Omelia Fics

Hello, beautiful people! This one is in response to an anon prompt about Tom Koracick returning in 14x13. The little surprise that I was telling you all about earlier is that I co-wrote this with the lovely @omeliathehurricane! She is the greatest. I have never had as much fun writing a fic as I did this one. She has the greatest ideas, and it was such a great time putting this together with her over the last three days. So thank you, @omeliathehurricane, for a lovely weekend of writing and laughing. This is also by far the longest fic I’ve posted so far. Writing is more fun when you’re doing it with friends.

Anyway, here it is. It gets rather R-rated toward the end, so if that’s not your thing, steer clear.

Peacocking

“What have we got?” Owen asked the paramedic as she wheeled in a gurney carrying a bloody, bruised man.

“Motor vehicle accident victim,” the paramedic replied. “Hypotensive, tachycardic, and tachypneic. This guy is pretty banged up. Lots of contusions and lacerations. Internal bleeding seems likely, and he’s clearly had some head trauma.”

Owen nodded. “Thanks, I’ll take it from here.” The paramedic thanked him and headed back toward the ambulance. Owen turned toward the residents who were waiting for instructions. “Someone page neuro 911. We’re going to need to get this guy to surgery ASAP, so we’ll need a quick consult.” Owen began to assess the patient’s extremities, and within minutes, both Amelia and Tom Koracick were walking into the exam room. Owen looked up, surprised to see both of them there. He turned to regard the resident who had paged them. “When I say page neuro, I mean one neurosurgeon, not the entire department,” he reprimanded the resident who was now shrinking back under his gaze.

“It’s not his fault, Owen,” Amelia responded. “I got the page, but Tom insisted on coming down with me, so here we all are.”

“That won’t be a problem, will it?” Koracick asked, smiling a bit too widely for Owen’s liking.

“No, not at all,” Owen said, doing his best to keep his voice cordial. “Amelia, can you start the neuro exam?”

She nodded and walked to the head of the bed, pulling out her penlight as she did so. “Crap,” she said after a few flicks of her penlight. “His right pupil is blown. His ICP is elevated. We’re going to need to get this guy to surgery immediately.”

“I’ll need to work alongside you, then,” Owen replied. “He likely has some significant internal bleeding, and I can’t wait until after you stabilize his ICP to assess and treat it.”

“Sounds good, let’s go,” Amelia said, already beginning to pull the gurney to the door. To her surprise, Koracick came around to the other side of the gurney and began to push. “Tom, I think this is probably a job that one neurosurgeon can handle.”

“Really?” Koracick asked with raised eyebrows. “Kicking me out of your surgeries? Is that any way to thank the man who saved your life?”

Amelia rolled her eyes. Apparently he was just as much of an asshole as he’d always been. “Fine, whatever,” she huffed. “Let’s just get moving.”

-

“Music please,” Koracick called as he, Owen, and Amelia all prepared to begin the procedure.

Amelia wasn’t paying much attention. She had gotten used to his preference for playing music while she was a resident, and she was now able to tune it out. She could vaguely hear the sounds of some song that had techno sort of vibes. It wasn’t what she’d expected of him, but she thought nothing of it. Then the lyrics began. “That was unforgettable. I wanna do it again. You’re crazy like an animal, and I don’t want it to end.” Wow. This was really not what she had been expecting. “Tell me all your dreams and darkest fantasies. Let’s talk about sex, baby. Let’s talk about you and me. Let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be.”

Amelia’s head snapped up, her eyes immediately flying to Koracick. As soon as she made eye contact, she was sorry she had. He had that stupid, shit-eating grin on his face, and he wiggled his eyebrows a couple times before winking. God, she hoped Owen hadn’t seen that. She hesitantly turned to glance at him, and the confused look on his face as he looked back and forth between her and Koracick told her he had seen it. Fantastic.

“Alex, why are you making us eat lunch up here?” Meredith moaned as she and Maggie followed him into the gallery and took a seat on either side of him.

“Just watch.” Alex grinned, nodding down to the surgery happening below them.

“What is going on down there?” Maggie asked, looking back and forth between Meredith and Alex, hoping one of them would clarify the situation. Alex’s face was still plastered with that stupid, over-excited grin whereas Meredith’s went from confused to one of understanding and amusement as she watched the three surgeons below them working on their patient.

Alex chuckled. “Isn’t it obvious, Pierce? Shepherd and Koracick banged. Man. I can’t believe it. I had always heard she was a good lay. Hell, one time I walked by the on-call room, and Hunt was making noises I’ve never heard a human make before. If only I’d known that all I had to do to get her into bed with me was cut into her brain.”

“Ew, Alex! She’s like your sister, and you have Jo! What’s wrong with you?” Maggie scrunched up her nose in disgust.

“I’m not saying I want to do her right now!” He shrugged. “But had if I had known it was that easy, maybe I would have made my move while I was still single.” He looked up, and, just like Koracick, wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Maggie, earning him a punch in the shoulder.

Meredith laughed at the other two before turning her gaze back to Amelia. “I guess Hurricane Amelia wasn’t entirely the result of that massive meningioma.”

Koracick smirked and looked up to the gallery, taking time to make eye contact with Maggie, Meredith, and Alex individually before turning his gaze to Amelia. “Shepherd, do you choose a different bed for every guy you screw in the on-call room, or were we going at it in the same bed you consummated your marriage in?” he asked. Both Amelia and Owen froze on the spot. “You know, she was hot for her teacher back in the day. I guess it never wore off.” He winked at Owen.

Amelia swallowed hard as she noticed Owen tighten his grip on the forceps he was holding. If they had been made of plastic she was sure they would now be picking bits of broken plastic out of their patient’s body cavity.

“I wonder which one Shepherd thinks is better in bed.” Alex’s voice rang out once more through the OR. “Or maybe it was Mark Sloan?”

Amelia snapped. “Karev! For the love of God, shut up! One more word and I will have a field day cutting out the parts of your brain which make you a jackass, and trust me when I say by the time I’m finished, Jo will be changing your diapers, and you won’t even be able to get it up.”

“Alex, Mere, don’t you guys have somewhere to be right now? I know I should be going. We’re all busy people. Very busy people. We’re surgeons, we’re always busy; saving lives and all. We should definitely be leaving now. I think I can hear my pager, can’t you?” the three surgeons operating heard Maggie say, and the next time Amelia looked up her sisters and Alex were finally nowhere to be seen.

“Feisty inside the OR and out! I like it Shepherd,” Koracick mused, before instructing the nurse to do more irrigation of the area he was working on.

Owen finally broke his silence, his voice reflecting how uncomfortable the entire situation was making him. “Could we please talk about something else? You’ve had your fun, now can we please concentrate on our patient?”

Before Amelia managed to agree with Owen or even attempt to change the topic of conversation, Koracick’s voice cut her off. “Come on, Dr. Hunt, why not join in the fun? It’s not like you two are together anymore. So tell me, did she used to do that thing with you? The one where her legs go one way and you…”

“Tom!” Amelia interrupted, her embarrassment and frustration multiplying with every passing second.  

