Chapter Nine: Paper Planes

The snap of her phone drew the realization that finally... The trio would congregate. Her blond mother hadn't the slightest clue. Callie didn't need to know that. And she could be as furious as she wanted to be. The fact of the matter was that it needed to happen. It was time enough. Too many years had slipped passed undetected and now they all had to learn to be involved. For her sake. They had to get along at the very least. Sofia didn't think she was asking for much, just a bit of understanding. Her mum was well aware by then that Sofia had no intention of letting her mom go. Not again. She was old enough by then to interject her thought on the matter. She wanted to keep them both. It may have been selfish, but she couldn't help that. She'd been kept in the dark. By everyone. Even her uncle. By Meredith and Derek, by Bailey. Webber. Yang. Hunt. Avery and Kepner. They had all had a hand in the deception. They all had remained silent. She forgave them, of course. She assumed from the letter that she had read that her mother had chosen the safest route; She had chosen to maintain the facade that Sofia was basically dropped off by a stork. How ridiculous it had been.

As she sat at the edge of her bed, staring off into space at the full length mirror mounted on the wall, she thought about how hard that must have been. A name is just one of those things. How long had it been since her mother had spoken the name before she had blurted it out in the kitchen? Did she talk about Callie to anyone? Ever? She imagined that her mother hadn't. Arizona wasn't the kind of person to dwell on what hurt, every mother and daughter has had misunderstandings. They had had a few good little tiffs. And, of course, Sofia had probably said some things that had caused hurt in the past, not that she'd ever meant to. But her mother took it in stride. She expressed her distaste. But that was that. There was never any guilt tripping, there was never really a back lash. They discussed, they apologized, and they moved on. Had it been the same when Callie left?Or did she dwell for years afterward without Sofia even realizing it? The young woman couldn't remember. She didn't remember much about her early childhood. Just little things. Like Uncle Alex being around a lot. He always was. He was a baby sitter, a friend, a confident... Could it have also been that her mother was having such a hard time that expending too much energy with her was just too difficult?

More often in these past weeks she took time gazing at herself in the mirror. She saw features that belonged to Mark, and knew them through pictures she had been shown. The angles of her face, her body shape... She'd always been tall and athletic looking. But the moment she had laid eyes on the chief of surgery, her birth mother, she realized how much she resembled the older Latina woman. The shape of her eyes, the dark color of her iris, her smile and her laughter. The way she held herself and the way she sauntered was purely Calliope. It would forever remain a mystery as to how something, little things that made her question her existence, like that could occur. Quirks, mannerisms, bits of personality. They had to be part of the soul, Sofia knew it wasn't genetics. Although the richness of her voice, now that was genetics. To Sofia, they sounded nearly identical. When that realization hit her, like a hammer to the temple, she had decided to confront Callie. From that moment there wasn't any doubt in her mind that she and the older woman were somehow connected. Deep in her very heart Sofia knew the woman wouldn't have been able to deny it. And she was glad that Callie didn't.

"Hey, kiddo. Open the freaking door." A rough older man's voice called through the wood grain, stirring the young woman from her thoughts. She could easily recognize the deep, cynical sounding tone and quickly lifted herself from her bed, flying to wrench open the bedroom door.

"Uncle!" Sofia shrieked gleefully once her suspicion had been put to rest, as Karev came into view beyond the door frame. The young doctor flung her arms around the fellow's neck, squeezing herself to the built form she was greeted with. She could feel his arms encase her middle then her feet draw from the carpet, just for a moment, before the floor was replaced beneath her. "What are you doing here?" She asked with partially masked excitement. As the pair pulled apart, Karev quickly looked over Sofia with mock scrutiny. A smile curled the corner of his mouth into that signature small, crooked lilt.

"I heard little Robbins was coming home yesterday from the larger, more annoying, Robbins. I had to come see for myself." Replied the dark eyed man smoothly.

"Don't let my mother hear you say that." Chuckled Sofia as she leaned against the door frame and casually folded her arms over her chest. For a moment she just beamed at the man, she couldn't believe her luck. She had been meaning to find him later on for a chat but he beat her to the finish line. She hoped it would be possible to steal him. She was about to say as much when her mother poked her head out of her bedroom and peered down the hallway.

"Hey, Sof? Oh," Arizona glanced at Alex who peered back with an immature smugness. "Alex, how'd you get in here? I didn't hear the doorbell..."

"You need to learn to lock your door. Some crazy nutcase with a saw could just waltz right in and have a ball." Sofia was forced to cover her mouth to stifle a small chuckle, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the feigned look of annoyance on her mother's face. There was an amusement lighting Arizona's bright eyes but her lips barely twitched into a smirk.

