Thanks for the reviews and the encouragement! and smountain- I actually have a song that I noted to be a Towen in Iraq chapter! I haven't written it yet but it's definitely flagged! :) Stay tuned! lol
Here's another one. Also yeah I'm posting chapters at 2am because what is time anymore?
Daydreams - Maisie Peters
It feels weird being back in New York. It felt weird. It felt unnatural. She's staying with a friend for now. A friend from when she was an attending in Columbia. She and her husband welcomed her to their place until she figures her life out.
Her friends and colleagues from the Army had homes and families to go home to, but all she had was a ghost of a city. A place she once called home. Where she had an apartment, a group of people she called family. Sure she has friends who are letting her crash in their beautiful Upper West Side brownstones while she thinks of her next steps, but she's not sure if staying in New York is something she wants.
All she could think about is how life would have been different if she didn't enlist or if 9/11 did not happen.
She would probably have her own fucking brownstone.
She would probably have a beautiful life with Allison. Buy their own home. Happily living in the city. Settled down. Or maybe she would have met a man or whatever.
The problem about staying in New York is wherever she goes or wherever she looks there is some kind of memory of Allison. She doesn't know if it's something she can live with.
So maybe she'll move somewhere else.
Maybe LA. That sounds nice. That sounds different.
Maybe Texas. Nope. Nope.
Chicago? Maybe.
Boston? Sure.
But for now she's in her friend's guest room. Sitting in silence. Mildly panicking even though they told her she can stay for as long as she needs. They even asked if she wanted to come back to Columbia. She refused—she can't. What about other hospitals in New York? Bellevue? Beth Israel? No. She needs to leave the city.
Her phone rings, distracting her for all the thought and panic going through her brain. She's glad for the distraction. But who in their right mind would call this late at night.
"Hello?" Teddy picks up her phone. She doesn't know the area code or the phone number, and normally she would let it go straight to voicemail but there's a little voice inside her telling her to pick up.
"Teddy?"
She smiles. His familiar voice. The warmth. The way he says her name.
"Hunt?"
"I hear you're back from Afghanistan" He says.
His voice makes her heart beat so fast. She swallows hard. Not that anything can happen, she's pretty sure he'd be married to Beth by now. But it's nice to hear his voice. It's comforting to hear it. She missed him.
"Yeah. How'd you know? How did you get my number?"
"I have my ways. How does it feel to be back?"
"Amazing, but stressful. Trying to figure out where to settle. I just don't think I can stay here in New York."
"So you don't have a job yet? Because I might have an offer—"
"Yes!"
"You haven't even heard my—"
"Whatever it is, I'd take it as long as it's not in New York. In Seattle? Please tell me it's in Seattle. Where there's rain and culture and coffee and Kurt Cobain"
She hears him laugh and she melts. On second thought, would she want to move to Seattle and be close to Owen Hunt and his fiancee. Unless he and Beth are over and he wants her that's why she wants her to move.
Okay, Altman. You're getting ahead of yourself.
"Well I can't promise you Kurt Cobain because we both know he's dead, but yes. Seattle. With the rain and the coffee.
"Yes!"
"Come visit! I'll show you around the hospital. See if it's something that piques your interest. We need a head of Cardio and we both know you're amazing and more than qualified. You're a great surgeon and we have a world class cardio facility here and—"
"I haven't operated in a world class OR in a very long time in case you forgot"
"It's like a riding a bike. Promise"
She's giddy because Seattle sounds nice and far and she can start her life over. And this chance is being dropped in her lap.
And she and Owen will be reunited. In an OR. They'll see each other everyday.
She felt like a giddy school girl.
"Yes. I'll come."
The next day she packs her stuff and she books a flight to Seattle. It was abrupt. She thanks her friends for taking her in and they understand. But she needed to flee New York before she runs into her old life. Her old friends.
She watches the city lights get smaller and smaller and she falls asleep on a red eye to Seattle. She'll get to Seattle bright and early and Owen Hunt will be there waiting for her.
When Owen was relieved from the Army, she was so sure that would be the last time she'll be seeing him. That he'd marry Beth and have babies and she'd be long forgotten.
She made up this story in her head. That Owen is in love with her but they can't be together even though they're perfect for each other so he goes back to Seattle to be with Beth, but then she comes in and he'd choose her over Beth and they would runaway and live happily ever again.
But that's never the case for her.
But maybe this time.
Why else would he seek her out and ask her to fly to Seattle? Why would he offer her a job and settle in Seattle?
Don't get too excited, Theodora. He and Beth were very serious.
But she gets off the plane and there he was.
And it's very dramatic and very movie-like but he runs into his arms and he picks her up and twirls her around. Bystanders watch. Some "aww" loudly.
"God, I missed you."
"Me too."
He didn't have to pick her up at the airport. She can take a cab to her hotel. She can meet him at the hospital. But here he is. With his smile. And his…. Owenness.
They drive to the hospital, catching each other up on life updates since they last saw each other. It was her doing the talking because she's too excited to be with Owen and when she's excited, she talks and she's animated and her eyes shine bright.
She immediately notices that he doesn't have a wedding ring on. So he must still be engaged.
Or maybe there's no more Beth in the picture.
But she doesn't ask. She doesn't pry. She'll find out eventually. Because knowing too soon will get her too excited—too hopeful.
They get to the hospital and he introduces her to the Chief of Surgery and she feels very welcomed by him.
And he gives her a tour but was immediately welcomed by a trauma.
The rest of the morning was a blur to her. She meets the residents. She meets their colleagues.
Lunch was very… high school. But they sit with his friends. She's glad they're nice to her.
Until she finds out she was there as a gift for his new girlfriend.
She scolds herself for making up stories in her head. Of course, she wasn't there because he wants to be with her romantically.
It really was just a job offer.
Which she is very grateful for, and she will take.
She's back to just making up stories in her head and daydreaming about maybe one day it will be her turn.
Daydreaming that maybe one day he'll realize that he loves her as much she loves him. And maybe they'll get together and start a family. And live with the house and the yard and the picket fence.
But real life pulls her back to real life.
Real life being she's just a present for his resident girlfriend who obviously thinks she's not good enough to be her attending.
But she he needs a job. She needs somewhere to live. She needs friends and family—and these days, friends and family is Owen Hunt.
So she decides to stay in Seattle. She decides to mentor the greatest resident she's ever met, who happens to be Owen's new girlfriend who does not like her very much.
She will be his friend. They will share an OR. They will have drinks and spend time together They will continue being best friends.
She has to remind herself that he doesn't want her.
And she can pretend she's okay with it—she's been pretending for years.
She's fine.
She sits in her hotel room and rethinks her life again.
Working with Owen is better than being in New York.
This will do.
She just opens herself a bottle of wine. Celebrating her new job. Her new city. Back to the stories she made up in her head.
That tiny little daydream about the house and the kids and the yard and the picket fence can stay as little daydreams. And she'll see him around and he will make her smile and she will be okay.
They will be okay.