(no subject)
Title: The Silver Lining Among The Storm Clouds
Fandom: Grey's Anatomy
Characters/Pairings: Meredith, Cristina, mentions of other characters/pairings.
Word Count: 991
Prompt: #93 - Thanksgiving for
fanfic100
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Thanksgiving, in general, is a hell of a lot calmer than it was last year.
Thanksgiving, in general, is a hell of a lot calmer than it was last year. Then again, last year she hid at the hospital through most of it.
Cristina didn’t though, at least not for the first part of it, so when she admits that this is tame in comparison Meredith is inclined to believe her.
She hasn’t been in the kitchen since darting in there at seven o’clock for a bowl of cereal and some orange juice. To anyone who asks, she claims that she doesn’t want to get in the current occupant’s way but in reality she’s just a little bit scared of how well it seems to be going in there. Izzie’s working off of last year’s instructions, which sound a lot like “Burke said to do this...” and Alex is being fairly obedient and doing what he’s told without complaint. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for her and Cristina and being as they don’t have to work (and also have been banished from Seattle Grace for the day) there’s not really a whole hell of a lot to do.
That’s fine. She’d take boring over chaotic any day. And at least she gets a Thanksgiving seeing as that was an entirely foreign concept to her mother. Besides, her and Cristina have ways of occupying themselves.
“Exactly how many people is she planning on feeding?” Cristina asks, watching from the safe distance of the living room, parade playing on low (she isn’t sure which of the two in the kitchen turned it on but she has a fairly good idea) in the background.
“Leftovers.” Meredith tells her, like it’s an age old secret. “And I think it’s just us four.”
“No George?” Cristina seems vaguely surprised.
“He’s spending it with his mom and his brothers. You know the O’Malley’s were big on it, especially his dad.” She reminds her, sadly, memories of too early wake up calls that seemed annoying last year but only make her feel bad for George now. “It’s probably better that way anyway. I think it would’ve been superiorly awkward with him and Izzie having issues, and you and Alex clearly aren’t very supportive of them.”
“I live with Callie, okay; I have to be on her side.”
Meredith holds up her hands. “Not picking on anyone, I’m just saying this little group of ours is...not what it was.” That’s kind of a sad conclusion to draw but it is the right one. There’s been so much damage done between the five of them she wonders if they’ll ever be able to fix it.
Cristina nods but says nothing. She, like Alex, has always been on the outsides of things. She isn’t feeling it like Meredith is, at least not yet.
Lucky her.
“No McDreamy either?”
With a shake of her head, she tells her, “I don’t really think that’s such a great idea. Too many issues, not enough time to sort them all out without ruining dinner.”
There’s the sound of the oven door opening, a squirt, and the distinct, “No, I told you I did that last year and Burke had to freaking operate on the turkey because of it.”
She knows Cristina flinches without have to actually look at her. Meredith knows because Cristina’s been doing it since this morning, the nearly imperceptible twitch that only a best friend would notice. She’s been trying to work up the guts to ask about that all morning but found no success insofar.
Then again, she hasn’t tried the indirect approach. “What exactly did you do last year? Just sit here?”
“I watched. They,” she notes the lack of names, “cooked and I watched. Then Joe and his boyfriend showed up without liquor, and I left.”
“Doesn’t sound all that chaotic,” Meredith replies, angling her head so she can glance into the kitchen when she hears Izzie laugh, curious but not good enough to get up. Whatever’s happening is doing so out of her line of sight.
“Izzie didn’t know how to cook.”
Meredith would beg to differ. “Yes she does. She bakes constantly.”
“Apparently baking is not the same as cooking a turkey.” She seems bothered by the laughing too, as she frowns. “Anyway, she had to be taught. Or something. I left at that point.
Hesitantly, she offers, “Burke...”
“Yes.” And Cristina seems less bothered by her bringing him up than Meredith had predicted. “And they bonded or something. Put him in over-share mode just in time for the drive home.” She pauses and Meredith doesn’t jump in, lets her finish. “That’s the whole benefit to this right? No more having to talk about feelings, no more ‘taking our relationship to the next level’.”
Meredith knows she needs a reason. Better yet, she knows why she needs a reason. She still needs to convince herself that she’s better off without Burke. Cristina does not wallow, she processes, finds where she’s in the right, and moves on. “Right. You never were too thrilled with any of that.”
“Exactly.” Her voice is a lot more confident than the rest of her is. She plays with her hands in her lap and she avoids eye contact. She doesn’t look sad though, or angry or happy or anything for that matter. She’s emotionless which is exactly how she looks when she’s at her most emotional. You’d never see it in her face; you’d only hear it in her words.
Which is exactly how this went.
“I miss Burke.”
She lets it hang there; an admission that only mattered because she’d actually said it, not because of the implications behind it. They all knew she missed him. But someone as closed off as Cristina did not own up to such things. At least not normally.
“I know.” Gingerly, testing the waters, she puts a hand on Cristina’s arm, probably the most outright sign of comfort she would get away with. But it would be enough.
