Yet another Home for the Holidays prompt challenge for calzona50ways on Tumblr because can't stop, won't stop.
Prompt: Callie rounds up some of the Greys gang, including Arizona, to do some Christmas caroling. After a fun filled evening, there's only the two of them left but they don't want the night to end.
"And that's my proposal for increased background checks for new hospital hires and the need for DNA samples crosschecked with all current hospital employees." Meredith Grey concluded as she shut down her laptop and took a seat next to Maggie. The department chiefs were having their usual biweekly meeting where each department head had an opportunity to give a presentation or simply give an update.
Chief Bailey awkwardly led a round of applause before standing at her place at the head of the conference table.
"Thank you Grey, that was certainly…something. Next is Callie Torres to talk to you all about the gift of giving as we approach the holiday season. Torres, the floor is yours."
"Thank you Chief," Callie began as she stood and walked to the front of the room. "As per yearly rotation, this year the ortho department is in charge of the attendings' Christmas fundraiser. And I think you all know what I have in mind."
Various groans and words of protests filled the air, solidifying that the doctors did indeed know what Callie had in mind. Ever since she was just an intern, Callie was known as the hospital Christmas caroler. Around Christmastime, it was rare to see Callie not humming, whistling, or straight up singing a holiday tune. She always had some jolly song stuck in her head and managed to get it stuck in the heads of everyone around her as well.
"Callie if you expect us to go around this hospital wearing some silly hat or costume singing about balls of holly, you've got another thing coming," Amelia spat as she crossed her arms.
Callie challenged her with a signature Torres glare before putting a peppy smile back on her face.
"Of course not! I would never subject you to that kind of embarrassment in front of your colleagues. That's why we are going caroling out in the Seattle community. Good old-fashioned door-to-door singing and asking for donations to buy presents for our poor sick children stuck in peds over the holidays. You wouldn't dare say no to raising money for the children, would you Amelia?"
The doctors all turned and looked at the defeated head of neuro. Callie knew pulling the sick children card was cheap, but she needed to get everyone on board. She was really looking forward to spending time with her friends doing something she loved, specifically spending time with a certain blonde.
Callie and Penny had only been broken up for a week and usually with most break ups Callie would still be in the mourning stage, but she had already adjusted to the feeling since she had known for weeks that her and Penny weren't going to survive. They were on the path to destruction for a while now and it just took Penny stepping up to make the break up official. Their break up was quiet and civil; neither of the women hated the other and neither was really to blame for the fall out. There was simply too much baggage and challenge for the young relationship to survive. And in the back of her mind, Callie knew she was so quick to accept the break up because throughout their relationship, her mind kept drifting back to Arizona.
Callie often found herself comparing Arizona and Penny, and the redhead could just never hold a candle to what the peds surgeon meant to her. Penny was great, but she was no Arizona.
So instead of grieving the break up, Callie found herself rather hopeful and cheery. She had found herself drawn to Arizona more in the week her and Penny had been broken up than she had in the past year and a half. Callie was constantly seeking Arizona out for casual conversation and coffee, the two of them even sneaking Sofia away from daycare for lunch one day. She wondered if her ex-wife felt their sudden connection as well.
Maybe there was a future for them after all. Maybe it took dating someone else for her to realize the only person she wants to spend her life with has been in front of her all along.
The attendings all sighed in defeat, pulling Callie back to reality. "So, we'll meet in the lobby this Thursday, say 7 pm? Dress warm and bring all the Christmas spirit you can find. It looks like you all are in desperate need of it. Thanks everybody," Callie said, ending the meeting.
Everyone began to collect their belongings and leave the conference room Arizona hung back, letting her colleagues leave before her. As she walked past Callie and out the door, Arizona stopped and lightly put her hand on her ex's shoulder. "I, for one, am very excited. Yay!"
She tossed in a dimpled grin so Callie knew she was authentically happy. Callie felt her insides do somersaults as they often did when that smile was aimed at her. This was definitely going to be a night to remember.
