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Please enjoy the 18th chapter!
"Do you?" Crissa repeated.
Cristina sighed. "Why do you want to know?"
"I just want my dad to be happy, and I know how happy he gets when he talks about you. And I really love you, Cristina."
Cristina ran her hand through her hair and stared at the little girl's image. "I d-…"
"Oh my dad's coming here. I have to go! Talk to you later," she said frantically and closed Skype.
"Crissa what're you doing here?" Owen asked as he stepped close to his daughter and ruffled her hair.
"Uh, playing solitaire!" she said as she picked up a card and placed it upon another and then looked up at her dad, smiling toothily.
"Don't you have it on your iPad?"
"Y-yeah, but it's more fun on the computer. It's bigger!" she said. "Are we going for lunch now?"
"Uh… no, I have something to do. But, I've talked to Callie, she's going for lunch and she'll take you."
"Okay," she nodded and jumped off the chair. "See you later, daddy."
"Enjoy your lunch," he replied.
She winked at him and walked out of the room.
As she closed the door, Owen sat down behind his desk and opened Skype on his computer. Then he looked over at the world clock he'd set on his desktop. It wasn't so late in Paris yet, so he called Cristina.
Cristina just stared at the blank screen after Crissa's image disappeared. "I was gonna say I do," she whispered and then sighed. She looked at the clock on the wall. It was a little before 12. Yawning she got up to go to bathroom and then to her bedroom, but she hadn't stepped a foot outside her study when she heard another notification and walked back to the desk. It was Owen's username again so, assuming it was again Crissa, she sat down and clicked. Owen's image popped up, startling Cristina slightly.
"Oh I thought it was C-… I thought you must in the OR now," she said. She didn't want the little girl to get in trouble.
He chuckled. "Why? You don't know my schedule."
Cristina realized Crissa had told her that he was in the OR. "I just assumed," she replied. "So you called."
"Yeah," he nodded. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."
"I'm doing fine," she replied, smiling softly. After that night when Cristina told Owen about Evan and after all their laughter, talking to him wasn't awkward anymore. They communicated so comfortably with each other.
"So how's Evan?" Owen asked.
"Oh he's fine, too." Cristina said, the thought of her son bringing a smile to her face. As if on cue, the door of Cristina's study slid open slightly and the little boy stepped in. "Oh, Evan? What're you doing here?"
As he heard his mom, he ran towards her and jumped in her lap, hugging her tight. He seemed frightened. "Evan? What's happened?" she asked him as she tried to look at his tear-stained face. "Did you have a nightmare?" she asked him and he nodded, then buried his head in Cristina's arms. So, Cristina wrapped her arms around him tightly and kissed the top of his head a few times. "Shhh…" she whispered, "It's over. I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you."
On the other hand, Owen was witnessing this endearing scene through Skype. It was also painful, seeing her being all sweet and caring with her son. He always dreamed about seeing her as a mother and now she was it, but she was giving all of her love to another man's kid. He wasn't her kid either, but _he hated himself for thinking this way_ he couldn't help but imagine her like this with their child, like he'd always dreamed about. He sighed and shook his head.
Cristina must've heard him sigh, because she immediately look at her laptop. "Oh sorry," she said and then help Evan, who had calmed down, sit up on her lap. "Look Evan, this is Owen, he's one of mom's friends," she said pointing to the laptop screen.
The little boy stared at the man's image. He had the same colorings as him. He was blonde, with blue eyes. "Hi," she said shyly, waving slightly at him.
"Hey, Evan," Owen said, waving back and smiling softly. He really did look like him. At least this warmed his heart that even if he wasn't his child, she had chosen a child who looked like him. "It's so nice to meet you."
Evan just stared at him and frowned, then looked up at his mother and said something in French and she replied back in French. Owen had had French classes at high school but he didn't remember any of the lessons, so he just stared at them not understanding a word.
Cristina smiled, looking at Owen. "His English is not so good," she explained. "Well he goes to a French daycare and they speak French to him. And I'm shamefully busy to teach him some English. His nanny was American, but still, his French is better than his English."
"You can send him to an English pre-school, though," Owen suggested.
"Yeah, I've done some research. There are not good ones around, but I really prefer English to be his main language. French's fine too and it's so good that he learns it at early age, but English is more important in my opinion. I don't know…" she sighed. "… I think, Paris has given me its all. I've been thinking about coming back to the U.S, so he can also go to a decent English school."
Owen felt like his heart just skipped a beat. "You're planning to come back here?"
"Yes," she replied. "I've been offered a few head of cardio positions in Boston and one in New York. So I may take one of those when I make a certain decision."
