Chapter 25

One week later…

"Teddy, I told you, I'm sorry. I don't know what else I can say."

"Arizona, not only did you get divorced or whatever you called it, but then you got remarried, and didn't think to tell me. FOR A WEEK!"

"Look, it was not expected on the divorce front. Therefore, the needing to get remarried thing wasn't planned either. It was me being impatient and not wanting to wait. I was trying to plan it flying by the seat of my pants. I was just anxious. And honestly, I was trying to limit the people who knew. The less who know, the less chance of a slip-up of our parents finding out."

"But you called Tim."

"Yes, for babysitting duty. Only because I wanted Zac there. Look, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But I can't go back and invite you. BUT, you can help me plan our vow renewal."

"What's the point of that again? Because you just got remarried. Your vows can't get any more renewed than that."

"I told you, our parents don't know about the divorce and getting remarried. I want to keep it that way. My mom was not happy when I told her we were back together last week and she knows we were going to renew our vows. So, we have to still do it. Otherwise, she will ask questions. She was always ok with me wanting her back when it was just Callie leaving. She blamed the grief and could accept it. But when she found out Callie was engaged, that just ticked her off. She went into momma bear mode and now I can't get her out. She was ticked I took her back after finding out she was engaged. If she knew we were divorced, I'm afraid she would make this all harder than it needs to be. I don't know if she could forgive Callie for that."

"Ok, so I'm going to point out something that you obviously haven't thought of."

"What's that?"

"Do they get a newspaper, still?"

"Yeah, dad reads it every day. Why?"

"Yeah, that might be a problem for you."

"Teddy, I'm not following. What's the newspaper have to do with anything?"

"You did work for one for a while, right? Did you ever read it?"

"I did. I wrote editorial type pieces. But, no, I didn't ever really read it."

"And Callie, she worked there too. Right?"

"Yes, Teddy. But you already know that. Why?"

"Good grief Arizona. Don't you two dummies know that court information gets posted in the paper?"

"What?" Arizona has a deer caught in the headlights look at this point. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh my gosh. You know, the section where it's like "this person married this person, this person divorced that person, this person was fined for public intoxication...' I think that you will be in the third category here in a little bit after this news sinks in."

"Teddy! How could we not have thought of that?"

"Well, the Vegas wedding probably won't be in there. They don't have the time to send that many licenses to the home county. But, the dissolution or whatever, that may be a different story. I think it all depends on how her lawyer filed the papers. Like with what court in what county."

"That part, I don't know."

"Then I hate to break it to you, but, your parents may find out about it anyway."

"Teddy! How could we not have thought of that?"

As Teddy watches a distraught Arizona grab her things off her desk and shove them into her bag, she really feels for her.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"I've got to get to mom and dad's. I obviously need to get Zac anyway, but I also need to check for the papers laying around. I need to know if the dissolution is in there."

"Well, good luck with that. Hopefully because Callie is out of state, it will save you the trouble. But, I wouldn't count on it."

"Yeah, I know better than that. I have got to go, Teddy. See you tomorrow."

"Call if you need to hide for a few days!" Teddy hollers as Arizona is already out of her office and halfway down the hall.

It has been 8 days since Arizona has seen Callie. They talk several times a day but that's nothing compared to actually seeing each other. Callie told her this morning they only have a few more meetings to get things situated, and that hopefully they can finish up tomorrow. Everything is out of her apartment and all her personal items, such as clothes, have already been shipped back home. She is staying with Addie until she leaves New York.

After Arizona gets back to her car, she gives Callie a call. Maybe Callie will know how her lawyer filed them. Surely it won't show up in the paper. But then again, even if it doesn't show up here, the Colonel has his ways. Why didn't they think about that?

Callie's call goes straight to voice mail. She did say she had a couple all hands on deck meetings today, so obviously she is still stuck in those. All the way to her parents' house, she frets about that paper. She just wishes Callie would have answered. She can always calm her down.

As she pulls into her parents' house, she is greeted by her son outside. Her mom and Zac are outside blowing bubbles and it occurs to her, this is her chance to go inside and snoop without her mom catching onto her.

"Hey guys! It looks like you have been having fun!" She takes in her son's appearance and he has sticky stuff all over him. She loves when he plays with the messy stuff with the grandparents.

"I'm blowing some big bubbles mommy! Wanna see?"