"Altos, you were very sharp. And sopranos are you guys even singing? Let's pick it up now, y'all are disappointing me."
Callie took her Christmas caroling very seriously and ran a tight ship. She was baffled that all these people could graduate with medical degrees but couldn't figure out how to hold a tune.
"Hey, we'll get the hang of it," Arizona commented optimistically as she walked side by side with her ex. "You're a good teacher, a great teacher!"
Callie chuckled at the blonde's attempt to lighten the mood. It seemed Arizona wanted to spend as much time with her and she wanted to spend with Arizona. They had walked side by side since they met in the hospital lobby, talking about what Sofia wanted for Christmas and about their parents visiting for the holidays. It was amazing how comfortable the two felt talking again. Maybe time had healed them both and they were becoming their old selves again.
The attendings were only on their fourth house of the night and everyone was ready to call it quits. They had only raised a couple dollars so far, it was freezing cold, and Callie was constantly criticizing their singing. Luckily, they had planned for this and knew the only way this was going to be bearable was with booze. So between houses when Callie was marching on and not paying attention, the sneaky doctors, minus April and Amelia who were on call, would pass around flasks filled with tequila. Arizona managed to steal a few swigs as well when she wasn't walking next to Callie. By the third block, the attendings were singing Christmas songs louder and prouder than ever before. Callie beamed a bright smile as her friends rounded out the chorus of "Deck the Halls," proud that she was able to instill the Christmas spirit in them.
"'Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la la la la la! Don we now our gay apparel-"
"HA! GAY APPAREL!" Arizona doubled over laughing as she pointed to herself, "I always don the gay apparel."
April's eyes immediately went wide as she stepped in front of her friend, shielding her from the elderly couple who now had puzzled looks on their faces.
"Any donation you could make would be greatly appreciated!" April quickly interjected while holding up the donation bucket.
Arizona stuck her head on April's shoulder and gave her best puppy dog eyes while adding, "It's for the children! Think of the children!"
The elderly man smiled uncomfortably while taking out his wallet. After a few dollars donated and a round of holiday pleasantries exchanged, the doctors were moving on to the next house when the familiar blare of pagers rang out.
"Oh crap! Incoming traumas, Kepner and I are needed. Darn!" Amelia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Callie ignored the jab. "How many traumas? Should we all go back? I know we aren't on call but they might need our help."
The doctors all exchanged worried glances. They were under no condition to be performing any medical procedures after the amount of tequila that had been consumed. But what excuse were they going to give Callie for not being able to go back to the hospital? They were about to get busted for their boozy caroling.
Lucky for them, Amelia quickly stepped in and saved the day. "If they needed you, they would've paged you. And don't worry the hospital is plenty staffed tonight."
The tipsy attendings let out sighs of relief, thinking they were in the clear.
"Oh, and I'm pretty sure drunk operating is frowned upon. Have a lovely night, ladies and gents."
And with that, Amelia and April quickly took off in the direction of the hospital.
It took Callie a few seconds to register what Amelia had said. Drunk operating? They weren't drunk…or were they? She slowly turned around and faced her caroling crew, who were all trying to look as innocent as possible. Each of them had a stone serious face except for one hiccupping blonde.
Brown eyes locked with deep blue as Callie slowly walked over to her ex. She stopped inches away from her face and suddenly knew her plan had backfired. She was hoping to intimidate Arizona by staring her down, but now all she could stare at were those perfect pink lips. Callie felt herself inching closer like a magnetic pull but worked up the strength to pull away when she remembered they had company. Callie immediately straightened up and went back into interrogation mode when she said, "Arizona. Let me smell your breath."
Arizona's cheeks turned impossibly redder, already flushed from the cold and the alcohol. She was by no means drunk, but certainly tipsy enough for Callie to know she had drank. Arizona took her bottom lip between her teeth and coyly shook her head.
The blonde and brunette were locked in an epic staring battle. They were so intensely focused on each other they didn't even see the other doctors exchange confused glances before quietly and quickly sneaking away, heading straight to Joe's bar.