"Next time I'll call the cops," Arizona watched her friend snort and shake his head before turning her attention back to her daughter. "Honey, I'm really sorry but I have to go and check up on a couple of things at the hospital, you know how it is. I'll be gone for only about a few hours, I can't imagine it'll be longer than two and a half." Sofia wasn't surprised. She had finally tasted her first few months living the life of a young doctor, work never stayed away long. There was always something popping up. Especially when lives were at stake. She shook her head, affixing a small smile before gesturing for her mother to shoo down the stairs.

"You go, do what you gotta do. I'm taking Uncle Alex hostage so it's all fine." Arizona shot her daughter a grateful look before rounding out of her room to jet down the stairs, she squeezed Karev's arm in passing as she typically would, often as a quiet thank you. He nodded to her in a quick response.
"I'm starting to get a little hungry, wanna sandwich?" Sofia asked as she brushed past him to meander down the stairs after her mother, who would have flown out the front door with her purse by then.

"Sure, I could eat." He responded as he trailed behind, his heavy foot falls echoing in Sofia's ears. She was so used to him. It was sometimes hard in the new city, in the quiet little apartment, to focus and concentrate. The sounds of home were missing. Everything was so unfamiliar. This house held so many memories and great ones, at that. But everything felt different now, even despite the familiarity. The pair moved to make themselves comfortable in the kitchen – Alex by taking off his coat and hanging it on the back of his chair before sitting, and Sofia by rummaging around for some bread, lettuce, lunch meat and mustard. They remained a bit quiet for the first few minutes, which surprised Sofia a little. Because he had always been chatty with her. They often never shut up when in the same room. Although she had a lot on her mind and wanted to ask him a few questions, and he seemed to be dealing with the same obstacle. She flashed a few glances at the man,who was inspecting something in the cabinet against the wall, where most of their good china sat growing dusty. Something hidden in his features was new to Sofia, she couldn't quite put her finger on it. So she began to wait until the silence became too uncomfortable.

"I got a call about forty minutes go from someone I haven't seen or heard from in over a decade, and I wanted to ask you a couple questions." The knife spreading mustard across the soft surface of a slice of bread stilled Her questions had disappeared into the ether. Sofia stared at it for a second or two before she aimed her sights on the man sitting behind her. She peered at him over her shoulder and he peered back, his expression controlled; unchanging.

"Mom called you?" Mom? Alex thought he was hearing things. He replayed it in his mind a few times before he gave a tilt of his head and furrowed his brow.

"You call her 'Mom'?" He asked perplexed as he relaxed against the back of his chair and crossed his arms over his wide chest. To him, that wasn't a mother. Callie had wonderful qualities, yes, she was a good person. But she had fucked off. She abandoned. She wasn't a mother. He kept this to himself. He knew he was biased because of how things had turned out – he had been the one picking up the pieces after the woman left and took pride in the fact that it was he who had a hand in raising this young woman standing before him. He had been there during the nights when she couldn't sleep, he had made her lunch for school, took her to soccer practice, bought her tampons. He was more of a mother than Callie had turned out to be. So... He was biased. Sofia sensed a hostility but refused to acknowledge it.

"Yeah, I call her mom. She's my mother. She may not exactly have been too involved but she wanted to be. She wants to be. And I want her to be. So, yeah, I don't call her Calliope. I call her mom." Sofia stated as she turned her gaze back upon the sandwiches she was about to finish. "Anyways, you were saying something?" Alex could feel his jaw getting tight as it set itself. Relax, just freakin' relax. He told himself internally as he sighed and dropped his chin. He couldn't argue with that. Callie had wanted to be there. But she was weak and she ran, at least, he thought so. That wasn't a conversation for now, if ever, and he was aware of that. Lifting his head he watched as Sofia brought two small plates with two well made sandwiches over to the table. She didn't sit though. Instead she stepped back to the counter to grab some glasses and a carton of juice from the fridge.

"Callie called to tell me that she's flying into Seattle tonight, that you asked her to come. She sounded drunk, so I wanted to know... Did you ask her to come here?" He grabbed a half of his sandwich and began eating, focusing on that and waiting for the answer he was about to receive. He hoped that Callie was just drunk dialing after years, that maybe it had been just a freak out, but still... It had been years. So many years, in fact, that he was shocked to have been talking to her. It seemed so out of the ordinary.

