Chapter 21

Callie sat at her kitchen island lost in her thoughts when she felt warm cream-colored arms wrap around her from behind. She smiled at the instant comfort and as the beautiful blond rested her chin on her shoulder and kissed her cheek.

"What are you thinking about?" she hummed as she closed her eyes and took in Callie's scent. "I was just thinking back to our vacation. When we went to that vineyard. The Willows, right?" Arizona smiled at the memory. She and Callie still laugh at how Arizona was able to get so mad by the woman trying to pick up Callie yet so turned on by Callie wanting to run and find Arizona at the same time.

"Oh yeah! That was an amazing weekend. It's been what, a year now since then? We are definitely in need of another vacation soon". Callie turned to properly kiss Arizona and went to clear her plate from where she was just sitting. "Yes, we are definitely overdue".

Arizona sat in the seat that Callie was just occupying and looked over some mail that was brought in earlier. "Hey, have you heard from Sofia? How is she liking her new foster family?" Arizona asked. In the past year, the three have formed a unique bond. When Sofia was placed in a group home in Seattle, Callie paid a visit and had it arranged with her social worker where Sofia could spend time at the hospital after school. She would mostly help out the nurses with clerical work, but when Callie, Arizona, or one of their friends had a light load they would let her follow them around to observe some of their cases. Also, she convinced at least one of them each day to help her with her homework. Though, Sofia has proven to be way ahead of her grade level. The doctors even advocated for her to take up advanced courses. But recently, a couple gained interest in Sofia at one of the group home's adoption days. So now she is in a trial period with them across the country to see how it goes. It's safe to say that everyone has felt the effects of not having the ever so lively Sophia around.

"She sent me a letter the other day, actually. She's in New York. She isn't sure how she likes it yet. She says that the family seems nice but it is too soon to tell," Callie said with a sigh. She turned to see Arizona trying her best to look as positive as she could. Though Sophia still seemed to have a slight thing against Arizona, they have built their own unique connection.

"I have to head in for my late surgery," Callie said walking over to kiss Arizona on the forehead. "You just got in so try to get some sleep. If I'm not back when you wake up I will make sure I find you first thing in the morning".

"Okay. Have a great surgery. I love you, Dr. Calliope Torres" she said in her seductive voice.

Callie chuckled as she backed away from the kiss. "See now you're trying to get me to stay".

Sofia sat on her designated bed in the room that she shared with her foster sister. She was writing and sealing letters to send back to Seattle. She had one for her best friend Zola back in the group home, Alex, Meredith, and even Arizona. Even though it's been so long since she first met them all she could not fully understand why she was always so nervous to fully open up to Arizona. She has grown to like her, but something about her reminds her of her last foster mom from Seattle. The home where she got hurt and ended up in the hospital in the first place. Their personalities were similar; very smiley and bubbly. But that also made her foster mom weak. And weak people could barely protect themselves let alone the kids they're supposed to be looking out for.

But she wrote her a letter anyway. It was the letter to Callie that always took her the most time. She wasn't allowed to have a phone yet. This foster family had to be the last family in the country that still had a house phone. She has the social worker's number memorized in case of emergencies and she has Callie and Arizona's numbers written down in her journal as well as the number to Seattle Grace. The two gave it to her when she first started volunteering there after school. But she never called them because her new foster parents were always just sitting around, and she didn't want them to intrude on her private conversations.

So she just wrote a letter and used the money that she had saved from back home to get the stamps and envelopes. On her commute to school, she would just drop them in the mailbox on the way.

In Callie's letter, she was always going back and forth with herself about what she wanted to say. She wanted to say that this family was nice, but she had a better family back in Seattle. She wanted to say that over the past year that she has felt more like family than anyone in her life has ever felt. She wanted to ask her why she never thought of adopting her. Why did she let her get dragged across the country with strangers? But she didn't ask any of those things. She made it seem like everything was ok, and that she wasn't fighting a mental breakdown every hour when her foster family tried to hug her or when they would introduce her to their friends as their soon-to-be daughter. They were nice people, but they weren't the people that she wanted.

She tied her long black hair into a top bun and laid back on her bed taking a deep breath. She was sort of adjusting to the fast pace of New York. She liked the freedom it gave her. Transferring to a new school in the middle of the school year was not making it easy to find friends. It was already April and school for them ended in June. She did not find it a point to try to reach out to others. She wasn't even sure how long she would be there. Luckily for her, she was able to still transfer her school credits and get into her AP courses. Thanks to her doctor friends and their tutoring sessions she did not feel behind at all.

Right as her mind was starting to settle, the bedroom door flew open, and in walked Ashlee, their actual daughter. "Hey Sofia, they sent me up here to tell you that dinner was ready". Her chipper demeanor was enough to drive her insane, but part of her didn't mind because she sort of reminded her of Arizona. Sofia sat up and looked over to the smiling roommate with her big green eyes and wavy dirty blond hair. They were about the same age, but Sofia was just a few months older. She didn't have any other siblings, so Sofia had to be the listener when she ranted on and on about the doings of her friend group. They invited Sofia out to the movies a few times but listening to a bunch of 13 and 14-year-olds complain about their perfect lives and perfect parents was not something Sofia wanted to be around. So, she just stayed home and studied; it helped the time go by.

