"Owen, are you sure-," Amelia said. "Yes," he cut her off. "I swear. It'll be any time now." Right then a pop made Amelia jump half a foot out of her chair. "God," Amelia put her hand over her heart and breathed deep. Owen chuckled. "Told you." Amelia gave him a glare.
The streaks and bursts of color lit up the sky in spurts. Owen tensed. Amelia wasn't looking at him though, so she didn't notice. She looked at the fireworks in awe. "Look! Did you see that one?" She pointed into the sky. She had seen a red, white, and blue star shaped one. She looked over at Owen. He was completely tensed up, his eyes narrowed, and his feet planted on the ground hard like he's ready to take off.
"Watch out!" He yells as he jumps out of his chair and grabs Amelia, throwing her to the ground. She hit her head, hard. He covered her whole body with his and ducked his head. After the pop of firework dwindles, he gets up, but at the next pop, he takes off and ducks behind the trailer. Amelia rolled on the ground for a second. She suddenly had a really bad headache. She forced herself off the ground.
She knew this was one of his PTSD episodes. She should have known that fireworks would be a trigger for him. She got up and walked slowly to the back of the trailer, where Owen was crouched down.
"Owen…it's okay." She approached him. She was squinting from the pain pounding in her head. "Look at me," She crouched down in front of him. "Look at me, Owen. Look. It's me, Amelia. You're fine. Look," She pointed to their surroundings. "You're in Seattle. At your trailer. It was just fireworks, not gunshots. You're fine." He looked at her like she was crazy, but his eyes softened as she talked.
He looked around, trying to convince himself. "Oh god, I did it again." He put his head in his hands. "Dammit," He whispered. Amelia plopped back onto her butt. She wasn't going to touch him yet, because she knew what would happen all too well if she touched him at the wrong time. She grunted at the pain. "Wait," he lifted his head and his eyes were wide. "Did I hurt you?!" Amelia just looked at him. "God, I always do this!" He beat his fists into thighs over and over. "Owen, stop!" She grabbed his wrists. "It's just a headache." He looked into her eyes. "I bet it's a concussion," He said. "Let me take a look." He examined her head and when she winced through the pain, he knew she had a concussion.
"Come on, let's get you inside." He stood and grabbed her hand to pull her up. He wrapped an arm around her waist. "I'm so damn sorry, Meels. I'm so so sorry." He looked extremely hurt at what happened. "I should've known it would be a trigger for me, it always is. I thought I could control it. I'm so sorry." He kept apologizing over and over.
As he laid her down on his bed and tucked her body under the covers, he went to get her a cold washcloth, but she stopped him. "Owen. It's fine. I'll be fine. I'm tough, ya know." She smiled slightly. "No! It's not fine!" He walked out and returned with the cloth. "I hurt you! I've done it before… to Cristina. I swore I wouldn't do it to you… but I did. I'm so so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm awful." He sat on the bed and dropped his head into his hands. "Owen. Come here." Amelia patted the bed beside her. He scooted across the bed to the spot. "Look," she pointed out the window behind the bed to the open sky where bursts of color were still popping open every few seconds. "Look how pretty." She looked at the sky intently.
"Yeah, it is pretty cool." He smiled as they laid on their stomachs watching the fireworks. Nearing the end of the show was a long streak of firework after firework. Finally, a fuse streamered up into the sky and bust open, making a huge American flag in the dark night sky.
"Well, Major Hunt, what do you think?" Amelia turned towards him, knowing the show was over. "Wow. That was…. Spectacular." He looked like he was in a trance. "I've never been able to truly enjoy a firework show. That was just… incredible." She smiled. Although she was in pain, she was able to make Owen see the true beauty in the trigger of his PTSD. It was a good night, despite the pounding ache in her head.