Owen Hunt stared out of the tiny airplane window, trying to quiet his mind. He was really too tall a man for the window seat, but he always requested one anyway. Ever since he was a child he'd loved the view, but today he was distracted and, frankly, exhausted. It had been a grueling week at the hospital and now he found himself longing for takeoff in hopes he might get some sleep. He shifted slightly, grateful that the middle seat was still empty and weighing his odds that it might remain so on his transcontinental flight. The man on the aisle had already settled in with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

He'd been asked to speak at a conference at NYU several months back. The Chief had encouraged him to accept since the hospital was still seeking to build positive PR post-shooting. Owen was excited about delivering his presentation. His only hesitation was because of Cristina.

He missed her already and it had only been a few hours. They'd said goodbye as Cristina left for work. She'd returned to her residency three months ago and Owen had finally allowed himself to believe that things were really going to be okay. She seemed good. Not the same. Changed. But good. Strong. And happier than she'd been in a long while. It's just that they'd never really been apart and, despite the positive indications, part of him didn't want to leave her. She insisted, of course. Said she'd be fine…that it was only for a few days. And he knew he needed to go. But he missed her. He missed his wife. He closed his eyes.

"Excuse me," said a crisp, British voice, "but that's my seat there…in the middle. Sorry."

Owen groaned inwardly…so much for the extra space. He turned around to stake his claim on his share of the armrest and found himself face to face with Cristina.

He stared at her incredulously and tried to speak, but no words of any substance came out of his mouth. "Cristina! What are doing here?"

She raised an eyebrow as if to say…seriously? "What does it look like I'm doing? You didn't really think I was going to miss your keynote address?" She looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. "Surprise."

"How did you get the time off? You're barely back…"

"I don't know what you mean. This isn't time off. I'm attending a professional conference. You let me worry about work. You worry about all the places we're going to visit while we're in the city. I want to go to the Empire State Building."

He looked at her in amazement, taking in every bit of her. She took his breath away.

He finally found his voice again. "Thank you."

"Whatever," she said softly, but her eyes were smiling as she snuggled into his embrace.

He kissed her gently and pulled her close to him.

Blue eyes met brown as he said, "I think you're beautiful…"

"I love you, too," she replied.