FORBIDDEN GROUND
CHAPTER 21
The next morning, the two women were beyond tired. Their dinner at the "Tavern On The Green" was incredibly romantic. The place was beyond beautiful and took their breaths away. They spent the rest of the night, and well into the early morning hours making love in their suite. They had also shared countless glasses of wine, and they were definitely feeling it this morning. Callie rolled over and wrapped her arm around Arizona's waist. Almost instantly the phone on the nightstand began to ring. A loud groan came from Arizona's lips as she covered her head with her pillow. "Make it stop." She begged from under her safe haven.
Callie reached over Arizona and looked at the screen. It was Arizona's mother, and she went ahead and answered it. "Hello?" "Callie? Good morning dear. How is New York?" Barbara asked sweetly. "It is great. We just woke up and were going to get ready to head to the studio. Is everything alright?" "Oh everything is just fine sweetheart. I was calling because Colton was hoping to talk to you both. He had a bit of a rough night last night and we promised him that he could call you first thing this morning." Callie sat up in the bed and propped herself up on her pillows. "Sure, just let me wake Arizona and he can talk to her." Callie said. Arizona heard her, and figured that it was Colton that she was referring to, so she too sat up, moving the strands of hair from her face. "Babe, Colton wants to talk to you. Your mom said he had a rough night so he wanted to call early." Callie said, handing the phone over to her girlfriend. Callie sat there for a couple of minutes, listening to Arizona talk to Colton, and him telling her all about the horrible dream he had while Callie went into the restroom to wash her face and then in search of some Tylenol and water for the both of them. Once she was out of the room, and Arizona was certain she couldn't hear what she was saying, she whispered to her son. "Hey, you know that Mommy and Callie are going to be on TV today right? Grandma said that she will let you watch us." Arizona said softly. "Yeah! I can't wait!" He said excitedly. "Ok, well something very special is going to happen, so make sure you are watching ok? "What is it mommy? Tell me, tell me!" He begged. "I can't tell you son, it is going to be a surprise for you and for Callie, but I promise it is something you will love. So make sure you watch, ok?" "Ok mommy."
Arizona finished up her conversation, and Callie said her hello's to the little guy, the two women decided to get dressed for the day. "I'm going to jump in the shower, I have to try to make myself feel a little less hungover if I plan on being able to function today." Callie said, tossing a towel over her shoulder. "Would you like some company? Maybe make time go by faster if she were to shower together?" Arizona said, wiggling her eyebrows. "Oh no ma'am. I know how our shared showers go. We won't leave this hotel room before dark, and I don't think our boss, nor the people from the show will not be to happy with us." Callie said, trying her best to stand firm. Arizona took this as a personal challenge, and walked towards Callie, slipping her nightgown off her shoulders, allowing it to hit the floor at her feet. Callie's jaw dropped and she let her eyes scan every inch of the blonde's body. "Are you sure that is your final answer?" It didn't take any more convincing. Arizona was welcomed into the shower with her girlfriend and once again, they ravished each other's bodies.
Standing in front of the mirror, Arizona was finishing up her hair since she was already dressed in a feather gray pantsuit and Callie walked up behind her. Wrapping her arms around her waist. Their eyes met in the mirror and Arizona stopped what she was doing and just looked at the woman she had fallen so insanely in love with. She turned around, wrapping her arms around Callie's neck and glanced down to look at the dress that she had chosen. "You look incredible. Breathtakingly stunning." Callie batted her eyes and blushed. Arizona's words still managed to make her heart skip a beat. Over the years they had worked together, and now the time they had been as a real life couple, her compliments were never lost on the Latina. "Thank you. You look pretty amazing yourself."