“Okay, prude!” He held his hands up in defeat. “I will say one last thing, though,” he turned his attention back to Owen. “You’re welcome.” Owen looked at him, confused. “You see her hands? I taught them everything they know, both inside the OR and out, and they really know what they are doing now.”

“Tom.” Through gritted teeth and a clenched jaw, Amelia growled at him.

“Fine,” he whined dramatically. “I was just having fun. What did you do to her, Dr. Hunt? She used to be the life of the party, and now she can’t even handle a few jokes.”

“DeLuca!” Owen’s voice bellowed throughout the OR. “You good to close?” DeLuca didn’t even have the chance to confirm before Owen slammed his surgical equipment down onto the tray and stormed out.

Owen stalked down the hallway and into the first empty on-call room he found. He was thankful to find it empty, allowing him to decompress a little. He began to pace around the room, talking to himself as he walked. “She was just a ball of fun when you knew her, was she? Yeah, that’s probably because her life was a wreck and she was struggling with a drug addiction. Pardon me for supporting her sobriety and helping her live a more stable, fulfilled life. A life that also included mind-blowing sex. I must have been the worst husband ever.” Owen stopped his pacing to sit down on one of the beds and take a breath. As he glanced around the room, Koracick’s comment about Amelia’s frequent on-call room trysts popped into his mind, and he was suddenly leaping from the mattress as if it were on fire. Owen headed back down the hall and toward the parking lot, now thoroughly convinced that he needed a drink. Or five.

“Hey, Joe, a scotch please?” Owen signaled the bartender, slumping onto the bar stool. From the corner of his eye he noticed the familiar and unbelievably frustrating face of Tom Koracick. “Actually make that a double.” He quickly made the decision that one wasn’t going to be enough to wipe his memory of that day.

“Tough day, huh?” Joe smiled understandingly.

Owen sighed, hoping the drink would alleviate some of the weight on his shoulders and jealousy clouding his brain. “I found out something that I wish I was never told, so yeah, tough day.” His hand gripped the glass tightly as he quickly polished off half of the contents of the glass in one gulp.

“Whoa, take it easy there!” The irritating tone of Tom’s voice was suddenly very close to Owen’s ears.

“Go away Tom,” Owen sighed, defeated by all the new information that had been thrown at him that day. How could Amelia sleep with Tom? Why would she? Had she moved on? Was she dating? Sleeping around?

Tom simply ignored him and instead chose taunting as his next method of torture. “Not getting any at the moment, then? Shepherd ruined other women for you? She has that effect on men. But I guess you couldn’t satisfy her fully or you would still be married.”

“Tom,” Owen growled, much like Amelia had done earlier that day while in surgery.

“I mean, she always says she dislikes me so intensely, but you know what they say. Hate is the most powerful of aphrodisiacs, and let me tell you, she may hate me, but she walked out of that on-call room as satisfied as she had ever been.” At hearing Tom’s words, Owen downed the rest of his drink and slammed it down on the counter. He needed to get out of here before he committed a crime.

“Leaving already?” Tom continued to taunt as he watched Owen throw $20 onto the bar and make an effort to leave. “Walking out on me just like you walked out on your marriage?” Owen stopped dead in his tracks, fists clenched, his lungs filling with slow, deep breaths.

“Was all of that really necessary earlier?” Amelia asked Maggie while she picked at the bowl of nuts in front of her; their table on the other side of the bar, out of sight from Tom and Owen.

“I didn’t know that was what Alex was planning,” Maggie, ever the peacekeeper, explained. “But really, Amelia, Koracick?”

Amelia sighed. “I know. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was horny and lonely and, well, Owen was off hooking up with Carina so I didn’t really think it through.”

“So tell me,” Maggie wiggled her eyebrows, “Owen or Tom: who is better in bed?” Amelia laughed, rolling her eyes at her sister, who was now sitting so close to the edge of her seat Amelia was worried Maggie would slide off it and onto the floor any second.

“Well…” she began but found herself being interrupted by two very loud voices coming from the other side of the bar.

“YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN ME, HUH?” One of them bellowed, silencing almost everyone in the bar. “SHE ONLY SLEPT WITH YOU BECAUSE SHE COULDN’T BE WITH ME!”

“OH YEAH? WELL IT’S NOT MY FAULT YOU GAVE UP AND WALKED OUT ON HER. AT LEAST I CAN FULLY SATISFY HER!”

“Amelia!” Maggie’s concerned expression nodded towards the two arguing figures. Owen and Tom.

Amelia immediately jumped up from her seat, “I will murder the both of them,” she growled, running over to the two men.

“YOU FULLY SATISFY HER? SHE COMPARED BEING WITH ME TO A BED AND BREAKFAST IN VERMONT!”

“VERMONT! WHAT ARE YOU 80? FOR AN ARMY MAJOR, YOU ARE SUCH A PRUDE!”

“PRUDE? AMELIA CERTAINLY DIDN’T THINK I WAS A PRUDE WHEN SHE WAS SCREAMING MY NAME ALL NIGHT. THE NUMBER OF ORG-!”

“Enough!” Amelia stepped in between the two men. “Enough with this chauvinistic penis parade! You two are like a couple of peacocks fanning their feathers. If it helps, the only thing you two have in common about your amazing sex lives is me - so you’re welcome. And to settle this mass debate, I don’t want to screw either of you right now! The only thing I’d like to do with either of your dicks is cut them off with a rusty scalpel. Then let’s see how boastful the pair of you are about your ‘skills’ in the sack.”

Both men swallowed hard before opening their mouths to say something. “I don’t want to hear your excuses,” Amelia dismissed the pair of them. “You have embarrassed me enough by arguing about me like I’m some object to be owned, and for what? To inflate your own egos? Pathetic. So now that this entire bar knows about my sex life, I hope you’re happy with yourselves.” She turned to face Owen, “I expected this from Tom, but you? We were married. Show me a little respect.”

“Yeah! Show her some respect.” Tom jeered. Owen lunged at him but was quickly stopped by Amelia grabbing a fistful of his shirt and dragging him away from Tom and toward the entrance to the bar.

“What the fuck, Owen?” she hissed as she came to a stop outside the door and let go of his shirt.

Owen stared back at her without remorse. “You’re asking me? You should be asking him! I wasn’t the one who caused any of this. I was minding my own business, having a drink, when that jackass sat down and starting running his mouth about our sex life. I tried to be the bigger man and leave, but then he hit below the belt. There’s only so much one man can take. What did you expect me to do?”

“I expected you to walk away!” she shouted. “I expected you to consider how humiliated I would be that two neanderthals were shouting about me and my sex life like I’m some piece of meat, and, I don’t know, maybe not do that?”

Owen could feel all the pent up frustration, jealousy, and anger of the night bubbling over. “Oh, so you expected me to be concerned about your feelings, meanwhile you go running off to on-call rooms to screw anyone and everyone without a second thought about how I’d feel about that?”

“You slept with Carina!” she yelled back. “Why is it okay for you to have rebound sex, but as soon as I want to feel good I’m being unreasonable and inconsiderate of your feelings?”

“It just bothers me, okay?” He defensively took a step back from her, but Amelia - never one to step away from a fight - took a step closer to him.

