Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters referenced in this story. All rights go to ABC and Shonda Rhimes (heartbreaker that she is). Also, this story will not follow the exact plot of the show as the characters will handle things a little differently.

EDIT: I know this chapter is so super short but it was destroying me to write it and this is my very first time publishing my writings and I just needed to get it out there to see if it was worth continuing... I promise the other chapters will be longer :)

Arizona flinched in her sleep, the familiar nightmare invading her peaceful slumber as it so often did. The pain in her leg - that splintering feeling that only broken bones could give; the aching in her body from various cuts and bruises; the screaming... She was almost sure it was coming from her. Arizona jolted awake, pushing herself upright as cool sweat trickled down her back and her breath came in short pants. She shuddered as she looked around the room, trying to place where she was, to ground herself. "It was a dream," she told herself, "You had a nightmare." The blonde shifted to look at the still sleeping form of her wife next to her and her heart dropped. She felt under the covers, cringing as she came in contact with empty space where the majority of her left leg should have been. It had not just been a nightmare.

Running her hand over the stump of her leg, Arizona sniffled, hot tears spilling down her cheeks.

"Mama?"

The blonde quickly wiped her eyes and looked up, not having heard the pitter-patter of toddler feet coming down the hall. She smiled at the sight of her daughter's head poking around the door, black hair tousled by sleep.

"Hey, baby girl. What's up? Can't you sleep?"

Arizona shifted a little as Sofia shook her head and shuffled into the room, trying to climb up onto the bed. Lifting her carefully, Arizona settled the toddler between her and Callie, pressing her finger to her lips to tell Sofia to be quiet. A warmth spread through her as her daughter's tiny form snuggled against her, chubby toddler hands gripping her shirt to keep her near.

"Where Mama's leg?"

Sofia's little voice was slightly muffled against Arizona's chest, her hand patting the bed below what remained of her mother's leg. The toddler asked this same question frequently and almost always, Callie would step in and distract their daughter to avoid the conversation and the argument that would follow. Arizona looked over at her wife, watching Callie's even breaths as she considered Sofia's question. She dealt with children and their curiosities all day, it was part of her job. She would make light of a situation, tell them they would be okay, keep them calm. Yet somehow, she couldn't bring herself to give a lighthearted answer to her own child when she so desperately needed one.

Arizona tore her gaze from Callie as a familiar anger bubbled inside her. She was not proud of the anger that she still felt at Callie for making the decision to amputate her leg. She was not proud of it at all, and the very thought of having resentment for her wife's decision made her feel selfish and unkind. As a surgeon herself, she knew it was life-threatening to leave diseased tissue untreated. Tissue that had become necrotic after days in the woods with no way to clean the wounds, let alone stop her exposed fracture from becoming severely infected. She knew that Callie would have done everything in her power to save her leg, and the fact that she had given permission for the amputation told Arizona that there was no other way. Callie would want her to have the best chance of survival that she could. She would be able to get Arizona prosthetics, help her with learning to use them and the management of pain. But she had still made that decision. Arizona took a deep, shaking breath and exhaled before looking at her daughter.

"Mama's leg is gone. It wasn't getting better, so it had to go."

The blunt answer seemed to satisfy Sofia for the time being, Arizona assumed it was only because the child was half-asleep. They laid there in silence for some time, Arizona staring at the ceiling and waiting while her daughter's breathing steadied as she fell into a deep slumber. Carefully moving the toddler off her chest and onto the pillow, the blonde sat up, freezing when Sofia snuffled in her sleep and rolled over towards Callie. Glancing back to make sure both her wife and daughter were still asleep, Arizona pulled her cane towards her and eased herself out of bed. In the bathroom, she leant against the wall and slid down, letting herself collapse on the floor. As she allowed the cool tile to soothe her, she breathed evenly and closed her eyes, finally settled in the only place where the memories of the plane crash could not harm her.