Fic: Kiss the Girl, 4/6
Title: Kiss the Girl
Author: A. Windsor
Pairing/Characters: Callie/Arizona
Rating: PG-13
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. My one semester of law school could allow me to legalese this a little more, but it also tells me it’s pretty useless. So please don’t sue; it’s not mine, I’m just playing!
Series: Thing!verse
Summary: Lena’s girl-kissing causes drama in the Robbins-Torres household. [March 2032]
Author’s Note: So I lied. Six chapters, not five. I don’t expect to hear any whining about it. :D Beta’d by the absolutely wonderful, terribly snarky, exceedingly speedy roughian .
( Part 1) ( Part 2) ( Part 3)
***
“Hey, girlies. You didn’t get your bathroom on Friday. You know what that means...” Callie says leadingly as they all file back into the house after Sunday morning church.
She drops her purse onto the kitchen counter and holds a hand out for the tie Teo has just managed to wrestle off. Teo grins triumphantly and kicks off his dress shoes by the door, making a beeline for the playroom. Asa goes straight to the book he abandoned a few hours earlier and resumes his seat on the couch while Arizona sees to the dishes left hurriedly in the sink as they tried to get on their way this morning.
“Mami,” Caroline whines. “We just got back from church.”
“You know the rules. If chores don’t get done on Friday, they have to be done on Sunday. The boys did theirs on Friday.”
Lena wisely raises no complaint, heading towards the stairs.
“I really feel like we’re breaking the Sabbath,” Caroline moans, slowly mounting the staircase behind her older sister.
“Cleanliness is next to Godliness!” Arizona calls after her whining thirteen-year-old, earning a laugh from her wife and oldest son.
The girls trudge up to their room in silence and change into grungier clothes. They divide up chores with an ease born of years of practice: Lena takes the bathtub and sink, Caroline the mirror and toilet. They complete most of the tasks in silence, but Cari finally speaks up when they’re each finishing up their second assignments.
“Lena, can I ask you a question?” Caroline asks, voice getting a little nervous.
“Claro, hermanita,” Lena smiles, pushing a loose curl out of her own eyes with her wrist and meeting Caroline’s gaze in the mirror as she scrubs the sink.
“You kiss a lot of girls, right?”
Lena sighs and half-grins.
“That’s the word on the street, yes.”
Caroline bites her lip, returning her eyes to wiping down the toilet seat.
“Do you like all the girls you kiss?” she asks hesitantly.
“Caroline Grace, ¿besaste a alguien?” [Did you kiss someone?] Lena demands, spinning around to face her sister.
Caroline flinches at the squeal of delight in her big sister’s voice.
“Shh,” she admonishes. “Olivídalo.” [Forget it.]
“No, no. Talk to me. I’m sorry,” Lena says, schooling her features. She drops her dirty paper towels into the trash and devotes her full attention to her baby sis. “Why do you ask?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Lena gives her that with a tilt of her head.
“Like? Or like-like?”
Caroline makes a face at the question. “Lena...”
“Okay, fine. I kiss girls who I think are pretty. I kiss girls who want to kiss me. I mean,” Lena huffs out a breath, trying to put this into words. “I don’t kiss girls I don’t like, Cari. It’s not an ‘any port in the storm’ kinda thing. But I don’t necessarily like-like all the girls that I kiss. ¿Entiendes? [Understand?]”
Caroline scowls, half-confused, half-dejected.
“¿Por qué preguntas, querida? [Why do you ask, darling?] Did someone kiss you?”
Caroline nods and drops her own cleaning supplies as she closes the toilet with a thud. She sits down and looks up at Lena with her big brown eyes.
Lena smothers her grin and another squeal, though a little “eep” sneaks out as she asks:
“Girl or boy?”
“Boy. Johnny.”
“Johnny Wu?” Lena demands, clearly tickled.
Caroline groans and nods.
“Oh my goodness. I knew it! When? Where? Wait. Why did you ask that question? Cari, was he not nice about it? Did he do anything you didn’t want to do? I’ll kick his ass--”
“Lena,” Cari cuts her off. “Basta. He was... nice. He just, kissed me. At the mall on Friday. But then Katie and Susie walked up, and he, like, ran away. And then he wouldn’t talk to me at Sunday school. Does that mean he doesn’t like me?”
