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With what must have been her millionth heavy sigh in the last eight hours, Callie turned her key in the front door of their New York City brownstone, happy to finally step through the familiar doorway after being torn from the arms of the love of her life whilst just about asleep—forgive her, she’s…old—for an emergency surgery in the middle of the night. On these kinds of mornings, especially when it was supposed to be her day off, nothing felt better than being home.
The warmth of their home washed over her, wiping the light March chill off of her skin, and with a deep breath, she smelled pancakes taking over the entirety of the lower level, and she grinned.
“Arizona?” She called out, the smile never leaving her face the same way she had found it doing for 19 years. She had missed Arizona more than anything after the divorce all those years ago, like someone had physically cut a hole in her chest and removed her heart, even if she had been the one who felt she needed space. But, they had obviously both needed the time apart. To learn, to grow, to love themselves before they could love one another again—before they could be in love again. But, God, for all these years, after they lost it all and won it all back again, Callie found herself more and more in love every single day. “I’m home.”
“In here,” Arizona called back, eyes meeting Callie’s as her partner turned the corner into their kitchen, “but you probably could have guessed that.” She smiled, and every bit of tension in Callie’s body from her incredibly long and sleepless night managed to melt away. Super magic. Arizona turned back around to keep her eyes on breakfast, and Callie slid her arms around the blonde’s waist, resting her chin on her left shoulder. She turned, pressing a long and lingering kiss to a warm cheek, before Arizona turned and met Callie’s lips. Hm, I needed this, Callie thought, feeling herself smile into the kiss.
“How was the surgery?” Arizona asked, relaxing at the feeling of her partner resting lightly against her back. “Were you as outstanding as usual?”
“Shut up,” Callie laughed in Arizona’s ear, rolling her eyes. “It went well, though. I’m sort of glad that I was called in because I’m pretty sure I was the best one for the job.”
Arizona turned in Callie’s arms and grinned once again. “You’re always the best one for the job.” They kissed once more, and Callie felt herself melt from head to toe, wondering how Arizona could still make her feel this way, even after all these years. Sure, they were those embarrassing kind of moms, but knowing that they had almost lost everything together, Callie didn’t care about embarrassment. What she did care about? Loving her family the best she could every single day. Speaking of—
“Hey, wait a second, what time is it?” Callie rose her left arm, hating to remove it from Arizona’s waist, so she could read the face of her watch. Realizing what time it was, she jolted from Arizona’s arms. “Oh my God, where is she? I didn’t get to see her off, and it’s a big day! It’s a really, really big day, Arizona, and I didn’t get to see her off to school. I can’t believe I—“
“Calliope,” Arizona raised both her eyebrows and the spatula to which she had returned her attention. “I was going to tell you when you walked in, but you distracted me.”
“Tell me what?” Callie asked, confused and tilting her head to the side in that way Arizona had once pointed out that she always did.
“You didn’t miss it. Your daughter is still in bed. I couldn’t get her to get up and get ready, and I knew you’d be home soon. I was hoping you could give her the pep talk she needs.” Arizona explained.
Everyone in their family, their extended family, hell, even their friends and former colleagues all the way back at Grey Sloan Memorial knew what day today was. That’s why, Callie was sure, Arizona hadn’t blown her disciplinary lid and dragged their girl out of her bed.
“Oh, so she’s only my daughter when she won’t get out of bed? Just like she was only my daughter when she drew on the walls when she was 3, or when she pushed the boy down in the first grade who was picking on her?” Callie questioned with almost a bit of a laugh before remembering the severity of the situation. “Even if she came out of you?”
“That’s how it works, Calliope.” Arizona shrugged, removing another pancake from the pan on the stove. “I didn’t make the rules.” She added, turning to face Callie once more. Callie sighed and kissed Arizona’s forehead softly before moving down to her lips, knowing it was going to be a rough day for all.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Let her know I made her favorite, would you?”
“You know I will.”
Callie ascended the staircase of their home, reaching their daughter’s room shortly after, spying the door decorated in flowers they’d painted on as a family when she was only a few years old. She allowed herself to smile before knocking lightly on the door, letting herself in after hearing a faint voice grumble “Go away.”
“Daniella Grace.” Callie’s voice was soft while still allowing for a slightly admonishing tone, and she stepped through the doorway with ease, making a mental note to remind her daughter to pick up the dirty clothes on the floor when all of this was over. “We have planned family vacations around your school year for 14 years now, so your perfect attendance is a must in this home stretch, my love.” It was an attempt at a joke, but she was sure it would fall flat.
