Callie's lunch with Meredith never materialized. The victims of a high speed, multi-vehicle accident had begun arriving at 11:45, and one of the cars had been an old junker with precious little protection for the occupants. The entire front end had collapsed, crushing the legs and pelvises of those in the front seat and giving Callie plenty to do through her lunch hour and beyond. They had rescheduled and were now sitting at a table at the Starbucks down the street, purposely avoiding Joe's to guard against the possibility of running into either Cristina or Owen.

"Owen pulled me aside on my way in today," Callie began.

Meredith was instantly intrigued. "Seriously? What did he say?"

"He apologized to me. Said he wanted me to know that he would never intentionally hurt Cristina, that he was asleep when he strangled her. He says he doesn't remember any of it..."

"Do you believe him?"

"Yeah, I think I do. I mean, maybe I'm a sucker for a good sob story, but he couldn't have been more sincere. And I was having a lot of trouble getting my mind around the idea of him as some kind of crazed lunatic. He just never struck me that way before... He's always seemed incredibly... decent."

"Derek told me last night that he's sure Owen has PTSD… said he's suspected it for a while... "

"Yeah, Owen mentioned that." Callie sipped her coffee and made a face. "Ugh. Why did we come here? I want a real drink. This stuff sucks."

Meredith gave her a small smile and leaned forward to begin her account. "Well, here's what I wanted to tell you before... Cristina got really mad at me last night when I told her I thought she did the right thing to break up with him. She said I didn't get it, and said that Owen was a... a hero. Apparently he survived some kind of horrible ambush over in Iraq and was the only one to get out. He lost like 20 people all at once..."

"That'll mess with your head, I'd imagine," Callie nodded thoughtfully.

"Do you suppose it's true?"

"Why would somebody lie about something like that?"

"I don't know. I guess I just have trouble trusting him at all after what he did. I mean, he really hurt her... I can't even think about him right now. I'm too worried about her."

"Yeah, me too. But she thinks about him. And I think she really cares about him."

"That doesn't mean I have to, though..."

"No, but it might be easier to talk to her about it if you did care a little. Then she might not get so defensive."

Meredith gave her a look that needed no translation. You're probably right but I don't have to like it.

"By the way" Callie continued, "she woke up screaming last night... scared the living shit out of me. At first I thought he came back to finish off the job..."

"You see? You don't trust him either."

"That's not what I... I was half asleep, Meredith. It was just a gut reaction."

"Was he there?"

"No! Of course not... but she was shaking, and she just acted like it was no big deal."

"I know. She keeps telling me she's fine, but how can you be fine after something like that? And clearly if she's having nightmares, she's not fine, right? That doesn't sound very fine to me..."

"No, it's not," Callie shrugged her shoulders, "...but Cristina isn't exactly the type to admit to anyone that she's having a problem."

Meredith nodded and took a sip of her coffee. She made a face. "I hate decaf. Why do people bother?" Callie smiled in agreement, then continued. "Anyway, I told Owen about the screaming and he seemed really upset about it. He even asked me if I thought he should just leave her alone instead of trying to talk to her... "

"You told him yes, right? You told him to leave her alone."

"Actually, no. It's not like he's trying to get back together with her or anything. He just wanted to let her know that he was getting help for his problem, and when I thought about it, it seemed like a good idea... I think he really cares about her, Meredith."

"I don't care," Meredith insisted, "I don't think it's a good idea. If he can't control himself, he needs to leave her alone. I'll be seriously pissed if they start hanging out again."

"I don't know. We have to give them both some credit. I just don't think he's gonna risk hurting her again... and I've never seen her so happy as she's been since he came here. I know you two are really close and all, but you don't live with her. It's like she's a different person when he's around..."

Meredith paused and ran her finger around the lid of her coffee cup. She couldn't argue with that. She'd noticed the difference herself. Still...

"What's that?" Callie's eyes had gotten big, and she nodded toward Meredith's hand.

"Oh! Derek and I got engaged last night."

"And you were going to mention this... WHEN???" Callie smiled in disbelief. "I can't believe you two finally made it official! Did he get down on one knee?"

"Better than that..." Meredith's smile was full of mischief.

"Wait... don't tell me yet. This calls for a real drink. Let's get the hell out of here."

"That's the best idea I've heard all day. Let's go."