Author's note: Yay! finally finished this fic. I had to do a bit of research for it, but even then the medical facts in here are not 100% reliable. I'm a Literature student after all :P

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Shonda. I'm just playing with them.

"Sebastian wouldn't believe me when I told him I had two mothers" says my 11 year old Timothy between mouthfuls of dinner. "But then I explained it to him, how it all works and he found it cooool" he finishes with a grin. "He said he was sooooo jealous!"

Arizona rolls her eyes then questions the little blond sitting beside her "Yeah really? And how exactly did you explain it to him?"

"I told him what mami told me" he answers innocently and Arizona looks at me with an amused smile "Calliope?"

I never tire to hear the different intonations of Calliope from Arizona's mouth even after 13 years of being married to her. I crack a smile of my own "O I gave him the PG version, don't worry." I look at Timmy and continue "You really rubbed it into him did you? What perks does having two mothers have, huh?"

"Extra cuddles" he grins with his mouth full of food. Arizona and I break into a symphonic laughter. She then notices that Sofia has been sitting beside me quietly during the entire conversations, and has never once looked up from her plate. She raises her one eyebrow and asks me silently if anything's wrong. I shrug. Sofia is the usual moody teenager at 14. Sometimes she is so excited that she could go on and on for hours talking about the things she loves and then there are times that she completely shuts herself up, sits in a corner brooding, with her earphones plugged in and listening to some ghastly track. I sincerely hope her music tastes improve as she grows older. Not to say that I'm not happy she progressed from the Disney tracks (thanks to her momma) to something else, but the total transformation to Gothic rock at 14 is a little disturbing.

"Mi'ja what do you think are the perks?" I ask giving her a gentle nudge in the shoulder. She looks up only long enough to give us a "grow-up-already" look and mumbles with a shrug of her shoulder "Always having a stock of tampons and sanitary pads in the house?" Arizona and me exchange a look. Something is bothering her and Sofia being Sofia will not tell us what it is till she wants to. You can't push her too much. You have to wait for her to come to you. I have plenty of experience of doing just that for the past 14 years of my married life and so I don't mind when Sofia wants to take her time. But Arizona, not having ever to have dealt with herself, and with her penchant for "fixing people", finds it extremely difficult. "Sofia…" she begins.

"Momma can I take my PSP to the hospital tomorrow?" breaks in Timmy, unaware of the tension on the dining table. "Sebastian thinks he can beat me at Final Fantasy, but boy he couldn't be more wrong! He doesn't know I'm the Lord of Ivalice" and he swishes around his fork like a sword.

"Umm…I think Sebastian has a few rounds of tests tomorrow before we can take him to surgery next week. And he will be all tired out by it. So I don't think tomorrow is a good time, ok buddy? You can always play that game with someone else. I bet Uncle Alex would love to play it with you." Arizona answers.

He ponders over that for a few seconds "Uncle Alex is no fun. I always beat the crap out of him" I snicker at that. "Aunt Teddy is better at it any day. But whatever, I could just wait for Sebastian to become free by next week and when he's in post-op recovery and getting bored we could play the game" he decides for himself before diving into his food again.

"Don't be stupid!" snaps Sofia.

"I'm not stupid!" counters Timmy even as Arizona and me begin admonishing Sofia.

"Yes you are" states Sofia with dead- seriousness. "Next week? Are you even sure he's gonna be alive next week?" she gives an unsympathetic laugh.

"Sofia that's clearly not the way to talk to your brother. Drop that attitude, chica or you know your punishment" I say turning fully to face her.

Timothy looks upset by that comment. Sebastian became his friend while he spent hours on the Ped's floor, waiting for one of us to get off work. Sebastian had been in and out for nearly a year now and the boys bonded over video games. He looks up at his momma with questioning eyes. Arizona puts down her own fork and wraps an arm around Timmy shoulder "He's got an excellent set of doctors working on him Timmy." Arizona had always insisted on being honest with the children, and though she did not like either Sofia or Timothy becoming too friendly with her patients, she couldn't and wouldn't stop them from making friends or behaving kindly to the sick kids under her care, whenever they spent their time in Ped's. "Tomorrow he will just be having tests and until then we won't know how truly well his body is responding to all the medication. And only after the surgery will we know if…"

"Don't lie to him" speaks up Sofia a little louder than either of us is used to being addressed by her. "He has a stage III Wilm's tumor. Nephrectomy hasn't helped him. The chemotherapy hasn't helped him. I saw Uncle Alex going over his x-rays; it's metastasized into his lymph tissues. He has what some 43% survival rate?" she finishes off in a ramble. She is angry. Angrier than any of us have ever seen her.

