It was 7pm. The candle light cast a soft glow through the open space of the firehouse. Owen had set the table with the same red cloth he had used for their infamous OR anniversary dinner and a huge bunch of red roses he had got delivered earlier in the day stood in vase in the centre.
Having left their son sleeping in his cot, Owen and Cristina had made their way through to the kitchen to enjoy the meal Owen had prepared.
As they ate, Cristina listened as Owen told her about his trauma presentation for an upcoming conference he and Derek were attending in Florida. She made a mental reminder to talk to Meredith about what they were going to do while their husbands were away for 5 days. She was not looking forward to not having him around, slightly nervous at being left in sole charge of Daniel.
"That was delicious. Thank you." Cristina rested her chin on her hands and watched happily as the light from the naked flame cast shadows across her husband's face.
"My-" before Owen could complete his sentence the quiet of the firehouse was filled with a the high pitched wail of it's newest resident.
"waaaaaaaaa...waaaaaaaaaaaa...waaaaaaaaaaaa."
Cristina pushed herself up from the table and walked towards the bedroom, "And so it begins!" she threw the comment back over her shoulder. Owen sighed and got up to tidy away the remnants of the meal and wondered when they would next get a quiet few minutes together. Parenthood was certainly going to be a roller coaster, but he definitely was enjoying the ride so far, even if it was a little louder than he and anticipated!
"Ok honey, are you hungry?" Cristina carried Daniel through to the living room and sat down on the sofa, pulled a large cushion across her lap and quickly positioned the screaming infant where he would be able to latch on easily. As soon as he had found her nipple, his tiny mouth began to suck furiously and the firehouse fell silent.
Owen came and sat down next to his wife. He quietly marvelled at biology- how the body was built to fulfil such a natural function of providing another human being with one of it's most basic needs. Cristina moved slowly, trying not to disturb her son, so she was resting against Owen's chest. "Once the real milk comes in I am going to start expressing so you can have your fair share of feeds." She nuzzled her head into his neck and turned her eyes up to search his face.
Owen, twisting a lock of her hair between his thumb and forefinger, kissed her forehead. "That will be nice."
They sat in easy silence while Daniel filled himself up. He fell asleep and his mouth dropped open and he slipped off his mothers nipple. His pursed his little rosebud mouth, adjusting to it being empty, and took some fast, shallow breaths before beginning to breath in a deep, low rhythm his eyelids fluttering to a stop.
His parents sat still for a few minutes waiting to ensure that this was real sleep.
"Here let me go and put him back to bed" Owen stood up and expertly lifted Daniel out of his mother's arms and rolled him onto his chest. The little boy let out a contented sigh but his eyes firmly closed. Both parent's breathed a silent sigh of relief for their son's contentment, how ever long it would last.
"I am going to take a shower". Getting up slowly off the couch, fatigued and still uncomfortable, Cristina followed her boys into the bedroom and gingerly opened the drawers to pull out Owen's harvard hoodie and a pair of sweatpants and headed towards the bathroom. Owen laid Daniel in his cot and stood back observing his tiny boy. Owen wondered who had put all the pieces of the puzzle of his life in perfect symmetry to create this picture. Two years ago he had been fighting alongside other men who had at the time left wives and sons and daughters as young as Daniel behind. He could not imagine living a military life now he was a husband and father. When he was honourably discharged he did not know who he was supposed to be or where he was supposed to be. He had nothing or no one to fight for. Now he knew. The discharge had been his way of dodging that enemy bullet and finding his way home. To a home that was created when he saw her again in the after, a home that had merged into a partnership and morphed into a family. Cristina had broken down the walls of his wars and let all the light flood back in. And now Daniel- he was the fire that was going to keep the light shining, he was beginning of their future.
"Owen, Come and talk to me." Cristina called out for her husband as she flicked on the shower.
Quickly shedding his jeans and shirt he pulled on his grey sweat pants and Seattle Grace Mercy West sweatshirt. He adjusted Daniel's blanket, lightly caressed his cheek and sauntered into the bathroom.
His wife was standing under the shower with shampoo bubbles running down her long thin neck, skimming her décolletage and over her swollen breasts. Her still curved stomach looked empty but the memory of their son resting there tugged at Owen's heart and if he was honest his groin. The way her tiny body had adapted to pregnancy had both fascinated him and turned him on.
God, she is beautiful. Owen thought to himself. She has just given birth, simmer down.
Owen only had to catch the slightest glimpse of his wife to feel turned on and if the situation was not that she had been in labour less than 24 hours ago he would have been in that shower like a shot.
"Can you pass me the conditioner?" Owen located the coconut flavoured hair product and slid the shower door open and handed it to his wife. He sat down on the floor and watched her massage it in to her scalp.
"Do you want to watch a movie or something for a little while?" Owen enquired trying to push the very dirty thoughts he was having about his very naked and very desirable wife to the back of his mind.
"Ok, but I am choosing, no more action movies! No Transformers!" Her voice was slightly muffled by the water but the mirth in her tone was clear enough for Owen to pick up that she was teasing him
"Whatever you say. I owe you for the whole giving birth thing anyway."
