"So she told you."

"Yeah she did."

"I'm surprised.

"Why?"

"You don't seem to be mad."

"Oh I am. I'm furious, but I figured that a child with a brain bleed was enough to handle. I can be mad and yell later. When I know she'll be okay."

"That's very grown up. I'm proud." Meredith grinned. They were standing outside Olivia's room, watching Cristina sitting by her bedside. They had decided that Cristina should prepare her before she met Owen. So here they were, leaning against the counter, waiting for Olivia to wake up.

"Well therapy's gotta be good for something."

"Right."

"You sure they can't see us from here?"

"Relax. She won't."

"It's weird."

"What?"

"Seeing Cristina with her child. All those years I imagined how it would be like. She and I having a family you know. I never thought it would happen."

"I know. It took me forever to get used to it. But when you meet her without Olivia, she's still the same Cristina. I was visiting them in Switzerland once and I offered to babysit so that she could go do a surgery. I watched her from the gallery and she was… Perfect. She was full of joy and I think she is still the same, even though her life has changed. I think that she needed to be alone with Olivia, to realize what it meant to be a mother. And she's pretty amazing. In both jobs. Honestly, I have no idea how she does it."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Owen was being quiet. It made him happy to hear how much Cristina loved her daughter and how she managed to have it all, well almost at least, but at the same time it deeply hurt him. He had decided to talk to Cristina again when Olivia was awake and okay. He looked at her from afar.

She was sitting in a chair next to the bed. Olivia was pretty tall but as slim as her mother, so the bed looked too big for her. She was still unconscious. Cristina was holding her hand and stroking her cheek. He could tell that she still had tears in her eyes.

Inside the room

She took her hand. Her fingers were similar to hers but she had inherited Owen's nails. But it didn't look weird, it looked right. Her hands were the hands of a future surgeon. Of course Cristina didn't want to pressure her to become a surgeon, but she still hoped she would choose that path.

"Oh my baby girl… I'm so sorry. I should've been there. Please wake up." She said sobbing, Olivia's eyes still closed.

She stroke her cheek. She just had to be okay. Cristina put her head down on the bed, trying to hide her tears. She knew that Owen and Meredith were probably watching her.

"Mom?"

Cristina raised her head and her eyes met Olivia's. She exhaled sharply.

"Livie. Oh god honey are you okay? Are you in pain?" Cristina asked as she jumped up.

"I'm fine. I think. I just have a headache, but I guess that's what happens when you get hit by a baseball bat." Olivia tried to smile. She knew that her mother was probably worried sick, so the least she could do was to show her that she was really okay.

"Thank god. When Derek called… If anything had happened I could've never…"

"Mom calm down. I'm fine. Really." She squeezed her mother's hand. They looked at eachother for a while, not wanting to start the awkward conversation that was about to happen.

"So Aunt Meredith told you some stuff huh?" She tried to sound casual but Olivia could hear her voice shaking a little.

"Yeah she did. Don't be mad at her though. I, we, made her tell me."

"So I've heard. You should've just talked to me. I could've helped you."

"Mom, as soon as I start talking about my father, you find an excuse to change the subject. You shut me out. And when Zola said she might know who my dad was… I just needed to know. I know you don't think I did the right thing, but I needed to know. And you would've never told me."

"If you'd asked I would've. I promise."

"Well it's a little late for that."

"I know. I've made a mistake, but at the time, I thought I was doing the right thing."

"Really? You think that keeping me from my father was the right thing to do?" Olivia said angrily. Right now, she couldn't understand her mother. Was it too much to ask to be honest?

"Olivia. I know you don't understand, but I had no choice." Cristina tried to explain. She didn't want to fight but it seemed like there was no way around it.

"There's always a choice. You chose to keep me from my father, you chose to raise me alone, to hide me from all your friends. You were selfish and you know that."

"I was trying to protect you."

"Okay then answer me one question. What did you think would happen? That I would never ask about my father? That I'd grow up without any desire to know where I come from? Did you really believe that?"

"Of course not. I just hoped that you'd accept the fact that it was just us. I mean how was I supposed to tell you something like that? 'So Olivia you don't have a dad because I left him and he moved on and now he is happy with his new family and we're all alone.'? How was I supposed to tell you why your father wasn't around?"

"You should've just told me. The way I found out… And when Aunt Meredith told me what had happened to him… I needed you. I needed you to tell me, because I'm scared. His life has been horrible. And I feel responsible for that." Olivia started to cry.

"Oh honey you're the last person whose fault this is. If it's anyone's, it's mine." She sat down on the bed and pulled her daughter into a hug.

"Meredith told me you were married once. What happened?" Livie said looking up at her mother.

"Olivia I really don't think…" Cristina started but Olivia pulled away and glared at her.

"See? You shut me out. You never tell me anything about your past. But I have a right to know."

"It's in the past. I've changed, he's changed. We both made mistakes and it was best for everyone."

"Mom please. He's my dad. And I know you still love him."

"Well how do you know that?" Cristina asked with a little smile.

"You still have your wedding picture in your desk. You don't keep something like that if you're not still thinking of him." Olivia explained to her mother. Cristina couldn't help but smile. Her daughter was way too smart.

"You're right. I think of him every day. But not because I love him, I mean I do, but not like before."

"Before what?"

"Before you. You are a lot like me, but there are some things you have or do that remind me of him. I look at you and I see Owen." She stroke a curl out of Olivia's face.

