A/N: OMG! OMG i just watched the latest episode. Did anyone else almost cry with the three letter word part with O/C? OMG! that was torture........

OK. So this was supposed to be the last chapter of this story. Except now I'm wondering if it should be or if I should carry on with this. So I'm asking you, readers, for your opinion.

Question: Should I just add chapters onto this story OR should I start a sequel?

Please think about this while you read this chapter :)

Hope you enjoy it.

And thank you to everyone who has reviewed/ added me/my story to their alerts/faves list during the whole duration of this story. I love you all :)

Dedication: I'd like to dedicate this chapter to nikkitan89 who has reviewed every single chapter of this story so far. Thank you very much! p.s I hope you don't mind me dedicating this to you :)

Life Changes Part III

Five minutes later...........

The ambulance siren was on although they were only a couple of minutes away from the hospital and Cristina couldn't help but think that was a little bit ridiculous. She was in the ambulance of course, and so was Owen. She shook her head when she thought how close that had been. Her pulse was still sky high and she was pretty sure she was going to go into cardiac arrest soon unless her heart slowed down a bit. Owen was sitting across from her and she felt herself smiling at him as soon as she looked in his direction. He smiled back and although she hadn't thought it possible, her pulse began to race even faster. What it was about the man that had that effect on her she didn't know, but whatever it was she decided it was damn good to make her feel like that with a single smile. The adrenaline rush she had probably wasn't helping either. Between them on the gurney was Dr. Wyatt who'd come to a couple of minutes before and was muttering groggily under her breath things Cristina couldn't quite hear above all the other sounds. She almost laughed when she thought about the chief's face when they'd appeared coughing and carrying the psychiatrist through the smoke after the second explosion. They hadn't quite managed to get all the way to the safe zone but luckily they'd gotten far enough before the last petrol pump exploded to escape injury. Even luckier was the fact that Owen had managed to talk the chief into letting them in the ambulance straight away because she'd been sure he was felt like killing them himself for being irresponsible or something like that. Mind you, she reminded herself, he had mentioned something about talking to them later. She really didn't like the sound of that...........

Owen was putting the finishing touches to the bandages on Dr. Wyatt's forehead when she woke up again. It wasn't really a job for an attending but he felt it was the least he could do for all the help she'd given him. Well, except for that thing with Cristina but at the moment he was trying not to think about that. When Cristina herself came in a minute later to tell him surgery was about to begin on one of his patients he was sure that for some reason Dr. Wyatt was appraising the conversation, appraising them. His suspicion was confirmed when after Cristina had left she said, "So, I guess things are a little strained between you at the moment then."

Owen stared at her for a few seconds. She was pretty good to be able to pick that up from a few words.

"I'm a shrink, remember?" she guessed what he'd been thinking. "I know all about body language."

"Things aren't........that bad between us," Owen replied and he was surprised to hear how defensive his voice sounded, even to his own ears.

"But they aren't good either?" Although it was a question, she said it in a way that Owen knew he didn't need to answer, like she was stating a fact. "I also guess you must not like me very much either huh?" She said it rather sadly and Owen felt bad for having thought he hated her for a while after his fight with Cristina.

"No," he said after a minute. "I'm not angry with you anymore."

"What were you angry with me for?" she asked and Owen realised what she was doing. She was doing what she'd done during therapy by making him answer questions that she already knew the answers to in an effort to make him talk about things. For example, when they'd been talking about his dream she'd asked: And why did seeing Cristina's face on the soldier's body scare you? Even though the answer was fairly obvious.

Owen sighed. "Because of what you said to Cristina," he admitted reluctantly. He wasn't really feeling that keen to get into it right then and there.

"OK, I sense some hesitation here," the psychiatrist smiled, "so I'm going to let this go for now because I'm tired and I think I'm about to go to sleep on you. Don't think you're out of the woods though," she warned, "Our sessions may have finished but I can still track you down."

It took Owen a few seconds to realise the importance of what she'd just said. "What do you mean our sessions are finished?" he asked surprised.

"You've talked about everything, I think you've forgiven yourself for what happened and today you proved that you can deal with situations that remind you of Iraq. Trust me," she added seeing the look on his face, "You don't need me anymore."

