I don't own anything…all credit goes to ABC/Shondaland
Chapter Thirteen
Arizona's POV
Christmas with the Torres girls was the best. I finally gave Calliope her necklace and was able to tell her how I felt about her. I was more than thrilled to find out she feels the same way. I was pleasantly surprised when she gave me a key to her place. It seems like I'm over there a lot anyway, but there is a difference between having a key and feeling like you can just walk into her place. It almost feels like home. I would love to have a home with Calliope and Sofia sooner rather then later, but for right now I am more than satisfied with a key. The diamond earrings she and Sofia gave to me were a huge shocker. I'm not one for much fancy jewelry, but every girl likes a nice pair of diamonds. I put them in the next day and haven't taken them out yet. They seemed like they cost a fortune, but anything from Calliope I'll accept and cherish. I'm a little upset that I have to leave so soon, but I am excited to see my parents. It's my first Christmas without them and it feels a little weird to not spend the holiday with them, but nonetheless I'm on my way to see them now.
"Do you have everything, babe?" Calliope asks as we are getting out of the car and walking towards the airport with Sofia in her stroller.
"Yeah, I'm only gone for three days, so I packed light."
"Okay, how much time do we have before you have to board?"
"Just over an hour so we can wait and talk before I have to walk through security." I say rolling my suitcase.
We walk into the airport together and I go check my luggage and get my ticket while Calliope and Sofia go sit in a small café outside of security.
"Do you guys want anything to eat or drink?" I inquire sitting next to Calliope and grabbing Sofia from her stroller.
"Nah, I think we're okay. We are actually going to lunch once we leave you." The brunette says giving me a kiss on the cheek.
"Sounds fun, where are you guys going?"
"Umm, the T Hotel. They have a nice afternoon lunch menu and I haven't taken Sofia there before. I thought it would be a different change of pace." I'm surprised at the lunch location, but don't dwell on it too much.
"Well I hope you guys have a nice time. What else are you guys going to do while I'm gone?" I ask interested.
"Uh, not much. Mark is picking up Sofia tomorrow morning then it will just be me for a few days. I'll probably just catch up on some errands and lounge around. I don't think I've had this many consecutive says off since my maternity leave." She responds with a laugh.
"I'm happy that you'll get some time to yourself, even though I'm going to miss you like crazy." I say with a small pout.
"I know, I'm going to miss you too, but at least you'll be with your parents." She says trying to cheer up the mood.
"True, I am excited to see them even though I just saw them at Thanksgiving. My mom already said she's sending me back with tons of clothes for Sofia." I say rolling my eyes playfully and bouncing Sofia up and down.
"Tell her we say thank you and we can't wait to see her again. Maybe when you go on your spring break I'll see if I can get some time off from the hospital. We could visit your parents or go somewhere warm…"
"Hmm, that would be nice." My mind already taking me to images of Calliope in a bikini.
"Something to think about, anyway we will let you get going. Traveling around the holidays can be a bitch."
"Calliope! Young ears around." I say gasping and covering Sofia's little ears.
"Oh right, sorry. All I meant was that it's stressful this time of year."
"Your mommy is so silly." I say to a giggling Sofia. Calliope starts to stand up and I give Sofia one last hug before putting her back into her stroller. "I'll call or text when I land, okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine. Have a good time with your parents, don't worry about us. It's only a few days." She says dismissively.
"I know, I know, but that doesn't make it any easier. Have fun at lunch." I say giving her a hug.
"We will. I love you."
"Love you too." I reply giving her a kiss on her plump lips then watching them walk away. When I can't see them anymore I make my way towards security off to Maryland.
Callie's POV
I just left Arizona and I'm on my way to the T Hotel for lunch. I didn't lie to Arizona, but I didn't tell her the whole truth. Yes Sof and me are headed to lunch, but we are meeting up with my sister Aria who just got in town this morning. My sister works for my dads company, which just so happens to be T Hotels. My dad is the owner, President and CEO of Torres Hotels, better known as T Hotels. Aria works high up the corporate latter, and will probably take over the President and CEO positions when my dad retires or passes away. Growing up I really relished in the whole trust fund, rich kid thing. I went to the best schools, all the hottest parties, had tons of friends, and basically got and did anything I wanted. My sister and I always made sure our studies came first. My dad always said he only became as successful as he did by educating himself and working hard, and my sister and I wanted to be just like him so we did the same thing. What separated us was when I decided to go to medical school and not business school, therefore not following in my father's footsteps. Most people think that becoming a doctor is honorable, but it just wasn't what my family did. I realized that I didn't need materials things and all that money to be happy, so I just stopped living a certain lifestyle. I'm blessed and fortunate to grow up the way I did, but when you step out of that life and see how other people live, you realize you don't all of that stuff to be happy. Some how word got out that I had a girlfriend in medical school and my family got upset. I told them it wasn't serious and they shouldn't worry, but that didn't sit well with my family so that added some more stress to us. Then having a baby out of wedlock kind of tipped them over the edge. I only contact my father through e-mail once every blue moon to let him know I'm alive and well. He didn't take away my trust fund, but I bet if he knew that I was in love with a woman now things might be different. I'm not hiding my family from Arizona, but I only want them to meet on my terms and when I think it's serious enough. I only go into my trust fund for serious stuff and emergencies. Before purchasing Arizona's earrings, I don't think I used any of that money for about three of four years. In all honesty, it is probably serious enough now, but I just don't want to subject Arizona to that yet.
