The Aftermath of Callie and Arizona

Either Sink, Or, You've Got To Swim Part II

Callie's POV:

"Mom! Did you get my bag with all my softball gear?!"

I was in the garage, loading up our SUV for Wednesday night softball practice as Sophia was hollering at me from the house. We were far enough apart, that we had to yell so we could hear what the other was saying.

"I did! I also grabbed your water bottle and and slide sandals for after practice! Are you dressed?! Did Mama pull your hair back?!"

I was yelling back at Sophia through the open door to the house as I made sure we had everything she could possibly need and then some.

As I was shouting back, I crawled into the rear of the car so I could organize everything and prevent things from rolling around. For some reason, that is one of my many pet-peeves, loose items rolling around in the rear of a vehicle. Things can break, but the noise alone, yeah, not my thing.

"You know, it would be so much easier to converse if you two would just stand in the same room together for a change and actually talk..."

I had just crawled out of the rear of the SUV, butt first, and was getting ready to close the cargo door when I heard Arizona's voice, directly behind me. Not expecting for her to suddenly be right behind me, I screamed after being startled while I jumped and then hit my head on the interior side of the door.

"Calliope! Oh my gosh!" 

Arizona had Maddy in a carrier on her chest, with her hands on Sophia's shoulders as our daughter was standing in front of her. Sophia's hair was now in one neat French braid that was down the center of her head. The group of them were about 2 feet from where I was standing and trying not to giggle as they noticed me wince in pain and grab the new bump on top of my head.

"Oh sweetheart, I didn't mean to scare you! I thought you heard us walk into the garage a moment ago or I would've waited for you to see us before speaking!"

Arizona's face looked concerned, but I could tell she was still trying to suppress her laughter at my clumsy reaction to her presence. She let go of her grip on Sophia and came closer to where I was. I had just closed the rear car door, but was roughly in the same spot when I jumped from suddenly hearing Arizona's voice. I kept rubbing the spot on my head as it continued to smart.

"Can I take a look at your head, Calliope?" Arizona had wrapped her arms loosely around my waist to pull me in, but then started reassuringly rubbing my back with her right hand while she continued to hold me with her left arm.

Feeling both meek and a little beat up, I just nodded with puppy dog eyes. I knew we were going through the motions of being truly hurt and truly concerned about my head, but the extra attention from Arizona was nice. Who am I kidding? Extra attention from Arizona is always more than nice.

Arizona put on her serious face in response to me as she began surveying the new localized edema, on the top, right side of my head.

"Sweetie, I'd normally tell you to ice it, but I know you two need to get going so you're on time for practice. When you get home, we'll put a cold pack on your noggin, okay? In the meantime, I will give you the same treatment I always administer to our daughters, here."

With that, Arizona got on her tippy toes as I leaned down, slightly. Between our adjustments, she was able to kiss the top of my head, near my newly formed contusion.

"Thank you Dr. Robbins, I'm feeling better already. And it's not your fault that I'm so easily startled, I've been this way since I can remember."

"I remember Callie, that's why I feel so bad about catching you off guard a few minutes ago."