Owen and Cristina had walked back, hand in hand, from the ferry port to Susan's house and had spent the afternoon lying on the floor, looking at old photos of Owen and his sisters. Susan had shared stories about each of her 3 children, Owen, Amanda and Emily, and Cristina had learnt that her macho solider husband had slept with a soft bunny rabbit till he was 11 years old, he had suffered numerous fairy tea parties with his little sisters and after their father had died and he went away to Harvard medical school he had phoned home every night to read them both a bedtime story.
Hearing about Owen as a child made Cristina see him anew as an adult. She understood now how his family had shaped him into the man he was today. She could see how a father's pride had made him eager to strive to be the best surgeon he could be, how feeling the force of a mother's love as part of you had sustained him through fierce battle and indescribable loss in the arid planes of Iraq and how younger siblings awe had made him need to come home a hero. To Cristina, her husband was the true hero of her heart. He had vanquished the emptiness left by Burke, closed the wounds, healed the scars and shocked it back to life by the force of his feelings for her. He had made it beat in a rhythm stronger and surer than ever. He had filled each chamber, leaving only enough space for their son to come and fill it to the brim. She was whole heartedly in love and wholeheartedly loved for just exactly who she was. The only other person in her life she had ever shared her true heart with had been her father.
Owen watched his wife relaxed and happy in this family picture and mused on the fact that 3 generations of the Hunt family, a dynasty so defined by the physical losses of a father and a husband, the personal sacrifices of a peaceful nights sleep and the enduring love weaving their separate hearts into perfect harmony, today had welcomed another note to their song. This new note was strong, to some it may be hard on the ear, it may sound like discord, but to Owen it blended effortlessly. If his family was a song then his mother was the baseline- steady, dependable, always running underneath it all, a constant, Daniel was the melody- he bought the music its colours, the lilting ups and downs, the light and shade, he danced across the ears in patterns of delicate, quiet beauty and stirring, rousing passion. And Cristina, the new note, well she was the most important part of their song- the lyrics because for Owen she quite simply had bought his life meaning.
Lying on his side, his head resting on his hand, Owen knew the time was right. He would do it tonight!
"What are you smiling at?" Cristina rolled over on to her back on the floor and looked into her husband's serene face.
"Just thinking that I am a really lucky guy!" He bent over her and caught his lips in his. He pecked a kiss on them and nibbled on her bottom lip.
"Never a truer word spoken Dr Hunt!" Cristina gave him one last chasten kiss and began to get up on her feet. "I am going to go and feed Danny boy."
Cristina set off towards the bedroom, where Daniel was sleeping in his stroller. As soon as he heard the bedroom door shut, Owen jumped up and rushed into the kitchen. Susan was making some coffee on the counter top, she knew what Owen was planning for tonight and had been more than happy to agree to babysit her grandson. Owen was edgy, he did not want his wife to hear his conversation. He quickly pulled his mobile out of his pocket and stabbed at the keys to search online for a number. He hung up the phone a minute later with phase one of his plan locked down.
Next he dialled Meredith's number.
"Hello?"
"Hi it's Owen, I need a favour!" His tone was low and urgent. This was a covert operation and he needed to convey his orders clearly and effectively.
"Ok. As long as it doesn't involve a flight anywhere!" she joked, the last time she had inadvertently done a favour for Owen it had been to accompany his wife to LA so she could babysit Daniel. All so Cristina could give her husband his sexy post baby gift.
Ignoring the joke, he had a limited window of time to sort this out before Cristina returned from the bedroom, Owen rattled off what he needed Meredith to pick up from the firehouse and bring to his mom's in an hour. This was one time he was glad his wife's person had a key to their apartment.
"Thanks! See you then!" Owen had his back to the door that connected kitchen to living room and didn't notice his wife hovering behind him as he hung up the phone.
"You'll see who when?" Cristina asked as she watched Owen desperately fumbling, trying to shove his phone back into his jeans pocket. She had just fed Daniel and the little boy was curled up asleep in her arms, tuned into her heartbeat.
"Oh...uh...Derek...wants to play golf tomorrow...at the driving range." He stuttered nervously, he really was a terrible liar.
"Seriously?" Cristina furrowed her eyebrows and pursed her lips. She knew her husband was up to something, he and Derek only ever played golf on the roof of the hospital and They had already agreed to take Daniel to the aquarium. Letting it go for now, she pledged she would get to the bottom of this by the end of the night.
"Seriously." He leant down to silence her wonderings with a kiss. "Why don't you go and take a bath before dinner? Just relax." Owen took Daniel out of her arms and went to stand at the living room window.
"Why is your son acting so strange?" Cristina asked Susan as she handed her a cup of coffee.
