Notes:
I have been thinking about the story more or less since I wrote it.
A few months ago I decided to give a bit of a review of how I see it all having gone if this happened and now I'm posting.
Thanks to pleaseactsurprisedxx and Captain for the support and help.
/ / /
Sofia Sloan-Torres re-read the letter for the fifth time and then let out a groan as she flopped back on her bed. The high school senior rubbed a hand over her face as she tried to figure out how to turn two tickets into four so all of her parents could attend an event where she was going to read an essay she wrote about family.
"What has got you looking like you just crashed Mom's car or something?" Chase asked from the doorway. The teen was affectionately called a clone of her mother. The same blue eyes, blonde hair and dimples that Arizona had were passed down to Chase. Though she had a slightly more athletic build from her biological father.
"I entered a contest where I had to write an essay on family," Sofia said as she held out the letter for Chase to read.
Chase walked into her older sister's room and took the letter and read it over. "Oh, two tickets?" She said as the problem presented itself. "No wiggle room?"
"I already talked to Mrs. Parker about trying to get more," Sofia sighed as she threw an arm over her eyes dramatically.
Chase rolled her eyes at the dramatics as she sat down at the end of the bed. "So you get to invite two of them."
Sofia moved her arm enough to look down at Chase. "Thank you for summing up everything I already know."
"You're welcome," Chase said with an overly sweet dimpled smile. "Seriously, the four of them have been co-parenting you for basically your whole life and Mom, Mami, and Pops have been doing it since Mami was pregnant. They are going to understand that you only get two tickets."
"I just hate it," Sofia sighed. "My whole essay was about having this big, messy, complex family, and now I only get to take two people."
"So, give the speech to all of them," Chase suggested. "This Thursday is family dinner, so everyone will be together. Do the speech in front of all the cousins and aunts and uncles, so they can all hear it."
Sofia sat up a little bit at the idea. "That's not a terrible idea."
"I am known to have a good idea from time to time," Chase smiled.
"Doesn't solve who I take to the event though," Sofia pointed out.
"Tie goes to the godparents?" Chase suggested. "The parents hear the speech and you can even adjust it a little to be less "professional" with it just being the family. Cristina and Derek would totally go for you."
Sofia laid back on the bed. "You having two good ideas in a row is troubling," she said with a laugh.
"What can I say?" Chase laughed as she stood up. "I'm just that good. But I need a favor."
"What's that?" Sofia asked warily.
"I need a ride to Ellie's," Chase said with a hopeful smile.
"Fine," Sofia reached over to grab her keys. "The moms won't be home until like nine. Both have late surgeries. Meredith will feed us and I can hang out with Zola."
"Thank you," Chase said in a sing-song voice as the siblings headed downstairs.
/ /
A few days later the Robbins-Torres household would be hosting their now monthly "family" dinner. With so many doctors in their friend group, it was a good way to get to see each other out of work and for their kids to get to all hang out. So, the tradition was born.
As luck would have it, Callie was done just after three. She wrapped up and headed home to prepare everything for tonight. While the kitchen was still very much her domain, when it came to grilling it was Arizona who usually handled it. And tonight Arizona's grilling skills would be on full display as they were doing an assortment of kebabs with some sides that everyone liked.
After pulling her car into the garage, she walked through the mud room and then into the kitchen. She saw Chase laying on the couch in the great room with a college softball game on the TV.
"Hi, Mami," Chase called when she heard steps behind her.
"Hello, mija," Callie said as she walked to the couch and bent down to kiss her forehead. "How was school?" She asked as she straightened up to watch one of the batters strike out.
"Not bad," Chase said as she tipped her head back to look at her mother. "I got an A on my science test, it was nacho day for lunch, and we played soccer in the gym. How was yours?"
"Fixed a couple of knees and worked on a peds case with Arizona which was nice. It was the first in a little while, so it was nice to get back in the OR together," Callie smiled down at her.
"Awesome," Chase smiled. "Oh, I got the paperwork for the summer volunteer program at the hospital. It's in the office on your desk."
"Great," Callie said. "We'll go over it this weekend."
"I'm excited. Sof said she really liked seeing the hospital from that side when she did it last summer. Plus, I get to wear scrubs which are objectively the best form of clothing."
