Title: 12 Days of Christmas 4/12
Author: GreysAddictJ
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Callie and Arizona try to outdo each other and prove they're the best at giving Christmas presents
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. No infringement intended. This hasn't been betaed – all mistakes are mine.
December 17th
Arizona awoke to the sensation of Callie's gentle lips kissing a trail from her ear down next to her collarbone. As she fully regained consciousness, she opened her eyes slowly and pulled her girlfriend in for a lingering, lazy kiss. The kiss quickly picked up pace, Callie's tongue teasing its way along the seam of her lips, asking for permission to enter. Arizona deepened the kiss, their tongues tangling in a dance all their own, while pulling the brunette nearly on top of her, eager to get as near to her as was possible. Callie's hand traced its way along the blonde's bare flesh between the top of her pajama pants and her shirt. It slowly wormed its way underneath Arizona's top, drawing lazy circles across her midsection.
After a few more moments of passion, Callie pulled back and rolled off of Arizona.
"What? You're going to get me all worked up and then leave me here high and dry?" Arizona asked, peeved at Callie's departure.
"As much as I'd like to stay in bed all day on our day off, we've got a full day planned and I don't think you'll want to miss your present just because you're horny."
"Why don't you let me decide that." Arizona interjected, pulling Callie back for another embrace.
"Because I won't have you ruining my chances at winning our competition just so you can get some." Callie teased. "Besides, you can show me your gratitude later. Just like you did all night long last night . . . And the night before that . . . And the night before that . . ." She smiled, remembering their adventures with strawberries and chocolate from the previous evening.
"Maybe I'm not done saying thank you yet." Arizona pleaded, using her best puppy dog look.
"Woman, you are insatiable." Callie retorted. "But stop using your pouty face. It will get you nowhere. Now go hop in the shower – you've got strawberry sauce in your hair. I'll make us breakfast while you make yourself presentable."
Arizona reached up to her distressed-looking locks, discovering that Callie was not joking - they were sticky and disgusting. Not willing to give up quite yet, she added in her most helpless tone "I'm not sure I can clean this up without help. Will you help me out, baby?" She rose from the bed and headed towards the bathroom, making sure to swing her hips in an enticing manner as she went.
"You just don't give up, do you?" Callie shook her head and rolled her eyes. "What about breakfast?"
Arizona stopped and turned to respond. "I'm not hungry." She paused for effect and then added. "At least not for food." With that, she quickly dropped her t-shirt and pajama bottoms to the floor, and stood facing Callie completely naked.
"Fine. This is one battle I'm willing to lose." Callie replied with a chuckle, grabbing her naked girlfriend and dragging her towards the bathroom.
After an exceedingly long shower, the women began to get ready for the day. Realizing she had no idea what to expect from the "4th Day of Christmas," Arizona asked Callie for a hint.
"Sweetie, I love your surprises and all, but I have no idea what we're doing today. Can you give me a clue so that I'm appropriately dressed? Or, I can just wear nothing and we can forget about this little competition for the day." She said, only half-teasing.
"As much as your birthday suit is my favorite outfit on you, I'm going to have to nix it for right now. Dress warmly and comfortably." Callie replied, giving Arizona no additional information.
Arizona grumbled, but pulled on some jeans and a warm sweater. After they were dressed and ready, Callie grabbed her hand and led her out the door.
"Where are we going?" Arizona queried as they reached the car.
"Baby, you should know by now that you'll know when you're meant to know." Callie smiled and gave the blonde a quick peck on the lips before opening the passenger door for her. "Your chariot awaits, m'lady."
Arizona gave her a mock scowl and slid into the car. Once Callie was behind the wheel, she turned on the car stereo, changing the music to a station playing Christmas songs.
Arizona raised her eyebrow in question and Callie responded "To get us in the Christmas spirit. Clearly, a certain slutty Scrooge woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Maybe this will help." She teased.
"I am not slutty and I'm not a scrooge." Arizona protested. "Just because I wanted to have my way with you all day instead of trudging out into the snow to some mystery destination does not make me a scrooge."
Callie smiled. "Fine, maybe not Slutty Scrooge. That was harsh. How about Horny the Snowman or Amorous the Elf?"
