A/N: School starts on Monday bringing this lovely summer to an end… So, I thought I might as well bless you guys with one more chapter before I go MIA, I thought I'll write a chapter in the limited time I have. Thank you so much for respecting my decision with the baby, while I thought a lot of people might not agree with it, but most of yall did. Actually, one of you got it spot on for what I was going on and I hope this chapter makes it more evident.

Chapter 25

The two of them just sat there in silence not knowing what to do or what to say to put the other's mind at ease, so they chose silence. Callie mindlessly drove to Arizona's house, the same house she was at about six months ago. Her mind was… well her mind was nowhere but on the road in front of her. She wanted to reach her hand out to gently stroke the blonde's fingers, her thigh any piece of her skin, but she refrained. Last time she tried to comfort her, Arizona took off with her car leaving her in the dirt.

The brunette had texted Barbara to let her know that the procedure was done and that the doctor had discharged her daughter and that she was bringing her back home.

She pulled into the drive way before shutting off the engine. She hopped out of the car and went to the other side to help out the blonde. It wasn't that she couldn't get out by herself but she looked to be in a bit of pain.

"Thanks…" She whispered.

Just as she was about to leave Callie's embrace, the brunette pulled her into her arms and hugged her tightly.

"We are in this together, okay?" Callie whispered softly in her ear. "I want to be there for you, I wish I could take away all the pain, to make it all go away." She felt the blonde nodding into her arms and felt the side of her shirt getting wet with all her tears. "We'll get through this."

She pulled away before tucking the messy blonde hair behind her ear. Callie then went to the back and grabbed the blonde's bag before guiding her through her house.

"Girls? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Barbara."

The older blonde woman came running into the living room.

"You're here early, would any of you like some lunch?"

"I don't think-"

"Non-sense! When was the last time you two ate? I'll be done in ten minutes, why don't you guys set up the table?"

"Really Barbara, its fine-"

"Never say no to food Callie! I expected better from you," she scolded her.

"Fine."

She silently led Arizona to one of the couches before seating her down.

"I'll help set up the table…"

"I'm not hungry Calliope, I think I'll skip and just go to bed, I feel tired."

"You heard your mom, a bit of food in your belly would be good for you. The doctor warned us about this, excessive fatigue, loss of appetite for the first two-three days. I say, we take a look at what's for lunch and if nothing sounds good to you, I can get you those chips you really like and some Mountain Dew?"

Just as Callie was about to go to the kitchen, the blonde pulled her in by her hand and dragged her down to the couch to sit beside her. She gently opened the brunette's arms before snuggling in.

"How are you doing?" Arizona asked.

"What?"

"I got so self-absorbed with my pain, I forgot to ask about you."

Callie smiled. "You're in pain right now, you don't need to check up on me."

"I know I don't have to, but I want to. Last time, ummm with my dad, I just shut down and I ran away. Calliope, I drove until I ran out of fuel, then I walked till I no longer could. Tim called the cops and they brought me home."

"B!"

"Tim, he rejoined the Marines-"

"He told me to get my shit together because he wanted to be the selfish one for a while, he wanted to do something with his life other than sit at home. He told me that civilian life wasn't for him."

Callie brushed her fingers across her cheek, as a way to reassure her.

"We haven't spoken since then."

"Does he know about the… ummm…"

"No, he left before I found out."

Just then the two of them heard a loud sound coming from down the hall.

"You stay here, I'll go check it out."

Callie got up from her seat and went in the general direction of the sound. She wasn't sure if someone had dropped something, or someone was trying to break into the Robbins household. She thought about how she would need a bat or a like a heavy frying pan or something but it was too late. She felt for her phone in her pocket, maybe she could call 9-1-1 before taking Arizona to safety.

But what she saw, was something that she hadn't imagined. She saw Barbara on the floor trying to dissemble a tiny white cradle. Wordlessly Callie stepped up and bragged the screwdriver off the floor and got to work.

"You would think that it would be easier to take this thing apart than to put it together but nope. I have been trying all day and it finally almost falls on my face."

Callie carefully unscrewed the side before gently placing it on the floor beside her.

"You're good for her Callie."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, she wanted to tell you, you know. But she just, it was always one thing after the other. With Daniel being gone and Tim, well… she wanted to tell you."

"Here," she handed her the last of the wooden piece before putting the screwdriver back and closing the case.

"How's she doing?"

"She's… coping."

"And how are you?"

"I'm… also coping."

The older blonde woman took a few steps towards the Latina before embracing her. "I have one of my children overseas, lord knows where on which port, while the other one almost went missing for two whole days and now going through the roughest patch of her life, something that I as her mother have never gone though, never experienced. So, help me lord that I won't let any other one of mine fall apart."

"Other one?"

"You are one of my own now Callie, so please talk to someone talk to me." Barbara requested.

The Latina sighed before rubbing her temples. "I come from money. Before my dad almost crumbled his empire and lost all of our fortune, we were rich. I always had the prettiest clothes, best care, anything I wanted, my abuela would get it for me. I had hardships in my life, several of them. I don't know how much Arizona shared with you, about me having-"

"I know."

