Timeline: This takes place sometime in the spring of the 8th (current as of this posting) season. Although it's really not all that important

Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. Shonda and company do. I'm not making any money from this. I'll put them back more or less in one piece when I'm done.

Chapter One

Callie smiled broadly as she watched Sofia start to pull herself up to a wobbly standing position by the couch. "I think she'll do it this time," she whispered to Arizona, who was sitting on the floor with her, holding her hand tightly in excited anticipation.

Arizona's laughter was quiet, as was the wonder in her voice. "She's so much further along than she should be."

"She's got three overachievers for parents. She better be further along," Callie replied. She was going to say something else, but Sofia was just getting up to a full standing position. "Come on, Sweetie," she said loudly enough that Sofia would hear her encouragement, but not enough to distract her.

Sofia's little fists were tightly wound into the couch's upholstery as she finally got her legs extended. She wobbled back and forth on her legs but stayed upright. The little girl slowly turned her head to look at her mommies with big brown eyes full of uncertainty.

"Yay, Sofia," Arizona said with soft applause, which Callie quickly joined in. This reaction from her mothers caused Sofia to giggle as she continued to shift her weight back and forth on unsteady legs.

Then Mark's loud voice rang out as he came out of the nursery. "Can we just get rid of…"

Sofia's head shot up at the sound of her father's voice, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the floor. There was a momentary pause as the baby obviously tried to figure out what happened, and then she erupted into tears.

"Bravo, Mark, she just stood for the first time and you scared her. She'll be scarred for life now," Arizona said with just a hint of kidding in her voice.

"She stood?" Mark asked, his voice full of the same wonder both woman had had earlier. He went over immediately and scooped Sofia up in his arms to swing her around, which served to turn the crying into a fit of laughter. "You stood!" Mark's pride was written all over his face.

It brought a huge smile to Callie's face as well. "Yup," she said as she scrambled to her feet. She held out a hand to Arizona to help pull her to a standing position before going over to give Sofia a kiss on the cheek. "Our little girl is growing up so fast."

Arizona nuzzled at Sofia's belly. "She really is." She then looked up and wrinkled her nose. "She's also a champion pooper and she needs a change." She looked up at Mark with a raised eyebrow.

"On it." He started toward the nursery. "It's the least I can do after scarring her for life, huh?"

Callie shook her head in amusement as she pulled Arizona in for a warm hug. "I can't believe how fast she's growing up."

"I know," Arizona said as she tightly hugged her wife. "She'll be toddling around before long. We better start baby proofing everything."

Callie laughed as an image of Arizona, screwdriver in hand, putting in baby-protective hardware came to mind. There was something both amusing and wildly alluring in that image. Callie plopped down on the couch, pulling Arizona down so that they were quickly snuggling together, arms and legs entwined. "She won't be a baby for much longer."

"No, she won't." There was a wistful quality to Arizona's voice that was punctuated by a quiet sigh.

"We should start thinking about getting pregnant again." The words flew out of Calliope's mouth before she could think better of it.

Arizona's head rose up and there was a deep furrow on her brow. "You know you should wait at least a year, probably more. And Addison said—"

"I know what Addison said." Callie didn't like to consider the fact that the damage and scarring from the emergency C-section could mean she might never carry another baby to term, or even be able to get pregnant. She sighed quietly, weighing whether she should press the issue. As usual, her mouth started before her brain could finish deciding to keep it shut. "You could carry our next baby."

Arizona sat up stiffly. "What?" She quickly shook her head. "No, I…just no."

Callie pulled back and looked at Arizona as if she had grown a second head. "Why not? You love being a mom."

"A mom, yes," Arizona cut it. "I do love that. But I have no desire to be a baby oven."

"A what?" Anger started to flare in Callie. "Is that what you think having a baby is?" When Arizona looked away instead of answering, Callie tried a different tactic. "Come on, how cute would a little you be? All blonde hair and blue eyes and those dimples." Just the thought of it made Callie gush with the potential cuteness.

"There's no guarantee the baby would look like me. It would depend on the father…"

"You and Mark would have—"

Arizona cut her off by standing up. "Me and Mark? Really?"

Callie rose to her feet and tried to temper her voice. "I just thought that if I can't have any more kids, it'd be nice if our children were biologically related. That way, if there are any medical issues, they might be able to—"

"Don't," Arizona said quickly to cut her off. "Look, I admit you were right about us having children. It's something I love. I would never change that. But I just don't want to be the one to have them. Especially not with the help of Mark's sperm." She raised her head toward the nursery door and said louder. "No offense, Mark."

