Chapter One
By GreyEyesGlaringAtShonda (aka GreyEyedGirl)
Author's Note: This is a totally new version of Make A Wish. It now takes place after the season 3 finale…obviously, a long while. If you liked the old version better, fine, I'll change it back and start this story anew. However, the reason I decided to make this renovation is because of the ridiculous obscenity that occurred in the form of Isaiah's dismissal from ABC—with these changes, you can imagine this actually happening on the show (that is, if GA wasn't a sinking ship) during perhaps the last season of the series, and beyond…That way, there's a happy ending for BANG. I thought the fans of Burke and Cristina deserved some kind of happy ending and/or closure for them, and since that obviously wasn't going to happen with Shonda and ABC captaining the ship, I thought I'd do my part to commandeer. (All right, enough with the boat metaphors. Just one last aqua pun: I'm fighting Shonda, and her insistence on 'burning down the house.')
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new version, and leave your reviews below!
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Every morning she woke up to a sight that was bittersweet.
It was exactly as she'd pictured it, the rest of her life; fluttering her eyelids to curse the morning and being greeted with those eyes gazing back at her.
These eyes were smaller, though, and the hand brushing against hers barely managed to wrap around two of her fingers.
It wasn't him. She didn't have him.
She'd gotten her early-morning enthusiasm from her father; she must have. Cristina was capable of rising early, was even willing to, but it was an excitement to get to her job, to play her part of the daytime Cristina, whilst awaiting her cue to take over as 'Mommy.'
She was only two. That was the only reason she tolerated that insipid second syllable.
"Thunny, M-Mommy! Play out today."
Cristina mumbled in an attempt to sound excited, all the while lifting the tiny body off of her customary morning jumping spot and carrying her into the kitchen.
"Birdie or tiger?" She inquired tiredly, settling her into her booster seat.
"Thammy!" Kayla squealed, reaching for the cupboard where she knew the cereal was kept.
"Sammy it is," Cristina answered, grabbing the bowls and the silverware. "Is he your favorite?"
"Col-or," Kayla nodded, smiling as her mother poured her milk.
Her cell went off just as she was fitting Kayla into her jacket, she swallowed a ' damn ' as she rummaged for her phone.
"Yeah."
"Cristina?" The voice sounded timid, an uncharacteristic timbre in Callie Torres's speech.
"Mm."
"I know this is incredibly last minute and you probably won't be able to, but is there any way you can cover me tonight? It's not the whole night, just until midnight, but I completely spaced out on Abby's recital, I thought it was next week. And George's going, so I have to go, or I look like the bad parent who can't tear myself away from work to spend time with my kid; meanwhile, he's Daddy of the Year."
Cristina lifted Kayla into her arms, locking the door behind her. "So you're feeling guilty because you're the one with a real job. Seriously."
Callie let the remark slide. "It's ridiculous, she's going to be on stage for five minutes before the older kids come on, yet I'm supposed to sit there for three hours of 12-year-old boys wearing tutus."
Cristina laughed as she stepped into the elevator, pushing the button for the ground floor. "I can cover you, if you'll take Kayla."
She heard Callie's sigh of relief, and momentarily joined her in the feeling of victory over George. "Thank you, I owe you one. And don't worry, I'm just working the clinic, no big deal, you'll probably have a couple flu victims and then you can call it a night. I appreciate this, Cristina, I really do."
"No problem," Cristina said smoothly, trying to mask the annoyance in her voice from the daily struggle with the booster seat. Kayla giggled at the expression on her mother's face.
"Crap, I've got to go, I've got surgery in less than ten minutes. I'll see you at lunch, okay?"
Cristina spat out a response, sucking her thumb from where the clasp had pinched her.
"Ouch. Watch that clasp, Butterfingers."
Cristina grimaced into the phone and hung up.
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Preston Burke opened the door to his car hesitantly, stepping into the parking lot of Seattle Grace for the first time in three years. It looked the same; no new wings had been added, and all the trees that framed the building remained in their respectful positions. He recognized the faces of the doctors heading in around him, and saw more than one double-take as they turned to see if it was really him. He smiled politely, nodding to one of them, who broke out in a grin. He swung open the door to the hospital, then stopped, frozen.
If there was one person he would have picked to not see him before he could talk to Cristina, it would have been her; the woman who didn't even care enough to protect her own secrets, who had flaunted around her adultery in the midst of his wedding preparations.
He shouldn't have come here. He should have called Richard and forced him to give him an answer, instead of simply setting out in solitude when he found some stranger living in their apartment.
Maybe she hadn't seen him. He turned quickly, trying to be casual.
"Dr. Burke!" Izzie Stevens stared at him in utter astonishment, standing by the elevator as she waited for it to open.
Maybe she had.
"Dr. Stevens," Burke tried to smile, feeling his heart beat out of his chest.
When he'd been away it hadn't felt real, it was like he'd imagined the world of Seattle Grace to have just faded away; now, however, he could feel the energy circulating around him, and he came alive again. She was here somewhere. He was going to see her.
"What are you doing here?" She sounded startled and a little afraid, as if she couldn't grasp him to be apart of her reality. He shuddered at the thought of what Cristina's reaction would be, if he got that kind of expression from merely her friend.
A strange thought occurred to him. Did Stevens know the truth?
He dismissed this notion almost immediately. Cristina would never have allowed anyone to know the whole truth, of who had left whom. Meredith might know, but Stevens, certainly not. Cristina wouldn't have been able to handle that.