"Are you sure?" Owen still felt suspicious of his abilities to control himself and he wasn't about to give up therapy until he was sure he could sleep in the same bed as Cristina and manage not to strangle her this time.

Dr. Wyatt laughed at his apprehension. "Don't look so worried. And yes, I'm sure." When Owen still didn't look convinced she said, "Ok, let me ask you a couple of questions then. First of all, how do you feel about what happened in Iraq?"

Owen thought about it for a moment. "Just....sad I guess."

"But not guilty? You don't blame yourself?"

"I...no," Owen said slowly as he realised he didn't blame himself anymore. And then he wondered how the psychiatrist had known that when he hadn't known it himself.

"OK, second question: when was the last time you had a nightmare?"

"Um, not for a while. I don't know exactly."

"If you had to guess, how long would you say?"

"Maybe a couple of weeks or so." Had it really been that long? he thought. He'd started to lose track of time very easily lately. Maybe that was why he hadn't noticed.

"And the third and last question. Where are you living?"

At first Owen thought she meant where he was living as in geographically and he was about to answer Seattle, obviously, when he realised that wasn't actually what she meant. She meant where he was living as in the before or after. After so long of thinking of this new life as the after and his army days as the before he almost said 'I'm living in the after' purely out of habit. Except he wasn't he realised. He wasn't living in the after or the before anymore. He was just...........living. Again he wondered why he hadn't realised this before.

"Now, just now," he answered with a note of pride in his voice, "I'm just living."

Owen wasn't surprised when Dr. Wyatt nodded at that. She seemed to know far better than he did himself what he was feeling.

"OK then."

Owen could tell the psychiatrist was about to crash out and he felt a little guilty for keeping her awake when she should really have been resting.

"OK then," he repeated her words. "I think it's time you rested." He was about to leave the room when she called out after him.

"I, ah, I am sorry for what happened with your mother Owen you know. I probably shouldn't have said anything to Dr. Yang about her."

"No," Owen replied. "You shouldn't have."

"Just goes to show having a shrink around isn't always a good thing huh?" she laughed self mockingly.

"Why's that?" Owen asked amused.

"Well first of all, I caused a fight between you and the woman you love and then you almost killed yourself to save me from death by a petrol pump. Doesn't exactly sound like I'm the best person to know does it?"

Owen laughed. "Well, when you put it like that."

Just before she'd fallen asleep, Dr. Wyatt had asked him one more question: "What are you waiting for?" That was all she'd said and although Owen couldn't be sure exactly what she'd been referring to but thinking about it a few minutes before his shift ended, he couldn't help but ask himself the same question. What was he waiting for?

Cristina had finally finished her shift. She knew Owen had finished his about a half hour ago and she was hoping she still might be able to catch him before he went home, wherever that was. She desperately wanted to talk to him; she'd been trying throughout the day but there had never been time. So she was looking for him now because she wasn't exactly sure where she stood, where they stood. Was she going to get a chance to explain? Was he going to forgive her? Had he forgiven her? These questions and many more were swirling around her head as she looked for him. He had smiled at her, and although she might just be reading too much into this so she could see what she wanted to see, Cristina thought that was a sure sign he at least wasn't as angry at her as he had been. She sure as hell didn't want to think about what it meant if she was wrong.

"Hey," Callie came through the hospital's main doors and up the path behind her.

"Hi," Cristina replied, contemplating whether or not to ask her if she'd seen Owen.

"If you're looking for Dr. Hunt which I assume you are seeing as you're standing around out here when it's freeeeeeezing, then you're wasting your time. I saw him leave about 20 minutes ago."

"Oh," Cristina replied, not quite able to hide her disappointment.

Callie slung her arm about Cristina's shoulder and started walking towards their flat, pulling Cristina along with her.

"It's alright. We can just I dunno, watch a movie or something and you can talk to me about Owen and I can talk to you about Arizona."

"Who?" Cristina replied although she knew exactly who Arizona was. That was one of the reasons she liked Callie – talking to her cheered her up nine times out of ten.

"Shut up." Callie retorted.

"Don't hug me then."

