Cristina stepped into her office building, only to be greeted by Parsons coming out of the elevator.
"Oh, good, you're here, Yang. I came down to wait for you," he said. "No need to go upstairs. We are heading out to Burristown, now. Do you have everything that you need?"
"I guess. Where's your car?" she asked.
"Downstairs in basement parking. Let's just go down now," he said. They entered into the elevator and Parsons pressed the button for basement parking.
"I trust that you told your boyfriend that you would not be back this evening," he said.
"Yes, I told him," Cristina said, not really wanting to talk about it. She knew Owen was not happy because he said very little that morning, when he dropped her off.
"And he's fine with it?" Parsons pressed.
"Yes, he is," Cristina lied to get Parsons off his line of questioning.
"Alright, then, we can look forward to two days of productive interviews," he said. Cristina nodded.
His car was close to the elevator. It was a silver Mercedes Benz CLS550 coupe. It was a beautiful car and Cristina had suspected he would have a car such as this. He put Cristina's luggage into the trunk, which already contained his overnight case. They got into the car while he set the GPS for the hotel they were going to stay at in Burristown.
He started the car and they were on their way. For the first hour of the two-hour drive, Cristina spoke excitedly about the case but there was only so much talk they could do and for the second hour, Cristina fell asleep. Her head dropped forward. He smiled as he watched her sleep. He gently pushed her head back against her headrest and brushed the curls off her face. He only woke her up when they finally reached Burristown.
"Cristina," he said, giving her a gentle shake. She got up with a start.
"Oh, gosh, don't tell me that I fell asleep. This is so embarrassing, Mr. Parsons," Cristina said, apologetically.
"It's alright that you caught a nap before we start the interviews. We don't know how late we might go tonight," he said. "We're at the hotel, now, so let's check in."
The hotel was not so much of the generic hotel chain that Cristina was used to staying in, when she traveled for the firm. It was a rather charming bed and breakfast inn.
"This is lovely," she said, as she grabbed her overnight case from the trunk.
"Yes, it is. The Cutler House has been here for more than 100 years," he said. "It used to be a private residence until Harry Cutler changed it into a hotel about 50 years ago. I think his son and his wife run the place, now."
They went up the walkway, which was surrounded by a beautiful flower garden. Parsons opened the door for Cristina and as they stepped inside, it seemed like they have been transported into a different era.
"Good morning and welcome," a brown-haired woman behind the front desk said. "I am Charmaine Culter and you must be Mr. Parsons and his guest."
"Yes," Parsons said. "This is Cristina Yang. Do you have our rooms ready?"
"Yes," Charmaine said. "Just a few housekeeping bits here. Can I have your credit card for incidentals?" She swiped the card. She handed them their keys. "Third floor, Room 322 for you, Mr. Parsons and 323 for Ms Yang."
"Thank you," Parsons said, as he took the keys and handed over the 323 key to Cristina.
They got themselves quickly settled into their rooms and then went to Broadsky's diner on Main Street, the appointed meeting place for all of the interviews.
Back in Seattle, Owen was not a happy man. That morning, he and Steve had their usual gym session.
Owen was really working out furiously, hitting away at the punching bag with a ferocity that Steve had never seen before.
"Hey, what's wrong, big fella?" Steve inquired. It was clear to him that Owen was working out some of his aggression.
"I am just imagining that this punching bag was Parsons' face," Owen said, as he released a flurry of shots.
"Yeah, I heard that he was taking Cristina on an overnight trip to interview clients for his case," Steve said. "When I heard, I knew you would be pissed."
"You know what it's like to watch a man hit on your girlfriend and you can't do anything about it," Owen said. "The only reason that I am holding it together is that I trust my girlfriend that she is not going to do anything to betray me."
"She is a good woman. That's why I introduced you to her. I thought she would be a good match for you," Steve noted.
"Thank you, Steve, for your vote of confidence in Cristina. It means a lot to me," Owen said.
He again hit the punching bag with a vicious left hook.
Word had spread that the lawyers representing Burristown were in town to interview the affected townsfolk. So far, Cristina had already interviewed 20 people who complained of major lung and respiratory ailments, animals dying on the farms, the high incidence of chronic asthma among the children. It was all rather depressing, Cristina thought, but at least they will have their day in court.
She observed that Parsons was talking with a woman with dishwater blonde hair. He looked across at her and asked her to come across.
"Cristina Yang, I would like you to meet Mrs. Minnie Robertson. Minnie has been suffering with lung cancer now for the past two years. Minnie has never smoked a day in her life," Parsons said.
"Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Robertson," Cristina said. So this was Minnie, Parsons' cousin.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Yang. I hope you all can really help us. Too many families are being affected," Minnie replied.
"We will do our very best for you," Cristina said.