"None taken," Mark called from behind the nursery door.

Arizona shook her head toward his voice before turning back to Callie. "No. No to Mark's sperm. That's just gross." She shuddered visually. "And no to a baby in my womb. My womb will remain babyless. If you can't have any more, we'll adopt. There are a ton of kids out there that need a good family and we're a good family. We're a great family."

Callie smirked. "Because that worked out so well for our straight friends. You know the uphill battle we'd face as a lesbian couple if we want to adopt." She raised a hand to stop Arizona's protest. "Not impossible, but difficult. But, seriously, what's the problem? Don't you want Sofia to have a sibling? I mean you had Timothy—"

"Stop right there!" Arizona's face had gone bright red. She took two quick breaths before saying through her clenched teeth, "You do not get to use him in this argument, or ever. Not at all." She turned and went over to the coat rack to collect her jacket. "I'm done talking about this. Or arguing or whatever this is." She pulled her coat on and grabbed her purse. "I've got to get to work," she said with still too much anger in her voice before storming out of the apartment.

Callie just stood there, her mouth agape, as she stared at the door. "What the hell just happened?"

"Your wife doesn't want my champion swimmers anywhere near her girl parts," Mark answered from the doorway to the nursery.

Callie glared over at her best friend. "Just be quiet. And quit eavesdropping." She looked back at the door, as if Arizona would suddenly reappear, even though Callie knew full well that would not happen, not when Arizona's temper was flaring. "We'll work this out," she said to herself. She sighed as she turned back to Mark. "I mean she came around about having kids, right? She just needs time. She'll reconsider. She will." She nodded, trying to convince herself.

Mark nodded supportively. "Hope so. And I'm ready to play my part when she does. Did you envision us going old school or—"

"Mark!" Callie tried to be mad, but she knew he was just joking. "The only old school you'll get is a pile of vintage Playboys and a specimen cup. For either of us."

Mark's grin grew as his eyes sparkled. "Turkey baster it is." He laughed and then got a little more serious. "I'll get Sofia to daycare. You go enjoy a shower before work. It'll help." He quickly darted back into the nursery.

Callie grunted in frustration. "Oven! Turkey baster! This isn't Thanksgiving dinner. This is our family." She shook her head, trying to chase away the anger that was still bubbling through her. It didn't work. With a heavy sigh, she turned toward their bedroom. "I got you to want to date me when you wouldn't. I got you to want kids when you swore you didn't want any," she said with more resolve than she actually felt. "I'll get you to want this. I will. This'll be a piece of cake compared to all of that." She nodded and went to get ready for work and hopefully a more civil discussion with Arizona about their future.

"We got a heart."

Arizona blinked at Cristina's voice, thoughts of her fight with Callie being chased away by the chart being shoved in her face. "Where?"

"Spokane."

Arizona nodded. "That's cutting it close. Do we have a plane?"

"Owen is setting it up right now. We've got a car waiting downstairs already." Just then her phone rang and, after glancing at it, she put it up to her ear. "Hi, Owen." She listened for a few moments before saying, "Will do." She hung up and then turned back to Arizona. "Slight change of plans. Weather could be an issue if we don't get a move on. We need to be in the air within thirty minutes or the charter company won't risk it. So we're going by helicopter to the airport. We need to get up to the pad ASAP."

Arizona's brain was shocked into motion by the sudden change of plans. "I wanted to tell the Johnsons myself."

Cristina shook her head as she started to turn to walk away. "Call Karev and have him do it. We've got to collect what we need and move. Now."

Arizona sighed with a look down the hall to the Johnsons' room. She would rather have talked to them herself, but it was more important to get the heart their unborn baby needed. "Page Dr. Karev," she told the nurse sitting behind the desk. "Have him speak with the Johnsons. He can get details from the chief." She waited only long enough for the nurse to nod before turning to follow Cristina.

Callie walked up to the nurses' station to find Alex going over a chart. "Have you seen my wife?"

"Huh?" he asked as he looked up at her. "Oh, hi Torres. Yeah, she and Cristina are leaving to get a heart from a baby donor in Spokane. I think they're taking a helo. You could see if they've left yet if you need to talk to her, but the chief said they were in a hurry."

Callie frowned, resigning herself to not speaking with Arizona in person, at least not for quite a while. Instead she pulled out her phone and sent off a quick text message.

Hey. Really sorry about this morning. Can we sit and talk about it like old married people tonight? I promise to really listen. Love you.