The girl in the bed pulled her covers up even closer to her face, and Callie knew she was right. She sat on the edge of the bed, careful to give Daniella the space she seemed to garner, but she rested her hand where her daughter’s leg was beneath the covers. That’s when she heard it, the shallow, quick breaths and the crying. Her heart shattered to pieces in her chest.
“Dani, mija, I’m gonna need you to talk to me.” In the same way that, when she was a baby, Arizona had been a godsend at calming Sofia down, Callie had that same kind of effect on Dani, grateful for a connection she’d once feared would not exist, seeing as Dani has not biologically hers. Arizona, however, had been so eager to carry their child, to expand their family, that Callie couldn’t have agreed faster. (She’d dreamt of having a little one who looked exactly like Arizona, anyway.)
Here she was, now 17, a high school senior and anything but little. Her blonde hair, still disheveled from sleep, peaked out from under the covers where she hid from her mother. A moment later, leaving herself a few seconds to gather herself, Dani removed the bed covers from where they shrouded her face, and she turned on her side, giving Callie the full view of the girl who reminded her more and more of Arizona with every single day.
Dani’s big eyes (Arizona’s first request for the physique of their donor because she “wanted their child to have the closest thing to Callie’s eyes that they could get”) were bright red, puffy, and still tear-filled, though she seemed to be stubbornly holding the last few at bay. Her cheekbones, the set of her jaw and chin, the nose, the shade of skin, everything about her other than those big eyes? Arizona Robbins, and Callie loved her even more for it.
“I can’t do it.” Dani mumbled sort of into her hand, sort of into the air in front of her but unsure as to what it seemed to mean.
“What do you mean? What can’t you do?” Callie rubbed her daughter’s leg over the cover gently, quietly encouraging her to continue.
“You know exactly what I can’t do, Mom.” Dani was right. Callie knew what day it was. “I’m not going to get into Yale. Everyone knows it.”
Callie’s stomach dropped hearing the words spill from her daughter’s mouth, but she squeezed Dani’s calf, hoping maybe she wouldn’t join the girl in tears.
“I’m not going to be able to do this. They’re not going to want me, Mom, I’m not going to get in. I’m not good enough to get in, and I will never be good enough to get in. I’m just not cut out for it.” Dani’s tears spilled out over her lashes, and she sat up in bed, pulling her covers up to her chin and crossing her arms, hugging herself tightly.
“Hey, don’t you talk about my daughter that way,” Callie reached out to brush a tear away, grateful that Dani didn’t shake away from her hand.
“I’m not like you, and I’m not like Mama, and I’m not like Sofia.” Dani didn’t speak of her older sister, an intern at New York Presbyterian in the cardiac surgery department, with any sort of malice, not even in the slightest. She spoke with a level of defeat the made Callie’s chest ache. “I’m not cut out for this, and I’m going to fold under the pressure. I am already folding under the pressure, why can’t anyone see that? Why couldn’t I see it, Mom? I never would’ve done this to myself.”
“Oh, God, Dani, no.” Callie barely had a clue of what to say, suddenly feeling like a bit of a disappointment after Arizona sent her in as the pep squad for their kid. “Have we been putting pressure on you? Is that why you feel this way?”
“Yes…no…” Dani shrugs, the tension in her shoulders evident in her body language. “You’ve never put pressure on me directly. For a long time, I was really grateful for that, but I think that, because of this really good life I have… I don’t know, Mom, I just feel like I have to be perfect. My moms are two of the most incredible doctors in this country. Mama saves babies, you’ve done some of the most fascinating research anyone has done in this century. I’m pretty sure my extra credit in Anatomy came just because my teacher thought it was so cool that I’m your kid.”
“Daniella,” Callie wanted to begin talking her daughter down, but Dani shook her head hard, her hair falling over her face before she pushed it away, back behind pierced ears.
“And all of my teachers remember my sister. They talk about Sof all the time. Sof was an amazing athlete, Sof was top of her class, Sof was the best Biology student the school ever saw, and somehow, she was still an incredible writer. They never want to talk about me, Mom, they just love to compare me to my sister.
“I just don’t know how to be that good, Mom. I know it sounds selfish, but I want to be as good as you and Mom. I want to be as amazing a daughter as Sofia, who we all know is going to be the kind of cardiac surgeon that could give even Christina Yang a run for her money.”
