"We love you so much," Arizona was telling Faith the next morning as she held her just minutes before she was about to go into surgery.

The newborn was upset because her belly was empty again, but her cries were making this even worse for her family. Luckily, Sofia was at school – and would be at Mark and Lexie's later on – so they didn't have to worry about keeping brave faces on for her, because they couldn't hold back the tears right now.

"How much longer do we have?" Callie asked Dr. Brady.

"A few minutes. The O.R. is ready," he said. "But if you need a bit longer, that's okay."

"You be brave in there, okay?" Arizona asked Faith. "Dr. Brady'll take good care of you, Baby. And Madre and I'll be here as soon you come out."

"So will Grandma, Grandpa, and Abuelo," Callie said.

"We will," her dad agreed.

Teddy walked into the N.I.C.U. and picked up Faith's chart. Confusion spread across Arizona's face, because she had no idea that Teddy had requested to be in the operating room with her new niece. She may not have been a Pediatric Cardiologist, but she couldn't possibly let her best friend's daughter have heart surgery without being there for her.

"I'm scrubbing in," Teddy said. "What kind of Godmother would I be if I didn't?"

"Thank you," she said, tearing up again.

Even this didn't guarantee a good result, but she felt a sense of peace with the fact that Teddy would be there for Faith when she couldn't be herself. She knew that Teddy loved her girls as much as she and Callie did and she would do anything for them.

"I had to fight Karev and Yang for it," Teddy said. "But I gave Yang a pretty complex case of mine, so she'll be busy. And Karev's going to be in there, too. He'll be the one we send out every hour or so to give you updates. I know you want to know what's going on."

They couldn't imagine waiting all of that time with no news at all. They didn't know how most families did it; they just had to sit around and patiently wait to be told something. Callie insisted that this not be the case for them. They understood the medicine. They could handle the updates, good or bad.

"Okay," Callie said. "Good."

"Are you ready, Faith Evelyn?" Arizona asked, after one more kiss. "We'll see you in a little bit. Sofia said it's just like going to sleep, remember? We love you so, so much."

The little girl let out the loudest cry she was capable of as Mommy handed her back to Madre. The tears began flowing again as the weight of this moment set in with the family.

"It's okay!" Madre tried to tell Faith, even though the emotion on her face told a completely different story. "Go with Auntie Teddy and Dr. Brady. Alex is gonna be there, too. So many people who love you, Faith."

Arizona saw tears in Teddy's eyes too. "Oh no," she told her. "Get it together."

"I will," Teddy said. "It's just that right now I'm your friend and her Godmother. And this is hard to watch. In there, I become a doctor again. You know what that's like."

"I was in there for Sofia's surgery," she nodded. "Yeah."

Callie kissed the baby. "We'll see you soon, 'kay Mija? We love you."

"She knows," Teddy said as she put down Faith's chart and took the baby from Callie's arms. Faith stopped crying as she was placed down again. "Are you trying to tell everybody you're a brave girl?"

"She doesn't have much choice," Grandma said.

"We'll keep you updated," Dr. Brady replied.

"Thanks."


It was shortly after three in the afternoon now and they had just received word that the doctors were almost finished with Faith's surgery. Alex had come to Arizona's room about ten minutes ago to tell them that Faith had lost quite a bit of blood pretty quickly, causing a significant delay that called for all hands on deck. They had managed to stop the bleeding and get more blood into her now, though. Things appeared to be back on track.

Just as Alex left them, Callie received a text from Mark telling her that he was thinking about Little Faith and telling her that Sofia had a mouthful to tell them about her day at school the next time they saw her. He was hoping that this message would help lift their spirits as they waited.

"Apparently Sof had a good day," she told her wife.

"Good."

"Want to call her?" she asked. "Do you think we can keep it together long enough?"

The distraction that their four-year-old would provide was much needed, since they couldn't really do anything but wait for Faith's operation to finish up. There was still a lot to worry about, even if they were almost done, so Callie thought that having something else to focus on for a few minutes might be nice. Of course, they wouldn't stop thinking about Faith, but it would probably relax them some to hear about Sofia's day.

"Barely," Arizona said. "But yeah."

Callie called Mark, who took what felt like forever to answer. It was only four rings, but it seemed like so many more. They had waited all day and it felt like maybe time was slowing down for them and only them. Everyone around them appeared to be having such busy days full of things that seemed so trivial compared to what they were facing. Knowing better, they suspected that many other people in the hospital felt the same way today, but they hadn't really noticed any of them so far.

"Hey," he finally spoke. "Sorry, Max took my phone and didn't want to give it back. How's it going? Are they done?"

"They had to transfuse her. So not yet, but almost."

"She has the best team Seattle has to offer in there," he replied. "Even though things haven't gone flawlessly, they all know how to handle themselves."

"We know," Arizona said. "But she's not even two days old and she lost all of that blood. Karev wouldn't give us an estimate, so I'm pretty sure it was easily enough to have killed her."

"It didn't, though," her dad said. "She's still in there."

"I know."

"Can we talk to Sofia?" Callie asked Mark. "We kind of just want to hear her voice."

"Sure," he replied. "Sofia! Come here!"

"Daddy, you said I get Sofia time!" she called back.

Her brother had been bothering her in the car – not letting her get a word in without an interruption because he was starting to realize that it got her all worked up – so Mark had promised her a few minutes of quiet play alone in her room, uninterrupted by the little guy.

"Your moms are on the phone!" he called back.

She was on the phone within no more than two minutes. She had bounded out of her room and down the stairs.

"Hi!" she said into the phone. "Is Faith's surgery done now? Can I see her yet?"