"Oh, are they?" Callie laughed.
"They are like PJs you can wear in public without getting side eyed," Chase nodded.
"You do know you're mostly going to be giving updates to families or playing with kids on the peds ward this year, right? You have to be seventeen before we let you shadow in the emergency department, operating room, and other procedural areas," Callie reminded her.
"I know," Chase said with a slight frown. "But I still want to do it. I was created in a lab to be a peds surgeon, Mami."
"You keep saying that," Callie chuckled. "Where's your sister?"
"At Pops. She is helping MJ with his Spanish homework, so he doesn't get a B and have to face an existential crisis," Chase said with a giggle.
Callie rolled her eyes slightly at the nickname that Chase gave Mark when she was younger but smiled all the same. "I'm going to change and then get dinner prepped, want to help?"
"Sure," Chase nodded before going back to watching softball while Callie went to change.
/
When Sofia walked into the house about an hour and a half later, she saw Callie and Chase in the kitchen at the island. She walked over and kissed Callie's cheek as a greeting.
"Thank you for not having twins," Sofia said as she wrapped her arms around Callie.
"You're welcome," Callie said with a laugh. "Your sisters getting on your nerves?"
"MJ and I were trying to do Spanish but they were fighting over some boy bands from like a hundred years ago," Sofia shivered. "Talk about natural birth control."
"All kids are natural birth control," Chase said with a face.
"You are going to give me more grey hairs than I currently have if you keep talking about birth control," Callie grumbled as she wrapped an arm around Sofia's waist.
"Sorry, Mami," Sofia and Chase said at the same time with matching laughs.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure you are," Callie chuckled. "Arizona should be home soon and everyone will be here in about an hour. Did you see Mark or Lexie when you were over?"
"They were just getting home when I left. They said they would be over with dessert," Sofia said as she pulled back.
"Good," Callie nodded. "Everything else is either baking in the oven or prepared for the grill."
Sofia ran a hand through her long, dark hair before coming around the island to look at Callie. "Do you think it would be a problem if I wanted to read something I wrote tonight? It's for a project I did, and I want to be able to have everyone hear it."
"What kind of project?" Callie asked as Chase backed away to the living room behind them to give her sister a moment with Callie.
"It was on the topic of family," Sofia said before biting her lip. "I sort of entered a thing, and I'm a finalist? But we only get two tickets, and I didn't want to pick, so I'm going to ask Cristina and Derek to go, so I didn't have to pick between my parents. But I still want all of you to hear it."
"Sofia," Callie said as she walked around the island. "Honey," she said before pausing. "Yes, you can read your project to everyone."
"Thanks," Sofia said with a smile that was all her mother.
"You know that you don't have to worry about hurting our feelings about things when you get less than four tickets, right?" Callie asked in a soft voice.
"I know," Sofia ducked her head. "Just sometimes I don't like having to pick, and it feels weird to ask you guys to. I want all four of you to be at this stuff."
"I know, mija," Callie said as she pulled her into a hug. "You're a good kid, you know that?"
"I'm almost an adult, Mami," Sofia said as she rested her head on Callie's shoulder.
"You'll always be my kid," Callie said softly. "I have the scars to prove it."
"Me too." Sofia sniffled a little bit. "Love you."
"I love you too," Callie whispered. "I'm really proud of the person you are. Even if you're leaving me soon to go off to college."
"Mami, it's only a two hour flight from Stanford," Sofia said even as she hugged her a little tighter.
"I know," Callie said softly. "Doesn't mean there won't be part of me that feels like you're all the way to the moon."
"You still have me," Chase said as she turned around and broke the moment before it became too heavy. "Well, for two more years before I go to college."
"And where would we be without you?" Callie teased as Sofia stepped back.
"Right? I keep this place running," Chase grinned.
/
Managing to get ten doctors and ten kids into one house for dinner was not easy. But thankfully this was not the first time Callie and Arizona had pulled it off. The weather was nice enough that they had the double doors to the back deck opened allowing the space to expand.
It always was a bit of controlled chaos with so many people in one house though.
