I changed my phone wallpaper to a selfie that Jessica and Caterina took and ever since then, I haven't been able to get this fic idea out of my head. So here it is! :)
—
Arizona and Amelia had finally relented to their daughter's constant pestering and on her 13th birthday, they presented her with her own cellphone. It wasn't new, and it wasn't the latest model, but to Ella it meant freedom. Finally, she could text her friends instead of having to call them on her home phone and risk her younger brother listening in on the other line.
Unfortunately, while Ella was responsible enough to take care of her new phone, she wasn't responsible enough to not run up a $200 bill in the first month.
The day the bill popped up in Arizona's email inbox, she thought there must have been a mistake. She'd idly checked her emails while the waiting for a board meeting to start and when she saw the total, her jaw hit the floor. She quickly took a screenshot of the bill and sent it to her wife. Her phone buzzed and lit up a minute later and Amelia's reply simply read "someone is so grounded".
—
That night, as they drove home together, they discussed Ella's punishment. Arizona thought taking away the cellphone until she went to college was fair. Amelia laughed at her wife and told her she might be overreacting a little.
"Hey sweetie," Arizona called out to her eldest daughter who had her head buried in a college textbook. Sofia babysat for her brother and sister when Arizona and Amelia worked late, and in return she got to use Arizona's car whenever she worked late. Plus, it allowed her mom to make sure she wasn't just eating junk food like every other college kid.
"Hey mom," Sofia replied, looking up and smiling as the two women entered the room. "Hey Amelia."
"Hey Sofia. Where's Ella?" Amelia asked as Arizona kissed the top of her eldest daughter's head.
"In her room," Sofia answered, looking between them as they both developed a stern look and practically marched down the hall. She returned her gaze to her textbook but she was was too busy straining to hear the argument that she was sure was about to break out.
Ella had been selecting the perfect emoji to end her message with, when she heard footsteps behind her and her cellphone was ripped out of her hands.
"Mom! What the hell!" the young teen yelled as Arizona held the phone tightly in her fist.
"Ella Grace Robbins-Shepherd, do not speak to your mother like that," Amelia warned, sternly. Ella knew she was in trouble now, but the teen simply crossed her arms across her chest and looked at the ground, mumbling something about this being an invasion of her privacy.
"We got the phone bill today," Arizona stated, still gripping the cellphone tight enough that Amelia was worried she was going to break it in half. "Do you know how much it was?"
"Well, I'm guessing a lot," Ella replied, her attitude not helping her situation.
"200 dollars!" Arizona continued, choosing to ignore her daughter's comment. Ella honestly didn't think it would be that much. All she'd done was what everyone else was doing really.
"I'm sorry," Ella said sincerely. "I'll pay it off."
"Yes, you will," Amelia confirmed as she took the phone from Arizona "You will do chores around the house until we decide you have down enough to pay it off, and then, and only then, will you be getting this back!"
"But mom-" Ella began before she was cut off.
"But nothing. There will be no texting or calling or Facebook or snapchat or myspace or instagram or angry birds until you've paid it off," Amelia informed her daughter.
"Mom, I don't even know what half of those things are," Ella replied, laughing at how out of touch her mom was with the world. At least her other mom had some idea of what was popular these days since most of her patients were children.
"If you're not careful, myspace will be the only social media you're allowed on," Arizona threatened. "Now, you can come and finish you're homework out here with your sister."
Arizona and Amelia turned and left their daughter's room, heading back to the kitchen.
As they passed his room, their 10-year-old son came rushing out, almost knocking them over as he pulled them both in for a hug.
"Hey little man, how was school?" Amelia said, ruffling his messy blonde curls. It was a stark contrast to Ella's dark brown hair, and his bubbly personality was becoming more and more welcome at the end of a long day in comparison to Ella's broody teenage attitude.
"Mom, I'm the second tallest kid in my grade!" Tim informed his mom, trying to dodge her hand before shaking his hair back out of his eyes. Arizona made a mental note to take him to get it cut that weekend.
"Until you're taller than me, you're my little man," Amelia laughed as they followed Arizona down the hall.
"Hey mom?" Tim asked, looking up at Amelia. "What's Angry Birds?"
