To Love Somebody 8/?
Author:JeriBearRN.
Title: To Love Somebody 8/?
Summary: Set just after the end of Cristina's residency, she finds herself in a difficult life with Owen Hunt, but she won't give up on him because she loves him. Or she thinks she does.
Rating: Strong R.
Disclaimer: These characters are property of Shonda Rhimes/ABC and Grey's Anatomy. They do not belong to me. Reimbursment is not recieved for ficticious works.
Previous chapters:
[ One][ Two][ Three]
[ Four][ Five][ Six]
[ Seven][??][??]
[??][??][??]
It took a few moments for Cristina to gather herself, but her gaze rarely left Burke in that time. With her arms wrapped around her apparently new fiancée, she pointed to a corner of the bar and gave him a look that told him had better get there or else.
Burke did just as she had silently commanded him to.
Meredith was a silent witness to it all and made her way towards Cristina with some trepidation. She took hold of Cristina’s arm with a slight grin, a mixture of drunk and forced. “She was mine first, Hunt.” She remarked dryly, drawing a laugh from the man.
“You can have her for a minute, but I want her back.” Owen smiled genuinely, not letting her go without kissing her first.
Casually, Meredith glanced over her shoulder at Burke as he sunk into the shadows taking all of it in. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for him in that moment. She felt Cristina’s hand press hard into the small of her back and towards his direction.
“Y’know, he’s got really bad timing.” Meredith couldn’t help but say with a slight chuckle.
“Shut up.” Cristina muttered. “You…you have to keep him busy. Just for a few minutes.”
“You want me to keep Burke busy for a few minutes? What the hell am I-“
“Not Burke.” Cristina said quietly, glancing over her shoulder.
“Cristi-“ Meredith started again.
“Not now, Mer.”
“Bu-“
“Meredith.” Cristina looked at her, eyes pleading for her to just shut up and let her do this.
She finally relented, hand dropping to her side. “Fine, but I want the story later. The whole story.”
Cristina didn’t acknowledge her, only made her way towards the man that had haunted her thoughts relentlessly for the past weeks. Her eyes remained fixed on his and she felt her breath almost slow completely when she found herself standing in front of him.
A sad smile traced over his lips, words left unspoken tracing the deep coffee color of his eyes. “I suppose that congratulations are in order,” He spoke, his voice low and humble.
“Don’t,” She murmured softly, “I…” She tried to find words to ask him what he was doing there, why he had to choose that moment to show up.
Again.
Sensing her hesitation, he spoke for her. “I live here. I took a job at Seattle Presbyterian.” He cleared his throat, looking down at the ground. “It’s the only place that feels like home.”
“You can’t be here, Burke.” She whispered, the words almost lost in the steady drone of the crowd.
“I’m not here to interfere. You won’t even know that I’m in the same city.” Burke assured her. Every word tore at his heart, nicking away at little pieces of dead muscle.
“But you’re-“
“I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. That you were happy.” He answered before she could even point out his current location.
Burke wanted to make sure that he was doing the right thing. That she wasn’t compromising anything. He needed to know that this person she’d found, that he understood her, that he loved her and could make her smile.
Cristina didn’t answer his question, only turn it around on him. “Are you okay?” She asked, a question to which she already knew the answer. She could see how much he was hurting, but she didn’t know if it was from what he had walked in on or something completely different.
Her instincts told her that it was a little bit of both.
He smiled weakly, taking note of the simple ring on her finger. He wanted to nod, but he couldn’t even find the energy to assure her that much. “I think everything is as it should be.”
It was a safe answer. Probably the truth, probably what she needed to hear in order to be able to walk away from him and go back to the man who had her now. He didn’t deserve to be happy or whole, didn’t deserve to have her in his life- he had done this to himself and now she was moving on and moving forward.
She murmured his name softly, her hand absently reaching out to brush his arm. He had caused her so much pain in her life, but it didn’t mean that she wanted to see him in it.
Cristina wouldn’t wish the things that she’d felt on anybody else, least of all the man who did it to her.
Meredith watched discreetly from behind Owen as Cristina spoke with Burke and she shook her head. Whatever he was doing here, it could not be good. It’s not like he was in the corner trying to kiss her or confessing his love- no, what he was doing was much more dangerous.
