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Instead of dealing with being hurt and alone and afraid that this horrible, empty feeling is all there is, I run from it. I run off, and I sign up for another tour of active duty. We do these things. We run off, and we... we medicate. We do whatever it takes to cover it up and dull the sensation, but it's not normal. We're supposed to feel. We're supposed to love and hate... And hurt and grieve and break and... Be destroyed and... Rebuild ourselves to be destroyed again. That is human. That is humanity. That's... That's being alive. That's the point. That's the entire point. Don't... don't avoid it. Don't... Extinguish it.
Owen Hunt to Amelia Shepherd

Owen Hunt is the Head of Trauma and former Chief of Surgery at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. He previously served in the Army but was honorably discharged due to the death of his entire platoon. He was first married to Cristina Yang and later to Amelia Shepherd, but both marriages ended in divorce. He is currently raising his son Leo Hunt as well as his daughter Allison Hunt with his wife, Teddy Altman.

History[]

Early Life[]

Owen grew up in Seattle, living with his parents and sister Megan just 5 miles from Seattle Grace Hospital. As a child, he used to play soccer, playing left defender. He always used to imagine him and Megan living close to one another, near their parents, raising their kids together, and going on family camping trips and cookouts with their families.[5]

One summer, Owen and Megan went on a family road trip in California but Megan left the map in a rest-stop bathroom. Their father was furious and he refused to pull over and ask for directions. After hours of arguing with Evelyn and the kids complaining, their father just pulled over at a beach and they played there for hours until the sun went down. It was one of the best experiences of his childhood.[6]

When he was almost 10 years old, he won a science award at school and ran home with the certificate. Before he could show his mother, she sat him down and told him that his father had died that day. On top of the grief of losing his father, Owen felt enormous guilt over having been so happy and proud while his mother had had such a bad day.

He attended Harvard. He did his residency at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and then worked at Maryland Shock Trauma before commissioning in the army and becoming an army trauma surgeon.

First Army Tour[]

When Richard Webber offered Owen a job, he initially declined the offer because he hadn't finished his army tour in Iraq.

Returning to Seattle[]

Beginning Relationship with Cristina and PTSD[]

When Owen first came to Seattle Grace, to care for his patients as a Major, he and Cristina had an instant bond. At the same time, Cristina had slipped and been impaled with an icicle, so she was admitted to the hospital as a patient. Owen was there to pull it out and then later kissed her. He then returned after a short time and Cristina and Owen started dating. Cristina first started seeing signs of Owen's ongoing PTSD when Owen had a terrible nightmare due to the blades of the ceiling fan spinning, which was what he last saw before he fell asleep. In his sleep, Owen was strangling Cristina almost to the point of her death. Callie woke up due to the noise just as Owen woke up. It was later revealed in his nightmare Owen was trying to save himself.

Owen immediately wanted to break up with Cristina, due to his sorrow and fear that he might do something like that again to her. Cristina fought it, saying that she was fine and understood why he did what he did. But later, after they had sex for the first time, Cristina admitted she couldn't take it, causing them to break up.

Hospital Shooting[]

While Cristina and Jackson were trying to save Derek's life after he was shot, the shooter shot Owen. Cristina told Meredith to take him to another OR and get the bullet out.[7]

Cristina's Abortion and Becoming Chief[]

When Cristina got pregnant, she stuck to her point of never wanting children and refused to have a proper discussion about with Owen, as she thinks a child should only be welcomed into a family where both parents want it. Thus, she scheduled an appointment for an abortion. He got angry about her decision and the fact that she didn't include him in it and threw her out of their house.

Owen teamed up with Derek, who split up with Meredith over her tampering with his trial, and they started working on Derek's dream house while both claiming not to care about their wives anymore. Owen avoided Cristina and her calls, not knowing that she wanted to tell him she hadn't gotten the abortion yet. He heard about this from Meredith, who told him that Cristina couldn't do it because of her love for him. If Cristina were to have a child, she'd almost be killed pretending to love the kid as much as she loves surgery, which would also kill the kid. Meredith pointed out that she knows what it feels like to be raised by a Cristina and she made Owen realize that the guilt of resenting her own kid would eat Cristina, the woman he loves, alive.[8]

Meredith's speech and the fact that Cristina didn't have the abortion yet made Owen stop resenting Cristina. He searched for Cristina and asked her to sit down with him and talk. She asked him to postpone, as she was in the middle of trying to fix Meredith's abduction of Zola. Owen agreed and went to check up on Danny Wilson, who made him realize that sometimes in a marriage, it's best to forget things and move on if the love is strong enough. He realized that that was the case in his marriage too. He and Cristina finally found time to talk and he asked her when the abortion appointment was. It was scheduled right then. "Let's go," he said, making her cry because she finally felt like he understood her. In the doctor's office, an emotional Cristina assured the doctor she really wanted the abortion. The doctor then started the procedure, during which Owen held her hand.[9]

Relationship Troubles With Cristina and Fallout with Teddy[]

They didn't talk after the abortion, having them struggle to find normalcy in their relationship again, as they were only able to have some small talk about dinner. Owen got promoted to Chief of Surgery, giving him even more professional duties. He and Cristina ordered Chinese from a bad restaurant, rendering them both sick on the bathroom floor and bringing them a little closer together.[10]

However, just because he showed up for her at the abortion, Owen still was mad at Cristina for doing it. They avoided talking about it by just having sex. At Zola's birthday party, an argument about their work caused all of his frustrations to come. He yelled that she shattered all his hopes and dreams and the kind of life that he envisioned for himself, ultimately yelling in front of all their friends that she killed their baby.

They avoided each other until Valentine's Day when he saved her from being hit by a van crashing into the ER. She thanked him, but he nodded shortly and left her. Later that day, he told her he'd be moving out. This made her cry and she realized that she did not want him to leave her. She found him in the vent room and begged him (which she had refused to do) not to hate her, finally making physical contact again after weeks of avoiding each other.

They decided to go into couple's therapy, but they only ended up screaming at each other about their flaws and what they had been through, not making actual progress and putting them in a bad place again. This caused Owen to sleep with a woman he met at the hospital, a friend of his patient. He initially didn't tell Cristina, but her intuition told her he was sleeping with someone. After she couldn't find proof, she told him they needed to talk because it was driving her crazy, to the point that she suspected him to be cheating on her with nurse Emily. He said it hurt to love her and that he did not cheat on her with Emily, but that he did cheat on her.

A mad Cristina then started ignoring him for days, finally communicating again when she outed her anger by throwing her bowl of cereal in his face. They later stayed home, pretending to have the flu, because Cristina wanted to hear about the cheating. He didn't want to talk about it in order not to hurt her, but she forced him to do it anyway. After a day of talking, it turned out that Owen, possibly subconsciously, did it in order to hurt Cristina back for the abortion. Cristina then threw him out of their firehouse, but eventually let him move back in as she was staying at Meredith's to study for the boards.

Plane Crash Lawsuit[]

After the plane crash survivors decided to not settle and sue instead, the hospital was at fault and originally, the insurance was supposed to pay the survivors, but after it was realized that only two attendings were allowed on a mediplane, the insurance company wouldn't pay, leaving the hospital to declare bankruptcy. Owen wanted Pegasus to buy the hospital, but in the end, the plane crash survivors and Callie bought the hospital with the settlement money, plus additional funding from the Harper Avery Foundation.

Letting Go of Cristina[]

After Russell quit, Owen contemplated giving Cristina the job of Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery so she wouldn't leave for Zurich. He had her do interviews with other candidates and while they were all fine, she didn't think one stood out. He reminded her they couldn't all be as good as her. At the end of the day, she still hadn't picked anyone and he said the Harper Avery Foundation was looking for a way to mend fences, and he suggested a large infusion of cash into the cardio department. Cristina figured out he wanted to offer her the job and told him not to. He confessed he had wanted to, but he realized she had to go. He only asked not to leave him until she was actually leaving. She agreed to this and they shared a kiss, briefly rekindling their romance once again.[11]

After a few weeks, the day came for Cristina's departure. She slept over that night to have one great night together but promised to meet him at the hospital for their own big goodbye. Cristina left to get a European charger for her phone at the mall, and later Owen saw on the news that the mall was supposedly bombed. While handling the crisis at the hospital, he feared Cristina got hurt, but she turned out fine at the hospital. However, they never found time to talk as he had to handle the crisis and media attention all the while treating patients who suffered from chemical burns. The big goodbye resulted in Cristina appearing in the gallery as Owen was operating. They shared a loving look and she waved, disappearing after he turned to the patient for a few seconds.[12]

Owen dove into work to occupy his mind. Unbeknownst to him, April tried to look out for him, thinking Owen was dying inside and encouraged his male colleagues to be there for him. Owen didn't really appreciate the attention as he just had to deal with Cristina being gone on his own without extra attention.[13]

Maggie, who had replaced Cristina, took on solving the cause of the McNeil's cardiac malfunction and eventually found the cause to be a genetic mutation, which only recently had been discovered, so Cristina couldn't possibly have found it out at the time. Tying up that loose end that Cristina left behind helped Owen to get more closure.[14]

Owen teamed up with Callie to turn her research about robotic limbs into a project to help disabled veterans. He confessed to Callie that since Cristina, who was his family, was living her life happily without him, he needed something to get up in the morning and find new dreams. Cristina helped him get over the darkness that the Army left in him and he needed something to beat it back by doing something good.[1]

Getting Closer to Amelia[]

Owen eventually grew closer with Amelia and slept with her in an on-call room. They soon got involved in a romantic relationship.

Derek's Death, Army Tour, and Relationship with Amelia[]

Owen was one of the first people to hear about Derek's death when Meredith returned to the hospital. He admitted her after she lost consciousness and worried about Amelia's reaction, only to find out no one had told her as she was in surgery. He waited until she was done to deliver the news, with her already deriving from his facial expression that someone died. She claimed she was okay, having gone through it all before, and rejected his attempt to comfort her. Around Easter, a few weeks after Derek's death, Owen got an opportunity to do another Army tour. Owen accepted as he wanted to get away from it all, with Richard taking over his Chief duties at the hospital, and his talks about the Army convinced April to join him. Owen returned at the beginning of the next year, only to find Amelia in the middle of a mental breakdown at the hospital. Seeing Owen, still in his army uniform, embarrassed Amelia, and she walked off. He later found her stumbling around at Derek and Meredith's house, where she confessed that she scored oxy from a junkie doctor and that she was seriously considering taking it. Owen got through to her and made her realize that she shouldn't be managing her feelings or run away from them; she should allow herself to feel the pain, as that's the normal and human thing to do. As he pointed out, taking the oxy would cause her to spiral out of control. She handed him the oxy and she broke down in his arms as he comforted her.[15]

Owen shortly resumed his position as Chief of Surgery, only to reveal he was stepping down as he felt it was time for something else. Owen clashed with Jackson over an experimental procedure on a victim of a tunnel collapse and Owen pulled it off. It turned out well in the end, but Jackson still thought Owen got lucky. They talked about April, who changed after returning, and Owen concluded that's what often happens after an Army tour. It's what made him realize he didn't want to be Chief anymore, too.[16]

Owen also worked on Keith, the man who got trapped in his crushed car after the tunnel collapse. Afterward, he talked with Amelia. He misinterpreted what she said about something working out for a patient as if it was about two of them, and awkwardly left. He later found her sitting by herself in Meredith's bedroom. She received Meredith's old phone with Derek's last voice mail message, but couldn't bring herself to hit play. Owen did that for her and wanted to give her privacy, but she preferred him to stay. They listened to the message. Amelia got emotional, but she assured Owen she was okay. They returned to the party and danced it out.[17]

