"Grandma!" Sofia squealed the second her feet touched tarmac.

Arizona sighed as her daughter took off towards the metal railings where her mother and older brother were standing and waiting for them. Timothy was holding a large banner with 'Welcome home Robbins!' scrawled across it in his familiar spidery handwriting. Her mother was crying as she pulled her granddaughter into a tight hug and pressed kisses all over her face.

Walking towards them, Arizona assumed that Callie was following her. She let herself be wrapped in a tight embrace by her brother, relaxing into the comfort of his arms. When he pulled back a little, she tightened her grip, smiling as she felt the vibration of his rumbling laugh in his chest.

"Hey, little sister. How are you?"

"I'm great, Tim, how are you?" She asked, beaming. "It's so, so good to see you."

"You too." He agreed, before turning to look at his niece. A look of faux-shock spread across his expression and he glanced around, clearly pretending to be looking for someone else. "This cannot be Sofia? No way! She's way too big to be my niece."

"It's me, Uncle Tim!" Sofia giggled delightedly, allowing him to scoop her up into his arms. "I'm Sofia! I grew!"

"You sure did, squirt." He agreed, shifting her to sit on his shoulders. "What's the view like up there."

"Awesome!"

"Yeah, you're definitely my sister's kid." He agreed with a chuckle, earning himself a light slap on the chest from Arizona.

"Where's Dad?"

"Oh, he stayed behind. You know what he's like." Barbara rolled her eyes before looking around excitedly. "Never mind about him… where's your girl?"

"Mom, don't be embarrassing." Arizona warned, before pointing Callie out. "Here she is. Mom, Tim… this is Callie Torres. Callie, this is my mom, Barbara, and my older brother, Timothy."

"Hello." Callie held out her hand, gasping in surprise as she was pulled into Barbara's arms. "It's lovely to meet you."

"Arizona always pulls the hot ones." Timothy teased, making both women blush.

"Timothy Daniel Robbins! Behave yourself." Barbara ordered her son, slapping him lightly around the back of the head.

"Sorry, Mom." He apologised, before poking his tongue out at his sister when he was sure their mother wasn't looking.

"We've heard so, so much about you." Barbara told Callie. It was an innocent enough remark, but the glint in the older woman's eyes was enough to make the Latina want to wince in embarrassment.

"All good, I hope." She joked.

Barbara just laughed and Timothy snorted. Arizona glared between them for a moment, while Sofia looked round at the adults in confusion. She didn't understand what was going on, but evidently decided that she was going to take pity on the newcomer.

Slipping her hand into Callie's, she smiled up at her. "Will you sit by me in the truck, Callie?"

"Uhh… yeah. Of course I will." The brunette agreed instantly, relief flooding through her as the little girl took some of the heat off her.

At once Barbara melted. The sight of her granddaughter gazing up at the other woman with such trust and acceptance caused her to reconsider all the things that her daughter had told her about her boss. She couldn't deny that they had all been shocked when Arizona had announced that she was in a relationship with Callie Torres and would be bringing her out to Alaska for the birthday celebrations. Then again, Barbara considered, the Latina was an incredibly attractive young woman and Arizona had a thing for dark-eyed beauties – especially ones who could speak another language, apparently.

They all piled into the old truck. Callie, Sofia and Arizona squeezed the back, pressed together like sardines in a can. Barbara and Timothy chattered companionably in the front, Arizona and Sofia chipping in occasionally, but Callie remained largely silent. She wasn't sure whether the Robbins' were aware of how uncomfortable and out of her depth she was feeling or whether they simply assumed that she just didn't want to join in.

The truth was that Callie wasn't entirely sure how to join in with their easy, playful conversation. Her family had never been like that. Conversations around their dinner table had always had a purpose. They either involved their mother skilfully extracting information about their private lives or doing her best to influence them in one way or another. Her conversations with her father – although she loved him dearly – were almost exclusively business related. Callie couldn't remember the last time they'd actually had a real, meaningful talk. She supposed the conversation they'd had in his office where she'd blurted out that she and Arizona were engaged would have to count as possibly the only one they'd had in years.

"OK… everyone out!"

Callie looked around in surprise. They were not, as she'd been expecting, outside a house or indeed the hotel that she'd booked herself into for their stay in Sitka. Instead, they seemed to have parked up beside a jetty of some kind. Immediately her heart sank and she looked across to Arizona for some kind of explanation, but the blonde was already sliding out of the truck and holding out a hand to help her daughter follow.