Lena wrinkles her brow.
“Did he close his eyes?”
“¿Cómo?” [What?]
“Did he close his eyes when he kissed you?”
“I think so? No sé. [I don’t know.] I had my eyes closed.”
“Hmm. Do you like him?”
“Lena...” Caroline complains, but the older girl stares her down. “Okay. Yes.”
“Okay. Well, we obviously can’t be sure, but I think kissing you and then running away like a little chicken is definitely a good sign.”
“But then why wouldn’t he talk to me today?”
“Because boys are stupid,” Lena laughs.
“Lena,” Caroline whines.
“He’s nervous, hermanita. He doesn’t know if you like kissing him. You might have to be the brave one and bring it up to him.”
“Do you think he wants to be my boyfriend?” Caroline asks sheepishly.
This time Lena can’t contain her squeal.
“Don’t,” Caroline says firmly, but she’s helpless to stop the bear-hug Lena attacks her with.
“You are sooooooooooo cute,” the big sister declares, smacking a big kiss on her blushing baby sister’s cheek.
“Forget it. No dije nada.” [I didn’t say anything.]
Lena giggles and releases her.
“Perdona, hermanita. My baby’s just growing up,” Lena faux-sniffles at the seventh grader.
“Ugh. Te odio,” [I hate you,] Caroline groans, not too seriously, as she heads back to the bedroom
“Well, I love you,” Lena calls after her, grinning.
Caroline pauses in the doorway and looks back over her shoulder, dark braid flipping as she turns.
“You can’t tell anybody. Please.”
“Claro, hermanita,” Lena says, making a show of zipping her lips. “Te guardaré los secretos.” [I’ll keep your secrets.]
“Thanks.”
“And you know if anybody, boy or girl, ever hurts you, Asa and I will hold them down while Teo kicks them in the face. Repeatedly.”
Caroline groans yet again.
“I have way too many siblings.”
***
It’s Monday morning, and Arizona has spent all weekend thinking over her situation with Lena and her related tiff with Callie.
The fight with her wife has already begun to resolve itself. Though the air isn’t totally clear, they’ve stopped even pretending it’s a good idea for Callie to spend her nights in the guest room. Arizona threw the guest sheets in the wash this morning, the symbolic “beginning of the end” for their usual disagreements. They’re still on opposite sides of this issue, and not happy about it, but they’re no longer angry.
Her problems with moping Lena, however, seem less likely to end anytime soon. Arizona’s older daughter has been avoiding as much alone time as possible with her, so they haven’t been able to talk again. Even if they had, Arizona doubts that Lena would really listen, anyway.
Everyone spends a lot of time talking about how just like her momma Lena is, but all Arizona usually sees are the differences. Lena may have her determination, yes, and her dimples and her eyes and her hair. She even has her outwardly bubbly personality, dimmed a bit by the general angst of being a teenager, but present nonetheless.
But Lena has Callie’s big heart, the one that makes her take in strays and befriend the outcasts. Arizona loves that about both of them, but it makes her worry.
Another thing that truly distinguishes Lena from her momma is her complete lack of fear of failure. Arizona was (and sometimes still is) terrified to fail at the important things in life, often taking what seemed like the safer route to avoid falling on her face.
Lena, on the other hand, has no such qualms. She is a terrible poker player; she goes all in, every single time, gets burned and picks herself up to do the same thing again. She gives her whole heart into everything she does, regardless of any worry that she might not get it back.
And on the one hand, Arizona respects and admires that, glad that fear will never keep Lena back. On the other, she’s terrified for her daughter, scared of what happened when it becomes one heartbreak too many or that Lena’s big heart will leave her susceptible to the worst kind of dark cynicism when she just can’t get back up. And she’s worried, at the rate she’s going, that she’ll give up on love long before she reaches the real maturity to enjoy it, that, god forbid, she’ll decide it’s better to Mark Sloan her way through the world, relying on her almost supernatural ability to charm the pants off pretty girls. Sometimes literally.
Since she’s sort of still in a fight with Calliope over this very issue, she swallows her (very bitter) pride and turns to the reformed McSteamy himself.
