The Aftermath of Callie and Arizona - Volume II

Love, Lust And Lobster Part II

Callie's POV:

The Summer after Madelyn was born, seemed to fly by. Then again, Summertime has always seemed to disappear in what feels like a flash, since I could remember.

The weather that year was much cooler than it had been the past 5 years, thankfully. As a result, our family spent a lot of time in our backyard or hanging out in the treehouse or on its porch. The backyard and elevated house that year, had become our new, "living room."

Arizona had started a tradition that Summer, to have our Sunday dinners either outside on the patio if the weather permitted, or in the treehouse. While we didn't do it every weekend (usually 1 to 2 times/month) it was something Arizona and I had started hosting since the New Year. 

We both had voiced desires to spend more time with our family and close friends going forward as a New Year's resolution and enjoyed our past memories spent cooking and eating with everyone. Plus, we wanted our girls to have more opportunities to see Arizona's parents and my sister as they went through their formative years. We were firm believers in giving our children as much time possible, with our extended families, as we wanted them to grow up with their direct relatives around.

As I was straightening up the treehouse for dinner on that final Sunday in July, I was busy thinking about the events of the last two months and what was to come before Sophia went back to school in September. I had the music turned up on the sound system in the treehouse as I cleaned and got lost in my thoughts.

With her downtime from school, Sophia had been busy between softball, photography, and a few other activities with play dates mixed in. Her pitching was still a primary focus for her and that Summer, she had bonded with her team's catcher, Anna. Like Sophia, Anna too was passionate about her position, so the two became friends quite easily.

The girls spent a lot of time together and as such, we frequently had Anna over, or vice versa. In fact, a lot of times, Anna's Mom, Becca, would join us too, as Arizona and myself had also become fast friends with Becca the last few months. Becca was not only someone to share laughs with, but was an amazing sounding board about medicine and life for both of us. 

Arizona and I joked to ourselves, but we often said if the three of us worked at Grey Sloan, people would start wondering if we were a throuple because of how close we'd become. Becca was a complimentary third wheel to our marriage, or least that was her running joke, not mine. We always loved having her around and she fit in perfectly with our family and friends.

During those two months, Madelyn had literally grown leaps and bounds. Every day it seemed like she did something new or different. Arizona and I felt horrible every time we'd miss a milestone, but that's the way it goes as a working mom. We went through the same heartache about missing Sophia's firsts, but that still didn't prepare us from going through it again with our youngest.

This past June, Arizona and I weathered and became closer after a stolen kiss that Charley planted on me. Since the incident happened, the dynamic between our former malpractice attorney and us, me especially, had changed, but it was for the best. We knew going forward that Charley needed to know not to cross that line again. Drunk or not drunk.

I had decided to still work on the malpractice case, but Charley and I kept our meetings visible and at the hospital. By the end of July, things were no longer awkward between us, but there was something that hung over Charley, every time we'd meet. I knew in time that we'd find a new happy medium or maybe we wouldn't. Either way, at least Arizona and I had cleared the air between Charley and us.

Arizona and I had been working all Summer, but we managed to find days or times to spend together as a family. Whether that was at the ballpark, on an adventure in Seattle or around the house, we wanted to spend our free moments with our girls. Especially since one of our regrets about our careers, was the amount of time that we were away most days from watching our daughters grow-up.