The how-to-get-over-the-love-of-your-life handbook
Personal note: I accidentally called the last chapter "chapter 5" in the text. Sorry about that. Of course the last chapter was meant to be named "chapter 6". : )
So… The mystery man is about to be revealed. : )
Enjoy.
xxxx
Chapter 7: How to deal with the parents
"Callie Torres?" The man, on the other end of the line, said.
"Yes. Excuse me, but who am I talking to?" Callie asked, confused about who this man could be.
"Colonel Robbins." The man said.
Callie coughed slightly in surprise.
Oh my God, why is he calling me?... Stay calm Torres, stay calm.
Callie thought as she tried to regain focus. She looked at the still sleeping Arizona and decided that it would be best to continue this conversation in another room. She left the bedroom and went into the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water, just in case she would completely lose her voice to the nervous coughing.
"Oh… Hallo Sir." Callie tried.
"How can I help you?" She continued, still confused about the reason that the Colonel had called.
"I'm going to tell you something, and you are going to listen." The Colonel said with a stern voice.
"Eh… Yes sir." Callie said feeling her stomach tighten and took a deep breath.
"Good." The Colonel began, then he paused, as if he was trying to figure out how to say it, and then continued. "You have hurt my daughter. You have hurt her badly, she is broken. And I need an explanation young lady." His voice was filled with anger, but also sadness.
"Oh… I know, Sir… I… We… The thing is…" Callie tried but she didn't know how to explain it, where to start. She took a deep breath and was about to continue, or at least try to continue. When Arizona stepped into the kitchen.
"Who are you talking to?" She asked with a smile.
Callie just stood there wide-eyed looking at Arizona. The Colonel was getting impatient at the other end of the line.
"I…" Callie said still wide-eyed. "The Colonel." Was the only thing she mustered to say.
Arizona's smile quickly faltered.
Shit, what the hell is he doing? Why is he calling Calliope?
Arizona ran over to Callie and grabbed the phone. Callie didn't resist, she just stood there, completely paralyzed.
"I need an explanation young lady. Don't you dare reject my request…" The Colonel rambled with an angry voice in the phone.
Arizona quickly broke in and cut him off.
"Dad?"
The Colonel stopped his angry rambling when he heard his daughter's voice.
"Arizona…" The Colonel said kind of surprised to hear his daughter's voice. But he was cut off by Arizona.
"What the hell are you doing?" Arizona said, her voice full of anger.
"I'm protecting you. I protect the things I love Arizona." The Colonel began. "I'm coming to Seattle tonight."
"What? No dad, N…" But before Arizona could get a word out the Colonel had hung up.
"Damn it!" Arizona shouted. She took a deep breath trying to control her anger. Then she looked at Callie.
Callie was still standing at the same spot. Looking directly into the air in front of her. No focus point. She just stood there, wide-eyed.
"Calliope…" Arizona said as she moved towards the brunette.
"I'm sorry… I'm so so sorry… I didn't know he would ever call you… I…" Arizona rambled as tears began forming in her eyes.
Callie shook her head to regain focus and looked at the blonde.
"He… I… He yelled at me… He wanted me to explain… I… I hurt you…" Callie murmured as she looked into the blue eyes in front of her.
"Calliope, I'm so sorry… I don't know why he called you…" Arizona said.
"No… No. It's okay, I hurt you… He deserves to know why… I deserve to be yelled at…" Callie said with a thoughtful frown, nodding her head.
"What? No… First of all, he should never have called you… Second of all, you don't deserve to be yelled at…" Arizona said with a small smile, trying to encourage her girlfriend.
"But I…" Callie tried, but she was cut off by Arizona.
"No… I made a mistake even telling him what happened. But I was hurt, and I needed to tell someone… But it doesn't mean that he can just call you and claim an explanation… He deserves to be yelled at… Not you." Arizona said.
"I just… I'm sorry… Hah, why am I even crying, I mean, I'm hardcore… I'm hardcore…" Callie tried to laugh it off.
"Calliope, it's okay to be scared and surprised. You were shocked that he called and that he yelled. It's okay." Arizona said rapping her arms around Callie, trying to comfort her.
Callie's breathing slowly became normal and the tears stopped falling. She looked at Arizona.
