A Love So Absolutely Clear {Crowen} ✔️

15: traitor

her eyes bulged out of her eye sockets, unable to comprehend what came out of his mouth.

"you got what? h-how the hell did this happen?" she stood up from her spot, walking over to owen, who just let all of his belongings drop to the floor. he walked further into the house while cristina simply followed after.

"bailey. she filed a complaint, she got me fired." his tone was monotonous. cristina gasped, as everything pieced together. the unfamiliar man owen was talking to was a board member. it was also the reason why he was late to get home.

"i-i don't understand." she still said, despite how everything seemed crystal clear. "why...why would she do that?" her hand covered her mouth, while novella and helen watched from the dinner table.

"she wants my freaking job! she's the chief, now!" they paced around the house, stopping suddenly once owen said his final sentence. cristina grabbed his wrist tightly, not really sure if she heard what he said correctly.

"she fired you to get your job?" she yelled, not able to believe her ears. "after everything you've done for her?!" cristina ran her hands through her hair, still walking around in circles trying to understand everything that he told her, but she couldn't wrap her head around something like that.

"apparently, right now was the perfect opportunity. i was skipping work, she was doing an excellent job filling me in, and she was long overdue for a higher position." he sighed, stopping the rambling and sitting down on a chair. "i'm sorry, cristina. i know you warned me. i just thought that everything at work was still manageable. especially for what was going on."

"no. it's not your fault." she answered, sitting down next to him on the table where novella and helen still were. cristina motioned for them to clean up and get out of the room before things would heat up, if things ever did. "did you tell them that our daughter has cancer? that you've been the chief of surgery for almost ten years and the hospital couldn't be in better shape?"

"i said it all." he raised his eyebrows and his lips folded into his mouth so they couldn't be seen. "they told me that it didn't matter. i was carrying out medical malpractice." cristina laughed out of anger.

"what malpractice did you do? okay, you skipped work a few times, but it's not like you left a patient unattended. you made sure every single time that everything was covered. owen, you never skip work, ever. this might as well be your first few times doing so. if they want to take your faults into account can't they at least take everything into account? i don't see how this is fair." she continued to talk on and on, finding it unbelievable that the surgeon she worked with for her entire career at seattle grace could stab her family in the back. especially since she knew how hard life punched them in the face.

"what am i supposed to do? what's done is done." he sat there looking helpless—like there was nothing else he could ever live for. like there wasn't a purpose in life. his daughter had chemo treatments, he had to support his family. without a job, it would be hard to do any of that.

"you got fired from the entire hospital? you can't even be a trauma surgeon?" it was better that he was chief of surgery. it meant that his schedule was flexible as he was doing paperwork half of the time and working on trauma surgeries the other half of the time. it meant he was able to take care of novella when he had to and that he could be there as a father for his daughter.

"i got fired from the entire hospital." he repeated for her. he moved his head into his hands, closing his eyes and looking into his future. there was nothing left to discuss. his job, the only thing he could rely on to protect his family, was gone. there was nothing left to lean on besides the family that could barely hold itself up.