Title: Housewarming
Author: A. Windsor
Pairing/Characters: Callie/Arizona
Rating: PG-13
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 semester 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!
Summary: With a second baby on the way, Callie and Arizona enter the world of homeownership.
Author's Note: More AU!verse. And more to come. Beta'd by the wonderful roughian .
Arizona walks into the apartment and is greeted at the door by her beautiful son, dressed in his Johns Hopkins t-shirt and tiny baby jeans. She scoops him up so that she can look into his big brown eyes after she drops her bag on the kitchen counter.
"Momma," he greets.
"Little man."
Asa grins widely.
"Love of my life."
He giggles adoringly.
"Light of my world," she brushes her nose against his. "What have you done with your madre?"
The twenty-two-month-old drops his forehead onto Arizona's shoulder, tiny arms looping around her neck.
"Well, that was helpful," Arizona murmurs, pressing a kiss into her son's forehead. "Calliope?"
"In here," Callie moans pitifully from the bathroom in their room.
Arizona carries Asa back towards his madre.
"Ma-mee sick."
"Oh, Calliope, still? I'm sorry."
Callie has her head propped up against the porcelain of the toilet, face gaunt, eyes dark-circled and miserable.
"This is your fault. He was never this much trouble."
That's true; they'd gotten very lucky with their first born. It had been an astoundingly easy pregnancy, and Asa had been (and still is?) a ridiculously easy baby. But, despite Arizona's warnings that Robbins babies had a history of notoriously difficult pregnancies, Callie insisted that this time she wanted a "little Arizona".
Arizona wisely doesn't bring that up now.
"I'm really sorry," she says instead. "But I got us a time lined up with the realtor, tomorrow. He found us four places he'll take us to, right after our shifts."
Callie tries really hard to brighten at that idea, but, god, second trimester morning sickness is brutal.
"That's great."
"I know! I'd love to get into a new place before the baby comes. And that way, I'll have to do all the heavy lifting."
Callie chuckles then. "I told Aria we'd conscript Blake into helping us move," she wipes her face and tries sitting all the way up. "And Mark and Owen. Plus, you have Karev's attending fate in your hot little hands, and ortho residents are always good for all that kinda stuff."
"We sound like terrible lesbians, needing men to do everything for us."
"We're brilliant lesbians, getting men to do everything for us."
"Excellent spin. Do you, uh, want dinner?"
Callie makes a face.
"Okay yeah," Arizona grimaces. "Didn't think so. Well, how about you go lie down for a little bit? I'll feed Asa and give him a bath, and then you can read him his stories."
"I can do bath time, too."
Arizona purses her lips sternly. "We'll just see how you feel."
"Pregnant, not dying," Callie reminds, annoyed. "In fact, quite the opposite. Two lives for the price of one."
"Oh, ha ha," Arizona rolls her eyes. "Go lie down. I'll handle the little man."
"There are leftovers in the fridge. Please don't try to cook for him."
"You are so mean to me when you're puking," Arizona pouts as she carries Asa back to the kitchen.
"Because I have a mini-you inside of me that's ruining food for me!" Callie calls back, but the smile is evident in her voice.
The next day Callie's feeling a lot better and makes it through her entire surgical schedule while only puking once. It's a victory. She grabs Asa from daycare and goes to meet Arizona in the lobby so that they can go try to find a house.
"Callie!"
Callie spins around at the sound of her name, recognizing the voice but not believing it could be who she thinks it is.
"Mrs. O'Malley?"
Yes, in fact, it is.
Her former mother-in-law envelopes her in a giant hug, as best she can when Callie has her arms full of twenty-two-month-old Asa. The boy giggles at the strange, grandmotherly lady who is attack-hugging them.
"Oh my goodness, Callie. Is this beautiful little one yours? Look at him!"
"Mrs. O'Malley, what are you doing here?"
"I was, just... Thinking of Georgie," Mrs. O'Malley sighs, fingers tracing up Asa's tiny little arm. "Is this your son?"
