The First time Ever chapter six
CALLIE'S POV
"They are going to HATE me!"
"They are going to LOVE you!" Arizona contradicted with a smile as we walked through the busy airport. Today, December 23rd, was the day I was meeting her parents, and I was freaking out. I'd never done this before. Well, I had with George, but his mom was so nice I figured I just got lucky. And, as I've learned very well, luck runs out. The prospect of meeting Arizona's parents, the people who raised this amazing human being, was positively frightening. My nerves were all jacked up and Arizona had been trying to calm down.
"Just be yourself. I love you, so they'll love you. Just relax, okay?" She said calmly, but with a smirk. Normally, I was a bad-ass who didn't give a crap about what anyone thought of me. However, when it was my girlfriend's parents' opinion, it was kind of a big deal.
"I am calm. You calm down." I laughed. She was surprisingly calm, and I had no idea how she was doing it.
"Arizona!" A voice called from behind us and we both whirled to see the famous Barbara and Daniel Robbins. Arizona practically launched herself into her mother's arms, before hugging her father tightly.
"Mom! Dad! How was your flight?" She exclaimed in excitement, and it put a smile on my face to see how happy she was.
"Oh, it was fine. Your dad fell asleep, you know how he is." Barbara replied, before glancing over Arizona's shoulder to where I was standing awkwardly, just watching the whole scene. "So, do you have any plans to introduce us to this lovely lady standing behind you?"
"Oh, right!" Arizona exclaimed, her eyes going wide as if she'd forgotten my presence completely. She turned to me with a mega-watt smile. "Mom, dad, this is my absolutely amazingly perfect girlfriend Calliope!" She announced, waving her arms dramatically at me as if I were a game show prize.
"It's amazing to meet you guys." I said politely, holding out my hand. Barbara, however, brushed it aside and pulled me into a bone crushing hug.
"Anyone who makes our daughter so happy gets a hug." She said with a smile. I smiled at the colonel and shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you sir." I greeted. He was very tall and he wasn't smiling, which was intimidating, but he had a round, kind face. He gave me a small smile which gave me a peace of mind.
The car journey home consisted mainly of Arizona catching up with her parents. I didn't mind though, I was happy that she was so happy. Although she loved Seattle as she'd told me many times, it was obvious that she missed her parents like crazy.
"So you're a surgeon too?" Barbara asked me as we prepped dinner that night. As soon as Arizona had told Daniel about the broken faucet in the bathroom he insisted on taking a look at it, leaving Barbara and I alone to make the dinner.
"Yeah, orthopaedic. Bones." I added when she looked confused.
"I have no idea how you guys do it. The amount of night shifts Arizona had to pull was crazy, and I'm gonna assume it's the same here. I mean, I like to sleep. I get moody if I'm tired. But she was always able to work for hours on end without getting tired." She said in admiration, and I shrugged nonchalantly.
"I like to sleep to. But I guess when you're saving someone's life, you forget about being tired. Because there's someone parent, someone's child, someone's spouse on that table and they need your help." I concluded. She was right, being a surgeon was hard, but it was worth it.
"So…" She trailed off, glancing behind her shoulder to make sure there wasn't any sign of Arizona or Daniel. "I'm going to assume that you know about…?"
I sighed, leaning forward slightly. "Yeah. She told me all about it."
"So, she talked to you about it?"
"Yeah."
"Oh thank goodness." Barbara sighed, and wiped a tear that rolled down her cheek. "I was so worried about her. She refused to talk about it to anybody. When she told us she was moving across the country I wanted to stop her- but she's an adult and I can't tell her what to do any more."
I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. It angered me to see what an effect this had had on Arizona and her family. Before, I don't think I realised how it could affect people so much. But as I watched a mother cry with worry over her daughter I realised the impact that this had had on all of their lives.
"I'm so glad she found you, Callie. And I know I've only known you for a matter of hours, but I haven't seen her happy in over two years." She admitted and it warmed my heart. To know that I was playing a part in helping Arizona move past this was something that made me proud, of me and her.
"I'll leave the whole scary 'if you hurt my daughter' bit to Daniel. I trust you." She told me, and then smiled. "And anyway, he's scarier than I am." She added and we both laughed, just as a soaking wet Arizona stalked in followed by Daniel who was wearing a satisfied look on his face.
"So, did you fix it?" Barbara asked and Arizona rolled her eyes, pulling at the edges of her now dripping t-shirt.
"You could say that." She mumbled, coming over to give me a hug but I immediately retreated.
"Um, you're all wet!" I exclaimed and she paused, a thoughtful smirk appearing on her face. She bit her lip and started coming closer to me, holding out her arms. I kept retreating until I eventually backed right into the counter. I tried to escape, but I was too late as she wrapped her arms around me, getting me all wet in the process.
"Aw, don't you love me?" She asked in a sing song voice as sweet as a child's.
"Love is a strong word…" I said through my laughter. She raised her hand to her heart and feigned hurt.
"Take that back!" She gasped, picking up the sprayer we used to wash the dishes, and I immediately froze.
"You wouldn't."
"I would." She replied with an evil smirk as she sprayed it right in my face. A chorus of laughter came from all of us as I tried to escape. I turned the tap on at the sink and started flicking water at her, but I could tell she was winning. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Barbara and Daniel quickly retreat so as to not get wet. I couldn't contain my laughter as I desperately ducked behind the island to avoid the attack.