"Oh yes you do Major Hunt. If you thought Iraq was tough you try squeezing a human being through your vagina without pain relief!" She opened the door and stepped out onto the bath mat, little drops of water falling from her long hair into tiny pools around her feet.
"I will be sure to try it some time!' He was laughing as he stood up and wrapped the big, fluffy grey towel around her and began to rub her dry.
Cristina looked up at this man and thought about how all the little things he did for her made her feel so loved. She had never experienced it before and in the beginning it had scared her. What if she let herself like it, allowed herself to lean on it and then she lost it? But now she had thrown herself into it so deeply that she knew it was real, it was rooted in the here and now and in the hereafter and the yet to come.
"Kiss me." She whispered.
Owen bent his head and softly grazed her lips with his. She ran her hands up to the sides of his face and held him close, her lips and tongue responding, wanting to taste him and enjoy him. Owen's hands clasped together around her waist and he deepened the kiss slightly, increasing the pressure and pulling her damp body closer to his.
She was the one to pull her lips away. One of them had to as they knew this could not follow its usual path into hours of either hot sex or sensual lovemaking. She smiled up and him, "It won't be long." She pecked a tiny kiss on his neck and extricated herself from his arms to pull on the clothes she had selected earlier. "Go and set the film up. Let's watch Schindler's List."
Owen walked out of the bathroom feeling a mixture of frustration, at not being able to finish what they started, and excitement, remembering how hot the sex had been that first time after their period of therapy induced celibacy.
Curled up on the sofa, the bowl of popcorn discarded and the film humming away in the background, Cristina was fighting to keep her eyes open, a wave of extreme tiredness had washed over her. She had been running on adrenaline all day and now she was depleted. Owen felt his wife's body getting heavier in his arms.
"Come on sleepy head, let's go to bed." Owen got up and lifted Cristina into his arms, much like the time he had lifted her off the ground outside the hospital with an icicle sticking out of her chest. He walked to their bedroom and glanced at the sleeping form of his baby boy in the half light. He placed Cristina on the bed and she sunk down into the soft, inviting pillows and fell asleep almost instantly. Not bothering to change out of his clothes, Owen laid down beside his wife and curled his body around her. Cristina and Daniel's breathing fell into perfect syncronicity and the perfect harmony lulled him into his own restful escape.
It was 2.30am. The night so far had been divided into short bursts of sleep and long bursts of crying. Owen had changed Daniel, walked around each room with him singing softly and Cristina had fed him twice, burped him and changed him but it wasn't working. Daniel was still crying his eyes out, he was getting more and more hot and bothered and Cristina was getting more and more distressed. Owen had gone into the kitchen to make them some strong coffee.
"Owen! Owen!" Cristina called out urgently, walking towards the kitchen.
"What? What's the matter?" Owen spin around, worried at what he might be faced with.
"What am I doing wrong? Why won't he stop! I am such a failure! I told you I couldn't do this!" Cristina, holding Daniel to her chest, swaying him gently, was bordering on hysterical. Tears were pooled in the corners of her eyes, threatening to flow like a waterfall down her cheeks. The little boys strangled cries were slightly muffled by the hoodie that smelt of his father's aftershave.
"Nothing, you are not doing anything wrong." Owen stretched across the counter and took his screeching son from her. "It's all just new isn't it buddy? You have to get used to being in these big open spaces after all that time cuddled up inside your amazing mummy." Daniel's little body struggled against his father's muscular arms and his cries once again intensified.
A thought suddenly popped into Owen's head. "Cristina put on a coat and some shoes and meet us downstairs."
Cristina looked puzzled but she was too tired to argue. Anything was worth a try at this point.
Moments later, Cristina decent the stairs and found Owen tucking Daniel into his stroller and wrapping two blankets round him, to protect him from the cold.
"Let's take him for a walk, see if that helps." Owen unlatched the heavy, original doors that encased the firehouse and motioned for his wife to step outside. Pulling her coat around her tighter, the chill in the air biting at the exposed skin on her face and hands, she waited for Owen to edge the stroller down the small ramp and join her on the sidewalk.
The streets were completely empty. A few cars and taxis moved in criss cross patterns along the main street, the lights from the lamp posts were dim and the space needle was illuminated in the distance. Cristina had never realised how beautiful Seattle was she had never had the chance to explore it, she would take the time to do it as Daniel got older.
Owen pushed the stroller and held Cristina's hand under his on the bar. They walked and walked, not taking note of how long they had been outside, just enjoying the simple pleasure of walking with their new baby. The mixture of the motion of the stroller and the biting fresh air were working, with each step Daniel's screams started fading to soft cries, then to a softer whimper until they finally transposed themselves into a contented snore.
"As much as i hate to massage your ego, you are a genius." Cristina laughed in disbelief that a walk was what her son had been asking for.
"Thank you." Owen acknowledged the compliment. They both kept one hand on the stroller, their little fingers touching and the other on each other, Cristina snaked her arm around his waist and Owen slung his arm around his wife's shoulder and gathered her into him. "shall we head back home?"
"Let's walk a little bit further." The triangle of people carried on down the street, no idea where they were heading but just happy to be on the journey together.