ONE MORE WEEK! and we have to say bye to Cristina/Sandra and CROWEN, I'm getting more depressed by the second. Hopefully she will come back after a year or two! Anyways thanks for the reviews, I hope you enjoy this chapter, let me know what you think, I want to wrap up my stories before I embark on new ones but its so hard, I think I need to stick to one-shots lol.
After a very hectic day Cristina finally had a moment to catch her breath and grab something to eat, she had been in Seattle for a little over a month but it had been a very hectic month with the influx of patients from around the country travelling to Grey-Sloan in order for her to operate on them. Owen and her had started talking, really talking and spending time together outside the four walls of the hospital, they had created little rituals revolving around Tatiana, dates to the park, visits to the zoo, dinner every single night, there was an absence of awkwardness, everything was falling to place without pushing it or trying for it, like the pieces of the puzzle were gravitating toward each other little by little. Wherever they went, be it at a restaurant, the grocery store, even leaving the hospital at shifts end, whenever someone saw the three of them together, they couldn't help but vocalize what a beautiful family they were.
The first time it happened they were walking out of the hospital, Tatiana insisted on holding both Owen and Cristina's hands instead of being carried, all three of them walked hand in hand with Tatiana in the middle asking to be swung up like she was on a swing after every couple steps. Her laughter echoed throughout the hospital in between the chuckling coming from Owen and Cristina at her excitement and sheer glee of being gently thrown up in the air before being brought back down to her feet.
They had almost made it through the exit doors without knowing looks coming from Meredith or the likes of the other staff but somehow they were unable to escape without being noticed.
"Dr. Yang, Dr. Hunt…." A voice called out to the left of them.
The three of them looked up with gleaming eyes and smiles to see the owner of the voice.
"Olivia, Mathew, is everything okay?" Cristina asked, the smile fading from her face and concern replacing it.
"Yes, yes, everything is okay." Olivia stated with a grin, "We just wanted to thank the two of you again." She and her husband Mathew approached the trio.
Mathew put his hand around his wife's shoulders and gave her a tight squeeze. "Thank you, the both of you for giving me back my wife…" He said, his gaze shifting between the both of them before fixating on Tatiana.
"Why aren't you a beauty." Mathew stated while bending down in order to be eye level with Tatiana.
"We didn't realize that you two were Mr. and Mrs." Olivia stated, more as a thought spoken out loud rather than a statement or question, she looked down at her husband and Tatiana. Owen and Cristina looked at each other uncomfortably, before Cristina gave him a sheepish grin that he returned, neither wanting or trying to correct the insinuation.
"What's you name?" Mathew asked before either could say one thing or another.
"Tatiana!" She beamed loudly while swinging her hands, which were still firmly attached to each of her keepers back and forth.
"That's a beautiful name, you know my wife and I are expecting a little baby girl as well, your mommy and daddy helped save her." Tatiana turned her head to look between Owen and Cristina.
"She's in my tummy, in a couple months she'll be ready to be born." Olivia rubbed her swollen belly while Tatiana stood there fascinated by what these people were saying.
Tatiana was slowly putting the information together, she figured she too, was once in her mothers belly before she came out. She slowly let go of Owen and Cristina's hands and walked the few steps towards Olivia; she reached her chubby little hand and rubbed her protruding belly.
"Baby." She stated
"Yes Tatiana, she has a baby in her tummy." Owen reiterated. His heart swelled at the sigh of Tatiana rubbing this women's belly, it was fascinating to witness how a child attained knowledge, he could see her putting each piece together, and he mesmerized by this little girl.
Cristina couldn't help watching Owen, watch Tatiana, it took her breath away, he looked at her like he was her father, and to be honest she wouldn't want it any other way.
"She's our little princess, hopefully she'll turn out as cute as you." Olivia put her hand on top of Tatiana's right before the baby gave a big kick. Tatiana squealed with excitement, "The baby kick." She exclaimed while giggling loudly. She took her hands away from Olivia's belly in order to jump up and down from glee before turning towards Cristina and reaching up to put her hand on her belly, which was more of her cervix because Tatiana couldn't quite reach that high since Cristina's stomach was flat as a washboard.
"Is baby in here, mommy?" She asked curiously.
Cristina looked flabbergasted and started stuttering trying to come up with an answer unsuccessfully.
"You know how you can tell if there is a baby in mommy's belly?" Owen asked Tatiana, "When her tummy grows like Olivia's is, since mommy's belly is not growing, that means she doesn't have a baby in her tummy."
Tatiana listened to every word intently, his voice was so protective and soothing, every time he talked, her ears would perk up and every word would be processed carefully. When the information had clicked she simply smiled and nodded in understanding.
Later on that evening, Owen volunteered to tuck Tatiana into bed while Cristina cleared the takeout boxes from their dinner.
She had finished throwing the empty cartons away and clearing the dinner table and decided to check up on the twosome and see if Owen had gotten Tatiana to sleep successfully. As she approached the room she heard the timbre of Owen's voice. She reached the doorway just in time to watch Owen finish the bedtime story he was reading to Tatiana.
