into fits of laughter and Callie and Arizona both defended, "HEY!" Maria huffed, picked up the last bracelet and asked, "Why don't you like your kids? I can't even pronounce…what the fuck is an Agamemnon?" Arizona was quick to explain, "We decided to stick with the Torres tradition of naming a child after a figure from Greek Mythology. Agamemnon was the king who led the Greek army to victory against the Trojans using the Trojan Horse and interesting side note, he was the father of Iphigenia, which is Callie's middle name." Callie's head snapped to look Arizona in the eye and mouthed "Really?" Arizona nodded and mouthed in return, "I had no idea!" Lorraine asked, "Your middle name is Iphigenia?" Maria threw up her hands, gathered all the bracelets and asked, "Who the fuck cares? You are not doing this to your children!"

She walked to the trash can, stomped on the foot pedal, tossed the bracelets in the garbage and started, "You wait all this time to get back together, get married, get pregnant, live the perfect life ¡y le vas a dar a tus bebés nombres estúpidos como Arco Iris, Tulio y Agamenón! También podrías llamarlos saco de boxeo uno, saco de boxeo dos, ¡y mis padres son estúpidos! ¿Quién coño ... No puedo... No seréis mis amigos si hacéis eso a vuestros hijos. Es abuso infantil es lo que es. Lo haré, mi esposo es abogado, los llevaremos y les daremos nombres normales como... No sé... Bobby, Peter y Cindy. You, NO! I will kick your asses." (…and you're going to give your babies stupid ass names like Rainbow, Tulio, and Agamemnon! You might as well name them punching bag one, punching bag two, and my parents are stupid! Who the fuck…I can't…you will not be my friends if you do that to your children. It's child abuse is what it is. I will, my husband is a lawyer, we will take them away and give them normal names like…I don't know…Bobby, Peter, and Cindy.) Callie was laughing so hard her body was shaking and tears were rolling down her cheeks. Addison leaned in and asked, "What did she say?" Lorraine shook her head and responded, "All I got was the first part, something about the Brady Bunch kids, and the part about kicking their asses."

Callie finally settled down and looked over to see Arizona staring at their friend in mute silence. She narrowed her eyes, wondering if this little rant was turning her on until she saw the amusement sparkle in ocean blue eyes as her wife looked at her and asked, "How on earth can she be so entertaining while you're just so…fucking hot?" Callie smirked and whispered, "No tengo idea de mi amor." (I have no idea my love.) She watched as those blue eyes instantly turned to navy, felt a small hand fist in her shirt, pull her closer, and couldn't help but let out the soft moan when their lips connected in a slow searing kiss. They jumped apart when someone smacked the table right next to them and they turned to see Maria's face, red and angry, eyes darting from one to another, and in a calm, controlled voice, she finally commanded, "One of you had better tell me this is a sick cruel joke." Callie tilted her head and asked, "What's wrong with the names we chose? Those names have been on our list since the last time we wanted to have a baby." Maria stood up and Lorraine gasped, "You said the only name you agreed on was Lorraine because Arizona kept giving you stupid names because you shot everything down!" Callie shrugged and added, "True, but these names were still on our list." Arizona smiled brightly and added, "The list of names we would never ever burden our children with." Maria sagged in relief then stared at them and asked, "Wait! So this was all…SOFIA ROBBIN GET YOUR LITTLE TOOSHIE OUT HERE!"

When Sofia heard Maria call her first and middle names, she knew she was in trouble. Bella whispered, "She only does that when I'm in a lot of trouble." Sofia nodded and whispered, "I know." She scrambled to her feet and quickly went into the dining room to find Maria standing there with her hands on her hips glaring at her. She gulped and asked, "Um y-yes Aunt Maria." Maria bit back her smile and scolded, "Don't you Aunt Maria me. Did your mommies put you up to that?" Sofia looked to her mama then her mommy, watched as both of them smiled and nodded at her, dropped her shoulders, then replied, "Yes ma'am. They told me to make the silly names on a bracelet. They won't even tell me the names." Maria held up her fist in front of the frightened child and complimented, "Excellent acting skills kiddo! Go play." Sofia bumped her fist, then skipped off to Bella's room, happy she wasn't in trouble."

Maria looked at Callie and Arizona, then saw the smirk on Addison's face and warned, "You three, I don't forgive so easily!" Addison held up her hands and defended, "Hey, they got me too. I'm only smiling because I don't feel like such a sucker for believing them now. Lorraine and Maria both laughed and then Arizona looked at Lorraine and asked, "Just exactly what did you mean by you expected those names from people named Arizona and Calliope? We didn't name ourselves!" Lorraine shrugged, "It's the best I could come up with. I don't know any other languages and can't go off on some rant." They all looked to Maria who put her hands out to her sides and stated, "What? I'm not ashamed." Callie stared at her and argued, "You said we should name our children punching bag 1, 2, and our parents are stupid!" Arizona snapped her head around and hissed, "She did not!" Maria muttered, "Fuck, I forgot you could understand me." Callie shook her head and declared, "You also forgot I sign your paychecks." Maria smiled sheepishly and in the sweetest tone she could muster said, "I'm sorry?" Callie laughed and proclaimed, "If I wasn't hoping for that exact reaction, I'd be irritated." Maria's face dropped and her tone went back to normal as she deadpanned, "You suck."

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After cleaning up the table, making plates for everyone to take home, putting away the rest of the leftovers, and putting the dishes in the dishwasher, the women took their drinks into the living room, Callie and Lorraine opting for coffee since they were driving, and Arizona sticking to her horchata. They spent another hour catching up; Lorraine and Maria sharing how things went at both centers during the storm, everyone discussing their holiday plans, and Maria spilling gossip about Aria and Marco, and it became clear that Arizona was fading fast. Putting her hand over Arizona's, which was continuously rubbing her stomach, Callie whispered, "Are you ready to go?" Knowing she couldn't leave yet, not until she was given the okay, the blonde shook her head and answered, "No, we haven't spent any time with Lorraine and Maria in so long." Callie narrowed her eyes and chided, "That's not what I asked Arizona." Exhaling loudly, Arizona knew even though she didn't want to ruin her surprise, she couldn't risk her health and admitted, "I'm getting a little tired and my back is starting to hurt." Callie nodded and soothed, "I know you don't like cutting things short honey, but it's okay and they understand. Your health and comfort and the health of our babies comes first. So please, just tell me." Arizona knew she was right and just hoped she hadn't ruined everything, leaned in, kissed her cheek, and whispered, "Take me home please." Callie nodded and stood up, declaring, "My babies are kicking their mommy and making her uncomfortable, so we are going to head home now."