—
The next day, Amelia was on rounds when she felt something vibrate. After checking her pager and her phone, she remembered she'd slipped Ella's phone into her pocket this morning, just incase her daughter had decided to go looking for it at home. Pulling it out of her pocket, Amelia pressed the button and the screen lit up, showing the numerous notifications her daughter had received. She automatically swiped across the screen, but was surprised when she found the phone was unlocked. Now she just had to work out how to turn all these notifications off.
—
At lunch, Amelia sat in the cafeteria, scrolling through the setting menu for what seemed like the thousandth time. She'd been trying all morning to turn off the notifications but they'd just kept coming. She'd even turned it off at one point but it had turned itself back on and loudly played an alarm while she was in the middle of a consult.
"What are you doing?" Arizona asked, sliding in next to her frustrated wife.
"Trying to turn these damn notifications off!" Amelia said exasperatedly.
"Shotliff!" Arizona called out, getting the attention of her intern who was sitting at a nearby table. The young woman quickly hurried over as her friends watched. "Do you know how to turn the notifications off on this thing?"
"Um, yeah," she replied, taking the phone that was offered to her and turning the notifications off immediately and handing it back. "Is that all?"
"Yes, thank you, Jessica," Arizona smiled and the intern began to turn away.
"Wait!" Amelia said, stopping the intern in her tracks. "Do you think you could show me how to use this thing?"
"Sure," Jessica said, taking the phone back and sitting down so that Amelia could see what she was doing. She explained what she was doing as she went, and Amelia listened intently. Arizona simply rolled her eyes and finished her lunch, leaving her wife and her intern to it.
—
"Arizona!" Amelia called out, spotting her wife by the stairs and hurrying over to her.
"What's up?"
"Come here," Amelia said, leaning in next to her wife and positioning Ella's phone in front of their faces, camera app already open. Arizona smiled while Amelia took the picture, before laughing and turning to face her wife.
"What are you up to?" Arizona enquired, recognising the devilish smirk on her wife's face.
"Jessica showed me how to change the wallpaper!" Amelia excitedly replied, showing her wife the lock screen that now proudly showed their faces.
Arizona simply laughed and shook her head before heading towards the OR.
—
It took Ella almost two months to work off her debt to her parents. At first she hadn't believed they would actually be counting how much her chores were worth, but after they told her that cleaning her room was only worth $5, she'd stepped up her game. She'd even mowed the lawn, something she had never even done before. Sure, the lawn was very patchy now, but she'd tried and her parents had seen that.
When Arizona and Amelia got home, they found her vacuuming the carpet in the hall and couldn't help but wish she would do all the housework more often. Ella looked up at her parents and grinned widely. She knew she was only a few dollars off her $200 punishment and between the sparkling clean toilet and this vacuuming, she had definitely repayed her debt.
Amelia laughed and reached into her bag, pulling out the phone that had run out of battery several weeks ago.
Ella reached for it excitedly, only for Amelia to pull it back at the last minute.
"No more $200 phone bills, got it?" Amelia said.
"Got it," Ella replied, eyes still on her phone.
Amelia handed the phone over and wasn't surprised when Ella immediately turned and ran to her bedroom to charge it.
"Hey! Come back and put this vacuum away!" Arizona called out, stepping around it and heading to the kitchen. Tim appeared at their side almost instantly.
"Mom, can I play on your phone?" he asked excitedly.
"Have you finished your homework?" Amelia asked him, laughing as he nodded eagerly. She removed her own phone from her bag and handed it to her son, who had the Angry Birds app open practically before it left her hand. "But only for half an hour."
Tim nodded as he headed back to his bedroom, playing while he walked.
"Trust you to get our son addicted to a game that's almost 20 years old," Arizona said, shaking her head as she wrapped her arms around her wife and pulled her in for a kiss. From down the hall, they heard a loud groan as Ella's phone powered on and she found her new wallpaper.
—
Four months later, Amelia was surprised when she clicked the button on her daughter's phone to check the time and found the same picture of herself and Arizona staring back at her. She was sure Ella would change it as soon as she had gotten her phone back.
When she asked her daughter about it, Ella had simply shrugged and said, "I like opening my phone and seeing you guys looking back at me."
Happy tears stung Amelia's eyes and she pulled her daughter in for a hug, kissing her forehead. "I love you."
"I love you too, mom."