"Okay, Yang, I think we can call it a night. Let's wrap up and just ask the people who we have not interviewed as yet to come back in the morning," Parsons said. "Minnie will be my last interviewee for the night. Why don't you head back to the hotel and freshen up? I will come and meet you and we will go and grab dinner."
"Okay," Cristina nodded. She told the group of people that had gathered that they would be conducting more interviews the next day and she invited them to return. There was some grumbling but most left peacefully. Cristina watched how compassionate Parsons was, as he interviewed his cousin. She had noticed that he had been the same way with everyone he had interviewed that day. She liked that about him. It was like seeing a new side of him, not just the man-eating shark he appeared to be, whenever he was in the courtroom.
She walked back to the hotel, which was a short distance away. She walked up the stairs to her room. She had left her phone in her room because she felt it would have been rude to have a constantly ringing phone when she was interviewing people. She had a number of missed calls, most of them were from the office and about three of them were from Owen.
She decided to call Owen first before listening to any of her messages.
"Where have you been?" he asked, in a somewhat angry tone.
"Been interviewing clients," she said, a little peeved at how he was talking to her.
"Why didn't you answer your phone?" he continued, with the same pissed attitude.
"I left it in the room because I didn't want to be disturbed, while interviewing clients. I thought it would have been rude, if the phone kept ringing while I was interviewing them. I didn't want them to think I wasn't taking their case seriously, if I kept answering my phone."
"Oh," he said in a calmer tone. "That makes sense."
"So where are you now?" she asked. "Are you at my place or your apartment?"
"I am at the hospital. I decided to work a double shift. You weren't going to be home and I needed to work to occupy my mind," he answered. "Working to combat my loneliness."
"Awww, poor soul," she said. "When I come back, I will make it all up to you. Maybe a massage and some hot, hot, sex."
He laughed.
"You better," he said, with a chuckle. "So what are you going to do now?"
"I am going to take a shower, change and go to dinner. Mr. Parsons says we will go to dinner in a bit," she said.
He could not help but feel upset, once again. Just hearing the man's name made his temper rise. He controlled his voice as best as he could because he knew that it was not her fault. He felt he could not keep it in any longer.
"Cristina, I am going to be honest with you, here. It has been bothering me for quite a while. I think that Parsons is interested in you, more than you just being his assistant," he said.
"What?" Cristina said. "Don't be ridiculous. This is just your active imagination."
"I am a man, Cristina, I know when a man is interested in a woman," he said.
"You are wrong. He wants to teach me. He wants to make me a better lawyer because I am smart and savvy," she said. "I find it insulting that you would think the only reason that he would be interested in teaching me is because he wants to get me into his bed." Her ire was raised and he could hear it in her voice.
"You are smart and intelligent and I am sure that you can learn lots from him because he is a formidable attorney. But that's not the only thing he wants to teach you, Cristina," he said.
"You are just jealous," Cristina said. "I knew you didn't like Mr. Parsons but I only thought it was because he was monopolizing my time with work. You're wrong. Mr. Parsons is not interested in me, that way. He is just interested in my brain."
"I truly hope so, Cristina," he said. "I really do."
"I think you have insulted me, enough for the evening," she said. "Goodbye, Owen. I will see you tomorrow."
"I am sorry, Cristina, if I upset you," he started to apologize. Then he heard a click. She had hung up on him. Owen stared at the phone.
Cristina was very annoyed. How dare Owen cast aspersions on the people she worked with? She had never made any negative comments about the hospital and the people that worked there. The last time she was at the hospital, there was a random nurse openly flirting with him, who only stopped when she realized that he was with his girlfriend. She never said anything about that.
She stripped off her clothes and went into the shower, hoping that the warm water would help calm her wound up emotions, right now. She started to cry because she realized that this was the first argument she and Owen had ever had before. She had a good cry, which she found it to be cathartic.
She grabbed a towel and carefully wrapped it around herself. She heard a knock on the door. She knew that it could only be Parsons. She carefully positioned herself behind the door, so he could only see her head.
"Ah, Yang, are you ready as yet?" he said.
"No, sir, just got out of the shower," she said. He caught a glimpse of her bare shoulders and found them, rather tempting.
"Well, okay then. I will meet you downstairs in the dining room," he said.
"Yes, Mr. Parsons," she said, as she closed the door.
Fifteen minutes later, she met him in the dining room. She was dressed in a burgundy sweater, black jeans and ankle boots. Parsons admired how well the jeans hugged her figure.
"Some wine?" he asked.
"Yes, please," she said, watching him pour the white wine into her glass. She needed that drink after that fight with Owen.
"I ordered for myself and took the liberty of ordering for you, too, so you wouldn't have to wait. Is salmon fine for you?" he said.
"That's fine," she said. She quickly drank the wine and he filled it up her glass, again.
"Ah, here's our food," he said, as the waiter placed their meals in front of him.
"Cheers, Yang," he said, lifting his glass to her. Cristina smiled back at him.
A/N: Please leave your reviews. Thanks for your comments.