Originally posted on MTC. I will try to finish it by Wednesday.
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1
Cristina cornered him into the pantry and folded her arms. "Why do you have to be here? Why now?"
"To be the new Chief!" Marlow smirked as he tried to pull Cristina to him.
"Stop it. You know this isn't right," Cristina blushed uncomfortably as she tried to avoid the cocky yet familiar gaze on her from her professor.
When was the last time he looked at her that way? Cristina pushed her curls to the back of her ears as she propelled her to stay balanced on her feet.
"Well, there're a lot of things I thought I knew but I don't. For example, how could anyone possibly imagine that you, Cristina Yang, would choose to get married some day?" Marlow squint his eyes.
Silence hovered the room like a ghost. The hissing noise from the coffee maker intensified each second as the level of discomfort rose in Cristina's heart.
Wiping her sweaty palms on her scrubs, Cristina finally spoke again.
"Yeah, I'm getting married, to a good man, to someone I can trust." Someone unlike you.
"Why didn't you trust me, my precious pet?" Marlow's face twitched a bit. "I am a surgeon too. Rich, smart, and famous. As a matter of fact, I was, and will always be smarter and more famous than your husband-to-be."
As Cristina tried to walk out of the room, Marlow caught her hand and didn't let go, just then, Burke entered, his face as dark as the dimly-lit room.
Leaving the two men fighting for her affection in the same room alone might not be a good idea, but Cristina was too shocked to say anything to ameliorate the situation.
"Can we not talk about this anymore?" Cristina felt the glowing rage in Burke's eyes as she begged to leave the room. "I have to work."
2
"Dr. Marlow," Burke flexed his hand as he spoke.
"Call me Colin. So I hear that you're gonna marry my precious pet?" Marlow didn't give Burke a chance to cool down. "She's hot, isn't she? Hard to find a woman who's got skills both in the OR and in the bedroom."
"Dr. Marlow. You realize I am not interested in discussing my fiancée with another man?" Burke took a deep breath.
"Not if you're really interested in who she was," Marlow thought he had the upper hand and grinned. "Aren't you ever curious to find out? I would be if I were you, especially because she has never told you about me or the others, I suppose."
Burke could feel his nails digging deep into the flesh on his palm.
"It is the Cristina Yang at this present moment, in year 2005, that I love. It is the Cristina Yang in the future, that I look forward to loving. The past is, well, not important."
"Dude, you're so good with words! Is that why Cristina said yes to you?" Marlow rolled his eyes and marveled at Burke's manifestation of love. "For a heart surgeon, you do have a very tender heart. Just watch out before you get ripped apart."
"Thank you for your advice, although I think you have a greater need for that," Burke almost wanted to kick the new guy in his stomach. But of course, Preston Burke wasn't a man of violence and so he contained his anger in his stare.
"Chill, man. I'm not here to stir up trouble. I miss my precious pet and I want to know how she's doing. That's all." Marlow flashed his hallmark grin again and made an irritating bow, "Have a good day, Dr. Burke."
Burke was still sweating after the door was shut. He could hear his own heart racing at the pace of a rocket.
They were getting married. Why did this guy have to show up at this time to disrupt everything?
Instinctively, Burke went to look for Cristina.
3
"Cristina,
you lied to me," Meredith placed her hand on her cheeks as she sat side
by side with Cristina in the gurney down in the basement.
"What?" Cristina, in the exact same posture as her best friend, responded absent-mindedly. "I'm in big trouble, Mer. Big trouble."
"You said you've never been in a serious relationship before," Meredith paused, "And now you're telling me this Dr. Marlow asked you to marry him only three years ago?"
"You can ask someone to marry you even if you're not serious about a relationship," Cristina said doubtfully.
"I think Burke is very serious about the two of you," Meredith said cautiously.
"Oh yeah, that's very insightful of you," Cristina snorted. "He's probably roaming the building in search of me now. God, I'm so going to hell."
"But really, what happened between the two of you? That old professor and you, I mean."
"It was nothing," Cristina pulled off the rubber band on her ponytail and started playing with it.
"It doesn't look like nothing to me when he grabbed your ass," Alex Karev overheard the conversation and began smirking from afar.
"Shut it, Evil Spawn. What do you know about dirty old guys, apart from the fact that you'll become one some day?" Cristina snapped.
"Okay, that means he was just a dirty old man trying to harass you while you're studying under him?" Meredith sort of hoped what she said was the reality, even if it couldn't explain the previous marriage proposal she just learned about from Cristina.
"It's been so long ago," Cristina jumped off the gurney. "Now, people, you gotta help me think of a way to talk to Burke."
"We can't help if we don't know the details," Alex replied with a grin on his face.
"What do you want to know?" Cristina bit her lips.
"Why were you attracted to him?"
"Why is that relevant?" Cristina frowned.
"You sleeping with Burke still makes some sense to me because he's kinda hot, even in a man's eyes. But that wrinkled old guy? Were you really that power-hungry?" Alex shook his head.
Cristina was speechless.
4
"Oh My God! Tell me you weren't in love!" Meredith's eyes bulged out as she saw the embarrassment on Cristina's face.
