Author's note- I'm not sure where this one's going, maybe another chapter, or two. I just really like to imagine other peoples' reaction to this new love of C and O
Chapter 1- Saving Major Hunt.
Adele Webber walked into the lobby of her husband's hospital, carrying some shirts, ties, food, and a few toiletry items Richard would not have thought of, but would surely need.
Coming here was better now. Not as much like entering an arena where the lions were waiting. The imaginary, bloodthirsty crowd of spectators no longer screaming in her ears.
Ellis Grey was gone now, had been gone for years and somehow her daughter's presence had pushed her ghost to the background. The living, breathing, reality of Meredith visualised the years that had gone bye and the change that came with them.
Today she could walk these halls, knowing that, even if her husband didn't want to give up this place for her, at the very least he needed her just as much. She knew she had stood up for herself, finally demanding the respect that should have been hers all along. They had faced the past, and they had survived.
She looked around, enjoying the light-filled corridors, the busy efficiency of people in different coloured scrubs, doing their job. She could take pride in the hustle and bustle now, no longer felt threatened by it and insufficient in comparison.
"Adele!", a shout drew her attention as she reached Richard's office. And she turned around to see her husband approaching, in a hurry. "Did you bring my shirts?", Without a word she reached behind her and opened the door to his office, holding out the bag she'd brought.
Furrowing around in the bag he chose a shirt and a tie and kissed her again, before hurrying of to the bathroom to change.
The lecture that had the hospital abuzz would be starting in twenty minutes and several doctors passed the office on their way down to the auditorium. Adele knew most and liked few. She exchanged some perfunctory greetings and turned away from the door, in the hopes of avoiding any more of them.
Another knock on the door made her turn around though, to see an unknown face, rugged, handsome; blue eyes, red hair.
He stopped when he saw her and then approached. "Excuse me Ma'am, I'm looking for Chief Webber, or has he gone down to the lecture already? ".
Then he offered his hand, coming up to her to introduce himself. "My name is Owen Hunt, I'm the new Head of Trauma".
Now she could place him and smiled radiantly, taking his hand. "Dr. Hunt, I'm Adele Webber, the Chief's wife, it is so nice to meet you! Of course Richard told me about his new Head of Trauma, very pleased to have you work here, he is". She answered his question, "Right now he's changing, he'll be back in a couple of minutes if you care to wait".
Owen smiled at the sincerity of her greeting, "It's a pleasure to meet you Ma'am".
Her smile turned even more radiant if that was possible, and she gave him a little wink, "None of this "Ma'am", please! You'll make me feel all old, call me Adele".
Owen gave her a doubtful look, "I will try, but old habits die hard and I'm pretty used to the formalities", "Please call me Owen though", he added, as an after thought.
Adele motioned for him to come further into the room. "You know, I come from a military family, both my father and my brother are Marines, so I understand what you mean". She smiled, and continued, "I can't say the "formalities" did much for them when their team was losing, though".
That got a smile that changed his face, and Adele had to remind herself for a second that harassing her husbands staff was not a good idea. But they sure made the young men finer and finer these days!.
She looked at his profile and resumed, "My dad was in Vietnam for two years", he looked at her, smile fast vanishing. "And my brother was in Iraq, the last time we were there in the nineties". That wiped the last traces of mirth from his face, eyes fast turning a bleak sort of grey.
She watched him closely, seeing his body tense, fist clenching.
Silently, she cursed Richard for not telling her about this. So she could have known to avoid the topic.
In her youth she'd seen her father and his friends deal with the consequences of living through war. None of them had escaped unscathed. All of them connected by experiences that those that stayed at home could never really understand. They all bore that stamp for the rest of their lives, but with some, it was more pronounced than with others. They all tried to somehow live a "normal" life again, in peace. But seemed to have more ghosts haunting them. She had seen marriages fall apart and good men left behind, deemed too broken for repair. Later, as a nurse, she learned the medical terms, the symptoms, the theory, and found them strangely lacking. Not really able to describe what it was like when a person got destroyed by too much pain and cruelty.
