Chapter XXV

Cristina Yang woke up to the sound of a child giggle. She opened her eyes to Emma Sloan's toothless grin.

"Hey munchkin... Been awake long?"

The only answer she got was the wet kiss the toddler gave her.

"Where are your parents? Still sleeping? Yeah... Sloan must have kept her awake most of the night. What do you want to do?"

"Potty."

The resident sighed. "Come on, lets get you ready for the day."

They went upstairs and, after a stop to the bathroom, Cristina dressed the little girl.

"Mama?"

"Your mommy and daddy are still sleeping, munchkin. What do you say to spending the day with your aunt Cristina? We could take a ferryboat ride."

" 'Rek! 'Erry 'oat!"

"Yes, of course. With McDreamy you sure know what ferryboats are."

After writing a quick note to Sloan and Sanford, she took the plastic surgeon's car keys and left the house.

*******

After a ride on one of the ferryboat, breakfast at McDonald and a trip to the playground where all the stay-at-home dads flirted with her, Cristina drove to the hospital. She had took the day off, but her interns had a shift at the clinic under the supervision of Sidney Heron and, though she didn't thought much of them, she knew she needed to rescue them, even if it was for five minutes.

"Come on munchkin, let's rescue some interns."

The little girl jumped into Cristina's arms and they went to the clinic. They were welcomed by the ever cheerful Sidney.

"Cristina! OMG! Is this Dr Sloan and Dr Sanford's daughter? She looks exactly like her mother... Well except for her eyes, they're McSteamy's eyes."

"Sloan doesn't like us using this name around her. How are my interns doing?"

"They're doing well. Aren't you a looker? Yes you are! Wanna come see Sidney?" she said, extending her arms toward the toddler.

The little girl frowned before hiding her face in the crook of Cristina's neck.

"She's definitely not as outspoken as her father..."

"She just doesn't like stranger... But back to my interns..."

"I'm taking good care of them. Don't worry, they're all happy campers. Do you want me to keep the little one for a while so you can go and visit you friends?"

"No, you don't need to. It's nearly her naptime and we haven't had lunch yet..."

She was interrupted by one of her intern who saved her.

"Doctor Yang, I thought you were off today."

"I am, Ryan. I'm just passing through."

"Doctor Heron, I can't put the IV!" yelled Lexie from the other side of the room.

The resident smiled. "Duty call! I'm coming Lexie!"

Ryan let out a sigh. "If you wanted to punish us, Dr Yang, you couldn't found a better way. Heron is way too... happy. And Lexie's been acting like a b... well you know, the b word, since Sloan turned her down."

"What?"

"Yeah. Last night at Joe's. She tried to made a pass at him, but the guy told her he was a one-woman man."

A smile spread across Cristina's face.

"Thanks for the piece of gossip, Ryan."

And she left. The intern turned to his colleagues and said: "She called me by my name!"

******

Navigating through the atrium with her food tray in one hand and Emma's on the other, Cristina went to the table where Izzie, Alex and Meredith were having lunch.

"Don't stay like this, Evil Spawn. Take the munchkin!"

Alex got up and pick the little girl up. "Come see uncle Alex, baby-doll. You're on babysitting duty?"

"I fell asleep on Meredith's couch and Sloan and Sanford weren't awake yet, so I kidnapped their daughter."

"Well Emma transformed you into lovey-dovey auntie Cristina"

"Shut up Barbie. Where's Bambi?" asked Cristina, giving Emma a an apple juice box.

"He's with Torres... probably in an on-call room" answered Alex, giving the little girl a piece of chips. "Callie's biological clock is ticking loud and clear apparently."

"Don't give her chips, Alex! They're not healthy" said Meredith, replacing the chips in her goddaughter's hand with a piece of carrot.

"Says the woman who indulge in tequila every chance she get" laughed the resident.

"Could you please stop bickering!" sighed Izzie. "You're giving Emma a very bad example."

The little girl looked at the adults with a cute little smile.

"Is that the McSt... the Sloan's smirk?" asked Izzie.

"It is, Barbie. She mastered it. Wait until you wake up to it and she gave you a big wet kiss."

"Kissie-kissie!" said the toddler, getting off her chair and walking around the table to give the three residents wet and sticky kisses.

