There's only two more chapters left folks and I'm playing with the idea of a sequel focusing on Callie and Arizona's son, Mark. The sequel would also give you a dose of Rory & Jess and Calzona of course. So I'd really like to know what you guys of that idea, please let me know with a review so I can get to work! This chapter is written in Rory's and Callie's perspective. I hope you guys enjoy! And again I don't know Spanish so anything in Spanish is done by a translator so forgive the highly likely bad grammar.
Nineteen. Psalm
"And often it happens you know.
The things you don't trust are the one's you need most."
- Psalm, Hey Rosetta!
As Arizona and I walk into the house the first the first thing we notice is the sound of Rory's voice echoing through the house. "Tiene que me estar bromeando! Mi soy yo tal idiota?"
Arizona gives me a look of concern as she shuts the door behind her. "Rory, honey?" Arizona calls out to Rory. We only receive a loud bang from the kitchen.
I give Arizona a look before putting down my bang and heading for the kitchen. Arizona takes me hands and follows me to the kitchen. We find Rory standing in the middle of the kitchen wearing a pair of oven mitts holding onto a dish that I assume has just come out of the oven.
"Can you pick that up please?" Rory voice is slightly raised now as she nods down at the floor. I only now notice that there is a cooling rack on the floor. I pick it up and put it on the counter. "Thank you." Rory lets out a sigh of relief as she swiftly places the dish on the cooling rack.
"Rory, what are you doing?" Arizona pipes in from behind me. I only now notice that my daughter is only wearing a bra and a pair of khaki cargo shorts.
Rory swiftly pulls of her oven mitts, tossing them on the counter. "I thought you guys weren't supposed to be home until tomorrow?"
"We decided to come home early so that we could see your brother's game tomorrow afternoon." Arizona replies before I get the chance to. "But that doesn't answer my question." Arizona looks at her curiously.
"I'm running late, that's what I'm doing." She says as she looks down at her watch.
"Late for what? Why are you cooking if there's no one here?" I realize the probable answer as the words escape from my mouth but I decided to hear it from her to be sure.
"I didn't think you guys were coming back so I invited Jess over." I can't help but notice the slight blush that crosses her cheeks at her words.
"And you plan on wearing that?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"No, Mom" She scowls slightly. "I said earlier I'm running late. Jess is supposed to be here," she pauses for a moment as she glances back down at her watch, "right now."
"Is this a date thing or just a friend thing? If it's the former we'll get out of your hair right, Calliope?" Arizona says almost innocently as she walks up close to me, intertwining our arms as if to soften me up.
"Honey, she's making quiche, Rory never makes quiche. This is definitely a date." I give Rory a smirk. "Go put on a shirt and I'll finish up here."
"Thank you." Rory looks at me as if I've just told her I've bought her a life supply of paints.
"No problem, hija. Just have a good time okay?" I say before giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.
"Mom and I will be watching a movie in our room if you need us." Arizona smiles, then glances at me.
Rory gives us a grin, showing off her dimples. "I probably don't say this often enough but you two. Best parents ever." She says quickly before practically running out of the kitchen.
Arizona leans up and gives me a kiss on the cheek. "Our kids? Best kids ever." She smirks.
"So are you going to help me or you going to snacks for the movie we're apparently watching?" I ask curiously.
It honestly didn't surprise me that Arizona hadn't opted for going out to dinner tonight considering Rory obviously had a very important date. Out of the two of us Arizona was actually the one who was most protective over the kids; the good man in a storm definitely showed when it came to them. I remember actually having to restrain her from saying some, what I'm assuming weren't going to be anything close to pleasant, words to Casey when she saw her at the grocery store around a week after she and Rory broke up. So it wasn't a shock to see that she wanted to be here just in case something happened, even though I was quite sure myself that nothing of the sort would.
"I think I better let you hand that," Arizona giggles. "You know that snacks are my forte."
"I do know that." I chuckle giving her a quick kiss on the top of her head. "Don't forget the seasoning on the popcorn." I smirk.
"After almost twenty years you think I could forget that?" She gives me a look that slightly resembles a glare.
"Well you did last week."
"Just give it a rest, Calliope." She shakes her head as she lets go of my arm and begins to walk away.
"You know you love me." I half yell with a chuckle as she enters the pantry off the kitchen, a smile crossing my face.
"Whatever, Calliope, whatever." Despite her words I can tell by the tone of her voice that she's smiling just as wide as my own.