Karev started to walk away and stopped with a look on his face like he was surprised to see her still standing there. "It's gonna be pretty late before they're done with the transplant. Hope it wasn't important."

"Yeah, I figured that one out on my own, Karev," she said, feeling more and more resigned to spending a long day on edge. There was nothing worse than having a fight and not making up. She started to walk away when her beeper went off. She glanced down at it and saw that she was being paged to the ER. With a sigh she said to no one in particular, "No rest for the weary." She started briskly down the hallway toward the elevators. At least a page to the ER usually meant she'd get to crack some bones. That'd help pass the time.

Arizona sat staring out of the plane's window, but she wasn't really seeing what was out there as the ground passed by below the plane. It was driving her crazy that she hadn't had any time to answer Callie's text before climbing on board the small personal jet, but at least it had calmed some of the lingering irritation she had been feeling since storming out that morning. Of course Cristina's repeated questions about the procedure didn't help the feeling of anticipation. She just wanted to be on the ground so that she could call Callie and let her know that they'd work it out, one way or the other. "Cristina, you have it down, okay? And both Teddy and I will be there to help. Don't worry."

"I'm not worried," Cristina said from across the small aisle. "It's just that when I put a pediatric heart transplant on my bucket list, I figured it'd never happen. And especially not with a newborn. I'm excited."

"She's not even technically a newborn yet. Karev's going to have to lead the C-section once we confirm we've got the heart." Arizona still couldn't feel the excitement she should be feeling for Cristina. She liked the budding surgeon, even more so after all she had risked and endured to save Callie's life. And she knew she would normally be excited at the prospect of such a remarkable surgery and the chance to give a family the gift of a healthy baby, but that damned fight still weighed heavily on her. "Callie wants me to get pregnant," she blurted out without thinking about it ahead of time.

Cristina was obviously taken by surprise at the subject change, but she quickly adjusted. "And you don't." It was said with just a hint of question, but way more declaration.

"No, I don't." It was a little painful to admit really, mostly because she didn't really know why she was so adamant about it. She had never really thought about it or taken the time to look at the pros and cons. She just had this gut feeling that it wasn't right for her. "I wish I knew why I don't."

Cristina tilted her head thoughtfully. "You end up giving up a lot of control over your life and your body. It's a huge commitment. Do you even want more kids?"

That question immediately made Arizona smile. "Yes." There really was no doubt in her mind she wanted more kids. Maybe not the ten she had once told Callie they would have, but certainly one or two more at least. Sofia needed siblings and Arizona needed to see their daughter enjoy that bond as she grew up. She suddenly chuckled. "Maybe I just need a little time. Every time I've said no to something with regard to Callie, I've ended up saying yes. And it's always ended up being the best decision I've ever made. I wouldn't give up being a mother for anything. Not for anything."

Cristina shrugged. "I could never carry a kid around all the time. Then again, I don't want to raise one either. At least you want that."

Arizona nodded. "I probably just need time. Or maybe we'll get lucky and Callie can get pregnant again. She really loved it last time." She looked out of the window again at the barren landscape. It was really quite beautiful with the mountains and trees all covered with a blanket of late winter snow. It may be beautiful, but I'd rather see it from the ground. There's just too far to fall from up here. She looked again at the ground and realized it really wasn't all that far down. "We're flying kind of low," she said quietly to herself. She glanced up at the sky, but only saw a few scattered clouds, so a storm or cloud cover couldn't explain why they were flying so low. She turned to Cristina. "Does it look to you like we're a little low?"

Cristina looked out of the window on her side of the plane. "Holy shit," she exclaimed before quickly looking at the curtain that blocked them from the cockpit. "Hey, pilot, why are we so low?"

When there was no reply, Arizona suddenly got scared. "Pilot? Hello?" She waited only a few seconds before ripping off her seat belt and vaulting toward the cabin. "Something's not right," she said to Cristina as she scrambled down the narrow aisle.

She could hear Cristina starting to follow her as she pushed the curtain aside to get to the cockpit. The pilot was slumped at the controls, all too still. Instinct led Arizona to reach for a pulse as she looked out the front window to gather as much information as she could. The mountains were looming ahead with a carpet of snow-covered trees reaching up to a set of craggy peaks. If we don't climb, we'll never make it over them. We're gonna crash.

"Shit," she heard Cristina say from behind her.

"He's dead," Arizona said as she climbed into the empty co-pilot's seat. "We need to gain some altitude," she said more to herself than to Cristina.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Cristina's voice was high with panic.

