Title: For the Better

Author: A. Windsor

Pairing/Characters: Callie/Arizona

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: 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. My one year of law school could allow me to legalese this a little more, but it also tells me it's pretty useless. So please don't sue; it's not mine, I'm just playing!

Series: Thing!verse

Summary: Callie heads to a conference, reluctantly leaving Arizona and baby Asa behind for the weekend.

Author's Note: So... hello! Sorry I wasn't inspired yet to write canon conference fic. It's Thing!verse, though. Does that help? I've taken a few liberties with the exceptionally confusing Grey's timeline. Beta'd by the wonderful, snarky, weirdy reindeer roughian. Thanks to her and to cacheese and strandedinaber for listening to be whine repeatedly about this fic.

"I know I wasn't on board with the whole kids thing the first time it was brought up, but I am a pediatric surgeon, you know. Kinda specialize in the whole 'keeping kids alive' thing."

Callie looks up, teary-eyed, from nuzzling her face into Asa's baby soft neck.

"This is so not about you," Callie promises, voice breaking. "I've never even spent one night away from him, let alone two. I want to stay with you two."

Arizona steps forward, enclosing them both in her arms. "I know, and if you really don't want to go, you don't have to. But the study just hit its crucial three year mark, and it is a total success. The conference wants to honor that. You need to go bask in your awesomeness."

"My awesomeness, huh?"

"And your-" Arizona covers their five-month-old's ears, "Badassery."

"Also not a word," Callie sniffles.

"We have to invent new words just to describe how amazing you are, Calliope."

"Won't you miss me?"

"We'll miss you like crazy. Both of us. But we'll call you all the time."

"What about the talk? All those people, Arizona!"

"Just imagine you're telling me and Asa all about it. Pretend it's just us. In fact, FaceTime us and leave it on the podium. Then we'll be there for you the whole time."

"Yeah?"

"Yep. If I'm working, I'll pull him from daycare and everything."

"Okay. Yeah. I can do this," Callie nods firmly. She looks down at little Asa, who is rubbing his sweet head against her collarbone and flailing distractedly. She melts all over again. "No, no, I can't. Oh, look, Arizona, he wants me to stay."

"Go, Calliope," Arizona grins, kissing her cheek. "All the big name female surgeons want to hear about how awesome you are. You can't disappoint them!"

"Not all of them."

"Well, one of us has to stay with Asa," Arizona smiles. "Watch out for Dora Rainey from Thomas Jefferson in Philly; she's an incorrigible flirt with a thing for hot brunettes."

"So, the East Coast version of you?"

Arizona laughs. "I only flirt with you these days."

"Bullshit," Callie teases.

Arizona gasps: "Not in front of the baby."

"Are you sure you two will be okay without me?"

"Positive. Missing you, but okay."

"And you're sure I can do this without puking?"

Arizona's grin softens and she leans in to kiss her lips gently. "Positive, Calliope. We've been working on this, and Asa and I will be right there, virtually, the whole time. Plus, this is a great warm up for the Harper Avery acceptance."

"I haven't won it yet," Callie complains.

"Yet," Arizona underscores, punctuating her point with a peck on Callie's nose. She then captures Callie's lips in a much more heated kiss before managing to successfully steal Asa into her arms.

"Hey, no fair!" Callie objects, while Asa flails and gurgles at the sudden transfer. "You fight dirty."

"I'm ripping off the bandaid. The sooner you go, the sooner you can come back and keep us warm. We promise no strippers and just a little booze while you're gone."

"Damn, there go Uncle Mark's plans for the weekend," Callie teases. "I'm putting Lexie in charge of monitoring all of you. Be good. I love you both, so much."

"We love you, too, Mami," Arizona says, in the ridiculous voice she sometimes adopts as Asa's. Then, in her normal voice: "We promise to have just enough fun to not be miserable, but not so much that we don't still miss you."

Callie laughs. "Good plan."

"Take some pictures of my alma mater!" Arizona calls down the hall after her. "Bring Asa some obnoxiously baby blue stuff."

"Will do. Ciao, mi amorcito. Cuidáte a tu Momma, ¿ok?" [Bye, my little love. Take care of your momma.]

"...And as if she wasn't already making us feel inferior by creating cartilage from scratch, Dr. Torres and her partner also recently welcome a new son. I believe the legend is that she went into labor during a follow up with a trial patient," Dr. Devaney adds to the introduction, earning a rumble of laughter from the assembled women. "Is that right?"

