greenland | owen hunt

❧ CHAPTER 65

BEFORE THE DEPARTURE

Waking up to an empty bed was something Owen was expecting. Getting the kids ready and going to the hospital was something Owen was expecting. Going to the hospital and not finding his wife there was something Owen was expecting.

Not finding his kids in daycare after dropping them off was something he was not expecting. 

Owen was, to say the least, slightly panicking at the disappearance of his wife and kids and began to think she pulled a Meredith with the kids.

So, after a huge trauma hit Grey Sloan and the hospital team had it all covered, Owen reached into his pocket and called Natalia... multiple times until she picked up.

Natalia, who had taken the kids to the cemetery for half of the day to visit their uncles and Lexie, who Natalia told the kids was their aunt, watched the twins lowly talk to Lexie as she finally looked at her phone and answered, "Hello?"

"Natalia," Owen began, his anger getting the best of him since it had been a stressful day, "where the hell did you take the kids?"

Natalia's eyes widened at his tone before speaking, "I-I went to the cemetery, I took them to visit Derek, Mark, and Lexie."

Owen closed his eyes, taking a deep inhale before he spoke again, "I'm sorry, I--"

"I'll drop the kids off at daycare before I go to the airport." She responded with a cold, distant voice, "I'm not pulling a 'Meredith,' I'll be back in a month."

"Nat--" Owen stopped himself upon hearing the call drop and brought his hands to his face as Jackson walked over.

"Hey," Jackson greeted as he chewed on a granola bar, gesturing to the phone in Owen's hand, "was that--?"

"Yeah," Owen smiled tightly as he sighed, "it was Natalia and I blew it."

Jackson frowned his eyebrows, queuing Owen to commence a very long tangent on how he messed up his marriage with Natalia. Jackson almost regretted his decision in asking after Owen's rant turned into how much he loved her.

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After dropping off the kids at daycare and saying goodbye, Natalia rushed over to the nurses station to page April and Jackson 9-1-1 to a random conference room.

"Hey," April smiled, trying to make conversation with Jackson as she entered and had her pager in hand, "...you got paged, too?"

"Yeah," Jackson nodded, frowning his eyebrows as he looked around, "I don't--" The pair quickly turned their heads to the previously opened door as it was now closed and Natalia appeared by the glass with a notepad and paper.

Natalia smiled before showing them what she wrote in the notepad, "I'm keeping you guys locked in here until you two TALK."

"This is ridiculous." April scoffed with a chuckle, "W-What about our patients?"

Natalia held up another finger after reading April's lips and a few moments later she showed them the notepad, "I have people covering for you two already. I will not hesitate to stay here all day if I have to."

Natalia smiled at the two before turning around to give them privacy as she thought if she should also get Callie and Arizona together.

❦

After updating another patient's family, Owen walked over to the daycare in hopes of seeing the twins and possibly Natalia. He opened the door and was pleasantly surprised when he saw Thomas and Sarah run over.

"Dr. Hunt," A woman from the daycare center smiled at him, "your wife just dropped them off."

"Oh," Owen looked behind him, "how long ago?"

"Um," The woman tilted her head up in thought, "about an hour ago."

"Oh." Owen nodded, his mood dampened at realizing he had missed his opportunity in talking to her before lifting up Sarah in his arm since she wanted to be carried, "Alright, thank you."

❦

"Mommy!" Thomas' arms flailed around as Natalia parked the car in the hospital parking lot.

Natalia turned around, quirking an eyebrow as she looked at her son, "What happened?"

"Gift for plane!" Sarah smiled, handing over a small lion plushy they had bought with Owen in the morning to show their support in Natalia leaving-- well, it was more or less Owen trying to apologize but since he wasn't there, Natalia just assumed it was a toy they had bought when she was hospitalized and wanted to give her.

❦

"Isn't this against the rules?" Herman asked through Natalia's phone as Natalia walked towards her gate at the airport.

Natalia smiled "I'm not in Greenland yet so, technically, it isn't."

"Mm." Herman hummed with a chuckle, "Did you get the tapes?"

"You mean the fetal surgery videos you've been non-stop calling me about so I won't get rusty while I'm on break? No." Natalia joked, chuckling lightly before sighing deeply, "I'm at the gate and they're boarding."

"Don't get in another plane crash." Herman advised with a chuckle, "Safe travels." She paused for a second, "...Sloan."

Natalia, who was looking back and forth between her ticket and the gate, hummed, "Yeah?"

"...I care about you deeply."

"Mm." Natalia smiled as she held onto her phone, "Herman?"

Nicole cleared her throat, "Yeah?"

"I love you, too."

❦

Sitting by the window seat in the plane, Natalia clutched the small lion plushy the twins gave her as she inhaled deeply and leaned back, trying not to think about the crash. When they were in the air, Natalia looked down at the clouds and smiled. 

Blissfully unaware of Owen's planning back home.

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i LIVE for herman and natalia moments. we stan :}

... next chapter coming soon... 👀