Secret Santa fic for celticshocker: Fluffy
Title: Fluffy
Author: pens_co927
Prompt: from celticshocker...I am open to any type of fic, but please include a bit of angst in the story. I like fluff, but not too sugary sweet please. Perhaps Calzona discussing (arguing) about how to split the holidays with Sofia.
Summary: Sofia thinks Arizona is lonely and shouldn't be.
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.
Author's Note: Special thanks to my writing buddy captstarbuck for bouncing ideas. For celticshocker, I hope you enjoy your fanfic.
AN2: Things to know before reading: Callie and Arizona parted ways after April's wedding. Arizona bought the house seen in seasons 10 and 11. Callie still lives in Apartment 502. The therapy and resultant outcome from season 11 remains, but they weren't living together at the time.
It all started when Sofia overheard an argument between her mothers. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but Callie was rushing around the apartment with the cellphone on speaker.
"I already told you, Arizona..."
"Why is it so much to ask to spend my BIRTHDAY with my daughter? It's supposed to be my night with her anyway."
"And I TOLD YOU she is having a sleepover at Zola's. Why can't you get that through that thick head of yours?"
"It's just coincidence Sofia has all her sleepovers and playdates and dance and gymnastics and soccer on MY scheduled days with her? All of these events PLANNED BY YOU which cut into MY time with her."
"I can't help it our daughter has friends and activities she enjoys. Do you WANT our daughter to be a friendless hermit?" The phrase "like you" went unsaid but resounded loudly.
"I just want to spend my birthday with my daughter, Callie. The house...*sigh* It's too quiet without her here."
The gears started moving within seven year old Sofia's head. Mama spent alot of time alone when she wasn't working. Sometimes she spent time with Aunt April or Uncle Alex, but that was it. Mama needs more friends, but how? She looked up from her math homework when she heard Callie grunt with frustration. "Is Mama mad, Mommy?"
Callie braced her arms on the kitchen island and hung her head. "She's disappointed, baby. She's always disappointed when she can't see you."
"Does that mean Mama's going to be alone on her birthday?"
Callie sighed heavily. "Yes, it does."
Sofia gathered her homework and placed it in her bookbag. "It's not fair. No one should be alone on their birthday." She said with a frown.
"I know, sweetie."
"Then fix it, Mommy!"
"I thought you were excited for Zola's sleepover."
"I'm always sleeping at Zola's when I'm supposed to go to Mama's." She said with a scowl.
Callie's eyes narrowed. "You noticed that, huh?"
Sofia ignored the comment and walked over to her bedroom. "I have to feed Fluffy."
Callie followed her daughter and leaned on the door jam. "Is Fluffy Goldie's new name?" She asked about the fish Sofia had won a few weeks earlier at her school's fall festival.
"Well, yeah." Sofia shook some flakes into the fish bowl on her bookshelf.
"Tone, young lady." Callie admonished gently.
"Sorry, Mommy." Sofia moved to sit on her bed. "Do you think Mama would like Fluffy?"
"Of course she would. She may have questions about the fish's name though."
"Do you think..." Sofia fidgeted with the cuff of her shirt sleeve. "Do you think she'd like to keep Fluffy?"
"Maybe." Callie shrugged.
"Could you take him to her?" the small girl asked. "After you drop me at Zola's?"
"Sofia." Callie sighed with frustration. "You know your mama and I..."
"Can't be in the same room together. But just this once, Mommy. Please?" If there was one trait Sofia had learned from her blonde mother, it was the ability to use her sorrowful puppy dog eyes.
"Why don't you want to keep your fish? You were so proud to win it at the fall festival."
"I love Fluffy and I can still see Fluffy when I see mama but she's lonely and needs someone to love for when I'm not there." Sofia insisted.
Callie felt her heart clench. Sure, she knew Arizona hadn't had it very easy since they split. Most of the hospital seemed to think Arizona was being ungrateful for being so dismissive of Callie's prosthetic research and selfish for saying their marriage couldn't be saved. Four years had passed since the divorce, but the feelings remained as fresh as though it had happened earlier in the week.
"Please say you will, Mommy." Sofia's lower lip trembled.
Callie knew she would regret it, but there was only one word she could tell her daughter. "Okay."
****THE FOLLOWING DAY****
Arizona looked up from her newspaper when she heard the doorbell ring. Since she had lost her latest custodial argument with her ex-wife, she wasn't expecting anyone. She considered ignoring the ringing bells but when they continued to peal, she placed her newspaper on the coffee table and made her way to the door. "Impatient people." she grumbled as she opened the door. Her eyebrows rose toward her hairline. "Callie? What are you doing here?"
