Title: Move Like You Want

Rating: PG-13 (for now).

Summary: Owen takes Cristina on a fourth date... to The Outdoors.

A/N: Set after 5x14 - 5x15, with some creative license employed. This currently stands at over 10,000 words and I'm still writing, so there will probably be about 5 or 6 chapters in total. Please let me know what you think, it means a lot. : )

II

Cristina's alarm went off at seven AM and she swore and hit snooze. Twice.

It was Saturday, her first day off in the past week and seven o'clock was far too early to get up, even for a mystery day out with the mysterious Owen Hunt. It was supposed to be a date of sorts that actually involved daylight and wasn't centered around food or alcohol - indeed, this one was to feature The Outdoors, a faintly ominous concept which Cristina still couldn't believe she had agreed to.

Two weeks ago, Owen had said he wanted to take her some place special and she had surprised herself by saying yes straight away. When she thought more about the idea later on she realized she had been waiting for another chance to spend time with him, and whilst she wasn't the type to expect big romantic gestures and was quite content getting to know someone over a few beers in her own apartment, she found a part of her was curious about the extent of the romantic inside Owen. She had a feeling it was fairly sizeable.

Up until now they'd only been on three dates and kissed a few times around the hospital (including the incredibly hot scene on the vent), and she wasn't sure exactly where they stood. Following the disastrous shower incident and his heartfelt plea for a second chance they had gone out to dinner only to be interrupted by their pagers during dessert, and a week later he had invited her to Joe's which was shaping up to be a lovely evening until the rest of the hospital seemed to turn up and sit at their table without an invite, pretty much ending the date there and then.

And then on Tuesday this week, when she had accidentally woken him in the on call room and he had complimented the back of her neck and made her feel bizarrely, embarrassingly ecstatic, she'd had high hopes for the night shift with him - that was, until his ex-fiancée showed up and he had ended up asleep on her chest, which in itself hadn't been a bad outcome for the day, but even the great Ellis Grey's diary wasn't a substitute for the night of loving she'd been craving. Still, Meredith's mother had had a point, even if she didn't realize it herself: chaste was sexy, and thinking about Owen now Cristina found herself wanting him all the more for being unable to have him for so long.

Despite her excitement at spending the day with him though, she still felt acutely nervous. She was worried they'd run out of things to say: they would talk about work, obviously, but then what? She had nothing to share about herself that she considered interesting seeing as her life revolved solely around the hospital, and she knew she couldn't ask him about the war or Beth because he would clam up or have another panic attack and that would definitely ruin the mood.

The truth was, no man had ever taken her out for the day before. Her relationship with Burke, and with Colin Marlow for that matter, had been based around medicine and their apartments, with the occasional meal out included. And she had been content with that, quite able to spend a whole day in their company and not feel unnecessarily anxious because when conversation ran dry they felt comfortable enough in familiar surroundings to just be together in silence.

But when someone made an effort to take you out for the day it was kind of expected that you make an effort to talk to them in return. All day long. With only bathroom breaks for peace and quiet. Maybe she could feign diabetes or a rare neurological syndrome that meant she had to pee every half hour. But then, she couldn't keep up that pretence forever, and what if he stuck around long enough to find out she'd lied?

Maybe she should just drink lots of water... She rolled out of bed, ignoring the time, and filled a glass in the kitchen, contemplating the day ahead. Other worries niggled in the back of her mind: what if she got bored of The Outdoors or he got bored of her, or both? Would the somewhat awkward sexual tension that had developed between them recently - which was undeniably hot but very difficult to read - be magnified exponentially as they forced it to stretch out over the whole day? Would they finally break and pounce on each other, making wild passionate love in the back of his truck on the roadside?

She finished her water and poured a second glass; then, catching sight of the timer on the oven she swore again and dashed into the bathroom. Nervous or not, the thought of finally being naked with him and giving her body what it had been craving for far too long made the little flame of desire he had been gradually stoking deep inside her rise up suddenly into her chest and down between her thighs. She lowered the shower temperature before climbing in, thinking of the time he had stood there and she had stripped him bare, his gorgeous toned body the last thing on her mind at the time but a lovely little memory stored away for her to visit at moments like these.

God, she hoped he was going to make The Outdoors worth it for her. She wasn't sure she could be around him much longer without jumping his bones. Perhaps it was time to step up the flirting another notch, to really let him get to know Cristina Yang.

Perhaps today would be fun after all.

II

Owen knocked on her door at eight o'clock exactly and she greeted him with a grumpy expression and an air of frantic disorder, both of which he found adorable - nothing was going to spoil his good mood today. "Morning," he said cheerfully, earning himself a half-hearted smile.

"Morning, Mr Punctual." She rushed around the apartment, cramming things into a small holdall bag whilst drinking coffee and eating a banana. She then moved into the bedroom, her voice fading as he heard drawers being opened and slammed shut. "Damn you for being on time again. I'm sorry, I got up late. Stupid Saturday early mornings."

When she returned to the kitchen and stopped for a second to take a breath, she looked at Owen standing there with an amused smile on his face and suddenly wondered why she was so nervous about today after all. He looked so handsome in a tight-fitting cream tee and khaki shorts, his dusky blonde hair a bit ruffled and his beard trimmed fairly short. It's only a daytrip, she reminded herself, her eyes locked with his across the counter. We're just two grown ups going somewhere for the day. It's gonna be fun, and there will probably kissing. Maybe we'll even get naked in the woods somewhere...

