Sorry for the late update. I was totally going to gloss over the first date but all the reviews seemed to want a first date. Mmm so I wrote it but it's really not good so please do not read with any expectations. =) Again, I really don't love this chapter but what am I gonna do.. posting it anyway... but I am enjoying what I have for my next chapter so far. Next update will not be far behind–check for it in a day or two.

Erin: Every time I'm close to posting a chapter, you always beat me to the punch and give me a nudge. Odd, haha. I swear I'm not holding it off until you review twice! Kevin's Biggest Fan: Happy to see your reviews again. Hope you enjoy this story. Lastly, a hugeee thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing!

*Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy belongs to Shonda Rhimes & Co.


Owen got in the car and started the engine. "So how was your day?" Owen asked as he licked his lips, smoothing away the distracting tingling sensation that lingered from the kiss. He needed his brain to function properly if he wanted the date to be somewhat interesting for Cristina.

Cristina crossed her arms in full defense mode. "Are you mocking me or do you really want to know?"

"Both." Owen smirked at Cristina.

"Well, sorry to disappoint but I had a great day," lied Cristina. "Slept well, did my laundry, read the latest issue of JAMA and topped my day off by baking a cake."

Owen let out a low chuckle. "You should have ended at slept well. You don't do laundry and you definitely do not even know how to turn on the oven."

"What are you, a stalker? Stop fishing information from Callie," said Cristina as she diverted her attention to finding an audible radio station.

"No, I'm just interested." Owen responded in a more even tone and flicked an eye towards Cristina.

Cristina's finger momentarily paused on the button before she commented, "Fine. I couldn't keep anything down the whole day so now I am starving. And when I'm starving I get really cranky." Cristina growled as she impatiently stabbed the button. "And I can't get a damn signal on the damn radio." 'Behave yourself,' Cristina silently chided herself, not knowing what gave her the courage to act like her normal cynic self in front of the man that easily gave her the flutters with one flick of an eye.

"Try this," Owen pushed the search button as the radio automatically settled on the next station.

Cristina settled back in her seat and let the soft music take over.

They came to a halt at a red light. Owen took this time to turn his head to look at Cristina, who was staring straight ahead. "Are you feeling better?" he asked in a genuine tone.

She turned her head towards Owen and nodded.

"Good, good. Because I'm feeding you lots of carbs tonight." Owen smiled, relieved at her well-being, and gave a quick squeeze of her hand. "But I'm cutting you off from tequila," chuckled Owen as he couldn't help but add. As he shied away from her gaze, he couldn't help but wonder what urged him to joke around with someone who obvious was not keen on being poked and prodded. But he sure did get a rise out of her reaction every single time.


"Are you done with the entrees?" The waiter came by the table. Owen looked at Cristina for an answer.

"Yes, we're done," Cristina answered for both, pushing her nearly finished lobster risotto.

"Impressive," Owen nodded in approval. He always favored woman who enjoyed their food rather than picking on a salad trying to look pretty while eating.

"I'll be right back with the dessert menu." The waiter cleared their table and left.

"Food was amazing." Cristina gloated, happy and full. She felt herself buzzing from the relaxed atmosphere, delicious entrée and good company, despite the fact she had not a lick of alcohol as she could not stomach any wine.

"You liked the food here?" Owen asked, making sure he heard her correctly.

"Mmhmm," Cristina sipped her water. "Mere actually told me about this place. Never found the time to come."

Owen beamed from ear to ear. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Owen's eyes glazed over to Cristina's hopelessly supple and full lips. Those lips were going to be the end of him as he knew it. Blue and brown eyes met over the flickering dim candle that was almost at the end of its wick. They briefly lost themselves in each other's eyes—voices in the background blended into a low buzz and the room was fading into darkness. Cristina felt the time slow and Owen felt the place disappear.

"HUNT!" A loud booming voice rang through the restaurant. Cristina and Owen broke apart their gaze to follow the loud voice. A tall rotund man with cherub cheeks stormed out of the kitchen, taking large strides towards their table.

Owen took his napkin off his lap and rose laughing to greet his friend. They met in a brief embrace, patting each other on the back before they pulled apart. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Al yelled at Owen, almost annoyed at the impromptu visit.

"Sorry, man. It was all last minute," Owen answered. "Good to see you still have your flare in the kitchen. You helped me out tonight," he nudged Al as he looked down at Cristina.

"Oh, who do we have here?" Al made his way over to Cristina. "Hello, Al," Al extended his hand.

"Cristina. Nice to meet you," Cristina met his hands and gave a firm handshake.

"Al's the Head Chef here," Owen explained as Cristina looked between the two.

"And who is this fine lady?" Al asked raising his hands to kiss Cristina's hand.

"Behave," Owen warned as he pulled Al away from Cristina. "She's someone I'm trying to impress."

Cristina smiled, enjoying the sight of relaxed Owen outside the hospital setting.