With Callie's help, Arizona stood up and proclaimed, "Maybe a pit stop first, then rushed to the bathroom." When Callie went to the closet to gather their coats, Addison and Maria shared a look, then both relaxed when they felt a vibration in their pockets. Maria took her phone out, nodded to Addie who then declared, "I'll go tell the kids to clean up and tell them we are ready to go." Walking toward Bella's bedroom, she stopped by the bathroom, knocked quietly and whispered, "Coast is clear." She knew she was heard when Arizona whispered, "Oh thank goodness." Addison smiled and shook her head as she continued down the hall. While she was perfectly happy in her own marriage, there was no denying Callie and Arizona had something special.

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When they walked into the mudroom and hung up their coats, Arizona directed, "Sof, take Tobin out and Henry, why don't you go get your dad and see if he wants to come help us get rid of these leftovers." When they reached the kitchen and started setting out the food, Callie furrowed her brow when she started smelling the pungent aroma of acrylic or enamel and turned to ask Arizona, "Do you smell that?" Arizona sniffed the air, knew exactly what her wife was smelling, but suggested, "Maybe Sofia left her nail polish or markers open or something." Callie walked into the dining room and insisted, "No, it's stronger than that. I think it's coming from one of the bedrooms." She then made her way down the hallway looking for the source of the smell. Addison and Arizona looked at one another knowingly and quickly followed the brunette down the hallway. When the acrid scent only grew stronger, Callie stopped right in front of the door to the guest suite, which was soon to become the nursery, inhaled deeply and declared, "It's coming from in here." She then turned to her wife and stated, "I didn't smell anything yesterday when I came in here. Did you put something in here?" Arizona shook her head, furrowed her brow and lied, "I have no idea what it could be." Knowing the little added touch she and Jake had come up with, Addie suggested, "Maybe you two have elves." Arizona raised her brow in question and Callie muttered, "Or maybe we have a smartass friend." She then turned the handle on the door.

As soon as she opened the door, all three women burst into gales of laughter and Callie corrected, "Or we have elves." Their attention was drawn to the center of the now empty room, which no longer contained the furniture or bags and piles of baby paraphernalia they'd purchased, where the two three foot mylar balloon elves were tied to a paint can. Their normally brown hair was painted to reflect the two women, one a shiny black and the other a shimmery yellow. The pointy red elf hats were repainted to duplicate the surgeons' scrub caps, and each of them were wearing a child sized t-shirt from their respective centers. Both elves held a paint brush taped to their hands with blue painter's tape, and they each had different colored paint splattered all over them. The pièce de résistance, however, was that the elf which was supposed to represent Arizona had a balloon tucked inside its shirt, making it look pregnant. Both women turned to the redhead and Arizona asked, "Are you responsible for this?" Addie shrugged and replied, "The idea of the elves was mine, I figured if you couldn't be here in person, you could be here in spirit. This though, waaaay better than I imagined." Callie shook her head and asked, "Be here for wha…" then the rest of the room caught her attention and she brought her hands to cover her mouth and knew her wife was behind the rest of it as she gasped out, "Arizona Robbins-Torres! I can't believe you."

Nervously biting her lip, Arizona watched while Callie walked around the room, examining each wall, taking in every detail. Callie looked around the room and was in complete awe at what she was seeing. This was everything she and Arizona talked about, but it was so much better than she could have ever imagined. Turning to her left, she noticed the full wall was covered with the colorful wallpaper filled with various types of sea life she and Arizona purchased together. Looking at the wall which held the patio doors, she saw that the glass was painted like the sunset in deep reds, pinks, purples, and blues, bleeding into one another and blending into the horizon and the ocean depicted on the wall. Her breath hitched when she realized this was the same view they'd seen on their honeymoon as they walked along the beach holding hands. Turning to look at Arizona, she gasped when she realized her wife must have given Marco one of their pictures and exclaimed, "Oh my God, that's the whale we saw, and there's the dolphin jumping in the air!" When she turned, she noticed the opposite wall, the one where the closet doors were located and saw another of their pictures had come to life. She stared at the long stretch of sand with the yellow and orange sun rising over the ocean off in the distance. But in this image, there was a silhouette of a family walking together, the two adults holding hands, one in shorts, the other in a long flowy dress, a taller girl and three toddlers trailing behind them splashing in the ocean. Shaking her head in disbelief, she murmured, "It looks so real, like you can walk right onto the beach."

Finally turning to the far wall, where the bathroom door stood, Callie crossed the room to get a closer look. It was very similar to the wallpaper; however this was painted by hand. There were the same types of colorful fish and other sea life, but most prominent was a family of stingrays swimming together. On the bottom wing of the largest ray was painted the word 'mama', the next largest ray was labeled, 'mommy', then a much smaller ray had the name 'Sofia' painted on its wing, and behind that ray were three very small, yet to be named baby rays. A deep voice rang out from the doorway explaining, "That's why we were trying to get the baby names. I guess I'll just add them after they are born." Arizona and Callie both smiled sheepishly and Arizona replied, "I had no idea you were going to do this, but yes, that will have to wait. Thank you."

Turning with tears in her eyes, Callie sobbed, "You, I can't believe you did this." Arizona shifted from foot to foot and uncertainly asked, "Do you…is that okay? We talked about it and I know you didn't get to do Sofia's nursery but we picked…" her ramble was cut off when soft red lips pressed hard against her own and strong arms wrapped around her body, pulling her as close as she could get. Callie pulled back, lifted her hands to Arizona's face, and murmured, "It's beautiful and I love it. It's the pictures, everything, all of it, I couldn't have…" She shook her head, trying to find the words to express how she was feeling in that moment. It astounded her that Arizona had initiated all of this, not just the painting of the room, but also the furniture shopping, choosing the decorations, and just being so excited, moving past her fears that something would go wrong. "This is, this means everything to me honey and it's so much better than I ever imagined. I just can't believe I had no clue." Arizona laughed and declared, "It wasn't easy getting everything coordinated. It would have been done yesterday, while we were out, but Marco had a showing, and…" Callie gasped, "Is that why Maria decided to have this brunch out of the blue Friday? She usually plans them at least a week ahead of time." The blonde smiled and chirped, "Yup! They were all in on it. Jake and Addie spent most of the day moving furniture yesterday." Callie turned to the couple standing in the doorway and noticed her friend staring at her nails as she demanded, "Yeah, one of you owes me a manicure!"

