Sunday, December 25, 2016, 5:30 AM

It was another restless night for Arizona. After they'd come back home, it had been all kinds of awkward for them, moreso after Sofia had finally gone to sleep. They both had avoided talking about the kiss, or anything else for that matter, while putting out the presents and filling Sofia's stocking. Arizona had politely declined Callie's suggestion of a glass of wine before bed. She could see the questions in Callie's eyes, and didn't want to talk. Not yet. Not until she knew what it all meant.

After three attempts to go back to sleep, she finally threw in the towel and got up. She cleaned up and put her robe over her new Christmas pajamas. Before she left the room, she stopped at her dresser and opened up her jewelry box. She picked up her own heart necklace and held it for a moment. Maybe it can bring me a little Christmas magic, she thought, not knowing that Callie had thought the same thing.

She tiptoed into the hallway and paused by Sofia's bedroom door that was ajar. She listened for any signs that she might be awake, but all she heard were soft snores coming from her daughter. Sofia was like her Mama; she loved her sleep, even on Christmas morning. She supposed staying up very late last night might have had something to do with that today.

As quietly as she could, so as not to disturb Sofia or Callie, Arizona made her way downstairs to the kitchen, only stopping to turn on the Christmas tree lights. As she waited for the coffee to brew, she thought that maybe sitting in the semi-darkness with a cup of coffee would give her some perspective on what she was feeling.

"Good morning," Callie said as she entered the kitchen a short time later.. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Arizona said back, not turning around as she kept an eye on the coffee pot. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No. I was already awake." Callie stepped behind Arizona and opened the cupboard. She felt Arizona stiffen in front of her and she sighed in disappointment. "So, are we gonna talk about it?" she asked as she took out a coffee mug.

"You kissed me," Arizona blurted, still unable to look at Callie.

"I did. And you kissed me."

"Why did you kiss me?" Arizona asked, finally turning around.

"Why did you kiss me?"

"I, uh, you kissed me first," she deflected.

Callie's gaze drifted downward for a moment and that was when she spotted the gold heart necklace around Arizona's neck. "You're wearing your necklace."

"You're wearing yours."

They stood in silence in their matching pajamas for what seemed like hours to Callie. She finally broke the silence. "Can we talk?" she asked, gesturing to the kitchen table where they could sit. Arizona nodded and complied with Callie's request.

"So…. you wanted to talk," Arizona said as Callie sipped her coffee.

"Yeah, I do."

"Callie, I'm confused. I don't know what this all means," she said suddenly.

"What do you want it to mean?"

"What do you want?" Arizona asked. "Are we just going to be friends or maybe just co-parents who happened to work with each other?" Arizona voiced her fears.

"No, I don't want that, and I hope you don't either."

"What do you want?" Arizona repeated timidly, afraid that Callie didn't want the same thing.

"You. Us." Callie's voice was sure. She'd spent most of the night thinking about it. It was now or never to lay it all on the table. "Do you want that, too, Arizona?"

"I do, but can we? Really?"

"We did it all wrong." Callie sighed. "Again." She couldn't help but recall Arizona's words to her when she gave her the plane tickets. "We had the chance to do it right, and didn't. This time, we can do it right. Sofia deserves to be happy with two happy moms. I'm saying let's all be happy together."

"I want to, Callie, but so much has happened, so much has changed."

"Of course a lot has changed, Arizona. We've both changed. We're older. Life changes you. But at the core of it, what I feel for you, the love I have for you, hasn't changed."

"I love you, too," Arizona admitted.

"We can do this, Arizona," Callie said earnestly, reaching across the table and taking Arizona's hand.

Arizona laced her fingers with Callie's. "We can't jump right into this. We need to take it slowly and we need to talk."

"Taking it slowly should be easy when I'm across the freaking country for who knows how long."

"I'm serious, Callie. Our time in therapy taught me that we were always skipping steps before and we were terrible at communicating. If we're going to do this again, we need to do better all around."

Callie nodded in agreement. "We do, and we will."

Upstairs, Sofia awoke with a start. She instantly remembered it was Christmas and she flew out of bed. She stopped in the hallway, knowing she wasn't allowed to go downstairs to see if Santa Claus had come unless her Mommy was up. Seeing Arizona's bedroom door opened, she smiled happily.

"Did he come? Did he come?" she shouted as she raced down the stairs.

"Merry Christmas, Sofia!" Arizona called out from the kitchen.

Despite wanting to check out her stocking and presents under the tree first, Sofia ran into the kitchen. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, Sofia," Callie said, sweeping her into a big hug.

"Did he come? Did Santa come?" Sofia repeated Arizona as she hugged her as well.

"I don't know. I think he did," Arizona teased. "Do you want to go see?"

"Yes!"

Sofia ran to the living room. Callie moved closer to Arizona and took her hand, then kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you for this. Being with her, with you, for Christmas, it's… it's everything. It's what I always envisioned for us when I thought about the future."

"You're welcome, Calliope." She returned the kiss and gave Callie's hand a squeeze before letting go. "Let's go see our daughter open her presents from Santa."

Sofia was sitting on the sofa with a hand in her Christmas stocking. She took the candy cane from her mouth with her other hand. "He came!"

