A/N: Back from Miami, two shades darker, but ready with a chapter. I was waiting for Hurricane Irene but she never came. Sorry to the folks up north who had to endure her wrath.
"Holy crap," Owen yelled. "What a relief!" He stared at the sticks, all indicating that Cristina was not pregnant.
Cristina started to laugh in total glee. "Let's go celebrate. Let's get something to eat."
"Most people celebrate when they're having a baby. We're celebrating that we're not. How ironic," Owen said. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him. "I really want to have babies with you, Cristina but 10 years from now."
"Plus the best thing is that I won't have to tell my mom about you," she said.
He put her down. "What? Wait a minute. Your parents don't know about me? We have been together for more than a year. Don't you think that it is time they knew about me?"
"Are you kidding? I can't tell my mom that I am dating a 27-year-old. She would have a conniption. If she knew that, she would fly up here and drag me back to California," she said. "The only reason that she let me go to school out of state is because I was going to a women's college. Frankly, I think she believes that I am still a virgin."
"I find this all very disturbing, Cristina. I don't want to be a secret from your parents," he asked.
"The thing is if I don't let them know about you then they will let me stay here. If they knew about you, they will just take me away. We don't want that, do we?" she said, sweetly.
"I still don't feel good about it because it almost makes me feel like I am some crazy old uncle that people have to lock up in the attic because he's an embarrassment," he said.
"Listen, I want to be with you and if my parents not knowing about you, allows me to be with you, then I can live with that. Come on, let's go and eat," she said.
"Okay," he said, "But we're going to have to talk about this again, some time."
They grabbed their coats and headed out the door and decided to walk to one of the nearby restaurants that were close to his apartment. The night was cool and comfortable and he held her hand, as they walked down through the neighborhood.
"What do you think? Indian, Thai, Japanese? What do you feel for tonight?" he asked her. Cristina clearly was not listening as she suddenly released his hand and took off like a rocket, running down the streets.
"Cristina, what?" he said as he watched her take a flying leap into a tall young man's arms. The young man swung her around in the air. This had to be someone special, he surmised immediately.
Cristina rarely welcomed the touch of people, especially strangers. As far as he knew, he was the only person who was allowed to freely touch Cristina. "Who was this guy?" he thought.
He caught up to the hugging twosome. "Cristina?" he said, with an enquiring look. The young man put Cristina back on the ground, as he surveyed the arrival of this new stranger.
"Oh, Owen, this is Jamie O' Reilly, my next door neighbor from back home. We grew up together our entire lives. We went to the same schools and he was my protector throughout school. Jamie, this is Dr. Owen Hunt." Cristina said.
Owen waited for Cristina to finish her sentence to explain who he was but since it did not seem that it was forthcoming, he finally said, "I'm her boyfriend."
Jamie put out his hand to shake Owen's but it was accompanied by an incredulous look. Owen knew that look. He had seen it on many a stranger's face before. It was the look that said, "Aren't you a little old for her?"
"I am James," the young man said. "Only Cristina calls me Jamie. The name kind of sticks with you when you meet someone when you're three years old."
"Jamie, I haven't seen you like in over a year," Cristina said, her eyes shining.
"Well, if you had come home for the summer, we would have caught up with each other. We hung out at the Malibu beach house, and we went surfing. We even had a bonfire night. It was just like old times," Jamie told her.
"So, James," Owen asked. "What are you doing in Boston?"
"Oh, I go to school at MIT. I am doing a degree in computer engineering. Cristina, you could come and check me in Cambridge some time. I will give you a tour of the campus," Jamie said.
Owen observed the adoring look that Cristina was openly giving this boy. He looked to be about 19, with longish, blondish-brown hair and clear blue eyes and an envious golden tan. He looked to be the typical California surfer boy. He had this sudden vision of a golden Jamie, running along the sandy beach with his surfboard and a small, laughing, dark-haired girl trailing behind him. He shook the image from his brain.
"I really would like that, Jamie. We need to catch up," Cristina said. "Let's exchange numbers." Owen watched as they saved each other's numbers into their respective phones.
"Well, James, we're going to grab some dinner. Would you like to join us?" Owen asked, politely. In his mind, he kept thinking, "please say no."
"Yes, Jamie, come join us," Cristina said, excitedly.
"I wish I could but I have to get back to school to finish a project I have due tomorrow. I will take a raincheck on that," Jamie declined politely. He turned to Cristina, "Okay, Pumpkin, it has been great to see you. I have missed you terribly. Call me whenever you're ready for that tour." He kissed her on the forehead, as he turned away and left.
"Pumpkin?" Owen asked.
"Yeah, some names stick with you when you meet someone when you're three years old," Cristina said. "So where are we going, now?"
"Let's do some Thai, today," he said, as he again took her hand and led her into the restaurant.
He was updating his charts at the nurses' station when someone slapped him on his back. "Hunt, how are you, man?"
"Doing alright, Josh. Where have you been? I have been holding the fort for most of the morning by myself," Owen turned and looked at Josh.
"Asked Rogers for a little bit of time off. I went down to Cambridge to the old stomping ground at Harvard to visit Dr. Jenkins. He hasn't been feeling too well," Josh said.
"So how is the old guy doing?" Owen asked.
"Not too bad, considering that he turned 70 last week," Josh said. "I really enjoyed his class."
He continued, "Guess who I saw in Cambridge this morning?"
"I am not going to play that game with you. Just tell me who you saw," Owen said, a little bit exasperated.
"You are absolutely no fun. I saw your little girlfriend," Josh answered.
"Cristina? It can't be her. Why would she be in Cambridge?" he said. "You must be mistaken. If she was near Boston, she would have come and see me."