"He's a man! That's all I've got!" Susan and Cristina shared a smile between themselves, bonded over their love of the muscular red headed man who was currently twitching with anticipation waiting for Meredith to arrive.
Cristina sipped at the strong coffee. "Is it ok to take a bath?" she did not want to be presumptuous but she did feel at home in this warm, kind woman's house.
"Of course! The towels are in the closet. Go!" Susan turned Cristina around by the shoulders and pushed her towards the bathroom. Cristina put up no resistance and was quickly undressed and submerged in the hot bubbles.
While Cristina was wallowing in her bubble bath, Meredith's car pulled up in the driveway. Owen dashed outside to meet her before there was any chance of Cristina catching him out.
"Thank you so much for this!" Owen opened the passenger side rear door and reached into the backseat to pick up his suit carrier and Cristina's overnight bag. He was still holding sleeping Daniel and he struggled to balance both the bags, the baby and kick the door shut with his foot.
"No problem! Have a great night!" Meredith knew Owen wanted her to go before her involvement in his plan was revealed to her best friend. She also had to get to the supermarket and then back to Derek and Zola before they both starved.
As he stood and watched Meredith's car disappear down the street, Owen felt like he was taking Cristina on a first date. In a way it was a new first he supposed, their first date as a mum and a dad. He was nervous, he wanted everything to be perfect. He turned to his mini ally, he knew he would get the truth out of him, "Do you think mummy will like the surprise?" Daniel let out a little sigh, as if he had considered and answered the question from the dream world he was currently visiting in his sleep.
"That works for me." Owen, Daniel and the 2 bags hopped up the porch steps and hurried back into the house.
30 minutes later and oblivious to her person's fleeting visit, Cristina's damp skin was wrapped in a white towel. She walked out of the bathroom and down the hall towards Owen's childhood room to change back into the pyjamas she had arrived in last night. She presumed that they would be staying for dinner with Owen's mom and then head home to the firehouse to put Daniel to bed.
She pushed open the bedroom door to find her husband standing by the bed, dressed in a black Gucci suit, a cornflower blue shirt, which made his eyes sparkle like precious gemstones and shiny, pointy toed black italian leather shoes. He had not bothered with a tie, opting to leave the shirt open to reveal the curve of his muscular chest. He looked devastatingly sexy and Cristina felt a surge of lust for the beautiful man who she was lucky enough to be loved by. It was only after drinking in this first unexpected sight that her eyes were drawn to the bed.
Owen had carefully laid out the clothes, accessories and make up bag that Meredith had chosen from their apartment for Cristina. A silk black one shouldered cocktail dress, red pashmina and black patent stilettos waited to be slipped over the nubile body of their owner. A black lace thong and matching strapless lace bra with red accents had been included in the package but Cristina was already thinking to herself that she may dispense with the added barrier of underwear this evening, basking in the certainty that whatever Owen had planned would end with her begging him to screw her into submission.
"Why is your favourite dress and shoes on the bed instead of in my closet?" She asked playfully as she stood up on tiptoes and clasped her arms around his neck.
"Well, I guessed my beautiful wife would not want to come out to dinner with me in yesterday's pyjamas!" Owen drew her into a hug, his fingers gently tracing the last few droplets of water that were clinging to her upper back.
"How do you know me so well, huh?" Her voice was full of mirth as she ran her hands down his chest and squeezed him tightly around the waist. "So where are we going?" It still amazed her how romantic her husband was. He always seemed to surprise her with thoughtful gestures that had it been anyone else she would have found sickening. She hated anything girly but with Owen he made her feel so feminine, so desirable that she found herself getting excited by being bought flowers, getting little I love you notes in her locker at work or on the refrigerator door and, like tonight being, taken out to dinner.
"It's a surprise! Get ready. I am going to go call a cab! 30 minutes, ok?" He kissed her on the cheek, his beard tickling her delicate skin, and strode out of the room.
Cristina shivered with anticipation as she dropped the towel to the floor. She stood naked for a moment looking at the dress she had worn on her birthday last year when they had gone out to dinner with Meredith and Derek and Callie and Arizona. That night had ended in Owen repeatedly giving her some very intimate gifts! Picking up the dress she caressed the silk between her fingers, remembering how Owen hands had slid all over her body on top of it causing the skin it sheathed to prickle with desire.
"Come on Yang! Just wait!" Cristina chastised herself out loud for allowing her thoughts to wander into dirty territory when she had the task of getting ready to focus on. She pulled the dress over her head, the tight material clinging to her slightly more shapely after Daniel figure. She pulled her hair up- she knew the sexual power her neck held for her husband- in a style reminiscent of her wedding day, slicked on some make up, draped the scarlet pashmina around her slender shoulders and eased her feet into the heels. All that was left on the bed was the underwear and the dark blue box that held her engagement and wedding rings. Owen had never pressed her to wear them, he knew she wasn't really a ring person. Sand knew tonight that she would feel naked without them, she wanted people to catch a glimpse of the platinum bands and the sparkling princess cut diamond and know that she had tied her whole life to the man who wore the matching promise on his own ring finger. She slipped the cool metal over her knuckle and they encased her finger in a perfect little hug and she felt complete.