Once they were both ready to go, they took the elevator down to meet the limo that would be taking them to the Ellen show. Their nerves were on full force now, and they held on to each other's hands tightly. "Ladies, right this way." A gentleman said once they arrived at the set. "Ellen will meet with you both here in a few moments. This is your dressing room. Hair and make up will come in for any touch ups in a minute and then we will do a sound check on your mic's." The man left us alone in the dressing room and we looked around. There were large gift baskets full of fruits and pastries. Flowers were everywhere with thank you notes. "Are you ready for this babe? I cannot believe we are moments away from meeting Ellen DeGeneres! I have always wanted to meet her. I came close once at an awards banquet, but I couldn't get close enough." Arizona said. "It was with my father, he was receiving a award for one of his movies, and Ellen was there with a group of other directors. I just kept staring at her and my mom asked me if I wanted my father to get me a chance to meet her. I could kick myself for telling her no, because I didn't want to be one of those people who use their father's name to get in to the popular places, or to meet the big celebrities." Arizona said with a laugh. Before Callie could say anything the door swung open and there she stood. THE Ellen DeGeneres. Both women had matching shocked looks on their faces, and Callie had to fight the urge to turn into a complete fangirl.
"Welcome! I'm Ellen. It's a pleasure to meet you both." She said with a big smile, extending her hand to shake to Arizona first. "You must be Arizona Robbins. I know your father well, he's a very talented man." Arizona smiled like a fool and turned beet red. "Thank you. It's an honor to meet you. I have always been such a huge fan of your work. I would watch your old TV sitcom every night. I was heartbroken when it got cancelled." She added. "Why thank you. It's always a pleasure to meet a fan." She then turned to Callie and again extended her hand. "Callie Torres. The woman who changed primetime television. You have really changed the world with playing the first lesbian woman on a family network. My hat is off to you." Ellen said, this time Callie was quite embarrassed. "Thank you. It is a privilege to work on a show that is able to touch so many peoples lives. To show people that gay and lesbian couples are no different than any other couple in this world. It's great to finally meet you. Thank you for having us today." Callie said, her mega watt smile on full display.
"Well ladies, I have went over the questions my staff prepared and I am good to go. Do you need anything before we get ready for sound check? I want to make sure you are both as comfortable as possible. There's a huge crowd out there already. Apparently you two are quite to popular pair. There are hundreds of 'I love Calzona' posters being held up by screaming fans. Looks like you stole my show today." Ellen said with a laugh. Callie stepped forward, "Actually I need to use the ladies room before we go out there. Would you excuse me?" Callie stepped passed the two women and Arizona saw this as her perfect opportunity to inform Ellen of the trick she had up her sleeve. "Ellen, while Calliope is gone.. I mean Callie… I wanted to run something by you. Of course I wouldn't dream of doing anything on your show without asking you first, so I hope you don't mind." Ellen crossed her arms and smiled at the blonde. "What do you have in mind?" Ellen ask curiously. "Ok so here is what I was thinking…" Arizona began.
"Testing, 1..2… Mic Test 1…2..3… " Callie and Arizona said into their mic's back stage and the crowd was already screaming loud at just the sound of their voices. "Everything is good to go boss." A young technical intern said to Ellen. "Great. You ready to do this?" Two head nods and she stepped forward, placing a hand on each of the nervous women's shoulders. "You will both do great. Those fans out there already love you, so you don't have to win anyone over. You already did that. This is going to be fun, so just relax and enjoy your selves. And let's have a good time. I'm going to go out, we will do our usual dance segment and then I will introduce you both. I figured it would be better to bring you both out at the same time instead of individually because it will make the questions just that much easier. So, you ready? " "Yes." "Ok" they both said, and then Ellen was gone behind the curtain.
The stage was set up right in central park, large lights and speakers were everywhere, and there were several huge posters with Ellen's logo on them hung around. There was a small formal living room suit set up under a canopy covered stage and Ellen got the crowd pumping just by walking out. Callie and Arizona peeked around the curtain, making sure to go unseen by the fans and watched as Ellen danced her way around the crowd before making her way up to her seat and the music being cut.
