Yay! so my lat exam over :D And as promised here's the next chapter. Hope you like it.

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

I open the can of corn kernels and add it to the bowl along with the black beans. I then move the chopping tray towards me and start to dice the onion. That's when mom walks in.
"Hey Tim, what's cooking?" she asks as she comes over and places a kiss on my shoulder, just as she always does. But then a second later she stands on her tip toe and kisses the side of my forehead. That's how I know she's had a rough day at the hospital.
"Black beans and corn Salssssa" I say as I jiggle my hips and give her a smile. She returns my smile, but it's not her usual "I'm-the-awesomest-happiest-person-on-the-earth" smile. It's her "I'm-happy-I'm-alive-and-the-people-i-love-are-alive" smile. Yeah, I can tell the difference.

They think being the youngest in the family I need to be shielded or something. But what they don't get is that I'm a lot more perceptive than any of them. Maybe it's just growing up around three phenomenal women with mood swings as erratic as Cal Ripken's bat swings, and learning how not to fall into trouble with them that's made me so good at reading their moods.
So I know that when mom comes back from work and walks up directly to one of us and kisses us and gives that sad smile of hers, she is just re-assuring herself that her children are alive and that we were not the one on her operating table that day.

"Where's mami?" she asks as her pours herself a glass of water and settles down on the stool.
"Grocery store." I answer back. "Don't worry this isn't the only thing you will get for dinner tonight. Ma's getting pizza on her way back."
She doesn't reply just gives a small smile and watches me cook. My mom not talking, not trying to have the last word, that's another indicator that something's off.
"Tough day?" I ask her gently.
"Yeah. Yeah. It was…kinda bad." She lets the sentence fade away.
I add the diced onions to the bowl then turn around to face her. "Mom" and I wait for her to look up at me.
"You are an awesome surgeon." I look directly into her eyes as I say that. And I smile. It's a smile that conveys how proud I am of her and her work. How much I love her for being so caring, so loving, so giving. I don't need to say it. She understands. She smiles a beatific smile. She knows she is an awesome surgeon; she just needs to be reminded sometimes.
"So does this awesome surgeon know how to chop tomatoes? I could do with the help" I ask.
She gives a tiny laugh "Yes Sir!" and she gets up and moves in to stand next to me. A quick hug and a silent "Thank You Timothy" later she starts to work on the tomatoes.

A minute later Mami walks in and we can hear her before we even see her.
"Pendejo! Doesn't even know how to park a car, why did he even buy one then?" she's livid. She puts her grocery bag on the table. She even drops the pizza unceremoniously on the table. Ouch! She's mad. But not the really mad I'll- rip-your- ulna- and- your- femur- and- fix- them-up- wrong kinda mad just the I'll- smash- your- nose- and- then- let- the- cartilage- join- back itself kinda mad. Mami raves and mom gives her a patient ear and adds all the necessary "O No"s as she rips open the grocery bag and starts to put the stuff into the cabinets.
I smile a bemused smile and continue chopping the sweet red peppers.
"And the stupid store didn't have condensed milk! What kind of a store is that? Every store has condensed milk. Now how the hell am I supposed to make that caramel flan tomorrow?"
O. So that's what this is about. Caramel Flan. Sofia's favourite kind of dessert. Mami simply wants to make her caramel flan for her last Sunday lunch at home before she's off to college next week. So this isn't about the guy who doesn't know to park or the store that didn't have condensed milk but about seeing your baby grow up and move out to college.
"I'll get it on my way back from practice tomorrow. Myrtle's would surely have it. Their stock comes in early in the morning. It'll be here even before Sofia gets up from bed. Did you need anything else?" I ask as I add the peppers.

She stops her tirade, opens and shuts her mouth for a second and then she nods. She settles down on the stool that mum vacated a few minutes back. "Yeah. Ok. No that's it." She shakes her head.

"She's leaving in less than a week now" she's whining almost.
"Oh Calliope" says mom as she envelops her in a hug.
"She was so small. Just when did she grow up?" she says with a shaky breath. "I told you we shouldn't have sent her to school. Then she wouldn't have turned out so smart and decided to move right across the country for her college." Mum smile a little at that but just holds her close and doesn't say anything. Mami just needs to blow-off steam. She's like that. She gets angry, she shouts it all out, she doesn't hold it back in. And once it's all said and done she forgets it and moves on.
"It feels like just yesterday I held her in my arms. She was so little. Just a little larger than my palm." And she lets some of her tears drop.
"So you're the crazy one today huh?" asks mom. Mami nods. "Ok. It's ok. I'll hold you today. But tomorrow I need to go back to being the crazy one ok. My baby's leaving, and I need to have my full quota of drama before I can smile and wave her off to her new class." They both give each other a sad smile and kiss each other. Deciding that I have given them enough time to be sappy I turn around with a snort "To her new class? I'm sure she'll murder someone out of embarrassment." And I put out my tongue.
That gets a laugh out of them. Mami though is quick to sober up and asks semi-seriously "You are still 6 aren't you? There's still plenty of time before you run away right?"
I smile broadly "I'll go to U of W if you want, so that you get sick of me coming home every weekend with my dirty laundry."
"There's no way we are getting sick of you" replies mom. "No way. Not when I get home and find my son cooking dinner."

