A Love So Absolutely Clear {Crowen} ✔️

08: playing pretend

everyone was stressed. novella's last day of school was a few days ago, and they didn't know how they would be able to take care of her while owen and cristina were at work. they considered babysitting, but they couldn't trust babysitters. they considered the daycare in the hospital, but novella was in the hospital for too much already.

the first few days was a struggle. owen, being the chief of surgery, would switch his and cristina's shifts around so that one of them could stay and watch novella while the other one would go to work. for now, it was their best option.

soon it was decided that cristina's mother would end up taking care of their daughter and staying with them for a few months until she would be returning to school again. owen suggested helen coming instead of his own mother, as he knew cristina's mother had not seen novella nearly as much. of course, helen lived in beverly hills and didn't have the best relationship with her daughter. owen's mother lived in seattle and her relationship with her son was great.

cristina despised the idea, but she had no other option. she didn't want to miss her work, but she didn't want to leave novella all alone, either. the last time she had seen her mother was when novella was only a few years younger, but she loved her and wouldn't want her own relationship with her mother to get in the way.

as for the fetus in her stomach, it seemed as it had been forgotten. though no complications were happening, nothing kept them from remembering that in a few months, a new addition would be coming to the family. both she and owen and thought about it briefly, but with everything going on, it felt so far out of reach.

they would argue about it silently in attempt to conceal their bickering from their child, as they did with almost everything. there were on opposite sides of every situation, and they hated it. owen wanted to tell the world about their second pregnancy, cristina wanted to keep it hidden. cristina wanted to think logically about their current situation, whereas owen wanted to keep it emotional. he wanted her to spend more time with his family. she wanted to spend more time on her work.

they had grown the most separate they have been in years. and while they hated it, they were too opinionated to let go of their morals. they wanted to fight rightfully for what was theirs.

but even still, novella fought her hardest to beat her own battle with a cancer that could very easily take over her life. and that was and always will be their number one priority.

"alright, bye bye kiddo, we'll see you later." owen picked her up and kissed her on the cheek before putting her down so cristina could see her next.

"bye daddy." she grinned, giving him an adorable wave. he waved back.

cristina crouched down so she and her daughter could look at each other at eye level. she smiled and gave her a peck on the forehead.

"bye story, be good to your grandma." helen was still sleeping, as it was still barely morning and was worn from jet lag. novella made a face and then giggled.

"mom, why did you call me that even though i told you i don't like it?" she continued laughing, putting her hands on her stomach trying to contain all her laughter. cristina smiled, standing up. she stroked the top of novella's hairless head.

"we'll be back soon. don't be annoying and don't do anything stupid." novella stuck her tongue out and cristina stuck hers back at her.

finally, she and owen exited the house and went over to the hospital so they could get to work.

"how could you let her be without her mother like that?" owen asked her right after the door to the house was closed and they started walking over to the the car.