AN: So, here's the next update. The longest since I started TIAM2 – yay! I really hope you like this one and I also hope you kinda buckled up for the upcoming part, although I tried (and hopefully succeded) to stay on the lighter side of things.
Happy Easter!
There was one thing about not having to go to work – or rather, not being able to work – and stay at home that was very much appreciated by Arizona. She could do all the things she hadn't had time to do in years. Like, watching a full marathon of her favorite TV show, or sleeping in and lazing around all day. However, the blonde also knew that she would be bored out of her mind in a few days, a week at the latest. But until then, she would welcome the time off from work and the hours she got to spend with her brother, who had still not told her when he was leaving again.
With the laptop resting on her thighs, powered up an hour ago to write a long mail to Addison and then another long mail to Teddy, she got caught up in reading an article about a risky heart surgery on a six month old baby. She had been reading so intensively she hadn't noticed the message her brother had left twenty minutes ago saying that he'd be there a little later. But then again, she didn't give a damn about the time, her focus remaining on the article and she only looked up as a ringing noise sounded through the loudspeakers. Lips forming into a broad smile as Arizona accepted the video call, two grinning faces appearing on her screen within seconds. "Hi you two", the blonde said and waved her hand slightly. "My, you need to stop growing! Next time we come to visit, we won't be able to pick you up!"
"Callie is strong", Sarita said proudly, knowing that her brother's Godmother was all about breaking and mending bones, "she should be able to carry us around. Maybe you can give me a pickaback."
Laughing as Milan only nodded eagerly to his sister's words, Arizona looked at the two for a moment, thinking where time had gone. Sarita was almost nine, Milan five and a half years old and for the majority of their young lives, the couple had not been close enough to experience important things with them. And seeing them two to four times a year wasn't nearly enough for any of them. Fortunately, the bond had been strong enough and Emilia and Gaspar had made sure to stay in touch through video calls. By now, Sarita could do them on her own. "How are you doing over there? Are you being good for your parents?"
"'Course we are", Milan said and furrowed his brows. "We always are, Auntie Arizona. Sarita gets all A's at school and so am I! We want to come visit you soon. Mamá said you can't work now so we asked to come to you but we have to wait for a longer weekend. Papá said maybe in three weeks."
"That's great! We would love to have you here! I am sure Calliope could take some time off and we could do great things." Suddenly looking forward to something else than being able to walk and work again, the blonde's dimples popped deep into her pale cheeks. "Maybe, if my foot heals right, I could get a walking cast and we could go to the zoo or to the movies or whatever you want."
"Yay! That would be super awesome!", Sarita squealed and clapped in delight along with her little brother. Then she turned her face away from the screen and called out for her mother. "Mamá, I have Arizona on Skype call!" A minute later, three faces tried to squeeze in into the small camera so that the blonde could see everyone.
"Emilia, you look great", Arizona complemented the woman and gave another small wave with her hand. "How's everything?"
Sending a bright smile first, Emilia answered, "It's great. I don't know how much longer I can hold back my son from doing his sister's homework, but aside from that, we're great." Around the time when Milan had reached the age of three, his parents had discovered that he clearly had a huge talent for numbers and everything that came along with them. Math was easy for him, so easy that he could help his sister before he even started school. "How are you two doing?"
"We're perfect, well as perfect as one can be with a cast around her leg, but that's going to be okay it just takes some time", she said, repeating her wife's words. "Calliope is still at work and my brother should actually be already here, but I guess he's running late." Although she had really no clue if he was running late or not, because she still hadn't checked her phone.
"That's good", Emilia smiled. "You two, say bye-bye to Arizona. We gotta go, dance class and chess club."
"Chess club?", the blonde wondered. Of course, they knew that the little Latina had a passion for dancing and her parents were taking her to dance classes twice a week, one was Latin standards and the other one was some kind of a hip-hop class so Sarita could truly run out of energy every Friday afternoon. But chess club? That was new. "Are you hiding something from your Godparents, Milan?"
Narrowing his eyes, the boy mumbled a shy 'maybe' into the camera and then smirked up into it.
"Gaspar taught him chess a while ago and then he beat him and his Grandfather every time so his grandparents took him to a chess tournament for kids. Turned out he's too good and now he's already playing against kids from the local junior high school. Sometimes I don't know what to do with my kids", Emilia said, shaking her head. "But now, put your shoes on and get your jackets, we need to go."
