Thanks for the comments! Absolutely lovely to read once again and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Arizona's point of view.
It was the worst day of my life.
I was a couple of minutes late and she was gone.
I can't stop crying.
I can't forgive myself.
It's all my fault.
The police are here, but I can't talk. I am frozen, waiting and hoping for someone to come forward with good news.
"Dr Robbins, we are doing our best, but you need to tell us more information" the detective informed me. I shut my eyes, there was so much noise in the room. I took a deep breath and began to take a breath…
8 HOURS EARLIER.
"Come on Sofia, you need to seriously hurry up. Your mom and I are late" Callie yelled, checking her watch as Sofia held them up. Sofia appeared at the door dressed and ready, but her hair still needed to be brushed.
"Had you not spent too much time picking what clothes to wear, we would have had more time to do a neater hairstyle" Arizona sighed, brushing Sofia's hair into a quick ponytail.
"French plait?" Sofia widened her eyes. Arizona shook her head.
"Maybe you'll learn to manage your time better" She took her daughters hand. Callie handed Sofia her lunch.
"Ugh apples" Sofia screwed her nose up. Callie patted her daughters ponytail.
"Apple's are good for you missy" she reminded her daughter.
"Are you free to pick her up today?" Arizona asked Callie.
"I'm in surgery all day" Callie replied.
"I'm in surgery for a shorter while, but it might be best for Mer to pick her up.
"That's fine" Callie replied, typing a quick text to Mer. They placed Sofia in the car and drove her to school.
"See you later baby" They both chorused. Sofia grinned.
"Bye mommies" she waved, running off into the schoolyard to find her friends.
"I can't wait for another baby" Callie replied.
"Cal, don't get your hopes up, we're not going to know for weeks" Arizona smiled.
"I know" Callie sighed. "I'm still so excited for when we have another baby"
"As am I" Arizona replied leaning over to the driver's side to kiss Callie on the lips. "Now take me to work".
Callie's surgery was a killer. She'd spent so long at it, and yet still had such a long way to go. Wilson was assisting, which Callie enjoyed. This extensive surgery required someone who had a decent interest in the speciality. Callie prayed that Jo would pick Ortho. She could use a helping hand, besides Wilson was the best chance she had. She only hoped Wilson didn't pick Peds, which she had a feeling was her second choice.
She thought of Arizona. She thought of tonight. She was going to ask Arizona to marry her for the second time. Arizona had asked first and now Callie wanted to ask. She'd been thinking it for a while, the fact that they hadn't been back together spectacularly long was what was holding Callie back. She thought of the ring she'd brought Arizona and smiled. She hoped Arizona would love it.
"What are you grinning about?" Wilson asked.
"Arizona" Callie smiled.
"Ugh" Wilson pretended to pull a face. "I'm kidding, it's really cute".
"I'm asking her to marry me tonight" Callie told her. Wilson smiled at her.
"That's great!" she replied enthusiastically. "Let me know how it goes"
"I will" Callie smiled, already brainstorming of the perfect proposal ideas.
Blake was being annoying, twitchy. Her thoughts were controlling everything that she did and she needed some sort of release. Some sort of break from this. Her plan was set in action. She came into work as usual, faking an illness halfway through Robbins' surgery. Oh foolish Robbins, how she had to spill every detail of her life.
"Actually I might finish a little earlier than expected" Arizona was thrilled. The surgery was a success and she was so close to closing up. Penny took a deep breath. Arizona had told Alex everything that morning. It had taken all of Penny's strength not to hurt her. She so desperately wanted to hurt her, but this way was so much better.
"Penny can you find Grey and tell her I can pick Sofia up after all" Arizona glanced at the clock. Penny nodded.
"I'm feeling a little queasy. I think I'll have to go home"
"It's fine. Karev can finish up and I'll tell Bailey".
Penny was thrilled, this was working better than expected. She found Meredith in a hurry.
"Arizona said she doesn't need you to collect Sofia from school"
Meredith nodded slowly.
"I'm running late anyway. I'll probably meet her there at the same time" she replied, walking off in a hurry so she could collect Zola and Bailey. Penny sped off. She truly felt as if she was going to throw up. Could she do this? It was truly unthinkable.
She hurried to her car, trying to take note of the time. Plenty of time for that bitch Robbins to get what was coming to her. Penny sped off in her car, just a little while longer. She arrived at Sofia's school, just as the bell rang. She spotted Sofia in the crowd, searching for her parents or Meredith, Penny presumed. Knowing she had to be quick she quickly went over to Sofia.
