A/N - Thank you once again for your lovely comments. I'd forgotten how much I loved writing Calzona fanfiction. I think this may only have 2 or 3 more chapters in it. Who knows though as I've said that before in other stories :) Is there anything you as the readers would like to see in the story? I think I know how I want it to go, but all ideas are welcomed.

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Chapter 37

Having the day off work, Arizona had managed to get through several errands during the morning and early afternoon before heading to Rudolf Steiner to pick the girls up for 3pm. Instead of heading home, she took them straight over to central park to let them have some fun in the play area.

The last couple of weeks had flown over for both Arizona and Callie. Work had kept both women busy but they'd still managed to juggle the sales of their apartments, phone calls with various people about the house they'd bought and ofcourse, Sofia and Katie.

The young girl that had come into their care had seemed to settle into the family better than they could have anticipated. Angela Sanders had checked in with them a week earlier, extremely happy to hear Katie seemed to have settled. She was still quite shy at times and didn't always join in conversation but ofcourse, as the psychiatrist had said, it was to be expected after the trauma the little girl had gone through. In time, with his help along with Callie and Arizona's, she would interact and participate in conversation alot more.

After playing on the climbing frame, Sofia ran over to the swings, closely followed by Katie. Arizona came up behind them, pushing each swing one after the other.

"Mommy used to push me really high and really fast."

Arizona smiled as she heard Katie speak about her mother. "Did she, honey? Do you want to go higher?"

"Yea..."

"Ok, hold tight mind." Putting more force behind her push, the swing flew forward with more vigour, causing Katie to laugh uncontrollably.

"Me too, mommy" Sofia added.

For the next few minutes, the blonde stood and pushed both girls high into the sky before Sofia announced she wanted to go over to the monkey bars. When Katie didn't move, Arizona made herself comfortable in the swing her daughter had just vacated. Reaching out her hand she pushed Katie's swing at the same slow pace as her own. "What else did you and your mommy used to like to do?"

Katie was quiet for a few seconds as she thought. "Mommy used to make popcorn and when it was ready it would go bang" she told the blonde excitedly, softly slapping her hands against the cold metal chains.

Arizona laughed. "Do you like popcorn?" Katie nodded back at her. "Well maybe we can all make popcorn one night, would you like that?" Again Katie nodded. A few moments passed while they moved softly, all the while looking over at the monkey bars where Sofia was waiting in line.

"When we moved into the car, we sang songs and mommy read me really cool stories and when my daddy died, we went down to the river and we talked to him. He didn't talk to us but mommy said he can hear everything we say."

Arizona watched on quietly as Katie spoke about her parents.

"I fell over at the river and hurt my leg on the stones. Mommy cleaned it and kissed it better. She said it was just a little boo boo." She looked down at the ground sadly. "I miss my mommy."

"Oh sweetie, I know you do." She reached over, laying a hand on the girls shoulder. "Your mommy was the best mommy in the world and she looked after you so good, didn't she? She told me that she loved you more than anything in the whole world too." Katie didn't reply, instead just kept her gaze on the tarmac. "If you want, we can go to to the river and you can talk to your daddy again? Would you like to do that sometime?" The little girl nodded. "Ok, maybe this weekend we'll head down there with Callie and Sofia and we can stay as long as you want."

A few days ago Arizona had realised that although they had some of Michelle's possessions from the car they'd been staying in, there wasn't one photo in amongst the items they'd been given by the police. On the off chance, she'd gone onto Facebook, putting in Michelle's name and after scrolling through a long list of Michelle Burn's, she'd managed to find Katie's mother. Snooping around the page, which luckily wasn't set to private, she'd found countless photos from the last 4 years. Images of when Katie was first born, right up to a few months ago when it seemed Michelle had no longer been as active on social media.

There'd been plenty of happy photos of Katie, Michelle and even the father, James from a few years earlier. James didn't feature too much however, it was mainly Katie and Michelle. For over half an hour, Arizona copied and saved all the photos she could from Michelle's page. When Katie got older, she would undoubtedly want to know more about where she came from and ofcourse want to remember what her parents looked like.

Saving them to a memory card, the blonde had put it safely inside one of the boxes of items which would be taken with Katie, where ever she ended up.

"Mommy, I'm hungry..." Sofia shouted over.

"Ok baby" Arizona shouted back. "Come on kiddo, let's head home for dinner huh?"

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Later that night, once the girls had been put to bed, Callie and Arizona were sat going through some paperwork. Check and to-do lists had been scribbled down, helping to organise the many irons in the fire the couple were currently juggling.

"So the realtor said the checks have been completed and they're drawing up the contract now" Callie said, looking at the blonde who was scribbling something down.

"Obviously there's the money from these apartments but I've got a print out of my savings here, have you got yours?"

"Ugh, yea, somewhere here" Arizona said, shuffling some papers around.

"Dad's transferred that money into an account for us too. I think we're more or less sorted on that front."

"Here it is" Arizona replied, placing a print out of her savings on top of the Latina's. "Have you spoke to your dad today?"

"Yea, I spoke to him this morning. He said he wants to come over here in the next few days. He's looking forward to meeting Katie."

Arizona smiled, putting her pen down and leaning back into the sofa. "Did he sound OK?"

