It's a nice day for a White Wedding 1/?
TITLE: It’s a nice day for a White Wedding 1/?
AUTHOR: Neolithicdream
PAIRING: Callie & Arizona
RATING: PG 13
SUMMARY: My take on some missing scenes from Ep.7.20 before and during the wedding and maybe after. The title simply comes from the Billy Idol song!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Calzona or any of the characters mentioned in this fic. They are the property of Shonda Rhimes/ ABC etc... This fic is purely written for enjoyment and without intent or prospect of profit. No copyright infringement intended.
“We can cancel the wedding” Arizona whispered very quietly, as she held her distressed fiancée from behind, arms wrapped tightly around Calliopes waist, chin resting on her left shoulder as she placed comforting light kisses along the her Latinas neck.
She had come home from the hospital, running very late, definitely late enough to throw “the Colonels” schedule for her last night as a single woman way off. Still if anyone would understand her tardiness it would be her fiancée; as surgeons they both understood that schedules could go awry. But it was not an emergency surgery that had caused her to be late; no rather it was her need to check on her” African patients”. She smiled at the thought. Alex thought they were his patients but she knew they were here because of promises she had made, even if Alex had pulled off a minor (“race for chief resident inspired”) miracle to get them here.
It should have only taken minutes but then she had sat with Sefu for more than ¾ of an hour on the floor outside Kondos room, listening to him talk about his brother his family, his love for them and his hopes and dreams. While in Malawi she had learned to love the concept of “Africa time” in contrast to the military precision of the timekeeping in the Robbins world. She still valued punctuality and reliability but she felt that her time in Malawi, short as it was, had improved her, made her more relaxed and less of a perfectionist and more flexible than before.
Still, no amount of exposure to “Africa time” was going to make her less likely to dash home in the current circumstances. Her parents and her soon to be in - laws were to meet for yet another “family meal” (this one at a restaurant without Mark, who was to be on babysitting duty). Then she was to stay with Mark that night (to keep up the old tradition that the wife and wife (a minor adjustment of the tradition) should not see each other the morning of the wedding while Callie stayed in their apartment with her parents. That was the plan but she was late.
Nothing however had prepared her for the scene that awaited her at home. Her Calliope was shell-shocked, a resigned desolation written all over her face. They were so attuned to each other these days that it only took the slightest glance at the other to be able to read their mood especially when something was wrong. Still even the old Arizona, the self proclaimed “sometimes I don’t get people“ version would have recognised that something was very wrong.
“Callie, honey? Carlos? What’s happened, oh God Sophia?”
“Your daughter is fine” Carlos quickly comforted. He couldn’t help but smile, even now. ”More than fine, she is perfect and asleep in her crib.”
“Mama won’t be coming to our wedding.” Callie said, the defeat in her voice damn near shattering Arizona. She in turn was torn between wanting to take Callie in her arms and finding a very large brick to make contact with Lucia’s face.
“She told me I would be going to hell and that I was not a bride and tomorrow was not a wedding because you’re a woman.”
All she could do was sit next to her love on the couch and listen as Callie and Carlos updated her. She stayed silent as nothing she could say would make a difference to how both her wife to be or Carlos felt right now. Indeed as sad as Callie seemed it paled in comparison to the devastation etched on the older man’s face.
“Where is she now?” Arizona asked hoping she had managed to disguise the anger in her voice.
“Arizona, my dear, I am afraid not even one of your finest speeches would suffice right now. My wife is a stubborn woman.”
So now they stood together in the middle of the room alone, not having moved since Carlos had said his goodbyes nearly 10 minutes earlier. It was the last thing that Arizona wanted but she offered again, louder this time “We can cancel tomorrow.”
“No, we can’t cancel, besides its tomorrow even if we wanted to we can’t”
“If we want to we can.” Arizona swallowed hard almost choking on her next words “if we want to then we should”
Callie turned to look at Arizona questioningly, with uncertainty now in her voice “Do you want to cancel? Do you not want to marry me tomorrow now?” Her mother’s explicit rejection of both her choice of spouse and their daughter still so raw as to make her almost expect further rejection now.
“Calliope!” it came out somewhere between a whine and a plea “God, no!” And then much gentler, so gentle Callie thought it felt like a spoken caress “I want so much to marry you tomorrow, today, everyday. You have already made me a...” and as always because even though Sophia was several months old it still felt so new Arizona swallowed more deeply than before and said reverently “a mother and I can’t wait till you make me a wife. It will be the joint happiest moment of my life (it was understood by both that the moment when Sophia’s heartbeat was first heard outside the womb might be matched but could never be surpassed). But I want it to be the same for you too so if you want we can cancel. I just want you to be happy.”
“No, I want to marry you tomorrow and just because my mother’s a bigot who can’t get over her own prejudice to love her daughter and her granddaughter doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”
So much to the Colonels chagrin his much vaunted schedule was discarded at least for the evening and both Sophia and Arizona stayed in with Callie. And tradition was discared too - the wives to be held each other in a tight embrace after they had put their daughter down for what they hoped was more than a few hours.
“When my father disowned me it hurt so much but this hurts so much more. How can a mother reject her own baby, she gave birth to me how can you disown a child you carried inside you for...how can a mother give birth and...”Callie trailed off as she thought how Arizona might interpret her words “I don’t mean that just because she carried me that she’s a mother and...”
“Sshh honey I know, I know. And I can’t ever imagine, no matter what she might do, rejecting Sophia either. But your Mom, she needs time and...”
“Don’t defend her...she’s had time, she’s known about us for 2 years...about me...and it’s not just me she’s rejecting, it’s you too and our daughter. You saw her, she never even held her once while your Mom is the perfect grandma.”
Arizona stayed silent and hoped that her fiancée could feel all the love she had for her even though she knew it would not take away the hurt. There weren’t enough bricks in Seattle and if there was a hell she was fairly sure it wouldn’t be her Calliope going there but Lucia Torres. Not for the first time did she feel grateful for her own loving parents - they drove her to distraction but their love had and would always be unconditional.
Long after Calliope fell asleep Arizona lay awake. The last few days, long before Lucia’s departure, had been fraught with tension. It had made the movie “Meet the Parents” pale in comparison. There were lots of points of conflict - Mark and the Torres(especially Mrs. Torres); Mark and her parents...well specifically her father; Mrs. Torres and her;Mrs Torres and Calliope; her Dad and herself;even a little between her mother and herself and of course the non appearance of Aria. Like never before she understood why people just upped and eloped. Like never before she understood why her beautiful woman, a traditional girl at heart, once found herself in a seedy wedding chapel in Vegas being married by Elvis(of the non flying kind).
Arizona sighed and then smiled as she heard the first tell tale signs emanating from the baby monitor. It was her turn so she gently eased herself out of bed and made her way to their daughter detouring only to grab a bottle.
TBC