"Hey Sofia, mommy wanted me to collect you today"
"Are you picking up Zola and Bailey too?" Penny looked at Meredith's kids in the background and shook her head. She couldn't draw too much attention to herself and she needed to leave this situation quickly.
"Their mommy is coming, come on Sofia. I'll take you home" she took the girl's hand and led her to her car. She fastened Sofia in, in a hurry and desperately tried to leave before she was caught. Her heart was pounding and her head felt like it was splitting apart.
Sofia was confused. "Mommy hasn't asked you to pick me up for ages not since Mama came back to live with us" she pointed out. Penny kept driving, her heart rate slowing down as she moved further and further away from the school.
"Today is different" she told Sofia, her voice becoming sterner. She began to drive more erratically. "Hey Sofia, I know my mother would love to meet you. And she has ice-cream. I don't think your moms would mind if I took you there".
"Mommy said I'm not allowed ice-cream before dinner". Sofia added. Penny began to get annoyed, the kid was beginning to be annoying.
"Well today mommy said you can have as much ice-cream as you want!" she told Sofia. Sofia's eyes looked like they were about to come out of her head. She cheered, a sound that overtook the voices in Penny's head for a moment. Penny gave a twisted smile, a coercing kid and in a couple of hours two devastated parents. She took a moment to thank the voices in her head. This wasn't a bad plan after all.
Arizona pulled up at the school gates well after Penny and narrowly missing Meredith. She looked around for Sofia who was nowhere to be seen. She called out to one of the new teachers.
"Hey are there any kids inside?" the new teacher shook her head. Arizona frowned, presuming that Meredith had, in fact. picked Sofia up after all. She got back into her car and drove to Meredith's house. She was happy, singing along to the radio, not knowing what to expect when she pulled up to Meredith's house. She saw Bailey, Zola and Ellis playing near the window and smiled as she rang the doorbell. Meredith came shortly after.
"Arizona" Meredith stated in a questioning tone. "What are you doing here?"
Arizona laughed, presuming Meredith was trying to play some sort of trick on her.
"I'm here to collect Sofia obviously" she laughed, wondering why her friend was acting so weirdly.
"Sofia…Sofia isn't here" Meredith replied, obviously confused.
"What do you mean she's not here?" Arizona demanded. "I asked you to pick her up"
"Then you asked Blake to tell me not to so I didn't"
"She isn't at school so where is she?" Arizona raised her voice, beginning to realise that this could be something huge. Tears started to roll down her cheeks.
"I'm sure, they just made a mistake" Meredith patted her arm. "We'll go inside and check the school" she called the kids to put their coats on as they made their way back to the school.
"So you don't know where my child is?" Arizona demanded. "You don't think to keep an eye on children when they are being picked up?"
"Dr Robbins, there are hundreds of pupils here. We don't have hundreds of sets of eyes. Why don't you ring round your friends and family and see if they have Sofia before you begin worrying over nothing".
"Okay" Arizona shakily took her phone out of her pocket. She dialled Callie, but Wilson picked up.
"Hey Arizona"
"Hey is Callie still there?" Arizona asked.
"She is, we're in surgery for a long while yet"
"She hasn't left at all?" Arizona asked in a pleading tone. Jo left the room, trying not to disturb Callie.
"Arizona what's wrong?" Jo asked.
"Sofia is gone and I don't know where" Arizona rambled, tears streamed down her cheeks. Meredith was arguing with the teacher Arizona had previously been speaking to.
"You have no idea, none at all at where Sofia went?" Meredith demanded to know. "She is six years old"
"I understand that but as the teacher on playground duty, I do not remember seeing Sofia at all" the teacher began to look panicked, worrying for the safety of the child who possibly went missing on her watch. Arizona hung up and began to wail.
"Callie doesn't have her"
"Try some more family members" The teacher added unsuccessfully. .Arizona clenched her fists.
"We don't have anyone else who would have picked her up" She yelled. The teacher backed away.
"We should ring the police" Meredith told her. Arizona nodded, too worried to talk. More tears fell from her face. She paced up and down the school hallway. Meredith rang the police for her.
"Hello" she tried to stay calm, knowing Arizona needed some stability right now. She relayed the details of the story so far to the police who said they would send officers round to the house. Meredith hung up. Arizona desperately tried to think of anything odd that could help shed light on where Sofia may be. She couldn't think of anything out of the ordinary which frustrated her now more than ever. She hoped that Sofia had wandered off somewhere and would be home when Arizona got home. She allowed Meredith to lead her to the car so they could go and talk with the police, her wail's becoming louder and her tears falling harder.