“I need advice.”
Mark looks around the lounge to see who exactly she’s talking to.
“Mark. Stop.”
“You’re really asking me for advice? Is this because you’re fighting with Cal? Because I can’t offer any advice besides flowers and groveling, and don’t you usually talk to Altman about this stuff?”
“I’m not groveling. I’m right, this time, and not just because I always like to be right. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about; did she tell you why we’re fighting?”
“Nope.”
“It’s Lena.”
“Really? What did Baby Blondie do?”
“I’m sure Grey’s told you about her... exploits,” Arizona grimaces.
“Not in detail. But, I have eyes. And I heard about her run-in with Bailey.”
“I’m worried about her. Callie says she’s just being a teenager. And I get that. Maybe it’s not a problem yet, but I don’t want it to become a pattern.”
“You don’t want her to become me.”
“Yeah. Sorry?”
“It’s alright,” Mark says honestly. “I don’t want that for Baby Blondie either.”
“Were you like that when you were in high school?”
“Oh hell yes. Probably worse. Football star and all that, without the, y’know, good parenting to keep me in line.”
“She won’t talk to me about it. She just shuts down, and then we fight. I hate fighting with Lena; we rarely do. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do in this situation.”
“Do you want me to talk to her?”
Arizona looks physically pained by the idea, but nods.
“Could you?”
“Sure. I don’t know if it’ll help, but maybe a little bit of outside perspective will be good.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
***
“Hey there, Baby Blondie,” Mark greets his almost-niece warmly.
Lena looks up from her textbook with a dimpled Robbins smile, her blonde curls pulled messily into an elastic to keep them out of her face. Her uniform tie is loosened, her top buttons undone, and her plaid skirt brushes just above her knees. Now that he’s seen his nieces and his own Susie spend most of their lives in school uniforms, he’s a little horrified that he ever found the whole schoolgirl thing hot.
“Hi, Uncle Mark!” Lena says brightly. “It’s Tuesday; Grey had debate club. That’s why he’s not here. Katie’s giving him a ride home.”
“Oh, I know. I was looking for you,” Mark says, setting his peace offering of café mocha on the cafeteria table in front of her. “Hey, why aren’t you on debate team? You can talk your way out of a box.”
And under schoolgirls’ shirts, Mark adds internally, amusing himself.
“Oh. It’s a year-round commitment,” she shrugs. “Can’t.”
“Soccer. Right.”
Lena nods, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Why were you looking for me, Uncle Mark?”
“Your mom wanted me to talk to you.”
“Which one?”
“Your momma.”
“Oh. Really?”
Mark sighs when he realizes she’s not going to make this easy on him.
“I heard about your fight.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not especially,” Lena shrugs, grabbing the coffee cup and taking a big swig.
“Baby Blondie, c’mon. Throw me a bone.”
“Do we really have to talk about this?” the teen groans, dropping her pen.
“Yes, we really have to talk about this, because I promised Robbins that I would try, and frankly, she still scares me. So. We’re talking about it.”
“It’s just kissing!” Lena objects.
“Is it?”
Lena chokes a little on her coffee and turns adorably red.
“Oh god, Uncle Mark!”
Mark crosses his arms over his chest and gives her a steady gaze that always makes Grey and Susie fold like a house of cards (which is good, because it’s the only trick he has). She holds out a little longer than his kids would have.
“Fine. Yes. Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
“Uncle Mark.”
“I just want to make sure you’re being safe.”
“What am I going to do? Get a girl pregnant?”
Mark tries to rub away that headache forming between his eyes.
“Okay. You’re right. This part is really a conversation you should have with one of your moms.”
Lena smirks at her little victory.
“Mami and I have already had a sex talk. Or twelve. And no, I’m not having it.”
“Alright. Moving on.”
Who thought it was a good idea to give Callie a little Robbins to mold? The combination is potent.
“What else do you want to talk about it?”
“How about the other day? With Dr. Bailey.”
She blushes a little, and he takes that as his small victory.
“Yeah.”
“Look. I get it, Lena, I do. I was not an angel in high school. I was actually kinda a jerk about it, too. And I’m sure you’re not. You’re a good kid. But I remember all the hormones and the girls throwing themselves at me. And from what Grey tells me, the girls, they’re, uh, really into you.”
