As you all know I'm really trying to get back into writing again, and as a result I've decided to write my way through the alphabet. I will be writing a oneshot bases on a prompt that starts with each letter of the alphabet to do so. This may take me a while but I hope y'all will enjoy it anyhow. Thanks for your support as always (:

"Arizona, how can you say that you've never been to Atlantic City?" I exclaim, truly surprised by her confession. We always seemed to have random interesting conversations when I was preparing a meal.

"Well excuse me, Miss I've been anywhere you can think of. I can't say that I have been to Atlantic City because I haven't." Arizona says as she picks Sofia up out of her playpen, playing with her toes making her laugh in the process. "Yeah, you tell Mommy she's being silly. Yeah you tell her."

"Well, Miss Marine Brat, you've claimed to have to live in over twenty states so I would have guessed that Jersey would have been on the list somewhere. Plus it's like a less than three hour drive from Baltimore where you lived for like five years. I also would have guessed that you and a bunch of friends would have jumped at the chance to have a couple of days of crazy fun. Considering the stories I've heard," I mumble off, causing me to receive a glare visible out of the corner of my eye that I couldn't help but find absolutely adorable.

But in what seemed like milliseconds later her expression changes.

"That was before, before." She attempts to finish her sentence but painfully can't. I look up from the pot on the stove I had been stirring. My eyes meet hers; they're beginning to tear up, slightly distorting their breathtaking shade of blue.

I quickly withdraw my spoon from the pot, placing it on the counter. Carefully I make my way around the island, approaching Arizona as she tears her eyes away from mine. I can see her tightening her already firm hold on Sofia, trying in vain to find comfort and to forget. I bring myself in front of her, wrapping my arm firmly around her petite waist, placing my other hand on her arm that is wrapped around Sofia.

"Arizona," I slowly rub my wife's back hoping my usual trick for getting her to come out of reliving painful memories will work. "Arizona, look at me. Please."

She gradually looks up from Sofia's shoes. Her once slightly teary eyes are now surprisingly bloodshot and tears are streaming down her fragile porcelain face. "I, I" She is once again is unable to speak.

"I'm sorry. It's okay, baby, it's okay." I place a kiss on her forehead, then a matching one on Sofia's. "I know it hurts but you've got to remember that when your brother was alive he had a great life. You can't remember him by the way he died, you should remember him by his life. And he would want you to live life to the fullest again, baby. Not just because you're his sister but because you deserve to."

"I know," she says as she buries her head into the crook of my neck, causing Sofia to let out yet another laugh. "I know but it's just hard sometimes. When I think about him, I think about the times that I know that if he was here that he wouldn't be proud of me. I think about how stupid I was walking away from you and hurting you so badly. I think about how I could have lost you for good and,"

I don't allow her finish her sentence, I could tell exactly where it was going and I definitely didn't like it. "I'm right here. You didn't lose me, or Sofia, and we are not going anywhere that isn't with you." I pull her close as I possibly can with Sofia between us. "You tell Momma that it's okay to live again, okay? You tell her." I say tickling Sofia slightly in order to get a response out of her.

Of course, Sofia laughs her infectious laugh causes Arizona too to chuckle. I can feel her laughing against my chest. "Did you mean it?" She says, her voice reflecting her vulnerability.

"Did I mean what?" There were numerous things that she could have been referring to throughout our relationship and I didn't even know where to start.

"That you wouldn't have children if it meant that you had me." Her response is rushed, the words sprinting out of her mouth as a result of what appears to be fear.

"Arizona, I" They're the only words I get out of my mouth before she interrupts me.

"I'm not finished." She says softly. "I meant that if I hadn't gone to Africa then Sofia wouldn't be here. And as stupid as I was for going, I'm glad I did because if I didn't we wouldn't have Sofia, and I love Sofia, I do. But I just want to know if I hadn't gone, if I had stayed and gone through my original plan of asking you to marry me on your birthday, would I have been enough for you? If we didn't have Sofia already, would you still have said yes?"

She looks up at me, the redness in her eyes is now beginning to fade and the clarity of her blue irises is beginning to return. Even with these changes, the fear is still there; the fear, the worry, the doubt, it was all still there.

"Arizona," I brush her hair out of her eyes, tucking a piece behind her ear before placing my hand on her cheek. "Baby, you were always way more than enough. I just didn't know it until it was almost too late. If we had had Sofia or not, I would always have said yes. You could have asked me the day my father disowned me, when you were combing out the vomit in my hair because I had to give that speech, that night in the elevator when both of our resolve slipped, when we were in the OR together and you tried to talk to me about Africa. Any of those times I would have said yes, because no matter how hard I tried while you were gone, I can't stop loving you, and I never will."

Arizona lets go of Sofia with one arm, fully knowing my support will still keep her safe. She wraps it around my waist, absentmindedly tracing patterns on the small section of exposed skin just above my hip. "Thank you." She whispers in my ear as she once again lays her head on my shoulder.

"For what, baby?" I say, running my fingers through Arizona's hair as I tighten my hold on the two most important people in my life.

She places a chaste kiss on the base of my neck before answering my question. "For saying yes and for loving me."

"I could never do anything but." I can't help but breathe in the rapturous scent that was Arizona. "How about you, me, and the kid take a trip to Atlantic City, huh? We can bring Sofia to the beach, you can play as much poker you want like you used to, and we can watch the sunset from the best view in Jersey. What do you think?"

"As long as I'm with you," she gives me yet another soft kiss, "And you." She giggles before giving Sofia a kiss on the forehead. "I'll go anywhere."