Chapter Text
The day had finally arrived for Sofia Robbin Sloan-Torres as she entered through the familiar double doors of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and made her way towards the intern’s locker room and her soon to be fellow interns. She glanced around the hospital she had come to know throughout her life, smiling softly at the memories that flooded her with each step. This hospital was always a place where she felt entirely at home. It was a place that all three of her parents had worked at and called home for so many years. It was a place where all of her parents had made so many amazing memories and had been so happy at, and so when she was accepted into the intern program, she had no qualms about accepting the offer and moving back to Seattle, to the city where she was born and spent the first few years of her life before she moved away with her Momand her partner, Penny.
Of course, she had spent several weeks throughout the years visiting her Mama, but the visits never lasted long enough before she was whisked away back to her life in New York. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy spending her teenage and young adult years in New York, the lifestyle and culture she was exposed to was fantastic, and she had been lucky enough to be awarded with an incredible education which led to her following in the footsteps of all of her parents and studying to be a surgeon.
"Name" a short surgeon asked as she studied the clipboard full of names, pulling Sofia briskly from her thoughts.
"Good morning, Doctor Bailey" Sofia smiled warmly at the woman who looked exactly as she remembered from her last visit to see her Mama several years ago now, only with a few more wrinkles and she was sure underneath that hair dye would be some grey hairs.
"That's Chief Bailey, name?" Bailey snapped as she corrected the newborn intern without even looking up, sick of hearing the new round of interns trying to suck up to her already. Not even an hour into their first day, and they were already pushing her buttons the wrong way.
"Umm. Sorry Chief, it's Sofia Robbin Sloan-Torres" Sofia smiled when Bailey's head snapped to attention almost giving herself a nasty case of whiplash as she took in the young woman stood before her and a huge smile graced her lips unintentionally.
"Sofia! Well look at you, all grown up" Bailey eyed the woman up and down, taking in how mature and healthy she looked.
"It's good to see you again Doctor Bailey" Sofia grinned, the urge to hug the woman who had been a huge part of her life was strong, but she was determined to keep a professional front during work hours. Bailey watched her intently, studying the young woman in front of her and nodded her approval at the young woman's restraint at being personal and emotional within the walls of Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital.
"Well Sofia, it's good to see you again, I look forward to catching up with you sometime outside of this place" Bailey smiled softly before returning her professional demeanor and shooing Sofia away will an almost playful smile.
Sofia grinned at the infamous attitude she had been witness to so many times before, but had never yet been unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of. She nodded her acceptance before she moved into the room to greet her fellow interns and await the start of her internship, a day that she had longed for, for the better part of her life.
The morning was spent doing a tour of the hospital, there was a definite buzz amongst the interns as they were introduced to each department and the department heads as well as any person of importance, Sofia felt a twinge of excitement as they rounded the corner into the ped's department and started down the corridors she knew like the back of her hand. She passed a ward and stopped in her steps as she saw the blonde woman smiling and laughing with a tiny human who was hanging off of her every word. Her mama spun around upon Doctor Bailey's entrance and greeted the interns, smiling happily as Bailey introduced her as the chief of pediatrics and neonatal surgery.
Sofia entered the room nervously with a small smile pulling at her lips; she had sworn everyone to secrecy about where she had decided to take her internship and she had told her mama that she would be working at the hospital her mom worked at in New York. She had wanted to surprise her mama with the fact that she was home, and as she walked in the ward and the blonde woman noticed her, her jaw Dropped comically.
"Oh. My. God... Sof, what are you doing here?" Arizona squealed as she ran towards her daughter and enveloped her in a huge hug, picking her up from the ground and spinning her like she had every time the two had visited since Sofia's move to the big apple when she was just five years old.
"Surprise mama, this is where I chose to do my internship" Sofia grinned, ignoring the surprised and jealous looks on all the other intern's faces as they watched on with intrigue, jealousy and annoyance mixed amongst the faces.