Feeling sexy and confident, Callie took a step closer into Arizona's space. She let her lips hover just above the blonde's, loving the way her eyes darkened as they focused on her movements.
"Arizona, have you been drinking behind my back? Let me smell your breath."
The tipsy surgeon kept her lips sealed, turning her head away from Callie and up to the sky pretending not to know what the brunette was talking about. Arizona could be quite stubborn and she didn't want to give Callie any satisfaction.
Callie raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes, daring Arizona to keep up this little game they were playing. When she refused to break, Callie decided to take matters into her own hands.
"Alright," Callie sighed. "You leave me no choice."
Callie grabbed Arizona's face with both hands and pulled her in for a deep kiss. Arizona gasped in complete surprise, allowing Callie to sneak her tongue into the blonde's mouth. The kiss wasn't soft or tender like you'd expect the first kiss of two old lovers to be. Callie was on a mission and Arizona had no complaints. She wrapped her arms around Callie's waist and pulled her in tight. The winter wind whipped around the couple, but they had all the heat they needed to stay warm as their bodies pressed against each other perfectly. Neither of them wanted the kiss to end, but Callie's need to gloat became too great.
"Exactly as I suspected," Callie said triumphantly as she pulled away. "Tequila. Arizona you have the worst poker face."
Arizona couldn't help but laugh as she pulled Callie back in. "That's what you want to talk about right now?" She shook her head in disbelief before pulling the taller woman in for a soft, loving kiss. Something special had just been reignited, they both knew it.
Callie wrapped her arms around Arizona and held her close. She closed her eyes and let herself get lost in the moment. Somehow, despite standing out in the bitter cold, she felt more alive than she had in months.
"Do you feel it?" Arizona whispered against a tan neck.
Callie required no further explanation. She knew exactly what Arizona was talking about, and she felt it everywhere from her head to her now frozen toes. She was still so madly in love with Arizona Robbins.
"I do. I feel it too." Callie placed a kiss on top of blonde hair before letting the smaller woman out of the embrace. "Come on," she said as she linked their arms. "Let's get out of this cold. We can get Sofia from the sitter and have some family time. I might even let you whip us up some grilled cheeses."
The duo began to walk to Callie's car when they suddenly came back to reality. Callie spun around, thoroughly confused as to where their drunk colleagues had wandered off to. "Oh I am totally getting them back for this," Callie avowed.
Callie and Arizona were busy passing out beautifully wrapped gifts to the kids in peds wing when bells began to ring from the doorway.
"Oh look!" Callie exclaimed with childlike enthusiasm. "Some of Santa's elves have come to sing Christmas songs with you all!"
Standing in the doorway were the guilty boozy carolers, dressed in full elf costumes, complete with pointy shoes and hats with exaggerated elf ears. Their mouths were smiling, but their eyes were daggers aimed at Callie.
Callie and Arizona began laughing their asses off as they walked to the doorway. "Now you know just how seriously I take Christmas caroling." Callie whispered for them all to hear as she left the room, Arizona following close behind. The two were still laughing as they walked down the hall to the daycare. It was Christmas Eve, and the two decided they were going to pick up Sofia, cook a nice meal, and spend Christmas together as a family.
As they neared where their tiny human was located, Arizona checked her watch and realized it was still fairly early. The daycare was having a Christmas party and she certainly didn't want to pull Sofia from her friends. So for totally unselfish reasons, Arizona grabbed Callie's hand and redirected her to their favorite on call room. Once inside, the two lovebirds settled into their usual bed and snuggled their bodies together as they had time and time before.
"Oh god I missed napping with you," Callie commented as she wrapped her arm securely around the smaller woman. Arizona rested her head on Callie's chest, loving the way she could hear her heartbeat.
"I love you Calliope. Merry Christmas."
"I love you, too. Merry Christmas."
The two soon fell asleep, dreaming of their bright future together.