A/N Thank you for reading and to those that commented, this is our first time co-writing so it's nice to know that people enjoy the output as much as we enjoy tossing ideas around and entertaining each other - Gauzepaws & Soricha
Arizona's prediction about the weather proved correct, she winced looking up towards the sky. The bright blue sky was peppered with the odd white cloud so that it almost looked as though a child had drawn it; the sun beat down on the participants of the Shepard's Circus parade. Arizona patted the top of her head checking to see how hot it felt and blew out of the side of her mouth, the action having no effect on her bangs, which were lacquered in place. She was always cautious when they marched in heat after a rather unfortunate incident which had her passing out and falling from the small trapeze swing that she sat on to wave to the gathered crowds. That in itself would have been bad enough, however the fact that one of Belle's deposits on the road had broken her fall added no small amount of insult to what turned out to be a substantial injury that kept her from performing for two weeks.
The float that her trapeze was mounted on surged forward as the parade started down the main street of the town that they'd arrived in during the early hours of the morning. Arizona blinked several times and plastered on her show face, ready to wave and perform some small tricks to entice the people of the town to part with their hard-earned cash and come see the show. The band struck up a crowd-pleasing number and Arizona looked out across the parade from her vantage point. She could see the cage with Bailey's lions in pacing back and forth, occasionally shocking the crowd as they roared when prompted by the crack of the small black woman's whip against the ground. Belle was out at the front of the parade with a large fabric sign advertising the circus draped around over her back, April sat behind Belle's head waving both hands in the air. Alex and the other clowns were already starting to work the gathered people, bringing them into their routines, squirting them with water or handing out balloons to the kids. Arizona stood up onto her trapeze and held on with one hand while smiling and waving to the kids, she had one leg bent slightly to show off her long lithe legs in a stance that was designed to attract the male members of the audience. If the kids didn't want to come see the lions and clowns then perhaps the husbands could be persuaded to come see the girls in skimpy outfits. She heard clapping as down either side of her float the Grey sisters appeared back flipping in perfect synchronization. Mark's voice could be heard booming out the shows line up through a megaphone as he walked, his small monkey tipping her top hat towards the crowds.
Deciding now was the time to do a little performance Arizona gripped the side ropes then spun herself upside down. She stayed like that for a few moments-ignoring the age old superstition of never looking back on a parade - to take the opportunity while upside down to view the members of the parade behind her. She could hear the gasps from the crowd as Cristina plunged lit torches coated in kerosene into her mouth to extinguish them. Owen the circus strongman was walking along the line of spectators and offering each man the opportunity to punch his stomach as hard as they could. However, Arizona's attention was drawn immediately to two black horses a couple of spots back from her float, from her unusual vantage point Arizona observed as Callie dressed in a midnight blue leotard adorned with silver stars stood up on the back of one of the stallions.
Callie stood balancing on the broad back of Orpheus her favourite horse, she looked ahead and saw two legs in the air. She quirked her eyebrows in surprise then let her eyes follow down the line of the shapely legs, she observed the gold sequined leotard that fit snugly to the athletic frame currently suspended upside down on the trapeze. Finally her brown eyes settled on blue eyes regarding her with an expression that Callie was unable to read fully, before she could get a prolonged look the eyes had disappeared as their owner spun around and was the right way up again. Callie's eyes narrowed slightly as she watched Arizona wave to the crowd knowing that the woman would not flout the superstition further by turning around again. Shouts from the sides roused her from her study of the infuriating trapeze artist that she had bucked horns with earlier in the day. Callie allowed herself to fall down to site astride Orpheus, she looked down towards where Seth her stable boy jogged alongside, he moved his fingers quickly asking if she was okay, she realized that she had been so wrapped up in looking at Arizona that her performance in the parade so far had been lackluster. She replied quickly that she was fine and shook any further thoughts of the blonde woman up ahead from her mind. She gripped the leather strapping around Orpheus's body and used it to hold her body steady as she balanced upside down at his side.
They returned to the circus ground following the march and immediately set to work to finish the work on the big top and stalls before the come in when the paying public officially entered. Already some Lot Lice had been on the ground all day watching the set up and generally getting in the way of the roustabouts as they built the big top. The Chief had already chased some kids out of the back yard where the props, animals, and housing wagons were parked.
