Chapter 28

Wednesday, May 13th

2015

We had moved back to Seattle.

The President was obviously back on his feet and running things with his own black suites assigned from the soldiers who were serving in D.C. when we were asked to come up. I don't know why they didn't do that before, but I wouldn't take back any of the experiences I've had. The time I served in D.C. and New York were some of the most adventurous times I've ever had. The people I've met and the family that traveled with me were more prepared for anything to come their way. I guess this was a good thing because I was less of a control freak; I was laid back about protecting everyone. Callie and I had fixed things as soon as spring weather rolled around but decided not to talk about the wedding or actually getting married. We decided to saying our commitments to one another was just as good if not better than a whole party with cake and people.

I got out of bed and went up the stairs until I was on top of the hotel we were staying at. Our houses were still being inspected, but they said we would be able to move back in soon. It's not like there's anything to hold onto though. Everything not attached to the house was gone and Fitz said before we left, most of the population left on earth would have to work in factories to get production working again. Crazy huh? A year and a half later and the only career I can look forward to is working in an assembly line. Only half of China was taken out by the virus and while it was a lot of people, more where safe in the other half so they would provide a lot of resources as well. China is a big country. This is what I thought about as I watched the sun rise behind the Space Needle.

I also remember that night Callie and I made everything well again.

"Callie, can't we just talk?"

"I've tried talking to you Arizona!"

"No you haven't, all you do is yell at me. Can we have a discussion without you yelling at me?" I hobbled over to the bed where she was sitting up reading.

"Arizona, I don't want to do this tonight."

"You don't want to do it any night. When's the last time we even had sex? Honestly, because people ask me and I have no clue. I love you Calliope, and I want everything to be good between us again. Jackson even asked if the wedding was off yesterday." I sat down on my side of the bed facing away from her. "You still want to marry me right?" My head hung between my shoulders as I waited for what I assumed would be a 'no'.

There was a short silence before I heard her set the book down on the table and scoot closer to me. "Arizona..." I turned around and looked her in the eyes. "Of course I want to marry you. I love you and… I couldn't imagine not marrying you."

"Yeah, but what if it doesn't work? What if our whole marriage is like this? Maybe my mom was right, maybe I'm too young to get married."

"When have you ever listened to what your mom said?" Callie and I both giggled.

I remembered what my mom had said about arguments when Callie and I were fighting. There was something about admitting you were wrong. "Look, I know I've looked out for everyone since day one and it may seem like I'm still concerned about them, but that's not ever going to change. Those people are family to us Callie and I will always look out for them." I stopped for a second to look up from my lap to see Callie nodding along. "BUT, after this incident with my foot, I'm not able to keep up with them and I don't have to anymore. When I looked around at the dinner, I saw nothing but fight, endurance, perseverance, heart, and everything else that goes into a warrior. They're warriors Callie and they can handle themselves now. Doesn't mean I stop caring, but I'll ease of the protection program."

"Thank you." She said quickly.

"I'm not done." We finally sat face-to-face with our legs crossed between us. "All I care about now, is getting us back on our feet again, you and I. I want to protect you, start a life with you, and have a family with you. That's what I'm focused on Callie." I reached out my hands until Callie grasped them in hers.

"I'm so sorry."

'It's fine, I know I was…"

"No, it's not fine. I was a total ass and yelling at you while you were hurt. I never gave you a chance to talk so I'm sorry."

I didn't really have anything else to say and it seemed like she didn't have anything more to say. We played with the other's fingers as we stared back into our laps.

"So, can we make-up now?" I softly asked in a childish voice.

Callie giggled quietly and finally met my eyes. "Yeah, I guess that would be the right thing to do."

She was wearing her ring so I fiddled with it before asking, "Do you still want to marry me?"

"Of course. I just wish we had the time to set up a party or something, like an actual wedding. Shoot, I wish we could having a wedding right now. I'm tired of just being engaged."

I took a deep breath. "Let's have a wedding."

Callie looked at me with a twisted, confused face. "We'd have to get…"

"No, we don't need anything. A wedding is about commitment right? Let's just have a quick wedding right here, just you and me?"