Arizona smacked Callie playfully on the arm. Callie simply chuckled, leaned over and placed a kiss on the blonde's temple, and pulled the car out of the parking lot.
After a 15 minute drive, Callie pulled off the main road onto a gravel path. Soon, their destination became apparent, with the sign in front of the location, which read:
Grant's Tree Farm
"A tree farm?" Arizona questioned.
"Yep. We're going to pick out our own Christmas tree and chop it down ourselves. It's more fun this way. Way better than going to a tree lot or having an artificial one. To do a bad ass Christmas, you've got to chop it down yourself"
"I agree! This is going to be fun!" Arizona said excitedly, springing from the car as soon as it was parked. She ran around to Callie's side and practically dragged her from the car. "Come on, Calliope! We've got to go before all the good trees are picked!"
Callie could only laugh at Arizona's exuberance and quick change of spirits. "This isn't a race, babe." She chuckled indulgently, letting Arizona drag her by the arm across the parking lot.
After trudging through rows and rows of trees, Callie began to question her decision to come. Arizona analyzed each and every tree. Pointing out the merits and the drawbacks of each one. One was too tall. Another too wide. One was too "frowny," whatever that meant. Finally, Arizona came to a halt in front of what had to be the saddest looking excuse for a tree ever.
"This is it! This our tree, Calliope!" She said in excitement, clapping her mitten-clad hands together.
"Really, Arizona?" Callie asked, confused. "Out of all the trees, you want this one? It's so skinny and it seems like it's missing half of its needles."
"It's perfect. It's got character. Plus, it looks so sad. It's begging us to take it home because if we don't, it might not get a home and they might put it to sleep." Arizona explained.
Callie shook her head at her girlfriend. "You do realize this isn't the pound, don't you baby?" She smiled, recognizing Arizona's need to champion the downtrodden and those not capable of championing themselves.
"Can we please get this one, sweetie? Please?" Arizona pleaded.
"Of course." Callie replied. "It'll be perfect." She roped her arms around Arizona's waist pulled her in for a brief kiss.
After cutting down their tree and having it strapped to their car, they headed home.
They parked in front of their apartment, Callie turned off the car and opened the door to exit. As she rose, Arizona grabbed her hand and pulled her back down.
"Wait!" She said. "Picking out a Christmas tree has nothing to do with birds. How does this all tie into the 4th Day of Christmas?"
"You'll have to wait and see." Callie responded. "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten."
Arizona, still perplexed, exited the car and helped Callie carry their forlorn looking tree into the apartment.
As soon as they had gotten the tree properly situated, Callie turned connected her iPod to the stereo system and put a playlist of Christmas music on.
Hearing the first song come on, Arizona squealed in delight. "This is my favorite! I love this version of Silent Night. I think the fact that it's a cappella just makes it so much more magical. This is from a soundtrack from a TV show, right? I think I heard it last Christmas."
"Yep." Callie confirmed.
"I love it." Arizona added. "Her voice is so sexy."
"Hey!" Callie responded in mock offense. "No cheating on me with my iPod!"
"Oh, sweetie. No one could ever compare to you." Arizona offered, capturing Callie in an embrace. "Now where are my 4 birds?"
"All in good time, babe." Callie replied. "First, we have to decorate." With that, she pulled out of Arizona's arms and went to retrieve the boxes of Christmas decorations.
The two women enjoyed the next few hours together, trimming the tree and decorating the apartment. Their Christmas-filled afternoon was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Callie went to open the door. On the other side stood a horrified-looking Cristina Yang.
"Wow." Cristina said, peering her head warily into the room. "It looks like an elf projectile vomited all over your apartment. Don't you think you're taking this whole Christmas thing a little to the extreme?" She asked, reacting to the overload of Christmas décor in the apartment. "And, oh my God. That tree! That is the sorriest excuse for a tree I have ever seen. That's not even a tree. It's more like a twig trying to dress up like a tree!" Cristina laughed.
"Shut it Yang." Callie responded dryly. "Other than spoiling our Christmas cheer, what are you doing here?"
"What am I doing? I'm thanking my lucky stars I moved out of this apartment before sap-fest 2010 hit. That's what I'm doing." Noticing the glare on Callie's face, she added, "Oh and I'm dropping off this book on juvenile heart surgery that Mrs. Claus over there loaned me." She handed Callie the book. "I'm outta here before any of this saccharine nonsense wears off on me." With that, she turned on her heel and left.
