The Aftermath of Callie and Arizona

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...

Arizona's POV:

We had finally reached the point of no return and Christmas was just a few days away. Our Christmas decorations had been set up since the weekend after Thanksgiving, the majority of our gifts had been bought (I was still working on wrapping all of them, however) and all the party details were in full swing. We even had the guest room bedroom all ready to go for Carlos when he arrived. As much as we could be, our household was ready for Christmas.

The plan for the holiday this year, of course, was a Christmas Eve party we were hosting for family and friends and then on Christmas, we were going to spend the day with our immediate family. We typically have people stop by throughout the day too, so we were going to have a full house at any given moment over the two holiday dates and during the week around them.

Of course the issue troubling Callie and I the most, was what to do with the Ari situation and Carlos...? Despite Ari's inexcusable behavior, we still had to figure out how to handle the drama she had created without creating a scene, so Carlos could somehow spend the holiday with both his daughters. Even if it was at different times.

As we talked through all our options, one choice seemed to be the only choice. We had to either, invite Ari to the Christmas Eve party, or to our house for Christmas Day. To Callie and I, the party was the easier of the two choices. Lots of people would be coming, so we hoped making a scene wouldn't be as appealing to Ari. 

While it would require us to temporarily, "forgive and forget" that night, it was only going to be for one night or at least that was what we kept telling ourselves. 

Despite our anger towards the situation that Ari had created, lied about and involved us in, Carlos had been asking Callie about our plans so he could make sure he spent as much time with his immediate family as possible during his trip. We knew he assumed Ari would just be at the party and at our house again for Christmas Day, and why wouldn't he? If the cheating accusation hadn't arisen, Callie's sister would have been a part of both events. 

Regardless of what ended up transpiring with Ari, Callie and I both agreed we needed to be honest with her Dad, at least to some extent. We weren't going to come out and tell Carlos everything, but thought it was best to tell him about the sister's disagreement, but not get into any specifics. We figured Ari had too many cans of worms that could be opened and we certainly didn't need to be around when they were opened.

Callie and I felt like we were prepared as much as we possibly could be for everything coming 'down the pipe,' in the upcoming days, which was a small relief, I suppose. At least it was for me, since my job had been busy with end of the year department crap, I mean, paperwork due. 

Paperwork is my least favorite part of my job and I had a mountain of it to do before the start of the New Year. Since Callie and I had decided to work through the 22nd of December, I had ultimately created the busy work for myself by taking the rest of the year off to spend with Sophia while she was on a break from school. 

Since Soph had been in school, we had always taken the last week of the year off to be with her while she's at home. It was nice this year to again be taking the time off, but as a family this time, just like we used to do in our past. I realized a number of weeks ago that this was going to be my true first Christmas with Callie and I married again, so without a doubt, it would be a Christmas to remember.

"Hey Dr. Robbins, you look really, really, busy today." I was sitting in my office, but had let my mind drift off when I should have been working, so naturally that would be when Callie would knock and walk in. She must have seen I was far from focused when she said, "I thought it was my job to be the spacey one between us?!"