"Ho ho ho" Addie grinned as she tapped against the glass back door and announced herself. Grinning when Callie and Sofia shrieked and bounded towards her before fighting over who got to hug her first and eventually deciding to just hug her together.
"What are you doing back already Aunty Addie?" Sofia grinned.
"It's Christmas… where else would I be than with all of my favorite people in the world" Addie shrugged before searching out Jo's eyes and smiling shyly at her.
"What she's saying is she missed her girlfr…" Callie started after watching the interaction but Addison quickly cut her off.
"Calliope Iphigenia Torres-Robbins, remember how many of your secrets I hold and remember that everyone you love is in this room right now and I will not hesitate to dish the dirt!" Addison scolded with a blush.
"What she's saying is surprise, Merry Christmas!" Callie corrected with a blush and backed away from her best friend jokingly.
"Guess what I got for Christmas" Sofia grinned. "My mom's back together"
Addison glanced at Callie in surprise, just days ago she was told that they were keeping things under wraps for the foreseeable future. Callie shrugged and glanced at Yang expectantly.
"Red, wait until you see these… obviously HR haven't set up your email yet or you would have already seen them!" Yang smirked as she dashed forward.
"Wait what do you mean about HR?" Sofia furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Oh I may have added some festive stickers and mailed it out to all the losers working today" Yang giggled.
"Oh god!" Sofia paled.
"Yang… tell me your joking!" Arizona blanched.
"What, what's the problem, everyone knows anyway and were just waiting for confirmation!" Yang frowned at the reaction and the horrified faces staring at her.
"Penny works at the hospital you idiot" Meredith laughed in horror at the situation.
"Shit… I totally just outed you both to Carrie in front of the entire hospital… yeah I'm not sleeping near you two tonight, she is so coming here to murder us all!" Yang had the decency to look apologetic despite her jokes.
"Christina its fine… she's going to find out sooner or later" Callie shrugged it off. "Let's not worry about it and let it spoil our day hey" Callie offered as she pulled her daughter into a hug and kissed her forehead. "I'm pretty sure if you ask nicely, Aunty Addie will have a Christmas present for you" Sofia glanced to the redhead who offered a huge sack full of gifts to her and her eyes lit up.
"Slow down Mini Torres. They aren't all for you" Addison laughed as Sofia grabbed the bag from her hands.
"Your presents are still under the tree" Callie smiled sweetly at her best friend.
"So the secrets out, huh?" Addison grinned as she glanced at the photos Yang was showing her with amusement.
"Yeah, didn't last long hey" Callie offered a sheepish grin.
"Wait, Addie knew… so you told Addie AND your sister… and you tried to guilt trip me for telling too many people" Arizona scoffed.
"Hey, I'm not people, I'm Addie… I'm fabulous and don't you forget it Robbins" Addie winked as she pulled the blonde into a congratulatory hug. "Don't hurt our girl again or next time I will hurt you, got it blondie?" Addison whispered half jokingly so only Arizona could hear.
"I promise you I will do everything in my power to not have you kicking my ass with those lanky legs of yours" Arizona smiled into the hug, winking at Callie who knew exactly what her best friend was up to.
"Addison dear, I didn't know you were joining us, you look as beautiful as ever" Lucia smiled as she approached the girls and noticed the redhead.
"Lucia, you must give me the name of your moisturizer, I swear you look younger than me now!" Addie grinned as she pushed Arizona away playfully and hugged Callie's mother warmly.
"Oh Addison, your full of flattery dear" Lucia gushed.
"I try Lucia, you're looking well. I trust you're in good health?" Addie asked with genuine concern.
"Oh yes dear, fit as a fiddle! Now tell me, surely you have some beau hanging off your arm by now" Lucia grinned excitedly as she watched the redhead glance towards a younger brunette who was chatting to Meredith and Alex and watching them without much subtly. "Not you too… good lord what is in the water in Seattle!" Lucia laughed kindly as Addison blushed deeply and looked away from Jo in mortification.
"Mami leave her alone" Callie scoffed.
"Oh I'm sorry dear, am I wrong?" Lucia asked suddenly worried that she had offended the younger woman.
"Well no… we just… it's umm" Addie stuttered which caused Lucia, Callie and Arizona to grin at seeing such a rare sight.