After three months, Owen and Amelia were still doubtful as to what kind of relationship they were in. Owen had concert tickets and wanted to invite Amelia, but he wasn't sure if he should. He asked Callie for advice, and she told him he was overthinking it. In surgery, Owen noticed some tension between Meredith and Amelia, because of their fight over whether or not to tear down a wall at the house the three sisters were sharing. At the end of the day, Owen had to give Amelia a ride home as Meredith, with whom Amelia carpooled to work, left without her. As he dropped her off, he told her he didn't mind giving her a ride and kissed her. As Amelia wondered what that meant, Maggie came outside and dragged Amelia inside, leaving Owen outside on the front porch.[18]

The abrupt interruption left Owen to wonder what the kiss meant as he asked her out and Amelia spent the next day ignoring him. He vented his worries to April, but she was concerned about her own marriage and simply told him to go talk to Amelia. Owen ended up in an elevator with Amelia and asked her if she was angry or confused. She told the latter. Owen asked to talk, but she says that would just lead to them kissing again without them even knowing why. They wondered what it meant and just ended up kissing again.[19]

Owen was invited to the sisters' dinner party, and Callie suggested they drive there together after her consult was done. He was dressed casually and she reminded him Amelia was there, suggesting to dress up more. They arrived, only to find a quiet and cold dinner party as Meredith just revealed Penny, Callie's girlfriend, was the one who killed Derek. Amelia got angry at Meredith for not informing her before about who Penny was and they yelled at each other. A frustrated Meredith yelled at Owen to get Amelia out of her sight. Owen took Amelia to her room where she calmed down. She wondered how he could always stay calm, but he pointed out he was far from perfect. He confessed that when he heard Cristina's plane crashed, he was briefly relieved because he'd always known she was going to leave him one day and if she died, they'd just be frozen in time forever without any painful or messy break-up. He pointed out he always makes things harder than they should be, them included. They agreed it wasn't the worse thing not to be perfect and snuggled on the bed.[20]

Rivalry with Riggs[]

A few days later, Owen was at work when he encountered Nathan Riggs in the ambulance bay. Nathan informed him he worked with April back in Jordan and that he was here with a kid that required Jackson's expertise. Due to their obviously negative history, Owen made it clear that he didn't want Riggs around and told him to leave immediately after the surgery.[21]

After a night shift, Owen was woken up by Amelia as she laid down with him in the on-call room. They cuddled and talked about her day until he got paged away. In the ER, he found Nathan working on one of Maggie's patients, much to his and Maggie's surprise. They went to Bailey, who revealed she had hired Nathan and simply forgot to tell Maggie. Owen went to Meredith to ask her how she could work with Penny given their horrible history, and he concluded he simply couldn't do what she was doing. Nathan being around triggered Owen's PTSD and intern Isaac found Owen hallucinating and shaking in an on-call room. Owen snapped out of it and told Nathan to leave. At the end of the day, Bailey wanted to introduce everyone to Nathan, but Owen made it clear they already knew each other. Owen stated Bailey made a mistake hiring him and blamed her, saying she should've asked around before hiring a complete stranger. Bailey offered to go talk it out, but he said it was done. He went to the ambulance bay to cool down and refused to talk to Amelia when she came over to try and help him. Meredith tried as well and he told her he didn't want to talk. Meredith revealed she promised Cristina not to let him get all dark and twisty and to be his person if he needed one. Owen said he didn't want to talk, but all Meredith needed to know was if they were hating Nathan. Owen nodded and replied that they were really, really hating him.[22]

A few days and night shifts later, Amelia tried to talk to Owen, but he blocked her off and stated he was fine, yet he still had a hateful look in his eyes every time he saw Nathan. That day, lots of burned firefighters came in one of which was John, Owen's mother's boyfriend. Owen found out when his mother appeared in the ER, looking for John. Owen checked John's chart and saw Meredith and Nathan were operating on him. He angrily went to the OR and requested that Maggie replace Nathan, but Nathan refused to leave per his request as he didn't work for Owen. Owen was forced to leave as he couldn't give a valid reason. Amelia noticed he was really bothered by Nathan working on John and asked why. Owen said he simply didn't want Nathan around his family and took off. Owen later argued with his mother, who didn't seem to have a problem with Nathan. Amelia chased after him afterward and again offered his help, but he firmly stated he didn't want her help on this. Owen and Nathan ran into each other in the ICU. Nathan tried to talk to him, mentioning he talked to "ma", Owen's mother. Owen told him to run far away and never come near his family again. Nathan replied they were his family too, which lead to Owen's punching Nathan twice. He said they weren't his family and took off. The news quickly spread. Meredith found Owen outside on a bench and told him Bailey was looking for him. She said he was getting himself in trouble. He replied he knew. Meredith then revealed she talked to his mother, saying she knew about his sister.[23]

Megan's Return and Amelia's Tumor[]

Megan returned after being found in a basement in a rebel-led neighborhood. She had been treated relatively well and was fine except for a frozen abdomen, which Meredith miraculously fixed by performing an abdominal wall transplant. Owen remained with Megan as she recovered. After finally being discharged from the hospital, she temporarily moved in with him until she decided to move to Malibu with her fiancé Nathan and her son Farouk. While those two went to the new house to prepare, Megan drove up there with Owen with the last of their stuff. During their trip, she and Owen resolved old feuds, and after pointing out that it was time for him to let go of some of his ideals, she dropped him off at the airport. He returned home and told Amelia he wanted to call it quits since it felt like he didn't really know her. She understood and they returned their rings. The two remained friends while occasionally hooking up.

Amelia later stated her theory that their marriage was doomed from the beginning due to Owen having unresolved feelings for Teddy, which drove Owen to make a heat-of-the-moment decision to fly to Germany to see Teddy. Once there, he declared his love for her and they spent the day together. However, after Owen confessed that it was Amelia who told him to come - just after they had finished having sex themselves, no less - Teddy was enraged and kicked him out, refusing to speak to him anymore, and Owen returned to Seattle.[24]

Starting a Family[]

14x23Leo

Owen and baby Leo.

Finally deciding to act on his long dream of having children, Owen filed to foster-to-adopt. After a 36-hour shift, he received a surprise call that there was a social worker coming over with a baby. Panicking because he wasn't prepared at all, Owen called Amelia to help him clean the house and get everything ready. Amelia arrived with a marijuana-high Alex, whom she was babysitting, and they cleaned the house in preparation for the social worker's arrival. Owen ended up with a baby boy named Leo. Amelia then drove them to Meredith's house to get baby supplies while reassuring Owen, who feared he had forced becoming a father. Alex told him that him caring so much meant that it'd be alright, which settled his concerns. At the end of the day, Amelia decided to stay at Owen's to help him get through his first night as a parent.[25]

Owen took Leo for a six-month check-up at the hospital and met up with Betty Nelson, Leo's birth mother. Amelia later joined them as they waited. After Arizona cleared him, Owen took Leo to daycare while Amelia spent time with Betty. She learned she was an addict and wanted to guide her sobriety. After checking in with the social worker, Amelia shared her plan with Owen, who offered to come live with him so Leo could have his mother in his life. Betty accepted the offer and they all went home while setting ground rules.[26] Owen took care of Leo while Amelia helped Betty through the worst stages of withdrawal. While he was at work, Betty ran off.[27] She returned after a few days and Owen informed Amelia. She claimed she had tried to get a fix but to no avail, so she squatted on a friend's couch until she missed Leo so bad that she had to come back. At work, Matthew Taylor was brought in after a car accident. They wanted to alert April but couldn't get a hold of her, so Owen had the paramedics bring him back to the site of the accident. He eventually found April in a ravine off the road, partially submerged in a river. They brought her back to the hospital and did everything they could to warm and wake her up. Owen ordered the entire time to pray for her. She eventually recovered and thanked her mentor for always bringing her back.[28]

A month later, on the day of Alex and Jo's wedding, Betty was 30 days sober. Amelia had invited her parents, but they didn't show up. They got dressed for the wedding and took Leo and Betty with them. They arrived as the first guests because Owen had trusted his own sense of direction instead of following a faulty GPS link like the other guests. Amelia left Betty with Owen and Leo while she went to help look for Alex and Jo. While alone, Betty questioned if he and Amelia were a couple or not. Owen said they weren't and said Amelia had a tumor, which complicated things. Betty pointed out that the tumor was gone, so it was just a weird situation now instead of complicated. Owen later helped in saving the wedding planner's life when she suffered a severe allergic reaction. Afterward, the ceremony was called off and Owen joined the other guests on the ferry back to the city, where they witnessed an impromptu wedding officiated by Meredith.[29]

The next morning, Teddy showed up at his house. While he was sleeping, Betty answered the door and inadvertently told her about the baby, after which she made up an excuse and left. He was thus surprised to run into her at the hospital. She briefly mentioned the interim Chief position but said she was leaving. She quickly said goodbye and left, leaving Owen to wonder why she was in the city and hadn't even called him. Owen subtly threw his name in the mix for the interim Chief position by reminding Bailey he once held the job. During surgery, he saw Amelia admiring his work from the gallery. Back at home, Amelia blurted out that she had feelings for him again but that she could understand if he didn't want to go there again. She wanted him to know, as she couldn't forgive herself if her hiding her feelings made him chase after Teddy. She assured him she wouldn't stand in his way if he was still in love with Teddy. Owen says Teddy accused him of being incapable of being alone and he didn't want her to be right, but he then kissed Amelia.[30]

They soon moved to the couch to make out, but Leo crying interrupted them. Owen and Amelia treated a man who got injured in a motorcycle accident without wearing a helmet. The situation made Owen think they were doing something risky themselves. Last time they tried to be together, there were no strings attached, but now they had Betty and Leo to think about. They agreed they couldn't be reckless and set up to talk it through after surgery. During their talk, he said he wanted all the strings, the kids, the fighting, and a noisy house, but he wasn't sure if she did, too. She said the tumor was gone now, but as an addict, she was still wary of change and commitment. Since she didn't want to threaten the kids' stability, she promised to try and be less wary. Having decided to go for it, they went home together holding hands.[31]

As they started to spend nights together again and got used to parenting, they agreed their new life with kids worked. At work, Maggie and Owen had a shared patient and Maggie was pretty hostile towards him after a disagreement. He figured she had a problem with him and Amelia getting together again and assured her that he was all in with her, Leo, and Betty. She apologized for her behavior and left him. After a talk with Maggie, Amelia shared with Owen that Maggie's behavior had nothing to do with them.[32]

Betty's struggle with sobriety continued and she got into a fight with Amelia when the latter suspected she had a slip and lied about it. Owen urged them to keep it down for Leo. Amelia grounded Betty and took her to the hospital for a tox screen. Amelia struggled with disciplining a teenager as her mother never did that to her. Owen said that his mother was the opposite and Amelia called her for advice behind his back. He was confused when he spotted his mother passing through the ER. Later, Owen and Betty waited for Amelia to go home. She wondered how he could live with Amelia. He said he was honest with her and accepted her, as intense as she maybe. As Amelia arrived, Betty admitted she had gotten high on "just weed", Amelia scolded her and grounded her for a month. They then all left together.[33]