Callie smiles, watching as her beloved boy easily, charmingly accepts the stranger's attention, flirtatiously ducking his head into his mami's shoulder.
"Yes. This is Asa. Asa, can you say hello to Mrs. O'Malley, m'ijo?"
"Hi hi," Asa says softly.
"He looks just like you," Mrs. O'Malley notes, almost sadly, thinking of lost opportunities.
"Let's sit," Callie suggests, gesturing them towards the empty chairs of the waiting area.
She settles Asa into one of the chairs, and Louise O'Malley sits beside him. George's mother finally takes her eyes off of Asa as Callie stretches out her back.
"Callie, are you?"
Callie smiles again, a hand on her slight baby bump. "Baby Number Two. Asa's going to have a little sister in about four months."
"A little girl! How wonderful. So you've been good?"
"I've been great, obviously," she says, looking adoringly at Asa. "How are you holding up? How are Jerry and Ronny? Have they given you any grandbabies yet?"
"One on the way," Louise smiles happily. "A little boy. Probably around the same time you are due! So, I'm good. Knitting away."
"I can imagine."
"I'm so happy I ran into you. I didn't know you remarried!"
Callie swallows nervously. "Yeah, um..."
"Momma!" Asa cries happily, looking over Louise's shoulder.
Callie hears the tell-tale sound of Arizona wheeling over to them. She turns as Asa squirms out of the chair and toddles quickly towards his momma with his amazing smile in place. Arizona immediately squeaks to a halt so that she'll be steady when she catches him. She scoops him up and peppers his face with kisses.
"Yeah, so, not quite remarried. It's not legal. Not yet."
Mrs. O'Malley's eyes widen but, to her credit, she manages to keep a smile in place.
Arizona spends a few extra moments talking to Asa in their strange little mother-son shorthand of giggles, silliness, and Eskimo kisses before she brings him over.
"Arizona, this is Louise O'Malley, George's mom. Mrs. O'Malley, this is Arizona Robbins, my partner."
It's Arizona's turn to look a little shocked, but she throws out a super magic smile and switches Asa onto one hip, extending her hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. O'Malley."
"You, too, Dr. Robbins. Your son is beautiful, and I hear congratulations are in order," Mrs. O'Malley says sweetly.
"Thank you. We're super excited. Right, Asa? I'm sorry about your son. George was a great man. I didn't work with him too often, but we all miss him."
Mrs. O'Malley softens even more, hanging onto her hand just a little while longer before releasing it with a squeeze.
"Thank you."
"Hey, how about Asa and I give you a minute? We'll go grab my stuff from the attendings lounge and meet you there?"
"Thanks, babe. I'll see you in a sec."
Arizona smiles once more. "Goodbye, Mrs. O'Malley."
"It was lovely to meet you, Dr. Robbins."
When Asa and Arizona have disappeared back up the stairs, Callie lets out a shaky sigh. This is a very strange situation, and she's not quite sure how to move forward. She's not ashamed of her family; she never has been. But introducing her son and, well, hopefully someday soon, new wife to her dead ex-husband's extremely Catholic mother is nothing she ever considered having to face.
"She seems wonderful," Mrs. O'Malley breaks the silence. "They seem very close, and she lights up around you."
"She is wonderful," Callie confirms. "And they're... inseparable. It's really cute." They lapse into silence as Louise's eyes get distant. "Are you alright, Mrs. O'Malley?"
"Oh, just thinking, what a fool my Georgie was to treat you how he did. Don't you think you could've been happy together?"
Callie bites her lip, considering. She thinks if George could've committed fully to their marriage, emotionally and mentally, from the beginning, then yes. Yes, they could've been very happy together, with steady careers, a few kids, and a dog. And she would've been blissfully unaware that she'd lost out on the chance to be with the love of her life.
Which, honestly, sort of terrifies her.
"Yes," she finally says aloud, because that's the answer Louise wants to hear. "I think, under the right circumstances, we could've been happy. George was a great man. Just, lost."
Mrs. O'Malley nods, obviously thinking of her late son.