"Oh my God. It's time. I am so nervous I feel like I'm going to be sick." Arizona said, almost digging her fingernails into the skin on the back of Callie's hand. "Babe.. Babe." Callie said, trying her best to pry her hand free of the death grip her girlfriend had on it. "Everything is going to be fine. We are on TV every week, and you never freak out this bad." Callie said, trying to calm the woman down. "That is so completely different Calliope. We aren't speaking or filming in front of two thousand people. We are in front of our crew and maybe a couple of our coworkers. This is on such a larger scale." The blonde said in a panic. "Look at me." Callie said, placing her hands on both of Arizona's cheeks and turning her to look into her eyes. "If you get nervous, just look at me. I will be right there with you every step of the way. You won't be alone. We are in this together babe. So, try to take a deep breath and relax."
That seemed to work, and Arizona calmed herself quite a bit. She took a few deep breaths like Callie had told her to and they listened as Ellen prepared to introduce them.
"Good afternoon everyone! Welcome to my live show! I know that all of you are excited about today's guests, and so am I. So what do you say we bring them on out so we can get this party started?" The crowd went crazy. Cheering and chanting their names. You could barely hear Ellen's voice over how loud they were. It made Callie and Arizona both excited and nervous at the same time. "Please join me in welcoming the stars of one of ABC's greatest hits of all time, Callie Torres and Arizona Robbins!" The applause was deafening as Callie and Arizona walked out hand in hand, waving to the crowd. Big smiles were plastered across both of their faces. They walked across the stage and each took a turn hugging Ellen before taking a seat. Callie stood first and gestured for Arizona to sit first before joining her on the small loveseat. Everyone stayed on their feet, clapping and cheering until Ellen finally waved for them to all take a seat. Finally it got quiet enough for them to speak and Ellen was the first to talk. "Well, I would like to welcome you both here today. I have to say that I am truly excited to have you both here today as my guests." Ellen said. "Well I think I speak for both Arizona and myself when I say that this was definitely our first choice of shows to come on. We both watch your show and absolutely love it." "It's true. There have been many days where we were in between takes and went to our trailer to watch the show. It's great. Thanks for having us." Arizona added with her dimpled smile.
"So, ladies. Let's get right down to it. I know that everyone is dying to know… so you two are an official couple. Not just on the silver screen, correct?" Ellen asked with a wink.
"Boy you don't waste any time huh?" Callie asked with a laugh. She looked over at Arizona and received a smile that let her know that she could go ahead and answer the question. "Arizona and I are indeed a real couple." Before she could say anything else, the audience once again went insane. They yelled 'we love you' and once voice stood out louder than others, causing Callie to turn to them and say, 'I love you too'. "We are actually living together in California and things are going amazingly well." She finished.
"That's incredible. I have always been a sucker for a good love story. Now how does your life differ from that of the relationship of your characters on the show?" Ellen asked.
"Well, first of all the biggest difference is we are not doctors.. obviously." Arizona said with a laugh. "But sometimes it's hard to differentiate it after an entire day of memorizing all the medical mumble jumble. It is mind boggling at times, and we spend a lot of our evenings helping each other memorize our lines. That has to truly be the toughest part of our job. The romantic parts are always easy, especially when you are really in love with the person your playing a couple with." That got several 'awes and ohhhh' from everyone including Ellen. "I know what you mean, being in love in unexplainably beautiful. And you two seem to be very much in love. So, I know that you have a child.." She said, looking towards Arizona.
"I do. He just turned 3. He's nothing short of delicious. He lives with both of us in our home and he absolutely loves Callie. They have an amazing bond together. There are times when they are doing something and they don't know that I'm watching them. I just sit back and watch them and I can literally feel my heart swell with love. I couldn't have imagined that they would easily mold together the way they have. It makes me love Callie that much more." Arizona said, squeezing her girlfriends hand.
"It's true. I love him as if he were my own son. There isn't anything that I wouldn't do for that kid. And talent? Oh let me tell you. He is going to be something incredible one day. Smart? Wow. I swear we have a future doctor on our hands." Callie boasted. "But then again I may be a little bias."
