Chapter Thirteen
"Future years will never know the seething hell and black infernal background, the countless minor scenes and interiors of secession war; and its best they should not. The real war will never get in the books." – Walt Whitman
"Oh my god, mom. You need to move to London because I miss your home cooked meals." Tim said as he entered Arizona's kitchen and walked over to the counter top. "Your fried chicken is to die for."
"Timothy James! Put the fried chicken down." Barbara scolded.
"Come on, mom. The fried chicken was finished an hour ago. It's just sitting there getting cold begging for Nick and me to eat it. I'm growing boy who still needs to eat." Tim flashed his mother a wide smile.
"You may be a growing boy, but you will never be too old to get slapped. Put the chicken down." Barbara held her ground, "Teddy, get the velveeta from the fridge."
Teddy didn't say anything as she walked towards the fridge and got the cheese.
"I heard my name with the association of food come out of Tim's mouth." Nick said as he too entered the kitchen and walked over to the fridge with Teddy. Once Teddy got the cheese from the fridge, Nick grabbed a beer before turning back around to face the others. "I just want to say don't drag me down with you. I finally learned my lesson." Nick didn't say anything else before he left the kitchen and went back into the living room with the Colonel.
Barbara took the cheese from Teddy with a smile. For the first time in years everything seemed right in her mind. Nick and the Colonel where having their bonding time over some type of sporting event in the living room, which was English Football at the moment. Tim was trying to eat everything that was coming out of the oven and off the stove and Arizona and Teddy were there talking with her keeping her company while she cooked.
Just like Nick, Teddy, worked her way into being an unofficial Robbins. Until Arizona and Teddy met, Teddy wasn't a big fan of family or the holidays. Mainly because whenever she went home she was greeted with nonstop fighting and yelling. 7 years ago Teddy was invited to a Robbins' style Thanksgiving and she fell in love with it, and soon one Thanksgiving turned to two, and soon the young general found herself spending a lot more time with the Robbins' family even if there was tension between Arizona and her father.
"Timothy," Barbara hissed
Tim just groaned to himself before he put down the piece of chicken. "What are we waiting on? The corn and macaroni will only take like 10 minutes max."
"We are waiting for our guests of honor, Callie and her sister." Barbara said with a smile.
"Why do I feel like you're happier to see my girlfriend than I am?" Arizona questioned.
"I don't know, maybe I am happier than you at the moment." Barbara directed her smile towards Arizona. "I am pretty excited to meet the woman that finally kicked that bitch, Julie, off her high horse in your heart. Julie was a right bitch, you could have done better."
Arizona's smile slowly went away as her facial expression changed to shock. Barbara just smiled at her stunned daughter. She patted her on the cheek before she turned around to give her full attention to her macaroni.
Arizona went from looking at her mother to looking at Teddy and Tim who were sitting at the other end of the island. Teddy had a shocked smile on her face while Tim was just shaking his head agreeing with his mother.
"Did anybody in our family like Julie?" Arizona asked.
"I think the Colonel did," Teddy said as she passed the milk to Barbara.
"No he didn't." Barbara shot out quickly.
Arizona raised her hands slightly, "seriously? I have been with Julie for 14 years, and nobody thought to sit me down and have intervention with me?"
"Calm down, Ari." Barbara took her dishtowel to wipe her hands before she walked back over towards Arizona and placed her hand back on Arizona's cheek. "You were happy, and if you are happy then I'm happy."
"She wasn't happy," Tim said in the background. "Trust me, mom. When you see the way how Arizona and Callie interact with each other, you'll be shooting yourself in the foot because you didn't have that intervention."
"How would you know? You have been around her for like 10 months, and 7 of those months we were at war, there was no lovey dovey time between us." Arizona hissed at her brother.
"That's what you think. The way you talk and look at her is completely different from how you talked when you were with Julie."
"Fact," Teddy said.
Arizona's eyes shifted towards Teddy and all she did was shrug. "Speaking of Callie, where is she?" Teddy asked.
Outside on the doorstep to Arizona's house stood a nervous Callie and a slightly aggravated Aria. From the other side of the door the women could the sounds of Nick and the Colonel talking and laughing with what sounded like a football game going on in the background. Two seconds later they could hear the men yelling a screaming as their team scored a goal.
"Wow, I don't know about you but I have to say that the Robbins' are missing out on the all the fun." Aria shook her head and then looked over to her sister. "I mean standing on this doorstep for the past 10 minutes have been the best 10 minutes of my life."
"Right," Callie whispered to herself taking the hint from her sister. Callie raised her hand and was about to knock but just like the previous attempts she stopped herself.