Callie held a pet taxi towards Arizona. "Happy birthday." She mumbled by way of explanation.
Arizona looked inside to see a mottled gray and white cat. "You got me a cat?"
"Sofia did. Well, kinda. Can we talk about this inside? This thing is getting heavy."
Arizona opened the door wider and stepped aside to allow her former wife to enter. She waited as Callie removed her coat and shoes. "I think you owe me a bit of an explanation."
"Sofia wanted to give you her pet fish for your birthday so you wouldn't be lonely anymore. Except that the fish was dead this morning. So we took a trip to the pet store and she wasn't satisfied by the wide array of aquatic life but she was completely smitten by the kittens they had there. But I know YOU and I know you would rather get a pet from the animal shelter rather than bought at a pet store at a strip mall." Callie rambled in a rush.
"You got me a cat for my birthday." Arizona said with a smile.
"Well, you need something other than you here in this big house." Callie placed the pet carrier next to the couch and opened the door. "The lady at the shelter said not to force the cat the come out until he's ready and to leave the door to the pet carrier open for a few days until he's fully adjusted to his new surroundings."
"You got me a boy cat for my birthday."
"SOFIA got you a boy cat for your birthday. I'm just the delivery girl and after the long day I've had driving around Seattle to find one she approved, I need a large glass of wine." Callie said as she plopped onto the couch.
"Last time I checked, there's a bar around the corner of your apartment and your kitchen is always stocked with wine." Arizona said with a bitter scowl.
Callie raised her eyebrows at her ex-wife's tone. "What's with you? I thought this would make you happy."
"Why? Because after all those years of arguing, you're finally giving me something I wanted?" Arizona poured two glasses of wine and handed one to Callie before sitting on the opposite end of the couch.
"Well...yeah."
Arizona hid her chagrin behind her wineglass. "Once again, I have to ask why."
"Why are you so hellbent on picking a fight with me tonight?" Callie placed her wine glass on the coffee table and rested her hand on Arizona's upper thigh, rubbing gently.
"You don't see the pattern, do you?"
Callie's face scrunched in confusion. "I've never bought you a cat, Arizona."
"The birthday present isn't the pattern, Cal. It's the thought behind it."
"I had nothing to do with this. The cat was all Sofia's idea. It was going to be a fish but she killed it." Callie turned her body to face the other woman more fully.
"Every year since we divorced, you refuse to let me spend my birthday with Sofia. Then you show up on my doorstep with some extremely thoughtful gift, always Sofia's idea. We have a glass or two of wine. The kissing starts. We have sex. You tell me it's a mistake and rush out."
"We do not always have sex on your birthday." Callie interrupted.
"Yes, we do. Also, on your birthday and on Christmas and once in awhile sometime in between the three dates. A minimum of three times a year, Calliope." Arizona shook her head. "How are we supposed to move forward if we keep this pattern?"
Callie felt her heart plummet to the pit of her stomach. "Move forward?"
Arizona's jaw clenched. "Date other people." She whispered softly.
"You-you want to date someone?"
Arizona sighed softly and bit her lip as she tried to form the words. "People are lining up for you, asking me for 'permission' to ask you out. I don't know what to tell them because I don't want you to be dating someone when you're still sleeping with me."
Callie remained quiet as she allowed the weight of Arizona's words to sink in. "I thought you wanted the divorce. You said that fixing our marriage was killing us."
"And a year later you said the same thing and that I was suffocating you and gave up trying to reconsile." Arizona ran a hand over her hair. "We never get anywhere once we start down that path." She picked up Callie's forgotten wineglass and stood. "I think you should leave."
Callie followed Arizona into the kitchen. "Why can't we talk about this?"
"We can't keep doing this, Callie. It's been too long. We're still stuck." Arizona stared out of the window over the kitchen sink. "I think it's best for both of us to move on and make a clean break while we can."
"Don't say that."
"But it's true!"
"Why do you keep harping on this? And why won't you look at me?"
Arizona hung her head. "I need to know that you and Sofia are going to be taken care of when I'm gone."
Callie rounded the island and braced her arms on either side of the blonde. "Arizona, look at me." She ordered. She waited for Arizona to turn in her arms. "Why do you sound like you're dying? Are you sick?"
Arizona shook her head. "I got a job offer in LA and I'm considering it."
Callie's gaze bore intently into Arizona's eyes. "You'd leave us? You'd leave Sofia and I?"