"It's not done yet," Callie said. "Alex just told us it's taking longer than they thought. So you might not come to the hospital tonight. Faith needs rest, okay?"

"No fair," she replied. "Pleeeaaassee?!"

"Tomorrow morning before school you can come," Arizona said, even though she knew this was before visiting hours. "Auntie Teddy'll help us sneak you in."

"I like bein' sneaky," she said.

"We know," Callie replied. "Trust us, we know."

"But you have to make a promise," Sofia said.

"What's that?" Arizona wondered.

"You gotta tell Faith I love her," she answered. "And tell her I made her a card that's pink and purple and sparklies. Her favourites."

"How do you know those are her favourites?" Callie asked. "They sound a lot like Big Sister's favourites to me."

"Every girl likes pink, and purple, and sparklies, Madre!"

"Not me," Callie said. "Not really."

Sofia gasped. "But they're so pretty!"

"I agree," Arizona said.

"Madre, but you say my pink and purples is always pretty when I colour."

"They are," Callie nodded. "'Cause you made them. And you remind me of Mommy with how much you love all of that pink."

Callie wouldn't mind one bit if Faith's favourite colour was pink as well. She was only giving Sofia a hard time. Really, she loved that her girls shared this connection and she half hoped Faith would too. She may not have liked the girlish nature of the colour herself, but she did love how much her wife and daughter enjoyed it together.

"Oh," she said. "Faith will like it."

"I bet," Arizona replied. "You made it at school?"

"It was my craft today," she said. "Because…for Faith."

"You're such a good sister," Callie replied.

"Then after that Lachlan ate my cookies," she said. "I hit him and then I had to go to the corner because I didn't use my words. But he had to because he stealed. Paisley said Lachlan's my boyfriend because he took my cookies. 'Cept I can't have a boyfriend until I'm married, Daddy told me today."

Despite the tension in the room and the fact that they still didn't have Faith back with them, they couldn't help but laugh at that one.

"Oh, Sof," Callie said. "We needed your silliness."

"He did! Really!"

"That works for me," Arizona agreed.

"And maybe I want a girlfriend," Sofia said. "I said that to Paisley. That some girls get girlfriends. Like my mommies."

"I don't think you have to worry about boyfriends or girlfriends for quite some time," Callie told her. "Don't worry."

"Yeah."

"But you had a good day. Other than the hitting?"

"Yep."

"Good."

"Call me when Faith's surgery is all done."

"Call you?" Arizona teased. "What? You got a boyfriend and a phone all in one day?"

"Mommy!" she giggled. "No! But I'm at Daddy and Lexie's house. Call them."

Alex appeared in the doorway. "We've gotta go, Sof," Callie said. "Talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay. I love you."

"We love you, too," Arizona said, watching as Alex smiled. "Bye."

With that, Callie hung up. "So? Good news?" she asked.

"They're closing her now," Alex replied. "She made it."

"When can we see her?" Carlos asked.

"As soon as she's back in the N.I.C.U.," he said. "She's still receiving blood, though. Just so you know."


Faith looked pretty bad when they were finally able to go see her. Of course, she was intubated now and would be for a few days. They knew this would be the case, but it would never be easy to see a machine breathing for their child.

She wasn't very alert either. The only way they could be sure she was awake was because her blue eyes were open just a tiny crack.

Arizona kissed her forehead. "It's so good to see you," she said really softly. "That wasn't much fun in there, was it?"

"Tell Mommy. Say 'I was sleepin' and I don't know anything that happened.'"

"Thank God," Arizona replied.

"You're out now, though," Callie told Faith. "And the doctors are going to help you. Hopefully you start feeling a little better soon."

"Hopefully," Grandma agreed.

"And Sister said she loves you and she made you a card," Callie smiled. "How do you feel about pink and purple with sparkles?"

"Say 'I love 'em!'" Arizona told Faith.

Dr. Brady came into the N.I.C.U. a few minutes later. Alex had been giving them information, so he wasn't in a major rush to speak to them. First he wanted to give them time to see Faith.

"Do you have any questions?" he asked. "I know Karev was telling you things, but…"

"How much blood did she lose?" Arizona asked. "I'm guessing it was far too much since Karev won't say?"

"About half," he said.

"Of all of the blood in her body?" Daniel asked.

"Yes," Dr. Brady said. "The extra hands in there were perfect. We were able to move quickly and get her stabilized. The thing is that right now we have her on meds. to make her blood clot more quickly since she lost so much so fast."

"Do you think she has a clotting disorder?" Callie asked. "Please don't say we're dealing with that, too."

"No," he said. "That's not what happened. Her arteries are so small. One was nicked. It was a surgical error that shouldn't have been made, but I just couldn't avoid it. I did my best."

Clearly, they weren't pleased that this had happened, but they still had Faith and they knew that even the most talented surgeons made mistakes. They had done it themselves before.

"We know," Arizona said. "But now she's on those meds., and she's at higher risk for a stroke or –"

"She is," he agreed. "We're going to monitor her very, very closely. Doctor Karev has agreed to stay until he's assured she can be taken off of those particular meds."

"Okay," Arizona said, feeling better because she knew that Alex would do everything in his power to act quickly if something happened.

"Babies can have strokes?" Faith's abuelo asked.

"Yes," Callie said. "And if they do, they risk becoming very, very different babies."

It was starting to sink in that Faith's first surgery really was just the start of everything. They would never truly be able to stop worrying about her condition.


I know this leaves a bit of a cliffhanger-like situation. Therefore, I will be updating again tomorrow :)