Set in the future.

"Mom?" Sofia asked uneasily, slowly plodding into the living room.

Arizona looked up from the newspaper, her lips instantly settling into a smile when she saw her daughter. She set down her reading, giving the teen her full attention. "What's up, Sof?"

Sofia stalked over to the couch, sitting down and settling her knobby knees against her mom's. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon and, generally, she would have been spending this time at the movies or with friends, but not today. College applications were due in a matter of weeks, and she had yet to even begin one of her personal essays for the UCs. It was a tough prompt, and she needed help. Desperately.

"I need help," she pouted, looking up to see the blonde curiously looking down at her notepad and pen. "With my personal essay," she added.

"Oh!" Arizona understood, her brows no longer furrowed in confusion. "Of course, sweetie. How can I help?"

Before Sofia could continue, she was interrupted with Callie carefully walking in, her eyes trained on the three overflowing mugs she balanced in her hands.

Once she had safely set them on the coffee table, she offered a radiant smile to her two girls. "I thought I heard you both in here."

She handed a suddenly-excited Sofia a mug, then Arizona. "I brought cocoa," she explained.

"With mini-marshmallows," Sofia grinned. They were her favorite.

"Of course," Callie joked, grabbing her own mug and moving to sit beside Arizona, instantaneously wrapping an arm around her.

"Mmm," Arizona hummed contently, settling more deeply into her wife. She lifted her face, affectionately kissing a soft caramel cheek. "I was cold, but now I'm warm."

Callie smiled, running her hand up and down the blonde's sweatshirt-clad shoulder. "Good."

Then, they both turned to Sofia, and Arizona again asked, "Your personal essay. What do you need help with?"

"Oh, yeah!" Sofia remembered. She turned her body to face her moms', tucking one leg under the other as she got comfortable. "So, for UC Berkeley and UCLA, one of the prompts is asking about where we get our strength."

Callie and Arizona nodded, waiting.

"And I think there are a lot of things I could say," Sofia continued, shrugging indifferently, "But, really, I think I get most of my strength from you."

She looked up at her moms' wide eyes and flattered smiles, flushing in vulnerable embarrassment. "What?" she grumbled.

Arizona's dimples deepened at her usually fearless daughter's sudden shyness. She couldn't help but pull the girl toward her, peppering thick black hair with reverent maternal kisses. "We're going to miss you!" she wailed – only half joking – and earning herself a groan from Sofia and a comforting, understanding squeeze from Callie.

Finally, Sofia was able to pull away and scowled at the blonde, still unable to hide her amused smile entirely. She loved her family, and she'd miss them, too. "I don't even know where I'm going yet."

"True," Callie conceded. "But you can understand how applying to schools in California has us missing you a little, already."

"Let's not talk about it," Arizona protested. In truth, the mere idea of Sofia growing up and leaving them made her want to cry, and she was not a crier.

"Thank you," Sofia recognized, sighing gratefully. "Anyway, can you please help?"

Callie and Arizona nodded, becoming serious. "Of course," Callie promised.

Sofia smiled. "Good. Okay. So, tell me the hardest things you've gone through in the last, like, twenty years. And how you got through them."

Nodding thoughtfully, Callie began. "I've mentioned before that I was married to George."

Sofia nodded. "The intern."

"Yeah," Callie smiled wistfully. "The intern. Anyway, he cheated on me. Then we got a divorce. Then he died. We were bad for each other, but," she sighed. "He was a good guy. It was hard."

Arizona smiled reassuringly at her wife, and Sofia vigorously scribbled down notes on her pad of paper.

Callie waited, and then Sofia looked up, silently urging her to continue.

"Then I dated someone who disappeared. She was here one second, gone the next." Callie turned, smiling flirtatiously at Arizona. "But it ended up being for the best."

"Awww," Arizona joked, earning herself a jesting shoulder nudge from the brunette.

Sofia waited. By now, she was used to her moms' affectionate banter. "What happened next?"

