Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, I just borrowed the name of the characters for entertaining, no intention to violate any copyrights.
A/N : It has been a while, my friends. I have debated with myself during this hiatus should I or should I not pick up this story once again. I have almost a new chapter of A blind date finished, and I have written 6 chapters of a new story which I don't think I'm gonna post it anytime soon (or at all, I don't know), but I just couldn't shake the idea of the second part of this story out of my head. So yeah, I'm coming back to it, giving it a try. But I'm afraid that update will be extremely slow because GA doesn't give me the inspiration anymore, and... lately I'm obsessed with the game Hidden City :p
All mistakes are mine, sorry about that.
Chapter 14
Callie's POV
"What are you doing?" I put down the sudoku that I'm working on, asking the redundant question when the woman sitting next to me on the couch nuzzling up against my neck.
"Nothing." My blonde girlfriend says nonchalantly, nibbling my neck while her hand sneaking under my loose T-shirt stroking my stomach.
"You were the one saying that we need to save the energy for tomorrow, that's why we didn't go out drinking with the guys." I throw my head back laughing, and giving her better access to my neck.
"That was the plan..." Arizona brings her mouth to my ear, the gentle strokes of her hand moving higher and higher telling me what is in her mind. "But while you biting the pencil, knitting your brows together... you're just too sexy and I can't help myself."
The seductive voice of hers sends shivers down my spine. Despite that we've been together for seven months, she can always find a way to make the butterflies in my stomach flipping like crazy.
Throwing everything in my hands to the floor, I turn my head to find her lips. Once our lips lock, my tongue racing along her bottom lip until she invites me in her hungry mouth. If I weren't an amazing kisser before, damn sure that these few months with Arizona have given me enough practices. I love kissing my girlfriend. I can never get enough of her kisses. And it's good that my girlfriend loves kissing me too.
I could feel her lips spread to a smile as she slowly pushes me backward against the arm rest of the couch. She breaks the lip lock to tug my shirt over my head, and she begins kissing across my heaving chest even before the shirt hitting the floor.
And my phone chooses this moment to go off.
Arizona drops her face on my chest with a grunt. We both know that ringtone. It's the special ringtone that I have assigned for my father. And Arizona knows that I wouldn't ignore his call.
I give her an apologetic smile before slipping off of the couch, picking up my shirt from the floor as I make my way to the phone across the living room.
"Why are you putting on your shirt?" Arizona purses her lips to a pout seeing me fumble to get my shirt back on.
"I can't talk to my dad half naked." I answer as I reach for the phone with an arm still inside the shirt.
"It's not like he can see..." She murmurs with an eye roll, but I shush her before hitting the answer button.
"Hi, dad." I plaster on the sweetest voice to greet my father, at the same time giving my girlfriend another apologetic smile.
"Hello mija, how are you?" My father's cheerful voice comes through the phone.
"I'm fine. How are you?" Subconsciously, I sit down on the other couch, keeping a distance from Arizona. From the corner of my eyes, I could see the frustrated blonde dramatically picks up the Annals of Surgery that she was reading before our little activity.
"Good good good. I hope that I'm not disturbing your evening, mija." My father says.
"No, not at all. You're not disturbing anything..." As soon as the words left my mouth, I steal a glance at my girlfriend. Of course she is murmuring under her breath. Clearing my throat, I come up with a white lie. "Arizona and I are just having a quiet night, watching TV."
"Friday night and you're staying home with your housemate? No wonder both of you are still single." Dad lets out a sigh, half joking and half serious. "Mija, you need to go out more often. You're young, go dancing, have some fun."
I sink deeper onto the couch, deliberately avoid making eye contact with Arizona. Even though she couldn't hear the conversation from my father's end, I still feel that she'd be able to know what my dad is saying.
"I have gone out, dad. It's just... it was a long day in the hospital." I stammer out, lowering my voice purposely. "I'm just too tired to go out. We both are."