"I was young," Cristina leaned on the wall, her hands on her hips.
"Wait, it wasn't just a fling?" Alex was as shocked as Meredith. "It wasn't just because you wanted to advance your career?"
"Unlike you, Evil Spawn, I don't need to sleep my way through medical school," Cristina fought back.
"How did you fall prey to him then?"
"He's the best," Cristina closed her eyes momentarily.
"And that's why you slept with Burke as well?"
"No. It's different," Cristina led out a sigh. "Marlow was like a father figure to me. He taught me a lot of extra stuff. Always there to watch out for me. And he has a great sense of humor if you get it."
"Wow, you really were in love, Cristina! I hope Burke doesn't know. The sex plus the love? You'll give him a hemorrhage," Meredith grimaced.
"It wasn't love," Cristina muttered. "It's just that someone was paying attention to me, not only Cristina Yang the best student, but something more. For one thing, he seemed to understand my jokes and took them well."
"When a man wants to get into your pants, he will pretend to be anything," Alex smirked.
"No, Marlow wasn't pretending to be humorous. He can be super smart and focused at work, but other times he's very relaxed," Cristina made more dots on the ground with her toes.
"Why didn't it work then?" Meredith tilted her head with curiosity.
"The first couple of times I slept with him, it was just sex. It was fun, actually," Cristina blinked.
"Yang, we don't want the details about your sexual history," Alex rolled his eyes.
Cristina glared at him, "You think I'm interested in sharing huh?"
"What happened next, Cristina?" Meredith brought them back on track.
"Then I had that, well, feeling. You know it's bad when you have that feeling. I told you I was young and stupid," Cristina laid her hand on her forehead.
5
"You weren't pregnant, were you?" Alex furrowed his brows.
"Oh, no no no. Not THAT kind of feeling," Cristina began pacing in the basement. "I started to think about him, even when we were not having sex, or class."
"And that's a bad thing because?"
"Because we were not really a couple, and I didn't have much experience in that sort of thing," Cristina blushed.
"Oh yes, I remember watching you trying out a gazillion different dresses before you went on a date with Burke," Alex laughed.
Cristina shot Alex another hostile stare.
"So, did you two date at all?" Meredith was more curious about the 'love' than the 'sex'.
"Honestly, you know what, I don't think that ever happened," Cristina licked her lips.
"You slept with the man, not because you wanted to get ahead. You two never dated, but you had a thing for him. That sounds complicated." Alex nodded to himself.
"Did he know?" Meredith asked.
"About what?" Cristina was sitting on the gurney again.
"That you had feelings for him."
Cristina laced her fingers across her chin and replied, "Not when he was so busy with his secretary and his ex-wife."
"You can't be serious, Cristina!" Meredith was horrified.
"That's why I told you to stop sleeping with a married man when you found out about Addison," Cristina said calmly.
"Wow. Did you ever get tested?" Alex gave her a nasty evil look until Cristina twitched his arm.
"Anyway. I just stopped seeing him altogether," Cristina added.
"But he asked you to marry him?" Meredith remembered their earlier conversation before Alex came.
"He said he really wanted me. Realized how different I was from other chicks, how he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. But why should I trust him?" Cristina looked to the ground. "Besides, I was only 25. Who in the world would want to get married?"
"Well, you don't seem to like the idea of marriage even now when you're almost 29," Meredith said.
"Exactly!"
6
"But you do want to marry Burke, don't you?"
Cristina pondered on it for a moment and nodded.
"That's why you need to do something before he calls it off and storms out," Alex said.
"Do you really think Burke will be mad for a long time because of me and Marlow?" Cristina asked in a timid voice that was so unlike her confident self.
"Unless you explain it to him now," Alex responded calmly.
"How? I don't want him to be jealous and all that. Burke gets jealous so easily," Cristina was now lying on the gurney, her hands behind her head.
"It'd be worse if he found these out from someone else," Meredith was concerned. "Just tell him what you told us."
"Burke would get angry and interrupt before I get a chance to tell him the whole story," Cristina fixated her gaze on the water pipes in the ceiling.
"You can't sit here and do nothing," Alex paused, then gave her another piece of advice, "Men's ego is hard to fix, especially when they feel insecure. It's bad to have a rival, but it's worse if Burke doesn't know who he's competing with. It wouldn't hurt to let him know. Warn him. Prepare him."
"Whatever," Cristina sighed again as she saw Bailey's familiar figure approaching them.
"This is not a kindergarten. You can't hide here all day. Time to work, people. Now, move!"
"Yes, ma'am."
Bailey shot a glance at Cristina as she shoved her interns off the basement.
"Yang, Dr. Marlow has requested that you assist in his surgery this morning. Dr. Burke wants you for a CABG in the afternoon. And the Chief wants to see you now."
"I see," Cristina wished she could find a cave to hide.
Bailey smirked, recalling what happened earlier at the nurse station when the new surgeon took advantage of Cristina. "Have fun entertaining the Chief and Chief-to-be."
"Right."
"Just remember, men are stupid and I'm never wrong." The Nazi's voice echoed in the basement and gave Cristina goose bumps.