Callie looked around their nursery once again, the room that was empty and had no purpose eight short months ago, then briefly, very briefly, served as her ex-wife's bedroom, and though it was designated to be the nursery, didn't look like one until that very minute, then turned to Addie and promised, "I'll even throw in a pedicure and thank you both. This is just amazing." Arizona tugged on her wife's hand and reminded her, "Hey! They were just the cheap labor; this was my idea." Callie bent her head so their lips were nearly touching and murmured, "Oh trust me, I fully intend to thank you later." Arizona brushed their lips together and whispered, "Hmm that's more like it." Hearing gagging noises coming from the door, without turning her head, Callie suggested, "The paint fumes must be getting to you Ads, maybe you should go into the kitchen and get some fresh air." As they leaned in for another kiss, both women giggled when they heard, "Or you could stop being so gross." Arizona giggled and retorted, "My wife was politely trying to say get out." The redhead huffed and muttered, "This is the thanks I get. Ungrateful…" She was cut off when Jake put his hands on her shoulders, turned her around and led her back down the hall.

After sharing a few more kisses, Arizona pulled back, caressed Callie's cheek and asked, "Are you sure you don't mind that I had them do it without you?" Callie smiled, kissed Arizona's forehead and answered, "I'm positive, I love what they've done and the pictures from our honeymoon, I never would have thought of that. We'd already asked them to do it anyway. Besides, I still get to do the fun stuff, putting the cribs together, driving you crazy moving things around a hundred times until I decide it looked better where you told me to put it in the first place, and adding all the little finishing touches to make it a real nursery." Arizona giggled, she knew the furniture moving part would go exactly the way Callie described it, then promised, "We will most definitely do all of that together. That's the part I'm looking forward to the most." They brushed their lips together one last time, and Arizona tasted the saltiness of tears.

Lifting her hands to wipe the tears away, she asked, "What's this for?" Callie looked around the room, sniffled and admitted, "I was just thinking, a few minutes ago, how not even a year ago, this room was so empty, like literally, it had no purpose, there was nothing in here. When you called and said you were coming, I went out and bought all this furniture in hopes that you would stick around long enough for us to figure things out, to find each other again, and now…" She stopped, rubbed Arizona's baby bump and continued, "Now we are expecting three babies and this room is our future, it's a representation of everything we always wanted and I just, it overwhelmed me for a second, to see, to know that it's happening, it's real." Arizona smiled softly, moved forward until her protruding stomach prevented them from getting any closer and teased, "This isn't real enough for you?" Callie chuckled and replied, "It is, but it's still…I don't know, I can't see them. I can see this." Arizona nodded in understanding, turned in Callie's arms to take in the beautiful room and declared, "I get it. Sometimes even I can't believe it's happening and they're growing inside of me." Callie wrapped her arms around Arizona's stomach, held her close, kissed the side of her head just above her earlobe and murmured, "Thank you for this. It's amazing and such a wonderful surprise." Arizona pulled her arms tighter around her and said, "I'm glad you like it. They did a great job." Callie looked at the center of the room and chuckled, "I must say, the elves were a nice touch though." Arizona laughed and replied, "Oh, we're so getting her back for that one."

XXXX

Early Monday morning, Arizona's eyes snapped open and she repeated shit, shit, shit, shit in her mind. After Addie and her family left and they got Tobin and Sofia tucked in for the night, she and Callie engaged in a hot and heavy make out session in the living room and decided to take it into the bedroom. She remembered how they could barely wait to get into the room to take their clothes off, got into the bed and made out a little more as their hands roamed each other's bodies, then…fuck! She fell asleep. She had NEVER fallen asleep during sex before. She knew Callie must be pissed; she was lying on her side with her back to her, when usually she was wrapped around her so tightly she could barely move. Letting out a belabored sigh, she rubbed her face and contemplated her next move. She could just act like nothing happened, which might cause Callie to stew and think she was no longer interested in sex, which totally wasn't the case, or she could try to make it up to her and hope her wife understood how exhausted she was after their busy weekend. Choosing the latter, Arizona scooted herself closer to Callie, wrapped her arm around her waist and started caressing her stomach while leaving a trail of soft wet kisses along her shoulder blades and the back of her neck.

Callie smiled and tried to keep her breathing deep and even, when she felt Arizona's hands and lips on her body. She knew her wife would feel horrible once she woke up and realized what happened, but she also knew something Arizona didn't and that was the fact that they wouldn't be having sex last night. She was certain Arizona didn't realize that she kept drifting off while they were on the couch and the only way Callie could get her to go into the bedroom and into bed was to lure her with sex. She had to admit, the blonde put up a good fight and lasted much longer than she thought she would and while she herself was more than a little turned on, she was perfectly content with just holding Arizona while she slept. When she felt her starting to stir this morning, she quickly turned over to her other side. She knew it was a cruel trick, but she planned to milk it just a little bit, after all, her wife owed her an orgasm. When a small hand started moving upward and covered her breast, Callie held in her moan of pleasure, covered the hand with hers, pulled it away and groaned, "I'm sleeping Arizona." She bit her lip to keep from laughing at the warm puff of air that hit her back with her wife's huff of frustration.

Not to be deterred, Arizona moved her hand in the other direction, finding the small patch of tight curls just above Callie's mound, caressing it softly with a barely there teasing touch, going lower each time and her kisses on Callie's neck becoming nibbles and soothing licks as she whispered, "I'm sorry Calliope, let me make it up to you." Callie was barely holding it together. Arizona knew exactly how to play her body and right now, she was pulling out all the stops. Determining it was her own fault she went to sleep hot and bothered because she knew Arizona was exhausted and had no control over her body anymore, Callie decided to put them both out of their misery, rolled to her back, and lowered her hand to cover Arizona's once again. When Callie turned over and she lowered her hand to cover her own, Arizona was certain it would be pulled away and started thinking of other ways she could apologize to her wife. She felt relief wash over her when tan fingers intertwined with her own and moved them lower to part her lips. She was almost shocked by the moisture that had already gathered at Callie's core. Together, their fingers collected her arousal and began massaging her clit, making soft, slow, circular movements, starting outward and moving in, then out again.

