Wiped Clean 3 / 3
Title: Wiped Clean 3/3
Author: neolithicdream
Beta: propgirl1
Pairing/Character: Calzona
Rating: PG-13
Summary: This is just a prequel to a post Season 9 story I wrote called "Forgive, forget, forever" It's probably best ( if not essential) to read that before this as most of what this prequel contains is hinted at or best explained in the original story. The original story is set 10 years after the end of Season 9 , this first prequel ( there is a possibility of another shorter one to follow) is set about 2 years after the finale.
A/N: And yes, I totally and shamelessly stole a line from 'The Fosters'.
"Clean slate?" Arizona rasped out again, shaking Callie from her reverie.
She nodded, smiling now, then shook her head,but still smiling.
Arizona would have ribbed her about mixed messages if she hadn't been in such agony.
"Our baby, our son is going to be born any minute now and..."
The somewhat disembodied voice of their midwife was heard to utter. "Uhm...Give or take an hour or two."
Arizona again pulled the gas and air mask from her face just long enough to say to Callie "I prefer your timeline to hers!"
Callie laughed before continuing. "... but I don't want him growing up in a house where his Mama is walking on eggshells, afraid that his Mami will throw her out if she does something wrong and..."
"It's not like that, Callie...I mean it's only sometimes I..."
"I don't want a Stepford wife Arizona and you don't want to be one! You never used to be afraid to speak your mind, to call me out on my crap....and I want that back."
Removing her mask to speak, Arizona was again cut off by Callie, "I want a marriage of equals, Arizona. We are equals, we need to be even...so yeah, before our baby arrives....we have to wipe the slate clean, both of us. All mistakes gone, forgiven, forgotten. No last chances, just a clean slate, for both of us." Callie took the opportunity to breathe and awaited a reply. A reply that was delayed by a scream, a push, a deep inhalation and a slow controlled exhale.
"Mother of God! I swear this baby is trying to kill me!" Arizona yelled out before nodding slowly, a broad smile threatening to take over her face, "Clean slate."
Callie smiled back, nodding again "And forgetness is totally a word."
~~~~~~~
An hour later and Arizona was finally fully dilated and in, what they both hoped, the final stage of her labour. It had been 16 hours since they had arrived at the Hospital. Their ObGyn, Dr.Murphy, had been in and out, happy to leave matters in the hands of Mary, the most experienced and best midwife in GSMH. Things had progressed without complications, mother and baby doing well, even if mother was a wee bit impatient.
"Murphy! Why is this taking so long?" Speaking in coherent sentences was becoming almost impossible now, that one sentence had to be gasped out in three different chunks.
"You're having a perfectly normal labour, Arizona!" He smiled at his aggravated patient.
"NO! My mother had two babies Murphy and she wasn't in labour for 16 hours in total! Timothy's lasted seven hours, and I was nearly born in the Hospital Car park I arrived so quick so no, for a Robbins this is not normal!"
"Well.." He answered benevolently "... This baby may be a little early, but he's not small. Probably just as well he's early otherwise a natural birth would have been very tough! "he finished with a smile and a wink. She was his esteemed colleague and, as a Board member, effectively his Boss too but they got on well. Well enough for him to know that his implication that her labour wasn't tough would drive her crazy now and that he'd pay later. He took his leave of her, laughing as she glared fiercely at his retreating back.
A thought occurred to her as he left, one she was quick to vocalize, "This is all your fault!"
Callie was taken aback. Since their clean slate chat there had been little conversation as they slipped into a routine of moans, groans, back rubs, ' I love you's , 'You're doing great's' and tears.
"What?" She asked her apparently angry wife.
"What did you weigh at birth?"
"Uhm...?" Callie answered the seemingly random question I think my Mama said I was nine pounds three? I know Aria was bigger, she was almost a ten pounder. Mama used to joke she was in labour with her for a day and a half and..." She stopped in her tracks at the sheer venomous look Arizona was giving her.
"This is all your fault!" Arizona repeated. "This is a Torres baby, a big Godzilla sized baby!"
"Hey!" Callie said somewhat indignantly before remembering the abuse she'd heard from the other birthing suites earlier. If Arizona had lost her fear of insulting her, that could only be a good thing.
"Robbins babies are small and cute and perfectly formed and they practically pop out, but, No, I had to use your egg so this is a Torres and he's a beast....oh my GOD!"
When she'd stopped screaming Callie kissed her cheek and whispered,"okay, next time we'll have a Robbins baby."
