Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and all its characters are the intellectual property of Shonda Rhimes and Co.
Special thanks to my fabulous beta Aly (supershipper) for her awesome dedication to my stories :)
I'd also like to thank all my reviewers, I appreciate all the feedback, so this last chapter is for you!
As he began to stir from sleep, Owen was caught a little unawares when his outstretched hand touched warm flesh; bare, warm flesh at that. With his head still a little hazy and his vision blurred in the semi-darkness of dawn, he found himself a little confused. He hadn't expected Cristina to be home so soon.
Never one to miss the rare opportunity a disruption in one's schedule presented, however, he edged closer towards her sleeping form. She was on her side and facing away from him, partially curled up in the foetal position. The hand that had barely grazed her skin now scrambled for purchase, reaching around so that his palm rested firmly against the exposed flesh of her belly where her t-shirt had ridden up.
A soft, vaguely irritated, moan emerged from his slumbering lover. Cristina treasured her sleep and she got a bit grumpy if anyone, even him, got in the way of her recuperation time away from the stresses of Seattle Grace Hospital.
Ever the considerate boyfriend, Owen contented himself with spooning his body against hers. He nuzzled her soft, dark curls as they cascaded over the pillow, and rested his face in the hollow of her neck. His forearm wrapped around her slender waist, anchoring his hold on her.
Cristina's body instinctively adjusted itself to mould to the familiar contours of Owen's muscular form; her arm came to rest on top of his, her hand loosely clutching the hand he had placed on the smooth skin of her stomach under her shirt. With a deep sigh of contentment, her body entered a state of complete and utter relaxation and, within seconds, Owen knew she had fallen deeply asleep.
Smiling softly to himself, he snuggled against her as if he couldn't get close enough. Hugging her body more firmly to his, Owen soon nodded off to the myriad of sweet and forbidden thoughts of Cristina that rushed through his mind.
When wakefulness finally reared its annoying head, Cristina refused to open her eyes. She felt like she was wrapped in a cocoon of warmth and comfort, a feeling she wasn't in a hurry to leave just yet. It was nice to wake up and feel safe in the circle of Owen's arms, something the both of them didn't think would ever happen after the events of that fateful night months ago. They had come a long way since then.
Smoothing her palm back and forth over his hair-roughened arm, she finally deigned to open her eyes, slowly. She was a little startled to find his bright, blue gaze fixed intently upon her face, studying, searching; but for what, she was not quite certain.
"Hey," she mumbled, voice still a little thick with sleep, "You know, it's kind of weird waking up to someone watching you."
"It is?" he answered distractedly, his eyes still fixed on her face. She noticed that his pupils were dilated.
"Well, yeah," her voice sounded a little too high-pitched for her liking; Owen was making her feel flustered with his unwavering stare, "It's kinda freaking me out actually."
Even with this admission, he didn't relent. Cristina's determination faltered, and she found herself lowering her lashes, shying away from the scrutiny of his watchful eyes. He had that kind of effect on her, and she wasn't sure whether she loved it or loathed it sometimes.
Owen lifted a hand to stroke across her flushed cheek, his hand cupping her jaw and tilting her face up so she was looking into the startling blue of his eyes again.
"You're beautiful."
She didn't know what to say. His words had robbed her of all speech, just like they did on the day she found him waiting on her door step. The truth was, she was not a modest person - she just wasn't. But hearing Owen say she was beautiful so candidly, so devoid of all the overbearing clichés; well, it kind of took her breath away.
He shifted his weight so that she was lying flat on her back looking up at him. She immediately noticed that he was shirtless, and her gaze turned to admire the muscular planes of his bare chest and shoulders. Long, blonde lashes shielded his eyes as they began to roam, settling on the full pout of her lips. Leaning down, he gave her a soft, tentative kiss. A hand came up to cup her face as his lips kissed a trail across her cheek. Owen rained a tumult of butterfly kisses across her brow, down the bridge of her nose, along the outline of her jaw, until his lips met hers again.
There was nothing tentative about his next kiss. Her lips parted under his as he plundered her mouth with his tongue, boldly exploring the sensual hollows within. He felt her tongue delicately stroke against his, heard her moan into his mouth as she felt the hardness of his body meld with hers in a crushing embrace.
Then the phone rang.
