Cristina and Owen had a very pleasant conversation that night. She agreed to have Owen call Xander via Skype once a week on Sundays. She said she would inform Betsy to make sure to answer the call, whenever she was not at home. They had also agreed that they would each speak to their respective child about the fact that they were no longer only children, that they were siblings and that another baby was going to come.
They also decided that she would send updates on her pregnancy and sonogram pictures after every doctor's appointment. Other than that, he didn't really push her for anymore. She was including him in the pregnancy and for now, that was good enough. As for the rest of it, he knew that as the pregnancy progressed, there would be time to discuss their issues more. It was going to be a slow process to win Cristina over but he was determined to do it.
It wasn't a very long conversation because it was so late on the east coast but he was glad that at least they talked. Before he fell asleep in the on-call room, he felt that things were starting to improve between the two of them. He felt good about it.
Before he made his first Skype call to Xander, Owen felt he needed to have a conversation with Jordan about Cristina and his son. It was over Sunday lunch at his mother's house that he decided to talk to her about it. He watched her tackling her lasagna. This was definitely a bombshell that he was going to drop on her.
"Jordan," he started. The little girl looked up and watched her father with love in her eyes. She loved her daddy so much.
"There is something I would like to talk to you about," he said. Jordan was alarmed. Did she do anything wrong? Her eyes started to fill with tears. She thought she was going to be scolded.
"No, no, Jordan, it's nothing bad. I didn't mean to scare you," he said, as he wiped away her tears.
"Okay," Jordan said. She blew her nose and looked at her daddy, solemnly.
"Do you remember Cristina and Xander?" he asked. She nodded. Of course, she remembered the pretty lady and the little boy.
"Yes, from the hospital," she said. "They both have curly hair."
"Well, the little boy, Xander – he is your brother," Owen said. Jordan's blue eyes opened wide. She had always thought she was an only child.
"My brother?" she repeated. Her friend, Stacy had three brothers and didn't like any of them.
"Yes," Owen said. "He is your brother. He is three years old. Cristina is his mother." Jordan took this all in. She knew that Cristina was not her mother but she was Xander's mother. She knew her mother was Emma, who went to heaven, more than a year ago. Did this mean that Cristina was going to be her new mother?
"So, she's going to be my mom, too?" Jordan asked, hopefully. Owen knew that this question was going to be asked.
"Um, no. You already have a mom, Jordan. But I am hoping that Cristina and Xander are going to be a big part of our lives," Owen said. That was the only way he could explain it. He couldn't tell Jordan that Cristina was going to be her new mom. He wasn't even sure about what was going to happen.
"So we are going to talk to Xander on the computer in a bit, so that's why I wanted to tell you this," Owen said. "We want to get to know Xander better. Is that okay with you?"
"Yes," Jordan said. She wanted to know her little brother better. She was sure she would like him better than Stacy liked her brothers.
"There is also something else," Owen said. "Cristina is going to have a baby, too." This time, not only did Jordan's eyes get wide but her mouth also dropped open. She remembered her grandma and her dad talking about a baby at the airport but she was so engrossed in her new teddy bear that she hadn't paid much attention to it.
"A baby! A baby!" she screamed. She was so excited. "Is it a girl?" She so wanted a baby sister that she could dress up like a real doll.
"We don't know what it is as yet," Owen said. "But yes, we are going to have a baby." Jordan got up from her chair and started dancing around the table.
"I am glad that you are so happy," Owen said. He then showed her the ultrasound picture of the fetus with its hand in the air. She was mesmerized.
"Hello, baby," she said, as she gave the picture a kiss.
On the other side of the country, Cristina was also having her chat with Xander. Xander appeared to be nonchalant about everything. He already knew that Owen was his dad but it hadn't occurred to him that the blonde girl that he met was his sister. He accepted that piece of news, without much of a fuss.
It was when Cristina told him about the baby, he started whooping and hollering. "A baby brother!" he screamed, while jumping up and down.
"Xander, we don't know what it is going to be as yet," Cristina said, trying to dampen down any hope that it might be another boy. "It could be a girl." She didn't want him to be disappointed if it turned out to be a girl.
"A girl? But I already have a sister," he said, pouting. Cristina found it rather interesting that he had already accepted the fact that he had a sister.
"Well, we will see," she said. Then, she heard the sound of the Skype from the computer. "Okay, that's your daddy calling."
They went to the computer and answered the call. Xander settled down into Cristina's lap. When Owen and Jordan's faces appeared on the computer, Xander waved and said, "Hello Daddy." He pressed his face right up to the screen. That made Jordan and Owen laugh. Cristina pulled him back from the screen and put him to sit properly on her lap.
"Say hello to Jordan, too," Cristina urged Xander.
"Hello, Jordan," Xander said. The little girl giggled when he said her name.