It didn't placate Arizona, not one bit, "... Not fair, next time you're the pregnant one, why should you have a nice easy time!"
~~~~~~
Arizona was pushing hard now, Mary encouraging every push, Callie holding her hand, whispering encouragement constantly. It wasn't going to be long now. Soon their little family was going to grow in size. They would have a son. Sofia would have her much demanded baby brother, just like her pal Zola. A baby brother called Michael Timothy Charles Torres. Arizona insisted that he should have just as many names as his sister. She insisted too that the last name should be the same.
And they were doing it with a clean slate, it was a new beginning.
That was when it hit Calliope Iphigenia Torres like a bolt out of the blue. And once it had Callie saw no need to keep it to herself. Could not keep it to herself. Had to act on it immediately.
"Marry me!"
Mary, positioned between Arizona's thighs, raised her head in surprise. Then,with a wry smile, went back to monitoring the foetal heartbeat. It wasn't the first proposal she'd heard within these walls, and wouldn't be the last.
Arizona's reaction was somewhat stronger. Tearing the mask from her face she blurted out "Whaaat?" before replacing the mask quickly and taking several quick deep gulps and pushing as hard and or as long as she could. The pain was unimaginable, the pressure to push unbearable; she was beyond exhausted and her wife had seemingly just lost her mind.
"Marry me." Callie repeats, if anything more self - assured this time. "I mean I know we are married already, in our hearts but it wasn't legal back then in Washington so really according to the law we are just Domestic Partners, right?"
Arizona practically tore her mask of this time "Do you really think this is an ..." .she grunted loud as the urge to push outweighed the urge to talk "... appropriate time to...aaaaagggghhhhhhh." Callie thought her wife sounded really furious, but it was hard to tell what with all the screaming and groaning and grunting and what not so Callie ploughed on regardless.
"Yes, yes, I do! You proposed to me in the middle of an argument and the next minute we hit a truck so yes, I'm proposing now."
Arizona looked...? Amazed, confused? Annoyed or maybe just dazed and befuddled. Somehow between all the pushing and the pain and the terror of this whole giving birth thing that was happening right now too, somehow, still, Callie had her attention. Not undivided but Callie took what she could get and went on.
"I love you and you love me and nothing is going to change that, not now but..." She paused to take a breath and to allow Arizona to push "... I want the whole world to recognize that you are my wife and ...and we can do that now, here in Washington..and even the Supreme Court agrees and...I filled out the forms when we came in earlier and.... you are my wife but I had to tick the box that says Domestic Partner and...I don't want to tick the box that's says domestic partner, I want to tick the box that says wife."
She wasn't aware of it but she was crying now, "I want to walk through airports with you as my wife, go on holidays with you as my wife. Wait for my wife to come home after a long shift at the hospital."
She nodded to herself as the words came to her " Our wedding was the happiest day of my life and I would marry you every day if I could but I want the world to know that I choose you as my wife now, today and every day..."
Arizona forgot to breathe. Actually forgot. Until a shot of pain hit her, "Owwwwwwaaaahhhhh....."
"Arizona, I need your full attention now, I need you to push for as long and as hard as you can, we're nearly there..." Mary spoke encouragingly even as she shot Callie a look that said 'enough."
Not long after Mary was telling her not to push as she needed to check on how the baby was, and in what felt like both seconds and a lifetime later, the baby was crowning.
"Dr.Torres do you want to see..."
Callie had never been drawn to Obstetrics/Gynaecology. For her it had always been a toss up between Ortho and Neurology with Cardio a distant third. In fact ObGyn ranked only behind Psych and Dermatology as her least favorite rotations as a Resident. Still she had done her Rotation, had assisted at births; had seen her share but right now, this here, watching her son being born, her and Arizona's child, she was not a Doctor.
She was a parent; terrified and awe-struck, a quivering incoherent mess.
"One final push, Arizona.... yes, what a beautiful baby boy!" Mary exclaimed. Hundreds, no thousands of time she'd seen this and, yet, every time, those first few seconds were still terrifying and awesome. Her skilled hands worked quickly, clearing the mucus from his airways, that familiar first wail soon filling up the room. His two Mothers own crying joined in almost immediately. She placed the still wet, slimy, traumatized infant on Arizona's abdomen, covering him with a warming blanket as she did and sat back and watched.
The little family, the wailing newborn soothing almost instantly at the touch of his Mama's skin, the two mothers, both rendered speechless, tears streaming down the tired blondes cheeks, loud sobs erupting from the emotional brunette.
