Cristina was feeling terrible. It was as if this stomach flu had taken a vice grip on her and wouldn't let go. She sat at her desk at the store, gripping tightly on to the Pepto Bismol bottle. The nausea and the vomiting just would not go away.
It was now one week since the argument outside of her house. She thought it would have been awkward the next day to face Jackson at the store. She had been ready with her apology.
"Hey, Jackson," she said. "I really want to apologize for what Owen said to you last night at the house. He was out of line. Everything was my fault. I didn't tell him that we were going out with you and he got mad because he thought I was hiding something from him. So, it really had nothing to do with you."
"It's okay, Cristina. He was just jealous," Jackson said. "If you were my girlfriend and some other guy had taken her out, I would be jealous, too."
"Thanks for being so understanding," Cristina said. "Still friends?"
"Of course, we are still friends," Jackson said. "If you, Meredith and I ever go out again, just let your boyfriend know beforehand. He is rather on the muscular side."
"Yes, I will tell him," Cristina said, giving Jackson a pat on the back. Though they did talk about the argument, neither of them mentioned the fact that Owen had brought up that Jackson watched Cristina. It was like a hot potato that no one wanted to touch.
So, things at work had been relatively calm at the store, until she picked up this stomach bug. She took another swig at the Pepto Bismol bottle. There was no way that she was going to allow Owen to come over tonight. She didn't want him to see her in this state. He had only seen her in her sexy state, not this "dying and hanging over the toilet" state. That would be a total turn-off, she thought.
There was a sharp rap on her door. "Come in," she said, weakly. It was Meredith, looking all perky, a sharp contrast to Cristina's pale, sickly face.
"Oh my, you look terrible," Meredith said. "The stomach flu still hasn't left you, I see." She eyed the pink bottle in Cristina's hand.
"I guess this means that you don't want to have lunch," Meredith said.
"I seriously doubt that I can keep anything down," Cristina said. "Why aren't you having lunch with your sheriff?"
"Oh, I passed by his office and he is in a major tizzy. He got another one of those anonymous notes that have been taunting him, since the start of the investigation. So he is all up in arms about it," Meredith said.
"What did this one say?" Cristina asked.
"It said 'you know her well'. Derek said that was a terrible clue because he knows everyone well in this town, since he was born and grew up here. Anyway, he is tired of people thinking that he is incompetent since he hasn't yet solved the case as yet," Meredith said.
"Well, it has been about seven weeks since the murder, Meredith," Cristina said. "People expect progress from their elected officials."
Meredith groaned and rolled her eyes. "He is under a lot of pressure and he is no fun these days. Whenever I go over to his house, he is always looking at pictures and video of the crime scene. He only has been able to eliminate people and there is really any one person that stands out as a suspect," she said.
At that point, Jackson stuck his head in the office. "Hey, Meredith. Didn't know you were here. Cristina, I think you should take a trip to Dr. Webber's office. See if he can give you something for your stomach flu." He didn't really stay to hear Cristina's answer.
"Yeah, I think I will," Cristina said, picking up her bag to get her phone. She dialed the doctor's number. "Patricia, this is Cristina Yang. Can I see Dr. Webber? I have been feeling terrible.
"Well, okay, I will be there in 15 minutes," Cristina said, before she hung up the phone. She dialed Owen's number.
"Hey, don't bother to come get me for lunch," she said. "Yeah, I am not feeling well and I won't be able to eat anything. I am going to Dr. Webber's office to get something for this stomach flu.
"Yeah, I will let you know. Bye, babe.
"Love you, too."
She picked up her bag. "Want to walk me to the doctor's office?" she asked Meredith.
"I guess. It seems like I am not going to get any lunch at all," Meredith said, getting up from her seat.
The two friends walked from the mercantile to the doctor's office. Patricia looked up and gave them a warm smile.
"Hello, Cristina, Meredith. Dr. Webber will see you in a bit. He has a patient with him right now," Patricia said. "So have a seat."
"Okay," Cristina said, grateful to sit down because a wave of nausea had just come over her.
When the door finally opened and Dr. Webber had ushered his patient out of his exam room 1, only then did Cristina finally get up from her seat.
"Ah, Cristina," Dr. Webber said. "I hear you are not feeling well."
"No, it seems I have terrible stomach flu and all of these over-the-counter remedies don't seem to be working," she said, following Dr. Webber to his examination room.
"Why don't you go behind the screen and change into a gown?" Dr. Webber said. "I think we might have to take some blood and urine to test if there is anything more serious than a stomach bug."
"Okay," Cristina said, as she went behind the screen to change into a gown.
Two minutes later, Dr. Webber came with a syringe and a test tube. Cristina groaned. She hated needles.
"Ah, I remember that you don't like needles, young lady," he said. "Well, make a fist for me and you can look away."
Cristina felt the prick of the needle and cringed, even though her head was facing the other direction.
"Thank you, now that wasn't so bad," he said. He handed a small container. "Just go to the bathroom and give me a urine sample."
She did as she was told. She brought back the sample. Dr. Webber called Patricia, who came promptly in. He whispered to her, "Please check urine sample for you-know-what," he said quietly to his nurse. "Get back to me in a couple of minutes." Patricia nodded, knowingly.
The doctor then started a physical examination, checking her breathing, her throat, her blood pressure. Patricia returned soon enough with the results of her test. She handed a paper over to the doctor.
Dr. Webber looked at the paper and smiled. "Hmm. Congratulations, Cristina, you're pregnant."
Usually, when people heard such joyous news, they were ecstatic. The look of shock on the young woman's face was obvious. This was not news that she wanted or expected to hear.