"You told me you were going to stay in New York, what the heck Sofia" Arizona grinned, pulling her daughter back into another hug before pulling back and holding her daughters face in her hands, almost believing if she let go that her daughter would vanish into thin air.
"I wanted to surprise you" Sofia grinned, loving the look in her mother's eyes right now, her mama always seemed so overjoyed to be in her company.
"Oh baby, I'm so happy right now" Arizona almost swooned.
"Doctor Robbins, perhaps the reunion can wait until outside of hospital hours" Bailey said with a timid grin, hating to break up the moment between mother and daughter but needing to move things along to stay on track.
"Of course Chief, and you young lady! I will see you for dinner tonight, no excuses, message me when you've finished and I will meet you in the lobby!" Arizona grinned at her daughter before skipping away back towards the tiny humans on the ward, much to the amusement of her daughter and the uncertainty of the other interns.
"You will get used to Doctor Robbins, she is always this perky" Bailey announced to all of the interns before leaving the area. "and this is Doctor Karev, the head of our OB-GYN department" Alex glanced at the interns before rolling his eyes in annoyance at the interruption to his day. He tossed a sly wink at Sofia as she passed, making sure none of the other interns saw the affection he had for the young woman.
The tour continued and the next port of call was the Plastic Surgery Department, Sofia waited outside the double doors, it was an area she hadn't entered since the day her father had died, and she dreaded entering the department now. Bailey noticed her hanging back and moved towards her subtly as the other interns took in their new surroundings, ignorant of the ped’s daughters warring emotions.
"Sof?" Bailey asked softly, hoping the other interns would keep themselves occupied for a few moments.
"I've never been in there... not since Dad… died... and I don't remember it because I was too young, I'm not sure if I can go in there" Sofia sighed as tear's welled in her eyes, partly from the emotion and partly from the frustration and annoyance and showing weakness to her peers on her very first day. This was not the impression she wanted to make on the people she hoped would become life long friends and colleagues.
"Sofia, your Dad was a good man, a pain in my ass most days!… but he was an amazing surgeon, and he loved you, so very much. I can tell you right now, he would be so, so proud to have his little girl walking into his department, you're a Robbins-Sloan-Torres, now wipe those eyes, take a deep breath and get your ass in that room and make your daddy proud!" Bailey ordered, grinning when Sofia scoffed at her Bailey bollocking.
"You're scary as a boss Aunty Miranda" Sofia grinned quietly as she did as she told and wiped the tears from her eyes, took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"You better believe it young lady" Bailey smirked as she rested her hand on Sofia's back and guided her into the plastics ward, knowing that the young woman would feel emotional at this stage of the tour. She felt the tension in Sofia's body as she strode into the room amongst the other interns with a confident stride.
"This is the Mark Sloan Memorial Department for Plastic Surgery and this is Doctor Avery the head of the department" Bailey announced as the group surrounded around the front desk and Avery greeted the interns with a handsome smile that caused half of the female and a couple of the male interns to swoon. Sofia grinned proudly as the department name washed over her, she felt special knowing that her father had an entire department named in his memory.
As Avery gave a short inspiring speech to the fresh interns, Sofia noticed a glass plaque on the wall and she wandered over towards it, she couldn't explain what was drawing her towards it, but she felt like she was its opposing magnet.
A tear escaped her eye when she saw the commemorative plaque dedicated to her father, she ran her fingers over her father's hospital ID picture and she smiled sadly. Beneath the picture was a series of candid shots of her father with other doctors, nurses and hospital staff, most she knew as her parents friends, she recognized the woman her mom and mama called Lexi, her dads true love and of course there was Uncle Derek who she only really remembered through photos, and several were of people she didn't know at all. She studied each photo intensely, she had never seen any of the candid photos on this wall before and with each photo her smile grew as more tears rolled down her face unabashed.
"Your dad... he taught me everything I know... Mark was one of my best friends and an amazing mentor" Jackson laid a hand on Sofia's back. She had heard stories of Doctor Avery but couldn't remember him, having always avoided the plastics department on her visits to her mama, she hadn't crossed paths with him as a teen or adult.
