"School?" Faith asked as Callie lifted her into her booster seat at the breakfast table one fall morning.

While Faith wasn't quite three-years-old yet, they had decided to enroll her in a preschool now instead of waiting until she actually turned three. It seemed to make much more sense for their family. Sofia would be going back to school tomorrow. Therefore, the family would have to settle into a different routine again. They didn't want to have to change it in just a few months in order to have Faith begin preschool then. She had come a long with potty training and many other milestones, so they felt like she was ready now anyway.

"Tomorrow," Callie promised. "Today, Emily's coming."

Emily had found a new job – and Callie and Arizona had found two new babysitters – but she still helped out when she could. She had gotten to know the girls and she didn't want to just stop seeing them. She stayed with them for a few hours a week, mostly on days like today where one mothers shift ended as the other one's started.

"Yeah," she smiled.

"If you knew that, then why'd you ask?" Callie laughed as she prepared Faith's medication.

"She just thinks it's cool when we talk about preschool," Sofia said.

"Are you excited for second grade?" she asked her.

"My friends who went to second grade last year say it's really hard," she said.

"Well, it's a good thing you're smart then," Callie told her.

"Maday...?" Faith asked.

"Yes?" Callie replied.

"Faith smart?" she asked. "Yes, Maday?"

"You're both so smart," she told her, giving her a sympathetic smooch before she had to give her her morning medicine. "You ready?"

"No," she said. "Yuckies. No."

"Can you be brave for me and just take it?" she asked. "Then we'll eat toast and yogurt for our breakfast, 'kay?"

Faith complied. She didn't have much choice, she had realized. She was never pleased that she had to take her medication, but she rarely put up too much of a fight anymore. It just wasn't worth it. The most they would get now were a few tears.

"Good job," Callie smiled as Faith opened her mouth so that she could squirt the liquid inside. "Can you swallow, please?"

"No want dat," she told her once it was down.

"That?" she asked. "You don't want that? I know. I'm sorry, Faith."

"How much longer 'til Faith doesn't have to get medicine anymore?" Sofia asked.

Even though they had tried to explain Faith's condition to both of their girls – obviously using age-appropriate explanations for each of them – Sofia still got confused at times. When she was taking medicine, she always got to stop taking it at some point. Faith had been on hers for a long time and she was doing so much better. Did this mean that her little sister's least favourite thing would soon end?

"She has to get it forever, Sof," Callie explained. "It helps her new heart want to stay in her body and be healthy."

"If she doesn't take it, her heart will be broken again?" she asked. "I don't want that."

"No," Faith agreed.

"I agree," Callie nodded. "Hopefully the medicine works."

"Chart?" Faith questioned.

"You want to put a sticker on the sticker chart?" Callie asked, as she served breakfast. "Eat first, okay? You'll get your sticker."

In the last few weeks, Faith had really started to take interest in this reward system. She knew exactly what it took to earn stickers and she was becoming very good at making sure to remind her parents.

"Mommy lets her pick right away," Sofia said.

"Well, Mommy's at work and we got a late start to our morning," Callie said. "I need you to eat."

"'You were a sleepy head this morning."

"When Mommy's here, it's easier to wake up," Callie said.

"Because she's pretty?" Sofia smiled. "And you love her?"

"Well, yeah," she nodded. "But also because I know that getting you both to get dressed and fed while I get dressed and fed by myself is sometimes and uphill battle."

"Why?" Faith asked.

"Why is it hard?" she replied as she finally sat down to start eating. "Because there are two of you and one of me. It's easier with Mommy's help."

"Why?"

"Because she can do Sofia's hair while I help you get dressed or something. We can do two things at once."

"Why?"

"Because we're two people."

"Why?"

"Why do you keep asking why?" she asked.

She laughed.

"Mommy's been at work a long time," Sofia said. "She's gonna be sleepy when she gets home."

Arizona had just worked a double shift overnight. The girls hadn't seen her since just before dinner. There were a few very critical patients in her care right now and she had been doing everything she could to help them.