As part of her being grounded, they dropped Betty off at school. Amelia suspected she would play hookey, so they drove around to make sure Betty wasn't ditching out the back. While waiting, Owen found out Amelia had installed apps to track Betty's location and texts. He called that obsessive and deleted them with her permission. They shared some of their own school experiences with one another. After a couple of hours, the concerned school VP sent them away when they clumsily explained their situation. They moved to a different spot and caught Betty trying to sneak out with friends. Owen whistled to alert her of their presence and she went back in. When Amelia was changing Leo, Owen wondered how their disagreement about kids could have broken up their family. She reminded him of the tumor and added that this family unit had now convinced her that nothing could erase her baby boy from her memory, something that had always plagued her when she was thinking about starting a family. After school, Betty got back in their car and commented on them camping out there all day.[34]

Teddy showed up at his house and this time, Owen answered the door himself. She apologized for her last visit but he said he should be apologizing instead of her for not having told her about Betty and Leo. Before she could share her news, Amelia returned to look for Betty, who had run away from school. The three of them looked for her around the city but didn't find her. They reconvened at the house and contemplated calling the police. Amelia needed a meeting so Owen took her to one while Teddy stayed at the house in case Betty showed up. When he came home with Leo, he and Teddy had a talk and he said he hadn't told her about Betty and Leo because he felt embarrassed after her accusation. He assured her that the new situation was not just him incapable of being alone as he had always wanted a kid. He told her he was happy and went to put Leo down. She then decided not to tell him about the pregnancy and left. When Amelia returned, he comforted her while she feared that Betty might be dead.[35]

When a windstorm was heading towards the city, Teddy came to the hospital to help out. Owen asked her how long she would be staying but she replied she had no idea. Owen helped prepare the ER for all incoming patients and later got pulled onto a case with Teddy. She alerted him when she saw Betty walking around. Owen and Amelia checked out her head lac caused by a tree branch. As Amelia had to leave for surgery, Owen set up further care for her. He then joined Teddy and Jackson in the scrub room and she asked him to get coffee afterward so they could talk. In surgery, he figured she wanted to talk about the reason she had come back to and stuck around in Seattle. She wanted to wait to talk, but as soon as the patient was out of the woods, she told him that she was pregnant with his baby. He was baffled and she was paged to the ER. Jackson told him he was the last to find out about Harriet, too, but it was the best thing that happened to him.

15x08-43

Owen confronts Teddy about having kept the pregnancy secret for so long.

Owen then found Teddy and got on an elevator with her and her patient. He questioned how she could have kept this from him for so long. She replied it hadn't been easy for her. Amelia then got on, too, and shared her plans to become Betty's official foster mother. She then picked up on the awkward vibe and asked what was going on. Before he could answer, the power died and they got stuck in between floors.[36]

The power got back on soon, but the elevator remained stuck. Owen then told Amelia that Teddy was pregnant and she figured out the baby was his. Owen then realized Teddy had known for a while and got angry with her. The patient started crashing and they rushed to save him. While working on him, Teddy clarified she had planned to tell him the day she got here, but then she found out he had started a family already in record time. He questioned what she meant when she said nobody expected him to do anything. Teddy said the two of them getting together was off the table, so he could be with Amelia. However, she was going to stay in Seattle so the baby could have a father and she could have her friend. Owen asked her how far along he was. She told him 16 weeks and assured him that the baby was fine. Amelia and Teddy started arguing until the elevator doors opened and they rushed the patient to an OR. Teddy and Owen saved the man.

15x09-23

Amelia leaves Owen to consider all his options.

Afterward, she told Owen she did want him to be involved and he said he did, too. They agreed to figure it out together and hugged to celebrate that they were having a baby. Later, Owen went to Amelia and assured her nothing would change, but she knew him and his history with Teddy and gave him time to consider all of his options. She didn't come home that night. Alone with Leo, Owen told him they would be fine.[37]

The situation with Amelia made him angry at Teddy, since her keeping the secret caused him to have to choose between them. She quipped that she had upended her whole life so he could be a father. Amelia overheard him venting his anger to Teddy. She told him they were arguing like a couple, but he insisted they were not. During a quick turnover in the OR, Owen was accidentally paralyzed. Levi saved him and got him to a bed in the ICU. Teddy found out and came to sit by his side. They had an honest conversation and she told him that while she had made mistakes, too, he was the one who came to Germany and then returned to Seattle to start a family. She was thinking about moving back to Germany to her old job, but Owen had come to realize it was time for him to sacrifice something. He told her he would step down and give her his job. When he was cleared to go, he went looking for Amelia and told her truthfully that he wanted Teddy to stay here, but that he also loved his family with Amelia and that he couldn't do any of this without her. He told her he needed her and they went home together.[38]

On Christmas Eve, Owen and Teddy stood outside in the snow together as he invited her to spend Christmas with him, Amelia, and Leo, whom he was trying to create traditions with. She declined as she had to cover his shift at the ER. He promised her they would establish their own traditions with their baby. Shortly after New Year's, Owen accompanied Teddy to an ultrasound and they found out they were having a daughter. Later, Owen went to rehab with Amelia to visit Betty, who revealed her real name was Britney and that she had run away from home and her parents, who didn't know about Leo. Furious over her lie and fearful of losing Leo, Owen wanted to reach out to Britney's parents, but Amelia told him it was Betty's choice and that it was all part of the disease that is addiction. He lashed out and disagreed, stating it sounded like an excuse to justify piss poor life choices. He noticed he had offended Amelia and came around, saying he was worried over losing Leo. They hit a rough spot but he apologized with a bouquet of flowers on Valentine's Day, after which they attended the wedding of Natasha Deon and Garrett Boland.[39]

Not long after, Owen learned that Teddy had grown closer to Tom over the holidays. At the same time, Amelia learned that Betty had run away from rehab. He was surprised when Amelia came to tell him that Betty's parents had shown up after receiving a call from her from rehab. Amelia had explained the situation to them and they wanted to spend time with Leo, which didn't sit well with Owen. Confronted with the very real possibility of Leo being taken away, Owen dove into work and made sure a father didn't lose his son. He then decided he wouldn't let John and Carol take Leo without a court order. Powerless, they left, and Owen yelled at Amelia for revealing to them her own struggle with addiction. Amelia said she wouldn't stand in the way of him fighting for Leo and pointed out he was just a foster parent and that he had wanted Leo's mother in his life. She stated he didn't even seem to care that Betty was missing. He stated that her name was Britney and that she was never much of a mother and left.[40]

Despite his efforts, he had to concede to John and Carol taking their grandson home. He and Amelia said their goodbyes to Leo when they came to pick him up. Owen then quickly left for work, unable to deal with losing Leo. That day, the hospital was flooded with overdose victims, and Betty and her boyfriend were discovered among them. Owen jumped into action to save her when she deteriorated. Teddy diagnosed an aortic dissection while Owen intercepted Amelia and Betty's parents. They started arguing until Teddy came to inform them of her decision to operate on Betty herself. Owen wanted to join her, but Bailey forbade him. Owen and Amelia sat in the waiting room with John and Carol. John told Owen about the last words he said to Britney before she had run off, which were "I can't even stand to look at you." Eventually, Teddy came to tell them that Betty had made it. While she took Amelia and Betty's parents to see her, Owen took care of Leo so they could focus on their daughter. He later joined them in Betty's ICU room as she woke up and was comforted by her parents.[41]

The Dickinsons and Owen and Amelia worked together to take care of Leo during Betty's recovery period. When she was better, they arranged for Betty and Leo to go home with John and Carol. After the Dickinsons thanked the two of them, they left.

15x15-9

Owen learns of Tom and Teddy's relationship.

Owen and Amelia needed to get out of the house and attended Catherine's party, where Owen was confronted with Teddy and Tom's new romantic relationship. He learned Tom was taking her on a surprise trip to Palm Springs, which upset Owen even more. He angrily stared at Tom the entire night and got in a fight with Amelia over his not accepting addiction as a disease. She hated how he didn't even check on how she feeling through all of this and told him it was hard to talk with him staring at Teddy the entire time. She walked away and Owen discovered Jackson and Richard weren't fond of Tom either. He went to find Amelia and clarified he was actually staring at Tom, whom he didn't want to be in his daughter's life. Amelia thought it was about his feelings for Teddy. Owen denied that and wondered how many times he had to choose Amelia over Teddy before she would believe him. Amelia then said it was an impossible situation and that she had decided to step out of it because unlike for him, there was no baby forcing her to stay in it.

As his anger amped up, Owen went to try to talk Teddy out of taking the trip, but she insisted on going and defended Tom, who joined them. Owen then started yelling at him, disrupting the celebratory speech. He thought Tom was preying on a pregnant woman and he didn't want Tom in his daughter's life, stating he was not a father. Tom then punched Owen in the face for what he said. Tom put his hand in ice to hear the rest of the speech while Owen was kept away from him, but the party was cut short when the penthouse was evacuated due to smoke originating from the kitchen. He came home and found Amelia waiting for him with the Dickinsons. They had come to realize they were too old to raise Leo and they would have their hands full with Betty, who wanted to be a teenager and didn't want to raise Leo herself either. They all agreed Owen and Amelia were Leo's true parents.[42]

He and Amelia then met with a lawyer to arrange the adoption. They hit a bump when the lawyer discovered he and Amelia were no longer living together and hadn't really discussed how they would split their time with Leo. She left them to discuss it before taking the case to a judge. They settled on a 2-2-3 approach, but Amelia commented that it would probably change when Owen and Teddy's baby would be born. He repeated that he chose her over Teddy and wanted her in both his and Leo's life, but Amelia insisted that her decision hurt her less than being with him did. He blamed her for not being capable of loving and being loved. Amelia then decided to withdraw her name from the adoption. While she wanted to be in Leo's life as much as she could, she acknowledged Leo had always been Owen's and that this was the best option now that the two of them were over. The judge approved the adoption and Owen signed the papers at home with Leo by his side.[43]

Owen struggled as a newly legal father without Amelia to help him out. At work, Owen worked on a trauma patient while Teddy worked on the man's pregnant wife. Owen offered to take over from Teddy given the woman's pregnancy, but Teddy declined. However, he insisted to sit with her by the woman's bedside to make sure she wouldn't re-bleed. She made him rub her feet and they fell asleep. Eventually, the patient started bleeding again. Owen updated the husband and then joined her in the OR. They had to perform a hysterectomy to stop the bleeding, which meant delivering the preterm fetus, who passed away in his father's arms. Owen watched over Teddy as she checked on the devastated couple in post-op and held her as she broke down in his arms.[44]

Owen decided to come to Teddy's birthing class. He was surprised when he found out Tom in there, while Teddy herself hadn't shown up. She was experiencing a complication and only paged Owen, who kept it a secret from Tom and left the class. Teddy was diagnosed with cervical insufficiency, which was treated with the Trendelenburg position. Carina asked him to make sure Teddy and the baby stayed calm, so he started talking to the baby in a baby voice, which freaked Teddy out. She expressed her fear of failing as a mother. Owen then got a gurney and lied down in Trendelenburg next to her to show her they were in this together. He told her all a parent can do is their best, admitting to several mistakes with Leo. Owen then told the baby that she wouldn't ever have to worry because her mother was so strong and fierce. Tom came in, having found out about the situation. Owen left to get coffee and Tom followed him. He blamed Owen for not informing him and warned him to rethink his decision if he was planning to make a move for Teddy, whom he had hurt and abandoned over and over, since Tom was willing to fight for her, which would bring about a lot of unnecessary pain and drama for Teddy. Tom thought Teddy deserved someone for whom she was the first and only choice. Owen then backed out and stood outside briefly while Tom fed Teddy ice cream.[45]

Therapy and Relationship with Teddy[]

While Leo started teething, Owen and Amelia kept their communication to a minimum. Owen found out Tom and Teddy were looking for houses and offered Teddy to come to live with him, but she declined. Meredith secretly arranged an abdominal wall-penis-scrotum transplant on a veteran patient of Megan Hunt's, who flew over and surprised Owen. She learned that Teddy was pregnant but dismayed upon finding out that she and Owen were not together. She found out the whole story and called Owen a dum-dum for all the stupidity he had displayed.