"I know I hurt you…" Callie said. Arizona tried to interrupt but Callie put a finger on her lips. "But I love you… And I will tell him if he needs to know how much… I will tell him how you make my heart swell every time I see you… How it hurt so bad being a part… How you make me the happiest woman alive… I will tell him if he needs to be told…"
With that Arizona reached up and kissed Callie. But it was only a quick kiss, because she suddenly remembered the ending of the conversation with her dad.
Shit.
"Calliope… I need to tell you something."
"Oookay…" Callie said, sensing the defeated and hesitant tone of her girlfriend's voice.
"He's coming. To Seattle. Tonight." Arizona said and saw Callie's eyes widen once again.
"I tried to stop him. But he hung up… " Arizona hurried to say. "As always, there is no way to stop the Colonel." Arizona said in a sad and defeated voice, tears forming in her eyes.
"It's okay Arizona… We'll get through this." Callie said, and this time it was her turn to rap Arizona in her embrace and comfort her.
"We'll get through this. Together." Callie said as she kissed the top of Arizona's head.
Arizona had never thought that her dad would call Callie. She had cried to him over the phone. She had explained that she had had her heart broken. She knew he didn't want to see his daughter hurt. But she never thought he would do this. Be this extreme. And now that he was coming to Seattle, she was afraid that he might scare of Callie. She was afraid of loosing her to something that she couldn't control. She couldn't loose her again. It would break her completely.
xxxx
Callie walked into the cafeteria and walked straight to the table with Mark, Lexie, Christina and Meredith. Derek was the chief so he didn't always have time to join the others for lunch. There had been a big trauma case earlier that required both Teddy and Owen, so they wouldn't have time to eat lunch in the next couple of hours. And Arizona was in surgery. So it was just the five of them left.
"Christina can you stay at Meredith's tonight?" Callie looked at Christina with a serious face.
"Why?" Christina looked at Callie. "Oh… You wanna get your freak on with Roller Girl?"
"I wish." Callie said, mostly to herself. "No…" She looked at her plate of food before she continued. "Arizona's dad is coming to town tonight."
"Oh…" Was Christina's only comment.
"That's great Cal. Meeting the parents, that's a big step." Mark said trying to encourage her friend.
Callie turned her gaze from the plate to Mark.
"Yeah… I wanted it to be great… I wanted it to be her choice to bring me to meet them…" Now Mark looked completely confused. Was he missing something here?
"I didn't want it to be because I hurt her and her dad wants to protect her…" Callie said, once again looking at her plate.
"Wait… Callie, am I missing something here?" Mark looked at Callie with a concerned look.
"He called me Mark… He called me and told me he wanted an explanation to why I hurt her… I don't think he knows we are back together." Callie explained.
"Oh…"
"He was really angry Mark, like really." Callie said and lifted her head to meet his eyes.
"He won't hurt you Cal… Just tell him how you feel about her." Mark tried to find some solution to this, but that's all he came up with.
The others at the table had been totally quiet during their conversation. But suddenly Christina felt the urge to speak up.
"Callie seriously, you and Arizona love each other, and if he can't see that when he shows up, then he's just plain stupid." Eventhough it sounded kinda harsh and cold, it still carried a short of warmth and compassion. Everyone turned to look at Christina with confused faces.
"What?" Christina said shrugging. "I can have a heart."
The others just shook their heads and turned their heads to look at Callie.
"I guess I will just have to face it… I mean, I'm hardcore. I can do this… Right?" Callie said trying to sound confident, but her insecurity got the best of her.
"Of course you can. And if he tries anything, I'm right across the hall… Text me and I'll be there." Mark said giving Callie's hand a light squeeze.
Callie's pager went off. 911. Probably the big trauma case that Owen and Teddy worked on. Callie got up, thanked Mark and Christina, before leaving the cafeteria.
I'm hardcore.
xxxx
Later that day.
Callie was home alone. Arizona had a late shift. She had tried to move it or have someone cover for her. But she had back-to-back surgeries all day and she was the only awesome pediatric surgeon at Seattle Grace-Mercy West.
Callie was sitting on the couch reading a book and drinking a glass of wine. Red of course. Someone knocked at the door and Callie jumped slightly. She got up and walked towards the door, taking a deep breath on the way. She knew who was coming. And she was prepared. Well, as prepared as one can be when meeting an angry parent. She opened the door.
"Hey Sir." She said, greeting the Colonel.
