I have decided to write at least a couple more chapters after this one, so this will not be the end.

Hope you are liking it so far and thank you to everyone who has left reviews! :) I appreciate it!

Chapter 10

Cristina awoke to the familiar noise of the alarm clock. Within 30 seconds she knew that Owen would be awake, up, and have the shower running. That is how he did things in the morning. Efficiently, cleanly, always concerned about his time.

The noise continued...which was strange because Cristina could still feel his warm body against hers, so she knew he was still in bed.

"Babe?" Owen's voice whispered.

Cristina blinked and moaned, "Hmm?"

"Which button is the one that makes the alarm go again off in like ten minutes...or something?"

Cristina laid on her back and turned her head toward him, "You mean the snooze button?"

"Yeah."

"It's the long one in the middle."

He reached his hand out and tapped it. The alarm ceased. He pulled her close to him and snuggled into her.

In the three years they had been together, Cristina had never once seen him use the snooze button.

Ten minutes later, the alarm went off again.

Owen groaned.

"Come on, you have to get up," Cristina said as she turned to face him, "You have to go get me a fellowship today."

Owen opened his eyes and glanced at the clock, "I gotta let out Duke and feed him, then I'll get in the shower," he kissed her forehead, "I'm so glad you're here, with me, where you belong."

"You could spend a few more minutes in bed with me and show me how glad you are..." she challenged.

He kissed her gently, "Wish I could, but I have to take care of the pup."

Cristina rolled her eyes and rolled over in bed.

Owen got up, took a minute in the bathroom, threw on his sweatpants, grabbed the leash, and walked downstairs with Duke. Their firehouse had a small courtyard in the back but there wasn't much grass. However, about a block away there was a very nice park.

Duke walked perfectly on a leash which made the chore of walking him to the park more enjoyable. As Owen allowed the fresh air to inundate his lungs he allowed himself a huge smile. He couldn't quite remember a time in his life when he felt this happy.

Cristina, meanwhile, was sulking in bed. So the dog is more appealing than I am, awesome...just awesome.

She looked at the clock, 5:23.

Raising herself out of bed she slowly checked the range of motion of her shoulder. It was much better. Her stomach, on the other hand, was growling.

Upon examination, she determined that both the fridge and the pantry were DOA.

Uhg... at least Meredith had food. I would settle for Zola's chicken nuggets at this point.

She plopped down on the couch and looked around the firehouse. It was clean, as usual. It smelled like Owen, which she loved. However, when she looked at the dog bowls on the floor and the dog bed under the window she was frustrated.

Damn dog...

A few minutes later, Owen returned. Cristina was moping on the couch, flipping channels.

"Hey!" He said happily as he walked up the stairs with Duke.

"Hey yourself," she responded unenthusiastically.

He walked to the couch, bent over, and gave her a kiss.

"Mm... how come you're all sweaty?" she asked.

Owen smiled as he caught his breath, "We sprinted back from the park, he looked at Duke," who was taking a long drink, "he walks really nice on a leash."

"Hmmm," Cristina acknowledged.

Owen, however, didn't seem to notice the icy reception, but he smiled as he saw Duke wander over to the couch and sit on the floor next to Cristina's legs.

"I am going to feed him and then jump in the shower. Do you want to come in to the hospital with me? Visit Arizona and Mark?"

Cristina merely shrugged.

Owen figured she was still waking up, and opened Duke's brand new dog food, measured out a cup and a half, and dumped it in his bowl. He expected Duke to come running. He hadn't fed him last night, after all.

Duke, however, didn't move.

"Duke, come here man," Owen coaxed.

No response Owen frowned.

Owen spent the next ten minutes trying to get Duke to eat. Actually, Duke wouldn't even leave his spot near the couch unless Owen dragged him by his collar. Cristina snickered at first, but after watching Owen grow more and more concerned she stopped her laughing.

"You better get in the shower," she told Owen, "You're going to be late."

Owen nodded in agreement.

"If you are here for a while, let me know if he decides to eat okay?"

"Yeah, whatever." Cristina said flippantly.

Owen headed off to the bedroom and stripped off his shirt. Cristina's eyes followed him and in the bright light of day she could see how thin he had become. His body was still fit, but his chest and arms were noticeably smaller. She frowned.

