Disclaimer: I own nothing, the characters all belong to ABC and Shonda Rhymes, but if she doesn't mind I'm going to borrow them.
A/N: Thanks Ranniez, she did Beta this for me and gave me some great ideas so I dedicate this story to her, a fellow Owen and Cristina fan :)
Thanks for reading this, I read all comments and reviews and am more than happy to receive constructive criticism, but negative not invited thank you :)
My grammar and use of punctuation are not good, but my beta will help me out with that so I am sorry it's not perfect... Mel volunteered herself to go back and beta this story... and she typed that, too XD
Sorry if you're Burke fans
Chapter 1 Trophy Wife
It was a freak snow storm that changed Cristina Yang's life forever, a freak snow storm in October, in her second year of residency. Exactly five months after she had married Preston Burke, head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Seattle Grace hospital.
Cristina was pissed off with her husband because, yet again, he was off at some conference, in some hospital, in some state where she didn't really care—he was never home. And when he was home, she was sick and tired of him looking at her in that way. The way that suggested she was not good enough.
She knew what the real problem was.
She'd known this would happen and had been hesitant to accept his damn proposal in the first place, but she had and here they were.
Cristina Yang was a woman who neither, cooked, cleaned or thought about having children. Maybe one day, but not right now. She was a woman who wanted a career and to be the best. She had told him this countless times before they were married and he had promised her he was happy with her as she was. But, now, five months later, he was picking on everything.
She worked too much; she drank too much with Mer when she should have been home with him.
She didn't do housework. "That's what maids are for," she'd replied, several times when he'd lectured her about it.
She didn't cook.
It was always something.
But, to be fair, Cristina suspected he was jealous because he could no longer operate. Not long after winning the Harper Avery award, Burke's hand gave in, forcing him into early retirement. And into taking a job at the University of Seattle, and, of course, giving guest lectures all over the country which meant he was away a lot.
She was unhappy because she looked at this man that she once loved so much and now all she saw was anger and resentment. It made her mad because he wanted this damn marriage and now, instead of fighting for it, he was running off all over the country to be out of it.
Seattle Grace hospital now stood at number twelve; it had pissed off all the staff, not to mention the boredom that they were feeling, Mercy West was getting all the good traumas.
But that would soon change, as three women and their limo driver landed in their ambulance bay, followed later by their three husbands. Very cleverly stolen and rerouted by Cristina and Dr. Bailey.
She and the chief approached the second ambulance. The paramedics jumped out muttering something about G.I. Joe and a pen trache in the injured guy's neck. Cristina couldn't help that she was instantly turned on by the red headed man in Army fatigues, who had taken it upon himself to triage the man using an ink pen. "HOT" was all she could muster at that very moment.
It turned out, after a conversation with the chief, that this mysterious guy was Major Owen Hunt. An army surgeon in a forward surgical team in Iraq and he had just finished his final tour.
"You're bleeding," the chief stated. He turned to Yang, "Yang, take care of Major Hunt's leg."
"But I'm scrubbing in with you," she said, not wanting to miss out on a surgery.
"After you've taken care of Major Hunt's leg," he responded. And with that, the chief walked off leaving Cristina alone with the Major, who had walked off.
She found him pissing of McDreamy; he'd already pissed of McSteamy, now it was McDreamy's turn to be all put out.
"Come on," she said dragging him off to a suture room. "We're closing up your leg now."
Owen watched her as she cleaned up his leg. She was something else, he thought. Beautiful, obviously smart to be in a surgical program, but she had a look about her. A kind of weariness, something was clearly getting her down. He couldn't help notice she wore a chain around her neck with a plain platinum band on it, he wondered if it was a wedding ring.
She finished with the cleaning and turned to get the shot ready to numb him, instead Owen picked up the staple gun and began to staple his own leg shut.
The look on her face was priceless. "You're not numbed."
"So," he replied with a smouldering smirk that turned her on.
'Stop it, Cristina, you're married. You can't think about other men like this', she scolded herself, then realised he was holding out the gun and asking her to finish him off so to speak. She placed a hand on his butt and began to staple, pausing once to look at him when he grunted then said, "Thank you."
'God, he's hot, damn him'. She couldn't help smiling at him as he responded in kind. They were entranced, smiling at one another, when they were interrupted by Callie.
Cristina was trying to think, but all she could hear was Meredith banging on and on about Derek. And she couldn't take it, not today, not when her husband was pissing her off and complete strangers were making her feel things she hadn't felt in a very long time. Things she certainly wasn't feeling for her own husband damn it.
As she was lying on the ground, she reflected on exactly how she had happened to get into that condition. 'Well, yeah, this is karma. Have improper thoughts about a man who is not your husband and yell at your best friend, yeah... impaled by an icicle is definitely Karma'.
