As nervous as I was to meet Sofia, I was even more nervous for Arizona to see if Sofia liked me.
"She's just in her room getting changed" Arizona smiles at me, after Lexie and Mark had left, handing the sparkly pink backpack to me on their way out the door.
"Is this her school bag?" I ask, holding up the backpack. "Zola has the same one in purple" sparkles were apparently very cool this year at school.
"Yeah, it is. I've got to pack her lunch and go through her homework; Lexie does it with her, but I always check to make sure she has it" Arizona says, taking the backpack and placing it on the kitchen counter. "After all, I'd say Lexie is more of a help to her actually doing the homework than I am. I just make sure she takes it" Arizona chuckles, unzipping it to fish out a matching sparkly lunchbox and a pink folder with Sofia's name on it.
"What grade is she in?" I ask "the same as Zola?" Zola was in the first grade, but I wasn't sure if Sofia was a year older or younger.
"First grade" Arizona nods, as she flicks through the folder quickly, checking to be sure everything was there "she and Zola were in the same kindergarten class. They cried when they weren't in the same first grade class, but we want them to get used to being apart too. They spend so much time together as it is" she smiles, but her face falls abruptly. "Or, they did" she tacks on, remembering Meredith's absence, sighing as she put the folder back into the backpack.
"They'll be back" it's my turn to reassure her now "and you said it yourself; Meredith is smart. She'll come back when she's ready" I say, much more confidently than I felt.
Somehow, knowing that she believed what I was saying was more important than believing it myself.
I see relief wash over her face, and she shakes the bad mood to replace it with her normal smile. "You're right" she said, nodding "thank you" it's as if she's kind of shaken back to reality by my abnormal words of encouraging positivity.
Without thinking, I lean in and peck her lips quickly, pulling away in case Sofia walked out (which she luckily did not). We haven't talked about what she'd like to tell Sofia, but I knew for a fact that her meeting me as I'm sucking face with her Mom wouldn't go over well.
"You're cute" she whispers, a small blush on her cheeks as I grin triumphantly. She was happy, her temporary cloud officially gone as the sun shined through radiantly.
"I am" I agree with a nod "the cutest" I knew I was being smug, but I was doing it on purpose. I wanted to get a reaction from her, good or bad.
She leans forward slightly, lowering her voice an octave, looking up at me from underneath long, black lashes.
"We'll see how cute you are later on tonight, when we're alone"
I didn't have time to react to her words, and Sofia came bounding into the room, a smile on her face. She was wearing a pair of blue Cinderella pyjamas, her hair was braided behind her back neatly (I assumed by Lexie, but then again Mark had been proving me wrong all day) as she looked between the two of us.
"Sofia" Arizona smiled "this is my friend, Amelia. She's staying for a sleepover for a few days" she explains, and Sofia nods understandingly.
"Hi" she smiles "I'm Sofia" she was all Callie, there was no doubt, but she had Mark's smile.
"I'm Amelia" I introduce myself "it's nice to meet you. Your Mom told me all about you" she nods in response, as if expecting me to say that.
"Mom said I can watch some TV before dinner. Do you wanna watch with me?" She asks, pointing to the living room. She doesn't seem like an overly wild kid, if anything she was a lot calmer than Zola was half of the time.
"I would love to. If you need help with dinner, you can come get me" I tell Arizona, before going to the living room with Sofia.
"What do you like to watch?" I ask her, as I sit in an armchair while she sits in the middle of the couch, the remote already in her hands.
"I like Disney Princess movies" she says, flicking the TV on "my favourite is Mulan. Do you like Disney Princesses?" She asks me, pulling up Netflix and choosing her avatar.
"I do like Disney Princesses" I smile, relieved at how easy this conversation was. "My favourite is Ariel"
She nods, satisfied with my answer as she turns on a Monster High show that I'd seen Zola turn on before.
"Ariel's cool. Zola's favourite is Cinderella" she tells me with a sigh "do you think Aunt Mer and Zola and Bailey are going to come back?" She asks, turning to face me.
My heart broke a little bit, because I honestly wasn't sure. But instead, I nodded and smiled easily, swallowing my worry.
"Of course. They're just gone away for a little bit, they'll be back" I promise her, which seems to make her a bit happier. "You'll blink, and they'll already be home, just you watch" I grin, and she giggles.
"Thank you" she smiles, and I know for a fact that this child had more Arizona in her than she would ever know.
"You're welcome"
~
I stayed at Arizona's the entirety of Sofia's stay, and even when she'd gone to Callie's,
"You and Callie always seemed so happy" I mused, watching as Arizona read in bed next to me one night.
"We were. I thought she was the love of my life" she murmurs, flipping to the next page of her book "but marriage is a lot harder than it seems"
"How so?" I ask inquisitively "I know I'm asking a lot of questions, I've just never been married"
"Well" she puts her book down to meet my eyes with the same smile I adored every single second of every single day "when you marry someone, it's because you love them right now. You don't think about how they'll grow or change, you think they'll still be perfect no matter what"
She pauses for a moment, as if to collect her thoughts, while I sit expectantly on the other side of the bed, watching her with curious eyes like a child.
"When you marry someone" she starts again "you should be able to grow with them as well as without them; but Callie and I didn't grow together, we grew apart"
"I want to grow with you" I whisper, smiling up at her, admiring her "like roots in trees"
"You're too cute" she smiles, leaning over to kiss me slowly, causing me to sigh happily. "Do you want to continue what we were doing earlier?" She asks, whispering in my ear lowly, referencing earlier in the morning when we'd been about to have shower sex when her pager went off.
"Yes, please" I gasp out, wanting every single inch of her. I was addicted to her, to her body and her mind and her soul. No matter what, she always made it feel better.
"Good girl" she praises with a smile "so polite" I blushed as she moved to lie me down on the bed so she could straddle my hips.
Looking up at her always took my breath away; a halo of blonde curls and a pair of the bluest eyes were all I could see. Arizona was, without a doubt in my mind, the most beautiful person I'd ever laid eyes on.
She leaned down to kiss me, her lips searing into my own, marking me as hers and ruining the mere thought of another's lips.
That was the night I fell in love with her. If I wasn't sure before then, I was after. Like the sun in the sky and the stars at night, loving her just made sense.
She felt like home, in the middle of nowhere, in the midst of nothingness, she made it all feel okay.
"Arizona" I gasped, as she kissed down my neck. "God, I love you" I blurted, and immediately realized I probably shouldn't have. It was too much too soon, if anything, I was going to scare her away.
"Amelia" she smiles, kissing me again, her long hair falling down around her face. "Let me tell you a secret" she whispers, her lips touching my ear lightly "I'm in love with you"
Nothing in my life could've ever compared to the high those words gave me; everything about her made me feel more alive than I'd felt in a while.
"Well" I smile "make love to me" I purr against the shell of her ear, loving the sound of the sharp inhale she took at my words.
"Always"