Try Again

Blurred Lines

Owen was on the lookout for Cristina. After their little talk in the on-call room they had to go their separate ways. He suspected that she met up with Meredith to talk more about it. He never completely understood those two but he knew they were a complete package - you see one, the other must not be far behind. At least, it was that way until Cristina moved to Switzerland.

He was pacing down the hallway until his eyes caught a bunch of unruly, dark curls pulled back in a ponytail. It was Cristina walking next to Meredith down the hall, as he had guessed.

It seemed like they were leaving the hospital.

"Hey, Cristina?"

She turned around.

"Oh. Hey," she looked to Meredith to motion that she needed a minute. Meredith gave her an interesting look but nodded and waited by the elevator.

"So, since you had a tough day, and I kind of did too..." his voice drifted off. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out for drinks at Joe's? To get our mind off things."

Excitement flashed across her face before logic struck her.

"I'm not so sure that's a great idea." She sighed. "With everything going on, you know..."

"You had a terrible day and don't even want to drown yourself in tequila? Wow. I guess you have changed more than I thought," he joked.

Cristina laughed. "I don't know."

"C'mon. It's just drinks," he almost begged.

"Alright. You're buying the first round."

__________________________

"I still can't believe you did that!" Cristina squealed, laughing so hard that tears came out of her eyes.

"I seriously thought it was you, the curly dark hair made it hard for me to tell, okay?" Owen responded while also laughing.

"But hairball, really? I mean, we're not identical or anything."

Owen's laugh slowed down before he asked, "Wait, Hairball? That's what you call Wilson?"

"Yeah, yeah."

The laughter paused before erupting again at the nickname. He was pretty sure they were the loudest people in the bar at that moment but didn't care at all.

"I miss Joe," she sighed. "He always put up with our crap as drunk interns."

Owen grinned. He began to think about how he never knew her as an intern, only a resident. There were so many events in her life that he'd missed out on. He began to wonder if she was more guarded, stoic, or standoffish. Or maybe all of the above.

"Crazy how fast time went by right? It's like someone just pulled the carpet from right under me."

"Right? It's crazy. I remember being a wiseass intern stealing surgeries all the time. Now I have a Harper Avery and I'm the director of my own cardiothoracic program. It feels like it was just yesterday."

"Hm. Well, you're still one of those things."

"What?"