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Author's note: I feel like I had good ideas with this chapter but it wasn't really translated on paper... Nonetheless let me know how you liked it!

Please remember to comment and rate. I love constructive criticism! Any writing or editing errors? Please, let me know.

Enjoy!

Owen opened the door of the residents locker room to reveal a concentrated Cristina. He stood in his place and watched her hands rummage through the mess in her locker. It was amazing to him how a person could be so wildly displaced, even in a tiny compartment dedicated to a few work necessities. He shook his head with the slightest amount of amusement, it did add to her charm, he supposed.

He stepped a few quiet strides, and positioned himself right behind her. Slow breaths escaped his mouth, right on her neck.

She knew it was him and certainly didn't resist. The touch immediately relaxed her. His touch always quieted her temper. She lovingly responded by resting her head on his shoulder.

With a long exasperated sigh from her lips, he questioned, "Long day?"

"Mmhmm," Cristina responded and turned her body to face his. With her arms wrapped around his neck, she kissed him. It was quick, a come-home-with-me kiss. One that Owen certainly wanted to lengthen but his thoughts registered with his surroundings and it didn't mix well.

Cristina looked up at him with a hint of a smile on her face and uttered a small, "Thank you."

Her face suddenly fell with the realization that he wasn't changed. The dark blue scrubs still very prominent on his body.

"You're not changed." She stated rather matter factly, "You know it's Mere's birthday, right? I don't want to go to Joe's all by myself."

He knew the argument was coming and prepared himself well for it.

"I know and I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry. There was a last minute car collision and they need me to stay for a little while longer." He knew she was angry at him, but he also knew she was a sensible person. He watched her as a flickr of different emotions displayed across her face, from a speck of anger to disappointment to finally acceptance and hope.

" A collision? That sounds bad, do they need me?" She had to admit, the thought of a potential surgery sounded way more tempting than having a few drinks at Joe's and celebrating a birthday over a cake. It's not that she didn't care about Meredith, she loved her, the only way that Cristina loved. Which meant that celebrating normal traditions such as those weren't nearly as significant as potentially landing herself on a hardcore medical case. Besides, Cristina knew Meredith couldn't care less about a cake. It had been McDreamy who had planned the entire outing. In this sense, Meredith would forgive her if she skipped the entire event to stay back with Owen.

"No, no no. We've got plenty of overnight staff to help." Owen replied. He would do his absolute best to let Cristina celebrate her persons birthday-even if she didn't want it so much herself.

"Well, then why are you staying?" She fired back, trying to not let her desperation show. It had already been around three days that she hadn't seen him outside of work. And now, now she was having a bad day and the thought of spending the rest of the night without Owen made her feel even more depressed.

"Because I'm the head of trauma, I have certain responsibilities. You know that Cristina." he couldn't help but get a bit hot headed. Of course she had to know by know how much he wanted to be with her outside of work, how much he would love to spend every second with her.

"I know that! I just... I.." It came as a surprise to her, to see that she was behaving this way. She was acting like a love struck teenager, one of those girls who act like their in love for the first time and in turn never let go of their boyfriends.

"Cristina, please-"He began but the ringing of a pager disrupted Owen's voice. Never breaking his stare with her, Owen reached for his pager and turned it off.

"I have to go."

"I know." She calmly yet coldly replied. No emotion etched on her face.

"Please." He moved closer to her and lowered his stance so that his forehead was touching hers, "Please understand. For now, I have to save someone's life. When they don't need me anymore, I'll go to Joe's. I'll be there, as soon as I can." He soothed to her. She knew the routine very well, though, she knew the amount of time dedicated to each patient. She wouldn't get to see him till the ending hours of the night, when she was sleeping.

She knew she was overreacting, she knew she was in the wrong. She just had a bad day and Owen's embrace seemed like the only thing capable of comforting her. Maybe she thought selfishly, whatever this was she wasn't going to let this feeling get in the way of someone's life.

She pulled herself together to display a smile, anything to make it seem she was fine. She knew he would be worrying about her if he left her on that note.

"Go." Cristina allowed.

He saw her smile wasn't genuine, it didn't reach her eyes. He knew her well enough by now to determine which expressions of hers were genuine and which were not. Owen had a task to do though, so even though he wasn't satisfied with Cristina's expression he had a life to save.

With that thought, Owen initiated a forced smile for her. He turned his back, made a few long strides towards the door, and left.

