a/n: Just a quick note to say this is the final update, for now. The last chapters will be published after the season finale of the show. With that said hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks and take care. ;)

Ethan and Evan Hunt were delighted to have both parents home. Every single day and night was entertaining to them. They adored the non-stop fun and love. As a family their routines of make believe games continued, consisting of cowboys, space, pirates, everything, you name it. Movie nights continued as well. Each night they would snuggle on the sofa or bed and watch a new cartoon film, but always fell asleep to Toy Story. For Owen, it held deep meaning, since that's what was playing when he first moved his fingers. He also took back his place as iron chef of the hunt household. To his surprise Cristina joined him every time he cooked a meal, and soon enough he had three sous chefs accompanying him in the kitchen. Even though Ethan and Evan only picked at every thing, he enjoyed having them 'help'.

With Owen and Cristina as their parents they made sure to pick up where they left off education wise. Owen returned to his schedule of teaching the twins letters, numbers, shapes, colors and of course reading to them daily. Cristina took a break from sharing medical journals and various surgery videos. She needed a rest from hospitals and all the things that lingered in there. Her journey waiting for Owen to wake up took a lot out of her, so she joined him on his teachings. Although the same concept, they still taught differently. With shapes Owen showed them circles, squares, rectangles, ovals, kites and triangles. Cristina chose more complex shapes as hexagons, pentagons, octagons, parallelograms, and trapeziums. With numbers and colors it was the same, only Cristina could not fight the urge to explain which numbers were even and odd, and pointing out mixing certain colors to make another. Reading books were Ethan and Evan's favorite part. Once again Owen and Cristina differed here. Their father chose books with pictures while their mother chose books with only words, saying they held more detail and help the twins imagination. Ethan and Evan's brains were super soaker sponges and retained all that information with ease. In true Cristina fashion she of course took the credit for their quick progression.

Two months passed with zero medicine apart of the Hunts lives. Well Cristina would get frequent calls from Izzie, who was currently running the Cardio department. She would e-mail Cristina scans and get an opinion on course of treatment for patients, but other than that she was medicine free. Owen received no pages, no calls, and no e-mails from Alex, at least none involving medicine. The Chief gave strict orders to George and Alex about Owen. Before returning to medicine he needed to undergo test and take a few classes at the hospital to get back to the basics. It was a nice change, a break for that matter while it lasted.

With Family life appearing to be restored Cristina was deeply contemplating about heading back to work. She was eager to speak to Owen about it but always refrained. Since the accident and coma they did not speak about work or when they would return. Both of them avoided it.

Cristina finally decided she was ready to go back to work. She even went as far as letting the Chief know, and was scheduled immediately for tomorrow. Now all she had to do was talk to Owen about it.

"So I've been thinking about returning to work."

Owen smiled. He knew Cristina wanted to talk to him about something but as always he waited for her to bring it up.

"That's fine. Whenever you feel you're ready," Owen stated.

Cristina did not respond immediately. She was silent for a moment.

Cristina lifted her head from his chest and gazed into his eyes. "Yeah I'm ready."

He kissed the top of her forehead. "Okay. Give the Chief a call tomorrow morning."

Cristina nervously broke eye contact with Owen. "Actually, I'll be ready to go into work tomorrow morning."

Owen furrowed his brow. "What?"

"I'm scheduled tomorrow morning." She said quickly.

"You spoke with the Chief already?" Owen asked.

Cristina confessed. "Yes, on my way home from the market."

This time silence fell upon Owen before releasing, "Oh." It surprised him that Cristina did not discuss it with him. He would not have objected at all. It surprised him even more that she felt the need to call the Chief in secret on her run to the market today. Did she think I would get mad? That I would be jealous of her returning to work before me? Owen thought. Rather than press about the situation he let it go. Things were going well, and he was not about to disturb it.

Owen shook himself from his thoughts. "Well then. Let's get to sleep. You've got a busy day ahead of you."

For the first time in months familiar badgering sounds were released from the alarm clock.

Cristina immediately hit the snooze button and re-wrapped Owen's arm around her. He tightened his grip.

"You really should get up," he said in his raspy morning voice.

"Five more minutes," Cristina mumbled.

Owen chuckled at that statement. It made him relive moments before they had children, when the sound of the alarm clock would have Cristina jerking from her sleep, swiftly dressing and out the door within five minutes. Oh how much she's changed, he thought.

He patted her thigh. "Come on, get up. You don't want to be late on your first day back."

Cristina groaned in response for disturbing her comfy state.

"Come on," Owen repeated. "I'll get up with you and make you some breakfast."

"Okay, but only if you make stuffed French toast." she muttered. Owen laughed. As much as she's changed she's still the same he thought.

"Alright." Owen agreed and got up, taking the heavy comforter with him and made his way to the kitchen.

Cristina rolled over on her back. She yawned and stretched a few times before lazily separating from her bed. It had been quite a few months since she rose this early. Now that Ethan and Evan were bigger their mornings typically started at eight, rather than six.

The warm spray from the shower felt so relaxing, making Cristina want to linger in the shower for an eternity. With strong efforts she eventually detached from the massaging water and got dressed. Packing her familiar navy blue scrubs made her slightly nervous for her first day back. This time was different. The reason for her not being at work was different. Before thinking any more nervous thoughts the delicious and inviting smell of her favorite stuffed French toast stopped. "Mmmm," she said to herself and made her way to the kitchen.

