Chapter 1

"Sofia please!" Arizona begged her 7-year-old daughter.

"It's not fair, Mama lets me!"

Arizona sighed sadly, Sofia had been back in Seattle with her for 2 weeks now and she had now lost count of the arguments like this she had with Sofia. It was always 'mama lets me do this' or 'Mama says this' and now today's argument was that she wanted to finish watching her cartoon show before she gathered her belongings for her Mama to collect her.

She had not seen her daughter in person since her ex-wife won sole custody and moved her to New York at the beginning of the year. She had been so excited to finally spend time with her daughter and Sofia had been just as excited , every phone call was filled with excitement, and when she arrived 2 weeks previous, she was hyper for days, and Arizona didn't mind, she had missed the sound of laughter in her home in her daughters absence, but as they entered their final week together before she went back to New York with her other mother her attitude had gradually gotten worse.

"Well, your Mama can let you do it when you're in her house, and we don't have time for this, your Mama is on her way to pick you up and you need to be ready." Arizona said losing her patience and limping over to the tv and switched it off putting an end to the argument.

"I hate you! I can't wait to go home with mama" Sofia shouted angrily jumping off the sofa and running to her room and slamming the door before Arizona had a chance to respond.

Arizona collapsed on to the couch wincing at the pain in her leg, the pain had been awful all day, had been for days, and now her head was hurting and the thought of seeing her ex-wife had her stress and anxiety levels at an unbearable level.

Wanting to cry but refusing to let the tears fall until after Sofia had left, she stood to go collect her crutches, she needed to get her prosthetic off and she couldn't wait any longer and this only increased her emotional pain, because despite her acceptance of losing her leg, she still felt vulnerable when she didn't have her prosthetic on and she wanted to appear strong in front of her ex-wife, but if she kept it on any longer she was scared she was going to just break down and cry and she definitely did not want her ex-wife to see that.

She had not seen her ex-wife in person since the custody hearing, she had taken leave at the hospital until after Callie had left for New York, wanting to spend as much time with her daughter as she could before she left, while also avoiding her ex-wife. She had asked one of her friends to collect Sofia from Callie and drop her back off again. They had barley spoken since, other than arguing over text messages and the few times she did answer her phone to Callie to arrange anything, usually ended in arguments and tears on her end. Callie sent videos and photos frequently of Sofia despite Arizona's reluctance to talk to her and other than organizing plans for Sofia they had not been able to have a civil chat in a long time.

Just as she gathered her crutches from her bedroom and was heading back to the couch, there was a knock at the door. Changing direction she struggled to the door, taking a deep breath as she opened the door to her ex-wife.

"Hey" Callie said nervously.

"Sofia!" Arizona called, turning away, and ignoring Callie's greeting just as Sofia's door swung open "Mama" Sofia shouted as she ran into her arms, Arizona's heart breaking a little bit more, she felt her resolve start to weaken. Two weeks ago, Sofia had greeted her with the same excitement.

"Hey baby, did you have fun with your mommy?"

"No, I can't wait to come back to New York" she said pulling out the hug and running back to her room before Callie had the chance to respond.

"What's going on?" Callie asked, confused by her daughter's reaction, she had spoken with Sofia several times over the past two weeks, and she had been having fun.

"Not much, only she hates me now too." Arizona said her face creasing as her emotions finally got the better of her, still refusing to make eye contact with her ex-wife, between the pain in her leg and the pain from her daughters' words was just too much.

"No Arizona."

"You can both go back to New York and hate me together" she muttered as she limped over to the couch, tears streaming down her face not able to continue standing.

"Arizona, Sofia doesn't hate you; I don't hate you, what's going on" Callie repeated her earlier question as she stepped inside the house as she watched Arizona take her prosthetic off and hiss in pain. "Are you okay?" the concern evident in her voice.

