16 September 2013

There was a knock at her office door and she looked up to find Shane standing in the door way.

"Dr Grey's on the phone for you."

Cristina motioned for him to hand her the phone. She held the phone up to her ear. "Hey , Mer."

"Hey. How's it going?"

"Good. I'm just doing some research on the 3-D printing and there have been many attempts after mine but none have been successful."

"I'm not sure if that sucks or not because on one hand , I want lives to be saved but on the other , I want you to do the saving."

"I get it."

"Are you trying again?"

"I am." Cristina sighed and shut the laptop. "I just want to get this right."

"I know and you will."

Cristina was quiet. "I just feel like I owe it to Mark."

"His death wasn't your fault , Cristina. His heart was just tired. There was nothing any one could do about that." Meredith paused. "His heart was just tired." She repeated.

Cristina sighed again. "Yeah , I know the feeling."

\

A solemn Cristina unlocked her front door and stepped inside with Shane following shortly behind.

"Is something bothering you?" He asked as he closed the door and removed his jacket.

He then gave his hand to Cristina to use as support as she removed her shoes and dropped them on the floor.

He kicked them to the side and then looked up at her as she spoke.

"Yeah. It's just this trial thing that's bothering me." She started walking into the living room and he followed.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No. I'm good." She plopped down on the couch and sighed.

Shane nodded. "The interns told me about this great pizza place not too far from here. Want me to call them and place an order?"

Cristina though about it. "Yeah. Okay. But I want my own large pizza. I have some emotional eating to do."

Shane smiled. "Sure."

He was just about to ascend the stairs when there was a knock at the door.

He looked at Cristina but she had rolled over and was now lying on the floor.

He walked over to the door to open it and for the second time that week , there was a bright smile on the other side.

"Good evening."

"Hi." Shane smiled.

"Is your wife home?"

"Cristina? She's not my wife."

"Oh. Well , is Cristina , the woman who is not your wife , home?"

Shane laughed. "Yes , Louise , she is."

"Lou." She corrected him with a smile. "Anyway , I came over to invite the two of you to dinner."

Shane looked over at Cristina who was rapidly shaking her head 'no' from the floor.

"That's very generous of you , Lou , but-"

"Oh , no , darling. I won't allow you to decline my invitation." She smiled again. "See you at 8." She then gracefully turned around and Shane watched her high heeled legs navigate her way across their lawn and onto hers.

Shane closed the door and turned to Cristina again. "I guess we aren't having pizza tonight."

Cristina groaned and fell back against the carpet again.

\

Cristina hugged her coat to her as the cold air made it's way onto the porch they were standing on.

"Is it too late to cancel?"

"Yes." Shane said as he knocked on their neighbor's door.

Cristina rolled her eyes and they both waited as they heard footsteps approaching the door.

"We can still run." Cristina suggested.

"No." Shane said sternly.

"You're no fun."

Shane smiled at her as the door opened , revealing an unfamiliar face.

"Hi ," Shane said confused. "Lou invited us for dinner?"

"Yes , of course." He smiled. The man stepped aside and welcomed them in. "I'm her husband , Steven." He extended his hand to Shane first.

"Shane."

Cristina expected his hand to reach out to her next but when it didn't , she didn't think anything of it. "I'm Cristina." She stated.

"Welcome to our home." Steven smiled. "Well , Louise is in the dining room. Follow me." He instructed and they did.

They were lead to a room in the corner of the house.

The room was large with glass patio doors that extended across half of the room.

The doors were halfway open and the evening breeze was pouring in.

As they stepped inside , Louise looked up and beamed.

"Cristina. Shane. Welcome." She went into hug Cristina and even though she felt awkward , Cristina allowed her to. Her expensive perfume filled up her senses and once again Cristina was reminded of the opulence this woman oozed.

Louise then hugged Shane and when she let go , she clasped her hands together and beamed once more. "Well , I hope you're hungry."

\

Cristina looked at the table in front of her.

It was filled with all types of pasta , salads , meats and she had even made a special pizza for them , knowing that they were just about to order one before she invited them over.

"Lou , this looks ... Great." Cristina stated.

Cristina noted the look Steven gave Louise before he turned back to Cristina. "Yes , Louise is quite the cook. It's one of the reasons I married her." Steven seemed to be joking but Cristina sensed something hidden beneath his words.