Owen was just leaving when he saw her lying on the floor, withering in pain. "Damsel in distress," he said and picked her up, then carried her inside.
He laid her on the gurney and... 'Whoa, she certainly is a feisty woman', he thought. Demanding it be pulled out, demanding he mind his own business, and he figured he'd better comply. Feisty and most definitely turning him on, he conceded immediately, throwing his hands up.
It wasn't until Cristina had kicked out her idiot interns' that she saw him again.
He leaned over her and smiled, she was about to protest when he pulled out the icicle. She looked at him in shock "You took out my icicle... I didn't give you permission to do that."
"So," he said again for the second time, with one of those smouldering hot smiles. And again she was turned on. Could hardly catch her tongue when he breathed, "Hurts less if you don't know its coming; besides, you're tough, I figured you could take it."
"Shut up," she said in her usual brash manner, to fight off the churning in her belly. "You don't know me."
"I know, but I'd certainly like to get to know you better," he said as he began to treat her wound. "Tell me something so I'll know you better."
Cristina sighed, she didn't want to turn this guy off before she could actually turn him on but she had to be herself. "There's nothing to tell, I'm a second year resident, I'm a cardio goddess," she said matter-of-factly, adding, "and I'm brilliant and that's all you need to know."
Owen had to bite back a grunt. "So what about the ring you are wearing? Wedding ring?"
She smiled sadly. "Yeah, it's a wedding ring. I'm married to Preston Burke and he's not here right now. Hardly ever here, in fact; he's a College Lecturer. Can't operate anymore, you see. Short story, he got shot long ago. It's like I'm Burke's trophy wife and I hate that.
Burke wants a wife, a shinny happy wife who will cook, clean and raise his children. But, he married me, Cristina Yang, a woman who is none of those things. Except, I'm not sure who Cristina Yang is anymore."
She smiled sadly at Owen, not knowing exactly why she had spilled her guts to him. "It's your turn, tell me about your crappy life."
"I'm married to a woman who is everything you just described," he began sighing. "The perfect wife, but her father sheltered her, never let her feel real pain. She hated me for going away to war; she cried and told me I was selfish and would question me over and over again, 'Why must you do this?' "
He sighed again; he hated even thinking about his tired marriage, much less revealing how tiring his wife was. "Maybe I was selfish, but I couldn't stay where I was. The violence in Baltimore just never seemed to end. It mattered to me that I wasn't making a difference for anyone. I joined the Army to make a difference, to have the greatest adventure of all going off to war. So, I spend six months in a war zone and come home to a wife who nags me constantly and a father-in-law who calls me a selfish jerk for leaving his daughter. Maybe it would be better if we had a kid, give her something to take care of. She loves kids, she's a school teacher.
God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go on like that," he readily apologised. "I just you know... can't really complain to my fellow soldiers. They need a woman like Beth at home waiting for them, to keep them sane, you know.
So I keep it inside until a beautiful, intelligent resident gets impaled by an icicle and asks me to tell her something," he finished, smiling mischievously at her.
Cristina blushed and crinkled her eyes. "Shut up and stitch me up," she said trying to ignore the fact that this man—with devastatingly gorgeous crystal-blue eyes, who, more or less, had taken command of the ER in a strange hospital where he didn't know anyone and had then literally swept off her feet, was completely adorable.
The chief came in as he was finishing up and offered him a job, which he was sorely tempted to take but he had commitments.
He binned his gloves and looked at her over his shoulder, sitting on the gurney. She was beautiful, her hair was a mass of silky black curls and he wanted to run his fingers through them. 'Sod it', he thought and closed the blinds. He turned towards her and swiftly closed the distance between them, pulling her in for a deep kiss. His hands were everywhere and he could feel her responding which only made him draw into her in every way. He wanted to make love to her right there.
And so did Cristina, she didn't care about her marriage anymore, it was a huge mistake. The devastating fact made her even more willing to cheat, she needed to feel wanted again, it had been so long since she'd felt wanted like this. Her body was humming from the pleasure of her mouth being ravished.
Owen pulled away reluctantly. "I can't do this," he said sadly, shaking his head. "I want you to know, I want you in every way possible but I cannot cheat." God, he really wished that he could.
Cristina smiled. This man was so good, she thought, she could fall in love with this man if circumstances were different. Although she thought she probably already had. "Damn."
"I get it Owen, its okay, you don't have to explain. I get it, you're a man of your word. Not many of those around anymore." She smiled, devastated but she really did get it.
Owen smiled and grabbed something to write on and wrote down his email address. "Email me sometime, it's nice, you know, over there to receive emails and letters from friends, helps with the moral."
"Okay, I'd like that." She wrote down her email, also, and told him to write her as often as he liked.
With one last smile, he walked out of the door and back to Iraq.
TBC