"Oh, that's cheap Hunt. Bringing your date to your restaurant. I could have thought of something better than that," Al teased Owen. "Wait, wait, hold on." Al excitedly headed towards the kitchen. "I'll help you impress her tonight."

"Your restaurant?" Cristina questioned as soon as Al disappeared into the kitchen. "Is that how you really wanted to impress me?"

"Did it work?" Owen asked, half kidding half serious, but quickly switched over to a more serious tone. "No, it really was last minute. I wanted to go shopping for dinner tonight but my surgery went longer than expected. There's not many places I know in Seattle now and I wanted to bring you somewhere special." Owen looked up, nervous, hoping she did not take him as a pompous showoff who wanted to impress with his restaurant. "I don't really have anything to do with the restaurant. I just helped open it," he quickly downplayed his involvement despite the fact that he was the sole owner of the restaurant.

The hospital consumed Cristina's life and that was all she ever cared to know. She was fully intrigued that Owen, despite his equally insane working hours, had another life she was unfamiliar with and not a part of. "What's with the name?" asked Cristina.

"Caccia di Roma?" Owen briefly hesitated, worried Cristina would think the name was cheesy. "Caccia means hunt in Italian. Al and I went backpacking in Europe in college. He fell in love with the cuisine, I fell in love with Rome. So when I opened this restaurant, I wanted this place to be a place that you can go to in Seattle when you're looking for a place like Rome. Although I promise you there is no place like Rome."

Cristina nodded, impressed with the thought and connection to Owen behind the name. "I like the name."

"Have you ever been to Rome?" asked Owen.

Cristina shook her head. "But if it's anything like your restaurant, I think I will like it."

At her approval, Owen mentally tucked Cristina away along with Rome in the near and dear place in his heart. Every minute he spent getting to know her, she was inching her way inside, invading him inside and out.

"And now, to seal the deal on the date." Al came out from the kitchen holding a large plate. He set the dish between Owen and Cristina. "Here for you two lovebirds is olive oil and salty caramel gelato with pizzelle. Come thank me before you leave, Hunt."


Owen shut the engine off in his truck after parking. "Thanks for tonight, Cristina."

'Thank you?' she was confused. All she did was merely show up to be fed with amazing food in a restaurant with great atmosphere. "I didn't do much…"

"You showed up," said Owen.

Cristina laughed, remembering she did regret agreeing to his invite and spent half the day in jitters and the other half, drunk, trying to forget the jitters. He had a better read on her than she realized.

"So thank you," Owen gripped the handle on the car. "I have to admit… It took awhile to get here with you and the wait was definitely not fun."

Surprised at his frankness, Cristina turned to catch Owen's timid smile before he opened the car door to make his way out of the car. Before Owen could get over to Cristina's side to open the door, she beat him to the punch and stepped out. Owen held the door as he helped her step down from his truck.

"Seriously. You don't have to open the door for me all the time. I'm not that kind of girl," Cristina stated.

Owen shrugged, a bit flustered she was holding off his attempts to be a man with her. "That much I get. So what kind of girl are you?"

"Mmm… Why don't you come up to my place and get to know me better?" Cristina coyly asked.

Owen deeply chuckled. So she was not a prude. He reached out for her hand and held her gaze. "Not tonight."

"Your loss," Cristina suavely spoke, trying to keep the atmosphere light and flirty. She was having a difficult time figuring out why he chose to look at her with such intensity if coming up wasn't in his plans.

It was definitely his loss, he knew, but Owen was intent on doing it right with Cristina. Feeling a slight shift from her hand, he reacted and turned his hand to fully wrap her hand into his. "C'mon. I'll walk you up."


Cristina found herself being led into her apartment with her hand fully enclosed in the Owen's large and warm hand. The elevator ride and walk to her door was spent in silence.

"Um…" Cristina wriggled her hand. "I need my hand back, please."

Owen sheepishly smiled and loosened his grip. He realized he needed to get used to Cristina's blunt ways of pointing things out or maybe he just had to be more honest with her. If she had any idea how much he had waited for this day to be intimate with her, he was sure she would be more selective with her words.

He released his hold and let her fish her bag for her keys. She finally found her keys and she turned around to bid her goodbye and once again caught his intense gaze. She couldn't help but blurt out, "Are you contemplating whether or not you should kiss me goodnight?"

"No, I've already decided." Owen firmly responded as he simultaneously wrapped one hand around her petite waist and took his other hand to grab the back of her neck. With Cristina tightly secured in his grasp, he crashed in on the lips that were begging to be kissed.

Cristina had mistakenly thought she would be ready for a goodnight kiss. The kiss, once again, took her for a surprise. The strong arms that wrapped her waist and neck allowed very minimal room for movement on her end. Frustrated, she squirmed in his grasp, freeing her hand to grab the back of Owen's neck and responded by eagerly meeting his lips.

Owen was pleasantly surprised at her response to his kiss. She was aggressive and forcibly kissed back. He thoroughly enjoyed tasting her lips that were slightly cold and salty from the ice cream. The friction from the kiss generated quick heat to instantly warm and soften her lips, and his as well.

