Title: The Apartment
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: PG-13 for now
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. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
Summary: A series of vignettes set in Callie's (and, at times, Arizona's) apartment. Canon-ish. Some will be extensions from scenes seen on the show, and some will be entirely made up while still following the general storylines of Grey's.
A/N: I'm trying something kind of random for this. I'm getting inspiration from a different quotation for each chapter, which will be the major theme of that chapter. They won't be in chronological order…mostly because I'm too impatient to wait to post the whole thing once I've had inspiration for some beginning scenes. I will try to alternate between the latter half and the beginning part of their relationship – I hope it's not confusing. Think of it kind of like The Last Five Years…only not nearly as cool or deliberate. Hopefully you guys enjoy it!
A/N2: Chapter 1 is set at some point after 7x16, though it references the final Calzona scene in 7x13.
Chapter 1 – In and Of Itself
"In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever in and of itself." – Chuck Klosterman
o0o0o
It had been so easy in that moment to convince Callie, convince herself, that truly nothing else mattered but their love for each other. Consumed with her need to have Callie back in her life and distracted by the awe-inspiring sight of their baby's heartbeat, Arizona had let herself believe that it was true. Mark was not there when she moved Callie's stuff back into their apartment to remind her of the convoluted reality of the situation. It was just her and Callie and their baby's heartbeat filling their apartment with love and warmth. And none of the rest of it mattered.
In and of itself, that was true. If they had stayed within the confines of their securely locked apartment, it would have remained true. But who was she kidding? They hardly had alone time in their apartment, and when they did, the apartment was inexplicably never locked. The next days and weeks and months proved to Arizona how far from true that statement had been. The reality was Mark and lack of communication and trust and a hormonal pregnant girlfriend and the utter frustration that was having three opinionated parents for one small baby.
As she sat on the floor in what had previously been Cristina's bedroom, pieces of wood and odd screws and rivets and God knows what else with a Swedish name strewn around her, Arizona longed for that one night when she, Callie, and their baby had been firmly ensconced in their pretty pink bubble, in a universe where their love could really be in and of itself, with no pesky obstacles in the form of an ex-sex buddy and current baby daddy getting in their way. It had been a night of clothes ripping, reconnecting, passion, love, new discoveries, communication, trust.
Arizona wiped a small bead of sweat from her hairline, before returning her attention to the figures in front of her. She narrowed her eyes at the first figure, trying to decipher exactly which block of wood was pictured with what fastener. She tried almost every combination of the pieces in front of her to no avail. Finally she found the missing link to the baseboard still in the box. Looking at the shape of the hole in one end of the wood, she knew exactly which other piece would fit and practically pounced on it. She fit the two together and squealed in triumph.
2 pieces down, only 66 more to go.
She worked quickly to assemble the rest of the baseboard and was moderately satisfied with her success. When she attempted to fit in the first vertical slat, however, she realized that the fasteners she had used on the baseboard actually belonged there. Letting out a long sigh of frustration, she began to undo the pieces she had already put together.
1 step forward, 2 steps back. 68 pieces to go. Arizona vowed never to step foot in another Ikea for the rest of her life.
Walking into the room entirely unnoticed by her focused girlfriend, Callie appraised the situation in front of her. Arizona had her hair pulled back into two meticulous braids. Her lips were pursed and her eyes were narrowed as she carefully reconstructed the baseboard. Callie decided at that moment that she had the most adorable, thoughtful, sexy, and loving girlfriend on the planet…who also probably shouldn't go into construction any time soon.
"You know, you could have just called Mark. I'm sure he'd be happy to help," Callie dared to break the silence. Arizona jumped at the sound of her voice, before scowling at the sentiment of Callie's words.
"I can do it just fine by myself, thank you," Arizona retaliated. Maybe competitive should be added to that list of Arizona's attributes.
Callie cringed at Arizona's clipped tone. "I'm sorry, you're right. Can I help?" Callie ventured instead. She was starting to realize just how much she mentioned Mark at inappropriate times.
"Sure, hand me that thingamabob over there," Arizona replied, waving her arm recklessly at a pile of various, differently shaped fasteners.
"You'll have to be a bit more specific than that," Callie said, walking into the room, with her daily allowance of coffee in hand.
"I don't know which one it is!" Arizona exclaimed, mildly frustrated with this whole situation. She had fully intended to have the crib set up by herself by the time Callie returned from work. She was frustrated by her failure and even more frustrated by the insinuation that Mark could have done it better. "It has like 7 As in the name and then a bunch of consonants that shouldn't ever be put together in one word. Seriously, in English we call it a screw. Simple. Five letters long, with an appropriate mix of consonants and vowels. Who the hell needs a 13-letter name for a screw?"
"I'm guessing the Swedes?" Callie replied, a smile playing at the corner of her lips. Arizona rambling? So freaking endearing.
"This isn't funny!" Arizona whined. "I wanted to have this done before you got home, and all I've accomplished is putting two pieces together. What if I do it all wrong and it collapses with our baby in it? The baby hasn't come yet and already I'm a terrible mother!" Arizona had managed to work herself up into a complete frenzy in a matter of seconds.
"Whoa, hey, it's all right," Callie said soothingly, while carefully joining Arizona on the floor. "Everything's going to be okay. Is this just about the crib?" Callie asked hesitantly.
"I'm supposed to be doing these things for you, building the crib, preparing the apartment for the arrival of the baby."
"So you want to be the dad in this situation?"
"No, I want to be the other mother. As the non-pregnant half in this relationship, this is my job, and apparently I suck at it."
"No, your job is to support me and love me through my pregnancy, and you are very good at that."
Arizona gave her a tight smile, before returning to the task at hand. Occasionally, Callie would look at the figures herself and would hand her the correct pieces.
"I was wrong, wasn't I?" Arizona asked after a few minutes of working in silence.
"Wrong about what?"
"The rest of it does matter."
Callie furrowed her brow inquisitively, silently asking for Arizona to elucidate further.
"That night when I moved your stuff back in, I said that we loved each other and therefore, none of the rest of it matters, but it does matter. We can't stay locked in this apartment, just the two of us all the time. We have to face the real world, which contains obligations and complications…and Mark. In the real world, the rest of it matters."
Callie nodded in understanding, while handing Arizona a fastener that would complete one side of vertical slats. With the two of them working together, building the crib seemed like a much less daunting task. They lapsed back into a productive silence, both pondering Arizona's lofty statement as they worked.
"You're right, the rest of it does matter," Callie said finally, as Arizona put the finishing touches on the third side of the crib. "But that doesn't mean that love isn't enough."
Arizona stood to work on the final side of the crib. Moments later, Callie joined her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into her side. They stared into the empty crib, where, in just a few short months, the newest addition of their family would spend most of his or her time.
"I love you," Callie said, continuing her thought process from before. "And I know that because we love each other so much, we can handle anything that comes our way, from building a crib to dealing with our complicated modern family. The rest of it matters, but we'll get through it, because I love you and you love me, and that's enough."