Sofia couldn't help but smile as she looked around at all the people she considered family. The cousins were running around in the yard playing with an old soccer ball while the adults were catching up over drinks as the kabobs cooled.
"You've had a serious look on your face tonight, Sof," Mark said as he stepped next to his daughter.
"Have I?" Sofia asked as she wrapped her arm around her father's waist as he did the same to her.
"What's on your mind?" Mark asked as the pair stood together. She wasn't quite as tall as he was, but she was taller than Callie.
"Just thinking about how few of these dinners I'll be at," Sofia admitted as she leaned against him.
"You've grown up too fast," Mark agreed as he watched MJ got taken out by a textbook perfect slide tackle from Chase. "All of you have."
"Time has a way of going forward even when we don't want it to," Sofia said as she watched Ellie Shepherd and Chase helped MJ up.
"That's the truth," Mark chuckled as he turned his head to kiss the top of her head.
Sofia was quiet all through dinner as she watched her siblings and cousins all tease and talk over each other the way they always did. The adults at one end of the table talking about work and hospital drama that always seemed to happen no matter how settled each couple was.
Finally, after the dishes were cleaned up and everything was put away, everyone came inside. Callie nodded to Sofia to get everyone's attention.
"So," Sofia said loudly to get everyone's attention. The after dinner chatter died down quickly as they all looked at her standing in front of the TV. "I know this is kind of weird but there was a writing contest I entered at school. I can only take two people to the event for the finals, so I wanted to read it, with a few less school appropriate add ons, to all of you since you're all sort of mentioned."
"You made the finals?" Mark said with a proud smile on his face as he, Lexie, Callie and Arizona took seats on the main section of a large L shaped couch. Meredith and Derek, Alex, and Jo sat on the other section. The kids all grabbed spots at the island or the living room floor.
"Yeah," Sofia said with a shy but proud smile.
"Of course she made the finals, she's my goddaughter," Cristina added from the kitchen island. April sitting next to her.
"We'd love to hear it," Lexie smiled from her spot next to Mark.
"Alright, cool," Sofia said with a nervous smile. She took a deep breath as she lifted the paper so she could read off of it as she had it mostly down but didn't want to forget anything.
"When sitting down to write this paper on how my family affects who I am, I started thinking about all the little bits of myself that come from my parents. Not my height or eye color, not the color of my skin or my hairline. But the little bits of themselves subconsciously passed on from parent to child," Sofia started. "I hold my knife and fork like surgeons do. Tilted in such a way to allow for precise cuts and maximum flexibility. It's something I've done since I was a toddler that until I was in middle school I never really thought about. It's a minor tweak from how most people hold a knife and fork but noticeable enough that my classmates mentioned it to me. And while how I hold a knife and fork doesn't seem like a huge detail in the grand total of how my family has impacted who I am, but it is a direct sign of their impact."
"I speak Spanish with a Miami accent and I talk about New York pizza being the best without reservation. I eat peanut butter cups when I'm stressed and when I need a break from the world, I go rollerblading. I am a monument to who they are, how each was raised, to their parents and the places they came from. I am from a family blended together to make a stronger unit that otherwise would be possible," Sofia said as she looked up and smiled at the four before going back to reading.
Before I get too far, I should talk about how my family became blended. It's not the typical boy meets girl, girl and boy fall in love, have a baby and then fall out of love and find it with two others. My biological parents were and are best friends who had me during two separate break ups. Because they were never a couple, there was no breakup or divorce. The details are somewhat messy, but because they were never together in the typical sense, I don't have the baggage from a relationship gone wrong," Sofia said while shifting her weight from one foot to the other slightly. "By the time I could form permanent memories, both sets of parents were married and the three moms, one dad dynamic was set. Which means when I talk about my family, I don't talk about half siblings or step parents. As I have had countless times when talking about my family, all three of my moms are simply my moms. I don't put a modifier on who they are unless I have to clarify for someone else's benefit."
"But before I go into the trio of women who are my moms, I have to talk about my dad," Sofia said as she looked up and smiled at Mark before looking back down. "Mark Sloan is a plastic surgeon by trade, a New Yorker by birth, and a recovering womanizer."
"Hey," Mark laughed.