"It's very young and it's very new to both of them so we aren't talking about it yet and nobody else knows Mami" Callie took pity on her best friend who smiled thankfully at her.
"Oh, I understand… well mom's the word… now perhaps you should go and say hello to your lady friend, she looks like she's about to explode if you don't go and see her soon" Lucia grinned sweetly as Addison blushed even more and looked at Callie desperately.
"Hey don't look at me like that, apparently you knew about bustyblonde before you knew about bustyblonde, you're on your own sister" Callie smirked at the horror on her friends face. "Oh yes Sofia has filled us in on every ones input to her matchmaking efforts Addison Montgomery"
"Cal… can we just..." Addison motioned towards the back of the house and away from prying ears and Callie nodded and the two moved off much to the amusement and concern of the remaining two women.
"When I realized I was really torn about just telling you the truth… but Sof looked so damn hopeful and you know I can't handle her puppy eyes… and you were freaking out and if I had told you it's likely you would have actually murdered her for meddling in the heat of the moment! I am so sorry Cal" Addison pouted slightly as she hoped Callie would understand.
"Hey… Addie, don't worry… I mean I'm not super happy to find out my daughter, my best friends and my family were lying to me for weeks and going behind my back and meddling… but it was harmless, nothing bad came of it and I understand… honestly if you had told me the truth while I was freaking out I likely would have gone ballistic with Sofia so you probably did me a favor!" Callie smiled gently.
"I love you Cal, I don't ever want you to think you can't trust me with anything. You're my best friend" Addie admitted shyly.
"You want something don't you?" Callie laughed as the guilt instantly filled green eyes.
"Could you please make an excuse that's subtle for Jo to come back here, I want to give her the gift I bought her and say hello without everyone watching and making assumptions I'm not ready for them to make… please Callie" Addie begged.
"My god… Jo Wilson HAS gotten under your skin, look at you begging and pleading for me to go and hand out secret messages for you… who would have thought!" Callie scoffed as she kissed her best friends cheek and made a bee line for Jo and asked if she would mind heading into the study to get the cocktail making gear she had stored there and making some festive cocktails for everyone. Jo jumped from her seat and practically ran from the room causing Alex and Meredith to look at Callie questioningly but all she could offer was a shrug and the words "What, that girl LOVES cocktails?"
-oOo-
"Hey Sof, where did you go?" Arizona asked from the kitchen counter as she saw her daughter re-enter the house with Stacy in tow.
"Where's Mom?" Sof asked as she glanced around the room not noticing the brunette creep behind her and hug her. "Jesus! Are you trying to give me a heart attack, what the hell woman!" Sofia shrieked.
"Oh god… I think I found where that stick went Arizona" Callie smirked at her girlfriend who giggled at the glare her daughter threw her mom.
"Oh well if we are going to be mean to Sofia, she will just go and put this back in its hiding place!" Sofia glared at her mom as she produced a medium sized box that was wrapped in a way that only Arizona and Sofia were able to do.
"Hey! where was that hidden?!" Arizona shrieked as she jumped up at the sight of more presents.
"Ha, do you think I'm stupid enough to hide your Christmas present in mom's house where you would expect for me to hide it? Tell me you didn't search this house for presents?" Sofia smirked at her mama triumphantly. "Come on… everyone is in here and I want us to have some privacy when you both open it" Sofia motioned to the couch's on the alfresco.
"Wait, it's for both of us? I have to share that big box?" Arizona pouted playfully.
"My god, I have two children!" Callie scoffed.
"Three" Arizona smirked as she grabbed Clo from Aria's arms and moved towards the back garden.
"Even better… still not ten though and you promised me ten!" Callie grinned as Arizona stopped in her tracks and stared at her questioningly to see if she was being serious. "A promise is a promise Arizona… you promised ten and I only see three… well actually one, which means you owe me another nine" Callie laughed at the paleness and light sheen that crossed Arizona's face. "Don't worry baby, this time we will do it the traditional way and just keep trying till you get me knocked up… and we won't stop fucking until your successful" Callie whispered as she passed Arizona who gulped audibly.
"Fricking tease" Arizona smacked Callie's ass and laughed when Callie shrieked in shock and glared at her.
"Hey lovebirds, can you sit down so I can give you your present so I can get back to Stace?" Sofia glared playfully at her parents who pouted at each other before joining Sofia on the couch.