"Bye Arizona!", the two said in unison, grinning and once again waving into the camera. "We love you!"
And then with a spin, all Arizona could see was a flash of dark and they were gone, the lid was closed and the blonde was alone again. She didn't even get the chance to say bye as well, something that happened on more than just one occasion, but at the same time something that was so typical Sarita and Milan – and something a much younger Arizona had done too for that matter. "Ugh, if only I'd already have a walking cast", she mumbled and blew out some air. One, she needed to go to the toilet and two, she wanted to watch another movie and three, she wanted to take a bath but that would have to wait until her wife would be home. Being someone that never really had an injured food or leg, she was a clumsy mess trying to walk around on crutches and her good foot. The jingling of keys and the turning of the lock put her out of her misery. "Thank God."
When Tim entered his sister's apartment, he found the blonde standing on her foot and holding herself up with her arms clutching tightly to the back of the couch. "And where are you trying to go without your crutches?"
"And where have you been so long? You're more than thirty minutes late and I have to go to the bathroom so badly and I need your help, Tim!" Bouncing up and down while still gripping onto the fabric, the blonde thought her bladder was about to explode any minute now. Completely ignoring the grocery bags her brother had placed on the kitchen counter, she yelled, "Tim, please!"
"Alright alright, Geez. You're getting bossier every day", he joked and walked over to his sister so she could jump on his back. He waited while she was in the bathroom and carried her back to the safe place called sofa before he went back to put away the groceries.
"Hey, why did you get groceries? Did Calliope ask you? Because I told her there's enough food for another two days and that there's no need for her to go and get them today. I mean, my main reason was that she alreadyhas to work a long shift and that I miss her every time she's gone, but still, there are enough leftovers and fresh vegetables in the fridge", she rambled, not seeing her brother's smile when she was going on and on about how much she wanted her wife to be there every minute of the day. "So?"
Turning around after he had closed the fridge, he wondered, "What?"
"Why did you get our groceries?"
He tossed the bag into the trash and joined his sister in the living room, sitting down on the sofa across from the blonde. "I saw the full list pinned to your fridge yesterday so I grabbed it and sent your wife a message that I took care of it already. No biggie."
"That was really sweet of you, little brother. I hate that she has to do so much. Once I get my walking cast, I can at least, I don't know, clean up, empty the dishwasher, do the laundry and stuff like that. And then I'm getting my physical therapy session and I'll work my ass off to get back on my feet", she admitted. "She's not complaining, but she has enough work to do at the hospital."
Two pairs of almost identical blue eyes met and for a moment, Tim thought he could fool his sister, but he should have known better. There was a split second where Arizona squinted her eyes, almost shooting daggers at him and then her finger pointed at his chest.
"You! What did you do?"
Raising his hands in defense and telling her that he didn't do anything bad, he saw the worried look in her eyes. The thing was, that Arizona had some kind of a sixth sense for this. She always knew when something was up or about to happen and he definitely should have known better than to confront her that often these days.
"Timothy Robbins, I know you. I was there all your life and I know when something is up. Just because you say you haven't done anything, doesn't mean you're not about to do something. So, tell me now or I'll call mom or dad", she threatened him.
Not that calling their parents would change anything because they already knew, but he felt he needed to be the one telling her. After all, it was his decision, a life-changing one, but he was one hundred percent sure about it. "I quit playing soccer."
"You WHAT?", she asked, not believing her ears. Ever since her brother was a little boy, even before preschool, he had been fascinated with soccer and on days without practice, he had been playing in the backyard, the ball his best friend. "You're joking, right?"
"Zona, I am not joking. Look, I quit three weeks ago and sorted out all my stuff in Chicago, found a follow-up tenant for my apartment and came here when I heard of your accident. I didn't want to burden you with it the past days." For nearly three minutes, Tim just stared at the blonde who was sitting on the couch with her good leg bent and the foot hidden under the thigh of the broken leg as she silently chewed on the inside of her bottom lip.
