Title: Turkey Day
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: "I can taste the pie already." [November 2027]
Author's Note: A holiday Thing!verse fic, um, one week late. That's more like it! Beta'd by the wonderful, snarky, weirdy reindeer roughian, who will always be a reindeer. The brand new beautiful Thing!verse artwork is by the amazing strandedinaber, so all props and credit and etc to her awesomeness. Look at the chickies!
Fifteen years later, Callie hates airports for a completely different reason.
Wrangling a family of six through TSA? A never-ending nightmare. Especially with a moody fourteen-year-old, an overly energetic five-year-old, two squabbling girls in between, and a control freak wife who has yet, in all their years and all their trips, to overcome her fear of flying.
To be fair, Callie must admit she's not exactly a delight to fly with either.
Once they make it through security with their ridiculous amount of stuff, Callie regroups them all.
"Mami?"
"Yes, Mateo?"
"My feet hurt."
Callie sighs. "Really?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"You tap dance on those little feet all day, but the airport is just too much for you? Are your feet broken?" she asks. She wants to be annoyed, but Teo is giving her that sweet, bright smile so she drops her bag and asks: "Piggy back?"
"Yes, please!"
Callie lets Teo scramble up on her back, latching his little legs around her waist and his arms loosely around her neck. She meets Arizona's eyes, and her wife cracks her first smile of the very early morning as Teo rests his sleepy head on his madre's shoulder.
"I need someone to help with my bag then," Callie says leadingly, looking to her teenage son.
Before Asa can reluctantly acquiesce to the request, Lena eagerly volunteers:
"I got it, Mami."
With all the awkwardness of a soon-to-be twelve-year-old who is in the middle of a growth spurt, Lena wrestles her madre's oversized bag onto her shoulder.
"Gracias, Lena-nena."
"You're welcome."
"You okay, baby girl? Do you need Cari to help you?"
Eight-year-old Caroline looks unamused at the prospect, but Lena shakes her head.
"Nope, got it."
"Alright. Comfy back there, Mr. T?"
"Yep!"
"Okay then. Let's move out."
"I have to pee," Teo announces, done pirouetting for the moment.
Those dance lessons are worth every penny; it's all he can talk about.
"Of course you do," Arizona sighs. They just got settled at the gate. "Okay. I'll take you."
"I wanna go in the boys," Teo grimaces.
Callie gently smacks Asa's thigh, and he looks up, startled, from his reading.
"Huh?"
"Bathroom break?" she nods towards Teo.
Asa rolls his eyes and stands up.
"Thank you, Asa," Arizona says, extra sweetly.
"C'mon, Tiny Dancer," Asa says, gently grabbing his brother's earlobe and pulling him along.
"Hey," Teo giggles, tripping along beside him.
"Be gentle! Wash your hands!" Arizona calls after them.
"Don't talk to strangers!" Lena pipes up, making Caroline giggle from her quarantine on the other side of the row of chairs. To protect their sanity, the girls have been separated until take off.
"You ready for Grammy's, Lena-bug?"
"I can taste the pie already," Lena nods earnestly.
Callie laughs and asks: "Cari?"
"Will there be cranberry sauce?"
"Yes," Arizona informs her.
"The can kind?"
"Yes," Arizona grins.
"I'm in."
"Oh, good. I thought we were going to have to leave you here," Callie teases.
Arizona draws the short straw and has to sit between the ever-bickering Lena and Caroline, which leaves Callie to sit with the boys. Teo more than happily takes the middle seat, and Callie pulls rank to force Asa to the window seat. As they all buckle in, Callie calls over:
"Girls, one of you please hold your momma's hand."
Arizona lets out a sarcastic, "Thanks, Mami," but her eyes speak of gratitude.
While frequently checking on Arizona during take-off, Callie is happy to note that both girls have taken on the responsibility of holding her hand. Teo is perfectly content with his iPod, little fingers beating out a rhythm on his Mami's knee. For the rest of the take off, Callie studies Asa, whose nose is buried in a e-book, of course. Her oldest, her tiny baby boy, has the tell-tale cracking voice of mid-puberty and a smattering of scraggly facial hair that amuses Arizona and hurts Callie's heart, reminding her of how much he isn't her little baby anymore.
"Ma, stop," Asa orders self-consciously.
"Sorry," Callie says quickly, covering her smile by looking back to the magazine in her lap and joining in the tapping against her knee.
Arizona loves nothing more than getting off of the plane. For the sake of her wife and children, she refrains from kissing the ground. They'd never let her live it down.
