Cristina had settled down quickly in Portland, even though she had never imagined in her entire life that she would be married and pregnant by the age of 22. She had never seen that future for herself but she knew that Owen would have always been part of any future.

She got a job – a six-month stint at the public library. It was not a high-stress job, which she liked. She was replacing someone who had gone on leave for extensive surgery.

She and Owen had also moved into a larger apartment in the same building – a two-bedroom apartment, since they needed the extra bedroom for the baby, when it came. They knew, eventually, they would have to find a house, if they had any more children.

At work, Owen was proud to say that he now had a wife. When he first came back from Chicago and told everyone that he had got married, they were all in a bit of shock. "So you went to Chicago for your best friend's wedding and came back with a wife, too," one of his colleagues joked.

"Well," Owen replied. "I married my best friend's little sister."

"How little is little?" another colleague asked. "Now some under-aged teenager?"

"I am pleased to say that she is indeed a grown-up. She is turning 22 but she is my best friend's little sister and I have known her practically my whole life. I knew from the moment that I saw her as a seven-year-old that I was going to marry her," Owen admitted.

"A life-long love," one of the ladies said. "So sweet." He didn't tell them, then that they were going to have a baby. He waited until the first trimester had passed to announce that he was going to be a father.

"Didn't you just get married three weeks ago?" one person said.

"Well, yeah, but you know, things happened and we got married," Owen said, a little sheepishly.

"A shot gun wedding, it was," a woman said. "Her dad brought out the old shotgun and forced you to the church?" Owen had to laugh because of the image of mild-mannered Mr. Yang with a shotgun was a comical one.

"No, it wasn't, actually. I was the one who wanted to get married," Owen said. "Her parents didn't agree but they came around in the end."

"So when is she due?" another person asked. "March," Owen replied.

"Well, congratulations from all of us," his boss said. "Thank you," Owen said. It really felt good to tell everyone about the baby. He was so proud of his little family.


By Christmas, Cristina was about six months pregnant. She and Owen had gone home for the holidays, arriving the day before Christmas Eve. Owen had asked that they stay at his dad's house instead of her parents' house because he knew that the holidays were going to be extra-hard on his dad with his mom gone. Cristina readily agreed because she knew he would appreciate their presence, there. They hadn't come home for Thanksgiving because Owen could not get away from his job. It had been nearly four months since they last saw their families. Cristina and Owen were not the only ones there for the holidays as Holly and Garrett had also made it home from California. They were staying at the Yangs in Garrett's old room. Owen's sister Julia had also made it home .She had a new beau named Howard, who was also spending the holidays with them. The Hunts were no longer surprised, whenever Julia brought home a new guy for any family occasion.

Christmas Eve dinner was held at the Hunts with the Yangs coming over and Christmas Day luncheon was being held at the Yangs with the Hunts coming over. The two families had long shared their holidays together but this time, it was different. They were actually family now, officially related by the marriage of Owen and Cristina and cemented by the impending birth of the Yangs-Hunts' first grandchild.

At the Christmas luncheon, after all of the delicious food was eaten, Owen stood up, hitting his glass with a fork to get everyone's attention. "It is always the best time when the Hunts and the Yangs get together. This tradition has gone on for many years and hopefully, for many more years to come. We would like to welcome Howard to our family gathering. And of course, we want to remember my mom, Lana, who always enjoyed these luncheons. She is always in our thoughts and our prayers. Mom, I really, really miss you and I am sure that you would have liked to hear this bit of news.

"Cristina and I would like to make an announcement. We found out a couple of weeks ago but we thought it would be great to tell you guys this at Christmas, since everyone would be here. We are going to have a boy."

Everyone started to laugh and clap. "Congratulations, son," George said, giving his son a big hug. The noise did not totally die down, when Garrett stood up. "Well, I guess this seems to be a pretty good time to make this announcement. Holly and I are also pregnant."

"What?" Helen shrieked. "Another baby!" She got up and ran and kissed her son and her daughter-in-law. Stanley wiped a tear from his eye. It was such good news, this Christmas day.

"How far are you gone, Holly?" Cristina asked, pleased that her sister-in-law was also going to have a baby. Holly grinned at her. "Well, we are just out of the first trimester. We are expecting that the baby will come in June."

"Oh, so awesome," Cristina said. "My baby will only be about three months older. They will be such close cousins."

"Oh, I can't get over all of the good news," Helen said, sitting down and fanning herself. "I am going to be a grandma twice over in the next year."

