Title: Hooligan
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: Zeq!verse. (yep, you read that correctly)
Summary: "Fifteen years later, she still thinks Zeq and Arizona's bond is a miracle, even if the sight of them together is amazingly commonplace." A look in on Zeq!verse.
Author's Note:So, this may be one of our last looks at Ezequiel. He served a very important function, but he had his time and place, and my muse is demanding I put my efforts elsewhere. There's probably an epilogue-like Zeq!verse coming, and with my nonlinear style, I can never say the door is closed forever. Beta'd by the wonderful, snarky roughian. Thanks, you weirdy reindeer.
Zeq stretches out the crick in his neck and looks out the window to make sure they haven't yet reached their stop. It's a balmy Seattle summer day, and the air inside the bus is thick and stale, the bright sun streaming in and making matters worse as it bakes the back of his neck. When he'd complained of the heat this morning, his madre had laughed at him with a wry: "Try Miami in August."
His companion sleeps on, though, oblivious to the sweltering heat. Her head has fallen listlessly against his upper arm, while, elbows linked, she clings to him even in sleep. He raises a hand to gently brush away the hair from her face and says softly:
"Kara, wake up, sis. We're almost there."
"Zee Zee?" she asks, rubbing sleep from her eye as she sits up on the hard, sticky, plastic seat.
He grins at her affectionate nickname, a hybrid of their dad's Z and his momma's EZ. She pulls at her pretty little sundress and tucks her hair behind her ears.
"Are we there yet?"
"Almost," he says, with a glance out the window for confirmation.
The bus screeches, slides, and jolts to a stop about a block from their destination, and Zeq stands up, grabbing fast to Kara's hand as the soon-to-be-five-year-old hops excitedly to her feet. They carefully navigate the stairs and Kara waves sweetly to the bus driver as they wait at the crosswalk and the bus drives past them.
"Oh, Zee Zee! I can see it," she beams, tugging on his hand.
Their light turns to "WALK" and they cross, Kara skipping and swinging their joined arms. She steps on his flip-flop, and Zeq stumbles, but her profuse apologies quickly soothe his wounded pride.
"Zeq, tell me all about the special pandemonium, again," Kara demands as they walk up to the front door of the Children's Museum.
"Planetarium, Kara," Zeq laughs, opening the door for her.
"Oh, yeah."
"My mom used to take me here all the time when I was your age," he says, guiding her to the ticket booth.
"Which one?" she asks.
"Aunt Arizona."
She nods, as if knowing that this is especially important by his answer.
The woman in the booth eyes them warily as he asks for two tickets. He sighs and explains, like he always must:
"She's my sister."
The attendant shrugs, and Zeq lifts Kara up so that they can both get their hands stamped for entrance.
"Zee Zee, what's in a pl-pla-"
"Planetarium," Zeq says, clearly and slowly.
"Okay. What's in it?"
"The whole sky, Kara."
There were so many nights when she was pregnant that Callie laid awake, sick with worry and guilt, while Arizona slept fitfully, beside her but so far away. She just didn't understand how Arizona could stay, and she was always scared that if she fell asleep, she'd wake up to an empty bed. Fifteen years later, she still thinks Zeq and Arizona's bond is a miracle, even if the sight of them together is amazingly commonplace.
They are still her beloved boy/almost-man and his adoring Momma, who can break through that outer shell of fifteen-year-old cool andmake him laugh like he's five again. When he's in one of his moods, her orders of "take your feet of the table" and "stop acting like a hooligan" are met with a laugh and compliance, instead of the self-righteous eye roll and slow acquiescence his father and madre usually get from him. Her "I raised you better than that" duly chastens and embarrasses him, and he'll pull up his jeans and remove his hat at just one annoyed glare from her.
"Hey, Ma," Zeq startles her from her thoughts of him as he enters the attendings lounge. "You seen Kara? I had her just a second ago, but I can't seem to find her. Addison's gonna kill me if I don't bring her back safe from the pandemonium."
"Planetarium!" a tiny voice corrects from behind him, and he spins quickly, fully revealing his five-year-old sister clinging to his back.
"Did you hear something?" Zeq asks.
"Zee Zee, I'm right here!"
"You've got a monkey on your back. Do you think she knows where Kara is?" Callie grins.
"Huh. I dunno. Will you ask her?"
Zeq pries the little girl off his back and dumps her into Callie's lap.
"Hi, Aunt Callie," Kara giggles.
"I think your monkey was Kara, Zeq."
"That's where you were," Zeq grins.
"Did you have fun at the museum today, Kara?"
"Yep!"
Callie fights the instinct to correct her with a "yes, ma'am", remembering it's not her place. She curses Arizona for making her so accustomed to Zeq's good manners.
"Was it a good day one of your birthday week, Kara?" Callie asks.
"Mhmm! We saw all the stars, and then we went to the bubble room, and then..."
Callie nods along as Kara recounts their day and Zeq slumps next to them on the couch, closing his eyes and seeming to recover from his time with his beloved but highly energetic sister.
"Well look at that. Three of my favorite people."
"Aunt Arizona!"
Kara is up and out of Callie's lap and sprinting towards her favored aunt's arms in seconds, scrambling up Arizona's leg.
"Oof, Kara, you are getting so big. You must be almost five."
