Title: Christmas Waltz, 2/2
Author: A. Windsor
Pairing: 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 semester 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!
Summary: "Merry Christmas, may your new year's dreams come true. And this song of mine, in three quarter time, wishes you and yours, the same thing, too."
Author's Note: Christmas with the Robbins-Torres clan, two weeks too late. I hope you enjoy anyway. There's a few fun references to my other Christmas fic, Angel, but it's not necessary to have read it. It's nothing but holiday schmoop, and I apologize in advance.
"Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse," Callie whispers warmly in Arizona's ear, coming up behind her wife as she stands, hands on her hips, surveying the obnoxious amounts of presents arranged and organized under the Christmas tree, all six stockings stretched across the mantel. Callie slides her hands around her waist, resting her chin on her shoulder.
"Ha. It's 10:30. I can promise you that those three are still awake," Arizona responds, covering Callie's hands with her own.
"All snuggled up like puppies. An actual Christmas miracle," Callie sighs. "Do you think we could sneak a picture for future blackmail?"
"Ooh, rehearsal dinner slideshow!"
"When Asa finally makes it official with Katie Shepherd?"
"Oh god, I think Derek would die," Arizona laughs.
Asa and Katie have become their own little 'will they-won't they' couple with tons of teenage angst. His moms find it best not to get involved; Asa keeps swearing that Katie is not his girlfriend (despite their close friendship) but, as Lena says, "Why the hell not?"
"They're going to be up super late tonight," Arizona says more seriously. "It's his last Christmas living at home."
Callie's heart constricts just talking about the departure of their (hopefully) USNA-bound eldest son. They should receive news of his appointment in the early spring, and while she's really excited for him, she's not exactly looking forward to his leaving. It's like it pops the bubble of their perfect little world. Lena will be two years behind him, then Caroline and Teo at three each. And yes, she knows that means eight whole years until they're actual empty nesters, she's not quite ready for any of her baby birds to fly away.
"He'll come home for Christmas. At least through the academy."
"Not the same," Arizona pouts. "And then he'll be stationed far away and we'll never see him."
"I don't wanna think about it," Callie deflects, dropping a kiss to Arizona's neck. "Are we all set up here?"
Arizona nods.
"Let's go to bed. We've got a few traditions of our own to honor, but I'm not sure I can handle under the Christmas tree anymore."
Arizona laughs. "There's no room for ravaging under the tree! And there hasn't been for years."
"Yeah, let's go with that and not mention that we're getting kinda old."
"Do you remember Asa's first Christmas? When we were still in the apartment?"
"And we did Christmas early?" Callie laughs.
"That, too. Can you imagine the uprising if we tried that now?"
"Lena whining about honoring traditions at the proper time and place. Teo insisting that we have real Christmas, too."
"Caroline rolling her eyes. Asa stressing about changing all the logistics," Arizona grins.
"We've raised some pretty neurotic kids."
"Adorably neurotic. Endearingly neurotic," Arizona counters.
"Like their Momma."
"Hey now."
"C'mon, old lady. Tiny Dancer will be up before we know it."
It's not Teo's bouncing that wakes them up; it's Asa's more gentle knocking on the door.
"Good morning. Merry Christmas. Mateo would like to know if Santa came."
Callie rolls over. 6:30. They must've distracted him for a while. Her older children are saints.
"Wake up," Callie pokes at Arizona's ribs, getting a disgruntled mumbling in response. "We have to check to see if Santa came so that the munchkins can come downstairs."
"Tell him Santa didn't come. He's not coming until lunchtime. Go back to sleep," Arizona calls grouchily.
Asa laughs on the other side of the door, poking his head in. "Yeah, right. C'mon, Momma. It's Christmas! Your favorite!"
Arizona peeks her eyes open to see her son looking at her with an earnest smile, not unlike the one her usually grumpy wife is flashing her. They're both filled with Christmas morning excitement, and it's contagious. Especially when Asa's standing there in his candy cane pants and little boy sleepiness, reminding her of the eighteen (or, well, sixteen) Christmases where he's stood exactly like that, waiting for her approval so he can tear into his presents.
"Okay, okay. Go tell him we'll check. But you all have to wait at the top of the stairs until we say so."
"We know the drill," Asa grins, ducking out to alert his siblings.
"Why are you so grumpy about Christmas?" Callie questions, even as she's hauling herself out of bed and throwing on her robe.
"This 'old lady' needs her sleep, and someone kept me up last night."
Callie laughs. "Oh-kay."
They start the coffee pot percolating and the cinnamon buns in the oven before making their way to the bottom of the stairs. They look up to see all four of their wonderful children waiting at the top of the steps, some more anxiously than others.
Lena and Teo are the most obviously eager. He sits in her lap, head on her shoulder, long legs dangling off her knees, as both practically bounce in anticipation. He has her flashing, light up Rudolph nose on, and she's donned her fluffy Santa hat for the occasion, hiding the unruliness of her bedhead. Asa is a step above them, leaning his hip against the banister, arms crossed over his broad chest. Caroline sits next to him, leaning her head against the wall, eyes shut and fighting back a yawn.
Their more spirited children visibly brighten when they notice their mothers.
"Did he come?" Teo asks.
"Yeah. Did he come, did he come?" Lena repeats, half-facetiously.
"Oh, I don't know. Momma, did you notice if Santa paid a visit?"
"There might've been a couple presents under that tree, but I'm not sure. Was everyone good this year?"
"I was!" Teo exclaims.
"Me too!" Lena echoes his tone.
"Yeah, Lena went all of November and December without being caught making out in the parking lot at school," Asa teases.