"I still don't understand why you need a housemate. Don't get me wrong, I like Arizona better that the previous one... um... Cristina. But I just don't see the point of living with a friend." He continues after a brief pause. "You know I'd be more than happy to help you out if you can't afford a house to yourself."
"Dad, it's not about that." It takes all the energy within me to keep my voice even. Arizona and I decided to move in together in her house four months ago. However, my parents have no idea that I'm shacking up with the woman I love. All they know is that I'm living with a colleague. I've explained to them, more than once... well, not the total truth but I have given them a really valid point - in my opinion. "I've told you, we work long hours. It's good to have someone sharing the house chores and keeping the place..."
My dearest father cuts me off without letting me finished.
"Then you should find a husband, not a housemate."
Arizona always says that I'm a terrible poker player. My eyes and my posture always give me away. I'm sure that me fidgeting on the couch and avoiding her eyes have given her a pretty good idea that whatever my father's saying, it has to be about her or our situation.
I watch in silent when my girlfriend puts down the magazine, getting up from the couch and heading upstairs.
"Dad, please don't tell me that you're calling me for this." I rub my temples with a hand. I love talking with my father, but I'm just not in the mood of having this conversation, again. And I need to go upstairs checking on my seemingly upset girlfriend. "I've told you that I have had a long day. And Arizona's parents are moving to Seattle tomorrow, we're gonna go help them settling in very early in the morning. I need sleep."
"Okay okay." My father knows better not to hang on to this subject upon hearing the annoyance in my tone. "I just want to tell you that I'm coming to Seattle on Monday for a meeting. We're finalizing the investment in the Archfield, I'm sending the Deputy CFO of the company to there for a week or two..."
After the call with my father ended, I go straight upstairs to the bedroom where I'm sharing with my girlfriend. The lights are on, and Arizona's under the cover facing away from the door. I know that she wouldn't be asleep already.
I slip in the bed, holding her from behind with my face nesting upon her shoulder.
"I'm sorry." I say sincerely.
"For what?" Arizona whispers with her eyes still close, acting indifferently.
I kiss her shoulder before propping my head up by my elbow, the free hand stroking her expose shoulder and arm gingerly. She knows what I'm apologizing for, but I'm still going to voice it out.
"For still haven't told my parents about us." I lean down to kiss her shoulder one more time, hoping to show her how sorry I am. "I know the conversation that I just had with my father has made you mad."
"I'm not mad." Finally she turns to me. There's a tiny smile on her face. "I wasn't sure what that conversation was about. Well, now I have a pretty good idea. He was asking why you're living with a woman?"
"Why I'm living with a friend, plus..." I hesitate slightly, but then remembering that we've promised each other that we're not keeping anything from the other. "He suggested that I should find a husband instead of a housemate. I'm sorry."
"I am not mad." She says it again with her head shaking lightly.
"Upset?" I raise my eyebrows to a tentative smile. She retreated to the bedroom telling me that she was bothered by it. I know my girlfriend.
"Well, a little." She heaves a heavy sigh, stroking my cheek with a hand. "But I get it. Coming out is important, especially coming out to your super catholic parents. Like I said, I don't want you to rush to do it."
After the fateful night seven months ago that Arizona and I finally declared our love to each other, we talked about a lot of things, including what we see in this relationship, how we are going to tell our friends about us, and most importantly, how I'm going to tell my parents that their daughter, their born and raised catholic daughter is bisexual, and in a relationship with a woman.
I love my parents, I want them to know that I'm deeply in love and this love is reciprocated. In the meantime, I am scared. I don't know how my church going parents are going to see this.
I am lucky to have a girlfriend so understanding. Despite her family was so acceptant while she coming out to them, she knows a couple of friends that had faced huge resistance from their families and it didn't end well. She loves me too much to see me going through that.
After a few back and forth discussions, we agreed that we're not going to tell my parents that Arizona and I are dating each other. Like she said, my parents live 3000 miles away. Even when my dad visits, he mostly stays just one day, two days maximum and then he's gone. We can wait to tell them until we reach the next level in our relationship.