Mami has to pull me in for a kiss before she lets me get back to my dish. She puts the pizza in the microwave and then gets back to putting the things into the cabinet while mom takes out plates and glasses.
"Where is Sofia by the way? Not back yet?" wonders Mami as she looks at her watch. "It's nearly 10. Did she say anything bout a late night?"
"Calliope she's out enjoying with her friends. She will be back home soon." My mom tries to reassure her. Then she catches my eye and questions me.
"She texted me half an hour back. She would be dropping Zola off before coming home." I answer while I start tossing around the ingredients in the bowl.

Just then the object of our discussion literally zooms home. Minutes later she walks into the kitchen singing "I'm your hell I'm your dream I'm nothing in between. You know you wouldn't want it any other way" Off-key.
"Hey mi hermanito. Watchya cooking crio?" and she walks right up and puts her hand into the bowl. I slap her hands away. She pouts. I offer her a little of it on the end of the spatula. "Umm..." she moans into it. "A little more lemon though" and she smiles and ruffles my hair.

An affectionate, Spanish speaking Sofia loosely translates to a buzzed Sofia. No not drunk. She hardly ever gets the full out- of- control drunk. This is her two tequilas buzz.
She slips onto a seat and pulls the bottle of water kept on the table to her. She proceeds to drink directly from it. Mom almost begins to admonish her but then lets it go.
"ahum…so where were you? Clubbing?" asks mami.
"Yup." She nods excitedly. "The usual. Just dancing. But then had to get back before the real party begins because Zola promised her mom she would be back home early. I mean Saturday night, who calls in early? And so because there wasn't any one there, no cute guys or girls…o there was one this one blonde. Looking all sexy in a short red dress…" and Sofia is grinning silly. Yup that's a buzzed Sofia. Extra chatty. "So this blonde walks right up to me and starts talking and dancing and even writes down her number for me" she says leaning forward to show mami her palm. I put the bowl on the table just as mom puts the pizza and sits down beside Sofia. "But it's almost gone now." She whispers softly as she pulls the hand back to herself and looks at it curiously. "You know when I walked into the washroom I half expected her to follow me and kiss me senseless." She grins. "That would have meant I would have had to marry her." She winks at me. So maybe I underestimated it. Maybe it was more than two tequilas.

"Sofia…" begins mami but then stops herself and just shakes her head. Mom is just too shocked to say anything. "Let's just eat dinner" is what she settles for. But before I even reach out to start serving I hear the sobbing sigh escape from Sofia. We all turn to look at her.

"Baby, what's wrong?" asks Mom immediately putting her hand on her shoulder.
"You're already treating me differently. You promised nothing was going to change even when I go off to college, and here you are already treating me differently. I didn't send you a single text the entire day, I didn't inform you I was going to be late for dinner, I drank straight out from a bottle, I just told you I heated things up with a stranger and you said nothing. Nothing…" she looks from mom to mami. "I hate the change."

Yeah. That's the side of Sofia you get to see only sparingly. The unsure, insecure, needy Sofia that usually hides behind the sarcastic, almost-over confident, badass mask. She loves with abandon and she wants, needs to be assured that people love her too. That's probably the reason she flirts so much. Boy, Girl, anything human, she needs to make sure they want her. And it's probably also commitment phobia to some extent. She has picked up so many traits of being a surgeon already that it's not surprising to find her "Don't-get-too-heavily-involved-with-the-patient" attitude. She is just afraid to have her heart broken. She has never truly been heartbroken. I would know it if she had. She usually makes me listen to all her silly teenage drama but she has never spoken about any guy or girl as anything more than a passing object of her fascination.

She's wrapped up in mom's arm as she soothingly whispers "We love you".
"Nothing's changing baby" begins mami but then she shakes her head and continues "No no everything's changing. But it's changing for the better. You are off to a great college. And you're moving so far away from home, but mi'ja, you aren't moving far away from us. Family ties are not affected by distance. You will always find us right beside yourself. We will always love you. We promise" she looks towards mom.
"Always" she confirms as she kisses her forehead. After a minute's silence mami looks at me pointedly and mouths "Tell her"
I clear my throat and Sofia looks at me her eyes still full of tears. For a minute I bite back my words, not wanting to tease her. She reminds me of our younger days and I think about all the times she held me while I cried and how she soothed my fears when our mums were not around. I almost make an honest confession of how much I'll miss her. But then I rethink.

"Sure. We love you. And nothing's gonna change. I'm not gonna move into your purple bedroom and steal your wardrobe and I'm still gonna kick your ass at xbox and I'm still gonna tease you when you call home feeling all homesick." I smile, she smiles. "And you're gonna have to fight me for the last piece of pizza like always." I crack a grin.

Mom and mami are smiling. Sofia straightens herself, wipes away the last of her tears. "Mauve. Not purple. And if you start wearing my dresses maybe you will have better luck with the girls." She smirks. "And I always beat you at xbox. And just like always" she stresses at the always "you can watch me eat that last piece."

She holds out her spoon like a weapon for attack. I clash it with mine. "It's war" I say and she nods.

Yes, I'm gonna miss her.

So how was it? It's partly auto-biographical. i freaked out too when my parents acted all nice before I left for college :P And now I'm headed home for the holidays. yay! Long summer break. And so this may be the last update in a while. I'll be home getting pampered but don't fret I'll be working on some new stories.

Review and let me know what you think about this one. Lots of love-G :)