Heaven's Gate 5
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
Rated NC-17.
Summary: After a tragic accident, both Callie and Arizona’s lives hang in the balance while they wait for said lives to be assessed as to whether or not they are ready to be let in to Heaven. Please, I mean no offense toward any religious belief. I grew up Catholic, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become much less religious and much more spiritual. So this intended, lighthearted, blend of beliefs is the basis for this fic.
A/N: So I've committed my own fanfic cardinal sin and took a break from posting, but my real life has taken some interesting turns and my humor muse has gone on vacation. I apologize for the long time span between postings and can only say....life happens.
Chapter Five:
Arizona:
Adonis and Arizona paced around the area outside of the rainbow gate. He was clearly agitated once again and she was just waiting......patiently for him to continue the day’s activities. She walked up closer to the gate and attempted to peer through the silver cords, but couldn’t see anything on the other side. She made a move to touch one of them only to halt her actions due to the loud "Ahem" that sounded behind her.
Arizona glanced over to were Adonis had perched himself and was actively filing his nails "Sorry.....I was just curious. So......Adonis.....tell me....what are we doing now? I mean you seemed to be in a big hurry earlier and now......well, now we’re just sitting around. I don’t mean to be pushy or anything.....but this is my life we’re picking apart." Arizona was rambling in order to escape the deafening silence......it made her nervous.
"We’re waiting.....again....for my imbecile of an intern who has already made me late for my lunch date with a handsome Greek fella......so if I were you, I wouldn’t push it....I’m in no mood." Adonis threw up his hand in her direction as if to say... back off.
Arizona continued to pace with a pout on her face, adjusting her dress as she walked. She absentmindedly and repeatedly ran a length of the skirt through her hands until she accidentally pulled a thread. The more she tried to stop the unraveling and hide the evidence, the worse it got until she ended up with a rather large ball of thread stuffed into her closed fist, hoping to conceal it. With any luck she would be getting a new dress soon. Her wings were heavy and she felt as though they were pulling on her neck muscles. She desperately tried to stretch and relieve the building tension. All at once, a commotion was heard from beyond the rainbow. There was yelling and loud crashes and apparent cries of pain. Arizona looked to Adonis who just sat with his eyes lowered, shaking his head from side to side. The intern burst through the door in a puff of mist, taking a deep breath to regain some composure. He straightened his hair and his toga, fluffed his wings and adjusted his halo which was threatening to slip down to his ear. He noticed the death stare he was receiving from Adonis and only then made a move to continue his task. He floated unsteadily over to where Arizona was watching wide eyed. He handed her a yellow dress and a pair of yellow ballet slippers.
"Oh thank God....I’ve been looking forward to this" she said as she dropped the ball of thread from her hand and proceeded to strip off the orange garment without care that the intern was gawking at her.
Adonis stood and approached them both with a look of disdain "No.....thank Enrique....he’s in charge of wardrobe."
"And he’s in a mood today too" the intern offered "he wasn’t about to give this dress up....said something about it being his favorite and ....didn’t..... want to .....see it ruined" he said with a puzzled look as he gathered what was left of the orange dress. "I told him it was a strict order from you and I snatched it away. I had to hurry out of there and as it ended up....he threw the shoes at me." The intern was now full on pouting.
Arizona was busy rubbing the new, softer fabric "Oooo, is this Egyptian cotton.....it’s so much softer than that last rag." That last statement slipped out before her filter kicked in. She put the shoes on and then turned so Adonis could attach her new wings. They were a beautiful light yellow with no missing feathers and as they were set upon her shoulder blades, she noticed how much lighter they were. As she tried to look behind her to admire them, she felt a strange sensation. After a moment, she realized that she had some control over these wings "Look!....I can wiggle them!"
"Yay" was all Adonis could sarcastically add.
Arizona giggled as she continued to shift her wings up and down and back and forth. With each progressive flutter, she gained strength until she forcefully pushed her wings back, propelling her forward with such a sudden burst that she tumbled off into the mist. The intern and Adonis looked at each other and couldn’t help but snicker "Happens every time".