With a groan of frustration that vibrated in his chest, Owen reluctantly pulled away from Cristina and looked at her, hopefully. Biting at her lip as if she was torn about what she should do, she finally declared, "I should probably get that."
Sighing in defeat, Owen leaned back to sit on the bed and silently gestured for her to go ahead, shaking his head while chuckling softly to himself at the absurdity of it all. It seemed like there was always someone who knew exactly when to ruin a particularly good moment between them; the kind of moment where he felt like he needed to take a cold shower afterwards. He watched helplessly as Cristina reached over to the night stand for the phone.
"You do know you just interrupted me in the middle of something very...important, right?" was Cristina's greeting to the person on the other side of the phone as she settled back against the pillows. She smiled softly at Owen and ran a hand through his tousled, red hair.
He knew it was Meredith. Who else would Cristina answer a call from at this time in the morning? Giving her a lopsided smile, he grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm before jumping out of bed and heading for the shower. It would have to be a cold one after all.
As she walked down the halls of Seattle Grace, her hands busily scraping her hair up into a loose bun, Cristina spied Derek. There was a knowing smile on his face as he greeted her, "Morning Cristina, I heard you and Hunt were keeping busy when Meredith called."
"Tell your wife I'm going to kill her as soon as I'm done with rounds," she retorted, feeling a flush creeping to her cheeks.
"You can tell her yourself," he inclined his head, chuckling as he walked off to do his chiefly duties. Meredith was walking towards her from the other direction.
"Hey-"she began.
"Mer! I know you're married and stuff, but Derek so doesn't need to know-"
"I know, I know, it just slipped out-"
"Just slipped out? How does talking about my, uh, sex life just slip out...to Derek?!" Cristina's eyes widened in indignation as her brows rose in question.
Meredith gave her a rueful smile and shrugged. She couldn't stay mad at her twisted half; she wasn't mad anyway, just a tad embarrassed. Cristina rolled her eyes, her sigh one of resignation.
"Ugh, whatever. Could we not share everything with the husband next time, please?"
Seeing the earnest expression on her best friend's face, Meredith had to giggle, "Okay, I promise."
Looping her arm through Cristina's, they both headed off to their respective services.
Unnoticed, Owen had watched their exchange from a distance. He still felt a little unsatisfied from the morning's interruption. Signing off on the chart in his hands and handing it to the nurse behind the desk, he headed to the pit where he hoped the multiple MVC that was coming in would help take his mind off things.
"Guess what? Bailey let me do the colostomy on her colon cancer patient today," Meredith boasted, as she and Cristina sat at the cafeteria picking at their lunches.
"Are you serious?" Cristina paused, fork hovering midway to her mouth, "I think I hate you right now." She crunched miserably on her salad.
"Okay, what's wrong with you?"
"Nothing."
"And that's why you're all grumpy and mean-faced?" Meredith was unconvinced.
Cristina gave her a sidelong glance, her lips puckering into a grimace. "It's been a slow day. Everyone's hearts were behaving."
"Ah, that makes more sense."
"Where's Alex? I haven't seen him all day," Cristina hastily tried to change the subject so she wouldn't have to dwell on her lack of surgeries.
"I don't know. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Lexie much today either."
Her eyes looked knowingly at Meredith's as she replied with a brief, "Huh."
"Cristina."
She turned at the sound of his voice. He stood behind her, hands on his hips, with a stern expression on his face. What had she done now?
"Could I talk to you," he raised a brow as his eyes darted to Meredith's curious expression, before turning back to Cristina, "Alone?"
The twisted sisters exchanged covert glances before Cristina said, "I'm pretty much done here anyway."
As she got up to follow Owen, who had already started walking towards the cafeteria entrance, she threw a questioning look at Meredith who could only shrug helplessly in reply. She broke into a light jog to catch up to her lover.
"What is it? Owen, what's wrong?" she put a hand on his arm and he looked down at it for a few seconds before switching his gaze to her face. She was a little taken aback by the stormy look in his eyes.
Looking around them, Owen put a possessive hand on the small of her back and pushed her towards the closest on call room. "Not here. In there," he gestured with his head as he opened the door.
Unsure of what was going on, she gave him a mystified look, "O-kay." And doing as she was instructed, she walked into the room.
Glancing quickly from side to side, Owen entered the room after her.
A moment later, there was the barely discernible sound of a lock turning.