7
"I heard about that guy," Derek Sheppard showed pity in his eyes as he brushed across Burke in the hallway.
"Yeah, he's pretty influential in the field," Burke made a cordial nod. "Didn't shock me that Cristina was with him in the past. You know, man in power."
"Preston, you aren't thinking that's why she dated you, right?" Derek could sense the hard feelings in Burke's slightly trembling voice.
"Excuse me? What did you just say?" Burke wiped his glasses.
"That guy seems like a flirt, but if I were you, I'd rather trust my fiancée than a complete stranger."
"Apparently. Was I ever in doubt?" As confident as he tried to sound, Burke was asking the same question in his head as he walked down the stairs and ran into Cristina.
He wanted to grab her aside and talk to her, but the puzzled look on her face deterred him.
"Burke." To his surprise, Cristina initiated to talk, or at least appeared to be.
Staring into each others' eyes, Burke nervously responded, "Yes?"
"Well, I thought, I know, I, uh, owe you an explanation," Cristina tapped her fingers on the hem of her pocket.
"Ok."
The calmness in Burke's voice bothered Cristina. She couldn't tell if he was mad or not. Rather than talking, Cristina leaned closer and whispered into his ear, "You look hot when you're jealous, but it wasn't what you thought."
Burke held her hand and wanted to take her to a private place to talk, but instead Cristina gave him a peck on the cheek and said, "The Chief is looking for me. We'll talk later. I promise."
His cheeks still warm from anxiety, Burke watched his woman fled the scene.
"Public display of affection? That's such a bold move," From the middle of nowhere, Marlow popped up and sounded very amused as Burke nearly jumped. "Cristina has really grown up a lot!"
"What do you want, Dr. Marlow?" Burke couldn't hide his irritation.
8
"You really want to know?" Marlow squint his eyes in a contemptuous manner. "I want an answer, Dr. Burke. Maybe you can help."
"Why should I?" Burke retorted.
"Because you're marrying a woman who once told me marriage isn't her cup of tea. Tell me, what have you promised her?" Marlow's words were inflammatory.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, c'mon. Three years ago I proposed to my precious pet and she left. What exactly is your trick?"
Burke's mouth opened but no words came out. He couldn't believe someone else had actually proposed to Cristina before.
"I know you're younger. Ok, maybe slightly taller. But really, I guaranteed her the best residency deal upon graduation and she still turned me down. You didn't prommise her the entire hospital, did you?"
Burke could feel the fury permeating every piece of his own muscle.
Why did this man have to make Cristina sound like someone who's only after his power? Was that really what's going on? Was that why Cristina never told him she loved him?
"I don't owe you an answer," Burke finally let the words slipped through his teeth.
"I'm curious. That's all. You know, we're all dedicated scientists and we all love to ask questions and look for answers," Marlow joked.
"Professor, I think you're looking at the wrong place," Burke couldn't not bear to talk to the man any longer.
"We shall see. I've asked Cristina to scrub in with me in an hour. I'm sure we'll get to know each other very well again," Marlow displayed a smile of victory.
"She won't buy into that. Cristina is very smart," Burke held his breath and said calmly.
"She's always looked up to me. She respects me. She didn't resist when I hugged her this morning. Don't you think there are reasons for you to be worried about your fiancée?" Marlow challenged Burke.
"I think anyone who shows you any respect at all is only having a momentary lapse of good judgment," Burke avoided Marlow's giddy face and left.
9
"Cristina, I'm aware of what happened at the nurse station," Richard Webber touched his forehead with his fingertips.
"Yes, Sir?"
"Dr. Marlow, I gathered, was being a little…rough with you," Webber was shy as he finished his line. "If you think it warrants a disciplinary action or if there's anything about his moral character that you believe the selection committee should be made aware of, you may do so anonymously."
Cristina couldn't stop a curt laugh from erupting. She didn't realize the Chief was that concerned about the interns' well-being, so to speak. "Definitely, Sir."
"So, is it true that Dr. Marlow and you were intimate before?" Webber clasped his hands and carefully examined Cristina's face.
"Is there a reason why I must talk about that now?" Cristina began fiddling her earring.
"No, of course not. I just want to make sure his presence won't bring harm to Seattle Grace," Webber looked worried.
"Chief, there's nothing to worry about," Cristina looked to her side.
"Good," Webber stood up to walk Cristina to the door. "You know I deliberately brought Addison here. But Dr. Marlow? I swear I would not have invited him had I known that you two were—"
"Chief, it's gonna be fine," Cristina cut him off with determination.
"Have you talked to Preston about that?" Webber's concern wasn't eased off by Cristina's words.
"We haven't got a chance yet," Cristina paused, "but we will. Soon."
"You know you've changed the man, for the better. You two have grown so much since you're together. It'd be a shame if anything shatters that," Webber said in a fatherly way.
"Marlow and I, that's in the past. It won't affect what I'm doing now, with Burke," Cristina tried to convince both herself and the Chief.
"Just let me know if Marlow bothers you. I'm still the Chief and I know the right thing to do when necessary," Webber stroked his beard.
"Thank you, Sir."
TBC