The only condition Arizona has for me is that I'm not hiding her from my parents, which is easy because they already knew her as my best friend. So, when I told my parents that I go out having dinner with Arizona, on a vacation with Arizona, even living with Arizona doesn't seem totally odd to them.
Lesbian and gay couples disguise as roommates for decades. It worked then, still works nowadays.
"I'll tell him, but not in this visit." I twist my lips, gazing down at my lovely girlfriend. "He's coming with the Deputy CFO. The man is gonna stay for one or two weeks in Archfield looking into the books. Dad asks to have dinner with them on Monday. Do you want to go with me?"
"Business dinner?" Arizona scrunches her nose to a grimace. "I'll pass."
"It's not a business dinner. I have nothing to do with the company." I give her a soft smile. "He just wants to introduce his CFO to me and maybe I'd have to show the man around during his stay."
"Nah, you go to your father. I may spend some time with mine." She returns my smile with a smile.
"Yeah, your parents are actually here." I settle down on the bed, and Arizona snuggles up to my side. "I can't wait to see them again."
"Me too." She yawns and curls her body closer to me. "I'm happy that they're finally here."
"Hey," I look down at the woman in my arm. "You're actually going to sleep? I thought we're gonna have sex."
"I didn't know how tired I am until lying down." She wraps her arm around my torso, resting her head on my chest saying sleepily.
"Sleep like an angel, my love." I kiss the top of her head before turning off the lights.
The truck that carries the Robbins' family property has left Boston 2 days ago. 46 hours drive would be too much for the colonel and Barbara to handle, so instead of coming with the truck, the old couple stayed with their friends in Boston for 2 nights, tying up the loose end in there and then took the flight to Seattle in the same morning as the truck arriving here.
Arizona goes to the airport to pick up her parents, and I'm here, in the Robbins parents' new home with Sloan, Karve and Avery for the truck.
Things don't always go with plans. The flight was delayed for over 4 hours. By the time the parents arrived, the truck has arrived and the muscles have started unloading the heavy furniture.
Other than that, everything goes smoothly. The guys help to put the big items in places with the instructions of the colonel. Barbara, Arizona and I manage to put away the small things. Around sunset, the settling is most done.
After putting away the last box for the kitchen, Barbara and I bring another round of refreshment outside to the yard where the guys are taking their breaks. As we walk out, we find that they are sitting around the swimming pool with their shirts off. It's understandable. They all get quite sweaty for lifting the heavy stuff under the hot summer heat.
"Another beer?" I ask as Barbara and I handing over the fresh bottles. Our useful helpers accept it with toothy smiles.
"I thought you surgeons are busy and stay inside the hospital all day, how are you all... so fit?" Barbara laughs as she squeezes Avery's bicep after giving him a beer. The generally polite and shy young man brushes with a timid smile.
"There's a gym in the hospital, ma'am." Avery gives a feeble shrug and tries to squirm free, but Barbara wouldn't let go of his arm.
"You must have spent most of your free time in there then." It seems the old lady is spellbound by the resident's A&F model like body, she exclaims in awe. "Look at these guns!"
"You call that a gun? You should see this." Mark puts down the beer and strikes a pose with his arms up, showing off his muscular upper body with a proud smile. And Barbara gladly accepts the invitation and puts her hands on Mark's broad shoulders in a heartbeat.
"What is happening here?" Arizona comes out from the house to join us, just in time to see her mother's hands all over the man who is not her father.
"Your mother is filling me up." Mark winks at the giggling woman in front of him.
"I'm just admiring your colleagues." Barbara has a grin on her face, patting Mark's chest as she responses to her daughter. "But really, how do you get through a work day with all those beautiful men around you?"
"I'm batting for another team, mom." The blonde rolls her eyes, making a point to set on my laps and wraps an arm around my neck.