Callie shook her head at her ex-roommate. She was something else.
As Callie turned back around, she was struck by the most adorable sight. Arizona had evidently found a Santa hat amongst the Christmas decorations and had donned it. In addition, she was dancing goofily around the tree, shaking her butt to the song "Feliz Navidad." She was happily butchering the Spanish lyrics, while haphazardly throwing tinsel onto her poor scraggly little tree. While Callie knew she'd remember the big gestures from this holiday, it was the little moments like this that she'd cherish for years to come.
Deciding it was time for the next phase of her plan for the day, Callie retrieved a wrapped package from its hiding place. She handed to Arizona and said "Merry Christmas, my true love."
Arizona quickly unwrapped the paper and opened a plain-looking box. Inside were several items. The first were two hand-embroidered stockings, one with "Calliope" stitched across the top and another with "Arizona." The one with Callie's name looked decidedly more worn and older than Arizona's.
"In my family, there's this tradition. Each time we get a new member of the family, my abuela makes them their own embroidered stocking by hand." Callie explained. "I had my mother ship me mine and also asked my abuela to make a new one for you. You're my family now and I wanted to start the tradition with you. If and when we have kids, we'll get ones made up for them as well."
A single tear trickled down Arizona's cheek. "Calliope, these are beautiful. I've never even met your family, other than your father. How did you convince them to do this?" Callie reached up and gently brushed away the tear.
"I've made it very clear how important you are to me. And even if it was hard for them to accept at first, they know how happy you make me. And that's all they want – for me to be happy."
"And you make me so happy too." Arizona replied sweetly, leaning in to capture Callie's lips in a gentle kiss.
"You're not done with your presents, yet." Callie added as she pulled away and gestured to the box.
Next, Arizona removed a wooden nutcracker dressed as a doctor. Confused, she looked up at Callie for an explanation.
"Another tradition my family has is that every year, we buy one nutcracker." Callie responded. "It's amazing how many different ones you can find out there. We have quite the collection, since my parents have bought one every year since I was born. I picked out a doctor for our first nutcracker for obvious reasons."
"I love it!" Arizona replied. She got up and circled the apartment before finally settling on the perfect place to display it. She then returned to Callie and the box and removed the last items. She pulled out 4 different ornaments, each shaped like a bird. Callie reached over and pressed a button on the underside of one. It began chirping.
"See, they're 'calling birds.'" Callie explained. "These serve two purposes. One – the most obvious – is that they fulfill the fourth day of Christmas. But second, and more importantly, they are a way to share my family's last Christmas tradition with you. Each year, we pick out a new ornament as a family. Something that signifies something that was important to us that year. It's fun every year to pull out the old ornaments and reminisce about the memories behind each ornament. This year, we have the birds to remind us of the time I won our Christmas competition." Callie smirked. "Next year, who knows?"
They each took two of the ornaments and found the perfect location for them on their tree.
After placing their ornaments, Arizona circled her arms around Callie's neck, pulling her in for a passionate kiss. Their embrace soon became frenzied, lost in each other's arms. The beeping of the kitchen timer invaded their interlude.
"Christmas cookies are done!" Callie responded reluctantly, walking over to check on the tray she'd placed in the oven earlier. Arizona smiled, following her girlfriend and admiring the view as she leaned over to remove the cookies.
Unable to resist, Arizona added, "You know, Calliope, this day has been perfect . . ."
"I know. I'm a rock star." Callie interrupted, a smug grin across her lips.
"But. . ." Arizona continued. "Not entirely perfect. If you'd done your homework, Calliope, you would know that the actual words to the song are '4 colly birds,' not 'calling birds.' The words have been misunderstood and misused by many. A 'colly bird' is actually another word for a blackbird. Since you didn't buy 4 ornaments depicting. . . "
Arizona's lecture was cut off as Callie pinned her against the nearest wall and crashed her lips against the blonde's. Callie's tongue invaded Arizona's mouth as the brunette ran a hand roughly through Arizona's golden locks.
After coming up for air, Arizona asked, "What was that for?"
Callie smirked and pointed upward. "Mistletoe," she replied before attacking Arizona's lips once again.