Walking into the restaurant area of the hotel I see my sister seated and looking at her phone. I take a deep breath before I push the stroller over to her. I haven't seen her in person for a few years, our main contact is through e-mails and phone calls. She looks the same, and dressed to the nines from head to toe. She never really grew out of the rich kid thing, more just turned into a rich woman.
"Aria" I say nervously walking up to her table.
"Calliope" She says looking up from her phone and giving me a small smile. We embrace in a hug and sit down at the table.
"I'm assuming that this is Sofia." She says looking in the stroller and seeing a passed out Sofia.
"Yeah, we had an early and eventful morning so she's a little tired. Hopefully she'll wake up during our lunch."
"She's gorgeous, Calliope. Seriously. The pictures you sent me don't do her justice." I can tell she's being completely honest.
"Thank you." I say with pride.
"I always wanted a little niece, and she's just precious."
"Yeah, well you should see her when she's cranky." I say taking a sip of water and easing the mood with a small joke.
"So how have you been?" She asks.
"Good. Work is good, I'm learning a lot and on my way to becoming a surgeon. Sofia will be eight months soon, and I'm really happy."
"That's good. You know I never had an issue with you going to medical school, that was more mom and dad. Being a doctor takes some serious guts. I mean they save lives everyday."
"Yeah, well I wish mom and dad would see it that way." I say under my breath.
"I secretly think they are really proud of you. Dad always said to do what you believe in, I don't think he meant for you to go against the family business, but you are doing what you believe in the end." Aria says contently.
"Well that would be nice to hear every now and then."
"You know when I told dad I was coming out here and visiting you he thought something happened to you."
"What, why?" I ask slightly concerned.
"He got an alert that your trust fund has been accessed. He said since you hardly use it, the bank automatically sends him an alert when someone takes money from it. I think it's just a security feature, really."
"Oh, yeah well I guess I did just make a large purchase. It was only five thousand dollars though. I've made bigger ones before." I say reassuringly.
"I guess he just thought maybe you were having money troubles or something. Him giving us money is basically just his way of controlling us. It's confirmation to him that we still need him." Aria says trying to defend my dad.
"I don't need him, I just always use that money for big purchases. If he's getting alerts when I tap into it though, maybe I just won't use it anymore. I don't want him freaking out or thinking that I'm entirely dependent on him. I guess it's just nice having a stack of money to lean back on."
"I figured as much, I hear doctors make a lot. I hardly touch mine." She says truthfully.
"Doctors do make a lot, but I'm not a surgeon just yet." We talk some more to catch up with each other, but we don't get into any deep stuff yet. We order our food and begin eating. Sofia wakes up and is formally introduced to her aunt.
"Can I ask you something?" Aria asks while holding Sofia in her lap.
"Sure." I say taking a bite of my salad.
"Um, who is AR?" She asks looking at my necklace. My hand moves to capture my necklace and I look down at it and smile.
"Oh, um…"
"I mean clearly they love you from the note on it, and it looks like a nice pendant." She says with a little smile on her face.
"It stands for Arizona Robbins." I say hesitantly.
"Hmm, odd name for a guy, I mean it's an odd name is general." She says with a confused face.
"Well Arizona is actually a girl, I mean a woman, my girlfriend." I respond and we kind of sit in silence for a minute.
"B-but you have a child…"
"Yeah…"
"So I'm assuming you had sex with a guy."
"Aria!"
"Well help me understand, please. I'm trying to piece together this strange puzzle." She says annoyed.
"I had Sofia with Mark, a friend. Then I met Arizona a few months ago and we've been together ever since." I say confidently.
"Wow, okay. Interesting." Aria says taken back by everything.
"The girlfriend in medical school wasn't a phase, huh?"
"Uh, no not really."
"I think mom and dad thought it was. Mom said you would never be foolish enough to actually date a woman, but she's so dramatic. Once they heard you were having a child out of wedlock they were upset of course, but I think we were happy that you were at least with a man."
