Title: As Time Goes By 13
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Callie's promotion brings a man from Arizona's past back into her life. This is my first venture into an AU fiction. There are small things that do come from the show, but nothing is spoilery.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I do not intend to profit in any way, shape or form by posting this story. It's for fun, nothing more, and nothing less. Please don't sue me.
A/N: Okay, I know my faithful readers are cheering and yelling "Finally!" at me, but I'm really sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I was kind of stuck with a small case of writer's block and it took me a while to flesh this out. Thanks to JJ (JJ_280391) as usual, not sure what this story would be without some of your ideas. Lol And also, thank you to the most awesomest LJ person in the world, Drea (greys_ajunkie), because without talking to her, I think my mind would explode from boredom and dreariness.
Arizona was humming to herself from behind the nurse's station. No one was around at the moment and she had her chest full of Sienna, who was leaning against her sleeping and her hands were on a chart. She was skating on her heelies from one side of the station to the other, since the motion seemed to keep her calm, and best of all, quiet. She stopped at the far side of the station and jotted a note. She then skated to the other side and rounded back the other way. She heard the elevator doors open with a ding as she spun around again and took off to the other side. Then she heard a gasp that made her stop in her tracks. She very slowly turned her head, hoping that by the time she saw the elevators, nothing would be there, but she was wrong. There stood Callie with her mouth hanging open.
"Arizona… please tell me that you are not doing what I think I just saw you doing!" Callie's eyes were wide and she had a single brow raised dramatically as she stared at Arizona in disbelief.
"You saw nothing. It was a figment of your imagination." Arizona swallowed the lump that appeared in her throat and when she saw that Callie hadn't moved or said anything, she went for a different tactic and waved her hands in front of her, "…these are not the droids you're looking for." And she very slowly started to walk down the hall toward her office.
Callie snorted and shook her head while watching Arizona sneak away. "Okay, you got me to laugh and dissipated some of my anger, now get back over here!"
Arizona pouted and started walking toward Callie and right on cue, Sienna started sniffling and her little hands gripped Arizona's shirt. Callie blinked and tilted her head. "Has she been like that all day?" Arizona nodded slowly as she finally stood in front of Callie with a crying Sienna snuggled against her. "And that's why you've been heelie-ing after you promised me you wouldn't do so while holding any of our kids." Arizona was still pouting as she slowly shook her head yes. "It's alright then, babe, I wish you would've called me though, I've got a stroller in the car and that's much safer, don't you think?"
"She still cries if she's not in my arms though. And I beg her to stop. I swear, stop is like my new favorite word. Her face gets all red and squishy and the tears stream down her pretty little face and my heartbreaks and all I can say is, 'Sienna, please, stop, stop, stop…', but no, she keeps going. Your child is exhausting herself and she's exhausting me." Arizona sighed deeply. "I haven't been off my feet all day and Alice had to drop her off so early because she kept waking up Skye, who just got crankier and crankier each time. She even tried to throw the rabbit at Sienna!" Arizona leaned her forehead against Callie's shoulder and Callie wrapped her arms loosely around her wife and daughter.
"Dr. Wetherby said it was a phase and we just have bear with it. She said babies often stop the incessant crying after teething, so we might have to deal with her being like this for a few more months." Callie sighed and then started to rub Sienna's back when Arizona started swaying her body slightly. She finally stopped crying and was just sniffling again.
"I know that, I just feel bad for her. She should be hanging out with her siblings, not being a monkey against my chest all day. I had to cancel a surgery too because of her. And we can't leave her in the daycare and besides, we have a nanny, I shouldn't have to leave her in a daycare! I love her so much, but she's driving me crazy." Arizona pressed a soft kiss against Sienna's head and then she stepped away from Callie and heelied to the other end of the nurse's station and then back to Callie, who just sighed and shook her head.
"You've been doing that all day?" Callie glanced at her watch. They were both scheduled to be off in fifteen minutes. That's why she was here, so they could go to the locker room together and get changed to go to Joe's to meet Nix for drinks. "Arizona, why don't you go home and relax with Sienna, maybe go to bed early. I'll go and hang with Nix for bit and then head home to snuggle with you, alright?"