Arizona scoffed derisively. "It's not like you let me see much of Sofia anymore, Callie."
Callie opened her mouth to protest but closed it when she noticed Arizona's eyebrow raise in challenge.
Arizona sighed softly and grasped Callie's elbow to guide her gently to the foyer. "It's only Sofia I'd be leaving. You got to leave me four years ago. We can figure out visitation through our lawyers after I'm settled."
"We can talk about this!"
Arizona held Callie's coat and helped her put it on. She waited for Callie to slip on her boots and grab her purse. "Neither of us has moved on. We're not together but we're not completely apart. What we're doing isn't healthy for whatever sliver of a relationship we have. It's better for both of us if I take this job with Addison."
"With ADDISON?"
"Who else would be offering me a job in LA?"
Callie looked around the small area, trying not to look at the other woman. "I don't know how to be without you anymore."
Arizona placed her palm against Callie's left cheek and leaned forward to press a soft, chaste kiss. "One day at a time, Calliope."
***Christmas Eve afternoon***
A month and a half had passed since Arizona's birthday. Six weeks in which Arizona avoided Callie like the plague and Callie found herself sinking deeper and deeper into depression. She had tried a few times to convince Sofia to talk her mama into staying in Seattle, but Sofia was of the mindset that LA was Arizona's perfect opportunity to make a new circle of friends so she wouldn't be lonely any longer. In an act of desperation, Callie called Addison. "How could you do this to me, Addie?"
"What does my offering your ex-wife a job have to do with you? You're not married anymore and you've been living in separate homes for nearly five years. I made a business decision in which I asked one of this country's premier fetal surgeons to join my practice. A move which will make my practice more sought after and thus more profitable. Business, Callie. Pure and simple. I'd have to be stupid not to at least offer it to Arizona." Addison said with a note of condescension.
"But you can't..." Callie's voice trailed into silence.
"Can't what?"
"She can't leave," Callie said in a small voice.
"Why not? Other than Sofia, what's keeping her Seattle? She can do her board duties via satellite. That's if she even WANTS to keep her spot when she moves."
Callie rubbed her temple. The mere thought that Arizona might not want to keep her board spot, her final link to her ex-wife, made Callie nauseous. "Sofia needs her Mama here!"
"Arizona told me she barely gets any time with Sofia. Actually, she seemed to think that she might be able to spend more time with her daughter after she moves."
"That's not...I mean...I need her here!" Callie blurted suddenly. She clapped a hand over her mouth when she realized what she said.
Addison nodded even though she knew Callie couldn't see her. "You still love her." she stated knowingly.
"Of course I do." She sighed heavily. "How did my life get so messed up, Addison?"
"I know trying to fix your marriage was killing you both, but maybe it's time to give it another shot."
"How am I supposed to do that if Arizona is in LA?"
***Christmas Eve evening***
Sofia had been in bed for several hours when Callie heard an insistent pounding on the apartment door. She quickly knotted her robe and ran to answer the door, stopping briefly to check in on the girl to make sure she didn't wake. Whatever she thought she expected on the other side of the blue door, her former wife drenched in rainwater was not it. Callie opened the door further to allow the woman entry. "Do you realize what time it is?"
"What the hell did you say to her, Callie?" Arizona growled as she pushed past.
"What are you talking about?"
"Addison. I know you talked to her today."
"Crap." Callie muttered under her breath.
"Stupid me, I thought you would be happy to be able to move on with your life without your gimpy ex-wife hovering in the shadows." Arizona snarled.
"I never wanted you to leave. Not our home, not our marriage, and definitely not Seattle." Callie stated fiercely.
"Then why did you let me? Why did you give up so easily?"
"Because you wanted to tear everything apart. Damn it, Arizona, you were so hellbent on destroying everything around you and turning yourself into a living embodiment of the Phoenix that Nick and Tim always claimed you were, I HAD to give up. Giving up on our marriage doesn't mean my love for you disappeared."
Arizona felt her anger disappear. "You still love me?"
Callie's shoulders slumped. "Just because I was angry and frustrated didn't mean I stopped loving you."
Arizona stepped closer. "I wanted to take the job in LA to escape. I couldn't stand the thought of watching you date anyone else. I love you, Calliope, and I don't want anyone else to have that privilege."
Callie wrapped her arms around Arizona's neck. "Does this mean you're staying?"
Arizona pressed her lips to Callie's. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be."
As the two women kissed again, neither noticed the door to their daughter's room closed. Sofia grinned at her fish, the replacement for the one intended for Arizona. "We did it, Fluffy."