Alex joined the small group at the bar, ordering a beer for himself and some fruity drink for his flavor of the week. He muttered something about stupid rings and too many people falling into the same damn trap over and over again- bitterness lacing his tone from his own previous lost loves, but then he noticed that Meredith wasn’t even listening to him. “Dude, wake up and smell the bar nuts. Or mine. Whichever one you want.”
“Shut up,” She said, pushing away the hand he was waving in front of her face.
“What the hell are you staring at?” He asked, looking over towards the corner where her gaze was fixated. He snorted when he saw Burke standing in the corner and Cristina standing in front of him. “I’ve got fifty on Yang kicking his ass.”
Owen’s ears perked up at the mention of Cristina and looked over at the source. “Yang is kicking whose ass, Karev?”
He nodded towards the corner “Bur-“ He started, but felt a sharp pain in his side from Meredith’s bony elbow. “What the hell, man!” He snapped at her, rubbing his side, “That is not cool.”
Meredith narrowed her eyes at him and then tried to focus on the task at hand, “Cristina isn’t kicking anybody’s ass. She just needed a minute.”
Owen crossed his arms over his chest, looking the two of them down. Meredith reached for her drink, taking a large gulp of it to maintain the heavy silence that had formed over the trio.
Alex, bored with the night’s events thus far had made the decision that he’d rather see some action. “It’s Preston Burke. The ass who-“
“Left her.” Owen finished the sentence, uncrossing his arms and making a break away from the group.
Meredith grabbed onto his arm to slow him down, but he easily pulled it away. She followed after him, repeating his name in a frantic string. Cristina was so going to kill her. Meredith was going to kill Alex. Owen was going to kill Burke.
The night that was supposed to be a good one was quickly turning into a very very bad one instead.
Cristina stood with Burke in a deafening silence, her eyes fixed on his. There was so much that they could never outright say to each other. So many things that they meant to say, or had promised themselves that they’d tell the other but they simply didn’t.
She found herself wondering as she stood before him that it was simply because they didn’t need to say the words.
They already knew.
Her lips had only slightly parted to excuse herself from the situation when Owen chose to end it for them.
Burke staggered backwards as an explosion of pain ripped through his jaw and he put his hand up to defend himself against whatever or whomever it was that hit him.
“Owen!” Cristina snapped, throwing herself in between the two of the men, her back pressed into Burke’s body. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Owen stood motionless, his fists clenched as he looked at the two of them. His chest rose and fell heavily, his face reddened in anger. This was his night, and of all the nights for this jackass to show up- it was his night.
Their night.
His eyes remained fixed on Burke, anger burning through his veins in a way that it hadn’t in years. “Get the hell out.” His voice was guttural, a near growl.
“Owen!” Cristina snapped again, her body still shielding Burke’s. She had always wondered if he was joking when he had said that if he ever had the opportunity to meet the man who had left her that he was going to make him regret it.
Now she knew.
It wasn’t nearly as satisfying as she once thought it would be.
Burke stood behind Cristina, still stunned from the sudden blow. He reached up to rub his jaw and felt wetness along jawline. He was bleeding.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Owen asked angrily, “I said get the hell away from her. Get out.”
“Ow-“ Cristina started, but felt Burke’s hand on her arm.
“Cristina. I’m going.” He said softly. His hand dropped from her shoulder to his side and he brushed past the two of them and towards the front door.
She watched as he made his way through the crowd, people murmuring his name and hers- words of a wedding left unfinished starting to stir quickly. Her lips parted as she watched him and she shook her head softly.
“Cristina,” Owen said, holding his hand out for hers. She looked distraught and he hated that this man had come and taken away their night. It was supposed to be perfect.
Her eyes looked over at his in disbelief and she kept her hand at her side. She walked away from him and moved quickly towards the front door to check on Burke.
Owen would be there when she was done.
Burke was leaning against the brick wall outside of the bar, his eyes closed as he tried to ignore the throbbing in his jaw. He’d take just a minute and then he’d leave- he’d go back to his empty apartment, go back to his meaningless job and the void that was his life.
He just needed a minute.
Footsteps, however, interrupted that minute.
He opened his eyes to see Cristina rushing towards him. “Are you okay?” She asked quietly, raising her hand to examine the damage Owen had left behind.
