AN: So arranged marriage it is. Star Trek is next… but to the person who said "ew… Star Trek." My username is a Star Trek reference.
"I now pronounce you wedded, you may kiss your bride."
A first kiss, in traditional sense, should always follow those words. Hopefully there would have been time for the newlyweds to get to know each other before the nuptials, so that it wouldn't be awkward and uncomfortable. That they could have spoken to each other more than writ vows and an 'I do,' but that was not the case. Arizona Robbins, future queen, dressed in her navy uniform, adorned with an ungodly amount of medals to represent rank and valour, stood next to her wife, whose name she learned only thirty seven minutes ago. Who she first saw only forty three, and who she now had to kiss.
Slowly lifting the veil she could see the pain on the taller woman's face. The tears in her eyes that were more sadness and heartbreak than joy or happiness. The brief press of their lips was perfunctory, it was awkward, like when she was a teen and discovering sex for the first time and how to be good at it. This was not that.
And then it was over, and her wife's hand, Calliope's hand, was weaves through her arm and Arizona led them down the church aisle, standing tall and proud and married to a woman she didn't love and didn't know and didn't want to be married to. But as future queen, her duty was to her country, to her father, and lastly to herself. She didn't have another in mind, another woman to marry and bear her children… but she hadn't wanted to marry like this. To a woman who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else.
Perhaps her marriage would be like that of her parents. Sex together every night for one week every month when they were attempting to make a baby, but living and sleeping in separate rooms and free to have their separate dalliances. As long as an heir would be produced within the year, they would both be free to have their lovers. Her mother's lover had been with her for years, and though her parents were amicable with each other, their marriage was one of diplomacy, rather than love.
Her brother married for love. They'd fallen in love at 16 and married soon after. And Arizona was jealous, seething with the emotion that rolled through her like a tidal wave which threatened to overtake her. That was not to be her future.
The carriage ride through the city was lined with her countryman waving their flags and cheering her name and the name of Calliope. Eventually they would reign, she more than Calliope, but the beautiful and dark skinned woman would be her queen regent, and the people were throwing flowers and coins and small gifts into the open carriage.
The reception, in Arizona's opinion, was gaudy and unnecessary, but according to her father, important. She didn't know why, they were on the brink of war and her marriage to Calliope was to secure an alliance with their neighbours to the south, to strengthen both of their armies and provide a united front.
"Calliope?" She asked, tipping the crying woman's face toward her own, "Please smile, at least a little?" She asked, offering a small smile of her own.
"Callie," the woman whispered, her voice raspy and thick with tears. "My name is Callie."
"Oh?" They were arm in arm, dancing slowly together, surrounded by wedding guests and their families, hundreds of eyes on them. "But the vicor said…"
"My name is Calliope, but I do not wish… I mean, unless Your Highness…" Arizona sighed.
"Judging by your tears, I imagine this isn't what you wanted?" Arizona asked, and tilted her wife's face to her own, resting the woman's forehead against her temple. Her mother had shown her this posture, how from the outside it looked romantic and close - how she and her father had fooled everyone for the last thirty years. And all Callie, as she would be called, just nodded, letting loose a deep sigh. "I understand. But we are married now, and we can discuss what that means later, but for now I just need one teeny tiny smile. Please, for your wife."
"If Your Highness wishes." Callie rasped, her tears falling freely on Arizona's face.
"You don't need to call me that Callie. I'm just Arizona." And Callie finally smiled. Her tears hadn't stopped, but her body relaxed slightly, and her hold tightened on Arizona.
"There, now maybe people won't think you think I'm a garden gnome," Arizona laughed, and was pleased when Callie chuckled once, softly and quietly, like she hadn't wanted to but couldn't help herself.
*8*
Hours later she found herself knocking on the door between their rooms. Her bedroom was connected to Callie's via a bathroom that they would share. These accommodations would last only a year or until they produced an heir, at which point they could separate their quarters and live separate lives if they wished. Of course they would still have to have nightly visits once each child reaches the age of one to produce another heir, but generally they could do as they wished.
"I don't like you." Was how she was greeted when the door finally opened. It wasn't Callie, it was a small chocolate skinned woman, shorter than she was, but staring up at her fiercely and protectively, blocking her path into the room. Callie standing behind her.
"This is your queen!" Her handmaiden said behind her, April Kepner was loyal to a fault, and was proud to serve the future queen and took her duties seriously.
"It's all right April," Arizona said over her shoulder not looking away from the smaller woman in front of her. "You must be Callie's matron?"
"I am." The woman answered, her arms crossed over her chest and her stance firm. She would be a formidable force on the battlefield and she slightly scared Arizona in her wife's bedroom.
"This is Miranda Bailey," Callie offered. Dressed down in sleeping clothes and a thick robe. "Miranda, be nice."
"Mmhmmm," The black woman said not moving or looking at anything but Arizona.