"Um…you need people to have a wedding or a ceremony, something…"

"No, I don't think so. Marriage is all about commitment so why don't we just commit ourselves to one another right now?"

Callie seemed to think about it but not for long. "Okay." She smiled and held my hands. "Arizona, I promise to love and honor you for the rest of my life. When you are down, I promise to be at your side. I love you." She paused. "Is that it? That was quick. Wait! You need a ring." Callie searched the room until she found an old bubblegum wrapper on the table. She folded it into a ring shape and placed it around my ring finger. "I love you." She said.

I said those same words as I rubbed my finger over Callie's ring. "I love you." I said. I leaned between us and kissed Callie on the lips all the while pushing her back onto the bed. We fell back to together in the other's arms and laughed.

"What do we do now?" Callie whispered in my ear.

I laughed as I rolled over to straddle her hips. "We go on our honeymoon."

"Oh yeah." Callie flipped us over and began to kiss the side of my neck.

"Callie…wait, wait. Not here." She looked at me confused.

We went down the hotel hall until we reached Jackson and April's room. After we explained the circumstances and how I couldn't have sex in the same house as my mom especially since I knew it was going to get loud and she was right down the hall, they agreed to let us use their room. Jackson made it clear that their bed was off limits under every circumstance.

The next morning we woke up with sunlight beating against our bare skin and we dressed to have breakfast back at my mom's house.

When my dad asked how his daughter and future daughter in-law was, I corrected him.

"What?" Mom said from the kitchen. I explained how everything went down. "Awfully quick. Wish I was invited." She replied.

"We didn't want to wait any longer."

"You didn't have any witnesses though." Somehow I knew mom would find an excuse.

"Uh…we…" I stumbled, "we had God as our witness. Yep, the man upstairs was our witness." Callie laughed and moved to the back patio and lay in the hammock and talked. We had so much to catch-up on with each other since we haven't talked in months.

The sun was now further up behind the needle. My finger subconsciously rubbed at the bubblegum wrapper tied around the finger next to it making me smile.

Mark had apparently found his father when they sent everybody back to their home state which was cool, but no one else had such luck. He never really liked his dad anyway and soon my mind wondered to Carlos. My stomach cringed every time I thought about him. It wasn't a nervous cringing but a "I'm going to throw-up everywhere" cringing. It was like having the C-4 explode again into my stomach blowing it into shreds. No matter how many times Callie told me not to blame myself, I still do and she knows I still blame myself. If there's one thing I could change about this whole journey, bringing Carlos back would be the first. Actually, no. The first thing would be making sure this virus never spread in the first place. Then I'd bring back Carlos, Stephanie, Tim, Maria's mom, my dad's arm, the function in my ankle, everything. I would bring back everything… everyone.

Although it seemed like forever for things to start back again, it all seemed to happen so quick. I really wanted to find a place of my own where Callie and I could stay so I wouldn't have to live with my parents but it looked like that wasn't happening.

"Don't think too hard now."

I turned around to find Avery walking up to join me sitting off the side of the building. He took out a pack of cigarettes and slipped one between his lips. "Dude, seriously?!"

"What?" he muttered as he lit the cigarette.

"You survived the apocalypse and you want to start smoking? You know that's like…incredibly bad for you right?"

"I'm feeling stressed."

I reached over and knocked the cigarette out of his mouth so it fell off the side of the building, twenty stories to the ground. I also knocked the lighter from his hand and the rest of the pack laying on his leg. "What do you have to be stressed about?"

"Ah man, you know how hard it was to find those. Eh, I didn't like them anyway. Smoking is kind of gross."

"It's extremely gross and bad for your lungs Jackson."

"I know, it's just…"

I looked at him waiting for an answer.

"April's mad at me and I don't know what to do or say or…anything."

I have been there so many times. Guess it's time to pay it forward. "Don't be afraid to admit where you went wrong."

"What?"