Burke brushed her hand away, “I’m fine.”
She grabbed his wrist, her eyes penetrating his. “Shut up and let me look at it.”
His arm went limp in her hand and he turned his head to the side. With her hand placed just under his chin, she examined the skin split along his jawline. “You need stitches,” She murmured softly. Blood oozed continuously from the site and she shuffled through her pockets of her pants trying to find anything she could to catch it. The only thing she had was a candy bar wrapper and a receipt from the coffee cart.
It was better than nothing.
“Here,” She said, raising the receipt to his chin to catch some of the oozing blood. “It’s not gauze, but it will work until we can get you across the street.”
“We are not going anywhere,” He said, replacing her hand with his own. “You are going inside to your fiancée. I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry he hit you.” Cristina sighed, “Just let me walk you across the street and then I’ll come back.”
“I remember how to get there just fine, Cristina.” He said coldly. Coming to Joe’s was a bad idea. He knew it was a bad idea. He should have never even come to Seattle.
He should have had more control.
“Hey.” She said, her hand on his cheek drawing his gaze to meet hers. “You came to make sure I was okay. Now shut up and let me make sure you’re okay.”
Burke couldn’t fight her, he couldn’t say no to her. He only pulled himself away from the wall and walked in the direction of the hospital.
Cristina stayed at his side, resisting the urge to put her hand against the back of his arm, to touch him somehow as they walked. She didn’t question why she wanted to do it, he had been hurt. It was just a pity thing or a comfort thing or something. It wasn’t feelings or anything like that.
They both knew that.
“Your fiancée packs quite a punch.” He tried to make light conversation in the face of everything else.
“Owen. His name is Owen. And he was in the military. I think they teach them how to do that crap. Kill a man with their pinky and all of that.” She said, a slight smile tracing her lips.
“Then I suppose that I should be thankful that he didn’t come at me with his pinky.” With a small smirk that caused him to wince only moments later.
The slight beginnings of a laugh escaped Cristina’s lips, then a chuckle until she was fully laughing. The mental image in her head of Owen chasing Burke around with a very prominent pinky was a stupid one- but one that was entertaining nonetheless.
He smiled at the sound of her laughter as much as he could. It was all that he’d wanted to hear, wanted to see. “You find the idea of me dying by another man’s pinky entertaining?” He asked as they finally made it into the hospital parking lot.
Before Cristina could answer, a siren broke through their conversation and she put her hand in front of him to stop him from walking. It was close. She glanced over her shoulder and across the parking lot to see Owen emerging from the bar at a quick pace. “Trauma.” She answered, “C’mon. Let’s get you inside. It looks like you’re going to have to deal with me stitching you up.”
“How do you know it’s a trauma? It could be a code.” Burke questioned as they picked up their pace towards the sliding glass doors.
“Because Owen is about a hundred feet behind us.” She answered softly as they got to the doors, “Trauma surgeon.”
“Oh. Right.” Burke answered, pausing to glance back. “You’re sure that he’s not coming at me with his pinky?”
Cristina smiled and pushed him towards the door. “Shut up and get inside. I’ll be right behind you.”
Burke walked through the doors, leaving her outside to wait for Owen. He didn’t bother glancing back at the two of them or lingering by the door.
He knew that they would need their space for a minute.
As Owen neared the doors, he showed no sign of slowing and she put her hand out. “Owen.” She said, her voice firm, “Owen, talk to me.”
“Not now, I have a trauma rolling in.” He wouldn’t look at her, but she knew that she had hurt him by following Burke outside.
The last thing she’d ever want to do is hurt him.
“I can walk and talk at the same time. You have to change.” She said, determination in her voice. She wasn’t going to let this go to fester for hours.
It almost felt as if they were running through the halls towards the locker room, and Cristina knew that the need wasn’t really there to do so. The ER physician would be able to provide any initial interventions outside of cutting and the patient would have to have films for evaluation, fluids, venous access. She had time.
She followed him into the locker room unabashedly, watching as he pulled his shirt off. “I couldn’t let him sit out there and bleed in the alley.” Cristina finally said. “He’s bleeding. You did a job on him.”
“Good.” Owen muttered, pulling a set of fresh scrubs from a nearby rack.
“You shouldn’t have hit him.”
“You shouldn’t have followed him.”