“And you don’t think seeing you and Carina in our house bothered me?”

“It’s different!” he shouted, exasperated.

“How is it different, Owen?  Am I expected to sit at home miserable while you live your life? Please enlighten me! I’m supposed to wallow in loneliness while you return to your bachelor days? Please explain how it’s different to me because I really don’t understand-” she didn’t get to finish her sentence because his mouth was on hers, his tongue aggressively pushing past her lips and running over her teeth as he tilted her head to the side. She relaxed into the kiss for a second as she felt him begin to suck on her bottom lip, losing herself in the heady passion that had drawn her into her relationship with him to begin with before remembering where she was and pulling back, a shocked and angry expression on her face. “What the hell was that for?” she asked.

He did not look the least bit sorry. “That was to shut you up so that I could explain to you that Carina was just an outlet because I was losing my mind thinking about how I couldn’t be with you! That was because even though you never let me finish a sentence and are the most infuriatingly confusing person I have ever loved, I still want to be with you!”

She scoffed. “I’m confusing? How about you?! How was I supposed to know that you bringing another woman into the house we bought to live in together really meant, ‘I miss you?’ How was I supposed to be able to interpret your flings and your broodiness and your distance without you talking to me about any of it? Owen, I can’t-” and then his lips were on hers again. This time she only allowed him about one second of pleasure before she pulled back, a scowl on her face and her cheeks red. “Would you stop doing that?” she asked breathlessly, her fingers travelling up to her swollen lips for a split second before her mind registered that he could see everything she was doing.

He tilted his head, a hint of a smile on his face. “Why should I stop?”

She huffed and looked away. She had too many emotions running through her to be able to look at him right now. “Because every time you do that I lose my train of thought. I get all confused and my brain goes cloudy! And and all I can think about is…” she paused, biting her lip as her blush deepened.

“All you can think about is…?” he asked suggestively, now starting to smirk a bit.

She crossed her arms and looked straight into his eyes, glaring at him in a way that was probably supposed to communicate anger, but actually just turned him on. “All I can think about is how badly I want to take your clothes off! Happy?”

“A little…” Owen’s smirk was taking over his whole face now. He briefly glanced back to the bar’s entrance and opened his mouth to say something, but Amelia was speaking before he even had the chance.

“Owen, I swear to God, if you make any sort of remark or joke about who’s better at getting me off, I will take great pleasure in castrating you.”

His smirk faltered as he turned his gaze to her, but the sparkle in his eyes was as prominent as ever. “If you castrate me,” he began, taking a suggestive step toward her, “then I won’t be able to remind you why I’m your favorite. And that’s just unfair to me and, well, mainly to you.” His head tilted in that way that always made her ovaries somersault, as he took another annoyingly suggestive step toward her.

She was fighting hard to keep the scowl on her face, despite how turned on she was getting. “If you think being a cocky asshole is the best way into my pants, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.”

He chuckled. “It seemed to work for Kora-” he stopped mid-word as he felt her hand grip his package a bit too firmly for his liking.

“I swear, I will castrate you,” she hissed before letting go.

He took a step back, not wanting to chance it that she’d get more aggressive with the next go. “Amelia, we both just admitted that we want each other. Now, are we going to stand out here in a parking lot and argue particularities, or are we going to do what we both want to do right now?”

She crossed her arms and sighed. “Owen, you can’t just…” she stopped. She didn’t really know what she was trying to say. All she knew was she wasn’t about to make it that easy for him, not when she was still mad at him for discussing her, or rather their, sex life in such a public place.

Unfortunately for her, he could read her. “Amelia, just get in my truck.”

“Owen…” she said, getting even less of an argument composed this time.

“In the truck,” was all he said as he stared down at her, eyebrows raised and head tilted to the side. She continued to stare back, a bit happy that he had stopped talking. If he just wanted to have a staring contest, she was confident she could win. What she didn’t count on, however, was him abruptly stepping forward and throwing her over his shoulder.

“Owen!” she squealed as she squirmed from her place on his shoulder. “What are you-”

“I told you, in the truck,” he cut her off before opening the passenger door and setting her on the seat. “Now, are you going to behave, or do I need to buckle you in and engage the child lock?”

“You’re practically kidnapping me,” she pouted, her gaze fixed straight ahead. “I could have you arrested for this.”

“But then you wouldn’t get the multiple orgasms your eyes are begging for right now.” Her mouth fell open as she turned to gape at him. He used this opportunity to shut the door and jog around the front of the truck to climb in the driver’s side. Much to his amusement, no matter how much she protested and pouted, she made no effort to get out of the truck.

Owen glared at the driver beside him as the man zoomed forward and cut him off. The aggressive driving maneuver had nearly resulted in a fender bender. That was the last thing Owen needed when he was trying to get home to have some really great sex. “Seriously?” he scoffed, narrowing his eyes angrily at the car that was now in front of him. “You’re just going to cut in and out without signaling or giving anybody any space? Do you think it might be a good idea to make people aware of your intentions before you just start doing things? Idiot could have caused an accident, or worse, killed someone.”

Amelia laughed heartily and rolled her eyes. “That’s pretty rich coming from the guy who, just a few minutes ago,  abruptly threw me over his shoulder. Without my consent, may I add.”

He glanced over at her briefly, smirking. “Actually, Miss Wise-Ass, I beg to differ with your assessment. I made you fully aware of my intentions, but you were being intentionally difficult. And you’re the one who said all she can think about is taking my clothes off. You started this.”

She crossed her arms and turned to look out the passenger window, refusing to make eye contact with him as he gloated. “That’s Dr. Wise-Ass to you,” she muttered.

“My apologies, Doctor,” he said, groaning out her title in that tone of voice he got when he was burying himself inside of her. Despite her attempts at hiding it, he could see the way her cheeks flushed and her thighs clenched together as arousal surged through her body upon hearing the tone of his voice. He smiled and turned back to look at the road, very pleased to have gotten her exactly where he wanted her.

“I’m not sleeping with you. I’m just putting that out there,” Amelia leant against the doorframe while Owen fumbled with the keys, “I do not give in that easily, not after what just transpired between you and Tom.”

Her pent up frustration began to bubble up again when she heard Owen mutter, “We’ll see about that.” The lock clicked as the deadbolt slid free and he pushed open the door, “You’re free to leave, if you please.” His smirk was now more infuriating than ever. “But I don’t think you’d enjoy going home alone anywhere near as much as what I have planned for you in there.”

She rubbed her forehead, head tilted slightly to the side. “Owen…”, Amelia began without having planned out anything else to say.

“I’ll take that as a ‘Yes! Please satisfy my every desire Owen!’ then,” he gleefully announced. Before she could utter a sound, she once again found herself being thrown over Owen’s shoulder.  

“What the fuck, Owen?” Her legs squirmed and wriggled in protest, though her giggles gave away her genuine enjoyment of the situation, “Should I just expect to be hanging over your shoulder with my ass in the air for the rest of the evening?”

Owen ignored her. Instead, he pushed the front door closed and paraded through the house and toward the master bedroom. Finally, he put her back down.