Callie smiles, thinking of that morning, of the shocked patient and her frazzled Arizona.

"More or less," she confirms, voice trembling a little.

"So it is with great honor and definitely a little bit of awe that I present 2014's Davis Achievement Award to Dr. Callie Torres."

There's a polite round of applause that Callie knows is her cue. She glances down at the phone in her lap and sees Arizona's smiling face and eager thumbs up, Asa sleeping against her shoulder. It's probably the only thing that keeps her from vomiting then and there.

She takes a deep breath and gathers her things as the young tech guy who briefed her earlier gets her slides ready. She steps up to the podium and arranges her notes, putting the phone on the ledge. Arizona nods reassuringly.

"Well, I don't know how to follow up that introduction," Callie opens with a slight joke, trying to channel Arizona's amazing extemporaneous speaking skills. There's another rumble of laughter. Her voice gets a little stronger. "How about I just stick to the medicine? Unless anyone would rather see the baby pictures? Maybe later. So, as Dr. Devaney said, I began to explore the concept of artificial cartilage in the spring of 2010..."

The time flies by, much to Callie's amazement, and before she knows it, the talk is over and after applause, the crowd disperses. Arizona had to go, sending a picture message of a yawning Asa and the text "Oh my goodness, you're a rockstar!"

She fields a couple question from fellow ortho geeks and even flashes the newly arrived picture of Asa to few fellow moms and even some grandmas. Devaney leaves with a promise to meet up at tonight's dinner. Callie lets out a relieved sigh and begins to pack up.

"You were great."

"Oh, thanks," Callie says distractedly, searching for her favorite pen.

"Callie."

Now the voice is more familiar, and Callie looks up, disbelieving.

"Erica. Hi."

Erica looks the same, exactlythesame, even over five years later.

"I didn't know you would be here," Callie says lamely.

"Yeah. I'm back at Hopkins now; it seemed worth coming over, especially once I saw you were speaking."

"Oh."

Callie searches for something to say, something to contribute.

"And you're a mom now," Erica continues.

The smile is involuntarily, automatic. "Yeah. Asa. We had him at the end of September. He's great."

"Congratulations. Who's the lucky... other parent?"

"Mom," Callie says firmly.

"Anyone I know?"

"I don't really know if I want to have this conversation here."

"Coffee, then?" Erica tries. "I know you have no reason to want to talk to me, given how we left everything. But I promise, I'm not here to yell or tell you I've been pining or anything school girl like that. I'm happy. It's obvious you're happy. I just want to clear the air."

"I don't know if I want to bring it all back up."

"Okay. That's fair," Erica gives in, walls slamming back up. "Goodbye then."

"Erica, wait," Callie sighs. "Fine. Coffee. But you're buying, and I'm drinking decaf these days."

Erica raises her eyebrow. "Decaf?"

Callie grimaces. "Breastfeeding."

"Oh, right. Okay. I'll buy your crappy fake coffee."

"I need to call home quick."

Erica nods and steps away a few paces. Callie dials Arizona's cell, groaning a little as the voicemail picks up.

"Hey, it's me. Things went really well, amazingly. I'm hoping the little man didn't give you a hard time about going back to daycare. I know he loves Miss Karen. Call me back. Love you."

"Ready to go?"

Walking to the hotel bar to grab some coffee, Erica makes small talk about the cartilage research, and Callie realizes that's exactly the way to break a bit of the tension off as they get settled. In fact, they are getting along just great discussing the medicine when Callie receives a text.

It's from a resident, updating her on a patient, but the glow of her screen on the table reveals her phone background, a tiny Asa in his "I heart my moms" onesie.

"He, uh, looks good. Healthy."

Callie raises an eyebrow at Erica's awkward phrasing.

"C'mon. If I'd said he was cute or adorable, you'd know I was being fake. He looks strong. Even looks a little like you. A lot like every other infant, but like you, too."

"Me and Donor 329425," Callie half-laughs. She notices the way Erica tenses at that and realizes it landed weirdly. Not everyone, she remembers, is used to making jokes about assisted reproductive technology all the time, as tends to happen when you're living it. "But yes, thank you. He's... wonderful. All I ever wanted, really."

Erica smiles tightly. "Maybe it's good it ended, then."

Callie looks up from her coffee cup, temper flaring defensively.

