The Aftermath of Callie and Arizona

"Double, Double, Toil and Trouble"

Arizona's POV:

It was still dark in the treehouse, with only the nightlights and a couple small lamps to illuminate the blackened interior. I woke up fairly early that Sunday, well, at least by weekend standards. Unfortunately after working in the hospital for this many years, I've became a patterned early riser. Whether I want to be or not, I'm generally up around 5:30 am. On a good day, I'm lucky if I'm able to sleep in till 7 am, but that is a rare moment. So, it was no big shock to me when I woke up at 5 am that day, even after our intimate late night we spent in the treehouse. 

We were both still naked and Callie had fallen asleep with me spooning her. She was snoring a little, but mostly just breathing deeply. She is just so cute when she sleeps and then first wakes up. Her docile, childlike nature is very apparent when she's trying to wake up, provided she's woken up slowly. 

On the flip side, the mornings she gets an early page into work, well, let's just say it's not so cute and she can be down-right terrifying. Let's just put it this way, I know better than to make any sudden movements around her those days for fear she might become Mt. St. Helens and blow her top. 

The rain was falling a little heavier that morning, so I just laid in bed, holding Callie, as I listened to the rain fall on the roof and skylights. I was beginning to consider I was going to need to evacuate my pregnancy bladder, but until I reached that critical point, I was content being snuggled with my arms around Callie. Plus, she was incredibly warm and I was freezing, as usual. So, I figured I'd drain some of her body heat before getting up in the cold morning air to navigate my way to the only bathroom in the treehouse.

Most people are stunned when they learn that our treehouse has plumbing so that we could have running water and a toilet installed. I knew early on when I was working with the architect that water and a toilet were a must. There was no way if I was spending the night in the treehouse, that I'd want to trudge back into the main house, just to use the facilities. It would completely defeat the whole purpose of the elevated house being a true escape. Plus, a composting toilet was out of the question for me. I wanted something that was indoors and could be in a heated space.

While it cost me a small fortune to have this feature, it was worth every penny and still is to this day. Mind you, the nightmare of getting the permits and plumbing approved by the city and county turned out to be an absolute nightmare. Both entities wanted the plumbing to be engineered to be concealed and not visibly obvious to the inherent design of the treehouse itself.

We also had to get approval to tap into the city's water main and sewage line. The amount of time and effort that took is something I hope to never deal with again, but in the end, all the strife was worth it. Especially on damp, chilly, Fall mornings like that one, where the last thing I wanted to do during the 5 am hour was walk to the house or freeze outside on a composting toilet.

After 20 minutes of snuggling with Callie, my bladder won out. I quietly slid my body out of the covers and put on my leg, before quietly walking out of the bedroom. The bathroom was only a 150 foot walk and was located just off the main room. I was trying to be quiet, but I'm not even sure why. Callie could and does sleep through most things, while I'm the complete opposite. The smallest sound from a pin drop and I'm wide awake. Meanwhile, my wife could sleep through a hurricane and never stir once. Sometimes the two of us couldn't be more opposite if we tried, I swear.

After flushing the toilet and washing my hands, I crawled back in bed and wrapped my arms around Callie while I spooned her again. She let out a content moan and snuggled her back into my front. She laid that way for another few minutes when she started to come to life.

"Hhhmmm, what time is it sweetheart? It's still dark." Callie was half-awake, half-asleep mumbling as she laid there, still mostly lifeless.

"It's almost 6 am Callie, sorry I woke you. I had to go to the bathroom."