"He looks so happy in these photos" Sofia announced on a soft sob and she tried to memorize each photo.
"He was... he was so happy here Sofia, and he loved you, so much, so so much. You were the happiest thing about his life and he was so proud of you. He would be proud to see you stood here, a doctor, in his department, kicking ass on your first day" Avery smiled sadly. "I look forward to having you work in my service, I look forward to having little Sloan in my OR working with me and knowing he will be looking down on us with that proud smile of his" Avery nodded with a tear in his own eye.
"Thank you Doctor Avery, that really does mean a lot to me" Sofia smiled sadly.
"Are you ok?" Bailey asked as she approached the pair and rubbed the young womans back supportively.
"Yeah, just looking at these amazing photos of dad that I've never seen before" Sofia wiped her tears away, embarrassed at crying again when Bailey had already pulled her up once and had told her to pull it together.
"Come on, there will be plenty of time for trip's down memory lane over the next few years. I may even have a few photo's myself that you won't have seen yet" Bailey promised as she guided the woman away.
Sofia finally began to enjoy herself after leaving the plastics department, after visiting a few departments she had never really been to before, she eventually entered the orthopedics department and grinned as she looked around and knew this was the place her mom became the rock star.
"And this is the famous lab where prosthetic cartilage was invented by Doctor Torres" Bailey said proudly, trying not to smile at Sofia and keep a professional front, she felt like she was taking the young woman on a personal trip down memory lane and wanted to pull back a little bit and remain professional but it was so hard as she watched the myriad of emotions flow across the expressive face.
Sofia grinned proudly as she realized just how treasured all three of her parents were at this hospital, and she couldn't help but decide that she had made the right decision despite her mom’s pleas for her to choose somewhere closer to New York to complete her intern years.
-oOo-
"So... you are hospital royalty huh?" Sofia turned to a dirty blonde woman who was sat next to her at the cafeteria table. The only person who had made the effort to sit with her. She expected some animosity once her ties to Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital got out, but several of the interns were acting like spoiled school ground children.
"Umm... yeah I guess so" Sofia shrugged nervously, not sure what to make of the newcomer.
"Cool... I mean this hospital is named after your dad. Your mom is the head of peds and neo-nate and your other mom is THE Doctor Torres... I mean that's bad ass. The only person who comes close to you is Zola Grey-Shepherd" the dirty blonde smiled.
"Yeah, Zola's kind of like a cousin. We grew up together" Sofia announced, knowing that the rumor mill would start working soon, so she might as well be the one to let the cat out of the bag about her heritage and contacts within her new workplace.
"No shit... well I'm Brown, Stacy Brown" The dirty brunette held her hand out and grinned when the Latina accepted it.
"Sofia... Sofia Robbin Sloan-Torres" Sofia grinned thankfully.
"Well that's a mouthful!" Stacy grinned cheekily.
"Yeah... I'm going to be going with Doctor Sloan for ease... I reckon there's already a Doctor Robbins at the hospital, and a Doctor Torres in another hospital... so it will be less confusing if I just go by Doctor Sloan" Sofia announced.
"Right... well Doctor Sloan... it's nice to meet you, and if anyone gives you crap... just shoot them down, don't let them make you feel bad because of who your parent's are" Stacy offered with a shy smile, hoping the Latina could see the sincerity in her advice.
"Oh god... what's been said?" Sofia asked nervously as she noticed the glances she was receiving from the other interns at a table not so far away. The group constantly leaning in to each other to whisper before snickering to each other.
"Just some bullshit about how you will be getting preferential treatment... just ignore it though, when we get out on that floor I'm sure you will show everyone that you've worked just as hard to earn your place here…. Just like every single one of us" Stacy offered.
"Yeah..." Sofia smiled sadly, her worst fears coming to fruition.