Arizona collected herself and straightened her garment as she carefully walked back to where her guide was waiting "Pretty powerful......these things .....are" she said embarrassed as she pointed behind herself.
Adonis turned to the intern "That will be all for now Miguel....I’ll let ya know whether we need to get the next one." With that, Miguel turned and floated toward the gate with a little less effort. Adonis approached Arizona with new determination "All right. Here we are at the third Chakra.....the Solar plexus....the emotional center. It deals with our mental understanding of our emotional selves. We want to see how you feel like you have been able to utilize your emotions in your spiritual growth."
"Uh.......what?......I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying....I mean, I know what emotions are, and I feel them....but....." Arizona was clearly at a loss.
Adonis decided to take another approach "So if you’re happy.....do you show it?
"Of course....I’m quite perky and I say 'yay'....a lot....and I’ve been known to clap" Arizona breathed a sigh of relief believing this line of questioning to be a piece of cake.
Adonis peered at her over his down turned eyes trying to hide the giggle that threatened to escape "So you’re telling me that when you’re happy....and you know it....you clap your hands?
Arizona thought about what she had said "Ah yeah....screw it....that’s accurate" trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Moving right along....."Adonis continued "What about sadness?....Do you show that?"
"Um...yup....usually with lots and lots of tears" she nodded in the affirmative.
Adonis glared at her questioningly "and anger?"
Arizona gazed around her while she thought of how to answer "Um.....I guess I yell some, but again there's probably some tears involved....and I really hate that....it just pisses me off more when that happens....I mean why I can't I just get mad? I think when the other person sees tears....well they just see you as weak.....and I am not weak.....I just can't help it...they slip out before I know it and...." she stopped speaking, noting the uninterested expression on Adonis’ face.
"What about fear?" he asked hoping to elicit a different response.
Arizona thought for a moment "Well, I guess in the face of an authority figure......it might come out in tears as well." She cringed at the disgusted look Adonis was giving her "It appears that tears are my way of coping with a lot of things.
It was Adonis’ turn to think for a moment, trying to come up with something new and then brightened considerably when a thought popped in "Ahhh.....what about joy?" When Arizona just looked at him sheepishly he deflated "Let me guess......more tears?" he said sarcastically while Arizona just nodded in response.
Callie:
Callie sat at the desk chair and waited once again. All was quiet around her....that is until her stomach let out a deep growl which she swore vibrated her chair. "I sure hope when St Peter gets back, he has some food for me.....I’m about to starve to death." she thought to herself and then erupted in laughter over the ridiculousness of the thought. "Starve to death?.....really?......No I think we’re way beyond that at this point." Left alone, her mind drifted to Arizona.....was she all right? She couldn’t help but think about how much she would miss her and Sofia should she be allowed to enter Heaven. Her thoughts made her heart heavy and part of her wished they would just make a damned decision already. Just as she started to let herself dwell in her misery, another cherub came through the pearly gates carrying a beautiful white robe, with a hood which was lined along the edge with white fur. He handed it over to Callie who readily put it on, buttoning up the front and pulling the hood over her head. She had to admit, it felt heavenly. Before the cherub left, he also set a small loaf of bread and a glass of wine down on the desk. Callie hesitated at first, but with a nod of encouragement from the cherub, she satisfied her hunger. Once she had finished the entire loaf and wine, the cherub magically reappeared and removed the empty dishes.
As he left back through those beautiful pearly gates, St. Peter came in. "How are you feeling now?" he asked in a pleasant tone.
"Oh much better....thank you......this robe feels amazing.....and that wine was fabulous" Callie was rambling in her luxury.
Trying to maintain his stoic appearance St Peter stated "Yes well......we have a lot more to do, so let’s get focused here okay?"
"Um....yes sir.....I mean yes father" Callie attempted to collect herself and give St. Peter her full attention.
"So at this point" St Peter began pacing back and forth "We need to see where you are at emotionally and if you have been able to integrate your emotional health with that of the Catholic ideals."