"Not really. My dad learned to fly a few years back, but I never did," Arizona answered as she tried to gain some understanding from the various controls. They were all modern and shiny and confusing. "Make sure he's not touching anything," she said absently as she reached out to grab the controls with sweaty palms. "You don't know how to fly, do you?" she finally asked with a quick glance at Cristina.

"No," Cristina answered as she reached down to pull the pilot's feet off the pedals.

"Okay," Arizona said as she tried to vainly still her pounding heart. "Pull back to go up, right? That's what you see in the movies."

"I think so," Cristina said as she leaned over Arizona's shoulder. "Those mountains are getting close. Too close."

Arizona shook her head. "I knew there was a reason I hated flying," she muttered through clenched teeth. An image of Calliope lying on the hood of Arizona's SUV entered her mind. "Go put your seat belt on." She started to pull back on the yoke, trying to get a feel for how much was enough to climb.

"You first," Cristina said as she scrambled around Arizona's waist to get the lap belt fastened. When there was a light click, she put her hand on Arizona's shoulder for a split second. "You can do this."

"I hope so, now go get buckled in." She pulled back more and felt some relief as the nose of the plane pitched upward. "Okay, this might just work," she muttered quietly. She shot a quick glance back to make sure Cristina was no longer standing there before looking at the mountains ahead. "I really should have paid attention to all the flying talk, Dad," she muttered to herself.

A few seconds into the climb she felt the controls start to shake in her hands. At first, she figured it was her own nerves until the shuddering increased. Her eyes glanced over the controls, trying to piece together what information she could glean. She noticed their air speed was falling. At least she thought that's what that reading meant. She looked around, trying to figure out how to increase their speed so they could fight gravity. In the meantime, she kept a steady grasp on the yoke, continuing to pull back on it. It was the only hope they had.

An alarm suddenly sounded as the plane's nose started to tilt down. "Shit," she muttered as she pulled back harder on the controls. The yoke was no longer shaking, but now it didn't seem to have any impact whatsoever on the direction the plane was headed. They were now headed down—down toward the mountains, and the trees, and the late winter snow. "We're going to crash," she whispered as the realization hit her.

She was furious. She had so much to do. There were lives to save, so many tiny humans that she could help. But more importantly there were people to love—Callie, Sofia, the kids they'd never have together, the grandchildren she'd never meet. She and Callie were supposed to grow old together. They had pledged their lives to one another and they were going to spend it together, for years and years and years.

Arizona tried to conjure a picture of her family years in the future as it was supposed to be. They'd both be gray and wrinkled, and Callie would still be the most beautiful woman in the world. And their kids would be all grown up—kids that looked like younger versions of each of them—now with families of their own. Their lives would be a rainbow of colors and joys and they'd be so happy and content. They'd have lived life to the fullest and together. Always together.

"No, dammit," she cried out as she pushed the stick away in frustration. The trees were getting closer, with the mountains sprouting up behind them. Time seemed to stretch out as the plane seemed to pick up speed during its descent. Arizona shook her head. "No, I won't give up. I won't." She grabbed at the yoke and pulled back on it, trying to find the middle ground between too much and not enough. It had worked before, at least for a bit. Maybe, just maybe, it would work again, if she could just get it right. It had to.

And it did. The nose started to level out and she could feel that the yoke was controlling the plane again. Slowly, she pulled back more, hoping beyond hope that there was time to climb high enough to avoid the trees, to climb the mountains. She had a heart to harvest, a baby to save, a wife to make up with and love with all her soul. And decisions, very important decisions, that needed to be made, that could give them that amazing family she had foreseen. And she knew in that split second that she wanted that vision. She wanted to carry their child, to have a family that reflected them both, to know the joy of bringing life into the world.

"Arizona?" Cristina's panicked voice broke through her thoughts.

Even though the plane was slowly climbing, the ground under them was rising faster than the plane and the trees were getting closer and closer. They weren't going to clear them. There just wasn't time. It's not fair! "Hold on!" was all she had time to yell out before the deafening crunch of metal and wood erupted around her. The cockpit windshield shattered against branches and wood as they flew the last few feet into the towering trees on the mountain side.

I love you, Sofia. I love you, Calliope. Always and forever. I'll love you always and forever.

And then she was thrown forward against the seatbelt as the plane came to a sudden and violent halt against the mountain. And the pain rushed over her, ripping into her arm and slamming into her head, crushing her into a sudden blackness that she couldn't escape.