Valentine's breakfast
"This is not working for me," thought Arizona again. She could see the clean greyish light of dawn glowing from the top of the bedroom curtains. The thought of the Man-child, who was snoring loudly next to Callie, spurred her onto her bare feet.
Slipping on a pair of dove grey pyjama bottoms, she cast a fond glance over the sleeping figure of her girlfriend. She saw her shifting across the bed, filling the space where she had previously been lying. She watched Callie reach out in her sleep and find only a pillow. A faint pout appeared on Callie’s lips, a small consolation. Even through the fug of a long exhausting night, she shivered with incredulity that she got to hold her through the night. Sighing quietly and tiredly, she padded out the bedroom.
She made a beeline for the phone, dialling from memory. Pausing she heard a muffled clunk on the line.
Then a querulous voice, "Is it the hospital? Did you page me? Did someone page me. Cos I didn’t get it. I keep meaning to check the batteries..."
Arizona rolled her eyes and interrupted. "It’s not the hospital, Lexie. It’s Arizona."
"Oh God, Mark’s moved into your bed again, hasn’t he? I am SO sorry. Look, I need to get some clothes on and then I will be right over. Just once I’ve dug out the car..."
Arizona groaned as she made a scissor shape with her fingers, picking through the slats of the blinds. She looked through the frozen window pane to a whiteout. "Look, when you make it over from your sister’s, you may as well have breakfast."
She opened up a kitchen cupboard and pondered the contents. Picking past all of Callie’s ingredients, the doppio zero flour, the vanilla pods, the organic heather honey, she found what she was looking for at the back. Yay, breakfast for beginners; Bisquick.
She was concentrating so hard on not burning the second batch that she didn’t hear her girlfriend approach. Callie sidled up to Arizona placing her arms around her waist, while stealing a strawberry, from a small hulled pile. For that, Callie got a slap on her hand followed up with a tender kiss. Their small oasis of calm was interrupted by a door clattering open, and a list of demands,
"Is that freshly ground coffee, I smell? I could do with a short stack of pancakes, some of that bacon and the biggest bottle of maple syrup you have. Stat."
Arizona placed a cup of coffee in one of her girlfriend’s hands, and the spatula in the other. "The sausages are salvalgeble. God knows about the bacon."
"What did your last slave die of, Mark?" Callie asked brightly.
Mark feigned offence, "Hey I bring papers. I come in peace. I hear junior is up to my old tricks."
Arizona beared down on him with a determined expression. She mugged a mock grin while snatching the paper out of his hand. Springing onto the sofa, she quipped, "Thanks for the peace offering. So diaper wetting and crying for your Mama is the infamous Sloane Method?"
At that moment, a small blonde tousled figure shambled from the bedroom. He was followed by another darker little boy.
"BFFs. You hungry?" Arizona asked.
"Yes, Mama."
"Wawa-mmmcack", said the smaller one.
She raised an eyebrow at Lexie, who had just stumbled through the door with a bag of bagels. "Junior wants pancakes. They’re his favourite," Lexie interpreted.
Slapping the counter, Callie rolled up her sleeves, "Bring it on. The short order chef is IN." The toddlers giggled. Peter ran to his mother’s side and dived in the fridge, bringing out a small ceramic dish. He proffered it to Callie.
"Anchovies, huh? Yeah, they can be yummy." Peter nodded assiduously. Callie took the dish from him and inspected it gravely.
"How about we also have strawberries that your Mama has so carefully hulled for you?" She showed him the ripe red berries.
Peter fixed his brown eyes on his mother, and then nodded even more vigorously, while Arizona slid past and Callie back-handed the anchovies to her.
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Arizona got up from the table to refill the juice jug. As she turned away from the fridge, she surveyed the convivial gathering of her family and friends. Mark and little Mark squabbling over the last sausage. Mark raising the last snag above his head while his boy stood on his father’s knees reaching up determinedly.
Callie was balancing a spoon on the end of her nose, which kept dropping off as she joined in laughing with their son. Her laugh was a fruity contralto that took her breath away. Joined by their son’s gurgling they provided a soundtrack to the morning’s messy, noisy breakfast. Almost as an island, Lexie was quietly and fluidly filling out the last clues Arizona had abandoned from the crossword. For all her life, she had been reaching out for small halcyon instances like this. She recognised it as such. No matter what would happen in the future, this place, this moment was worth cherishing in the lifetime of memories to come.
She looked around the table. Beaming, she raised a glass of orange juice and said, "Happy Valentine’s. I love you all."
"Even me?" Callie shot her a warning glance. Arizona met it with a flicker of a mischievous smile, chasing away the last of the morning’s tiredness.
"Even you Mark," she acknowledged.