"Your entire fault!" Arizona laughed at me ten minutes later. Daniel and Barbara had finally stopped us and ordered us to go clean ourselves up. Our ever so cliché moment was accompanied by our onslaught of uncontrollable giggles, as if we were teenage girls. I found myself praying that this night would never end.
When we emerged from the bathroom ten minutes later we were met by Barb and Daniel, both wearing strict expressions, their arms folded and their feet tapping in unison.
"Sorry." Arizona and I both mumbled, as if we were guilty children caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
"You guys can clean it up." Was all Barbara said as she hugged us both goodnight and made her way through to the guest room, closely followed by Daniel who gave us both a high five as he walked past.
I was woken up in the middle of the night. The source of the jabbing in my side was unclear until I switched on the lamp, and saw Arizona tossing and turning beside me. Her face broke my heart; she looked so scared, so small and vulnerable.
"Arizona, sweetie, come on, wake up, it's not real…"
"No, please stop, please don't…"
"Arizona!" I repeated more firmly, yet gently. It was then that were eyes snapped open and she looked wildly around the room, her breathing erratic and a sheen of sweat covering her whole body. I took her hand in mine and pressed it to my face and squeezed it, which turned her focus on to me. As her eyes focused and she registered who was in the room with her she visibly relaxed, although burst into tears.
"Oh sweetie, you're okay. Just look at me. You're safe here."
"I'm sorry!" She sobbed, clinging onto me for dear life. I held her close to me and whispered soft words of comfort.
"It's okay. Just relax, go back to sleep. I'll keep you safe, I promise."
Once she had fallen back to sleep and showed no signs of reawakening, I slipped carefully out of the bed and padded softly through to the kitchen. I was surprised to see Barbara sitting there, clutching a steaming cup of hot chocolate. During the whole drama I must have not heard her. I sighed and made my way over to her, glancing at the clock on the cooker which read 2:07am.
"She still has nightmares?" She asked.
"Barely. We've been dating for four months now and I've only every witnessed one. And we spend a lot of time together."
"So she's getting better."
"Yeah. She's being so strong."
"Wake up, Calliope!" Was the first thing I heard as a pillow was smacked over my face. Today marked December 25th, which meant Christmas. Arizona, ever so child-like, was of course the first one up. I groaned when I glanced at the clock and saw it was 6:30am.
"It's only half six!"
"What can I say, I'm a military brat. Now come on!"
"Five more minutes…" I insisted, burying my head back in the pillow.
"There are presents. And coffee!"
"Ooh, coffee. I'm up!" I immediately perked up at the thought of a caffeinated drink, and just like that I was able to drag myself from the bedroom. I took Arizona's hand in mine as we made our way through to the living room to find Barbara and Daniel emerging from the guest room, both looking as awake as Arizona. "Morning people everywhere…" I grumbled as I immediately made my way to the coffee machine and pressed start.
"Merry Christmas mom! Merry Christmas dad!" She exclaimed, hugging them both tightly. It amazed me sometimes how she could have so much energy so early in the morning.
After a serving of Barbara's amazing pancakes, we moved on to presents. Plenty of laughs were shared over unwrapping and it was a real family affair. It was such a nice scene, just sitting here with Arizona on Christmas made me so happy.
"I got us both one." Arizona said as I unwrapped my final present from her. The wrapping fell away to reveal a baby blue box with a white bow, a swirly 'T' written on top of it.
"You didn't…" I trailed off. "This is Tiffany's, Arizona!"
"Duh, I know that." She said. "Now open it!"
I slowly opened it up and gasped when I saw a beautiful heart-shaped locket. Tears filled my eyes as I lifted it lightly with my fingers, being careful not to break the delicate silver chain.
"Let me put it on you." Arizona told me and I handed it to her. She moved my hair away and secured it around my neck. I then did the same for her. We leaned in to kiss each other softly, smiling through the kiss.
"Thank you for not running." She whispered to me softly, taking my hand in hers and resuming her position on the rug.
The rest of the day ran smoothly. We played games and chatted all morning before heading round to Meredith's house for Christmas dinner. They always held Christmas at their house and it was an open invitation. Nearly everybody at the hospital showed up and it was great to be surrounded by all of my friends.
"Torres! I see jewelry. That means seriousness." Mark said as he walked over to me, holding the hand of Lexie Grey.
"It is serious. I love her, Mark." I said softly and his eyes went wide.
"Scary words. But how are her parents? Are they horrible? Complete scary psycho people?" He asked, gesturing over to where Arizona was standing with the chief and her parents. Lexie gasped and smacked his arm, all while laughing.
I rolled my eyes at his antics. "Actually, they're amazing people. I mean, I think they like me. Her mom said she's glad I make Arizona happy."
"Jeez, Torres…" Mark let out a low whistle. I hadn't told him anything about Arizona's past, but in the typical best friend role I had a suspicion he had figured it out.
The rest of the night was filled with socializing and laughing. My hand never left Arizona's for the entire night.
"I love you." I whispered as we climbed into bed that night. It was a seldom occasion where I'd spend the night at my apartment now.
"Calliope?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for not running." She said, and I could hear the tears through her voice. I tightened my hold around her and buried my face in her neck, inhaling her sweet vanilla scent.
"I'm not going to run, and you don't have to thank me for that. I love you."