Chapter 1- Cristina Yang was not a sociopath.

She wasn't cold or hard, much less a female dog.

She was a red blooded woman, alive and breathing. And she Got People.

She did.

In fact, she felt that her understanding of human nature went much deeper than the Izzie Stevenses of this world cared to admit. Maybe even to themselves.

She got it.

People did things, said things. They made choices and followed through, most often not. They suffered the consequences of said choices, foreseen or unforeseen.

They suffered, a lot.

Period.

Ninety-eight percent of them meant well, all hundred percent of them screwed up. She got that, and kept to herself because she got that. That didn't make her cold, if anything it proved she had a beating heart to protect.

But that was a part of her human nature people liked to overlook it seemed..

She had first understood when her father died that people could destroy your world without even wanting to. Later she learned they could also hurt you without blinking , or without ever realising they had done so.

And for a girl that loved in the same single-minded, whole-hearted way she did everything else in, that was too much. Way, way, way too much.

So she closed down on them, meeting the world and people in it with an action plan. Going out into the world on forays for knowledge, or sex, or what ever objective she had- always returning to her own world.

Meredith was the exception. The Only Person she trusted enough to accept the inevitable surprises, willingly and knowingly. Her Person.

They had recognised each others Dark and Twisty souls. That was their Bond., their trust, and ultimately their commitment.

It saw them through bad fights and the highest of ponytails.

Cristina valued what she had with Meredith , a lot.

It surprised her and made her profoundly grateful ( in a totally non-pathetic way of course). She'd never thought she'd have this, didn't even believe it existed. A real friend, a Person.

She reckoned that was more friendship and love most people could hope for and didn't expect any more where that came from. Certainly not from a man.

Definitely not after Burke.

So how could she ever have seen him coming? See her reaction to him coming?

Owen Hunt, dr. Owen Hunt, Major Hunt, McBadass. Hell; bloody Caesar for all that she was concerned. After all; he sure did come, see and conquered the socks off of her. Or something, .. whatever.

Of course Caesar might not be hot enough to stand the comparison, sure he had been the emperor of ¾ of the world, but had he ever trached a guy with a pen? And he had been bald anyway…no match for that gorgeous mop of red hair , she'd never been with a redhead before..

Cris felt her ideas going down a familiar road and focussed on her surroundings again.

She was walking down the street from SGH to her flat, tired after her shift and the days events. Happy, for a change, to be going home

Today she'd found out that Owen had an ex-fiancé, who he'd broken up with in two lines in an e-mail. Who hadn't known he was back. And neither did his mom.

Today was the kind of day that needed to end with Meredith and herself slamming tequila in Joe's , maybe even needed to end with the selling of some miniature plastic chairs from Taiwan and other knick-knacks. Or throwing darts at George. That thought made her smile a little.