Secret Santa Fic for pensco_927: She's My Wife 1/6
Title: She's My Wife (Secret Santa Fic for pensco_927)
Author: captstarbuck
Beta/Editor: Stacy d'Lacy (best beta on the planet)
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: T
Secret Santa Prompt: Callie and Arizona have reunited, but are dating slowly (still living apart while they get to know who they are now), and no one knows. What happens to their relationship when their friends at the hospital decide to get involved to make them move on with their lives? Rating: Author's preference
Disclaimers: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
AN for pensco_927: I lied and you know what I'm talking about. LOL
Chapter 1
It began, oddly enough, with an unsuccessful attempt at an extended olive branch three days before New Year's.
Callie hadn't meant to, but she couldn't help but overhear Alex and Jo by the nurses' station on the surgical floor, talking about Arizona. As far as the Latina knew, Jo wasn't altogether thrilled about having a roommate so it completely took her by surprise when the younger woman spoke with some empathy for Arizona. From everything she'd heard Callie had found out that Arizona had been drunk on Christmas Day - as in falling down drunk.
"You must be exaggerating," Callie said as she reached for a chart. "Arizona doesn't get drunk."
"Not that it's any of your business, but she was," Alex said harshly. "And it's your fault."
"Excuse me? She's a grown woman. She makes her own decisions. I have nothing to do with it."
"Yeah, right," Alex muttered. "You just had to have Sofia for Christmas morning. You couldn't share that moment with your wife?"
"Ex-wife," Callie corrected.
"Are you divorced?" he asked, his voice cold.
"No."
"Then she's still your wife. Whatever," Alex grumbled. "Point is, she's Sofia's mother too, and you denied her the moment of seeing her daughter open her Christmas presents from Santa Claus."
"She had Sofia Christmas Eve," Callie defended.
"Well it sucked for Robbins," Alex fired back. "I think it was a pretty asshat thing for you to do. Surely you could've put your differences aside for one freaking day for your daughter."
"I didn't want to confuse Sofia any more than she already is," Callie argued.
"Right. Whatever. You broke up with Arizona, and somehow you act like it's her fault." Alex slammed his chart shut. "I've got patients," he said, stomping off.
Jo had the good sense to look embarrassed by her boyfriend's words, but she also kind of agreed with him. She'd never expected to come home Christmas evening with Alex after a long shift to find Arizona completely wasted. The older woman had been slumped on the sofa, a nearly empty bottle of whiskey next to a pile of used tissues. The blonde had obviously been crying earlier as her cheeks were tear stained and her eyes red rimmed. She'd managed, with some prodding from Jo and Alex, to tell them about how devastated she was at not getting to spend Christmas morning with Sofia. Arizona had gone back and forth between ranting about Callie to bursting into tears when she mentioned Sofia's name.
The resident had been shocked to see Arizona in such a state. The older woman had always seemed so composed, so controlled and to find her drunk had Jo re-evaluating her opinion of her roommate. Seeing Arizona so shattered brought out a protective, empathetic side to Jo.
"He's tired and cranky," Jo apologized.
"But he's right," Callie said, surprising them both. "I'll see you later," the Ortho surgeon said as she set the chart down.
Callie's schedule was light on surgery and she'd already completed her rounds. She needed to think so she roamed the halls. She hadn't given it much thought when she insisted on having Sofia for Christmas day. Despite what Alex thought, her desire to have Sofia on Christmas wasn't about excluding Arizona or punishing her. Callie had just wanted one day where she could feel truly happy. Her career had been going well; better than well, actually. She was having real success with her veteran's project, but something was lacking in her personal life. Drinks with Meredith or Owen wasn't enough anymore. She thought for sure spending Christmas with Sofia all to herself would bring her some joy.
Christmas Day, however, hadn't turned out the way she'd expected. After her initial excitement of opening presents from Santa Claus, and playing with her new toys, Sofia had become cranky and kept asking for her Mama. To be honest, Callie missed Arizona as well. It hadn't really felt like Christmas without Arizona. This was supposed to be their first Christmas in their new home and it saddened Callie that her wife, ex-wife, wasn't there for any of it.
After putting her crying daughter to bed for a short nap before they'd have their dinner, Callie had sat down with a large glass of wine. Her feelings were all over the place. She missed Arizona, and she was angry with Arizona, too. If the blonde hadn't cheated, would they have gotten to this point? Could she ever get past the cheating?
