A/N - Wow, thank you so much for the really great responses to the previous chapter. I cant honestly believe how many of you have come back to the story after the long break I had away from it. Its so great to see, aswell as all the new people that are reading it for the first time. Hope you enjoy this next chapter and also hope you're all keeping safe during this pandemic.

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Chapter 36

Just over a week later Callie was tapping away on her keyboard when the door opened, Benji walking straight in.

"How's my favourite girl today?"

"Working..." the Latina replied, slightly distracted as she finished typing up her sentence.

"Do you ever come up for air? You were in that exact same position when I came in here yesterday, right before you shoo'd me away."

Saving what she'd just typed up, Callie leant back in her chair. "Yea well, I think I've made a mini break through. Need to make the most of it while I'm in the zone. How are you anyway? Robbie all moved in?"

Benji grinned widely back at her. "Damn straight. Have to admit he has alot more clothes than I originally thought. Just aswell I have several other bedrooms with their own closet space, isn't it?"

Callie shook her head. "I can't remember the last time I had a good shopping spree. Literally no time at the minute though. Everything seems to be all go, go, go."

He nodded back understandingly. "How's things with little Katie?

Callie nodded. "They're actually going, quite well..." She replied, slightly surprised by her own admission.

It had been just over a week since Callie and Arizona had been granted temporary carers of Katie Burn. Sofia as suspected had been thrilled when they'd picked her up from soccer practice last Thursday. Katie in turn had been relieved to be back in the presence of her new friend. The days that followed had seen the little girl come more and more out of her shell as she became more familiar and comfortable with the Robbins-Torres family.

On Monday morning Arizona had taken the girl along to Rudolf Steiner to enrol her into the nursery there. They'd asked Katie over the weekend if she wanted to return to her usual nursery and her reply had been she wanted to go to Sofia's school. After discussing it with the CPS, they had given the green light for them to enrol her in a different school. They were continuously cautious of changing too much for her ofcourse. Children liked routine and they didn't want to overwhelm her with too much change all at once but for the most part, she appeared to be adapting very well.

On Tuesday evening, Callie had taken her along for her first meeting with a child psychologist. He had spent a good 30 minutes talking to Katie, reassuring her, asking if she wanted to talk about her mother, about the collision and about how she felt being with Arizona and Callie. He was impressed with how articulate she was for such a small child. After the session, the Latina had taken her for ice cream before heading back home.

"There's been a few nights she's woken up crying but she settled quickly and went back off to sleep each time."

Benji nodded. "Its understandable. The poor kids been through so much. We can only assume what it was like for her mother after the dad committed suicide. Suddenly being alone with no job, little savings and a kid to look after. Not to mention being pregnant. Then losing your home and having to live in a car in New York city..."

Callie nodded. "Yea, it wasn't like it was some spacious car either. It was just a '99 honda accord. The police managed to locate it down some alleyway in lower Manhatten. We were given some of Katie's toys and clothes aswell as some keepsakes of her mother's."

Benji shook his head. "Poor kid. Just aswell Arizona was her doctor right? If she hadn't been, Katie would be God knows where now."

Callie nodded. "I hate to think how many other kids out there aren't as fortunate to escape the system. All the families having their kids taken off them coz of neglect, abuse, illness or just because they're going through a rough time. The list goes on. I'd hate to have to do that job. Making the decision to take a child away from their family."

"You can't save them all Callie but you've potentially given this little girl a chance."

The Latina nodded absent mindedly. "Arizona is totally in love with her. Its weird actually, how similar they look to one another. The blonde hair and blue eyes. To someone that didn't know any better, you'd think they were actually mother and daughter."

"You always told me you wanted more kids."

Again Callie nodded. "Yea. I did...and I do. Obviously me and Arizona tried but it didn't work out. I know it's early days and there'll be tough times ahead but I've got a good feeling about this Benji." The cell on her desk began to ring. Looking at the screen she looked at her friend. "Sorry, I have to take this..."

