Four hours later...
"We're back!" Cristina called out into the open space as she and Meredith climbed the stairs to the firehouse expecting to hear the boisterous excitement and see the collateral damage of Zola and Daniel playing one of the many games that bought them such delight and their parent's ear drums despair.
Her words bounced back to her as they connected with a wall of total silence. Puzzled at the unusualness of the firehouse being empty of sound, Cristina dropped the shopping bags on top of the orange leather chaise that stood beside the stairs.
"Maybe Owen took them out?" Meredith mused, as she flopped down on the sofa in a happy champagne haze that had marked her first trip into the world of high fashion. She doubted she would ever return there alone but she had enjoyed the experience.
Casting her eyes quickly around the living room and kitchen but still seeing no signs of life, Cristina made her way towards the closed screen doors that separated the living room from her's and Owen's bedroom.
As she pulled open the doors, Cristina whispered and beckoned to Meredith to join her, "Mer, quick, come look!"
Heaving herself off the sofa, Meredith smiled at the picture that popped out against the backdrop of the contemporary bedroom.
Owen was lying fast asleep in the middle of the bed, his legs crossed over each other. Curled into his chest, just the way Cristina curled into him every night to hear his heartbeat, one on either side were two tiny bodies, thumbs in mouths. On the right was Zola, her head resting on top of his collar bone, her chubby fist clutching onto a handful of the Harvard hoodie, keeping her favourite uncle close. On the left was his son, his head directly over his father's heart, the beats like a metronome ticking away the minutes spent in security of his dreamland.
The three sets of lungs were breathing in cannon, like a Mexican wave rippling across the bed from right to left. Short breath, long breath, short breath. It was almost hypnotic in its innocent simplicity. Cristina suddenly felt a pinch of emotion in her own chest. This was exactly what Owen had been talking about when he had laid out his vision of the huge life he saw for them. Cristina could not see at the time how her life could contain anymore that surgery and her marriage but now she knew she could expand her life again and encompass even more. She now realised that It was the small moments, the simple pleasures of being with a child who knew you to be the one they relied on, sharing a touch or a look with a partner who carried you heart in their heart, to come home from the coldness of a surgical life and step i to and wrap yourself inside the warm blanket of a family. She now recognised that to define yourself as a mother or a wife or a cardio god did not have to be mutually exclusive, she was a chameleon, an every changing definition of her total self.
"I almost hate to disturb them!" Creeping over slowly to extricate Zola from the comfort of Owen's arms, Meredith prised her little fingers off the fabric of the jumper and lifted her sleepy daughter off the bed curling her into her own chest. Zola fidgeted slightly, physically trying to feel out the frame attached to the arms that now held her. Once she worked out it was her mother she sucked on her thumb noisily and went back to her dream of a tall red haired hero charging in on a white horse and rescuing the beautiful curly haired little princess who had been locked away in the ice castle by a very mean man.
"Just drop Daniel over when you are ready." Cristina nodded in agreement at her friend's instruction and gently rubbed Zola's back in a gesture of see you later before Meredith lowered her knees to grasp the handles of the shopping bags and exited the firehouse.
Cristina climbed into the space that was still warm from Zola and snuggled into her husband's side. His arm instinctively pulled her closer and anchored her to his body. A Beautifully familiar movement learnt and practiced over all the nights spent sleeping in each others arms. Cristina traced her fingers lightly over the planes of her son's face, being careful not to wake him. She mused at how peaceful he looked and how impenetrable the bond he shared with Owen was. Chief Webber had been right- surgery was her work but this right here- the peace and love she had found with Owen and their child- this was her gift.
Giving Owen a loving squeeze before Closing her eyes and drifting into sleep, Cristina's mind wandered further along the map of her life and taking some definite steps into her future she encountered a familiar stranger. She knew everything about them but yet so much was left, laying ahead unknown and untold.
Later that same evening...
Owen was standing at the top of the stairs waiting for Cristina to finish getting ready. He had already driven Daniel, a huge bag of toys and overnight things over to Meredith's. As soon as daniel had stepped through the door, he and Zola had launched into a noisy round of tag around the living room, dragging Lexie and jackson, who were watching a movie on the couch, into their game as hiding places.
"Cristina, the cab is waiting!" Owen called out impatiently, adjusting the black silk bow tie that completed his tuxedo. It would not look good for the Chief of Surgery to be late to his first official function
"Do I look like a Chief's wife?" Emerging from the bedroom, Cristina stopped arms length away from her husband to allow his eyes space to carry out a well focused appraisal of the dress she had picked out earlier that afternoon.
"No you don't." Stepping forward before the worried look that had overtaken his wife's beautifully made up face, threatened to turn into pure anger to be directed soley at him for saying the wrong thing. "You look just like my beautiful Cristina. Totally you, totally mine." He took her into his arms and kissed her tenderly.