"Should we be worried that no-one else is allowed to see what's in this box?" Callie asked playfully as she watched the nerves wash over her daughters face.
"I just wanted a bit of privacy and thought you two would too… but before you open this I need to apologize because in order to do this, I had to invade both of your privacy's ALOT… and I apologize and I hope when you see what's in this box you will both forgive me" Sofia smiled hopefully.
"What, you mean you invaded our privacy ALOT! more than hooking us up on tinder and reading our personal messages to each other?" Arizona scoffed.
"Yeah… about that mama, before you start winding me up you may want to acknowledge the fact that I know all about your bottom bedside drawer and no wonder the world is going through global warming, you must single handedly have caused that with the amount of batteries that must be in that drawer" Sofia crinkled her nose in disgust at the memory of opening that drawer and finding its contents.
"Sofia, what the hell…. Why were you going through my drawers!" Arizona blushed and glared at Callie who was guffawing at her mortification.
"I don't know what your laughing at little miss black shoe box under the bed!" Sofia glared at her mom who instantly stopped laughing and blushed.
"You umm… you didn't open that box did you?" Callie asked nervously.
"I really wish I hadn't… trust me, there is no way that this is worse for you, than it was for me opening that box!" Sofia laughed at the groan her mother emitted and blushed even deeper.
"What's in the black box Calliope?" Arizona asked curiously.
"Something neither of us ever wanted our daughter to find… wait…. Dios tell me you didn't look through any of those flash drives!" Callie glared at her daughter in horror when her daughter blushed the same shade as she had. "Oh god… you looked didn't you" Callie dropped her head in embarrassment.
"If it's any consolation I really, really wish I hadn't… and I bleached my eyes after I had finished throwing up!" Sofia grimaced at the memory of her ringing Stacy in horror to tell her what she had just found.
"What's on the flash drives Callie?" Arizona asked amused as she watched her two latina's looking anywhere but at each other or at her.
"Mainly you, but there are photos of you both together mama!" Sofia commented as she threw up a little in her mouth at the memory of the first photo she had seen which involved her mama wearing a stetson and not much else. Arizona's eyes widened in horror as the realization hit her and she punched Callie hard in the arm.
"Calliope, what the hell! Are you seriously telling me you have kept those photos all this time!" Arizona shrieked in horror.
"What else was I meant to do with them… I didn't want to throw them in the bin in case someone found them in the trash and looked, so I just kept them in a box under the bed and hoped nobody would ever find them. Obviously I didn't expect our daughter to be going through my stuff!" Callie glared at their daughter.
"Delete them Calliope, seriously… hit the delete button! Oh my god!" Arizona hid her head in her hands in total embarrassment.
"Even if you delete them, they aren't gone for good Arizona… god don't you watch CSI anymore?" Callie scoffed. "No way was I putting those photos out there in the world for some pervert to find and share with the rest of the world!"
"No you just shared them with our daughter… oh god!" Arizona felt like throwing up.
"Ok, well now we have all established how mortifying it was for me to achieve this gift, perhaps when you see it you will forgive me for breaching your privacy and know that I will NEVER be doing that again!" Sofia motioned hopefully towards the parcel on her moms lap.
Arizona passed a sleeping Clo over to her daughter before untying the bow on top and removing the lid. Both women glanced at a tan leather book with nothing on the cover, but when Callie lifted the heavy book she saw the embossed text on the spine. She ran her fingers over it before glancing at her daughter questioningly.
"Arizona and Calliope Robbins-Torres… Sof what is this?" Arizona asked curiously.
"Open it… I'm going to leave you guys alone for a bit… I love you" Sofia pecked both of her mother's cheeks before moving into the house and leaving the two women to explore her gift.
"I can't believe you kept our kinky photos all of these years Calliope Torres!" Arizona whispered with a smirk.
"Says you Mrs Extreme-Vibrator-Collection, how many vibrators exactly do you own for our daughter to consider global warming an issue" Callie laughed.
"Keep up the teasing and you will never find out!" Arizona pouted. "Open it I can't wait any longer to see what this is!" Callie complied and lifted the leather bound cover to expose an A4 sheet of paper that had typing on it and in the top corner was an A+ circled in red ink and underneath it in neat writing 'a beautiful piece of work Sofia, but please watch your language in future!' Arizona and Callie glanced at each other in confusion before turning back to the page to read the computer text.