"And if you need a friend, I'm all ears" Stacy smiled softy "you watch my back and I'll watch yours, I figure we all need someone to lean on in this place"
-oOo-
"Sofia" Arizona grinned as she pulled her daughter into a hug and kissed her temple affectionately.
"Hey mama" Sofia grinned as she relaxed into the embrace and inhaled her mother's unique scent and felt her warmth envelope her. The combination never failed to sooth and relax her. It was home… not a place or a person but a feeling. A feeling she only ever felt when one of her mothers hugged her.
"God it is so good to see you, you have been so busy studying the last few years I feel like I haven't seen you at all" Arizona smiled sadly as she finally pulled back from the embrace.
"I know mama, I'm sorry. You know what it’s like at med school though, it's full on and I had to focus on it if I wanted to pass" Sofia offered with a sense of shame that she had neglected her relationship with her mother despite having a perfectly valid excuse.
"I know baby, I just missed you! And look at you so grown up. I'm so proud of you. You looked gorgeous in your intern scrubs and lab coat today" Arizona gushed.
"Mama... you're embarrassing me" Sofia grinned, not in the slightest embarrassed but loving every moment of the attention she was receiving.
"I'm sorry baby. I just can't believe you're here. I can't believe you're home" Arizona grinned as she linked arms with her daughter and guided her towards Joe's.
"Me either. When I got offered the internship here, I had to take it. I mean this is where my story began. This is where you and mom fell in love, this is where mom met dad, this is where I spent the first few years of my life, this is where all of my family, apart from mom and Penny is" Sofia smiled trying to ignore the twinge of sadness that her mom wasn't there with her.
"I wish you had told me though... I mean where are you living?" Arizona asked.
"I got an apartment, mom and Penny bought it for me. It's close to the hospital" Sofia said nervously, she hated bringing up Penny and she hated the sadness she often found in her mama’s eyes on the few times they discussed her mom in person over the years.
"Oh... and how is your mom?" Arizona asked, trying to keep her voice neutral and be an amicable grown up which had become incredibly difficult as more years passed and Callie seemed to get more and more bitter about Sofia spending the little free time she had between both mothers.
"She's good... still being a rock star. She’s been working on some new research but is keeping it under wraps" Sofia grinned proudly. "I went into Plastic's today" Sofia smiled sadly.
"Oh... baby... how are you feeling?" Arizona asked as she pulled Sofia into a tighter hug.
"It was hard. But those photos of him on the wall... I've never seen them before... I may have cried a little in front of everyone" Sofia admitted embarrassed.
"Oh baby girl... it must have been so hard for you" Arizona leaned in to kiss her daughters temple as they crossed the road to the bar.
"It was... but it was also so good, I mean, he's like a god in there" Sofia laughed softly.
"That was your dad... the god of plastics… and women" Arizona grinned. "he wasn't too bad at cooking either" Arizona grinned.
"Really?" Sofia asked with surprise.
"Didn't your momtell you about his cooking?" Arizona asked in surprise. "He once made this Coq-au-vin that was to die for!"
"She didn't really ever talk that much about her life here... dad... the hospital... you, whenever I would ask or bring it up she got defensive and shut down so I just gave up asking her" Sofia admitted.
"Oh... right... well in that case, let's go get a Drink, and you can ask anything you want and I will fill you in with all the gossip" Arizona smiled softly as they entered the bar.
"Mama... what is this place?" Sofia asked as they entered the bar and she saw several of the doctors she had seen today.
"This is Joe's, it's where everyone at the hospital Drinks... and it's also the place I fell in love with your mom... it's where we had our first kiss too" Arizona smiled almost sadly but Sofia could see the hint of pride at sharing a memory that was special to her with their daughter.
"Do you ever miss mom?" Sofia asked after they ordered their Drinks.
"Of course I do baby, she was my very best friend and the love of my life" Arizona admitted.
"Ok... so tell me about dad, I want to know it all... start from the beginning" Sofia grinned, finally excited to be getting answers to questions she had held her entire life.