Richard had told her about him, that he had spend five years over there, in the dessert, in the fighting. He had told her that he was the only survivor of an attack that left nineteen people dead. Now she could see what that meant.
Now his eyes told her, how close his ghosts were, and she took a sharp breath.
She hadn't meant to hurt this young man, after all, they'd just made the usual introductions. If only talking about the war did this to him, she knew his nights must be hell.
Determined to get their minds as far away from war as she could, she started prattling about having to bring Richard his clothes and how it was amazing that a grown man, in charge of a hospital, could not even dress himself. "I always think, the only reason he became a surgeon in the fist place, is so he can wear scrubs every day and never has to worry about what he'll wear. That white coat saves us both a world of trouble".
He made a visible effort to relax, trying to laugh at her little joke, but it wasn't easy, tension still increasing in his body.
Looking up at the sound of a knock on the door, they saw Cristina Yang standing in the doorway, looking exceptionally hard at the both of them, taking in Owen's tense posture, hands buried in the pockets of his coat, defensively stretched out before him. Adele leaning against the desk, a bit towards him, concerned look on her face.
"Good afternoon Cristina", Adele's greeting drew Cristina's attention away from the dead look in Owen's eyes.
"What the hell has she been saying to him?!"
"Hello Mrs. Webber, how are you?". Instinctively she took some steps forward, drawing nearer to Owen, positioning her body so, that it shielded him a bit, turning to the other woman with a searching look.
Adele was taken aback for a moment by the way the girl swooped into the office and into her space. That was not normally her style.
She knew Cristina to be a real surgeon. And she didn't mean that as a compliment. Cristina was very much like Ellis, like all those that had said Richard was wasting himself on a hausfrau like her. That she would never be able to understand him, to understand them, in all their wonderful ways.
But Cristina was also respectful towards her, always had been, without fail.
Sure, she could be hard at times, but never callous, just blunt and young. When Adele had witnessed Preston Burke walk out of the church a few months back, she knew Cristina would never be judging people quite so harshly ever again. She had felt sorry for her and admired her strength after Burke had won the Harper-Avery award.
She had been there for that rarest of occasions; Cristina showing her feelings and tears. Telling Richard, the attorney and herself that now, she was a ghost. And she had admired her strength, even after all the humiliation. Even amidst her tears that day.
Yes, she'd seen Cristina in different moods, but she'd never seen her like this. "What had gotten into the girl?!", she was standing far too close!.
Cristina addressed her, drawing her attention, "I was looking for the Chief, he wanted this file before the lecture started". Her glance quickly passed over Owen's face, silently trying to assess how he was doing.
He was the one to answer her, "I'm waiting for him too, need to get a quick consult in. Mrs. Webb.. , I mean, Adele, told me he'll be right back".
She shot the other woman a surprised look, that made Adele laugh inside. "Well, in that case Dr. Hunt, I'll just leave this with you, if you could give it to him?".
She handed him the file, turning towards him now, their eyes locked in a silent exchange, "Are you o.k? ", "should I stay?".
And his eyes, slowly warming up to the colour of a winter sky again; "It's o.k", and, eyes turning even softer; "I love you".
Gob smacked, Adele sat back and watched. Hesitating to credit what she could clearly see before her eyes. But the hesitation didn't last long. For all the stuck-up surgeons in the world, and their belief she could never understand as well as they did, she was not stupid.
She had always had a very firm grip on reality, and a lot of perspicacity when it came to people and their feelings. Richard had found that out, the night she had ordered him to save their niece, whether the girl wanted to or not.
She had always known exactly what was going on, what she chose to do, or not do, about it, was her business.
Now her keen observation of people and their emotions told her that, somehow, some way, these two had found each other. And it was clear, to her at least , that they would never let go.
She could tell from the way he drew strength from her vicinity, from the way he slowly but surely relaxed.