Looking into my almost perfectly organized closet I can't help but feel slight unease. I had invited her over for dinner and feels like I haven't done this in forever so I had no idea what to wear. Was she going to get slightly dressed up or was she going to take it as a casual thing?
As hear the door bell ring I settle for a navy shirt that was definitely more on the casual side. Straightening out my shirt, I rush out of my room, truly hoping that I would get to answer the door before either of my parents got to it before me.
Opening the front door I'm fairly certain there is a look of relief that crosses my face for a moment, swiftly being replaced by nerves and jitters again. Jess is dressed in a pair of grey skinny jeans, a charcoal grey and black flannel plaid long sleeve shirt over a white camisole, set off with black matte flats. As she looks me in the eyes and can't help but feel as if my heart has skipped a beat.
"I didn't know if you wanted me to bring anything so I hope you like apples." Jess says.
I can't help but give her a slightly look of confusion before my internal questions are answered. She holds out a bottle resembling that of a wine bottle to me. As I look more carefully I notice the words "Sparkling Apple Juice".
"I don't drink so," Jess' voice is now giving away her nervousness I hadn't notice until now.
"I don't either, and personally, I love this stuff." I give her a genuine wide smile as I take the bottle from her.
A small, innocent smile crosses Jess' face causing butterflies to flutter in my stomach as I begin to retreat from the door.
"Well that's good because my brother thinks I'm nuts for liking it. I'm glad someone else is in the same boat." She giggles slightly as she follows me into the house.
"I know, my grandparents are Catholic and always try to get me to drink wine at Christmas but I always pass and go straight for this," I motion to the bottle in my hand, "instead."
"I know the feeling" Jess laughs again.
The closer we get to the dinning room the more surprised I am to find that the nervousness I had been feeling has dissipated. I'm truly hoping that this isn't just a momentary lapse; I really do not need to be a rambling, nervous moron the rest of the night.
"I'm soon going to have to go out there and tell them to be quieter because I'm going to miss my favorite part." Arizona pouts before taking a large bite out of her twizzler as she presses pause on the DVD player remote. She does so in response to an outburst of laughter erupting from outside our room in the dinning room just down the hall.
"Ari, its Speed, how many times have you seen this movie? A hundred or two, more than likely." I say, as Itighten my hold on her; careful not to knock over the bowl of popcorn between us.
Most would not have taken Arizona as the action movie type but I knew better. Before Arizona moved in with me during the early days of our relationship over half of her movie collection was action movies, the next in line were Disney classics and Pixar movies so that, as she had said, find something to talk to her patients about. I learnt that Arizona just as much as a sucker for Disney or Pixar movies as I was for coffee.
"I know but this is the best part!" She is nothing less than persistent as she takes another angry bite out of her twizzler.
"I know, sweetie. But you really wouldn't rather watch Annie get handcuffed to a pole by Payne than let our daughter have what seems to be a good time on her first date would you." I whisper in her ear, fully well knowing it was one of her weak spots when she needed to be calmed down.
"I guess not." She says before finishing off the poor twizzler that never had a chance. "I hope she really is having a good time. It's been way too long since I've seen her get all embarrassed and goofy over someone."
"See, that's what I'm talking about." I chuckle. "It's really great to see her like that again. I think Jess will be good for her don't you think?" I ask as I take a twizzler from the package in her hand.
"Hey!" Arizona slaps by hand playfully. "Those are mine, you have you're icky old popcorn!" I can tell her tone she's only kidding.
"Hey, popcorn is good for you thank you very much."
"I'm sure, Calliope, I'm sure." She says sarcastically. "But I would have to agree with you on the other thing. We don't know Jess very well but from what I've seen from her she seems to be really great."
"Let's just hope that stays that way." I smirk, "I really don't want to have to hold you back from attack another teenage girl ever again." I give her a quick kiss on the temple before taking a bite out of my twizzler.
"Me too honey, me too." She gives me a content smile that makes butterflies flutter around in my stomach like a teenager girl. "She hasn't been able to trust anybody other than people she's known her whole life since Casey. So I really hope she's going to be able to trust her."
"If she can't trust her than we're going to have to show her how trust people again. Deal?" I ask my wife.
"Deal." She says with a dimpled smile.
As I notice that the laughing from outside our bedroom has stopped I take the remote from Arizona. "Shall we continue?" I say with a smirk.
"Yes, we shall. This is my favorite part." Arizona's tone is almost childlike now; making a goofy grin automatically cross my face.
"I know, dear." I chuckle, pressing the play button before Arizona gets riled up or the laughter from my daughter and her date starts again.