"I know," Callie nodded. "And I'll be at work and Emily'll have to go to her other job, so can you please obey Mommy today?"

"Yep," Faith agreed, chewing on a bite of her toast.

"I always do," Sofia added.

"Always, huh?"

"Yep."

"What about yesterday afternoon?"

"I was cooking Faith a snack."

"There was peanut butter all over the kitchen," she said.

"Faith and Hershey licked it away."

"Exactly," she said.

"Maday," Faith smiled.

"What?"

"Faith go school!"

"When?"

"'Morrow!"

"How is he?" Callie asked when she got to work an hour later.

Arizona was standing outside of the room of one of the little boys that she had been worried about. The six-year-old had undergone surgery to treat a seizure disorder three days ago. The seizures were not nearly as frequent now, but he had not been very responsive since the operation and she and Derek were both concerned that he wasn't healing as they had hoped he would.

"He opened his eyes and followed his mom's voice for a few minutes," Arizona said. "Derek's run some more tests and he can't find any damage caused by the surgery, so..."

"He could just be taking his time," she finished.

"I hope."

"Every step is better than nothing at all."

"True."

"The girls can't wait to spend the day with you," she smiled. "And Faith's practically out of her mind with excitement because she gets to go to preschool tomorrow."

Arizona laughed. "Yesterday, she asked me three different times if she could pick out an outfit to wear to school. She heard Sofia ask and she thought it sounded fun. So we ended up picking three different outfits. I asked her how she planned to wear so many clothes and she said she'd be 'bootful' in everything. I almost don't want to have to break it to her that she can only wear one of them."

"Preschool, Arizona," Callie said after a few beats of silence. "Preschool. There was a time when we thought we might not get her at all. I know we both tried to force hopeful words out of our mouths, but there was still so much fear there. We didn't know for sure that she'd make it here, or through the first surgery. Or any of it after that. And tomorrow she's starting preschool. We can't really ever stop worrying because we're her mamas, but still. She's just...she gets to be a kid."

"Yep," she smiled. "She's perfect. Just like Sofia."

"And the best part is that she's not even fazed by any of it. She's too young to really understand the magnitude of just how unbelievably huge it is that she's here. She's just excited about her first ever big girl backpack and her school clothes."

"Just like any kid should be."

"Uh huh," she nodded.

"Thanks."

"For?"

"Reminding me," she said. "Today, I needed a reminder of why I do this. Why I stand here outside of sick kid's hospital rooms just wishing they'll still be...them at some point. I do it because sometimes it actually happens."

"You needed the reminder of that?"

"No, but hearing the actual words instead of just thinking about it helps."

Callie kissed her. "You're the best surgeon this kid could have," she told her. "But for now, you need to go home. Our girls are waiting for you and you'll lose your mind if you stand here all day."

"See you tonight," she said. "The girls don't need anything else for school, do they?"

"Text Mark and ask. Sofia said he bought her new shoes, but she might just want to wear those ridiculous light-up ones with the holes in them still. I asked her to show me said new shoes and she conveniently changed the subject."

"She asked me for a pair of these last week," Arizona said, referring to her own unique footwear choice.

"You've created a monster," Callie said.

"I said no," she clarified. "At least for at school. I don't think they'll help enforce the 'no running in the halls' lesson her teacher said she ignored last year."

"But you'll get her a pair for outside of school."

"She's my kid!"

Callie gave her one more kiss, this one truly a goodbye one since her pager beeped.

"You're insane."

"And you love it."

Callie entered the house as quietly as possible when she got home that night. Arizona had texted her saying that she was going to try and settle the kids down early so that they would be well rested for their days tomorrow.

Hershey greeted her as usual, but even her welcome wasn't a loud one this time.

"Hey, Hersh," she smiled, giving her a rub. "Are the girls in bed?"

