Owen walked through the hospital lobby towards the exit. It was 10pm and it had been a long day, but as always, Owen was wide awake. He had paged Cristina three times in the past two hours, hoping to see her before he left, hoping that he could do more than just see her, but there had been no response. She wasn't on the board for a surgery, and he couldn't think of a reason why she would be avoiding him now, but then again, he believed most of the behavior he had shown her in the past few months would be reason enough to avoid him.
Derek Shepherd was standing by the front doors talking on his cell. As Owen approached, Derek closed his phone and waved him over.
"Dr. Hunt—Sloan is over at Joe's and says there's something that shouldn't be missed. Want to get a beer?"
"What's going on?"
"He wouldn't be specific, but it was something about karaoke gone wrong. Are you in?"
Owen didn't have to think long. Leaving work was the loneliest time of day, broken up only by the lucky occasions when he had gotten to be with Cristina. The night lay ahead of him, lengthy and sleepless. And for the most part, he liked Derek Shepherd. He didn't know him well, but he seemed a good enough guy. Definitely different than most of the men he had known in the army, but a good guy just the same. As for Mark Sloan, well, after his injury, Owen had gotten to know Mark far more intimately than either one of them had planned. He liked Mark, and liked him even more so once he had gotten over the initial jealousy owing to Mark's brief flirtation with Cristina. Five minutes with Mark made him realize that there was no way in hell Cristina would ever be interested in him, and that Cristina was just sport to Mark. There was no threat there.
"Yeah, a beer sounds good," Owen replied. They left through the double doors together, chatting about their day.