Author's Note: Thank you so much for all of your reviews, follows, and favorites! They mean so much to me! I am so happy that you all like this story!
Arizona's leg gets the best of her in this chapter, and the pain of missing Mark and Lexie is almost too much to bear for everyone involved.
*I do not own Grey's Anatomy or any of it's characters*
Callie waited until after the wheels of the plane touched the ground to wake Arizona.
She kissed her wife's forehead and whispered:
"Hey there, pretty lady. Guess where we are?"
A groggy and confused Arizona opened her eyes and yawned. She looked around at her surroundings. She gasped when she realized that she was on an airplane, but her panic level soon descended when she realized that they weren't actually flying.
"Are we in Florida? Already? Well that was fast," Arizona stated.
"Yeah, because you slept the whole flight. I couldn't sleep at all," Callie told her.
"Me either," Derek chimed in from his middle seat across the aisle.
"Hmm… did you try counting sheep?" Arizona asked playfully, making a pun out of his last name.
"You're a funny one, Robbins," Derek said with a smile.
As everyone began to file out of the plane, Arizona realized what she'd done.
"I did it, Callie! I really did it! We didn't even fall out of the sky!" she excitedly told her wife.
"I know. I am so proud of you. One step closer to normalcy. We'll be back there soon. You are so brave," Callie said with a hug.
Both Sofia and Zola slept on and off the whole flight. By the time they got to their villa in the hotel, both girls were overtired and jet lagged.
"I guess this time zone switch will work in our favor," Meredith stated as a sleeping Zola rested on her hip.
Though it was only six o'clock Seattle time, all six of them were tired and in desperate need of a good night's sleep.
After dropping off all of their luggage and putting the toddlers to sleep, Callie and Arizona settled in one bedroom and Derek and Meredith in the other.
Callie held Arizona's hand as they drifted off to sleep, just as she's done every night since the plane crash. Just as she was falling asleep, Arizona's voice broke the silence.
"I did it. I rode on an airplane," she stated in disbelief, not to Callie but to the darkness.
Callie smiled to herself as she fell asleep.
…
The next morning, Derek and Meredith were woken up by Zola and Sofia bouncing on their bed.
"Time to see Minnie! Time to see Mickey!" the exuberant little girls yelled as they bounced.
To the girls' pleasure, the couple stumbled out of bed and into the shared kitchen area where Callie was making pancakes for everyone.
Arizona sat at the kitchen table in her pajamas drinking her coffee and reading through patient charts on her iPad. She hadn't put on her prosthetic yet, exposing the remainder of her left leg.
"Well, finally!" Arizona remarked as the Shepherds entered the room. "It's nine o'clock! The girls have been up for hours."
"I walked to the grocery store this morning to get food for us. I figured that Mickey Mouse pancakes would be an appropriate way to start the day!" Callie shared.
"It smells good," Meredith stated as she sat down next to Arizona. "Hey, Robbins, whatcha doin'?"
"Oh, nothing…" Arizona said as she closed the case of her tablet.
"No… You were checking patient charts! We said that this was a work-free vacation, remember? No checking in on patients. Alex will take good care of them," Meredith reminded her as she reached for the iPad.
"I know, I know," Arizona said as she moved the iPad away from Meredith's reach. "But there is one little boy with spina bifida I wanted to check up on…"
"Arizona," Callie said sternly as she gave her wife a warning look from across the kitchen.
"Fine, fine," Arizona gave in as she pushed the tablet away and took a sip of her coffee.
Derek reached over Callie's arm and stole a couple of M&Ms from the bag she was using for the pancakes and came and sat down across from his wife.
"So, what's on the schedule for today?" he asked as he opened up a map of Magic Kingdom.
"I was thinking we could maybe take the Monorail into the park and take the girls to see Mickey and Minnie first thing," Callie suggested. "Then after that we can take cute pictures of the girls in front of Cinderella's castle and everything… Ooh! Maybe we could get one of the photos of them holding Tinkerbell too!"
"I'm down for anything, as long as I get my Dole Whip," Derek stated.
The couples laughed and talked about their plans for the day while Callie finished up the pancakes. Soon, the pancakes were ready and the families sat down to breakfast. Both sets of parents couldn't help but smile at their daughter's excitement about the days ahead.