Cristina nodded, her arms wrapped around herself. “You don’t know why he was there. Why he’s here. It’s not what you think.”
Owen stopped to look at her incredulously, “I don’t need to think anything. I’ve never hid my intentions when it came to what would happen to him if I had the opportunity.”
“He apologized.” She admitted, averting her gaze.
“And that makes it excusable, what he did to you?” He asked, his voice rising slightly.
She glared at him for a long moment, “I don’t know. Did it make it excusable when you saw Beth? Is it only excusable when you do it?”
He fell silent, moving his eyes to meet hers. “I had my reasons.”
“And so did Burke. Good or bad, you both had reasons. He apologized. I accepted it. That’s all that matters.” Her voice was soft, but commanding at the same time. She knew it wasn’t the best idea to bring up his ex-fiancée and that entire fiasco, but it was the only thing she had.
“When?” He asked, reaching for his top without breaking their gaze.
She sighed, “When, what, Owen?”
“When did he apologize? When did you talk to him? Why am I hearing about this now? It certainly wasn’t tonight. If he had apologized tonight, you wouldn’t be defending him.”
Cristina’s eyes immediately dropped to the floor and the guilt was written all over her body language. She murmured a barely audible ‘Boston’ without looking at him.
Owen shook his head in disbelief. “You didn’t call me.”
“I called you.”
“Once in four days. You were in a completely different city with a different man and you didn’t even call me.” He said, slamming his locker door. “What the hell were you thinking?”
She shook her head, “Owen, nothing happened. Nothing happened. We talked. That was it. He told me that he had regretted it and that he was sorry. He answered my questions. There was nothing else. There’s nothing there. I love you. I am choosing to be with you. I am marrying you.”
“Are you?”
“I’m wearing the ring aren’t I?” Cristina asked, stepping closer to him.
Owen was quiet, watching as she approached him. He didn’t know what else to say to her. He’d never thought that she’d hurt him like this.
He didn’t even really know if he had a good reason to be hurt.
Cristina reached out with her left hand, the ring securely in place, and she laid it against his bared chest. Her face, her lips was only a few inches from his and she uttered his name softly. “I am marrying you.” She repeated in a voice above a whisper. “Burke…Burke was closure. It was what I wanted to hear. It was what I needed to hear.”
His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her even closer to him. “It was only closure.” It was more of a statement to reassure himself, rather than a question.
He knew that Cristina would never do that. She wasn’t that type of person. He should have known better than to even insinuate it.
“It was only closure,” She whispered one more time before she pressed their lips together. Her free hand wrapped around the back of his neck, and she pushed every last ounce of emotion into the kiss.
It quickly became heated and she found her back against the lockers, his hand grasping her ass tightly. His fingers found her curls and he closed his fist around a clump of them, tugging slightly as he kissed her.
Owen found himself hoping that the trauma was non-surgical so he could take her home and lay claim to her body. The patient, however, had other plans for him. He groaned softly against her neck as his pager sounded on the bench behind him. Reluctantly, he pulled away to see that they had assigned an OR and that they’d need him to come assess the films before prepping the patient.
Cristina rested her head back against the locker doors, fighting to catch her breath, trying to get the redness to leave her cheeks. “You have to go?” She finally managed to get out.
“Yeah. Abdomen full of blood.” He sighed, pulling his shirt on. “Are you going home?”
She looked at him and cleared her throat a little. “He needs films and sutures. I’m staying.”
He looked at her for a long moment, not sure what to say to her. He didn’t want to let her do it, but he know that he couldn’t tell her no either. Maybe she felt like she owed it to Burke since he’d been the one to do the damage. “Alright.” He finally spoke.
Reaching up, she kissed him one more time before leaving him in the locker room to finish changing.
In their time together, Cristina had never lied to Owen. She may have been difficult to talk to, she may have held onto information a little bit longer than she should have, but she had never outright lied to him.
Until tonight.
He thought that Burke’s apology was closure, that it was what she needed to move forward and to never look back.
In truth his apology clouded her mind. It had opened up memories that spent years being repressed and tucked away. It had made apparent to her that no matter how much she didn’t want to, she would always love him. Not in the same way as Owen, and maybe not as much as Owen- but there was always going to be a place in her heart for Burke.