"He did," Arizona said, sitting down on one side of her, Callie on the other side.

For the next fifteen minutes they sat and watched Sofia take every trinket, toy and piece of candy out of the stocking, one by one. Each was accompanied by Sofia exclaiming it was her "favorite" or "just what she wanted".

"I need more coffee," Callie said as she stood up. "Do you want a refill?"

"Yes, thank you, Callie."

"Can we open presents now?" Sofia asked after putting everything back in her stocking. She was perched on the edge of the couch, impatiently waiting to run to the presents under the tree.

"Let Mama get the coffee first."

Sofia huffed once, and she reminded Arizona so much of Callie at that moment that she had to laugh. "Patience, Sofia. You are just like your Mama."

"Really?" Sofia grinned at the thought of being like her Mama.

"Yes."

"You're like Mommy, too," Callie said, handing Arizona her mug back full of steaming, hot coffee.

"Thank you, Callie" She set it on a coaster. "Okay, you can open your presents now."

Sofia hopped down from the couch and dashed across the room to the Christmas tree and the presents underneath.

Both Callie and Arizona shared in the joy of watching their daughter open her presents from Santa Claus and from them. They only had to gently remind Sofia to slow down a few times. It didn't take long for Sofia to end up sitting in a pile of presents and wrapping paper.

"Sofia, would you hand Mama that present under the tree, the one with the red wrapping paper?" Arizona asked.

"Wait, what's that?" Callie asked as Sofia reached under the tree.

"Sofia and I got you something for Christmas," Arizona explained.

"Well, wait, because I got you something." Callie got up and plucked a green envelope hidden in the back of the tree. "This is for you," she said, handing the envelope to Arizona.

Sofia sat on the floor in front of them while the two women opened their gifts. Callie opened hers first and a wide smile crossed her face. "You remembered," she exclaimed, holding the bottle up.

"I did. I hope you still wear it," Arizona commented a little nervously.

"I stopped wearing it years ago." Left unsaid that she stopped when they'd divorced.

"Oh. I can always exchange it."

"No, don't you dare. I've missed wearing it." She nudged Arizona with her elbow. 'Open yours."

Arizona carefully opened the envelope, then took a moment to read the piece of paper. "Oh, this is great, Callie! Coffee of the month club. I love it!"

"Well, I know how you love your coffee."

"I do, I do." She set the envelope aside, "Would you give me a hand with the wrapping paper, Callie? I'd like to clean up before fixing breakfast."

"Sure."

They put Sofia in charge of collecting all the bows because, of course, Arizona saved them to reuse. They gathered up the torn wrapping paper and carried it out to the garage.

"So, I need your help," Arizona said.

"With what?"

"Santa left one of Sofia's presents out here."

"What did you do, Arizona?"

Arizona stepped to the other side of the car out of view, then returned, wheeling a shiny new bike with a matching helmet dangling from the handlebars.

"You got her a bike?"

"Santa got Sofia a bike," Arizona corrected.

"You know how I feel about bikes. They're dangerous. And she's too young."

"It has training wheels, Callie. She won't ride without them until she's older, and she has to always wear a helmet."

"I don't know."

"Think how much fun it'll be for you to go for rides with her when you move back here." Caliie remained silent. "We can get you your own shiny new bike."

"I don't know how to ride a bike," Callie blurted. "I never learned."

"Really?" Callie nodded in embarrassment. "Well, we'll get you a nice safe bike to learn on."

"Not one of those stupid old people oversized tricycles."

"We won't." She pushed the bike over to Callie. "C'mon. Let's get this inside to Sofia. It's cold out here."

"Fine," Callie grumbled.

"Sofia!" Arizona called out when she opened the door. "Santa left a present for you in the garage."

"He did?" Sofia dropped the toy she'd been playing with and ran to her mothers. "What is it?"

Callie wheeled the bicycle into the house and Arizona handed Sofia the helmet. "He left you a bike!"

"A bike? I got a bike for Christmas? Yes!" She clapped her hands and grabbed hold of the handlebars. "I got a bike!"

"You did."

Grinning, Sofia pushed the bike further into the house. For a few minutes, Sofia couldn't contain her happiness with her present, but then her smile quickly disappeared.

"What's the matter, Sofia?" Arizona asked. "Don't you like your bicycle?"

"I can't take it back to New York with me," she said, a tear beginning to fall.

"Sofia, come here," Callie said, enveloping her in a hug. "We have an idea for that."

"What?"

Taking her hand, Callie led Sofia over to the couch and they sat down, Arizona joining them. "What do you think about staying here with Mommy after Christmas? You could go to school with Zola, and play with her and Bailey, and ride your bike."

"Can I?" Sofia looked from her Mama and then to her Mommy.

"Yes."

"But what about you, Mama? Are you staying too?"

"I have to go back to work, but then I'm gonna move back here to Seattle, too."

"You are? We are?"

"Uh huh," Callie nodded.

"Like a family? We'll be a family?"

"We will," Arizona said as she looked pointedly at Callie.

"The elf said I wouldn't get my wish, but I did! I got my family back!" She hugged both her mommies. "This is the best Christmas ever!"

Callie and Arizona shared a look over the top of Sofia's head at one another. They had to agree. It was the best Christmas ever.