Arizona opened her mouth and then shut it when she thought about Callie's offer. She really didn't feel like going out and if she could get to sleep a little early, well, that would be really awesome. And Callie offered… "Are you sure, Calliope?"
Callie chuckled and nodded. "I'm positive. You go home and relax and I'll have Nix drop me off later, okay?"
Arizona smiled and nodded and they walked hand in hand to the locker room to change and leave the hospital.
Ten minutes later Callie flopped into a bar stool next to Nix, who was nursing what looked like whiskey. He looked nervous and glanced at her for a moment and then starting blinking rapidly. "Wait, wait, wait… where's Nona? I agreed to talk with you both, but no, Callie, you're not going to bully me or use your position as my boss to make me tell you more about… well, anything!" He downed the rest of the drink in his glass and then motioned for Joe to bring him another.
Callie was even more concerned than before about this whole Monica business, since Nix looked flat out broken over bringing it up in the first place. She ordered a beer and thanked Joe as he dropped the drinks off and walked away. "Arizona was exhausted, so I told her to go home. Sienna is still really clingy and she had been heeling back and forth at a nurse's station to keep her from crying." Callie shook her head slightly while she sucked a mouth full from the beer bottle and then swallowed. "And I'm just planning on drinking you into a stupor and you'll be so out of it you'll be more than willing to tell me whatever I need to know." Callie winked at Nix and nodded toward his whiskey. "Go ahead and down that one, I'll order you another." She motioned for Joe and pointed to Nix's glass. Joe nodded and went to work.
"Ha! Yeah right, I went to school in Kentucky and I was one of the chief members of my fraternity, plus, I went to, and won, so many cheerleading competitions where we celebrated for hours on end afterward, there's no way you can drink me into drunkenness. Why don't you just go home to Arizona and ask her? Because you're not getting anything else out of me about Monica or anything else that caused Arizona to leave Seattle and go to school back home in Maryland." He shrugged and downed the glass of whiskey in front of him while accepting another from Joe at the same time.
"Arizona originally went to school in Seattle?" Callie asked casually, it seemed her plan was already working. She took another pull from the bottle as she watched Nix swirl the liquid in his glass.
"It was one of her favorite places she visited as a kid. Her dad travelled around a lot and he would have them visit for spurts. She really liked Seattle's weather, which is so weird for my-lips-are-always-stuck-in-this-smile-and-I-love-my-sunshiney-way-Arizona." Nix laughed and shook his head. "When I took the job here, I never thought in a million years she would be back in Seattle." He sighed deeply and stared into his glass. Callie could only assume his mind was somewhere else. She saw his eyes get glassy with tears and when one fell down his cheek she gasped softly.
"What the hell happened, Nix? For something to affect you this much it must have been devastating for her. Why wouldn't she tell me about something tragic in her life?" Callie was gipping the half drunken bottle of beer so tightly in her hands, her fingertips were turning white.
Nix sniffled and reached out, placing a hand and hers. "She wants to forget and she probably wants to pretend like it never happened. Maybe she convinced herself it didn't happen and that's why she ended up here. Seattle Grace – Mercy West is an amazing hospital and she's one of the youngest department heads in any hospital, let alone an amazing teaching hospital, it was such an opportunity, I'm sure it would have been difficult to give up. We stopped talking for a long time after everything happened. She completely closed herself off, then her brother died and things just kinda tumbled for her, but seriously Callie, it's not my story to tell and I don't want to be the one she comes to when she's angry about how much I gave away. She's already going to be pissed at me for even mentioning it!" He downed another glass and winced before smacking his lips together. "I mean, why didn't she tell you? I had just assumed…"
"Hey, hey…" Callie reached out and rubbed his back gently, "I'm sorry for pressuring you, I won't anymore, I promise. I will talk to her, eventually…" Callie rolled her eyes, knowing that was most likely a lie. Sometimes, getting Arizona to open up about things was virtually impossible and she had a feeling Arizona wouldn't let on about whatever happened just by the look in Nix's eyes.