"Mama I'm ready" Sofia interrupted coming back into the living room with her jacket on and backpack in hand. Callie hesitated, sensing Arizona was not wanting to talk, especially to her, she knew her too well, even after all this time.

"Okay, go give your mommy a hug goodbye" Callie said reluctantly to her daughter.

"No!"

"Sofia!" Callie scolded eyebrows raised, she was shocked, Sofia had never behaved like this.

"No, I want to go."

"Its fine Callie, Goodbye Sofia, I love you" Arizona said fighting through her tears as she gently massaged her red throbbing limb. Her daughter paused for just a second not used to seeing her mom cry, but she still turned away, pulling at Callie hand, her stubbornness streak as strong as her own.

"Sofia, that's enough, stop it, you do not treat your Mommy like this" Callie scolded her daughter loudly. "Arizona are you okay? can I help?" she asked hesitantly as Arizona shook her head "I'm fine" she said voice shaking as she tried to keep her emotions in check. "Just go"

"I can..." Callie began but Arizona cut her off "Please Callie" She begged, "just go."

"Okay" She sighed picking up Sofia's bag "I'm sorry, I'll speak with her" she said, shooting her daughter a look and Sofia looked away. "We will see you next time" she said as she reluctantly led her daughter out the door, as the door closed behind her, she heard Arizona's sobs.

Callie took Sofia out and strapped her in to the rental car, and headed off to Meredith's for dinner before their plane back to New York later that night, she was angry with her daughter, and she also felt terrible leaving Arizona when it was clear her ex-wife was in a lot of pain. Emotional and physical it seemed.

She knew her daughter did not hate her mother, she had been so excited to see Arizona for months, it was all she had spoken about. She hates that they had left Arizona in so much pain believing they both hated her.

"I'm sorry mama" Sofia's voice broke Callie out of her thoughts, as she glanced in the mirror to look back at her daughter. "I didn't mean to make mommy cry" She whispered, tears in her eyes.

"I know you didn't, but that wasn't very nice, you were so excited to stay with mommy, and you were having so much fun when I called, what happened?" She asked softly.

"Mommy doesn't love me."

"What? Sofia your mommy loves you more than anything in this world, don't ever think that."

"Then why doesn't she ever come to see me in New York? She always says she's coming then she never does."

"Your mommy has a super important and busy job, she saves babies and sometimes emergencies happen, and she has to change her plans, but it isn't because she doesn't love you, do you hear me?" Callie said, Sofia looked down and Callie continued "Sometimes I change my plans too, sometimes I say I am picking you up from school, but then someone needs my help and I need to ask someone else to pick you up instead, that doesn't mean I don't love you, does it?" Sofia shakes her head to agree, "Your mommy loves you so much. Don't ever doubt that."

"Will she still love me now?" Sofia says quietly into Callie's body as she begins to cry. "I said I hate her, but I don't."

"Yes of course she will, she will always love you no matter what, I promise, but when we go home you are going to call her and apologize. okay? and you must promise me you will not behave like that again. You can't speak to your mama like that."

"Okay I promise, I'm sorry" She knew she needed to speak with Arizona, she knew Sofia was upset each time Arizona cancelled, she was also upset when she cancelled, she hated the disappointment when she had to break the news to Sofia, and it had caused many arguments between them both, but she never realised the effect it was having on their daughter. Arizona still phoned every day to speak with Sofia and although it wasn't the same as living with her, she thought Sofia had still been happy.

When the car stopped outside Meredith's house, Callie had already made her mind up and she was going to go back to Arizona's before dinner and speak with her, she hated leaving her like that, no matter how badly things ended between them, she did not want to leave her alone without making sure she was okay. She let Sofia out the car and went in to explain to Meredith where she was going and if she wouldn't mind keeping an eye on Sofia.

She said a quick goodbye to Sofia and told her she would be back soon and headed back to Arizona's home, knowing that Arizona wouldn't want to speak with her but knew that she would because it was for Sofia.