Lena takes another sip to avoid responding to that, so Mark presses on.
“But there aren’t any of these girls that you want to, I don’t know, date? Dinner and a movie? One you want to be your girlfriend, even? I think that would make your momma feel a little better.”
A soft smile spreads across her face as she says, gently:
“Uncle Mark, none of these girls want to date me.”
He’s a little taken aback at the admission, leaning forward to really listen to her.
“They just want to know what it’s like. A little experimenting, a little minor scandal when they get caught kissing another girl, just to say they have. Most of them are completely straight, and those that aren’t are way too confused to make any sort of big gesture like going on a date with me.”
She suddenly looks so much older than her sixteen years, her lips twisted a little sadly.
“You’re too smart.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why can’t you tell your momma this? At least be honest with her.”
“It doesn’t change anything. It’s just high school,” Lena shrugs.
“High school’s important,” Mark counters. “And I think your mom just wants you to have the full high school experience.”
“She didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“She wasn’t out in high school. She came out to my grandparents when she was seventeen, but she wasn’t out at school.”
“Okay. But you are.”
“Yeah. Me and one other girl and three boys. In the whole school,” Lena lets out a sigh.
“Well, maybe you just have to be open to, uh, other opportunities.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know, Lena! Find a way to date outside of your school? Cut me some slack. I’m making this up as I go along.”
“You’re doing great,” she reassures, patting his hand. He looks up, eyes narrowed.
Is she patronizing him?
“Okay. Well. I think you need to tell your momma what you told me. You guys should have this conversation. She hates fighting with you.”
“You’re not going to?”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
Lena bites her lip. “Could you? Just... when we talk it turns into a fight. And I can’t say it right. And I don’t like when we fight, either.”
“Alright. I’ll make you a deal. I will tell her the gist of our talk, and then direct any questions to you. So you can sit down, and have a talk, but she’ll already know where you’re coming from. Okay?”
“Okay. Thanks, Uncle Mark.”
“Sure thing, kiddo. I’ll, uh, leave you to the studying thing, then.”
***tbc in Part 5
Author: A. Windsor
Pairing/Characters: Callie/Arizona
Rating: PG-13
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. My one semester of law school could allow me to legalese this a little more, but it also tells me it’s pretty useless. So please don’t sue; it’s not mine, I’m just playing!
Series: Thing!verse
Summary: Lena’s girl-kissing causes drama in the Robbins-Torres household. [March 2032]
Author’s Note: So I lied. Six chapters, not five. I don’t expect to hear any whining about it. :D Beta’d by the absolutely wonderful, terribly snarky, exceedingly speedy roughian .
( Part 1) ( Part 2) ( Part 3)
***
“Hey, girlies. You didn’t get your bathroom on Friday. You know what that means...” Callie says leadingly as they all file back into the house after Sunday morning church.
She drops her purse onto the kitchen counter and holds a hand out for the tie Teo has just managed to wrestle off. Teo grins triumphantly and kicks off his dress shoes by the door, making a beeline for the playroom. Asa goes straight to the book he abandoned a few hours earlier and resumes his seat on the couch while Arizona sees to the dishes left hurriedly in the sink as they tried to get on their way this morning.
“Mami,” Caroline whines. “We just got back from church.”
“You know the rules. If chores don’t get done on Friday, they have to be done on Sunday. The boys did theirs on Friday.”
Lena wisely raises no complaint, heading towards the stairs.
“I really feel like we’re breaking the Sabbath,” Caroline moans, slowly mounting the staircase behind her older sister.
“Cleanliness is next to Godliness!” Arizona calls after her whining thirteen-year-old, earning a laugh from her wife and oldest son.
The girls trudge up to their room in silence and change into grungier clothes. They divide up chores with an ease born of years of practice: Lena takes the bathtub and sink, Caroline the mirror and toilet. They complete most of the tasks in silence, but Cari finally speaks up when they’re each finishing up their second assignments.
“Lena, can I ask you a question?” Caroline asks, voice getting a little nervous.
“Claro, hermanita,” Lena smiles, pushing a loose curl out of her own eyes with her wrist and meeting Caroline’s gaze in the mirror as she scrubs the sink.