They made their way down the stairs to the dining room as Ashlee complained how her best friend Piper must have cheated on their biology exam because there's no way Piper received an 84 while she got a 75. As they sat at the table, the two parents with their matching brownish blond hair made their way to the table. The mom looking on with her green eyes that mirrored her daughter's and the dad's brown eyes barely moving away from his phone until the last possible second. "Cell biology is the toughest course there is. Especially, AP cell biology. The instructor barely teaches".

The dad, that Sofia has come to know as Brian looks up. "Sofia, you're in AP cell bio aren't you? What did you get on the exam?" Sofia looked up in surprise, not really wanting to talk but not wanting to be rude. "A 98," Sofia said softly, "I mislabeled one of the arrows in the third diagram. I think I just got confused or something," she mumbled.

"That's amazing, sweetheart" Nancy, the matriarch of the family. She was friendly enough, like the rest of them. But Sofia didn't really like Nancy. She didn't like how she was always trying to overstep and act like her mother. Sofia had to sometimes remind herself that was sort of the purpose of her being there, but she still didn't like it.

"There's no way you got the highest score. You had to have cheated," Ashlee said.

"How dare you," Sofia shot giving her a look that made Ashlee visibly gulp, "I work hard and I study hard for my grades. I earned that grade. Just because you want to stay up on the phone and go out every weekend doesn't mean that every 14-year-old wants to do the same. I have goals" Sofia shot.

Ashlee melted into her seat as she began serving herself some food. "I'm sorry. She whispered". Her parents just looked on, not really sure what to say. "What type of goals do you have, Sofia?" Brian asked trying to break the tension.

"I'm going to be a surgeon; like the ones from back home. I want to help make people's lives better".

It was 5 am and Callie finished with her surgery sooner than she thought she did. Lucky for her because she was feeling very sluggish all of a sudden and just brushed it off as exhaustion. Once she made it home, she was a bit surprised to see Arizona still in bed. Normally, her alarm would have gotten her up so she could get an early start.

She bent down and moved her blond waves to the side as she kissed the base of her neck. "My love, do you see the time. Shouldn't you be getting up?" she said softly. Arizona just turned to the sound of Callie's voice but kept her eyes closed. "One minute," she mumbled.

Callie stood up straight as a dizzy wave momentarily took her over. Once she thought she had it together she made her way to the bathroom where she stripped down and hopped in the shower. She submerged her head under the water but she started to feel a little queasy. She sat on the shower floor, knees to chest as the water rained down on her. Right, when she was about to call out Arizona's name for help she heard the quick patter of steps rush into the bathroom and Arizona was soon dry heaving over the toilet.

"Fuck," Callie groaned as she soon realized what was happening.

"Calliope," Arizona helplessly called out.

Callie stood and opened the shower door, there she saw Arizona leaning against the wall with the shivers as sweat dotted her forehead. "We're sick" was all Callie said as Arizona just nodded her head.

Arizona started to take her loose pajamas off in an effort to cool her body. Callie reached over and lowered the temperature of the water as Arizona climbed in without being prompted. They held each other under the cool water until they felt their temperatures were lowered and until they had enough strength to make it back to their bedroom.

Wrapped in towels Arizona didn't even care to put clothes on as she plopped on the bed and reached for her phone to call Richard. She could feel her fever returned and her body begins to ache, so she tried to be quick and get the call over with. In the meantime, Callie mustered up enough strength to get fluids from the fridge and some medication.

She brought it back to their bed handing the water and OJ to Arizona along with a couple of pills that she quickly swallowed. "What did Richard say?" Callie asked. Though Arizona knew that she should work on lowering her temperature, her shivers caused her to retreat under the blankets but not before at least opening a window. "Everyone is sick. Meredith is the only one who hasn't called out yet. They're bringing in all of the on-call attendings and residents" Arizona finished as she curled up into a ball.

"Did you tell him about my patient? I started feeling sick after a closed. But someone should still check on him," Callie followed Arizona under the blankets as her own body started to shake. "He's on it" was all Arizona was able to say.

As their medications kicked in, they drifted off to sleep in each other's naked arms.

There was no telling how long the two were asleep. They barely switch positions or move. But it was the consistent buzzing of her phone that caused Callie to begin to wake up. She looked over and saw that Meredith called about 7 times. Her phone rang again, and Callie picked it up without even speaking. She didn't need to, because right when Meredith heard the line pick up she just kept repeating how sorry she was.

"Meredith, what?"

Arizona started to stir but not from Callie, but from hearing Meredith repeatedly saying "I'm so sorry" as she walked up the stairs.

"What's happening?" Arizona asked as she barely was able to speak above a whisper.

Callie's eyes practically jumped out of her head as she saw both of her parents come behind Meredith, as she laid naked under the blankets with her naked girlfriend. Her father instantly turned around and looked up at the ceiling examining anything his eyes could fall on. But her oh-so-dramatic mother gasped and called out her full name speaking Spanish at lightning speed.

Callie ducked back down as she made sure the blankets were covered over them both. All she heard next was Meredith. "I'm so sorry. But we are short-staffed across the street and I have to go".

"This can't be happening," Callie croaked.