Arizona found herself sitting in the waiting lobby at the airport her foot tapped nervously as she counted the number of holiday bows wrapped around each column. There were exactly forty-four, but Arizona figured she should count again for certainty's sake. Just as she reached number thirty-one a soft melodic, yet somewhat robotic voice came over the P.A system to announce the arrival of flight 3412 out of LAX. Her entire body jolted up with a sudden charge of nervous energy
Arizona's gaze was fixed on the arrivals gate she wanted to make sure she didn't miss him like the last time. She was sure she hadn't even blinked but still somehow he managed to sneak past her. With her eyes still focused on the arrivals she heard his voice in a booming whisper bellowing into her ear
"What'cha doing Zoe?"
"Daddy!" Arizona claimed turning to greet her father with a smile. His eyes moved down to the coffee cup in her hands. He didn't have to say anything Arizona just knew. She skulked over to a near by trash can and disposed of her still half full white chocolate raspberry mocha.
"Still drinking that stuff I see"
"I've been trying to quit" Arizona lied
Her father had no response save for a few grunts and groans. As she moved to get her father's luggage from baggage claim. It took a while for her to notice that her father was still standing in the arrivals bay.
"Daddy?" Arizona called after him
"Zoe I think you forgot something" He was right she'd forgotten something of paramount importance and she didn't even notice.
Walking back over toward her father, Arizona leaned in and gave him as big a hug as she possibly could. It amazed her that even as an adult she couldn't fit her arms all the way around his forboading figure.
"That's my girl"
The ride over to Arizona's house was strange to say the least. Her father insisted on driving and talking about things Arizona did not want to discuss. But for Daniel Robbins avoiding rehashing unsavory topics that made Arizona uncomfortable was a sort of sport.
"So this one's lasted quite some time now, surprised you haven't sent her packing yet."
Arizona was sure she might end up crying somewhere in a corner by the time she got her father home but was doing her best not to let on. They talked about her job; they talked about her mother's new kitchen the one she'd been begging for in excess of five years; they seemed to be talking about everything under the sun except for Callie. Arizona thought they were out of the woods but Daniel was just getting started. Making a sudden sharp turn he pulled onto Poe street driving ever slower as they inched their way up to Arizona's driveway.
"You know something Arizona, life takes planning and foresight, and commitment"
"Daddy, sir with all due respect I…"
"You're going to listen to me Robbins, just because you love a little differently than most people that's not an excuse to forsake commitment."
This was the argument she was afraid of. It wasn't so much an argument since her father's word was usually final. But ever since she left home for college her father had been doing his best to not so subtly tell her that she was too promiscuous for his liking.
"Daddy if…"
"Now then, this Torres girl, I looked her up she was married you know"
Arizona's face turned beat red with a combination of anger, frustration, and bashful shame. She'd always been like this around her father. The man was a no nonsense type of guy who wouldn't tolerate any sort of excuse from his children ever. This is exactly why Arizona was hesitant for anyone to meet him especially Callie.
"She's got a nice size family; they've done well for themselves too"
He spoke as if Arizona didn't already know these things. This was his idea of hinting that Callie was a good match for her long term.
"What are you saying Daddy?"
The car pulled in to the driveway and Arizona found herself searching for an excuse not to join her father. She needed a break to get her head together and she was hoping Callie would understand and not be angry with her for what she was about to do. Her dad pulled the door open and noticed a carton of cigarettes in the side door.
"Are you trying to quit those too?" he asked with a slightly judgmental stare.
"You know what daddy I just remembered I have to go in to work and uh take care of some things so, uh ring the bell Callie will let you in and um try not to frighten her."
Arizona told herself that Callie wouldn't be upset and even if she was it was something that could be easily fixed by a nice bottle of wine, or maybe several nice bottles of wine.
She waited for the door to open to make sure her father got in ok but was surprised to see a half naked Callie come to the door. They were going to have to talk about her proclivity for nakedness.