"Oh," he whispered. "Well… that'd be really good."
She smiled, "Yeah… it would."
He nodded. "Well I would offer you the head of cardio at Grey Sloan, but I'm no longer chief."
She stared at him and then smiled again. "It's nice that you would anyways. But I'm sure Dr. Russell is the best."
"Yeah, but he doesn't have two Harper Avery Awards."
She just smiled proudly. "No he doesn't," she said, chucling. Owen chuckled back. The only one not joining in was Evan, who was looking confused at his mother and the stranger on the laptop.
"Come in," Dr. Bailey said as she took the last sip of her coffee and then put the cup down. "Dr. Hunt," she greeted him. "Take a seat."
Owen smiled as a reply to her greeting and went to sit down. "Hope you're good."
"Yeah, thanks," she replied. "Did you not get your salary on time, Doctor?"
Owen chuckled lightly. "No I got it. I wanted to talk to you about, uh, Dr. Russell."
"Dr. Russell?" Bailey asked, frowning. "What about him?"
"I just was wondering how he is handling the head of cardio position."
Bailey stared at him for a moment. "Well if you really miss your chief position and having an eye on everything, Hunt," she started, in her 'Bailey' tone and kept staring at him.
"Oh, no! I'm fine just being a surgeon. I was just curious."
Bailey shrugged and leaned back against her chair. "Feeding your curiosity completing, he's planning on moving to Florida with his family. A change of weather in life, as he puts it."
Owen sat up straight immediately. "Oh? So what're going to do, then, to the position?"
Bailey shrugged again. "I've offered a couple of people the position and they're thinking about it."
Owen nodded. "Have you offered, um, well, Cristina?"
Bailey stared at him, amused. "Cristina? Cristina Yang?"
Owen nodded, confused as to why she was looking at him like that.
She let out an amused chuckle. "Do you think Cristina, Yang, the two time Harper Avery winner will leave her job beside the Eifel Towel to come work here? Grey Sloan Memorial?"
Owen shrugged this time. "She is planning on coming back to the U.S anyways," he said.
Bailey raised her eyebrows. "Have you been stalking your ex-wife, Hunt?"
Owen gulped and looked up at her. This woman's eyes always had an effect on him that made him feel like a little boy confronting one of his scary teachers. Even when he was chief, he still felt like that. No wonder she used to be called 'The Nazi'. "No!" he replied. "I was talking to her on Skype and the topic… came up."
Bailey nodded. "So you two talk to each other?"
Owen scratched his head slightly. "Crissa really likes her and she talked to her all the time which made us communicate with each other too."
Bailey nodded again. "Anyways. I'm not sure if I can afford her though. She's a two time Harper Avery winner, I have to give all the money I give to all of you, heads of departments, to her."
"But I think she will bring her money herself. I mean she's world famous, everyone from all around the world will come here for her. Do you know how beneficial that is for the hospital? That will also make this hospital famous. Remember all that happened when Shepherd got his award too."
Bailey looked at him for a moment and then nodded. "Alright, making offer won't hurt anyways," she nodded again. "Fine."
Owen had the hugest grin on his face. "Good!" he said and then got up. "I have to go now. Have a nice day," he said and walked out.
Bailey just shook her head, smiling amusedly. She knew, he still loved that woman. Well… who didn't know?
Owen yawned and sat down on the couch. He picked up the newspaper from the coffee table and started reading it. "Daddy?" he heard a sleepy Crissa say and looked up.
"Crissa, I thought you were sleeping. Because you must be sleeping."
Crissa nodded "I know," she said and then went to sit next to him. "I'm not sleepy though," she said, shaking her head.
Owen nodded. "Yeah I can see that clearly from your red eyes. You're not sleepy at all."
Crissa looked up at him and smiled sweetly. "My eyes are sleepy, not my brain," she explained.
Owen chuckled. "You think that smile is going to convince me anything?" he asked, then shook his head in response to his question. "Your bed, now."
Crissa let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't want to."
"But you have to."
"Ugh," she groaned. "Please?" she looked up at him and gave him a look like the one the Puss in Boots would give to Shrek.
Owen sighed. "Fine," he said.
"Yay!" she exclaimed, but in a form of whisper, and then leaned over to kiss her dad's cheek.
"So why do you wanna stay up anyways?"
"Because I wanted to know..." She started and the stopped. She was hesitant but she opened her mouth again anyways. "Do you still love Cristina?" she asked. She was more than sure that he did, but she just needed to hear from himself.
"Do you?" she asked again.
So this is it. Hope you enjoyed.
And please let me know what you think of this chapter in your reviews. I really love reading them. :)