"You don't shop here, doesn't mean you can't look." Her favorite resident snickers into his beer bottle.
"I did look, just not this shop." Arizona sticks out her tongue to Alex before reaching for my beer. I pull back and give her a look.
"Hey, which shop have you been gone window shopping?"
"I... what? I didn't... I mean... I haven't..." My blonde's face turns white and begins to stammer, making everyone around us burst into laugher. Lucky for her, her savior has just emerged through the patio door heading to us. "Dad! Dad! Sloan is flirting with mom!"
"What? No, I... I am not!" It's Mark's turn to panic. He talks a big game, but I know him, he's scared of the super tough looking old marine. He takes a big step back when the colonel strides toward him.
The old man gives Mark a glare before picking up a bottle of beer, sitting down on one of the lounge chairs.
"Well, if your mother finds someone that sweeps her off of her feet, who am I to stop her?" The colonel directs the respond to his daughter before taking a sip of the beer, leaving my girlfriend's big blue eyes widen.
"What?!" Arizona exclaims after picking up her jaw.
"Your mother is a grown woman, she can make her own decision." The colonel shots another glare at Mark, but a trace of mischief is dancing on his lips. "Sloan, you have my blessing. But I'm telling you, I've known this woman for 50 years, she's not easy."
No one dares to make a sound, or a move except for Barbara, who apparently is familiar with the old colonel's rarely shown sense of humor. With a playful pout on her lips, she sits down next to her husband.
"Hey, you're no walking in the park either, mister." Barbara slaps the old man's lap with a grin on her face. The colonel picks up her hand and brings it to his lips with a smile.
"I know, that's why I'm so grateful to have found you." The colonel locks his eyes with his wife, as if the rest of us are not around.
Seeing the old couple so devoted to each other and openly affectionate even after all these years, I couldn't help to hold my girlfriend tighter, and she rests her head on my shoulder. When I look down, I could see the huge smile on her face that makes her dimples pop.
"Dad, you're not mad that Sloan's hitting on mom?" Arizona reinitiates the issue with an evil glance to Mark. The little devil just wouldn't miss the chance to mess with the man.
"Hey! She touched me!" Mark exclaims aloud as a little child, pointing his beer bottle to the unapologetic old woman.
"Arizona, everyone knows your mother likes to flirt. You're exactly like her." The colonel shrugs his shoulders, still holding the hand of his wife. "A little bit of fun is harmless. And Sloan, if you ever want to steal my wife..."
"I wouldn't dare, sir." The tall man holds up his hands, shaking his head fiercely that makes us falling into another roar of laughter.
"So even your dad knows that you're flirtatious, huh?" I smirk at my girlfriend and pinch her hip without anyone noticing, she squirms on my laps with a little squeak before standing up on her feet.
"Oh shut up." Arizona throws me a grimace, and then turns to the rest of people. "Anyone's hungry? Should we order in or we go to the restaurant?"
"You know what, honey? Maybe I can make dinner. You single boys mustn't have much home cook meal." Mama Robbins smiles to the boys and then turns to her daughter. "We have the kitchen done, right? I just have to go to the supermarket..."
"That would be great. We really don't have much home cook meal around." Alex and Jackson cheer with a fist bump, but Arizona disagrees with them.
"No mom, you must be tired. You should take a night off." Walking forward to stand next to her mother, the blonde wraps an arm around the older Robbins as she makes a suggestion. "Let's go to the little bistro that you like a lot."
"Fine, but I'm still going to make dinner for your friends, as a thank you for all the helps." Knowing Barbara Robbins, she'd never take no for an answer. "How about Monday night?"
"Monday night it is... oh wait, Torres you have the dinner thing with your father, right?" Mark speaks up as he points his beer at me. The irritating smirk on his face gives me a bad feeling.
"Yeah, my dad is coming to town..." I explain to Arizona's parents, but Mark cut me off.
"Not just your dad, he's coming with a highly eligible bachelor too."