She had been thinking about that scenario, and variations of it, a lot lately. When he told her the day after she agreed to the date that she needed to wear hiking boots and take a change of clothes in case they got wet (how, she didn't want to imagine), she almost backed out - almost admitted she wasn't the nature type and that it was pretty much her idea of hell. But he had been so enthusiastic that the words died in her mouth, and so she had spent the past two weeks mentally preparing herself for their big adventure and conjuring up various outdoorsy fantasies. She was beginning to realize that she would agree to almost anything he suggested just to spend time with him; to get to know him better because he was intriguing and funny, and it was gradually dawning on her that she was falling for him in a big, scary, couldn't-stop-it-if-she-tried kind of way.

Pushing that thought aside with some difficulty, she took a few steps towards him. "So, are you going to tell me where we're going now?"

Owen placed his hands on her waist and drew her closer. "Not yet." He had such an irresistible smile on his face that she couldn't help returning it. "Are you going to let me kiss you now?" She didn't answer because he kissed her anyway; she tasted of coffee and for a second he thought about cancelling the trip altogether and just walking her backwards into her bedroom.

"Whoa there," Cristina murmured against his lips, fingers curling around his upper arms to steady herself. So much for awkward sexual tension. "I didn't get up this early and buy hiking boots for no reason."

"Sorry," he grinned, moving back to meet her gaze. "Couldn't resist. You look so lovely."

"Aren't we the charmer?" she teased. "Keep that up and it might be more than a few deer baring themselves in the woods."

Owen thought he'd misheard her, but her devilish smirk and sparkle in her eye confirmed he wasn't mistaken. "Is that a promise?" he asked, and when had his voice gotten so husky? He cleared his throat but she had already noticed the slip in his composure.

"Maybe," she shrugged with the same irresistible expression, stepping away from him and sipping her coffee, her gaze not leaving his. "I suppose to find out we should actually leave Seattle and get to wherever these theoretical woods are..."

With that she sauntered off to gather her things and Owen just about managed to calm himself by the time she returned. "Right, I think I have everything you told me to bring. Shall we?"

"After you."

Whatever his hopes for today, Owen had a feeling Cristina was going to surpass them all. This week they had really seemed to step up their flirting, even amidst the Beth debacle, and he was more attracted to her now than ever before, especially when she made it so obvious that she felt the same way.

II

About fifteen minutes into the journey, as they left the outskirts of the city, Owen glanced at her in the passenger seat. "Did you bring your iPod?"

"Oh yeah. Hang on." She dug around in her purse, pulling out all sorts of weird and wonderful items including a piece of cheese wrapped in cellophane and a mini textbook of advanced cardiothoracic surgery.

"You're hardly going to need that today," Owen chuckled.

"Hey, it's my bible. You wouldn't mock Christians for carrying their Bible around with them. That would be Christophobic."

"Sounds like your interns."

At that she laughed. "Shut up. What do you wanna listen to?"

"Surprise me."

She put on the first good song she came to, one with fairly heavy bass line that never failed to get her going in the morning. "What the hell is this?" Owen asked, clearly amused at her selection.

"Drum and bass remix. Great to dance to."

"But we're not dancing now."

"I know. But in my head I am."

He smiled. "So you're a big dancer?"

"Well, mostly just in my apartment with Callie or Meredith. Or alone. I don't really care."

Owen found she was now dancing in his head too and the image had a profound effect on his heart rate – it probably didn't help that he had conjured her up dressed only in her underwear. His vision kept him occupied despite the thumping music until they were speeding south along the interstate towards Tacoma.

"Right, my turn," he said at last. "Can you get my iPod out of the front locker?"

"You have an iPod? I had you down as the type of wilderness guy who could occupy himself for hours with a Swiss army knife and a few sticks."

"Well, of course I can." He winked at her. "But we 'wilderness guys' also like music." He asked her to put on his most popular playlist and soon the sounds of Dire Straits and Fleetwood Mac filled the truck. "What do you think?"

Cristina shrugged. "It's okay, I guess. Some of it's a bit slow. Mer and I couldn't dance to it."

"Not all music's for dancing, you know. I listened to these albums a lot in Iraq. They helped me relax, helped me sleep. Reminded me of home too, in a good way."

She looked across at him, surprised at this sudden confession. She couldn't tell if the curve of his mouth was a grimace or a wistful smile, but decided now was as good a time as any to try and find out more about his life in the military seeing as he had voluntarily brought up the subject. Cristina found it very strange, feeling like she had known him for years and yet knowing absolutely nothing about such a huge part of his life. "What else did you do out there to relax?"

"Er..." He sighed and was silent for such a long time she thought she had crossed a line and really upset him, but when he answered at last his voice was surprisingly level. "Played football and card games – mostly poker. We talked a lot. Drank beer and scotch when we could get it."

"So it wasn't all bad?"

"No, not at all. Until last year... Well, you know. But there were loads of good times before that. I had fun, lots of friends, and I think we helped a lot of people over there."

Cristina smiled at him and reached for his hand. "You did. You know, I think what you've done is amazing. I don't think I've told you that before."

Owen wished in that moment that he wasn't behind the wheel of a speeding vehicle because he had never wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her as much as he did then. He glanced across at her, hoping his face conveyed everything he wanted to say: how much he appreciated her words, her compassion, her being there for him. "Thank you."

She let the silence fill up with unspoken things and then eventually, with a deep breath, decided to lighten the tone. "Without meaning to sound like an annoying kid, are we nearly there yet?"

"About halfway," he replied, clearing his throat; clearing away the memories, making space for her and today and their adventure.

"Halfway? We've been on the road for over an hour already!" The two pints of water and mug of coffee were beginning to seem like a bad idea now.

"I know, hence the eight o'clock start." He squeezed her hand. "But it will be worth it, I know it will."

"Promises, promises," she murmured with a sexy smile that he wanted to lean over and taste. The second leg of the journey was going to be a long one if she kept looking at him like that.

II