“Don’t ever let Yang hear you say that.” Callie allowed herself to joke.
“And…I don’t know, I just think that a lot of really difficult things are going to happen soon, and I don’t know how I’m going to be able to handle them.”
Something else occurred to Callie that might be affecting her daughter, and while she was rather hesitant to bring it up at this point, she knew she was going to need to broach the subject with the girl.
“Is there any way that this might also be coming from another place? I’m not saying that we haven’t put pressure on you, but maybe the breakup with—“
“Please don’t say his name.” Dani laughed humorlessly, shaking her head, and Callie raised her hands in a mock show of innocence, the message understood.
“Okay, but is there any way that maybe the breakup is putting pressure on all of this too?” She asked.
“I don’t know, maybe.”
A week before, with his own imminent Ivy League decision from the University of Pennsylvania coming in soon, Daniella’s boyfriend of 2 years, Peter, had broken up with her out of nowhere, citing the need to soon move on from his pre-college life. Arizona and Callie had come home to their daughter baking more cupcakes than a kindergarten class could eat in a year, an attempt to channel her negative energy into literally anything else.
Sofia texted her mothers in a group chat sans her younger sister saying “This is going to bother her, even if she acts like it won’t. Just you wait.”
Her devastated daughter who found herself at the peak of her high school stress proved Sofia’s point, and she made a note to call her eldest later. Callie had a hard time seeing Pete in any kind of light other than as the shy boy who’d knocked on their front door, staring at his shoes when Arizona answered as he waited to pick Dani up for their first date, but also as the boy who could potentially break her daughter’s heart, something that had now become their reality.
“If I’m not good enough for Peter,” Dani practically choked on the boy’s name, “then how am I supposed to be good enough for Yale? How am I supposed to be good enough to make you guys proud of me?”
“How could you ever think that your mama and I aren’t proud of you?” Callie’s stomach dropped once more at her daughter’s question. “I could list every single thing you have accomplished since birth off the top of my head without a cheat sheet. You know we keep a cheat sheet, right? There is an Excel spreadsheet of every amazing thing you have ever done that your mother and I keep, just in case you ever find yourself in need of a resume booster.”
“I’m just afraid, Mom.” Dani shook her head once more, running a hand through her hair. “I know you guys are proud of me, to an extent. My 6th grade science fair ribbon is still on the fridge.”
“My baby won first prize, and I will never let anyone forget it.”
“Like, I know you guys are proud of me, but I’m so scared that, even if I do get into Yale, I’ll never make it. I’ll fail. I’ll fall flat on my face.”
Callie reached out and took her daughter’s chin in her head, stroking a thumb across her cheek, dampness from earlier tears still somewhat present.
“So, you know how I didn’t give birth to you?”
“Have you seen me? The world knows.”
“Whatever, you’re still my kid. But, you know where you come from, right? This is going to be sappy and lame and you’re going to think I’m just saying all of this just because you’re going to be late for school, but every single word that is about to come from my mouth is something I believe with every fiber of my being. Got it?” Dani nodded, and Callie dropped her hand to grasp her daughter’s. “Cool.
“That blood in your veins is Robbins blood, more specifically, Arizona Robbins’ blood. I don’t know anyone who has faced more than your mother. She talked down a murderer in the hospital, she sat with me through every moment of unconsciousness after our car accident, she resuscitated Sofia. Our baby didn’t have a heartbeat, and she made it so that she could live. She lost her leg and almost her life. She lost our baby when she miscarried, and we lost our marriage. And you know what? She’s still here. She is a fighter, and she has fought through blood and sweat and tears to make a life for herself and for our family.”
“I get it,” Dani wiped a rogue tear from her eye, one that escaped as she heard about everything her mothers had gone through to get to where they were now—still disgustingly in love. “Mama is pretty incredible.”
“You’re damn right that she is, and every single incredible thing about that lady who is out there making you a pile of banana pancakes the height of the damn space needle,” Callie stood and moved to sit next to her daughter, draping and arm around her and feeling Dani snuggle in closer, a sign that maybe this pep talk was working. “is something that I see in you. The best things about Arizona Robbins are some of the best things about you, and there are a million more.”
They sat like that for a moment, allowing themselves a breather after what was obviously a heavy conversation for so early in the day, even on this particular day. Dani shifted, ringing her hands together in the way that had alerted Callie since the girl was quite young that she was going to say something she was worried she might regret.