Benji waved her away as he stood up. "No worries babe, we'll chat later."

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Later that evening, Callie arrived home to find Arizona sat on the sofa between the 2 girls. The 3 of them were snuggled up watching some cartoon. "You guys look like 3 sweet peas in a pod..."

"Hey, honey" Arizona said as she smiled over.

"So..." Callie started, moving further into the room. "I thought tonight we could order pizza in?"

"Yay" Sofia immediately replied. "Do you like pizza, Katie?"

The smaller girl nodded. "Yea, pizza is my favourite" she replied.

"Well isn't that a coincidence because pizza is my favourite too" Arizona smiled. A few seconds later she got up from the sofa and wandered over to her wife. "Friday night treat, huh?"

Before replying, Callie leant in and kissed the blonde. "Well, I thought we should celebrate."

"Oh? What are we celebrating?"

Callie shrugged nonchalantly as she began to back away to the kitchen. "Oh, just the fact that I sold my apartment today..."

Arizona's eyes went wide as she squealed in delight. "You did? Oh Calliope, I'm so happy. Yay." She bounced a couple of times before wrapping her arms around her wife's shoulders. "That is definitely a reason to celebrate. Hey Sof, Katie, Mama sold her apartment today and you know that means?"

Sofia looked over the back of the sofa. "That we get to move into our new home soon?"

The blonde turned and walked back over to the sofa, sitting herself on the coffee table in front of it. "That's right, kiddo. We get to live in a big house again."

"Cool" Sofia said before turning to Katie. "Our new house is so huge. It has a swimming pool and an awesome treehouse."

"Can I play in the treehouse?" Katie asked.

"Ofcourse you can, sweetie" Arizona told her, running her hand over the blonde locks. "That treehouse will be yours and Sofia's secret den."

"Yea, no adults allowed" Sofia said, causing a pout to form on Arizona's face.

"I'm not allowed in the treehouse?" the blonde asked.

Sofia shook her head. "No. Not unless we give you the secret pass code." She ducked her head next to Katie's ear, covering her mouth with her hand as she whispered into the little girls ear.

Katie began to giggle which was music to Arizona's ears. She grinned at the girls before looking over the sofa to where Callie was leant up against the door frame. They shared a smile before Callie turned and walked into the kitchen in search of the take-out leaflets.

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After dinner and being bathed, Sofia and Katie had been playing together in the older girls room. After rushing to the toilet for a wee, Katie left the bathroom and headed back across the hall to Sofia's room. Movement in the room further up caught her attention and she watched on as Arizona began to step into some pyjamas pants. Her eyes went wide as she noticed the metal prosthetic leg. Quickly running back to Sofia's bedroom, she closed the door and shuffled over to the older girl. "I think your mommy is a robot."

Sofia frowned. "What?"

"A robot. She has a robot leg."

Sofia eventually clocked on to what Katie was talking about. "Oh. Mommy isn't a robot" she laughed. "She had an accident and she had to have her leg cut off."

"She cutted off her leg?"

"Yea, well the doctors did. If they hadn't, she would have died. She was in a plane crash." Katie stared back at the other girl in complete shock which made Sofia giggle. "Come on, mommy will explain." Getting up, she took hold of Katie's hand and headed to her mother's bedroom.

"Mommy, Katie saw your leg and she thinks you're a robot."

Arizona's eyebrows shot up so quickly, they almost left her forehead. "Oh, did you..." she trailed off, suddenly realising Katie must have seen her changing. "Oh honey, I'm not a robot. I'm just a normal person like you and Sofia. Come here." She patted the bed, indicting for the 2 girls to get up and join her.

"So, a few years ago I was in a plane crash. Now plane crashes hardly ever happen, it was just a freak accident" she added, not wanting to scare the child into ever going on a plane again. "I really hurt my leg but we had to wait a few days for help to find us. By the time I got home, my leg had gotten so bad that in the end, they had to cut it off just above my knee."

"Let her see..." Sofia said.

