"Daniel" Barbra glanced over at the man. "The children" She said, trying to let her husband know this was not the time for his ignorant arguing.
Daniel didn't pay attention to his wife. "Get out. Of my. House." The man spoke more angrily now.
"Dad..." Arizona tried to reason. She knew there was going to be a scene in front of her children, and that was the last thing she needed.
"Out."
"Uh... Uh. Oh, crap! I forgot that I... I have to go to the grocery store! Come on guys, we should get going so I can... go to the grocery store. Shoes and coats on please!" Callie stuttered, standing up and swinging Kaylee onto her hip. They needed to get out of there, fast.
"The grocery store? I wanna see more pictures of Mommy" Summer argued.
"Summer, we need to leave." Callie got serious.
"Wait... Dad, why don't we just go talk?"
"You're being manipulated by that disgusting woman still, there is nothing to talk about!"
Arizona covered Mason's ears incase of any not child appropriate language that was bound to come.
"Come on, shoes on!" Callie encouraged.
"Daniel. Just look at her, she's happy." Barbra stood up.
"This is not my daughter- This is not the girl I raised, Barbra."
Callie had Jackson, Max, Olivia, and Kaylee with her. Summer had stuck behind and was listening.
"My daughter would have never left us for that woman over there. How dare you let these women into our home, Barbra."
"Please, we lost Timmy... We don't need to lose Arizona too... Give her a chance."
"I'm happy with the choice I made. I hope you're happy with the choice you're making. It was nice to see you, Dad." Arizona spoke shakily, turning around and walking away after she finished. "Summer, come on. We have to go." She spoke in a much more confident and soft voice when speaking to her daughter, although she had an impressively tight grip on her son, who was gripping onto her necklace.
"I have your coats, let's get them on in the van. Come on, let's go." Callie opened the door, rushing her family out of the house; she knew Arizona needed to get out of there.
The older couple immediately started arguing. Arizona sighed, listening for a second before she left. She knew this was too good to be true, and now her children had been broken just like she had. She immediately felt terrible about even thinking her children should meet her mother.
"Come on, in the van. Buckle up. Alright Kay, come on." Callie sat the two-year-old in her car seat and started to buckle her up.
"Why can't we stay longer?"
"Yeah, why do we have to go now?"
"This is dumb." Summer mumbled.
"Excuse me?" Callie shot her head up at her daughter. "What did you say?"
"I said this is dumb." The girl repeated what she had said.
"Congratulations you just got yourself an early bed time" Callie took Mason from her wife's arms and got him in his car seat.
"What?!" Summer groaned.
Jackson started laughing.
"You think I'm joking?" Callie gave Jackson a stern look.
"No... Mama, I'm sorry." Jackson immediately started behaving. The children knew not to mess with their mothers when they were mad.
"That's what I thought. Summer, when we get home you're going up to your room." Callie closed the van door before Summer could even protest.
"This is so stupid." Summer mumbled.
Max gasped. "Summy you're gonna get in trouble" the young boy spoke up.
"So? They're being stupid." The pre teen crossed her arms and rolled her eyes as she watched her mother's talking outside of the van.
"Are you okay?" Callie had whispered, taking a deep breath and calming down from the somewhat harsh tone she just had with her children.
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Arizona spoke as if she actually was fine- a smile in her voice, brushing off whatever she was feeling like dust on a shelf.
Callie tilted her head in concern.
"Cal, seriously, I'm good" With that, the blonde got into the van. The children all went silent when their mothers opened the doors, but Summer didn't stop her moody pouting.
A few weeks ago...
"Arizona. You're being ridiculous. Your mother isn't going to act like that in front of the kids." Callie argued with her wife. The blonde seemed adamant about not letting their children meet her mother, and Callie didn't understand why.
"I'm trying to protect them."
"There's nothing to protect them from. Come on, you know you want them to meet your mom. What has gotten into you?"
"What if she suddenly decides she doesn't want anything to do with me after a while, and they're used to her being around? They would be heartbroken. I don't want that for them." Arizona was a wreck; she wanted her children to meet her mother more than anything- but she also didn't want them to feel the same pain she had so many years ago.
"That's not gonna happen, Arizona."
"You don't know that."
Callie sighed, sitting down on the couch, her wife still standing. "Baby, come here." The brunette encouraged.
"Callie" Arizona tilted her head. She was annoyed with Callie.
The woman sighed. "I don't know what you want me to tell you."
"I want you to agree with me."
"But, I don't agree with you."
Arizona scoffed.