The miracle of childbirth. It was Mary's bread and butter, her day job, it paid her Mortgage, provided her family with good insurance. It was just how she earned her living. Some people were plumbers, others were Architects. Some met deadlines, she delivered babies.
As she watched the little family interact with its latest member she couldn't help but think that, all in all, there were worse ways to earn a living.
~~~~~~
Arizona had managed, with help, to have a shower. It had helped to make her feel almost human. Feeling fresh and clean, the euphoria of holding him, of that first tentative breast feed had quickly been replaced by exhaustion.
Now several hours of sleep later, she felt almost human. But also on edge. Callie had gone home, at her insistence, and had promised to be back with Sofia. Laying there in her Hospital bed, head tilted to the side keeping a watchful eye on the sleeping bundle in the crib beside her, she wanted to see her other baby, her Baby Girl.
Sofia was old enough now to protest when Arizona called her that, "Mama, no! I'm all growed up now, I'm not a baby no more, I go to big school and everything."
But she would always be her baby girl, Arizona knew that. The thought of her baby girl, so big , five at her last birthday, growing up and the thought of her baby boy, now almost nine hours old, growing up too suddenly hit her like a truck. Her lip began to quiver, a solitary tear ran down her cheek just as the door flung open and an exited Sofia bounded in "Mama!"
"Honey? What's wrong?" And "Sofia, shhh..you'll wake him up and don't leap on your Mama!" Callie whispered altogether.
"Nothing I'm just...." Arizona tried to explain before she smothered Sofia in kisses. The next few minutes were taken up by Sofia's oohing and aahing over her baby brother and the two women mostly stayed silent, taking it all in.
Photos were taken, of the baby, of the baby and Sofia; of the baby and Arizona, of the baby and Callie, of all four of them. Taken and sent to Grandpa Dan and Grandma Baba and to Abuelo Carlos. To friends in LA and Baltimore and Virginia and beyond.
Later, after another breastfeed, one very contented and much photographed baby fell asleep. Sofia's incessant questioning too had taken its toll on their little girl :-
Why is he so small?
Did you feed me like that too Mama?
No way was I smaller than him, was I Mami?
What else does he do apart from sleep?
Why is he crying now??
Mama, your tummy is still really big? Is there another baby in there?
Now she was cuddled tight against Arizona, snoring lightly.
Callie sat in the chair facing her, her right hand lightly holding Arizona's left, her very bruised left hand rested lightly on Michael's tummy, undulating slightly with every tiny breath he took.
They smiled at each other.
They'd made it through the storm and they both knew it.
"I didn't know it was possible to be so very happy."
Callie just nodded, leaned in for a kiss and said "I know, me neither. You know you should try to sleep, before he wakes up and demands to be fed again."
Arizona smiled but then remembered and frowned slightly, she chewed lightly on her lip, looking nervous.
The action did not go unnoticed, "Arizona?"
"Did you mean what you said earlier?"
Callie's heart sank just a little. Did Arizona not believe her about the slate being wiped lean? Did they still have work to do?
When she didn't get an answer Arizona elaborated, chewing furiously on her lip as soon as the words were out, "You asked me to...you said we should get married....again...?"
"Oh...I mean... yes..." Callie answered in relief but then unable to read her wife's face, she tamped down her enthusiasm immediately , "... but that's okay if you don't want to or if you thinks its a stupid idea...or..."
Arizona responded, "...yes", so much emotion twirling around her she didn't trust herself with anything more than the barest whisper.
Callie lost in her own worry didn't hear her.
" ...I mean we'd just go down to the courthouse, I wont make you get into a big fluffy dresses and dance down the aisle again...but if you don't want to do that right now it's fine...it's..."
Arizona, a little louder, repeated herself, "Callie, yes."
But Callie couldn't hear her, her own thoughts thundering in her brain, drowning out every other sound, they could always do that at some point in the future, right? If Arizona didn't want it now, that was fine, wasn't it? Or was it?
"... but I don't see what the problem is, I mean why don't you want to be my wife, legally? Cause I don't get it, why don't you want to get..."
Arizona nearly yelled at her, "Yes Calliope, I'll marry you, yes!"
At the sudden increase in volume baby Michael jumped in fright, whined but then fell back to sleep, Sofia, too, groaned loudly in rebuke but then settled back into slumber.
Callie's mouth dropped open, "Yes?"
Arizona smiled back, a smile that wondered how her answer could ever be in doubt, "Yes.'