"Thank you, baby-doll" said Alex, putting her back on her seat.

"Yeah, thank you Emma, that's the only kiss he'll receive today" laughed Cristina.

"Luv 'Lex!"

"You sure are a ladies' man, Karev" said Miranda Bailey, joining them.

"Mimi! Kissie-kissie."

The Chief Resident kneeled down and let Emma give her a kiss.

"You took babysitting as a side job Yang?"

"I... I'm only watching her for the day, Doctor Bailey. You know, to help Sloan and Sanford..."

Bailey smiled. "So you're spending the day with Cristina, Emma? You had fun with her, I hope... Did you went to the park?"

" 'Erry 'oat!" giggled the little girl.

"Ferryboat? Well your uncle Derek is going to be jealous of you, won't he? And is Cristina's taking good care of you?"

"Luv 'Tina! Luv 'Tina lots."

And she went back to her juice box and carrot.

"I'll leave you four to your lunch" said Bailey. "Yang... I'll call you if Tucker and I need a babysitter."

"Bye Mimi!" Emma said, waving at Bailey.

"You're going to get a reputation as a babysitter Cristina" said Meredith, smiling.

"Very funny, Meredith."

They all went back to their lunch until Emma started frowning. She pulled at Cristina's shirt and when the resident bent down she whispered in her ear.

"Again?!"

"What does she wants? Uncle Alex might be able to help you, baby-doll."

"I don't think you can help her Evil Spawn, unless you want to visit the ladies' room or take her to the men's bathroom."

Izzie got up and smiled at the toddler. "Auntie Izzie will take you, sweetie-pie."

The tall blonde, holding the tiny little girl's hand, walked out of the atrium toward the bathrooms.

"Did you heard what your half-sister did, Meredith?" asked Cristina, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"No, what has she done? Killed a patient?"

Alex smiled, having heard it from one of the scrub nurse who had been at Joe's the previous night.

"Your little half-sister threw herself at Sloan last night at Joe's."

"Seriously?!" shouted Meredith, nearly choking on her piece of salad.

"Seriously. Lexie made a very indecent proposal to McSteamy."

"You're not telling her the funny part, Cristina. Sloan totally turned her down. Told her he loved Sanford and not even an horny intern could change that. Nurse Fran, you know the one with the hole between her teeth, told me this morning."

At first Meredith felt bad for Lexie, but she couldn't help but laugh at the situation.

"I think she's trying to follow in your footstep" said Alex. "You know, sleeping with attending... She even flirted with 007."

"Stop calling George 007, Alex..."

"Sorry Grey, but the nickname will follow him to the grave" laughed the resident.

The conversation was cut short by Cristina's cell phone.

"Hello? Doctor Sloan... Yeah, I'm still alive... Of course she's okay... If you're going to mock me like that I'm going to hung up... Hi Doctor Sanford... We're having lunch at the hospital... We should be back in time for her afternoon nap... She's in the bathroom with Izzie... Okay... Don't, she's a great kid. Nothing like her dad, luckily... No problem... Okay..."

"Kate?" asked Meredith.

"Yeah. Apparently Sloan seems to doubt my capacities to take care of his daughter."

"He's just over-protective, Cristina. Mark knows you love the little one and that she loves you back. You're one of her favorite subject. She talks about you all the time. I'm even starting to get a little jealous. I'm her godmother after all."

"That's not the way I see it, Meredith" said Alex. "We're all in her life... You and Shepherd are her godparents, Cristina's got this bond with her since the accident, Izzie's always baking stuff for her..."

"And you Alex? What's your thing with Emma?" asked Meredith.

"She's his little princess" suddenly said Cristina. "He'd be willing to do anything for her, right Evil Spawn?"

The resident blushed. "What can I say, she's lovable."

Izzie choose this moment to come back to the table. "Is there something I should know? Why is Alex blushing?"

"No reason, Barbie. So munchkin, your daddy called and he's missing you like crazy. Time to say goodbye to everybody."

The little girl pouted before taking Cristina's hand.

"Wanna give a goodbye kiss to Izzie, Alex and Meredith?"

Emma nodded and hugged them before leaving with Cristina.

TBC