Title: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Author: ForeverLeyton

Rating: PG, this chapter.

Summary: Callie and Arizona are hosting their first Thanksgiving as a family. They are determined to make everything perfect but the guest list keeps growing.

A/N: Short and moderately fluffy, I expect this to be about 3-4 updates, all before Thanksgiving. Something sweet and simple and eventually (hopefully) a little sexy to get back my writing mojo because it's been on hiatus lately. Unbeta'd and all mistakes are mine.

Arizona Robbins was on a mission to find one Calliope Torres. Her sources (the nurses) told her Callie was last seen turning into the third floor surgeon's lounge; the perfect place for a relaxing lunch with her wife. Swinging open the door, she realized she should have known better than to have even thought of the word 'relaxing.'

"—nunca ha celebrado su nieta y espera que —"

"Oh!" Arizona yelped and immediately tried to backpedal out of the room. "I, um, forgot…something. Be back later!"

"Oh, no. Uh uh, Robbins, get your lying ass back here." Mark reached out in time to snag the door before Arizona could slam it on his hand. Two more strides and he yanked the protesting blonde back into the lounge. "You," he pointed at Arizona's chest, "deal with this." He pointed again, this time at Callie who was pacing the room and ranting in Spanish, oblivious to their interactions.

"Mark," Arizona whined, barely stopping her foot from stomping.

"She's your wife, Blondie. That means the crazy belongs to you now."

"But…" Arizona couldn't come up with a mature argument so she pouted instead. "You were here first."

"New rule: I don't get sex, I don't do crazy."

"Dammit."

Mark crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. Winner.

Arizona's entire body deflated with her sigh. "Fine. I've got this. You go. Wait!" She added before Mark could sneak out the door. "At least give me a hint. What the hell happened?"

Mark shrugged and his grin grew. "No idea. No comprendo."

"Great," Arizona muttered, finally letting him leave. "Thanks a lot." Skirting around her pacing wife, Arizona flopped on the sofa and pulled out her phone. Experience had taught her there was no interrupting Callie when she was on a roll and Arizona settled in for a long break. She was halfway through an article on abdominal omphalocele before she realized Callie had stopped pacing and stood in front of her, hands on her hips.

Smiling sheepishly as she tucked her phone back in her pocket, Arizona aimed for perky. "Hi!"

"Arizona!"

Ok, apparently this was not one of those times Calliope found her perkiness adorable.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Were you even listening to me?"

"Honestly?"

Callie threw her hands in the air and muttered, "Dios mio, ¿por qué —"

"No, wait. Stop!" Arizona jumped off the couch and grabbed Callie's waving hands. Hands that became suddenly more expressive in Callie's native tongue. "No more Spanish, please. I've been sitting here for over ten minutes and all I got out of that was father, mother, and something that sounded a lot like guacamole."

"Huh?"

"Exactly."

"Guacamo—Oh!" Despite herself, Callie laughed. She moved to sit on the sofa, pulling Arizona back down next to her and annunciated, "Guajolote. It means turkey."

"Oh," Arizona drawled and nodded slowly before frowning again. "I still don't understand."

"You would if you would pay attention when I teach Sofia Spanish."

"Yeah, yeah." Arizona waved that off. It was an old argument. One they continued to have because Arizona refused to admit that, hard as she tried, languages were simply not her forte. "Explain to me why the craz—ah, ranting was about turkeys?" She had learned the hard way that her Calliope was not fond of she and Mark's dubbing her tantrums as 'the crazy.' Probably wouldn't care much for the word tantrum, either.

Callie let the crazy remark pass. "My father called. He and my mother want to visit for Thanksgiving."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh," Callie moaned and flopped back against the couch. She scrubbed both hands over face before wearily dragging them through her hair.

"Wait. Ok," Arizona squeezed Callie's thigh and scooted closer. "You caught me off guard. Ah," she blew out a breath hard enough to scatter her bangs across her forehead, "surprised me."

Callie laughed. "Surprised you?"

"Yeah, I guess you were a little shocked, too. But, ok, start at the beginning. Your mother wants to come visit? That's—that's a step in the right direction?"

"That's just it. I'm not sure what she wants."

"The beginning, Calliope. Please."

"Daddy called and said he wanted to come visit. Said he needed his Sofia-fix and couldn't wait until Christmas. I told him I'd talk to you, of course, but I didn't think that would be a problem."

"It's not," Arizona nodded. "Your father finds a reason to be in Seattle every three weeks."

"That's what I thought. Anyway, we chatted about Sof for a while and just before he hung up he mentions, very casually, that 'your mother and I plan to arrive on Wednesday evening.' Your mother and I! Completely casual, as though it was perfectly normal."

"Maybe…maybe it will be," Arizona said optimistically. "Maybe the holiday will soften her up. And Sofia, Sofia is adorable. Amazing. The most awesome baby since, um, ever. Your mother will never be able to resist her."

"Remember our wedding?"

"Yeah, but Sofia wasn't at her best then. She was new and tiny and she hadn't learned how to giggle yet. No one can resist the giggle. Not even Yang." When Callie continued to pull on her hair, Arizona lowered her voice. "She's coming, Calliope. That has to mean something."

Callie sighed and leaned forward to drop a quick kiss on Arizona's grinning lips. "Yeah. Maybe. You really think we can do this?"

"I think we aren't going to let your mother ruin Sofia's first Thanksgiving. And I think, I hope, that this visit is her way of reaching out. Because, Callie, you miss your mom."

"I do," Callie agreed, her voice catching on a hint of a sob before she nuzzled into Arizona's neck. "I wish I didn't."