"But everyone says I look exactly like you." Olivia asked confused.

"I know, and you do look a lot like me, but if they'd know your dad, they'd see it too."

"You changed the subject again." Olivia stated looking a little pissed.

"What?" Cristina was confused. How'd she changed the subject?

"I asked you why you got divorced."

"Olivia that's really not important."

"You told me once, that if there was ever a question I had no answer to, I shouldn't rest until I got my answers. Now I want my answers please."

"You're right, I said that. But I don't think those answers are gonna help you."

"I'm saying please. I'm a Yang. I don't say please." Cristina chuckled. Her daughter knew her well.

"Right. I definitely raised you wrong."

"Nah, I think you did a pretty good job."

"Well thanks. You know I told your father about you. He was working on you when you came in the ER."

"Wow. I don't know what to say…"

"He wants to meet you."

"Well… I kinda want to meet him too, but I'm a little scared. How do I know he'll like me?"

"Oh baby he'll love you. Because you're perfect."

"I want you to tell me first. I really want to know."

"Livie…"

"You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"I mean if this is really what you want, I will, but I don't think it's important for you to know."

"I think it is."

"Okay then… I have to tell you that when we got married I was… Well I wasn't me. There was a shooting in the hospital and I operated on your Uncle Derek with a gun to my head. So I wasn't really… Reliable. But your father was there and I was scared and confused so when he asked me to marry him I said yes. But we weren't happy for long. We kept tearing eachother apart. We wanted different things."

"Like what?"

"Well he wanted a baby and I didn't." Cristina wanted to leave the abortion out of it. She didn't want to tell Olivia because she was afraid that she'd think she wanted to abort her too. And that was not something you'd want to hear. Even if it was a little bit true.

"But you had me…"

"Yes and I am so glad I did because you showed me that I could have it all. You taught me how to be the best I could. And I thank god for that every day." She took Olivia's hand.

"Why? Why did you change your mind?"

"I have to be honest – you weren't planned. You left me no choice but to keep you." Cristina smiled.

"So you got divorced because you were fighting about having a child without ever actually dealing with being pregnant?" Cristina was quiet. She didn't want her daughter to know. She knew she'd resent her. She wouldn't understand.

"Well not exactly."

"Mom…"

"I was just starting my last year of residency, I was on top of my game, I just… Couldn't. I didn't know any better. I need you to know that I wouldn't trade you for anything."

"Did you have an abortion?" Olivia asked with tears in her eyes. Cristina was surprised and hurt that her daughter even knew what an abortion was.

"Yes I did."

"And he didn't want you to."

"He wanted the baby. But in the end he supported me, at least he pretended to. Just at some point I realized that we weren't good for eachother. We kept hurting the other one. So I left."

"I still don't understand why you didn't just abort me too. I mean you were all alone."

Hearing those words made Cristina feel like she'd just been stabbed with a knife. It brought her actual, physical pain. She started to tear up.

"Oh Olivia you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I think I just wasn't ready before. But you have to believe me when I tell you you're my everything. I love you. So much."

"I know you said that."

"Livie please don't hate me."

"I don't… I just need time to think okay? Can you give me that?"

"Sure I can. But don't take too long because I haven't seen you in three days. I missed you."

"Yeah I missed you too." Cristina planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead.

When she closed the door behind her she caught Owen's gaze. She walked over to him.

"I told her. Everything about us. And now she hates me." She said sobbing.

"I'm sure she doesn't hate you. She just needs time." Meredith said rubbing Cristina's back. Owen just stood there, completely silent.

"Cristina I need to talk to you." He suddenly said, his expression cold as ice.

"Sure, yeah." This time Owen didn't take the time to go all the way to the vent, he just pulled her into an exam room.

"Are you really okay? Because you seem upset." She said looking at him.

"No. No I'm not. I tried to play nice before because we didn't know what was going on with Olivia, but now… I just can't."

"Owen you can yell. It's alright. I deserve it."

"I – I can't stop wondering. What happened? All those years when I… When I was fighting for my family, my life… I keep going through all those memories and I wonder, when I buried my son, were you cuddling with her in your bed? When I tried to convince my wife to stop doing drugs, did you hug her proudly because she took her first step and spoke her first word? When I took Amelia off life – support did you bring her to her first day of kindergarten? When I was fighting for my life in Iraq, were you taking a picture of her on her first day of school? When I came back, a total wreck, were you showing her a beach for the first time? And then I think, were you even there? For all those first things in her life. Were you there? Or were you working? Was she happy? Is she happy? Or did she cry herself to sleep every night because her mother wasn't there to read her a goodnight story?"

"Owen stop. Stop it. You have every right to hate me, but you can't go around accusing me of being a bad mother. I did my best. I still am doing my best. Because she deserves it. I love her. And I was there. For all those firsts I was there. I was with her when she first smiled, we were in the park when she took her first step at 13 months, her first word was on two days after her first birthday and it was 'Momma' which made me endlessly proud and on her first day of kindergarten I stayed with her the whole time because she was afraid to be alone. I took a million pictures on her first day of school because she was so excited and I was home every night and told her about my day because the random child stories bored her. I was there. And I'm sorry you weren't but I was. I was because I was a good mother to her. And you don't get to judge me." She almost screamed as she walked away. How could he do this? Again. Pretending to be fine with everything and then… She made her way to an empty supply closet and broke down crying.

A/N: I told you it was just the calm before the storm. More to come. Please leave a review. xoxo