"My name is Sofia Robbin Torres-Sloan and I am fourteen years old next week. We were given an assignment to write about one of our parents and their careers but I couldn't choose because all three of my parents are gods in their chosen fields of surgery. Yes, I have three parents and yes all three of them are gods.
My father, Marcus Anthony Sloan passed away in 2012 before my first birthday and although I have no memories of him, my extremely large family, which is made up of pretty much the best surgeon in every specialty and field in the world, have kept his memory alive by filling me with stories of him. There is so much I don't know about my father, but what I do know is that he was the best plastic surgeon in America and no that doesn't mean he spent every day doing boob jobs and tummy tucks… he made skin from scratch like a god. He took visual injuries that would cause people to spend their entire life hiding in shame, and he gave them back their confidence. He took burn victims and made their skin blemish free, and one time he even recreated a woman's face from scratch. Not many people realize but my father was double board certified in both plastics and ENT and not only does he have a hospital partially named in memory of him, but an entire department at his hospital.
My mom, Calliope Iphigenia Torres is the leading orthopedic surgeon internationally, which pretty much means she's the best ortho surgeon in the world, and if there is one thing I could say about my mom professionally, she is totally bad ass! Unlike my other parents, she is only board certified in one specialty, but she created cartilage from scratch. She spent months in a lab taking various combinations of a 'jello' mix until finally she found a way to make it turn into actual cartilage, for real! You may have heard of the cartilage for its many awards and accolades as artificial cartilage because it is now used in practically every hospital outside of the third world, but its actual title is C.I.T Artificial Cartilage, The C.I.T standing for her initials. As if that isn't bad ass enough, she created the Help the Heroes Foundation which works with our troops who have suffered traumatic amputations. She took a pirate styled plastic leg that provided an amputee the ability to remain standing evenly, and worked out a way to attach it through the nerves in the residual limb to the brain in order to give the wearer the most realistic feeling prosthetic possible without re-growing them an actual leg. As if that's not incredible enough, most of these soldiers have gone back into service to go back to fighting for our country to keep us safe, I guess you could say that my mom is single-handedly saving the lives of the people who are risking their lives for me to be able to sit and write this assignment, and for you to be able to sit and read it. Like I said, my mom is bad ass and a goddess!
My Mama, Arizona Michelle Robbins, the daughter of USMC Colonel Daniel Robbins is the world's leading pediatric surgeon AND fetal surgeon. Unless you live in the medical world that really won't make much sense to you so let me simplify it a little. My mama operates on anyone from the age of eighteen years old right down to one month gestational. In lamens terms that means she completes successful surgeries on babies that were conceived only one month prior! I know, my mama is totally bad ass too right! As if that isn't awesome enough, she learned to operate on pre-term babies in just six months, a specialty which takes every other person to be certified in three whole years. In 2012, in the same plane crash that cost me my father, cost my mama her leg. So not only did she learn and get certified for a second specialty in six months, she did it literally standing on one leg. Well technically it was two legs because my mom built her a bionic leg from scratch so that she could still be a surgeon and because of that leg our amputee soldiers are able to fight for our country too, so you could say that my mama was moms muse. Want to know another bad ass thing my mama did? The day I was born I was at twenty three weeks and was delivered during a surgery to save my mom's life after a car crash that happened at the moment my mama proposed to my mom, yeah I'm serious all of this really happened! During the surgery my mom's heart crashed and the only way to restart her heart required for me to be out of her body, so my godfather Uncle Alex delivered me, and as my mom was crashing and our family worked to bring her back to life, my own heart crashed and it took my mama doing some procedure I don't really understand, to restart my heart. Before I was even three days old I had already died and had heart surgery, and if it wasn't for my mama being so bad ass, I probably wouldn't be alive to write this assignment.
To recap, my father was the leading plastic surgeon and double board certified ENT in America. My Mom is the world's leading orthopedic surgeon who invented cartilage and the bionic prosthetic and my mama is double board certified and operates on tiny humans who haven't even been in existence for two months, babies who aren't any bigger than an averaged sized peanut, which she learned to do two and a half years quicker than anyone else in history, whilst standing on one leg. My dad has an entire hospital named after him, and my mom and mama own a teaching hospital which is currently the third teaching hospital in the country and the fifth in the world, a hospital that one day I will work at so I can follow in the footsteps of my three amazing parents who I could never choose between.'