The investigator insider her pieced together the cause and effect of the situation, there is no food in the house...which is very unlike him. He seems to be easily stressed out. Heck he almost had a freak out about the dog not eating...

She sighed and looked at Duke, "What's wrong with your food? It's dog food right? Eat it."

She got up and walked to his bowl. He followed her, but did not eat. She picked up a piece of the kibble and held it in her hand. Duke sniffed the kibble and licked her hand, but let the kibble fall to the floor.

"Ewww, dog slobber," Cristina wiped her hand on Duke's head.

Duke wagged his tail.

"Stupid dog..."

After Owen left for work Cristina sat on the couch for an hour or two, before she felt the urge to try and get the dog to eat. She wasn't sure why she cared so much, but she was determined to solve this problem. After 2 more attempts at force feeding and yelling, Duke still wasn't eating.

"Idiot!"

She retrieved Owen's laptop and decided to google it.

"My...stupid...dog...won't...eat. Search," she mumbled.

The results were plentiful, which made her chuckle.

She came across an article from a pet store in Seattle. The article stated 3 fool proof ways to coax your dog into eating.

"Number 1, mix in canned food. Well...don't have any of that. Next."

She looked at Duke who was sitting next to her, as usual, and rolled her eyes.

"Number 2, use hot water to make the food more aromatically appealing. Hm, sounds easy."

So Cristina went about heating up water, mixing it into the food and leading Duke to the bowl.

Nothing.

"Dog, you are so stupid that you are going to starve yourself to death."

Back to the drawing board.

"Number 3, mix in a tablespoon of olive oil. I think we have that..."

After rummaging around in the cabinets, Cristina located the olive oil, poured Duke a new bowl of food, and mixed it in.

Again, Duke sniffed the food and walked away.

Cristina threw up her hands, "Stupid dog. Stupid article. Who writes these things anyway? I guess theories about dogs don't have to be tested or proven."

She looked at the website and discovered that the store that was responsible for the ridiculous article was about two blocks away.

"You know what?" she said to the dog, "If they are going to publish crap that doesn't work, I am going to call them on it. Stupid people don't deserve space on the internet."

15 minutes later, Cristina had gotten dressed, put her sling on, and walked out the front door, dog in tow.

Owen was right, at least he doesn't pull on his leash. What was that stupid dog Meredith had named? That thing was ridiculous.

When they arrived at the shop she opened the door and looked around. She could not believe that someone could fill an entire store with food, treats, and accessories for dogs.

"Hello! Welcome to Waggin' Tails!" A cheerful twenty something behind the counter greeted her.

"Hi." Cristina replied, "That article on your website that gives advice on how to get a dog to eat...yeah it doesn't work."

"Oh, do you mean the olive oil, the canned food, and-"

"Yeah the hot water, listen...this is my husband's dog. I just want him to eat so that my husband stops worrying about the dog and starts worrying about me, okay? So you tell me how to do that."

The young girl's smile disappeared as she realized that she was being confronted by an unhappy customer.

"Oh, well...how long have you had him?

"Like 12 hours or something."

"Oh, well, he is probably just adjusting," she approached Duke who was sitting obediently at Cristina's side, "He's a sweetheart, what's his name?"

"Duke," Cristina replied, "Now can you please make him eat?"

The girl knelt down and scratched his ear, Duke growled in pleasure before he dropped to the ground and exposed his belly for her.

"Ooooh do you want a belly rub? Sweet boy!"

Cristina watched this jackassery unfold in front of her and rolled her eyes. Dropping Duke's leash, she walked around the store.

"I don't even think you have his food," she commented.

The young girl stopped petting Duke and walked over to Cristina. Duke looked up from his belly rub, found Cristina, and placed himself next to her.

"Well what are you feeding him?"

Cristina shrugged, "Ummm the bag is yellow...there's a dog on the front...I don't know."

"Well, let's try something..." the girl disappeared behind the counter and grabbed what looked to be mini dog food bags.

She opened one and knelt next to Duke. She offered him a kibble from the bag. He sniffed it, and looked at Cristina.

"Dumb dog..." Cristina exhaled, "You are going to starve."

"Well hold on, let's try a couple more," the worker said. She handed a bag to Cristina, "Here, you try."