"It's good you walked out into a parking lot and never looked back? Never said goodbye?"

Erica winces. "Cal, no. I just meant that clearly we weren't headed in the right direction. And don't act like I'm the only guilty party here. We were self-destructing."

"You didn't even say goodbye! I thought we were having a fight, not breaking up. And just because it worked out in the end doesn't mean it was fair at the time."

"Neither was the fact you were practicing on Sloan," Erica ripostes.

Another volley perches at the end of her tongue, but she holds back as her phone buzzes again, a goofy picture of her and Arizona lighting up the screen and declaring an incoming call from her partner. Callie quickly silences it; no way she's answering the phone right now. They sit in awkward quiet for a few more seconds before Erica starts again.

"So. Do I know her? Is she a surgeon?"

"She's a surgeon, yeah. Peds. I don't think you know her."

"What are her credentials?"

Callie fights the urge to roll her eyes; surgeons are all the same.

"She did med school and residency, actually, here at..." She looks up, as if suddenly remembering everything. Crap. That's a maybe. She gulps. "Here at Hopkins."

Erica raises an eyebrow. "Okay, I was going to try to be discrete, but now I need a name and a year."

"She's around my age, but she finished her residency a few years before me. I guess there could've been some overlap."

Erica continues to stare her down, and Callie sighs. If people know Arizona, they remember Arizona. The name and the perk and the hot. Yeah, people remember Arizona. Which means if Erica crossed paths with Callie's ridiculously peppy partner, she's going to know exactly whom she's talking about.

"Robbins. Arizona Robbins."

The name seems to spark something in Erica's memory, but it takes her a while to put it all together. Callie kind of prays she won't, but then feels terrible for being ashamed of her partner.

"The Cheerleader? Seriously?"

"You've heard of her?"

"She was an intern. When I was Chief Resident. Of course she ended up in Peds."

"Head of Peds," Callie defends. "Rock star Peds. Look her up."

"Sure. She had a lot of raw talent, if I remember from the couple surgeries I worked with her. She was just so..."

"Perky?"

"And she's the only grown woman I've ever met that used "Yay!" unironically."

Callie can't help the smile that tugs at her mouth, thinking of the way Arizona's eyes light up when she's excited and she practically bounces with joy.

"Yeah. That's Arizona."

"So you're shacked up and playing house with a cheerleader?"

"Uh, I wouldn't really put it that way, but yeah. She was never actually a cheerleader, though. Marine brat; moved around too much."

"You sound a little disappointed."

"I feel like she might've missed her calling. How are you?"

Erica shrugs. "I'm good. Work is great; the residents are phenomenal here. Driven, focused."

"Not gossiping and sleeping with the attendings?"

"Less so. I've dated a little bit, but I found out that seeing women outside of the hospital had as many problems as seeing one in the hospital, even if they're different problems. The surgeon's schedule is hard."

"Tell me about it," Callie sighs, thinking that her baby- and pager-free night of sleep tonight is the only high point of this entire endeavor. She's glad, though, that Erica is getting back out there and dating, if even just a little.

"And how is everyone's favorite misogynist?"

"He's good. Settled down with Lexie Grey. They'll probably get married once she's done with her residency this summer."

Erica looks honestly shocked.

"We are talking about Mark Sloan, right?"

Callie laughs. "He's very monogamous. Tamed by Little Grey, I guess."

"Yang?"

"Married, actually. Shepherd and Grey, too."

"Stevens?" Erica asks, and Callie winces.

"Gone. She took a job somewhere else."

"Oh. I heard about O'Malley. I'm... I'm sorry. For your loss."

Callie smiles sadly. While she's so glad that she and George never had kids of their own, there are times when she really wishes George were around to meet Asa. If only because George would have been a more gentle male role model in her son's life than enthusiastic Mark and reluctant Alex.

"Thanks."

The awkward is back, and her phone starts to buzz again, but this time it's her ortho fellow, who wouldn't call unless it was very important.

"I should really go take this. And then I should call home, because it'll be Asa's naptime, and I like to talk to him before he goes to sleep, so..."

She stands, and Erica does, too.

"Oh. Right."

"It's my fellow," she clarifies, waving her phone and therefore Asa's picture for a second. "Great surgeon, and she knows to only call me if it's urgent."

"I get it. Definitely."

"Thanks. For the coffee."

"Any time you're in Baltimore. You can even bring the Cheerleader and the baby."

