Owen Hunt was a broken man. He's been broken a long time. Yet when Cristina left him he was not only broken, shattered, into a million pieces after getting so close to being put back together. That's what it felt like to him, to be cut off from the woman he loved. It was his fault however, yet the more he acknowledged it, the more he believed Cristina deserved better than him.
He was the one who brought Teddy back into his life. Thinking she would save him by being Cristina's mentor. Yet it turned out to cost him Cristina in the end. After Teddy let him know her feelings, and he admitted the feelings from the past, the situation became like a cheap amusement park ride instead of a friendship.
Owen was fully aware of Cristina's issues with abandonment, yet he somehow managed to let Teddy take hold of him without realizing it. She enabled his savior complex, making him seem like a man again, when she was actually running him down to cater to her.
Cristina offered him something else entirely a connection that is not one sided as in Teddy's case. It was a mutual passion for another person that he had never felt before, not even with Beth. A charge of energy that never lets go, keeping them connected. Something that never existed with Teddy, which he later discovered through Dr. Wyatt was not love, but simply a longing for a connection.
Now that they are living separate lives, away from each other yet working together, Owen and Cristina still can't bare to look at each other while they work even when she is on his service like today.
"Dr. Hunt here are your post ops," she gives him the documents without looking up from what she's doing.
"Thank you Dr. Yang," he says as he looks down on the floor before walking away. He desperately wants to glance back and watch her as she leans against the counter, working with her hair falling down in frizzy curls making her face, rough with darkness, look lovely. All that he has to hold on to is to take in her scent it was his favorite shampoo that she used, smells like clover and cinnamon. Warmth.
He never knew how many men at SGH were in line waiting for him to get out of Cristina's way until later that day when he caught Jackson Avery inviting Cristina for a drink. Neither could see him as he watched the interaction behind a corridor. Cristina was smiling at Avery, something Owen never gets to see in his own direction.
"So Yang, when are we going to have that drink you owe me? Tonight?" Jackson asked, in his Southern drawl that Owen really hated.
"Geeze Avery, get off my back ok?" She laughed nervously at him and played with her hair, one loose curl of hers that never stayed up.
"C'mon, you deserve a night out, and I need some thing to make me laugh and that's you. Altman was a real bitch today and I need to vent," He pleaded looking Cristina square in the eyes, finally catching their gaze.
"Well you have a valid point," Cristina said as if in deep thought. For a moment Owen could read her exactly.
Owen had to agree with Avery on this. Ever since the fall out, Teddy has been really manic when it came to Cristina on her service. Teddy also hated the friendship between Cristina and Jackson she was so paranoid that they were laughing at her behind her back. Even Owen did not talk to Teddy anymore than he needed to at work. It was just easier for both of them that way.
"Ok Pretty Boy, you're on, though don't get any ideas," she said in almost disbelief, Owen was taken aback at seeing her be so forthcoming.
"8 o'clock, I'll come by your place and I'll take you somewhere different, not Joe's too many people from work," Jackson smiled at Cristina, waiting for her response. He is smart enough, Owen thought.
"That's a great idea actually, I don't need anymore drama in this place than I already have with Altman," Owen noticed that Cristina was looking around nervously for something.
"Ok so see you at your place later, wear something hot," Jackson said before he walked away.
"In your dreams!" Cristina called after him as he strutted off.
Owen watched Cristina as she stood by herself, trying to compose but she was fidgety. He knew she was freaking out. Yet he is no longer the one that had the ability, or right to comfort her. She must be looking for Meredith. His heart panged in this moment as his blood started to boil. He knew he was that shade of red he hated, but the one Cristina loved to see him get when they argued over nothing. He needed to go somewhere to compose himself. He knew just the place.
Owen walked into the vent, THEIR vent and let out a deep breath. He was almost hyper ventilating at the site of Cristina possibly with another man so soon. He couldn't handle it, but he also knew he didn't have the right to do anything about it. He gave up after telling her how much he wasn't going to let her do the same.
Owen stood there with his head against the wall, the same way he stood after grabbing and kissing Cristina outside of Joe's, "Get it together Hunt, its just a drink," he said out loud yet his thoughts quickly interrupted by the opening of the vent door.
Cristina.
He was startled. He hasn't been this close to Cristina in several months and wasn't sure how he would handle it. He turned to face her.
"I have a date," Cristina blurted out, "I have a date with Jackson Avery tonight. He asked me out and I said yes," she spoke quickly looking Owen square in the eyes.
"Why are you telling me this? Why should I even care?" He yelled at her, angry and confused with his emotions running wild. He turned and walked toward the other side of the vent away from her. He couldn't stand to look at her.
"I don't KNOW!" She started crying. Sobbing, like she did the day she told him she missed her dad. Cristina followed him to the other side of the vent.
He was trying not to cry, then without a moment of thought, he turns around and takes Cristina in his arms, both of them sobbing. They hold on to each other, her face buries in his neck, and his arms embracing her as they mourn. Whispering to each other their fears and sadness. Forgetting about Avery, Teddy, and about what has kept them apart from each other for so long. Stopping time.
He lightly kisses her temple and they pull slightly apart from each other, looking into each other's eyes and wiping away tears. "I can't be apart from you again," he breathes softly. Her hands caress his face and neck as his cup her own lifting her to his gaze. "Me too," she whispers in agreement, when finally her lips reach his and everything they once feared melted away.