She continued to walk through the halls of the hospital, lost in thought. Without even thinking about it, Callie found herself on the Peds floor. She didn't realize where she was until she saw Arizona standing by the nurses' station. Even though her ex-wife was still working on her fellowship in fetal surgery, the blonde still worked in Peds from time to time. Seeing Arizona gave Callie an idea.
"Hey," Callie said, walking up to Arizona.
"Callie," Arizona said tonelessly, not looking up.
"Can I talk to you?" Callie asked.
Sighing, Arizona set down the chart she was writing in and braced herself for whatever bad news Callie was about to deliver.
"Is it about Sofia?" Arizona asked back.
"Sort of, I guess."
Arizona folded her arms across her chest and faced Callie. She hated that she still felt a tugging at her heart whenever she saw her ex-wife. She'd tried to go on with her life, but the pain of their breakup was still so keenly felt that it nearly crippled her at times. It helped that they rarely saw each other, but every time Callie was in her presence, all the feelings she still had for her rushed to the surface.
"Do you have any plans for New Year's?" Callie asked.
"Why? Do you need a babysitter so you can go out?" Arizona snapped.
"Well, no," Callie replied. "I just thought you might want to spend it with Sofia and me."
"Oh," Arizona said in a small voice, instantly chagrined. She'd often accused Callie of jumping to the wrong conclusions and now here she was, doing the same thing.
"I was wrong to keep Sofia away from you on Christmas, and it was never my intention to shut you out. I wasn't thinking when I demanded that she spend it with me," Callie apologized in a rush of words.
Arizona was shocked and it took every bit of willpower she had to keep her mouth from dropping open. When she saw Callie approach her, this was the last thing she'd expected. Her arms fell to her sides as she lost her defensive posture.
"I think it would be a good thing if we started doing things like spending the big holidays together with Sofia. It isn't fair to her or either of us," Callie continued.
"Okay…" Arizona wasn't sure how to respond. Spending time together, the three of them as a family, and then have to leave at the end of the day would probably kill her. But maybe she could do it for Sofia? Could she do that?
"And I know it's not the same as Christmas, but I thought we could start with New Year's." Callie searched Arizona's face for some inkling of how the blonde felt. She wasn't surprised that Arizona's expression hadn't changed; her ex-wife had gone back to her old ways of hiding how she truly felt.
"So, what do you think?" Callie prodded. "I know it's short notice and all…" her voice trailed off.
"I'm sorry, Callie, but I can't." Seeing the obvious disappointment in Callie's face (and was that a hint of jealousy too?) and knowing how difficult it must have been for the Latina to even ask, Arizona put her hand on Callie's arm. She ignored the old familiar tingling that she got whenever she touched Callie and she ignored the slight tremble under her fingertips. "I'm working New Year's Eve and I'm on call the next day. I'll be here."
She couldn't help but notice the look of relief that crossed Callie's face. "But thank you for asking," she said, giving her estranged wife a smile.
The two women stared at one another, not sure what to say. Before the moment became too awkward they were saved by the sound of Callie's pager.
"I gotta go," Callie said, looking at the small device. "I'll talk to you later."
Arizona watched Callie walk away. She was baffled by their encounter, but still pleased that they'd been able to speak to one another without angry words or walking away in tears. Maybe this was the first step to them becoming friends. Arizona wasn't altogether happy with that thought; she still wasn't quite ready to accept they were completely over.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Ready to go surprise Mama?" Callie asked Sofia as she buckled the young girl into her car seat.
"Yes!" Sofia exclaimed excitedly. "We go see Mama!" She clapped her hands and kicked her feet.
Callie smiled at her daughter's obvious joy at getting to see her Mama. The Latina knew that most people would question why she taking a breakfast to Arizona at the hospital; even she wasn't sure why she was doing it. She could only rationalize her actions by telling herself that it was all for Sofia.
Once Sofia was settled, Callie set the large bag filled with all kinds of breakfast goodies for the three of them on the floor of the passenger seat. She'd fed Sofia a light snack to tide her over until they got to the hospital. There was no way she'd take Sofia anywhere if she was crabby from being hungry.
The drive to the hospital was quick as there wasn't much traffic this early on New Year's morning. After parking the car in the employee lot, Callie took out her phone and sent a text to Arizona.
C: Are you still at work?
A: Yes. Why?
C: Where are you?
A: My office. Is something wrong? Is Sofia okay?
C: Sofia is fine.
