"Hey Mom."
Callie stood back as she watched her girlfriend greet her parents. The older woman pulled Arizona into a hug before moving onto the Latina. As she recovered from the bone crushing embrace she had the opportunity to say:
"It's good to finally meet you Mrs Robbins."
"You too."
By this point Arizona had hugged her father and he offered his hand out for a more formal greeting.
"Colonel." She shook his hand.
"Calliope." He returned.
"Oh please," She the brunette said as they took their seats at the table, "call me Callie. There's only like three people who call me Calliope, and two of them are my parents."
"I'm the other one." The blonde interjected with a bright smile.
"Yeah, not quite sure how that happened." She turned back to her girlfriend's parents. "How was your flight?"
"Horrible." The man answered shortly.
"Oh, ignore him. Daniel always gets grumpy after long stints in aeroplanes." His wife explained.
"I don't blame him."
"Arizona, you're just scared of flying." Mrs Robbins said to her daughter.
"You are?" Callie asked the surgeon.
"It's just not natural."
"As appose to living on the seventh floor of an apartment block." The brunette challenged.
"Okay so I'm just a big girl's blouse I guess." She turned to her parents. "Why'd I have to get such a smart ass for a girlfriend?"
"Well if she's smart she won't hurt you." The Colonel was deliberately making things awkward for Callie.
"Dad?" She pleaded.
"It's fine. I'm not really much of a smart ass but I'm not that dumb either sir." He seemed to be satisfied with that answer, judging from the smile on his face.
"And you got to the hotel okay then?" The Latina asked as the tension began to settle.
"Yes thank you dear. We were surprised when we saw the man with his sign saying "Robbins" on it." Barbara smiled, revealing the trademark dimples.
"What are you talking about?" Arizona had no idea what her mother was meant. Before Callie had a chance to explain, the older woman replied.
"Callie arranged for a car to pick us up from the airport."
"You didn't have to that."
"I wanted to darling. It wasn't too much was it?" The brunette asked the other couple. Daniel shook his head.
"It's good to know you can look after people."
"Dad?"
"So sweetheart, how has your birthday been?" Her mother tried to change the subject.
"Well nobody really paid any attention to it so..."
"Arizona." Mrs Robbins was growing frustrated with her daughter's attitude.
"No Mom it's been good. You know I hate all the attention."
"What's that on your wrist?" She pointed to Arizona's new bracelet.
"Oh Calliope got it for me." Said Calliope sank back in her chair as the older woman "ooed" and "awed" at the silver jewellery. It was then passed to her husband.
"Look Daniel, how sweet." His stern demeanour broke as he took the bracelet. He knew this woman was good for his daughter.
After that conversation flowed easily, as did the wine. Both parents noticed Callie's lack of alcohol but said nothing. When they had finished their main course, Arizona stood up.
"I'm just going to the bathroom. If they come to order desert, I'll have the"
"Banoffee pie." All three finished in unison.
"Okay, that's creepy."
The blonde walked away and the Latina couldn't take her eyes of off her. A fact that did not go unnoticed by Mr and Mrs Robbins.
"We should be thanking you." The man declared suddenly.
"What? Why?" Callie was confused.
"We knew something was wrong with our daughter. Every time we spoke to her she sounded more distant. When she spoke about work her usual perkiness was their but when we asked about her personal life, her fire was gone. She stopped mentioning Jasmine. We knew something was wrong. Then a couple of months ago we got a call. Arizona told us about what that woman had done and that they had broken up. She wasn't sad though. She happy, back to normal. My daughter explained that she had found somebody else. She said that this woman was... What was the word she used?" He asked his wife.
"Miraculous." She answered.
"Yeah," Callie looked down, embarrassed. She likes to throw that word around. I'm not. I'm far from it. I meant what I said though earlier. You'd be an idiot to let someone like Arizona get away. Not just that, you've gotta be heartless to be so cruel."
"Well, I'm saying thank you. My daughter has a lot of scars and I can tell you're actually helping to fix those, not just plastering over them. She deserves the best." The Colonel's eyes were clearly conveying their warning.
"I know." The Latina wasn't scared though. In her mind, Arizona was the miracle. It was then that the woman in question returned.
"What?" She asked as she sensed the atmosphere had been far from light during her absence. Callie answered for them.
"They were just checking we're all on the same page darling."
"Okay." The blonde was far from convinced.
The four of them finished their meal with laughing and jokes as Barbara told stories that only a mother would know about her daughter. Mentions of Tim were accompanied with a sad smile and Callie was just grateful for the insight into this family. The two couples said their goodbyes and arranged to meet at Arizona's the next day.
During the car journey, she noticed that Callie was driving the wrong way and didn't understand why they were heading for Adams's House.
"Why are we here, you forget something?" She asked her girlfriend.
"You could say that." Was her coy response. The brunette led her inside and to the kitchen but told her to wait outside the room. From the door, the blonde could hear fumbling around before a voice telling her to come in.
"Calliope?" Arizona could see the glow of candles.
"We forgot about your birthday cake."
"I didn't want one." She said as she approached the work surface. The surgeon gasped when she saw the cake.
"Do you still not want it because, you know it's fine. If we leave it in the fridge the kids will devour it in no time."
Arizona kissed her. That's all she could do. One kiss with all the love she possessed.
"You were rambling."
"I guess I've been round you too much hey?"
The blonde looked down at the cake. It had bright pink icing with a white unicorn striding across it, a rainbow in the background.
"How did you?"
"Simon made it before he left, bless him."
"We'll leave it for the kids." Callie's heart sank slightly as she watched her partner blow out the candles. "After we've taken a couple of slices." She looked up with unshed tears in her eyes.
"Happy Birthday darling. I love you."
"How about we go to The Acorn and drink champagne and eat our cake. I'd say the roof but what with the rain."
"No that sounds good. Thank you."
"Well I wasn't just gonna sit back and watch you tail spin, was I?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX
When they reached the bar, Callie let go of her hand to get the champagne. Arizona headed towards a secluded corner but was stopped in her tracks at an unwelcome sight.
"Arizona."
"Jasmine?" Oh no this was not good. The woman moved closer to the blonde.
"Happy Birthday, you're not spending it alone are you? Mind you, you were always funny about it. You don't have to be alone though why don't you come back with me." The brunette was now directly in front of her.
"I'm not alone. I'm with someone."
"Well, blow them off."
"How dare you! She is worth ten of you. And even if I was alone, that's better than being with you."
"Oh come on, don't be like that, you know I love you." Every time Arizona took a step away, Jasmine followed.
"Oh yeah, that's why you screwed that nurse."
"Oh you're not still on about that?"
"I think you should leave." A member of security said as he stood between the two women.
"Why?"
"Because you are harassing this woman and I have been told to ask you to leave."
"By who?"
"Me." The blonde had taken a final step back and could now smell her girlfriend's perfume. "This is my bar and I want you out."
"I'm not harassing her. Am I Arizona?"
"By Jasmine." She responded as she put one arm around the Latina.
"Her?" She was now being ushered out by two men but she was still shouting. "You left me for her?"
The peds surgeon took a deep breath and turned into Callie's body.
"You okay Arizona?"
"I will be. Can we just go home with our cake and champagne?"
"Sure thing darling."
Neither woman even noticed when Callie instinctively drove to her own apartment when Arizona had asked for home.
They spent the rest of their night naked, sipping champagne and eating cake. Despite the bar incident, it was the best birthday Arizona had had in a long time.