Cristina stayed standing I'm not kneeling down for you dog. She ripped open the bag and dumped a few pieces onto her hand.

She offered them to Duke, and to Cristina's surprise, he ate them. She poured more, and he ate those.

"Hallelujah," Cristina said in a monotone voice, "How much for a big dog bag of that food?"

"That is one of our higher end foods, the 30 pound bag costs $75."

Cristina's mouth dropped open, "Um, that's like several steak dinners."

The girl looked apologetic, "Well, see that food has no grain in it. Dog's digestive systems aren't meant to digest grain...but the ingredients are more expensive so-"

"Whatever, it's fine just...give me a bag."

"Okay!"

This girl was far too cheerful. Cristina was losing respect for her by the minute. Works at a store that sells dog stuff, treats dogs like people, lets me walk all over her...

Cristina paid for the bag and the girl gestured to her arm, "Do you want me to help you carry this to your car?"

Shit.

"Um, actually I walked so I will have to come back for it later. Can you hold it at the counter or something?"

The girl smiled, "Sure!"

"Thanks, come on doofus."

As the pair was leaving the girl called out to her, "Wait, you can take these!"

She brought a plastic bag full of the little sample baggies they had fed Duke earlier, "Wouldn't want this big guy to go hungry!"

Crap, now I feel bad.

"Um, thank you...and we will be back later for the bag."

The girl smiled as she held the door, "It was nice to meet you and Duke! See you later!"

"Wow," she addressed the dog, who looked up at her in question, "That girl may be nice, but she is way to happy."

She sighed, "And now...I'm talking to a dog. Fantastic."

Owen took a look at his phone, no messages from Cristina. He frowned. He was worried that Duke wasn't eating, and he was pretty sure that Cristina wasn't worried about it at all.

It was 5:30 and he had been very productive. He put the paperwork through to hire Cristina as a fellow. The board needed to approve it, but he didn't feel that would be a problem. He had visited Arizona and Mark, they were both on the mend. He bought Callie lunch in the cafeteria and let her vent a little, she needed it. He also ran three traumas and scrubbed in on two surgeries. All in all, it had been a good day.

He walked to his truck and drove the familiar streets to the fire house.

As he opened the front door and began to ascend the stairs, he heard a pattern of noises.

Thud Thud Thud - Scrape Scrape Scrape - Tick Tick Tick

He slowed his ascent as the noises repeated themselves. He decided to be a little sneaky so he walked slowly up to the last staircase and peered into the living area.

Cristina was on the couch, reading a medical journal in one hand, and using the other to throw a tennis ball for Duke. He grinned as he watched this a few more times. Now, granted, Cristina didn't seem particularly interested in playing with the dog, but she was tolerating it.

"Hey!" he said cheerfully as he made his presence known.

Cristina stood up and walked toward him, "How was your day? Did you-"

He stopped her by kissing her deeply, "Mmmmm...that was nice, and before you ask, I put your paperwork up for board approval. Should know something by the end of the week."

Cristina was still recovering from the dizzying effects of his kiss, "Okay."

Owen turned his attentions to Duke, "Hey pal! How was your day?" Redirecting his questioning he addressed Cristina, "Did he ever decide to eat?"

Cristina walked to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, "Well, yes and no."

Owen cocked his head in confusion.

"I took him to this place and this dog whispering lady made me buy this food that I couldn't carry home, so then she gave me these mini bags for today."

Owen looked at her in confusion, "You took him out? Like on a walk?"

"Yeah, the place is like two blocks away. Anyway the bag is still there and the place closes at 7 so you should probably pick it up soon."

Owen was shocked. Cristina went out of her way to buy different food for the dog. He had a brief thought that he should record this date in history.

Shaking off his shock he nodded in agreement, "Okay, but first I want to eat. I am starving and there is no food I'm afraid."

Cristina opened the pantry and turned to look at him with a smirk.

"You- you went shopping? You couldn't have...your arm is-"

"I discovered this thing called Peapod. Best. Idea. Ever."

Owen walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. Cristina allowed her face to become buried in his chest.

"Thank you." he mumbled as he kissed her hair.

"No worries," Cristina replied as nonchalantly as possible.

Cristina felt the familiar strain in her chest again. This time though...she didn't mind.

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