After a call to alert Emeline and the Colonel of their arrival, Callie, Arizona, Lena, and Teo, make a trip to the ladies' room. Asa and Caroline stay with the stuff.
When they return, even moody Asa and perpetually grumpy Caroline have been affected by the holiday spirit. It's simply a Thanksgiving miracle that Caroline is perched on her brother's back, saying something that has the older boy laughing freely.
"Your feet broken, too. Care Bear?" Arizona questions.
"Yep," Caroline says resolutely.
"Okay then. Don't break your brother's back."
"He's tough," Caroline reassures her.
"Let's go," Lena complains, one hand holding steady to wiggly Teo's wrist. "I want my hot chocolate."
"And apple cider," Asa grins.
"And cookies!" Teo adds excitedly.
"I'm with Teo," Caroline pipes up.
As they walk out of the terminal, Teo starts singing "Jingle Bell Rock", which causes Arizona to steal him from his big sister and spin him around as if they're dancing.
"No, no, Mateo! Not yet!" she exclaims.
"Gotta wait until after we eat the turkey, Teo," Lena adds.
Arizona can practically feel her wife's eye roll across the crowded terminal walkway.
"Oh, yeah," Teo deflates. "It's mean to Turkey Day."
"Disrespectful," Lena corrects warmly. "But after that we can sing all the Christmas songs we want."
"Yay," Callie says sarcastically, which causes her entire family, even badass Caroline, to look at her reproachfully. "Oh, fine." She musters something more genuine. "Yay!"
Once reunited, Grammy and her grandbabies do all the talking.
Over the usual objections, the Robbins-Torres family rented a car at Dulles and drove to Arlington, reminding the Colonel that eight people, one of whom is still in a booster seat, simply couldn't fit in a car. Additionally, though they don't tell the Colonel, Callie and Arizona really prefer to have an escape vehicle.
All bickering ceases, all behavior becomes angelic, all manners perfect, for the first few hours in Grammy and Grandpa's house, so Callie and Arizona let the kiddies run as they please, saving the discipline for the intense grandparent detox to come.
While Emeline basks in the grandma glow, Callie and the Colonel talk sports, and Arizona wanders the house into which her parents retired fifteen years ago.
The walls and shelves are covered in pictures of Arizona's children, but scattered among them are some of Arizona and Danny Robbins, and those are the ones she seeks, to think about how much she wishes he were here.
These are Callie's favorite, the ones that make her go, "Oh my god, Lena!" and tease her wife about her eighties and nineties fashion. They're Arizona's favorites because they have Danny. Since his ashes were scattered over Pearl Harbor, pictures are her only memorial to her baby brother.
With four kids of her own now, she usually make it through the holidays without being crippled by how much she misses him. Even in their joy, though, is Arizona's sadness that they'll never know Uncle Danny.
She wanders back into the living room, where Grandpa has claimed his time with the grandchildren, and Emeline and Callie have retreated to the kitchen to work on dinner.
"What's this on your face?" the Colonel teases, scruffing Asa's chin. "You're old enough to shave this off. A Marine is presentable and clean shaven."
"Dad," Arizona complains.
"We'll do it tomorrow. A grandfather can teach his grandson to shave, can't he, Arizona?"
Arizona looks to her oldest, who gives an embarrassed shrug. "If he wants..."
"Yes, sir,"Asa says dutifully.
"I wanna watch," Teo pipes up.
"Teo," Arizona chastens.
"That's up to your brother, Mateo. Asa, what do you think?"
The teen is blushing, and he clears his throat. "Sure, Teo."
"Okay, we'll do it after you shower in the morning, and all the men will look very handsome for all of your grandmother's pictures."
Teo grins. "We are very guapos already."
The Colonel looks to Asa for a confirmation of the translation he makes through context.
"You're right; we're very handsome already, Teo," Asa helps.
"We certainly are," Daniel smirks. "Don't you think, Arizona?"
"Sure," Arizona rolls her eyes. "Tiny Dancer, let's go pester Grammy for a snack, huh?"
"Don't ruin your dinner, Arizona."
"Yes, sir."
Teo giggles in Asa's ear, "Momma said sir!" before leaping from the couch and chasing after their mother.
"Walk in the house, Mateo," the Colonel calls.
Since Callie and Arizona get one bedroom and Lena and Caroline get the other, Asa and his shadow, Teo, share the couch in the living room, Teo's feet kicking at his brother's ribs even as he has his arms wrapped possessively around Asa's ankles.
"What dorks," Arizona giggles, one arm wrapped around her wife's waist as they stop to check on their boys on the way to bed.
