Hey y'all, thanks for the feedback and support on the last one, it definitely makes writing easier and more enjoyable. I'm sorry for taking so long to post, I've had a really rough week. I hope you guys enjoy this one as well. Once again italics are a flashback, and bold is Callie's POV.
Dog
I pace back and forth the apartment living room, just as I have done for the past hour since I've gotten home; Sofia's eyes following me across the room from her bouncy chair sitting on the floor. "I know, boo. Mama did something really spontaneous. I know, I know, Mommy's going to be mad."
"What am I going to be mad about?" Calliope walks through the front as my mouth comes to a close. My eyes are immediately drawn to her. One of her eyebrows is quirked in typical Calliope fashion as she shuts the door with her foot.
"Calliope, you're home early." I'm certain that the shock and fear is quite clear in my voice and on my face.
Her face completely changes at the sight of what I've done. "Arizona Elizabeth Robbins, what the hell were you thinking?" Her voice is just loud enough to be considered a yell, obviously trying not to upset Sofia.
"I know, I know, I just couldn't help myself. And you should have seen the look on Sofia's face. She got to excited, she kept smiling and laughing. It was one of the most adorable things I've ever seen." I reply, because it all honesty every word I said was true.
"Let's get going, boo. We've got to go home and make dinner for Mommy." I say to Sofia who was sitting in the cart. Walking out of the grocery store a happy squeal for my daughter catches my attention causing me to look around.
"Doggie!" Sofia points to the bulletin board in the entrance to the store; she starts giggle and can't stop smiling.
I turn my head to find Sofia was in fact correct in her outburst. "Yes, Sofia that is a doggie. Good job, sweetie." I bend down and place a kiss on her forehead.
"Doggie! Doggie!" Sofia squeals once again, she begins squirming in the cart trying to get out.
"Okay, sweetie. I'll let you out." I say picking her up out of the cart. She instantly tries to get out of my arms, trying to grab at the picture of the dog on the bulletin board.
I move closer to the board so that she can touch the photo; as I do I take the time to read the advertisement. Home needed! Three year old female Irish Setter named Maggie. House trained, great with kids and other dogs. Need for home, moving. I can tell instantly that this dog would fit perfect with our family.
"You want the doggie, Sofia? Do you?" I ask excited fully well knowing that she'd say yes.
"Momma, yea!" She says excitedly.
"Okay, boo." I say taking one of the numbers from the poster. I kiss her forehead once again before putting her back in the cart. "Let's go get ourselves a doggie."
Calliope picks up Sofia out of her bouncy chair, putting her on her hip. "I know she's cute, she's our daughter, but how do you expect us to be able to take care of a dog right now. You're four months pregnant, Sofia is just over a year old and we're both working full time and I'm working overtime in order to build up extra holiday time so that I can take some time off to with you guys when the baby comes. How do you expect us to able to do this?"
"I guess I never thought that through entire but I know we can do it. It's a dog, Calliope. You and I both know that we're going to get a house really soon so we will have room. You haven't seen her with Sofia, she's great. It's so adorable. And not having the time, we will make time or find time, we always do. You know that."
"Arizona," I can immediately feel worrying in her tone. "I don't know about this. I"
I cut her off because I can exactly what she's going to say. "I know, Calliope but remember the big picture. We can do this, I know we can, and we will. You want to do this, I know you're scared but we wanted this remember. We wanted kids, dogs, and chickens. So we can do this."
I can see her gaze shift from my face to Maggie who was sitting on the rug next to the couch, only about four feet away from Sofia's bouncy chair. "She really is good with Sofia?" I can see the worry in her eyes starting to dissipate but the nerves are still there.
"I promise, just watch okay?" I give my wife her favourite dimpled smile, taking Sofia into my arms. I put her back into her bouncy seat before calling out to Maggie. "Maggie, come here girl." I pat my hand next to Sofia's bouncy chair.
Maggie carefully gets up off of the rug, walking over to me and Sofia. "Give Sofia kisses, Maggie. Kisses." I say knowing that once Calliope sees this she'll be a goner.
Maggie quickly comes very close to the two of us, sitting down between Sofia and me. She slowly leans over and licks the side of Sofia face making her laugh happily. "Good girl, Maggie, good girl." I place a kiss on the top of her head, rubbing her back.
I look up at Calliope to gauge her reaction. The happiness in her eyes is undeniable. "I don't know about this, Arizona, we'll see." She gives me a very small smile before heading towards our bedroom.
No matter how much I wanted to follow her I knew better; I know from past experience to just let her go. I pick Sofia up from her bouncy chair, pulling her into my arms. "Let's go have a sat down on the couch, boo. I can see Mommy's having a difficult time on this one, do you agree?"