"Your mom went after me, then rejected me."

Arizona's mouth gaped as she silently attempted to defend herself, making Callie throw back her head and laugh.

"She did?!" Sofia questioned.

"Not for long," Callie smirked. "It was really hard when Abuelito found out we were seeing each other, though. You know how old fashioned he is."

Sofia rolled her eyes. "I know. He's still not over the fact that I went to prom with an actual boy."

Arizona giggled. "He'll get over it. Just like he did with Callie."

Callie ran her fingers through silky blonde hair, offering, "You might have to give him another rousing speech. Worked like a charm last time."

Arizona dimpled at her. "True."

"What speech?" Sofia asked.

Arizona made a face. "Your abuelo was trying to change Callie," she explained. "He brought a priest to 'save her soul' and make her straight."

Sofia's eyes widened.

"So I told him that Callie was still the amazing woman he raised her to be, and that I loved her and would protect her."

"That's so cute!" Sofia exclaimed.

"And then you wouldn't admit that you talked to him!" Callie interjected.

"I couldn't!" Arizona defended. "I had told him that I was in love with you, and I wasn't sure we were there yet."

Callie grinned. "I was."

Arizona huffed. "I didn't know that. At the time."

"What happened after that?" Sofia interjected. "I want to write this freakin' thing this weekend. Tell me more bad things."

Callie frowned, but Arizona understood. "Then some other stuff happened," she continued for Callie, wanting to gloss over their first breakup and the whole I-don't-want-kids thing. Sofia was the best thing to ever happen to her. "Then a shooter came to the hospital, and a lot of people got hurt."

Sofia nodded. "Zola said Derek got shot."

"Yeah," Arizona sighed. "Uncle Alex, too."

Sofia's eyes bulged. "Really?"

Callie nodded. "Mmm hmm. It was the worst thing any of us had ever gone through. But it taught us about what mattered."

"What?" Sofia asked.

Arizona set her palm over Callie's knee. "Each other."

"And then some other stuff happened…" Callie continued.

"What stuff?" Sofia pressed.

Arizona made a face. "I moved to Africa, came back, found out about you—"

"Oh boy," Sofia interrupted. She couldn't imagine how it must have felt for the blonde to come home and learn that her other mom was pregnant. She was just grateful for how well it had turned out, though.

"And then there was the car crash," Callie added. "You were the strongest kid from your very first breath."

Arizona nodded in agreement. "Though you got some of that strength from Mom, I think." She bit her lip, looking at Callie before absentmindedly continuing, "I didn't think she'd make it. Or you. I'd never been more scared."

Callie tightened her hold on Arizona, pulling her impossibly closer.

Sofia paused momentarily, then gently prompted, "And then the plane crash happened, right?"

Neither Callie nor Arizona could keep from wincing at the mention. That had – by far – been the most difficult hurdle they had endured.

Arizona squeezed Callie's thigh, and Callie immediately set her other palm over Arizona's hand, offering what little comfort she could.

"Yeah," the blonde sighed. "That sucked."

And Callie couldn't help but smile at the fact that they could now describe the plane crash – something that had once destroyed them both – as something that had "sucked." It was true, of course, but it was almost a comical word to describe it. It had so much more than "sucked." It had ruined them.

Sofia nodded. "I know about it," she said understandably. "We don't have to go into it."

Arizona shone at her daughter. "I don't mind, if it'll help."

Sofia shook her head decisively. "No, I know it all. I know how strong you were."

"I'm not sure you do," Callie argued, her adoring eyes never straying from Arizona's face.

"Callie…" Arizona pleaded, even as a small smile crossed her lips.

"Hey, I'm in love with you, so I get to brag about you," Callie insisted. She turned back to Sofia. "The plane crash sucked, but so did the year after it," she explained. "Your mom wouldn't leave the bed for days, at first. The two men in her life died, her leg was gone, and she had nightmares every night. But she knew she needed to get up and move forward. And she fought like hell to do that."