Callie dropped her phone into her purse and ignored the beep that was surely Arizona texting her back. She helped Sofia out of her car seat, grabbed the bag and soon mother and daughter were walking into the hospital. Stepping into the elevator, Callie picked Sofia up.
"Which number, Mommy?" Sofia asked as her small hand hovered over the buttons.
"Press the five."
Sofia's giggle as she pressed the button reminded Callie of Arizona. Even though Sofia was not biologically Arizona's, there were still little things that Sofia did that were totally Arizona.
"We see Mama soon?"
"We will. Very soon."
As they exited the elevator, Arizona was standing there, her phone in her hand. The woman was clearly exhausted from having worked a double shift. There was also a somewhat subdued panicked look on her face.
"Callie? Why didn't you answer? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
"We surprise you, Mama!" Sofia said, stretching her arms out for Arizona.
Arizona adroitly took Sofia from Callie's arms and hugged her. "Surprise me?"
"We brung you breakfast, Mama," Sofia said.
"Brought breakfast," Callie and Arizona said, correcting Sofia at the same time.
"Yes. We eat now?" Sofia asked. "I'm hungry."
"Callie, what's going on?" Arizona asked as she set Sofia down. Her daughter was getting too big for the tired blonde to carry around this morning. She'd been on her feet most of the night in back-to-back emergency surgeries and her leg was sore.
"Well, since you had to work, Sofia and I decided to bring you breakfast," she explained, holding the large bag up. "I even made a thermos of that French roast blend."
"Really?" Arizona asked, her eyes lighting up with the thought of her favorite coffee.
"I thought we could eat in the attendings' lounge," Callie suggested. "It's got a microwave and I need to reheat a few things."
"Sure, sounds good."
If Callie's invitation a few days ago had baffled Arizona, the dark haired woman's actions now had the blonde completely bewildered.
"Let's go, Mama," Sofia urged as she tugged on Arizona's hand.
Giving Callie a confused look over her shoulder, Arizona led Sofia down the nearly empty hallway to the attendings' lounge.
"Do you need me to help, Callie?" Arizona asked after helping Sofia into a chair.
"Nope. You just spend some time with Sofia. It won't take me long at all."
Sofia chattered away, telling her Mama about everything she'd down since she'd last seen her while Callie quickly unloaded the bag. Before she opened any of the containers she brought, she handed Arizona the thermos.
"I'm pretty sure it's still hot."
"Thank you, Callie."
Callie first opened the small containers of fruit and pastries then she set out three plates and three glasses along with silverware.
"I've got pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. I just need to heat them up in the microwave."
As she watched Callie place the food in the microwave, Arizona felt like she had stepped into an episode of the Twilight Zone. What Callie was doing was something she would've done if they were still together. It confused her and she didn't know what to think. It was by far the nicest thing Callie had done for her since they'd split up. She decided to stop questioning it for the time being and just enjoy it as a rare family moment.
The two women hardly spoke during their meal, both using Sofia as a buffer. By the time their plates were clear, they had finally fallen into an easy conversation, mostly about Sofia and work.
"Thank you, Callie. This was very considerate of you. It's been fun and I really appreciate getting the extra time with Sofia."
"I've had a good time, too, Arizona," Callie agreed as she picked up the dirty dishes and resealed the containers. "I was wondering…"
"What?" Arizona asked as she poured the last of her heavenly coffee into her mug.
"I think… I'd like… what do you think of doing this once or twice a week?"
"What? Breakfast?"
"Not exactly. Maybe we could all get together for dinner once a week, and then maybe spend a day a week doing something special with Sofia."
"I don't know, Callie." She took a sip of her coffee.
"I think if would be good for Sofia." Callie paused, then nervously said, "And us, too."
"I guess so. We'd have to do a better job of coordinating our schedules, but I guess we could do it."
"Great!" Callie said giving Arizona a warm smile. "Just let me know what your schedule is like and we'll have you over for dinner this week."
"I will." Arizona's pager began to beep. She glanced down at it. "Incoming trauma. I have to go," she said getting up from the table. "Thank you so much, Callie."
"You're welcome. Now go."
Arizona gave Sofia a quick kiss on the top of her head and left the room.
Callie watched Arizona hurry from the room. It took only a few seconds before Callie felt the blonde's absence. It had taken a little while, but they'd finally felt comfortable enough around one another to relax. It made Callie feel sad and happy at the same time; sad because she realized what they'd lost and happy because not everything between them had disappeared.