15x20-24

Owen advocates for Caleb.

When the transplant was canceled because the patient had lied about his support system, Owen talked about the losses he had endured in the Army himself and the shame he felt over how he reacted to them. He advised Caleb not to shut out his fiancée, stating people can show up for you in unbelievable ways when you let them. Owen convinced Catherine that Caleb needed the surgery to move forward and they performed it successfully. Afterward, Megan told Owen to do for himself what he had done for Caleb. She thought PTSD and war made him think he wasn't entitled to joy, which she thought was the reason behind all the hard choices he had made for himself. She made him realize he wasn't well and that he needed to work on fixing himself. He agreed to go back to therapy.[46]

She recommended a therapist and called him the day of his appointment to make sure he'd go. Owen was skeptical of NET and muscle testing, but he gave it a go since it had helped Megan. Owen talked about the Germany situation and the therapist suggested his bad behavior there wasn't on accident. He thought Owen was stuck in a pattern and that they needed to find the cause in order to stop it. The muscle testing narrowed the root of the problem down Owen's own distrust. Further exploring revealed that the memory causing the pattern happened when he was 10. He had won a science award at school and ran home with the certificate to show his mother, but before he could do so, she told him that his father had died. He then hid the certificate and felt so ashamed for being so proud and happy while his mother was so sad. The therapist told Owen that the memory caused him not to trust joy, fearing it would always be followed by bad news. He put Owen in a specific position, allowing him to let go of that distrust. After weeping in his therapist's arms for finally letting himself experience joy again, Owen went home. Teddy checked in on him through a text and he told her about the session.[47]

Back at work, Owen learned that Amelia and Link had grown closer and that Teddy was still house hunting while Tom had started to plan the delivery, including a playlist. Amelia came in to clear Owen's patient's brain scans and he asked her about Link, but she told him it was none of his business. He found her later and told her that therapy had made him realize that he was actually the one who was incapable of love. She thanked him for saying that and he invited her to spend more time with Leo, who was missing her. Afterward, Owen returned to his therapist and told him the first session had worked. He had realized that he loved Teddy and he wasn't feeling guilty about it anymore. He asked for more sessions so he would feel perfectly clear when he would tell Teddy.[48]

Owen went to the airport to help Frances Pinfield, a severely agoraphobic blood donor for Gus Carter, get off her plane and to the hospital. It took a FaceTime conversation with Gus's mother and Owen carrying her to the limo to do so. While en route to the hospital, thick fog started to cover part of the city and the limo got in the middle of a pile-up on the freeway.[49]

15x25-39

Owen supports Teddy through the delivery.

15x25-43

Owen and Teddy hold their baby girl Allison.

Everyone made it out fine and Owen arranged an ambulance as a ride to the hospital. He helped out with the patient in the rig. The ambulance arrived together with the police car that transported a laboring Teddy and Amelia. He accompanied Teddy to the delivery room and apologized for hiding his fling with Carina, her OB, which she had found out about through Amelia. Teddy forbade Owen from watching what was going on between her legs. With the head halfway out, Teddy needed to be distracted while waiting for the next push. Owen then told her he was in love with her and had always been. He hadn't understood he was allowed to be happy and he had been afraid of the way he felt around her because it felt so good, so he sabotaged it before life could do it for him. He told her he wanted to spend the rest of his life proving to her that he was worthy of her love. She then gave the final push and their daughter was born. They simultaneously decided to name her Allison. Owen stayed by Teddy's side and they spent time together with their baby daughter.[50]

Amelia dropped by with Leo so he could meet his sister. Bailey then came in to fetch him and Amelia for trauma since she had to fire three attendings and Andrew was in jail. A week later, Teddy had returned to her hotel room. Owen found her and Allison both crying when he dropped by with supplies. He offered to come home with him, but she refused to start their life together in that house. He took Allison from her so she could go shower. He tried to help out as much as he could, but in his eager efforts to help out, he bluntly offered to milk Teddy when she had clogged duct and heat pads weren't helping. She was offended and shut him out. She developed the habit to bring Allison to the hospital when she started panicking, so he went to look for her there. He told Amelia what had happened and she told him that giving birth was a beast to a woman's body, so he would need to be patient with Teddy. After weeks of tiptoeing around Teddy, he visited her again in her hotel room and told her he had listed his house and had hired a realtor to find them a new one, already having hundreds of listings for them to go through. In the meanwhile, he had upgraded them to the suite. He also demanded that she'd let him help out as it was too much for her on her own. She got up and thanked him with a kiss.[51]

At work, Tom taunted Owen for his leaving Teddy in a hotel. Owen suggested he go back to his job in Baltimore, after which Tom revealed to him his new position at the Foundation, which made him Owen's boss. While working to resuscitate Reid Kim, Owen accidentally shocked Tom in the crotch with the defibrillators. He quickly apologized to Tom while rushing Reid to the OR. Later, he stopped by Tom's room to properly apologize and found out that Tom had obtained an emergency restraining order against him for acute physical and emotional distress. Owen objected that they worked together but Tom just asked him to leave.[52]

Tom used the restraining order to show his dominance over Owen by having kicked out of his own trauma room and the ER. He found Teddy struggling to change Allison on a bench outside and took over for her. Afterward, he suggested they take a tour of the hospital to humor Teddy. He showed her scans of his patients and she eagerly pitched a solution, making him realize how much she missed work. They moved to the OR gallery to avoid Tom and he suggested he stay home with Allison for a while so she could go back to work. She refused because she didn't like admitting she was failing as a mother. He said he didn't like work having to avoid Tom and pointed out returning to work would make her happy again, which in turn would make her a better mother. She then happily accepted and left to get changed to start working.[53]

After dropping off Leo at daycare, Owen ran into Bailey in the ambulance and he informed her of his paternity leave because of Koracick's restraining order. An ambulance arrived with Yan Huang, who refused to be treated at Grey Sloan because of Meredith's recent negative article. Owen then jumped onto the rig to provide care while Yan was transported to Pac-North. Upon arrival, he was confronted with an incompetent resident in the ER and he decided to deliver the patient straight to the OR. He handed the patient off to Richard and ran into Alex, who invited him for a tour after learning of his leave. Alex talked about the investors' big checks and his plans for the future. During the tour, they answered a woman's call for help from the ICU as another incompetent resident was failing to stop her husband's post-op hemorrhage. Owen and Alex jumped in and Owen learned just how bad the residents were. During surgery, Owen talked about his leaving Grey Sloan and Alex offered him the job of Head of Trauma, allowing him to structure the department as he saw fit. Owen accepted the position because he liked the chaos, which reminded him of the Army. Afterward, he went to pick up Teddy and Leo at Grey Sloan, where they ran into Tom, who had come to realize they needed good doctors and had gotten rid of the restraining order so Owen could come back. Owen replied he had quit and taken another job at Pac-North, surprising both Tom and Teddy.[54]

On Halloween, Owen dropped off a box of his old handmade Halloween costumes for Teddy at Grey Sloan. At work, several patients in the ICU started crashing while the discovery of a mass grave sent rumors of the place being haunted around the hospital. He and Alex set out to investigate and discovered that a faulty fridge in the ICU's own blood supply had caused the blood to hemolyze. In the evening, he met up with Teddy for the Halloween parade on the peds floor. Teddy told him she wouldn't be making costumes for their children like his mother had. He knew that and didn't expect her to, which is why he brought over the box to see if any of the costumes fit Leo or Allison. He understood Teddy had assumed he had tried to shame her. She admitted it had inspired her and revealed she had dressed up their children as zombies, which he thought was inappropriate for kids.[55]

One day, Teddy dropped Owen off at work and he wanted to take a picture of Allison, but his phone storage was full. Amelia visited him, supposedly to return one of Leo's favorite toys, but she actually blurted out that she was pregnant with Link's baby. As she told him that she wanted Leo in the baby's life, paramedics brought in Cassidy Gardner, who had fallen down the stairs and was found by her young son. An ultrasound revealed that Cassidy was pregnant. She already knew and was disappointed that she was still pregnant after the fall. She said she couldn't have another baby. Owen went to tell Amelia since Cassidy wouldn't elaborate.

16x07-1

Owen and Amelia disagree over Cassidy's wanting an abortion.

Together, they went in to tell her that the necessary splenectomy could endanger the fetus. Cassidy didn't want another child. Owen bluntly asked if she had thrown herself down those stairs to terminate the pregnancy. She swore she hadn't. She had tried to get help in a clinic with financial assistance but something always fell through so she made a tea she had found online, which made her dizzy and caused her to fall. She swore she would never do something to hurt herself or her son. Amelia offered to get someone for the abortion so it could be performed during Owen's surgery but Owen interjected that he'd rather deal with the surgery first and the pregnancy afterward. Outside the room, Owen scolded Amelia for overstepping and shut her down when she tried to make her case, after which he dismissed her. Owen performed the surgery and found Amelia and OB nurse in Cassidy's room when he came for a post-op exam. He was mad at Amelia for going behind his back but she stated she was only providing the help that he wouldn't give Cassidy. She suspected it had something to do with her own pregnancy. Owen threw in her face that they got divorced over Amelia not wanting kids and now she was having kids with someone else. She left. He chased her and apologized. She also apologized. She should have known that this was going to be a bigger conversation than she had anticipated. She told him that she really didn't want kids when they were married. Something changed in her and Betty and Leo were a big part of that. She wasn't ready before but she was now, and she had him to thank for that. She said they would always be family through Leo, which they both liked. He asked how they were going to handle this whole family thing. She admitted it was a complicated situation. He realized he had to go apologize to Cassidy for projecting his anger on her.[56]

Owen and Teddy showed up for Meredith's hearing before the medical commission while arguing about sleep training Allison. Owen testified to Meredith's outstanding surgical skills. He specifically cited Megan's case, though his testimony was weakened when the prosecution brought up Bailey's post-op notes from Megan's first surgery, which detailed Owen's serious doubts about Meredith's approach at the time. Later, Owen let in the group of patients who had come to testify on Meredith's behalf. After the hearing was over, he congratulated Meredith when it was announced she got to keep her license.[57]

With Alex taking some personal time, Owen acted as interim Chief. He showed around Daphne Lopez, an emergency medicine attending who was looking for a job in Seattle. She was also interested in Seattle Pres but Owen impressed her throughout the day. As she walked off, Richard commented on his trying to impress Daphne, warning that that was a slippery slope. Owen said he was happy together with Teddy. Richard asked if he had proposed yet. When Owen said he hadn't, Richard asked what he was waiting for.[58]