“What if I don’t get in?” Her voice was small.
“Then Yale is full of a bunch of goddamn idiots who don’t know a bright, super magical star when they see her application hit their desks,” Callie massaged Dani’s scalp, careful to miss the knots in her unbrushed bedhead. “And there are so many other schools with attractive offers on the table. Literally, they’re still on our kitchen table.”
“And what if I do?” Dani asked quietly after a small laugh that Callie would love forever, one that sounded just like Arizona’s in her quietest moments.
“Then I’ll miss you like crazy, and Mama and I will be finding as many medical conferences in New Haven for the next four years as we can.” She kissed the top of her daughter’s head to punctuate the end of her sentence. Dani squirmed playfully, smiling calmly at her mother. Callie couldn’t believe how lucky she was sometimes. “Can I say something else?”
“Sure, Mom.”
“For what it’s worth, if Peter really is the guy for you,” Callie approached the subject with hesitancy once again while fully believing every word. “Then things will work out. Mama and I almost didn’t make it, and look where we are now.”
“Embarrassing?”
“Yep, every couple’s dream.” Callie laughed. “True love always finds a way to prevail, kid. You gotta trust me on that one.”
“Okay, Mom.” They set like that just for a moment before Dani shifted, kissing her mom on the cheek. “Thank you for doing this. I think I need to get ready for school now. Holy crap! I’m really late!”
“I think we can scrounge up a doctor’s note in this house, honey.” She winked as she rose from the bed and hugged her daughter. “Your mom and I will be in the kitchen for breakfast before she has rounds, so I’ll see you in a minute.”
She left Dani to get dressed as she headed back down to the kitchen, gratefully welcoming the warm cup of coffee Arizona placed in her hands and the kiss she placed on her lips. Callie spied the massive pile of banana pancakes displayed on their kitchen table, basically looking like more pancakes than could feed an entire army, and she allowed herself a small laugh, realizing that Dani’s impending Yale decision was stressing everyone out, including Arizona.
“She’s going to be alright, babe.” Callie kissed Arizona’s cheek before making herself a breakfast plate. “I really do believe it. I blame how high strung she is on you, by the way.”
“I wish that there was some way for me to argue that with you.” Arizona shook her head with a small laugh. “However, I will say that you are just as stubborn as I am, so some of this is on you.”
Footsteps barreling down their staircase roused their attention, and a slightly more put together Daniella emerged in the kitchen with a smile on her face, out of her pajamas and into a deep blue sweater with black jeans and black boots, her blonde hair brushed and flowing over her shoulders, longer now that high school soccer wasn’t in season.
“Good morning, Daniella.” Arizona smiled, sympathizing with her daughter’s anxieties about the day. “There’s coffee on the counter for you.”
“Thank you, Mama.” Daniella smiled, but her expression softened as she made herself a plate for breakfast. Before she sat down, she made her way over to Arizona, hugging her tightly around the neck in a way that seemed more intense than any other morning. “I’m sorry I was such a brat to get out of bed this morning.”
Arizona shook her head, smiling at her daughter. “Don’t worry about it, honey. Any other day, though, and there won’t be pancakes and coffee and a doctor’s note before school.” She winked.
“Absolutely understood.” Dani sat down at the table with her mothers and dug into the spread ahead of her. Callie felt a warmth spread through her chest, the way she did every single time she got to have breakfast with Arizona and their daughter, and that warmth would only be amplified if Sofia were present.
A few minutes, a lot of pancakes, and a doctor’s note later, Daniella was out the door on the way to school, only two blocks away from their home, and Arizona was in Callie’s arms on their couch, the pair dreading the fact that Arizona needed to leave for rounds within the hour.
“So, I know you really think that she’s going to be okay, no matter what that decision says today,” Arizona asked Callie of their daughter, “and I know maybe it isn’t any of my business because, you know, mother/daughter confidentiality or something like that, but what did you say to Daniella? That hug came a little out of nowhere, especially since I couldn’t have even attempted to bribe her out of bed this morning.”
“She needed a little extra strength,” Callie remarked. “And I just reminded her that she comes from pure strength, considering who her mom is.”
Arizona’s face flushed, and Callie knew she’d always be grateful to God that she had the ability to bring that color to those cheeks. Arizona maneuvered to kiss her softly, and they both smiled.
“You know, I definitely can’t take all of the credit for that. She’s just as much your daughter as she is mine, and it shows in every single thing that she does.”