Arizona's gaze drifted up Callie's naked form, taking in all her beauty, noticing how the muscles of her abdomen clenched ever so slightly, her breasts swayed gently, her mouth opened enough for her perfect white teeth to bite her luscious bottom lip, and her eyes, though not closed were heavy lidded, watching her through long dark lashes. Their linked fingers continued their ministrations as she quietly, demurely asked, "Does this mean you forgive me for falling asleep on you?" Callie lifted her free hand, tangled it in sleep tousled blonde hair, pulled Arizona closer, gave her a soft loving kiss, and sincerely declared, "Honey, there was nothing to forgive and there's nothing to apologize for." Arizona whined, "Calliope, I fell asleep…in the middle of sex. You were mad at me." Seeing the twinkle of amusement in darkening brown eyes, Arizona started to catch on to her wife's little game, pulled her hand away and accused, "You're not mad at all are you?" She started to move off the bed when Callie growled, "Where the hell do you think you are going? You still owe me an orgasm!" then wrapped one arm around her waist, the other around her thigh and pulled her on top of her to straddle her legs. Both women moaned as their mounds rubbed together and as Arizona squirmed to get away, she found the friction only increased the pleasure. Smirking she asked, "I OWE you an orgasm?" Callie nodded, caressed Arizona's outer thighs, slowly moving inward until her thumbs hovered just above her lower lips.

Arizona leaned forward, ran her hands up Callie's firm tight abdomen and asked, "What happened to there's nothing to apologize for?" Callie spread Arizona's sex with one hand, reached down to open herself up, shifted her hips so their mounds lined up with one another and growled out, "I'm not asking for an apology, I'm asking for an orgasm." Arizona started rolling her hips and let out a lewd moan at the sensation of their combined arousal causing their clits to slide against one another smoothly, sending shockwaves throughout her body and hummed, "Mmm I think I at least owe you that much." Callie's hands slid around to grip her ass as her own hips thrust upward ensuring they stayed connected, her gaze was locked on full creamy white breasts, oversized cherry red areola with puckered nipples bouncing up and down, and her body thrummed with electricity. As their breathing became heavier, turning into gasps and moans, the heady scent of sex filled the air, their bodies glistened with sweat, their hips bucked against each other, and their hands reached out to grasp the other's to ground themselves, their eyes met, navy blue locked on dusky brown, they mutually decided to let go, to jump over the edge of the abyss together. Both women cried out the name of their lover as they reached their peak and felt the euphoria of their combined climax wash over them. Callie's body stiffened and formed an arch, briefly lifting both her own body as well as Arizona's off the bed, while Arizona convulsed and trembled, riding out her orgasm, her hips still rolling against Callie's sex. Letting her body fall on top of Callie's, Arizona groaned and slapped her shoulder when she heard her wife mumble, "That was so worth the wait."

When she finally felt her senses returning to her, Callie realized Arizona was slumped on top of her and rolled them to their sides, both to make her wife more comfortable, but also to protect the babies. Lying together in blissful silence for a few moments longer, the two women ran their fingertips up and down the other's backs enjoying the silence before their long and hectic day. Callie moved her hand to rub Arizona's stomach which reminded her of their appointment in just a few hours and asked, "Are you ready for your amnio?" Feeling Arizona stiffen, she tilted her head back to see her wife's face and was honestly relieved to see the concern and indecision she could read in her eyes. Sitting up on her elbow, she continued to rub her stomach and prodded, "Talk to me honey." Arizona sighed, struggled to sit up, finally situated herself so she was resting comfortably against the headboard and asked, "How upset would you be if I decided not to get the test?" Arizona bit her lip nervously. She knew they'd talked about it and they were both so adamant that Callie have one and even when Addison suggested it wasn't necessary the other day, they argued that they wanted one, but now she wasn't so sure.

Callie sat up to face Arizona, crossed her legs, covered herself with the sheet, and thought about her response. She knew after giving it some thought and doing more research about it Friday, that she wasn't certain it was worth the risk, but Arizona was the expert and if she wanted to do it, she figured it would be okay, and answered, "Well, it's your body and you know more about the test than I do, so ultimately, it's your decision. But I'd like to hear your reasoning." Arizona ran her fingers through her hair and started, "It is my body, but these are our babies, so it's not just my decision. I could give you all the bullshit about how it detects genetic disorders and I know there's a slim possibility because none were detected when you had yours done so we're safe where Mark is concerned and none were detected when I had my work up done before I was inseminated either time so we are safe there. If there were a sign of spina bifida, we'd have already caught it with the other tests we've had done, but the real reason is, and I know it's a slim chance, but there's still a chance, it could cause a miscarriage Calliope and I just…it's not a chance I want to take."

Callie breathed a sigh of relief, moved to the head of the bed, took Arizona in her arms, and admitted, "Me neither baby. I know I should have said something, I just…I didn't know if I was being paranoid or negative. I thought it was what you wanted and being a fetal surgeon, you'd know what was best." Arizona nodded and replied, "In most cases, I do recommend it, especially for people of my age, and maybe if I didn't know all of the other stuff and have a history of miscarriage, I would consider it, but I do know those things and quite honestly, even if something came up positive, would we love our child any less? Would we do anything any differently?" Callie kissed Arizona on the temple, rested their heads together and answered, "Absolutely not. I'm glad you told me." Arizona linked their fingers and replied, we only made the decision last week, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized Addie was right and it wasn't really necessary." Callie groaned, "Oh God, please don't tell her that. She'll be a pain in the ass for days." Arizona snorted and quipped, "Like she's not already." Callie chuckled and responded, "True." She then stretched, kissed Arizona on the cheek and commanded, "Let's get a move on. Maybe we can get a shower in before the alarm goes off."

XXXX

The following Friday afternoon, Arizona stood outside the large home of the senator, pulled her coat tighter around her and hunched over against the cold wind hitting her back. She had just pushed the doorbell but wasn't sure if it was heard over the cacophony of cries she heard reverberating through the door. She lifted her hand to knock and was surprised when the door was yanked open, she was pulled inside by a very frazzled looking Erin, and a screaming baby was shoved in her arms without ceremony. Arizona looked down at the red-faced infant, who was nearly hoarse now from screaming for so long, and instantly tried to soothe her. She bounced her up and down and carefully balanced her in one arm while she removed her arm from her coat sleeve, then to the other, until she had finally relieved herself of the cold, scratchy material. Hanging up the coat on the hook near the door, she tended to the baby, pulling her close to her chest, swaying back and forth and softly asking, "What's the matter Miss Fussy Pants? Do you need a little attention? Shh, we will see what's going on and get you fixed up okay?" The baby started to settle until Arizona followed the sounds of the other angry cries and the little one in her arms started up again.