"Umm… shouldn't we check into the hotel before we do anything else?" Callie asked Arizona in a low voice, feeling totally unsettled by not having control of the situation.

"Oh, we cancelled your reservation." Barbara laughed easily, wafting a hand in their direction. "Family doesn't stay in a hotel. You're going to stay with us in our home."

"Great…" Callie forced herself to smile. "I just wasn't sure… you know, with your birthday and everything."

"Don't worry about that, dear, there's plenty of space." The older woman assured her, before walking towards the water.

With even more unease, the Latina followed. Arizona was clutching Sofia's hand tightly in her own, laughing softly as the small brunette skipped and chattered excitedly. After a moment, she pulled away from her mother and ran to join her uncle, who seemed to be beginning to climb down a ladder attached to the wall and ending on a wooden platform below. Beside the platform, to Callie's horror, was a small speedboat.

"Arizona… what is that?"

"It's a boat." The blonde informed her blandly, sparing a cursory glance towards it. She proceeded to pass their bags down to her brother; laughing as one of Callie's missed its target and bounced into the water. "Oops… sorry about that."

"I've got it." Barbara announced triumphantly, holding the bag aloft. "No harm done. That'll dry right off."

"I'm not getting on that boat, Arizona."

"Well then I'll see you in a few days." She replied with a shrug.

"You know I can't swim!"

Arizona furrowed her eyebrows at her. "Yeah, what's up with that? You grew up in Miami and you can't swim?"

"I just… no one ever taught me." Callie admitted, clearly embarrassed. Then she shrugged. "But either way, I'm not getting on that boat."

Softening a little at the admission, Arizona sighed. "It'll be fine, I promise. We've got life jackets and you can sit right in the middle where there's no chance of falling in."

Reluctantly, the Latina sighed and nodded, starting her descent down the ladder. It was slow progress, as her high heels didn't do much to help her. Arizona couldn't help her eyes lingering on Callie's ass as she slowly made her way down towards the platform, whirling around and scowling at her brother as Tim, clearly knowing exactly where her gaze was focused, let out a snort of amusement.

Once Callie was safely encased in the life jacket and seated in the centre of the boat, they set off. Arizona was unable to help a laugh escaping as Sofia patted the older brunette on the arm and promised that she'd looked after her. The scowl Callie sent her in return was enough to make Arizona move to stand beside her brother at the wheel, nudging him in the side as he chuckled at her.

"And here we are!" Barbara announced as their house came into sight.

Callie's jaw dropped as her eyes fell on the huge, sprawling house that the older woman was pointing at. Mansion was probably a more accurate description of the Robbins' home, although none of the others seemed at all fazed by the sheer size of it. Glancing at the back of Arizona's head, Callie wondered why her assistant had never mentioned that her family were rich before. Then again, she had to concede, when had Arizona ever had the opportunity.

"Why did you tell me you were poor?" Callie hissed as they strolled along the wooden bridge that led from the jetty to the house.

"I never told you I was poor."

"Uhhh… when we were discussing… things… you said you needed your job for the money. I offered you a raise! You never told me you were rich."

"I'm not rich. My parents are rich." Arizona informed her with a shrug.

"That's what all rich people say."

The blonde snorted. "Maybe the ones with a trust fund and a high paying job in Daddy's company. Some of us prefer to pay our own way."

"Hi, Arizona! Welcome home!"

Arizona glanced up at the sound of her name from the direction of the house. Her face fell as she noticed the people milling around and she turned to her mother with an accusatory expression on her face. Barbara, clearly pre-empting her daughter's complaints, simply smiled and shrugged.

"What?"

"Why are there loads of people here, Mom?"

"It's just a small welcome home gathering." Barbara informed her lightly.

"Yeah, just fifty of their closest friends and neighbours." Tim added with a teasing grin.

Barbara rolled her eyes at her children. "Oh… my son's back from his tour of duty and my daughter and granddaughter are home for the first time in what… three years? I think we're entitled to show them off a little bit."

"But really, Mom? As soon as we arrive?"

"Oh, lighten up Arizona."

"Yeah, Z, lighten up." Tim teased, shooting her a wink as he followed their mother and Sofia towards the house.

With a huff, Arizona motioned for Callie to keep walking. Neither of them was remotely happy about the sudden turn of events, but there was absolutely nothing they could do about it.

The women found themselves surrounded by people as soon as they stepped over the threshold into the house. Sofia immediately glued herself to her mother's side, intimidated by all the strangers and Arizona swung her up onto her hip, murmuring reassuringly to her until she calmed down a little. Callie found herself wishing that Arizona would bestow the same treatment on her, but the blonde barely even glanced in her direction as they wandered through the house.

