Lynx Book 3: A Callie Torres Story

19

"Be careful, Sofia," Jada warned before the little girl took off toward the playground.

"I'll be careful mommy!" Sofia turned around and shouted when she reached the steps that would lead up to her favorite slide.

"Remember, no monkey bars, swings, or anything you can climb on without myself or Aunt Arizona helping you."

Sofia hurried up the steps and quickly went down the first slide. Now that Sofia seemed interested in the part of the playground where she didn't require constant supervision, Jada relaxed.

Callie had called Jada for lunch today like she always did. Even though Jada had been coming to visit her wife more frequently for lunch, in the event she didn't, they would FaceTime while Callie had lunch.

Jada finally gave in and promised Sofia they would go to the playground after lunch. The little girl ate everything, ignoring her pickiness, and helped Jada clean up her room. Sofia had been begging all day, and continued to beg even more when the rainy weather gave way to the rare sunshine in Seattle.

While she was on the phone with her wife, Jada learned that Callie was scheduled to help Kate with a very tough surgery later in the day. Hearing that Arizona wasn't working and was a little disappointed her wife was called in for emergency surgery, Jada invited Arizona to come along.

Jada made herself comfortable on a park bench beside Arizona as they watched Sofia play. The little girl was even more hyper than she was at home, hurrying around the playground in an attempt to set her daily record of the most times going down the slide.

"You sure you and Kate are still interested in kids?" Jada teased as they continued to watch her daughter. "Because if you think this is hyper, you should see her when she has sugar."

Both women laughed. "Don't forget, I am in peads," Arizona said with a teasing smile. "Try getting a hyper kid to calm down in the emergency room."

"Fair," Jada said, conceding the point. "But at least you get to give them back when you're done with them."

"Seeing kids in the emergency room is what really made me decide against having kids with Callie," Arizona explained. "Because one minute they're fine, and the next, they're in my OR nearly dead. I couldn't imagine being a parent and seeing my child go through that. And at the same time, I'm a surgeon. So is Kate. A kid of ours wouldn't be any safer in case something happened."

"I never thought I would be a mom either," Jada replied, her eyes darting back and forth from Arizona to her daughter playing on the playground. "I never thought I would be pregnant. And here I am."

They both laughed. "How far along are you?" Arizona asked.

"Seven weeks," Jada answered. "Halfway through my first trimester."

"Mommy! Aunt Arizona! Look!"

They both turned to see Sofia standing at the very top of the big slide. Being careful to move herself into position, she pulled herself down the slide and appeared at the bottom.

"Good job, Sof!"

"She has so much of Callie in her," Arizona pointed out. "And it's not even biological."