That's just ridiculous, Tim", she stated. "Why for Christ's sake would you give up the one thing you love beyond anything and quit playing soccer? If you were unhappy in Chicago you could have just, I don't know, switched teams or something, but quitting is such a drastic step." This time it was Tim who remained silent and she took the turn in eying him up and down. "Or... is there something or someone else. A girl maybe?"
"No", he breathed out. "It's not about a girl and not about anyone. It's about me. I've played soccer my whole life and somehow I don't think that's all I can do. I wanna do something else, Zona. Dad served the country, you are a doctor and so is Callie. You're all helping the country in some ways and what did I do? I kicked a million balls!?"
Finally thinking that she was getting where her brother was coming from, her facial expression softened. "So, you're gonna get a medical degree or something?"
If it only was that easy. He didn't move, he didn't even blink while his sister's smile became prouder and then fell. He heard her gasped 'no' but said it anyways. "I'm going to step into our father's footsteps. I'm joining the marines."
Overcoming her initial shock within a split second, Arizona shook her head, making the braids Callie had done this morning fly through the air. "You're not. I don't care what else you do, but you're not joining the marines", she said, her voice laced with irritation and disbelief. "Have you even told mom and dad? Mom is not going to like seeing another man of her family starting a career in the army. Have you even thought this through? This is so dangerous and you never mentioned joining the marines or anything similar before."
"But it's in me!", he said, raising his voice almost like his father did. "It's a part of me and it's a part of you because of our father and grandfather. Maybe you don't understand that because you're a girl and you found your soulmate so soon, but it has always been in my head", he declared. "Don't you think I've thought about mom? She raised me. I was there too when our father was deployed and when he was gone for months. But this is part of the job, of the life and she knew what she was doing when they got married", he repeated the words their parents had said to him when he told them about his plans. "I just can't be a soccer player any longer. I wanna do something good, something that matters, something-"
"Getting yourself killed is not doing something good! It's destroying our family!", Arizona yelled angrily. "You're just... just because you think you're wasting your life being a soccer player, doesn't mean everybody else thinks that way too. Our parents never pushed us to become anything other than what we want to be. You chose soccer and we were so proud of what you achieved, but now you're throwing your life away!" She felt tears welling up and tried towithhold them away, but just the prospect of her little brother getting hurt, shot or killed was too much for her.
Knowing that yelling didn't get them anywhere, Tim took some deep breaths, holding the last one in and counting to ten before he let out the air. "Zona-"
"NO! Don't Zona me. You are my brother, my little brother", she said, emphasizing the word little, "and you are not joining the marines. Period."
"I am, and there is nothing you can do about that. I already signed up, I'm leaving next week for the first training camp." Standing up, indecisive of whether to go over to his sister and hug her or just leave her alone for some time, he fumbled with the cell phone in his hands. He had three missed calls from his mother and usually he would call her back the minute he would get the notification, but this was more important right now. "Can you please accept my decision and be my supporting sister?"
"You're leaving to get yourself killed", she stated, her voice thick with tears and emotions as the drops finally and slowly trickled down her cheeks. "How can I support such an idiotic decision? I assume mom and dad know already, what did they say?" She could practically hear the proud voice of their father, telling Tim to do what he feels is right. But her mother?
"Daddy is proud, of course", Tim confirmed his sister's suspicion, "mom was... not so happy. But she gets it. Maybe because she gets dad as well, but she was neither breaking down in tears nor yelling at me and calling me stupid when I told them, so I guess she's okay with it." Looking down at the once again blinking cell phone when their mother called, he chuckled, "Or she's calling me for the fourth time to tell me to get my butt back home and lock me up until I am old and gray."
Crossing her arms over her chest and staring at her brother through narrowed eyes, she clarified, "That is not funny, Tim. But on the other hand, if that would be her plan, I'd be right by her side on that one. You can't join the marines. You're my baby brother." There was a pout forming on her lips, something that always worked with Calliope.
"I am not a baby anymore, Zona. I stopped being a baby a long time ago, and I stopped being little when I started the scholar ship. I am a man, I can make my own decisions and I can only hope that you don't hate me until you die."
Pursing her lips and biting the inside of the lower one, blue eyes looked up at the man for the first time since he had stood up. She shifted on the couch and made some room for him to sit down beside her. "If I said I would hate you until I die, would that stop you from going?"