"Hey, I would love to. Just let mommy run into the bathroom for a minute and I'll be right back. Ok?"

"Ok. Hurry mommy!"

"Hey," her mom says. "Good day at work?"

"Oh, it wasn't bad. The kids are ready for summer vacation, so they have already kind of started blocking us out. I'll be right back, I really have to go," she says doing a little dance to make it believable.

"Sure. We will be right here." Her mom watches her walk in and thinks she is acting a little strange.

"Ok," Arizona says talking to herself, once inside. "Dad usually sits at the table and reads, so I'll head to the kitchen first." She heads there and sees one still on the table. She picks it up and scans through it. "Oh my god. There it is! How could we have been so stupid!? Luck was on our side for her to point this out today though."

Her mom didn't say anything, so hopefully, they didn't see it. Deciding she can't leave the paper though, she takes it with her. She also realizes she needs an excuse to be in the kitchen, so she grabs a plastic cup and fills it with water. "There, this will be my reason for walking in here."

As she walks out, her mom notices the cup of water and the paper. "Arizona, since when do you read the paper?"

"Oh, it's a new thing I just started. Figured I ought to keep up with current events a little more. Never know when there will be something to use in my stories."

"Ok, not that your stories revolve around anything other than broken hearts though."

"Maybe I want to broaden my horizons..."

"Well, whatever. You can't have that one though. Your dad didn't get a chance to read it this morning. He was called in early just as he sat down at the table."

"Oh, I'm sure there is nothing important that happened in here anyway. I don't want to drag Zac in the store to just grab a paper."

"Arizona, you know your dad. His day is not right if something messes up his routine. And his day is already messed up by not reading it this morning. Leave it here and I'll save it for you tomorrow."

"Mom, I wanted to do the crossword puzzle."

"Arizona, I'm not sure what's gotten into you. Give me that so he can read it. You can have it tomorrow." Barbara isn't messing around because she reaches over and snatches it out of her hand. "I'm not having a grumpy colonel tonight because you wanted to do a crossword."

Her mom sits it down on the step as Zac comes over carrying the bubbles. A genius plan comes to mind so she quickly takes action.

"Zac, come give mommy a hug. I missed you today. Then you can show me how you can blow bubbles." Usually, she would never do this, but desperate times call for desperate measures." She picks up Zac and goes to sit the bubbles down to give him a hug. As she sits them down, she and Zac go to sit down right next to them on the step. When she turns around to sit on the step, she 'accidentally' knocks the bubbles over. Now, getting bubbles all over her is a small price to pay if this works the way she planned.

"Arizona!" Barbara yells as the big bottle of bubbles spills out onto the steps, all over Arizona, and all over the paper.

"Oh my gosh... I can't believe I just did that!" Arizona at least has the smarts to look like she is truly surprised by what just happened.

She stands back up as quickly as she sat down, to see bubbles all over the paper. "Mission accomplished," she thinks to herself.

"I'm so sorry Zac. I can't believe that just happened."

"Mommy, my bubbles are all gone."

"I know buddy. Mommy is sorry. I promise we will stop at the toy store and get you some more on the way home, ok?" She fully intended to do just that and replace his bubbles. She truly hated she had to spill the bubbles. It was a necessary action that had to happen though.

"Arizona, what's gotten into you? Now your dad will have a smeared paper."

"I know. I'm sorry. My butt just keeps getting bigger and bigger though. It just got right in the way."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you did that on purpose."

"Mom, I'm not going to spill Zac's bubbles on purpose. That's... crazy," Arizona shakes her head in disbelief.

"Maybe," her mom says, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Well, I'm a mess now. We should probably go. I need to get changed and then we will probably head back out to the toy store."

"Ok. Well, give granny a kiss, Zac."

They say their goodbyes and Arizona and her bubble-soaked butt, buckle Zac in and head out.

Barbara glances at the mess her daughter just made. She picks up the paper and carefully opens it. She spreads it out over the porch, hoping she can prevent the ink from running together. Maybe she can salvage some of it for the colonel.

While driving home, Arizona tried to call Callie one more time, to no avail. The excitement of the last hour catches up to her and she starts crying.

"What's wrong mommy?"

"Nothing buddy. Just a bad afternoon and mommy misses Callie."

"I miss Callie too."

"I know Zac. But when she gets back this time, she doesn't have to leave again."