"Well it all started when I moved to Africa and left your mom" Arizona took a sip of her wine to settle her nerves and prepare herself for reliving the past, the good, the bad and the ugly.
"Wait... what... you lived in Africa?" Sofia asked with a look of amazement.
"Ok... wait, you don't know I lived in Africa for three months?" Arizona asked in surprise.
"Ok mama... maybe you should start from the very beginning... like right at the very beginning... how did you meet mom?" Sofia asked hopefully.
"You know, if your mom didn't tell you, maybe she doesn't want you to know" Arizona said nervously.
"Mama, I'm a big girl... I think it's time we took the kiddie gloves off and told me the truth, I mean let's face it, I work at Grey-Sloan... I'm bound to find out at some point and I'd rather find out from you and hear the truth about it all than stupid rumors from the nurses or worse, the other interns" Sofia stated sipping her beer.
"Alright... but first... tradition, if we're going to have a deep and meaningful there is one thing we need... Joe! two tequila's for me and my daughter and keep them coming" Arizona called across the bar much to her daughters amusement.
"Tequila? You Drink tequila?" Sofia asked with shock.
"Hell yes, me and Tequila... do you know how many times I have sat in this exact spot with your mom or your dad or both and got drunk on tequila... it's a tradition and as hospital royalty, that means I'm passing the tradition on to you" Arizona grinned as two tequila's were placed in front of them.
Before they could pick them up Sofia's mobile rang. Looking at the screen she saw her mom's face which was Callie's profile picture and rolled her eyes before throwing an apologetic glance to her mama.
"Hey baby... how was your first day, was your mama surprised?" Callie grinned excitedly down the phone.
"Hey mom. It was amazing. And yes, I'm sat at Joe's right now with her about to have my very first royalty Tequila" Sofia grinned.
"Tequila? Sofia, pass the phone to your mother!" Callie snapped down the phone angrily.
"Mom, I'm not going to do that" Sofia grimaced.
"Now Sofia, I'm not asking... pass it over or I will hang up and call her mobile" with a grimace Sofia handed the phone out to her mama with an apologetic smile before resting her head on the bar in shame.
"Arizona, what the hell... it's her first day and you are feeding her Tequila... she is trying to build a career, what the hell are you thinking" Callie yelled down the phone loud enough that Sofia could hear her word for word.
"Cal stop..." Arizona started before she was cut off.
"No! No, do not Cal me... she is a medical intern, this is serious and I won't have you ruining her career" Callie yelled down the phone, not caring about how irrational she was being or who she was being irrational with.
"Calliope Iphigenia, she is my daughter as much as she is yours and if I want to celebrate her coming home by sharing a Tequila with her, I will. Now talk to your daughter about her day and stop being a grade A bitch to me, goodbye" Arizona snapped between gritted teeth at her before handing the phone back to her daughter and downing the rest of her glass of wine before ordering a beer from Joe.
"Hey mom" Sofia said bashfully.
"I'm hanging up now but we will talk about this later, do not be getting drunk and messing up your future" Callie growled before hanging up.
"Wow, she's mad" Sofia sighed.
"She's uptight... what the hell happened to her" Arizona asked glancing at her daughter.
"She just want's me to do well so I can enjoy life later" Sofia sighed.
"Well you know what kiddo... you can have fun and focus on your career at the same time. I did it. Your mom did it. Your dad did it. Aunty Mer and Aunty Yang did LOTS of it, Uncle Derek, Aunty Teds, Uncle Owen, Aunty Miranda, Uncle Alex... all of us, we all sat in this exact bar and drank and danced and had fun and look where we are all now" Arizona grinned as she picked up her tequila and motioned to her daughters glass before chinking and throwing the shot down her throat.
Sofia watched with a smirk before following suit and grimacing at the taste of the alcohol. "Mama, this is awful!" Sofia whined after the shivers had stopped wracking her body.
"Yep... now eat your chips and let's talk before we do the next one" Arizona grinned when Sofia giggled at her.