"I should let you go, Callie."
"Oh, yeah. We're going house hunting this afternoon. I'm a little nervous."
"You'll know. When you're in it, you'll know it's the house you're supposed to raise your family in," her former mother-in-law finally smiles.
"I hope so."
"Hey, good talk?" Arizona asks with concern as Callie joins them in the attendings lounge, where Asa is "listening" for a heartbeat in his momma's kneecap, her stethoscope loosely around his neck.
She's in such a weird mood that the laugh that bubbles out of her mouth at the sight sounds hollow. Arizona's brow wrinkles with more worry.
"Hey, Asa, go see if you can hear anything in Mami's tummy," she tries to lighten the room.
Asa toddles over dutifully, but he can't really reach Callie's stomach. His insistent tug on her jeans snaps her back to reality.
"Oh hey. Sorry, m'ijo. You wanna get up here and listen to your hermanita?"
The boy nods, "Sí, Mami," even though at less than two he has very little concept of who/what/how his hermanita is. Callie sits down next to Arizona and pulls Asa into her lap, directing his stethoscope to her baby bump.
"Say: Baby, stop making Mami puke," Arizona suggests.
"No make Mami puke, 'nita," Asa repeats solemnly.
"Buen trabajo, m'ijo," [Good job,] Callie laughs, sounding more like herself.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I am now. Wasn't expecting that."
"What are you thinking about?"
"Missed opportunities. And how close I came to never having you in my life. And how much that would suck."
"You're always so romantic, Calliope," Arizona teases.
"I'm serious. What if I'd still been married to George when you came to Seattle? What then? I would've never known..."
"Never known what?" Arizona prompts when Callie trails off.
Callie brushes Asa's unruly hair out of his eyes and feels her heart constrict at the sight of his sweet, beloved face. She turns to Arizona's equally beloved features.
"How to really be happy."
Arizona super-magic smiles and leans in to kiss her softly.
"And here I thought you were gonna say how much you like breasts."
Callie laughs. "Not in front of the baby."
"He was breastfed; he likes boobs, too."
"C'mon. We're gonna be late, boob lady."
"For the record, even though it really hurt you, I'm glad George was a cheating idiot. And that Erica couldn't see what was in front of her. Because I really don't know where I'd be without you."
"You'd be the crazy chicken lady."
"Asa! Are you gonna let her talk to me that way?"
"Okay, so this is the last one. This might be a little extreme, but you said you wanted a lot of space. This is a beautiful house, one of my favorites: great neighborhood, big lawn. But they're having trouble selling it because it has so many bedrooms."
"How many does it have?" Arizona asks Stephen, their young, eager real estate agent.
"Five upstairs. Plus a ground floor master suite."
"Whoa," Callie marvels.
"The family who built it originally had four kids, and they wanted them each to have their own room. Plus a guest room."
"Four kids?" Callie questions.
"It's less than ten," Arizona teases, Asa on her hip.
Poor Stephen looks confused.
"It is."
"And it fits in the rollercoaster rule," Arizona grins cheekily.
For someone who once had a vocal and vehement objection to children, Arizona is kinda an addict now. Callie blames their obnoxiously cute son.
"So does two," Callie counters, but she's mostly kidding. Both are decided that they want more than two, and four sounds kinda chaotically perfect.
Arizona shrugs innocently.
"So, uh, you want to see the inside?"
They certainly do. The outside is welcoming, nicely landscaped but not overly so. And the length of time it's been on the market has put it well within their (considerable) price range.
The inside is even better. Hardwood floors, a recently renovated kitchen, and a master suite with a bathtub to die for. A converted sun porch in the back, now enclosed to be the perfect downstairs playroom for Asa and his little sister. The upstairs? Five bedrooms: two pairs sharing jack-and-jill bathrooms and a nicely-sized guest room. It just seems too perfect to be true.
"Seriously?" Callie questions. "How is this still on the market?"
"Most people don't want this much house to take care of," Stephen shrugs.
