Here's the secret santa fanfiction made specially for addict24.
Title: Let It Snow
Author: Theatregeek217
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just borrowing without asking.
Arizona stood on her toes to reach the top shelf of the cabinet. She finally grabbed hold of the ground cinnamon and sprinkled it on the increasingly sweet-smelling dish simmering on the stove. Just then, she heard the front door to Callie’s apartment open.
“What smells like heaven in here?” Callie exclaimed. Arizona just smiled as Callie made her way into the kitchen. She felt strong, bone-repairing arms around her waist and leaned her head back onto her girlfriend’s shoulder. Callie continued. “So on my way home from the hospital I saw our neighbors across the street. They were putting up decorations in the yard. It was so cute!”
“I just love Christmas. I don’t think I can wait 10 whole days,” Arizona sighed.
“Wait!”
“What?”
“Waitwaitwaitwait.” Callie made her way into the living room.
Callie pulled out of her bag a snowglobe with a serene, colorful, plastic town stuck in the middle of a constant blizzard.
“Aw, it’s pretty-”
Callie held up a finger and flipped a switch on the bottom of the base. It started playing ‘Let It Snow.’ Callie began to sing along.
“Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since we’ve no place to go, let it snow, let it…”
Callie’s cellphone started ringing and she made her way over to answer it. “Hi Daddy!” After her initial excitement a look of concern melted onto her face.
“What’s up?”
Callie stood there, silent. Arizona watched her eyes glaze and turn down toward the tile floor. Several long seconds passed with Callie’s face showing no change. Then there was a slight hint of confusion. She pressed the red button and placed the phone on the counter and looked toward Arizona.
“What is it?”
“My mom. She-"
Arizona didn’t need to hear anymore. She’d seen that look on her fair share of people. She offered all she knew she could: a hug. She wrapped her arms around the dark skin and squeezed as hard as she could without hurting Callie. She could hear her sporadic intakes of air and feel moisture on her shoulder. She could also smell their dinner burning, but she didn’t care. It would be pizza tonight no matter.
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“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” It was the next morning, and Arizona and Callie stood in the parking lot of the apartment complex. “I could, you know. It’ll be tough, hun.”
“Arizona, you have all the kids here. It’ll only be three days and two hours away. I’ll be staying with Daddy and my aunts have all come in. I’ll call if I need anything.” Callie kissed Arizona’s forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
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Callie called about two hours later to let Arizona know she’d gotten there safely. The next time they talked was that night. The conversation lasted about 45 minutes.
“They said it was an accident. She was driving and some guy ran the red light, t-boned her car, sent her across the intersection. Aria was with her in the car. She was petty banged up, several broken bones. But Mom got the worst impact.”
“The funeral’s tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“I wish I could be there with you.”
“Me too. But-“
“Are you sure you are alright. Because I have a light load tomorrow afternoon, I could drive over for a few hours maybe.”
“No. You need to stay there. The hospital needs you. And don’t think that I don’t know about the 4 surgeries you’re doing tomorrow. That is not a light load.”
“Okay.”
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Arizona found herself sitting in the attending lounge worrying about Callie. It was 8 am and had been over two hours now since Callie told her she would head back to Seattle.
“Calliope!” Arizona ran over and hugged Callie as she entered the lounge. She felt her embrace cause a sigh from the woman. Arizona broke the embrace to look seriously at Callie. “What can I do?” She motioned to the coffee table. “There’s doughnuts and coffee.”
“No doughnuts. But I will take the coffee.”
“I talked to the Chief. If you need it, you can take a few more days off.”
“Honestly I’d rather be working than sitting at home. I’ve done enough of that the past few days.”
“Okay. But honey…”
“Yeah?”
“Take it slow.”
Callie just smiled and kissed Arizona lightly.
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That night the two women sat on the couch in Callie’s apartment, having just finished the dinner Arizona had set in the slow-cooker that morning.
“That was delicious, hun.”
Arizona smiled. “Woke up at three this morning and couldn’t sleep, so I looked up the most intense recipe I could find.”
Callie took a long breath and looked at Arizona honestly. “Thank you.”
“Have you slept at all?”
“I think I got a little last night.”
“Aw, honey. Here. I got this if you want to watch something funny. Just get your mind off things for a few hours.” Arizona held up a copy of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Then in a very bad French accent she quoted, “I fart in your general direction!”
Callie smiled and nodded. Arizona put the dvd in and pressed play. Then the two huddled back onto the couch, Arizona’s arm around Callie.
The next few minutes consisted of Arizona pretending to knock coconuts together and saying the lines in an exaggerated British accent, which seemed to make Callie smile at least a little.
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By the end of the movie, both the women were fast asleep, which is how Mark found them when he came to check on Callie and about midnight. He turned off the repeating title music, since it was getting pretty annoying. He briefly considered waking up the women, in case they wanted to sleep on a bed, but ended up just taking a blanket off the floor and covering them up. He took a seat on one of the chairs and dozed off, just wanting to be in the same room as his best friend, in case she needed anything.
Callie didn’t dream that night. For this, she was glad, since she couldn’t imagine having a good dream after what she had seen the past few days. When she finally slipped into consciousness, she felt the warm embrace of her woman’s arms and her soft breathing. And she smelled something. Pancakes? She let the early morning light pry her eyes open slowly. When she looked at the woman’s face, she saw a pleasant smile mirroring her own.
“Wait, who’s making…” Callie started.
“Mark.”
“You’re letting Mark cook?”
“He’s got it covered. It’s only pancakes. And, besides, he promised to eat the ones he burns.”
“Almost got the fist batch ready,” Mark called from the kitchen. “Great timing, Torres.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Callie said.
“Are you saying you don’t like it?” Arizona seemed a little hurt.
“No, no, I love it. I just… I don’t need to be waited on.”
“I know you don’t. And if it’s too much, just let me know. I just want to see that smile I love so much.”
Callie broke it out sincerely.
“Calliope?” Mark placed a warm plate on the coffee table in front of her.
“Only she gets to call me that, Mark.” Callie looked at the plate and started to tear up. Mark had made three pancakes, of increasing size, which connected.
“It’s a-“ Mark started.
“Snowman,” Callie finished. “I love it.” He had used chocolate chips for the eyes, mouth and buttons, old chopsticks for the arms and a tootsie roll for the nose.
“You didn’t have much I could use, so I had to get creative.”
It was a small gesture, but one that spurred Callie to remember why she loved these people and why she would choose them over her biological family if it ever came down to that. With these two people she could do anything, get through anything.
She noticed in the middle of the coffee table sat the snowglobe she had bought, with the price tag still on. She took it, turned it upside down for a few seconds, then right side up. All three of them watched the snow fall onto the plastic town.
“It’s going to be alright,” Callie assured them all.