Again he took an annoying suggestive step toward her, his face now only centimeters away from hers. “Would you please stop pretending to protest?” He smirked. “It’s just slowing down the process. We both know that we will be naked and in that bed momentarily. So let’s quit wasting time arguing about it like children.” And then he saw it, the flash of dirty in her eyes. The look that made men crumble with arousal. She wasn’t going anywhere.

Her small hands ran up his torso, digging her nails into his skin lightly through the thin material of his shirt. “It’s highly inappropriate for you to compare us having a discussion about sex to arguing about it like children.” Fully aware of the game she was playing, Owen relished in the feeling of her small, nimble fingers exploring every inch of his body. Without hesitation his hands ran down her back and cupped her ass, pulling her body flush against his.

“I’m bored of arguing now,” he whispered as his lips finally made contact with hers. This time, though, Amelia made no attempt to stop him. Her lips sucked on his bottom one before his tongue brushed past her lips and began fighting with hers for dominance. His hands travelled back up to her head, taking control of the kiss. Meanwhile Amelia’s fingers where skilfully unbuckling his belt, unbuttoning his jeans, and pushing them down his thighs.

Breaking the kiss for a split second, her eyes met his before she pushed him back and watched as he fell against the soft mattress. She pulled his jeans off and left them in a crumpled heap on the floor. She took a step toward him, and his arms were quickly around her waist, pulling her on top of him, her crotch resting painfully close to his.

His hand quickly rid her of her shirt while she began unbuttoning his shirt, their lips only parting when necessary. Amelia yelped when all of a sudden Owen flipped them over and began tracing her skin with soft kisses. His lips travelled along her jaw, down her neck - sucking at her most sensitive areas -  over her collarbone, between her breasts and down her stomach. All the while, his fingers worked away at unbuttoning and removing her jeans.

She began to squirm with pleasure under him as his lips teased the hem of her panties while his hands firmly held her in place by her hips, “Owen….” she moaned multiple times, hinting at him to stop teasing and start doing.

He ran his tongue over her through her panties, thoroughly enjoying how turned on she was. Then, without further warning, he pulled her panties down and slipped two fingers in while his tongue began to circle her clit. Every single one of Amelia’s nerve endings was on fire. She had forgotten just how well he knew her body, just how easily he could reduce her to a quivering mess with a few well-placed licks and strokes.

As he picked up his pace, he felt Amelia’s walls begin to contract around his fingers, getting closer and closer to the release that was now the only thing on her mind. He replaced his tongue with his thumb and began trailing his way back up her stomach and chest.

Amelia’s nails dug into his shoulders as she encouraged him to keep going, her lips now on his. As a wave of pleasure rippled through her, she unintentionally bit down on his bottom lip, drawing out a deep, loud moan from the pair of them.

Now desperate for release Owen, without warning, pulled out his fingers and entered her painfully slowly - drawing out sounds from her that only he had ever been able to coax out. Not that she planned on telling him that. His hips began to grind against her, slowly picking up the pace.

Out of the blue, Amelia flipped them so she was now on top. The view he was rewarded with only made him harder inside of her. As she began to rock back and forth, her hips circling against his, his hands grabbed onto the top of her thighs, keeping her in place, matching his tempo to hers.

As he felt her walls begin to contract around him again, he sat up smirking. “I thought I was supposed to be proving to you why I’m the best at this,” he said, a bit breathless from their activities. His lips met hers again, and she did not protest as she permitted him to flip them back over, allowing him to make good on what he’d been promising her all evening.

His hips picked up even more speed as with each thrust he went deeper and deeper. Her nails were digging into the back of his head while her tongue worked against his. Then he felt her entire body begin to spasm, every muscle contracting and relaxing with pleasure.

She was barely able to emit words as his thumb began to circle her clit again.  All she could do was gasp and moan as he pulled wave after wave of pleasure from her. They were both so close to their respective climaxes. Sweating from raw desire and exertion, he felt her walls begin to clench around his hard member. He watched as her body squirmed with pleasure below him, and with one final clenching of her walls she drew out his orgasm.

His face fell into the crook of her neck while her arms were lazily wrapped around his shoulders. Both still too sensitive to move after their respective orgasms, they simply lay there, the sounds of their loud moans still reverberating through their minds.

It was a while before they peeled themselves away from one another. Owen lay on his side facing her, his head propped up against his hand. Amelia, on the other hand, lay on her stomach, her head resting against the pillow her arms were wrapped around.

“I hate you so much right now,” Amelia sighed contently, turning her head to face him. Owen simply smirked and pulled the bed sheet a little higher up her back so she wouldn’t get cold.

His smile never faded as his finger began to delicately trace the length of her spine, “Well, as a particularly annoying neurosurgeon once told me, hate is the most powerful of aphrodisiacs.”

“I will admit that this was great,” she jokingly rolled her eyes in defeat, “but could you please tone down the cockiness? I think it’s quite obvious by now that you won this one.”

“You should see your face,” he inched closer to her, his eyes sparkling with mischief, “there is no way you will be able to hide your ‘I just had mind-blowing sex’ glow.”

“That’s it! I’m getting the rusty scalpel,” she laughed, pulling back the bed sheet slightly and making an effort to get up.

Before she could even swing her legs off the side of the bed, Owen’s strong arms were wrapped around her waist, pulling her back down onto the soft mattress.

I meant to be a productive human tonight, but then I saw the anon prompt on @omeliafics about an Omelia child getting carsick, and I just had to write it, so here we are. I hope you all enjoy. Prepare for all of the sappiness.

For reference, here is the exact prompt: “Prompt for anyone to write- Omelia kid gets carsick or airsick.”

Carsickness

“Mama,” called Ella Hunt from the back seat of the family’s SUV. Owen, Amelia, and Ella were in the car driving to Los Angeles to visit Megan Hunt, Nathan Riggs, and all of Amelia’s friends from her time in LA. So far, the car ride had been going swimmingly. Ella was a very obedient, well-behaved child, so things had gone smoothly. Amelia guessed that Ella must have gotten her temperament from her father because Amelia had never been so calm and obedient as a child (or an adult, for that matter). Nonetheless, Amelia was glad that her daughter had been so self-sufficient so far. It had certainly made the drive much more pleasant. Now, at the sound of her daughter’s voice, Amelia turned from her position in the passenger seat to face her daughter and see what she needed.

“What’s up, kiddo?” Amelia asked, smiling at the eight year-old in the back seat. Her smile faltered a bit as she noticed that her daughter didn’t look comfortable. 

“My tummy feels bad,” the little girl whispered.

Amelia frowned, throwing a glance at Owen who was driving the SUV before turning back to her daughter in the back seat. “What do you mean by ‘bad,’ baby girl?” she asked, eyebrows knitting in concern.

“I feel like I’m gonna puke,” Ella moaned, leaning over to lay herself flat in the back seat as she wrapped her arms across her stomach.

“Owen,” Amelia whispered insistently. “Ella’s sick. Pull over at the rest stop that’s coming up in a mile.”

Owen sighed in exasperation. “Amelia, we’re getting close to LA. I’m sure she’ll be fine. Can we please just finish driving there and get her some Sprite once we’ve checked into our hotel?”

