Cristina jolted upright, gasping, her hair tangled with cold sweat, the bed sheets twisted around her legs. Her hands were clenched on the sheets, her nails digging into her palms through the fabric. After a few seconds her eyes stopped flicking around the room in panic as she focused on the wall in front of her. Her breathing slowed and her muscles relaxed. She looked to her left where Owen should have been sleeping. He had thankfully already woken up and the space was empty. She flopped back onto the pillows. However many times that dream returned it always affected her; she was almost convinced it got worse after each round. Sometimes she escaped it by refusing to leave the hospital until she was certain that she would sleep the dreamless sleep of utter exhaustion, but she had now had that dream four nights in a row. She tried to stop it from replaying in her mind like it did most of the day, but she couldn't help it. Owen's bloodless face swam before her eyes once more, surrounded by the red of his own blood. The substance was oozing from three bullet-holes in his chest, as though he had no more blood to spill and his body was ridding itself of the last dregs of life. Cristina saw her own hands scrabbling at Owen's chest, helpless to do anything, but trying to help him, scooping his blood up in her hands and attempting to force it back into the wounds. Cristina was alive, unharmed and utterly useless.

She rolled onto her front and groaned into the pillow. Ever since the shooting she hadn't been able to get the image of a lifeless Owen out of her head. She knew he was fine – she saw him every day. She would dream of his dead body while he slept beside her. She would wake up in the night and listen to him breathe, just to convince herself that he was safe. She knew that he was alive, but her dreaming brain did not seem to.

With another groan she dragged herself off the pillows and out of bed. She hated waking up to an empty bed. She could remember that moment when she realised Burke had taken her ability to sleep alone. Once he was gone and she was lying solitary in her bed, she promised herself it wouldn't happen again. Now she had broken that promise and she could definitely sympathise with Meredith's abandonment issues. It was far worse when she had the dead-Owen dream and living Owen was not right there when she woke up. She needed to see him, just to make sure he was alive. She stumbled into the kitchen and couldn't stop herself smiling when she saw him bent over a bowl of cereal looking utterly exhausted. She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, kissing his neck and breathing in his alive-Owen smell. In one swift movement, he turned on his chair so his arms were around her waist and his knees either side of her hips and he kissed her. Cristina was definitely certain he was alive by this point, but she wasn't going to stop him. They broke apart and smiled sleepily at each other.

'Good morning, Dr Yang.'

'Good morning, Dr Hunt.'

'Did you sleep well?' he asked her, still smiling.

Cristina faltered slightly as she thought about the dream again. 'Yeah, fine,' she said, not quite meeting his eyes. She pulled him into another kiss as a distraction. Owen pulled her onto his lap, kissing her deeply, his arms wrapped so tightly around her she felt as though they were glued there.

'Isn't it a bit early in the morning for that?'

Cristina pulled away from Owen and sighed. Callie shut the fridge door, holding a carton of orange juice from which she drank.

'Says the woman who can't seem to shower alone, and also, I bought that. And I was going to have some before you got your spit all over it.' Cristina was slightly irritated with Callie for interrupting them, and this combined with the exhaustion and the stupid recurring dream to make her extremely snappy.

'Good morning to you too. Owen, would you like some orange juice?' Callie proffered the bottle, smiling innocently, but Owen shook his head with a smirk.

'I think I'll pass.'

'I hate you all. I'm going to take a shower,' Cristina said. She clambered off Owen's lap and headed towards the bathroom. Still half asleep, she tripped over her own feet getting into the shower and hit her head on the tiles. Whimpering at the throbbing pain in her temple, she struggled to turn the shower on, but was relieved when a jet of hot water struck her. She leaned back against the glass door and let the water splash onto her stomach. She could already feel it was going to be a long day.

...

Cristina strode into the locker room, letting the door slam behind her. She opened her locker and rifled through the filth in search of some scrubs which looked vaguely clean.

'What happened to your head?' Meredith's voice from the other side of the locker door was concerned, but Cristina sensed a touch of amusement.

'I tripped,' she said, her tone blunt.

'Onto what? A brick wall?' Meredith was laughing slightly now.

'A tiled wall, actually. Can you shut up now?'

'Good day, huh Yang?' called Alex. Cristina just glared at him. She pulled on her scrubs and stalked off in search of coffee. As she walked she became enthralled by the lace on her shoe, which was undone and flicking across the floor every time she took a step. It was slightly hypnotic and she was so absorbed that she walked right into someone. She looked up and saw Owen with a chart in his hand which had clearly been distracting him from watching where he was walking.

'You should watch where you're walking, Dr Yang.' Owen smiled again and pulled her too him.

'Mmm, so should you,' Cristina mumbled as he kissed her neck. 'I think this is all highly inappropriate hallway behaviour, Dr Hunt.'

'Ah, but that just makes it all the more fun.'

'Owen,' said Teddy's voice from behind them, sounding pained. They broke apart swiftly and saw her staring at a point just above Owen's left ear and attempting to look as though she didn't care that Owen picked Cristina over her. 'Owen, I have a patient I need you for.'

'Yes,' Owen replied, nodding. 'Yes, of course.' He began to walk away, but turned back to Cristina. 'I'll see you later,' he said, and kissed her quickly before following Teddy down the hallway.