Finding herself full of questions as they greeted people that Arizona apparently seemed to recognise, Callie smiled tightly as she was introduced to more people that she could ever hope to remember. The blonde had said that her parents had moved around a lot but had now settled in Sitka, while Barbara had said that Arizona hadn't been home in three years. Callie wondered how long Arizona had actually spent on the island to clearly be so well known amongst the party guests.

"What?"

She blinked as the blonde caught her off-guard, a light frown on her face. "I was just wondering how long you lived here before you moved to Seattle. I mean… everyone here seems to know you and you apparently haven't been here in three years, so…"

"Well, I don't exactly get a lot of vacation time from work, do I?" When Callie frowned at her, Arizona rolled her eyes. "Umm, my parents moved here in my junior year of high school so they've been here about twelve years. I stayed here for a little while after a graduated and then I moved to Seattle almost six years ago."

"Wow… that's… wow."

"Right." Arizona shrugged and looked around. Sofia had scampered off to find her uncle and Callie had the distinct impression that the blonde was looking for a distraction or a way to escape being in her sole company. "Listen, neither of us particularly want to be in this situation, so–"

"Arizona… I get that you don't really want me here, but we've got to act as though we actually like each other if we're going to pull this off."

The blonde snorted. "I can do that, but can you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Are you going to be able to get off that high horse and stop looking down on me and my family for long enough to–"

"Arizona freakin' Robbins!"

"Theodora!" Arizona beamed at the tall blonde who was approaching her, her bad mood instantly evaporating. There were a chorus of squeals as the two women hugged each other tightly, both talking at the same time and apparently trying to ask and answer questions without really listening to the other. "You look amazing!"

"I'm still standing, so that's all I really care about."

Laughing, Arizona caught sight of the confused Latina beside her and smiled tightly. "Teddy, this is Calliope Torres. Callie this is Teddy Altman; Tim's girlfriend."

"Hey, Callie. It's really great to meet you." Teddy said warmly, sticking out her hand to greet the newcomer. "I haven't actually heard all that much about you, but I suppose that's because I've not long got back from a tour of duty and Zona prefers to pass on the really hot gossip in person."

Arizona rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Teds."

"Oh!" The taller blonde glanced over her shoulder. "I said I'd give your Mom a hand with something. I'll catch you both later, OK?"

There was no time for either of them to agree, before she had whirled away. Callie had just opened her mouth to ask questions about the young woman they'd just been speaking to, when they were interrupted yet again.

"Arizona!"

"Uhh, hey, Mrs Avery." Arizona shot Callie a look and walked over to talk to the older woman who had caught her attention. "You're looking great. How's Jackson?"

"He's doing well, thank you. He just moved to Seattle, actually. I finally convinced him to work for the company business. Isn't that where you're living now?"

"Yeah, yeah it is. That's great, though… I'll have to call him when I get home." Glancing sideways, Arizona pulled the brunette forward by the arm. "This is Callie Torres, by the way. Callie, this is Catherine Avery."

"Oh? From the Avery Foundation?"

"You know of it?" Catherine looked surprised. "Hang on? Torres? Any relation to Carlos Torres?"

"He's my father." Callie agreed, slightly less enthusiastically than was probably polite.

"Really? I just love his hotels. You get the best service there."

The Latina smiled with practiced ease. "That's such a lovely thing to hear. We work incredibly hard to ensure that our customer service is up to scratch."

"Callie's Junior VP of Torres Hotels, actually." Arizona chipped in, laying her hand on the other woman's arm again. "She works incredibly hard, which I think shows in the quality of the company."

"Really? That's so interesting. My son Jackson has just taken over the Junior VP role for the Avery Foundation. Maybe you two should get to know each other; you know how important networking is."

"That sounds good." Callie agreed with a forced smile.

"Everything seems to be about networking these days." A clipped tone greeted them and everyone turned to see Colonel Robbins heading towards them. Arizona sighed and steeled herself for the conversation. "It's all about who you know, not what you know."

"Hey, Dad." His daughter kissed him on the cheek. "I don't think you've actually met Callie yet, have you?"

"No." He held out his hand stiffly. "Colonel Robbins. Nice to meet you, Ms Torres."

"Likewise." Callie agreed, smiling warmly and accepting the handshake. "And, please, it's Callie."

"So, I've always wondered – because Arizona has never been particularly forthcoming on the subject of what her job actually entails – what does the PA to a Junior VP actually do?"