Callie leaves Arizona and Stephen to discuss the finer points of offers, property taxes, and market prices, taking Asa with her to wander and get a feel for the house.
It's better to let Arizona handle all this stuff; the majority of Callie's real estate experience has consisted of dorms, crappy student apartments, hospital basements, and hotel rooms. Arizona is definitely the grown-up in their relationship when it comes to stuff like this. Callie thinks she could learn how to handle all of that stuff if she had to, but filling in each other's weaknesses is one of the many perks of being part of a matched set.
She wanders out to the fenced backyard and sets Asa on the ground. He enjoys the freedom to run through the long grass while his mami stops dead in her tracks, noticing the left hand side of the property. She hears Arizona and the realtor at the back door and yells:
"Arizona! This is it."
Stephen misinterprets her yelling and begins damage control.
"What? Oh, that. That can be removed. We'll put it in the contract if you want the place. The last owners liked fresh eggs in the morning, so they had..."
"Chickens," Arizona breathes as she walks out into the backyard. "Oh my goodness, Calliope. Chickens!"
Callie stands, grinning, next to the empty chicken coop placed along the fence.
"Chickens. It's a sign."
"A sign?" Stephen questions.
Arizona and Callie keep their wide eyes locked, having a silent conversation. Finally, Callie nods.
"We'll take it," Arizona tells the realtor. "It's well within our budget, so put in an offer $5,000 below and we'll negotiate up to asking price."
"Okay. I'll draw up the paperwork-"
"Yeah, do that. Can we, uh, have a minute?" Callie tries to say diplomatically, eyes still on Arizona, though her mother's instincts keep her peripheral vision locked on their toddler, tripping his way around the backyard.
"Right. I, of course. I'll go inside, call my office. They'll get started on the paperwork, and then we'll hammer out the details."
"You're sure?" Arizona questions when Stephen has retreated into the house. Her eyes are also still locked on Callie, but she's momentarily distracted by the toddler running headlong into her knee. She bends to pick Asa up.
"I'm sure," Callie nods firmly. "I loved it already, but this?" She gestures to the nearby chicken coop. "This is... fate or something." Her hands drop to her gently expanded stomach. "I can just see all of us here. Asa and the baby, you and me. I can see the monstrous swingset Daddy will insist on buying. I can see me cooking in that kitchen and you and Asa cuddled up in the living room watching Disney movies. And I can see bringing her home to this house."
"And filling those other bedrooms?"
"Yeah," Callie admits with a shocked laugh. "I think I actually can."
"Me too," Arizona says quietly, super magic smile in place, dropping a kiss to Asa's head. "What about you, bubba? Want this house?"
Going off the leading tone in his mother's voice, Asa says:
"Yeah!"
Callie's never felt more grown up, sitting in the attorney's office with all the real estate agents. And yes, she knows that's odd, since she's already a mom with another baby on the way, but there's something that feels very mature about signing a deed and financing a mortgage. There's a lot of extra paperwork involved, too, since they're still not married, by necessity of law rather than choice. A fact that's been bothering her more and more since her run in with Mrs. O'Malley.
It's inconceivable to her that, in the eyes of the law, she was more legitimately tied to George O'Malley, he of the Vegas wedding and months-long marriage, than she can ever be to Arizona. It's been bothering her so much, in fact, that she even suggested a trip to Vancouver or to Massachusetts or one of the other dozen states where it is in fact legal, even if it wouldn't be recognized by the state of Washington.
Arizona, however, believes that they're very close to gay marriage on a national scale, keeping an eye on the multiple cases making their way up to the Supreme Court, and she wants to wait to do it right.
So they fill out the extra paperwork, and between joint bank accounts, their names on the mortgage, two kids, and waking up together every morning, it feels like they're just waiting on a piece of paper.
A very important piece of paper.
The whole closing process is over with rather quickly, and Stephen happily hands over the keys with a few final details.
"Wanna go to the house?" Arizona questions. "We could pick Asa up from Mark's on the way."
"Yeah. That sounds perfect."
Arizona smiles and squeezes her hand.
tbc