"Have you ever seen this before?" Callie asked as she wiped the tears from her face and glanced at Arizona who was wiping her own and shaking her head. "me either… I remember her telling me that she had this assignment and I asked if she needed any help but she told me she had it under control… I just assumed she had picked you and didn't want to hurt my feelings" Callie grinned playfully as Arizona cuddled into her and kissed her shoulder.
"She's not wrong though, we are pretty bad ass" Arizona smiled up at Callie who leaned forward to kiss her lips sweetly. "Shall we see what other surprises Sof has in this book" Arizona asked before turning the page and finding a hand written note that had been scrap booked into the leather binder.
'To the best mothers a girl could ever ask for,
Every year, ever since I could remember, I have made one wish for every single birthday and Christmas, and that was for my mom's to get back together and for us to be a family again.
I thought I didn't know what real family was because I had never gotten to experience it that I could remember, but in the months since I moved to Seattle and mom followed me, you have both shown me exactly what family is and what it means. I want for you to get back together still, more than anything, and I think I will always have that dream and wish. But you have shown me that it doesn't matter whether my mothers are in a relationship, what matters is that they are both in my life and that we all love and respect each other.
That doesn't mean I will ever stop hoping you both see sense and realize you are still in love with each other, but it does mean that if what the three of us have now is all we will ever have, I can be so happy with that too, because the family that we have been the last few months is the single best thing to ever have happened to me, and seeing you both laugh and joke around and go out of your way to show me the love you not only have for me, but for each other, is the greatest feeling in the world.
Merry Christmas mom and mama, I love you both so much.
Sofia Robbin Torres-Sloan'
"Jesus maybe we need tequila and tissues before we go any further" Arizona scoffed as she wiped at her puffy face and glanced at Callie who looked just as emotionally wrecked as she felt.
"I know right… where the hell did she get this wordsmith crap from" Callie scoffed as she kissed Arizona's nose tenderly, Arizona glanced back to the book and turned the page and smiled at the collage of photos of Arizona and Callie in the first year that they met. Tiny sequined hearts glued to the page in the filler gaps.
"Jesus where did she find these from" Callie laughed as she stared intently at each photo in turn and read the annotations that were titled underneath some as a reminder of the place and dates that must have been written on the back of the photos.
"I wondered why she asked me where I kept my albums!" Arizona grinned as she ran her fingers over some of the photos, smiling at the memories that flooded her.
"You remember this…" Callie grinned as she pointed to a selfie of her extremely exposed chest showing the very top of a black teddy, and a party hat on her head whilst Arizona had puffy tear stained cheeks. They glanced at the annotation for it 'Arizona's birthday. The first 'I love you's'.
"How could I ever forget… you looked so hot dressed like that, even now I am getting turned on just seeing the photo" Arizona grinned as she crawled onto Callie's lap so she could be closer as they looked through the album together. Laughing at the many photos of them and their friends and family and the seemingly hundreds of photos of them and Mark before they reached the section where Sofia was born and the pages erupted into pink balloons and buttons around the pictures of Sof as a premie in her incubator. Her very first wrist band was at the top of the page as well as a photocopy of her birth certificate and on the next page above the other two wrist bands she had worn during her growth at 'Seatle Grace' was a copy of the adoption certificate proving that Sofia was legally Arizona's daughter.
Arizona pulled a post-it note from the page and read the writing with an emotional sigh before handing it to Callie to read. 'Mama, we may not share DNA but we do share my heart. The heart that you started with your own hands seconds after I was born and gave me a life to me that way instead. You are my mother in every single way, you are more a parent than some biological parents can claim. Never let anyone tell you anything different, you're my mama and I'm your baby – Always!'
"I don't think I can take much more of this emotional roller coaster" Arizona laughed as she wiped her face against the shirt material on Callie's shoulder.
"I know… what the hell is going on" Callie giggled kissing the side of Arizona's head and re-sticking the post it note onto the page to keep it safe where it belongs despite Sofia clearly not intending for it to remain with the book.