Even if she didn’t want it to be there.
Title: To Love Somebody 8/?
Summary: Set just after the end of Cristina's residency, she finds herself in a difficult life with Owen Hunt, but she won't give up on him because she loves him. Or she thinks she does.
Rating: Strong R.
Disclaimer: These characters are property of Shonda Rhimes/ABC and Grey's Anatomy. They do not belong to me. Reimbursment is not recieved for ficticious works.
Previous chapters:
[ One][ Two][ Three]
[ Four][ Five][ Six]
[ Seven][??][??]
[??][??][??]
It took a few moments for Cristina to gather herself, but her gaze rarely left Burke in that time. With her arms wrapped around her apparently new fiancée, she pointed to a corner of the bar and gave him a look that told him had better get there or else.
Burke did just as she had silently commanded him to.
Meredith was a silent witness to it all and made her way towards Cristina with some trepidation. She took hold of Cristina’s arm with a slight grin, a mixture of drunk and forced. “She was mine first, Hunt.” She remarked dryly, drawing a laugh from the man.
“You can have her for a minute, but I want her back.” Owen smiled genuinely, not letting her go without kissing her first.
Casually, Meredith glanced over her shoulder at Burke as he sunk into the shadows taking all of it in. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for him in that moment. She felt Cristina’s hand press hard into the small of her back and towards his direction.
“Y’know, he’s got really bad timing.” Meredith couldn’t help but say with a slight chuckle.
“Shut up.” Cristina muttered. “You…you have to keep him busy. Just for a few minutes.”
“You want me to keep Burke busy for a few minutes? What the hell am I-“
“Not Burke.” Cristina said quietly, glancing over her shoulder.
“Cristi-“ Meredith started again.
“Not now, Mer.”
“Bu-“
“Meredith.” Cristina looked at her, eyes pleading for her to just shut up and let her do this.
She finally relented, hand dropping to her side. “Fine, but I want the story later. The whole story.”
Cristina didn’t acknowledge her, only made her way towards the man that had haunted her thoughts relentlessly for the past weeks. Her eyes remained fixed on his and she felt her breath almost slow completely when she found herself standing in front of him.
A sad smile traced over his lips, words left unspoken tracing the deep coffee color of his eyes. “I suppose that congratulations are in order,” He spoke, his voice low and humble.
“Don’t,” She murmured softly, “I…” She tried to find words to ask him what he was doing there, why he had to choose that moment to show up.
Again.
Sensing her hesitation, he spoke for her. “I live here. I took a job at Seattle Presbyterian.” He cleared his throat, looking down at the ground. “It’s the only place that feels like home.”
“You can’t be here, Burke.” She whispered, the words almost lost in the steady drone of the crowd.
“I’m not here to interfere. You won’t even know that I’m in the same city.” Burke assured her. Every word tore at his heart, nicking away at little pieces of dead muscle.
“But you’re-“
“I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. That you were happy.” He answered before she could even point out his current location.
Burke wanted to make sure that he was doing the right thing. That she wasn’t compromising anything. He needed to know that this person she’d found, that he understood her, that he loved her and could make her smile.
Cristina didn’t answer his question, only turn it around on him. “Are you okay?” She asked, a question to which she already knew the answer. She could see how much he was hurting, but she didn’t know if it was from what he had walked in on or something completely different.
Her instincts told her that it was a little bit of both.
He smiled weakly, taking note of the simple ring on her finger. He wanted to nod, but he couldn’t even find the energy to assure her that much. “I think everything is as it should be.”
It was a safe answer. Probably the truth, probably what she needed to hear in order to be able to walk away from him and go back to the man who had her now. He didn’t deserve to be happy or whole, didn’t deserve to have her in his life- he had done this to himself and now she was moving on and moving forward.
She murmured his name softly, her hand absently reaching out to brush his arm. He had caused her so much pain in her life, but it didn’t mean that she wanted to see him in it.
Cristina wouldn’t wish the things that she’d felt on anybody else, least of all the man who did it to her.
Meredith watched discreetly from behind Owen as Cristina spoke with Burke and she shook her head. Whatever he was doing here, it could not be good. It’s not like he was in the corner trying to kiss her or confessing his love- no, what he was doing was much more dangerous.