"What are you talking about?" Arizona looks between Mark and me.
"Oh you didn't know? Torres' father is bringing along a man to meet with her." Mark puts a hand on his chest acting all surprised.
"Mark..." I give him a warning glare. I should have learnt not to share too much with him.
"I know, the Deputy CFO of the company." Arizona's smile freezes slightly, not knowing what's going on.
"This morning I told him about this, and he..." I throw another glare at Mark, cursing him with my eyes. "He googled the man for fun, you know him."
"Hey, we were bored waiting for the truck. By the way, you have no idea how much information you can get from Google." The gossipy man pulls out his phone and starts reading, apparently the browser is still on the page with the profile of my father's staff. "Dan Pruitt, 45, Columbia marketing science grad... blahblahblahblah... single... blahblahblahblah... Climbing to the position of Deputy CFO in a short 10 years after joining the Torres Corps. One of the youngest Deputy CFOs within the Fortune Global 500..."
"And he's sent to here overseeing the whole buyout of Archfield. It looks like your father is grooming him as the future of the Torres Corps." Jackson joins in between sipping his beer.
"And it looks like he wants to put his heiress and the future of his company together." Mark smirks around us, especially to Arizona, seemingly taking pleasure in her discomfiture, collecting the payback of the blonde messing with him earlier.
"He's not." I roll my eyes upward with a heavy sigh. What am I gonna do with these two?
"Why would Callie's father want to put her together with a man?" Barbara blinks up at Arizona with a puzzled look on her face. And I can see the colonel's brows deepen to a scowl.
Shit!
"Oh, you haven't heard? Callie's..." At this point, Mark is grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"Shut up, Mark!" Arizona and I yell at him simultaneously to make him stop talking. And then my girlfriend turns to her mother with a weak smile.
"Mom, it's complicated." Giving the shoulder under her hand a light squeeze, Arizona urges us to go. "I'm starving. Let's go eat, shall we?"
As we move toward the front door, I could see that Arizona is held back by her father and both of them are in a conversation. Deciding to give her some time to explain to her parents, I ride with Mark and let Arizona takes her folks to the restaurant in her car. And well, also gives me a chance to scold my freaking best friend for his freaking big mouth.
Lucky for Mark, he hasn't said anything inappropriate during dinner or I'm sure that I'd break every piece of his bone and I'm the only person in town could save him. I have no idea what Arizona has said to her parents, Barbara is still her cheerful self throughout the night, laughing with every funny things that we talk, but the colonel... I don't know, the frown between his brows just seem deeper than usual. The few thoughtful looks that he gives me have me squirming in my seat.
We take the parents back to their house after dinner. I have a surgery scheduled the next morning but Arizona promises to come back in the morning helping for the final touch and grocery shopping. Making sure the folks are safely in their new home, Arizona and I drive back to ours.
Everyone who knows me, knows that I'm not the one that can ever hold my tongue. Not even 1 minute after we pulled out of the driveway, I turn to my girlfriend on the driver seat.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" She glances at me briefly, keeping her eyes on the road.
"Mark, and my father." I take a deep breath, fidgeting with my fingers.
"You can not apologize for Mark because it was not your fault that he opened his big mouth." Arizona keeps her voice neutral in tone, but I can detect a hint of annoyance in it.
"Well, he got the chance to make fun of it because I haven't told my dad about us." I let out another sigh.
"He still doesn't get the right to... You know what? We shouldn't let him come near my parents." She shrugs a shoulder and purses her lips while we stop before the red light. "My dad isn't really fond of him anyway."
"How about me? Does he still like me?" I try to laugh it off, but even I could hear my voice has a timid and tremulous sound.
"Of course he likes you." Arizona turns to me with an incredulous look.
"Even after knowing that I'm hiding you from my parents?" I fidget with my fingers again. "He seems mad during dinner. And I know that wasn't direct to Mark."
