Chapter 1- "Done fooling around"
Cristina was worried, really worried.
When the McDreamy Saga began she knew that her friend, and she herself, as a consequence, were in for a hail storm of drama's.
Think Titanic meets Bambi meets As the World Turns.
And from the wife, to the vet, to the doe eyed nurse, sure enough her expectations had been met.
Not that that made her happy. None of it made her happy when she saw what it did to her friend. How she was humiliated, and suffered in public, only to suffer some more in private.
Still, they had made it through alive and even Cristina Yang couldn't have imagined that one day she would partake in this particular scene. Lulled into a false sense of security by the constant "leaning into the fear" mantra.
When Derek told her he was thinking of proposing, asking for advice, she shouldn't have brushed him off. That was clear to her now. But, seriously, how could she have known the boy would go off the reservation like that?!
Meredith was hyperventilating and crying at this same time and the one wasn't doing the other any good. "Calm down, calm down o.k!", she was frantically tearing through kitchen cupboards, finally finding a bag that would do. "Here, take this!".
Mer's tear streaked face disappeared behind the bag and she watched the air inside it diminishing as she waited for her friend to steady herself. The seconds went bye and her breathing became more regular.
Slowly Mer straightened up and removed the bag long enough to tell her "Tequila!".
Cris nodded and grabbed their coats, "Joe's!".
When they entered Joe's a quick scan of the room revealed no familiar faces, well; at least no Hunt and no Derek. Good.
They went straight for the bar and Joe came over, grabbing a bottle of tequila on his way.
He poured out the shots no questions asked, and didn't bother screwing the cap back on, leaving the bottle open on the bar.
"So you met that Real Man then?", he asked Cris. She shot up on her stool and pointed at Meredith. "Oh no, this is not about me, this is about her!".
Mer downed another shot and glared at her, "Thanks!", "You drinking or what?!". Cris hurried to follow suit, then poured the next round.
Joe was looking at Meredith now.
"My boyfriend tells me he wants my crappy babies, just before he goes of to LA with his ex wife, singing their wedding song "
She paused for a shot, shuddered, and continued " Then he comes back with a midlife crisis, beats up his best friend and gives me one hour to decide if I want to marry him, because; "we're done fooling around""
A strangled noise escapes Joe's throat and he gets while the going is still good. Wise man.
Cris can't help it, a part of her secretly applauds McDreamy, she really didn't think he had it in him. But he had been all with the surprises lately, and then coming back and laying it down like that with Meredith. Wow!, maybe some one should cut back on the hairspray already.
Her friend was rattled, she had showed up at Cris's apartment thirty minutes before, in full blown panic.
As soon as Cris opened the door she bolted forwards and started crying. Before a startled Cris could do or say anything she had blurted out; "He wants to marry me. Now ". And proceeded to hyperventilate.
She looked at Meredith, who was now a full 4 shots ahead of her and looked like she meant business. It was time to get her talking. Grabbing her arm she got her attention, "O.k, spill!".