“You kiss a lot of girls, right?”
Lena sighs and half-grins.
“That’s the word on the street, yes.”
Caroline bites her lip, returning her eyes to wiping down the toilet seat.
“Do you like all the girls you kiss?” she asks hesitantly.
“Caroline Grace, ¿besaste a alguien?” [Did you kiss someone?] Lena demands, spinning around to face her sister.
Caroline flinches at the squeal of delight in her big sister’s voice.
“Shh,” she admonishes. “Olivídalo.” [Forget it.]
“No, no. Talk to me. I’m sorry,” Lena says, schooling her features. She drops her dirty paper towels into the trash and devotes her full attention to her baby sis. “Why do you ask?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Lena gives her that with a tilt of her head.
“Like? Or like-like?”
Caroline makes a face at the question. “Lena...”
“Okay, fine. I kiss girls who I think are pretty. I kiss girls who want to kiss me. I mean,” Lena huffs out a breath, trying to put this into words. “I don’t kiss girls I don’t like, Cari. It’s not an ‘any port in the storm’ kinda thing. But I don’t necessarily like-like all the girls that I kiss. ¿Entiendes? [Understand?]”
Caroline scowls, half-confused, half-dejected.
“¿Por qué preguntas, querida? [Why do you ask, darling?] Did someone kiss you?”
Caroline nods and drops her own cleaning supplies as she closes the toilet with a thud. She sits down and looks up at Lena with her big brown eyes.
Lena smothers her grin and another squeal, though a little “eep” sneaks out as she asks:
“Girl or boy?”
“Boy. Johnny.”
“Johnny Wu?” Lena demands, clearly tickled.
Caroline groans and nods.
“Oh my goodness. I knew it! When? Where? Wait. Why did you ask that question? Cari, was he not nice about it? Did he do anything you didn’t want to do? I’ll kick his ass--”
“Lena,” Cari cuts her off. “Basta. He was... nice. He just, kissed me. At the mall on Friday. But then Katie and Susie walked up, and he, like, ran away. And then he wouldn’t talk to me at Sunday school. Does that mean he doesn’t like me?”
Lena wrinkles her brow.
“Did he close his eyes?”
“¿Cómo?” [What?]
“Did he close his eyes when he kissed you?”
“I think so? No sé. [I don’t know.] I had my eyes closed.”
“Hmm. Do you like him?”
“Lena...” Caroline complains, but the older girl stares her down. “Okay. Yes.”
“Okay. Well, we obviously can’t be sure, but I think kissing you and then running away like a little chicken is definitely a good sign.”
“But then why wouldn’t he talk to me today?”
“Because boys are stupid,” Lena laughs.
“Lena,” Caroline whines.
“He’s nervous, hermanita. He doesn’t know if you like kissing him. You might have to be the brave one and bring it up to him.”
“Do you think he wants to be my boyfriend?” Caroline asks sheepishly.
This time Lena can’t contain her squeal.
“Don’t,” Caroline says firmly, but she’s helpless to stop the bear-hug Lena attacks her with.
“You are sooooooooooo cute,” the big sister declares, smacking a big kiss on her blushing baby sister’s cheek.
“Forget it. No dije nada.” [I didn’t say anything.]
Lena giggles and releases her.
“Perdona, hermanita. My baby’s just growing up,” Lena faux-sniffles at the seventh grader.
“Ugh. Te odio,” [I hate you,] Caroline groans, not too seriously, as she heads back to the bedroom
“Well, I love you,” Lena calls after her, grinning.
Caroline pauses in the doorway and looks back over her shoulder, dark braid flipping as she turns.
“You can’t tell anybody. Please.”
“Claro, hermanita,” Lena says, making a show of zipping her lips. “Te guardaré los secretos.” [I’ll keep your secrets.]
“Thanks.”
“And you know if anybody, boy or girl, ever hurts you, Asa and I will hold them down while Teo kicks them in the face. Repeatedly.”
Caroline groans yet again.
“I have way too many siblings.”
***
It’s Monday morning, and Arizona has spent all weekend thinking over her situation with Lena and her related tiff with Callie.
