Author's Note- It's been a loooooong time since I wrote a fanfiction, but after that kiss last week I couldn't get this idea out of my head. This is a one shot! :-) love to know what you think.

Amelia walked briskly down the hallway, maneuvering around people and equipment as fast as she could. The tears in her eyes the silent countdown to get somewhere safe. Entering the locker room, she went straight to the women's showers, shut the door, turned on the nearest faucet, and collapsed against the wall underneath it. Tears and water ran together as she finally let go.

Owen opened the door to the last on call room on the surgical floor.

She has to be around here somewhere...

He had just finished calling time of death on Herman after the life support had been discontinued.

Amelia Sheppard was amazing. He already knew that, but today had proved just how amazing she actually was. She removed the tumor. The whole thing. It took her 15 hours, but she did it. Everything was looking good. Herman was awake, moving her extremities, blinking. It was a success.

Until it wasn't.

When Herman's monitors showed signs of a stroke, Amelia gave instructions to roll her right back into the OR, but Owen had to stop her. Herman's living will forbid it, specifically. Amelia's voice grew louder and more insistent, but Owen stayed as calm as possible, even though it killed him to watch the anxiety in Amelia's eyes grow.

When she took off down the hall he wanted so badly to follow her, but he couldn't leave. So now, here he was, searching every possible room for her.

He pushed open the door to the locker room and let his eyes scan the room briefly. Empty. He started to walk away, but heard what sounded like a sob.

He entered the room and followed the sounds to the women's shower area. Sob after sob drifted from behind the door.

Owen paused briefly, he was fairly certain the person in there was Amelia. It was 11:30, most surgeons had gone home for the day. However, the last thing he wanted was to walk in on some poor intern.

Weighing his choices, he pushed open the door ever so slightly and peaked in.

There, in the corner, was the girl he had been searching for.

Amelia looked up at him and then immediately looked away. She was soaked, shivering, sobbing, and shaking her head.

"Go away Owen." She muttered.

He stepped forward and crouched down so he was on her level. "Let's get you warm and dry."

She cried harder and shook her head as he took her hand. "Amelia, please, your hands are like ice."

She yanked her hand away.

He sighed. One time, several years ago, someone had done this for him. He slipped off his shoes and emptied his pockets into them. Then he turned the water from cold to warm, walked to the wall next to her, sunk down and pulled her into his arms. She didn't fight him, only buried her head in his chest as she cried, and cried, and cried.

He took off her scrub cap and stroked her hair slowly. Periodically planting kisses on her face, head and neck.

The door to the shower area opened, and Meredith walked in. Her eyes met Owen's, and he nodded ever so slightly just so that she knew he was taking care of her. Satisfied, Meredith left and shut the door quietly.

Slowly Amelia's sobs began to slow and her breathing normalized, but she didn't move. Owen tried to make eye contact with her, but she wasn't allowing that. She was afraid that if she looked into those bright blue eyes that she would lose it all over again.

Slowly, Owen stood up and pulled her to her feet and out of the spray. She let him.

He peeled off her scrub top and untied her scrub pants- they fell to the floor. He reached over to the towel rack and grabbed two towels. He wrapped one around her waist and led her to the bench under the towel rack. Once he had her seated he wrapped the other around her shoulders.

He sat next to her and waited a good minute before speaking.

"You ready?"

She sat unmoving, staring at the floor. He put hand on her back and moved it in slow circles.

She inhaled, "See, this is where being an addict came in handy."

His brow furrowed but he didn't respond.

"There are plenty of bad days in this job, and all it took to escape was a couple pills and then..." She paused.

"...then you wake up the next morning, so concerned about the headache and the withdrawal, that whatever happened to you the night before just isn't as big of an issue. It's an escape. I miss it."

Owen was beginning to get more and more concerned, but he didn't move. He kept his place next to her, hand on her back, ready to support her, ready to give her what she needed.

"But-" she began again, "I know what it will do to me, and to the people around me. I don't miss that." She paused and finally made eye contact, "You don't have to do this you know."

Owen moved his hand from her back, brought it to her hand and interlocked them. The he gave her hand a squeeze and brought it to his lips. "Not going anywhere."

Amelia smiled as a few more tears made their way out of her eyes. "Seriously, you can leave. I'm fine. I'm not going to go knock over the pharmacy...I'll be fine."

She stood up, pulled her hand away from his and caught the towel wrapped around her waist. "Just um, give me a few minutes. This isn't exactly the matching bra and pantie set I had envisioned you seeing the first time you..saw...I mean..." She breathed deeply, "3 minutes? Then you can come out?"

Owen nodded and watched her leave with a solemn look on his face. He desperately wanted to help her, but he could only do so much. He stripped off his soaked scrub top before drying his hands and reaching for his phone. He texted the only person he could think of.

After about 3 minutes he emerged from the showers and saw a clothed Amelia putting on her shoes. He leaned against the door frame for a brief moment and watched her.

She sure can pull herself together fast, he thought as he watched her throw her hair up into an adorable messy bun. She turned and smiled at him.

"I'm sorry you are all wet. Again, not what I envisioned for our first shower together."

Owen smiled, thinking back to a similar apology he had made to Cristina. He walked toward her slowly and brought his hand to her face, "No apologies."

He kissed her then, so softly it almost brought both of them to tears. It was tender and loving and exactly what she needed.

He pulled away and brushed his thumb over her lips, "Please don't be angry with me, but Richard is going to be here in a minute to go to a Meeting with you."

Amelia turned her head away and exhaled deeply.

"I wanted to- I WILL help you through this. But this is the part I can't help with. I will be there the minute you get out, I will hold you all night...I will remind you of all reasons to stay on your path," he paused, "but you have to do this first."

Amelia looked at the ground for a good bit of time before tilting her head up slightly and nodding.

"Okay."

Owen smiled, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his naked chest, "Okay," he repeated.