After breakfast, Callie and Meredith took Zola and Sofia to get changed for the day. Derek and Arizona stayed at the table comparing their stories from Disney when they were growing up. Before they knew it, their wives came out of the bedroom the little girls were sharing.
"Introducing… Zola Grey Shepherd and Sofia Robbin Sloan-Torres!" Meredith called.
Zola and Sofia came bounding out of the bedroom in their matching outfits: black and white polka dot skirts, t-shirts with their names on them and bright red hairbows. The smiles on their faces said how they felt about their outfits.
"Oh, wow!" Arizona said as she clapped for the little runway models.
"I can't even tell you apart! You look like twins!" Derek laughed.
The girls played together as their parents got ready for the day.
Arizona took a pile of clothes out of her suitcase and spread them out on the king size bed she and Callie shared.
She chose a white v-neck shirt and reached for a pair of jean shorts to pair it with, but hesitated. She was so used to wearing scrub pants that covered her prosthetic. She hadn't worn shorts in public yet, and she didn't feel ready. Instead, she chose a pair of skinny jeans and a pair of Converse shoes.
When Callie saw her outfit, she was skeptical.
"Are you sure you want to wear pants?" Callie asked her. "It's much warmer here than it is in Seattle. I don't want you to be too hot."
"Yes, Calliope. I'm sure," Arizona confirmed as she senselessly played with the fabric of her jeans over her left thigh.
Callie picked up on the hint that Arizona was trying to convey her.
"Oh. Okay. Sure," Callie nodded as she gave her wife a reassuring smile.
Arizona felt better about her decision, and when Derek and Meredith were ready, the six of them left for their exciting day at the parks.
…
"Okay, now go! Quick, quick! Before the doors close!" Callie said as she led the little girls by their hands onto the Monorail.
Meredith, Arizona and Derek followed closely behind them. Callie noticed there was an empty seat on one of the benches.
"Arizona, you should sit," Callie advised her.
Arizona shook her head.
"No, Callie, really, I'm fine."
"Arizona… You only just started walking on your own full time… Please sit," Callie begged, giving Arizona a concerned look.
Arizona rolled her eyes and obliged.
"Here, Sofia, come sit on my lap," Arizona said pulling her daughter on to her right knee.
Just then, the Monorail lurched forward, knocking the standing adults off balance. As the train began to pick up speed, Arizona was secretly grateful that Callie had made her sit, though she would never admit it. She knew that a start like that could've caused her to lose her own balance.
She thought about how lucky she is to have had Callie by her side through all of this until her thoughts were interrupted by the train's conductor over the loudspeaker:
"Now stopping at the Magic Kingdom. Please stay clear of entrance and exit ways."
"That's us!" Meredith said taking Sofia and Zola by the hands and carefully guiding them off the train.
Derek stuck his hand out to help Arizona up. She smiled up at him and accepted as he helped her to her feet and led her out onto the platform.
"Okay! Where to first?" Meredith asked.
"Hmm. I think if we take them to go meet Minnie and Mickey first, we'll have better attention spans and moods from the girls later on for pictures and such… so maybe we should track down these characters?" Callie thought out loud.
"Sounds good to me," Arizona said with a shrug.
Derek and Meredith led the way towards the entrance. Sofia and Zola held hands as they walked and Callie had her arm around Arizona's shoulders.
The familiar Florida sunlight felt good against Callie's skin, but it immediately started to make her wife itch.
"Callie, can you spray me down with more sunscreen? I don't think I applied enough this morning," Arizona said as she pulled the can out of her bag.
"Arizona! You've been in the sun for what? Two minutes? Come on! Live a little! Get tan!" Callie pleaded.
"Calliope. You're used to the Florida rays. You grew up here. I, on the other hand, went to med school and did my residency in the North East, and now I've been living in the Pacific Northwest for the last decade. My skin isn't used to this! And don't even get me started on the risk of skin cancers. Melanoma, squamous cell skin carcinoma-"
"Okay! Okay!" Callie gave in. "You need to live a little though. Step out of your comfort zone."
"I've been outside of my comfort zone for the past six months," Arizona replied, under her breath with hopes that Callie wouldn't hear her snarky remark.
Callie reapplied the sunscreen to Arizona's skin and they went on their way.
Soon, they were standing at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom.
"It's Mickey! It's Mickey!" Sofia exclaimed as she jumped up and down pointing to just inside the gate where the famous mouse was posing for pictures and signing autographs.