“Except for soccer. Soccer was all you.”
“You’re right. Soccer was all me.” The pair laughed together before settling back into the serious aspect of the conversation. “So, is it just the Yale stuff that’s bothering her, or is it more?”
“I think she’s upset about Peter and has been trying not to deal with it, and then the energy of the day kind of brought everything to the forefront. Sof was right, the whole breakup thing was eventually going to catch up with her.”
“Remind me why I haven’t kicked that kid’s ass across the Atlantic Ocean yet, would you?”
“Because he’s a nice boy who’s confused, your baby loves him, and you wouldn’t survive jail.” Callie mused, and Arizona nodded in mock defeat. “Plus, I told Dani that true love always manages to find a way. If he’s her person, then, in the end, it’s all going to work out and come together. That’s one of those things I can speak about from experience, as you know.”
“Oh, do I know?” Arizona teased and Callie pouted before Arizona kissed her again. “You know I’m kidding. I just hate to see her hurting, but I know that when you love somebody and you’re gonna love them forever, it really does work out. There are happy endings.”
“Thanks for being my happy ending.” Callie whispered into her hair.
“Thanks for being mine.”
Callie had gone back to bed for a nap after Arizona left, begrudgingly, for rounds. Waking up feeling rather refreshed, she’d taken a bit of time to relax and read her book before starting dinner, preparing one of Dani’s favorite dinners. It was either going to be a night of comfort or a night of celebration, and she thought that this was probably the best way to combat that. A bottle of wine chilled in the fridge for her and Arizona to enjoy with dinner—maybe Dani if things go well, she thinks—and things started to make this day feel almost normal.
Then, as if on cue with her thoughts of normality, Arizona came bursting through the front door with more bags than usual, almost seeming to be out of breath. Callie’s eyebrows were raised just about to her hairline, and Arizona smiled, though it was a tense one.
“Okay, basically I just got a whole bunch of crap because, no matter which way this night goes, we’re going to need something for her, right? There’s ice cream and flowers and Cheetos and a congratulations cake. Literally anything for any possibility.” Then, Arizona’s eyes widened and darted around the room before landing back on Callie, who was quietly trying not to laugh at her. “Please tell me I made it home before her and she didn’t see all of the shit I just carried into the house and that we don’t know the admissions decision yet.”
Callie shook her head, smiling at the beautiful woman in front of her who looked almost as frantic as she had ever seen her in a domestic setting. “She had that captains’ meeting with the coach where they helped to pick the girls that are going to be the captains of the team next year, but she should be home in a few minutes, and I guess then we’ll know?”
Arizona nodded, some of the tension in her shoulders visibly lifting. “I guess then we’ll know.”
Their front door opened, and Callie’s heart dropped into her stomach, knowing Arizona felt the same way. They locked eyes once again, and before they could really panic, a voice they weren’t expecting filled the house.
“Mommies, I’m home!” Sofia, their eldest, a spitting image of Callie with Mark Sloan’s shit-eating grin that tugged at her mothers’ heartstrings each and every time she flashed it, waltzed into their kitchen, throwing her arms around both of her mothers, welcomed into theirs. “Don’t look so sad to see me, I thought you people still liked me, even after I kicked your butts in Pictionary at the last game night.”
“You know we’re always excited to see you, goofball.” Arizona rolled her eyes, moving to remove the ice cream from the shopping bags and proceeding to place it in the freezer.
“We just weren’t expecting you, that’s all.” Callie continued Arizona’s sentiment that trailed off. “There will certainly be enough here for you to have some dinner with us, if that’s what you were hoping for?”
“You know I could never pass that up.” Sofia smiled charmingly. That smile was a heartbreaker, and Callie knew that for certain, considering it with a laugh. “Obviously, I came for Dani. I do know what day it is, though. Is she losing it to you guys too?”
“You mean she was losing it and venting it to you and not us?” Arizona crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I’m her big sister, Mama. It’s sister stuff.” Sofia rolled her eyes affectionately, and Callie drank in the interaction with all of the love her heart could muster. Her oldest daughter was a grown woman and an incredible one at that. Being able to see her daughter banter with the love of Callie’s life about their other daughter—the girl who made Sof the big sister she had always longed to be—was easily one of life’s greatest privileges. “I wanted to be able to be here for her today, but I didn’t tell her I was coming. She’s not home yet, right?”
“How did you know she wasn’t home yet and I didn’t?” Arizona laughed.