"Oh hell," Aria said as she reached over in front of Callie and rang the bell.
"Why did you do that?" Callie looked over towards Aria with wide eyes.
"Because it's time to man up and meet the family, and plus I'm getting hungry and I don't like to be late."
"Her family is in there."
"Oh shit, serious?" Aria said in a mocking tone before she started to laugh at her sister.
"Yeah, laugh it up but if they don't like me?"
"Everybody loves you, Callie. That's what I find so disgusting about you." Aria paused for a moment. "It's just dinner, and you aren't alone. I'm there, Teddy's there and Nick is there. You'll do fine, like you always do."
"But-"Callie was cut off when the door opened.
"Hi," Callie and Aria said in unison with a smile on their face as Nick opened the door.
"Callie," Nick said with a smile before he looked over to her sister. "And you must be Aria; Callie has told me so much about you." Nick extended a hand and shook Aria's hand.
"Oh don't play with my emotions, Nick, by flirting me all evening. You're a cutie and gay and that is so not fair." Aria said with smile.
"I detect some sass in you. I think we are going to be best friends." Nick stepped aside to let the two women in. "Ladies, gentlemen and Tim, Callie and Aria have arrived." Callie and Aria said hi and introduced themselves to the Colonel before Teddy, Tim and Arizona joined Nick and the others in the living room.
"Hey ladies," Arizona said with a smile. "Aria, my mother is about to make her sweet corn. If you want the recipe from the source you should go to the kitchen."
"Oh my god, yes. I have been trying for the past mouth and I always come up short." Aria said with smile as she and Arizona disappeared back into the kitchen.
Nick, Tim and the Colonel watched with smiles on their faces as Aria and Arizona left the room before the three men gathered around Callie. Callie was also watching as the two women left the room and wasn't paying attention to the men until the sound of Nick clearing his throat got her attention.
Callie looked around to find herself surrounded by Tim, Nick and the Colonel. Tim was on her left side, Nick was on her right side and the Colonel was standing right in front of her. The three of them had their arms crossed and straight faces. Callie could feel the color leave her face and she could hear her heart starting to pound.
"You have a name solider?" the Colonel said in a soft but stern voice, as he looked Callie dead in the eye.
"Um, Cal…ah…Callio…Um…Um…Callie…Torres…Sir." Callie stuttered.
"Arizona did always like them articulate." Nick said with a smile, which got the Colonel and Tim to laugh.
When Callie noticed the three men laughing she let a small smile come across her face. "Who said you could laugh, Torres?" Tim said.
In an instant her smile was gone.
"You guys are ridiculous; you're going to give the poor girl a heart attack. Come on Torres." Teddy said with a small smile as the two went to join Aria, Arizona and Barbara in kitchen.
The boys waited until Callie was gone before they broke out into laugher again.
"Um…Um…Um…Callie…Torres." Nick mimicked in a high-pitched voice, which got the boys to laugh harder.
"Red pepper," Aria said standing next to Mrs. Robbins. "I can't believe that was all I was missing."
"You know Robbie, your brothers and father were seconds away from killing your girlfriend." Teddy cutoff when she and Callie entered the kitchen.
"I'm sure Callie can handle those three idiots." Arizona said with a smile as she walked over to Callie. She wrapped her arms around Callie's waist and Callie did the same before two shared a small, but loving and passionate kiss.
Teddy had taken her original seat back at the breakfast bar before she went to living room, and this time Aria was sitting right next her on her left side and Barbara had turned around from stove.
The three women watched with small smiles on their faces as Callie and Arizona embraced each other lovingly in the doorway of the kitchen.
"One day I'll have that," Aria said which got Teddy to shake her head in agreement.
When the two women ended their embrace they turned to face their audience, "Mom," Arizona said with a wide smile that Mrs. Robbins picked up on immediately "this is Callie."
The three of them walked towards each other before meeting right in the middle of their path. "So nice to finally have a beautiful face to put with your name," Barbara said as she extended her hand for a handshake.
"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Robbins." Callie said with a smile.
"Please, call me Barbara or mom." Barbara said with a smile. "Same goes for you too, Aria."
"No problem, Barbara." Aria said with smile.
"Ari, will you let those three idiots know that dinner is ready." Barbara said to Arizona.
Arizona just shook her head and turned around to leave, but as Arizona turned to leave Barbara noticed how the two women's hands glided across each other's arm prolonging the amount of time the two were touching each other.
Arizona, Callie, Teddy and Aria missed the knowing smile that Barbara shot at the two women before she took her food into dining room where the table was already set.
"Dumb, dumber, Colonel, dinner is ready." Arizona said.