Callie just beamed at her, Arizona beamed back.
The End.
Author: neolithicdream
Beta: propgirl1
Pairing/Character: Calzona
Rating: PG-13
Summary: This is just a prequel to a post Season 9 story I wrote called "Forgive, forget, forever" It's probably best ( if not essential) to read that before this as most of what this prequel contains is hinted at or best explained in the original story. The original story is set 10 years after the end of Season 9 , this first prequel ( there is a possibility of another shorter one to follow) is set about 2 years after the finale.
A/N: And yes, I totally and shamelessly stole a line from 'The Fosters'.
"Clean slate?" Arizona rasped out again, shaking Callie from her reverie.
She nodded, smiling now, then shook her head,but still smiling.
Arizona would have ribbed her about mixed messages if she hadn't been in such agony.
"Our baby, our son is going to be born any minute now and..."
The somewhat disembodied voice of their midwife was heard to utter. "Uhm...Give or take an hour or two."
Arizona again pulled the gas and air mask from her face just long enough to say to Callie "I prefer your timeline to hers!"
Callie laughed before continuing. "... but I don't want him growing up in a house where his Mama is walking on eggshells, afraid that his Mami will throw her out if she does something wrong and..."
"It's not like that, Callie...I mean it's only sometimes I..."
"I don't want a Stepford wife Arizona and you don't want to be one! You never used to be afraid to speak your mind, to call me out on my crap....and I want that back."
Removing her mask to speak, Arizona was again cut off by Callie, "I want a marriage of equals, Arizona. We are equals, we need to be even...so yeah, before our baby arrives....we have to wipe the slate clean, both of us. All mistakes gone, forgiven, forgotten. No last chances, just a clean slate, for both of us." Callie took the opportunity to breathe and awaited a reply. A reply that was delayed by a scream, a push, a deep inhalation and a slow controlled exhale.
"Mother of God! I swear this baby is trying to kill me!" Arizona yelled out before nodding slowly, a broad smile threatening to take over her face, "Clean slate."
Callie smiled back, nodding again "And forgetness is totally a word."
~~~~~~~
An hour later and Arizona was finally fully dilated and in, what they both hoped, the final stage of her labour. It had been 16 hours since they had arrived at the Hospital. Their ObGyn, Dr.Murphy, had been in and out, happy to leave matters in the hands of Mary, the most experienced and best midwife in GSMH. Things had progressed without complications, mother and baby doing well, even if mother was a wee bit impatient.
"Murphy! Why is this taking so long?" Speaking in coherent sentences was becoming almost impossible now, that one sentence had to be gasped out in three different chunks.
"You're having a perfectly normal labour, Arizona!" He smiled at his aggravated patient.
"NO! My mother had two babies Murphy and she wasn't in labour for 16 hours in total! Timothy's lasted seven hours, and I was nearly born in the Hospital Car park I arrived so quick so no, for a Robbins this is not normal!"
"Well.." He answered benevolently "... This baby may be a little early, but he's not small. Probably just as well he's early otherwise a natural birth would have been very tough! "he finished with a smile and a wink. She was his esteemed colleague and, as a Board member, effectively his Boss too but they got on well. Well enough for him to know that his implication that her labour wasn't tough would drive her crazy now and that he'd pay later. He took his leave of her, laughing as she glared fiercely at his retreating back.
A thought occurred to her as he left, one she was quick to vocalize, "This is all your fault!"
Callie was taken aback. Since their clean slate chat there had been little conversation as they slipped into a routine of moans, groans, back rubs, ' I love you's , 'You're doing great's' and tears.
"What?" She asked her apparently angry wife.
"What did you weigh at birth?"
"Uhm...?" Callie answered the seemingly random question I think my Mama said I was nine pounds three? I know Aria was bigger, she was almost a ten pounder. Mama used to joke she was in labour with her for a day and a half and..." She stopped in her tracks at the sheer venomous look Arizona was giving her.
"This is all your fault!" Arizona repeated. "This is a Torres baby, a big Godzilla sized baby!"
"Hey!" Callie said somewhat indignantly before remembering the abuse she'd heard from the other birthing suites earlier. If Arizona had lost her fear of insulting her, that could only be a good thing.
"Robbins babies are small and cute and perfectly formed and they practically pop out, but, No, I had to use your egg so this is a Torres and he's a beast....oh my GOD!"
When she'd stopped screaming Callie kissed her cheek and whispered,"okay, next time we'll have a Robbins baby."