I make Sofia's little hand give me a tiny thumbs up in agreement. "I'm glad you think so." I say before giving her a kisses all over her face, making her giggle once again.
"How can you do that?" Calliope says as she walks back into the room, wrinkling her nose.
"Do what?" I reply; slightly confused at what she taking about.
"Kiss her like that after the dog just drooled all over her." I can see the slight disgust on her face.
I can't help but roll my eyes; I thought that I was going to be the most overprotective parent in the history of the universe but no, that was turning out to be Calliope's title. "Okay, for one, Maggie didn't drool all over her she gave her a kiss, and for two, any germs that would hurt Sofia can't come from Maggie because she had all of her shots against human diseases and anything else that would hurt the dog would be species specific and therefore wouldn't hurt Sofia. See, not so scary any more is it?"
"Well, when you put it that way, no, it's not." She says as she enters the kitchen, turning on the kettle.
"So, in that case can we keep her?" I ask, hoping she'll just say yes.
"Arizona, stop." Her voice is now firm and I can feel the anger seeping out of her mouth. "You keep acting like a child about this. It needs to stop, please. I said we'll see, which means we'll see how it goes over the next couple of days, okay?" The tone of her voice is now less angry but her annoyance is stil present.
"Okay." I manage to squeak out, pulling Sofia to closer to me, before beginning to turner into a blubbering mess; my hormones obviously getting the better of me. Tears begin to form in my eyes, my nose begins to run, and I start to shake; sobbing.
"Arizona?" Calliope calls out to me, her back obviously still towards me by the tone of her voice. I hear can barely hear the sound of the kettle boiling over my crying. Sofia puts her hand on my cheek and lets out a loud cry, trying to catch Calliope's attention.
"Arizona?" She says, turning around, before letting out a gasp. "Hey, hey it's okay." Calliope rushes over, quickly wrapping her arms around me and Sofia.
I bury my head into Calliope's curls; I want nothing more than to fast-forward this moment and go to a place in time where it's just me, her, our children, and Maggie. I want to fast-forward the fear and worry.
"I'm sorry." I whisper into the crook of her neck, "I-I should have asked." I'm certain she can feel my hot tears running down the soft skin of her chest.
"It's okay, just relax, it's okay." She whispers into my ear, pulling me closer; I can feel her warm breath on my cheek. I try to speak again but she shushes me, "This is your family, you get to start parts of our life together, like when I asked you to still be in my life when you came back from Africa. No matter how mad or upset you were about what had happened I knew that I wanted you in my child's life and mine, no matter what. Just know that this is just that, on a much smaller scale of course, but it is. So it's okay, everything is okay."
I think about what she's said; it's strange the way she's explained it but it makes sense to me, to someone else who doesn't know Calliope the way I do may say she sounds crazy but to me it makes sense.
"Okay." It is the only word I can think to say. I simply want to bask the awe that is Calliope.
"I promise I'll seriously consider the dog, but just give me a day or two okay?" She tilts her head so that she is able to give me a kiss on the cheek.
I once again say okay before slowly pulling slightly away from her.
"Let's get to bed. I think we've both had a really long day." She brushes my hair out of my face before placing a kiss on the top of Sofia's head of curls.
"I think that's a great idea." I slowly untangle myself from Calliope's arms.
I am awaked from my usual deep sleep by the sound of Sofia's cries coming from the baby monitor on the bedside table on my side of the bed; it was my turn to be on Sofia duty tonight.
Before I even the get chance to get out of bed, I watch Maggie jump from her spot at the foot of our bed next to Arizona's feet and sprint surprisingly quietly out of our room. After pulling myself out of bed and arriving at my daughter's room I can't help but laugh.
Maggie is sitting right in front of Sofia's crib, her nose poked as far as she can get it between the rungs of the crib, while Sofia laughs as she pats her on the nose.
"Hey Sof, everything okay now?" I ask bending over her crib, smoothing down her hair. Sofia keeps on laughing, so I take that as a yes. I lean back over the crib, looking down at Maggie before scratching behind her ears. "Good girl, Maggie. Mommy's going to go back to bed now, Sof."
I receive no protests from Sofia so I slowly edge my way out of the room. As I crawl into bed, Arizona begins to stir, turning over so that her body is facing mine. I can't help but brush the hair out of her face so that I am able to see every freckle across the bridge of her nose, everything that made Arizona "Arizona".
I wrapped my arms around her, holding her as close to me as possible. "She can stay."
"Really?" Arizona mumbles sleepily, though her surprise is easily detectable in her voice.
"Really." I whisper in her ear before placing a kiss on her forehead.
"Thank you." She places a kiss on my neck.
"You're welcome, baby." They are the last words spoken as we soon fall asleep embraced in each other's arms.