"I am not mistaken. I know what your girlfriend looks like. Tiny girl, lots of curly hair, pretty. I met her at my party. She was with a tall, blonde girl and they were hanging out with a couple of MIT guys at that pizza place we used to frequent when we were med students," Josh said.
"Okay, Josh, thanks for telling me," Owen said, more than a little hurt that Cristina and Eileen had been in Cambridge, just three miles from Boston, and had not come to see him at the hospital. He only usually saw her three or four times for the month and he would have grabbed any opportunity to see her more often.
When he called her that night, he wondered whether she would even mention that she had been in Cambridge that day. She answered after three rings, "Hi, Owen. How was your day today?" Her voice sounded light and happy.
"My day was fine, today. Very busy in the ER. Had to hold down the fort for my friend, Josh, who was supposed to be on call with me. He went down to Cambridge to visit one of our old professors. So I was a little swamped today," he said, hoping that the mention of Cambridge would spur her to speak on the matter.
"Oh, I was in Cambridge, today," she said. He felt a little relieved that she openly admitted that she was there.
"Really?" he said.
"Yeah, Eileen and I went on that tour of MIT that Jamie promised me. Sorry we couldn't come in to Boston to see you because Eileen wanted to go back to catch a late class that she had. Otherwise, we would have definitely come by to see you. I always like to see your handsome face," she said.
His heart felt warmed by her response. There had been no clandestine meeting with Jamie, as he had wrongly suspected.
They chatted some more about each other's day and then they said goodnight on a happy note. While Cristina had no problem in admitting that she had been in Cambridge that day, she deliberately omitted telling him about something else.
It was the fact that Jamie had invited her and Eileen to a frat party that Saturday. He told her that she could bring a couple of her friends. So they asked around if anyone was interested and quite a few jumped at the chance to party with some MIT guys.
Larissa, a 22-year-old senior was going to drive because she had the largest vehicle, which could accommodate seven passengers. That Saturday evening, Cristina and Eileen were headed to Cambridge, along with Larissa, Josie, Kelly, Sharon and Melanie. Cristina was the only teenager among the girls since Eileen had already turned 20 and the rest of the girls were either 21 or 22 years of age.
Before she left the campus, Cristina decided to call Owen in a sort of pre-emptive strike. She called him before he called her, as he usually did every night. She told him that she and Eileen were headed to a party. It wasn't like she was doing anything wrong, she reasoned, she just left out some of the details because she knew that he was not going to like that she was going to a frat party. He told her to have a great time before they said goodbye for the night.
She told herself, "I'm young, I can party if I want," as she stepped into the frat house with the other girls. The party was already in full swing, when the girls arrived. The frat guys lit up when they saw all of the pretty Smith girls amongst their midst. Many alcoholic beverages were offered to the young ladies but only Cristina declined. Even Eileen took a drink or two, under Cristina`s disapproving eye. Cristina`s plan was to stay stone cold sober because as she had explained to Eileen, "I would like to know what I am doing, who I am doing it with and whether I should be doing it."
"Oh, come on, Cristina, live a little," Eileen said, as she took a swig from her beer bottle. The other girls were clearly following suit, as they each had a beer bottle in their hands. They were all have a really good time, since as girls going to a women's college, there wasn't that much opportunity for that much hot, male companionship on a daily basis. Cristina was enjoying herself but she felt she would have had a better time if she weren't missing Owen so much. The other girls were interested in meeting new guys but Cristina already had a guy and she just wished he were there with her.
Jamie came up to her and kissed her on the forehead, "Hey, Pumpkin, are you having a good time?" She nodded because it wasn't really a lie.
"Just let me know if you need anything. I gotta go; I am one of the hosts of this shindig," he said, as he disappeared through the thick crowd.
As the hours wore on, it seemed that the girls were getting more than tipsy. Kelly was making out with some guy she just had met. Josie and Melanie were laughing rather loudly with a bunch of guys. Sharon was passed out on a couch. Eileen had stopped drinking after puking in the bathroom and was only on water for the rest of the night. Larissa was dancing on a table. "What a nightmare," Cristina thought, glad that she had not imbibed on any of the beer. She realized that she was probably the only one in the party that was as sober as a judge.
It was 3 a.m. when the girls decided to leave. Cristina asked Larissa, "Are you okay to drive?"
Larissa laughed, "Of course I am. You are such a stick in the mud, Cristina. Hey girls, let's go downtown Boston to grab some food." The girls all whooped in agreement.
As they piled into the car, Cristina asked Larissa again if she was able to drive. Larissa, who outweighed Cristina by some 50 pounds, looked down at the smaller girl and gave her a stinging glare. "Cristina, if you're going to complain one more time, maybe it is best that you find your way back to Northampton on your own."
Cristina stood silently, as she weighed her options. She could call Owen but then he would find out she went to the frat party. She figured that if she went with the girls, Larissa would have enough food in her stomach, so she could make that drive back to Northampton.
Eileen called out to her from the back seat, "Come on, Cristina, she'll be alright."
Against her better judgement, Cristina climbed into the car and the girls headed to Boston. They made it to downtown and the girls were debating where they should go. The conversation got increasingly argumentative as they each loudly commented on the virtues of their favorite type of food. Maybe because the conversation became so heated that nobody noticed that Larissa had run a red light. Nobody even saw when the large pick-up truck slammed right into the middle of their SUV and sent them spinning like a top into the intersection.
As the truck smashed into their SUV, Cristina felt the weight of Eileen crushing her against the door and her head smashing against the window. She could feel the blood trickling down the side of her head, before she lost all consciousness.
A/N: Seriously, I couldn't have Cristina pregnant because it would have seriously messed up their lives.
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