Introduction:
It's December 2008 in Seattle. The interns are now residents and Bailey is an attending. Dr. Webber still holds the position of Chief of the surgical department at Seattle Grace and Preston Burke and Derek Sheppard remain his top surgeons in their specialties. Addison Sheppard is still in Seattle with a private practice and admitting privileges at the hospital. Burke and Cristina live together in their same apartment.
Chapter 1
Surgical Gallery for OR #3 SGH
Izzie and Meredith are sitting in the gallery watching Bailey, Burke and George in the OR below. Cristina was on-call last night and should have been in the gallery an hour ago. Things were slow at the hospital this morning so they were taking time out to observe. Now that they were residents they didn't spend as much time together at the hospital so they took advantage when they were able to watch a surgery together.
Izzie and Meredith stop talking as Cristina walks in "Hey"
Cristina gives a halfhearted smile making a beeline to the glass so that she could look down into the OR. She had been hoping she could talk to Meredith alone and forgotten that Izzie would be there. Cristina and Izzie had grown closer over the years, but Meredith was her best friend.
"They're just finishing up. We were going to grab some coffee." Meredith watches Cristina looking down into the OR and notices that she doesn't seem to be herself.
Izzie's looking up at the video monitor as she eats her apple "What took you so long anyway? We know it wasn't Burke because he's in surgery."
Cristina doesn't answer and Meredith takes a closer look at her. Cheerful is not a word that Meredith would use to describe Cristina in the mornings, especially after a night of on-call, but she was not usually like this either. Meredith is concerned "What's wrong? You look pale."
Cristina is still looking down into the OR "Nothing."
No sarcastic comment. Now Meredith is positive that there is a problem "Cristina?"
Meredith was right. Something was wrong but Cristina felt like she was choking on her words "The stick turned blue" Cristina's tone was flat and her voice was almost a whisper. Her back was to Meredith and Izzie so they couldn't see the tears welling up in her eyes as she spoke.
"What?" Meredith thinks she misunderstood.
Cristina turns around and sits in one of the chairs with a weird look on her face. She clears her throat "The stick. It turned blue."
Izzie's still looking at the screen not completely listening "What? What stick?" Cristina looks at Izzie annoyed. At this moment, she would have been happy if being annoyed was her only problem.
Meredith put it together "You're pregnant?"
Izzie looks at Cristina with wide eyes "Oh my god! I can't believe you just told us."
"Ignore her. Cristina, are you sure?" Meredith is trying to not react to Cristina's news.
"Yes I'm sure. The first time not sure, the second still not sure, the third time convinced myself it was a defective hospital test so I ran out and purchased the fourth test a little while ago which had the nerve to turn a pretty color too. Four sticks. Four colors. Yeah I'm sure." Cristina was surprised that she felt some relief having shared this confession with her friends. Since the second test, she could barely concentrate on anything other than what would happen when she told Burke. Luckily it had been a slow night.
A big grin grows on Izzie's face "So, uh, congratulations?"
"Congratulations! What a scam! Some old man sitting back making money off of all the women who are not happy the stick turned blue the first time so they have to try more times and buy more stupid tests." Cristina felt like she was about to blow. She couldn't stand the emotions brewing inside of her. How could she be pregnant? This was the question she'd asked herself over and over again all night. She was scared and scared wasn't comfortable so, as usual, she turned her fear into anger.
"You only bought one test."
Cristina jumps up and glares at Izzie "Whatever! I was talking about the women who don't work in hospitals!"
"Cristina stop yelling. People are going to hear you." Meredith is trying her best to keep Cristina calm and knows that the last thing she wants is for people in the hospital to know about her pregnancy. That is the worst possible thing that could happen at this moment. Cristina is teetering on the edge of losing control and Meredith understands that. She also understands that if Cristina loses control, regaining it will not be easy for her.
Izzie and Meredith are waiting, not sure what to do and Cristina is a bit calmer. Izzie gets up and starts to walk towards Cristina who is standing biting her lip looking out the window down into the OR at Burke.
"Look, this situation is bad enough without you thinking you're hugging me."
Heeding this advice, Izzie just keeps on moving past Cristina and leans against the wall. "You know you're going to have to get used to the hugging."