Callie just sniffles in response.
"Oh, Calliope..."
"Your dad is going to steal our baby and make him a man."
"He's teaching him to shave, babe, not taking him to a brothel. Besides, who else is going to do it? Mark and his stupid facial hair?" Arizona whispers
Callie does snort a little at that. "You don't like any facial hair."
"A Marine is well-groomed and soul-patch free."
"Mark has never had a soul patch."
Arizona shrugs.
"Okay, old lady. I'm sleepy. Take me to bed so I can cry over my baby's boyhood."
Arizona tugs Callie down the hall, their voices dropping to barely audible whispers.
"You're being a little crazy."
"It's my turn."
"Alright now, Teo. Your grandmother insisted on buying you this, but you must promise to only use this one to play pretend."
"Yes, sir!" Teo says dutifully, exuberantly. "May I have a stool?"
"Of course."
"And take off my shirt like my Asa?"
"That's probably for the best."
"You, too, Grandpa," Teo insists.
Soon all three are shirtless and shaving-creamed-up, the boys in boxers, the Colonel in slacks.
Daniel is talking the nervous, awkward Asa through it, step by step, teaching him the key lessons of "with the grain" and "not too hard" when he is suddenly catapulted back thirty-five years. His own boy, with blond wisps not dark, nervously joshing his intimidating dad with a face streaked with shaving cream.
He shakes it off as Asa gives a yelp, and Teo exclaims:
"Oh no, Asa! You're bleeding. I'll get Gram."
"Wait, Teo," the Colonel orders as the boy hops down. "We have this under control. A little TP and we push on. We have to see the mission through; we can't have half-shaven faces."
"Mi amor," Callie grins at the five-year-old who just popped into her lap. He has not yet bothered to put his shirt back on. "You missed a spot."
Teo giggles as his madre wipes a forgotten stripe of shaving cream from the underside of his chin.
"Oops!"
The Colonel emerges from the door Teo so recently had, announcing:
"Now, absolutely no one is to tease him about it, do you understand me?"
"About what?" Caroline asks, grinning wildly.
"There's a small scratch, but that's normal. Absolutely no teasing. You got that, Caroline?"
"Yes, sir," Caroline agrees glumly.
As Asa emerges with a Band-Aid under his chin, it's Callie who has to keep herself from giggling. She sees Caroline start to snicker and snaps:
"Care Bear, how about you go check on Leni and Momma with the firewood?"
The eight-year-old huffs and does as she's told
"Looks nice, m'ijo," Callie says warmly as her older son blushes. "Now want to help me start dinner?"
"Sure," Asa answers, grateful for the distraction.
"Me too!" Teo exclaims.
"Nope. You have no shirt, and Grandpa needs your help doing... something."
She looks to her father-in-law.
"Setting the table," Daniel helps out, keeping the five-year-old away from the kitchen.
"Perfect," Callie smiles.
"But please, put your shirt back on, Mateo."
"Oh, okay."
"Oh my goodness, you all look so nice," Emeline gushes, emerging from her bedroom to find her whole family gathered around the TV, football blaring. They're all in their dress clothes for dinner, the smell of turkey thick in the air.
Her boys are in their khakis and polo shirts, navy for Asa, green for Teo. Lena, happily cuddling with her momma, has on a pretty brown dress that makes those bright eyes just pop, and Caroline, ticked in her madre's lap, has on black slacks and a deep red turtleneck, long silky hair down to her shoulders.
"Do we have time for pictures before dinner?" Emeline asks hopefully.
"Of course there is, Em," Daniel sighs. "God forbid we keep Gram from her pictures."
The girls giggle, and Lena leaps up to arrange their family.
Once the pictures are taken, they all pour into the kitchen to hurry the food along with their anxiousness. Arizona goes to follow them, but sees her mother hanging back, teary.
"Mom? Momma, what's wrong?"
Emeline wipes at her silly tears. "I just never thought we'd have this."
Arizona fights back a sigh, every year this happens, and instead gives her mother a warm smile.
"You were just so against it, Arizona. So after Danny... I never thought we'd have our house full of grandbabies for the holidays. And now look at us. They're all so beautiful."
"Mom, Asa is fourteen. We've been to your house three times for Thanksgiving."
"Oh, I know, Arizona, I just... They're so perfect, and wonderful. And... I miss him. So much."
"I know, Mom. Me too."
Arizona leans over to hug her mom closely.
"Grammy! Momma!" Caroline appears in the doorway. "Turkey's ready. I'm hungry."
"Hold your horses, Thing Three."