Seeing three empty bottles on the coffee table, Arizona patted the little girl on her back until she heard a loud, unabashed burp echo in her ear, giggled and asked, "There now, do you feel better?" She patted the baby's bottom, felt the wetness seeping through, looked around the large sitting room, located a pile of diapers and wipes, then quickly changed the little one in her arms, and finally watched as she settled right down. She looked over to see that Erin had followed her lead, but the smallest of the three little girls was still screaming loudly and very angry. Picking up the tiny girl, she quickly carried out the same routine, all the while speaking softly in an upbeat tone, and finally all three babies were settled in their pack and play crib together, acting as if all hell hadn't just broken loose. Arizona looked over to see Erin nearly in tears, a mess of diapers, wipes, burp cloths, bottles, and noisy toys spread all over the room, and quickly started picking up and discarding the used diapers and wipes. Finally returning the room to some semblance of order, she walked to her friend who was sitting on the edge of the sofa, tears running down her face, and whispered, "Hey, talk to me."

Erin looked around her living room, enjoying the silence that she hadn't had in what felt like years, and finally admitted, "I'm a failure as a mother!" then began to cry harder. Worried the babies would join in, Arizona quickly sat down next to her, pulled her into her arms and soothed, "No, no you're not. You're doing great. Look, they are all fed, changed, and happy." Erin sniffled, looked up, and replied, "Because of you!" Arizona snorted and argued, "You were getting there, but they were ganging up on you. There's three of them." Erin laughed then, a genuine laugh, reached for a tissue and explained, "I'm sorry, Larry went back to work this week and the first day was great, yesterday was a little rough, and today…today I feel like I can't get anything right, it's like they all need the same thing at the same time and I…I get overwhelmed." Arizona sat back, chuckled a little and replied, "That means you have done everything right. You have them on a schedule and their little bodies know when it's time to eat or wake up or be changed. The only thing you have to do is be prepared for that. When you normally feed them, start preparing their bottles a few minutes before, so when the first one cries, you can tend to that need." Erin smiled slightly, sighed in relief, and felt as if she had just been given some ancient secret to motherhood she didn't know existed.

Looking into the portable crib, Arizona commented, "I can't believe how big they've gotten, they grow so fast." Erin stared at her former doctor and snorted, "Forget how big they've gotten, look at you! What are you twenty two weeks now?" Arizona scowled at her and snapped, "I'll be twenty weeks on Sunday, but thanks for the vote of confidence." Erin chuckled, waved her off and declared, "Oh you know damn well you look gorgeous, you are absolutely glowing and I'm certain your wife feels the same way." Arizona smirked, knowing how true that was, then narrowed her eyes and asked, "What is this hang up you have with my wife?" Erin shrugged and replied, "I told you, she's hot." Arizona waved her hands up and down her stomach and retorted, "Yeah, well she's also very taken." Erin laughed then quickly sobered and asked, "Can I ask you a question? Like a serious question and get an honest answer?" Arizona furrowed her brow in concern and replied, "Of course you can." Taking another deep breath, Erin asked, "Am I…I mean…if you weren't married, would you find me attractive?"

Suddenly Arizona realized what her friend might be getting at and answered honestly, "Let's take the whole lesbian thing out of the equation first of all. Woman to woman, I feel like you are very attractive and quite honestly, I am impressed with how quickly you gained your figure back. I can only hope I lose all this extra weight that fast." She then tilted her head and asked, "What's going on?" The senator sighed, ran her fingers through her dark hair and admitted, "It's Larry, he hasn't, well he hasn't so much as touched me since we found out the girls were sick." Arizona exhaled slowly, thought about her response, and suggested, "I am going to go into doctor mode for a minute here. In my line of work, dealing with sick mothers or babies, that's not uncommon. The father or other parent is often worried about causing more harm, no matter how illogical it may sound." Erin nodded and replied, "I get that, but…the babies are born and we are all healthy and I've been approved for…you know, for a couple of months now and he just seems to show no interest in me at all." The other woman put her head down and stared at her hands, almost as if she were ashamed to admit it.

Arizona reached out, took her hand and reminded her, "Again, from a doctor's perspective, that's not uncommon either. I don't know Larry very well at all, but what I do know of him, he is a very respectable man and loves you very much. I see this frequently, especially in men, they see their wives as mothers now, they hold them at a higher degree of respect and for some men, it's harder to get past that, to see them as sexual beings again. It doesn't mean he doesn't want you; it just means he needs to see you the way he used to see you. The two of you have had a difficult year, you almost lost your children and he blames himself for that. If there's one thing I've learned throughout my relationship with Callie, it's that you have to talk to him, tell him how you are feeling, tell him what you need and if that doesn't work, then maybe you need to talk to someone together." Erin looked up then and asked, "Do you…are you and Callie having trouble with…" Arizona smirked as she thought about how her wife barely let her out of bed this morning, opened her mouth to answer and Erin cut her off by holding up her hand saying, "Never mind, I can see the answer written all over your face. You disgust me." The blonde laughed then and replied, "If it helps, we've rarely had any difficulties in that arena." Erin shook her head and snapped, "It doesn't, not at all." Arizona laughed again and decided she'd keep her mouth shut before she lost her new friend completely.

Erin sighed, looked around the room and gasped, "Oh my gosh, you must think I'm a horrible host. Let me get you some tea and something to eat." Without waiting for a response, Erin stood up and started walking toward what Arizona could only assume was the kitchen. Taking one last look to make sure the babies were content, she stood up and followed. When she reached the kitchen she realized either her friend worked extremely fast or she was already prepared for her visit, since a platter full of finger foods was sitting on the counter. Sitting on one of the stools opposite Erin, Arizona smiled in appreciation when the plate was pushed in her direction, and declared, "You didn't have to go through all that trouble, tea was fine." Erin laughed and proclaimed, "Honey, you're almost twenty weeks pregnant, you know damn well you're hungry all the time. Besides, this is your lunch break."

