Silence fell among the table as Cristina stormed away. Both Cristina's mother and Saul had a dumbfounded look upon their faces.
Owen had watched the whole thing unfold and it pained him to see Cristina get so upset, he now understood why Cristina tended to hide things from her mother.
"Excuse me" Owen said as he got up from the table to follow Cristina.
He made his way through the sea of tables to the bathrooms, he knocked gently on the ladies. But heard no response.
"Cristina it's me" he said with his forehead against the door.
After a second, he heard the click of the lock and slowly pushed the door open to find Cristina leaning against the sink staring straight ahead.
She was tense and had a blank expression on her face. Owen went over to her and wrapped her in his arms, she immediately loosened up a bit.
Cristina was on the verge of tears, thanks to her stupid hormones, but refused to let them fall, she sighed into Owen's chest and rested her head on his shoulder.
Owen stroked her back and waited for her to speak.
"She's so infuriating!" she mumbled.
He kissed the top of her head "I know" he replied reassuringly.
They stayed like that for a while, Cristina's small frame engulfed by Owen's larger one. Owen felt the tension disappearing from her body bit by bit.
"Do you want to go back out there?" he asked her after a while.
He felt her shaking her head against his chest.
"Okay" he said pulling away from her, "I'll go pay the bill and you can wait in my truck" he said looking into her sad brown eyes.
He gave her the keys and a kiss on the cheek and she went out the back way to his truck.
Owen made his way back to their table where Helen and Saul were looking just as stunned as before.
"We're going to head home, Cristina's not feeling too well" he said grabbing his wallet from his pocket.
"It's was nice meeting you both" he added whilst throwing some cash down on the table to cover their meals.
The couple watched him as he made his way out the doors.
On his way over to his truck, Owen pulled out his phone and dialled a number, there was one person who knew how to deal with mother issues better than anyone.
"Hello" Meredith answered
"Hey Meredith" Owen replied.
"Oh no, what happened?" she asked knowing Owen wasn't just calling to have a nice chat.
Owen paused, "Well...things got pretty heated at dinner, and she ended up telling her mother that she's pregnant" he informed her.
"Oh god" Meredith sighed. "Is she okay?" she asked.
"Ummm" Owen mumbled, "I'm not sure"
"Oh, is she staring straight ahead being super scary quiet?" Meredith asked.
"Ugh yes" he replied amazed by how well she knew her friend.
"Bring her over" Meredith replied.
"Okay, we'll be there in ten" he said before hanging up the phone.
On the drive to Meredith's, Cristina remained in her quiet state. Owen tried to talk to her but the most he could get out of her was a nod. He hated seeing her like this and hated even more that he wasn't the one who could help her right now.
He got out of his truck and went around to her side. "Cristina" he said as he opened the door.
She looked up into his eyes, "Yeah" she whispered.
He didn't quite know what to say so went with, "I love you."
The sides of her lips turned up into a slight smile.
She jumped out of the car and he held her hand as they walked up to the porch.
As they walked in they saw Derek sitting on the sofa, "Hey guys" he called out to them.
"Meredith's upstairs" he said to Cristina.
She nodded and took off up the stairs.
Owen took a seat next to Derek and let out a sigh.
"I take it dinner didn't go too well" he said.
Owen chuckled lightly, "You could say that" he replied.
Owen and Derek settle back onto the sofa together and engrossed themselves in the football game playing on the TV. They could hear the murmur of voices coming from upstairs and both wondered exactly what was going on.
Not long after, the voices stopped, and music came booming through the house accompanied with the patter of footsteps above them.
They both smiled at the thought of their wives dancing it out.
"I hope you realise we've got our work cut out for us now that they're both pregnant" Owen joked.
"Oh god" Derek sighed.
Upstairs Cristina and Meredith were dancing around aimlessly to their favourite album. After 3 songs Cristina collapsed onto the bed trying to catch her breath.
Her mind was somewhat cleared, and she was pushing all thoughts of her mother far far out of her head. She rested her hand on her small bump and took a deep breath in.
Meredith opened her eyes to see that she had stopped dancing and joined her on the bed.
"Feel any better?" she asked.
Cristina scrunched her nose, "Kinda" she said, "But now my lungs burn, this baby has made me so unfit" she complained.
Meredith laughed, "Oh blame the baby, you weren't exactly fit before".
"Let's just hope the baby inherits Owen's athletic abilities" she added.
"Well your baby is hopeless between you and pretty boy" Cristina joked.
"True" Meredith admitted.
"Let's hope it's perfect hair will tide it over" Cristina added.
They both lay there for a while think about how bizarre it was that they were having these conversations.
"So, are you and Owen going to find out the gender?" Meredith asked her friend.
"The doctor said we could at our appointment next week" She said, "Owen really wants to wait, but I don't know if I could bare not knowing".
Back downstairs the game had ended, and Owen and Derek were engaged in conversion about their upcoming parenthood. They both were extremely excited and couldn't talk about it enough.
"Wait 'til you can feel the baby move" Owen said, "It's incredible".
"I can't wait" Derek replied.
Meredith and Cristina smiled to each other as they descended the stairs and caught the tail end of their husbands' giddy conversation.
Owen stood up as soon as he seen Cristina and walked over to her, she smiled at him as he approached.
He placed his hands on her waist and studied her face, "You okay?" he asked her.
She nodded and kissed him in response.
Meredith went and sat beside her husband.
Cristina turned to face them, Owen stood behind her with his hands on her bump and his chin rested comfortably on her shoulder.
"Are yous all danced out?" Derek asked.
Meredith and Cristina nodded in unison both exhausted after their brief exertion.