"I was born different and my dad didn't like it, he was ready to spend all the money on making me normal, but my abuela didn't want it. She said that I was nature's gift and not an abomination. That if someone wanted to change me, it should be me who made the decision, which further drifted my dad and I apart, it was the one thing that he couldn't do with his money, so he drank himself. When I got older and I inherited the dying business and drying up bank accounts, I worked hard to get the business back up. I put my dad in the best rehab facility I could find till he tried to escape and then I'd find him another one and so on it went. I'm used to looking up things, doing my research, putting my money where my mouth is… but even with everything I am, everything I have, I couldn't save my own baby."

"Oh dear, it's not your fault-"

"Jaime, that's what we named him… I held Arizona in my arms as she held him. You saw him. He never even opened his eyes, he was just breathing, fighting to breath and all the time I kept on hoping for a miracle, praying for one. But Jaime, he held onto my finger as if he knew who I was… we watched him, we watched his chest move until it wasn't anymore." Callie reached up to wipe away a tear. "Arizona put this little binky in his mouth, the one with the frog and he couldn't even completely close his mouth around it, it kept falling out, or he kept spitting it out. He was so tiny, maybe a little bigger than my palm. I couldn't save-"

"Calliope?" They heard the blonde calling out from the living room.

"I should go check out what she wants," Callie said but just as she was about to step out Barbara stopped her.

"Take a second."

"What?"

"I know you want to be there for her, but you need to take a second, you need to feel your pain before you can help her. That's the thing about Pumpkin, she feels too much, which is why she closes herself up, she pretends that it doesn't bother her or that she's invincible, but she feels too much. Now I may not know you as well as I know my other children, but I want you to take a second to yourself, to find some space within yourself to mourn Jaime."

Callie nodded as Barbara gently patted her back. "Thank you…"

"Besides, I'm her mother, her special chips are in the pantry and the Mountain Dew is already in the fridge. I got some fresh strawberries from our farm. I can make a mean milkshake if the soup makes you feel too sad."

Callie smiled before nodding her head.

"I'll check up on her, you on the other hand, why don't you go wash up? Take a shower, I'll go get you a fresh change of clothes, you have been in this suit for over a day now, I bet it doesn't feel good."

Once again, the brunette smiled before making her way to the showers. She gently stripped out of her clothes. They had the hospital smell on them, she put them aside to a corner before stepping into the hot shower. She took some shampoo from the shelved before squeezing some into her palms. She lathered the shampoo before gently massaging it into her hair, trying to elevate some of the pain. Even though most of it was in her heart, she could tell that a mean headache was on it its way. When she stepped out of the shower, she saw that Barbara had laid out a fresh towel for her along with a set of pajamas that she wore the last time she was here. She wondered why Barbara hadn't gotten rid of them.

The Latina tried to get control over her hair but without a blow-dryer or some gel it wasn't going to be tamed, so she slicked the top part of her hair back away from her eyes. She then made her way outside to find the blonde in the same position as she left her but now, she had a blanket on her and a hot water bag on her lap.

Callie took notice of her, she didn't look upset, just distraught.

"Oh, good you showered."

"Hmmm, yeah."

Barbara came by with a tray in her hands. "I thought about setting the table, but it seems like a 'sit on the couch with snacks' kind of night. Here, I even made some fried chicken." Callie graciously excepted the tray before putting it down and taking a seat on the couch.

"Disney plus?" Callie asked as she took the remote in her hands.

"You know it."

The Latina didn't know what was going to happen to them, but she knew that it would be okay, that they would be okay. She put the blanket on her feet as she cuddled closer to the blonde. Arizona immediately tucked her head in the crook of her neck pulling herself closer to the warm body. The blonde didn't know if they were together, that it Callie would leave, that this would get too much for her, but losing her baby had taught her how unpredictable everything actually was. So, she decided instead of thinking too much about what could happen, she was going to focus on the present. But when she closed her eyes, she saw the tiny clenched fists, a little white cap that barely fit on the almost bald head. She saw a pale skin that wasn't even pinking up.

She felt her eyes filling up with tears as the memories of their baby filled her mind, she then felt a hand drawing soothing circles on her shoulder. The blonde looked up to find the mother of her child looking down at her as if she made the earth revolve around the sun, before those lips spoke.

"B?"

"Yeah…" she whispered as a shaky breath left her.

"I think… I might be fall- I…"

"Hmm?"

"I'll go get some popcorn," she said as she extracted herself from her embrace and went to the kitchen.

A/N: So… I thought I would leave you guys with a cute chapter with very little drama as possible… but then my inner demon got the best of me towards the end. I'm pretty sure all of you all know what Callie was going to say.

Yes, Guest called it right. I was going for the whole 'Money can't buy you everything' aspect for Callie. To show her that even though she practically owns Seattle, when her baby needed her, she couldn't help out. Also, calzonabubble, yes I wanted to go for the Japril vibe without going for the Japril storyline. I did not want to give the baby the same disease and just add a touch of my own, but yes, that is what I was going for.