Owen chanced a glance at Amelia, but once he did, he regretted it. If looks could kill, he would be dead right now. “No, Owen,” Amelia grated out, whispering so that their daughter wouldn’t hear her parents arguing. “Ella never complains. She’s gotta be feeling like crap if she’s telling us about it. So pull the car over right now and let me take care of our daughter.”

Owen could tell that this wasn’t an argument he was likely to win, so he obediently pulled off the interstate and into the rest stop. He watched as his wife sprang out of the front seat and ran around to the back. She pulled the door open, unbuckled their daughter’s seatbelt, and hoisted her into her arms. “Come here, sweet girl,” Amelia whispered as she swiftly carried their daughter into the rest stop. As Owen watched the scene, he noticed that Ella’s face looked quite pale. Of course Amelia had been right. It looked like Ella really was ill.

Amelia walked swiftly into the women’s bathroom with her daughter on her hip. Her heart broke as she listened to her daughter’s whimpers and moans. “Mama, what’s happening? Why does my tummy feel so bad?” 

“Oh, sweetheart,” Amelia cooed in sympathy. “You’re getting carsick. Your Aunt Nancy used to get this way all the time. It’s when driving in a car makes your tummy feel bad. You’re probably going to throw up now.” As she said this, Amelia walked into a stall in the restroom and squatted on the floor in front of the toilet, setting her daughter down as she did so. She quickly pulled the hair elastic off of her wrist and used it to pull Ella’s hair back in a loose bun. Right as she finished, Ella leaned over the toilet and began to wretch. Amelia frowned, her heart twisting as she watched her daughter vomit repeatedly into the toilet.

“Mama,” the little girl moaned out between bouts of vomiting.

“I know, baby, I know,” Amelia cooed, gently running her hand up and down the girl’s back. Her heart broke as she realized that her daughter had started to cry. “I know it feels awful, darling. Just take some big, deep breaths for Mama. It will all be over soon. Just a few big, deep breaths and it will all be over.”

After a few more rounds of vomiting, it seemed like Ella had finally expelled all she had to give. The small child collapsed exhaustedly against the stall wall, eyes shining with tears. “Alright, sweetheart, would you like to go sit out on the couch in the hallway with Mama?” Amelia asked, her heart still breaking for her daughter’s pain. The little girl nodded wordlessly. “Alright then, let’s head on out,” Amelia said as she picked her daughter up, placed her on her hip, and carried her out of the bathroom.

Once they reached the hallway, Amelia sat down on the couch between the men’s and women’s bathrooms and set her daughter on her lap. As she gently ran her hand over the little girl’s hair, she whispered, “How are you feeling, my love?”

Amelia could see the tears sparkling in her daughter’s eyes. Ella rarely cried, so if there were tears, she must have really felt awful. “My tummy hurts a lot, Mama,” she moaned.

Amelia frowned sympathetically. “I think it’s sore from all of the throwing up,” she whispered, bring her hand down to stroke her daughter’s back. “How would you like a tummy rub?” Ella looked up at her mother and offered a small nod as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Alright, my dear, let’s get you laid down, then,” Amelia said as she turned her daughter sideways before laying her down softly so that Ella’s back was resting across Amelia’s lap, her head was resting on the couch to Amelia’s left, and her legs were across the couch to Amelia’s right.

As the little girl was spread out on the couch, she reflexively brought her arms down to cross over her aching stomach. “Ella, sweetie, I need you to move your arms so I can rub your tummy,” Amelia whispered gently before sliding the girl’s arms up to rest across her chest. Ella offered no resistance. With Ella’s arms now out of the way, Amelia placed her right hand on the little girl’s stomach and began to gently massage it. “There you go, sweet girl,” she whispered, rubbing gentle circles on the girl’s abdomen. “Just take some deep breaths and close your eyes, and you’ll feel better very soon. Big, deep breaths for Mama. That’s a good girl.”

Within five minutes, Ella’s breathing evened out and she fell asleep, her exhausted body slumping over her mother’s lap. Right on cue, Owen came over to the couch to speak to Amelia. “How’s my little princess doing?” he asked tenderly.

Amelia shot him a glare, still a little angry about the way he’d brushed off their daughter’s illness. “Well, if you’re really that curious,” she began, receiving a wince in response from Owen, “my little girl went into the bathroom and repeatedly puked her guts out until she had nothing left to puke. Once she was done with that, she was crying because her stomach hurt from all the puking. I took her out her to the couch to help her relax. I’ve been rubbing her stomach for a while, and she finally fell asleep just now. We should probably take her out to the car now and see if we can finish the drive before she wakes up.”

Owen had the good sense to nod, remorsefully. “Great idea, Amelia,” he whispered. “Thanks for helping her out. Do you want me to carry her to the car?”

He had thought that his offer was going to win him some points with his wife, but he was sorely mistaken. Instead of the grateful smile he thought he’d be receiving, he received another glare. “No, that’s not necessary,” she bit out. “I finally got her to sleep after copious amounts of vomit and tears, and I really don’t want to take the risk that she wakes up and starts feeling like crap again. I’ll carry her to the car and get her buckled in. Could you please just drive us the rest of the way to LA and try not to jerk the car so much that you wake her up and get her carsick all over again?”

Owen had the good sense to nod silently, doing exactly as she told him. Amelia was clearly not in the mood to hear his opinions, and he wasn’t in the mood to incur the wrath of Amelia. He silently followed her out to the car and watched as she gently placed their daughter into the back seat before buckling her in and tenderly stroking the hair back from her face. Once she had Ella settled in and the back door closed, Amelia ran around to the front seat and did her best to get in the car slowly so that the rocking of the vehicle wouldn’t wake the sleeping little girl in the back seat.

Owen waited until they had been on the road for about 15 minutes before finally speaking up. “You know, today was kind of a beautiful day,” he said softly, turning to look over his shoulder at Amelia.

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Owen was met with a glare from Amelia. “What exactly makes this day beautiful, Owen?” she asked, clearly exasperated. “We’ve been in the car for more hours than I can count, and our poor daughter got so carsick that she puked until she got stomach cramps. What part of that is beautiful to you?”

As much as he tried to stop himself from smiling, Owen simply couldn’t. The contented smile broke out over his face before he could stop it. “The part where we have a daughter,” he began. “If you had asked me ten years ago whether I was ever going to be a father, I would’ve told you there was no way,” he said, his voice growing a bit quieter. “And even more than that, the way you were everything Ella ever needed or wanted today. Do you remember what you told me when you were pregnant with her?”

Amelia stared back at Owen as if he had grown another head. Just what in the hell was he talking about?

Owen read her confusion and elaborated on his observation. “All throughout your pregnancy, you told me that you weren’t cut out to be a mom. You told me you weren’t the nurturing type. You told me that the world had left you too jaded, and that you had no idea how to be tender and gentle. You told me that sarcasm was the only language you knew, and that I was going to have to do all of the soft parts of parenting because you just didn’t have it in you.”

Owen could see Amelia’s face beginning to soften, so he forged on. “Well, today, I was the one who was too hardened by the world. You told me our baby girl was sick, and I wanted to keep driving. But then your inner mama bear came out, and you made me stop the car. And then you took our little girl into the rest stop and held her while she was sick. Then you cuddled her in the aftermath, and you made her pain go away, and you made her feel safe. In all of that unpleasantness, all she wanted was her Mama, and her Mama was there for her.”