Callie smiles, more clearly. "Same if you're in Seattle. Our coffee is better. Even the decaf."

"If I get out to Seattle, I hope you're not drinking decaf anymore."

"Who knows," Callie laughs. "We might have ten."

Erica looks nothing short of horrified.

"Probably not ten," Callie says quickly. Her phone alerts her to the missed call and voicemail. "Okay, well."

"See you around."

Callie pauses, unsure of how exactly to take her leave. She settles for a curt nod and heads for the door, kicking herself for the lack of smoothness.

"Cal?" Erica calls after her.

Callie turns around.

"I'm sorry," Erica says simply. "I'm sorry about how it ended."

"Me, too," Callie says honestly. She crosses back to Erica with a few quick steps and pulls her in for a hug. Erica stiffens briefly at the contact, but relaxes into it enough to embrace her back.

"Motherhood looks good on you," Erica says as she pulls away.

"Thanks. Baltimore looks good on you."

"Don't lie; Baltimore looks good on no one."

Callie laughs. "I was trying to be nice."

"Don't," Erica grins snarkily.

"Okay. I really do have to go. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"You, too."

This time she walks away feeling a whole hell of a lot better and grabs her phone to start making those calls.

"Did Mami call and talk to you before your nap?" Arizona asks her infant son as she warms the last of the breast milk Callie left for him. It'll be a formula day tomorrow until Mami gets back, which Asa, although he's pretty good with formula from time to time, is definitely not going to like. He's just gonna have to deal with that. They're starting to substitute formula more and more as they talk about weaning him off breast milk. "That's more than I got to talk to her today. We kept missing each other, and now she's asleep, just like we will be soon. What do you say, crib in the nursery or pack-n-play with Momma tonight?"

Asa, happily perched on her hip, gurgles a response that may contain the sound "ma" at some point; she'll take it.

"Another sleepover it is. Don't tell Mami!"

Asa giggles at her silly face and reaches for her nose. That is, until she brings the bottle into view, and then he starts lunging for that.

"Hungry, huh?"

She sits down on the couch with the evening news on low volume, burp rag at the ready, and Asa flails his arms in anticipation of his dinner, eagerly reaching his lips for the nipple, spraying milk on his face. Arizona chuckles and wipes it off as he begins suckling hungrily.

"We're having a good time, right, little man?" Arizona asks, idly tracing the curve of his cheek as his big brown eyes drift shut with food-ecstasy. "I'm doing okay at this? I know you miss Mami. I miss her, too. But we're having fun. And not going hungry. Though maybe I should wait on that judgment for tomorrow."

Asa pauses in his eating long enough to burp and sneeze. Arizona cleans him up and gives him a look.

"You are gross," she says adoringly. "Anyway, I just ask, 'cause your madre is already bugging me to make you a little brother or sister. Which is crazy, because you're tiny, but she wants this one to look like me, and that's gonna take a lot more time, and she wants you two to be close. I don't know. Don't you wanna look like your brother or sister?"

Asa huffs and whines, reaching for the bottle she holds just a little too far away.

"Okay, right. Here it is. And you really don't care? Mami really, really wants this. Can you deal with a cranky Momma? Mami's gonna have to put shots in me, and then I'm gonna be all cranky, and sometimes Mami is cranky enough for the two of us, hmm? Don't tell her I said that. I guess it's not that bad, considering what Mami did to get you here. I really shouldn't complain. Would it be confusing to have a little me?"

Asa snorts and keeps suckling for the last of the bottle.

"That was not helpful," Arizona tells him with a laugh. "I just never thought there would be little me's running around. Even once I was excited for the baby thing. I would love a million of you. Or just you, baby boy." She smacks a kiss on his cheek as he sleepily lets the bottle fall from his mouth, milk gone. She shifts him around so he's sitting up a little more and rubs his back to get the rest of his burps out. He half-dozes against her breast as he sits in her lap. "Okay. You're right. I should let her have what she wants."

"Hey you! We missed you so much. Sorry we kept missing each other," Arizona says, between the hugs and kisses Callie showers the two most important people in her life with. "Anything exciting happen?"

Which, apparently, is the completely wrong question to ask. Callie dumps her suitcase and begins a long, pacing rant about her encounter with Erica, and its ensuing weirdness and lack thereof.

"Mhmm. No. Terrible. I can't imagine. Yes. Definitely," Arizona supplies an appropriate response from her litany with only half interest, nodding along. "Mmm. No. I can't imagine."