"It's okay, if I was in your shoes, I'd want to know also. You should know! You deserve to know, I should just talk to her and make her tell you and tell her how ridiculous she is by not sharing such an important, yet fucked up event in her life to her wife." Nix was biting at his bottom lip in anger, Callie watched it flash through his face and then give way to a deep sadness again. "But I don't want to talk to her about it or make her relive any part of it. I'm sorry too, Callie."
Callie sighed and nodded her head. She really was starting to genuinely feel bad for using this opportunity alone with Nix to push him for information. This was supposed to be a casual night out for the three of them to chat and Nix to tell her embarrassing stories about Arizona, not Callie forcing Nix into drinking more than he probably he wanted too and have him lost in thoughts about an event so traumatizing in his life that he had difficulty talking about it. She couldn't imagine what would happen if she brought this up to Arizona. No, when I bring it up to her…
"Ugh!" Nix threw down the last glass of whiskey Joe had placed in front of him and shook his head again. "This is worse than the time I told Joanne about what happened in Iceland." He sighed and his shoulders slumped.
"What happened in Iceland?" Callie asked.
"OH CRAP!" Nix plopped his head against the bar with a thud. "I'm a smart man… a doctor, for god's sake, how am I suddenly such a tool when I've had a little to drink?" He turned his head without lifting it off the bar to gaze at Callie, "I'm not usually this much of an idiot, you know, and I'm really good about keeping secrets, hell, I never told Arizona how I stole a pair of her panties and showed it off to the kids on the football team when they thought we were dating! And they were so cute, pink with yellow flowers. I didn't realize at the time how much more cute women's clothing was compared to men's. I mean, there are some nice manly stuff too, but I wanted my boxer-briefs to be pink with yellow flowers, is that too much for a man to ask for? Really?" He turned his head back so his forehead was against the bar and he lifted his head and smacked it back down, not really too hard, but enough to make him groan.
"That's gonna be a hell of a hangover tomorrow, coupled with the head-banging you've got going on there." Callie chuckled softly and he turned to look at her again with a pout.
"Don't laugh at me. It reminds me of when Tim and Arizona made me wear a white sundress and dance in the rain with a pink parasol while singing 'Singing in the Rain'. I mean, I put on quite a show and several parents decided to step out and watch, but I hadn't realized a group of our school chums were going to leaving from a part across the street right as I was in the middle of the first chorus… I mean, the show must go on and I finished, but gosh, that was embarrassing, but it was how I knew Arizona was my bestfriend." He smiled brightly and his eyes glazed over as he replayed the memory in his head. "I was on the verge of crying and my voice was shaking, but I didn't want to stop, so Arizona started dancing next to me and singing along with me. She's always been so amazing. I missed her a lot, especially when I was in Kentucky for school, but she was so lost at that time. I almost left school when I heard about Tim, but the Colonel talked me out of it. Both events were so close together, but he said they'd deal with it and I should finish my studies. I still regret not going to see her."
Callie nodded and finished the rest of her beer. "I'm sure she understands, Nix. And besides, she's the first one who would tell you not to disobey an order given by the Colonel." She smiled at Nix and he smiled back, finally sitting upright in the barstool. She paid her bill and also Nix's and slapped his back as she got up. "Would you like me to drive you home?"
He nodded and got up and they left Joe's together, both deep in thoughts about Arizona. "I'm really happy Arizona found you, Callie. I think you were made for her."
Callie smiled and wrapped her arm around Nix's shoulder as they walked to the car. "I like to think so too, Nix. I know she was made for me."
Thirty minutes later Callie finally made it home. She wasn't happy about taking a cab, but she needed to make sure Nix got home safely, so she was proud of herself. She walked into the house and locked the door behind her. The place was dark, but a light at the top of the stairs was left on for her. She wandered up stairs and headed to her bedroom and gasped softly at the sight that greeted her. Arizona was on Callie's side of the bed, Sienna was snuggled against her chest sleeping and Spencer was snuggled into her arm, also sleeping. On Arizona's side of the bed, Alice was zonked out with Skye snuggled and asleep on her chest. In between all of this was Sofia with her arms and legs spread, taking up the entire center of the bed and snoring away in a deep sleep. Callie couldn't remember ever feeling as content as she did at this moment in all of her life. She threw off her shoes and headed into the bathroom to clean up before heading to bed. She chuckled to herself as she shut the bathroom door behind her. I guess I'm sleeping on a chair tonight.