"Minnie too!" Zola squealed.
As soon as they had entered the park by scanning their MagicBands, the toddlers skipped over to their favorite characters and gave them big hugs. Derek, Meredith, Arizona and Callie snapped as many pictures as they could of the little girls grinning from ear to ear.
Even after the encounter was over, that's all that they could talk about.
The day was spent riding as many kiddie rides and meeting as many characters the little girls could. Soon, Zola and Sofia's autograph books were filling up with the signatures of characters from their favorite television shows and movies.
Seeing the toddlers' happiness proved to the couples that the trip was worth making. A time off from their jobs, their patients, and whatever was going on in their personal lives.
The Mark Everett Sloan and Alexandra Caroline Grey sized hole in their hearts was aching, though. Their presence was missed beyond measure. Everything seemed to remind them of the couple.
"Mark would've had to have this!" Derek called out to Callie, holding up a Disney World shot glass in the gift shop.
There also seemed to be signs from them everywhere, showing the adults that they were beside them in spirit.
"Derek! Come look at this," Meredith pointed to the name necklaces for sale. While the necklaces were supposed to be arranged in alphabetical order, someone just so happened to place a necklace back in the wrong spot, leaving the "Lexie" necklace next to the "Zola" necklace.
Derek squeezed Meredith's shoulder as he picked up both necklaces and headed towards the checkout counter.
"What are you doing?" Meredith asked him, confused with his actions.
"I'm buying them," he replied simply. "For Zola. She deserves to grow up knowing that her Auntie Lex was here with her."
…
Arizona's mind rarely strayed from her daughter's happiness all day, but by the time dinner rolled around, the soreness of her residual limb was excruciating. While standing, she constantly shifted the majority of her weight on to her good leg, and she could feel her incision site beginning to chaffe. What annoyed Arizona the most, though, was that she knew the worst was yet to come; the discomfort in her leg often started as tenderness and soreness, but it usually escalated to throbbing phantom pain by the end of the day.
With every step she took, Arizona winced a little more at the pain. It became so bad that, while Callie and Derek took the girls on the Dumbo ride for the tenth time and while Meredith was in the restroom, she took a couple of the painkillers that Owen had recommended to her.
Much to Arizona's relief, they had mostly done their job to numb the sensation before Callie and Derek returned with the exuberant four year olds. Arizona had never seen brighter smiles on their faces than when she announced, "Who's ready for dinner with the princesses?!".
…
The party returned back to the villa before dinner so that the adults could freshen up and the girls could change into their princess dresses (Sofia as Snow White and Zola as Belle).
Arizona brushed out Sofia's smooth hair (Definitely a trait she had received from Mark. Arizona thought to herself. Mark always had the best hair.) and pushed it back with a red headband. Meredith tied Zola's hair into a high bun and finished it off with a tiny tiara.
It was beginning to get darker by the time they reached the Castle, and all six members of their party were starving.
When they sat down at their table, Callie and Meredith analyzed the menu and recommended dinner options to the impatient little girls.
"Zo, you love mac and cheese, just get that!" Meredith pleaded.
"But the princesses eat cake! I want cake!" Zola fought back.
"What about if the two of you split a plate of mac and cheese and some watermelon. Then you can have cake for dessert!" Callie offered.
Sofia and Zola exchanged looks, pondering the proposed solution, before nodding with approval.
"Awesome. One battle complete," Derek sighed with relief.
Princesses Cinderella, Aurora, and Tiana had all visited the tables and had conversations with the little princesses by the time the waiter approached their table.
"Hi, my name is Jeremy; I will be your magical server this evening. Can I start you all off with something to drink?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think we'll take two apple juices and beers all around for the adults!" Callie laughed.
Shaking her head, Arizona politely declined the offer.
"Actually, I'll just take a club soda with lime," Arizona told the waiter, flashing one of her famous super magic smiles.
After the waiter had taken the orders and walked away, Callie turned to her wife.
"You just spent the whole day at a Disney Park pushing strollers and chasing around four year olds and you don't want a drink?!" Callie stared at her wife in disbelief.
"I can't. I took some painkillers a few hours ago; my leg was getting a little sore. It's no big deal," Arizona shrugged.
"When? What was the pain on a scale from 1-10? Are you okay?" Callie panicked a little.