The door bell was ringing and Callie was still mid song in the shower. After the third ring Callie hopped out hoping it was some sort of emergency cause why the hell else wouldn't Arizona use her keys. Shimmying in to her shorts and a bra she marched her way over to the door thinking she would find her locked out girlfriend
"Baby did you forget…" Callie's voice trailed off as she stared at the figure standing before her
"Col. Daniel Robbins, US Marines"
Callie was going to kill Arizona. She was absolutely going to string her up by her little blonde curls and not let her get away with it this time. Who doesn't tell someone when their parents are in town? Callie knew Arizona had daddy issues but this was totally uncalled for.
"Dr. Callie Torres, orthopedics"
"Well would you like some privacy, I can let myself in."
Callie found herself a little more than confused.
"You seem a bit cold ma'am "the Colonel clarified
Great not only had her girlfriend's father seen her in her bra and underwear, he was getting a sneak peak at her northern peeks. A few minutes later after dressing herself in more situation appropriate attire she found herself fumbling over conversation topics and trying really hard not to make a fool of herself. It wasn't till she accidentally cut herself trying to open a bottle of beer that things seemed to loosen up.
"Are you poring beer over that cut ?"
"It's um I learned it in the Peace Corps beer fixes everything we used to say"
Col. Robbins seemed to perk up at the fact that Callie had been in the Peace Corps something that Callie didn't fail to take notice of.
"Yeah I worked with them for almost a year right out of undergrad, it was one of the best experiences of my life" Callie knew she was brown nosing and she wasn't ashamed of it, after that little situation at the door she was determined to turn things around and make a good impression.
"Service is always a good experience, and to do it at such a young age. I can't even remember what Zoe was doing at that age"
He paused for a moment, his facial muscles contorting as he thought about that last statement.
"Well no I do remember, she was in jail."
Callie had to fight not to spit out her beer in front of the colonel but she was surely doing a mental spit-take at the revelation of this information.
"So Dr. Torres I've got a bit of an appetite on me would you like to join me out to lunch?"
"Oh um you don't have to go out for lunch I'll make us something, and you can call me Callie by the way."
Col. Robbins perked up even more which Callie guessed was at the fact that she cooked, Callie was beginning to feel like superwoman it was as if she could do no wrong in his eyes.
"How's club-sandwiches and three bean chili?"
Just as they'd agreed to a lunch which was sure to be full of conversation and an explanation for why Arizona had spent three whole months in a minimum security prison Arizona came prancing in bottle of wine in hand.
"Callie, hey I got wine and a movie and…Daddy! You're still here?" Arizona announced shocked to see her father sitting at the kitchen nook table.
"Where else would I be Zoe?"
"Yeah where else would he be Zoe." Callie asked in mock consensus.
Arizona could think of a lot of places for her father to be none of which were in her house preparing to have lunch with her girlfriend. Everyone was taking notice of her relative discomfort. It was always like this and the reason her parents hadn't met a single one of her girlfriends since Joanne. Col. Robbins looked over at a concerned Callie as if to share a secret with her.
"We usually don't meet the girlfriends" he explained "I wouldn't have even met you if I wasn't in town for a meeting"
Callie and Col. Robbins were getting along like two peas in a pod, probably aided by the fact that Callie made chili for lunch because Arizona mentioned a while ago that it was her dad's favorite. What she hadn't expected was the chattiness they had between them; her father was not a chatty man. In between bites of his sandwich and swallowing a mouthful of chili Col. Robbins never missed an opportunity to complement Callie or point out that she was a good influence on Arizona.
Then it happened, the thing Arizona had been freaking out about for three weeks now, the thing she was so scared to tell Callie about was happening and this time she couldn't wake herself out of it. What was worse was the way it happened. Arizona hadn't expected it to go down in such a hurried and random fashion but her father was the kind of man who made plans, and when she thought about it Arizona should have expected this was his plan all along.
