What felt like an hour of dead silence was I reality no more than two minutes, thankfully Sofia didn't miss a beat and notice the tense nature of the adult interaction, "Mommy, aren't you happy grandma is here? I had no idea!"
"Neither did I, sweetheart. It is a very nice surprise though. I'm just going to talk with her outside on the balcony for a little bit, okay?" The young girl nodded and went back to her room.
"I'm just going to finish up in here and then go hang out with Sofia in her room." Callie looked at Arizona, "Unless you want me to leave, or…"
"No, no, don't leave." Arizona softened her voice, "Just give a minute, okay?" The surgeon led her mother to the nearby balcony and waited until the sliding door was fully shut before she said anything.
"It sure does get chilly out here."
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Arizona refused to get into small talk with her mother right now. "A heads up would've been nice."
"Dear, I've popped up multiple times in Seattle to see you and Sofia, don't act like this is anything new." Turning her body away from the skyline view to stand directly in front of her daughter, Barbara looked at her daughter straight on. "Why didn't you mention Callie once? We talk multiple times a week and I always ask about you and Sofia, you don't think I should've known about the new person in both of your lives?"
Arizona took a brief moment to collect her thoughts. Truthfully she had no real reason not to tell her mother, if anything it was her selfish tendencies of wanting to keep the relationship private and to herself. "Yes, I should've told you, but we're still figuring everything out and—"
"It doesn't seem that way." Barbara interrupted, "By the looks of your room you two are living together, and clearly she and Sofia are very comfortable around each other. You're a grown woman, Arizona. Obviously I don't need to know everything about your life anymore, but this you should've told me about." The disappointment in Barbara's voice was clear and it hurt Arizona knowing that she was the cause of it.
"Mom, we're not living together. She stays over sometimes and has left a couple things around. I want Callie and Sofia to have a solid relationship if she's going to be around a lot, and thankfully they do."
"How long have you known her?"
"Honestly, over a year."
"A year?!" So you've been lying to me for over a year? What kind of relationship makes you lie for more than a year?"
"I wasn't really lying. The first year was…well, it wasn't much. I mean she didn't move here until just a few months ago. It was just light and fun."
Barbara crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "Light and fun, what does that mean?"
"Do you really want to know?" Arizona countered albeit respectively, "It was a fling. We hung out when we could, which was only a handful of times giving the distance. She moved her when she started working at the hospital and we've taken our relationship to the next level since. We're committed to each other and I really, really like her mom."
"From the short interaction I've had with her she seems like a pleasant woman." Barbara glanced inside through the window and saw Callie still in the kitchen. "She seems young, though."
"She is." Arizona responded truthfully, "But she's mature for age and we get along really well. She's smart, charismatic, and cares so much about people. It probably what makes her such a good doctor."
"I haven't seen you smile talking about someone outside of Sofia." Barbara knows how hard it's been for Arizona being without much family near her and having to raise Sofia on her own. Of course she wanted her daughter to find someone, she was just surprised by how she found out. Naturally, she still had some reservations about Callie, but hopefully in time those would go away if this is truly the person Arizona wants to be with. "What kind of surgeon is she?"
"She technically not a surgeon yet, she's in residency at Seattle Grace, but right now she wants to go into orthopedics."
"Arizona, just how young is she?"
"Twenty-six." There was another moment of paused. "We're not naïve to think age won't come up between us and maybe it has a little already, but we're making it work."
"Don't you think you and Sofia might be a little much for her right now? Trying to become a surgeon is hard enough, if you add in a relationship and a child it can be very challenging."
"That's her decision to make, mom. She knows that and we're taking it slow."
"All mothers just want their children to be happy, you know that. You seem happy, but just be careful, okay? Even if Callie is as great as you say she is, she's probably in a different head space then you. Be mindful of that."