Alex joined the small group at the bar, ordering a beer for himself and some fruity drink for his flavor of the week. He muttered something about stupid rings and too many people falling into the same damn trap over and over again- bitterness lacing his tone from his own previous lost loves, but then he noticed that Meredith wasn’t even listening to him. “Dude, wake up and smell the bar nuts. Or mine. Whichever one you want.”
“Shut up,” She said, pushing away the hand he was waving in front of her face.
“What the hell are you staring at?” He asked, looking over towards the corner where her gaze was fixated. He snorted when he saw Burke standing in the corner and Cristina standing in front of him. “I’ve got fifty on Yang kicking his ass.”
Owen’s ears perked up at the mention of Cristina and looked over at the source. “Yang is kicking whose ass, Karev?”
He nodded towards the corner “Bur-“ He started, but felt a sharp pain in his side from Meredith’s bony elbow. “What the hell, man!” He snapped at her, rubbing his side, “That is not cool.”
Meredith narrowed her eyes at him and then tried to focus on the task at hand, “Cristina isn’t kicking anybody’s ass. She just needed a minute.”
Owen crossed his arms over his chest, looking the two of them down. Meredith reached for her drink, taking a large gulp of it to maintain the heavy silence that had formed over the trio.
Alex, bored with the night’s events thus far had made the decision that he’d rather see some action. “It’s Preston Burke. The ass who-“
“Left her.” Owen finished the sentence, uncrossing his arms and making a break away from the group.
Meredith grabbed onto his arm to slow him down, but he easily pulled it away. She followed after him, repeating his name in a frantic string. Cristina was so going to kill her. Meredith was going to kill Alex. Owen was going to kill Burke.
The night that was supposed to be a good one was quickly turning into a very very bad one instead.
Cristina stood with Burke in a deafening silence, her eyes fixed on his. There was so much that they could never outright say to each other. So many things that they meant to say, or had promised themselves that they’d tell the other but they simply didn’t.
She found herself wondering as she stood before him that it was simply because they didn’t need to say the words.
They already knew.
Her lips had only slightly parted to excuse herself from the situation when Owen chose to end it for them.
Burke staggered backwards as an explosion of pain ripped through his jaw and he put his hand up to defend himself against whatever or whomever it was that hit him.
“Owen!” Cristina snapped, throwing herself in between the two of the men, her back pressed into Burke’s body. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Owen stood motionless, his fists clenched as he looked at the two of them. His chest rose and fell heavily, his face reddened in anger. This was his night, and of all the nights for this jackass to show up- it was his night.
Their night.
His eyes remained fixed on Burke, anger burning through his veins in a way that it hadn’t in years. “Get the hell out.” His voice was guttural, a near growl.
“Owen!” Cristina snapped again, her body still shielding Burke’s. She had always wondered if he was joking when he had said that if he ever had the opportunity to meet the man who had left her that he was going to make him regret it.
Now she knew.
It wasn’t nearly as satisfying as she once thought it would be.
Burke stood behind Cristina, still stunned from the sudden blow. He reached up to rub his jaw and felt wetness along jawline. He was bleeding.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Owen asked angrily, “I said get the hell away from her. Get out.”
“Ow-“ Cristina started, but felt Burke’s hand on her arm.
“Cristina. I’m going.” He said softly. His hand dropped from her shoulder to his side and he brushed past the two of them and towards the front door.
She watched as he made his way through the crowd, people murmuring his name and hers- words of a wedding left unfinished starting to stir quickly. Her lips parted as she watched him and she shook her head softly.
“Cristina,” Owen said, holding his hand out for hers. She looked distraught and he hated that this man had come and taken away their night. It was supposed to be perfect.
Her eyes looked over at his in disbelief and she kept her hand at her side. She walked away from him and moved quickly towards the front door to check on Burke.
Owen would be there when she was done.
Burke was leaning against the brick wall outside of the bar, his eyes closed as he tried to ignore the throbbing in his jaw. He’d take just a minute and then he’d leave- he’d go back to his empty apartment, go back to his meaningless job and the void that was his life.
He just needed a minute.
Footsteps, however, interrupted that minute.
He opened his eyes to see Cristina rushing towards him. “Are you okay?” She asked quietly, raising her hand to examine the damage Owen had left behind.
Burke brushed her hand away, “I’m fine.”