Callie shrugged. "As OK as he can be. He's just trying to get used to the new norm without mom I think. It sounds like he's ready to kick Aria out" she added with a laugh. "She can be bossy when she wants to be."

One of Arizona's eyebrows moved up. "Mhmm. Sounds like something the Torres girls have in common."

Putting her head on the side, Callie looked back at the blonde with her lips pursed. "That's a little pot calling the kettle, don't you think Arizona?"

The blonde grinned as she winked back at her wife. "Well your dad can have a break away from her by coming over here. He can stay across the hall. None of this staying in his hotel crap. He should be close to us."

Callie nodded. "Yea well, maybe the next time he comes over, we'll be in our new home."

"Yea. I don't want to jinx it or anything but things seem to be in order."

The Latina rested her head in the palm of her hand as she smiled back at her wife. Ever since Arizona and her daughter had moved over to New York, everything seemed so different. Good different.

Back in Seattle, for years it seemed like they could never catch a break. Just when things had seemed to be getting on track for them, they'd argue over something stupid, both being too stubborn to back down. Then there were the occurrences that seemed out of their control like crazed gun men running around the hospital, the Maddison Carter grant, car and plane crashes. They'd hit so many speed bumps which they'd struggled to overcome from the moment they met.

As much as a relief as it was to get away from Seattle and all the drama, New York hadn't felt like home until Arizona and Sofia were there with her. It was inevitable that the 2 of them would get back together. There was too much love there for them to ever be completely over. The break from eachother had done exactly as she'd hoped it would.
Now, since the very day Arizona had arrived in New York, almost everything had fallen into place.

"Why are you staring at me with that creepy smile on your face?"

Breaking out of her reverie, the Latina laughed. "Its not a creepy smile, it's a thoughtful one. I was just thinking about us. About our life. Seattle was so..." she scrunched up her nose, trying to find the words to describe her thoughts.

"Traumatic? Heartbreaking? Gut-wrenching? Suffocating? A rollercoaster ride?"

Callie laughed. "Yes. All of the above."

Arizona gave a sad smile. "It was kind of like living on the hellmouth, except we weren't as invincible as Buffy."

Callie raised her eyebrows at the blonde. "You're comparing us to Buffy the Vampire slayer? Seriously Arizona, when have you even had time to watch that show?"

The blonde shrugged. "She was a good distraction when I first started out and was nervous about difficult surgeries."

"Helped that she was hot aswell huh?" Arizona winked back at her. "She wasn't invincible anyway" Callie continued. "She died, twice I seem to remember. Not to mention all the emotional and physical trauma she went through in those 7 years."

Arizona laughed. "So apparently I'm not the only Buffy buff..."

Callie shrugged. "Even before I realised I liked women in that way, I liked women. Especially ones that could kick some ass." She stopped and frowned. "Why are we even talking about Buffy the Vampire slayer?"

They both laughed before Arizona replied. "Well, like you were saying, so many bad things happened in Seattle but, it's also where we met and where Sofia was born, so it'll always have a little place in my heart."

"But being in New York feels good doesn't it? I feel lighter, happier. It's the complete fresh start we needed."

Arizona nodded. "And everything feels easier, don't you think? Our relationship is like a breath of fresh air. I know the disagreements will happen but I think were strong enough to overcome what ever life throws at us now."

"I agree."

"And our jobs, for the most part are better. As much as I loved being head of peds at Grey Sloan, I love my work here. I also love our new house. I feel like we're gona be really happy there."

"I do too. Sofia loves it here aswell and Katie... well, if I'm honest, I'm really hoping she stays with us forever. I know it's only been a few weeks but I feel like she's been with us so much longer now."

Arizona thought back on her conversation with the little girl earlier. "I got talking to her in the park today about her mom. She opened up a bit about what they used to do together. I think it's important we keep her spirit alive. She mentioned they used to go down to the river and talk to her dad. I think it would be good for her to be able to keep doing that."

"That's a great idea. Do we know what happened with Michelle's ashes? We could perhaps enquire about them and if we're allowed, scatter them down by the river? Then she can talk to both her parents at the same time. We could maybe even get a little plaque made for them. I mean, like I said, we'll have to get confirmation from someone. I'm not exactly sure who, to see if we can actually do that with her ashes."

Arizona's hand reached out, laying softly along the Latina's thigh. "Callie, that's a lovely idea."

"Well, you're right. We should always make sure Katie remembers her parents."

The blonde nodded. "When I found Michelle on Facebook, she didn't seem to have many friends. There weren't any conversations on her wall or anything either."

"God, I can't even..." The Latina trailed off, shaking her head. "How could she not have anyone else in her life? No family, no friends..."

Arizona stared off into space as she thought about the woman that had lost her life on her OR table. "Just Katie..."

"I guess alot of us build friendships being out at work. Without a job, she wasn't getting that social interaction."

"Katie's school said she was a lovely woman to talk to aswell. They literally had no idea of what they'd been going through."

"It just shows how good of a façade people can display to the world, when really you have no idea what's going on in a person's mind or behind closed doors."

They went silent for a few moments, both lost in their own thoughts. Eventually Arizona squeezed her wife's thigh as she sat up. "How about we leave all this and get an early night? " she said, gesturing to the papers scattered on the table.

"You took the words right out of my mouth."

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