Chapter 12

Owen wasn't sure if attending the party was even the right decision especially along with Jennifer, but he came anyways, he had to see Cristina. He hadn't seen her in two days, since the day she met Jennifer. And he really wanted to see her. Almost everyone was at the party, it was a full house and Cristina was right in the middle of it all.

"Hey, why are you sitting here all by yourself?" Callie asked Owen, who was sitting away from all the crowd, outside on the deck.

"Hey. Emmm, nothing I'm just…. Passing the time, I guess" he sounded a bit edgy.

"You okay?" Callie asked sensing his tone.

"I'm great, awesome"

"Owen. What's wrong?"

"Nothing"

"Owen… you can talk to me. Talk to me"

"I don't know what I am doing" he let out a heavy sigh and said, "It was so good to be around Cristina again, to be able to spend time with her, to laugh with her. It felt sooo good that for some time I forgot that I have a family. A fiancé. A son. In that moment, I actually forgot about them. It was so great and I didn't wanted to ruin it, so I didn't tell her; about them, you know. And now I don't know how to face either one of them". \

"I'm sorry Owen"

"Yeah me too"

"Have to try talking to her, Cristina I mean?"

"Tried, yes. Talked, no. She is good at maintaining the distance, when she wants. And I am not. I want to see her".

"Well I guess, now is your time" Callie pointed out gesturing towards where Cristina was standing alone at the moment. "Go talk to her, before you drive yourself crazy and do something stupid"

"Yeah, I think, I should go and talk to her"

"Good luck" Callie squeezed his hand lightly. Owen gulped the last of his drink, which he was holding on to for some time now and went inside to talk to Cristina.

As he neared her, he forgot to breath.

Cristina was dressed in a short sheath backless cocktail lace Maroon dress. The shade of maroon was exactly the same shade of her wedding dress. Along with Golden metallic high-back collar pumps. She wore a beautiful red lipstick. To finish the touch, her hair were tied up in a bun, showing her perfect slender neck, one of his favorite things about her.

"Care for a drink" Owen offered Cristina the drink that he had taken for her on his way towards her.

"Yes, thank you." Cristina quickly accepted the drink and took a long sip.

"Wow, you look phenomenal Cristina" his appreciation made her blush and her heart started to beat a little faster, like it always did in situations like these.

"Thank you. You too look really handsome, like always" In that moment Cristina looked up, directly in his eyes, their eyes locked, mirroring how they felt, conveying everything they want to say. They conversed with their eyes for a long moment without actually saying a single word.

"Thank you for the drink. I really needed this, right about now."

"You seem a bit overwhelmed" he said, observing her tense stance.

"Well; all of this is quite overwhelming. Everyone is being so nice and pouring such affection. It is overwhelming"

"Well everyone is just trying to tell you, how precious you are" Their eyes meet again and once more they don't need any words to express how they feel.

"Cristina" Owen said reaching for her hand. "I….."

"Dadda. Dadda" just then Jack came running towards Owen and clung to his leg tightly. Owen picked him up and his whole stance changed in a minute. Just a minute ago he was a man, trying to reconnect with his ex-wife, having an entire conservation through his eyes. And in an instant he became a father. Cristina observed this transaction intently. Although this was hurting her to the core, but seeing Owen with his son still brought a smile to her face.

"He really lights you up, doesn't he" Cristina remarked. "It's good to see you so happy… And Jennifer also seems pretty great. I had the pleasure of having a small interaction with her earlier. She really admires you…. You… have a great family Owen. It's good."

"Cristina…"

"I should go, spend some time with my friends. Take care now" she quickly walked away from him, not wanting him to see the tears forming in her eyes.

"Take care now" he said under his breath.

Cristina was intently watching Owen feeding Jack his food. And she was completely mesmerized by the scene.

"You know this food is actually pretty good, everything is according to your taste and you would know that if you would simply stop devouring Owen Hunt across the table and just look at your plate" Meredith budged Cristina .

"I am not devouring him. I'm just watching. He seems so happy, he is smiling. God I have missed his smile. Was he ever this happy, with m… when we were together?"

"Cristina…"

"He seems whole. For which I'm really glad. This was the hope after all" Cristina said. A sad smile crossed her lips. "And this accounts for a toast" Cristina picked the drink sitting in front of her and stood up, knocking the glass bring everyone to attention.

"Excuse me everyone. On this very beautiful night I would like to propose a toast. First I would like to say that I'm so grateful to you all for showering me with all the love and affection. Thank you so much… I am so proud of us all, for everything we are today. We have been through some pretty shitty stuff and we made it through. We achieved our goals. We are living the dream. And I think it's safe to say that many of us, although not everyone but most of us are living the dream. The HUGE LIFE we imagined." Once again their eyes met across the room but this time both their eyes were filled with tears and this time neither of them was able to maintain the eye contact. "And I think it's the life that is worth every sacrifice that we ever had to make. Thank you everyone"

Please R&R