Asa is on her hip, where, admittedly, he's been glued all weekend. She was a little terrified that if she let him out of her sight, she'd prove all her fears right about being a crappy mom. It went pretty miraculously well, though, and she nods at him this time. Gnawing on his balled up fist, Asa seems to approve. She leans in to whisper:

"Your madre, bubba, is a little crazy."

"I heard that," Callie snaps.

Arizona just beams back at her, dimples at full power, face pressed in close to Asa's for an effective double whammy.

"Calliope, I get it. Seeing an ex, especially your first ex-girlfriend, that's rough, no matter how amicably things went. But it sounds like it actually went pretty well, and now you're home, and we missed you. And I'm hungry. And Asa's hungry. And while I would love to eat with you, I'm pretty sure that Asa would prefer to eat from you. Because that is one way in which Momma is vastly inferior. Can we please have dinner now and then I can show you how much I missed you? And how much everything totally worked out for the better."

Callie sighs, having missed the beauty of her partner's impromptu speaking.

"Definitely for the better," she relaxes, moving to scoop Asa from Arizona's arms and showering his face with kisses. "Hola, m'ijo. ¿Cómo te fue el fin-de con tu Momma, hmm? Did you save any snuggles for me?" [Hi, baby. How was your weekend with your Momma, hmm?]

"We always have snuggles for you," Arizona grins. "As long as they're in the kitchen."

Asa launches himself first to nuzzle his madre's shoulder, then to nuzzle lower, at her breast.

"Or with your boobs. We're agreed on that, too."

"I bet you are," Callie laughs, leaning over to kiss Arizona again. "But if I'm feeding the baby, you're heating up dinner."

"That I can do. As long as you supervise me."

"Mm, I'll supervise you all you want."

"Don't make supervise dirty. I have to supervise Karev and the residents all the time."

"He stares at your boobs, too, while you're supervising him. So, you're Karev, and I'm you."

"That's gross," Arizona complains, headed toward the kitchen.

"Hey," Callie pauses, settled at the breakfast bar. She'll trade the comfort of nursing on the couch for the closeness to Arizona. "Why the hell didn't you tell me that Erica Hahn was your Chief Resident?"

"Mm. Not my Chief Resident. Iwas my Chief Resident. Just, a Chief Resident, when I was a baby intern. How much interaction did you have with your Chief Resident as an intern?"

"It really didn't cross your mind to tell me you'd met the only other woman I've slept with?"

"I'd worked with her maybe a handful of times. Once, she kicked me out of her OR for saying 'awesome'."

Callie snorts.

"Whatever. The aortal graft was awesome. It was a compliment."

"That doesn't answer my question, Arizona."

"At first, you were sad whenever you talked about her. So, I didn't want to bring it up and make it weird."

"It's still weird now," Callie counters, adjusting Asa at her breast, thankful it's her sweet baby boy and not that obnoxiously loud breast pump for the first time in days.

"Okay, true. But then I did honestly forget. I don't spend a lot of my time thinking about Erica Hahn, and I hope you don't either."

Callie laughs. "I promise. I don't."

"Well, good. I'm sorry I never mentioned it. It really didn't seem like a big deal. Surgery's a small world, Hopkins especially."

"Yes, you're very elitist."

Arizona sticks out her tongue. "I just assumed you put two and two together. Or just didn't really care."

"I don't care; it was just weird to bring you up and her be like 'Oh, the Cheerleader'."

Arizona makes a face.

"What?"

"I hate that nickname."

"You're like Cheerleader Barbie. Deal with it. Are you ever disappointed you weren't a cheerleader?" Callie asks.

"No, but you sound like you are," Arizona teases as she preps the salad and reheats the last of the lasagna Callie left for her.

"Mm. I really am."

"Next Halloween, I'll see what I can do."

"That's so far away! Why not sooner?"

"Do not discuss role-playing in front of our child, Calliope," Arizona admonishes, coming around the corner of the island just to kiss her and cover Asa's little ears. "And we'll just see how much you deserve it before then, hmm?"

"Oh, I'll be good."

"Good!" She kisses her again. "Now let me go get dinner. I'll never hear the end of it if I burn the reheated pasta."

"I love you," Callie says sincerely.

Arizona beams at her. "I love you, too."

"But I will have to mock you if you burn the lasagna."

"Oh, right! On it."

el fin