"Are you serious? You said you were your team's MVP but I didn't realize that meant you were THAT good." I say in slight shock before taking a sip of my sparkling apple juice.
"I am THAT good." Jess giggles. "We won the state championships the three years I went there for boy's baseball and I won two state championships with the girl's team. None of us played the second half of junior year. There was an accident that injured some of our players and killed our coach." Jess' tone has changed from playfully arrogant to being tainted with what appears to be sorrow.
"I'm sorry you all had to go through that." The words are out of my mouth before I even get a chance to think about what I was saying.
"That's not the worst part of it. You told me something important that made you the person you are now. So it's only fair that I return the favour correct?" Jess' voice is the most serious I've heard since that day at the hospital before we found out Cam was alive and well.
"Like I said the other day I want to know everything about you that you're willing to tell me." I give her a soft smile, laying my hand on top of hers on the table for a moment, in an attempt to comfort her.
"We were on our way to a tournament in Portland for the weekend and both of my moms had to work. Our coach coached us all the way up from little league so he was the closest thing I had to a father figure, so, they said it was okay for me to travel with the coach and the female chaperone who happened to be his wife with some other players in their minivan." Jess pauses and takes a deep breath as if to prepare herself for what she's about to say. "You know that cliché teenage movie where the star player dates the coach's daughter?"
"I would have to say I do." I say hesitantly, aware of where she could possibly be going with this.
"Well that was my life. Things weren't all hunky dory but that was life until that day." She pauses once again and looks me in the eye. I can now see the pain behind them but I can also see what one would describe as hope.
"Elise was our coach's daughter and one killer short stop. We had been dating for exactly a year and a half on the day of the accident. We dealt with the glares, awkward smiles, and looks of fear or disgust from parents or players on the opposing teams as we held hands in the stands while watching other teams play or when we were at bat and she would sit on my lap in the dugout waiting to be on deck then gave me a kiss on the cheek before leaving when she was up. She was the one who held me when I broke down because my grandpa was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. We had been through a lot together but everything changed that day. We were struck by a 22 year old guy who decided to pretty much have a solo drag race on a busy street in the middle of day. Elise had been sitting in the middle between me and her best friend in the middle section of the van. I was sitting on the passenger side. We were T-boned to the driver's side and flipped twice. It took them almost a half an hour to get us out. I was the only who was partially conscious. I'm thankful that didn't have to consciously suffer through their pain and witness mine."
Looking at Jess I now notice that her eyes are filling with tears. In her eyes I can see sorrow and the pain that the accident has caused her.
"The accident resulted in my coach dying on impact, Elise's best friend losing the ability to walk, and the rest of us,"
She shakes her head, hanging it, never once looking at me. She pulls her hand out from underneath mine and stands up out of her chair. She slowly, almost hesitantly removes her long sleeve flannel shirt to reveal her arms "We received shrapnel wounds and lacerations. With some of us it was on more than just our bodies."
I can't help but be some what in shock. Jess has areas of scar tissue adorning her arms, covering approximately thirty percent of each of her arms. "There's loads more where they came from." She says pulling her hand up to show her neck. "The side of her neck also has a long, thin scar down its length. "They were amazed I was still conscious when they got me out. They were even more amazed that I hadn't bled out."
She sighs slightly as she goes to put her shirt back on, she has one arm almost in the sleeve before I stop her without thinking. "Don't." Jess finally looks up from the ground, looking me in the eye. The tears that were once forming in her ice blue eyes are now sliding slowly down her face. "You don't need it." I can feel the blush creeping across my face. I now know the reason why how when there was a rare sunny day over twenty degrees Celsius when I went to visit Jess' house she was wearing a long sleeve shirt.
"The pressure of Elise's body against me stopped me from bleeding out that day. She saved my life. Yet after that day she didn't trust me, she didn't trust her mother, she didn't trust anyone. Elise didn't trust the things she needed the most. She turned into someone I didn't even recognize. That's why I am the way I am with people I care about, that's why I don't give up. It's because I don't want what happened to Elise to happen to any of the people who mean something to me. That's why I'm glad you took the chance to tell me about Casey."
In this moment even with tears in her eyes and christening her cheeks with mascara tinted tear stains she is the most beautiful I've ever seen her. I can see her breathtaking character shine through the pain, making her strong like Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders.
I hesitantly stand up from my own chair. I take a step towards her; her eyes and mine never parting glances. "You're beautiful, inside and out." I wrap my arms around her, pulling into a quick hug for a moment before pulling away with a soft smile. "Don't ever forget that okay."