By now, tears were starting to form in Amelia’s eyes. Damn Owen for making her all emotional about their daughter getting carsick. As Amelia wiped the tears from her face, Owen continued to speak. “You are the most incredible mother, Amelia. Ella adores you. You are her entire world. Don’t get me wrong, I know she loves me too, but when something is wrong and she wants someone to make the world right again, you’re the only person she wants to talk to. You’re her lullaby singer, her waffle maker, the only person who knows just how much syrup to put in her chocolate milk, her hair braider, her favorite dress-up partner, and, as much as I hate to admit it, her favorite bedtime story reader. Ella knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that she hit the mom lottery, and she wants to spend every moment of every day with you. It is an honor to parent a child with you, Amelia. I can’t think of a more amazing woman for the job, and neither can Ella.”

So I am SO GLAD @omeliafics is back I have missed them so much!!! Naturally, this prompt is one of theirs. It read ‘pregnant Amelia stealing Owen’s scrub tops because she can’t fit into hers. Lots of cute and happy stuff:))’ and I think this fic is pretty cute. It’s short, because I didn’t wanna force more than I felt it needed, but it’s super cute. I hope you guys like it. Thankyou to the anon who sent in the prompt! You guys are awesome.

Whilst Amelia couldn’t argue against anyone who said scrubs felt like pyjamas and they really weren’t the worst thing at all to have to wear for long periods of time, her scrubs were starting not to fit in her in certain places, and that made them a gigantic pain in her ass.

She had been trying to get along with them as is, trying to make it work, persevering. It had been driving her so mad she felt like she was a bomb all ready to explode as soon as it’s timer had ticked down to zero. She was fast approaching zero.

She pulled open the top drawer of the large dresser that sat in her and Owen’s bedroom and reached in for a new pair of scrubs, having put the ones she had been wearing in the wash the day before. She grabbed the folded clothes with one hand, held them for a few seconds, and put them back where they had been. Instead, she reached for the larger pair that was sitting beside them. She pulled them out of the drawer and set the pants aside, she was only interested in the top. She let the top unfold and held it out in front of her. It was absolutely huge, but these days so was she. She stuffed it in her bag and hoped no one would notice, after all, what was Owen’s was also hers, or at least, that’s what she was going to tell him if he found out.

Amelia stepped out of the OR and into the hallway, pulling off her scrub cap and leaning against the wall. People had been urging her to slow down or take a break for weeks, but as long as she was still capable of doing her job, she planned to continue. The lil’ suckers weren’t half making it hard for her though, she was tired literally all the time and since she couldn’t have coffee, things had been going brilliantly as far as her mental state. The scrub top though, the scrub top fitted perfectly. It fit absolutely perfectly. It wasn’t tight and it didn’t rise up when she moved in certain ways. That had basically been the only good thing about her day. It was a relief to be able to wear clothing that actually fit.

“I knew it. I knew it.” Came a voice from down the other end of the hallway.

Owen, also clad in his scrubs and scrub cap, was walking down the hallway towards where Amelia was standing.

“I knew it.” He said again, pointing at her this time.

“Enlighten me? Go on.” Amelia asked, rather confused since this statement was coming out of absolutely nowhere.

“That,” He pointed to her top. “Is mine.” He said, a grin plastered across his face as he spoke. “It’s mine.” He said again.

“Well you know what they say, what’s yours is mine. I mean, it’s basically why I married you.” She teased, a grin now displaying itself on her face even when she tried to hide it and pretend she was serious.

“You could have just asked.” He said, smiling at his wife’s actions.

“Yeah, I liked it better this way.” Amelia smirked, resting a hand on her large baby bump and giving it a gentle rub. “So did the girls.” She teased.

“My own children? Betraying me?” Owen said, pretending he was offended.

“I guess they like their mother better, after all I am growing them all by myself. You just, put the crib together.” Amelia said, doing a better job at pretending she was serious this time.

“You’re lucky I love you.” Owen said, leaning forward to give her a quick kiss.

Hey guys, I was watching the scenes from episode 12 and it just got me thinking… I don’t usually write a different story while working on something else, but I was probably going to forget about the idea I had. I didn’t plan for it to take this turn but the story got a life of its own :) 

Oh, I am in a hurry for a double shift so I didn’t ask anyone to proofread. I apologize in advance for my mistakes. The title isn’t coincidental.

Maybe This Time

Amelia nervously tapped her fingers on the working desk, too anxious for the computer results. During the past week, as she watched her patient being submitted to radiotherapy to treat a recurrent tumor, the neurosurgeon had struggled to come up with a viable plan that might allow her team to properly fund their ambitious plan.

While she knew the procedure was a sort of a Hail Mary and had its flaws, Amelia was desperately in need of something that would give her patient hope.

Maybe the reason behind all that was that she needed something to give her hope.

Lately, her life had been nothing but a mess. After a failed marriage, which she refused to think much about, and a brain tumor that had given Amelia answers about her impulsivity but had also served to confuse her feelings even more, the neurosurgeon longed for something that would be good and actually help someone. It was actually easier to focus her energy on the study for Kimmie’s tumor and devote her entire time to it than trying to figure out the mess that her personal life had become.

“So, have you come up with anything yet?”

Amelia’s thoughts were distracted by the sound of Alex Karev’s words and she saw the look of defeat on his face. Much to her own dismay, he also hadn’t been successful to get any kind of support for their project. It pretty much seemed like a dead end for them. Even Bello and DeLuca were losing motivation and Amelia couldn’t blame them. There were several other projects out there that were soaring and the eager interns probably would rather spend their time actually learning something than staying immersed on a computer all day doing research.

Alex gazed at the neurosurgeon and saw the consternation on her face.

“It looks like we’re really going to lose this battle,” Karev commented, obviously unhappy about it.

Amelia hated that situation. And she hated what she was about to propose. But then she thought of Kimmie’s joy and the girl’s happiness at sharing her gift with the world. Something had to be done.

“Not yet,” Amelia said with determination, looking into Alex’s eyes. “I have an idea…”

.

“You have to be kidding me,” Thomas Koracick’s annoyance was obvious not only in his voice, but also on the look on his face and the way he walked, “you have to be freaking kidding me.”

“Look, Tom, I…”

“YOU tricked me here saying you had a groundbreaking project for me,” Koracick nearly hissed, looking at his former’s student with impatience. “I actually bailed on presenting a case at the American College of Surgeons and got on a flight to this hell hole because I believed you and this is what you have for me?” he frowned, absolutely irritated. “HIFU? Are you kidding me?”

Amelia sighed heavily, knowing she shouldn’t be surprised. A couple of days before, she had gotten in touch with her former boss at Johns Hopkins. Tom Koracick ran the neurosurgical department there and had more resources at his disposal than anyone else she could remember. A few weeks prior to that, Tom had flown over to operate on her brain tumor and he’d even stuck around to help her get her department back on track once she was recovered. Before he could return to Hopkins, the two of them had slept together but Amelia knew it hadn’t really meant anything. Not to her, at least, and she supposed that not for Tom either.