"Honestly, no", he said and accepted the offer to sit next to his sister. "I had this in my head since I got back from Europe and I always pushed it back into some dark corner of my mind because I thought I couldn't do that to you, to all of you. But it always comes back and it's something I really want to do, something I need to do. Zona, please, don't hate me for going."
Looking to her left and straight into her brother's eyes, she scoffed at the ridiculousness of his words. "I could never hate you, Tim. But I am scared that you're getting into too much trouble. You don't know where you're going and there are so many dangerous places in the world. I don't want to lose you, Tim."
"You're not going to lose me. I'm a Robbins just like you, just like our father. We're always coming back to our family, right? No car can change that and neither can a war or a fight", he said lightly. Of course, there was always a chance that something could happen, but he believed in his father's words and in this country. "I'll be back before you know it."
The ringing of the doorbell interrupted her train of thoughts, but instead of feeling annoyed, she felt relieved. Maybe if she could talk to her brother some other time, tomorrow maybe or the day after tomorrow, she could knock some sense into him and stop him from joining the marines. The hopes for that weren't high, but there was still a small flame of hope glimmering inside her. "Could you get that for me?", she asked when the doorbell rang for the second time. "It's probably mom or Calliope forgot her keys or something."
"Of course, Zona." Also thinking that it was their mother, Tim didn't check the peephole before opening the door and stared wide-eyed at the woman standing in front of him. "You are not our mother, nor my sister's wife", he stated but nevertheless, he stepped aside to the let woman come in.
"Addison?", Arizona said confused as her red-haired best friend stepped into the apartment, tugging a small suitcase behind her. "What are you doing here? Calliope didn't tell me you were coming over and I thought you said something about spending a week with Teddy in Florida? Wasn't that the main plan for the next five days?" She hadn't seen the redhead's eyes until now and it was only when Tim faced her again, giving her a look that said more than thousand words could ever dream of, that she fell silent.
"Should I go and maybe get some more groceries? Or pizza? Anybody hungry?", Tim offered, not thinking that he would get an answer from his sister's best friend. But the blonde nodded and he grabbed his jacket. "I'll just go to the pizzeria down the street and be back in about fifteen to twenty minutes, is that okay?"
Once again, Arizona nodded and watched until Tim was through the door. She put her arm around the other woman who was sitting to her left by now, red tresses hanging in her face, covering her eyes. "What happened?", the blonde asked, subconsciously pulling her friend closer. Puffy red eyes looked back at Arizona, telling her that she had been crying for quite some time already and for some reason, it kind of shattered the picture Arizona had about her friend. She had never seen Addie cry so much, the redhead had always been such a strong person. "Teddy?"
"We're over", Addison rasped and felt another wave of emotions bringing tears to her eyes. Burying her face in her hands, she let herself being pulled into a tight embrace by her best friend, something she definitely needed after the last two days.
All Arizona did for the next five minutes was hold the other woman in her arms and let her cry. Of course she could have asked a million questions right now and she still felt the need to do so, but for now she tried to comfort the redhead as best as she could. And when Addie pulled away and brushed the last remands of her tears away with the back of her hands, she asked once again, "What happened? Last time we talked everything seemed to be fine." She even remembered Teddy squealing so loud into the phone, that Callie had to hold it away from her ear. "I thought Teddy was going to move to New York and continue her residency at New York Presbyterian?"
"That was the plan", the redhead sniffed. "I was already looking for a new place and Teddy said she had started packing boxes so we could move her things step by step."
Studying her best friend when she had stopped talking, the blonde urged, "That doesn't sound like a break-up to me, at all, Addie? And knowing Teddy, Arizona knew that her wife's best friend didn't make decisions halfheartedly. Much like Callie, the dirty blonde thought things through.
"Stuff happened", Addie said and shrugged her shoulders. The look blue eyes were giving her put the smallest smile possible on her face. "Not like that, silly. I would never do that to Teddy and neither would she. Just, you know she's all about cardiology, and the most important reason for her to move was the not-existent heart surgeon at the Mayo Clinic because they hadn't found a proper replacement for the position after the last one had retired and NY Pres had one. And then it was the other way around, the Mayo Clinic hired one of the best cardiologists in the states and ours started a new project in Africa and all of a sudden Teddy doesn't want to move anymore."