"I did." The young Robbins told him lightly as she poured them both a glass of juice to wash their meal down with. She didn't think what she had done was awful, or out of the question. She needed to get this all sorted before she returned to New York, and they all moved on in this new reality. It made the most sense to her. What did Arizona expect to happen when Christmas rolled around? Did she think that Callie wasn't going to be there? Because she was. Either that or she stayed in New York to have Christmas with her other mother, and Sofia knew that Arizona wasn't going to have it. She would want her daughter home for the holidays. So that also needed to be made clear. If Arizona wasn't going to get used to Callie being around every once in a while, which went both ways, then Sofia was going to have to learn to split herself down the middle. She imagined neither of them would ever want to put that on her.

"Do you have any clue how hard that's going to be on your mother?" Alex's voice halted her thoughts entirely. She looked up from her half eaten sandwich and peered at his chiseled features, her eyes scanning his for moment. He was being serious. Scarily so. They had never been this way with one and other. It was a bit intimidating, but not as intimidating as she imagined it could have been.

"It'll be hard on all of us." Her response was sincere, her voice however was still a little crisp. She spoke evenly to ensure there wasn't any doubt how aware she was about the gravity of the situation. Sofia knew their history was bloody, and filled with a lot of regret. Although there was passion too. There had to have been for it to be that explosive at the end. If they didn't truly loved one and other as deeply as it seemed in her mind, just from the small things she was able to deduce from things both of her mothers had said, then it wouldn't have been such a train wreck.

"You just don't get it, Sofia. They've both changed since back then, they aren't the same people they were. Arizona is more sensitive than she was when they were together, she's really softened up. And Callie, well hell, for all we know she's some hard ass drunk who doesn't have her personal shit together. You really want to introduce your mother to that after all these years? Come on." He had his rant. His last half of sandwich hung loosely from his gesturing hand as he'd talked. Sofia watched him with a quietness about her throughout, she couldn't actually believe what his interpretation had been.

"I don't think she was drunk when she called you, freaked out... Maybe. But not intoxicated." Stated Sofia with a slight edge to her tone. Alex merely raised an eyebrow at the young Robbins.

"You know, kiddo," He began as he took a bite of his sandwich and started chewing. "I partied with both your moms for ages before you came along. I think I would know better than you think.


Seattle. She couldn't believe she was actually doing it. Three glasses of wine, two shots of tequila, sitting at the airport bar, Callie had made it. And Christ, was she ever terrified. Why had she agreed? Though Erica's words rang in her ear, clear as the day they had been spoken, she couldn't wrap her mind around why she thought it was appropriate to just up and fly to the other city on a whim, just because her long lost daughter asked her to. Had it been guilt for not being involved in her daughters life? Perhaps. And a bit of curiosity. The chance at seeing Arizona was making her heart beat wickedly fast, it gave her a headache, but it also thrilled her on some level. Which is why she had to have a drink. She needed to calm the hell down. If she over thought, if she drew over too many possible conclusions, she would run. She'd have to call Sofia and back out. It would be too much. Callie couldn't do that. So she drank. All she could think was that the flight was going to be five hours and forty minutes of utter torture. Especially after calling Karev.

Flashback to earlier that day...

"ARE YOU INSANE?!" He had yelled into the receiver, forcing Callie to pull her cellphone away from her ear.

"Okay, ouch." She muttered against the electronic as the high pitched ring in her ear subsided. She didn't think it was that big of a deal... Because she didn't want think it was that big of a deal. His voice told her otherwise. Even after years, she knew that tone. "You don't have to yell in my ear, you just have to tell me that you'll get Bailey to pick me up at the airport. I lost my sim card, I don't remember her email address off by heart, it's not in my phone. Just tell her, or get her to call me, Karev. Please."

"Fine, I'll do it." She heard him hiss angrily. "But don't you dare do anything stupid when you come here. Don't even freakin' think about it. I'm not going to clean up anymore of your messes. You got me?"

At the memory of it all, she groaned. The woman pulled back her sleeve and looked at the face of her watch. Thirty minutes... She wanted to puke. She could easily just grab her bag, walk herself out, and leave. Just grab a taxi and go home. That's what her head was telling her to do. If only her heart would listen. Damn you, Erica. She thought.

Her second marriage hadn't nearly the amount of turmoil as her marriage to Arizona. It didn't have that heat. It was comfortable, quiet, relatively normal. They went on vacations to other regions of the U.S., they visited Canada a few times and saw Niagra Falls. They were happy together, they loved each other very much, but it wasn't that kind of in your face, yell from the rooftops, kind of love; it was a simple, down to Earth love. It didn't reach the cosmos. Now that wasn't to say that they were settling, they certainly weren't the kind of women to just settle. It wasn't in their individual natures to do so. And there was romance. They treated each other well. Although, both of them knew, the kind of 'in love' they read in books, saw in movies, and heard in songs... Well, it just didn't exist. Arizona proved that way back when.