"May we come in?" Arizona asked, indicating herself and April.
With an annoyed huff Miranda stepped aside and allowed her entry, April following close behind her, shutting the door behind them. As she moved to stand beside Callie, close but not touching, she faced their two servants. She could tell that both were proud of their stations, and she hoped that Miranda was as willing to help as April was.
With a quick glance at Callie, she addressed the other two women. "I assume both of you have been approached by the King and been told to report to him about what happens here?"
She knew April had, because her father had done it while the redhead was dressing her for the wedding. April had looked to her for confirmation and she gave a slight nod letting her know that it was okay and right to follow orders from the king. But April had lied for her before, and Arizona was certain she would again. When Miranda nodded, Arizona continued.
"Are you prepared to lie to your king Miranda?" She asked.
"You can call me Bailey." The woman huffed. April looking slightly scandalized and offended, but this woman though she looked mean and scary, Arizona could tell that she was as loyal to Callie as April was to her.
"Miranda." Callie said, "Please."
"It's alright Callie," Arizona said, tapping her wife's hand. "Fine then Bailey, are you prepared to lie to your king?"
"What am I going to be lying about?"
"You both know why you were stationed here, to bear witness to our consummation of marriage. To report to the king that we are trying to produce an heir and that we have in fact done so. Correct?" April nodded and after a beat, Bailey did as well. To her right Callie was looking sad and tense, not looking at her. "I want you both to lie to the king, if he asks, and say that it was done."
"Why?" Callie asked her, finally looking at her.
"I will not force myself upon you, and I do not want you to submit yourself to me because you think it is your duty." Arizona sighed. She lived her life according to her own duty. Serving her country as Princess and in the army, respecting her parents and the laws of the land, and producing and heir. But she also had a duty to make Callie happy now. This was her wife - for the rest of her life, this woman would bear her children and heirs, and she wanted her to be happy. Or as happy as possible in a loveless marriage. "We have one year to ensure you become pregnant. My surgeon said as long as we begin attempting it within three months, that will be enough time to either produce an heir or have you be with child."
"Why are you doing this?" Bailey asked, still looking frightening, but she softened.
"Because we only met six hours ago at the altar of marriage," Arizona said. But if she were honest, and she wouldn't be with anyone, let alone the three people in the room, she was pleased that her wife was beautiful. It was vain and shallow, she knew, but glad that when it came to producing an heir it wouldn't be difficult for her to perform. Turning to Callie she continued, "Eventually we will have to consummate the marriage, to produce an heir… but not yet. Let us get to know each other first, to be friends and perhaps find that we tolerate each other. Okay?"
Callie looked at her deeply, theirs connecting. She didn't know what her wife was thinking, didn't know her well enough to understand the emotions and thoughts playing across her face, to be able to read her and know. But then it all softened, a small uptick of her lips in an uncertain smile and she nodded. "Okay."
Arizona nodded, and turned back to Bailey and April. The redhead looked pleased with the arrangement and Arizona knew that she would keep her secrets and lie if asked. But Bailey was just staring at her, the same hard look of protectiveness on her. Arizona had the sudden impression that she would not want Bailey as an enemy.
"For Miss Callie, I will lie, if asked." Bailey nodded at them both, offering Callie a smile, but turned back to Arizona that hard look still on her face. "But I still don't like you."
Arizona laughed when Callie flushed with embarrassment and whispered 'Miranda.'
"That's fine Bailey, Callie seems to trust you, so I assume I can as well?" The woman nodded, and Arizona was relieved. "Thank you. You do not need to like me, but I do require your trust. You are my wife's maiden and privy to her secrets, eventually you will know mine as well and I hope that you can find one day to tolerate me as well. You are both dismissed to your posts."
Both of them left and left Arizona and Callie alone in the bedroom still standing side by side but not touching.
"I don't know how this is supposed to work now," Callie started, looking at her but over her shoulder so they wouldn't make eye contact. "I was prepared for you, I mean us… I mean."
Arizona reached out and grasped Callie's fingers with her own. The contact was small but had the calming effect she hoped it would. Callie's fingers gripped her own back, and the woman turned and looked at her finally. Reaching up with her free hand she caressed a tan and smooth cheek, Callie leaning slightly into her palm and gripping her elbow.
"For now, I'll sleep on the settee," and just as planned, April came in with travelling bedding. Her own bed would remain made, as if she was spending the night with Callie as they were supposed to, and April would mess the sheets before waking Arizona so the chamber maidens wouldn't suspect anything. April left with a quick curtsy and departed back to her post outside Arizona's room. "We'll work our way to sharing the bed."
Callie nodded, and they moved away from each other, Callie to the bed and Arizona to her settee. They both prepared for sleep in silence, married to a complete stranger and the knowledge that people around the kingdom were expecting something of them. The heavy weight of expectation on her shoulders, Arizona had always known what was expected of her and for the first time in her life she wasn't living up to it. It weighed on her, her duty to her country, and her duty to Callie. They barely knew each other, and yet Arizona felt beholden to her, to her happiness and her well-being.