Catherine glanced between the two younger women. "So… Arizona? You're Callie's PA?"

"Yeah." The blonde nodded quickly.

"Like I said… who you know, not what you know." Daniel announced, glancing at the glass in his hand. "I think I'll get a refill."

As he walked away, Catherine already having melted into the crowd when she sensed the tension, Callie turned to look at the blonde beside her. "Well that was fun."

"Mmm…" Arizona's narrow-eyed glare followed her father from the room. "Give me a second."

She followed him quickly, before catching him just as he was about to step into the kitchen. "What the hell was that, Dad?"

"Honestly, Arizona. You don't show your face around here for three years and then you turn up with that woman." He said, motioning with his glass towards where they'd left Callie. "You couldn't stand her. You spent every conversation you had with your mother and me complaining about her. And now you're in a relationship? What… you've become that cliché of a personal assistant, sleeping with your boss?"

"Dad!"

"No, Arizona. You're smart. You could have had such a bright future ahead of you, but instead you're the trophy girlfriend of the entitled, trust fund brat of some hotel baron."

"Callie is so much more than that, Dad." The blonde snapped, scowling at him. "Besides, she's not my girlfriend… she's my fiancée."

"What?"

"You heard me. We're getting married."

Shaking with anger at her father's judgemental attitude, Arizona turned and stalked away. She grabbed the closest glass of alcohol she could find – not even caring what it was – and downed it in one go. Slamming the glass back down, the blonde considered going outside for some air to calm down for a moment.

Then she spotted Callie looking entirely uncomfortable on the other side of the room and sighed deeply. Her sense of duty kicked in and she made her way towards her, smiling tightly and grabbing another glass of white wine as she passed the table. Doubling back, she picked up a glass of red and pushed it into Callie's hand wordlessly.

Taking a breath as she spotted the Colonel marching across the room, Arizona looked around for something to draw everyone's attention to her. She knew that Callie would likely kill her for what she was about to do, but she was too irritated with her father to care at that moment.

"Excuse me? Can I have everyone's attention, please?" She called out, hating the slight waver in her voice as all eyes turned to look at her. "Hey? Everyone?"

"What are you doing?" Callie hissed, looking at her wide-eyed.

"Hi, everyone? I've got something that I want to share with you all." Arizona continued, ignoring her. "It's great news, actually. Callie and I are getting married." There was a stunned silence after her announcement and Arizona took another steadying breath. "Yep, I asked her and she said yes. We're getting married."

Slowly, a round of applause broke out around the room and people started calling out their congratulations. Arizona couldn't help grinning at Callie, who returned the expression slightly sheepishly. When Barbara approached them, throwing her arms around both women in delight, the blonde suddenly felt a stab of fear in her chest. She hadn't expected her mother to be quite so happy about the situation and, now that she was, Arizona wasn't quite sure what she was doing any more.

"That was your idea of perfect timing?" Callie asked, arching an eyebrow at her, as soon as the hubbub had died down.

Arizona shrugged. "It was as good a time as any. At least it's out there now."

"Your mom seems… really happy."

"Mmm…" The blonde nodded slowly. "She does…"

"Arizona…"

"I suppose congratulations are in order?" An unfamiliar, accented voice interrupted their conversation.

Both women turned to see who had approached them and Arizona's eyes went wide. "Uhh… Carina? Oh my god… hi?"

She leant forward and embraced the taller brunette tightly. Callie was surprised at the small twist of jealousy that made itself known as she watched the two women greeting each other. Plastering a smile on her face, she waited impatiently to be introduced to the woman who clearly knew Arizona so well.

"What are you…? How are you? I had no idea that you'd be here?" Arizona rambled.

Carina chuckled melodically. "Well, your mama wanted it to be a surprise. So… surprise."

"It's definitely that, alright…" The blonde agreed, almost nervously. "Wow… I…"

Callie cleared her throat quietly, reminding them that she was there. It was enough to drag their attention away from each other and focus it on her. Now that they were both looking at her, Callie wasn't sure that she liked it after all.

"We're being rude." Carina said apologetically. "Hello, I'm Carina."

"Oh, yeah…" Arizona blushed. "Uhh, Callie this is my ex… this is Carina. Carina, this is Callie."

"Oh, you're… right. Hi, Carina. It's nice to meet you."

"Well, congratulations. You make a beautiful couple." The Italian said with a bright, beaming smile. "But please don't tell me that I missed the story? You know how much I love a romantic tale, Zona."

"The… story?"