A/N: I wrote this a few months ago before the horrible, horrible S3 Finale.
Burke fidgeted with his tuxedo, playing with the cuffs and generally wrinkling and rewrinkling the entire ensemble. Cristina wasn't there yet and it worried him. Even though logically, he knew she had surgeries and she had warned him she would be late. But still this was their wedding day.
He looked at Derek who was smirking. He had picked Derek as his witness, as his best man. Bill was still angry over the revealing of his wife's adultery. He wasn't ready to talk to Burke so Shepherd would just have to do.
Burke glanced at the clock again. 12:38. Eight minutes was nothing, right? Meredith hadn't arrived either so maybe the two had gone together. Cristina couldn't have changed her mind. He loved her too much to even think of that.
It was now 12:45. Fifteen minutes of silent waiting and the justice of peace giving him a look of pity. No, she would be here he had said. She wouldn't leave him at the altar. She couldn't.
12:56 and the judge's face grew grave. Burke shook his head. They would continue waiting. He would wait forever if that's what it took. Burke closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Stay calm he told himself and have faith.
The knob turned; it was 1:00 now and Burke sighed in relief. But his beautiful soon to be wife wasn't the person in the door. It was Meredith. His shoulders slumped. Had Cristina sent Meredith to tell him that she wasn't going to be here?
Instead Meredith smiled. "She's changing." Burke grinned now; he felt doubt rush from him.
Then the door knob turned again. He was breathless. There she was, framed in the doorway in a beautiful white dress that hugged her body perfectly. She smiled at him, grabbing his hand as she took her place by his side. He leaned in and smelled the sweet scent she was wearing. It was flowery, very un-Cristina, but then there was a tartness underneath it, a hardness that was so like her.
Their vows flew by and he barely paid attention. He was too busy staring at the woman who would be his wife. He knew the grin on his face had to be a mile wide. Derek and Meredith watched and signed the papers. He wanted them to hurry so he could finally call Cristina his wife.
It was 1:15 when the judge pronounced them man and wife, when the certificates were signed. It was 1:17 when he stopped kissing her for a moment so he could take everything in. She seemed to glow and she looked happy, as happy as he felt.
She was his now and he was hers.