It was noon the next day and Callie and Nix were sitting at a table eating lunch when Arizona joined them. "Hey babe," she leaned in and kissed Callie's cheek gently as she took a seat next to her. She dropped her tray down and pouted, "I was totally going to go for the lasagna today, but they were out, so it was a salad or a tuna fish sandwich." She wrinkled her nose and stabbed a tomato with her fork from the salad on her plate and shoved it into her mouth. When she looked up, she noticed that Nix wasn't making eye contact with her and he kept looking at Callie. She noticed that Callie would give him a look back and then turn to her food. "Okay, did I miss something?"
Nix quickly shook his head. It was an immediate reaction, which caused Arizona to be suspicious. She looked at Callie, who turned to her and quickly smiled widely at her and then turned back to her food and fumbled her fork through the pasta dish she had ordered earlier. Suddenly, she wasn't exactly hungry anymore. Arizona glanced between the two of them and then narrowed her eyes at Nix. His eyes suddenly widened and he leaned in toward Callie and whispered to her, "You didn't mention the panties to her, did you?" Callie quickly shook her head no several times and shoved some food into her mouth so that she wouldn't be expected to say anything.
This was the most awkward lunch the trio has ever experienced.
"Okay, what's going on? And don't tell me nothing, because it's obviously something…" She turned to Nix and raised a brow, "And are you talking about the panties you," she uses her fingers to make quotations, "stole from me to show off to your buddies on the football team in high school?" Arizona scoffed and leaned back in her chair. She shook her head slightly, "As if I would ever let you touch my panties without my knowledge. I knew all about it." She leaned in toward Nix and Callie did as well and Nix leaned in also, figuring she was about to say something important, "I even know that you tried them on and paraded around in front of the mirror in your bedroom for an hour." She leaned back and shrugged, "I assumed you knew I knew about all of this and that was obviously why I never asked for them back." Callie's eyes widened for a moment and then she broke into a series of giggles and snorts. Arizona just grinned widely and patted Callie's back when she started to choke from laughing.
Nix sunk down into his seat and then sighed softly, "I didn't think anyone knew about that last part…"
"Your mom caught you and told me all about it the next day. You should be happy I never told Tim."
"Oh god! He would have been merciless!" Nix started laughing, which made Arizona chuckle as well. The intense atmosphere that was surrounding the three at the table suddenly disappeared with all the laughter. Nix shook his head and then sighed. "You know, I didn't even consider giving them back to you. I kept them and hid them, but threw them away when I left to college." They all laughed again and then several beeps rang out into the air. The three sighed and they all looked at their hips.
"It's me, looks like the ER needs me. I was pretty much done anyway. I'll talk to you guys later." Nix grabbed his tray and dumped the remaining portion of his lunch into the garbage before heading to the ER.
Arizona watched him leave and then turned to Callie. When Callie realized she was being stared at, she turned back to her food and started to eat. Arizona wasn't about to let it go so easily. "You can stop pretending, Callie." Arizona chuckled and Callie took a deep breath. "Babe, you know, this would be so much easier if you just told me what was going on. Is something bothering you? Did something happen with a patient?" Callie shook her head with each of Arizona's suggestions. She looked up when she heard Arizona gasp. She tilted her head and gave Arizona a confused look.
"No, no, nothing like that, babe." Callie sighed softly. She wasn't sure she was ready to have this conversation and she didn't really want to do it at work, but it seemed like this opportunity just fell into her lap. She didn't want to pass it up, so she swallowed the lump in her throat before deciding to just go with it. "Nix just let something slip at Sofia's party and I was curious about it, but he didn't really wan—"
"He told you about Iceland, didn't he?" Arizona's lips set into a scowl and she shook her head. "I should have never left you alone with him while he is drinking. He just can't keep his mouth shut when he's drunk." She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nibbled at it for a moment before slapping Callie's arm. "And you shouldn't use that to your advantage! But honestly, I swear, Calliope, Joanne and I were on a break and seriously, foreign girls just love the 'American-girl-next-door' type and that's totally me, so I really wasn't doing anything to attract all that attention, it just sort of happened. I was even more bread and butter in high school and man, those Iceland girls just loved me." Arizona had the decency to blush at Callie and then she slowly licked her lips while formulating how to continue.
