Hey folks, I'm sorry for the unusual long delay. You know by now that I usually am a quick updater, but reality needed some attention the last weeks.
So I watched the first episode of season ten just yesterday and therefore my mind was totally drawn back to our beloved couple and finally I was able to write another chapter.
9. This is not going to happen
It was all dark and silent in the firehouse at the night before May turned one year old. Said little girl lay in her crib sleeping a fitful sleep because she had caught a cold with fever and a cough. She breathed through her mouth lying on her back, her arms sprawled out, wild curls pointing in every direction.
In the master-bedroom Owen was sound asleep. If you took a close look at his face you could see he was dreaming. From time to time he opened and closed his mouth a little, frowned or raised his eyebrows. His eyes moved rapidly beneath his eyelids. He lay on his side, his right arm resting on Cristina's stomach. She lay on her back – wide awake. She couldn't sleep well that night worrying she could miss May crying or coughing.
Suddenly hers and Owen's pagers went off. Cristina grunted and Owen sat up startled breathing heavily. Cristina was surprised by his sudden reaction and rubbed his back soothingly while reaching for her pager.
"I… sorry… nightmare." He muttered after he calmed down. Cristina looked at him frowning but then turned her attention to her pager and jumped up immediately.
"What? What is it?" Owen asked anxiously.
"911, derailed train – we should get going at once!" She said already putting on a cardigan over her tank top she slept in.
"I'll go and get May!" Owen exclaimed after he had put on his shoes. A short while after the three of them sat in their car on their way to the hospital – in the middle of the night. Cristina and Owen both dressed in sweatpants, May wore her sleepers and was still wrapped in her sleeping bag.
As the family arrived in the ER – all dressed in sleeping clothes – Owen was in chief-modus at once. They were filled in with the details of the derailed train and Owen started giving orders.
"Cristina bring May to day-care, I need you here as soon as possible! Hurry!" He commanded.
"Well, that's what I planned to do!" She said rolling her eyes and hurried off. On her way to the day-care – well night-care would be more suitable that moment – she met Meredith and Derek carrying Zola and Bailey. They hadn't taken the time to dress either: Derek wore slippers and Meredith wore a pink pajama.
"Seriously?" Cristina spat out eyeing Meredith's pink PJs. Meredith just gave her a look that said 'Don't ask!' Then her gaze turned to May who had started to cry because of the hectic rush, she wasn't very fond of.
"Is May okay? Is she still ill?" She asked.
"Yeah, but it's not too bad."
"You know, the day-care won't take her when she is ill." Meredith commented.
"It's not that bad, they have to take her!"
"Does she have a fever?" Cristina nodded as an answer.
"They won't take her, believe me! I tried that once with Zola, remember?"
"But they have to take her, I don't have any time!"
"But they won't!" Meredith argued. "Can't you call a babysitter?"
"It's four a.m.! And I don't like the most babysitters. I think they're dumb, just not May's intellectual standard!" Cristina insisted.
"Cristina, May is one year old!" Meredith exclaimed rolling her eyes.
"She is one year old? Oh my god! May, it's your birthday! We forgot in all of this hurry! Happy birthday!" Cristina kissed May's cheek. Derek chuckled and shook his head while he listened to Cristina's and his wife's interaction. Meanwhile they had reached the day-care. Bailey, who was two years old by now, and Zola walked into the toy stuffed rooms by themselves. A nurse approached the group of doctors and their children.
"May has caught a cold!" Meredith quickly informed the nurse.
"Mer! Why do you have to stab me in the back?"
"Well, I just don't want May to infect my children. Get a babysitter." Meredith advised. "I have to go!" She added in a sing-song voice. Cristina glared at her and debated what she should do now. Just then she saw Alex and Jo hurrying down the corridor.
"Wilson!" She called out running towards her. "You're on my service, right?"
"Yeah right."
"Take May." She said already handing May to her.
"What?" Jo looked from Cristina to May incredulously.
"Today you're her babysitter. I think you're at least intelligent enough to deal with her."
