This is a Cristina fic very much mirroring the format of my previous Meredith fic, I Only Scream In My Sleep, which contains both present and past. Hope you enjoy it and just for the record, I do not own any of the characters.

Cristina was quite certain that the blurriness in her vision was caused by extreme fatigue. As she made her way through the nearly empty hallway of the hospital, she prayed that she would stumble upon a coffee machine. Even though Cristina knew the hospital's coffee was quite terrible, at the moment, any coffee was good coffee.

"Cristina."

She spun quickly on her heel and squinted in the direction of the familiar female voice. Miranda stood at the end of the hall, a chart in one hand and a half eaten granola bar in the other. Miranda started down the hallway towards Cristina.

"What are you still doing here, Yang?" Miranda asked, tucking the granola bar in her pocket before closing the chart she was holding.

"I'm scrubbing in on a surgery tomorrow with Dr. Shepherd and I wanted to research a few things." Cristina answered briskly.

"You've been at this hospital for almost sixty hours in the past three days." Miranda pointed out, "If you're not out of this hospital in ten minutes, you won't be scrubbing in on any surgeries tomorrow."

"But Dr. Bailey-." Cristina's eyebrows drew together.

Miranda held up a hand, stopping Cristina and speaking with emphasis, "None of my interns are going to be making mistakes because of their inability to go home. Goodnight, Yang."

"Goodnight, Dr. Bailey." Cristina muttered, looking away from Miranda before heading to the elevators.

Cristina pushed the circular down button repeatedly until it lit up. She folded her arms across her chest, quite annoyed that Miranda had sent her home.

'This is completely unfair.' Cristina thought bitterly, 'She's still here. I don't understand why it's such a problem to want to work.'

The elevator doors slid open and Cristina stepped into the empty elevator. She sighed as it took her down. Once the doors opened again, Cristina made her way to the locker room. It was empty and dark so Cristina flicked on the light. She opened her locker, which was a complete mess. She ignored it as she slid off her lab coat, hung it on the metal hook and picked up her purse.

Deciding not to waste the time to change out of her scrubs, Cristina shut her locker door and headed out the locker room, flicking the light off as she went. She walked through the hallway briskly, keeping her head held high and ignoring most people she passed. Since she had been dismissed from the hospital all she could think about was returning to her apartment and collapsing onto her bed.

As soon as Cristina slid through the automatic doors, she was hit with the coolness of the May air. She thought she could smell rain, but she noted the ground was dry. She stopped walking when she heard her cell phone ringing. Cristina dug through her purse and pulled out her phone, answering it quickly.

"Hello?" Cristina asked, almost dropping her purse and its contents on the sidewalk.

"Cristina, hey, are you at the hospital?" Meredith's voice came through the phone.

"Yeah." Cristina answered, too tired to ask why.

"Could you give me a ride to my house?" Meredith asked, "I'm leaving the hospital now."

"Yeah." Cristina replied, "I'm standing just outside the doors. I'll wait."

"Thanks so much." Meredith sounded grateful, "I'll be right out."

Cristina hung up her cell phone and placed it back into her purse. She slung her purse over her shoulder and turned towards the hospital's entrance. She realized just how much her feet were aching after having been on them for more hours than she could remember. After a minute had gone by, Meredith emerged from the hospital, dressed in her regular clothes.

"It's been a crazy night." Meredith commented as she strode alongside Cristina, heading for Cristina's car, "I volunteered to stay late because someone called off. I'm glad you were still here. I carpooled with Izzie and totally forgot until she was already gone and I really didn't want to call a cab. I mean, I only left because Bailey saw me and told me to go home. She walked away mumbling something about how her interns never sleep, so I thought you might be here too."

Cristina and Meredith were now at the car. Cristina got in the driver's side while Meredith slid into the passenger side. Silence remained in the car as Cristina pulled out and drove in the direction of Meredith's house.

"Everything okay?" Meredith asked, suddenly concerned for her friend who had not said a word since the two had been face to face.

"Yeah. Great." Cristina answered in the fake cheeriness she couldn't stand using and Meredith easily detected as false.

"You've been working a lot these past couple of days." Meredith pointed out, knowing she couldn't outright accuse Cristina of lying about her current well being. Meredith knew she had to take her time in getting the truth out.

