Author: lilyme
Summary: A school project for Thanksgiving reveals a secret long kept.
Characters: Callie/Arizona; Sofia
Rating: K
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Grey's Anatomy". They were created by Shonda Rhimes and belong to her and the ABC network. No copyright infringement intended!All mistakes are mine.
Author's notes: Oh, and Happy Turkey Day!
(Un-)Beloved creatures
"Knock, knock," she announced her presence with a smile as she entered her daughter's room. "Hey, sweetie, how are things coming along?"
The kids in Sofia's class had to do a report on a topic related to Thanksgiving. And Sofia had picked turkeys. She had already finished drawing an exemplar of this species on a big poster. And now she was researching in a book for some interesting facts about the bird and its emergence as part of the Thanksgiving tradition which she wanted to put all around the picture of her gobble gobble.
"Good!" the little brunette returned, looking up from the notes she was taking. "Did you know that the turkey's head changes color depending on its mood?"
"Oh? No, I didn't," Arizona confessed, as she walked further into the brightly painted room and took a look at the bird Sofia had designed. "Well, yours looks pretty happy, I'd say," she made a move to pretend-tickle the colorful animal. She didn't know how happy would look on this creature, but whatever. Any bird drawn by Sofia had to be a happy bird.
"I think he is," Sofia agreed, proud of her depiction of the animal.
"So, what else did you learn?" Arizona wondered and sat down on the edge of the third-grader's desk. Sofia always insisted on doing her homework herself – and was being very successful at it. But still they checked on it, of course, to see if she might need help after all.
"Well, they have two stomachs. They have really good eyes and can see far more colors than we do. And every year the President pardons one on Thanksgiving, which is pretty cool".
"Um-hm," the blonde nodded along the information the little student was presenting with such enthusiasm.
"And President Lincoln's son actually had a pet turkey at the White House," she concluded, suddenly her eyes becoming wide as her mind really took the time to work on this fact. "Mommy, can we have some turkeys? For our garden?"
"Can we have what as what?" an incredulous voice could be heard from outside the room, and seconds later Callie appeared in the doorway, carrying a laundry basket.
"Well, Sofia seems to be entertaining the thought of having some turkeys as pets," Arizona repeated the idea with a shrug as she positioned herself behind Sofia's chair. From her expression one could tell the blonde was fairly intrigued by the proposal.
Which was not surprising, since... "What is it with you two and birds?" Callie's voice portrayed a nervousness that seemed strange to the other girls in the room. "Your mom once said she wanted chicken as pets," the older brunette explained to Sofia, who immediately craned her neck to look at the blonde with excited eyes.
"Really?!"
The other woman remembered that one time she had let her then girlfriend of a little over a year in on her secret wish. Sadly then differentiating opinions on a very crucial topic had entered their world and had temporarily pulled them apart before the topic of chicken ever could be brought up again.
In retrospect, their baby discussion seemed surreal now. And despite how everything had happened, Arizona could not for one second imagine her life without Sofia now.
She shared a brief look with Callie, portraying she knew exactly, which moment her wife was referring to, before she leaned down to give excited Sofia a loving kiss on the forehead. "Really".
"Chicken are cool too," Sofia smiled into the caress.
"So, I guess now we just have to see what Mama likes better, and then maybe we'll have some animals soon", Arizona concluded and they both focused their attention on Callie... who busied herself with the folding of socks. "Callie?" she lured, when the brunette didn't react to them in whatever way.
"Can't we have... a more normal pet?" the woman in question finally suggested hesitantly, her pout evidence that she wasn't really down with the other choices.
She was okay with a pet or even several, really. They had had this discussion a few months ago already. With Sofia now being old enough to look after an animal by herself to some extent, they had figured it could be a good opportunity for her to learn some responsibility.
However, birds had never been one of the proposals until now. And Callie had been pretty glad about it.
Arizona chuckled at the brunette's remark about getting a 'normal' animal as pet, unaware of the true reason for her objection. Instead she returned, "Says the woman who had a pet ferret as a kid".
And by a comment simple as that, Sofia once more found herself surprised by a detail revealed by her parents.
"Well, it's just...," Callie wanted to argue with the girls and their convincing arguments. Under any other circumstances, birds wouldn't be a problem... probably. But... "I'm afraid of birds, okay?" she finally confessed in a low voice, her eyes finding the yellow and red-dotted pair of socks squeezed in her hands very interesting. "Aria's stupid cockatiel bit my hand pretty badly when I was five. And I've tried to avoid birds ever since," she elaborated, sounding every bit like her five year old self.
And the bigger the bird, the worse it got. So... turkeys... were really the last thing she wanted anywhere near her.
"What?" Arizona exclaimed, all the teasing having disappeared from her voice. "We've known each other for more than ten years, and this is the first time you mentioned this," she moved towards Callie and caressed her arm to soothe her.
"Well, it never came up," Callie countered. "Plus, it always made me feel a little embarrassed. I mean, who's afraid of birds, right?"
"Aww, honey, there is no need to," the blonde reassured and kissed the brunette on the still pouting lips.
Callie smiled at this and even more so when Sofia came running over for a comfort cuddle as well.
"So, okay, no turkeys or chicken or any feathered animal for us. Agreed?" Arizona asked and earned nods all around.
"Bunnies, maybe?" Sofia suggested.
"That I could live with," Callie returned in relief.
"Um...," Arizona suddenly remarked and bit her lip with panicked eyes. And the two brunettes felt that there was yet another unforeseen story to come...
END