"For a valid reason, if you ask me", the blonde said cautiously, she could easily be walking on thin ice by saying that.
Losing her temper and frustration that she had been holding in for the majority of the day, her head jerked around and she spat, "Of course it is!" And the next second she felt sorry because she knew she shouldn't let it out on Arizona. "I am sorry. I know she has a reason now to stay there. Believe me, I even understand it. But she decided to stay without giving me the chance to throw in my two cents. She made up her mind on that one and what am I supposed to do? To sit through another four years of a long-distant relationship? Of course I could move to Florida, but for some unknown reason, I don't get into a program. And it's not that I haven't tried. I did, without telling her but I always get rejected and she got in on her first try. It would have been perfect and now it's just not. And then we had a fight and the last thing I told her was that I want to be the center of her world and that I want her to be the center of mine and that if we can't have that, that I don't want this relationship any longer." Once again bursting into tears, she only composed herself when she heard the front door. "Do you think I can squeeze in a nap here? I'd rather not leave the building and look for a hotel until I look a little more appealing."
"Oh bullshit. You're not staying at a hotel, you can stay here. We have an extra room for guests and I am sure Tim would be so nice to do some quick tidying up." It was not exactly messy, but sometimes she liked to just put stuff in there to have it out of the way for the time being.
"Why do I have to clean it up?", Tim asked, masking his true emotions as he put the pizza boxes on the kitchen counter. "I thought I heard she wanted to take a nap."
"Yeah, so?", the blonde asked.
Eying first his sister and then the redhead, he asked, "Does she sleep with her eyes open?" The next second a sofa cushion was thrown his way and he took that as his cue to just do the quick tidying. It also gave him an out, an out he needed to prepare himself for the next bomb he was about to drop on his sister's shoulders. "Fine. Five minutes, Red."
"Thanks Tim", she said, managing a small smile. "Thanks for letting me stay here. If it gets too much with your foot, you can just kick me out and I fly back to New York or find a hotel or something, okay?"
Rolling her eyes at the stupidity of her best friend's words, Arizona put her hands on Addison's shoulders. "You listen and you better listen good. You will stay in this room as long as you want to or can take time off from work, okay? And you won't be a burden. Furthermore, you need your best friend right now and maybe I can't walk on my own, but my ears are just fine."
Feeling a lump forming in her throat, Addison simply nodded and gave the blonde a small tight-lipped smile. "I don't even know if I made the right choice. Or was it even my choice? She chose to stay there and I just went with the consequences."
"Have you tried talking to her about it?", Arizona asked. "You've both been miserable apart and every time one of you has to leave, you're both even worse. She knows, she feels the same. The first times were the hardest on her and she always called Calliope because she didn't want to bother you with her tears." The truth was, that almost simultaneously, Addie had called her to tell her the same. "Or do you think there is someone else?"
Grey eyes widened first and then closed with a sigh. She had thought the same and had been really close to accusing Teddy of having an affair. But deep inside she had known that the other blonde was not capable of cheating on her or on anyone else for that matter, so she had erased the thought before it could get the better of her. "No", she answered. "I didn't have to ask. Teddy would never do that to me. I guess she'd rather rip out her own heart than do something like that."
Nodding, Arizona's eyes shifted towards the guest room as the door opened and Tim came out. She saw his face and knew that he had at least shed some tears and right that moment she wished for a hole to form under the couch and just swallow her. It wasn't a good idea to postpone the rest of their conversation, but it also was already getting a bit too much for her. "Do you want to take a hot shower first? Get rid of that jucky airplane smell and everything?", she offered, her hand resting softly on the redhead's back.
"That sounds nice", she agreed. "Leave some pizza for me for later? I can't eat right now."
"Sure thing", the blonde smiled. "Help yourself with the towels, the large ones are under the sink and the small ones are in the cabinet on the right side of the mirror. You can use anything apart from our toothbrushes", she tried to lighten the mood but Addie's lips didn't even twitch. "If you need anything else, just give a shout, okay?" She waited until her best friend had closed the bathroom door and then turned to face Tim. "Please, I don't want to continue our conversation. I... you said you need to go and I am not okay with it but I need to be there for her now, okay?"