Arizona blushed and laughed remembering who she was talking to. If anyone knew what she was going through, it was this woman. Taking a cracker off the plate, she took a bite and realized she actually was hungry, then asked, "So other than your sex life, how are things going?" Erin let out a little chuckle and replied, "You mean aside from changing, feeding, burping, or holding one of these little bundles of joy every twenty minutes? Things are good. I started working from home again to catch up on everything before we take our winter hiatus. Like I said earlier, Larry just went back to work from his paternity leave, so it's a little lonely, and except for today's little hiccup, we are doing just fine on our own." The senator took a drink of her tea and asked, "How about you? How have you been feeling?" Arizona tossed back her head in laughter and replied, "Fat, awkward, slow, and tired." She popped a piece of cheese in her mouth and admitted, "You were right, I was starving." Erin laughed, went to pull the kettle off the stove before the whistle startled the girls, poured the steaming water over the teabags, set a cup in front of Arizona and reminded her, "I was there, trust me, I know, about all of it. I was always on the go and the further along I got, the harder it was for me to slow down." Arizona nodded in agreement, she knew for her, the slowing down and awkward part were coming from someplace extremely different and really didn't feel like talking about her leg at the moment.

The two talked about Erin's triplets for a while, laughed about some of her first experiences as a mother, and finally Erin asked, "Have you felt them kick yet?" Arizona smiled brightly and replied, "I have, they started just before Thanksgiving and it was these tiny flutters, but it feels like they get stronger every day." She then added, "It's funny how they seem to know certain people's voices. When Callie or Sofia talk to them, they go crazy." Erin laughed and warned, "Wait until you can really feel it. Sometimes it looks and feels like that movie Alien where they are trying to climb out of you." Arizona was certain her facial expression must have been one of pure terror because Erin started laughing, then took her hand and soothed, "It's uncomfortable but it's one of the most amazing and joyous feelings you will ever experience."

For the next hour, Erin shared some tips and tricks that helped her through her pregnancy once the babies were on the mend, they both discussed their holiday plans, and agreed to meet up again soon. Erin walked Arizona to the door and offered, "Thanks for coming by and helping me calm the girls." She sighed then, ran her fingers through her hair and added, "Thanks for the other advice as well. I know it will take time, I'm just so ready to go back to my normal life." The blonde nodded in understanding and replied, "I totally get that. But never forget, you have an amazing and beautiful family and in the end, that's what matters most." Erin smiled, gave her friend a hug, and watched as Arizona made her way to her car.

XXXX

Pulling away from Erin's house, Arizona felt good about their visit. She was happy she could help her friend out when she needed it most. Turning the corner, just like it had on the drive over, she felt the steering wheel rub against her stomach which made her take the turn a little slower and wider than normal. Rubbing her belly to ease the sting, it suddenly occurred to her that in a few short months, the scene she walked in on, so calmly, so levelheaded, how Erin felt, what she was going through, that was going to be her. Would she be able to take her own advice? Callie would have to go back to work, leaving her alone with three crying, screaming, pooping, peeing babies and she'd have no idea what to do. They would gang up on her just like the girls did with Erin. With Sofia, it was so much easier, there were three adults against one baby and one of them was always able to figure out what she needed. This time though…how the fuck was she supposed to do this alone? All the bottles and diapers and wipes and what if they didn't have the same sleep schedule and when would she and Callie sleep? When would they have time for each other or Sofia? Looking up, she realized she almost missed her turn, whipped the wheel to the right and with her stomach in the way, ended up driving up on the curb before settling back onto the street. Her nerves rattled, she looked around to gauge where she was in relation to the medical park, and decided to keep going.

As hard as she tried, she couldn't keep her mind from racing, the worries or fears from attacking her from all sides and now the added concern of driving was plaguing her as well. She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally reached the medical park, stopped in front of Fresh START, not even bothering to pull into Callie's parking space. With her only focus being on seeing Callie, she got out of her SUV, walked through the lobby, straight to the desk, barely registering who she was talking to, her voice shook as she proclaimed, "Callie, I…I need Callie…I need Callie." Lorraine and Maria both looked up at the same time to see Arizona standing in front of them, pale and trembling, eyes welling with unshed tears. Maria asked, "Arizona, are you…" "Callie, please, I just need Callie." Arizona said as the tears started falling down her cheeks. Maria nodded and ran toward the stairs, taking them two at a time, paging Dr. Hanson to meet her in O.R. 3 as she went.

Lorraine rounded the desk, put her arm around Arizona's shoulder and soothed, "Maria is going to get Dr. T, let's get you into her office to wait for her okay?" The blonde nodded and let the older woman lead her down the hall. When they reached Callie's office, Lorraine let them in, started to guide Arizona to the sofa, but she left her hold and started pacing, rubbing her stomach with both hands. Seeing how worked up she was and knowing it wasn't good for her or the babies, Lorraine closed the door and tried, "Arizona, sweetie, I can see you're upset, but it would be best for you and the babies if you tried to calm down. How about you take a seat and let me get you some hot tea or warm milk." Arizona looked at Lorraine and shook her head, but she did stop pacing and leaned against the wall, moving her hand in a circular motion around her stomach.

Callie was standing over her patient, drill in hand, when Maria walked in with Dr. Hanson, both wearing masks and being gowned and gloved. Her heart dropped to her stomach, she'd seen this scenario before, hell, she'd lived this scenario before. She put the drill on the tray, walked toward the other surgeon, informed him, "Typical knee replacement, healthy 43 year old male." She then looked at her head nurse and asked, "Where is she? What happened?" Maria grabbed her by the arm, pulled her into the scrub room, and said, "She's in your office, she…" "Why the hell is she in my office? She needs to be at the center being examined. What the hell happened?" Callie demanded loudly. Maria took a deep breath, removed the surgical gear she'd just put on and explained, "It's not medical Cal, she just showed up in the lobby, she was shaking and pale as a damn ghost, nearly crying and just kept asking for you. She wouldn't talk to…" She didn't finish her sentence before the door to the scrub room slammed shut and Callie took off at a sprint down the hallway.