After dessert, Owen and Julia found themselves in the kitchen, helping with the clean-up. Cristina had gone to lie down in her old room. Owen and Julia didn't mind, as they washed and dried the dishes. Julia smiled at her brother and said, "It is good to see you so content, so happy with your life."

"I am very happy, Julia. More than I have ever been in my entire life," Owen said. "I have everything I could possibly want – my wife, who is the love of my life and my baby son, who is coming in a couple of months. Then, I have a great job which I love."

"I envy you very much," Julia said. "Here I am, 31 years old and I still can't get my act, together. Most of my relationships don't last more than a couple of months. Sometimes, it is hard to watch you. You are my kid brother, six years younger than me, and you have it all together."

"Julia, you're going to find someone," Owen said, patting her on the back. "You will know it, when you meet them."

"Oh, Owen, nobody is as lucky as you that you found your soulmate when you were a little kid," Julia said, wistfully. "I know I used to make fun of you because your love for Cristina never wavered as you grew up. You would think that since you guys were so young, you would have outgrown it and gone on to somebody else."

"Yeah, you would think that. I still remember the day I first laid my eyes on her. She had the most awesome head of curls and the cutest cheeks and the softest skin. She was wearing a light blue dress and was barefoot. She looked like a doll," Owen said. "My heart was taken the moment I saw her." He smiled at the memory. They finished washing up the dishes. Julia went back to check on her new boyfriend, Howard while Owen went to Cristina's bedroom to look for her.

He found her perched on top of a table, trying to remove her dolls and teddy bears from the top shelf. "Cristina, come down from there. What if you fall?" he said, alarmed. He helped her down from the top of the table.

"I am just trying to get the dollies and teddy bears down. I am going to wash them and give them to my children," she said.

"Children, you say?" he said with a huge grin. He reached up on the top shelf and took down the dolls and bears. As he handed her to them, "They are a little bit dusty. You really need to wash them."

"Samantha and Tabitha," she said, as she laid the soft-bodied baby dolls on her bed. "Bruno and Hugo, you two were my favorite," Cristina added, as she looked at her teddy bears.

"Remember our tea parties with them?" he said. "I always came to see you first before I went to play with Garrett."

"Oh, you played tea party so well," she said. "Most boys don't, especially Garrett, who used to get frustrated with the make-believe tea and biscuits."

"Of course I had an ulterior motive," Owen confessed. "I loved you so much and I wanted you to like me."

"Well, clearly it worked because look where we are now," she said, holding on to her six-month pregnant belly. She fingered the fur on one of the bears. "Passing these on to a new generation." They sat there, quietly, as they thought about their future baby boy.


When they got back to Portland, Cristina threw herself into converting the second bedroom into a nursery for their son. She avoided gender-specific colors and decided the décor would be yellow and dove grey.

She decided on everything that went into the room, from the cribs, the changing tables, the rocking chair, the rug and the mural on the wall. After a month of hard work and driving Owen crazy, she finally got it the way that she wanted. The final touch was placing Hugo and Bruno into the crib. Now, all they had to do was await the arrival of the baby.

As her body grew during the last few months, she was getting restless with her increasing girth. As a small woman, she was not used to carrying around so much weight. She felt like a beached whale. Since her stint at the library had ended, she was waiting the last couple of weeks at home.

On the due date, she waited for some sign that he was going to come. Owen was at work. He jumped every time his phone rang, in case he had to rush home to take her to the hospital. But the call never came because Cristina never got a single sign that the baby was coming. When he came home, he found her in the living room, watching television. "So nothing, huh?" he said. "Nope," she said.

The next few days were the same. Cristina insisted that they had sex, saying that she read it was supposed to help induce labor. With her enormous stomach in the way, they had to find inventive ways of having sex. Still, nothing happened. She was getting completely frustrated. She had now reached 41 weeks and was just about ready to give up. "Can we get the doctor to induce labor?" she told Owen. "I am going stark raving mad."

"I guess we could," he said. "The baby is fully cooked by now. Let's ask the doctor, tomorrow. I too am ready to get that little boy out of there. It seems that he has found it too comfortable in his mommy's womb and wants to stay in there."

Cristina went to bed, that night, feeling much better. It was close to 2 a.m. that she started getting pains. Could it be gas pain? She didn't want to wake Owen until she was sure that it was contractions. There it was again. It didn't feel like gas. She was pretty darn sure what it was when her water finally broke.

She shook Owen awake. "It's time," she said.


A/N Please leave your comments and reviews. Thank you very much for taking the time to do so. The next chapter will be the final chapter.