Owen and Richard came to Grey Sloan to help out after Meredith let them know a car had crashed into Joe's bar, injuring several of their residents. Owen worked with Tom and Jackson on Blake Simms, who had a facial fracture. On his way to the OR, he complained to Teddy and Amelia about Tom being an ass to him once again. Teddy asked him to cut Tom some slack. While Jackson and Owen were operating, Tom came in to demand hourly updates. After he was gone, Hannah Brody commented Teddy could do so much better than that guy. Jackson pointed out Teddy was with Owen. Hannah blamed her mistake on the way Tom talks to Teddy. Jackson then asked Owen if he and Teddy had set a wedding date yet. Owen said he hadn't even proposed yet. After sending Hannah out to do an intake in the ER, Owen told Jackson that he was feeling a lot of pressure for the right proposal as it had to make up for the fact that he hadn't done it decades ago. Jackson pointed out wanting to be with her forever included the present. Just as Tom came in to check for an update, Owen caught a subtle sign of a CSF leak, which Tom fixed. After surgery, Jackson and Owen updated Blake's grandmother, who informed him that Tom had paid for her to move to Seattle with Blake because he wanted Blake so badly. Tom came over and thanked Owen for catching the leak. They shook hands. Afterward, Owen took Teddy to an on-call room and got down on one knee with his mother's ring, which she had given him the day Allison was born. He told her there was no perfect moment but he knew she was the perfect woman for him. She checked if he was proposing out of obligation, citing his pattern of feeling trapped by obligations and his fear of disappointing others. He told her he was starting a new pattern of loving her and their family. He then asked her to marry him. She accepted. They headed out and announced their engagement to their colleagues, with Tom watching the happy couple from a distance.[59]

Owen showed up at Grey Sloan to take Teddy to a surprise lunch to talk wedding plans. She confessed she had lost his mother's ring. They set out to find it, even checking the pipes in the sink. They got a call that Leo was vomiting in daycare and found out on his scan that he had swallowed the ring. As they waited for him to pass it, Teddy expressed guilt over having lost it. He suggested she wear a necklace with letters for each member of the family instead of the ring and keep that hidden away for special occasions.[60]

The next Monday, Owen arrived at work late and was told by Richard that Catherine had purchased Pac-North to shut it down after a fight with him. She had all personnel go to Grey Sloan to interview with Tom to keep their jobs. Tom kept Owen waiting. When Tom was done with the attendings and called in a second-year resident, Owen protested but Tom assured him he would be out in time for his wedding. At the end of the day, Tom did an elaborate phone call with Catherine while Owen was the only one still waiting. Amelia sat with Owen and reminded him that he stole Tom's girlfriend. She pointed out Owen got everything, a family included, leaving Tom lonely and in pain, so he should let Tom have this. Owen was in awe of her empathy. Later, he teamed up with the board members and they presented Tom with an ultimatum, which included hiring Owen and Richard back, threatening to quit if he didn't comply with their wishes. Tom was forced to agree.[61]

While Owen and Jo were operating together, she asked him what he would do if he were to find out Amelia's baby was his. She stressed it was just hypothetical but Alex ignoring her texts was making her consider worst case scenarios. Owen replied that it took him a long time to get to this place with Teddy and he wouldn't let anything screw that up. Later, Owen ended up on an elevator with Link and asked him how he was holding up with Amelia half-way through the pregnancy. He had noticed Amelia had missed some days at work. Holding back that the baby actually might be his, Link simply stated things were complicated but that the baby was healthy. Owen recalled feeling useless when Teddy was pregnant. He advised Link to listen and sympathize and keep trying to help even if he wasn't sure how.[62]

When a blizzard hit Seattle, Owen and Teddy left their kids with his mother so they could both help out in the busy ER. He managed to help save a pregnant woman and her baby. Unaware of Teddy having found out that Amelia's baby might be his, he sent her a text asking to go sledding as he headed home.[63]

Owen eagerly started planning the wedding while Teddy's recent discovery left her less enthusiastic. Blissfully unaware, he forwarded Teddy a list of venues that his mother had compiled but Teddy suggested just getting a wedding planner, which he didn't want to. He asked her to look at the list, which might help her figure out what she wanted. Later, he ran into her and asked what was going on when she ignore him. She blurted out Amelia's baby could be his and asked what that meant for him. He didn't answer, which upset her. Owen took some time process the news. He made Teddy dinner and told her he had just been shocked by the news. He assured her she was not a replacement for anyone. He added that whatever happened, his answer would always be that he loved her and that they would figure out.[64]

A few days later, Amelia found Owen and Teddy in a lounge and announced to them that Link was in fact the father of her baby. Owen was happy to hear that as they could all move forward now. Owen took part in Meredith's pro bono surgery day. He turned down Jackson's invitation to come to the game with him. As he scrubbed in with Jo, he wanted to say he was sorry about Alex having left her. He invited her to come over if she ever felt like she needed company. At the end of the day, Owen found Teddy crying on a bench outside. He comforted her and asked what was going on. Instead of telling about her having slept with Tom, she told him about a rough case.[65]

After Richard had a public meltdown, Teddy had a busy day having taken over Maggie's cases, causing her to forget about her and Owen's appointment to try out wedding cakes. As Owen and Link operated together, Link admitted he was nervous about becoming a dad. Owen truthfully told him that parenthood was scary and that those worries wouldn't go away. At the end of the day, Owen took Teddy into a supply closet, where they started to make out. She told him she wanted to get married that weekend.[66]

The morning of the wedding, Owen got into an argument with Tom as he had ignored his request for time off. Tom had only seen the subject line and had indeed ignored it as he thought the wedding was still months away, so he didn't think it was urgent. Owen then informed him the wedding was happening tonight, surprising Tom, who approved the time off. Owen headed into surgery with Maggie, where they received the news about Richard's cobalt poisoning. As the surgery neared its end, Owen received a voice mail from Teddy. He had Levi play it on speaker. It was Teddy moaning. Owen brushed it off as a wedding present meant for him. However, after surgery, he retreated to a supply closet and listened to the entire message, which revealed that Teddy was having sex with him. He heard how she told Tom that this was goodbye sex and that she was still marrying Owen. However, Owen called his mother and claimed he got pulled into an emergency surgery, calling off the wedding. He left Teddy in the dark, leaving her to find out from his mother after having gotten all dressed up.[67]

Farouk, Megan's son, ended up needing a heart transplant. When a heart became available, Owen, Teddy, and Cormac went to retrieve it. After their driver had a heart attack, they ended up dangling off a cliff. Desperate to save Farouk, Teddy climbed out with the heart and went to flag down a passing vehicle. After some time, Owen told Cormac to climb out so his sons wouldn't lose their father after already losing their mother. He also told Cormac that he'd promised Noah he'd help other soldiers end their suffering as he'd done with Noah. He made Cormac promise to do that for him. Once Cormac had climbed out, the car slid off the cliff with Owen and the driver still inside.[68]

Personality[]

Owen was changed profoundly by his experiences in Iraq. When confronted by his former fiancée Beth Whitman after returning, she told him he didn't even look like himself anymore. She thought he looked hard.

Owen was shown to be humble when he started working at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, known at the time as Seattle Grace Hospital. Owen's treatment of his patients was flawed due to the fact he was used to treating patients in a war zone, but not a civilian hospital. Derek and Mark originally planned to reprimand him for his subpar treatment, but when Owen openly acknowledged his shortcomings and asked Derek and Mark for feedback so he could improve as a civilian doctor, they abandoned their plan and opted instead to teach Owen so he could improve as a civilian doctor.

Relationships[]

Romantic[]

Cristina Yang[]

Crowenkiss

Cristina and Owen kiss.

Owen managed to impress Cristina as soon as they met, having performed an emergency tracheotomy in the field with a pen, and later closing up the gash in his leg with a staple gun without any kind of anesthesia. Later the same night, Owen found Cristina lying outside the hospital, having been impaled through the abdomen by a falling icicle. He carried her inside and treated her, eventually removing the icicle, and the two bonded. After Owen had taken care of Cristina, Dr. Webber offered him a job, but Owen turned down the offer as he was expected to return to Iraq. He left the hospital that night, but not before surprising Cristina with a passionate kiss that left her completely taken aback.

Owen returned to Seattle two months later, having been honorably discharged from the army, and took a job as the new Head of Trauma Surgery at Seattle Grace. Cristina first avoided him, but after he had forgotten her name, calling her "Christine", she confronted him. Owen then told her about his platoon's demise and explained that while he remembered her name, that belonged to the past, and he was now living in the present. Owen then kept his distance to Cristina and tried to act professionally towards her, but couldn't hide his jealousy as Mark Sloan was constantly trying to hit on her, or his anger when he heard Sloan call her "bad, cheap wine." Owen himself compared her to a single malt scotch.

When Owen questioned Cristina's motives for doing surgery, she opened up to him and told him the story of her father's death, which encouraged Owen to start moving closer. However, after a patient who became special to Owen died, he found himself arguing with her outside Joe's and then kissing her passionately, almost violently. This caused the two to avoid each other again until Owen showed up outside her house on the doorstep and told her that he thought she was beautiful. A little later, Cristina was upset for not getting the solo surgery, so Owen took her to the vent in the boiler room of the hospital, which cheered her up and the two kissed.

As Owen's moods continued to swing, Cristina snapped at him and told him to stop his hot and cold act. Owen responded by asking her out, but in the evening he was so nervous that he went to get a drink, ultimately showing up on her doorstep hours late and drunk. Cristina was angry at first, but after Owen, who was standing in her shower fully clothed and shoes on, told her about his best and worst surgery ever, she softened and went into the shower with him. Owen then passed out and woke up the next morning, naked in Cristina's bed. At the hospital, he apologized to Cristina, telling her he normally doesn't pass out naked in other people's beds, but she plays it off and leaves. Later that day, he confronts her, asking her to give him another chance, which she did.

After this, their relationship was mostly centered around stolen touches and glances from across the room and although they flirted, it stopped when Owen's secret ex-fiancée Beth appeared at Seattle Grace, where her father was admitted. This caused Owen to have a panic attack and Cristina calmed him down, which resulted in Owen falling asleep on top of her in an on-call room and Cristina smiling happily as she held him in her arms. Though Cristina was wary at first after learning of Beth's identity, she and Owen moved on and he soon confessed that he wanted to be around her for the rest of his life.

Cristina and Owen started spending nights together - though they still hadn't had sex - but were soon confronted by new problems: Owen's PTSD from his time in Iraq started to manifest itself as violent nightmares and hypnagogic hallucinations. Ultimately, one night Owen fell asleep next to Cristina in her bed, and the spinning blades of the ceiling fan above the bed reminded him of helicopter blades, which caused him to have a hallucination and strangle Cristina in the middle of a nightmare. Cristina was rescued by Callie, who was alarmed by the noise coming from the bedroom, and Owen woke up, having no idea what was going on. He then broke down crying and apologized profusely, and Cristina - despite Meredith and Callie's resistance - forgave him, saying his PTSD is a war wound and not his fault. Soon after this, they made love for the first time in an on-call room, but Cristina realized that she's afraid to fall asleep in his arms, and broke up with him. After this, Owen started to see Dr. Wyatt, who helped him express and name his emotions and recognize the triggers to his PTSD (such as the blades of the ceiling fan). As Owen was further torn apart by his feelings for Cristina which he couldn't express because he thought it would be cruel to do so, Dr. Wyatt taught him to use three-word sentences as substitutes to the three words he wanted to say the most (I love you). As Owen continued to avoid her and only spoke to her with brief three-word sentences, Cristina became more and more confused and annoyed. When she finally confronted him in front of the hospital, he gave her a list of the sentences he used and explained what the speaking in three-word sentences meant and told her that he was trying to make things right by letting her go. Cristina then told him to "take care now", one of the three-word sentences meaning "I love you" he used for her multiple times, and left.