Cristina watched them go, feeling slightly jealous. She thought Teddy would have got over the fact that Owen had chosen Cristina by now. Or at least that she would be better at hiding how much she cared. It was as though Teddy was deliberately trying to make Cristina feel bad. And she always seemed to need Owen for 'a patient'. He was a trauma surgeon. Why would he be needed by the Head of Cardio so often? She certainly asked for Owen more than she did Cristina. In fact, Cristina hadn't been on cardio once since the shooting. She understood why, and accepted it for a while, but now it was driving her insane. She needed a heart. She needed to hold one in her hand, feel the powerful muscle beneath her fingertips. She shook her head and went in search of caffeine.

...

Feeling substantially better with a coffee in hand, Cristina met Meredith at the nurses' station where they were awaiting their interns.

'You would think they'd have learnt to get here on time by now,' Cristina said irritably.

'I told Derek about the baby,' Meredith said, quite unexpectedly.

'What? Why?'

'I thought it was time he knew. And he sort of has a right. He kept asking me if I was okay every time I visited him in the hospital and then when he came home after recovery. It was like he knew.'

'How did he take it?' Cristina asked, concerned by the sadness in her friend's eyes. Meredith feigned being fine like she always did, but the loss of her baby had hurt her profoundly.

'He cried.' Meredith wouldn't look at Cristina.

'Oh. Do you…want a hug?'

'Cristina, we don't do hugs.'

'I know. But do you want a hug?' Cristina asked. Meredith gave a small nod and Cristina wrapped her arms around her. She rested her chin on Mer's shoulder and looked up to the staircase where the Chief of Surgery liked to make announcements. Sure enough, Derek was there, in conversation with another man. The man shifted slightly and Cristina gave a gasp. Preston Burke. Preston Burke was here. Here in Seattle Grace talking to Derek Shepherd just feet away from her.

Cristina released Meredith immediately, her eyes wild.

'Mer, you have to hide me,' she said urgently, crouching slightly behind her friend.

'Cristina, what's – '

'Just hide me!'

Meredith turned Cristina around and hurried her into the nearest linen closet. She shut the door and turned to face her friend.

'What is going on?' she asked.

'Burke. Burke is here. Right here. In this hospital. He's here and he's – '

'Wait, Burke is here? But why?'

'I have no idea!' yelled Cristina. 'You think if I knew he was coming I would be in this situation? The bastard. Why does he have to show up now? I mean, is he trying to ruin my life in every way possible?' She was pacing back and forth across the tiny space between the shelves piled with bedsheets. 'He eats away most of my soul, he leaves me, I am finally near being just the least bit happy, and then he comes back again! Why? What reason does he have?'

'I don't know any more than you do, but I do know that your interns are probably standing outside, waiting for you.'

Cristina suddenly looked very panicked. 'No. No. No, I am not leaving this room. You are not going to make me leave this room.'

'Cristina, you have to. You can't stay in here all day.' Meredith gave her a slightly pitying look.

'Oh, you think I can't? Just watch me. I am not – Meredith, stop it! No – '

Meredith had grabbed Cristina's arm and was dragging her towards the door. 'You got over him. You got over him and now he is here, so you should have no problem with him knowing where you are.'

'Oh, I'm over him. I'm definitely over him. But that doesn't mean I want to see him. You get that, right?'

Meredith gave Cristina a withering look and opened the door, pulling her into the hallway. 'Go. Fetch interns.'

'You have to come with me, you have to hide me.'

'I'm coming with you but I will not hide you.' Meredith gave Cristina a shove in the back and the two of them walked towards their interns, Cristina resolutely refusing to look up from the floor. She could not make eye contact with Burke. If she did that, it would all be over. The floodgates holding back the memories of that time would be torn to shreds and she knew she couldn't handle it. And her theory was, if she looked at the floor, he would be far less likely to notice her. She positioned herself with her back to the staircase and tried to concentrate on giving her interns their orders. She finished telling them who they were assigned to and expected them to scurry off and be interns somewhere else. But they just stood there.

'Go!' she said, widening her eyes and making shooing gestures. They still did not move and were looking at each other as if trying to force each other to speak. Finally, one of them did.

'Dr Yang, we were wondering if we could perhaps be assigned to Dr Burke's case. He's a legendary surgeon and we heard he has something really interesting.' The intern looked at her slightly nervously. Cristina had almost flinched when he had said Burke's name, but she was desperate to know why he was there.

'Do you know what this interesting case is, by any chance?'

'No, we just know that it was worth him returning.'

'Oh, it must be worthy indeed, if he would return for it.' She was angry, but not quite convinced this was the whole story. There had been plenty of 'very interesting cases' that could have could have caught Burke's eye. Why had he decided to come back now? Then she thought of something. 'Alright, you may all go and see if you can work on Dr Burke's case. But I want you to report back to me. You must tell me everything that happens, every single word that he says. Write it down if you must but I want to know everything that happens with that patient and with Dr…Burke.' His name left a sour taste in her mouth. 'Are we clear?'

The interns gave a smattering of nods and 'yes's before hurrying off, talking excitedly among themselves. Cristina turned to look for Meredith, but she was not there. She had a sudden lapse of judgement and looked up at the staircase. Burke was alone now, surveying the hospital below him. Before she could look away their eyes met. They stared at each other for a second and a half before Cristina turned and walked swiftly away. She was just breaking into a run in the hallway when someone dragged her through a door yet again. She was pressed against the door of the on-call room as Owen kissed her passionately. She was relieved. She needed to be distracted from the insanity of Burke's return. Owen pulled her shirt over her head and lifted her arms up in the air, intertwining their fingers. Every part of his body was tight against hers and she gave into him completely, leaving all thoughts of Burke far behind as he dragged her down onto the bed.