"That last bit isn't in the official essay," Sofia said with a giggle.
"She's not wrong," Derek said as he reached over and patted Mark on the shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah," Mark grumbled with a smile. "Go on Sof."
"He's also one of the best people I know," Sofia said with a warm smile to her father. "He's charming and funny and a total softie for his kids. He taught me how to take serious things seriously but how to relax when things aren't serious are getting to me. He was at every little league game, every concert, and made time to teach me how to suture bananas when I wanted to learn," Sofia said with a grin at the memories of the hours and hours they sat together at the kitchen table.
"He taught me that if you look at yourself in the mirror and don't like the person looking back then you can make the choice to change. You can become a better person, a more kind person, a more complete person at any point if you decide to and work at it. You might not be able to change your past but you're in control of who you want to be in your future. Through him I've learned the power of self betterment."
Mark was out of his seat in a moment and wrapped Sofia up in a hug. He couldn't help but give his little girl a hug after that.
"I'm not done yet, Dad," Sofia said even as she hugged him back.
"I figured but sometimes a guy just has to hug his little girl," Mark said before kissing her forehead and sitting back between Callie and Lexie.
"Where was I?" Sofia said as she wiped at her eyes. "Oh, right," she took a breath. "Like I said, I have three moms. Each different from each other but bonded through the blended and extended family they have all helped to create together."
Sofia paused for a moment to gather herself before continuing. "When I was in kindergarten, I remember learning how to spell my name and being upset to the point of tears that Grey wasn't part of my name. I have a pretty long name already. Sofia Robbin Sloan Torres is a mouthful, but I was sure at six years old that Grey needed to be in there too. Surely it had to because Lexie Grey was my mom, so I should have her name too, right?"
Lexie sniffled as she held tightly to Mark's hand. Sofia hadn't been in her plans but 18 years later she was so thankful for her.
"When I got to her and Dad's house that afternoon I remember running inside and going straight up to my room. No playing with my brother MJ or my twin sisters Katie and Charlie, no asking for a snack. I threw myself on the bed and started to cry again. Soon enough Lexie came upstairs to check on me and saw I was upset. She asked what had been so upset and when I told her, begged her to tell me that the teacher was wrong. I still remember what she said to me," Sofia whispered as she looked up at Lexie.
"You are my daughter no matter what name you have," Lexie said, remembering clearly the moment Sofia was talking about.
"That's right," Sofia said with a watery smile. She turned back to the paper and kept reading. "And she was right. I am her daughter without having Grey in my name. She's taught me kindness, compassion, how to ace a math test even when I feel like my brain is swimming in fog. She taught me that family isn't always sharing a name or the same smile but finding the people that uplift you and support you and make you feel at home. She had given me peanut butter cups when I was stressed and hugs when I needed them, taught me a wicked changeup for softball and gave me stitches when I took a cleat to the shin the year we won States. I am better for her choice to be my mom, for her influence on my dad and for the siblings that sometimes drive me up a wall."
"Hey!" Katie and Charlie said in unison.
"Oh, Sof," Lexie said as she wiped away tears. She got up and hugged her tightly just like Mark had done.
"Love you," Sofia said as they hugged, thankful she was able to put into words how she felt even if she had half the room in tears.
"So, the hugging after each section is a thing?" Cristina said.
"Cristina!" April said from beside her.
"I didn't say it was a bad thing," Cristina teased.
"It's sweet," Jo added as she leaned into Alex.
"Sap," Alex chuckled.
After Lexie sat back down, Sofia wiped her eyes before looking at Callie and Arizona. She gave them a sappy smile before turning back to her paper.
"My middle name is Robbin after Arizona Robbins, the doctor who got my heart to beat for the first time and my mother. The story of my birth could be its own paper, but I can say without question that without her fingers pressing on my one pound, one ounce chest, and her ordering a cocktail of drugs to be pumped into my tiny body, I wouldn't be here. And that protectiveness, that love, that desire to make sure I not only survive but thrive has been there ever since," Sofia said before pausing to keep from her voice breaking before she kept going.