"How could this be? I have not missed a pill," Cristina said. Dr. Webber thought back to Cristina's recent medical history. He had put her on antibiotics the first week she was here when she had got that nasty cut outside of the sheriff's office.
"Cristina, do you remember when you first came to see me for that cut and I gave you antibiotics to fight off any infection. Well, antibiotics may reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills and women are advised to use back-up birth control," he said.
"Why didn't you tell me this?" Cristina said, thinking about the number of times that she and Owen had sex in those first few days of the relationship.
"I am sorry if I failed to tell you this but the situation now is that you are pregnant," he said. He brought out the ultrasound machine. "Let's just see how far gone you are."
As she lay there, watching the screen, she saw the image of something that had a shape like a peanut shell. "Looks like six or seven weeks, Cristina," Dr. Webber said.
Cristina still could not believe it, even though she could see the image right in front of her.
"I am sure the Hunts will be very pleased, especially since Susannah has been clamoring for a grandchild like forever," Dr. Webber said, smiling at her.
"Um, yeah, I guess," Cristina mumbled. As she got dressed, Dr. Webber had gathered up some literature, pre-natal vitamins and anti-nausea medicine to give to her.
"Dr. Webber, what if I had wanted to explore some other options?" she asked.
"You mean like adoption or termination?" he asked, more than a little bit shocked.
"Not adoption," she said. "Termination."
"Well, there is a clinic in Millbrook. The Millbrook Women's Clinic, it's called," he said. He checked his rolodex and wrote down the name, address and phone number of the clinic.
"Well, here is the information you require. I hope you think about all of your options before you make a decision," he said. It was not his place to tell her to keep the baby but he wanted her to think it through before making any decision.
"Yes, I will, thank you," Cristina said. She picked up the literature, the pre-natal vitamins and the anti-nausea medicine and tucked the address of the clinic in her handbag.
She walked out of his exam room in a total daze. Meredith saw her face and knew, immediately, that something was wrong.
"What's the matter?" Meredith said in a worried tone. "You're not dying, are you?" Cristina did not answer right away. She waited until they were completely out of the doctor's office.
"No, I am not dying but I might as well be," she said, quietly.
"What? What do you mean?" Meredith asked, perplexed by her answer.
"I am pregnant," Cristina said. She could see the shock on Meredith's face. "I looked exactly like that when he told me."
"What are you going to do, Cristina?" Meredith asked.
"I don't know as yet," she said.
"How far are you gone?" Meredith asked. "Hunt is the father, right?"
"Yes, he is the father," Cristina said in exasperation. "You know that there has been no one else. And I am six or seven weeks."
"I have to go back to work. Miss Bailey will throw a fit if I am late back from lunch break," Meredith said. "We'll talk later at home."
"Yeah, definitely," Cristina said, as she waved her friend goodbye and headed to the mercantile. She met Jackson coming back from lunch.
"Hey, you went to see Doc Webber?" he asked.
"Yeah, I did. I am fine. Just a stomach bug," she said. "He gave me something stronger."
"Okay, that's good," Jackson said, as he headed to the stockroom.
Cristina went into her office and sat down in her chair, still in disbelief. Her phone rang. It was Owen.
"Hello, babe. How was your doctor's visit?" she heard his cheery voice say.
"It was okay. Just a stomach bug," she said. She wasn't ready to tell Owen anything as yet. She had to make up her mind about what she was going to do before she reached that stage.
"Oh, okay. Do you want me to come over tonight?" he asked, hopefully. Even though she was sick, he still wanted to spend time with her.
"Um, I think I prefer to be alone tonight. I really don't want you to see me in this awful state. I think I am going to bed early tonight and get some good rest."
"Alright," he said. "I will still call you, though."
"Okay," she agreed. "Bye."
"Bye," he said. "Love you."
He noticed she hung up before she had answered with her usual, "Love you, too."
It was late evening when Meredith came home. Jackson had let Cristina go home early since she hadn't been feeling well. Meredith found Cristina, already in her pjs, sitting on the sofa and staring straight ahead.
"Hey, how are you doing?" Meredith said, as she sat next to her friend and put an arm around her shoulder.
"Okay, I guess," Cristina answered. "It has been a rough day."
"Have you told him?" Meredith asked.
"No, not as yet," Cristina answered. "He did call me a little while ago. I told him that I still wasn't feeling well."
"Do you plan to tell him?" Meredith asked.
"Honestly, I don't know. Seriously, this is a person I met seven weeks ago. I mean we got physical, really fast and the only reason for that was because I thought we were going to leave and there was a possibility that we would never see each other again," Cristina said.
"I just can't launch this news on him. We've only known each other seven weeks. Guess what? I am pregnant," she said. "I am not even sure how I feel about him."
"What do you mean? You always say 'love you, too' whenever you hang up the phone, after you talk to him," Meredith said. "I've heard you say it numerous times."
"That's because he says it. It just seemed natural for me to say it, too," Cristina said. "Maybe he is just being polite."
Meredith scoffed. "You don't tell a person you love them, just to be polite, Cristina. You know that," Meredith said. "You love him and from the way he looks at you, I think he loves you, too."
"Yeah, well, maybe I do but suppose he doesn't want this baby. I mean it's not like we ever discussed marriage and children and all of that. It has always been about the here and now," Cristina said. "I don't want to burden him with a baby that he probably doesn't want. It's just not the right time for us."
"Well, okay, Cristina. The crucial question remains. What are you going to do?" Meredith said.
Cristina looked at her friend and answered, "The only thing I can do."
A/N: Please leave your comments. I really do appreciate reading them. Thanks for the feedback.