12 years ago, Sofia's mama left. Now age 14, she doesn't remember her and she doesn't know that her mom is bisexual. While cleaning she comes across an old box of photos from when her moms were together. AU, Mallie friendship, Calzona relationship eventually.


Come to me, my sweetest friend
Can you feel my heart again
I'll take you back where you belong
And this will be our favorite song.


Callie and Mark were out for the afternoon, and left Sofia with a list of chores to do on her day off. It wasn't for nothing, as they promised to take her to a water park with Zola. She had just finished cleaning the kitchen, the living room, all three bathrooms, and her own room before she moved onto her mom's room. Her parents slept in different rooms, and it took her years to figure it out. Her parents lived together, and loved each other, but they weren't together romantically. It was a bit unorthodox, but she'd lived like that her whole life, so it was normal to her.

She first dusted the dresser, lifting the picture frames and opening the jewelry box as always, out of curiosity. She found nothing new or shocking, so she moved on to the filing cabinet in the corner, short but wide, and covered in trinkets and more photos. In her dusting, she knocked a cheap little rock down, so she continued cleaning and figured she'd pick it up later. Sofia realized then that she had accidentally kicked the rock under the bed.

She cursed quietly, and got down on her hands and knees. She felt around for the rock, but came across what felt like a small box instead. She pulled it out and discovered that it was a small shoebox. Sofia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, her mom never stored anything under the bed. She grabbed the rock and put it back atop the filing cabinet and, finished cleaning, walked out of the room maturely.

Curiosity got the best of Sofia before she hit the hallway. She turned back around and yanked the box out from under the bed. She glanced out her mother's window and, seeing the driveway remained empty, sat on the bed and opened the box. On top, there were photos of Sofia with her mom and dad. They were mostly from when she was a newborn or a toddler, but there were a few from when she was in kindergarten.

She dug through to the bottom to the box, when she came across a pile of photos from when she was one or two, cradled in the arms of a blonde woman next to Callie and Mark, and they were all grinning widely at the camera. Another one from when she was two, the same blonde woman held her, and Callie was behind the two of them, arms wrapped around her and Callie was kissing the woman on the cheek. Sofia held no memories of thirs woman, and as hard as she thought back to the fuzzy memories of age two, she couldn't recall her.

One picture had the woman sitting in her mom's lap and Sofia sat, a grinning toddler, in her lap. Mark sat behind the three of them, his arm around Callie's shoulders and Sofia's lap.

There was a collage at the very bottom, dusty and a little ripped and torn around the edges. There were three photos in this collage, and Sofia's stomach fell.

The first picture was Callie and the woman in wedding dresses, hands intertwined, cheeks pressed together, grinning at the camera.

The second was nearly the same as the first, except the two woman were kissing each other, and she could see her father in the background, smiling and clapping.

The third made her want to cry a little. The two women were still in their dresses, but her grandfather was with them, with her dad and two other people Sofia assumed were the blonde woman's parents. Sofia was held in Mark's arms, only a newborn. A few other people were there, her mom's friends from the hospital, she remembered.

She heard the front door open and then, a few seconds later, close again. Sofia jumped up, grabbed the small collage and shut the box, shoving it back under the bed and dashed down the hall to her room. She had just barely shoved the pictures in her desk as Callie walked in her room.

"The house looks great, Sof. You ready to go pick up Zola in about an hour or so?" Sofia nodded silently, and Callie smiled and walked out the door. Sofia checked that her mom was gone before pulling the pictures out again. She stared at the one of the two women kissing, and Sofia felt a little hurt. She wasn't ignorant, she knew that people could be attracted to the same sex, but she was confused why her mom had never told her about it. Besides, she'd seen her mom go on dates with guys all the time.

She tried to push the pictures out of her mind, and she walked downstairs and turned on Dance Moms in a futile effort to forget about that box.