Callie quickly jumped to her own defense. "Look, I know this is scary. But, I also know how badly you want this. You've always wanted the kids to meet your mother. You have that chance now, why are you passing it up?"
"Because I don't trust her." Arizona crossed her arms over her chest as she walked back and forth.
"She said she knows she fucked up" Callie tried to reason with Arizona.
"That doesn't mean she won't do the same exact thing again."
"But if she's willing to try... it means she doesn't have the intention of doing the same thing again."
"You don't know that" Arizona sighed. She sat down on the couch, facing Callie but staying a few inches away. She wanted to talk, not be comforted. Luckily, the children were asleep, so they could openly have this conversation without little ears hearing everything.
"I don't know that. But, you don't know that she's gonna hurt you again, do you?" Callie leaned back, taking the hint that Arizona didn't want her to just hold her.
"I can assume... I mean she's done it before." Arizona looked at her wife. "Do you know how upset Summer would be? She wants to meet her so badly. If one day, she just stopped talking to us... Summer would be devastated. I can't see her precious heart be broken."
"But what if she stays in our lives and she and Summer get close? We can't deprive the kids of ever meeting her..." Callie countered.
"Callie..."
"Arizona, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but at least you tried. At least we tried."
Arizona looked skeptical.
"We should try."
Back to Current...
"Arizona.." Callie walked up behind her wife, who was doing dishes. They had been home for quite some time and the kids were in their rooms for the night. Arizona had pretended nothing happened and the family went about their normal day, but Callie knew her wife better than the front the blonde put up. The second Callie's arms were around Arizonas waist, the woman let down the barriers she had put up. "Come on... I'll do this later. Let's talk." Callie leaned forward, pressing herself closer to Arizona as she grabbed a bowl from her wife's hand. The brunette placed the bowl back in the sink and turned off the water. "Let's go" Callie squeezed her wife before letting go, she took the blondes hand in her own and led her to the couch.
"Do you think he knew we would be there?" Arizona just jumped right into the conversation once the couple had gotten comfortable on the couch. Callie sat leaning against the back of the couch with her feet on the table, Arizona leaned against the arm of the couch, resting her feet in Callie's lap.
"No, I bet your mom didn't tell him because she expected that exact reaction" Callie rested her arms on Arizona's ankles.
"He sounded so cold."
"He sounded like a dumbass."
Arizona bit her cheek.
"If after all these years, he can't see that you're happy, he's pretty damn stupid" Callie was annoyed. She knew her wife was upset, and that was the last thing she wanted.
"I know..." Arizona's voice trailed off. Of course she knew her father was being ridiculous, but she couldn't help but be bothered by it. The couple sat in silence as Arizona tried to hold back her tears. Much to her dislike, her emotions over took her and she started to cry.
Callie almost immediately noticed and turned her head to look at her wife, tugging on her ankles. "Oh, Ari, come here" Callie frowned as she saw tears streaming from sad blue eyes.
Arizona put her feet down and scooted closer and closer until Callie had captured her in her arms.
"It's okay, you can cry." Callie spoke softly. She knew Arizona just needed to be upset, but Callie at least wanted to hold her wife while she cried. So, that's exactly what Callie did.
Their four year old had stood at the top of the stair case, where her mothers could not see her. She wanted to go ask for water, but she could hear her mother crying. The girl peeked down the stairs, but couldn't see anything other than the wall. She rushed off to her older sisters room. "Summer. Summer." The blonde girl whispered her sisters name as she rattled the door knob.
"What do you want?" The older girl opened the door, getting annoyed already- she was still mad about earlier.
"Mommy is crying!"
"What?" Summer stepped out of her room, looking at her little sister.
"Mommy's crying. I heard it." Olivia rushed back down the hallway and to the stair case as quietly as she could. When Summer had followed her, she looked up at her big sister and tilted her head.
Summer bit her lip-Olivia wasn't lying. "Why is she crying?" Summer whispered.
"I dunno." The girl shrugged. "Let's go see?"
Summer grabbed Olivias arm. "No, no. Come here" The brunette led her sister back down the hallway, but went past her own bedroom and into her brothers. "Jackson" Summer nudged the boy, who was playing a game on his ipad, Max was already asleep on his bed on the other side of the room.
"What?"
"Mom's crying."
"Well, you were a jerk to her." The boy responded matter-of-factly.
"No I wasn't!" Summer argued. She knew her brother was right, but she didn't want to believe she had made her mother cry.
"You should go apologize. It's not her fault, Summer." The boy still hadn't looked up from his game. He remembered that when they got home, Summer had mouthed off about going in her room, and just figured his older sister's behavior had upset their mother.