Callie sort of stared off in the distance, completely confused by what St. Peter had just said "I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking me."
"Okay .....lets approach this a different way" St Peter started "When your Abuelo died......you were age 6 then correct?" Not waiting for a response, he continued "How did that make you feel?"
Callie took a deep breath and mentally went back to that time in her life "Well, I know that I was really sad, because my Mom was sad.....it was her father, but I was only six so I’m not sure I really understood it all back then. I do remember thinking that it was my fault......because I hadn’t eaten my vegetables. I had disobeyed my Abuela and she always said that if I was bad, God would punish me in some way.....and well that night she had made broccoli" Callie made a face at the memory "and I really hated broccoli, so I fed it to the dog when she wasn’t looking." Tears streamed down Callie’s face as she remembered the rest of the night, when her Abuelo had a massive heart attack "I should have just eaten the damn broccoli."
St Peter pulled out his clipboard which held a sheet of paper with writing on it that Callie couldn’t see. Without a word to her, he simply put an "x" in the box next to "Guilt 101". "What about the car accident at age 16? How did you feel about that?" he asked.
Still lost in her thoughts of her Abuelo, Callie snapped out to ponder this new question. " Well, it was really scary but we were okay. I felt really bad though, I mean if I hadn’t snuck out of my parents house to go to that party......well then we wouldn’t have been in town at that time and then the accident would have never happened. My friend Maria was pretty mad at me for a while, but she finally let me off the hook, especially when I set her up with my cousin Aaron."
"Guilt 210"....... check" St Peter made another mark on his clipboard. "Tell me about the failed marriage to George O’Malley. How did that make you feel?"
"That one wasn’t really my fault.....well sort of....it kind of was and wasn’t. I was really jealous of George’s best friend Izzy and I kind of made a big deal about the time he spent with her, so that part is my fault, but I wasn’t the one who cheated. I mean I wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t have to go and sleep with her. Obviously I had a reason to be jealous.....I think maybe I just have a sense about these things. Now that I think about it, we really probably should have never gone to Vegas and gotten married. I should have known better. You see his father had just died and he was all sorts of mixed up in the head.....and I should’ve been able to see that too. So when he proposed, I should have been the voice of reason and said no......or at least not right now......so that’s partly my fault too." Callie was on a roll.
"Comparative Guilt".......check!" St. Peter could hardly control his amusement "How about the Africa debacle?"
Callie looked shocked that he would even bring that up "On man.....what a disaster that was. I mean Arizona left me standing in an airport" Callie looked at St. Peter with an expectant look. "How do you think that felt? I was crushed....I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest.....it was really horrible. And then for her to not call or write.....you can just imagine."
"But what about your role in all of that?" St. Peter pushed
"My roll?.....Um well......I guess her leaving was kind of my fault too. I didn’t want to go to Africa......I mean it’s really hot and dusty.....and nothing really to do there. But I did want to be with her, so I agreed to go .......when maybe I shouldn’t have. I wasn’t very nice and was pretty passive aggressive about the whole thing. I don’t even think I told her how proud I was that she had won the Carter Madison......it’s a very prestigious grant. So you could say that the fight in the airport was.....pretty much my fault.....but she didn’t have to leave me.....we could have worked it out somehow. I mean eventually we did but....." Callie hesitated before her next thought could escape her lips.
"Yes, tell me about what happened next" St. Peter was sure he had her now.
Callie let out a long sigh "Yeah well, sleeping with Mark was definitely my fault. I just wanted to feel something other than the pain of losing Arizona. I ‘m the one who propositioned him though......and he was just a really good friend who tried to help me out. But now we have Sofia who is a blessing......but I worry about her as well. Have I set her up for a really difficult time in school and things? You know, having three parents and two of them female and all? What have I done to her? Do you think she will be mentally scarred for life because of me?" Callie’s tears returned full force as the thoughts of Sofia ran through her brain.
St. Peter had to put his clipboard up over his face to hide the emotion welling up on his face and then made his mark "Advanced Guilt......check"