They pull into the house she unbuckles Zac. "Ok, let mommy go get cleaned up and them we will go back out so I can get you more bubbles. Then, maybe we can stop and eat. Sound good."

"Yep, let's hurry mommy."

Walking into the house, Arizona notices that her key didn't unlock the door. It was already unlocked. She begins to worry but becomes elated when she opens it to see Callie sitting on the steps waiting for them.

"Callie? You're home? Oh my god!" She says putting Zac down and rushing over to Callie. Callie meets her and picks her up, twirling her around.

"Yes, I'm home. I'm finally home!"

"I can't believe it! I wasn't expecting you for another day or two."

"I missed my two-favorite people in the world. I couldn't stay gone any longer. I called my dad and he cancelled a few appointments so he could pick me up. I wanted to surprise you."

"Well, it worked," Arizona smiles, pulling Callie in for another kiss.

Feeling her pant leg being pulled, Callie looks down at Zac.

"Hey little man, I miss you," she says, picking him up.

"I missed you too," he says. "Mommy missed you too. She was crying."

"She was?"

"Yep." He nods, looking at Arizona.

"Hey," Callie reaches over and pulls Arizona close, "when were you crying?"

"She was crying after we left granny's."

"Really? Well, why don't you go turn the tv on and mommy and I will be there in just a minute. Then, maybe we can fix something to eat, because I'm starving. What do you think?"

"Ok. I'll go find us something good to watch."

"Thanks bud," Callie says, putting him down.

They watch him walk into the living room and Callie reaches for Arizona, wrapping both arms around her.

"So, what's going on? Everything ok?"

Arizona shakes her head from side to side. "No, but it will be, now that you are home. Wait... do you have to go back?"

"I'm done. I'm mean, I'm sure there will be meetings here and there that are better in person, but I live here, full-time now. The apartment is empty, my work load has been reduced, for now anyway, to allow time for me to find a suitable space for the new location and get it opened."

"Calliope. I'm so happy you are home," Arizona gets out before she breaks down into tears.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" Callie rubs her back, waiting on an answer.

"We were so stupid, Callie. We didn't think about the paper," Arizona gets out between sobs.

"I don't understand, honey. What about it?"

"They publish divorces, weddings, and arrests for public intoxications in there..."

"I still don't understand, why would that..." Callie trails off as realization sets on. "Oh. Damn it. And your parents, they saw it in the paper?"

"Not yet. I managed to spill bubbles on it and hopefully ruin the ink, but it's only a matter of time before someone else sees it. And that's if dad didn't go out and buy another one. They are going to find out."

"Ok. Well, I know your mom is not going to be happy about it, and we wanted to avoid her finding out. But does it really change anything?"

"Calliope, I don't think you understand. She is so against this. I mean, it was bad enough when you left six years ago. But she knew I loved you and she knew you were grieving, and that you weren't yourself. But to find out you were engaged to someone else, well, to her, you were cheating on me. And I know that's not how it really is, but to her, it's pretty cut and dry. She doesn't want me to give you another chance. And to find out we were divorced. I don't think she will understand why I took you back after that."

"Arizona, maybe we just need to quit trying to hide it and just be honest. Explain everything."

"Maybe you are right. Maybe we just need to face it head on."

"I know she isn't happy with me. She doesn't like me very well, and to be honest, I understand it. I don't know that we can keep it from her though. I can't believe I didn't think of it being published in the paper. I was an editor for years at one, for crying out loud. But, I think we just need to tell them. It will be better coming from us."

"You're right. How about we get Zac and head over. I'd rather get this done before they find out from someone else."

"Arizona, if they don't take this well... I don't want to cause problems between you and your parents."

"If it causes problems, it's on them, not you."

Callie nods, not sure that this is going to go over well. "Well, let's get Zac and go get this over with."

"Maybe we can drop him off with Tim. We might not want him there for this."

"Yeah. I'll go grab Zac and you call Tim. Then we will go," Callie says, leaning down to give Callie a kiss before going to get Zac.

Arizona grabs her phone from her pocket and dials Tim. "Hey, are you busy? Good. I have a favor then. Can you watch Zac for a little while? Yeah, it's just, Callie's home, and our dissolution was announced in the paper today. We want to try to tell mom and dad before they read it. I know... that's why we thought it was best not to take Zac. Ok, thanks Tim. We are on our way."