"I didn't do anything!" Summer wasn't going to let her brother think he was right.
"So, go ask her what's wrong." Jackson shrugged.
"But then she'll say it's my fault" Summer forgot about the game the siblings were playing, expressing how she actually felt- allowing her brother to "win."
"Well that's cause it is" The young boy was obviously no help.
Summer sighed. "Will you come?"
"I'll come I'll come!!!" Olivia jumped at the opportunity.
Jackson sighed. "I'll come too I guess" He dropped his ipad on his bed and followed his sisters out of the bedroom. Much to his surprise, his mother actually was crying-quite loudly. He rarely heard his mothers crying, he didn't think they got upset much.
The three children shared equally concerned expressions as they tip toed down the stairs.
"Mommy Mommy are you sad?" Olivia broke the children's silence once they reached the bottom of the stairs by worriedly yelling and running into the living room.
"Baby, Mommy just needs a minute. She's okay." Callie spoke for Arizona, who was holding onto Callie with a tight grip now.
The blonde had then let go, rubbing the tears off her cheeks and letting out a breath, smiling at her daughter. "Hey, baby, Come here." The woman sat up and leaned forward, holding her arms out.
"Mom, I'm so sorry. I wasn't trying to be mean. I didn't think I would actually make you upset, I just wanted to be difficult. I'm sorry I won't do it again. Please don't cry." Summer hurriedly spoke, appearing in the room as Olivia ran to her mothers arms.
"Summer... what in the word are you talking about?" Arizona wrapped her arms around Olivia, picking her up off the ground and laying back with the small girl on top of her.
"You were just crying cause of me."
Arizona just looked confused by her daughter. "Sweetheart, you didn't make me cry" The blonde woman chuckled, kissing Olivia's head.
"Huh? Then why were you crying?"
"I'm just a little upset, but it's not your fault, why would you think you made me cry?"
"Well I was kinda being a jerk earlier" The young brunette stole her brothers words.
"Yeah, and you should apologize." Callie nodded, agreeing with her daughter.
Both women just looked at their daughter.
The girl broke, rolling her eyes and scoffing. "Fine. I'm sorry... I shouldn't have acted like that."
"Thank you." Callie gave Summer a look of approval.
"Thank you, you shouldn't have, but you didn't make me cry sweetie" Arizona knew that her daughter had been bothered by believing she had made her mother cry.
"Are you sure? She was a jerk." Jackson piped in.
"Jackson" Callie gave her son a stern look.
"What?" He held his hands up defensively.
Arizona suddenly burst out laughing. Her family was ridiculous, but she loved them. The woman smiled, she really did not need her fathers approval. She had six hilarious, beautiful, and healthy children, and an incredible wife to raise them with. She really did have all she needed.
"What's so funny?" Callie looked over at her wife, smiling at the woman's adorable laughter.
"Nothing I just..." Arizona took in a breath. "I just love you guys, so much."
"We love you too honey" Callie wrapped her arms around Arizona, being careful of Olivia.
"Do I have to go back to my room?" Summer tried to get out of her early bed time.
Callie got serious again. "Yes. While I'm glad you realized what you did wrong and apologized, that doesn't make what you did okay."
Summer sighed, but nodded. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, I love you, sweet dreams" Arizona blew her daughter a kiss.
"Goodnight Summer, I love you." Callie watched her daughter walk off.
"Love you guys" The girl responded before going upstairs.
"I'm gonna go to sleep too" Jackson said his goodnights and headed up to his shared room with Max, who was still fast asleep.
"And what about you, little miss? It is wayyy past your bed time." Arizona looked down at Olivia.
"Are you sad?" The little girl was very obviously worried about her mother.
"No, baby, I'm okay" Arizona gave her daughter a happy smile before kissing her cheek. "Go up to your room and get some sleep."
The four-year-old sighed but complied, climbing onto Callie for a hug.
"I love you, Goodnight" Callie and Arizona said to the girl before she made her way back up the stairs as well.
Arizona sighed dramatically and leaned her body against Callie's.
"I'm sorry" Callie whispered. She knew the last thing Arizona had needed was such an interruption, Arizona was finally allowing herself to be upset and then she had to pretend she was fine for the kids.
"It's okay..." Arizona took Callie's arm and tugged it over her body, wanting her wife's hands on her.
"If you still wanna just..." Callie looked down at her wife as she started to rub her stomach.
"Cal, I'm fine" The blonde whispered.
"Okay..." The couple sat in a slightly uncomfortable silence; it wasn't awkward, but they just didn't know what to do after they were interrupted during such an emotional moment.