The fight with her wife has already begun to resolve itself. Though the air isn’t totally clear, they’ve stopped even pretending it’s a good idea for Callie to spend her nights in the guest room. Arizona threw the guest sheets in the wash this morning, the symbolic “beginning of the end” for their usual disagreements. They’re still on opposite sides of this issue, and not happy about it, but they’re no longer angry.
Her problems with moping Lena, however, seem less likely to end anytime soon. Arizona’s older daughter has been avoiding as much alone time as possible with her, so they haven’t been able to talk again. Even if they had, Arizona doubts that Lena would really listen, anyway.
Everyone spends a lot of time talking about how just like her momma Lena is, but all Arizona usually sees are the differences. Lena may have her determination, yes, and her dimples and her eyes and her hair. She even has her outwardly bubbly personality, dimmed a bit by the general angst of being a teenager, but present nonetheless.
But Lena has Callie’s big heart, the one that makes her take in strays and befriend the outcasts. Arizona loves that about both of them, but it makes her worry.
Another thing that truly distinguishes Lena from her momma is her complete lack of fear of failure. Arizona was (and sometimes still is) terrified to fail at the important things in life, often taking what seemed like the safer route to avoid falling on her face.
Lena, on the other hand, has no such qualms. She is a terrible poker player; she goes all in, every single time, gets burned and picks herself up to do the same thing again. She gives her whole heart into everything she does, regardless of any worry that she might not get it back.
And on the one hand, Arizona respects and admires that, glad that fear will never keep Lena back. On the other, she’s terrified for her daughter, scared of what happened when it becomes one heartbreak too many or that Lena’s big heart will leave her susceptible to the worst kind of dark cynicism when she just can’t get back up. And she’s worried, at the rate she’s going, that she’ll give up on love long before she reaches the real maturity to enjoy it, that, god forbid, she’ll decide it’s better to Mark Sloan her way through the world, relying on her almost supernatural ability to charm the pants off pretty girls. Sometimes literally.
Since she’s sort of still in a fight with Calliope over this very issue, she swallows her (very bitter) pride and turns to the reformed McSteamy himself.
“I need advice.”
Mark looks around the lounge to see who exactly she’s talking to.
“Mark. Stop.”
“You’re really asking me for advice? Is this because you’re fighting with Cal? Because I can’t offer any advice besides flowers and groveling, and don’t you usually talk to Altman about this stuff?”
“I’m not groveling. I’m right, this time, and not just because I always like to be right. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about; did she tell you why we’re fighting?”
“Nope.”
“It’s Lena.”
“Really? What did Baby Blondie do?”
“I’m sure Grey’s told you about her... exploits,” Arizona grimaces.
“Not in detail. But, I have eyes. And I heard about her run-in with Bailey.”
“I’m worried about her. Callie says she’s just being a teenager. And I get that. Maybe it’s not a problem yet, but I don’t want it to become a pattern.”
“You don’t want her to become me.”
“Yeah. Sorry?”
“It’s alright,” Mark says honestly. “I don’t want that for Baby Blondie either.”
“Were you like that when you were in high school?”
“Oh hell yes. Probably worse. Football star and all that, without the, y’know, good parenting to keep me in line.”
“She won’t talk to me about it. She just shuts down, and then we fight. I hate fighting with Lena; we rarely do. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do in this situation.”
“Do you want me to talk to her?”
Arizona looks physically pained by the idea, but nods.
“Could you?”
“Sure. I don’t know if it’ll help, but maybe a little bit of outside perspective will be good.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
***
“Hey there, Baby Blondie,” Mark greets his almost-niece warmly.
Lena looks up from her textbook with a dimpled Robbins smile, her blonde curls pulled messily into an elastic to keep them out of her face. Her uniform tie is loosened, her top buttons undone, and her plaid skirt brushes just above her knees. Now that he’s seen his nieces and his own Susie spend most of their lives in school uniforms, he’s a little horrified that he ever found the whole schoolgirl thing hot.
“Hi, Uncle Mark!” Lena says brightly. “It’s Tuesday; Grey had debate club. That’s why he’s not here. Katie’s giving him a ride home.”
“Oh, I know. I was looking for you,” Mark says, setting his peace offering of café mocha on the cafeteria table in front of her. “Hey, why aren’t you on debate team? You can talk your way out of a box.”