"So you were going to tell me more about this little stint in jail Arizona had" Callie announced to Arizona's surprise.
"Yeah she was involved in a protest the whole thing got all harry truly lacked any foresight and they all got carted off to prison. It was just a horrid time to try and protest I mean during an election year with a no-nonsense governor" It still amazed Arizona that her father found a way to blame the whole situation on Arizona's lack of planning.
"It was a long time ago daddy" Arizona said this more for Callie's edification than for her fathers.
"Yeah well she's learned her lesson since then, haven't you Zoe?" Arizona nodded her head in agreement as her father continued.
"Which is why I just can't understand what you're doing in this relationship" he finished.
Col. Robbins was not one to mince words and it truly perplexed him as to how his daughter could be in an almost two year long relationship with a woman like Callie and not even consider a commitment. The room grew drastically quiet and Daniel knew it was because of him. He was admiring the sight of Callie comforting his daughter the way he used to when she was a little girl. Their hands were intertwined and Callie was using her other hand to slowly rub circles around Arizona's back.
"Life is about making commitments and honoring those commitments, and two years of flying by the seat of your pants is two years enough Zoe. I mean Callie's great isn't she?"
"She's amazing daddy"
Col. Robbins looked relieved at Arizona's confirmation
"Well, that settles it then let's get on with a proposal"
It was as simple as that for Arizona's dad. He'd come in, met Callie and judged her to be a good person. What more could there be to it, Arizona had to be crazy not to be proposing after nearly three years. Except that Callie's ex-husband cheated on her, and then he went and died, oh and except that Callie's first girlfriend ran out on her without so much as an explanation not too long after, or better yet the fact that they couldn't even be legally married. But that wasn't an important consideration right, it's not like any of that mattered. The truth is Arizona had been trying to get herself prepared to do just that, but she kept having this dream that whenever she did propose Callie would run off scared as all hell and never speak to her again. So she did make a plan, it wasn't the plan her father wanted, but it was indeed a plan. She was going to wait for Callie to propose to her, which Arizona was sure would happen soon because after all Arizona was awesome.
"Daddy I'm sure that will happen eventually but…"
"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Zoe you can't just creep along at a petty pace young lady."
"Did you just quote Macbeth sir?" Callie finally spoke up.
"Now all I'm trying to do here Callie is figure out why Arizona doesn't think your worth it, that's something worth finding out now isn't it?"
Arizona's dad had a bad habit of posing questions in a way that made disagreeing with him impossible, but Callie was holding her own.
"Sir, I think what Arizona was trying to say is just that there are some extenuating circumstances that make our situation a bit different."
"Well if that's true that is an excuse, no excuses Zoe do or don't do"
There it was her father had thrown down an ultimatum and Arizona had two options neither one seeming to have an even remotely decent outcome. She could either propose and watch Callie scamper away in a terrified haze or tell her father to go screw himself which she was physically incapable of doing and would probably result in her lying on the bedroom floor in the fetal position.
"I uh…Callie would you like to um make a commit would you commit to a relationship with me" Arizona finally thought she'd found some loop-hole terminology that really didn't mean anything and Callie certainly seemed relieved that it wasn't truly a proposal. Just when they both thought the whole matter had been settled Col. Robbins broke their gleeful celebratory embrace.
"Now what the hell was that? That's no proposal if you ask me. You may as well have been asking her to pass the remote. Now you're going to do this again and you're gonna do it the right way none of that commit to a relationship BS. Oh, and I brought your grandmother's ring."
Just as Col. Robbins was pulling the ring out of his pocket Callie excused herself from the table. She'd been relatively silent the whole time, but the minute she saw that ring she got up grabbed her jacket and walked straight out the door. This was the nightmare and now it was real life Arizona couldn't believe this was happening but deep down she always knew it would.
P.S I love this chapter and yes I realize I just gave myself props but who hasn't done that once or twice. Once again Review Please