"Arizona?" Callie's voice broke the silence, cutting through the dark.
"Yes?" She whispered back. The room was dark, but bathed in moonlight and she could see the shape of her wife on the bed, her back was turned to her, her long black hair braided and trailing over the covers.
"Why are you doing this?" Callie sounded unsure and small, more like a child than a woman of 23.
"When you met my parents, did you get the impression that they particularly enjoyed each other's company?" Arizona asked quietly.
"I don't-" But she trailed off, probably not wanting to offend Arizona.
"It's alright Callie. They don't like each other." She wouldn't get in to how it affected her as a child, being shuffled between wings of the palace, practically turned against one of her parents by the other, being forced to choose and pretend to be happy in public. She and Callie would have children, and she didn't want that life for them. Or for herself. "I won't presume to know what we will become to each other, but I do know that what my parents have, an arranged marriage like ours, and anger and distrust… I want us to at least be friends."
"I don't want that either." Callie whispered. "I'd like us to be friends too."
Arizona hesitated. Friends was even a lofty goal. She knew that one day she'd marry and spend her life with someone, and she hoped for cordial and not the outright hostility and disdain she knew so many marriages were comprised of. But friends… more than tolerance and niceties in public. It was a lot.
"Was there someone else, at home I mean." Arizona asked, she could feel the hesitancy in her own voice, the way her heart raced. "Did you leave someone behind?"
"There was a woman, I thought… I don't know what I thought." Callie whispered.
"Yeah." Arizona whispered back, her response falling flat.
"Why do you ask?" Callie rolled in her bed and looked at her, they stared at each other across the dark room for long moments, Arizona trying to decide if she should be honest.
"My parents may not be happy with each other… but they have found happiness with others." Arizona whispered.
"I wouldn't cuckold you Arizona, that's a horrible thing to suggest!" Callie sounded genuinely angry as she said it and she sat up, forcing Arizona off the settee and to sit beside Callie on the bed.
"That wasn't what I was suggesting, or saying, I didn't mean…" she trailed off and just looked at Callie. Her tears had stopped long ago and now she looked as angry as Miranda had.
"Is love not something you need to be happy?" She asked quietly, stretching her fingers towards Callie's hand. She stopped just short, to allow Callie to choose whether or not she wanted the contact. Long and tan fingers moved slightly so just the tips of them were touching, barely two fingers of contact, and it seemed to calm both of them.
"All I'm saying Callie is that we may find that we are better friends than lovers and spouses." Arizona turned her hand so that their fingertips were now resting against each other and she took a deep breath. Her heart was racing and her loins were stirring in her sleep clothes. "It would not be a crime towards me or to our marriage if you found love and happiness with another while married to me."
"And you? Would you find another?" Arizona blushed. Probably not. She'd been with women before, it wasn't a well kept secret in the castle about her and her male appendage, and she was careful never to sire a child that way… but love and companionship were two different things.
"I didn't find you," Arizona finally whispered. "I am not looking for love or a relationship. I am trying to prevent a war."
Callie's fingers gripped hers tighter and moved further into her palm, now fully holding each other's hands. "Do you really think war is on the horizon?"
"I do. Our countries are now aligned because of our marriage and it may be enough to stop our enemies in the east, but I feel it is still coming." Arizona said quietly. This was a last ditch effort by their fathers to prevent it, but those to the east wanted expansion, and their two nations stood in the way of that. "I'll go if I have to, but you will be safe here. Tomorrow I'll introduce you and Bailey to your guards and explain how we intend to keep the future queen regent safe."
"You'll go? To war?" Callie whispered, her other hand coming over to join their already clasped hands.
"I am a soldier, I command many men, it is my job to keep them safe and protected. To keep them with their families."
"And you, what of your family? Of me?" Callie spoke so quietly that Arizona barely heard the question.
"You are my wife, and my princess, and my future queen regent. You will always be safe here and have a home here." She smiled softly at the other woman. Callie smiled back and it buoyed Arizona's spirits to know that she could at least make the other woman smile. "We should sleep now, we have a long day ahead tomorrow."
Lifting Callie's hand she pressed a soft kiss to the back of it, and let her lips linger. Her breath hitches in her throat at the chaste contact, and the glint of the ring on her wife's finger reminded her that this was her wife. That this woman would bear her children and be by her side for the rest of their life. She didn't know who they would be to each other, but she was overwhelmed with the desire to make her happy in anyway possible.
Gently placing her wife's hand back in her lap, Arizona rose from the bed and returned to the settee where she would sleep. Once she was settled, Callie whispered "Sleep well."
"You as well, Callie," and she drifted off with a smile on her face.