"You're bad ass mama" Sofia grinned.
"So... where do I start... Your mom... she was the bad ass one, like amazing. I moved to Seattle and the first time I saw her she just... I mean... she was stunning, and incredible and so full of life. I had seen her around the hospital a few times, but we had never crossed paths and one night I came here for a Drink after work and saw her upset and she disappeared into the toilets, I walked into those toilets right over there and there was your mom stood in front of the mirror crying because she had broken up with someone, or more like someone has dumped her then vanished from her life to never be seen again... and she was so sad because she thought that no one would be interested in her, and I told her that she would have people lined up around the corner waiting for her when she was ready, and she scoffed and asked me if I could give her some of the names, and she was just so down on herself that I just couldn't stand seeing her so sad, so I stepped forward and I kissed her, and it wasn't anything mind blowing or magical, it was just this simple kiss that was just so beautiful and then I told her that she would know" Sofia watched her mama as she spoke noticing the defeated yet dreamy look in her mother's eye before the blonde broke from her reverie and motioned to Joe for another shooter each. When it arrived she chinked it with her daughter before shooting it back and placing it back on the bar.
"The next day she came through to peds to see me and asked me on a date, but I turned her down" Arizona admitted with a nostalgic smirk.
"What, why would you turn her down after YOU kissed HER?" Sofia asked in shock.
"Well... you see, I've always known and been comfortable with my sexuality, and I may have played the field a bit in my youth... But your mom, she was straight up until just before we met... the person she broke up with when she was crying, was this doctor who she kind of fell for, her first woman, and so when she asked me out she was really nervous and admitted she had only been with one woman, and at that time I was looking for something easy, and you don't get easy with a woman who is discovering her sexuality... and so I knocked her back" Arizona admitted with shame, glancing at her daughter to see if she was upset, but just found interest and intrigue written all over her face which looked more and more like Callie’s as each year passed.
"So what did you do, did you change your mind and ask her out?" Sofia asked excitedly.
"Yeah I did... but not before she walked up to me as I was stood right there..." Arizona pointed to a spot two meters away. "full of all the sass in the world and gave me this lecture on why I was wrong to turn her down and on all the things I would be missing out on by not accepting her date offer... right in front of my actual date for the night" Arizona grinned.
"Oh my god... no way! Mom really did that? I so can't imagine her doing something like that" Sofia chuckled.
"Sof, your mom was bad ass" Arizona laughed with a shake of her head at how much Callie had changed over the years for Sofia to be so shocked that she would do something like that.
"So then you asked her on a date?" Sofia guided full of intrigue as she picked at the bowl of cooling chips in front of her.
"Hell yes, how could I not. I mean one minute she's crying in the toilets and looking all adorable and pouty and sad, and the next minute she's asking me out and getting knocked back and instead of just taking the blow and crying some more over it, she struts in here and gives me this incredible speech about how amazing she is and how stupid I was to knock her back and I just had to ask her out, I had to take this amazing, mysterious woman out and find out more about her, I just had to" Arizona admitted with a playful smirk.
"So, then what happened?" Sofia asked as she hung off her mama's every word.
"The most incredible time of my life, we dated, we fell in love, we became the power couple that everyone in the hospital envied, and it was amazing, beautiful, incredible, mind blowing..." Arizona trailed off as she motioned Joe for another shooter.
"So what happened?" Sofia begged.
"I won a Carter Maddison and got offered an opportunity in Africa based on a project I had suggested two years prior, we decided to go together, but your mom didn't really want to go but said she would go for me but it was so obvious that she really, really didn't want to go and she was just trying to pretend to be happy because she wanted to make me happy... in the end I told her to stay and I walked away and I left her here in Seattle, I walked away from the love of my life and it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life... and while I was away you happened. And I came back three months into my three-year assignment because I just couldn't live without your mom" Arizona confessed as she grabbed the newest shooter and downed it.