"Zona", Tim started and sat down right on the spot that Addison had occupied before. "Zona, mom called and I think she called you too but you're phone is silent or something because she called me about ten times before I could call her back on my way to the pizzeria." He paused and bit his bottom lip.
"Tim, what happened?", she asked confused. There was a look in his eyes she couldn't read and that was something that worried her because she could always read her brother's look. "Tim, you're scaring me! What happened?"
"Grandma Robbins had a heart attack. She", he gulped. "She fell from the ladder while cleaning the windows and hit her head. Grandpa called the ambulance right away and tried to reanimate her but it was too late". His voice was calm, his words well-chosen and that frightened his sister even more. "She's dead, Zona."
"NO!" She practically fell in her brother's arms and started crying against his chest. "No. She can't-" But the rest of her sentence was cut off as she chocked from her own tears. Her hands turned to fists, clenching into the fabric of his shirt as her tears left wet spots on it. "It's not-" Once again her words died on her tongue. She couldn't grasp the idea of one of her grandparents being gone. They were young and healthy for their ages. They've always been there. "When?", she asked, her voice muffled by his shirt.
"An hour and a half ago" he answered. "That's why mom was so insistent on getting a hold on one of us. They... mom and dad are with grandpa now, mom said he hasn't said a word since they took grandma away." His first instinct had been to go there too and be there was their parents, especially for his father who had lost his mother. But his mother had urged him to go back to Arizona and stay with her until Callie would get home, assuring him that she'd take care of Daniel and call if he was needed.
Not knowing how to handle the first time she had lost a beloved person for good, Arizona kept sobbing into her brother's shirt and forced her brain to go back to all the memories she and her grandmother had made over the years. "Do you remember the one time we stayed overnight together and grandma let us watch two Disney movies although dad said that we were only allowed to watch one a day? And how she explained that she was supposed to spoil us because she's our grandmother?"
"Of course", the man laughed. "I'll do the same to my niece or nephew and to my grandkids. If they are not your own, it's basically an unwritten rule to spoil them rotten." They sat quietly for another few minutes and then he asked, "Do you remember when they took us to the zoo and it had been raining for over a week and it was all muddy and dirty, but it also was a hot day? When we got back, grandma told us to go to the backyard where she cleaned us including our clothes with the hosepipe. We had fun that day."
"Yeah, I know. Grandma had always funny ideas", she sniffed and then cleared her throat. "I miss her already."
"Me too", Tim agreed and stared ahead. His stomach grumbled loudly, making the sibling burst into a small fit of laughter. "I guess my stomach doesn't care right now. The smell of tasty pizza waiting for me on the counter doesn't help either."
"Can you hold me for another two minutes before you cave in and jump towards the pizza or are you going to starve?" There was something protective about being in her brother's arms. Although it could never beat the arms of her wife or her parents, her brother's strong arms were a good substitute. The door of the bathroom opened and Addie walked out, wearing a pair of black sweats and a zip-up hoody from John's Hopkins. "Do you feel any better?"
Shrugging her shoulders she asked, "Am I interrupting something?"
"No", the blonde waved it off, not wanting another thing to put on her best friend's shoulder. Particularly because the redhead would once again offer to leave and get a room at a hotel. "Do you want or need anything?"
"I'm good... well, you know what I mean." A lopsided smile struck her face but it didn't last longer than five seconds. She closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears, not wanting to be such a wimp. She wasn't used to this, crying was simply something she didn't do often and she felt like she had shed enough tears in the past twenty-four hours. "I'm gonna-"
The door to the apartment swung open and three pairs of eyes turned around to see what had caused the sudden burst of noise. Arizona sat up straight and blue eyes immediately connected with brown. The very second their gazes met, the blonde knew that Callie did not get the scene that was right in front of her, she probably didn't even notice Addison being there.
The Latina's focus was solely on her wife. She vaguely registered the other two human beings in their living room, but they were kinda blurry. On her way here she had thought about the right way to tell Arizona what she had just discovered, but then again, she thought that it would make her wife happy no matter how many words she would use. So she just went with the truth. Her mouth opened and without further thinking, the six words left her mouth, "I want to have a baby."
AN2: So, I'd really like to get your thoughts on that one. Please? Because I am happy with this chapter but most of the time I am happy others are not, so... leave a note?