I've always believed Sofia was too smart for her own good. All the hours spent around doctors means that she has an undeniably vast knowledge of medicine for her age. And she has always shown her interest and that has always spurred the surgeons she knows to show her and teach her things that an ordinary 14 year old wouldn't be bothered to know about.

"Samantha came in complaining of a hoarse voice and she ended up dead three weeks after it was diagnosed as lung cancer. How can you be a surgeon and tell him that that kid's got a chance and raise his hopes. He needs a freaking miracle!" she's almost yelling at this point. Samantha had been a popular senior in her school and the girls had worked together for their school's annual musical. And she had been sad by Samantha's death (almost six months back, If I remember correctly) but we had never guess it had affected her this much.

"Baby, no one found out Samantha's condition earlier. And it was unfortunate. You knew her as a friend and it's alright for you to be upset about her death." I rub smooth circles over her back. She is still shaking with anger and hasn't stopped staring at Arizona, who continues to look back at her with a pained expression on her face. She turns to look at me and I can tell she's holding back tears. She begins to say something but is cut off by Arizona…

"23.3%"

We both look at Arizona and she's squinting her eyes to hold back her own tears. "23.3%. That was what your chances of survival were when you were born, according to that stupid programme that predicts a preemie's chances of survival." She draws in a shaky breath. "When Addison delivered you your Apgar scores were zero. Lucy could not find a heartbeat for several minutes. Minutes…" she is now openly letting those tears fall. "You know what that means?" there is a slight challenge in her voice. Sofia keeps quiet; she knows her mother doesn't talk about the conditions concerning her birth for obvious reasons. But it doesn't mean she doesn't know about them. "I…I had to work so…so hard to make your heart beat. And then when you were 5 weeks you had to undergo another surgery where you almost bled to death, but you didn't. You survived." Arizona stops to take a much needed breath and hangs her face down and lets her tears drip on to the table.

Sofia looks at me, worry writ large and clear on her face. I nod towards her momma. She understands, gets up and walks towards her. Gently she puts her hand around Arizona and holds her while she clings to the frame of our daughter, the daughter she barely managed to save, and cries her heart out. Sofia holds her, without a word. When the crying turns to intermittent sobs, I hear her whisper a "sorry". Timothy has been sitting there silently watching the exchange, unable to fully grasp the gravity of the situation. I beckon him to myself and he quickly comes over and settles into my lap. Even an 11 year old doesn't mind the protective snuggles sometimes.

Arizona draws Sofia to her own lap and kisses her face a few times over to remind herself that her baby truly is alive. "You are a miracle Sofia. The miracle that gives me hope every day. I see you now with your guitar or sprouting off those medical terms and I can't believe you are the same 1 Lb. 1 Oz. infant at birth. You proved people and science wrong. You survived. I know we were lucky" and she shares a glance with me "but it means there's always some hope for others to get lucky too." And she holds Sofia close to her chest. Sofia doesn't complain. She allows her mother to hold her.

Arizona extends one hand across the table towards me and I cover it with my own. "And mi'jo a good doctor besides having skills must also have belief in his abilities and hope that his abilities are enough" I tell her. She nods her head almost imperceptibly. "I know Ma" then after a pause she adds "I'm sorry Timmy. You aren't stupid. You're just more hopeful about these stuffs than me. I was an ass"

Timmy gives her a smile. Under normal circumstances he would have rejoiced at her admission but not tonight. He knows that something important transpired even though he doesn't understand it. He simply takes in her word and offers her a smile. "Apparently a lucky ass" he cannot help but quip.

Arizona gives a little laugh and plants a final kiss on Sofia's cheek. "The dinner's all gone cold. I don't think we can eat it now" says Timmy. "Aah…that's very hopeful of you mi'jo but you have to eat your greens. Go finish them now." I answer with a laugh. He groans but he slips back into his seat. Sofia gives her momma a kiss then on her way back to her seat drops one on my head too. I smile. My daughter is growing up. She's starting to face the harsher realities of life, but I believe we still have our opportunities to catch her when she falls. Or at least to help her get up again.

We all begin eating in silence, till Timmy asks with his best smile "Can we at least have ice-cream after this minor meltdown?" and we all break-into a laugh.

SO how did you like it? yeah I know this moves away from all the sweetness of the previous chapter, but come on we all have memorable angsty teenage moments don't we? I've always been intrigued about how all the time in and around hospitals and surgeons would affect Sofia, and here's my take. Please Review and let me know what you think about it. It's always very encouraging to hear from you. Also next update could take a while, I have exams coming up :(

P.S- I'm scared for Calzona and worried bout what's gonna happen to them in the finale? You guys?