Cristina pushed open the door to the NICU greeted by pitiful glances from the nurses as she made her way towards Xavier. Silently, she wandered to herself what was up because normally the nurses didn't even look at her.
And then she saw her.
"Joanne." Cristina greeted, trying to force warmth into her chilly tone.
"Dr. Yang." She smiled at her, "I was just spending some time with Xavier. Phillip took the kids so we could have some quality time together."
Jealousy twinged at Cristina's heart as she watched the woman cuddle with Xavier. He belonged to her and Burke, not this Betty Crocker wannabe and her husband. "So, you have other kids?"
"We have two. Both of them adopted." She nodded softly, glancing down at Xavier. "We always wanted a full house."
Cristina narrowed her eyes at the woman, but forced a smile, "Two is plenty, isn't it?"
"Two will never be enough, Dr. Yang." She glanced up at Cristina, "Adoption is tough. The interviews and the home studies. It's a lot of work, but it's rewarding when you get to bring home little guys like Xavier." She looked down at him with a serene smile, cooing at him.
"It's not that hard." Cristina lied.
"So what's your story? Why adoption? Is the job too demanding for pregnancy?" Joanne asked, never taking her eyes off of Xavier.
"That's a personal question."
"My husband is sterile. And we could try the sperm donor, but I figured adoption was the best way to go. These kids need love. I want to adopt as many children as I can."
"I'll be happy with just adopting Xavier." Cristina shot at her, a competitive edge cutting through her tone.
Joanne grinned, "The competition is always unnerving for me."
"I thrive on it."
She rocked gently back and forth in the chair, intimidated by Cristina's demeanor. She'd never encountered another perspective parent quite like her. "I'll be gone in about another thirty minutes, and then you can spend your time with him."
"Are you asking me to leave?"
"If you don't mind, I'd just like to spend some quiet time with him."
Cristina pressed her lips together, wishing the woman would just disappear and leave Xavier alone. She glanced up at the monitor and grinned to herself. She glanced at Xavier as he started to cry and it only solidified her plan. "Oh….I need to look at him. That's not good."
Joanne froze, looking up at Cristina. "What's wrong with him?"
Cristina pulled Xavier from her arms and laid him into the crib, pulling her stethoscope from her neck. "He's having runs of sinus rhythm." She pressed her stethoscope to his chest, not really listening to anything, "He's got eupnea…and his bowel sounds are normoactive." Cristina pulled out her pen light and quickly shone it into both of Xavier's eyes, "He's reactive to light and accommodation…" She glanced up at a nurse that was shaking her head at her and she made a face, "Page Dr. Montgomery."
"But he looks fine." Joanne protested.
"That's the thing about these babies with drug withdrawal. They look fine until it's too late." She snapped at the woman as she grabbed a normal saline flush from the counter and hooked it to the hub of his PICC line and flushed it. "His PICC line is patent. This isn't good."
"Dr. Yang…" Joanne started.
"Not now, Mrs. Hertz. I have to focus my attention on Xavier. I can visit with you after I get him stabilized." Cristina waved her off, still pretending to do an assessment.
Joanne nodded simply, "I…I have to go." Her voice was shaking and she grabbed up her purse and quickly left the bedside without another word. Before pushing open the door to the NICU to make her exit she glanced back at Cristina with a half smile on her face and continued through the door.
Cristina watched until the doors to the NICU were closed and she grinned down at Xavier, "Good job." She smirked and scooped him up into her arms. She ran her finger over the dimple on his chin softly and he smiled lightly.
"Reflexes." She mumbled to herself.
She glanced up at the clock as she gently swayed back and forth with Xavier in her arms. She had a few more minutes before Burke would get there and silently she wished that it'd come sooner than later, knowing that Xavier preferred him anyway.
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Andrea pulled open her office door to find Joanne in her face. "Joanne, can I help you with something?"
"Actually, Andy, you can. I want to withdraw my application to adopt baby Xavier." Joanne smiled softly.
"Oh God, what did Yang do?" She sighed, sinking into her chair, "You never back down from a kid, Joanne."
"She tried to trick me with the medical lingo."
"It didn't come up in the interview that you were previously a nurse?" Andrea looked up at her with raised eyebrows.
Joanne laughed lightly, "No. She pulled him from my arms and told me that he had normal respirations and a normal heart rate and normal bowel sounds and reactive pupils and that his PICC line was in place and functioning perfectly fine. She's sneaky. Good, but sneaky. Had I not known what she was talking about, I would've been scared."
Andrea chuckled to herself, "She's something else, that girl. A little rough around the edges."
"She is."
"You really want to give up on this kid? He's really sweet, and you've been trying to adopt an infant since you got TJ." Andrea sighed, glancing at the mess of papers on her desk.
"I want Xavier." Joanne nodded, "Just not as bad as Dr. Yang does."
Andrea smiled, "I'll let the division know."
"Thank you, Andrea." She turned to walk out the door then paused, "Fight for them, Andrea. Fight for them like you fought for me and Phillip the first time we adopted."
"I'll try."
"And don't tell Dr. Yang I'm a nurse. It'll take away…from her fight. I don't want to do that."
"The look on her face would be priceless." Andrea half feigned disappointment.
"The look on her face when she finds out that she's going to be a mother will be even moreso." Joanne assured her before walking away from the office and out of the hospital.
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Cristina sat lightly in the rocker, gently rocking Xavier back and forth with her eyes closed. Two hours had passed and Burke still wasn't there. She figured that he'd gotten caught up in surgery and she knew that she should probably go check but she told herself she'd wait a few minutes.
That was an hour and fifty-five minutes ago.
She felt a pair of soft lips brush over her forehead and she opened her eyes to find Burke standing over her, "Hi baby." She mumbled quietly.
"You tired?" He asked softly, pulling a chair over next to her and settling into it.
"No."
She glanced at him, "You can take him…I've had him for a couple hours. You need to spend time with him."
"I'm perfectly content watching my beautiful wife hold my beautiful son." He mumbled and reached over to place a soft and lingering kiss on her cheek.
She turned to catch his lips with hers for a split second and pulled away, "He's not our son yet."
"We will be."
Cristina shifted lightly to face him better, "What do you mean?"
"Andrea paged me and told me that Mr. and Mrs. Hertz have withdrawn their application. We're the only family in the running right now. They can bring in other families, but she said that they'll finish our application process before advancing with anybody else." He couldn't mask the smile that spread from ear to ear.
"I wonder what made them withdraw their application." She bit the inside of her lip hard to hold back her own smile. She knew that Betty Crocker would give up easily.
"I'm also supposed to tell you that Andrea said 'Well played.' What did you do, Cristina?"
Cristina shook her head, "Why do you think I did anything?"
"Because the last time somebody told you well played it was me and you were acting like a girl." He smirked.
"Well, maybe I was acting like a good mother." She snapped, causing Xavier to startle gently. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, trying to soothe him before the crying even set in.
"You are a good mother."
"Whatever. Are you going to sit there and lecture me or are you going to sit back and enjoy watching your family?"
Burke found himself grinning again at her words and he rolled his chair closer to her. He wrapped an arm tightly around her and glanced down at the sleeping infant in her arms.
For the first time in years, he felt complete.