"Really, they were throwing themselves at me and I really wasn't interested, but they wouldn't take no for an answer and I was so young and kind of curious, so yeah, I may have let things get a little out of control. I only watched though and those girls were kind of skanky and I think one of them was over thirty and I remember thinking that was gross at the time. Hell, what was a seventeen year old know anyway? And we were all totally surprised when Nix and Joey walked into the room. I mean, Ivana swore she had the only key and it wasn't until three hours later that Nix finally confessed that he and Joey bribed the maid to let them in. I still don't know how they figured out what room we were in." She shrugged slightly and Callie was just staring at her with a blank look, so she felt she should just continue her ramble.
"Who the hell does that anyway? That maid should have been fired from that job immediately, but I was too embarrassed to say anything. I was just glad that I still had all my clothing on, since the others didn't. And I was so super happy about that when I saw Nix and Joey both taking pictures. Did he tell you about the pictures?" She paused just for a moment, Callie was still staring blankly at her, but she did manage a blink, so Arizona knew she was listening. "So there I am sitting at the head of the bed, crossed legged and leaning against the headboard, fully clothed. I even still had my heavy snow jacket on because I was pretty uncomfortable, though I would have never admitted that at the time. I was trying to appear brave, you know, as though I always sat in a bed with three naked hot women all over each other."
Arizona nodded a bit and grinned, "And man, Ivana, Charlotte and Simone were super naked and all over each other. Of course, when the pictures were taken, they're looking up and smiling at the camera and I'm sitting there with a scowl on my face. Nix and Joey are cracking up and at that point, I couldn't even sit and enjoy the rest of the show. I was just furious," she shrugged matter-of-factly. "I just got up and walked to Nix and I kicked him in the balls and then gave Joey a black eye before I left the room." She shook her head slightly. "And then, the first thing he does when we get back is tell Joanne about it at a party, where he was drunk, cause he's a jerk! And he even showed her the picture. I was super glad I kicked him so hard he couldn't walk straight the next day, did he manage to tell you all about that?" Arizona grinned at Callie, who seemed to come out of her stupor now, having processed most of Arizona's ramble.
"No, he left that part out, babe, and honestly, I can't really blame him." They both giggled softly and then Arizona sat up more straightly and winked at Callie.
"What can I say? The foreign ladies, they love me."
Callie laughed and pulled Arizona closer to her and kissed her lips softly. "You're so cute babe, but I should tell you the truth. You just offered all that information to me on your own. Nix didn't tell me anything about Iceland, we were talking about something else and I've been a little scar—"
Callie was cut off as April stormed to their table and plopped her tray down on the table and then flopped herself into a chair. Alex followed soon after and dropped into the seat next to April. She tried to put his arm around her, but she shrugged it off and huffed softly. "April, don't let them bother you." Alex said as he bit into his sandwich and moved closer to her, despite her not wanting to have anything to do with him. She huffed again and rolled her eyes and picked up her spoon. She looked at the spoon, closely inspecting it and then grabbed one of the napkins she had on her try and wiped it before she started to eat her soup.
Callie sighed and glanced at Arizona. Arizona smiled at her and started to rub her back before she turned to the residents sitting across from them. Alex glanced at Arizona and shrugged before turning back to April and pleading with her to talk to him. Callie was so annoyed. She had finally gotten up the courage to talk to Arizona, but she kept getting interrupted! First, Arizona's assumption Nix had told her about Arizona's orgy in Iceland. Despite finding the story hilarious and being extremely happy to know something new from Arizona's past, she really wanted to talk to Arizona about whatever Nix really let on about. He equated it to Arizona's brother's death and Callie knew how hard Arizona had taken that. Arizona still has trouble talking about Timothy and often needs to be prompted and pushed before opening up. Callie couldn't help but think she may never learn what happened. And then these two drop out of nowhere and interrupt her lunch while squabbling at each other.
