Chapter 11.
Exceptional.
Seattle, Washington.
July 21, 2019.
Cristina set another empty Oreo on the plate in front of her, and the sound of the cookie hitting the glass brought three miniature people straight to the table. Evelyn got to it first, taking the top half and passing the bottom half to her twin. Collin arrived last and went for the bag instead, giving her a faint, adorable smile until she surrendered a fresh one.
Her company gave her an odd look.
She explained, "Collin is the only kid in this house that knows Oreos have cream in them. Noah and the Kraken are blissfully unaware, so Momma gets the good stuff."
"Deplorable," Shane commented, but he was smiling. It was impossible not to, because he had the runt of the litter in his arms. Henry was gnawing hardcore on his little rubber teething ring, kicking his legs in a steady pattern against the Oreo container. He liked the crinkling sound it made.
Cristina grabbed another cookie, licked the cream out, and set the chocolate pieces on the plate. "You say deplorable, I say innovative."
He cocked an eyebrow, but changed the subject. "Anyway, Oakland said you can pick any time for your interview, which I think is complete crap because I had to come in at midnight on a Saturday and sit in front of a board of directors to get grilled for two hours."
"Perks come with the prestige, young one." Cristina patted the top of his head. "One day you might have swagger like me."
Shane plucked Henry up by the underarms, helping him stand in his lap. He could stay upright with someone keeping him balanced for almost thirty seconds now, but walking was out of the question until he got better at crawling. His little legs were just starting to get stronger. He spoke to the baby, "When your crazy mommy comes to work at the lab, she's gonna give Uncle Shane a hard time just like she did in Zurich, isn't that right?"
Cristina yawned, waving that comment off. "If I come work at the lab, I want to get my feet on the ground with these new trials, and dig into new territory. I'm not your boss anymore, Shane."
"I know that." Shane made a face, wiggling Henry around and making him giggle. "I know that. Yes I do. I do know that. Yes, I know that."
"You're gonna make him throw up." Cristina passed Collin another Oreo, and then scooped him into her lap, holding onto him while he munched.
Her reasons for wanting to switch jobs were different depending on who she was talking to. Meredith thought she was burned out from taking so many extra surgeries and dealing with her kids. Owen thought something similar, but she told him she wanted to spend more time at home, on a regular schedule, and he ate it up. She told April she was tired of her stupid, sunshiney face. She told Callie she wanted to focus on research. Shane wanted to work with her again, to follow in her footsteps a little while longer despite earning his place as a surgeon long ago.
But there was one definitive reason she had left out. She was worried about her son, worried about the little boy in her arms. When she was younger she thought nothing would ever be more important to her than her career, but Collin had clawed his way up that mountain and now her concern for him clouded her ability to do her job.
It wasn't all bad. Since its inception, the research facility, barely a block from the hospital, had garnered national recognition as one of the most innovative and cutting-edge surgical research centers in the country, soon to be the world. She would not perform less surgery there, per say, but her schedule would be more nine-to-five than the hospital. She would assign patients in those hours, and work on clinical trials, and publish papers, and train clinical researchers. In the coming years she planned to develop new, safer techniques using all she had learned as she traveled the world with Teddy. She had so much bumping around in her head, so much potential.
She ran a hand through Collin's hair, imagining all of those incredible things, but coming back to her hopes for him. There was no point in making medical breakthroughs if she couldn't help her own son. Being home more would be a step in the right direction.
"What are you thinking about?" Shane balanced Henry on his knee, and gazed at the boy, his eyes deep and thoughtful. His voice had shifted from playful to serious.
Cristina shrugged. "The future, I guess."
"Me, too."
"Can we try something?" Cristina sat up, holding her arms out for Henry. "Switch kids."
Shane grabbed Collin and tugged him over to his lap, and Cristina took Henry. She watched, confounded, when Collin looked right at her friend, no sign of a meltdown. He just grabbed another Oreo and relaxed, munching away.
"I think the Oreo might be contributing," Shane pointed out.