"He understands. He knows that you have your reason." She puts her hand over mine stopping me from twisting my fingers into a bunch. "Don't worry about it."
"Arizona..." I cast a glance at her, not fully convince by her comfort words.
"Look, I'm not lying when I say that he understands." She pats my hand before starting the car. "We talk a lot. He knows how difficult it is for my friends to come out to their families. He's just... it's hard for him to know that this is happening to you. He's not mad at you, Calliope. He feels bad for you because he likes you, a lot."
"Really?" I fixate at her profile, trying to find any hint of falsehood on her face. She returns with a reassuring dimpled smile without the slightest hesitation.
"Really."
We continue the few minutes ride in a comfortable silence, but something is weighed heavily on my mind.
"You know, I don't want to admit it, but I think maybe Mark is right." I say as I get out of the car after arriving in our driveway. "My dad might want to hook me up with that CFO guy."
"You think?" Arizona throws me a smirk over her shoulder while opening the door. Of course she'd think so.
"Maybe I should just tell him that we're together. That would stop him from trying, and stop me from making you or your parents mad at me one day." Slowly walking toward the kitchen, I need a drink.
"Or that would give him a motivation to push every single guy he knows to your way." Arizona follows me into the kitchen. Seeing that I'm taking the bottle of wine out of the fridge, she takes out 2 glasses from the cabinet.
"Why do I have a feeling that you don't want me to tell my dad about us?" Holding the bottle in a hand, my free hand rests on my hip as I look at my girlfriend with a frown.
"If you want to tell him, of course I'll support you. But I want you to do it for yourself, not because of me and absolutely not because you think my dad is upset with you." She gives me a small smile and takes the bottle out of my hand. She fills the glasses saying airily. "Do you think you're ready?"
"I don't know... My pretty effeminate Uncle Berto is excluded in every family gathering even though he isn't out of the closet." I prop myself against the kitchen island, sighing deeply staring into space. "To be honest, I don't know how they'd react when I come out to them."
"See? You're not ready." Arizona turns around and hands me the glass of wine. "Like I say, your family lives in another side of the country. There's no hurry. It's not like we're getting married tomorrow."
I take a big gulp and almost chock when an idea flashing in my mind.
"What if... what if my dad is gonna married me to that guy?"
"Arrange marriage? What year is it?" Arizona bursts into a laugh and steps closer to me, wiping off the wine on the corner of my lips with her thumb. "You're thinking too much. Your father said that he wants to introduce you to the man because he's gonna stay here for a couple weeks. You don't even know if he really is single, or into you."
My girlfriend's angelic laugher is truly contagious. I couldn't help to laugh with her.
"Why are you so calm?" Trying hard to suppress my smile, I put on a playful pout as my hands wrap around the shorter blonde's waist. "I'm gonna go out with a man."
"With your father at the same table." Arizona's mouth twists in a contemptuous sneer before sipping on her wine. "And I know you love me so much that don't even want to look at anyone else."
"Oh but it's okay for you to window shopping somewhere else." I tilt my head to the side and squint at her, still wearing the playful pout on my face. "Good to know that you don't love me as much as I love you."
"It was a joke!" Wrapping her arms around my neck, my girlfriend brings our faces closer and bats her beautiful blue eyes at me. "Why would I want to look at another woman when I have you?"
This woman really knows the effect of her eyes on me.
"Sweet talker." I wrinkle my nose at her before closing the distance between our lips.
We break the lip lock after a short, affectionate kiss. Still holding her in my arms, I ask her.
"I know that you don't want to come with me for Monday night dinner, but I really would like you to join me." I lift a hand brushing a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "In case I want to kill my father, you know."
"Fine, I'll come with you, just because I don't want you going to jail for killing your father. Conjugal visit is not sexy." She snickers at her own joke before taking our glasses and putting them on the corner top. Taking my hand, she drags me out of the kitchen. "Come on, let's take a shower and then go to bed. You have a surgery tomorrow and I have to go shopping with my mom."