It didn't placate Arizona, not one bit, "... Not fair, next time you're the pregnant one, why should you have a nice easy time!"
~~~~~~
Arizona was pushing hard now, Mary encouraging every push, Callie holding her hand, whispering encouragement constantly. It wasn't going to be long now. Soon their little family was going to grow in size. They would have a son. Sofia would have her much demanded baby brother, just like her pal Zola. A baby brother called Michael Timothy Charles Torres. Arizona insisted that he should have just as many names as his sister. She insisted too that the last name should be the same.
And they were doing it with a clean slate, it was a new beginning.
That was when it hit Calliope Iphigenia Torres like a bolt out of the blue. And once it had Callie saw no need to keep it to herself. Could not keep it to herself. Had to act on it immediately.
"Marry me!"
Mary, positioned between Arizona's thighs, raised her head in surprise. Then,with a wry smile, went back to monitoring the foetal heartbeat. It wasn't the first proposal she'd heard within these walls, and wouldn't be the last.
Arizona's reaction was somewhat stronger. Tearing the mask from her face she blurted out "Whaaat?" before replacing the mask quickly and taking several quick deep gulps and pushing as hard and or as long as she could. The pain was unimaginable, the pressure to push unbearable; she was beyond exhausted and her wife had seemingly just lost her mind.
"Marry me." Callie repeats, if anything more self - assured this time. "I mean I know we are married already, in our hearts but it wasn't legal back then in Washington so really according to the law we are just Domestic Partners, right?"
Arizona practically tore her mask of this time "Do you really think this is an ..." .she grunted loud as the urge to push outweighed the urge to talk "... appropriate time to...aaaaagggghhhhhhh." Callie thought her wife sounded really furious, but it was hard to tell what with all the screaming and groaning and grunting and what not so Callie ploughed on regardless.
"Yes, yes, I do! You proposed to me in the middle of an argument and the next minute we hit a truck so yes, I'm proposing now."
Arizona looked...? Amazed, confused? Annoyed or maybe just dazed and befuddled. Somehow between all the pushing and the pain and the terror of this whole giving birth thing that was happening right now too, somehow, still, Callie had her attention. Not undivided but Callie took what she could get and went on.
"I love you and you love me and nothing is going to change that, not now but..." She paused to take a breath and to allow Arizona to push "... I want the whole world to recognize that you are my wife and ...and we can do that now, here in Washington..and even the Supreme Court agrees and...I filled out the forms when we came in earlier and.... you are my wife but I had to tick the box that says Domestic Partner and...I don't want to tick the box that's says domestic partner, I want to tick the box that says wife."
She wasn't aware of it but she was crying now, "I want to walk through airports with you as my wife, go on holidays with you as my wife. Wait for my wife to come home after a long shift at the hospital."
She nodded to herself as the words came to her " Our wedding was the happiest day of my life and I would marry you every day if I could but I want the world to know that I choose you as my wife now, today and every day..."
Arizona forgot to breathe. Actually forgot. Until a shot of pain hit her, "Owwwwwwaaaahhhhh....."
"Arizona, I need your full attention now, I need you to push for as long and as hard as you can, we're nearly there..." Mary spoke encouragingly even as she shot Callie a look that said 'enough."
Not long after Mary was telling her not to push as she needed to check on how the baby was, and in what felt like both seconds and a lifetime later, the baby was crowning.
"Dr.Torres do you want to see..."
Callie had never been drawn to Obstetrics/Gynaecology. For her it had always been a toss up between Ortho and Neurology with Cardio a distant third. In fact ObGyn ranked only behind Psych and Dermatology as her least favorite rotations as a Resident. Still she had done her Rotation, had assisted at births; had seen her share but right now, this here, watching her son being born, her and Arizona's child, she was not a Doctor.
She was a parent; terrified and awe-struck, a quivering incoherent mess.
"One final push, Arizona.... yes, what a beautiful baby boy!" Mary exclaimed. Hundreds, no thousands of time she'd seen this and, yet, every time, those first few seconds were still terrifying and awesome. Her skilled hands worked quickly, clearing the mucus from his airways, that familiar first wail soon filling up the room. His two Mothers own crying joined in almost immediately. She placed the still wet, slimy, traumatized infant on Arizona's abdomen, covering him with a warming blanket as she did and sat back and watched.
The little family, the wailing newborn soothing almost instantly at the touch of his Mama's skin, the two mothers, both rendered speechless, tears streaming down the tired blondes cheeks, loud sobs erupting from the emotional brunette.