They responded to each other with such desire and lust both did not expect. He held onto her tiny frame in his arms as if she was the only thing left in the world. She clung to the back of his neck as if her life depended on it to survive.

Bodily needs could not be ignored as he felt pressure building from his groin. He groaned as she opened her mouth to take the kiss to the next level. He knew any longer, he would break his decision to take things slow until they were sure. He slowed the kiss down as he gently sucked her lower lip instead of meeting his tongue with hers. He slowly pulled back, leaving a last lingering kiss on the soft plush lips.

Cristina separated a bit dazed and confused from the kiss. His kisses spoke volumes at how much he wanted her and her intuition was affirmed by the bulge that formed during their kiss. Yet, he politely stopped from taking it to the next level each time she made the advance and she was thoroughly confused as to the reason why.


"Cristina!" Meredith's voice rang loud down the hallway.

"Morning." Cristina walked briskly towards the resident's lounge.

Meredith gave a large cup of piping hot coffee to Cristina. "So?" she excitedly asked.

Cristina accepted the cup. "Christ it's hot," she complained as she pushed the door to the resident's lounge.

"I brought you coffee so now you have to share," insisted Meredith.

"Mmmm…" Cristina thought briefly. "He's an amazing kisser."

Meredith flopped down next to Cristina. "And…?" She was met with a blank stare by Cristina. "Oh, c'mon. You have been a nun for more than 6 months by now. You expect me to believe you didn't accept anything more than a kiss?"

Cristina knew Meredith, out of anyone, could empathize with how much she missed and craved sex. "Yup, he just respects me that much," chirped Cristina.

"Ohhh," Meredith let out a giggle. "You've been shot down, haven't you? Boy when someone is in a dry spell, it's a drought."

Cristina waved off Meredith's comment with a smug look. "At least I'm getting something alright."


Cristina stepped out of the shower in tank top and pajamas and toweled her hair dry. After putting on her night crème, she flopped on her bed to massage her swollen foot. It was a long work day with an 8 hour surgery sandwiched between her morning and night post-ops. She turned the TV on for background noise and reached for her Blackberry that was blinking red. Cristina opened her messenger to see a text from Owen. 'What are you up to?' She checked the time and saw he sent it 30 minutes ago.

She contemplated what to respond. She was too tired to think of a flirty text or to play coy. She decided to keep it plain, her usual text style. 'Just got home. You?' She sent the message and rolled over on her back massage her feet and calves in the air. A moan escaped as she felt her body relax. Her body relaxing allowed for her mind to relax and she let it venture to an area she tried to avoid thinking about. Relationships, love and whatever that was that was going on between her and Owen.

She refused to let herself think about Owen so she had bare minimal read on what he wanted from her–from them. There was definite chemistry that was electric when their eyes, hands, mouths met. But she reminded herself that he broke off the engagement couple of months before her and Burke decided to call their relationship off. Well, that was to put it nicely. Burke disappeared from her life in a blink of an eye.

Cristina sighed. She asked herself many times what went wrong but ultimately she knew there was no right answer. 'What the hell am I doing with Owen. Do I want to be in another relationship with another attending?' she pondered. 'No, hell... Does Owen even want a relationship? What is he in this for?' A heavy sigh came out of Cristina as all the unanswered questions and mindless thoughts wandered hopelessly, causing a low thumping headache.

The red blinking light distracted her once again. 'Got out of surgery a minute ago and just wanted to see if you were around. Didn't see you today.'

Another reason why new beginnings were always a nuisance to Cristina. She knew there was no point in reading into it but her mind was already there wondering the deeper meaning behind the text. Was he saying he missed her and that he wanted to see her? Did he want to come over because he sure as hell didn't last night. Or did he merely want to say goodnight?

Cristina was still debating what he respond when Owen sent another message 10 minutes later. 'I still owe you dinner at my place. Are you free tomorrow?'

Another bold question. 'Sorry, can't. I'm on-call.' she responded.

'That's okay. I'm on-call on Monday. Hard to match up schedules. Can you give me your Tuesday night?' Owen again immediately responded.

Cristina smiled. She had to admit he was sweet in his own way. 'Yeah, I can pencil you in for next week.' She joked, pretending she was busy as a bee when she normally had no other plans other than Joe's after work.

'Hm. It's that hard to get a date with you on the calendar? Then can I ask in advance for the rest of next week?' Another text came through from Owen. Cristina laughed seeing he knew how to take her humor and even going even further by joking good humouredly. Well, she hoped he was joking.

'You can be my back up when my other dates fall through,' she texted. Now, she was relaxed to respond to his flirty texts. She now found herself waiting for his response.

'We're going to have much to talk about if there are other dates planned.' She couldn't help but read it with a more serious tone, making Cristina's head throb once again.

'What are we teenagers? Stop texting and go home.' She tossed her phone aside and settled in to fall asleep to 'Two Hours of Advanced Coronary Artery.'