Callie heard unfamiliar voices shouting familiar instructions while the tents tethers were checked and the pre show rag out was performed, making sure that the ropes were tightly staked. She looked up from her work brushing down Orpheus following his outing on the parade. Apollo still wearing his performance harness stood patiently waiting on his turn for Callie's attention, his nose buried in a bucket of cool water. The brief excursion wasn't enough to work up a sweat, however the rosin that coated the backs of the horses to make their coat sticky for Callie to perform on, had to be removed and replaced for the matinee performance. The dust from Orpheus' coat danced in the sunlight as Callie flicked the brush at the end of each stroke along the horse's body. She felt a tap on her back and a hand reach for the brush and take it from her. She smiled at Seth who shot her a look of annoyance before telling her off for taking his job. She placed her fingers against her lips then moved her hand away from her face to gesture thank you to Seth.
"You should go find the flyer and apologise properly" Seth gestured. Callie screwed her face up and Seth clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in annoyance "We don't need enemies on our first day" he added both signing and unusually for Seth speaking the words aloud letting Callie know how strongly her felt about it. She signed OK rolling her eyes as she did so and ignoring the satisfied grin on Seth's face. She grabbed her thin cardigan from over the small mounting block they used, and pulled it on to cover her show costume while she wandered around the back yard in search of the trapeze artist.
She moved out of the way of the roustabouts as they carried sections of blues, the general admission seats into the big top, her eyes scanning the back yard for a sight of the blonde woman. She ran over possible ways to apologise in her head, each one was dismissed with a small frown as she strode through the lot. She stopped as she spotted Arizona, standing with her back to her speaking with April the elephant trainer, the imposing figure of Belle the elephant was behind them, her trunk nuzzling against Arizona's hair earning guffaws of laughter from both women. Callie took a deep breath and decided it was now or never. As she stepped forward to make her way across the relative peacefulness of the pre matinee time was shattered and loud shouts came from where Callie had just walked from. Her eyes widened in horror as she turned to see Apollo come thundering towards her, his eyes wide in fear and nostrils flaring. There was a group of men including Seth in pursuit of the stampeding horse as he ran towards the sideshows. The ropes that supported the tented structures snapped and stakes sprung out of the ground as the horse barreled through them. Callie yelled at the horse to stop, however he was in too much of a state to listen-even to his beloved trainer. It wasn't until he veered off that Callie spotted the reason for his panic, bouncing up and down on his back holding on for dear life to his thick black mane was the small monkey that was usually seen on the ringmasters shoulder. As the horse passed by one of the food stalls, the monkey leapt and landed onto the top of the concession stand, a look of relief on its human like features. She sped off after Apollo trying to reach the horse before he injured himself, she froze in panic as a truck edged out in front of him causing him to skid to a halt and rise up onto his hind legs. He neighed loudly kicking his front legs towards the truck. He twisted his body in mid air and landed hard back down on the ground then sped back in the direction he had come.
Arizona and April along with the other casual observers around the lot moved to where Callie had been standing, to watch the drama unfold. The blonde woman felt her body tense at the scene in front of her. The horse that had been galloping out of the lot was now coming rapidly back towards them, she winced as Jennings one of the stall men stepped out and hit the running horse with a long stick, the action barely causing the horse to miss a step.
Callie felt anger rise in her as a tall bald man stepped out from between the tents and swung a long stick at Apollo, a loud crack sounding as it connected with the horse's hindquarters causing the frightened horse to pick its pace up. She moved to the side as Apollo neared, thankful that Seth hadn't removed his show harness yet. She reached out and grabbed the thick leather as Apollo drew level with her, she had performed this in the ring with her horses hundreds of time before, but for the first time Callie was terrified. She felt the pull on her shoulder and immediately bounced to create the required lift to give her enough height to mount Apollo's back. She landed onto the horse with a soft thump and gripped him with her legs. Feeling her thighs tighten against his sides Apollo started to calm down until Callie called him gently to a halt, immediately the horse stopped, his breath puffing heavily from his nostrils. She pulled him around and walked him back towards the man with the stick. She stopped beside the now nervous looking man and shot him a look of pure hatred "If you so much as look in the direction of one of my horses again, I will personally take that stick and show you what it's like to be beaten….Do. You. Understand?" she asked through gritted teeth. Satisfied that she had made her point she kicked her heels against Apollo's sides to walk him back towards their wagons. As she walked Apollo slowly past those that had gathered to watch she noticed the blue eyes that had been watching her during the parade shoot her a look of utter disgust before Arizona spun on her heel and weaved her way through the gathered crowd.