"I am! How'd you know?"
"A little birdie named EZ told me."
"Mm, a nice birdie," Kara parrots, resting her head on Arizona's shoulder.
"Sometimes. When he wants to be."
Zeq rolls his eyes at his mother's teasing.
"Aunt Arizona, can I have my Zee Zee tonight?" Kara asks, arms around her neck.
"Well we can negotiate that," Arizona says seriously. "But only if you come take a walk with us in the nice fresh air."
"Okay!"
"All the ladies fighting over you," Callie teases her boy, who rolls his eyes yet again.
"Not really the way I wanted it."
Callie runs into Mark in the attendings lounge. She nods her hello as she rubs a kink out of her neck. She is ready to go home; an emergency surgery has mucked up her whole schedule for the night.
"I wanna talk about Zeq."
"Okay..." Not an uncommon opener in the last fifteen, almost sixteen years of their lives, but that tone of voice usually means she's not going to like what comes next.
"He's my son."
"Oh, we know," Callie laughs.
"I should be the one teaching him to drive."
"He asked for Arizona; he said he can't concentrate with you."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Mark demands.
"You yell too much, Mark. Don't be so offended. He doesn't like to drive with me either. Apparently I hold onto the door for dear life, and that upsets him. Somehow Arizona, the most neurotic of us all, is the best one of us to teach him."
"I'm his dad," Mark practically pouts. "Dads are supposed to do stuff like this."
"Why? Is there a rule somewhere? I learned equally from my parents; Arizona's mom taught her and her brother. Why have we been having this exact same fight for over fifteen years?"
Mark sighs. "Fine."
"You can teach Kara to drive. Should be hilarious to see you and the princess in ten years."
"She's not a consolation prize."
"No," Callie groans, slipping off her scrub top and reaching for her street shoes. "She's your kid as much as Zeq is."
"Of course she is. And I will. But she's not my s-"
"Your son. Oh, I got it, Macho Man. But on this point I think he's old enough that his preference overrules the vote."
"Alright."
"Okay. Now, we both have wives waiting at home for us, and I'm a little worried mine might've burned down the house by now trying to make dinner. Zeq and Kara were by earlier, and he said he promised Kara he'd come home with her tonight since it's her birthday week. So I'm going to go enjoy some alone time with Arizona. And maybe some firefighters."
"Wait. Z's at my place right now?"
Callie rolls her eyes. "Yes."
"How'd he get there?"
"Oh, I just handed him the keys. It's only, what? Ten minutes to your house?" Callie quips, earning an unamused glare from Mark. "After they got back from the museum, Addison took them out to dinner. They should be home by now."
"Oh. I really should check my phone."
"It's alright; we're getting old. Those twelve hour surgeries leave us a little loopy."
Mark half-smiles. "Wait. Her birthday week? Does that mean I get him all week?"
"Sure. As long as he wants. And he comes to see his poor lonely moms after school."
Mark grins.
"Okay," Callie announces. "I'm gonna go. Tell Zeq to text me."
When she arrives home, Okie runs to greet his beloved master, but, on finding just one of his moms, continues his excitement and leaps to push her hello. His tail wags at warp speed and his panting sounds at near heart attack level.
"Hello?" Callie calls into the house. "Arizona? Our dog is more excited to see me than you. Has it really come to this?"
Her teasing fades as she sees the table set with pasta already. Arizona rounds the corner from the laundry room and Callie eyes her suspiciously.
"Dinner and laundry? What did you do?"
"What? Nothing!" Arizona defends leaning forward to kiss her as they make their way to the table by some mutual, unspoken agreement.
"Right."
"Seriously! I left not long after we saw EZ, so without wife and son I've-"
"Turned into a housewife?"
"Exactly," Arizona grins.
"Mark is pouting," Callie announces as she settles into her chair, reaching for the wine Arizona already had waiting.
"About what?"
"Not getting to teach Zeq to drive."
Arizona laughs. "Oh, yeah. That is the greatest privilege I have ever received as a mother. Sitting in the passenger seat in fear for my life."
Callie grins and settles into the chair. "Wow, Arizona, this actually looks really good."
"I can boil water, warm up sauce, and chop vegetables like a pro. The queen of Barilla and Ragu."
"You are indeed."
"I really don't appreciate that 'actually'."
"Sorry," Callie smirks, tracing her toes up the back of Arizona's calf. "You know the grump-"
"Don't call him that."
"It's the nicest thing I can think of for our teenager!" Callie counters with a wide smile. She has been known to have the shortest amount of patience with their moody, broody almost sixteen-year-old.
"How about Zeq?"
"Hmm, I guess. Well, since Zeq is with his father for the whole week, I wonder how we'll pass the time..."
"Well, I have a few ideas," Arizona flirts.
"Yeah?"
Arizona leans in close. "The kitchen, the guest room, the garage, Zeq's room..."
"Okay, if that list is what I think it is, then it just took a creepy turn..."
"Rooms that need paint jobs, Calliope!" Arizona laughs. "Get your mind out of the gutter."
"Yeah, no. I have a much better idea. With a few revisions, that's the perfect check list, but we're going to move bathtub up to top of the list."
"Okay, your idea is much better."
"Why thank you. Now finish your dinner. Times's a wasting."
el fin