"I swear you two are gonna dance those babies out" Owen joked, causing them all to laugh.
Cristina let out a big yawn.
"I guess we better head home" Owen said noticing how tired his wife was.
When they arrived home they both were exhausted and began getting ready for bed. Cristina squeezed out of her tight dress and pulled on her favourite one of Owen's t-shirts. She loved wearing his clothes from time to time, especially when she'd had a day from hell.
She climbed into bed and into Owen's waiting arms, he stroked her hair as she rested her head on his chest.
"Sorry dinner didn't go so well" he whispered to her.
She sighed, "I knew it wouldn't, I know what she's like"
Owen absentmindedly began drawing circles on her bump with his finger as he thought.
"Well I'm still glad I got to meet her" he said softly.
She looked up at him smiling slightly.
"Although, I still wanna hear baby stories, I can only imagine how adorably sassy you were." he said trying to lighten her mood.
She laughed lightly, "Let's just say if our baby is anything like I was as a child then we'll have our hands full."
Owen smiled picturing the little rocket their child would turn out to be.
"I hope she's just like you" he smiled, "Only maybe a little less stubborn" he added.
She swatted him jokingly in response, "Hey".
He pulled her even closer to him.
"She" Cristina said, "You said she".
"Did I?" he asked.
"You know if we found out then we wouldn't have to keep calling it an it" she said, "Plus we could decorate the room accordingly." she added convincingly.
He thought for a moment, "I like the idea of not knowing" he said, "It's like the surprise of a lifetime."
"But I hate surprises" Cristina groaned.
They bickered back and forth until they both fell asleep, Cristina wrapped in her husband's arms with his hand placed protectively on her bump.
Cristina got rudely awoken in the middle of the night by the strongest kicks she had felt yet. She tossed and turned uncomfortably trying to get back to sleep but had no success. She lay there with nothing to occupy herself with but her own thoughts. She couldn't help but replay the disastrous dinner she had just been a part of. Her mother was an expert at getting under her skin, that's for sure.
She had told her that she was pregnant. And now she could only imagine what unwanted, outdated advice she would throw her way. She could already picture her lecturing her on how she should switch to an easier specialty.
She was growing increasingly agitated just thinking about it. Awch, that one hurt, this baby clearly doesn't want me to get any sleep tonight, she thought to herself, it's not like I have to save lives tomorrow or anything.
She began to think about the little baby growing inside of her, her now pepper sized baby. She really couldn't stand not knowing the gender, she liked to be prepared. And not knowing made her feel all the more inadequate as a mother. She would have to figure out a way to convince Owen.
She still refrained from thinking about the baby post-birth too much, for fear of freaking out. She had come to terms with being pregnant and would even say that she's enjoying it, well apart from being kept up at night. But thinking about having the baby out in the real world where it wasn't safely stored in her womb out of harm's way, terrified her. She knew all too well how cruel the world could be and so refused to think too much about the things that could happen.
She did however occasionally allow herself to picture Owen with the baby. She could see him cooing over the cot or reading endless amounts of bedtimes stories. She knew how much of an amazing dad he would make, and she knew that he would fill in the places where she was lacking. They would make a great team.
As she imagined these scenes it suddenly dawned on her that they live in a 3 story fire house. Possibly the most unchild-friendly place out there. She glanced around at the steep staircase and deathly fire-pole and decided in that moment that they were gonna have to move. Staying here would give the universe too many opportunities to throw some more tragedy into their life.
She reached over Owen trying to reach her laptop to look into houses, she balanced herself carefully over him trying not to wake him. She nearly had it, when he stirred in his sleep, throwing her off balance and sending her flying off the side of the bed onto the floor.
Owen woke up hearing the thud, "Cristina!" he said concerned as he seen her laying on the floor.
"Are you okay?" he asked rushing to her side.
She started laughing.
"Ouch" she mumbled.
"What happened?" he asked still confused as to how she ended up on the floor.
"I fell off the bed, trying to reach your stupid laptop" she said between laughs.
He sighed in relief seeing she clearly wasn't hurt.
"Did you hurt yourself?" he asked laughing slightly with her.
"I don't think so" she said.
He extended his hand to help her up, "Good" he said as he pulled her to her feet.
They climbed back into bed together, "What were you doing up anyway?" he asked.
"The baby wouldn't let me sleep." she said as he pulled the covers back up over them.
She scooted closer to him and layed her head on his shoulder.
"You should have woken me" he said.
She smiled, "Anyway, I was just about to look for a new house." she said.
He looked at her sideways, "You wanna move?" he asked confused.
"Yeah" she began, "This place is too dangerous."
He knew she was right, but he loved this place. "I guess, but this place is so special." he said sadly.
She looked into his ocean eyes, "I know I love this place too, but we'll find a better, safer one" she said.
"Okay" he said giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Maybe we could have a yard" he added excitedly.
She smiled at how easily persuaded he was.
He felt the strong kicks that she was talking about against his hand and sat forward to talk to the bump.
"I know your excited in there buddy, but you need to let her sleep" he began, "We love you, but nobody wants to have to deal with you mummy when she's grumpy" he joked giving her bump a kiss before returning to his previous position.
After a moment, the kicks had stopped.
"I think it worked" Cristina whispered.
Owen smiled, "Good, now get some sleep." he said softly.
Cristina was drifting off when Owen interrupted her, "Cristina" he whispered.
"Mmmhhmm" she mumbled sleepily.
"Wake me up next time before you break your back."
"Mmmm" she mumbled nuzzling into his neck.
Notes: Hope you like the chapter, I'll try post the next one soon and delve more into Helen and Saul's reaction :)