"Hey Callie." He said as he shook her hand and walked into the apartment.
"We didn't finish our conversation earlier. I still need that explanation Torres." He said in a stern voice.
"I know. And I will tell you everything you need to know, Sir. But let's just sit down first." Callie said and motioned towards the couch with her hand. The Colonel sat down.
"Wine?" Callie asked as she picked up another wineglass in the kitchen.
"White thanks." The Colonel said in the nicest voice Callie had heard from him so far.
Like father, like daughter.
Callie thought and laughed slightly on the inside. She hurried back from the kitchen, she didn't want to keep the Colonel waiting.
"So… The explanation." Callie started and the Colonel nodded. "Well. Arizona and I had different visions of the future. You might know this, but Arizona told me she didn't want kids… And, well, I wanted kids… I wanted kids with her…" Callie took a deep breath before continuing. This was gonna be the hard part. "So… We broke up… And, Sir, I tried with all of my being to change my mind… And, when I did… Arizona wouldn't let me. She wanted to be a good man in a storm, just like you taught her…" Callie could see a slight hint of pride in the Colonel's eyes. "She was ready to give up her own happiness to make sure I would be happy… Sir… The thing was just that she had gotten it all wrong…" The Colonel looked like he was about to interrupt but Callie quickly continued. "I could never be happy without her, Sir… She is the love of my live… Yes I want kids, but I want kids with her, not with somebody else… So when I finally got her to understand that, I asked her to open up to me… To tell me why she didn't want kids… She is scared, Sir… The reason she didn't was kids, was because she is scared…"
"That doesn't change the fact that you hurt her." The Colonel found a break in Callie's stream of talk and cut her off.
"I know Sir… But I promised to help her with the fear. And I promised her that I won't leave her no matter what happens, kids or no kids… Sir, I need you to know that I won't hurt her again… I messed up, I know that now… I almost lost the love of my live, and now… now that I have her back, I'll hold on for dear life… Sir." Callie finished her talk and took a deep breath, searching the Colonel's face for any sign of what he was thinking.
"Arizona loves you, she might have tried to push you away, but she loves you with all of her heart." The Colonel began. "And I'm her dad, so when her heart is broken, when it's been broken by the person she thought was the one… Then I have to step in and protect her… But…" The Colonel paused. "But I was clearly wrong about you… I thought you were the enemy. But your speech, the love you poured into it, told me that you are in fact an allied." Callie looked confused and the Colonel continued. "All I want is for her to be happy Callie… I know you make her happy… Do you promise to not hurt her again?"
At first Callie just nodded, but she knew that the Colonel would need a spoken answer.
"Yes, Sir."
"Good." The Colonel said and for the first time Callie saw him smile, dimples and all. Arizona actually looked a lot like him, dimples, blond hair, blue eyes. Callie smiled back.
"I'll be back for dinner later tonight, when is Arizona coming home?" He asked.
"Well, she should be home in a couple of hours." Callie got a genuine smile from the Colonel as he got up and walked towards the door.
Callie followed him to say goodbye.
"I'll see you later then. And remember Callie, if you ever hurt her again…" The Colonel threatened, but he smiled at the same time. At first Callie felt herself stiffen.
Oh… It's a joke.
Callie thought as she saw the smile on the Colonel's face.
"Then I'll be the enemy and it's no good being the enemy of a soldier." Callie joked back.
They both laughed and the Colonel took of down the hall. Callie smiled as she closed the door behind him and returned to the couch and her book. Arizona would be home soon, and she would be proud of Callie.
Callie was still nervous about the dinner though. She had made it through one meeting with the Colonel. But she was still afraid to screw up the next one. She still had to impress the Colonel. What should she make? What should she talk about? Should she keep quite and only spoken when spoken to? Now she was scared.
Chicken Piccata, Arizona, and… speak it'll make you seem human.
She let out a sigh of relief. At least now she had some sort of a plan.
xxxx
So… The mysterious man was Arizona's dad. He yelled, he smiled and he understood. Now he is making jokes and coming to dinner. Maybe Callie handled this one well.
Spoiler:
Arizona still doesn't know about the conversation between Callie and her dad. How will she react when she comes home to a family dinner?
Personal note:
Wow, this one was hard to write. I know it's not as long as the last one. But I really wanted to save the dinner for the next chapter. : )
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! : )
