Disclaimer: Shonda owns everything, I just do stuff with it.

At dinner they were seated side by side. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to them, as they had requested to be together all those months ago. Yet still, as the entered the ballroom and found their place cards next to each other, there was another moment of tension. Owen looked over to Amelia and cocked an eyebrow at her, silently asking if she was okay with the arrangement. She looked over at him and shrugged her shoulders before giving a quick nod.

As they sat side by side chatting with doctors from all over the country, the started to let their guard down a little more around each other. When the waiter asked if Owen wanted red or white wine to drink, he glanced over at Amelia before ordering.

"Sparkling water, lime please."

At this she raised her head and glanced over.

"Sparkling water?" she asked, her voice shy and questioning.

"I've stopped drinking on a regular basis. The sparkling water is refreshing, especially the lime" he told her with a shy grin.

She nodded her in head in agreement and gave him a small smile in return, her one dimple making an appearance for the first time in months. When the waiter took her order, she asked for the same.

After the dinner there were presentations, and awards of honour to be given to those who had made great leaps in the scientific community. Award winners were never notified in advance, so when "Doctor Amelia Shepherd" was announced, she was frozen in her seat. Noticing that Amelia wasn't moving, he grabbed her shoulder gently, and nudged her toward the stage to accept. As Amelia approached the stage the announcer read off all of her achievements over the last year, the most recognizable being the removal of Dr. Herman's brain tumour.

As he watched her glide toward the stage with a look of astonishment on her face, he swore he had never been more proud of her before. He was proud that she hadn't relapsed, despite all he had done to hurt her, intentionally or not. He was proud that despite Derek dying, and Meredith turning her back on her, she still rose above and carried on her work.

"Wow. That's really I can say. This is such a shock to me, especially after the year I've had. Most of you will know about the passing of Dr. Derek Shepherd. Not only was this a horrible loss in the neurology world, but also to me on a personal level, he was my big brother, and this year has been terrifying without him," she said with a shaky voice turning to make eye contact with Owen, "A person who once meant the world to me supported me throughout a lot of this past year, and for that I am grateful. Thank you again."

As she exited off the stage she wiped her tears away from her eyes and tried to compose herself before returning to her seat. After a few deep breaths she walked over to the table and quietly sat in her seat while the winner on stage gave their speech of acceptance. She could feel his eyes burning in to her skin as he stared at her. Amelia took another calming breath and focused back to the presentation, ignoring Owen's confused glance beside her.

Near the end of the awards, a video started playing. It was a compilation of the life and successes of Doctor Derek Shepherd. Hearing his voice and seeing his face made Amelia choke up, silent tears running down her face. She looked over at Owen, who was also crying and slowly reached out to rest her hand on top of his before turning her eyes back to the video. Owen squeezed her hand gently, and their fingers remained interlocked for the rest of the awards.

After, the tables in the centre of the room were cleared, and a dance floor was established. Not long after, a young man came approached the table.

"Hi, Doctor Shepherd right?" he asked with an easy grin.

"Please, call me Amelia," she said, untangling her hand from Owen's to offer it to the guest.

"Amelia it is. I'm Doctor Sam Ford, may I have this dance?" he said with an easy southern drawl.

Amelia's eyes flitted to Owen. His shoulders and back were stiff and his eyes were staring at the ground.

"I'd love to."

Owen watched as Dr. Jackass as he was affectionately calling him, twirled Amelia around the floor again. They had been dancing for a few songs, with each one Dr. Jackass was pulling her closer and his hands were reaching lower. I swear if he touches her ass I'll kill him. He thought grumpily. But then again, what right did he have? He sat there fuming until he caught Amelia's eyes and noticed panic in them.

Amelia was gently trying to put some distance between the two of them and praying that he wouldn't try to cop a feel. As he pulled her closer once again he leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"Why don't we take this upstairs and do a different tango?" he said with a glint in his eye.

"I think I'll have to pass unfortunately, I'm not really looking for that," she said, her body stiffening and avoiding eye contact.

"Not really looking? Then why have you been dancing up on me all night, getting my hopes up? It's only fair sweetheart." He said, his grip on her hips tightening uncomfortably.

Her blood ran cold with his term of endearment. She looked over and made eye contact with Owen, silently begging for him to come and rescue her, hoping he received the message.

As he saw Amelia's eyes filled with fear and silent begging, he rose from his seat and started walking in their direction. When he reached them he tapped rather aggressively on Dr. Jackass' shoulder.

"Hi there, do you mind if I cut in?" Owen asked, his easy smile betrayed by the look of fury in his eyes.

"Yeah I do a bit, besides I think we're heading out anyway," Dr. Jackass replied with a sneer as his hand dipped even lower down Amelia's back, resting at the curve of her ass.

"Is that so?" Owen asked, his voice sickly sweet, "Well, considering she's my girlfriend I have a few oppositions to that, so beat it. Now." He gave the new doctor a look so cold it could freeze hell over.

"Oh really? If she's your girlfriend, why hasn't she said anything about you all night?" he asked back with venom on his tongue.

"Probably because she has better manners than I do," Owen said back in a threatening tone, "now if you'd be so kind as to get your hands off my girlfriend's ass, that'd be great."

Owen looked over to Amelia, silently begging for her to go along with it. She looked back with a quick nod.

"Listen, I'm so sorry if I've given you the wrong idea, but I'm here with Dr. Hunt so I won't be going anywhere that's not with him," Amelia said in a confident voice, shooting a grin at Owen. Dr. Jackass finally let go of her, giving them both dirty looks.

"Whatever, if you have a boyfriend, try not being such a slut next time." He said looking straight at Amelia. Beside her Owen grew tense and she looked down to see his hand twitching. She quickly took hold of his hand between both of hers and rested her head on his shoulder, silently telling him to let it go. Owen looked down at Amelia and met her eyes, letting his shoulders relax.

As he was leaving, Sam turned around and said, "What I find really weird is that you'd choose some creepy old man over me, I guess you've just got low standards."

At this Amelia looked over at Owen before letting go of his hand and quickly approaching Sam.

"The 'old man' you're talking about over there is an army major who could snap your body in half, so I'd shut up if I were you. He is also the nicest, kindest and most caring person that I've ever had the pleasure to meet. And before you say anything else, I'd look at his height and hand size compared to yours, because there's a pretty obvious choice there, and it's not in your favour," Amelia said with a smirk, "Oh and one more thing – " she said as she slapped him across the face, "don't ever call me a slut again."

With that she swiftly turned around and strode back toward Owen, giving him a shy grin and squeezing his hand for good measure.

As the song changed, Owen looked down at Amelia, who was still resting at his side.

"Mind if I have this dance?" he asked nervously, hope in his voice.

Amelia looked up at him, unsure. She slowly nodded her head and followed his lead to the floor.

As they danced they both had a million thoughts running through their minds. Amelia couldn't help but wonder if Owen had only come over because she asked, or if he was genuinely jealous. Owen couldn't wrap his mind around all of the things she had said to Sam, about him being caring and the great sex, was it all a charade?

Amelia broke the silence first, "I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out back there, you know, pretending to be jealous and everything." I hope you weren't pretending.

Owen felt all the air leave his body. Pretending. She had been pretending. He felt his heart sink before he realized she was waiting on a response.

"Oh… yeah, no problem. I'm happy to pretend any day," he said with a grimace, hurt evident in his voice, "I'm going to head upstairs, I'll see you later."

As he quickly walked away leaving her in the middle of the dance floor, she couldn't help but wonder if he still felt the same way she did. Either way, she had upset him, so without another thought she ran after him.

A/N: Chapter 4 coming soon - let me know what you want to happen next!