Arizona looked towards Ellen and received a nod. She knew that this was the perfect time for what she had planned. She wasn't even nervous like she thought she would be. This felt right, and she wanted to do this more than anything.
"So, as you know we always like to do something fun on my show. And with this being our season finale, and the live episode I wanted to play a little game. It will be similar to Family Feud as you will both be asked questions and whoever gets the most points, wins!" Ellen said.
"Sure." "Ok" both women said, before standing and following Ellen over to the area that they had the game set up. "Ok, Callie you are up first. Arizona, they are going to take you back stage and place earmuffs on so you cannot hear the answers Callie gives before your turn."
Arizona smiled, knowing that this was all part of the plan that she and Ellen had worked out. Once she was behind the curtain, she grabbed what she needed and waited for her cue. On the other side, Callie was half way through her questions and the one that counted was coming up. Ellen read the cards with the questions out loud and almost was unable to keep from ruining it from her own excitement.
"Ok Callie. Tell me what someone asks a person after they have dated for a set amount of time, and spend 3 months pay on a certain piece of jewelry." This was it. This was the question. This was the moment Arizona had been waiting for. She walked out from behind the curtain, holding her finger up to her lips to let the audience know not to cheer or let Callie know she was there. She walked up behind Callie just as she answered the question. "Um, they ask someone 'Will you marry me?".
She waited for Ellen to say that she was right or not, but nothing was said. She looked at Ellen to see what the hold up was, and she followed her line of vision behind her. She turned around to see Arizona standing there holding a small blue box. A box that she was certain held something that was fixing to change her life forever.
"Arizona…" she said in practically a whisper. "Are you…" she started to say, but Arizona cut it.
"Calliope Torres. There are many things in my life that I did without thinking them through. I have made choices that I regret, and I have made choices that have made my life worth living. Having Colton is the first thing, and starting a life with you is the second. The only thing I can think of to make my life complete is having you as my wife. I cannot promise a perfect future, but I can promise a loving one. I can promise you that I will never love anyone above you, and I will never hurt you in any way that I can possibly avoid. I knew from the moment I kissed you on set that there was a connection that went deeper than just my heart. It went all the way to my soul. So I wanted to ask you, in front of our fans who in a sense, brought us together… if you will do me the honor and be my wife."
Callie had tears falling down both of her cheeks. Even Ellen was wiping away a few that managed to fall. She nodded yes before she was able to even form the word. Finally, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Arizona. Placing kiss after kiss on her lips. Ellen stepped up next to the couple and said, "So is that a yes?" Causing the crowd to laugh. "Yes! A thousand times, yes. I will marry you." Callie said, and now Arizona had tears matching those of Callie. "I love you so much baby." "I love you too".
"Well there you have it ladies and gentleman. Our favorite on screen love story, just became our favorite off screen love story as well. Congratulations Callie and Arizona."
Once again, the crowd cheered and clapped and screamed out their best wishes to the happily engaged couple. Ellen stepped back and let the two women have a moment to celebrate their newly found commitment. After a moment, she walked over and stood between both women, placing an arm around each one.
"I want to say that I am beyond happy for the both of you. And as a little 'engagement' gift, I would like to send the both of you, including your son, on a 6 day, 7 night vacation to Waikiki, Hawaii. You will stay at the grand resort and all expenses will be paid. Make sure to send pics in so I can show them on a future show."
Both women took turns hugging Ellen and thanking her and Ellen added, "And Portia and I will be expecting our wedding invitation. This is one wedding I can't miss." "Most definitely." "For sure" the women said.
That was that. They were now engaged and their future was laying out perfectly in front of them. Back home in California, Colton watched the television with his grandparents and he wasn't able to contain his excitement. He yelled, "Callie's my mama!" To the elder couple who could only smile, knowing that their daughter and grandson would truly be happy from this day on.