That was the kind of love she always imagined she would have with the younger of the two blondes. She thought the fireworks would last through the ages and end only when one of them passed on. She wouldn't have been able to imagine the cruel twist of events the future would have held in the beginning – yet, if given the chance, she would have done it again. Arizona had captivated her on levels that she couldn't understand. The woman was an enigmatic creature that crawled so deeply under her skin that there was no way in hell she would have been able to avoid adoring her. There was so much to have loved.

"Good afternoon passengers. This is the pre-boarding announcement for flight 89B to Seattle, Washington. We are now inviting those passengers with small children, and any passengers requiring special assistance, to begin boarding at this time. Please have your boarding pass and identification ready. Regular boarding will begin in approximately ten minutes time. Thank you." Callie stared at her half drunk glass of wine for a second before snatching it up and downing its contents. There was no turning back now. She replaced the glass on the bar and rose from her seat, beckoning the bartender for her bill with a wave of the hand. She would be able to sober up on the flight. There was no way she would be able to get there drunk off her ass. It would be a terrible idea. She had to cool it down. Sleep off the booze in the next six hours before Miranda picked her up. She knew she would be there, waiting, with judgy eyes and that signature scowl. She wouldn't be pleased to know that Callie was showing up after all the time that had passed. She could almost hear the lecture now. "I told you, you should have told Sofia all this years go. You shouldn't have just cut and run like you did. You know better. And now you got yourselves all caught up in a mess that you're going to have to clean up, and you are going to. Clean it all up. She deserves that. And you're gonna do the work. Rise above for your child." Bailey always had a monologue at the ready for when she needed it. At times it could be like she was reading from a well written script.

No turning back.


"Thank you so much for bringing my bags home for me." Sofia called over her shoulder while dragging her duffle up the stairs. Zola stood in the doorway and took off her coat, afterward hanging it on the corner of a chair by the door.

"Don't mention it," She called after her lover while lowering herself onto the small wooden chair in order to untie her boots. "Oh, by the way, your mother texted me. I'm supposed to make sure you and Alex aren't getting into trouble... But he isn't here with you, is he?" She didn't see his shoes, or his coat, or hear anyone else active in other parts of the house. The only footsteps and noise came from upstairs where Sofia was storing her bag away in her room.

"Nope, he had to run. Jo needed something or other, so he took off about twenty minutes ago. Mum should be back soon though,"Sofia emerged from her room and stood at the top of the stairs for a moment, her lips still parted. "She's uhh... Gone right now. For a while longer. If you want to, maybe, join me upstairs?" It wasn't actually an invitation. Zola wasn't fazed. She knew it was more of a 'get your ass in my room' kind of statement. So she tugged off her remaining boot and simply smiled up at the Latina woman standing at the top of the stairs, a little smirk gripping the corner of her mouth.

"Join you upstairs, huh? Aren't you afraid of getting caught?" Sofia wasn't. They both knew the drill. As soon as they heard Arizona's car coming into the driveway and the driver side door slam they had to fling themselves to either side of the room. That was the joy of having an open window. The couple would look themselves over, they had to make sure they didn't look terribly heated before creeping downstairs as nonchalantly as possible. That was the routine.

"I'd be afraid of getting caught if we had already been caught before... We've only had one close call. So I think we're fine." The young Robbins replied smoothly as she flashed Zola a toothy smile.

"Whatever you say, honey." The teasing quality of the older woman's voice made Sofia instantly wish they had more than probably only thirty or so minutes. In that time neither of them could actually find 'release', but they could at least have fun. That was the only downside to not being labeled. They hid. Only until times arose when they didn't have to worry about infiltration. Since they were in their late teens they had only ever been best friends. They didn't cross that line until one drunken birthday party, her brother Bailey's, to be exact, when truth or dare had been involved. For the weeks after they stumbled upon moments where they had to reenact that 'silly kiss' they had shared whilst taking on a dare, and it turned into this. This unspoken love and adoration for one and other, a kind of relationship that was so perfect, despite being so private, that they couldn't yet tell anyone about it. It was theirs. Only theirs. And it would remain as such for a long time. Fear of the unknown, and having to admit to people around them, though there were those amongst them who were gay in some way, just shook them individually to the core. Neither of them were ready for that kind of attention. They avoided it.

Zola crept up the stairs and followed Sofia into her bedroom. It was a room filled memories. She saw it all within the flashes of powder blue walls and white carpet, along her slate colored duvet and across her pillows. This was their safe space. For the next thirty minutes that was were they chose to hide. Only until Arizona came home, then it was back to being their family time. Sofia would make Zola stay for dinner and most likely the night. To which there wouldn't be much of an argument, she was thankful for that.