As she pulled her lips away from Owen's, there was no time to allow them to totally melt into his, as it would just lead to frustration at not being able to take things further, Cristina felt an overwhelming need to share her secret, like the words may explode from her mouth unbidden, but she held back. This was not a bomb to be dropped and then stepped over in haste to get to the next checkpoint.
"You owe me big time for this, you hear me?" Cristina playfully informed her husband as she snaked her arms around his waist.
Resting his hands in the small of her back, his fingers languidly caressing her skin through the sheer fabric of the dress creating a beautiful friction of unexplored promise. "I will make it up to you...many, many times!" Owen murmured against her cheek before sealing the treaty with a soft, slow kiss on the corner of her mouth.
"Come on then Chief. Let's get this torture over with."
At the party...
The downside of being the Chief at events like the Seattle Grace Mercy West Christmas party was that you were expected to attend with your spouse and then you actually didn't get to spend anytime with them.
Catching sight of his wife across the sea of people his new position forced him to engage with, Owen noticed Cristina was nursing the still full champagne glass she had picked up when they walked in and had a glazed, distracted look on her face as she stood slightly to the side of the group of women whose husbands ran the hospital. She was nodding intermittently to show she was listening to Mrs Jennings tell her about the latest cruise she had taken, but Owen could tell Cristina was a million miles away.
Excusing himself from the elder board members who had been listening eagerly his proposals for budgetary savings in the OR over the next fiscal year, Owen weaved his way across the room, his steps walking a familiar path towards the destination that made him feel complete.
Slipping his arm around his wife's waist and pulling her slightly backwards into his chest, Owen breathed in her scent and whispered directly in her ear, "hey stranger! You ok?"
As her husband's arm snaked sound her waist, Cristina's body had tensed slightly, fearing the secret would be uncovered before she had the chance to unveil it to him in the way she wanted to. Turning her head sideways to look into the bright blue eyes that
"I am now." Slipping her own hand under Owen's around her waist, she began to relax slightly. "Can we go now! I turn into a pumpkin at midnight!"
"you look absolutely stunning." spinning her round to face him, Owen gazed into the deep brown eyes that tonight sparkled with something he likened to slightly worried anticipation. He suddenly felt a need to reassure her, to remind her that inspire of practically ignoring her this evening, through no fault of his own but due to the bondage of his position as a leader. Resting his hand lightly on her cheek, her eyes momentarily closing to savour his touch, Owen rested his forehead against her's and told he the 3 words his heart had never been able to deny in connection to this woman. "I. ."
Tilting her head to catch his lips in her's, Cristina did not need to repeat the phrase for Owen to know she felt it. In this moment she felt they were being intruded upon, she wanted to be with just Owen in their firehouse. "Let's go home."
Owen had made good on his promise and Cristina now lay I. His arms, basking in the come down from the sweet ecstasy of the high she had both given and taken from her husband. As their hands lazily caressed each others bodies, Cristina wriggled to turn herself towards the edge of the bed.
"Hang on!" She laughed as Owen's hand ran down her back, bringing prickly goosebumps and a shiver of excitement over every pore of her exposed skin. She reached over and eased open the drawer of the night stand, rifled through the messy contents and pulled out a long, rectangular silver box tied with a red Christmas ribbon. "Here you go Chief. I have an early Christmas gift for you!" She laid the box on Owen's bare chest and curled back into his side. "Open it."
"But it isn't Christmas yet!" Adjusting his body, pulling Cristina with him, so they were both sitting up against the pillows, entwined in both each other and the bed sheets, Owen looked quizzically at the box. It looked like it could be a watch? Or a pen maybe? Intrigued, he carefully untied the bow that held the box together.
"Well call it a Hanukah gift then." Her tone was impatient. She had been keeping the secret of this gift for almost a week and it was killing her. "Just open it!"
Cristina was slightly nervous. She was unsure how this gift would be received by her husband, she could honestly say she did not know how he would feel about the contents of the box. One thing she was sure of was how she felt about it. She had chosen to give him this gift in a private moment of intimacy in their home with the man she would love for life. She wanted to do it right, she had learnt from her past mistakes, to make it special for him, for them.
"whatever you say!" Lifting off the lid of the box Owen furrowed his brow as he looked down at the white plastic object. What is it! He wondered. He turned it over in the box and his eyes immediately focussed on the square window which was crossed through with 2 dark pink dissecting lines.
"Cristina..." His voice faltered as waves of joy, surprise and question overtook his ability to form a coherent sentence.
"We're pregnant." She cupped his face in her hands and pulled him close for a lingering kiss that told him that this time, for her, there was to be no pause, no shred of doubt, absolutely no question.
Author's note: this is a just bridging chapter to move us forward a little! As I promised I would keep this story going to SP we are nearing the end now- 2 weeks to go! I plan to write 3 to 4 more chapters to finish it, hopefully before 22 September.
I would love to know from you guys which have been your favourite chapters. So please review or tweet me (hannahadsmith).
Once new season starts I hope there will be some great jumping off points to write more Cristina and Owen one shots or new stories!xxxxxxxxxxx