12 Days of Christmas 11/12
Title: 12 Days of Christmas 11/12
Author: GreysAddictJ
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Callie and Arizona try to outdo each other and prove they’re the best at giving Christmas presents
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. No infringement intended. This hasn’t been betaed - all mistakes are mine.
A/N: Sorry this is a little short. It’s more of a set up for what’s to come in the next chapter. Hopefully will be worth the wait. If it comes out the way I have it in my head, it should be!
December 24th
Arizona awoke to the sound of the alarm clock. Despite the early hour, she couldn’t be anything but happy. She was where she wanted to be - in Calliope’s arms. Plus, it was Christmas Eve. And she was spending tonight, plus all of tomorrow, with the woman of her dreams. Arizona couldn’t shake the feeling of giddy excitement. Tonight, after they both put in a day shift at the hospital, she’d start putting her plan into motion. And by tomorrow night, Calliope would be signaling her defeat.
“What’s so funny?” Callie grumbled. Arizona, lost in her thoughts of triumph, hadn’t notice that her girlfriend was awake.
“Nothing’s funny.” Arizona deflected.
“Well, something is up.” Callie replied. “You usually don’t shoot me those dimples until you’ve got at least one cup of coffee in you.”
“It’s nothing.” Arizona replied. “I was just thinking about how great it’s going to feel when I have you begging for mercy tomorrow.”
Callie shot an eyebrow up. “Oh really? We’ll see who’s begging for mercy.” Callie rolled on top of Arizona, peppering her face and neck with kisses.
Reaching up to caress Callie’s face, Arizona sighed. “As much as I’d love to continue this, if we don’t get to work, we’ll be in trouble. Plus, I don’t want either of us getting stuck any longer than possible today. I want to spend Christmas Eve with my hot girlfriend.”
“Right.” Callie begrudgingly agreed.
The shift seemed to drag on and on. Arizona could not wait for tonight, when the first part of her plan was unfurled. Consequently, the evening could not get here soon enough. For whatever reason, unlike most holidays, the day was a slow one. Which left her with plenty of time think about and fixate on the upcoming festivities.
Finally, the day was at an end. She met Callie in the attendings’ lounge, where they changed back into their street clothes and prepared to head home. Arizona thanked her lucky stars that they’d both somehow managed to get Christmas Day off. She had a lot planned for tomorrow and having to work would have put a big damper on the day.
As they exited the hospital, Callie came to a halt, clearly looking around for something. Not finding what she was looking for, she glanced down at her watch.
“What?” Arizona asked, confused as to why they weren’t heading home.
“It’s just . . .” Callie looked perplexed, eyes still searching. Hearing a noise off in the distance, she smiled. “Aha. . .nevermind, babe. You’ll see.”
The sound grew louder and it became clear what the source was. Suddenly a troupe of bagpipers and drummers, kilts and all, rounded the corner and marched up to the front of the hospital. A crowd quickly gathered to watch the performance.
Callie reached her arms around Arizona from behind and whispered, “Merry Christmas, Arizona.”
Arizona turned her head and gave Callie her biggest full-dimpled grin. “Merry Christmas to you too, sweetie.”
Counting, Arizona realized that there were indeed 11 pipers piping. After a few moments, it also occurred to her that there were 12 drummers. Confused, she turned in her girlfriend’s arms.
“Calliope. If I’m not mistaken, there are not only 11 pipers, but also 12 drummers drumming. Are you giving me two days in one here? Why wouldn’t you have your big finish on Christmas Day?”
Callie smiled. “You’re very perceptive babe. But who said anything about not having a big finish tomorrow? First, it’s pretty hard to get drummers on Christmas. Second, I didn’t want this whole 12 Days of Christmas gimmick, awesome as it is, to get in the way of my present for you tomorrow.”
Arizona pulled away. “Really? You’re going to top all of this?” Arizona gestured to the band in front of them.
“That’s the plan.” Callie smiled. “Nervous are we?”
“Never.” Arizona plastered a fake smile on her face. Secretly, though she’d never admit it aloud, she was wondering what the hell Callie had up her sleeve. How could Callie possibly top the past 11 days?
Shaking it off, she enjoyed the rest of the performance in her girlfriend’s arms. “So what’s next?” Arizona asked, secretly hoping whatever Callie had planned wouldn’t interfere with her own plans for the evening.
“Nothing much.” Callie responded. “I figured after the eventful days we’ve had recently, it might be nice to enjoy a quiet night in.” Arizona’s heart flooded with relief. No big plans meant the first part of her present to Callie would be uninterrupted.
“Sounds perfect.” Arizona agreed, trying to act nonchalant. “Let’s go home.” She laced her fingers through Callie’s and they walked across the street to their apartment.
As they opened the door, Callie gasped in surprise. “Merry Christmas, Calliope.” Arizona whispered. Inside their apartment sat Callie’s mother, father, grandmother, and sister Aria. In addition, there were three people she didn’t recognize.
Arizona entered the apartment and went straight to Callie’s father. “Mr. Torres, it’s so nice to see you again.”
“Please, Arizona, call me Carlos.” He said as he pulled her into an unexpected hug. He proceeded to introduce her to the other members of his family. “This is my wife, Maria.”