I turned to hang one leg off the building and look Avery in the eyes. "You guys are fighting right?" He nodded. "That means you both need to apologize for whatever it is you did wrong."

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Jackson fired back.

"Yeah ya did. Whether you think you did or didn't, you did and you have to apologize for whatever it is and if you can't figure it out, just apologize for arguing with her."

"How is this supposed to solve anything?"

"Trust me Jackson. My mom gave me the same advice and it's worked every time Callie and I have had a fight."

"Even that fight back in D.C.?"

"Yeah, I was so caught up in the argument and isolation I was feeling, I didn't even think about what my mom had said."

"How's it supposed to work though is what I'm asking."

"When you apologize and say what you feel you did wrong, April will do the same. She'll apologize and you guys will casual fix the rest. I guess… Just go do it Avery."

Avery stood slowly and looked at the sun behind the needle. "Beautiful morning."

"Yep."

"You coming down for breakfast?"

"Yeah, I'll be down in a second."

"Alright, cool." He began to walk off but I heard his footsteps stop. "Hey Arizona?"

I turned around to see him glancing over his shoulder. "Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"I'd do anything for you Jackson; you're like a brother to me. I hate to know you and April are fighting; you guys are a good couple."

"I'd do anything for you too." He gave me a toothy grin before walking towards the door that stuck out of the roof.

I heard him talking to someone else at the door. It was something like…"She's all yours."

It must be Callie.

"Why are you sitting on the edge of the building?" I smiled to myself.

"Just watching the sun come up and waiting for you to wake up." I stepped back onto the roof and made my way over to my beautiful wife.

"Aww, how sweet of you." Callie wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me closer. "They're fixing breakfast down there."

"So I've heard. Are you hungry?" I kissed her softly on the lips before pulling back to hear her answer.

"Starving. The trip back up here threw off my appetite for a few weeks."

We walked down into the hotel lobby and tried to move around everyone but by the time we found our way to the breakfast line, most of the food was gone. "So much for a decent breakfast." Callie muttered.

We grabbed a few fruits and one of those serving size boxes of cereal, no milk. "At least it's something." I said.

"Arizona! Over here." I looked around to find who was calling me. In the distance, I could see my dad waving his hand in the air.

"Looks like my dad wants us to eat with him."

Another voice shouted through the crowd. "Callie! Callie, over here!" We turned to see Aria walking towards us with Maria hooked to her side.

"You can go ahead, I'll catch up."

"It's fine, she's my sister too. If she needs something maybe I could help."

"Callie!"

"Aria, we're right here, no need to yell."

"There is. You see that boy over there near the coffee machine?" Aria turned around and smiled back at the guy standing there who was smiling at her.

"Yes, very handsome."

"His name is Max and we met a few weeks ago and we really hit off and now he asked me to go on a date, but I don't know what we'd do on a date, but I really want to go and…"

I stopped her before she could ramble anymore. "Aria, calm down. If you want us to watch Maria we'd be happy to do so."

"You would?" She looked to Callie to make sure and she nodded a 'yes'. "Okay, great. Thank you guys so much. I'll drop her off at eight on Friday. I usually put here down at seven, but I'll let her play for a while longer that way you can just lay her down when I drop her off."

"Sounds good." Callie said.

"Thank you guys so much." She placed a kiss on Callie's cheek then mine before running back to Max. We could see her point at us while explaining something. They both looked back at us and Max waved his hand with a mouthed 'thank you'. We waved back and made our way to my parents.

Friday, May 15th

The next two days went smoothly because we did the only thing we could do; we gathered wood and built supplies with our hands. Callie hated getting her hands dirty with anything other than blood so she worked in the clinic set up at the hotel. We both wanted to go to college and have steady paying jobs, but this wasn't anywhere in the plan. I'm a construction worker and Callie is a nurse. I guess it worked out for her more than me, but I didn't really construct anything. The guys did most of the lifting and collecting while I designed the ideas; easy-to-make table and chairs for the families living in our hotel. Oh, and we didn't get paid so that was a bummer but sometimes we got to keep some of the better hand-made items. I saved this chest that was made to keep clothes in and gave it to Callie even though it could probably fit a whole lot more.

