Author's Note: Thank you SO much for all of the kind reviews on the first two chapters! I love reading what you all think!
*I do not own Grey's Anatomy or these characters*
Callie and Arizona laughed as they opened the door from their master bedroom into the villa's shared living space.
"Well good morning!" Derek greeted the couple with a smile. "You two had quite a bit of fun last night, didn't you?!"
"Oh, you heard that?" Callie asked with a glance at her wife and a hint of fake guilt in her voice.
"I'm surprised the girls didn't!" Meredith added, handing Callie and Arizona their coffees.
"Hey, we're on vacation! And don't act like we've never heard or seen you two go at it!" Arizona pointed out. "What's for breakfast? It smells amazing."
"Derek made his famous french toast. There might be some left, but you two woke up really late and the little girls were really hungry," Meredith teased.
As Callie and Arizona sat down with their breakfasts and coffees, Derek pulled out his "501 Things To Do in Disney World" book and map of the Disney parks. Derek was definitely a geeky dad in that sense. He had been researching and planning this trip for months and was arguably more excited than his daughter and goddaughter,
"I'm thinking we hit Animal Kingdom today," Derek pointed to the zoo-like park on the map. "I think that the girls would really enjoy seeing all the animals, plus I am in desperate need of a Dole Whip!"
The couples laughed.
"Good idea. I am dying to ride the Expedition Everest ride there too! Shep, are you in on that with me?!" Callie asked.
"Definitely," He nodded with approval.
"While you two have fun on your rides, Grey and I can take the little ones on one of the Kilimanjaro Safaris. Those are supposed to be a huge hit," Arizona pointed to the attraction on Derek's map.
"Zebras?!" Sofia's eyes grew wide with surprise.
"Mommy and Auntie Mer are gonna take you and Zozo to see the zebras!" Callie nodded with a smile, knowing that zebras were Sofia's favorite animal and that she'd love to see one in person.
"What about you?" Sofia's face fell a little when she found out her Mama wasn't coming to see the zebras.
"Oh, you're Uncle Derek and I will be having fun too, don't worry honey," Callie assured her daughter while sending a smirk in Derek's direction.
…
"Where should we hit first?" Callie asked, looking around as they made their entrance into the park.
"Hmm… Let's walk around and see where we end up?" Meredith suggested.
"Good idea," Arizona nodded.
After snapping pictures of Zola and Sofia in front of the Tree of Life, the group made their way through Discovery Island, DinoLand U.S.A., and Rafiki's Planet Watch.
Derek found a concessions stand that sold his long-awaited Dole Whip and Sofia and Zola were mesmerized by every exotic animal they saw.
"Look Mama! A tiger!"
"Dada! Look at the elephants!"
"What sound does a rhino make?"
The parents were absolutely enchanted by their daughters' glee and wonder at everything they encountered. They tried to soak in all of these toddler moments while they could, because they knew that in the blink of an eye, they'd be sassy teenagers who would only care about boys (or girls) and wouldn't want to hang with their parents (no matter how "cool" they are).
It was moments like these where Arizona ever wondered how there was even a moment in time where she didn't want a child. She couldn't fathom what her life would be like if she didn't have her little Sofia in her life. Sofia brought sunshine into all of Arizona's cloudy days, which had been more than abundant these past six months.
Before they knew it, they had arrived in the Asia section of the park.
"Ooh! This looks like fun!" Callie said pointing to the entrance to the Kali River Rapids.
"You girls wanna go on that? It'll feel nice and cool!" Meredith told the kids.
It was currently 90 degrees in the park, which is much different than the cooler summers they were used to in Washington.
"Yeah! Yeah!" the smiley toddlers jumped with glee, pigtails bouncing.
"Let's give it a go then!" Derek said, taking Zola and Sofia by the hands.
Arizona's heart skipped a beat then sank a little realizing that this was another reminder of the simple things she was no longer able to enjoy with her family due to her physical limitations.
"I think I'll sit this one out."
"C'mon honey! It'll be fun!" Callie attempted to coax her wife. "We can buy the action shot they take and frame it for the mantel and- oh. Oh my God Arizona, I'm so sorry. I should have never suggested-"
Callie turned bright red when she realized that Arizona wouldn't be able to ride because the water from the rapids could damage the microprocessor in her new state of the art prosthetic.
