would never understand her little sister's charisma. While sometimes it could be over-bearing and come off as overly-excitable, it was perfect in this situation. Calypso was talking the man's ear off so much that it wasn't even awkward for Daisy.

"I love spaghetti." Calypso commented, her mouth full of the stuff as she spoke.

"Calypso." Daisy caught the girl's attention, giving her a look and shaking her head. Calypso seemed to understand what she meant because she immediately closed her mouth, knowing that her sister was incredibly stern about talking with her mouth full.

Mark noted that Daisy scolded her sister a whole lot. That was really the only time she ever spoke. She seemed incredibly timid, and she didn't really like talking. He tried to start up conversations, but each time seemed like a major failure, so he focused on the younger one instead. She was full of energy and loved answering all of his questions despite the wary looks her sister was giving.

"Calypso, huh?" Mark commented. "Interesting name."

"It's my middle name, but I go by it because I like it better." Calypso said happily as she continued to twirl her spaghetti. "My first name is Violet."

"Violet? Violet and Daisy?" Mark couldn't help but grin a little. "Your parents were into flowers or something?"

Mark couldn't help but notice the way that Daisy stiffened at the mention of her parents. They had clearly hit a sensitive topic for the girl.

But Calypso only nodded happily, not seeming to so much as think twice about the mention of her parents. "Mhm. Daisy said that Mommy used to have bouquets all over the house."

Mark couldn't help but note the Daisy said part, as if Calypso herself wasn't old enough to experience a memory of her mother.

The thought made Mark frown, and Calypso's words seemed to have made Daisy even more upset.

Yet before Mark could even comment, a knock sounded at the door, and Mark quickly stood up to see who was there. He swung it open to reveal two of his closest friends as well as two of the most annoying people he knew.

"I brought wine." Arizona said as soon as the door opened, a glass bottle in her hand. She looked exhausted, and that was apparent in the way that she stifled a yawn. "Peds was a nightmare today. I do not need to see anymore children."

Arizona walked inside past Mark, her eyes immediately falling on the two girls at the dinner table.

"Oh. Children." She said dryly, looking to Mark for explanation.

"Children?" Callie questioned, peeking behind where Mark was blocking the doorway, her eyes immediately widening. "Oh my god, they look petrified! Did you kidnap them?"

Arizona gasped, like the thought hadn't even crossed her mind, but it all made sense now. She turned to look at the two kids. "Blink twice if you need help."

Daisy and Calypso were both incredibly confused, and Daisy would be lying if she said that she wasn't overwhelmed. The random blonde woman and her jet-black-haired friend were loud, and the noise was making her nervous.

Arizona pointed her polished finger at Calypso, looking over at her wife in urgency as she spoke hurriedly. "The little one blinked twice. Callie, the little one blinked twice."

Callie began to panic, reaching over to punch Mark's arm, the man letting out a groan. "When I said I would support you through everything, that excluded kidnapping!"

"I didn't kidnap anyone!" Mark groaned, rubbing his sore arm. "Jesus, you two are ruthless."

Callie frowned, looking a little confused, and Arizona rubbed her eyes tiredly. Mark figured it was the sixteen hour hospital shifts that they were just getting off of that was clouding their judgment.

"Then...why the children?" Arizona asked in confusion, as if kidnapping was the only possible explanation for why Mark Sloan had children in his apartment.

"They're mine." Mark explained, Callie cocking her head to the side.

"Do you know who the mother is?" She asked, giving the children another look-over.

"No, not...not mine mine. Mine as in...fostering."

The looks on the two women's faces was exactly the reason Mark had been keeping his motives a secret the past couple months. He hadn't told anyone, he knew they would all try to talk him out of it.

Or...he hadn't told anyone except for Jackson. Jackson Avery was his guy, he would tell that boy his soul, and many around the hospital speculated they would marry each other if they could.

"Jackson thought it was a great idea." Mark pointed out, only earning himself eye-rolls. They were right, though. If Mark said that the Earth was flat, Jackson would agree with him. Jackson's stamp of approval didn't necessarily make it a great idea.

Arizona frowned, looking over at Callie as they shared a look, both clearly wondering if this had anything to do with Lexie.

It did, truthfully.

The depression he'd endured in the last year was so bad he wished he had died in that plane crash.

He felt like he was stuck in a permanent Groundhog Day. It was the same day over and over again.

Wake up, go to work, face the same eyebrow lift, an occasional face reconstruction every now and then, go home.

The life of a plastic surgeon was never-ending. But Mark quickly found that the life of a plastic surgeon was lonely without Lexie Grey. He felt tired all the time, and he did nothing.

That's what it always was, a cycle of doing nothing with his life. He wanted some sort of change, some sort of accountability in his life. Lexie had always dreamed of fostering kids, he liked to think that she'd be proud of him.

Granted...he'd been expecting one rather than two. But the oldest one was so timid it really was like there was only one kid here. He would be fine, it would be easy enough. He was just a legal babysitter, that's what he saw his role as.