She stared blankly at the closed door in front of her. Her sad eyes fell to the floor underneath her for a few seconds. With a silent sigh, Cristina slowly turned her back on the door and peered at her locker again. Her hands entered the compartment and began rummaging through the pile of wrinkly clothes to finally find the item she was searching so long for. The sexy black lace blouse would be of no use anymore. She rolled her eyes at her previous thoughts about enticing him tonight at the bar.

She pulled off her light blue scrub top and replaced it with the black blouse. Her hands encircled her scrub pants and she hastily lowered them off of herself. She pulled her dark denim jeans on and ripped the rubber band from her hair to let her dark curls cascade around her face, then catching sight of herself by a near by mirror. What a shame, she thought. She looked good tonight.

Her travel to the nearby elevator, to the main exit of the hospital, to the short and brisk walk to Joe's Bar seemed brief. The journey didn't phase her either, her thoughts-minimal.

Cristina opened the doors to Joe's bar. Her only hope of feeling good tonight was here. She wasn't referring to her friends. No, she was referring to liquor. Vodka suited her just fine when Owen wasn't there.

"You're late." Meredith flung herself closer to her to scold her properly.

"Okay Mere, you're a surgeon. You're aware that we can't all make it on time to these type of things, right?" she defended herself.

"So not an excuse Cristina! Derek invited a lot of his work friends. These people are not my friends and I'm tired of making dinner conversation with them. You'd think that my person would show up on time to save me!" She couldn't help but want to cover her ears from Meredith's ranting. She loved her, but on days like these Cristina was very irritable.

"Kay, Mere. Sorry. I had a bad day." She stated sorrowfully and looked down. She really didn't feel like arguing. Furrowing her brow, Meredith analyzed her face carefully, assessing what was wrong with her person.

"You okay?"

With a huff of air Cristina bluntly stated, "No. But liquor can help."

"Okay. Fine. You can skip the cake." It was amazing how well Meredith knew her, she knew Cristina inside out. Any other friend would feel hurt that their best friend abandoned them on their birthday. Meredith didn't, and that was why she loved her. With a smile to illustrate her thanks, Cristina headed for the bar.

It was around her fourth Vodka Tonic that she noticed the guy next to her was staring at her intently. She turned her head further to realize that the guy staring at her was Avery. He wasn't just staring at her face either. His eyes could bore holes into her chest. The fool had a crush on her, she knew it even before the day that he kissed her. The more she thought about it, the more she realized he wasn't a fool. No guy who wanted her was ever a fool.

"Avery?"

His head popped up to look at her face. His sheepish grin revealed that he had been caught.

"Yang." He continued, moving his chair closer to hers. On a normal day she would protest, crush any hope he had. Today, she didn't mind the company.

"You look pretty hot tonight." She allowed herself a slight laugh but couldn't help rolling her eyes. His crush on her would never fail to amuse her. In a sense, she did like this. She liked the attention he gave her now. She liked how she had the power over him. Staring in his eyes, she saw potential.

"Do I?" She played along, innocently.

"I'm sure you still fantasize about that kiss we had. You're lips tasted good." How cheesy could a person get? He was hilarious when he was drunk. She tolerated him better when he was drunk too. Most of his cockiness disintegrated. If that made sense?

"Did they?" She continued her game by lowering her blouse just a bit lower.

"Mmhmm, say, where's that Hunt of yours?" Her lips fell at the mention of him. She didn't know why she was acting this way. Owen had a right to stay in the hospital. She was a surgeon, she knew the logics of it. Maybe it was the mixture of alcohol combined in her blood. She didn't stop to think about the details long enough, though.

"Not here." She replied, deciding on giving him the only response he wanted to hear.

"Really-?" Before he could finish his sentence, Jackson reached for her neck and pulled Cristina in to his awaiting kiss. A strategy that persuaded Cristina to kiss back, it seemed only natural. The kiss was passionate, Jackson's clear intent was on deepening the kiss. Logic and sense got lost in it, Cristina didn't feel anything and she felt everything simultaneously. She didn't know why she did it, she had no real attraction for Avery whatsoever. Only that she needed someone.

The kiss ended, and with it came the witty reply from Jackson's lips, "Into one night stands?"

The laugh that escaped from her lips was instant and piercing. She felt good, the kiss and the liquor proved to make her feel better. The combination felt nice. So she thought.

It was only then in that instant that her drunken laugh faded. When she had glanced across the bar and caught sight of a familiar pair of heart broken blue eyes, blue eyes that had heard and seen everything.