“Told you, Mama,” Sof winked before swiping her finger into Callie’s pot of sauce before anyone had the time to swat her hands away. “Sister stuff!”
Yet another key turned in the front door, and this time, it was the girl of the hour, blonde hair tousled from the wind and cheeks bright pink from the slight chill in the air. Dani, before she could even put her backpack down, rushed into the kitchen to hug her sister tightly and appreciatively, and Callie melted at the sight. This is genuinely all you can ask for as a mom, she thought before Dani kissed her on the cheek, then Arizona.
“Hi, guys.” Dani took a deep breath, one that seemed to wrack her entire body rather languidly. “It’s after 5…so I guess I better get to it?”
Callie’s laptop rested on the breakfast bar, and Dani sat on the stool in front of it with shaking hands. Sofia sat perched on the stool next to hers, and Callie and Arizona found themselves rather frozen. Dani’s tiny fingers typed away, and Sofia sort of looked over her shoulder, watching her enter her information into the admissions portal but stopping just short of clicking “Log In.”
“I can’t.” Dani mumbled, shaking her head with wide eyes focused on the screen. “I thought I was good. I thought that I was ready. I can’t do it.”
“Hell,” Sofia spoke with a scoff, eyes darting around the room between her mothers and her sister. She shrugged. “I’ll do it.”
Between shouts of “No!” and “Sofia!” the young woman reached across her sister and tapped “Log In,” before hopping up from her stool and darting across the room over to Arizona where she was stood by the fridge.
“Why would you do th—“ Dani’s expression changed from anger towards her sister to something no one else in the room could possibly read. “Oh my God.”
“What?” Callie heard Arizona choke out. There wasn’t a calm woman in that kitchen in that moment. Not a one. Callie reached behind her, searching for Arizona’s hand, bracing for whatever words might come out of her daughter’s mouth next.
“Oh my God.”
“Dani, I swear to God, tear the bandaid off.” Sofia pled. “We’re dying over here.”
Callie wasn’t even sure if she could hear her youngest daughter, or if her ears were just making things up that she wanted to hear, but all of a sudden—
“I got in.” Dani’s voice was higher than normal, quiet, seemingly full of tears. “I got in, you guys.” Her voice was suddenly louder, and that super magic junior smile spread across her face so quickly that it could have torn her perfect pale skin right in two. “I got in!”
The blonde girl bounced into her older sister’s arms who lifted her off the ground and spun her around, the room filling with the sounds of four loud and excited women in complete celebration mode. Next, the blonde girl jumped onto Callie, who hugged her tightly to her, feeling her eyes fill with tears as she shouted words of congratulations to her little girl. When Callie finally let her go, the youngest Robbins-Torres was careful of her other mother’s prosthetic as she did her best not to slam into her in excitement. Sofia hugged Callie as Callie’s eyes were only on the incredible image ahead of her, her partner in life wrapped around her little girl—her incredible little girl who was on her way to the Ivy League in the fall. Yep, shit. She was going to cry, but what else was new, really?
The four women found themselves in a massive, tear-filled group hug, lasting what never would have felt like long enough for Callie even if it had lasted a lifetime. Their daughters broke away, the pair of them talking excitedly about the prospect of the future over one another, and Callie wrapped an arm around Arizona’s waist, pressing a long kiss into her hair.
“Look what we did,” Arizona whispered. “Oh my God, Calliope, I’m so proud of her.” Callie reached down to wipe away Arizona’s tears with a wet smile of her own. “Look what we did together.”
“Thank you, Arizona.” Callie barely heard her own voice, but she knew Arizona heard her as they watched their girls.
“For what?” Arizona asked with a small smile.
“For giving me that. For giving me a family. For giving me everything I could have ever wanted.”
Arizona kissed her with every bit of love in her body, and their foreheads rested together when they finally broke apart after hearing a collective “Gross!” from their kids.
“You’re getting sappy in your old age, Cal.”
“Don’t you dare ever call me old again.”
“What are you gonna do about it, honey?” Arizona winked, flashing the hints of a smirk.
“Can you two quit that disgustingly adorable flirting and join us?” Sofia called, her sister by her side with a matching grin on her face. “We have a celebratory dinner to eat.”
That was all Callie needed to hear, and with Arizona by her side, she joined the rest of her girls at the table, though—and she had every single intention of introducing this pun to her family, looking forward to their begrudged groans—she was already feeling incredibly full.