"I like surgery." Cristina told her, knowing full well Meredith was suspicious, but Cristina was too tired to give a damn.

Meredith gave the conversation a break, allowing Cristina some time to think. However, Cristina was focused on the road and not falling asleep at the wheel. It was a better alternative than thinking about the thing that was actually bothering her. Before long Cristina pulled up to the Grey residence. Meredith waited for Cristina to look at her before speaking.

"You sure you're okay?" Meredith looked Cristina in the eyes.

Cristina felt herself crack, but not break and as she sucked in a deep breath, she strengthened herself enough to answer, "Yes, Meredith. I'm fine."

"Okay." Meredith returned, disbelieving, but letting it slide. She clutched onto her bag and exited the car. She gave Cristina a wave before heading up the stairs to her front door.

Cristina waited until Meredith was inside before driving to her own apartment. She sped most of the way home, considering there weren't as many cars out as usual at such a late hour and because she was severely tired. She was relieved when she spotted her apartment building and quickly found a place to park.

With a sharp thrust, Cristina opened her apartment door, which sometimes had the tendency to stick. She dropped her purse on the floor and made sure she locked the door behind her. She walked towards her bedroom, kicking off her shoes as she went. Cristina did not bother to turn on the light as she entered the room. She simply made sure her alarm was set and then collapsed onto her bed, hoping sleep would come to her quickly.

Cristina wrapped her arms around her knees. She bit her bottom lip in anticipation. She moved her head slightly, attempting to see through the small slit between the two closet doors. Cristina was currently sitting in darkness, her head just barely touching the bottoms of coats hanging in the closet. A shadow passed across the slit of light and Cristina tightened the grasp of her arms.

The doors to the closet flew open and Cristina shrieked in surprise, which quickly turned into a mess of giggles. Tom Yang laughed as well as he helped to pull his nine year old daughter out of the closet.

"Found you!" Tom exclaimed with great enthusiasm.

"Now, we have to find Amy!" Cristina exclaimed and ran from her bedroom, her two long braids bouncing on the back of her Mickey Mouse tee shirt.

Cristina ran down the flight of stairs followed by her father. Cristina stopped in the hallway, looking around at her choice of living room, kitchen, or study.

"Where do you think she is?" Cristina whispered loudly to her father, her brown eyes staring up at him.

Tom leaned down and pointed into the kitchen in the direction of the table. Cristina smiled as she noticed the two small hands and blue jeans that peeked out from under the tablecloth. Cristina smiled at her father, one of her teeth missing from the top row.

Following his daughter's lead, Tom crept into the kitchen and stood alongside the table. Cristina grabbed the tablecloth and whipped it up.

"Gotcha!" she exclaimed and laughed.

Amy, a fellow classmate and best friend of Cristina's, began to laugh and crawled out from underneath the table. She stood to her feet and straightened her Alvin and the Chipmunks tee shirt. Amy poked Cristina in the chest.

"You're turn to count now." Amy said with a teasing air because no kid ever liked to be it.

Cristina shook her head, putting on the same air, "I don't mind. I like counting."

Cristina stuck out her tongue, causing Amy to giggle. Tom checked the clock hanging above the kitchen sink and frowned.

"I think that's going to be it for today, girls." Tom spoke up, "It's time to take you home, Amy."

"Awwwww..." both girls whined together.

Tom smirked, "I know, I know, but this one's-," Tom tapped Cristina's head, "-mother will be home soon with dinner and she needs to do her homework."

The girls groaned again when Tom mentioned homework. Tom chuckled and ushered Cristina and Amy into the hallway. He picked up the E.T. backpack belonging to Amy and handed it to her. She placed her arms through the straps.

"How about we play Monopoly tomorrow after school?" Tom suggested, trying to brighten the mood.

"Okay!" Christina and Amy agreed in unison. They nodded, Cristina's dark braids sliding up and down while Amy's golden curls bounced.

Tom picked up his car keys from a bowl on the table and opened the front door. Amy walked out first, followed by Tom, and Cristina left slightly delayed after looking to find a marble she had dropped after pulling it from her pocket. After shutting the door behind her, Cristina turned the knob, making sure it was locked. With a slight smile, Cristina headed to the car, not knowing this was going to be the last time she ever rode in a car with her father again.