She quickly bundled the underwear into the holdall Owen had bought over with her clothes this morning, pulled herself up to her full height and walked confidently on the high heels to meet her husband in the living room.
"Wow! You look..." Words failed him. Cristina had literally in that moment taken his breath away.
"I know!" She retorted kindly, she knew she looked great, she felt great! She loved that, because he saw her mostly in scrubs at work or sweats at home, he could still be lost for words on the rare occasions she wore a dress.
Susan came into the living room, cradling a very alert Daniel in her arms and audibly gasped when she saw her son and daughter in law. "Cristina, you look stunning."
"Thank you." Cristina blushed. Partly because she had never been positively complimented on her appearance by her own mother let alone anyone else's and also due to the fact that she felt embarrassed at the fact she wasn't wearing any underwear in front of her mother-in-law!
HONK! HONK!
Owen pulled back the curtain, "cab's here." He made his way across the room to say goodbye to his baby boy and whispered in his mom's ear, "thank you, see you in the morning."
Susan smiled up at her baby boy. Seeing the man he had become made her heart soar. He had found exactly the life he was born to have and he was living it with the person she believed he had been pre-destined to meet from the minute he entered the world. Susan believed in soul mates, hers had departed her life 15 years earlier, and she saw in the love between her son and this beautifully complicated woman that they could not continue to live without each other, to lose each other would leave them both just existing.
"Enjoy yourselves and don't worry about Daniel!" Susan jiggled her grandson in her arms.
Cristina smiled slightly sadly at her son and kissed his chubby cheek. His brown eyes looked like they were begging her not to leave him for the second night in a row and questioning whether she would return. "See you later honey." She kissed him again and left the words We love you dancing on his hair.
"You ready to go?" Owen held out his hand and wrapped Cristina's smaller one in to it when she slid her palm against his and nodded. With a last smile and wave back at their son Owen led Cristina towards the first part of the date he had planned.
The taxi sped through the streets of downtown Seattle heading towards the city centre. Sitting holding Owen's hand on the arms that was slung over her shoulders, Cristina was desperate to know where they were going.
"Just give me a little clue, please!" She wheedled, fiddling with his shirt buttons with her free hand.
"We are nearly there now." Owen silently resolved to not be swayed.
"I will tell you a secret for one clue!" Cristina knew she had a trump card at her disposal that would make him tell her everything.
"Ok, you first." He could play for time they were only a block away.
Turning her tiny body towards him she pulled his face down toward her and kissed him, a slow, soft kiss that she wanted to deepen but she pulled back and spoke in a low, husky tone against his ear, "I am only wearing your favourite dress and a pair of heels! Only a dress and heels." She put extra emphasis on the only to ensure he got the picture.
Owen let out a low, frustrated moan. He inwardly cursed taking a taxi, no hope of a scenic detour to seek physical clarity on the information his wife had just presented him with. Of all the things she could have chosen to tell him she chose the one thing that she knew would leave him desperate for her. She knew he would now spend the entire evening pushing wanton thoughts of his wife's naked body out of his head.
As Owen gripped his own thigh to stop his hand exploring the invitingly unguarded area between his wife's legs beneath the silk covering the taxi pulled up on the curb.
"We are here!" Owen exclaimed and practically jumped out of the taxi. The blast of cold night air hit him in the face, cooling his libido. Hunt! Focus! Dinner first! Owen silently drilled these thoughts into his brain the way the army drill Sargent repeatedly barks commands at his platoon.
Owen slipped the driver 20 dollars through his open window and walked around the car to open the door for his wife. He proffered his hand to help Cristina ease herself out of the car with the dignity that was required when you had no panties on.
"You remember this place right?" Owen wrapped himself around Cristina who was standing in front of him as they stood on the sidewalk in front of the most expensive hotel in Seattle- The Meridien.
"Of course I do. We spent our wedding night here." Cristina leaned back into Owen's chest and he leaned forward to place his chin on her shoulder.
"I love you." Owen's breath ticked her shoulder and she basked in the glow that those 3 words, that he had told her a thousand times, produced every time they escaped from his lips.
"I love you too. I always have and I always will." Cristina pulled his arms tighter around her waist as she spoke to remind him of the fact that neither one of them were going anywhere without each other. Owen sealed their bodies declaration with a trail of kisses down the side of her neck.
"Come on Mrs Hunt. Dinner time."