"And I came back and I begged her to take me back, I begged; and I begged and I begged, and then she told me that she was pregnant with you... and at first I was shocked and horrified and... I never wanted kids Sof, I never wanted to be a mother... when your Uncle Tim died it changed who I was, and when your mom fell pregnant... this tiny person growing inside of your mom changed who I was. And I fell in love with you. And I fell in love with your heart beat and I fell in love with seeing you on the sonogram and I fell in love with this growing bump on your mom's stomach, and I fell in love with every single kick and hiccup, and then you were born and I fell in love with you even more, you were my beautiful baby and your mom, dad and I were just so, so in love with you and you brought so much happiness into our world" Arizona wiped a tear away.
"So what happened. I've asked momso many times why you broke up and she would never tell me, she just said you didn't love each other anymore and broke up but the way she looks when she says it, I just know there is something more… I know she's holding somwthing back from me" Sofia asked.
"I fucked up Sof. I ruined it all, it was all me and all my stupid fault" Arizona sobbed "when I lost my leg in the plane crash my life just spiraled out of control. And with losing your dad too at the same time... I was a mess. And I blamed your mom for losing my leg, even though she did it to save my life, I just couldn't see it at the time, I couldn't see past only having one leg" Arizona confessed. "She promised me she would do anything to save my leg… then she had to decide while I was on the table whether to risk the infection I had taking my life, which it almost certainly would have… or cutting the leg off and giving me a chance to watch my daughter grow up, giving you a chance to not lose two parents within a month… and at the time I just couldn't see it like that… All I could see was the most important person in my universe break a promise to me which left me disabled… it left me a shell of the person I used to be… well the crash did that, the leg was just a stupid visual reminder, and your mom making the decision to cut my leg of was the excuse I latched onto because everything in my life had changed and I didn't know how to cope with it"
"And well... we went through a lot of shit, and sometimes it was good but most times it was... just awful… I was awful and I put her through so much and eventually I ground her down and she couldn't take having me verbally abusing her and blaming her for everything... and then I made the single biggest mistake of my life. I fucked up so bad that both your mom and I could never forgive me, and your mom tried so hard to forgive me, she did, she was amazing and tried so hard to forgive me" Arizona rambled as she ordered her yet another shot.
"What did you do?" Sofia asked as she saw the tears rolling down her mama’s face.
"I slept with another woman. It was a one-time thing. I was stupid and I cheated on your mother and you and our… our family and I'm so, so sorry Sofia" Arizona sobbed when her daughter pulled her into an embrace and stroked her hair soothingly.
"And then while we were broken up I had a brief relationship with an intern, who then filed a complaint with HR about your mom mistreating her because your mom was jealous, and your mom ended up with a black mark against her otherwise sparkling clean name and it was all my fault. Not only did I mess up our relationship, I messed up our marriage, I messed up our family, I messed up our future and then I messed up her career too" Arizona confessed as she grabbed the Tequila and downed it.
"Shit" Sofia muttered sadly as she downed her own Tequila without breaking the embrace with her mother.
"We tried Sof, we both tried, but too much had happened, we were too damaged… individually and as a couple, there was no way to fix us and it was all my fault and I am so sorry that I destroyed your family, that I destroyed your chance of growing up with both your mothers... I'm so, so terribly sorry baby" Arizona sobbed.
"Hey mama come on, come on I don't blame you and I'm sure mom doesn't blame you... it sucked growing up having to live between New York and Seattle... but I survived it and I have two incredible mothers who I love with all of my heart who are absolute rock stars... I love you mama ok" Sofia sighed as she ordered one more tequila for the road before escorting her drunk and delirious mother back to her apartment before putting her in her bed, removing her leg and snuggling up into her.
She spent the whole night looking at the ceiling and running over all of the information she had learned that night. It certainly explained why her mom was so guarded now, it probably explained a lot of the arguments her mom and Penny had too. With a deep sigh, Sofia closed her eyes tightly and snuggled closer to her mama. Finally, with the comforting scent of her mother invading her senses she was able to fall into a fit filled sleep.