SIX

"Hey lover."

"Hey."

"I haven't seen you much all day. You okay?" She gave him a small, but concerned smile.

"I'm a little tired, but otherwise... Are you finished?"

"Yup, I'm just going to change..."

"Right."

Cristina looked at Owen and Owen looked at Cristina. He did look tired. Exhausted actually.

"You look terrible." She said. "No offense."

"None taken." He gave a weak smile. "Probably all the sex my girlfriend has been making me have."

Something about the way he said it made her uncomfortable. "Am I making you do it?"

"Ignore me." Owen waved and stepped towards her. On any other occasion he would have taken the opportunity to kiss her. They were alone, no one was around, but he didn't touch her. Cristina leant in and pressed her lips against his. She trailed her hands up the sides of his arms, grasping him a little. He didn't really respond, just let her do her thing, when she pulled away he just looked at her.

She cleared her throat. "Uh...Meredith said you looked sad today, she said she saw you talking to Derek. Everything alright?"

Owen took a good hard look at Cristina, and she could tell he was deciding whether to talk to her now, or put it off. He pulled away from her.

"I just want to go home and sleep right now, but tomorrow night we can meet at Joe's or I can come to your apartment after work."

"Or we could just meet for lunch or breakfast." She said bemused.

"We'll both be busy with working tomorrow." He said.

She hesitated with a nod. "Right... That's lame, but whatever, I'll see you tomorrow night then I guess..."

"Are you alright?" Asked Owen.

"I was. I just thought we might see each other tonight, that, or talk about whatever's on your mind. You seem to have something on your mind."

They stared at each other again.

"We can do this tomorrow night." Owen rubbed at his eyes.

"Yeah, you're tired. Got it. Okay." She reached up to kiss him. "I'll see you tomorrow night then. " She paused and cleared her throat.

Cristina left Owen and went to find Meredith, who was in the locker room. "Damn you and McDreamy!" She said heavily. "Why couldn't you leave me in my ignorance?" She sat down hard on a bench and began to pull off her work clothes, starting with her shoes, which she flung against the lockers one by one.

Meredith sat down beside her.

"What did he say?"

Cristina breathed heavily, momentarily panicked. "It was the way he acted. He has definitely got something on his mind." She said, "I don't know what. But I don't get it. Everything has been so good. I have been loving. I have been supportive..."

"So he didn't say anything?" Wondered Meredith.

"You didn't see his face. I couldn't ask."

"You're scared?"

Cristina pulled off her top and sat slouched over in her bra for a moment, before dragging herself to her feet and unlocking her locker. She pulled out her sweater and pushed her arms through it pulling it down over her head.

"This isn't easy for me Mer. I'm allowed to get scared - but if you tell anyone that I'll slice you with my scalpel."

"What the hell's been going on with you and Owen Cristina and I want the truth?"

"Nothing! We had sex last night. He left my place this morning, I came to work. Everything was fine."

She pulled off her scrub bottoms and pushed her legs through the legs of her jeans. "This is like Burke, the sequel." Cristina grabbed up her shoes from floor and shoved them into her locker. She pulled out her lace up ankle boots and moving back to sit on the bench set about putting them on and lacing them up.

"This is nothing like Burke." Meredith countered. They eyed each other for a moment.

"Isn't it? I'm skipping along thinking everything is hunky dory and being the supportive girlfriend, I'm trying, and my boyfriend wakes up and decides things aren't working for him. What's his problem? I can't do this again. I can't." Cristina stood up, made a grab for her jacket. Flinging it over her arm, she grabbed her bag and left the changing room.

Before stepping into the elevator, she paused a moment, pulling out her cell phone from her bag she called Owens number and left a message. "Um, hi, I er... forgot. I have this thing with Meredith tomorrow night, so we'll have to talk some other time. Thursday maybe. "

She hung up. She was a thinker and needed time to think.