For Amelia, it had been all about having a rebound after her complicated separation from her husband. It still sounded funny to think of Owen as that, since they weren’t even living in the same house anymore… But until their divorce was finalized, Amelia knew that technically, that was what he was.

And for Tom, sleeping with her had probably been about his own ego. Amelia knew he was a womanizer and even though during her residency the guy had been extremely professional, never had he hidden the fact that if Amelia ever gave him an opening, he wouldn’t hesitate to sleep with her. She had never really been interested, especially while he was her boss. But now, the two of them were at a leveled position, both ran neurosurgical departments and Amelia had impulsively done it. Physically, it had felt okay, but emotionally, Amelia knew it hadn’t really meant anything.

“It has never been tested on brain tumors before…” Amelia tried to reason and hopefully convince him.

“Oh, why do you think that is?” Koracick sarcastically asked, looking at her as if she should have known better. HIFU, or high frequency focused ultrasound was a non-invasive method that recently was being studied to treat tumors. That wasn’t exactly news in the surgical word.

“No one has really studied it on brain tumors…” Amelia sheepishly gave it another try.

“Yes, exactly!” Koracick interrupted her. “I am sure I don’t need to tell you that even if you successfully blast tumor cells with this new technology there is just no way you can guarantee clean margins and without the full, resection the likelihood that the tumor…”

“…will grow back is high, I know, I know,” Amelia sighed, hating to admit he was right. On tumors that could be later operated or managed with follow up, the HIFU method seemed like a good option. But for brain tumors, there were no guarantees it would work on the long run. “But it could help her buy some time and who knows even…”

“This is exactly why your project got rejected,” during the brief time he’d been at the hospital, Thomas had been brought to speed on the contest and saw the few projects that had made it. “It’s not cost effective, you should know that” he condescendingly rolled his eyes at her. “It doesn’t matter how noble your intentions are, Shepherd. Haven’t you learned this by now? Why would anyone in their right minds invest money on a study that promises no different outcome than a partial resection would?”

“You’re being extremely pessimistic!” Amelia lost her patience with him. “You’re putting all these obstacles when you’ve barely given me a chance to try.” She understood his frustration but he was throwing a bucket of ice water on her plans and that infuriated her.

Especially because she couldn’t refute any of his arguments.

“Look, you know I would love to help you if I could but my hands are tied,” Koracick sighed heavily, regaining some of his calmness. “Trust me, I deal with this kind of debacle all the time and I know you desperately want to help this kid, but it’s better if you just play it clean with the family instead of playing God here, okay?” Amelia scowled, hating to feel like once again he was the professor and she the inexperienced intern, but at the moment, it was exactly how she felt. “I have promised Catherine I’d have dinner with her. She wants me to properly meet her husband,” the neurosurgeon rolled his eyes, as if he was dreading the idea. “I am sorry I can’t help you.”

Amelia watched as Tom Koracick left, hating the fact she couldn’t really hate him for what he was doing. In his place, she probably would have done the same. And now she was back to square one.

For the rest of the day, Amelia stayed immersed in her project, trying to think about any loopholes she could fix to make the idea more tempting for Koracick. She knew he would be in town at least until the following day, so she was racing the clock.

After hours reading in front of the computer, too focused on what she was studying, the click of the door handle started Amelia, causing her to nearly jump from her chair at the unexpected interruption.

“Uh, sorry…” a deep male voice spoke in a low tone. “I had no idea the room was taken.”

Amelia looked up to meet the eyes of the man she was married to. Other than the brief, awkward encounter at the house when she’d walked in on him having breakfast with another woman, they hadn’t really been alone in the same room ever since the day they’d returned their wedding bands to each other.

“It’s okay,” Amelia rubbed her tired eyes, shocked to realize it was nearly midnight. “I was just reading and lost track of time.”

“I was printing some papers earlier today and I think I left my phone charger here somewhere,” Owen justified his presence, pointing at his dead phone. “I’ve been looking for it everywhere and realized I last used it here.”

Amelia got up from her chair and helped him look, scrolling through the files and forgotten objects in the room that was mainly used by interns and residents.

For the following seconds, the neurosurgeon unsuccessfully tried to find the charger, but the lingering silence was growing uncomfortable by the second.

“So…” she cleared her throat, eager to make small talk, “you’re on the liver project, right?” Amelia distractedly asked. She wasn’t really sure. “How is that working out?”

“I was actually trying for a clot factor study but I dropped it,” Owen answered with a shrug. He saw the question on her face and elaborated, “research is not really my thing.”

“Yeah, you’ve always been more of a do-er than a planner,” Amelia smiled.

The neurosurgeon failed to realize at the time of her comment just how personal she sounded. But Owen captured the intimacy it implied and he avoided thinking much about it, choosing instead to focus on his search.

“Why clot factors, though?” Amelia asked after a few seconds of silence.

“I had read about this chained Polymer that was isolated not long ago,” Owen explained. “It basically adheres to hepatocytes and you can sort of choose the cell you’re working with.”

“Really?” Amelia frowned heavily, uncontrollably assaulted by ideas. “You mean like a selective binding protein?”

“Yeah, there is a full catalogue of those at Polymer that have been isolated but even though it sounds good, it’s not very viable for out type of research,” Owen added. “It has an extremely high cost and the patents are just insanely hard to get.”

“Can you tell me more about your clot factor work?” Amelia asked. The more information she had, the better would be to fit all puzzles together.

“Uh… Okay,” Owen saw the eagerness on her face and agreed. It was late and he was tired, but if that was going to make her happy, he could stick around for a few more minutes.

Very patiently, Owen sat down near a computer and logged into a system. For the following minutes, he thoroughly explained Amelia about the idea he’d had. During the entire time, it became kind of hard to ignore her presence. Especially when she stood so close like that. Was it just him, or did her hair smell especially good today?

“This is actually very helpful,” Amelia leaned forward to examine the computer screen a little closer, unaware of the reactions she was causing on the man sitting right next to her.

Owen closed his eyes and swallowed hard. He really shouldn’t be having those thoughts. Well technically, he should, because the woman responsible for invoking those feelings was his wife, but a thousand complications and unspoken issues stood in the way and he really didn’t want to deal with his feelings.

“Do you mind if I print this?” Amelia looked at him with expectation in her eyes.

Owen knew her well enough to realize she was up to something. And judging by the look on her face, it was good.

“Sure,” he instantly agreed, satisfied that his abandoned project had served at least to the purpose of making her smile like that again. He hadn’t seen in ever since the day she’d left their home and his life. “Feel free to use it.”

“Thank you,” Amelia shyly bit her lower lip and made eye contact with him, seeing the warmth in his eyes. She smiled brightly and tried to ignore the way her heart accelerated when he smiled back. “Good night, Owen.”

“Good night,” he reluctantly left the room, knowing that it was the wisest decision.

.

“So you’re telling me you want me to fund a multi million project in which you’ll basically buy the most expensive protein I’ve ever seen so you can blast it with high frequency waves?” Tom Koracick frowned, looking at Amelia with a mix of surprise and admiration.