"I'm not hugging you."

"Don't touch me then. That's what happens when you touch me."

"Fine then." Callie withdrew her arm in mock hurt as they crossed the street. "I guess I won't share my mint chocolate chip ice cream with you then."

"Fine then." Cristina shrugged, and just for form added, "Mint is for babies anyway."

Owen stopped the car outside a house he hadn't been to in a long time. He thought about what he was doing and realised that he wasn't afraid of this moment anymore. He guessed today must be a day for revelations given how many he'd had in the last six or so hours. Although he'd thought himself prepared, he couldn't help but hesitate when he'd walked up the garden path and was about to knock on the front door. He wasn't afraid anymore, but that still didn't stop him being apprehensive. Before he got a chance to knock though, the door opened and for a moment they both stood there just staring at each other.

"Owen. You came," his mother said, breaking the silence.

He felt a bit ashamed then, he should have come to see her a long time ago and he knew it.

"Yeah," he replied after a minute. "I came."

"Well come in then." She held the door open for him then and Owen felt as though a door to a part of his life that had been slammed closed had just cracked open and a sliver of light was now shining through. He almost laughed because it was so cheesy, then he stepped over the threshold. And when the door closed behind him and his mother asked him in her usual mother hen way if he'd eaten yet, Owen couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't come back sooner.

It was late when Cristina and Callie heard a knock on the door. They were both plonked in front of the television watching a lame movie that made no sense because neither of them could be bothered to change the channel and between them was the tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream - Cristina had had to very reluctantly admit that she actually rather like mint. Because she was the closest, Callie got up to answer the door. After letting Owen in, she started to make over exaggerated yawning noises and muttered something about going to bed, grabbing the ice cream on the way to her room. Amused, Owen said, "Well I guess we're alone then."

Cristina looked around the apartment. When she saw no one else present she replied, "Looks like it." She was glad he was there, of course she was, but she couldn't help but be a little nervous, a little edgy. "Look, about your mother," she blurted out before she could talk herself out it. "I know she came to the hospital and everything but it wasn't me. Ok? It wasn't me who called her." She searched his face for any signs she could get about what he was thinking. After a moment, he sat down on the arm of the couch next to her.

"I know," he replied simply.

"You...you do?" she replied surprised. "How?"

"I went to see my mother today, after my shift had finished."

Suddenly it all clicked into place for Cristina. No wonder she hadn't been able to find him.

"How'd that go?"

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Owen smiled. "We talked, and it was......nice. Really really nice."

At that moment, Cristina felt absurdly proud of him for having the strength to confront that demon. She didn't realise she'd said this out loud until Owen grinned and said that he was proud of her too.

"What for?" Cristina almost laughed at the idea that he was proud of her.

"For everything," Owen took her hand in his. "For taking all of the crap I put you through and not running away screaming once."

"Believe me," Cristina half joked, "I came close a couple of times."

"I love you. You know that don't you?" Owen said, his eyes searching hers for her reaction.

For a moment she felt like she couldn't breathe. They hadn't said that to each other before and she'd been beginning to wonder if they ever would.

"I love you too," she replied through her constricted throat, and because she was so happy she started laughing until she found she couldn't stop. It was a while until she calmed down enough to ask the question that had been bugging her since Owen had said he knew it hadn't been her who told his mother he was back.

"So who did tell your mother you were back then now that we've established that it wasn't me?"

The smile on Owen's face faded slightly. "Beth. Apparently she ran into her a few days ago and said she'd seen me."

"Oh." Cristina didn't know what else to say.

"I'm glad she did though," Owen admitted.

"You are?" Cristina couldn't help but think that if it really had been her who did it, they probably still wouldn't be talking. That wasn't fair on Owen though, she knew deep down that he would have reacted no different to Beth if she'd been around.

"Yeah," Owen had caught the flicker of annoyance that flashed across Cristina's face and told her he was sorry for how he'd treated her. He guessed she needed to hear that even though he'd thought it was sort of obvious.

"So," Cristina changed the subject, "Are you going to see her again."

"Who Beth?" Owen laughed when she frowned. "Yes, I'm going to see her again next week." As casually as he could he added, "I thought that maybe you would want to come too."