"Oh, why can't you call her by her name? She has a beautiful name," Emeline complains, wrapping her arm around her third grandchild. "Now, Caroline, are you ready to eat?"
After nearly bursting from an overabundant meal prepared by Emeline and Callie, with Asa and Lena's assistance, the whole family pulls on parkas and boots over their nice clothes for a rousing, chilly game of fall football, with Grammy on the back porch as cheerleader and umpire.
Once outside, teams are negotiated. It becomes the Colonel and his girls versus the moms and the boys, which Caroline says is fair, despite the numbers, because:
"Momma and Teo both count as half players."
"That's rude," Arizona complains, rubbing her mittened hands together.
"It's true," Daniel laughs before pulling his girls away to arrange a game plan.
"Okay, Teo," Callie coaches. "You cover Caroline. Just stick really close to her. Asa, you rush your grandpa. I'll be with Lena."
"Just grab her dress," Teo giggles. "Trip her up."
"Be nice. Touch football," Arizona reminds, scruffing Teo's beanie and then pulling it back over his ears. "What about me?"
Callie bites her lip. "Babe. You just help Teo, okay?"
"Okay," Arizona pouts. "Really?"
"He needs help," Callie says encouragingly, leaning over to kiss her warmly. That perks Arizona back up, hot breath steaming up the air between them. Callie grins. "Let's kick some butt."
"She's too fast!" Asa breathlessly exclaims as Lena streaks past him into the makeshift for their fourth touchdown (to Team Boys-Moms's two).
"Ready to throw in the towel?" the Colonel gloats, lifting Caroline up in celebration.
"Don't be smug," Arizona taunts back.
"They always win," Teo huffs.
"Hmm," Callie says thoughtfully as they regroup. "I have a plan."
They whisper and conspire around the football for what seems like forever.
"C'mon, hurry up!" Caroline calls.
"Stop lollygagging! I want pie!" Lena follows up.
"Two minutes to play," Emeline calls. "Nicely done, Lena."
Lena beams at the praise, waving.
"And good effort, Asa and Teo. You almost had her!"
"What about me?" Arizona asks, only half-jokingly.
Her mother just shrugs, and Callie snorts.
"You try hard, babe."
With Mami at QB, they take the field. It's a direct handoff to Teo, who is then picked up by Asa and carried towards the end zone.
"Hey!" Lena complains, as Lena gets two hands on her older brother, who then drops Tiny Dancer to the field untouched.
"No fair!" Lena objects as Teo's little legs carry him into the end zone. They all look to Emeline for a ruling.
"Touchdown," she declares. "Two hand touch, on the person with the ball."
"Oh I don't know if that was fair," Arizona says to her wife reluctantly as the boys victory dance in the end zone.
"Hush," Callie says with a gentle smack to her ass. "We're only one back now. Do you want to lose to the Gloat Sisters?"
"At least they're working together."
Callie laughs. "True."
Boots discarded and dirt shaken off, they settle back around the fire with hot chocolate and pie. It was ultimately the girls' (and their grandpa's) victory, but the other side came out of it with their dignity intact.
Teo curls up in Grammy's lap to practice his reading. The girls cuddle up with their team colonel, reveling in their triumph, the Colonel especially highlighting Caroline's quick blocks and Lena's success in a dress.
Asa sits with his moms, discussing books and school and politics. After Callie gets up to refill their cocoa, Arizona leans over and rips off the bandaid under Asa's chin.
"Momma, ow!"
"Suck it up, soldier," Arizona grins, even as she gently rubs the spot she just offended. "You can probably take this off without losing a lot of blood."
"Still. A little warning?" Asa grimaces.
"Kinda defeats the purpose of ripping it off, bubba."
The teen rolls his eyes and then gets serious.
"Momma, will you tell me more about Uncle Danny?"
Arizona sucks in a breath and nods as she searches for the right words.
"He was... a little brother. You know. Younger, but always trying to prove he was better at everything."
"Lena," Asa chimes in, earning a grin and a nod from his mother.
"Oh, at Thanksgiving, he was always grateful for things like indoor plumbing, and sliced bread, and microwave ovens."
"Lena," Asa repeats with a smile. His eleven-year-old little sister had recited the first two this year at the traditional "thankful for" roundtable, adding to it:
"Goalies who can't cover the corner."
"Yeah, I guess she's a lot like him. But he could also chime in with the funniest comments."
"Caroline," Asa grins.
"Yeah," Arizona laughs. "A little like her, but just so bright and happy."
"Teo."
"You all remind me of part of him."
"Even me?"
