A/n: This is something I've been tossing in my head for the past 2 months. It's darker than my usual fics but I thought I would try it. It's kind of AU. I hope you like it.

Chapter 1 - The beginning

No one realized how drastically the world was about to change. Sure small things had been happening right in front of everyone but not together. They didn't want anyone to get a sense of the bigger picture. The world was a shaky place...

January

"Do you have it Cristina?" Owen asked as he shoved various files, papers and clothes into his bag. He was still only partially dressed. His black vertical striped button up shirt remained unbuttoned and untucked from his black slacks.

"Yeah..." She replied tiredly. Surgery had gone late and Cristina had had trouble sleeping that night. She wanted nothing more than to turn around and head back into the bedroom to sleep. Cristina trudged around the house in her slippers, grabbing various things to take to work.

"Are you saying that because you're too lazy to check and you just want to appease me?" Owen snapped back. He immediately regretted the words as they exited his mouth but he did want to know.

"What?" Cristina replied, taken aback by her husband's angry tone. "No. I have it." She reached into the pocket of her dark jeans and waved the card about. "See?" She pulled a green sweater over her black tank top and put her brown leather jacket on.

Owen sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just in a hurry. I have about a billion meetings today. I should have been at work hours ago. Everything that's been going on..."

Cristina took his hands in hers and propped herself up on her toes and kissed him. "If you'd been at work hours ago it would be 3am. Sleep is more important. And don't worry about it. I'm sure this whole thing will blow over."

He smiled at her. "I hope so."His voice full of worry. Owen buttoned up his shirt and tucked his shirt in. He then poured coffee into each of their mugs and headed out the door.

As they approached the doors of the hospital, Owen sighed as he dug into his pocket for his key card. They took turns swiping their cards and headed inside.

"Fuck!" They heard a familiar voice say.

They both turned around and saw Alex digging madly in each of his pockets and his wallet.

"Forget your card evil spawn?" Cristina enquired.

"Shut up." Alex sighed heavily. " Now I have to go all the way back home. Fuck fuck fuck. I can't believe you installed this Chief! This is stupid."

"Come on Karev." Owen said as he swiped his own card again, tired of hearing yet another complaint about something he clearly had no control over.

"Thanks Sir." Alex said gratefully as he entered the hospital.

The trio walked towards the elevators and headed up to the surgical wing. As they went over to get changed they caught the sight of a small crowd standing by one of the TV's. They headed over to see what everyone was watching. Cristina walked over to Meredith who had been standing there.

"What's going on?"She asked confused Meredith even cared about the news. Maybe there was a huge accident.

"The President's gonna make a speech." She replied, never taking her eyes off the screen.

"Oookay..." Cristina replied. She had rounds to get to and patients to operate on. She turned to go when Meredith grabbed her arm.

"You should watch this." She insisted. Cristina removed her arm from Meredith's grasp.

"Mer. I have priories and watching television isn't one of them." Cristina replied, annoyed at her person. She always assumed Meredith didn't care either.

"I know but this is important." Meredith insisted once more. Cristina surrendered and stood with the crowd.

President Clarke stepped into frame.

" My fellow citizens. This is an age of change. An age of uniting us all. An age of standing tall and telling those against us that their hate is unacceptable. That insolence will not be tolerated. I'm implementing a curfew. Everyone will be in their houses by 12am. No exceptions. This is to insure your safety. It's for your benefit. Also, the card readers will now be installed in private residents. This is to insure your safety. A way for those you care about to know where you are. The military will patrol the streets at night for your safety. We will unite against the terrorists both foreign and domestic. Stand with me. For those who won't, well...I'm sure you'll come around."

"What was that?" Cristina said as she turned towards her friends. Alex, Owen and Meredith stared back at her. "Seriously? What was that?"

They all looked at each other.

"Oh my god." Meredith said. "This..."

"...Can't be happening?" Alex finished. "This is fucking stupid. It's not going to last. I have rounds." And he stomped away.

"I mean..terrorists? What the fuck?" Cristina said rubbing her forehead.

Owen shook his head. What kind of a country was this? They felt nervous. Meredith and Cristina stared at each other. They knew it had been getting bad but they had no idea just how bad. Not until that speech. This new President was not something to feel good about.

April

As the year progressed words like Power, Force, Mandatory, Strong were terrifying. They were code for stay in line or disappear.

Somehow the country had turned cold and dark. The morning news was something everyone watched. Everyone woke up early enough to watch and no one slept in. There was no way you could miss it. If you missed something vital, all hell would break lose.

They could get used to it. It was easy. Curfew wasn't.

In doors by midnight. You work until midnight? You stay at work. You don't leave and drive to your house. You have kids at home waiting for you? You stay at work.

Owen tried his best to be as accommodating as possible but in the end, people were stuck at the hospital on their off hours and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

The world was changing and it was evident every single day. Owen and Cristina read the headlines and watched the news everyday hoping it was all a dream and that maybe they were misinformed. Maybe it was all just...

Freedom wasn't even a word anymore. Rates were going up and up. People were getting poorer and poorer. Had Cristina and Owen not been doctors, they would have been screwed. Many of the new interns had taken up residents in the basement of the hospital. They just couldn't afford another place to live. Owen tried hard to increase their pay but the board wouldn't do it and so to spite them, he let the interns live there. Rent free.

June

But it wasn't. It was never going to be okay.