"Cal, really it's fine. I'm fine," Arizona attempted to reassure her protective wife.
Callie studied Arizona's face as Arizona shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"No you're not. You're in pain; your face reads like a book. You've been standing all day. I deal with residual limbs every single day. They get sore," Callie gave her wife a soft smile and rubbed her shoulder.
"It'll be better once we're back at the villa and I can give my leg a rest. But I'm fine for now," Arizona nodded.
Sensing that Arizona wanted the spotlight off of her, Meredith swiftly changed the subject.
"Sooooo… Zozo, what was your favorite part of today?"
…
After all of the meals were finished, Callie lifted up her glass.
"I'd like to make a toast."
"Oh, Callie, please no toasts. Let's just get this dinner over with," Arizona shook her head.
"Arizona stood all day today," Callie stated, giving her wife a loving look.
"That's not the point," Arizona replied.
"Yeah, do you know how big a deal that is? You standing all day isn't the point?" Callie argued back with a smile. "Do you know what else happened? Derek rode all of the roller coasters he was asked to, and his wrist didn't even hurt from holding on."
"Thanks to you!" Derek interjected.
"And most importantly, we got to take our little girls- Mark's little girl- to the happiest place on earth," Callie smiled sadly, with a nod in the direction of the toddlers with chocolate stained faces, both sleeping in their chairs.
"We're trying. We're trying to move past this awful, awful thing that happened to us. We are trying to navigate the new physical and emotional challenges that come our way. Were trying to return to a 'normal' life without two of the people we love most. We're… we're trying," Callie nodded as she placed her hand on her wife's.
"I miss Mark. And Lexie. And I'm heartbroken. Absolutely heartbroken that they aren't here tonight. But I'm also grateful that all of you are," the Latina said with tears in her eyes and hope in her smile.
Subconsciously, tears fell down Arizona's cheeks. She wiped them away with the back of her hand and nodded sadly, remembering her final moments with Mark and Lexie.
…
"8:54 pm and we're finally back!" Derek said as he turned the key in the lock of their villa.
"Callie and I are gonna go put our sleeping beauties to bed," Meredith whispered as she entered the hotel room, heading past the kitchen into the first door on the right, the room the little girls were sharing.
Arizona followed them in, collapsing on the couch.
"God, I have got to get this thing off!" Arizona said, mindlessly pulling her pants down to her ankles and swiftly doffed her prosthesis and it's silicone liner. Once her aching limb felt the air-conditioned air of the hotel room, she immediately felt some relief.
Normally, she would have never done anything like that outside of her own home or in front of anyone but Callie. But Derek and Meredith were like family, not to mention they were beside Arizona every step of the way, starting when they were actually in the Idaho forest.
"You okay there, Robbins?" Derek asked, taking a swig of his beer and sitting down on the armchair beside the couch.
"Yep. I'm good. I'm fine. Perfect," Arizona assured him with her eyes closed while taking deep breaths.
"Do you need anything? Heating pack?" he asked.
"An ice pack would be great actually."
With a nod, Derek got up and headed towards the freezer. Arizona shifted her body so that she was lying on her back and elevated her throbbing leg on a throw pillow.
…
"Hey, you good? You wanna come to bed?" Callie asked, gently nudging the blonde.
Arizona's eyes fluttered open and met with the chocolate brown ones a couple inches away from her.
She gave her wife a kiss before a "Yeah sure," escaped her mouth.
Arizona donned her prosthesis quickly before following Callie in the master bedroom and closing the door behind her.
"I'm gonna go into the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. You wanna get in your PJs?" Callie asked.
Yawning, Arizona nodded.
The second Callie entered the bathroom, Arizona took out the sexy lingerie she had hidden from Callie in her suitcase.
Moments later, Callie appeared in the doorway, shocked by what she saw.
"Holy mother of…"
Arizona, who had been leaning on her right side in the bed, sat up and fluffed her beautiful sandy tresses that Callie loved so much.
"Would you… massage my leg again? Like you did the other night."
Callie's face lit up as she nodded, sitting down on the bed next to her wife, taking her soft pink lips in her own.
Sorry this chapter was so long! I feel like so much happened it it though, and I wasn't sure if or where to split it up. As you can see there is some dialogue from 9x11 (Callie's toast while out to dinner) and 9x18 (Arizona dealing with pain in her leg). I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I love reading your reviews!