Author Notes: Pardon my long absence. After my vacation it took a while to get into writing, and then came the Season 9 finale, which left me completely devastated because of what happened to Cristina and Owen. But now I'm back to writing. Your reviews are great, keep them coming! Reviews really help me to write faster, and if you have any suggestions, please tell them! :)

This was not how Owen had pictured things to happen. He had always dreamt of this moment, but never had he pictured things to happen the way they had now happened in real life. This had been his dearest dream, his deepest desire ever since he had been old enough to understand these kinds of things. He had always had it in him, ever since he was a child. According to his mother, he had acted like a big brother to his younger cousins when he was just four years old. As a teenager, he had babysat his older cousin's children and some other kids living in the same neighborhood. And unlike all of his friends, who just whined about having to babysit their little siblings or cousins, he actually enjoyed doing it. That's when his mother had said that he was made to nurture, and since then Owen had known that he would definitely have children one day. He would find the woman of his life, marry her, and start a family with her, because nurturing was his thing. He had always known that. He had always – as a child, as a resident, as a soldier - known that at heart, he was a family man. He was a parent. He was a father.

Of course, as Owen now knew, life wasn't fair enough to fulfill fairy tales. No, life was often cruel. It made you believe that your dreams would come true, and just when you were at your highest peak, it pulled the rug from under your feet. Just like it had done with him. He had found the woman of his life and married her, but then things had just started to fall apart, which had lead him to seek comfort from another woman. It had been a huge mistake that had almost cost him the love of his life, but at the same time – whether because of a blessing, a curse, or a twist of fate – it had offered him the dream of his life. But this wasn't the way Owen had wanted things to happen. The child wasn't the fruit of live, born after nine months of excitement and waiting. Its birth hadn't resulted in joy and the happy faces of the new mother, father and grandmother. Never had Owen thought that the birth of his child would result in a hasty emergency baptism and him sitting beside an incubator, watching his child silently struggle, fearing for the child's life. And all this while trying to figure out a way to tell the love of his life that he now had a child with another woman – moreover, a dead woman.

There was a flash of light in the room as lightning split the night outside the window. Rain poured against the glass and the roar of thunder billowed throughout Seattle. The noise would've been enough to wake the dead, but it wasn't enough to wake little Claire.

"Come on", Owen whispered as he once again placed his hand against her tiny body. "You have to get better. Okay? You need to live." He smiled sadly. "You need to wake up so you can show me those pretty eyes of yours. Daddy still hasn't seen your eyes. Aunt Callie tells me they're very beautiful, blue like mine. You need to show them to me." Owen found it a bit strange, referring to himself as 'Daddy'. He was still trying to process the fact that he was now a parent. He had thought that the world could never bring before him anything as terrifying as the things he faced in Iraq, but this… this came pretty close. Owen now realized that there were other things in the world capable of inflicting fear than just war, weapons, explosions and constant danger to life. This kind of fear, though similar in strength, was different. It was like that oppressive fear that he had felt two times in his life: first when he saw Gary Clark press his gun against Cristina's head, and the second time during those hellish days when authorities were looking for the plane that had crashed, potentially killing so many people that he cared about. Owen now knew that not all fear came from mortal danger. Fear could also be triggered by situations like this. He was lost, the world felt so cold and enormous, and he was so small and all alone. The fact that he alone was responsible for the tiny human being in front of him, he had a little girl who was totally dependent on him, felt terrifying.

The monitors kept whirring and rain kept drumming against the window, but the little baby made no sound. Then there was the sound of door opening, as Callie and Arizona entered the room. Owen briefly looked at them over his shoulder. "Hey."

"Hey", Callie answered. "How is she?"

"Still sleeping. Or unconscious. I don't know. What's going on in the hospital?"

"Nothing much", Callie said. She went to stand next to Owen while Arizona walked to the monitors. "ER's pretty calm. Kepner's taking good care of it. I talked with Brooks and she said all the traumas from the crash have been taken care of."

Owen nodded. "Good."

"I also bumped into Derek on my way here. I asked him to cover for you for a couple of days, and he agreed."

"Did you tell him…?"

"No. I said you were sick."

"Okay, thanks", Owen said, though he couldn't help thinking that that excuse rarely worked around the hospital. "I don't want anyone to know about this before I've told to Cristina."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. All I know is that I have to tell her soon. This won't stay as a secret for long, and I don't want her hearing this from someone else. I need to be the one to tell her. If I only knew what to say."

"Well, whatever you're thinking of doing", said Arizona, who came to examine the baby, "do it fast. I already heard nurses talking about a 'Peds mystery patient', and it's getting nearly impossible trying to keep Alex out of the NICU. I'm running out of excuses and sooner or later he'll realize something is going on."