Clothes. That was another thing people were searching for. There were stores with clothes in them but some of them had blood and gusts everywhere and we were told to stay away from those stores until they were completely cleaned.

"We got a bite!" Someone yelled.

Shit.

While most of some animal species were wiped out, such as the raccoon, we didn't have to worry about rabid animals anymore. The Army and the CDC cleaned the bodies so we didn't have to worry about zombie humans running around but there was always the chance. If anything like that was found or anyone was hurt, we were supposed to alert everyone.

I reached down to my arm and began rubbing the scar left from my own experience then the sound of a shotgun firing ran through the air. I grabbed my hatchet from its place on my hip and held it firmly in my hands.

There was a squeal of a dog followed by another shot in the distance where a crowd was now forming. Jackson ran up beside me and took out his gun.

"You hear that?" Jackson asked.

"Of course I heard that. Hope he had the vaccine right?"

"If he didn't, he needs it now." Jackson led the way through the crowd. "He have the vaccine?!" He yelled through some people as they let us by. Sometime ago when people yelled 'bite' everybody would run, and now they all readied their weapons and formed a crowd.

When Jackson and I reached the middle we saw the limp body of a dog with foam spewing from its mouth and red bites on its side. Poor dog.

"Does he have the vaccine?" Jackson asked as he leaned down to look at the wound.

There were some areas of the states that didn't receive the vaccine immediately and were still on a waiting list for the next batch.

"No, I don't have it." He hissed out through gritted teeth. "Son of a bitch came out of nowhere!"

"Sweep the area, everyone go back to the hotel!" Our advisor yelled. He was the guy who made sure everyone was safe and if something happened, he gave us the best plan for evacuation. It took us an entire month of just creating plans for something like this and since I had the best connection with the clinic; it was my responsibility to take him there.

"You going to help me Jacks?"

"Yes, of course."

"I'll help too." Another guy offered.

We wrapped him up and carried him back to the hotel, our weapons at the ready.

Our small team of a few guys busted through the lobby door and went into the party room where the clinic was set up.

"Quarantine!" I shouted towards the nurses. I didn't want to say any more and frighten other patients. Finally Callie appeared and helped us get the man into a bed.

"What happened?" She asked frantically.

I got extremely close to her ear. "He was bit and we need him to be isolated with a vaccine in his arm as soon as possible.

"There is a couple in the back for emergencies."

"Good, go get them."

We waited in the lobby as we let the doctors do their work. Callie came out an hour later and told us he was doing fine and looked as if the virus was stopped just in time.

"I'm going to be working late and watching him." Callie mentioned.

"That's fine." I gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

"We're supposed to watch Maria tonight." She reminded me.

"Oh, yeah. Its fine, I'll watch her. No problem."

"Are you sure?" She gave me a kiss.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll make Avery come over and help or something."

Avery twirled around from a medical supply cabinet. "What about me?"

"You're helping me babysit tonight."

"Fantastic."

Callie embraced me in a sort of half-hug and leaned over my shoulder. "Don't get too excited Avery." She teased.

"Believe me, I'm not."

I turned back around to Callie. "He loves that baby and he knows it."

"Yeah." Callie sighed and hung her hands around my neck, pressing her stomach to mine. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Don't have too much fun with the kids."

"I heard that!" Jackson interrupted.

"I won't because I'm too tired from what happened today. It's so scary to think stuff like that can still happen."

"It's something we have to live with for a while. It'll get better."

"I guess." I nuzzled my nose into Callie's neck then brought my face back up to hers. "Don't work too hard tonight."

We kissed each other softly, our lips moving slowly together until Jackson coughed signaling we should go.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning." Callie kissed me once again before letting go.

"Bye." I turned around and patted Jackson on the back. "Come on Avery, we have a baby to watch." Jackson grunted as we began to climb up the hotel stairs. "It'll be fun!"

One more chapter and then I have this cool idea for the last chapter. Tell me what you think. And do you want to see some Jackson and baby action?