Bursting through the door of her office, Callie nearly lost her footing when Arizona rushed toward her, threw herself into her arms and started sobbing. Callie looked at Lorraine who was standing helplessly in the middle of the room and mouthed, "Call Addie." The older woman nodded, then slipped out the door, locking and closing it behind her. Callie wrapped one arm around Arizona's waist and rubbed her back in a slow up and down pattern with the other, whispering, "I'm here baby, I'm here. Shh, it's okay, I've got you." Feeling Arizona's body relax and the sobs start to settle, Callie guided her to the sofa, sat down, and pulled Arizona onto her lap, cradling her, rocking back and forth to calm her further. Arizona buried her face in Callie's neck, lifted her hand to scratch at the stubble on the back of her head, and started to take deep calming breaths, as she finally felt the safety and comfort she needed.

Giving her wife a few minutes to settle down, Callie continued to rock her while rubbing her back and placing tender kisses on her forehead. Once she felt like Arizona could talk calmly, she asked, "Did something happen at Erin's house that upset you?" Arizona shook her head no, then countered, "Not exactly, not while I was there. When I arrived, the babies were all screaming and Erin was upset. I helped settle them all down, calmed Erin and we had a nice visit. On my way back though, it hit me…that's going to be me. You're going to go back to work and they're going to gang up on me Callie!" She started crying again and continued, "They're all going to need changed and fed at the same time and I'll be there all alone and what if I can't do it? What if I suck at it? What if I'm a failure? Oh and…and…I tried to turn a corner and…I can't even drive anymore…I could have hurt them Callie…I could have…" "Wait! What? Arizona, slow down. Tell me what happened."

Thinking she was about to be yelled at, Arizona started to get up, but Callie held her close, lowered her voice and asked, "Baby, did something happen? Were you in an accident?" Arizona sighed and replied, "No, not exactly. My belly kept getting in the way when I turned. The last time, I went up on the curb. I don't think I should try to drive anymore. The seat is as far back as I can safely have it without my foot slipping off the pedal. Between that and the cramping and my leg, I just...I don't want to..." Callie closed her eyes, let out a sigh of relief that there was no accident and soothed, "Okay, okay, shhh, you don't have to drive." Arizona relaxed, took a deep breath, and linked her fingers with Callie's to help ground herself. Callie pulled her closer, rested their heads together, and asked, "Okay, so which of these things do you want to talk about first? Which one is weighing most heavily on you?" Arizona ran her hand through her hair and huffed, "I don't know! All of it! I'm just…" Callie softly interjected, "Scared?" Arizona nodded her head and admitted, "Yeah, I'm scared." Callie kissed her cheek and revealed, "Me too." Arizona lifted her head to look into Callie's eyes and asked, "You are?" Callie answered, "Of course I am. I mean, I'm going to be home alone with them too. You were always the one who magically got Sofia to sleep or stop crying. What if you're out or at work or whatever and they're all screaming their little heads off and I can't calm them down? What if they all get the nasty poops at the same time and I get them all changed and have to start all over again? There's only one thing that makes me not scared." Arizona lifted her hand to play with Callie's necklace and asked, "What's that?" Callie smiled and replied, "You. Knowing you will be home, knowing I won't be doing it alone, knowing that no matter how rough the day is, I'll be falling asleep and waking up in your arms, even if it is for a 3:00 am feeding." Arizona chuckled at that, then took a deep breath and answered, "Yeah, that's why I came straight to you just now. I knew you'd know what to say, how to calm me down."

Callie rubbed her stomach and declared, "I may not always know what to say and I may fumble sometimes, but I'm always here baby. You can always come to me. We're going to make mistakes, but one thing I know for certain is that you will never be a failure as a mother." Arizona looked up and asked, "How can you be so sure?" Callie smiled and proclaimed, "Because during the most trying time in our lives and in our marriage, we managed to raise an amazing, intelligent, well-adjusted little girl. I've said this many times Arizona and I'll say it until you believe me, you are an amazing mother. You bend for our child, you will bend for our children, you will do everything in your power to meet their needs, including giving up your own independence, which leads us to your next concern." Arizona sighed and stated, "Driving." Callie nodded and repeated, "Driving." She then offered, "We can continue to ride into work together. When you go part-time, I can take you home on my lunch, or Addie, Maria, Lorraine, Dee, any number of people would be happy to drive you. If you need to go anywhere, if I'm not able to take you, again, I'm sure anyone else would be happy to drive you." Arizona opened her mouth to say something, Callie knew it was to argue her point, so she suggested, "I know you don't like asking for favors or depending on others, if you'd rather, we can ask daddy if we can hire one of his drivers from the hotel." Arizona smirked, brushed their lips together, and murmured, "You know me so well." Callie nodded and agreed, "I really do."

After sitting together for a while, just holding one another, Arizona offered, "I'm sorry I scared you. I think I was in a full blown panic attack." Callie ran her hands through Arizona's hair and replied, "Honestly, I'm glad that's all it was. I did think something happened when Maria came into the O.R. with another surgeon." Arizona covered her face in embarrassment and muttered, "Oh God! I'm so sorry." Callie removed her hand and soothed, "It's okay Arizona. You're needs come first and this was important. I never want you to feel like I'm not here for you. Which leads me back to one of your concerns." Arizona arched her brow in question and asked, "Which one?" Callie replied, "Maternity leave. How do we want to do it? Do you want me to take off when you do or do you want me to split mine up? I can stay home with you for six weeks after the babies are born, go back to work until your leave is up, then take the other six weeks and stay home with them. The first way would probably keep us both sane, but would mean they go into daycare six weeks earlier. The second way would give us both time to bond with them individually and give them a little more time to develop before going into daycare."

Arizona tilted her head and thought about it for a minute then asked, "Can we revisit that one? Right now, after my little episode, I'm tempted to say that you are never leaving my side, ever!" Callie chuckled and agreed, "Okay, we can come back to that one. I know it's not the same, but we also have our parents and our village. You know all we need to do is make a phone call and one of our mothers will be on our doorstep the next day." Arizona laughed and asked, "Yeah, but when would they return to their own doorstep?" Callie let out a bark of laughter and replied, "Good point." She took Arizona's hand in hers and asked, "Are you feeling better?" Arizona nodded and started to answer when they heard a key in the door and looked up to see Maria holding the door open for Addison who was pushing an ultrasound machine, declaring, "I'll be the judge of that." Arizona huffed, "Oh for the love of God. I'm fine Addison." The redhead arched her brow, smirked, and proclaimed, "We're at work, I'm Dr. Montgomery. Now lay on the sofa, preferably without your wife."