But, if the look she was giving him wasn't disdain or mistrust, what was it? Why was he gauging this kind of reaction from her?
Had something happened to someone?
Had something happened to Cristina?
In the middle of their awkward silence, she smiled suddenly, robotically, almost, and chirped, "So how've you been?" It could not have been plainer that the contraction she really meant was "where've."
"I'm fine. And you?"
"I'm great!" Izzie smiled sincerely, taking in his appearance after the pause.
Burke smiled and nodded, acknowledging her statement, then glanced at his watch. "You're here late. Are you about to leave?"
Izzie smiled, shaking her head. "Today's supposed to be my day off, but I just got paged, something to do with Shepherd. I'm assisting."
Burke nodded calmly, then stepped onto the elevator with Izzie as the doors slid open. "Have you—How's everyone else doing?"
"Meredith and Alex are fine. George's working somewhere else now." Izzie's voice eluded more, but Burke ignored the bait.
"And what about—" Burke cleared his throat. "How's Dr. Yang doing?"
Izzie's smile slipped slightly. "She's…good. She's better."
Burke fought to keep his face stoic. "I heard she moved. Is she still in Seattle?"
"Oh, yeah, they just moved into a different apartment—"
Burke interrupted her, his heart frozen and fading just as he'd imagined this world here to collapse in his absence. "They?" He couldn't breathe.
Izzie paused, flustered, but at that moment the elevator opened, and Izzie seized her opportunity to make a break for it. "Oh, sorry, got to go." She smiled back at Dr. Burke.
"Glad to see you back, Preston." She quickly existed the elevator, as Dr. Burke stood silently by himself, still very clearly in shock. 'They?' He mouthed to himself.
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"Mer! Mer, I need a favor."
Meredith looked up, seeing Cristina hurrying towards her down the hall, accompanied by, to her slight surprise, Kayla. "Hey, what's up?" She asked casually. She smiled down at the little girl next to her, wearing a purple t-shirt and dark jeans, dragging a matching jean jacket behind her, her hair pulled half-up with a purple scrunchie. "How are you, Kayla?"
Kayla looked up, and Meredith saw for the first time that she looked a little flushed. "She has the flu," Cristina explained, looking down at her worriedly, squeezing her hand. "She was supposed to go with Callie tonight, but she got really sick at daycare, and..."
"I puked on sthlides," Kayla interrupted.
Cristina brushed a strand of curly hair out of the small face, tucking it behind her ear. "I knew she'd get it eventually, everyone at Vella's seems to have caught it, but this is the worst possible time. I just got paged for a patient I had earlier, I'm scrubbing with Dr. Krulik in a few minutes. Is there any way—" Cristina paused, annoyed with herself for the déjà vu from the situation of that morning. "I hate to ask, but is there any way you could watch her? Maybe sit with her in an on-call room so she can lay down, she's been napping for most of the day anyway; and I don't think she's up to sitting in the Gallery-"
Kayla looked up, frowning. "Watch operate." She looked back and forth from her mother to Meredith with sick brown eyes. Cristina sighed, exhausted.
"It's no problem, I can watch her," Meredith said smiling. "You want to watch the surgery, Kayla? You want to watch Mommy operate?"
Kayla smiled tiredly. "Operate," she repeated happily, proud in her small brand of consciousness for finding a non s-word. "Operate," Meredith confirmed, grinning. Cristina managed a weak smile, leaning down to kiss Kayla quickly on the head. "Okay, then, gotta go, munchkin. See you in about an hour, okay?"
Kayla nodded. "Operate. Bye-bye M-M-Mommy. Love you."
Cristina looked back over her shoulder; she smiled at Kayla from where she'd started to jog away. "I love you, too, Kayla. Try to get some sleep, you'll feel better."
Fifteen minutes later Meredith entered the Observation Deck with Kayla in tow, Meredith dragging a small blue blanket she had snatched from an on-call room. Meredith sat Kayla gently on the bench, covering her with the blanket. The viewing room was empty, and it was silent as the surgeons all entered the OR below. Kayla yawned, laying her warm head against Meredith as she snuggled under the blanket. Meredith smiled down at her, when the door suddenly swung open. Both girls looked up, and Meredith's jaw dropped, seeing Dr. Preston Burke enter the room, his head down and his face tired. He looked up when he noticed they were there, and forced a civilized grimace that illustrated his exhaustion. "Nice to see you again, Dr. Gre-"
He stopped, staring at the little girl.
"Hi," Kayla said. "I'm Kayla."
Burke stared with his breath caught, looking at the tiny child who was a splitting image of her father. Those eyes, that smile, that face...he stared down at her, and the name hit him like a fast wind in a tornado. Kayla. Kayla Kayla Kayla Kayla.
No, he thought, taking in the hair so like Cristina's. It couldn't be.
Down in the OR below, Cristina looked up from her position next to the head of cardiothoracic just in time to see Preston Burke, staring down at the sight of their daughter.
A/N: So, obviously this is a rather different situation: Cristina's not guilty of anything! I think the story will have a lot more depth now, because we have the whole Burke-not-knowing-about-his-daughter (obviously), Burke-and-Cristina-with-some-unresolved-issues, as well as Burke feeling guilty about not being there for their daughter (and Cristina), and knowing that's, though unintentionally, his own fault.
Plus, there's the question of: What's Burke doing there?! Hmmm…