"C'mon, Jellybean, you know they tease you because they like you. And who cares what they think anyway? Dude, it's not going to change how I feel about you and it's not going to push me into doing something with you that you're not ready for. I really like you, April and I you know I have a bad rep and crap because of my family issues, but I feel you can help make me a better man." He leaned over the table to try and look her in the eyes. He wanted to gauge her reaction. She sighed and continued slurping soup into her mouth. "And seriously, opposites attract, look at Torres and Robbins. And it wasn't all pancakes and roses for them either. There are bumps everywhere and all of them talking and poking fun at you is just a bump. And you know, I was just joking when I said I bent you over and spanked you at the party when the kids were leaving. It was just a joke."
Arizona's eyes widened and she glanced at Callie. A silent communication of 'what the hell are they talking about' went between them and Callie just shrugged her response, clearly saying she had no idea. Arizona just picked up her fork and started working on her salad. She figured it would be better to let the new couple work out whatever they were going through, rather than butt in. Callie decided since she wouldn't be able to talk to Arizona now, she may as well eat also, but she didn't hide her annoyance on her face. Arizona just kept rubbing her back with her free hand, hoping to calm her. Callie smiled at how comforting her wife was and it made he feel so lucky.
"It wasn't funny, Alex. Especially while Christina and Meredith and Jackson are all standing there and asking if you've taken me yet. Like it's any of their business anyway! And you just totally join in with the joking instead of standing up for me and it's embarrassing and I don't really want them know what we do outside of the hospital and I really don't want them to know whether or not I've had sex with you. And you know, this whole thing will only get worse because if I do decide to have sex with you…" she was starting to talk faster and picking up steam, but her eyes remained on her soup. "I mean, you've had a lot of experience and the whole STD thing back with George and that girl you both slept with…" She wrinkled her nose and shook her head slightly while she dropped the spoon into the soup. "They're all going to want to know how I was and how I compare with all the many, many other girls you've had and then you're going to lie because it's going to be awkward and uncomfortable for both of us and you're going to want to appease them and make me come off as though I'm some genius and didn't need any type of training or practice to be good… you know… at doing that and then they're all going to laugh and say you're lying which is just going to upset you and then you'll punch Jackson, because he never knows when you shut up and that will piss Lexie off and she'll start slapping you and Cristina and Meredith will be laughing at the whole thing and Mark will collect the pool, because we both know they're betting on how long it takes before you have my clothes off in bed!" She slammed her hand down on the table after her rant.
Three sets of eyes stared at April and all three staring were basically frozen after the rant. They all sat there for what must have felt like hours, but was really just a few seconds of staring at April like she had suddenly grown three heads. She picked up her spoon and cleared her throat before slurping a spoonful of soup into her mouth. Alex's mouth hung open and he turned to look at Callie and Arizona. Both of them were still staring, but once they realized Alex was looking at them, they quickly averted their eyes and started to quietly eat their lunch.
Alex sighed and grabbed the spoon from April's hand and dropped it into the bowl, the end resting on the side of the bowl. He then pulled her hands to his lap, which forced her to turn and finally look at him. "Dude, I haven't been with that many people. I'm just a fake bad-ass, like Torres." He nodded toward Callie, who looked offended, especially after Arizona snickered quietly. "I say things and do stuff I don't really mean because it makes people I don't like leave me alone and makes other people respect me. I don't care about any pool or bets placed on our relationship. None of that is going to change how we feel about each other and the important part here is that I respect you, so yeah, let them think whatever they want, only we know what's going on, alright Jellybean?" He leaned closer and kissed her nose softly. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love to rip your clothes off and have my way with you, but I want you to want that too and I want you to have your way with me too, so fuck those guys. If they taunt you, don't respond, 'cause getting upset just makes Yang worse."
Callie and Arizona both nodded with Alex's words, but said nothing.
April smiled slightly and sighed while leaning into him. "You're right, Boobear."
Callie looked at Arizona and mouthed 'Boobear?' at her and Arizona had to try really hard to not laugh out loud. Alex looked at them both and scowled at them.
"Hey! I was sitting here eating lunch with my wife when you and Jellybean decided to interrupt us and go all say anything in front of us, so no, you don't get to sit there and make faces at us because you guys have said some embarrassing things in front of us, which you're well aware we will make fun of, especially after hearing that conversation." Callie said while waving her fork in front of her.
