I just wanna say thank you a lot to samarahA for betaing this and making sure it's readable and understandable!

CHAPTER 1 – CATCHING ON

Arizona was waiting, more or less patiently, for the bell to ring the end of the school day.

She was probably as excited, if not more, as the children inside the classes waiting for this Monday to be over. It was her week with her daughter. She couldn't wait to see Sofia and have some real down time with her instead of the few minutes at a time they had shared last week. Her schedule had been so hectic that she had barely managed a few minutes to stop by at day care and kiss Sofia. Her maternal side was longing for bath times and silly games and cuddles.

Just as she was about to look at the phone for the time again, a loud noise informed her the street was about to be overwhelmed by a small army of shrieking children in a few moments.

Sofia came out soon after, jumping around and came to a halt when she passed the front gate, one hand firmly clasped into Zola's as her gaze scanned the crowd for her mommy. Eventually her eyes fell onto her and both little girls ran towards her with wide smiles onto their features.

"Mommy!" Sofia crashed into her legs with all her might, her arms coming around to hug them, letting go of her friend's hand.

"Hello Arizona!" Zola greeted enthusiastically and waved at her.

"Hello girls," she greeted and waved back, her other hand tangling into her daughter's messy hair. "How are you doing?"

"Fine now that school's over. I mean, I like school but I like the hospital better," Zola said warmly.

The pediatric surgeon chuckled, that little girl was obviously her parents' daughter. "Of course you do," she teased and then looked at her daughter. "What about you, baby? Good day or bad day?"

"Awesome day! Ms. Vandal made us read a really hard word today and I was the first to get it right."

"That's great! What was the word Sof'?"

Sofia shrugged. "I don't remember? Something with lots of O's in it?"

A loud cough coming from behind them got all their attentions and the three girls turned around to face the intruder. The woman was about as tall as Arizona and dressed casually. Arizona knew instantly the brunette wasn't some other mom waiting for her kid because otherwise, she would have remembered that pretty face from the parents crowd from before today.

"Sorry, I think you have a little something that belongs to me," the woman said, her head mentioning to Zola as her fisted hands buried themselves into her pants' back pockets nervously.

The blonde's eyebrows furrowed, confused, and the African-American kid didn't lose anytime to mirror Sofia's attitude from a few moments ago and launched herself towards the stranger.

"Auntie Amelia!"

The brunette knelt just in time to catch her, a little huff escaping her as her niece ran into her opened arms. Arizona felt her worry subside away and relief ran through her instead.

"Oof! I don't remember my niece being quite so grown up. What have you done to Zola and who are you?" she joked as she stood up. She settled her onto her hip, her forearm wrapped securely under her butt and the other rubbing her back tenderly.

"You're silly! It's me, I'm Zola!" she giggled, Sofia following along. "Tell her it's me, Zona."

Arizona smiled kindly at the woman, Auntie Amelia it would appear. "Yep, that adorable munchkin is definitely Zola Sheperd. Arizona Robbins," she introduced herself and held out her hand to shake. "And this is Sofia, my daughter."

"Hi," the little Latina smiled shyly, her hand finding her mommy's one and squeezing tightly.

"Amelia Sheperd," she shook the offered hand. "So you're the infamous Sofia."

One of Derek's numerous sisters then, it explained why the pediatric surgeon couldn't place her. She felt her daughter's grip tightened onto her fingers.

"You know me?" Sofia's voice didn't hide her apprehension well.

"Sure," the brunette said with a warm smile. "You're the adorable kid standing in a Moana outfit next to little cosmonaut Bailey on the picture on the fridge. Plus Zola and Bailey never stop talking about you on the phone. I think you're their best friend in the whole wide world. I love your necklace by the way," Amelia winked.

"Thanks. Mama gave it to me for my birthday," Sofia said proudly, her hold relaxing and she turned to look up at her mom. "Mommy, can Zola come play with us to the park mañana?"