Lena blushes a little and hides her face behind her little brother's shoulder, but grins like she's more than a little pleased with herself.
"It's not Lena's fault all the girls wanna kiss her," Teo repeats his big sister's usual defense.
"Yeah, what he said," Lena pipes up. "Teo and I can't help being irresistible."
Teo laughs, Caroline opens her eyes enough to give a pre-teen eye roll, and Asa scruffs Lena's hat, pushing it into her eyes.
"I'm not even going to acknowledge that," Arizona shakes her head. "But yes, Santa came. You can come down!"
Even Caroline manages a smile at that as Asa helps her to her feet and the four hurry down the stairs. The rest of the morning is a flurry of torn paper and excited squeals as they all discover their gifts. After breakfast and unwrapping the little things stuffed in their embroidered stockings, they all naturally gravitate to their favorite gifts.
Lena excitedly juggles the new soccer ball she's been begging for; it's somehow specially engineered to be perfect, but to everyone else's untrained eye, it just looks like a normal ball with a fancy design. She's in the corner of the living room, easily bouncing it off of various body parts with a grace that's always surprised her mothers.
For Teo, it's the new music player that clips to his shirt, barely visible and with more space than anyone could ever fill. Pairing it with his new wireless headphones, he blares all his favorite songs and dances around the kitchen to a beat only he can hear, grabbing whichever family member he gets closest to for a few bars before dancing away.
Asa has a stack of books he's been strongly hinting at for months; he still prefers the hard copies, though he has a million e-books too. He's propped up at the breakfast bar, perfectly still among the chaos, contented smile on his face as his fingers linger on the smooth pages every time he flips one.
Caroline dominates the living room because she got the video game that she was not allowed to stand in line for hours for and was devastated when it sold out before she could get her hands on a copy. Unbeknownst to her, her momma was not called into the hospital and was in fact standing in that line at five o'clock in the morning in the late Seattle December to get Caroline that "damn game". Her squeals had been the loudest that morning, and she still hugs her momma with abandon every time she wanders by.
Callie busies herself with preparing their big Christmas dinner (Asa, Lena, and Caroline will help as it gets closer; the turkey's a one-person job, and Arizona and Teo are banned from the kitchen) and Arizona cleans up the detritus of unwrapping, because their favorite gifts aren't the kind they can play with. The tradition in the Robbins-Torres household has been that the kids all band together to get their moms' presents, and the other mom isn't allowed to help. That generally means that Asa and Lena do the heavy lifting in planning and buying, and the grandparents usually foot the bill.
This year the munchkins have outdone themselves. They conspired to arrange a series of beautiful black and white professional pictures of the four of them. The pictures are amazing, wonderfully lit, both candid and posed, with both individual and group shots for their mothers to pick from. They also bought their moms matching bracelets with their four birthstones: sapphire, tanzanite, amethyst, and diamond. Their kids are, in Bailey's words, "obnoxiously cute".
Callie catches Teo as he dances around the corner, popping one of his earphones out of his ear and depositing it into her own so that she can dance around with him. He grins widely and takes her hand, letting her lead him around the kitchen, his sock-clad feet slip-sliding as he follows her moves. They dance over to Asa and grab him off his stool.
"I can't hear," he laughs as he tries to keep up.
Teo grins and switches off his music player. He holds up a finger: "One second!"
He runs to the stereo system (just barely avoiding crashing into it) and presses a few buttons. The sound leaps to life with the Christmas playlist that's been on repeat for the past three weeks. On his way back to the kitchen, he steals the controller out of Caroline's hands and the ball right off of Lena's knee, pulling them back to the kitchen with him. Since both hands are occupied with his sisters, he calls over his shoulder:
"C'mon, Momma!"
"Yeah, Momma," Callie grins at her as Asa sweeps her up for a dance. "Enjoy the Christmas music while you can. It's your last chance."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Arizona sets aside the trash bag and heads for the kitchen dance party. "But Asa stole my girl. Gonna have to find another."
Caroline's the closest, so she grabs her and spins her about to "All I Want for Christmas".
Lena bows theatrically to Teo, who bows right back and extends his hand. The two hams in the family then bounce around excitedly in time to the music, their own little goofy dance moves thrown in. Arizona thinks that if all those girls who like so much to make out with Lena in parking lots could see the pig-tailed, peppermint-pj-clad dork right now, it might not be such a problem. Still hopelessly in love with her own pig-tailed, pj-clad, goofy-dancing dork, Callie thinks just the opposite.
"Are you gonna miss all us goofs when you're gone, m'ijo?" Callie asks as Asa playfully and expertly dips her.
"Mami, basta," Asa complains, kissing her cheek. "Todavía estoy. [I'm still here.] I've got at least six months before I go anywhere."
"Ya sé. [I know.] Sorry."
Asa shakes his head warmly and spins her again.
"Momma, you wanna go two-player before dinner?" Caroline asks Arizona, just a little breathless from their dancing. "I'll teach you."
Arizona recognizes a Christmas miracle when she spots one from her preteen. She laughs and draws her into a brief hug, brushing straight, dark hair behind Caroline's ear.
"I'd love that, Cari."
"Cool. I think you'll be pretty good at it."
Caroline pulls away and pushes up on her toes so that she's tall enough to spin her momma.
The music shifts into Sinatra's "Christmas Waltz".
"Alright, Tiny Dancer," Lena grins. "This is one dance I can teach you."
Teo puts his growing puppy feet on top of Lena's and holds her at the hip as she leads them into a surprisingly fluid waltz. He grins as they both sing warmly:
"Merry Christmas, may your new year's dreams come true. And this song of mine, in three quarter time, wishes you and yours, the same thing, too."
el fin