The sleepover with Zola had gone great, but the picture hadn't left Sofia's mind once. She began to watch her mother's every move, every social interaction with women. A handshake, a friendly smile, a playful punch. Sofia admonished herself for overanalyzing everything, as she so often did. Callie, however, was completely oblivious to Sofia's behavior. She and Mark carried on with life as usual. Little did the know that Sofia was pulling out those pictures every night and staring at them for hours. She would search through her memories as hard as she possibly could, but the mysterious blonde was nowhere in her memories.

One night, she was tired of sleepless nights of trying to remember the woman, she decided just to ask her mom about her. She laid there for another hour, contemplating how to introduce such a sensitive topic. She finally decided to just come out and ask at breakfast before school, so she could run if she needed to.

"Hey mom?" Sofia asked as she ate a bowl of cheerios the next morning.

"Yeah honey?" Callie asked as she darted around the kitchen for various items that made no sense to Sofia.

"When I was cleaning your room, I found a box under your bed." Callie froze. "I didn't mean to snoop, Mama, but I found this." She said, pulling out the pictures. Callie took the pictures Sofia was holding out and felt her heart drop into her stomach horribly.

"Who is that blonde woman, mom? I saw a bunch of other pictures of me and her, when I was a baby. I've tried so hard to remember her, but I can't."

Callie cleared her throat loudly as Sofia finished her cereal and got up to put the bowl in the sink. "It's time for school, Sof. Go get your backpack and Mark will take you. I need to get to the hospital."

"But mom-" Sofia protested, but it was no use. Callie had already left the room to go find Mark.

The ride to school was almost silent. The only noise other than the engine was Sofia's anxious tapping. She still had the photos in her backpack, and they felt like they where weighing her down. They entered the drop off line that was always extremely long, so they had a good 10 minutes alone before they got to the beginning.

She sighed heavily, and Mark gave her a quizzical look. She pulled out the pictures and before she showed them to him, she looked at him with big puppy eyes.

"Daddy, can I ask you something?" Sofia asked.

"Sure thing, Sof," Mark said, and she too a deep breath.

"Who is this?" She asked, showing him the pictures." He immediately paled.

Mark grabbed the picture and Sofia sank in her seat triumphantly, but then she shot up in outrage when Mark sighed and handed her the photo back. "We'll talk after school."

"But DAD.." Sofia protested. She wasn't a whiner; Callie had instilled it in her that whining was annoying. But it was useless; they'd reached the front of the line.

Sofia stuffed the picture in her neon green backpack and got out of the car without the kiss on the cheek that Mark usually got. Mark sat there stationary in the car, completely bewildered. Cars behind him honked aggressively and he snapped out of his trance. He couldn't help but worry about how she'd take the news.


Sofia slammed her binder down on the desk in her biology class aggresively, causing Zola to jump. They were in 9th grade now, and had always been together since kindergarten. Zola said hello, but Sofia didn't even offer a smile. Zola frowned and looked away, hurt and confused. She tried to think if she did anything recently to upset Sofia, but nothing came to mind.

"Are you okay, Sof?" But Sofia never got a chance to answer, as her biology teacher entered the room.

Biology was their last class of the day, and all Sofia could think about was that picture of the woman. It had haunted her and she couldn't think about anything else all day.

"Good afternoon, everyone. We have a special guest here today, all the way from Johns Hopkins Hospital. She's the head of pediatric surgery, please welcome Dr. Arizona Robbins." The class clapped halfheartedly. Sofia was still staring at her binder when a beautiful blonde woman walked into the class. She was limping slightly, wearing scrubs and her white lab coat, and carrying a book. The immature guys in the class whistled, and the teacher shot them a 'cut it out' look. They instantly grew silent.

Sofia looked up from her binder, bored, and she had to stop herself from gasping loudly. She glanced at the pictures laying in her backpack, and back at the woman at the front of the class. The blonde mystery woman from the pictures was at the front of the class. She had the same delicate blonde curls resting on her shoulders, the same dimples and magic smile. Sofie felt her heart sink into her stomach.

"Good afternoon guys!" The blonde said in a perky voice that absolutely matched that of her smile. "My name's Dr. Arizona Robbins, and I'm an attending pediatric surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Your teacher and I were good friends back in college, so I thought I'd to her a favor and come out to tell you guys about the life of a surgeon."