"Without her influence, I don't think I would have the same sense of honor and duty. I wouldn't understand how to rebound from loss with the same grace. She is from a military family and the commitment to service of country and community are hardwired in her. From her grandfather, a sailor who saved nineteen men before drowning at the attack on Pearl Harbor, to her father, a Marine who served for thirty years and retired a Colonel to her brother, an Army Ranger who gave his life in Iraq, to cousins who have served. She has taught me how to love my country while fighting for more rights for more people, taught me how to handle losing people we love and how to be a good person in a storm when it matters. She is my biggest cheerleader, my safety net when I step out on a ledge and the person who kept the monsters out from under my bed when I was little."
"Sofia Robbin," Arizona took a breath before standing up and walking over to wrap Sofia in a bear hug. "I love you, so much," she whispered as they hugged.
"I love you, Mom," Sofia whispered as she felt so much younger than she was.
"Being your mom was the best choice I ever made, I am so proud of you," Arizona said as she pulled back to look into Sofia's eyes. "So proud."
"I'm proud of being your daughter too," Sofia said as she wiped her eyes again.
"This really is beautiful," Meredith said as she stroked through her son's hair who was sitting against her legs.
"It really is," Callie said as she leaned against Arizona's side when she sat back down.
"Keep going, Sof," Mark said.
"Right," Sofia nodded as she found her place again. She cleared her throat before she went on. "About four percent of ortho surgeons are women. It takes incredible skill, strength, and perseverance to be a woman in the field. Add on top of it that less than five percent of all surgeons are Hispanic and I'm pretty sure Callie Torres was more than one in a million," Sofia smiled as she looked proudly at Callie.
"She's taught me how to be proud of being a Latina, how to handle situations that my siblings won't, and how to keep having a giant heart even when life knocks you down sometimes. We have the same smile, both talk without a filter when we're passionate about something and have the same love of cooking."
Sofia shifted again as she smiled at Callie before going on. "We have a tradition that every Sunday morning or evening, depending on her work schedule, we cook something together. Just her and me. And in those hours in the kitchen together, she has taught me how to improvise when we're out of something, how to recover when something isn't going right, and when to call it and start over. She taught me that starting over, that admitting something doesn't work isn't failing but just another processing to help you move forward," she choked up a bit and had to pause before going on.
"When I was younger, I didn't think about these Sundays as life lessons but now as I head toward college I know what she was doing. She was teaching me things she knew I'd need to know in a way that wouldn't feel like some after school special or make me roll my eyes. I am a better cook and a better person because she took the time to find a way to teach me without lectures and dictating this is how to be a good person. She showed me without a guard up, without fighting me, without making me feel wrong for getting upset when something I worked hard on didn't work. I learned more from her then than I can ever thank her for," Sofia said as she looked up at her mother.
As Mark, Lexie and Arizona all did, Callie got to her feet and hugged Sofia when she paused. "I am going to miss those Sundays, Mija."
"Me too, Mami," Sofia said as she hugged Callie tightly.
Sofia grabbed her water when Callie sat and took a big drink of it before going on. "But a family is not made just of parents. Or at least mine isn't. It's made up of a collection of adults who have each taught me and shaped me into who I am now."
Sofia paused and looked out. "I did the order for this part by putting all your names in a hat and picking that way for this, because I know how competitive you all are," she said to the laughter of all. "I cut out the people who aren't here because this is already pretty long, but I'll email it to them so they have it," she added with a smile.
"My uncle Derek and aunt Meredith have a special place in my heart, not only because Uncle Derek and my father grew up together back in New York and not only because Meredith and Lexie are sisters, but because they are really a third set of parents." Sofia looked up with a shy smile as she looked at Derek and Meredith. "I can't count the afternoons spent at their house, the dinners I've shared with them, or hours spent as they shared school pick up with my parents for all of their kids. I have danced it out with Aunt Mer, fished with Uncle Derek and had them there for all the important moments of my life in a way that goes far past the duties an uncle and aunt may have."
"You're a good kid," Derek said as he and Meredith smiled up at Sofia.
"A very good kid," Meredith added.
The pair both moved from the couch to give Sofia a hug as the others had. Once they were seated, Sofia went on.
