She Moves In Her Own Way

44

There was a soft knock on the front door to Teddy and Cristina's apartment. Cristina was still in the shower, washing off her long nine hour shift at the hospital while Teddy had been sitting on the couch in the living room enjoying an episode of Cake Boss, her favourite program on the television, whole she sorted through a pile of odd socks (the washing machine had appeared to have eaten half of both Cristina and Teddy's socks so that none of them seemed to match, brilliant! Now they would need more socks!) Teddy locked up at the clock across the wall which read ten minutes to nine at night. Who could possibly be calling upon them at this hour?

With a heavy, tired sigh, Teddy dropped the red sock, which belonged to Cristina, that she had been holding in her hand back onto the pile of socks on the couch beside her and pressed the pause button in the television remote. This screen stopped on a hilarious image of Buddy, the Cake Boss man. His eyes were half closed and his mouth was open in a strange octagon shape, his hair askew. He had been in the middle of ranting at one of his employees when Teddy had paused the television.

Teddy couldn't help but chuckle at the image as she got to her feet and stretched, releasing a long tired yawn. It had been a long day.both Teddy and Cristina had woken up early so that they could head to the police station before their nine hour shifts at the hospital that day.

Cristina had parked her red car three blocks from the police station. Teddy and Cristina walked there, yawning tiredly and rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Cristina had not yet had her much needed morning cup of coffee and Teddy was eagerly looking forward to her morning cup of herbal tea when they got to the hospital.

Cristina courteously pulled the door to the police station open for Teddy and they entered. Speaking with the receptionist, they were directed to an Officer Maxwell Mahone, a young man with soft dark hair and soft brown eyes. He hardly looked old enough to be a police officer but neither Teddy nor Cristina questioned the young man's age, that would have been rude.

Officer Mahone led them into an interrogation room where the three of them sat down in uncomfortable metal framed chairs on either side of the table. Teddy explained what she remembered from the night in question and Officer Mahone took notes in his little black notebook. She told him that he could get evidence from the security cameras at Joe's Bar and give the young police officer the car's licence plate number. Cristina then gave officer Mahone her very detailed account of what she had seen the night Teddy had almost been involved in a hit and run incident. They also gave Officer Mahone records of Teddy's injuries and said if he needed any more witnesses, he could contact Arizona Robbins and Callie Torres, giving him their contact details.

"Is that everything?" Officer Mahone had asked them.

Teddy and Cristina nodded simultaneously in response and shook his hands as they stood up to leave. He led them back to the entrance of the police station and assured them both that he would find the person responsible. With that, Cristina and Teddy left the police station to head back to Cristina's red car which patiently awaited their arrival in the same parking space that they had left it in. Cristina drove them both to the hospital just in time for them to get their much needed morning drinks from the little coffee cart outside the hospital before the start of their nine hour shift.

A louder knock on the front door of the apartment pulled Teddy from her thoughts about the police station that morning and she sighed again, crossing the room to the front door. She could still hear Cristina singing softly in the shower which made her smile and the sound of running water coming from the bathroom.

There was another knock on the front door, this one was more impatient sounding than the last two had been.

"All right, all right, I'm coming, keep your socks on." Teddy called. 'Or our washing machine might eat them.' She thought to herself as she gasped the door handle with her left hand, undid the chain and turned the key in the lock to unlock the door with her right hand. She pulled the door open to find Derek and Meredith, standing out in the hallway with expectant looks on their faces.

"Oh, hi, Teddy." Meredith said. "Where is Cristina?" She was holding Zola, who was sleeping peacefully in her arms. Zola's overnight bag hung over her shoulder which made Teddy rather suspicious.

"She's, uh, in the shower." Teddy informed Meredith. "But, uh, why are you here?"

"Oh, uh." Meredith let out a little awkward laugh and looked from Teddy to Derek and back to Teddy again. "Uh, Cristina said she would look after Zola tonight so Derek and I could have some alone time together, if you, uh, know what I mean." Meredith said, giving a little sneaky wink of her eye.

Teddy felt her cheeks get hot. "Uh, yeah, I, uh, I think I do." She said awkwardly, looking down to hide the red blush that coated her cheeks. Why was she embarrassed? Teddy didn't know or understand why she was blushing. But then again, she had always found talking about those kinds of personal intimacies awkward and uncomfortable, unless she was speaking with someone she really trusted.

Teddy cleared her throat and then straightened her back. "Cristina never told me she was watching Zola. It must have slipped her mind. It has been a very long day." She said, brushing off the awkwardness she felt.

"Yeah." Derek said, glancing at his wife.

"Uh, Cristina should be out of the shower soon if you would like to wait... or I could take Zola, if you want me too." Teddy said slowly.

Derek and Meredith shared another glance before Derek said, "that would be great." He disappeared for a brief moment and then reappeared seconds later lugging Zola's travel crib at his side. He lugged it past Teddy and into her and Cristina's apartment, resting it against the wall.

Meredith passed Zola and her overnight bag to a rather overwhelmed looking Teddy. Zola did not stir as she was transferred from her mother's arms to Teddy's, her head now resting on Teddy's shoulder.

"There are three changes of clothes and enough diapers and formula in her bag to last her three weeks." Meredith informed Teddy. "Oh and," she reached into her pocket and pulled out a green pacifier, "just just in case she loses the one she has." She popped the pacifier into the pocket of the overnight bag. "She likes to have her giraffe with her when she sleeps too." She tapped the stuffed animal that was sticking out of the top of the overnight bag on the head and kissed Zola goodnight.

Derek then stepped forward and kissed Zola softly on her head. "Thank you, Teddy. You don't know how much this means to us." He said, stepping back and seizing his wife's hand in his own.

"Bye." Meredith called softly as Derek whipped her off down the hallway and out of Teddy's sight, leaving Teddy standing in the doorway to her and Cristina's apartment feeling and looking rather overwhelmed.

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Cast

Bradley Steven Perry as Officer Maxwell Mahone