Cristina is fidgeting with her hair "Umm. Let me think about that. No."
"You're not going to have a choice. Everyone loves to hug a pregnant woman and rub her tummy."
Cristina sits down again and looks at Izzie disgusted "Did you really just say tummy? Do you think I need help puking right now."
Down in the OR Bailey sees that George is distracted by what is going on in the gallery "O'Malley if you'd like to be up there with them scrub out otherwise pay attention to what's going on with this man laying here with our hands in his chest."
"Yes, ma'am. Sorry ma'am." Judging from the way Cristina, Izzie and Meredith are acting in the gallery George is sure something's going on. Even after all this time, he hated when he wasn't in on what the three of them were doing. They were all friends but he had always been odd man out when just the girls got together and he hated that.
Cristina is sitting with her head between her legs. Meredith moves to a seat next to her "Does Burke know?"
She lifts her head up to reveal red eyes "No we thought that I had food poisoning. He was convinced the shrimp I ate out of the lunch cart on the pier was bad. I've been throwing up for the past 3 days."
"Have you even talked about having kids?"
"No Izzie in three years we've never talked about it." Cristina manages the slightest smile "We talked about someday. Burke likes to say that if he waits for me to decide he'll be in a rocking chair when someday rolls around."
"He's got a point." Cristina looks at Meredith "Okay, he had a point. When did you find out?"
"Last night. That's when I decided to take the test."
Izzie speaks quietly "Tests."
"Izzie!" Cristina is not amused.
"Sorry. You know Burke's going to want to get married."
"Okay, Izzie, you are not allowed to talk anymore." Meredith tries to refocus Cristina before she gets upset again "What are you going to do?"
Cristina's voice is very serious "I'm thinking about killing Burke. This is all his fault. But first, I think I'll take out Izzie." As she finishes her sentence, Cristina turns her head to glare at her fiend.
Izzie laughs "No really?"
"Oh I'm totally serious? Stop with the stupid comments." Izzie moves further away from Cristina so that she is leaning against the wall.
Down in the OR, Burke is surprised to hear his girlfriend's voice knowing she was not in the room "Dr. Bailey, why am I hearing Cristina's voice?"
"She's up in the gallery with Grey and Stevens. They must have turned the speaker on. They probably don't even realize it."
Burke chuckles "Now that could be dangerous."
Bailey just shakes her head "You're not kidding. The three of them don't seem to have any trouble finding trouble. "O'Malley can you turn the speaker off before your friends embarrass themselves. After three years, you'd think they'd know what buttons not to push in the gallery."
Izzie is laughing as she leans against the wall eating her apple.
Cristina is pacing again "Izzie I can't believe you're laughing. It's not funny."
"Sorry I laugh under stress. Can't help it. This is great news, though, really."
"Stop saying that. Mer, now do you see why I am serious about killing her."
In the OR, Bailey is getting annoyed "O'Malley, turn that speaker off!" Burke is trying not to laugh at Cristina's comments.
"Right away, Dr. Bailey" George is walking over to disable the speaker as Cristina continues her rant while looking down into the OR "Two doctors, one fallopian tube, condoms and a birth control pill. This is not supposed to be happening. How can I be pregnant?"
Shocked, Bailey drops her head saying "Too late! TURN IT OFF O'MALLEY!"
At that moment you could hear a pin drop in the OR as everyone turned to look at
Burke who is standing completely motionless or up at Cristina in the gallery.
"Cristina, you have to…" Meredith is trying to come up with a plan but is distracted by what is happening in the area below "Why is George running and why is everyone looking up here."
Cristina looks over at Izzie still leaning against the wall "Izzie!"
"What?" Izzie has no idea what she's done.
"You're leaning against the speaker. They just heard me say…" Cristina doesn't finish her sentence as she sees looks back down in the OR to see Burke looking up at her. There's no need to finish.
Izzie moves away from the wall "Cristina, I'm sorry. I didn't realize."
Cristina turns and leaves the room practically knocking over Alex as he comes in "Hey! What's wrong with her?"
Meredith grabs her books and runs out the gallery after her pushing Alex out of the way as she passed him "What the hell is going on around here?"
"Cristina and Burke are having a baby."
"Seriously?" is the only thing Alex can manage to say.