Arizona looked from her daughter to the younger girl. "Do you want to see, Katie?" The little girl hesitated briefly before nodding slowly.

Standing up, Arizona lowered the waistband of her jogging pants before sitting back on the mattress. Bringing her leg up, she began to remove the prosthetic.

Katie stared down in wonder. "Are you sad you don't have your leg no more?"

"For a long time I was very sad. I miss my leg everyday but the most important thing is that I'm still alive. If they hadn't cut my leg off, I would have died."

"So you wouldn't be here no more? Like my mommy?"

"Yes sweetie, like your mommy." She reached her hand out, squeezing the girls leg softly.

Katie continued to look down at the limb. "Where did your leg go?"

"Well, the hospital took it away." She left it at that, not wanting to divulge that it would have been put into the incinerator. She watched Katie, who was still looking at her limb. "That's still my leg sweetie. Do you want to touch it?"

Katie quickly shook her head, pulling back slightly as though she'd been burnt.

Arizona laughed slightly. "Its OK, you don't have to."

"It doesn't bite" Sofia said. "Look..." Her hand reached out, grasping Arizona's amputated limb, giving it a little squeeze. "Its soft and squishy" Sofia said with a little laugh.

After a few seconds, Katie felt brave enough to touch the blondes leg, albeit tentatively. She poked her index finger into the skin several times.

Arizona smiled, bringing a hand up to squeezed the girls shoulder. "See? There's nothing to be scared of, sweetie."

"How can you walk with one leg?"

"Well, I have this" she said, bringing the prosthetic to her leg again. She slipped it back on, securing it in place. "I actually have 3 different legs. This one is like a robot leg. It means I can run really fast and jump really high" she told her with a grin.

"No, you can't" Sofia replied, effectively bursting that bubble. "I can run way faster than my mommy. She's really slow. I'm the fastest runner in my whole class."

Arizona laughed, reaching out to gently squeeze her daughters nose in jest. "Sofia's right, I'm not as fast as her but she is a super fast runner."

"Am I missing something in here?" The occupants on the bed looked over at the door and found Callie stood in the doorway, looking at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Katie saw mommy's leg and thought she was a robot."

The Latina raised her eyebrows. "Oh."

"Yea, I've told her I'm not as cool as a robot, unfortunately."

Callie smiled as she came into the room. "Well she might not be a robot, but she was the bravest person in the whole world. Arizona has been through alot of bad things over the last few years but she's been brave and strong and that's why she's still here with us today."

"My mama was in a car crash and she almost died too. I almost died coz I was in her belly."

"That's right, she did. Arizona saved her."

The little girl looked at the blonde. "Are you a super hero?"

Arizona laughed before putting on a straight face, nodding and silently saying yes. Katie once again stared back at her in awe.

Callie watched the exchange with a wide smile. "On that note, I think it's time little girls were in bed. Come on, go brush your teeth then we'll come and read a bedtime story."

A few minutes later, Callie lay in bed with Sofia while Arizona lay on the other bed with Katie. Last week they'd brought the whole bed from the other apartment now they knew Katie would be staying alot longer. A simple bedside table separated the beds against the far wall.

A few minutes into reading the story, Arizona felt a little hand reach up and softly hold onto her arm. The movement made the blondes words falter briefly as she looked down to find Katie's eyes shut, her little mouth slightly open as she drifted off to sleep. She could feel her heart begin to actually melt at the sight.

She glanced over at her wife who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow. She was ofcourse unable to see over Arizona's body to understand what had distracted the blonde. Shaking her head, Arizona read a few more pages before closing the book up and resting it on the bedside table. Carefully extracting herself and putting a teddy in her place, Arizona kissed the top of Katie's head before turning and moving to her daughter who was still half awake. "Night baby girl. I love you."

"I love you too, mommy."

Following her wife out of the room, she closed the door and felt her hand grasped and softly tugged towards the bathroom.

"Fancy a soak with your hot wife?"

Arizona shrugged her shoulder but the smile on her face said something else. "I could be persuaded."

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