"I don't know baby. I'll have to ask Meredith and Derek first, okay?"

"Oh, okay," she accepted but her tone was obviously disappointed by the reply.

"What's ma-mañana?" the brunette asked with a terrible English accent that forced Sofia to hold a chuckle back.

"Tomorrow," replied all the others girls in unison.

"Thanks. Well, I can take them," Amelia provided. "I know both of them are working tomorrow evening. I'm supposed to babysit."

"You don't have to, really."

"I don't mind. Park sounds fun," Amelia shrugged and turned to her niece, "What do you think Zola? In the mood to go out tomorrow?"

"Yes! And we can bring bread to feed the ducks, I know Daddy kept some into the kitchen."

"I'm not sure Bailey will want to this time, though," Sofia said.

"What? Why?"

"Last time we went he kept on aiming at the swans with rocks," Sofia started.

"Mommy told him not to a few times but he wouldn't listen," the other little girl carried on.

"So of course, after a while the swans got fed up and ran after him and he got really scared. He started to cry and then Ellis started to cry too. Dios mio," the Latina child said dramatically, her eyes rolling towards the sky. "It was a real pesallida. It made my ears hurt for like, a week."

"Mommy had to hug them for forever before they stopped and then he got punished for not listening to the rules. He won't go anywhere near the pond since then."

"We'll see how we feel about birds tomorrow then," Arizona said with a laugh. "How about I give you my number so you can text me what time is right for you?"

"Sure," Amelia dug into her pocket and handed her phone to the blonde so she could put her number in.

"It was nice meeting you Amelia, I'll see you tomorrow I guess."

"Likewise Arizona," Amelia grinned big.

"Hasta luego Zola! Bye, Ma'am," Sofia hugged her friend goodbye.

"See you Sofia, bye Arizona."

When Arizona and Sofia arrived to the park the next day, Zola, Ellis and their aunt were already by the pond. Arizona's eyes wandered around to find Bailey out of habit. He was swinging high up in the sky, his swing going back and forth as fast as he could manage it to go.

"Zola!" Sofia shrieked happily as her friend appeared in her sight.

She let go of her mom's hand and ran towards her, arms wide open and her long hair flying freely behind her. One would think they hadn't seen each other in forever when really, they had seen at school a mere hours earlier. But still, it was cute. The African American turned around at her name, as well as Amelia.

"Sofia!" she replied, just as excited and ran up until they could hug each other. Eventually they let go and Zola dragged her to the water. "Come, my auntie found my daddy's bread stash."

"Hola ma'am, hola Ellis," Sofia smiled sweetly.

"You can call me Amelia, kiddo."

"'Kay. Could we have some bread for the birds please ma'a-Amelia?"

"Of course," the brunette took some more from the bag and handed it to both children.

Arizona eventually walked up to them. "Be careful girls! Don't stand too close to the water."

"Promise Mommy."

"We'll be cautious," Zola said and both girls walked away, hand in hand and giggling.

The pediatric surgeon turned towards the brunette. "Hello Amelia."

"Hi," the brunette grinned just as big.

"How about we find a park bench so we can sit?"

"Sure."

Amelia slowly pushed the stroller until they found a wooden bench not too far from either kids so they could keep an eye on all of them. Bailey seemed to have made a new friend and was now playing over the slides, doing God knew that.

Once sat down, the brunette carefully took Ellis out of her stroller and sat her on her knees instead. As soon as her stuffy was handed to her, she grabbed it and her mouth latched on it vigorously, babbling incoherently.

"So Amelia, which one of Derek's four infamous sisters are you?"

"The family baby actually. Last to be born."

"Not too hard to grow up with that many siblings?" Arizona asked conversationally.

"Lots of laundry. Lots of yelling. Lots of running around. We weren't allowed to play monopoly," she sneered. "One time, Nancy went bankrupt and threw such a huge tantrum that our mom just decided to ban the game from the house for forever," at that, Arizona couldn't help but giggle. "But other than that, I'd like to think we all turned out pretty alright. What about you? Do you have any siblings, Arizona?"

