Chapter 1. Dinner Party
Owen watched in silence from the lounge room as Amelia worked across the room in the kitchen, looking back at Meredith every now and then to pretend that he was listening to what ever it was that she was taking about. As cooking wasn't one of Meredith's strong points when the girls had decided to hold a dinner party and invite a number of their work friends around the cooking responsibilities had fell with Maggie and Amelia, Meredith the only one to entertain the guests while they all waited. Jo, Alex, Callie, and Richard all listened as she proceeded to tell them about the case she'd worked on that day, while Miranda, Ben, and Jackson were sitting on the couch talking about the new apartment Jackson had found.
It had been two weeks since that night in the elevator and a million questions were still rolling around in Owens brain…
Where did they go from here?
Did she want to give this another go?
Were they just friends?
His eyes stayed fixated on her as he wondered these things. She was all dressed up for the occasion, something Owen rarely got to see as he'd never really taken her on a proper date, although looking at her now he really wished he had. She was wearing a short dark green dress with a low cut neckline… tight… something that was painfully obvious to him as she bent down to place a tray in the oven.
Noticing that Maggie had now left the kitchen Owen quickly excused himself from the conversation, and made his way over to where Amelia was beginning to work on chopping vegetables. "I see you got your way with the wall coming down" he mused, placing his glass of water down and the bench and leaning back against the cupboard.
"Hmm" she chuckled, only looking up at him for a moment and then looking back at what she was doing, "and as you can also see the house did not come down with it".
Owen laughed in response thinking back to the look Amelia and Meredith had both given him at the mention of the possibility, clearly not welcomed advice.
He studied her face for a few moments as the two stood there in silence, trying to find the words that needed to be said. Amelia still refused to look up at him, she could feel his eyes on her, watching her every breath, every moment that passed the air between them growing thicker and thicker. She knew that if she let herself look at him she wouldn't be able to control herself… and he wouldn't be able to either. It wasn't that she'd been trying to avoid him for the last couple of weeks, but more that there was never the right time to have the conversation they needed to. AND THE MAN STILL HADN'T ASKED HER OUT ON A DATE!
"Ame…" Owen Started, drawing her eyes to him for a quick moment before they were interrupted by Maggie re entering the kitchen with more drinks.
"Found them" she declared, placing the bag of wine on the bench. Amelia's eyes quickly looking back down trying to pretend that they hadn't just had a moment. "Meredith must have dumped them by the door instead of bringing them to the kitchen"
"Sounds about right" Amelia shot out, Owen's eyes fixed on her, and Amelia's on the knife in her hand.
Looking up at the pair and seeing the tension in the air Maggie grabbed a bottle of wine. "I just interrupted something didn't I?"
"Nope- interrupted… why would you say that?" Amelia started ranting, stumbling on her words like a teenager. She didn't normally act like she was in high school, but for some reason when ever Owen was around she felt like she was back there again, the fifteen year old girl all confused over a boy.
"I interrupted" Maggie nodded, "I-I'm going to go circulate now". And with that the two of them were left alone again. Owen stunned by the display that had just taken place before his eyes.
"Amelia" he tried again, this time finishing her name.
"Owen" she answered back, "this isn't the place".
"So when is?" he asked bluntly, "because we never seem to find a time when we aren't interrupted or called into surgery".
"Later" was her only response. "Now are you going to help me or are you just going to stand there looking at me?"
Sighing with defeat Owen caved. "Ok what do you want me to do?"
-0-0-0-
Once dinner was served everyone sat around the dinning room table, chairs crammed close together to fit everyone in. "So how'd your surgery on the motor bike rider go Owen?" Jackson asked trying to make conversation while people passed food around the table. Owen had been fairly quiet that evening and a few of the others had started to notice.
"Yeah, he's doing well" Owen responded, drawing himself out of his daydream, "Don't think he'll be getting on that bike anytime soon though" he added. "Much to his girlfriends annoyance"
"Oh, was that the girl who caused a scene in the waiting room earlier?" Jo jumped in, "cause, that chicks crazy!"
"That would be the one" Jackson answered, using the tongs to place a piece of chicken on his plate. "Security had to step in before she torched the place".
While everyone continued to talk Owen and Amelia continued to be aware of each other across the table, sharing glances when they thought no one was looking.
-0-0-0-
After Dinner was over Meredith, Jo, Alex and Maggie all gathered in the Kitchen to wash up while the others chatted in the lounge room.
"Could you give me a hand taking the spare chairs back to the office?" Amelia asked, as they had more guests than they had sears for around the table they had had to add in extra fold up chairs, which normally lived in what had once been Ellis Grey's office. They probably could have waited till after everyone had left but the anticipation was killing her and she was hoping to give them a reason to leave the living areas of the house.
Seeing where she was going with this Owen quickly agreed, following her into the dinning room to pack away the excess chairs and followed her to the office. Closing the door behind them Amelia pointed to the corner of the room. "Just over there" she explained.
As she watched him carry the chairs in stacks under each arm, her mind flashed back to the moments they'd shared in the elevator all to long ago, the pure adrenaline rush that filled her veins as he kissed her, the way he vigorously stripping her clothes off of her body, and how he filling her with emotions she hadn't felt in a long, long time. And then it was all over to quick, just as they both found the words to say his pager beeped 911, forcing them to both rush to find their clothes. "We will finish this later" he promised holding his pager up in his hand as he stepped out of the elevator, looking back at her. And then before she could respond, he was gone.
After stacking the final chair he turned to face her, both looking at each other in silence across the room for a moment, almost like they were trying to communicate without words.
"Amelia" Owen finally broke the silence, taking one step closer to her. "I… I" he paused for another moment, trying to find the right words to describe what he was feeling. "I want what we started all that time ago" he told her, smiling. "I was scared, and I let you get away… But I know that that was a huge mistake… One that I regret every day".
"Owen" she smiled, pursing her lips slightly, taking a step towards him.
"Let me finish" he whispered, stepping in again. "I let you go… but I promise you, that if you give me a second chance I won't let you go". They both took another step towards each other, now within reaching distance. "I promise that when you get scared and don't think you have anymore to give... That I will fight for what we have" he moved closer, reaching his fingertips to touch a piece of stray hair back behind her ear "because it's worth fighting for. So I have one question for you… will you give me a second chance?"
Amelia's eyes started to water. Gosh now she really was fifteen, she didn't cry over a boy! Amelia Shepherd certainly didn't cry over boys. And here she was tears forming in her eyes right there in front of him.
His heart was racing a million miles an hour, the seconds between when he spoke and when she answered seeming to slow down, like it was one of the longest moments of his life.
"Yes" she finally spoke, so soft it was almost a whisper, tears rolled down her cheek as he pulled her close and kissed her. It was tender and sweet, not like anything Amelia had ever experienced before. He cupped her cheek, whipping away the tears that fell. Pulling her in so close that the only thing that separated them was clothing.