The class looked half bored, and half genuinely curious. Sofia muttered a few choice words under her breath and the teacher looked at her shocked. Sofia never cursed in front of teachers.

"Miss Torres, what was that about?" She asked, and Arizona went a little pale when she heard the teen being called. Sofia shrugged.

"Does anyone have any questions?" Arizona asked, trying to cover up what Sofia had said.

A girl in the back of the class with bright red hair raised her hand. The teacher called on her, and she eagerly sat up. "What's it like being a surgeon?"

Sofia didn't hear the answer. She was too preoccupied with doodling on her binder and cussing Arizona out in her head.

Arizona answered a dozen questions from kids in the class, and, by the end, Sofia was ready to beat her own head in with a baseball bat. She counted the seconds before the afternoon bell rang, before she could finally confront Mark again.

"Excuse me, I have a note for Sofia Sloan-Torres." Arizona stopped talking, and Sofia looked up, worried. She sighed in relief. The office aide had a red note in her hand, which was known as a change-of-transportation note. Sofia read it; she and everyone else was used to her getting them. Because both her parents were surgeons, she was used to having to go home with Meredith or one of their other friends. Today she was to be picked up at the front office, and she almost groaned when she remembered that she had a dentist appointment.

The rest of the class passed pretty quickly, Arizona having them doing a questionnaire on how good they'd do being a surgeon. Sofia already knew she was going to become a surgeon; she'd had enough hands on experience, she was basically a surgical resident.

Totally.

Arizona left the class five minutes before the end of class, and when the bell rang Sofia headed to the office, she nearly got trampled a few times.

When she got to the office, she was surprised to see both Callie and Mark; they rarely had enough time to both take off work at the same time. She said hello to the secretary, whom she was good friends with. Mark grabbed her backpack and Callie smiled warmly. They both knew she hated dentists.

At that same time, the principal walked out of his office, shaking hands with Arizona. Arizona and Callie's eyes met at exactly the same time and both of them paled. Mark tried to guide Sofia out of the office, but she didn't move. Arizona and Callie held a strong, unbroken eye contact, and both women looked about ready to cry. The principal cleared his throat, and the secretary walked out of the office, leaving the four of them alone.

"Sof, Mark, go wait in the car." Callie said, not looking away from the cerulean orbs in the blonde's head.

"No!" Sofia yelled, causing everyone including herself, to jump. "I think I deserve an explanation!" When nobody moved, she pulled the pictures out of her bag, and Arizona finally let a few tears escape. Callie was full on crying a this point and Mark looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Sofia yelled, throwing the pictures at the blonde. Mark cringed at the loudness and language but remained silent. Arizona caught the pictures and looked at them, now fully crying too.

"Sofia, you've grown up so much. You've grown into such a beautiful young woman. I haven't seen you since you were two."

Callie scoffed at this. "Well we all know who's fault that is." Arizona bowed her head, and Sofia's eyes hardened. They still weren't telling her anything.

"Who are you?" Sofia said quietly.

"She's just an ignorant ego-maniacal woman who didn't have the balls to tell her own daughter goodbye when she decided to pick up her life and move across the country." Callie tried to walk away but Arizona grabbed her arm.

"Callie, please let me talk." Callie froze at Arizona's touch. Sofia watched with rapt attention.

"I knew that, I understood that I would never truly be Sofia's mother. Or her parent, for that matter. That was you and Mark. I wasn't her mother. I couldn't take knowing that, so I left. I got a job and Hopkins, and I left."

Callie and Arizona were both sobbing uncontrollably at this point, and Arizona grabbed her arm.

"Callie I still regret leaving. It gives me so much pain, you have no idea." Callie clearly lost all will power she had and pulled Arizona in for a hug, burying her head in the crook of her neck. Sofia stood there, utterly confused, but Mark smiled.

"No matter how far away from each other they are, they always seem to find a way back to each other."


Come to me with secrets bare
I'll love you more so don't be scared
And when we're old and near the end
We'll go home and start again


Thanks for reading this piece of crap.