Hello all, I'm very pleased and excited with your feedback on the last two so thank you very much for that. It definitely made my day! As you have noticed, in my stories Callie is definitely more affectionate, I write her that way because in my head I see her that way. I just think that in the show she's always trying to be a badass and prove to everybody that she's okay and can do whatever she puts her mind to so we don't get to see that side of her very often but I strongly believe that it's still there in between scenes. Anyhow, that's my ramble for the day. Also italics are flashbacks. I hope y'all enjoy!
Christmas
The weather in Seattle for the twenty fourth of December, there was about three feet of snow covering the ground instead of the usual two inches of slush. It was making Sofia's first Christmas even more special.
Calliope had gone overboard on the decorating and had made the apartment into a winter wonderland. Christmas lights were strung across the fireplace mantel, the breakfast bar, and around every door frame in the apartment. The top of the kitchen cupboards was outlined with tree branches decorated with holly plants. The largest Christmas tree possible to fit in our apartment was set up in the living room next to the fireplace. It was covered in shiny red bulbs, white lights, and the traditional strings of popcorn. I remember walking into the apartment for the first time after Calliope had decorated everything. I was completely shocked.
"Calliope?" I hesitantly call out to my wife as I enter the apartment, which looked a heck of a lot different than when I left. The apartment had been turned into something you'd see in a Martha Stewart magazine. I slowly walk further into the room taking everything in.
"I'm in here." Calliope's voice echoes through the apartment, coming from Sofia's room.
I hang up my jacket and drop my bag by the door before making my way to my daughter's bedroom. I'm met by the sight of my two favourite people in the entire world sitting the rocking in the far corner of the bedroom; Sofia sitting in Calliope's lap who was holding a book, obviously reading Sofia her nightly bedtime story.
"Hey honey, how was work?" Calliope says with a smile.
"It was good, lots of happy endings today." I say walking up to them then taking a seat on the floor in front of them and begin to play with Sofia's toes. This of course elicits a response in the form of a giggle from Sofia and a chuckle from Calliope. "I could say the same thing to you, so much for a day off huh?"
"Yeah, about that," She chuckles nervously, "I couldn't help myself. I wanted Sofia's first to special so I kinda went all out."
"I can see that." I giggle, just as Sofia starts to get fussy, crying to get out of Calliope's arms. "Come here, boo." I put my arms out for Calliope to hand her to me. She stops crying as Calliope puts her in my arms.
"Come here." Calliope says as she taps her hand on her knee, signalling for me to take a seat in her lap. "I want to talk to you about something."
"Okay," I hesitantly stand up, slightly nervous because her voice is quite serious. I take a seat in Calliope's lap and she wraps her arms firmly around my waist. "Is it something serious because you sound,"
She cuts me off before I get the chance to finish my sentence. "No, baby it's nothing really serious I just want your opinion on something. I'm sorry for decorating the apartment without you, I just couldn't help myself. I just couldn't sit around the apartment doing nothing. I should have waited, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, you know that I'd probably mess everything up and the place would look like a state and you'd get mad at me." I chuckle, "It's perfectly okay. Now what is this thing you want to talk about?"
"Well, Christmas is only little more than a week away and this is our first as a family and I was hoping that we could talk about traditions, because I'm sure what I grew up with and what you grew up with is different. So I wanted to discuss what we were going to do as a family."
"That sounds like a wonderful way to spend the rest of the evening but I say we put this little monkey to bed and we'll talk okay?" I say before placing a kiss on the top Sofia's full head of black hair.
"I like the sound of that plan. I'll put her down and you can go get changed then we'll talk okay?" She brushes all my hair to one side in order to kiss the back of my neck.
"No, I'll put her down. I haven't seen her all day. You go out and get yourself a nice glass of wine and I'll join you in a minute, okay?" I whisper trying not to wake Sofia who has quickly fallen asleep in my arms. I look down at my daughter in my arms and I can't help but smile. Every day she looks more and more like Calliope that it's almost unbelievable.