"Yeah, Boobear." Arizona laughed, but stopped as her pager went off. She sighed and looked down at it. "Alright, I've gotta go, babe." She leaned in and kissed Callie softly. "Take care of Jellybean and Boobear before the other evil residents show up." They both laughed as she packed her things up and made her way out of the cafeteria. Callie grinned at April and was glad to see both of them laughing at the entire situation. Callie turned back to her pasta and once again, her thoughts fell to her wife and whether or not she should try to talk to her about what Nix told her again or just leave well enough alone.
Six and a half hours later, Callie and Arizona made it home. Sofia bounded down the stairs and jumped from the third stair into Callie's arms. "Mama!" Callie caught her and spun her around twice and then kissed her cheek. "Hello, big girl." She dropped Sofia back onto the floor and watched as she made her way to Arizona, hugging her leg.
"How's my monkey girl today?" Asked Arizona as she reached down and brushed her fingers through Sofia's hair.
"Good, Mommy!" She giggled and made her way to the kitchen. Alice had dinner spread out around the table. Sofia climbed into her big girl chair, which sported a booster seat and was situated next to Alice. Skye was in a highchair next to Callie's seat, she had the head of her favorite rabbit stuffed animal in her mouth and her pacifier in her other hand. Sienna was sniffling in the highchair next to Arizona's seat. She had her pacifier in her mouth and seemed content for the moment, which was a relief to all the adults (and probably the other children) in the room. Spencer was sitting in his highchair which was on the other side of Alice. He was watching everything happening around him closely, especially the plates of food in front of each adult in the room.
"Hey guys! Perfect timing, I just finished everything and I bet you're both starving." Alice laughed as she dropped a plate of biscuits in the center of the table. The triplets were starting on more sold food, so dinner time tended to be a fun time for all involved.
"Pwease!" Skye said as she saw Callie walk into the room.
All three adults stood and stared at her. Callie clapped her hands and laughed.
"Oh my god, Skye's first word!" Arizona giggled and walked over to Skye and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead. "What a polite little baby you are," she cooed. Skye giggled and clapped her hands after seeing Callie clap.
"Pwease!" she said again louder and all the adults laughed.
"I wonder how she picked that up…" Callie thought out loud.
"Sienna!" Spencer laughed and slapped his hand against his highchair.
"Wow." Alice said and laughed as all three adults turned to Spencer. "Yanno, he's kinda right. We all say please a lot to Sienna, especially when she's crying."
"Do you think he actually answered my question?" Callie laughed as she walked over to Spencer and looked into his eyes. He stared right back at her and had a big smile on his face. His hair was growing in thickly atop his head and Callie couldn't get over how adorable her son was. "Aren't you a smarty pants?" She brushed her hand through his hair and he watched her. She had to wonder if he really did understand her question, especially when he stared at her like that.
"Stowp!" Sienna cried out, her pacifier jumping out of her mouth. Arizona, with cat like reflexes, reached out and grabbed it before it fell to the ground. She held it up over her head triumphantly while Alice and I laughed.
"How you managed to catch that without killing yourself with clumsy is no small feat, babe." Callie laughed and winked at her.
Arizona wrinkled her nose and then stuck her tongue out at Callie. She tried to put the pacifier back into her Sienna's mouth, but she kept her mouth shut. "C'mon, Sienna, chupo!" She smiled at Sienna who whimpered at her.
"Stowp!" Sienna said and then Arizona blinked. She just realized all three of their triplets have said their first words. She sat and started at Sienna, then Skye and then Spencer. Suddenly, Callie and Alice burst into laughter.
"Pwease." Skye said as she reached out for Callie, her little fingers flexing at her. Callie went over to her and pressed a soft kiss on her head.
"Who knew having triplets would cause so much exercise?" She grinned at Arizona who just shook her head.
"I can't believe our triplets first words were 'Please', 'Sienna' and 'Stop'. We must be broken records with how much she cries." Arizona chuckled and shook her head.
"Well, it's better than crap." Callie laughed.
Two seconds later all three triplets said, "Cwap!" and Sofia looked at her parents with a bashful grin.