“It’s so good to finally meet you, Arizona.” Maria pulled her into a motherly hug.
“And this is Callie’s grandmother, Camila.” Carlos gestured to the elderly woman.
“Everyone calls me Abuela. Now come here and let me see the girl who has made my Calliope so happy.” The woman took Arizona’s face in her hands and looked into her eyes. “She has beautiful, kind eyes.” She called to Callie, who was still standing, stunned in the doorway. “I can see why you love her.” She placed a gentle kiss on Arizona’s cheek. “We’ll talk more later.” She said with a wink.
“I’m Callie’s sister, Aria.” The young woman next to Abuela, said, holding out her hand to Arizona.
“It’s great to meet you.” Arizona said, smiling as she took Aria’s hand.
“Likewise.” Aria said.
Arizona turned to look at her girlfriend. Callie met her gaze with shining, glistening eyes. Arizona crossed the room and grabbed Callie’s hand, leading her across the room.
“Calliope, these are my parents.” She gestured to the couple sitting on the couch. “Col. Daniel Robbins and my mother, Jane.” Arizona’s parents rose and her mother gathered up Callie in a hug.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Callie. Arizona has told us so much about you. She doesn’t usually say much about her love life. So when she started telling us about you, without bothering to stop for a breath, I knew you were special.”
“It’s good to finally put a face to the name.” Col. Robbins said as he offered a hand to Callie. His serious demeanor was betrayed however, by the hint of dimples on his cheeks. It was clear who had given Arizona her trademark smile.
“And this is my brother Matt.” Arizona said, motioning to the younger man standing beside her father.
“Great to meet you, Callie. Arizona says you’re a keeper.” He pulled her into a quick hug.
The surprise finally wearing off, Callie smiled. “It’s great to finally meet all of you. And I’m so glad our families can meet each other. It’s something we’ve been meaning to do for a while, but our schedules are always so crazy.” Turning to Arizona, she wrapped her arms around her waist and gave her a chaste peck on the cheek. “Babe, you’re amazing.”
“I know.” Arizona said, dimples ablaze across her face. “Want to help me get some stuff ready in the kitchen?”
Callie joined her in the kitchen as they poured wine and prepared some food for their guests. Glancing across the room, they saw their families engaged in animated conversation. Wrapping her arms around Arizona from behind, Callie placed a light kiss on her neck. “How did you pull this off? This is perfect.”
“I have my ways.” Arizona replied with a grin. “I know how important family is to you and I wanted to make sure you got to spend Christmas with those most important to you.”
“Thanks, babe. It means the world to mean that you’d be so thoughtful.” Callie took a sideways glance to see if their families were looking, and, finding they were otherwise occupied, captured Arizona’s lips for a brief, but passionate kiss.
Callie pulled away and smirked.
“However awesome it is that you somehow got both of our families here for Christmas, it’s not going to be good enough to beat me.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so confident if I were you.” Arizona smiled, swatting Callie on the rear with a dish towel.
They headed back into the living room to join their families. They enjoyed the evening, sharing stories of their childhoods, generally bonding and learning more about each other. Throughout the evening, Matt took pictures of the gathering. Later that evening, Arizona excused herself and went to the bedroom to get something. Carlos followed her into the room.
“Arizona, may I speak to you for a moment?”
“Sure.” Arizona said, turning to face him.
“I want to apologize for the way I reacted when I first found out about your relationship with Calliope. I was out of line.”
“Thank you, sir. But I understand. It was the last thing you were expecting. You’d never had any indication that Callie was interested in women. Frankly, when I first met her, I wasn’t so sure she was either. She changed the game on you. Naturally you were shocked. And when we’re surprised, sometimes we don’t think clearly.”
“Thank you for understanding, but it still doesn’t excuse my behavior. So I just wanted to say how sorry I am and I also wanted to thank you for making my daughter so happy. I’ve known her for 30-plus years and I’ve never seen her like this. She’s different with you. So I thank you for that.”
“And thank you for raising her to be the amazing woman she is today.” Arizona said, reaching up and placing a sweet kiss on his cheek. “Now what do you say we get back to our girl? I’ve got a present for her.” He smiled and followed her from the room.
As she returned to her place next to Callie, Arizona handed her a neatly-wrapped package. “Merry Christmas, Calliope.” She said, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend.
Callie opened the present, revealing a pretty Christmas-themed photo album. Opening the book, she saw photographs from her childhood Christmases, as well as ones featuring a blonde-haired, blue-eyed child that could only be Arizona. “This is adorable, Arizona. Thanks you, baby.” She said, placing a kiss on her girlfriend’s temple.
After spending some more quality time, their families rose to leave. After saying their goodbyes, they headed to the door. “We’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. We’ll give you two a few hours to enjoy Christmas morning alone.” Carlos said, winking.
After shutting the door, Callie wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. “Thank you so much. Having my family here . . . and yours, means so much to me.”
“You’re very welcome.” Arizona replied, rising on her toes to place a kiss on Callie’s lips. “Now let’s get to bed. We’ve got a big today tomorrow . . . or so you tell me.” She said, not wanting to let on too much about her plan. “Plus, Santa can’t visit until we’re asleep.”
Callie laughed at her girlfriend’s child-like enthusiasm about Santa, and grabbing hold of her hand, led them to bed.