"I may be busy next week," Cristina hedged. Memories of Burke's mother were rising up uncomfortably in her mind and she wasn't sure she wanted to back there again. Even for Owen.

"She wants to meet you, you know."

"She said that?" It was Cristina's experience that mothers didn't like potential daughters in law. Full stop.

"Yeah," Owen tried to put on his most charming face. "Please? For me."

"If she hates me I'll leave and I won't care if you want to stay."

Owen laughed. "Why do you think she's going to hate you?"

"Just because," Cristina muttered darkly, prompting Owen to laugh even harder. The idea that someone might not like Cristina seemed preposterous. He had to admit he was a little bit biased though. For the first time since he'd entered the apartment, Owen noticed the TV was on.

"What are you watching?" He asked when what looked like a really fake zombie moved onto the screen.

Cristina looked from him to the screen and then back. "Nothing, it's just a bad horror movie."

"Well then, I guess you won't mind if I turn it off then."

"Why'd you do that?" she asked suspiciously when he turned it off and stood up. Without answering, he reached down and picked her up off the sofa and into his arms. Picked. Her. Up. Indignantly she began to protest. "Put me down. Do you think I wanted you to pick me up? Because I didn't."

"So?" Owen said in the same way he used to and began carrying her towards her bedroom. She was about to protest some more but then she decided she actually secretly rather liked him carrying her- liked being in his arms again - so she didn't bother. She was glad to notice that he didn't hesitate when he entered her room as she'd thought he'd might. But he didn't even blink as he dumped her on the bed and sat down beside her.

"What brought this on?" she asked. Not that she was complaining.

"You look really tired," he replied, "And in case you hadn't noticed" he nodded towards her clock which showed just after 12, "It's getting late." As soon as he mentioned that she looked tired she began to feel tired and before she knew it she was yawning. "See," he lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms again. "I told you you were tired." Seeing as she was still yawning Cristina couldn't really argue with that so instead she laid her head against his shoulder.

"I've still got that jacket of yours, you know," she mumbled as she began to drift off.

"Really?" Owen acted surprised. He wasn't about to tell her he knew that she slept with it - or at least she had been before.

"Yeah," she pulled it out from under the pillow from the side of the bed she didn't sleep on. "See."

Owen took it out of her hands and before she could stop him, threw it off the bed and onto the floor saying, "You won't need that seeing as I'm here in person tonight."

Once again she couldn't argue with that logic so instead she told him to shut up and let her go to sleep - she really was tired.

He laughed, "My wish is your command."

"Better be," she mumbled into his shoulder.

Owen smiled into the dark.

A minute later Cristina said quietly, "Hey Owen?"

"Yeah?" he whispered back although he didn't know why they were talking like that.

"I just realised something."

For a moment Owen didn't know what to say. He froze remembering the last time she'd realised something while lying in his arms. Don't say that again he thought desperately, say anything but that.

"I'm not afraid anymore," she continued drowsily, apparently not noticing that he'd practically become a living statue next to her. "In your arms I mean, I'm not afraid to fall asleep." As if to prove that very point she fell asleep a minute later. Owen breathed a sigh of relief. Lying on his back, Owen found himself staring up at the fan on Cristina's ceiling. It was almost as if the last few months hadn't happened and they were back then lying in her bed fully clothed while she slept beside him. Except the last few months had happened and although he wasn't glad that he'd tried to kill Cristina he was glad of everything that had come out of it. And most importantly, he was glad that he was at a stage where they could be together. That they could be. And if there was one thing that he was certain of, it was that they would be. Of that he had no doubt.

With that thought on his mind, it wasn't long until Owen too drifted off.......

So back to my question. Personally I'm leaning towards doing a sequel seeing as the point of the story was to see if Owen could get over his PTSD which he has, so let me know what you think please! Do you agree/disagree? Or not care? Any input would be valuable and appreciated - feel free to review/ pm me with your thoughts :)

And please review :) Especially all you silent readers out there

****ok, so i've added this bit on afterwards. I've decided that if i can find inspiration i'm going to do a sequel rather than just carry on*********