"I know. But she's coming here, to our house. To visit our family. I think we should take that as a sign and give her one more chance. For your dad, for Sofia. For you."

"Fine," Callie huffed against Arizona's neck. "But this is the last one."

"That's fair," Arizona agreed. "Who knows, maybe it won't be that bad."

Callie scoffed and lifted her head to roll her eyes at her wife. "Sure. My mother, my father and Mark Sloan in a room full of carving knives and wine. What could possibly go wrong?"

Arizona rolled down the hallway, heading towards the elevator and Jeremy Watson's room for their weekly battle on the hospital's Wii. She was practically whistling.

Granted, she hadn't actually fixed anything. Lucia Torres' visit was bound to be an unmitigated disaster. But, still, Callie seemed relatively calm when they parted and, for the next few days, that meant all was right in Arizona's world.

She was torn from her self-congratulatory musing by Alex Karev's shout. "Yo, Robbins?"

"Yes Karev?"

"Phone call for you. Line two."

"Who is it?" Arizona asked as she rolled over.

"I look like a secretary?"

"Actually," she squinted in concentration, "I could see that. You will too if you don't get me that paper on neuroblastomas."

"You gonna pick up line two or you gonna keep busting my ass about a stupid paper?"

Arizona pretended to consider but Alex rolled his eyes and walked away before she could come up with a sufficient retort. Snorting, she lifted the receiver. "Yellow…is my favorite color."

"Arizona? Is that any way to answer the telephone?"

Arizona immediately straightened. Her father would have recognized her 'at attention' stance. "Dad?"

"Yes, it's me, honey. Do you always answer your phone so inappropriately?"

"Ah. I spend a lot of time with children, so…"

"So you should be leading by example."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now. How's that granddaughter of mine?"

"She's great. Beautiful."

"Walking yet?"

"Not yet but she pulls up on the coffee table all the time. Shouldn't be long now."

"She'll be running in circles by Christmas. I'm sure of it."

"Hmm, maybe," Arizona agreed, glancing at a set of x-rays an intern stuck under her nose. Covering the mouthpiece with her hand, Arizona said, "Jenny needs an MRI. Let me know when you're done and I'll talk to her parents." Tuning back into the phone call, Arizona hastily mumbled, "Mmmhmm, ok" and hoped her response was adequate.

"So it's settled then?"

"Um, what? I mean, excuse me?"

"Zona, were you paying attention?"

"Sorry, Dad. I had work. You were saying?"

"Your mother and I will be there on Wednesday."

"You will what?"

"Your mother and I will arrive sometime Wednesday evening. For Thanksgiving."

Arizona cleared her throat before she could start stuttering. "You-you're coming? For Thanksgiving? This year?"

"You just said it was okay. I want to see Sofia before she's walking around."

"You know, Dad, now that you mention it, Sofia is actually still a little behind on the developmental scale. I doubt she'll be taking steps on her own until after Christmas. New Year's maybe."

"Good try, Zona," the Colonel laughed. "Now, I expect you need to return to work. We'll see you Wednesday."

"Wednesday," Arizona mumbled. "Wednesday. Crap." She was still holding onto the phone when Callie walked up to the counter.

"Listen," she began without preamble, "I made a list. I know, I know you are usually the list maker and I'm not sure a family can survive with two list makers but this time I made a list because sometimes I want to be the list maker and you can't just decide that you get to be the list maker all the time because—"

"Torres!"

Callie spun around when Bailey shouted her name. "What?"

"You goin' on about lists and Robbins hasn't heard a word. Someone had to snap you out of it."

"Oh." Callie glanced at Arizona and realized Bailey was right; her wife was barely blinking. "Uh, thanks, Miranda."

"Mmmhmm."

"Arizona, are you ok?"

Shaking her head to clear it, Arizona replied, "Lists? You made lists?"

"I made a list. One." Callie handed the paper to Arizona. "Of all the things we need to do before my mother arrives."

Glancing at the list, Arizona lifted one brow. "Get a crucifix?"

"Yep. To hang in Sofia's room."

"Mmmhmm. And you want to take down the picture of us from last Halloween?"

"Well…That one was more like a suggestion. I'm in a slutty nurse costume, Arizona. And you are totally looking at my boobs!"

"Of course I was Calliope! Have you seen them?"

"Arizona," Callie groaned. "Be serious, please."

Arizona slapped the paper on the counter and grabbed Callie's hand. "Calliope. Do you want your mother to accept us, our family? Or do you want her to accept the Catholic, straight side of you who lives with a perky roommate? Because I'm pretty sure she already likes that girl."

Callie dropped her head against the counter. "I know. I know! I just…I want her to see that the daughter she raised is still here. I didn't disappear. She can't pretend I disappeared."

"Calliope Torres. I am in love with the woman your parents raised. She is strong and smart and a beautiful mother to our daughter. Your own mother will see how amazing you are or she won't but we are not going to pretend to be anything different than who we are. If you want to hang a crucifix in our daughter's room because it's something you think she needs, then we can do that. If you think the Halloween picture is inappropriate, then we can take it down. But we are not doing either of those things to please your mother. And we are not, no matter how much you beg, stuffing my Thanksgiving turkey with apples."

Callie laughed and linked her fingers more firmly with Arizona's. "You're right. I know you are right. I was trying…I don't want to give her any reason to ruin things. It's our first Thanksgiving as a family and…I want it to be perfect. I really want it to be perfect."

Arizona wrapped her arms around her wife in a tight hug. "So, now isn't the best time to tell you Mom and the Colonel are coming, too, huh? No? Ok, I'll wait."