As his therapy progressed, Owen started to move closer to Cristina, but she seemed to withdraw, asking him about finally going to visit his mother and telling her that he was back from Iraq. This caused Owen to ponder things and he came to the conclusion that at heart, his problems were caused by his unfinished business in Iraq. He then told Cristina that he was returning to the army, but she gave no support to the idea, later telling him: "I don't want you to die." She then convinced him to abandon the idea of returning to the army and go visit his mother with her instead. After seeing his mother, Owen was able to sleep without nightmares, and with the violent dreams now gone, he and Cristina decided to get back together.

Later, Cristina was missing a cardio attending to teach her, so Owen brought over his fellow army surgeon, Dr. Teddy Altman, as a gift for Cristina. Teddy began to mentor Cristina, and, after a rough start, the two got along well. As it turned out, however, Teddy's presence caused a lot of trouble for Cristina and Owen, as she and Owen had had feelings for each other in the army without the other knowing. After this matter was revealed, Cristina was willing to stand aside, but Owen assured her that he only wanted her. This caused Teddy to think about leaving the hospital, and Cristina, whose workaholic nature had been awoken by the motivation of working with Teddy, offered her an exchange in a panic: if Teddy stayed, she could have Owen. Teddy then told Owen about the offer and he confronted Cristina, telling her that their relationship matters and she doesn't get to toss him aside like that. Cristina, however, remained uncertain and eventually broke up with him, telling him that until he had made his choice, the two of them had no business together.

The triangle between Owen, Cristina, and Teddy wasn't settled until the hospital was invaded by the murderous gunman Gary Clark. Owen and Teddy made it out of the hospital with a patient, but after realizing that Cristina was still inside, Owen made his decision and ran back to the hospital to find her. He then found Cristina in an OR where she was operating on Derek, who had been shot earlier, with Jackson, Meredith, and April - and with Gary Clark holding his gun against her head, ordering her to stop operating. Owen then tried to distract the gunman from Cristina, even yelling at him as he was about to shoot her: "That is the woman that I love. You shoot her, you touch her, and I will kill you!" The situation became even more dangerous when Meredith stood up, ordering the gunman to kill her instead of Derek. As the barrel of the gun moved to Meredith, Owen jumped towards Clark, forcing the shooter to shoot him instead of Meredith. After the gunman had gone, Cristina, not knowing the extent of his injuries, urged Meredith to save Owen. Luckily, it turned out the bullet had only pierced his shoulder, and in the wake of the disaster, Owen and Cristina got back together.

After the shooting, Cristina suffered from PTSD and Owen took care of her, eventually proposing to her. Not long after, they got married in front of all their friends in a ceremony held at Meredith's and moved in together, purchasing an old firehouse that they decorated. Cristina later found out that she was pregnant with their child. Owen was thrilled, but Cristina, not wanting to become a mother, told him that she was going to have an abortion. Owen tried unsuccessfully to talk her out of it and ultimately kicked her out of their home for failing to give him a voice in the matter. However, Cristina found herself unable to go through with the abortion without Owen's support, which alarmed Meredith, who, after telling him what sort of miserable future would await both Cristina and the child if she kept it, convinced Owen to let Cristina have the abortion. Owen held Cristina's hand during the procedure, but the moment seemed bittersweet and involuntary.

It soon became clear that Owen was not okay with it. He and Cristina grew apart, he became more and more distant and silent, until the situation finally exploded during Zola's birthday party. Owen and Cristina got into a huge argument in front of all of their friends, which ended with Owen accusing Cristina of killing their baby. After this, the situation only grew worse, and during a session with a marriage counselor, it became clear that they both failed to understand each other's point of view on the baby issue.

Owen's discomfort and anxiety eventually led him to get drunk and having a one night stand with a patient's friend. He confessed his infidelity to Cristina, who had earlier suspected him of having an affair with nurse Emily Kovach, which completely devastated her. Owen moved out of the firehouse and Cristina started to plan to move to Minnesota and accept the fellowship offered at Mayo Clinic. However, before leaving, she slept with Owen one last time, forgiving his infidelity.

After Cristina and the others had been rescued from the forest in the wake of the plane crash, Owen promised to take care of Cristina, who was in a psychosis. He took her to the firehouse and managed to get her to speak. After she had fully recovered, she left for Minnesota to pursue her fellowship, while Owen stayed back in Seattle to continue his role as Chief of Surgery. After Cristina's mentor, Dr. Thomas died, she returned to Seattle and tried to make efforts to reconcile with Owen. Due to a lawsuit against the plane company, Owen asked Cristina for a divorce, which would help the surgeons with their trial. Cristina then told Owen she wanted to try again and he agreed, but they still went through with the divorce for the sake of the lawsuit. Their newfound happiness was short-lived, however, as the arrival of 10-year-old Ethan Dawson, with whom Owen bonded, made it very clear that Owen still wanted children. Cristina then realized that she would never be able to give Owen what he desires, so she left him during the superstorm that hit Seattle.

After the storm, Owen and Cristina faced the tough challenge of staying apart, and even though they ended up having sex - more than once - Cristina was determined to stick to her decision. Upon realizing that they could never detach themselves from one another as long as they let things stay the way they were, Cristina suggested that they'd start seeing other people in order to let go of each other, and Owen reluctantly agreed. Later, during GSMH's fundraiser gala, Owen met Dr. Emma Marling, with whom he started flirting. Cristina, witnessing the situation, left the scene with a downhearted expression on her face, leaving Owen with the other woman. Emma and Owen's relationship becomes quite serious and they even consider moving in together. However, after another emotional encounter with Cristina, Owen breaks up with Emma realizing that he wants to have a future with a woman who shares an equal passion for surgery as she does for children. After he breaks up with Emma, Cristina tries to help him find someone else.

Cristina and Owen continued a deep friendship with each other until Cristina left for Switzerland.

Amelia Shepherd[]

Following Cristina's departure, Owen focused on his work and was skeptical about getting back to the dating game, despite him and Callie constantly encouraging each other to do so. However, he soon began to bond with Amelia, of whom he felt protective after a distraught patient revealed her past drug-addiction to the entire hospital, upsetting and humiliating her. When Jackson and April's baby died, he held her hand as she opened up to him about her own deceased baby, and the two developed feelings for each other.

Having been out of the dating game for so long, Owen was hesitant about making a move on her. He was constantly cautious and nervous around her, stammering his way through discussions with her. It wasn't until Amelia - just as helpless as him - came to visit him with a bottle of water that he finally took action and kissed her. A little later, after some failed attempts, they slept together for the first time.

15x09-19

Amelia tells Owen to consider his options.

Problems soon arose, however, as Amelia began to fear that mixing professional and personal lives together would eventually result in a disaster. After a risky procedure to which Owen had given his consent went wrong, Amelia freaked out, believing that he only sided with her because of his personal feelings, and ended the relationship. The two then spent the following year apart, due to Owen going on another tour in Iraq after Derek's death. He returned to find Amelia, to whom he had had to break the news of her brother's demise a year before, completely shut down, refusing to deal with her grief. Upon learning that she was on the verge of relapsing again, he helped her open up and deal with her emotions.

The two continued to grow very close, to the point where Amelia decided to propose to Owen, telling him that despite the fact that marriage may be too soon, she was sure that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.[69] They got married immediately after getting engaged in front of their friends and family.

Owen and Amelia's wedding bliss didn't last for long as they realized they had a difference in opinion about starting a family. Amelia felt that Owen was pressuring her to start a family, which she wasn't ready for. Their marital problems got so bad that Amelia didn't come home for weeks and avoided Owen at the hospital. After months of their marriage being on the rocks, Owen had enough and went to ask for a divorce from Amelia. Just as he was about to do so, he discovered that she had a brain tumor, which likely affected her judgment about their hasty marriage. Once the tumor was removed, Owen and Amelia amicably decided to get a divorce, as they didn't know which part of their relationship was not affected by her tumor, which had been growing for approximately ten years.

After getting divorced, Owen spent some time away from Amelia and decided to foster a baby named Leo. However, he soon realized he was in over his head and sought help from Amelia, who later moved in to help him and also mentor Leo's birth mother, Betty, who was addicted to drugs. Owen and Amelia bonded over their new family. Eventually, Amelia told Owen she still had feelings for him, and they got back together. Their relationship seemed to be back on track until Teddy returned to Seattle and revealed that she was pregnant with Owen's baby. Amelia gave Owen time to consider his options, and he chose Amelia. However, after Betty and Leo went back with Betty's parents, Owen and Amelia started fighting again, leading to another breakup.

Teddy Altman[]

Owen and Teddy met while they both were army surgeons. Both developed hidden feelings for one another. Owen brought her to Seattle Grace-Mercy West as a present for Cristina, claiming her to be the "cardio goddess", and Teddy later works out that Owen brought her as a present for his girlfriend, appearing more surprised by the fact Cristina was his girlfriend. She later would admit that she believed that if Owen broke up with his (ex) fiancée, Beth, he would have called her. Upon finding out, Owen became conflicted and almost kissed Teddy in a closet, but realized that he loved Cristina. The two remained good friends even after Teddy left Seattle to work in Germany.

Upon Megan Hunt's discovery, Teddy returned to Seattle to see Owen and support him.[70] While in Seattle, she, along with Megan and Evelyn, confronted him about his failing marriage. After a fight with Amelia, Owen kissed Teddy, but she backed away, not wanting to ruin their friendship. She then returned to Germany.[71]

After Owen and Amelia's marriage ended, they continued sleeping together. After one hook-up, Amelia told Owen to seek out Teddy, claiming that he was still thinking about her. Owen did what she told him to, arriving at Teddy's doorstep in Germany and declaring his love for her. After spending the day together, however, Owen ended up slipping that it was Amelia who told him to come. Upon hearing this, Teddy was angry and hurt, claiming that he had once again fooled her into thinking that they could actually be together. The two got into a fight that ended with Teddy kicking him out, refusing to speak to him anymore.[72] When Teddy found out she'd become pregnant during this tryst, she returned to Seattle to tell Owen.[73] She eventually told Owen she was pregnant during the wind storm, and they got along during her pregnancy even though they were both in relationships. Right before Teddy went into labor, she realized she loved Owen, while Owen realized he loved Teddy after several sessions of therapy. He told her he loved her just as she gave birth to their daughter, Allison.[74]

Later on, during a surgery, Jackson asks Owen if he's set a date yet, which he responds to by saying he and Teddy aren't engaged. Jackson is surprised by this, and Owen says he wants to marry her, but he's afraid the proposal won't be big enough to make up for the fact that he didn't do it years, even decades ago. Jackson warns him not to wait too long. Teddy also tells Amelia that PTSD is about patterns and that Owen has a history of fear of obligation, while Teddy "showed up with a belly full of obligation." Amelia responds by saying he loves Teddy. Teddy says that Owen hasn't proposed yet, but Amelia says that if he felt trapped, he would've already proposed. Owen meets Teddy in a room and proposes to her with his mom's ring. Teddy begins crying, and she tells him that she doesn't want him to feel obligated to marry her. She wants him to break his patterns, not reinforce them. Owen replies by saying he's starting a new pattern of loving her. When they leave the room, they publicly announce their engagement, which is received with congratulations from both Link and Amelia.[75]

Teddy confessed to him that Amelia's baby might be his, expressing concern over what their relationship would be if it was his. Owen said nothing, which caused Teddy to walk away. Later that night, Owen cooked for Teddy and told her that his answer would always be that he loved her.[76]

On their wedding day, Owen found out that Teddy had been cheating on him with Tom through an accidental voicemail. He called off the wedding with the excuse that he had a last-minute surgery.[77]

Beth Whitman[]

Owen was engaged to a woman named Beth, but in the army, he broke it off in a two-line email. She was always too emotional and attached to everything & everyone for him to handle. When he visited Seattle Grace, he kissed Cristina but left (though he was single at the time).

