It became clear to Owen within 10 minutes of starting his shift that he was going to have to have a talk with Meredith Grey. If the intense stares hadn't been a solid enough clue, the edge to her voice when she spoke to him would have given her away. He recognized the tone from the time when she and Cristina had been fighting, a supercilious, holier-than-thou inflection that ran up his spine like fingernails on a blackboard. He had worked in tense environments before, but it had usually been external factors that caused the tension, things like incoming RPGs or the overwhelm of triaging a battlefield full of fresh casualties. This felt artificial - trivial, even - by comparison, but he was aware that in the phenomenon he now called his life, it was all too real. Guilt over the events of the past few days aside, Cristina's friend or not, he was damned if he'd let some snot-nosed Resident make him uncomfortable in his own ER.

It had been a busy morning, but there was a lull around 11am, and he decided to seize the opportunity.

"Dr. Grey, may I have a word with you?"

Meredith glanced at him in surprise, a look that turned into an simmering glare when she got a whiff of his intention. "Is something wrong, Dr. Hunt?" she asked innocently.

"Good question. How about you and I find someplace less public to have this conversation?"

"Um… I'm not going into an on-call room with you, Dr. Hunt."

Unbelievable. It had been a long morning with her already, and it was too bad that Owen was entering into this conversation already exasperated. "I'm not asking you to," he ground out, "Come on." He waved in the general direction of the ambulance bay and nodded for her to follow him outside, then sat on the bench and waited for her to join him.

"Do you have a problem with me, Meredith?" he asked when she'd gotten settled.

Meredith didn't waste time pretending she didn't know what he was talking about. "You can't hurt my person and expect me to just stand by and be ok with it. The least you can do is leave her alone after what you did."

"Your… your what?"

"My person. Cristina's my person. And I'm her person. And we look out for each other. You hurt her. Physically. Hands around the neck." She provided a visual for that one that Owen could have done without. "I just don't think she should be associating with you anymore."

Owen sighed. This was going to be at least as much of a pain in the ass as he'd anticipated. "Look, I thought Derek was going to talk to you about that..."

"Yes, but that doesn't change the facts. You did what you did, didn't you? I don't think there's any excuse for what you did. I mean, I get that you were in a war and all, and I'm sure it wasn't easy, but it's not safe for her to be around you if you can't control yourself... so I think you should just leave her alone."

Owen put his head in his hands for a minute and took a deep breath before responding. He couldn't believe his own ears. Did she really just say: "I get that you were in a war and all, and I'm sure it wasn't easy……" God save me from naive civilians.

"Ok, yes, I did what I did – and no one regrets that more than me. You have no idea how much. But I was asleep….I wasn't aware I was doing it…. Are you sure Derek talked to you?" Meredith nodded in the affirmative, but still looked clueless. "It's not like I have trouble controlling myself when I'm awake, Meredith. I would never, ever hurt Cristina. And you can be sure I won't put either of us in a position again where I might be asleep around her, at least not unless this whole thing is resolved to the point where I'm sure it'll never happen again. I care about her at least as much as you do."

Meredith looked at him as though anyone caring about Cristina as much as she did was impossible, and Owen had to work to keep his temper under control. He was beginning to really appreciate Callie, who had actually listened to what he had to say and formed her opinions accordingly. Still, Meredith was Cristina's best friend. He had to make the effort.

"I don't care. It doesn't change my opinion. I still think you should leave her alone."

This was like trying to have a conversation with that obnoxious, endlessly repeating announcement at the airport. Is she even hearing a word I say? Owen decided to give it one more shot, despite watching the last shreds of his patience evaporate. "Look, I get that you want to protect her. So do I. But, don't be such a hypocrite. As I recall, when you two were fighting I saw you punch a few pretty serious holes in her yourself..." He waited for her to look at him before he continued. "To be honest, it was painful to watch, and it got in the way of running an efficient ER and OR around here. I could have stepped in and talked to you about it, but I figured you two were adults and could work out your own problems, and it looks like you did. Good for you... Now I'm asking for the same courtesy. Support her. Be there for her. She needs it. But please stay out of what's between us. It's none of your business."

Meredith managed to focus on the first part of what he said and ignore the rest. "How can you compare a few snide comments during a silly fight, and choking someone in their bed? They're totally different."

Of course they're different. Does she think I don't get that? She's totally missing the point. He could try and explain it one more time, but he had reached his limit, and the words were out before he could censor himself. "Oh, right… sorry. They are totally different. Yours was intentional." The indignation on her face was reward enough, and he did not regret putting her in her place. This little control freak needs to be taken down a peg or two.

Meredith glared at him and stood up. Owen stood too. She was turning to walk away when Owen stopped her. "Just answer one question for me, Meredith, before we go back inside and attempt to work together again. I'm really trying to understand how your mind works. I heard you went to the prison to watch that serial killer get executed. Why did you do that?"

The change of subject caught her off guard, but she answered anyway. "Because he was all alone, and the only people there to watch were people who wanted him to die..."

"He slaughtered five women in cold blood!"

"But I didn't know them. I knew him. And he needed someone there who didn't only see the awful part of him. I felt kind of sorry for him…"

"Huh." He just stared at her for a minute, shaking his head in disbelief, and walked back inside.

Meredith was left to ponder the uneasy feeling that he had just scored a huge point at her expense, with no clue what it could be.