I end up meeting her in the living room fifteen minutes later due to the fact Sofia had thrown a small fit when I took her out of my arms. She is lying down on the couch, a Christmas décor magazine in her hand, waiting for the time alone we've both been craving over the past few days; working opposite overtime in order to get Christmas day off was definitely beginning to get to the both of us.
I kneel down just in front of her face next to the couch, causing her to tear the magazine away from her face, revealing half of my favourite set of beautiful brown eyes. "I missed you." I say, taking a moment to simply bask in the beauty that was Calliope.
"I missed you too." Her voice is soft and calming as she leans forward, placing a kiss on my forehead. "Are you planning on joining me?" She asks, pulling away so that once again I can see her beautiful eyes.
"Of course, I do." I can't help but grin at her as I stand up. She pulls herself close to the back of the couch making room for me. I lay down next to her, assuming our usual movie night position of Calliope wrapping her arm firmly around my waist holding me while she sit up on her elbow resting her head on her palm, and me curling up as close possible to her while tangling our legs together.
"So I was thinking, I don't really know a lot about what your family does for Christmas considering me having to work our first Christmas together and the whole Africa situation we've never really had a Christmas together." I can automatically sense the nervousness in her voice, the smooth talking badass that everyone else saw was nowhere to be found.
"You have a very valid point there, Calliope. I could say the same about yours, I don't really know what they do but I could guess if I had too." I say calmly, hoping to calm her nerves.
"Growing up there was a lot of things we did at Christmas." The nerves in her voice were slowly disappearing as she spoke. "We had family dinner on Christmas Eve then went to evening mass. Christmas day we got up went to church once again then came home and opened our presents, my family from all over Miami would come over for dinner then we'd go to one of their houses for supper, they rotated every year."
"It sounds like a very hectic couple of days." I reply, I can't help but hope that in the future our house doesn't turn into some sort of venue for a Christmas festival.
"I know, I always found it overwhelming as a child and I really don't want that for Sofia. I know that our families live far away and that we do have somewhat of a family at the hospital but I think that it would be nice to have Christmas just be us and Sofia, and well Mark I guess. At least for now, maybe when she gets older we could take visits to Miami or Annapolis to visit our parents. What do you think?" With the posing of her question, the vulnerable side of Calliope has returned once again.
"I think that just you, me and Sofia sounds great. I suppose I can put up with Mark for one day, he gets Christmas day but Christmas Eve is just us and our daughter, okay?" I can feel her nodding behind me, prompting me to continue. "Because in my family, we really only have one tradition. And that's that we get to open one present on the night be Christmas. I've always found that it made Christmas more fun. It always made me more anxious for the next morning. Surprisingly enough it made it easier to go to sleep, I wasn't one of those kids who keep calling out to their parents to ask if Santa had been there yet every ten minutes."
Calliope chuckles, I can feel the warmth of her breath on the back of my neck, inevitably sending shivers down my spine. "So just you, me and the kid, huh? I like the sound of that. We can bring Sofia out for a quick walk so she can see all the Christmas lights around the neighbourhood, then we can come for a nice glass of hot chocolate with warm milk for Sofia and open our one present. How does that sound?"
"The best thing I've heard all week." I giggle.
"Good." She says cheerfully, placing a kiss on the back of my neck. "I want to show you something okay?" Her voice is barely above a whisper as she begins to sit up. I simply nod in response, untangling our legs so that we can both sit up. Calliope takes my hand, helping me up off the couch then leads me to just in front of the Christmas tree. "What do you see?"
"A Christmas tree that I have absolutely no idea how you managed to get in here." I chuckle.
"Okay, I get that but it's not quite what I was going for. What's missing?"
I scan the tree looking for empty spaces between the rows of popcorn, lights, and bulbs but find none. It is only after I get to the last bulb near the top of the tree do I see what she was referring to. The top of the tree was bare, no traditional angel or somewhat modern star adorning the peak of the tree.
"There's nothing at the top." I say hoping it was the right answer so was going for.
She lets go of my hand and turns toward the small table sitting next to the window. As Calliope turns back around my eyes are drawn to the most beautiful tree topper I had ever seen that was carefully being held in her hands. The star was obviously made from pure gold and accented with real gems of ruby and emerald; intricate patterns cut through its surface reflecting light onto the wall.