Emma Marling[]

Owen met Emma during GSMH's fundraiser gala and began flirting with her after seeing Cristina flirt with another possible donor. During the evening, he found out that she is actually an attending perinatologist from Seattle Pres trying to gain some money for her hospital by taking advantage of GSMH's gala, but he didn't seem to mind. At the end of the evening, she came to see Owen at the hospital.

Owen and Emma kept in touch after the evening, and she even baked him banana bread for work, which caused Callie to begin teasing him by calling Emma his girlfriend. At first, Owen denied being in a relationship with her, but after it became clear to all that the two had something going on, he admitted dating her to a couple people. He didn't tell Emma about his history with Cristina, and she later found out about their past from her while visiting the hospital. Emma then realized that Owen wasn't ready to date just yet and said goodbye to him, telling him to call her when he's ready to move on. After talking with Callie and April and receiving some advice from Cristina, Owen eventually called her and told her he was ready to move on. They continued dating, and later Emma was offered a job at GSMH. Though Owen was excited about the idea, Emma turned down the offer, not wanting to work at the same hospital with Owen in case something bad were to happen between them.

As their relationship became more serious, Owen and Emma discussed getting a place together and the possibility of marriage. Emma told Owen of her plans to become a stay-at-home mom and raise her children. However, later that same day, Cristina came to the trailer drunk and she and Owen slept together. Owen broke up with Emma the next day, saying they wanted different things, but leaving out that he had cheated on her. Emma was devastated.

Familial[]

Evelyn Hunt[]

Evelyn is Owen's mother, with whom he has a close relationship. After returning from Iraq as a changed man, he initially refused to see his mother, instead of calling her once a week as if he were still in Iraq. The reason for this was that he feared that she would look at him like a ghost, as he was no longer the son she sent to war. Cristina, however, finally convinced him to meet her, and in the end, Evelyn still loved him as before.[78]

Owen is also fiercely protective of his mother, as proven when he learned that she was dating a man young enough to be his brother.[79] He also told Nathan Riggs to stay away from her, even punching him when he claimed that she was his family as well.[80]

Megan Hunt[]

Megan is Owen's sister, whose existence none of his co-workers and friends knew of until his feud with Nathan became apparent. He barely speaks of her but has revealed to Amelia that she was three years younger than him, smarter, funnier, and a better person than him. The two were apparently very close, as Megan was described as doing everything her older brother did, even following in his footsteps to med school.[81]

Nathan Riggs[]

Owen and his sister met Nathan in med school, where the two men became the best of friends, almost brothers to each other. This also led to Nathan becoming romantically involved with Megan, enough to make him think of the Hunts as his family. He and Owen had a falling out, however, caused by Owen blaming Nathan for allowing Megan on a helicopter that disappeared, and hadn't seen each other for years until Nathan began to work at Grey Sloan Memorial. Whatever the specific connection and circumstances, Owen hates him with a fiery passion, enough to interfere with his work.[82]

When Megan is found alive and brought back to the United States, she confesses her brother the truth about her accident and how she was the first to cheat on Nathan, even scolding Owen when he expresses his disbelief about her willingness to forgive Nathan while he himself has cheated on Cristina. Owen, by this, understands how he wrongly hated his friend and how much, on the other hand, Nathan was a good friend by letting himself be hated without ever telling about Megan's faults. Owen has never objected the relationship between Megan and Nathan again.[83]

Leo Hunt[]

Leo is Owen's foster son, whom he received soon after filing for foster-to-adopt. At first, he was very uncertain about having made the right decision, doubting his skills as a parent and fearing that he had forced it to happen. After some encouraging words from Amelia and Alex, however, he regained his confidence and began to get used to his new role as a parent.[84]

Friendships[]

Derek Shepherd[]

Owen and Derek were at odds as soon as they met: Derek was telling the wife of one of the men Owen had rescued from the limousine accident that her husband would never walk again, when Owen walks in, trashes Derek's prognosis and suggests therapeutic hypothermia, which could possibly make the man walk again. Derek wasn't too happy about the new guy's interference, so when Owen was given a job at Seattle Grace, Derek was very dubious about his new colleague. The two eventually bonded, however, as Derek gave Owen advice on how to deal with the unique relationship between Meredith and Cristina, and eventually, Derek, Owen, and Mark became friends. Owen even asked Derek to be his best man at his wedding. Derek was honored, but couldn't make it to the wedding because he spent the night in jail after speeding, but Owen didn't seem to mind that he wasn't able to attend the ceremony.

After the plane crash and the death of Mark Sloan, Derek held a grudge against Owen, as he blamed him for putting them on a poor plane that crashed. Cristina urged Derek to forgive him, but he was unable to do so, which eventually lead to Owen quitting. It was only after Cristina's interference that Derek realized the source of his anger. He went to apologize to Owen and told him that it wasn't him that he was mad at; it was Mark. Owen accepted his apology and advised him to let go of his anger.

When Owen began dating Amelia, Derek was very supportive of them. When he died, Owen, having lost yet another friend, left Seattle and joined another tour in Iraq in order to escape the feeling of loss. When he returned, he and Amelia mourned Derek together.

Mark Sloan[]

Mark took an instant dislike to Owen after Owen refused to allow him to do a consult on a burn patient. Shortly after, Mark was angered with him because he let Karev use skin glue, and was complaining (with Derek) that the patient could have lost half of his face. Despite this initial argument, Owen and Mark later bonded and were quite good friends until Mark's death.

Callie Torres[]

Owen and Callie were on good terms since the beginning, and Callie was one of the first people to notice the spark between him and Cristina. After an awkward encounter, when Callie found Owen standing naked in Cristina's bedroom after their failed first date, she and Owen bonded as they operated on Mark's penile fracture, and Callie even gave Owen advice on how to appease Cristina after the date fiasco.

After Callie had stopped Owen from strangling Cristina to death in his sleep, Callie and Meredith didn't allow Owen to approach Cristina for a while, but after the incident had been forgiven, Callie and Owen stayed on good terms. After the plane crash, they became friends as they relied on each other during the bad times of their relationships.

Ethan Dawson[]

Ethan, a 10-year-old boy, came to the hospital after a car accident that had left both of his parents in critical condition. He almost instantly bonded with Owen, who took care of him while his parents were in surgery. After his father Paul fell into a coma and mother Rachel died of a seizure, Owen comforted Ethan, and when he was rushed to the ER after overdosing on his grandmother Nancy's sleeping pills, Owen expressed deep, almost paternal concern of his wellbeing. When Nancy told Owen that she was considering giving Ethan into custody because she was not capable of taking care of him, he found himself considering whether he should adopt him. After asking (and receiving) advice from Meredith, Owen decided to go for it, but before he could proceed, Cristina managed to wake Paul, reuniting Ethan with his father. Owen then ordered them to be transferred to Seattle Pres for safety from a superstorm that was approaching Seattle.

Meredith Grey[]

Meredith and Owen share a turbulent relationship and they often clash, mainly because of their different views on Cristina and what's best for her. After the strangling incident, Meredith was very protective of Cristina and had a lukewarm demeanor toward Owen for a long time. With time, however, she began to soften to Owen, and at his and Cristina's wedding, she finally accepted Owen and told Cristina that he was "perfect".

After Owen allowed Cristina to quit being a surgeon in the wake of the hospital shooting, Meredith was furious at Owen for letting Cristina "completely fall apart". This led to a huge argument, with Meredith claiming to know what Cristina needs better than Owen, and Owen reminding Meredith that Cristina isn't her. After the argument, the two were on very cold terms.

When Owen and Cristina had a fight over the abortion of their baby, Meredith said to Owen that she was raised herself by a Cristina and that the guilt of resenting her own kid would almost kill Cristina. Owen then decided to support his wife in her decision, although he didn't completely deal with it. In the wake of the abortion, Owen and Cristina were very distant, which eventually lead Cristina to fear that Owen was cheating on her. When she mentioned it to Meredith, she reassured her friend that it was highly unlikely that Owen was cheating. In the end, however, Cristina's fears became a reality, and Meredith advised Cristina to leave Owen, calling him "a pig".

After the plane crash and Cristina's move to Minnesota, Meredith and Owen became closer again, as they both missed Cristina. After her return, Owen and Meredith were on good terms. Owen even turned to Meredith for advice during his inner struggle on whether he should adopt Ethan or not, and Meredith kindly listened to him and, surprisingly, encouraged him to proceed with the matter, even though she knew Cristina would never like the idea.

After Cristina's departure, Owen and Meredith became friends, Meredith having promised to Cristina to look out for him. When he became moody following Nathan Riggs' arrival at the hospital, she was the only person he allowed near him, shutting even Amelia out. Meredith then became the first person to find out about Owen's secret sister.[85]

April Kepner[]

When Kepner showed potential as a trauma surgeon, Owen became her teacher, and when she had a hard time being the Chief Resident, he gave her advice on how to stop being an administrator and start being the leader. When April failed her boards, Owen had to fire her, though he later realized what a mistake that was and flew all the way to Ohio to re-hire April. Since that, Owen and April have made a good team in trauma and have become friends, with Owen consoling and supporting her during her second pregnancy, and April being his best man at his wedding to Amelia.

Professional[]

George O'Malley[]

Owengeorgealex

Owen works with George and Alex.

When George and Alex were on his service, he discovered that George got calmer under pressure and told him that trauma should be his specialty. He assigned George to his service for a month. George took a shine to Owen and vice-versa, and Owen hugged him upon hearing that he was joining the Army.

Alex Karev[]

When Owen came to work at Seattle Grace, Alex admired him but did not know whether to be on his side or Mark and Derek's. For a short while, he stayed on Owen's service but after discovering George's raw talent, Owen paid more attention to George and his relationship with Alex did not advance.

After becoming chief of surgery at Pacific Northwest General Hospital, Alex recruited Owen to improve the trauma department.

Izzie Stevens[]

Izzie took an instant dislike to Owen, after he stabbed six pigs for the residents to save, in order to learn to work with "live tissue." She was not put on his service after that and neither really spoke to or about the other. After she recovered from her own neurosurgery, Hunt had her on his service but after losing their patient he told her that she can't be a patient and a doctor at the same time.

Miranda Bailey[]

Following Meredith and Cristina's fight, Owen bonded with Derek and people began to warm-up to him. When Derek started to suffer from depression, Bailey sent Callie and Owen to the woods to bring Derek. Owen initially refused but when she started to stare him down he said, "People don't usually say no to you, do they?"

After Owen became the Chief of Surgery, Bailey gave him a hard time, but eventually, Owen won her over. When Owen talked about his infidelity with Meredith, Bailey overheard the conversation and later showed compassion towards Owen, telling him that "You did a terrible thing. It doesn't mean you're a terrible person."

Richard Webber[]

The Chief took a liking to him when Owen first appeared, and now they are close friends.

Arizona Robbins[]

Arizona and Owen are on good terms. When Arizona was suffering from phantom limb pain, Owen started to help her defeat the pain. When nothing else worked, he ordered Alex Karev to stab her in the prosthesis with a scalpel in the OR, which drove the pain away.