For Cristina Yang to come barging into the Chief's office, physically shielding this man from her bosses wife, took love. But for her to do that after what had happened with Burke?, such a short time ago? And for her to look at him, prepared to save him, if he needed saving?. That took devotion, which was not a word Adele Webber would have ever associated with Cristina Yang.
She greeted back as Cristina was leaving, focused on the way they held each other's gaze as long as possible, not wanting to look away.
When Owen turned to her, he was calm again. They talked about Seattle and it's weather quite comfortably until Richard came in. Owen wasted no time, handing him the file on behalf of Cristina and summarizing his case. After answering and getting the once-over, followed by an approving nod of his wife, they kissed and he left in a hurry.
Owen offered to walk her to her car and she accepted, complimenting him on being an officer and a gentleman. He shot her a dubious grin and filled his lungs with the fresh air, once they got outside.
Throwing his head back like this, he looked absolutely stunning. Red hair sharply offset against the blue-grey sky. Broad chest rising, shoulders drawn back.
They'd almost reached the car when she turned to him with a smile and a soft, but direct look. "It was really good meeting you Owen, I hope you'll be happy here". He nodded his thanks, not sure what to say. She was still looking at him, "I feel a lot better knowing you have some one to take care of you". He stared at her, eye brows raised. She gave him a little knowing smile, "Cristina yang is not the woman I would have chosen to take care of anyone" , she considered for a moment, "not my first choice, certainly". She looked at his cautious expression, "But it's clear to see, she'll take care of you as if you were a part of her".
His expression now went from cautious to downright alarmed, as she turned very serious, and a little threatening. "this makes you extremely lucky, you know that, don't you?".
He tried to answer, but she went on, "I'm not talking about you having problems, and that being, why you're lucky to have her". Owen shut his mouth abruptly.
"I'm talking about the chances of her finding you, the man she can love like this, no matter what state you're in. They are infinitesimal!".
"You'd do well to love her and take care of her in the same way". She felt it was her duty to say this, after all, she didn't know him and she couldn't let Cristina get hurt again.
Owen stayed silent for a while, processing her words. Finally he spoke with a little laugh that tried, and failed, to hide his emotion. "You've just met me, and seen.., us, together for a whole two minutes". He let his voice trail away, but Adele just held his eyes, unwavering.
He looked at her in silence for a bit longer. This woman was obviously no fool and he had nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide. From the Chief or his wife.
"I thought about that a lot, back there", his fist were clenching, even as he was avoiding saying the name of the place that had seen him soaked in the blood of his dead friends. "How easily I could have missed her, when I was here on leave, the last time ". He smiled, thinking of that day, their first kiss, the realisation of what she was making him feel.
Adele saw that smile, and suddenly found herself blinking furiously.
"I don't believe in a lot anymore, can't spare the energy most days to wonder whether it was coincidence or providence, meeting her just before my life was about to…change".
He turned very serious now, as serious as she had been before. "I'll take care of her ". He seemed to want to add more, but decided against it. Letting the sincerity of the words make their way to her.
Eyes moist again, Adele nodded her approval, "Good, now I'll just have to find some excuse for a personnel- dinner, so you can take her, and we can talk some more".
He hadn't seen that one coming and was quick to object, "I don't think…"- "Don't worry, I won't be obvious about it, and you two don't have to be either, it'll be lovely, you'll see".
Unsuccessfully he tried to change her mind. "we don't want other people to know, and besides, I don't think your husband will be too pleased about this, and that'll make Cristina unhappy".
She shot him a stern look, "Nonsense! Richard will be ecstatic, don't you worry about him, it'll just be dinner, a chance to relax and spend some time with each other". And before he could respond, she cut him off by walking towards the driver side of the car.
Giving up, Owen hurried to open the door for her, and wished her a safe drive home. Receiving a cheerful wink, that did nothing to quiet his concerns, in reply. "Goodbye Dr. Hunt, see you soon, take care!".
And she was off, leaving him on the parking lot, wondering how much trouble he'd just gotten himself into, tripping this woman's saviour-complex into action.