Sofia nodded, listening intently.

Callie then turned to Arizona, suddenly remembering, "Do you remember when your first physical therapist made you write a list? Of why you needed to start walking? To…heal?"

Arizona knit her eyebrows together, attempting to think back. She didn't remember. "Not really."

Callie smiled wistfully. "I do." She squeezed her hand, turning back to Sofia. "I still remember crying as soon as he showed me. It was the first ounce of hope I'd gotten in months."

"What did it say?" Sofia asked, her curiosity taking over.

"Wait!" Callie shot straight up, extracting herself from Arizona as she rushed toward their bedroom. She riffled through the stack of important papers she kept in a shoe box in her closet, finally finding the one she had been searching for. She raced back to the couch, ignoring her wife and daughter's curious faces as she settled back against Arizona.

"The doctor wanted her to write down why she wanted to learn to walk, and heal, and get better," Callie explained. She handed Sofia the slip of paper, and Sof looked down at it before reading aloud:

For my family.

Sofia smiled, and Arizona settled her head into the crook of Callie's neck.

"And then – a few years later – she got better. Completely," Callie smiled. "For you."

"For you both," Arizona corrected. Then, a little overwhelmed by the praise, she added, "And your mom showed her strength after the crash, too. She had to be strong for the both of us. For the three of us," she added, thinking of Mark. For the first few months after the amputation and Mark's death, Sofia had only had one effective parent.

Sofia's lips slowly turned up into a grin as she considered how lucky she was to have her moms. Her friends always complained about their parents and, sure, Callie and Arizona could be annoying, too, but Sofia knew that she was infinitely blessed. Not everyone could say that their parents were their role models. But for her, the statement was true. Without a doubt.

"Badass," she breathed, slyly looking up at her moms' faces. Generally, she was scolded for swearing, but she had a feeling that – this time – it wouldn't be an issue.

Callie fixed a half-joking warning look at her, and Arizona just laughed. "You're right. We are."

And that just made Callie twinkle, because, really, her daughter was right. They were a badass family. "Fine," she surrendered. "We're bad…butts."

Sofia groaned. "Moooom…"

"Callie!" Arizona chided. "Sof is seventeen years old. I'm pretty sure it's safe for you to say that we're badasses."

"Yeah!" Sofia chimed in. "Admit it!"

"Fine!" Callie repeated. "We're a badass family!"

"Damn right!" Impassioned, Sofia threw her fist into the air, noticing her moms' disapproving expressions a second too late. "I mean…" she grinned. "Darn right?"

Callie nodded affirmatively. "That's better."

Which just made Sofia and Arizona giggle conspiringly. When the blonde had chosen to parent with Callie, she never thought that her badass girlfriend would have ended up being so overprotective. She was grateful for her wife's parenting, though. They made a good team. They balanced each other out. Perfectly. Like yin and yang.

Arizona then lifted her eyebrow, refocusing on the task at hand: college essays. "Does all that help at all?"

Sofia nodded. "A lot. Thank you."

"Of course," Arizona dimpled.

"Want us to help you edit it after you finish?" Callie offered.

"Please!" Sofia exclaimed. "I already know that it's going to be too long. I'm gonna need help cutting it down."

"We'll help," Callie promised.

"'Kay," Sofia began getting up from the couch, eager to begin. "I'm gonna go work on it."

"'Kay," Callie and Arizona chorused.

"We love you!" Callie called after her.

"Love you!" Sofia called from over her shoulder.

As soon as they heard her heading up the stairs, Callie turned her head to look at Arizona, whose eyes were already on her. And she couldn't help but blush at the wonder she saw reflected in cerulean eyes.

"What?" she asked self-consciously.

"Nothing," Arizona teased, shrugging. "I just love you."

Callie's lips turned up into a heart-stopping smile, so bright that it rivaled the sun. "I know," she grinned. "I love you, too."