Career[]

Owen is a very skillful and innovative doctor, hardworking, quick-witted, and relentless. He has respect for his patients and demands the same from his residents and colleagues. His training as an Army trauma surgeon allows him to use even the most simple household objects (e.g. a ballpoint pen) as surgical tools, and he is known to improvise when facing a lack of proper equipment. As a surgeon he works hard, even working three days straight, and in addition to taking care of the ER, he also takes some general surgery cases every now and then. According to him, he became a doctor because he wanted to help people, and because no one could read his handwriting.

He attended Harvard and completed his residency in general surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He then worked at Maryland Shock Trauma, making quite a name for himself there, according to Richard Webber. Shortly after 9/11, he joined the army and became an army trauma surgeon. During his time in Iraq, he saw and experienced terrible things that would haunt him for a long time, such as seeing many of his friends and colleagues get shot or blown to pieces. He stayed in Iraq until one day his entire platoon of 19 was killed in an RPG ambush, leaving him as the sole survivor, and he was honorably discharged from the army. He then returned to Seattle and took up the post of Head of Trauma Surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital, restoring it to a level one trauma center.

At first, Owen had some trouble with making a transition from Army field medicine to civilian traumas, and his aggressive course of treatment and unwillingness to ask help from the other attendings was frowned upon by Derek Shepherd and Mark Sloan, who quickly started calling him names, such as "Rambo" and "Meatballer". However, Owen quickly adjusted to working in a civilian hospital and learned to page help instead of doing everything himself. His surgical skills soon impressed his colleagues, and George described them as "amazing", while Callie described Owen as "meticulous."

Over the next few months, Owen also started teaching residents in trauma and how to work quickly and efficiently in hard circumstances. His teaching methods were rather unusual and slightly unorthodox, for example, teaching his residents how to work with "live tissue" by stabbing six pigs and asking his residents to save them. He also taught his residents to respect their patients and trust more on their own evaluation instead of always relying on attendings.

During Derek's depressed period, Hunt revealed as a second-year resident, he lost the parents of three children, and it haunts him every day. When Derek commented that he expected a story about Iraq, Owen stated that he doesn't talk about Iraq. He did, however, tell Cristina one story about Iraq: how he had once laid still on top of a severely mangled bomb victim for two hours, preventing him from bleeding to death, something that he described as his "best and worst" surgery.

Owen's level-headedness and professionalism caught the eye of Chief Webber, and Owen soon became his right-hand man, Webber putting him in charge of selecting both the winner of the resident solo-surgery and the chief resident. He also placed Owen in charge whenever the hospital faced a crisis or emergency, given his training in working under pressure.

After Webber stepped down as Chief of Surgery after taking the blame for Meredith's tampering of the drug trial, he asked Owen to take over his position. Owen accepted the offer and became the new Chief of Surgery at Seattle Grace Mercy West, much to the surprise of his colleagues. At first, Owen was struggling with his new position, feeling deskbound, and it didn't take him long to start drinking, so Derek took him to his construction site and advised him to improvise. The next day Owen gave up his office, saying that from now on, his office would be wherever he was. Using a tablet-like device to manage the hospital, he was able to carry his office with him and free himself to work in the Pit and do surgeries.

Owen's position as the Chief of Surgery was threatened, however, during the aftermath of the lawsuit. After doing everything in his power to prevent the hospital from going under, he and the plane crash survivors were able to buy the hospital with the help of the Harper Avery Foundation, and the doctors were nominated as the new Board of Directors. In their first meeting, Jackson Avery brought up the Foundation's recommendation to replace Owen Hunt as Chief of Surgery in order to "increase the morale". This recommendation was met with utter disgust by the other board members, but when Owen heard of the recommendation from Cristina, he was enraged and after an argument between him, Avery and Shepherd decided to quit, leaving the hospital in chaos. Cristina then made Derek apologize to him, and he agreed to return as Chief of Surgery if the ER would be reopened, a condition to which everyone agreed.

Owen stayed on as Chief for about two more years until Derek's death made him realize he had grown tired of the job. He resigned from the position and went on another tour with April, after which he came back as the Head of Trauma. He held that position until voluntarily stepping down to give Teddy Altman said job, becoming a regular attending trauma surgeon.

When Owen clashed with Tom, he resigned from Grey Sloan Memorial and was hired as Head of Trauma at Pacific Northwest General Hospital under Chief Alex Karev. When Alex took personal leave, Owen acted as Interim Chief. The hospital was purchased by the Catherine Fox Foundation and closed for business. The entire staff interviewed for jobs at Grey Sloan and Owen was reinstated as Head of Trauma once again.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • Owen holds a rank of Major in the U.S. Army.[source?]
  • Cristina took down her ceiling fan because Owen told her it's one of the triggers to his PTSD.[source?]
  • Owen went to Harvard before he commissioned in the Army.[source?]
  • Owen is left-handed.[source?]
  • He has a Yelp rating of 3.5 stars.[86]
  • He has messy handwriting.[87]
  • Owen knows how to sing and play the guitar,[88] but Cristina was not aware of that when Meredith asked her if she knew if Owen played the guitar.
  • Owen is the only character to appear in all three of the fictional webisode series.
  • Owen played left defender in soccer when he was younger. He also played the bagpipes in the eighth grade.[89]
  • Owen wears a personalized scrub cap that is green and military-themed.[source?]
  • He was almost ten when his father died.[90]
  • At the time of her reappearance, his sister Megan was said to be 36 years old.[91] Since she is three years younger than her brother, Owen was 39 years old at the time.
  • Owen and his sister are of Scottish descent.[92]
  • Of all the non-original cast members, Owen has been a main character the longest, at 15 seasons.
  • Owen likes avocados.[93]
  • One of his favorite pastimes is watching World War II movies on PBS.[94]

Gallery[]

A more complete gallery with pictures of Owen Hunt can be found here.

Notable Episodes[]

These episodes are Owen-centric or are otherwise very informative about his life.

Memorable Quotes[]

Owen: You’re gonna spy on him? But that’s cheating!
Cristina: You’re adorable when you’re slow.[95]

Cristina: This list is life!
Owen: Schindler's List?! You're actually comparing the merger to the Holocaust?
Cristina: I’m Jewish; I’m allowed![96]

Derek: Get out of my patient's room!
Owen: I don't take orders from civilians!

Owen (to Bailey): I learned in the Army that a leader is only as good as the people around him.[97]

Owen (to Cristina): I'm trying to love you. Why won't you let me?[98]

Owen (to Cristina): So I'd have to say something to you instead of the three words that are... That is killing me. The three words that you know I feel, but I can't say them, because it would be cruel to say them, because I am no good for you.[99]

Owen (To Alex Karev): I am the chief of surgery and this is an order. Stab Dr. Robbins in the foot right now![100]

Owen: April, you're having a baby.
April: Yeah.
Owen: It's not screwed up. It's a miracle.[101]

Owen: I told you a while back that you were incapable of love. But I've been doing some therapy, and I'm realizing that I think that it was me that I was talking about, not you. And I'm sorry I said that. It's not true. It's the opposite of true.
Amelia: Thank you.[102]

Appearances[]


References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Got to Be Real, 11x03
  2. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, 10x14
  3. You Really Got a Hold on Me, 14x13
  4. Whistlin' Past the Graveyard, 16x06
  5. Danger Zone, 14x05
  6. Danger Zone, 14x05
  7. Death and All His Friends, 6x24
  8. Free Falling, 8x01
  9. She's Gone, 8x02
  10. Take the Lead, 8x03
  11. Everything I Try to Do, Nothing Seems to Turn Out Right, 10x23
  12. Fear (of the Unknown), 10x24
  13. I Must Have Lost It on the Wind, 11x01
  14. Puzzle With a Piece Missing, 11x02
  15. She's Leaving Home, 11x22
  16. Time Stops, 11x23
  17. You're My Home, 11x24
  18. Sledgehammer, 12x01
  19. Walking Tall, 12x02
  20. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, 12x05
  21. The Me Nobody Knows, 12x06
  22. Something Against You, 12x07
  23. Things We Lost in the Fire, 12x08
  24. One Day Like This, 14x17
  25. Judgment Day, 14x20
  26. Bad Reputation, 14x21
  27. Fight For Your Mind, 14x22
  28. Cold as Ice, 14x23
  29. All of Me, 14x24
  30. With a Wonder and a Wild Desire, 15x01
  31. Broken Together, 15x02
  32. Gut Feeling, 15x03
  33. Momma Knows Best, 15x04
  34. Everyday Angel, 15x05
  35. Flowers Grow Out of My Grave, 15x06
  36. Blowin' in the Wind, 15x08
  37. Shelter from the Storm, 15x09
  38. Help, I'm Alive, 15x10
  39. Girlfriend in a Coma, 15x12
  40. I Walk the Line, 15x13
  41. I Want a New Drug, 15x14
  42. We Didn't Start the Fire, 15x15
  43. Blood and Water, 15x16
  44. And Dream of Sheep, 15x17
  45. Add It Up, 15x18
  46. The Whole Package, 15x20
  47. Head Over High Heels, 15x22
  48. What I Did for Love, 15x23
  49. Drawn to the Blood, 15x24
  50. Jump Into the Fog, 15x25
  51. Nothing Left to Cling To, 16x01
  52. Back in the Saddle, 16x02
  53. Reunited, 16x03
  54. It's Raining Men, 16x04
  55. Whistlin' Past the Graveyard, 16x06
  56. Papa Don't Preach, 16x07
  57. My Shot, 16x08
  58. Let's All Go to the Bar, 16x09
  59. Help Me Through the Night, 16x10
  60. A Hard Pill to Swallow, 16x11
  61. Save the Last Dance for Me, 16x13
  62. A Diagnosis, 16x14
  63. Snowblind, 16x15
  64. Life on Mars?, 16x17
  65. Give a Little Bit, 16x18
  66. Sing It Again, 16x20
  67. Put on a Happy Face, 16x21
  68. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, 18x08
  69. At Last, 12x23
  70. Break Down the House, 14x01
  71. Get Off on the Pain, 14x02
  72. One Day Like This, 14x17
  73. All of Me, 14x24
  74. Jump Into the Fog, 15x25
  75. Help Me Through the Night, 16x10
  76. Life on Mars?, 16x17
  77. Put on a Happy Face, 16x21
  78. Now or Never, 5x24
  79. With or Without You, 11x17
  80. Things We Lost in the Fire, 12x08
  81. All I Want is You, 12x10
  82. All I Want is You, 12x10
  83. Danger Zone, 14x05
  84. Judgment Day, 14x20
  85. Things We Lost in the Fire, 12x08
  86. Hold Back the River, 14x18
  87. Seattle Grace: Message of Hope
  88. Grey's Anatomy Webisode - Seattle Grace: On Call Part 6
  89. Break Down the House, 14x01
  90. Falling Slowly, 13x04
  91. Get Off on the Pain, 14x02
  92. Get Off on the Pain, 14x02
  93. Good Shepherd, 15x21
  94. Good Shepherd, 15x21
  95. Push, 6x17
  96. I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me, 6x03
  97. Take the Lead, 8x03
  98. State of Love and Trust, 6x13
  99. No Good at Saying Sorry (One More Chance), 5x21
  100. Walking on a Dream, 9x12
  101. I Am Not Waiting Anymore, 12x15
  102. What I Did for Love, 15x23
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