"Hello, Xander," she said. "Hello, Cristina." She couldn't stop smiling. She actually had a brother.
"Hey, Xander. Hey, Cristina," Owen said. "How are you guys doing?"
"We are doing fine," Cristina said. "All three of us." Owen grinned because she mentioned the baby.
"Are you still getting sick?" he asked. He remembered that bad bout of morning sickness he had witnessed.
"Actually, it seems to be subsiding," she replied. "Finally coming out of the first trimester. I am so grateful for that."
"That's good," he said. He noticed that the two children were just staring at each other. "Jordan, why don't you tell Xander about your favorite games?"
"Okay, Daddy," she said, as she started this very long-winded description of her favorite games. Owen could see Xander's eyes glazing over, as Jordan continued to speak. He wanted to laugh as he saw that Xander's eyes were starting to close and his jaw was getting slack.
"Xander, anything you want to say to Jordan?" he asked his son, who appeared ready to take a nap.
"Nope," Xander said. "Mommy, I'm feeling sleepy." He rested his head against her chest.
"Okay, I will take him in," Cristina said. Owen and Jordan told Xander goodbye.
"Do you want to wait here until I come back?" Cristina asked Owen. He smiled and nodded.
"Yes, please," he said. As Cristina disappeared into Xander's bedroom, he told Jordan to go help Grandma in the kitchen. He wanted some alone time with Cristina, even though it was by electronic means.
Cristina came back and took her seat in front of the computer. "Where is Jordan?" she asked.
"Oh, she went to help my mom in the kitchen," Owen replied. He didn't mention that he was the one who sent here there. "So how are you really feeling?"
"Honestly, this pregnancy has been kicking my butt. It may be my advanced maternal age. But what I said about the morning sickness subsiding, that part is true. Otherwise, I am doing okay," she said.
"You're not that old," he said. "You're 38 years old. Many women have kids in their forties."
"Thanks for that. But I feel old. I have aches and pains I have never felt before. I don't remember all of this when I was pregnant with Xander, but I guess I was four years younger," she said. "Just a few more months of this, I keep reminding myself." She touched her baby bump, which was still small. Owen wished he could touch it, too. He sighed. She caught his sigh and she immediately knew that he wished he could be there to touch her bump, too.
"Sorry," she said. Then, she remembered something. "Could you tell Alex that I will be scheduling a C-section in mid to late May? Due date is May 25 but I will have the C-section a little earlier. I don't think I could handle natural childbirth, again, even though I have a high threshold for pain."
"Alex? C-section?" he repeated. "Why Alex?" He was a little more than miffed.
"He is my health proxy, Owen, so he can come and be there for the birth. I just need him there, in case anything goes wrong," she explained. "Just like when he was there for Xander's birth."
"What about me?" he asked. "I am the father. Don't you want me there?"
"I just assumed you would be," she said, in a soothing tone. She knew she had riled him, especially with the fact that he had not been there for Xander's birth. Even though they had come to an understanding, it still was a sensitive subject. There was nothing that could be done about it, since it had already happened but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt him.
"Oh, okay," he said. "Alright." He wished that there was movement on her part about their future together. He knew what he wanted. He wasn't so sure about what she wanted.
She turned the subject about work and the conversation started to flow, easily. If they weren't talking about their personal situation, it was much easier to talk about it. Cristina talked about her new research project and he talked about all of the strange things that happened in the hospital.
Cristina agreed that Grey Sloan was a mecca for many strange occurrences. Who knew that one place would attract so many weird things? Though some of the best times of her life had happened there, she also experienced some of the worst times, too. She had met Owen, Meredith and Alex there – people she would never regret having been in her life. There were times she had loved the place and there were times that she hated it, too. She never regretted leaving in the end, except when it came to Owen. But Owen had recognized there was much for her to accomplish out there.
"I see things have not changed there," she said, with a laugh. "Maybe, I will do a surgery again, there, some day. I always had a fondness for OR 2."
"You would?" he said, surprised. He had thought she wouldn't have considered doing that again.
"Yes, some of the weirdest cases pass through Grey Sloan. If there was something that would pique my interest, I would definitely do it," she said. "I think your residents would learn something from it. I did it for Seattle Pres. Why wouldn't I do it for Grey Sloan? I may have sold my interests in the hospital but I still care about it very much."
"That's good to know," he said. "I better go and let you get some rest."
"Yeah, thanks," she answered. "Bye, Owen."
"Bye, Cristina," he said. "Love you." He hung up the connection. His mind began working in overdrive.
He got on his phone, immediately and found the contact that he wanted. "Dr Russell, do you have any extraordinary cardio cases?" he asked.
A/N Please leave your reviews. I do appreciate all of them. So keep the reviews coming.