Owen sighed. "Okay. I'm sorry that you have to go through all this trouble."

"Anytime", Callie said as she and Owen stood back and let Arizona work in peace. Owen watched as she ran her hands over his daughter's body. There it was again. His daughter. His daughter, all alone. He was alone, she was alone, and they were all alone against the world. No. Wait. Oh hell!

"Hey", Owen said and turned to Callie. "I forgot to ask. Is there any info on her" – he floundered before saying the next word – "mother's family?"

Callie was silent for a while before answering: "Kepner and I looked into it. Turns out she didn't have a family."

"At all?" Owen asked in disbelief.

"Yea. Apparently, she was the daughter of a wealthy family in Florida. Her parents were killed in a hurricane when she was 15, and she was sent to Seattle to live with her aunt, who passed away when she was 21. That's when Sharon MacAllister took all her family fortune and decided to tour the world. After that the trail goes cold, but apparently she returned to Seattle about a year ago."

"Just in time to make a mess out of my life. Twice", Owen stated. He had hoped that Callie would've brought different kind of news. What she had just told him only confirmed his fears. There truly were no others. Just him and her… and maybe his mother. Another person to whom he had to tell about this sudden twist in his life.

Silently, Callie and Owen observed Arizona taking care of Claire. She examined the baby, checked her chart and looked through some papers. She then nodded to herself and turned around.

"So?" Owen asked.

"No change", Arizona said softly. "I'm sorry."

Owen shut his eyes as he felt an unpleasant blow in his gut. "Can't you do anything? Anything?"

"I'm sorry, but all we can do right now is wait. Only time will tell. We must be patient." Arizona looked at Owen, then smiled compassionately and took something from her pocket. "I can't bring any cure, but at least we have this." Owen looked as Arizona went to the incubator, took the small plate Baby Girl 240512 out of the side of the device, and replaced it with another plate. Hunt, C..

"Now she's got her own name tag", she said.

For some reason, this scene – a girl getting her name tag – made Owen smile a little. It was his daughter getting her name tag; she was now more than just a series of numbers. She was now Claire Hunt, a patient. His daughter. Earlier he had said that he felt nothing, but perhaps some sort of paternal instinct had woken up inside him after all.

"She's a tough girl, I know it", Callie said. "She's going to pull through this."

Owen nodded in agreement, just as he felt vibration in the pocket of his jeans. He dug up his phone and checked the message.

Cristina: Just wanted to know when you get home, getting lonely here ;) Ps. what was the 911 page? Answer when you can.

Callie must've seen his expression sober, because she asked: "Is it her?"

Owen nodded.

"If you need to go, I can stay here and watch over her. I don't have any patients right now."

"Thank you, Callie", Owen said and then responded to Cristina's message.

You: Could you come over here, asap? I need to see you.

A moment. Then:

Cristina: Yes. See you soon.

Cristina, we need to talk…

Cristina, maybe you should sit down…

You know I love you, right?

Owen was walking towards the lobby with million things running in his mind. He was trying to figure out a way to tell her – how to begin, what to say. He had to do this correctly: every word had to be at the right place. He had no idea how Cristina was going to react. To be honest, he was quite afraid of her reaction. But there was no going back, now. She was already on her way, and he was just going to have to do his best and face whatever consequences his news would bring. After all, he was a soldier, though his military training had only prepared him to face enemy troops – not the wrath of women.

As he emerged from the hallway leading to the lobby, Owen felt thankful for none of his colleagues were around. He wasn't ready to face anyone. This was supposed to be his night off, and he didn't want any of his colleagues asking questions like why was he at the hospital when he had a free evening. The worst-case scenario would be bumping into Derek or Meredith. Derek thought he was sick and had probably already told his wife about covering as the Chief of Surgery, so they would probably suspect something if they saw him in the hospital.

Owen walked past the desk on the side of the lobby and didn't even notice the figure standing next to it until he heard Alex Karev's voice: "Hey, Chief!"

Damn! Owen thought, and didn't stop or slow down. "I'm a little busy right now, Karev. I'll get to you later."

Of course, as he should've known, his words had no effect. Karev was a stubborn man. "Dr. Hunt!" he shouted and ran after him. "I need to talk to you."

"Fine. Walk with me", Owen said and still didn't slow down. "What is it?"

"It's Doctor Robbins. She's been keeping me out of NICU all night and has practically locked herself in there. She put me in charge of Peds and said that she was working on a difficult case and then she just vanished. I heard there was a crash earlier, involving a pregnant woman, and I was just wondering if – "

"Doctor Robbins is working on a case under my orders and is therefore occupied", Owen interrupted, rather harshly. "If she put you in charge of Peds, then I trust you will take care of Peds and let Doctor Robbins do her job. Understood?"

