Cristina really shouldn't have been surprised. This was not an uncommon sight now: seeing an intern walking around half-naked in her kitchen, looking for something to drink. Still, it managed to shock Cristina every time. It wasn't even the actual occurrence that really threw her off her guard anymore; it was how normally everyone treated it, like it was something that was completely and utterly typical.
At least in Cristina's case, it most definitely was not.
"Oh, hello, Dr. Yang," Jo greeted. She was clad in her usual t-shirt and underwear as she opened up drawer after drawer. "You know, you'd think I'd have realized by this point that Alex doesn't own any cups, but every morning I still hope that he might've gotten some." Jo sighed and slammed the final drawer shut. "How'd you sleep?"
"I, um – fine," Cristina answered, grabbing her wallet off the countertop. "Do you know where Alex is?"
"I think he's in the shower," Jo told her. She turned on the faucet and looked at it cautiously. "Do you actually drink out of the sink?"
Cristina ignored the last part. "Alright, tell him I left and that I need to talk to him at the hospital. Something about his patient with the heart defect," Cristina said. Jo nodded her understanding, and Cristina turned and walked to the door determinedly, slamming it slightly on the way out.
"Wilson said you needed to talk to me," Alex stated, running to meet up with Cristina by reception. "Something about my patient with DiGeorgio's. I'm going into surgery in about twenty minutes so make it quick."
Cristina turned around unhurriedly. "I lied."
"Okay, then. Thanks for nothing," Alex said. He began to walk away but was stopped by Cristina's voice.
"I didn't lie about needing to talk to you," Cristina pointed out.
Alex sighed. "Like I said, I've got – " he looked at his watch, "18 minutes before my next surgery. So, go."
"Wilson needs to stop staying at our place," she told him. "It's weird for me to find her half-dressed in our house every morning from whatever things you two were doing the night before. It's disgusting and unprofessional."
"Three things. Number one, it's my house, not ours," Alex reminded her. "Number two, you don't think it's weird for me to see Owen in the mornings after you two go at it?" Cristina shrugged. "And number three, Jo has a boyfriend. So, whatever things you think we're doing, I promise we are not." Cristina couldn't help but notice his jaw set as he talked about Jo's boyfriend.
"That bothers you, doesn't it? That she has a boyfriend?" Cristina asked incredulously.
"Shut up," Alex warned her, looking around warily.
"I mean, I knew you wanted to sleep with her, but this? I never knew that you were capable of actually – " Cristina stopped for dramatic effect, "liking an intern!"
"I told you to shut it," Alex growled.
"Feisty this morning, aren't we?" Cristina retaliated. Alex shot her a glare. "Alright. Just talk to Wilson about her staying over all the time. She could at least start paying rent."
"Fine," Alex relented. He started to walk away, but Cristina stopped him again.
"Unless, that is, you two figure out some other way for her to pay you."
"Go to Hell, Yang!"
"Can I scrub in?" Cristina asked, holding a surgical mask over her mouth. Jo looked up and gave her a small wave, which Cristina awkwardly returned. "Karev?"
Alex sighed. "Do you have to?"
"C'mon, it isn't everyday I get to see a baby heart. It's fun!" Cristina exclaimed, throwing a hand up in the air.
"The fact that this baby has a life-threatening heart condition is not fun," Alex responded, not bothering to look up.
"So, can I take that as a yes?"
"Just be quiet, okay?" he asked her. "I'm trying to teach Wilson over here about this particular operation."
"Okay, I'll be quiet," Cristina conceded, stepping forward slightly to get a better view of the patient.
"See what I'm doing now?" Alex said, looking at Jo. "I'm wrapping this around the vein over here."
"Tightly?" Jo asked, peering at the patient's heart eagerly. "Isn't that bad for blood flow?"
Cristina smirked. Opportunities like this only came every so often. "Oh, you can wrap it as tight as you want," she reassured the intern. "Isn't that right, Dr. Karev? You can wrap around her – I mean the vein – as hard as you want?"
Alex narrowed his eyes at Cristina. "I thought we agreed that you'd be quiet. Didn't we, Dr. Yang?"
"Sorry, Dr. Karev," Cristina apologized insincerely. Alex gave her one last look before returning to his lesson.
"Now, see this hole? I'm going to take my scalpel and stick it in there so I can – "
"You would like that, wouldn't you, Dr. Wilson?" Cristina asked, turning on Jo.
"Excuse me?" Jo said.
"To watch him stick it in the hole real good."
"Dr. Yang," Alex scolded, his voice dangerously low. "I think it's time for you to leave."
"I only meant that in a surgical way, pervert," Cristina said disapprovingly, but still she walked out of the O.R., leaving Alex and Jo in awkward silence.
"Yang!" Alex shouted as he pounded through the hallways. "I'm going to kill that woman," he muttered to himself, swinging open the door to the attendings' lounge with alarming force.
Sure enough, Cristina sat on the couch, acting as if she hadn't almost just ruined Alex's entire life.
"What the hell was that?" he exclaimed. It was clear by his tone that this was not a rhetorical question; he wanted an answer, and he wanted it now.
"Man up," Cristina said simply, standing up to make herself some coffee. "I was just teasing you a bit."
"A bit?" he shouted. "God, Cristina, you can be so stupid at times. I – I can't deal with it when you do that. I know it's all just fun and games to you, but to me, this is real. It hurts me, Cristina, like actual, physical pain, to think about her with some other guy, so I don't need you rubbing it in my face at every turn!"
"I – I didn't know that it bothered you so much."
"Well, it does! I like Wilson, okay? Happy now?" Alex thundered. "Are you happy that the world has a screwed up sense of humor? Happy that all these years I've gotten dozens of interns to practically worship me, and the one that I can't, I fall in love with? Well, congratulations, Yang! Good job."
Cristina simply stared at him. "Alex – "
"What?" Alex seethed. "Are you going to tell me that you're sorry? That you feel bad for me? Well, guess what? I don't want your goddamn apologies, so you can take them and shove them right up your – "
Cristina pointed a trembling hand behind him, and Alex turned around swiftly. He'd never been very religious, but, in that moment, he prayed to anyone out there that the person standing behind him was not who he thought it was.
Nevertheless, Jo Wilson still stood at the door to the attendings' lounge, her face as pale as Alex's surely was. She looked as if she was about to be sick as she simply stood there in shock. "I – uh, I was looking for you," she said after a long silence, "and I just th-thought you might be in here, so – "
"Just… get out," Alex said, his voice strained. He dropped his head down to focus intently on his shoes. "Just go."
Jo walked faster than she had in her entire life, in search of a quiet place to go and process what she had just heard.
Alex sat down on the couch and buried his face in his hands. He groaned loudly. "This is your fault," he said, his face still in his hands. "This is all your fault."
And for once, Cristina had to admit that Alex was right.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts on whether or not I should continue this, so please review!