Cristina was greeted with a plate of her favorite French toast stuffed with cream cheese and topped with strawberries. She immediately dived right into it with her fork. "Thanks baby," she said with her mouthful.

Owen retrieved his plate and took a seat beside Cristina. "Your welcome."

"So who is coming over today?"

Owen swallowed his bite. "Why does someone need to come over? The twins are big, they understand and listen. They're not infants anymore."

"I know that. It's just I thought with-"

Owen motioned with his hand to stop. "Cristina I'm fine. I don't need a baby sitter. I've been doing great for some time now. Don't do that, please."

Cristina took another bite. "Fine, but if you do need any help swallow your pride and pick of the phone."

Owen simply nodded and they ate the rest of their breakfast in silence.

"I'm gonna go kiss the kids goodbye and I'm gonna head out."

"Okay."

Cristina walked quickly to their bedroom but tip-toed once she was inside. She kissed Evan and Ethan's cheeks tenderly and gently ran her fingers through their hair as she whispered sweet "I love you's."

Owen met Cristina in the hallway where they shared a fervent kiss. "You sure you want to go back to work today? Owen asked when they finally pulled apart. Cristina smiled. "Yes, I'm sure."

When Cristina finally departed Owen gladly crawled back into bed and dozed off peacefully. His eyes jerked awake by the yelling coming through the baby monitors. It was about eight-thirty and Owen was well rested for the day that lay ahead.

Owen rounded up his twins from their room and let them know it was going to be just guys today. He made them their favorite apple cinnamon pancakes and feasted on a second breakfast. When all their bellies were stuffed he bathed Evan and Ethan, changed and headed out to the park. Since he was on his own today he thought it would be a good idea to start early on letting them run around and burn off some of their incalculable energy. Owen really worked out his arms pushing them both in the swings, his legs while chasing them around in the grass, and dirtied their clothes in the huge sandbox.

The twins and their dad returned home close to noon. To Owen's surprise they were greeted by George.

George waved his hand. "Hey Dr. Hunt."

"Hey O'Malley," Owen greeted as he walked up the drive way. "What brings you here?" He curiously asked, although he was pretty sure he already knew.

"I had the day off. So you know… just thought I'd drop by and see how you've been doing." George answered with a forced smile.

Owen nodded as he unlocked the front door and let George in. "Well, my answer is still the same when you asked me yesterday. I'm doing great. And O'Malley you're a terrible liar."

George sighed, he was a terrible liar. "Yeah Cristina made me."

"I thought so." Owen said shaking his head in amusement. "Well since you're here how about some lunch?"

"Sounds good." George answered.

While George kept Ethan and Evan company, Owen walked off to the kitchen and began preparing lunch. The phone rang as he placed four grilled cheese sandwiches on the griddle.

"Hello?"

"How are the kids?" Cristina asked through the phone.

"They're doing just fine. We actually just got back from the park." Owen answered.

"Sounds fun. And how are you doing?"

Owen smiled. "You don't want to wait for O'Malley to report back to you?"

Cristina remained quiet before Owen let out a laugh. "Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you're okay-"

"Cristina I told you I'm fine. Now stop worrying and bullying people into coming over here."

"Okay, Okay. I'll see you when I get home. Love you."

"Love you too, bye."

Over the next couple of days Cristina did not bother asking anyone to go check up on Owen. She was just a little worried. After all she had been there the moment he came out of the hospital and they had their routine down pat. It was recently disrupted with her going back to work and she wanted to make sure Owen was handing it well, so she called home or his cell every available minute she had. Eventually that subsided too.

Another two weeks passed and Owen felt he was ready to take the necessary steps to take back over his trauma department. He missed the shifts down in the ER. He talked to Cristina about it and she was more than understanding and supportive of his decision. Within the days to follow Owen found himself in basic suture classes with nervous interns. He passed that, and other test and classes that followed. After a talk with the Chief and a couple of tests, Derek cleared Owen for surgery and announced he was more than capable of coming back to work.

Owen's first day back at work was an excited one. It was filled with a lot of patients and surgeries. The best part of it, he saved all of them. He was readjusting well to being back at the hospital, Ethan and Evan however, not quite so much. They had fallen comfortably into the routine of being home with both or one parent. The familiar care takers of the daycare were greeted by saddened faces and eyes full of tears. The twins were far from happy campers in daycare. No toys, or songs could cheer them up, not until their mommy and daddy picked them at the end of their shifts.

The difficulties Evan and Ethan endured lasted about a week. After their week tantrum they once again became comfortable with the hospital routine. Their days were brightened whenever they got visits from their parents. Whether Cristina or Owen were there to have a lunch, teach, or play they cherished and held on to them to the very last second. Cristina even returned to sharing medical stories from her shifts. The twins were deeply attached to their parents and it intensified as when they reached the age of two and a half.

With Owen and Cristina's repetitive teachings, Ethan and Evan progressed rather quickly. They transformed into tenacious, intelligent, chatty three year olds.

As their parents walked to the hospital's daycare after a long day they would soon add mischievous to the list with the stories the sitters were about to spill.