Arizona slid off Callie's lap and down the sofa while Callie placed a throw pillow under her head and tried to make her comfortable. While Addie plugged in the machine and set it up, Maria took Arizona's blood pressure and pointed it out to Addison. The fetal surgeon shook her head and ordered, "I want you to start taking the blood pressure meds I prescribed. You've been on the cusp too many times." Arizona glared at Maria and muttered, "Narc." Maria smiled politely and blew her a kiss. Once the machine was up and running, Callie lifted Arizona's top and gasped at the four inch curved red mark she saw just above her wife's protruding navel. Running her fingertip over it, she asked, "Arizona, what the hell is this?" Arizona lifted her head, looked down at her stomach to see what Callie was talking about and replied, "That is the reason I no longer feel save driving." Addison reached her hand out to push Callie out of her way and asked, "Is that from the steering wheel?" Arizona nodded and replied, "It's a burn from it rubbing against me, not a bruise." Addison raised her voice and argued, "It doesn't fucking matter! Arizona that's…" Callie cut her off and defended her wife, saying, "She already decided she wasn't driving anymore. Today was the first time she's driven in a while and didn't expect that." Addison snapped her mouth shut then looked at Arizona and said, "I'm sorry, I just worry." Arizona nodded and replied, "I know."

Addison picked up the gel, handed it to Callie and smiled when her friend took it and ran into the bathroom to warm it up. Maria stared at the bathroom door and exclaimed, "You've got to be kidding me." Addison shook her head and replied, "Nope, I just gave up at this point." Callie returned from the bathroom, squeezed a bit of gel on her hand, satisfied it wasn't too warm, she proceeded to apply it to Arizona's stomach. Addie then scooted closer and began moving the wand around, listening for each heartbeat. Starting with Arizona's left side, she smiled when the image of the first baby appeared and she heard a nice strong beat and declared, "There's Aggie." Maria crossed her arms over her chest and huffed at the stupid nickname. Callie and Arizona both sighed in relief. Moving on to the next one, Addison laughed and exclaimed, "Tulio is going to be your thumb sucker for sure." Both women laughed and once again felt relief wash over them as their son's heartbeat rang out loud and strong.

Moving the wand to Arizona's right side, Addison furrowed her brow when she could barely hear the heartbeat. Arizona asked, "Is the volume up?" Callie looked at both fetal surgeons and asked, "What? What's wrong?" Addie moved the wand around and a better image of their baby girl came into view. Arizona took a deep breath and suggested, "Talk to her Calliope." Callie looked at her wife, then bent down and softly cooed, "Hey baby girl. How's mama's rainbow baby today? Are your brother's squeezing you out?" While she was talking, the rest of the women were watching the monitor and as Arizona expected, their daughter started wiggling and moving around, giving Addison better access to her heart which began booming out through the speakers of the machine. Hearing this, Callie smiled and declared, "Aww you miss mama talking to you don't you? We need to have more chats. I promise I will read you a story tonight. How does that sound?" "Well I'll be damned." Maria said, awestruck as she watched all three babies squirm and turn toward Callie's voice. Addison laughed and declared, "I've never seen anything like it."

When they were all finished, Maria took the machine out of the room to give them all a little privacy, Addison sat across from Arizona and Callie on one of the chairs and stated, "We need to talk about when you plan to go part time." Arizona nodded, looked at Callie and then Addison and admitted, "I was going to talk to Callie about it this weekend. I'd like to try to make it to Christmas, take that week off to spend it with Sofia and our families, then go back part time beginning in January." Addison took out her calendar, looked at the dates and clarified, "So you'll work full time next week, pass off your cases to me or Max, take the following week off, and come back part-time doing research or lectures and the occasional consult, no surgeries, the first week of January." Arizona looked at Callie once again and asked, "Are you okay with that?" Callie took her hand, linked their fingers and replied, "I am perfectly fine with that. I was going to talk to you about taking the week of Christmas off too. So we agree on that part as well." Addison smiled and said, "That's pretty much what I was going to suggest. I know you're going to start getting fatigued much faster and being on your feet for long periods of time will make your legs and back start cramping up. You'll tell us when you're ready to stop all together right?" Arizona nodded and replied, "I will. I promise. I'm not going to push myself. I may work from home on paperwork or research just to keep my mind busy, but I'll let you know when I need to stop going in." Callie pulled her closer, kissed her cheek, and murmured, "Thank you. You gave us a scare today." Arizona nodded and replied, "I scared myself."

XXXX

After Addison left, Callie pulled Arizona into her lap once again and nuzzled her face in her neck breathing in the scent of vanilla and cherry blossom. Lifting her head, she caressed the soft alabaster cheek and whispered, "I am so proud of you." Arizona tilted her head in question and Callie explained, "I know it's not easy, none of what you did today was easy for you, admitting your fears, giving up your independence, cutting back your work schedule, but you did it. You did it for our family and that's exactly what I mean when I say you are an amazing mom. You do whatever you need to do to keep your family happy, to keep our children safe." Arizona shook her head and disagreed, "I came here and admitted my fears to you because you give me strength, you lessen those fears. For so long, I thought you would think I was weak if I told you my fears, but you lift me up, you make me feel stronger. You are right though, if not driving, if cutting back on work means our babies will stay safe and healthy, I'll make that choice every single time. It may have been hard for me at one time, but now, it's the most natural thing in the world." Callie smiled her brilliant mega-watt smile, and suggested, "How about I take you home and pamper you for the rest of the afternoon?" Arizona stood up and replied, "Well, that decision isn't hard at all. Yes, please."

A/N: I know, SUPER long. This was another one of those chapters that wrote itself. Spring break for me means extra reading for you. Thank you all for the great reviews. I'm glad you liked the last chapter. I threw a request in here from a reader, I went back to see who it was from, but of course, I couldn't find it. So to the reviewer who said they'd like to see Maria go on a Spanish rant about the baby names, that one was for you.

Throughout Arizona's pregnancy, she's been perky and happy, this chapter shows her being a tad more hormonal and expressing her fears and concerns a lot more. I know it may seem odd to some that at nearly twenty weeks she's showing so much that it may impede her driving but in my research, I've found that someone of Arizona's stature would look to be six and a half to seven months pregnant if carrying triplets. Also, sticking with real life just a little, I looked up pregnancy pictures of JC and her baby bumps are pretty big, she's mostly all baby. Aside from that, she's also considering her leg and her reaction time which makes her fears more pronounced.