"About time," Tim said as he jumped up and practically ran to the dining room.
Tim was the first one to take his seat, and soon the others followed. Barbara and the Colonel sat at the head of the table, while everyone else sat on either side of them. Tim was sitting next to Barbara on her left side, with Nick sitting in the middle and Teddy sitting at the other end next to the Colonel. Arizona was sitting on the right side of Barbara next to Callie and Aria was sitting on the other side of the Colonel across from Teddy. Everyone had their own conversation going on with one another. Tim, Nick and Teddy were where making fun Arizona while Barbara and Aria just watched and laugh at their conversation.
"So Captain Torres," the Colonel started as he passed a plate with rice over toward Teddy.
"Please call me Callie," Callie said with a slight smile, which the Colonel did not return.
"Captain Torres," Callie wiped the smile off her face. "What do your parents do?"
"My father owns a hotel chain, the Mandarin Oriental."
"Those are really nice luxury hotels located all throughout the world," Barbara interrupted.
Callie just shook her head briefly looking over towards Barbara. "My mother is an architect and interior designer."
"Was your father in the military?"
"No sir," Callie kept her questions short and to the point. She could feel her hands sweat and just like when she first walked through the door her heart started to pound.
"So what made you join the military? Did it have something to do with 9/11?" the Colonel asked.
"No, I was a marine long before 9/11; however, I would have joined the military after if I wasn't already in the military. As for joining the military, it's hard to explain I have always wanted to be a marine ever since I was a little kid. I don't know why."
"Interesting," was the all the Colonel said back.
"You know he can pick up the fact that you are nervous as hell, and is probably playing off that. Maybe if you relax your conversation wouldn't be so intense." Aria whispered into Callie's ear.
"I'm nervous because the man hates me, I feel it." Callie whispered back.
"He doesn't hate you," Arizona chimed in to their conversation. "If he hated you then he won't talk to you at all. No hello when you first walk in, no nothing. He's just playing with you because he knows you're scared."
"Oh," Callie breathed out.
Arizona and Callie looked each other for a moment before Arizona rested her hand briefly on Callie's leg, which helped Callie come down a little. Their action was noticed by both the Colonel and Barbara. It took Callie a few minutes to relax, but when she did dinner became much more enjoyable. Thanks to Barbara and the Colonel they relived Nick, Tim and Arizona's child together through a series of embarrassing stories, and thanks to Aria, a few embarrassing stories about Callie came up in their conversation as well.
Once dinner was over, the eight of them had dessert in the living room before Teddy and Callie had to call it an evening. They had to be at headquarters in an hour to start their 48-hour shift.
"Wait, before you two leave." Barbara said as she walked over to purse. "You all know how I love my pictures, and I need a new up to date picture to show the girls when I get back, Tim." Barbara handed the camera to her son because she was never a tech savvy person.
Tim set up the camera's timer before he joined everyone who was by the couch. After 10 seconds the camera went off and snapped a picture of the eight of them. Everyone said goodbye to Teddy, Callie and Aria before the boys went to living room to watch some sport game and Arizona cleaned the kitchen for her mother.
Barbara was sitting at the breakfast bar looking at her camera and at the picture they had taken together. She never thought that any picture could beat the one that she had in her living room of everyone at Arizona's wedding. They were all so happy and carefree, but the more she looked at the current photo in her hand the more she realized that this picture was her new favorite. Barbara and the Colonel were sitting right in the middle of the couch. Teddy and Aria were sitting on the couch next to the Colonel. Arizona and Callie were sitting on the couch next to Barbara, with Tim and Nick standing in the back. In true Tim and Nick fashion they were making faces alongside with Aria and Teddy. The colonel had his arm around Barbara and the two of them had nice wide smiles. Arizona had her arm around Callie and Callie was leaning into Arizona's side. Callie was resting her head on Arizona shoulder and Arizona was resting her head on top of Callie's head. Arizona's right arm was around Callie and her left hand was holding Callie's with their fingers intertwined with each other. In Barbara's mind, Tim was right. Barbara should have sat Arizona down and had an intervention because Callie was 10 times better than Julie.
Barbara's smile grew the more she looked at the picture. The new additions of Callie and Aria made everything seem so balanced. Barbara had seen her daughter happy before, but it was nothing like the happiness she saw in the picture. Barbara sighed to herself and glanced in the living at boys watching TV and drinking beer before she looked at Arizona who had her back turned at her mother for a moment as she loaded the dishwasher. Her life and family was back in order, and she couldn't be happier about it. Barbara looked back down at her camera one last time before she got up to help Arizona. It was official. She had a new favorite photo, and if fate was on her side she would have two new additions to her family.