They flicked through the next few pages, cooing over photos of a tiny Sofia in her incubator before the family shots began as she got stronger and was allowed to be held. Photos of Sof and Callie with a protective window between them so they couldn't pass an infection to each other. Photos of Mark hugging his little girl proudly, Mark and Arizona beaming as they removed the breathing apparatus from her and let her take her first breath.
"Jesus, where did she find all of these, I don't think I've even seen most of them" Callie laughed as she rubbed her finger over Marks beaming smile.
"He really loved her" Arizona mused as she wrapped her fingers around Callie's and held her hand tightly as she saw the brunettes heart break all over again at the loss of her person.
"Yeah he did, he really did. Who would have thought Mark Sloan would have been such a good father!" Callie scoffed as she turned the page and frowned as she saw a note scribbled on Seattle Grace Mercy West letter headed paper in the familiar scrawl of her best friend.
'Torres, if your reading this then I'm either not with you anymore or you're snooping through my shit again. If it's the latter, quit being nosy and don't you dare look in the bottom of my wardrobe! If its the former then you probably already found the porn stash and got rid of it before anyone else could find it, you're a good friend Cal! Always got my back no questions asked!
So, you just got out of surgery and we have a kid… you and me, have a kid! A beautiful little girl who is so tiny and fragile, but so incredible and she looks just like you, god I'm so glad our little girl got your good looks! Almost losing you both today really made me think that we don't know what life has in store for us, so I am writing this to you as a security, you know just in case I go first and get hit by a bus 007 style, or fall in a sink hole or die in a plane crash, or get blown up by a bomb inside a body, or get shot by a gunman plowing through the damn hospital.
I need you to make sure Robbins knows that I didn't mean what I said to her today, I was a jackass and told her that Sofia wasn't hers, she is hers just as much as she is mine and yours and I want her and our little princess to always know that and never doubt it… so if Robbins actually never talks to me again for yelling at her and telling her that stupid shit and doesn't let me apologize to her myself, its your job to make sure she knows how truly sorry I am. She is the mother of my daughter, just as much as you are and even if anyone tries to argue that fact, just tell them to look at the love and wonder in her eyes every time they fall on our princess.
I want you to know, that I love you Cal. You are more family to me than anyone else has ever been, even my real family. You're the best person anyone could wish for as a best friend and there is no-one in the world I would be more proud to parent a child with than you and I hope our daughter gets your lust for life, and your infectious laugh, and your 'megawatt' smile as Robbins calls it… and I definitely noticed a dimple on her left cheek, don't ever tell blondie I said this, but I really hope our princess keeps her Robbins dimple so she has a physical part of all three of us.
Do me a favor Torres, if I'm not around for whatever reason, make sure our girl knows just how much I love her. I mean I haven't even been allowed to hold her yet but I am so full of love for her. She smells like heaven, and her tiny fingers holding my finger. Cal that was the single most amazing moment of my life, if I'm not around to tell her, make sure you remind every chance you get because I am so, so deeply in love with her and I can't wait to find out the name you refused to tell us just in case it didn't suit her. God you better make a full recovery otherwise she is never going to have a name!
And if I'm not around, make sure you and Robbins don't mess her up too much. Make sure she knows that she wasn't born from some drunken fuck one night that was a mistake, but was born from a deep love that doesn't even have a label, and just so happened to be because her mommy was a drunken emotional mess and jumped my bones. we both know that's exactly what happened so don't even deny it and make sure you don't let Robbins find out you moaned her name, I still don't forgive you for that, way to hurt a guys pride by moaning some chicks name! And make sure you keep walking tall, never let any make you feel like they can take even as much as a quarter of an inch off you, your incredible Cal, never forget that and never stop walking tall, not for a moment.
I love you Cal, I love our little girl whatever her name is going to be, and I even love blondie but don't ever tell her that because I will totally haunt your ass!
Marcus Sloan - the best 'best friend' ever known' at the very bottom of the letter was the name Sofia Robbin Torres-Sloan with the words 'absolute perfection' written beneath it.
"God where did she find this, I never even knew it existed" Callie sobbed as she snuggled into Arizona's embrace.
"You did get rid of his porn stash before anyone saw it right?" Arizona asked trying to make Callie smile.