No one was in the kitchen or the living room, so she thought that maybe Arizona had gotten her wish. She heated herself up a plate of the chicken dish that her wife had made for dinner and brought it upstairs with her, planning to eat it in bed as she and Arizona discussed their days. She had asked Derek about that one particular little boy and she wanted to pass along an update about him, since she knew that Arizona was worried.

Their bedroom was empty as well. Faith's door was open a crack and the lights were off with the exception of the rainbow night light she needed on. Callie tip-toed in, with the dog following after her because of the dinner she had, and kissed her daughter's head softly.

It was then that Faith stirred a little and her hand reached out to wrap around what Callie realized was her schoolbag.

"Did you need to sleep with your backpack tonight?" she laughed. "You can't wait for tomorrow, huh?"

"It 'morrow?" she asked. "Now 'morrow?"

"It's still time to sleep," she said. "Madre's gonna go see what Mommy and Sof are up to. Then I'm gonna eat and go to bed, too. I had a big day today. I fixed a lot of bones."

"Ew."

"Ew?" she asked. "What's wrong with bones?"

She yawned as Hershey let out a small noise, just to remind Madre that she would still like a little snack.

"Oh, Hershey..." Callie replied. "Faith, what are we gonna do with that puppy?"

"Nigh night," she said.

"You'll just go night night?" she asked, giving her one more kiss. "See you in the morning."

With that, Callie went into Sofia's room with the dog still staying right with her.

"Hershey, that's not dog food," she said as she sat on her bed while Mom braided her hair.

Callie finally tossed a piece of potato to the floor.

"Everybody needs a little treat every now and then, right?" she rationalized. "There you go."

"How was work?" Arizona asked.

"I don't know what was going on, but I think half of Seattle broke something today," she answered. "They just kept coming in."

"Oh."

"I asked Shepherd about Josh before I left," she told her. "He kept opening his eyes and following the sounds of people's voices all day today."

"Good," she said.

"Who's Josh?" Sofia wondered.

"A patient of mine who just had to get surgery on his brain."

"Does he have a big headache?" Sofia wondered.

"We gave him medicine for that," she assured her.

"You're good at your job, I think."

"Thank you."

"Madre, tomorrow I'm going to take out my braids and my hair will have pretty waves," Sofia explained.

"You'll look great," Callie smiled.

"Mommy said I can't wear my light up shoes, though," she complained.

"You can wear the other purple shoes," Arizona told her. "Aren't those good?"

"Fine."

They dropped Sofia off at her school first. Faith didn't like this very much, since they had hyped up this new school of hers so much, but she had to wait so long to get there. By the time they did arrive, she was practically leaping out of her carseat.

"Patience, please," Callie told her.

She was fully capable of undoing her own straps, but they didn't let her. They never wanted it to seem fun to her. After the events surrounding Sofia's birth, they were always stressing how important it was to be safe in the car to their children.

"Faith here?" she questioned. "Here?"

"You're here!" she said as she got her out of the car.

"Hold your own bag, Big Lady," Arizona told her, handing her the pink backpack.

"Okay, Mama," she said.

They made their way in and showed Faith where her classroom would be. Due to their daughter's extra needs, they had had a few meetings at the preschool already, but unfortunately, they had been unable to meet with her actual teacher yet.

"What's your name?" the teacher asked when they walked in.

"Faith," she answered.

They were a little surprised that she hadn't been shy at all, but the woman did give off a very friendly vibe. Faith must have known that she was okay to talk to.

"And what's your last name?" Callie prompted.

They had been working on this and Faith knew what it was. However, she never said it in combination with her first name without being asked to do so.

"Faith Tooorres," she said, stressing the 'o' sound a bit.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," the teacher smiled, shaking her new student's little hand. "I'm Miss A."

"A.?" Faith asked.

"My names a little tricky, so you can just call me 'Miss A.' Does that sound good?"

"Yous name?" Faith asked.

She smiled. "My whole name's Miss Athena," she explained. "Can you say that?"

