I know this is a short one, but I plan on making the next one long. :) Please review if you have the time! Thanks to all of you who have already.


Owen was off the bed in a flash but it was too late, smoke was billowing out of the oven. He switched off the over and opened it. The pizza hadn't just cooked…it had melted. Cheese was burnt onto the bottom.

He coughed and waved a hand in front of his face.

Just then the fire alarm started going off.

Cristina bolted to the kitchen, grabbed a chair to try and reach the alarm on the wall, but she was too short. Owen was right behind her, and he reached over and pulled the battery out.

Then they walked around the perimeters of the firehouse, opening windows.

Wow it's cold. Cristina thought as she opened the windows by their bed.

Owen went over to the oven and opened the door. The black blob on the bottom of the oven used to be cheese, at least he was pretty sure…

He looked over at Cristina who was opening the last of the windows.

"Well, looks like I am going to have a hard time making fun of you next time you cook."

She smiled and walked over the join him, "Well then I guess I will just keep letting you cook."

Owen looked at her in a way that conveyed both apology and amusement, "Hope you're not hungry."

Cristina shook her head; she had eaten right before she go called into surgery.

"Wow," Cristina said as she peered in the oven, "I think we can safely call time of death."

Owen nodded and tilted his head to looked at the rest of their house. You could still see the haze of smoke throughout, and the temperature of the room was plummeting.

"We should probably leave the windows open for a while," he suggested, "Otherwise it will smell for days."

Cristina's teeth chattered but she agreed, "Yeah, probably."

The looked at each other and remembered the moment they had just been torn away from.

Cristina had loved hearing that from him. Hearing him say he would love her until the day he died felt good. But was he being honest? She knew he was…she knew it. But still, she had her doubts, and they were sneaky and hard to understand.

Owen stood behind her and placed his hands on the counter, essentially trapping her.

She could feel his breath on her ear, "Where would you like me to sleep tonight?"

His breath made her shiver. She didn't answer right away.

He dipped his head and rested it on her shoulder, "I can sleep on the couch, it's not a big deal. We'll move at your pace."

She exhaled and shook her head, "No, we can sleep in the bed."

Owen smiled against her shoulder and kissed it softly, "You sure?"

Cristina turned in his arms and kissed him softly. "Come on, let's go to bed."

They both fell into their nightly routine, brushing teeth, turning out lights, setting the coffee pot, setting the alarm, and making sure their pagers were on the nightstands.

Then, finally, they climbed into bed.

She thought she was going to be okay with this, she really did. She thought it would be fine. But they hadn't shared a bed since Owen admitted to cheating on her, and looking at their bed brought back so many memories.

Suddenly the thought of sleeping next to him made her feel hot all over, and not in a good way. But when she finally covered herself with the sheets and Owen switched off the light…she was officially freaking out.

Just breathe Cristina. This is your husband, he made a mistake, but he is doing everything he can to make up for it. Nothing is expected to happen. You're just going to sleep. Just…breathe.

While Cristina was busy having a panic attack, Owen's chest was aching from happiness. After a month of loneliness, a month of sleeping on the couch, a month of reaching out and finding nothing but air…things were finally as they should be.

After a couple of minutes passed Cristina and Owen were still on their respective sides of the bed and the temperature in the apartment had dropped considerably. Cristina was freezing. Owen was still alert and awake, arguing with himself if it would be appropriate to pull Cristina into his arms. He decided to try and test the waters.

He slowly reached his foot over to her side of the bed. His foot grazed hers.

"Cristina, you're freezing!" Her foot felt like ice. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to him. But before their bodies touched she sat up and got out of bed.

"I need to check the thermostat and turn the heat up."

Owen sat up and watched her walk to the opposite side of the apartment, "Hun I don't think that is going to help, the windows are open. Just come back to bed, I'll get us some extra blankets."

Cristina tapped a couple buttons on the thermostat and shook her head, "I'm not tired anyway. Will it bother you if I watch TV?"

Owen sighed. He was glad the apartment was dark; he didn't want her to see the disappointment on his face. "That's fine."

Cristina sat down on the couch and pulled the blanket that was hanging over the back over her frozen body. She flipped on the TV and stared blankly at it. Her heart was still beating a mile a minute and she barely noticed the cold. At first.

Owen was deep in thought. He was somewhat embarrassed, but slightly irritated as well. Last week she had asked him to hold her. She wanted his touch. This week it was like poison again. Heck just this evening alone she had gone from skittish, to warm and accepting, back to skittish.

He rubbed and hand over his face through his hair. He could see her silhouette from the bed. She was curled up in a ball in the corner of the couch. He thought he could see her shivering.

Cristina was, in fact, freezing. She didn't want to get up because she was embarrassed. She knew that Owen saw right through her excuse. She was somewhat angry at herself as well. She was trying to be more stable and predictable. That was something that Dr. Wyatt and she had talked about.

Cristina did not have a very good read on her own emotions, so when she acted on them, it confused not only the people around her, but Cristina herself. One of the things that Dr. Wyatt said could help was to tell Owen how she was feeling, so that he knew where she was coming from. She had done that earlier tonight, hopefully it gave him some insight.

Just as she was rubbing her hands together for the second time, she felt something large and fluffy engulf her. Owen was standing behind the couch, tucking the blanket around her.

She smiled up and him and he smiled back. He walked to the other side of the couch and placed a pillow against the armrest. Cristina laid her head down on it and Owen covered her with another blanket.

He crouched down in front of her, blocking the TV from view. His hand stroked her hair, "Better?"

She nodded. Her eyes gazed into his and she hoped that they conveyed the regret she felt. If they did, he didn't seem to notice or respond. He simply stroked her hair a few more times with his expert touch.

"Good," he said as he kissed her head, "I love you."

He stood up and walked back to the bed.

The empty feeling in his chest returned and banished the joy he had felt 10 minutes ago. But he felt better knowing that he took care of her, and that she let him. The fact that they were under the same roof was comforting, and that was what he tried to focus on as the exhaustion of the day finally set in and sleep overtook him.

Cristina, however was awake despite a severe lack of sleep in the last three days. She wanted his touch so bad, but was afraid of it at the same time.

She tried to block it out of her head and flipped channels until she found an I Love Lucy marathon. One of the only good memories she had as a child was laying in bed with her mom where she was little and watching I Love Lucy on Nick at Night. Her mom would sometimes make popcorn and they would curl up and watch until the infomercials came on.

Of course the next day, Helen Rubenstein would return to the judgmental perfectionist that her daughter usually remembered her by. She expected perfection out of everyone and everything and held independence at a premium.

Cristina and Dr. Wyatt had talked about that too, how the fact that her mom had dealt with hardship and loss by preparing her daughter for it. Gee, thanks mom. It's been a big help. Cristina thought as she finally felt drowsiness invade.


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