"Of course I did, he was always very clear that if he went first I had to clear out the bottom of his wardrobe before anyone could see it, especially if he ever got married" Callie scoffed as she remembered the day Mark died and she had sat in his apartment and cleaned out the masses of DVD's and magazines with disgust at her friend.
"You know there was a rubber chicken in there too, I really like to think he put it there knowing that I would be grossed out over it for the rest of my life… but after some of the titles he had in his collection, I really aren't so sure" Callie scoffed.
"Hah! is that what that rubber chicken was for? He found it in lost and found one day and he asked me if it was kinky and when I looked at him like he had lost his mind, he asked if it would gross you out if you ever found it hidden with his porn, I had no idea what the hell he was talking about and when he brought up porn I walked away, more like ran away. He must have known that eventually we would discuss it and I would let you in on the joke… god twenty years he had you going" Arizona giggled.
"He's such a dick… who plants a rubber chicken in their porn as a practical joke in case they die… god I miss him" Callie laughed.
"Me too… did I ever tell you about our wedding day?" Arizona asked and smiled when Callie looked at her cluelessly before she filled her in on how Mark had held her in his arms as she had a meltdown over Tim. "I hate to say it, I really hate to say it because I can just imagine his stupid smug smirk watching us right now… but Mark Sloan really was a good man" Arizona grinned as she kissed Callie's cheek several times to remove the tears.
"He really was… just as much as he was an idiot… I still can't believe he let our daughter roll off the couch and fall on her head. What a dick!" Callie smirked.
"Come on. Let's keep going" Arizona smiled as they flicked through more pages showing Sofia growing through her first year before the family photos stopped and instead were several pictures of Sofia on her own beaming at the camera until she was a good year older and the family photos started again.
"I never realized that there was this huge gap of her life missing until now" Arizona sighed sadly.
"Hey, she understands why there are no family photos or photos of you and her in this period. Please don't feel bad, she gets it" Callie whispered as Arizona nodded her acceptance sadly.
The next few pages were filled with photos of Sofia's important days, first days at school and first discos, first bike rides and first horse rides. Then several pages were filled with a collage of photos of Sofia growing up with pictures with either her mom or her mama. There were clippings of newspaper articles about breakthrough surgeries either of them had performed from opposite sides of the world, or research and trials they were working on or had been approved by the FDA. Copies of Sofia's end of year grades for school and grades for her college and med school courses. Finally they flipped a page and found a big header that was decorated with little scrap booking trinkets of stethoscopes and ambulances and other hospital paraphernalia. Robbins-Torres Family Reunion was embossed in some pearl card stock and stuck to the page. Arizona flipped the page and grinned as she found photos from their day at the carnival, complete with the receipt and Sofia's wrist band. The receipt for the burgers and beers they had shared as they looked over the many photos they had taken throughout the day with the annotation 'Our first real family meal'. There were candid shots from each others mobiles and photo strips from the photo booth. A photo of Callie with a stuffed panda on her shoulders and Sofia beaming as she cuddled into her mom's side. 'Robbin the Poor Loser Panda" the annotation read. Then right at the bottom of the page was a little paragraph that Sofia had written about the day, almost like a diary entry.
'Our first Funday Sunday was one of the best days of my life. Hanging out with both of my mother's as they joked around and played and laughed and smiled together for the first time I could actually remember. I had never seen my mom actually have fun like it before, and I had never seen my mama have quite so much fun, she was like a child all day. Mom and I tag teamed mama and made her lose at everything, it took her over six hours to realize what was going on, by which point mom had won the biggest stuffed toy in the entire park and had walked around with it most of the day as if it was a friend with us, it was called Robbin the Poor Loser Panda. But when mama saw a little girl who was pouting at her father losing a shooting game and pointing sadly at a much smaller panda, mom walked over to the little girl and gave her Robbin. Turns out the little girl was in remission from Chemo and it was her first trip out of the hospital or house in two years and all she wanted was to win a panda to take home to remember her day. I've never seen mama smile at anyone the way she smiled at mom afterwards.'
As they flicked through the pages of their various family dates, all annotated and with adjoining pictures, even if the only picture was of the three of them sat in the cinemas wearing 3D glasses and pulling poses as they waited for the movie to start or the three of them in the bowling alley, each and every date had a diary entry to go alongside it. Sofia's memories of the day and what made that day so special to her.