“Precisely,” Amelia smiled widely, struggling to contain her excitement, “but the real catch here is that, when I blast those cells, the whole tumor will be gone.”

“I don’t know this is insane or purely genius,” Koracick commented, skimming through the paper that had her detailed project.

Amelia had spent the last ten hours coming up with the plan. Her body was tired, but her mind was too alert and excited for her to want to sleep.

“Where did you get the idea?” Koracick frowned, hating that he didn’t have it first.

“A colleague inspired me,” Amelia confessed. “He was going for something along those lines and I adapted his idea to mine.”

“Get him here,” Koracick unceremoniously demanded.

Amelia desperately needed Tom to embark on the project, because she depended on him to finance it. So she decided not to refute. Grabbing her cell phone, she called Owen, gently asking if he could meet her in one of the conference rooms.

About fifteen minutes later, the trauma surgeon joined them, supposing Amelia needed help with something they’d discussed the previous night. But to his surprise, he found her sitting next to Thomas Koracick, the same guy who had taken out her tumor.

Before Owen could ask any questions, Amelia started to fill him on what she’d spent the entire night working with. After Owen had introduced her to the Polymer idea, she had basically filtered through a huge catalog, finding the heaviest binding protein she could that would link to a receptor present only in cancerous cells. Those would heavily increase the mass of the tumor, including the tissue near the margins. Then, once with the ultrasound technique she was working on, it would be possible to work with the HIFU at a frequency that not only would kill the sick cells, but also make sure they had clean margins. Without the heavy Polymer, it was hard to tell and adjust the machine to sort out the diseased tissues from the healthy one, but once Amelia made the cancer cells much heavier, chances of success were incredibly higher.

“This is a brilliant idea,” he stated with conviction after taking a look at her initial proposal. “But the cost would be beyond the charts,” Owen affirmed, certain it would be a problem. “I mean, this Polymer chain you selected costs nearly twice as much as the one I had. It’s going to increase the cost of the project. And it’s not guaranteed it’ll work.”

Amelia was aware of that. She on purpose kept silence, sneakily turning her head to the side very slowly until her eyes finally met Tom’s.

“Give me a concrete reason why I should invest my money on this,” the arrogant surgeon demanded, raising his eyebrows.

“I am going to make history treating gliomas. And if you don’t fund my idea, I am going to sell it to someone who is going to make it happen.” Amelia raised her eyebrows in defiance. “And if I do that, your name won’t be on the paper when it gets published,” she sneakily reminded him, knowing nothing would infuriate Koracick more than letting an opportunity pass. “You’ll lose.”

Tom narrowed his eyes, studying Amelia’s features. She was serious, he knew it. Rolling his eyes, the prestigious surgeon finally made up his mind.

“Fine, but you’re going to report to me. I am going to be here when we use the HIFU for the first time. My name goes before yours on the project,” he dared her, seeing on Amelia’s scowl that she hated it. “And keep this guy, he clearly is more familiar than us with the Polymer thing.”

“No, thanks,” Owen straightforwardly answered. He wouldn’t mind doing it if it was for Amelia, but he had never sympathized with the guy who had once been her mentor and he definitely wasn’t going to be a part of something that would benefit him more than the true author of the project.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Amelia protested Koracick’s terms. “Hell no. Your name is not going before mine.”

“These are my conditions, it’s give or take,” Koracick said in a final tone.

“God… I hate you!” Amelia complained. But she knew she couldn’t give it up. Koracick was her only chance to keep the project going and most importantly, actually give Kimmie a chance. The hard work was just beginning and she would need a lot of help, but it all started with the funding.

“I have a plane to catch, you keep me updated,” Koracick wickedly winked in her direction, loving that he was coming out on top. And just as he was reaching the door, Amelia was collecting her stuff and Owen was logging out the computer, the controversial surgeon turned around, unable to help himself. “If you thought that sleeping with me would give you special treatment, you better think again, Shepherd,” he smirked, knowing he was causing a scene. Even though Amelia hadn’t said it, Koracick had recognized the guy in the room as the husband she’d recently separated from. He was glad he was leaving, because fixing marital drama wasn’t his thing. He was much better at causing it. “Email me as soon as you have phase one initiated.”

Koracick exited without another word, leaving Amelia in absolute shock. Not because he had been inappropriate, rude and extremely unprofessional. She was used to his teasing and didn’t mind it when it was just the two of them. But at that moment, her heart was racing and she had an awful feeling in her stomach.

Amelia knew that, by the time she’d slept with Koracick, she and Owen had already broken things off. She also knew that he had no right to judge her on it, considering he had pretty much slept with the first woman he found right after that.

But she was well aware of how possessive men could be. Especially men like Owen. And she recalled just how they’d agreed to blame all the problems of their marriage on her brain tumor, as if her feelings for him had been questionable while Owen didn’t really have a similar excuse to justify why he’d broken the marriage…

“Owen, I…”

“Good luck with your project,” he violently shut off the computer without waiting for it to properly turn off.

It was obvious he was furious and Amelia got instantly mad at that too.

“You can’t be serious, right?” she asked him just as Owen was about to exit through the door. “Are you really that upset that I had a one night stand? Really?” she followed him to the door, hoping Owen would calm down. He had always failed at keeping rational when he was furious like that. And she was actually surprised that he had been so bothered by it, to the point of getting that mad. “You spent the past weeks fooling around with that…”

“Don’t,” Owen grabbed her slim wrist and stopped Amelia from touching him just as she’d been about to. “Don’t say anything. You don’t owe me any explanations,” Amelia looked at him and instead of the warm, caring eyes, she found the scowl of a guy who was just too mad to even pretend he was okay. “You are a free woman. You can do whatever you want,” he said and Amelia instantly noticed his calm, rational speech completely contrasted with his infuriated reaction. But even though she noticed something was off, never would she be prepared to hear what would come next. “If you have to sleep with Koracick to get funding for your project, then so be it,” he cruelly accused her, knowing he was being extremely unfair. But Owen couldn’t help himself. The news had caught him totally off guard, and the way it had infuriated him had surprised him even more. “Next time just leave me out of it, okay? I don’t want to be a part of another one of your games.”

Amelia felt the blow the instant the words fired out of Owen’s mouth. She didn’t know what hurt her the most, the way he had cruelly accused her of something they both knew wasn’t true, or the cold look on his face as he’d done it.

The first tear rolled on her cheek, enraging Amelia even more.

Screw Owen, she thought, trying to contain the tears that insisted on falling. He had been the one to change his mind… It had been Owen the one to break off their marriage… It had also been Owen the one to jump into someone else’s bed and take a random woman to the house they’d once shared the minute she’d left the house. So he had no right to play that low.

How dare him accuse her of that? Amelia sighed heavily, heartbreak and hurt slowly being replaced by anger and determination. Briefly, she thought about giving up the project and telling Owen to shove his Polymer idea up his ass. But she couldn’t do that because Kimmie’s life depended on it.

And as she went on with her day, blaming exhaustion and sleep deprivation rather than her hurt feelings for the way she struggled to keep focus, Amelia felt more determined to make her innovative project work. It was the only thing in her life worth focusing on.