Fandom: Grey's Anatomy
Characters/Pairings: Meredith, Cristina, mentions of other characters/pairings.
Word Count: 991
Prompt: #93 - Thanksgiving for
fanfic100
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Thanksgiving, in general, is a hell of a lot calmer than it was last year.
Thanksgiving, in general, is a hell of a lot calmer than it was last year. Then again, last year she hid at the hospital through most of it.
Cristina didn’t though, at least not for the first part of it, so when she admits that this is tame in comparison Meredith is inclined to believe her.
She hasn’t been in the kitchen since darting in there at seven o’clock for a bowl of cereal and some orange juice. To anyone who asks, she claims that she doesn’t want to get in the current occupant’s way but in reality she’s just a little bit scared of how well it seems to be going in there. Izzie’s working off of last year’s instructions, which sound a lot like “Burke said to do this...” and Alex is being fairly obedient and doing what he’s told without complaint. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for her and Cristina and being as they don’t have to work (and also have been banished from Seattle Grace for the day) there’s not really a whole hell of a lot to do.
That’s fine. She’d take boring over chaotic any day. And at least she gets a Thanksgiving seeing as that was an entirely foreign concept to her mother. Besides, her and Cristina have ways of occupying themselves.
“Exactly how many people is she planning on feeding?” Cristina asks, watching from the safe distance of the living room, parade playing on low (she isn’t sure which of the two in the kitchen turned it on but she has a fairly good idea) in the background.
“Leftovers.” Meredith tells her, like it’s an age old secret. “And I think it’s just us four.”
“No George?” Cristina seems vaguely surprised.
“He’s spending it with his mom and his brothers. You know the O’Malley’s were big on it, especially his dad.” She reminds her, sadly, memories of too early wake up calls that seemed annoying last year but only make her feel bad for George now. “It’s probably better that way anyway. I think it would’ve been superiorly awkward with him and Izzie having issues, and you and Alex clearly aren’t very supportive of them.”
“I live with Callie, okay; I have to be on her side.”
Meredith holds up her hands. “Not picking on anyone, I’m just saying this little group of ours is...not what it was.” That’s kind of a sad conclusion to draw but it is the right one. There’s been so much damage done between the five of them she wonders if they’ll ever be able to fix it.
Cristina nods but says nothing. She, like Alex, has always been on the outsides of things. She isn’t feeling it like Meredith is, at least not yet.
Lucky her.
“No McDreamy either?”
With a shake of her head, she tells her, “I don’t really think that’s such a great idea. Too many issues, not enough time to sort them all out without ruining dinner.”
There’s the sound of the oven door opening, a squirt, and the distinct, “No, I told you I did that last year and Burke had to freaking operate on the turkey because of it.”
She knows Cristina flinches without have to actually look at her. Meredith knows because Cristina’s been doing it since this morning, the nearly imperceptible twitch that only a best friend would notice. She’s been trying to work up the guts to ask about that all morning but found no success insofar.
Then again, she hasn’t tried the indirect approach. “What exactly did you do last year? Just sit here?”
“I watched. They,” she notes the lack of names, “cooked and I watched. Then Joe and his boyfriend showed up without liquor, and I left.”
“Doesn’t sound all that chaotic,” Meredith replies, angling her head so she can glance into the kitchen when she hears Izzie laugh, curious but not good enough to get up. Whatever’s happening is doing so out of her line of sight.
“Izzie didn’t know how to cook.”
Meredith would beg to differ. “Yes she does. She bakes constantly.”
“Apparently baking is not the same as cooking a turkey.” She seems bothered by the laughing too, as she frowns. “Anyway, she had to be taught. Or something. I left at that point.
Hesitantly, she offers, “Burke...”
“Yes.” And Cristina seems less bothered by her bringing him up than Meredith had predicted. “And they bonded or something. Put him in over-share mode just in time for the drive home.” She pauses and Meredith doesn’t jump in, lets her finish. “That’s the whole benefit to this right? No more having to talk about feelings, no more ‘taking our relationship to the next level’.”
Meredith knows she needs a reason. Better yet, she knows why she needs a reason. She still needs to convince herself that she’s better off without Burke. Cristina does not wallow, she processes, finds where she’s in the right, and moves on. “Right. You never were too thrilled with any of that.”
“Exactly.” Her voice is a lot more confident than the rest of her is. She plays with her hands in her lap and she avoids eye contact. She doesn’t look sad though, or angry or happy or anything for that matter. She’s emotionless which is exactly how she looks when she’s at her most emotional. You’d never see it in her face; you’d only hear it in her words.
Which is exactly how this went.
“I miss Burke.”
She lets it hang there; an admission that only mattered because she’d actually said it, not because of the implications behind it. They all knew she missed him. But someone as closed off as Cristina did not own up to such things. At least not normally.
“I know.” Gingerly, testing the waters, she puts a hand on Cristina’s arm, probably the most outright sign of comfort she would get away with. But it would be enough.