"A.," Faith decided, since her not quite three-year-old self wasn't too sure.

"Miss A.," Arizona said. "That's polite. Okay?"

"Miss A.," Faith nodded.

"You've got it," Miss Athena smiled. "Are we going to have fun in our class this year?"

"Faith go school!" she told her, her eyes growing wide as she looked around the room.

She was the first child there so far and she was clearly excited to have the space all to herself.

"I love it when my students are so excited to come to preschool," she told her.

"Faith go pay?" she asked.

"Pllllay, Faith," Callie said. "We need to work on how we say our words."

Plllay," Faith mimicked.

"Good."

"First you need to hang up your backpack in your cubby when you come to school," Miss Athena told her. "And then you may go play, yes. And after you find your cubby, I was wondering if I could talk to your moms about your heart? I have some questions."

They smiled. They knew that the teacher had been told of Faith's needs, but the fact that she wanted to clarify things really put them at ease.

"Sure," Arizona said. "I'm Arizona, by the way. You and Faith kind of hit it off and we didn't even introduce ourselves. This is my wife, Calliope."

"Everyone else calls me Callie," the Latina laughed. "Callie's fine."

"Maday," Faith said.

"Or Madre," she agreed.

"Is that what she calls you?" the teacher asked.

"I'm Mommy, she's Madre," Arizona explained.

"Yep," Faith said.

They helped Faith to find her cubby and put her bag away. However, when she realized that Mommy and Madre were not playing, she didn't want to either.

"Do you need a few more minutes with your moms?" Miss Athena asked as Callie signed Faith in. "For the first few days, that's pretty normal. You can stay here while we talk about you."

"That's one of Faith's favourite subjects, huh?" Callie teased.

"I read the notes about her med. schedule and I've given other children medications before, so I'm sure I can take care of that," Miss Athena said. "But does she have any limitations in terms of activities she can do or anything?"

"She's still recovering," Callie said. "Her transplant was in March, so she's not quite one hundred percent just yet. She may never be the most active kid. We don't know. Take your cues from her. If she seems tired, maybe encourage a quiet activity. She's two, so that might not work, but try."

"Right," she smiled.

"She doesn't experience anymore pain or anything," Arizona explained. "So it's mainly just about taking your cues from her and making sure she always gets the meds. If she doesn't regularly get them, her heart may start to fail."

"And how is she about taking them?"

"Yuckies," Faith told her. "Ew."

"She usually doesn't give us much trouble. Just be firm with her and insist that she swallow, or she might spit some out and not get the correct dose," Callie replied.

"Okay," Miss Athena nodded. "We can do that, right Faith?"

"This is as easy as taking care of her is going to get, so hopefully," Arizona said.

"If we weren't sure that we could handle her needs, we'd let you know," the teacher promised. "She'll be fine."

"Yeah," Faith agreed.

"Are you going to have a good day?" Callie asked her. "Give us kisses."

Another little girl and her dad walked into the room just then. Faith quickly kissed her mothers before she ran off to go snatch up a toy she had been eying before the other girl could. Now that she wasn't alone with Miss Athena, she felt the need to be rather speedy about this.

"At least she's not having a hard time with you leaving," Miss Athena pointed out.

"Good point," Arizona said.

"She'll learn to share," she told them. "Trust me."

"Hi," the other girl smiled at the teacher.

"Hi, I'm Miss A. What's your name?"

"Lily," the little girl, who seemed to be maybe a few months older than Faith, said. "Who you?" she asked Callie and Arizona.

"We're Callie and Arizona," Callie introduced them. "We're Faith's moms. That's Faith over there."

"Hi," Lily said, too softly for Faith to hear, but in that direction nonetheless.

"Faith, this is Lily," Miss Athena said. "Can you say 'hi?'"

Faith waved.

"How about with your words?"

The two wives looked at each other. Preschool with Miss Athena was going to be great for their girl. Of course, it wasn't easy to leave their baby on her first day, but they were fairly sure that it would be a successful one.