The miracle of childbirth. It was Mary's bread and butter, her day job, it paid her Mortgage, provided her family with good insurance. It was just how she earned her living. Some people were plumbers, others were Architects. Some met deadlines, she delivered babies.
As she watched the little family interact with its latest member she couldn't help but think that, all in all, there were worse ways to earn a living.
~~~~~~
Arizona had managed, with help, to have a shower. It had helped to make her feel almost human. Feeling fresh and clean, the euphoria of holding him, of that first tentative breast feed had quickly been replaced by exhaustion.
Now several hours of sleep later, she felt almost human. But also on edge. Callie had gone home, at her insistence, and had promised to be back with Sofia. Laying there in her Hospital bed, head tilted to the side keeping a watchful eye on the sleeping bundle in the crib beside her, she wanted to see her other baby, her Baby Girl.
Sofia was old enough now to protest when Arizona called her that, "Mama, no! I'm all growed up now, I'm not a baby no more, I go to big school and everything."
But she would always be her baby girl, Arizona knew that. The thought of her baby girl, so big , five at her last birthday, growing up and the thought of her baby boy, now almost nine hours old, growing up too suddenly hit her like a truck. Her lip began to quiver, a solitary tear ran down her cheek just as the door flung open and an exited Sofia bounded in "Mama!"
"Honey? What's wrong?" And "Sofia, shhh..you'll wake him up and don't leap on your Mama!" Callie whispered altogether.
"Nothing I'm just...." Arizona tried to explain before she smothered Sofia in kisses. The next few minutes were taken up by Sofia's oohing and aahing over her baby brother and the two women mostly stayed silent, taking it all in.
Photos were taken, of the baby, of the baby and Sofia; of the baby and Arizona, of the baby and Callie, of all four of them. Taken and sent to Grandpa Dan and Grandma Baba and to Abuelo Carlos. To friends in LA and Baltimore and Virginia and beyond.
Later, after another breastfeed, one very contented and much photographed baby fell asleep. Sofia's incessant questioning too had taken its toll on their little girl :-
Why is he so small?
Did you feed me like that too Mama?
No way was I smaller than him, was I Mami?
What else does he do apart from sleep?
Why is he crying now??
Mama, your tummy is still really big? Is there another baby in there?
Now she was cuddled tight against Arizona, snoring lightly.
Callie sat in the chair facing her, her right hand lightly holding Arizona's left, her very bruised left hand rested lightly on Michael's tummy, undulating slightly with every tiny breath he took.
They smiled at each other.
They'd made it through the storm and they both knew it.
"I didn't know it was possible to be so very happy."
Callie just nodded, leaned in for a kiss and said "I know, me neither. You know you should try to sleep, before he wakes up and demands to be fed again."
Arizona smiled but then remembered and frowned slightly, she chewed lightly on her lip, looking nervous.
The action did not go unnoticed, "Arizona?"
"Did you mean what you said earlier?"
Callie's heart sank just a little. Did Arizona not believe her about the slate being wiped lean? Did they still have work to do?
When she didn't get an answer Arizona elaborated, chewing furiously on her lip as soon as the words were out, "You asked me to...you said we should get married....again...?"
"Oh...I mean... yes..." Callie answered in relief but then unable to read her wife's face, she tamped down her enthusiasm immediately , "... but that's okay if you don't want to or if you thinks its a stupid idea...or..."
Arizona responded, "...yes", so much emotion twirling around her she didn't trust herself with anything more than the barest whisper.
Callie lost in her own worry didn't hear her.
" ...I mean we'd just go down to the courthouse, I wont make you get into a big fluffy dresses and dance down the aisle again...but if you don't want to do that right now it's fine...it's..."
Arizona, a little louder, repeated herself, "Callie, yes."
But Callie couldn't hear her, her own thoughts thundering in her brain, drowning out every other sound, they could always do that at some point in the future, right? If Arizona didn't want it now, that was fine, wasn't it? Or was it?
"... but I don't see what the problem is, I mean why don't you want to be my wife, legally? Cause I don't get it, why don't you want to get..."
Arizona nearly yelled at her, "Yes Calliope, I'll marry you, yes!"
At the sudden increase in volume baby Michael jumped in fright, whined but then fell back to sleep, Sofia, too, groaned loudly in rebuke but then settled back into slumber.
Callie's mouth dropped open, "Yes?"
Arizona smiled back, a smile that wondered how her answer could ever be in doubt, "Yes.'
Callie just beamed at her, Arizona beamed back.
The End.