Callie stood dressed back in her customary T shirt and black jodhpurs, Seth stood silently at her side as they both watched the matinee performance of Shepherd's Circus. She had managed to negotiate with Derek an evening's start following Apollo's impromptu performance earlier. Their delayed entry allowed her to observe the company that she had joined. The first half of the show focused primarily on the lion's and tigers, large cage panels that could be dismantled in minutes surrounded the ring to protect the audience from the wild animals. Callie smiled as the Bailey cracked her whip on the sawdust of the ring and the lion hopped onto its stand and patiently waited for its next instruction.
After the excitement had calmed down and the horses were safely stowed in their trailers, Callie had personally apologised to all of the stallholders who had been impacted by Apollo's rampage. Feeling low that her introduction to her new work family hadn't gone as well as she had hoped, Callie found herself wandering back into the yard and had come across Bailey as she fed the big cats meat so that they were fed before their act. She had stood unobserved reading the slogan across emblazoned across Bailey's cages 'Direct from Africa, the amazing Miranda and her big cats" The small woman finished feeding the animals and cooed softly into the cage before she turned around and looked startled at the tall dark haired woman watching her.
"Hi, I'm Callie…I'm new here" Callie said smiling, enunciating clearly and slowly "Where about in Africa are you from?"
The small woman let out a deep chuckle and shook her head "Baltimore…and I know who you are…damn it the whole state probably knows who you are…did you really threaten to dissect Jennings with that stick?" Miranda noted the look of surprise on the other woman's face as her eyes shot back to the writing. "Don't pay that no heed, I've never been to Africa and neither have my lions for that matter and the tigers sure as hell didn't come from India, I got them while they were cubs from an outfit in Florida." She picked up her now empty food bucket and walked up to Callie "Miranda Bailey, but most people just call me Bailey"
"Nice to meet you Bailey" Callie smiled "And no it wasn't a dissection that I threatened him with"
Bailey snorted loudly "You should have…pig of a man…Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get some meat for those tigers to make sure they don't decide to chew on me this afternoon" the woman disappeared back towards the feed truck to refill her bucket. Callie watched her disappear, then turned back to look at the truck and laughed.
"Greatest show on earth indeed" Callie said to herself "All smoke, mirrors and sequins"
Callie watched as Bailey completed her act, the woman seems attuned to her animals in the same way Callie was with her horses, although Callie didn't face the prospect of being eaten by her horses if she got it wrong. The lions and tigers were ushered out of the ring and back into their waiting cages. The band started to play a happy tune as the clowns appeared to distract the audience from the cages being taken down. She heard Seth laugh beside her as the clowns pretended to throw buckets of water across the audience, dousing them instead with bits of paper. She smiled, regardless of how many circuses she and Seth had joined the boy was always amused by the clowns' and she didn't doubt that if it wasn't for her he would probably be training for that act right now. She nudged his shoulders and he drew his eyes reluctantly away from the act "How do they rate?" she asked, speaking the words aloud as well as signing.
Seth grinned and held up seven fingers then signed his response "The small one's timing was off"
"Perfectionist" she teased. Seth shrugged a smile still on his face as he returned his attention to the clowns.
Callie allowed her mind to drift to the meeting this morning with the trapeze act, she'd been furious when she'd spotted the woman manhandling Seth and probably hadn't dealt with the situation in the most tactful manner, however she was insanely protective of Seth and didn't really see what the big deal had been. She recalled the blue eyes that watched her briefly during the parade and the look they had given her after the incident with Apollo, she felt a shiver go through her body. Seth felt her movement and looked round.
"Are you cold?" he asked, his face full of concern "I could go get your sweater?" he motioned.
"I'm fine, someone walking over my grave" she smiled tucking her hands back into her pocket after she signed.
"It's probably the flyer dancing on it" Seth replied a mischievous look on his face. Callie laughed and looked out towards the main ring where April was currently performing with Belle. The elephant was sitting on a podium with its front legs in the air. Seth tapped Callie's forearm "She's good" he said pointing towards the ring, he tapped again to bring Callie's attention back to him "And it looks well cared for" Callie smiled and put her arm around Seth's neck bringing him into an embrace. They had already left two circuses when Seth had found they mistreated their animals. For them it was a deal breaker and from what Callie had heard Shepherd's had a good reputation in the business for not harming the animals in order to get them to perform, however after the altercation with Jennings she was wary of putting too much faith in hearsay. Both she and Seth treated their horses Orpheus, Adonis, and Apollo as if they were family, tending their every need.