And under schoolgirls’ shirts, Mark adds internally, amusing himself.
“Oh. It’s a year-round commitment,” she shrugs. “Can’t.”
“Soccer. Right.”
Lena nods, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Why were you looking for me, Uncle Mark?”
“Your mom wanted me to talk to you.”
“Which one?”
“Your momma.”
“Oh. Really?”
Mark sighs when he realizes she’s not going to make this easy on him.
“I heard about your fight.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not especially,” Lena shrugs, grabbing the coffee cup and taking a big swig.
“Baby Blondie, c’mon. Throw me a bone.”
“Do we really have to talk about this?” the teen groans, dropping her pen.
“Yes, we really have to talk about this, because I promised Robbins that I would try, and frankly, she still scares me. So. We’re talking about it.”
“It’s just kissing!” Lena objects.
“Is it?”
Lena chokes a little on her coffee and turns adorably red.
“Oh god, Uncle Mark!”
Mark crosses his arms over his chest and gives her a steady gaze that always makes Grey and Susie fold like a house of cards (which is good, because it’s the only trick he has). She holds out a little longer than his kids would have.
“Fine. Yes. Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
“Uncle Mark.”
“I just want to make sure you’re being safe.”
“What am I going to do? Get a girl pregnant?”
Mark tries to rub away that headache forming between his eyes.
“Okay. You’re right. This part is really a conversation you should have with one of your moms.”
Lena smirks at her little victory.
“Mami and I have already had a sex talk. Or twelve. And no, I’m not having it.”
“Alright. Moving on.”
Who thought it was a good idea to give Callie a little Robbins to mold? The combination is potent.
“What else do you want to talk about it?”
“How about the other day? With Dr. Bailey.”
She blushes a little, and he takes that as his small victory.
“Yeah.”
“Look. I get it, Lena, I do. I was not an angel in high school. I was actually kinda a jerk about it, too. And I’m sure you’re not. You’re a good kid. But I remember all the hormones and the girls throwing themselves at me. And from what Grey tells me, the girls, they’re, uh, really into you.”
Lena takes another sip to avoid responding to that, so Mark presses on.
“But there aren’t any of these girls that you want to, I don’t know, date? Dinner and a movie? One you want to be your girlfriend, even? I think that would make your momma feel a little better.”
A soft smile spreads across her face as she says, gently:
“Uncle Mark, none of these girls want to date me.”
He’s a little taken aback at the admission, leaning forward to really listen to her.
“They just want to know what it’s like. A little experimenting, a little minor scandal when they get caught kissing another girl, just to say they have. Most of them are completely straight, and those that aren’t are way too confused to make any sort of big gesture like going on a date with me.”
She suddenly looks so much older than her sixteen years, her lips twisted a little sadly.
“You’re too smart.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why can’t you tell your momma this? At least be honest with her.”
“It doesn’t change anything. It’s just high school,” Lena shrugs.
“High school’s important,” Mark counters. “And I think your mom just wants you to have the full high school experience.”
“She didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“She wasn’t out in high school. She came out to my grandparents when she was seventeen, but she wasn’t out at school.”
“Okay. But you are.”
“Yeah. Me and one other girl and three boys. In the whole school,” Lena lets out a sigh.
“Well, maybe you just have to be open to, uh, other opportunities.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know, Lena! Find a way to date outside of your school? Cut me some slack. I’m making this up as I go along.”
“You’re doing great,” she reassures, patting his hand. He looks up, eyes narrowed.
Is she patronizing him?
“Okay. Well. I think you need to tell your momma what you told me. You guys should have this conversation. She hates fighting with you.”
“You’re not going to?”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
Lena bites her lip. “Could you? Just... when we talk it turns into a fight. And I can’t say it right. And I don’t like when we fight, either.”
“Alright. I’ll make you a deal. I will tell her the gist of our talk, and then direct any questions to you. So you can sit down, and have a talk, but she’ll already know where you’re coming from. Okay?”
“Okay. Thanks, Uncle Mark.”
“Sure thing, kiddo. I’ll, uh, leave you to the studying thing, then.”
***tbc in Part 5