Alex was clearly surprised by his stern tone of voice. "Okay…" he said and stopped walking. Owen kept on going and left him to stand there. He may have been a little too harsh, but he wasn't kidding when he said that he was busy. Right now there were more important things on his mind than Dr. Karev's problems.

Just as Owen arrived to the front of the lobby, the doors opened and she came in. Cristina. She wore a black jacket that was almost as black as her curls of night. Owen flinched as the image of those other, blond curls flashed in his mind. Cristina walked towards him while shaking her umbrella, which was dripping water to the floor. Her chocolate-brown eyes found Owen's blue ones and she smiled. "Hey", she said as she reached Owen. "So, what's going on? Who needs a cardio goddess?"

Owen swallowed. She didn't have any idea. She had no idea about the shock that would soon hit her. The shock that he would cause her.

"Owen?" she asked. "What is it?"

He couldn't say a thing. He was already starting to hate himself because in a few moments, he would be inflicting horrible pain to the woman that he loved. He didn't know what to say, so the only thing that came out of his mouth was: "Follow me."

"Okay…?" Cristina said, her expression a little baffled. Owen started to walk towards the NICU and Cristina followed, trying to keep up with his pace. "Owen, slow down. Hey! Wait. What's with the hurry? Where are we going? And why aren't you in scrubs? Owen!" Owen didn't answer, he couldn't. So he just kept walking and finally led them to the NICU. He opened the door of the room where the incubator was. Callie, who was sitting beside the incubator, looked at Owen, then at Cristina, and quickly got up. Arizona was nowhere to be seen.

"I'll leave you guys alone", Callie quickly said and hurried past them. On her way out she gave Cristina a sad, compassionate look. Cristina watched her go and when the door clanged shut, she turned to Owen, with whom she was now seemingly alone. "What was that? What is going on? Why are we here?"

Owen didn't answer.

"Honey, you're scaring me. What is it?"

This was it. This was the moment. And once again, Owen found that words had failed him. Cristina was looking at him questioningly. The monitors behind them were whirring. Cristina's hair was surging down the sides of her head like a waterfall made of black silk. Her hair, so similar to the blond curls that had led them to this situation. And as he looked at her, trying to get his mouth to work, he suddenly remembered the morning when it had all come out in the open. The words that had been exchanged that morning echoed in his mind.

"What was her name?" Cristina asked, holding a large tea mug in her hands.

Owen thought for a moment. "Honestly, I… I don't remember."

He didn't remember then. But now he did. "Sharon."

"What?" Cristina asked. Owen looked her in the eye, the look in his blue eyes was sad. "Back then you asked me what her name was. I didn't remember then. Now I do. Her name was Sharon MacAllister."

"What are you…?" Cristina paused as she realized what he was talking about. "Why are you…? Why are you thinking about that? Owen?"

Owen exhaled deeply before answering. "Because earlier this evening, she was brought to the ER after a bus crash. That was the emergency page I got from Kepner."

Cristina raised her eyebrows. "So… you were paged here to operate on your…"

"No, Cristina. Kepner, Torres, Robbins and Fields operated on her, but they couldn't save her. She died on the table." He bit his lip, hesitated for a second and – while hating himself even more –added: "I was paged here because of her." He nodded towards the incubator.

"Because of a baby?" Cristina asked, confused. "But… that's pediatrics, not trauma. Why were you paged to – Wait! Her baby? Are you telling me that Kepner gave you a message of apocalypse just to get you to treat a baby who is" – she walked to the incubator and looked at the baby – "Right, a baby who is pretty much dying."

"No, Cristina…"

"I mean, that's got to be RSV or some other kind of infection. I'm not a specialist, but I'd say this kid's situation doesn't look so good. You're not a pediatric surgeon and this sure isn't something that would require you here as the Chief, so why the hell would Kepner page you here?"

"Cristina…"

"And why did I have to come here? Now our night off is ruined for the both of us. I swear, if Kepner messed up again, I'm going to –"

"Cristina, that's my daughter!" The words escaped his mouth before he could stop them. Cristina froze, her mouth open in mid-sentence. Her eyes reflected disbelief and – as if believing she had misheard – she asked: "What?"

Owen was breathing heavily. His expression was weighed down with grief. "Look at the name tag."

Cristina looked completely thunderstruck as she slowly turned and looked at the name tag on the side of the incubator. "'Hunt, C.' Hunt…" Her breathing became faster as she stared at the name, in shock.

"I'm so sorry."

"No, don't say it…"

"It happened nine months ago, Cristina, and today Claire was born. I was paged here…"

"No…"

"…because I am her father."

"NO!"