"I had a big brother, Timothy. He-mh, he died when I was in college."

"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss."

The pediatric surgeon could tell from the soft tone that the woman next to her wasn't just saying that. "It's alright, you didn't know," she tried to shrug it off, as if it didn't still affected her but knew she wasn't that successful when the brunette gently squeezed her shoulder.

Arizona suddenly got curious at the small glint of understanding onto the brunette's features, like she seemed to all too familiar with grief and wasn't only being empathic.

"So," she cleared her throat. "Are you in Seattle on vacation?"

"No, I'm actually moving here," the cheerfulness in Amelia's voice was back.

"That's great!" she smiled warmly. "Are you from far?"

"Santa Monica. My sister and her friends run a practice down there."

"Santa Monica," Arizona repeated dreamily, picturing miles of sand and the sound of the waves calmly hitting the shore. "It must have been great."

"Yeah, it was," Amelia had this look of regret on her face though, contrasting with her words.

Arizona sensed the distance in between them grew. Something in the other woman's demeanor had changed into the last few seconds, her walls were up and she appeared more tensed. The brunette took a deep breath and Arizona could tell that the small trick decreased her anxiousness.

"I had regular hours. I used to live a ten minutes walk away from the beach. It only rains like, twice a year. Since people aren't used to it, a shitload of drivers finish their days in the ER every time it does."

"May I ask why did you want to leave?"

Amelia debated. There were so many reasons, she honestly didn't know which one had been the final straw. Drugs, Ryan's death, Christopher's death… So much of her dreams and hopes had died in Santa Monica.

"Too much memories, I guess," she settled for, elusively.

Arizona could see that the brunette didn't wish to talk this in more depth so she didn't push. Everyone was allowed to their privacy and she knew firsthand how much inquisitive questions could be harmful, especially when the past was involved. Sometimes, certain things were best left alone.

"I hope you can make tons of new and happy ones here then," she squeezed the brunette's arm and opted to change the subject. "How do you like living with your family so far?"

Amelia was thankful for the lack of Spanish inquisition at her vague answer and the small gesture of support.

"Please. Have you ever met my brother?" Amelia chuckled. "He's insufferable to live with. And my room is right next to them. It feels like I'm fifteen again and we're living in our mom's home. All its missing is my sisters fighting loudly in the corridor over something futile like lip gloss or hair brushes."

"I bet your nieces and nephew can help you with that," the blonde joked.

"Oh, they already do," she pointed to her laps. "This one right here kept screaming her lungs out every two hours or so last night. Isn't that right, sweetie?" she cued and Ellis babbled at her with a smile, a hand coming to grab a lock of brunette hair with hungry eyes. "And Zola and Bailey insist to sleep with me most of the time. Which I truly didn't mind at first, until I understood how much children could move at night."

"Yeah, Sofia used to be quite a dynamic sleeper too. Calliope, my ex-wife, and I got our fair share of little kicks and fists hit. She's much calmer now thankfully."

At the mention of an ex-wife, the fact that Sofia looked nothing like her blonde mother made suddenly much more sense.

"I haven't gotten hit yet, so let's knock on wood," she playfully touched the back of the wooden bench.

"You said you used to work in a practice. You must be the doctor sister then?"

"We're all doctor sisters," the brunette giggled. "Nancy an OB/GYN, Kate's a psychiatrist and Lizzie's a physiotherapist."

"What about you?"

"Neurosurgery."

"Of course," Arizona let out a small chuckle. "Your mom must be really proud of having so many doctors in the family."

"You should hear her bragging to her friends from bridge club," she said playfully with a roll of her eyes. "She's lucky she's a very good player otherwise I'm pretty sure they would have kicked her out a long time ago."

"Which one of your sisters did you used to work with?"