"May is one year old, Yang." Alex commented while he amusedly eyed Cristina's sweatpants.
"And she's my child, Karev." She responded pointedly. "Just take care of her, don't bore her. By the way it's her birthday." She added addressing Jo and then quickly headed to the ER.
Cristina and Owen both hadn't had any time to look after May until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Owen had just closed their mutual patient up and together they were scrubbing out.
"I think the worst is over." Owen said.
"We should go and find May." Cristina suggested.
"Find?" Owen asked, she hadn't had the time to tell him the day-care wouldn't take her when she was ill.
"Well, um… she is sick, so I asked Wilson to take care of her. She's on my service today."
"So let's find Wilson." They headed out and separated to find her sooner. After she had searched for her in the resident's lounge Cristina took a look at the board and found Jo's name on it – she was in OR one with Callie. At the gallery of the OR she turned on the loudspeaker.
"Wilson! Where's my daughter!?" Cristina demanded.
"I … I got paged for surgery… and… um" Jo stammered.
"I'm not asking about you, I'm asking about my daughter!"
"On my way here I ran into Dr. Avery and he said he could take her for a while." Cristina didn't wait for any further explanations but made her way to the attending's lounge hoping she would find Jackson and May there. But the room was empty. Apparently every doctor who wasn't in surgery was headed home to get some sleep after this long day. Cristina grabbed her cell phone and dialed Jackson's number.
"Hello?" He answered gruffly.
"Avery! Where's my daughter?"
"Cristina?"
"Jackson! Where's May? And where are you?"
"I'm home already, I handed her to Stephanie. Don't worry, she'll be fine." Cristina hung up immediately and paged Edwards. Then she ran along some corridors desperately trying to find them. In the waiting area for visitors she saw May, sitting on the lap of a man she didn't know at all.
"Get your hands off of my daughter!" Cristina demanded approaching the man. He looked up startled. Roughly Cristina grabbed May from the man's arms and held her close.
"Who are you to hold my daughter?" She snapped. Just then Owen found his girls and heard Cristina's dangerous tone.
"What's going on?" he asked and protectively put an arm around Cristina's back.
"My name is Max Hayden and I took care of this young girl here for the last couple of hours because nobody seemed to look after her. I work for the social services." He stretched out his hand. Cristina watched him with a hostile gaze, possessively tightening her hold on May while Owen was polite enough to shake his hand.
"I assume you are her father, Dr. Hunt?" He went on addressing Owen, because it was pretty obvious Cristina was her mother. Owen nodded in affirmation.
"Well, do you mind to give me your phone number, I'm sure the social welfare office would like to talk to you some day." He friendly explained. Cristina's mouth dropped open and Owen's face fell.
"We- we're taking good care of May!" He quickly said. "I'm sure this is not necessary."
"Well I would like to pass the decision if it is necessary to the welfare office. I think it is possible for us to get your phone number – as chief of surgery you are well-known. Have a nice day, Dr. Hunt. Dr.-" He questioningly looked at Cristina.
"Yang." She said blankly.
"Dr. Yang." He repeated and left. Cristina and Owen stared at each other for a few minutes. Finally Owen gulped and embraced a nearly traumatized Cristina.
"It was a long day, we should… get home." He said and guided her in the direction of the parking lot.
At home they showed May her birthday presents and she started playing with them. They had postponed her birthday-party for the weekend because of her cold. While May crawled around in the living room Owen sat next to Cristina, who had been very quiet, on the couch and wrapped his arms around her.
"Is this really happening?" She finally asked.
"Cristina, they are going to call and I will talk to them and they will see that we're good parents for May. This is not going to happen." He tried to assure her. She took a deep breath and finally squatted down to May and played with her. Owen himself closed his eyes for a few seconds and tried to wipe all the worry in his heart away. He wanted to enjoy his lovely daughter's first birthday as much as he could.
Well, you see, I really love fluff, but life isn't always one of the fluffiest - even I know that by now. I read your wishes and suggestions and I hope I can live up to your expectations in this chapter and in the following chapters! Thank you for all your kind reviews! I hope my next update will be sooner!