Finally they reached their last Funday Sunday and smiled at the hundreds of photos the professional photographer had taken of the group of six women at their 80's skating disco.
"Wow, what a trip down memory lane!" Arizona grinned as she turned in Callie's lap to kiss her cheek lovingly.
"Wait, you missed a page" Callie grinned when she realized there was more. She flipped the page over and found a photo Stacy had taken of Sofia with both of her mothers, her Aunty Aria and both sets of grandparents. 'The first official Robbins-Torres family photo' the title read. The photo had been taken just two days ago after the two families had been reunited, and in some cases introduced and Sofia had ordered everyone excitedly to get in for a photo to remember the moment. At the bottom of the page was another diary entry.
'Today for the first time in my life I had my entire family, apart from my Dad and Uncle Tim who I'm pretty sure were there but just can't be seen, in one room and it was AMAZING. Mom and Aunty Aria are hilarious with the way they fight like they are still fifteen. And Mama and Aunt Aria met for the first time and are already acting like best friends who have known each other for my whole life. Within minutes of meeting they had started a game of throwing grapes into each others mouths and taking a step back when they were successful to see how far apart they could get. Abuela and Gran met for the first time and within an hour they had swapped email addresses so that they could keep in touch and swap recipes. Abuelo and Pop had met before and fell into old conversations like they had never been apart. Gran and Pop even seem smitten with Aunt Aria. But one of the best parts was watching Mama introduce herself to Abuela with a handshake and Abuela hugging her instead, I swear I thought Mama was going to burst with tears of happiness. Today was the single best day of my life because every living person I love most in the world is sat in one room and everyone is so happy and it's the best feeling ever! Today I had my first real family day and it was so worth waiting for'
Callie and Arizona glanced to each other and couldn't contain their laughter at the state of each other's faces after reading the passage.
"This was an amazing gift, it must have taken her forever to do this" Callie grinned as she closed the book and moved to place it carefully back inside the gift box to keep it safe when a slip of paper fell from somewhere near the back.
"Oh god, I feel like we will need more tissues" Arizona groaned playfully as she snuggled into Callie and closed her eyes, grinning when Callie took the hint and read the letter out loud to her. Giggling together every time that Callie's voice broke or she sobbed mid sentence.
'Mom's, by the time your reading this hopefully you will have gotten to the end of the album… but it's not the end of the book. I started it, it's up to you two to keep it up now. Thank you for all of the amazing memories you have given me, both when our family was apart and since our family has been whole again. This year has been the best year of my life and I haven't just gained two happy parents back, but have gained two best friends from two incredible women who are the best role models anyone could have.
I love you both so much and whatever the future has in store for our family, I know we will be ok now because I see the love that you have for each other and I see the love that you share for me. So make sure you keep adding to the Robbins-Torres Family album because one day you will be showing it to your grandkid's together and you don't want to miss another second of our family!
Dr. Sofia Robbin Torres-Sloan M.D. (sounds bad ass right!)'
"God our daughter is so incredible to have done this for us" Arizona cooed when Callie had finished.
"I don't think I have ever cried this much in my entire life" Callie scoffed.
"Calliope?" Arizona asked softly. "I don't think I have actually said this yet, but thank you for coming home, thank you for coming back in into my life and bringing with you my every ounce of happiness… I already struggle to remember what it was like without you being here every day, but I don't ever want to remember… just don't ever leave me again, promise me"
"Hey, baby it's ok, I'm not going anywhere that you're not by my side. Even if things don't work with us, I'm not leaving you again I promise, I'm staying right here and we will grow old and grey in one of these houses together" Callie promised as she took Arizona's pinky with her own and conveyed every ounce of honesty with her eyes. "I swear to you right now Arizona Michelle Robbins-Torres, that regardless of our relationship status, I commit myself to you and to be by your side until our dying breaths. I don't need a wedding ring to promise you that. I don't need our friends and family around us to listen to me promising this to you. I don't even need for someone to stand and officiate this promise, all I need is for you to hear it and know that I mean it with every beat of my heart. Whether we are an item or not, I will be by your side until our dying day, I promise Arizona, no more running away"
"No more running away, and I promise you in return that I will spend my every last day annoying and frustrating you and making you regret that promise… no more running away babe" Arizona grinned as she kissed Callie sweetly.