"I would be remiss to go deeper into this essay without mentioning my Godmother," Sofia said as she looked up at Cristina before returning to the paper. "Cristina Yang is the type of person I want to grow up to be one day. Excellent at her job, a deeply loyal friend, willing to grow and change but unwilling to compromise who she is to make others more comfortable. She and I have spent nights curled up on the couch in her apartment watching surgical tapes where she pauses and explains to me what is going on since I was old enough to see the blood without freaking out. She never made me feel stupid when I didn't understand how something worked or guessed the next step wrong. I am better for her there, guiding me when I needed it and being an outlet when I didn't need a parent but an ear to listen and a guiding hand. She is someone not afraid to let me make mistakes but always there when I needed help to undo a mistake."
Cristina wiped at her eyes before getting up and crossing the room. "Alright, you got me," she said before pulling her into a hug.
"I was just being honest," Sofia said in a whisper as she hugged Cristina.
"You're very perceptive," Cristina laughed before walking back to her seat.
"Look at you showing emotion," Callie teased.
"Can it, Torres," Cristina grumbled with a smile that tamped down the effect.
"Alex Karev is the little brother that my mom, Arizona in this case, never wanted but somehow got anyway," Sofia said with a laugh.
"Oh, God," Alex groaned as Arizona let out a deep laugh.
"Nailed it," Jo laughed along with her.
"He is the kind of uncle that will let kids eat junk food, but will rub their back when they get a stomach ache afterwards. He is the eleven PM phone call when you really don't want to call a parent but need an adult kind of guy. The 'yeah I'll teach you how to throw a right hook but don't tell your moms' kind of guy. Plus he was kind enough to be the donor so my little sister Chase could come into the world. He and Aunt Jo fall in the fun category of adults. She taught me how to pick locks and which rules were hard and fast and which were malleable. Growing up they would take a bunch of us cousins about once a month to give our parents the night off, and it was always a fun time of junk food, horror movies, and learning things we felt cooler for knowing," Sofia smiled as she felt a hug from them on either side of her.
"You turned out pretty well," Alex said. "Thanks to us."
"Hey!" Arizona, and Lexie said at the same time.
"Please, I'm the cool uncle," Alex chuckled as he sat back down.
"Sure you are, little brother," Arizona teased.
Sofia just grinned before going on. "April Kepner is someone I call a covert badass. Looking at her you might not believe it but it's totally true."
"Sure she is," Cristina snorted,
April rolled her eyes as everyone chuckled.
Sofia just laughed at their typical interaction before she found her place on the page again. "She is an amazing trauma surgeon, someone who has infinite faith in the goodness of people, and the person who taught me how to break down a full goat when I wanted to learn how to butcher my own meat. She has taught me so much about faith and never giving up on people, about growth without losing yourself and how to accept people for who they are and not for who you want them to be. She and Uncle Jackson are opposites in a lot of ways but they work. He has the weight of his very famous last name in surgery but only has a normal surgeon ego to him which is a lot harder than you'd think. Their kids Samuel and Harriet are cousins no matter what any family tree would say. Family in our family has a broader meaning after all."
"Jackson has a normal amount of ego?" Alex said with a snort. "Sure, Sof."
"Plastics has a bigger ego than the rest," Lexie said with a chuckle.
"Hey," Mark protested.
"Oh, please," Callie said as she patted his leg. "You have never suffered from a lack of ego."
"And all of my ego was earned," Mark smirked.
"Whatever you say, Dad," Sofia chuckled. "May I keep going?"
"Go on, Sof," Mark nodded.
Sofia looked toward her siblings a moment before she went on.
"Chase Robbins is my partner in crime, my catcher for softball, and one of my best friends. We fight like sisters often do, but I have never doubted she would have my back if I needed it. That kind of support is something I often took for granted growing up but the older I get and the closer to leaving Seattle for college the more I am grateful for it," Sofia said as she looked back up at Chase, who grinned back at her.