"I will." They two shared a long hug and Arizona was relieved with the conversation. She didn't want her mother to be upset with her. "It appeared that I may have interrupted an important conversation between you two. How about I take Sofia to the coffee shop around the corner to get some hot chocolate and give you all some time to talk it out."
"That would be great." The mother and daughter headed back indoors. Sofia was happy to get some hot cocoa and hang out with her grandma, Callie on the other hand wasn't sure how Arizona was going to react.
"Did everything go okay with you mom?" The two moved back into the kitchen area to talk. "I was going to text you right away, but I didn't want to interrupt your spa day and Sofia wanted to tell you about the surprise when you got back."
"It was a good talk. I think we still have more to talk about, but overall it was nice. She likes you." Arizona smiled. "That's always good." She swiveling in her seat at the kitchen island, while Callie stood across from her on the other side. "I should of told her about you. I'm sorry I didn't."
"Why not? I know sometimes parents can overreact with relationships, but I thought my name would've come up at least once." As much as Callie wanted to appear tough, on the inside she was disappointed with Arizona.
"I don't have a good reason, I just wanted it to be about us. I didn't want any input from anyone. I like what we have and each day I'm becoming more and more protective of it. I guess it was nice just being in our own world and not have to worry about anything else. I knew it wouldn't last forever, but for the moment I really enjoyed it."
"The day after I picked Sofia up from swim practice the first time I called my mom. I wanted her to know that I was seeing you and you have this amazing daughter. I didn't overshare anything, but I wanted her to know I met someone and I was happy. I'm sure by now she told my dad and my sister. Of course she had questions, but the point is I wanted her to know. I guess I figured you would want you mom to know about us before today. How long would you have waited to tell her if she didn't show up today?"
"Knowing my mother, she would've called me tomorrow after my birthday and asked how it went, what I did and who I hung out with. I'd like to think I would've told her then." Arizona reached out and grabbed one of Callie's hands. "I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too for not being fully upfront about stuff. Yes, my family owns the T Hotel brand. It started with my grandfather, my dad made some really good investments to help it grow and become what it is today. My sister works for the brand, obviously I don't. I don't like to tell people because once you say it people think and treat you different. While I grew up well off, I don't have much of my own money, yet. Sure I could ask my parents for help, but I have too much pride to do that. My trust fund doesn't kick in until I reach thirty. My parents didn't want me and my sister to have access to so much money at a young age. Even with all of that, my plan is still to become a great surgeon and leave all my family money to my future kids."
"I have to say, I didn't see that coming." Arizona chuckled. "That's not a secret you hear every day. Thank you for telling me."
"Anytime you want another spa day just let me know. It's on the house." The two laughed as Arizona got up and moved to the other side of the counter to be closer to her girlfriend.
"You know I might just take you up on that. I got a really good massage today." Arizona stepped forward to kiss her, "I just wish you were the person giving it to me."
"Yeah?" Callie trailed her hands down Arizona's body and lifted her up to sit on the counter. "I definitely would've enjoyed doing that." They continued to kiss as Callie began to unbutton Arizona's shirt, once it was open she tossed it to the side and removed the blonde's bra as well. She squeezed her two full breasts and Arizona lustfully moaned out loud. Callie slid her tongue into Arizona's mouth and ran her thumb across hardened pink nipples. She leaned back on her forearms and watched Callie kiss down her upper body before sucking her right breast in her mouth.
"Yess, please keep doing that." The blonde was breathing heavily as she encouraged her lover to continue on. Callie mimicked her actions to the other breast as Arizona happily relished in the pleasure she was receiving. "Baby…"
"Hmmm." Callie replied as her mouth was still occupied.
"We should stop. Trust me I don't want to, but…" She lifted Callie's head from her chest and gave her another kiss. "Tell me we'll finish this later?"
"We will..." The brunette winked. "…cause that thing I was doing to your breasts, well I really want to do the same thing to your…" Callie looked down at Arizona's jean covered center and licked her lips. "How does that sound?"
"Sounds like I really want it to be later already."