She grabbed his wrist, her eyes penetrating his. “Shut up and let me look at it.”
His arm went limp in her hand and he turned his head to the side. With her hand placed just under his chin, she examined the skin split along his jawline. “You need stitches,” She murmured softly. Blood oozed continuously from the site and she shuffled through her pockets of her pants trying to find anything she could to catch it. The only thing she had was a candy bar wrapper and a receipt from the coffee cart.
It was better than nothing.
“Here,” She said, raising the receipt to his chin to catch some of the oozing blood. “It’s not gauze, but it will work until we can get you across the street.”
“We are not going anywhere,” He said, replacing her hand with his own. “You are going inside to your fiancée. I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry he hit you.” Cristina sighed, “Just let me walk you across the street and then I’ll come back.”
“I remember how to get there just fine, Cristina.” He said coldly. Coming to Joe’s was a bad idea. He knew it was a bad idea. He should have never even come to Seattle.
He should have had more control.
“Hey.” She said, her hand on his cheek drawing his gaze to meet hers. “You came to make sure I was okay. Now shut up and let me make sure you’re okay.”
Burke couldn’t fight her, he couldn’t say no to her. He only pulled himself away from the wall and walked in the direction of the hospital.
Cristina stayed at his side, resisting the urge to put her hand against the back of his arm, to touch him somehow as they walked. She didn’t question why she wanted to do it, he had been hurt. It was just a pity thing or a comfort thing or something. It wasn’t feelings or anything like that.
They both knew that.
“Your fiancée packs quite a punch.” He tried to make light conversation in the face of everything else.
“Owen. His name is Owen. And he was in the military. I think they teach them how to do that crap. Kill a man with their pinky and all of that.” She said, a slight smile tracing her lips.
“Then I suppose that I should be thankful that he didn’t come at me with his pinky.” With a small smirk that caused him to wince only moments later.
The slight beginnings of a laugh escaped Cristina’s lips, then a chuckle until she was fully laughing. The mental image in her head of Owen chasing Burke around with a very prominent pinky was a stupid one- but one that was entertaining nonetheless.
He smiled at the sound of her laughter as much as he could. It was all that he’d wanted to hear, wanted to see. “You find the idea of me dying by another man’s pinky entertaining?” He asked as they finally made it into the hospital parking lot.
Before Cristina could answer, a siren broke through their conversation and she put her hand in front of him to stop him from walking. It was close. She glanced over her shoulder and across the parking lot to see Owen emerging from the bar at a quick pace. “Trauma.” She answered, “C’mon. Let’s get you inside. It looks like you’re going to have to deal with me stitching you up.”
“How do you know it’s a trauma? It could be a code.” Burke questioned as they picked up their pace towards the sliding glass doors.
“Because Owen is about a hundred feet behind us.” She answered softly as they got to the doors, “Trauma surgeon.”
“Oh. Right.” Burke answered, pausing to glance back. “You’re sure that he’s not coming at me with his pinky?”
Cristina smiled and pushed him towards the door. “Shut up and get inside. I’ll be right behind you.”
Burke walked through the doors, leaving her outside to wait for Owen. He didn’t bother glancing back at the two of them or lingering by the door.
He knew that they would need their space for a minute.
As Owen neared the doors, he showed no sign of slowing and she put her hand out. “Owen.” She said, her voice firm, “Owen, talk to me.”
“Not now, I have a trauma rolling in.” He wouldn’t look at her, but she knew that she had hurt him by following Burke outside.
The last thing she’d ever want to do is hurt him.
“I can walk and talk at the same time. You have to change.” She said, determination in her voice. She wasn’t going to let this go to fester for hours.
It almost felt as if they were running through the halls towards the locker room, and Cristina knew that the need wasn’t really there to do so. The ER physician would be able to provide any initial interventions outside of cutting and the patient would have to have films for evaluation, fluids, venous access. She had time.
She followed him into the locker room unabashedly, watching as he pulled his shirt off. “I couldn’t let him sit out there and bleed in the alley.” Cristina finally said. “He’s bleeding. You did a job on him.”
“Good.” Owen muttered, pulling a set of fresh scrubs from a nearby rack.
“You shouldn’t have hit him.”
“You shouldn’t have followed him.”