"Especially you, Asa. I never thought I'd meet someone who was as good a man in a storm as Danny."
Asa blushes. "Ma, don't be sappy."
"Sorry," Arizona leans over and smacks a warm kiss to his now-smooth cheek.
He grumbles but puts his arm around her as Callie returns with three cups of steaming chocolate.
"How's that hip, Ace? Caroline really nailed you out there," his madre asks.
"It's alright. That was an illegal hit, though," Asa grimaces and rubs at the offended body part.
"Oh, it was an accident," Arizona defends, then reconsiders. "Mostly."
"What are you doing back here?"
"Have you seen these?" Callie asks, exasperated, holding up Lena's muddy tights. "She loves her pretty dresses, but then she wants to run around and play football in them."
"Let my mom take a look at it," Arizona shrugs, setting her wine glass down on the dryer and sliding alongside her wife, wrapping an arm around her waist, hand slipping underneath Callie's soft shirt, stroking the small of her back.
"I'm not making your mother do our kids' laundry, Arizona."
"But she's like a magician," she grins.
"I can handle this," Callie says resolutely. "But... maybe not while you're doing that."
Arizona smirks against Callie's neck, where she's been laying a series of hot kisses.
"Mm, what's so distracting?"
Callie drops Lena's tights into the open washer and spins around, pinning Arizona against the washer.
"We've talked about seducing me at your parents when you know you won't follow through. Your parents probably know we have sex by now, you know."
"Of course they do. I don't wanna talk about it. And I'm certainly not going to make love to you while they're asleep on the other side of the wall!"
Callie pouts, actually fully pouts, a habit she's picked up from her wife in their over fifteen years together.
Arizona leans forward and kisses that protruded lip.
"Sorry, baby."
"Arizona? Arizona, sweetie?" Emeline's voice carries towards them, getting closer.
Callie sighs as her wife wriggles out of their compromising position; all this time, and Arizona still has a few annoying hangups. She'll just have to have her make it up to her when they get home.
"You won't let me drive you there?"
"No, Dad. We're fine."
"It's the busiest travel day of the year. What if you flight is cancelled?"
"Then we'll get another, or we'll rent another car and come back. Don't worry so much."
"Worrying is my prerogative, Arizona. You can't tell me you don't do the same with your troop."
Arizona grins as her dad hefts one of the suitcases into the back of the rental minivan.
"You're right," she concedes.
"Well, you must be doing something right. They are turning out very well."
"Thanks, Dad," Arizona says emotionally.
"I'm very proud of them. They are the kindest, smartest children I have ever met.
"They're your grandchildren," Arizona laughs a little. "Don't you think you're a little biased?"
"Not at all," the Colonel twinkles. "Speaking of the troop."
At his words, Things One through Four are filing out of their grandparents' house reluctantly, Teo clinging tightly to Grammy's hand.
"I don't wanna go," the five-year-old pouts.
"Oh, I know my little boy-boy, but you have to. All your friends and teachers are going to be missing you. You can't miss a day of kindergarten."
"Oh yeah. But I'll miss you," he says.
"I know, but we'll see you soon. Now be good for your moms, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am," Teo pouts, pushing up on his toes as she leans down to kiss him all over his face. He giggles and throws his arms around her middle for a bear hug.
There is no greater bond than that between a child and his grammy, a fact further evidenced by the gusto with which Emeline says goodbye to the other three.
The Colonel is less effusive but no less loving, with kisses on the cheek and hugs all around, complete with a full belly laugh for the gusto with which Teo throws his arms around his neck.
"Drive safe," he says gruffly as he embraces Callie. "Take care of 'em."
On the plane, Arizona finds that Teo's persistent tapping, while partly aggravating, does much to distract her from her flight anxieties. So too does Asa's snoring. She looks over to see Lena in the middle seat, passed out against her madre's shoulder, Callie's arm draped across her back. In the window seat, Caroline's fingers fly across the controls of some game or another. Arizona tries to keep track, but it's difficult.
Then, she meets her wife's gaze.
"How are you doing?" Callie asks softly, reaching across the aisle to squeeze her forearm.
"Okay," Arizona says honestly.
Beside his momma, Teo starts to sing under his breath, and Callie rolls her eyes.
"Did you have a good Thanksgiving?"
"The best," Arizona promises. "I love that the kids get to spend so much time with their grandparents."
"Especially when it's not our house and our kitchen that are full of people," Callie adds.
"Sing it. I'm ready to get home, though. Sleep in our own bed."
"That doesn't share a wall with your parents?" Callie grins suggestively.
"Exactly."
el fin