"Mark Junior, MJ, is a teenage boy in a sea of sisters. I dressed him up when I was little, taught him how to climb a tree when we got older and fought with him over everything from what movie to watch to what type of cookies to make for Christmas. But he also has our father's charm and a little bit of that extraordinary Grey smarts. I don't tell him enough how proud I am of him and how much having a little brother has made me a better person," Sofia said. "And Charlie and Katie, the twins, are two peas in a pod. Musically gifted, able to beat just about anyone on trivia nights, and able to drive me up a wall better than just about anyone. Babysitting them was my first job, and I learned both multitasking and how to tune out debates over music, movies, and middle school drama. But when we're in the backyard singing together or heading to the mall, I have to admit they are pretty great to hang out with."
The four siblings all looked at each other before rushing from their seats to wrap Sofia in a bear hug as she let out a squeal at being dog piled on.
"You do love us," Charlie teased.
"We knew it," Katie added.
"Who wouldn't want us as siblings?" MJ asked as he rested his chin on her head because he knew it drove her nuts.
"After this, I have my doubts," Sofia laughed.
"Nope, no take backs," Chase said before kissing her sister's cheek.
"Go sit down and let me finish," Sofia said. "I'm almost done."
"Fine," They all said together before letting her go.
"Where was I? Oh yeah," Sofia said. "Zola, Bailey, and Ellie Shepherd are my cousins, but they might as well be siblings. I hardly remember more than a few days at a time when I wasn't hanging out with Bailey or Ellie. Just as annoying as siblings and just as loved. Zola and I have been through everything from learning how to navigate middle school politics to preparing for the SATs to trying on prom dresses. She is my person in the way that our families take very seriously. "
Like their cousins, the three Shepherd siblings moved from the floor to wrap up Sofia.
"You are my person too," Zola said from one side of Sofia.
"And the best person to go to the mall with," Ellie added.
"You're cool, I guess," Bailey teased.
"You're all dorks," Sofia rolled her eyes but couldn't help but grin.
"Just like you," Bailey said before they retook the floor.
"This is the end," Sofia said as she straightened her crumpled paper. "When looking at the impact my family has had on me, it would be hard to figure out how much of who I am I would be without them. From my sense of duty, to how comfortable I am in my skin, to how I hold a knife and fork. They have all gifted bits of who they are to who I am. I am a more well rounded, more caring, more confident person because of what they have passed down. As I stand on the precipice of adulthood and leaving the only place I've called home, I am thankful for what they have gifted me and what they have taught me. For without them, I wouldn't be me. "
As Sofia lifted her head, she saw her family all clapping for the essay she wrote about all of them. She felt her chest warm at the reaction and all of the hugs she had gotten from each as she was able to explain to them how important and impactful they were.
/
That evening after everyone had gone home, another round of hugs for Sofia and each other, the four residents sat around the couch together.
"That was a very good night," Arizona said as she sat with her legs over Callies lap on one section of the couch.
"You did a beautiful job on that paper, Sof," Callie smiled at her daughter before taking a sip from her wine glass.
"I wasn't sure it would even be good when I started it but I knew I wanted to try to explain what all of you mean to me," Sofia smiled back.
"It was pretty good," Chase admitted.
"I'm glad it cleared your standards," Sofia said with a roll of her eyes.
"You should be," Chase said as she bumped Sofia's shoulder with hers.
Unseen by the four, just behind the couch, was a man dressed in a full Army uniform. Timothy Robbins, Sofia's guardian angel, stood next to another man dressed just the same. Timothy's best friend, Nick, stood at his side dressed in a pair of hiking boots, jeans and a Henley. When Chase was born he had become her guardian angel.
"You did good giving Tucson the kind of life she deserved," Nick said to Timothy as the four women laughed together.
"What big brother wouldn't try to give their little sister a good life?" Timothy said as he reached out and patted his best friend on the back.
"We've had our hands full with these two, haven't we?" Nick chuckled.
"With mothers like they have, what did you expect?" Tim said with a grin.
Tim walked over to stand beside his sister and looked down at her for a moment. Time had added a few lines to her eyes and a bit of white to her hair but he would always remember her as she had been the last time he saw her. He bent down and kissed the top of her head even if he had bent more he would have gone right through her.
Arizona's eyes closed as she felt a slightly odd sensation. She looked to her left but didn't see anything. She turned back to her family with a smile as Chase and Sofia talked all about their Summer plans before Sofia headed to Stanford.