Cristina snorted, wondering if Adham was right about how Collin reacted to people. But why would he be so wishy-washy toward Owen? For at least the last six months, Cristina and Owen had barely fought, and when they did it was over quickly. She cuddled with him on the couch, sexually harassed him while he tried to cook dinner, chased him around with the water hose, painted his cheeks with nail polish while he was sleeping – this house was not full of malice. It was full of love. So where was he getting this fear from?
"How was your date with Adham Farrah?"
Cristina winced. "Ugh."
"That bad?"
"No. Not… bad. Just… ugh."
Shane was one of the only people who knew that Adham Farrah was Henry's father. She told him impulsively, because she told him everything, and he was the only person she could vent to. He took it all in, always offering to duke it out with the other man on principal.
"He wants to see Henry, and I… said he could."
Shane frowned, his eyes flickering to the little scrap in her arms, and then back to her. "Why?"
"I don't know. He just seemed so sad. I wish he hadn't come here. I wish there was some way around this, but there's not. I can't just… I can't keep Henry from his father."
Shane snorted, "Sure you can. I'll help."
"Too late."
"Does that mean you're gonna tell Owen?"
"Adham promised to keep it between us. So no. He doesn't need to know."
"I'm almost positive that's on the list of things he should know."
"This would be so much easier if you were the father."
"Whoa. No. I don't wanna be your baby-daddy."
Cristina laughed at his expression. "Can you imagine what Owen would do to you?"
"Is that why you're not telling him about Dr. Farrah?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. It's all just… weird."
Her cellphone rang, and Henry startled in her arms. She passed him back to Shane and hopped up to answer it, giving him the 'one minute' sign. He dumped Collin onto the couch beside him and took the baby, looking at him very seriously, eyebrows down and all.
Cristina whacked him on her way to the door. "Stop that."
Owen was on the line. "Stop what?"
"Sorry. Not you. What's up?"
His voice was calm and kind, but there was an underlying tension, like he was expecting the conversation to go sour. "How was it today?"
No wonder he was worried.
"It was okay. Dr. Farrah didn't say anything about autism. Reactive Attachment Disorder was his first idea, but they took some blood so we'll hear back in a week or so."
"So you… did okay? Collin did okay?"
"Yep. We both kept our cool kid hats on." She wished he wasn't so worried, but she couldn't blame him. She hadn't taken this Adham thing so well until now. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Are you on the way home?"
"Yeah."
"Well, when you get here, how about we all go out to dinner, as a family? We never do that."
"We never do that because you always say no."
"That's because Scooby is the antichrist. But we should go. Really." Cristina waited, and sighed at his hesitation. "Don't be a baby. How bad can she possibly be?"
"No, that's not why I… I talked to Adham earlier and he asked for our permission to come to the house sometimes to do a case study on Collin. I told him I would talk to you about it."
If he kept up their agreement, she had nothing to worry about.
But she still felt a lump forming in her throat. "Um…"
"We can talk about it later. That's fine. Dinner sounds great. I think we should find someone to watch Henry, though."
Noise was a problem for her youngest son. He was blind, so he focused very hard on his other senses. In crowded restaurants, or when his sister was caterwauling in his ear, the overstimulation could cause a physiologic reaction. He could spike a fever like no baby she had ever met.
When she hung up with Owen, she leaned over the back of the couch and whispered to Shane, "So… what are you plans for the night?"
He laughed. "You want me to watch him, don't you?"
"When Owen gets home, just make it seem like you just got here."
"Why?"
"He's not overly fond of you."
"Ahh."
"But he'll take the free babysitting."
"Free? I don't recall-"
Cristina put her hands on his shoulders, "How much do you love me?"
"As long as I don't have to watch Kujo."
Cristina plucked Collin off of the couch cushion, heading back to his room. She spoke to Shane while she picked out an outfit. "No, the Swamp Thing is coming with us."
"What do you think of Baby Norman Bates?"
"I'm partial to Voldemort."