"Shes here she's here she's here!" Sofia hops off of Arizona's lap and races for the door.
April can't help but smile as she hears Sofia's pounding feet and excited squeal as she reaches the front door.
"Auntie April!" She throws the door open and flings her body into April's open arms.
"Hi kiddo!" April squeals.
"Mama says you have big news, do you have big news, what's your big news?" Sofia wraps her arms around April's neck.
April laughs, "I do have big news, let's go into the kitchen and I'll tell you all about my big, exciting news." she winks.
"Okay Kepner, I've been waiting all day!" Arziona claps excitedly. April puts her stuff down, and softly kisses the top of Corrinas feverish head."Hello sweetness" she murmurs, before straightening and finally, extending her left hand excitedly, showing off a gorgeous diamond engagement ring.
"he asked last night!"
"Oh my God, look at that ring!" Callie grabs her hand. "1.5 carat, princess cut, nice job Matt!"
"Lemme see! lemme see your wedding ring!" Sofia tugs on Aprils hand.
" it's not my wedding ring though, April corrects, this is my engagement ring."
"An endangered ring?" Sofia whispers. "Were learning about endangered animals in Miss Jessica's class. They're animals people wanna keep safe cause threes not too many left. Sofia clasps April's hand, don't take it off okay?"
"not endangered Sofia, Callie corrects, engagement."
"That's what I said mommy!"
April smiles, an engagement ring is like a promise. Last night uncle Matt asked me to marry him Sofia, and the ring, well it's a promise that it's going to happen!"
Sofas eyes light up, "like when my moms got married?"
"exactly. And I have a very, very important question to ask you Sofia."
Sofia blinks seriously "okay."
"How would you like to be my flower girl at the wedding?"
Sofias five year old jaw drops. "I get to be a girl made out of flowers? I love flowers!"
April bursts out laughing, well not exactly, but you will get to wear a very, very pretty dress and toss flowers all the way down the church out of a basket. How does that sound?"
Sofia looks to Callie and Arizona. "Can I? Please?"
"Of course you can." Callie says.
April takes Sofia by the shoulders. "Okay flower girl. This is serious business. We need to find you a dress sometime soon."
Suddenly Callie is struck with an idea.
"April, what are you up to this Friday afternoon?"
April thinks for a moment, "nothing, I have the day off actually."
"we have a...meeting to go to she says quietly motioning to Sofia. "if you're up for it, maybe you could do the dress shopping after Sofia finishes kindergarten?"
"That's a great idea! She kneels down, Sof, what do you think about me picking you up from school?"
Sofia hops around the kitchen wildly. "yay yay yay yay GOODY!" just me right? Corrina won't be there?"
Arizona shakes her head. "We'll get a babysitter to take care of Corrina. Just big girls on this trip Sofia."
Sofia can barely contain her excitement. "Okay mama, mommy, you go have your date now she announces. Out out out out out!"
"Alright alright! So quick to get rid of us, she's practically pushing us out the door!" Callie stands up laughing, and carefully and hands Corrina to April.
"poor feverish baby." April clucks as Corrina puts her head down on her shoulder, too out of it to really understand that her moms are leaving.
"Call us if she seems to get worse." Arizona kisses her baby one last time.
"don't worry mama we will!" Sofia calls after them.
"I love that she has such a great bond with April. I think it's good for her, to have other influences besides us. And you can't get much better than Kepner. She's pure as the driven snow as far as influences go." Arizona smiles as she and Callie wait for their entrees at the corner diner.
Callie nods. "She worships her. Who would have thought all those years ago right? April Kepner? such a big part of our lives? I don't know what we'd do without her now."
"She's turned out to be a really amazing, wonderful, extended part of the family hasn't she?" Arizona says.
"And now she's starting her own. It's pretty cool."
Callie snorts. "We are so planning that bachelorette party Arizona."
"Sweetie I promise I'll play with you, I will, as soon as Corrina falls asleep." Aprils heart breaks as she watches Sofia's face crumble. She felt terrible, but the cranky, sick, feverish toddler's refusal to be put down was making "big girl night" a disaster.
"I'll just go play dollies by myself." Sofia says sadly, leaving April behind in Corrina's room.
Finally, after one more dose of Motrin, 2 ounces of "pedialyte" and a quick bath, Corrina finally drifts off to sleep, and April is able to sneak out of the baby's room to find Sofia. April finds her in the playroom, quietly playing with her dollhouse.
"Corrina's finally asleep!" she flops down on the bean bag chair next to Sofia.
Sofia shrugs."so?"
"Sofia, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry big girl night got kind of ruined." April starts.
"Corrina ruins everything!" Sofia angrily looks up at April.
"Sof, I said I was sorry, but Corrina can't help that she's sick...but look, I'm here now, and theres an hour before bed time. I'm all yours."
Sofia refuses to budge. "It's not the same."
"No. It's not. You're right. but at least we still have Friday, right?"
Sofia thinks for a moment. "yeah..."
April smiles with a new idea formulating in her head. "What if...I ask your moms if you can have a sleepover at Auntie April and Uncle Matt's house? We can paint our nails, and watch a movie...even order pizza! Come on Sofia, what do you say? A big girl sleepover party."
Sofia stares at her. "Cadence and Maddy had a sleepover one time. They said they stayed up til 10:30. I've never had a sleepover before." she says.
"Alright well it's up to your moms, Sofia, April warns, knowing she may have taken a calculated risk by suggesting it to the five year old before her parents, but desperation to fix Sofia's crushed and disappointed heart won out.
Sofia finally smiles. "Okay. Who do you want to be? We're playing dollhouse. She explains in a serious tone. "There's about to be a big storm and one of the cats is loose and no one can find her.
"Okay. So, Friday is set for 4:00, for sure. " Callie looks up from her phone on the way home. Jessica just emailed back, I swear that woman walks on water. Answering her emails at 10:00 at night. I swear. Mark says he can make it, so, we're good. We're in business."
Arizona sighs, "I'm nervous. I won't lie. I've kind of been dreading this day since, well, since I got her heart to start beating to be honest." a few tears roll down Arizona's cheeks.
"Hey. Hey." Callie squeezes her hand. "Whatever Jessica says, we'll get through it, just like we have with everything else. She's going to be fine. Okay?"
Arizona nods quietly as she parks in the driveway "Okay."
Callie smiles tightly. The truth was, she was dreading Friday more than she was willing to admit to anyone.
"Come on let's go in."
"Hey April!" Arizona whispers as they walk into the living room. "How did it go?"
April smiles. "Corrina's been down since about 7. I just checked on her, and I think her fever is breaking, finally. And... Sofia and I made a little bit of a deal tonight I need to talk to you both about."
"Oh?" Callie chuckles, "I can't wait to hear this."
"She was kind of...well, really crushed that Corrina sort of hijacked tonight. so... I told her I'd ask if I could keep her at mine and Matt's on Friday, overnight... to make up for tonight. I hope you don't mind... I should have run it by you first, but she was so crushed—I-I-just had to do something."
"April- April stop!" Arizona interrupts her. "It's fine. Right Callie?" she glances towards her wife.
"Are you kidding, keep her all weekend if you want!" Callie jokes. "No, seriously, April that's awesome. I don't know how we'll get her to go to bed on Thursday unless we sedate her but... she's all yours on Friday. Hell, it gives us something to hold over her head to be good for until then. You've done us a favor!"
April breathes a sigh of relief. "Okay! Awesome! I should get going but, I'll see you both at work tomorrow, and I'll see Sofia on Friday after school!"