"Quite frankly I don't care what they think because I don't even speak to mom anymore since I left for medical school, and dad can't even pick up the phone to talk."
"Calliope, that's a little harsh don't you think."
"No, not really Aria. I've done nothing wrong with my life. I just followed what I wanted to do. I'm successful and happy. I'm not doing drugs or wasting my life away. I just went in a different direction."
"Wait…so are you gay?"
"Aria, I told you this a few years ago, this shouldn't be anything new." I say irritated.
"I mean yeah, but then you had a kid, so I don't know." Aria responds with a shoulder shrug.
"I like men and women, so I'm bisexual."
"Arizona is okay with that?"
"I mean it's not like when we go out I'm looking at all the guys and girls in the room, but she knows. I think she kind of figured with the whole Mark, baby situation."
"If you're happy then I guess I'm happy for you. Honestly, it's a little strange to me, but maybe that's just because it's all-new to me. I've never actually met anyone close to me that's gay. I know it goes against our religion and how we were raised, but so does having pre-marital sex and that ship has sailed a long time ago for me."
"Aria, seriously." I say laughing a little.
"Hey, what can I say? I travel, I meet guys, stuff happens." She says with a smile and passing Sofia to me, "I am happy for you, Calliope. It seems that you've made a good little life for yourself here. I mean it's not what I would have done, but it seems to fit you. Although you must come visit me in Miami, this Seattle weather is just plain gross."
"Yeah, but I like it."
"So am I going to get to meet this Arizona girl?"
"She actually went home to visit her parents for a few days. She left this morning."
"If I didn't know any better I would've thought you didn't want us to meet." She says and I start looking away from her gaze.
"Callie…you didn't!"
"What!? Look is was a complete coincidence that you came the same day she left, honestly."
"Does she know that I'm in town?"
"No…" I say taking another bite of my salad.
"Calliope! If my boyfriend did that to me I would be pissed! You basically lied by omission."
"Look, I didn't know how you would react to her, and I didn't want to bring her around my family yet."
"We aren't horrible people, Calliope." She says lowering her voice.
"I haven't seen you in forever. We barely talk, it's one thing to introduce to you my child, who I know mom and dad wouldn't approve of because of how she came about, but then to drop the girlfriend thing on you is something I didn't want her to have to witness when only meeting you for the first time."
"I think I deserve a little more credit, Calliope. You're right the grandchild thing and girlfriend thing probably would've made them flip, but I'm not like that."
"Well how was I supposed to know?"
"I would hope that you would trust me." She says genuinely.
"I know, I'm sorry. Its just that mom doesn't even acknowledge that I have a child and dad only asks if she's healthy and he even makes that seem like it's a huge burden. I'm not even sure how to tell them about Arizona. I love her and have no problem admitting that or showing that, but I don't want them to be rude to her. She doesn't deserve that."
"That's fair."
"She's special to me, she's great with Sofia so I kinda want to keep her around." I say letting out a nervous laugh.
"I understand, hell I've only brought home on guy to meet them and I'm sure that's why I've never seen him again. I promised myself I wouldn't introduce them to anyone else unless I was engaged."
"That's pretty much my plan."
"Have you and Arizona talked about that, ya know, marriage? It's legal in every state now."
"We haven't, I mean when I picture my wedding I see her in it, but we've never openly discussed it. I would love to be married to her though when the time is right." I'm pretty sure I have a huge, goofy grin of my face because thinking about marrying Arizona makes so incredibly happy.
"Wow, that's really great, Calliope!" She says joyfully.
"I really am happy with her."
"Well I just wish I could've met her."
"You will, maybe we'll come to Miami or something."
"Just let me know to make sure I'm in town. You can stay at my place. It's way too big for just me. I swear I haven't even used any of the guest rooms yet."
"Why do you have such a big house if you're hardly home?
"Because I wanted it." She says like it's the most obvious answer in the world. I playfully roll my eyes at her and she just shrugs.
"Look, I have another meeting with some executives then I'm going for some business cocktails in the evening. Let's talk tomorrow and maybe we can have dinner or something?"
"Of course, sounds good. Just let me know what you schedule is like. I'm free pretty much all day." I say putting Sofia back in her stroller and getting ready to leave.
"Yeah, I'll call. I'm glad we got to have lunch today."
"Me too, I think Sofia was happy to meet her aunt to."
"Well it was about time." Aria says giving me a hug. Her phone rings and she waves goodbye before sitting back down at the table and answering her call. Walking through the hotel lobby satisfied with my conversation with my sister. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, but then I remember that I didn't tell Arizona about any of this and hope that she isn't too upset when she finds out…