Cristina nodded, her arms wrapped around herself. “You don’t know why he was there. Why he’s here. It’s not what you think.”
Owen stopped to look at her incredulously, “I don’t need to think anything. I’ve never hid my intentions when it came to what would happen to him if I had the opportunity.”
“He apologized.” She admitted, averting her gaze.
“And that makes it excusable, what he did to you?” He asked, his voice rising slightly.
She glared at him for a long moment, “I don’t know. Did it make it excusable when you saw Beth? Is it only excusable when you do it?”
He fell silent, moving his eyes to meet hers. “I had my reasons.”
“And so did Burke. Good or bad, you both had reasons. He apologized. I accepted it. That’s all that matters.” Her voice was soft, but commanding at the same time. She knew it wasn’t the best idea to bring up his ex-fiancée and that entire fiasco, but it was the only thing she had.
“When?” He asked, reaching for his top without breaking their gaze.
She sighed, “When, what, Owen?”
“When did he apologize? When did you talk to him? Why am I hearing about this now? It certainly wasn’t tonight. If he had apologized tonight, you wouldn’t be defending him.”
Cristina’s eyes immediately dropped to the floor and the guilt was written all over her body language. She murmured a barely audible ‘Boston’ without looking at him.
Owen shook his head in disbelief. “You didn’t call me.”
“I called you.”
“Once in four days. You were in a completely different city with a different man and you didn’t even call me.” He said, slamming his locker door. “What the hell were you thinking?”
She shook her head, “Owen, nothing happened. Nothing happened. We talked. That was it. He told me that he had regretted it and that he was sorry. He answered my questions. There was nothing else. There’s nothing there. I love you. I am choosing to be with you. I am marrying you.”
“Are you?”
“I’m wearing the ring aren’t I?” Cristina asked, stepping closer to him.
Owen was quiet, watching as she approached him. He didn’t know what else to say to her. He’d never thought that she’d hurt him like this.
He didn’t even really know if he had a good reason to be hurt.
Cristina reached out with her left hand, the ring securely in place, and she laid it against his bared chest. Her face, her lips was only a few inches from his and she uttered his name softly. “I am marrying you.” She repeated in a voice above a whisper. “Burke…Burke was closure. It was what I wanted to hear. It was what I needed to hear.”
His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her even closer to him. “It was only closure.” It was more of a statement to reassure himself, rather than a question.
He knew that Cristina would never do that. She wasn’t that type of person. He should have known better than to even insinuate it.
“It was only closure,” She whispered one more time before she pressed their lips together. Her free hand wrapped around the back of his neck, and she pushed every last ounce of emotion into the kiss.
It quickly became heated and she found her back against the lockers, his hand grasping her ass tightly. His fingers found her curls and he closed his fist around a clump of them, tugging slightly as he kissed her.
Owen found himself hoping that the trauma was non-surgical so he could take her home and lay claim to her body. The patient, however, had other plans for him. He groaned softly against her neck as his pager sounded on the bench behind him. Reluctantly, he pulled away to see that they had assigned an OR and that they’d need him to come assess the films before prepping the patient.
Cristina rested her head back against the locker doors, fighting to catch her breath, trying to get the redness to leave her cheeks. “You have to go?” She finally managed to get out.
“Yeah. Abdomen full of blood.” He sighed, pulling his shirt on. “Are you going home?”
She looked at him and cleared her throat a little. “He needs films and sutures. I’m staying.”
He looked at her for a long moment, not sure what to say to her. He didn’t want to let her do it, but he know that he couldn’t tell her no either. Maybe she felt like she owed it to Burke since he’d been the one to do the damage. “Alright.” He finally spoke.
Reaching up, she kissed him one more time before leaving him in the locker room to finish changing.
In their time together, Cristina had never lied to Owen. She may have been difficult to talk to, she may have held onto information a little bit longer than she should have, but she had never outright lied to him.
Until tonight.
He thought that Burke’s apology was closure, that it was what she needed to move forward and to never look back.
In truth his apology clouded her mind. It had opened up memories that spent years being repressed and tucked away. It had made apparent to her that no matter how much she didn’t want to, she would always love him. Not in the same way as Owen, and maybe not as much as Owen- but there was always going to be a place in her heart for Burke.
Even if she didn’t want it to be there.