Arizona didn't understand it at all. They'd all lost things in the plane crash. Limbs, for instance. It was rough, sure, but that didn't make Arizona feel the need to go on a whim and start fostering orphans.

Her wife seemed to take a different approach to the situation, smiling warmly at the two girls as she stepped into the apartment. "I'm Callie."

The younger of the two girls beamed. "I'm Caly too! Er...Calypso, but sometimes people call me Caly too!"

The six-year-old was far too excited about the similarity in names, and Callie couldn't help but smile a bit. The kid was cute for sure, and her enthusiasm was endearing.

"And this is Arizona." Callie introduced the blonde woman, who offered the little girl a forced smile. She was still uneasy about this whole thing.

"Like the state." Calypso sounded proud of herself for remembering such information. "That's where Daisy and I are from. But then we moved here. We flew on a big airplane, it was awesome!"

Daisy hated how much information her little sister was giving out. Calypso always had the tendency to give out too much information too quickly, and Daisy wished she would just stop.

But the oldest of the two couldn't help but notice the way that Mark and the woman named Arizona cringed when Calypso described the airplane.

Daisy wondered if they had a phobia of planes or something, maybe they had had a bad experience. Turbulence, maybe. Turbulence was scary.

"What's this one's name?" Arizona asked curiously as she motioned over to Daisy, eager to get the conversation off of airplanes.

Daisy flushed a bit at the unwanted attention, her head hung low. Before she could pathetically give her name though, her little sister beat her to it.

"Her name's Daisy." Calypso offered helpfully. "Daisy's my sister."

"Calypso." Daisy mumbled. To everyone, it just sounded like an indistinguishable mumble, but Calypso understood Daisy. Daisy wanted her to stop.

But it's not Calypso's fault! Talking to people makes her happy. She would never understand why her older sister was so against her speaking to anyone. Daisy had to stop being so closed off, it doesn't help anyone.

"Daisy and Calypso." Callie nodded in approval. "I like it."

Arizona eyed the spaghetti on the table, looking over to Mark. "Did you make that?"

"I did." Mark nodded. "Maybe if you had a second to stop critiquing me, I would offer you some."

"Stop crying, I brought you wine." Arizona groaned, putting the bottle on the counter. She took off her coat, getting a plate out of the cupboard and helping herself. "I'm starving."

Daisy wouldn't dream of ever being so forward in someone else's house. But Mark didn't seem to even care that Arizona had made herself right at home. Daisy figured they must be pretty good friends.

"Spaghetti is my favorite too." Calypso said excitedly, earning herself a genuine grin from Arizona.

Arizona loved kids, and she was good with them too, being a pediatric surgeon and all.

She leaned in close to Calypso like she was sharing a secret. "Have you ever seen Heelys before?"

Calypso's eyes widened in amazement at the thought of the shoes with wheels in the back. "You have Heelys? Heelys are the coolest."

"Yup, I like her." Arizona nodded in approval at the girl, as if the Heelys question would make or break her like for the girl.

Most people chastised Arizona's Heelys, and her wife always made fun of her for wearing the silly shoes. But whenever she did find someone that loved her shoes, it was an automatic stamp of approval.

While Calypso was the chattiest little thing ever, Callie couldn't help but notice that Daisy was the polar opposite.

"She's quiet." Callie commented, only meaning to talk to Mark. But being so quiet meant that Daisy was able to observe everything around her, and she slightly looked up at that comment.

"I know, we've got to change that." Mark agreed.

Daisy was just a tiny bit annoyed. There wasn't anything wrong with being a little reserved, and she wasn't sure why these people saw her personality as such a negative.

"Mhm. Daisy's shy." Calypso said quite loudly as she inserted herself into the conversation, causing Daisy to partly die inside when all attention was shifted to her.

There became a lull in the room. Daisy thought maybe they expected her to say something, but they were crazy if they dare thought she would speak to them.

Instead she shot her sister a look, warning her to cut it out. At this point, Daisy didn't even care if Calypso talked the ears off these people, it was evident she wouldn't be able to stop the chatterbox. But Daisy didn't want any attention on her, and she wished her little sister would stop talking about her.

Arizona cleared her throat, picking up on the twelve-year-old's discomfort as she attempted to change the course of the conversation. "So...back to Heelys. Have you ever owned a pair, Calypso?"

Daisy frowned, focusing down on her barely-touched plate while the blonde woman talked to her sister about shoes with wheels. Daisy did find it a bit odd that an adult woman was so in love with Heelys, but to each their own.

As usual, Calypso was like a star in the spotlight. She chatted so happily, being as charismatic and perky as ever.

And as usual, Daisy was just there. Quiet as ever, sitting in the shadows as she was sure no one even noticed her presence.

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side note: calypso is pronounced kuh-lip-sow

just clearing that up ;)

have a good day!