"I'll Love You Forever. I'll Like You For Always. As Long As I'm Living My Baby You'll Be." Cristina watched from the doorway as he looked down at Tatiana before giving her a kiss on top of the head.
"Do you love me like mommy love me?" She heard Tatiana ask
Cristina's breath caught in her throat, she stood as still as could be, she didn't want to make any noise and disturb this moment between the two of them but she couldn't help feel for her daughter, who wanted Owen to be her prince so bad.
Owen looked down at the little girl, her eyes meeting his gaze, waiting for him to respond. How could she not tell that he loved her more and more with every waking minute, he had devoted so much of his time to spending it with her and Cristina, he loved these two more than anything or anyone else in the world. He realized that kids this young didn't understand being shown love alone, they needed someone to vocalize it and make them feel loved.
"You are my little princess, and I love you and mommy more than anything in this world…." He smiled down at her and chuckled at how her face transformed from somber and skeptical to ecstatic and beaming. Owen reached out his hands and starting to tickle her belly, filling the firehouse with the sound of Tatiana and his laughter. "In fact, I love you so much that my heart cant possibly hold all the love I have for you, so its growing everyday, it keeps getting bigger so I can hold all the love I have for you and mommy." Owen finished with a big kiss on each of her chubby cheeks
"Now, its way past you bedtime, princess." Owen got up off the bed and tucked Tatiana in, he made sure she had her favorite stuffed animal and blanket next to her. He reached down and gave her one last kiss.
"Goodnight, little one." Owen whispered before turning around and noticing Cristina resting on the doorway with a knowing grin. He shrugged his shoulders and gave her a shy smile.
"Goodnight, daddy." Tatiana replied.
Cristina cocked her eyebrow, the smile slowly disappearing as waves of emotions hit her. Owen froze at the term Tatiana used to describe him; he feared Cristina's reaction. He soon found that he had nothing to fear, Cristina walked up to him and put her arms around his waist before giving him a tender kiss, letting him know that she approved and letting him see her vulnerability by the tears trickling down her face. He tilted her chin with his hand while the other rested on her neck. This was the first time they'd kissed since she'd been back, they had made an agreement to make sure that this time around there was more communication and not to let their chemistry and sexual attraction get in the way but in this moment, she couldn't hold back. "I love you" they both whispered to each other in unison.
Tatiana watched the two, I guess I'm not going to marry him, she thought, but that's okay because he's my daddy and I'll always be his princess.
When they broke apart Cristina and Owen tucked in Tatiana one last time, together this time.
The weeks flew by, and the closer the three of them got. Though their shifts at the hospital were the same, both Owen and Cristina worked on different ends, depending on the patients they either saw each other a lot throughout the day which they loved or very little which they each despised.
After work they would head over to the daycare and pick Tatiana up, either go out for dinner or the three of them would cook at the firehouse. Well, Owen would cook and the two ladies would sit on the bar stools and watch. Owen still hadn't spent the night, he had moved into Callie and Arizona's old apartment, the one in which Cristina used to live in when he first met her, until one day, after dinner Tatiana made it clear that their living arrangements were not ideal.
When Cristina and Owen were tucking her in after jointly reading an excerpt from the Velveteen Rabbit, Tatiana spoke up. She knew that her father didn't spend the night because she would wake up and he wasn't there, and she wanted him to be there.
"Mommy, Daddy," She addressed them, "Baily's mom and dad sleep together, Sofia's mommies sleep together, why daddy go and sleep someplace else?" She asked curiously.
Owen turned and looked at Cristina, "She has a point, we should be sleeping together, and it's been over two months, we should also be "sleeping together.", not that I don't enjoy cuddling you but seriously, I'm a man, I have needs."
"You're the one who said we had to take it slow, to do things right this time, to not rush into intimacy." Cristina recanted a little annoyed; if it were up to her they would have been knocking boots since her first day back.
"Yes, I did, but we see each other, each and every night, we talk each others ears off about everything, I know you better than you know yourself, two months, that's 60 days, its like going on 60 dates," He reasoned with her, "60 dates without any nookie, now that's cruel and unusual punishment."
"You don't have to remind me Owen, I think about getting some nookie from you every second of everyday."
"What's nookie?" Tatiana asked confused, her eyes diverting between Owen and Cristina, waiting for an answer.
They looked at one another, both of them waiting for the other to come to the rescue. "Its cookies!" Owen exclaimed after a moment, "I really want these cookies that mommy has and I've been asking her for them but she wont give them to me." He finished with a sly grin appearing on his face, he gave a little wink to Cristina when she arched an eyebrow.
"Daddy cooks for us all the time!" Tatiana exclaimed her voice raising and looking at her mother like she was lecturing her on the merits of sharing and not being selfish.
"Mommy, give daddy your cookie."
Owen looked over at Cristina, and she mentally prepared herself for his next words, she knew he'd have something smart to say and she was a horny mess and didn't want to jump his bones in front of their daughter. "Yeah, mommy", "Daddy is really hungry." He emphasized the "really" part, "And he'd love to eat your cookie."