"Oh, it's wasn't really- she's not- I worked with Addison Montgomery, she's Derek ex-wife."

"Oh Addison! I know her, I've met her quite a few times over the years. She's an old friend of Calliope. She actually birthed Sofia."

Memories of car accidents and sleepless night onto uncomfortable hospital chairs floated through her mind and she shook her head to chase them away.

"She's the best OB/GYN anyone could ask for. I wasn't close to any of my big sisters since they're a lot older than me. When I was in middle school, they were already off to college, which didn't leave a lot of time for the bratty little sister. But that was when Derek and Addie started dating. She was over a lot and we became really great friends. She was there for me when my sisters or brother weren't or couldn't."

"I get it. Blood doesn't mean everything," her eyes lingered onto her daughter and her heart swelled up in her chest.

She was giggling care freely with Zola, chasing her around with a break stick.

"What about you? Meredith told me you're the pediatric attending at Grey-Sloan Memorial hospital?"

"I am. I've been working here for about… eight years or so? Do you plan on applying there or are you applying at Seattle Presbyterian since you're moving?"

"My contract starts next week at GSMH."

"Well, if you don't know where to sit at lunch, you'll always be welcome at my table," Arizona said sweetly.

"Thanks. It'll be nice to see a friendly face that isn't related to me in some ways. Hey, would you mind watching this one for a little while?" she motioned to baby Ellis. "I can see Bailey eyeing the birds every five seconds. I want to try something with him."

"Of course not. Come here baby girl," the blonde carefully took her under her arms pits and settled her onto her own laps.

"Thank, I'll be right back," the neurosurgeon said as she got up. She grabbed some bread from the stroller.

"Take your time."

Arizona watched her interact with the kids. Her attitude was relaxed and open and the smile gracing her lips couldn't seem to leave. The blonde couldn't deny Amelia was attractive. There was something mysterious about her. Like she had lived more things and seen more darkness into her thirty-something years on this Earth than some people ever would into their whole lives. Before her mind could wander any further, Ellis wailed softly, effectively gaining her attention.

Not really knowing what was happening, she softly felt around her diaper, silently praying that her assumption was wrong. When it turned out to be dry, she let out a small sigh of relief. However, Ellis' cry grew louder and her hands latched onto Arizona's sternum repeatedly. She tried to whisper sweet nothings to her and rock her but the baby seemed focused on patting her chest all over with her hands. Arizona suddenly realized that she was hungry. She hooked her foot under the stroller to pull it closer and searched for a bottle.

"It's okay, baby. I'm trying to find what you want. No need for crying. You're going to tire yourself out with all those tears and snot."

"What happened?" Amelia asked worriedly and took a seat next to the other woman.

She grabbed her niece and started to wiggle her softly in hope to calm her niece down and Arizona kept on fumbling with the stroller.

"I'm pretty sure she's hungry. She kept trying to grab my boobs," she giggled. Her left hand finally settled onto the bottle, "Got it!"

"Sorry," Amelia laughed. "Meredith told me she was still in between bottle and breastfeeding."

Amelia gladly took the milk and offered it to her niece. The blonde's guess turned out to be right, Ellis immediately sucked on the bottle, not a wail to be heard.

"It's quite alright. She isn't the first to play grabby hands when she's hungry," she tickled one of the baby's feet and looked up to the kids. She was surprised to find them all feeding the ducks. "How the hell did you get Bailey to get over there?"

"Well, the trick is to have a four years old logic. See, Bailey got attacked by swans. Didn't matter he was at fault at the time, the only important thing to recall is that swans are enemies. However, ducks are another story. Duck aren't swans, thus they're not enemies and are not scary. So we can feed them bread happily without having to worry," Amelia stated with a childish grin and Arizona couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the god awful explanation.

"This is the silliest thing I've been told in a while."

The brunette shrugged casually. "He isn't scared of all birds anymore, at least. Only swans. Baby steps."