"No, Calliope. Stop. Don't do this. I'll be fine. Go. Go enjoy this with Sof. I'll be right here. I'll be fine," Arizona told her wife, plastering on a fake smile to hide the disappointment clearly evident in her shaking voice.
"Arizona…"
"Callie. Go. I'm fine."
"If you're sure you're okay…"
"I am."
Callie gave her wife a kiss before turning to grab her daughter's free hand. She walked a couple feet before turning around.
"Hey. I love you. So much," she said back to the blonde with the deep ocean blue eyes that had mesmerised her since the moment she'd seen them five years ago.
The blonde smiled back and blew a kiss to her wife and her beautiful baby girl.
She hated that she wouldn't be a part of some of the memories her daughter would cherish growing up. Though she knew that Sofia wouldn't look back on these memories and blame Arizona for not being there, Arizona resented herself for what happened to her. A couple of months ago, she would have blamed the resentment on Alex Karev or on Callie, but since she has come to terms with her disability, she felt as though she could only blame herself.
What would have happened if she hadn't stepped foot on that tiny plane?
Arizona asked herself this question every day.
"Mommy's not coming?" Sofia asked Callie with a tone of sadness in her voice.
Arizona's heart broke hearing those words come out of her daughter's mouth.
But she smiled for her anyways.
"It's okay, baby girl. I'll be right here waiting for you when you get back!"
…
"Mommy! I got all wet!" Sofia exclaimed as she came bounding towards the shady picnic table where Arizona was sitting.
"Oh my goodness! You're such a big girl! Did Mama get a photo of you?" she asked, hugging her soaking wet daughter, feeling the drops of water from her damp tanned skin.
"I sure did," Callie said presenting the printed photo of Sofia, Zola, Meredith, Derek and Callie screaming with glee as they were sprayed with water from the attraction.
Arizona's face lit up when she saw it.
"This is going on the mantel for sure!" she laughed. "Mark would've loved that."
A look of nostalgia appeared on Callie's face.
"Yeah. He would've."
…
"Look at this monkey, Mama! Can we get this for Daddy?" Sofia asked with a smile holding up a gorilla stuffed animal.
The other adults stopped what they were doing in the gift shop and watched as Callie's smile faded and her heart sank deep in her chest.
Callie and Arizona had tried and tried to tell Sofia that Mark was gone and that her father wasn't coming home. That he was never gonna tickle, or fist-bump, or take her on daddy-daughter ice cream dates again. She understood, but she didn't comprehend the situation. In her naive four year old heart, she knew her daddy was still alive. Somewhere.
"Of course you can, mija. Gorillas were your daddy's favorite animal," Callie's eyes twinkled remembering her best friend.
"Look at all of these cool postcards!" Arizona pointed out. "I wanna get a couple for the kids on the Peds floor. And maybe a couple for Bailey and April too."
"You know, when I was a kid, after my dad died, everywhere I went my sister Amy and I would write him a postcard. I'd address it to him in heaven. I still believe that all of those postcards- there must have been hundreds of them!- made it to him safely," Derek reflected, picking up a postcard with Goofy and Donald on it.
"Hey… that's not a bad idea," Arizona said. "Let's write postcards to Lexie and Mark. They should know we were thinking about them and that we missed them on this trip."
Zola picked out a postcard with Daisy and Donald Duck on it for Meredith and Derek to write to Lexie, while Sofia picked out one with Mickey and Pluto on it for Callie and Arizona to send to Mark.
Callie picked up a pen and in her perfect handwriting, wrote a letter to her best friend, as if he was still here.
Mark,
We missed you and Lexie on this trip. So much. Sofia is having a blast with Zo on all of the rides and she was beside herself when she finally got to meet Mickey Mouse. We just wish you could have been here with us. We miss you so much and Sof asks for you everyday. She has your smile. And your sense of humor. You'd be so proud of who she is becoming. Keep watching over us.
Wish you were here.
Love,
Callie, Arizona & Sofia
Arizona smiled at Callie and kissed her on the cheek when she was finished. She signed her name at the bottom and helped Sofia spell her own as well.
They all missed Mark more than any of them would ever deem imaginable, but it was comforting to know that he was out there somewhere watching over them everyday.
I hope everyone liked the final chapter! I had a lot of fun writing the story in a realistic (at least I think so) way while also including Mark and Lexie. This last chapter is mostly Calzona/Sofia/Mark centric, but I hope everyone still enjoyed it! I can't wait to read your reviews and what you thought of the whole story! Stay tuned for more fan fictions! xox