Louise cleared her throat and gestures towards the food. "Well , dig in."

\

"So , Shane , what do you do?" Steven directed at Cristina's roommate.

"I'm a medical resident."

Steven raised his eyebrows. "Wow. That's impressive."

"Cristina owns the hospital Shane's doing his residency at." Louise announced and then looked at Cristina for confirmation. "Am I right?"

Cristina looking up from her lasagne that she had momentarily lost herself in and nodded. "Yes , I do."

"That's nice." Steven smiled at Cristina and she suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Oh , come on , Steve. It's the twenty first century. Women own hospitals now." Louise laughed.

"I didn't say anything." He had a tight smile plastered on his face.

"But you were thinking it." She gave him a playful wink and he seemed to have softened up when he laughed and waved her off.

Steven turned his attention to Shane again , asking him about all sorts of things.

Cristina took this time to look Louise's spouse over. She tried to hide her wandering eyes since she was seated so close to him and having his wife across from her , she didn't want to give her new friend the wrong impression.

Steven was well built.

His muscles bulged out from underneath his dress shirt and his hands were large and looked as if they were rough.

His body reminded her of Owen's but Tom's eyes didn't hold the softness and sincerity that Owen's did and even though Owen's hands were much larger than hers and looked to be hard and rough , they were soft when they touched her skin.

She wasn't so sure about Steven's.

His dark hair was in a comb over do and his eyes were a dark brown. Nearly black even.

He certainly exuded the same class and sophistication Louise exuded but he lacked the warmth and joy Louise brought with her.

Shane suddenly directed something at Cristina and she agreed even though she had no idea what he had just said.

It seemed to be the right answer since Shane smiled at her and then continued his conversation with Steven.

Cristina looked back at Louise and found that she was already smiling at her.

Cristina laughed when Louise silently rolled her eyes when Steven mentioned his cars for the tenth time since they sat down.

Cristina noted the look in Steven's eye when he caught her and she wondered if the man had any sense of humor at all.

She feared that he didn't and wondered how some many people got through life without one.

\

Cristina watched Steven and Shane as they spoke on the porch.

She was helping Louise clear the table , something she wasn't really use to but she didn't mind doing. Especially after how much Louise spoiled them with dinner and dessert.

She carried a bowl of half eaten Alfredo pasta into the kitchen and placed it on the counter next the the other left overs.

As she waited for her neighbor to join her , she leaned against the island and admired the light grey kitchen.

It had a modern yet homey feel to it and Cristina liked it.

Her new friend walked into the kitchen and started placing things into the dishwasher.

"So , how do you like your new home? Your new neighborhood?" She asked as she packed.

Cristina shrugged. "It's okay."

Louise looked at her for a second and then went back to her task. "You're from Seattle , am I right?"

Cristina knitted her brows. "Yeah. How did you know."

It was Louise's turn to shrug. "I googled you." She added a guilty smile.

Cristina shook her head in amusement. "How about you? Where are you from? You don't have the accent that comes with this place."

Louise closed the dishwasher and turned it on. She then turned to Cristina. "I was born in France , moved to London when I was 3 and then when I was eighteen , I met Steven , married him and moved out here."

"Wow. You've been around."

Louise laughed. "I like you. You're not afraid to say what you're thinking. Lord knows we need that around here."

Cristina wasn't sure what she meant by that but she decided not to think about it too much. "Thanks."

"You're supposed to say you like me back."

"I'll get back to you on that."

Louise shook her head and smiled. "Whatever you say , Cristina."

\

Shane locked their front door and hung his coat on the coat rack. "They're nice people."

"Yeah."

Shane noted her tone. "What?"

Cristina shrugged. "I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about Steven. I don't know what it is."

"I know what you mean. Maybe we just have to get to know him better."

"Maybe." Cristina started ascending the stairs. "Anyway , good night , Ross."

"Goodnight."

She walked over to her room and turned on the light as she stepped inside.

Her new company made her miss home.

She wanted to start fresh but she forgot about the whole meeting new people thing.

She was never a fan of that.

She enjoyed the familiarity of a friendship. She wasn't a fan of guessing what another person was thinking or about to do.

She missed her friends.

She missed Owen.

She sighed as she sat down on her bed.

She came to the conclusion that making new friends was just another price she had to pay for living her dreams.

/

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