Chapter 2 – The Truth hurts

Okay, sorry about the typos in the last chapter, and Ellen in not called Emma, that was a mistake.

Also, this is not set in the future. The actors who play Owen and Teddy are in their late thirties or early forties if they had a child when they were younger it would make sense. This chapter will go on to explain the rest. Enjoy!

"DAD!" The little Ellen screamed at Owen as she ran at him down the small stoned path of their house. He turned around on hearing the sound of her voice and scooped up the little blonde angel into his arms, cradling her in his hold.

"Please don't leave." Ellen begged. Her voice began to whimper as the tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Ellie, I have to." He whispered, his heart breaking with such pain.

"But don't worry; I'll be back before you know it." Owen said to Ellen as he put her back on the ground and stared into her beautiful eyes that were swimming in tears.

"Oh, Ellie." He sighed, and pulled her once again into a tight hug. He closed his eyes and whispered very softly to her.

"I love you Ellen Elizabeth Hunt, very much." His voice broke and Owen kissed her head as the tears escaped his eyes. When he let Ellen go he walked away from his little girl, too afraid to turn back, just in case he would never be able to leave her. Owen's Mother came out from the small house and wrapped her arms around her granddaughter as they watched Owen leave. He walked away from their home in his green army uniform, his bag over one shoulder, knowing that he may never come back to see his daughter again. He held his head high as the tears fell silently down his cheeks.

"Dad! Dad!" Ellen screamed after him, as her Grandmother held her tightly, stopping her from running after him. Owen refused to turn back, but carried on walking, only to have his daughter's pained cries follow him through it all.

"Owen! For god's sake, wake up!" Cristina yelled at Owen as she shook him awake. Owen had been on-call and had finally got some sleep in one of the empty rooms. He blinked his eyes open, realising that he was only dreaming of that day when he left Ellen's life to start training to become an Army surgeon serving in Iraq. He seemed to always dream of it when he saw Ellen, and every time it filled him with grief.

He looked up at Cristina, dreading the conversation that was inevitable. Thankful to be awake, Owen got up very slowly, his body aching from being on-call for so long. Cristina handed him a cup of coffee, which he took gratefully while his arms rested on his knees. Cristina sat slowly on the bed next to him as he took a sip of the coffee, wincing as its sharp taste burnt his throat.

"Sorry, it's from the machine on the third floor."

"Ahh." He said knowingly, downing the cup quickly, the revolting taste lingering in his mouth. They sat in silence which seemed to drag on forever, until eventually Cristina turned to look at Owen.

"I need to know." She said plainly. Her voice was sharp and pointed because she knew what she wanted.

"Cristina-"

"No Owen, I need to know." Owen looked at her and took her face in his hands.

"Please." Cristina said, her voice still mono-tone as she stared into Owen's eyes. His hands fell from her face and he brought the back to be clasped over his knees. He sat silently staring at his clenched hands, his mind throbbing with thought.

"Why?" He said finally, his face pained.

"Because I need to know about you and... you and-" She stuttered.

"Teddy." Owen finished.

"Yes." Cristina said pointedly. She watched Owen, waiting for him when he finally turned to her.

"Fine, but you should know now, that I have never loved anyone as much as I love you." He said plainly glancing back at her. She accepted this without letting it get to her, and stared at Owen, waiting for him to speak.

"Okay, well... I was twenty. I was at college when I met this girl. She was different; clever, funny and soon she became one of my closest ever friends."

"Teddy." Cristina said knowingly.

"Teddy." Owen repeated, gazing into the room, his eyes glazing over.

"We were so young and irresponsible, we never meant for our relationship to become so... different. But in one night we had too much to drink and well..."

"You got her pregnant." She finished, her face still blank, clear of emotion.

"Yes I did. We both knew that Teddy couldn't go through with the abortion, and I stuck by her side the whole way through the pregnancy no matter what."

"I never truly felt like a father though, I had never been good with children and it all somehow felt like a dream that one day I would eventually wake up from. At least I felt like that until the day that Ellen was born. Teddy was asleep and so they handed her to me. They gave me this tiny little thing, all warm and wrapped up in pink blankets and when she woke up and stared at me with those big green eyes, I fell completely in love. She just stared at me, completely at peace and I knew in that moment that she was mine and that I would love her forever."

Christina looked down at Owen, feeling her heart break. Owen was mesmerised by the memory of his beautiful baby daughter and Christina now knew how much her position in his life had been jeopardised.

"That is why when Teddy decided that she really wasn't ready to be a mother, I took Ellen home with me and we went to live with my Mother so she could help me raise her." Owen continued.

"And you know it actually worked for a while; we had a stable life. I started my internship at a local hospital and my Mom was looking after Ellen when I was working. Then one day, Teddy came back. She tried to come into our lives again but it wouldn't work; Ellen didn't want her mother anymore. I couldn't forget the look on Teddy's face when she realised that she would never get her daughters love back. I saw it again today." Owen looked down at his hands feeling the guilt weigh down upon him. The silence grew and so he continued quickly, trying to brush off the obvious issues between Ellen and Teddy.

"So anyway, Teddy would visit on the major holidays, and one day she just stopped calling. After a while we didn't notice anymore, thing were going great; I was finishing my residency and I had met Beth. But then I heard about the job enlisting in the army. They offered great training and I wanted to go, I..."

"Why?" Cristina interrupted.

"What?"

"Why did you want to go?" Christina asked slowly, her voice held with perfect clarity.

"Well because, it was a great opportunity for my career, I..."

"No." She interrupted, "That's not the reason, Owen. Why?"

"Because I... well i..." He stuttered, staring into Cristina's eyes, "Because I was terrible father." Owen eventually spoke the words quietly as though he was scared to admit them.

"I know it was selfish of me to leave, I mean, Ellen was so young, and it almost killed me to let her go, but I knew that I was no good for her. She needed anyone but me; I was so broken, so wrong. I... I didn't want to damage her. Because if I hurt her, I would not be able to forgive myself." Owen finished and flicked his gaze back to his hands, fearful of the silence between them. It lingered between them so intense that the sound of their pounding thoughts could almost be heard.

For a while they did nothing and said nothing until Cristina got up, heading for an escape route.

"Cristina, wait!"

"NO." She said forcefully, "I am done waiting, Owen."

"Do you not understand how any of this makes me feel?" She continued.

"Yes I do, and I'm so so sorry I lied to you."

"You didn't just lie to me Owen, you made me believe that there was absolutely nothing between you and Teddy."

"And there isn't! I didn't even know she was in the Army when I joined-" Owen replied reaching out for Cristina's hand which she flicked away from him, her anger coursing through her veins and reaching inside her.

"Of course there is something between you! She is the mother of your child, how can I compete with that?" Her voice began to break, and her stony facade melted. Owen began to reach out towards her again but she took a step backwards out of his hold.

"You know, I think you should tell Ellen and Teddy what you just said to me." Cristina said, sniffing and teetering towards the door.

"Yeah, you should tell them how you feel, and you can all be a family again." Cristina finished, almost icily as she held back her emotions. Owen scrambled up to reach out for her just in time to watch Cristina rush out the door of the on call room, away from his reach and far away from his love.