The first act ended and Callie and Seth left the big top to wander around the sideshows while the top was set for the second act. They had meandered through the various games and stalls until Callie found herself wandering back towards the performer's entrance of the big top while picking strands of pink cotton candy from a stick. She watched as Arizona made her way across the ground with the line walker Addison, now dressed in a red sequined outfit her blonde hair loose around her shoulders. She was laughing at something the taller woman said her blue eyes creased in mirth and deep dimples appeared on her cheeks. For the first time Callie saw life radiate from the woman albeit briefly as the smile froze and disappeared as she spotted Callie. Arizona shook her head then turned to concentrate on Addison again, leaving Callie standing immobile with one hand hovering in mid air with a strip of candy in her grasp on its way to her mouth.
Arizona stood in the pad area waiting for Mark to announce her. She had felt an overwhelming state of relief when Cristina told her that she'd heard that they wouldn't be performing during the matinee, however seeing the horse woman standing out on the ground only reminded her that it was simply a stay of execution and the act would be on the bill that evening. She heard applause and assuming that it was her cue to enter, she stepped right foot first into the ring. Her loose interpretation of the circus rule of looking back during the parade was the only circus superstition she occasionally disobeyed, she had experienced enough bad luck and didn't need to encourage further misfortune to visit her by thumbing her nose to the Gods of fortune and using the wrong foot to enter the top.
Callie had resumed her position at the side of the tent and watched as Arizona entered the ring. The aerialist waved around to the audience before swiftly scaling the rope held steady by her ground man. She unhooked the trapeze and launched herself from the platform into her routine. Callie watched as Arizona went through the motions of her act, staging what seemed to Callie a solid if somewhat underwhelming performance. She frowned in confusion, this type of act wasn't what she would expect from someone so far up the bill and more importantly Callie didn't want to follow a performance that, if the afternoon's audience reaction was anything to go with, failed to set the crowd a light. She slipped out of the tent and walked round to the pad area.
Karev was standing in the pad area sneaking a look into the crowd while Arizona performed when he felt someone stand behind him "Is her performance always like that?" the voice behind him asked. He turned around and found himself looking at the new woman.
"Like what?" he asked, being deliberately obtuse.
"Tame" Callie replied.
Alex shrugged "Now it is" he answered rather cryptically then turned back to look into the tent.
Callie sighed in frustration "I'm only asking as I'm the one that has to go out afterwards and I need to know if I'll have to warm the audience back up" she watched hoping for a response from the clown, who was now studiously watching the routine and ignoring her. "What the hell is it with her?" she muttered softly under her breath. She jumped in surprise as the clown spun round to glare at her, his expression completely at odds with his painted face.
"She's a Flying Robbins! You know who they are, don't you?" he fumed.
Nodding slowly Callie wracked her brain for the reason the name sounded familiar "I think so"
"Well you should" Alex replied unimpressed with Callie's lack of knowledge of the circus act "They were the best…she was the best"
"So how come there's only one Robbins now and she's barely flying?" Callie asked, peering past Alex's shoulder into the ring to see Arizona move between trapeze bars.
Alex hesitated unsure whether to disclose Arizona's history, he scowled as he fought an inner battle. He was still bristling at Callie's lack of understanding and wanted to make the woman comprehend what it took to get Arizona out and onto a trapeze. "Okay you didn't hear this from me" he said "She and her brother were the flying Robbins, he fell and was killed and she's been performing like that ever since" He was about to turn back to the performance when Callie's voice stopped him.
"They performed without a safety net?"
"No" Alex shook his head "There was a screw up and the net wasn't fixed right, he landed on the net and it gave way. If he hadn't of gotten spooked and fallen they both would probably had been killed or injured when they dismounted" Neither had heard Mark encouraging the crowd's applause as Arizona's act finished a few moments before.
Callie exhaled softly "So what spooked him?"
The back flap of the tent opened and Arizona strode out into the pad area "An out of control horse" she said bitterly, she turned to glare at Alex "I thought better of you Karev" she seethed, then pushed past them both to exit the pad.