"Calliope, it's beautiful." I was absolutely shocked by its magnificence.
"It was my great-grandmother's given to her by my great-grandfather as a first Christmas present as husband and wife. She gave it to my Abeula when she married my Abeulo, who eventually passed it onto me when she passed away. She told me that someday I was going to find someone special to share my life with and that they'd the brightest star in my sky, that they would help lead me to amazing things. I never used it because I always thought that I'd never find that person. I had always thought that she had just said those things because she wanted to seem wise, but clearly she was right. She would have loved you, I know it. I guess that's why I saved it all those years, for you." There are tears streaming down her face as she carefully places the star in my hands, before wrapping her hands around my own. "I want you to put it on the top."
"Really?" Tears are now streaming down my face, as I am completely taken aback by Calliope's story .
"Really, Arizona, I want you to do it." She lets go of my hands, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me close enough to place a kiss on my forehead. "I always want it to be you."
So here I am, sitting on the floor of my apartment sipping hot chocolate with my daughter in my lap on Christmas Eve staring up that the star on the top of our first Christmas tree as a family.
"Okay so who wants to open their present first?" Calliope says as she takes a seat on the floor beside me.
"I think that we should let Sofia open hers first, considering she is the child here." I say with a chuckle.
"You have a very valid point there, baby, but Miss Sofia has fallen asleep in your lap once again." Calliope chuckles slightly before taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "So how about you open your present first?"
She puts her mug on the floor and leans forward and grabs a small black velvet cover box from beneath the tree. "This is for you." She gives me a megawatt smile as she passes me the box.
I carefully put down my own mug, before making sure Sofia was secure in my lap then taking the box from Calliope. I can't help but gasp as I open the box.
"I've had this for a long time. I bought it just before I brought up having kids. You asked me first so I never really got the chance to give it to you. So I thought now would be a good time." Her voice is so vulnerable, like a child.
The box reveals the most beautiful ring I have ever seen; a diamond inlayed between to blue topaz stones with intricate Celtic knots going down the sides of the ring. "Calliope, it's beautiful."
"For my beautiful wife." She places a kiss on my temple, taking my left hand in hers. "May I?"
"Of course, you can." Tears are now forming in the corners of my eyes as she takes the ring out of the box. She takes my wedding band off before replacing it with my engagement ring, slipping it back in front of it. "I love you."
Calliope gives me a wide smile with a chuckle, "I love you too." She moves closer, placing a kiss on my lips; her lips tasting like chocolate and marshmallows.
We're interrupted by a content squawk from a now wide awake Sofia. "Hey baby girl, don't worry you're not missing out. Your present's next." I say with a grin as I pull Sofia up into my arms, blowing a raspberry on her cheek, eliciting a loud giggle. "Can you hold her?"
"No problem." She takes Sofia from my arms.
"Well this is Sofia's present from me, I thought I'd save the stuff from us until tomorrow because this is a gift for Sofia but technically it's for you and her. Sound good?" I ask.
"Whatever you say, Arizona." She says with a chuckle as she begins playing with Sofia, bouncing her up and down.
"Okay, Sofia. Here you go, boo." I pass a soft square wrapped in candy can striped wrapping paper.
She lets out yet another content shriek, shaking the present like a rattle, her fingers tearing slightly through the paper. "Here, let Mommy help you." Calliope takes hold of Sofia's tiny little hands, beginning to help her tear through the paper.
The look on Calliope face as she opens up the t-shirt is one I'll always remember. The pure joy on her face, the love in her eyes will forever be burnt into my brain. "Best big sister ever." She says, reading the name tag on the t-shirt I had bought for Sofia; her voice soft and sweet.
She looks at me with her big brown eyes, "Really?"
"Really. I'm pregnant." I scoot closer, leaning back against the couch. I wrap my arms them, and I have my entire world in my arms.
Calliope leans back into my arms, her head falling in the crook of my neck. "Best Christmas present ever."