"What are you doing?" Cristina said entering Mer's bathroom. She stopped with one shoulder against the stand of the door with an half full bottle of wine in her left hand.

"What are you wearing?" Mer replied, ignoring her question. She was sitting on the floor with her back against the bathtub.

"It's a Christmas dress. I like red." The dress wasn't really Cristina's style. It was a over the knee red dress with a strange looking reindeer on her shoulder.

"But why are you wearing it?"

"I don't know. I thought that's what people do. I don't really celebrate Christmas, remember?"

Mer looked at her with a "yeah, I know" kind of look.

"Have you been drinking without me?"

"You'd be drinking too if you had bothered coming downstairs."

Cristina rolled her eyes. "Why are you here anyway?"

"I can't be in there. I can't be with all those people."

(*)

Izzie wanted to throw a Christmas party at their house. Apparently she had learned nothing from her two previous ones. The first one, the one she threw for her now ex-boyfriend, ended up with half the hospital being invited. The second one, the one for Thanksgiving, was

a total mess: Mer sneaking out to go to the hospital, Alex hiding from Izzie, Cristina being desperate because she hadn't be able to dump Burke for the day, and George's dad being shot in the ass. Mer tried to make Izzie change her mind about the Christmas party, but

it was her against two; George was on Izzie's side, as usual.

(*)

"You left me with those people."

Mer gave her her 'I'm too depressed for this' kind of look, so she exclaimed:"I'll be right there!"

Cristina walked downstairs, hoping no one would notice her. Of course she wasn't that lucky.

"Cristina!" It was George calling her from the couch "Come here and listen to some music with us."

"Not now, Bambi!"

Burke was sitting next to him. He didn't even have time to say anything that Cristina was already gone. He started wondering why she even invited him there if she was going to ignore him for the whole evening. *I bet Izzie convinced her to invite me again. *

Cristina went straight to the kitchen where she found Izzie preparing some kind of appetizer.

"Cristina! What do you think of my Apple pie? Do you like it? I have been baking the whole week."

*Jeez! Why are these two always so cheerful?* thought Cristina

"I don't have time now. Mer needs me." Said instead while getting two bottle of tequila from the table.

"Of course she does!" Izzie sounded kind of jealous as she said that, but Cristina didn't have time for that either.

As she walked outside the kitchen, she met Alex.

"Nice dress, Yang."

"Shut up, Evil Spawn." The last thing she needed right now was Karev's stupid grin in her face.

As she was almost at the stairs, Bailey walked in. *Of course Izzie invited Bailey, too.* Her belly was so evident, she couldn't stop staring at it.

"Yang, stop staring at my belly."

"Yes, ma'am!" Cristina replied, looking away. She ran up the stairs before she could meet someone else. *Who's next? The Chief?* she thought as she was heading once again toward the bathroom.

"You made it!" Mer exclaimed as soon as she saw her "I thought you were seriously drinking without me!"

"Everyone down there is pretty annoying. Can you believe Izzie invited Bailey!?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously!"

Cristina handed Mer one of the bottles and started drinking from hers.

They both were at half of their bottles when Cristina asked:

"Why are you sitting here anyway?"

"I'm hiding from all them. They are too cheerful!"

"Ugh. Don't get me started!"

"Plus..."

"Yeah?"

They were both pretty drunk by now. Mer was hoping Cristina wouldn't be as annoyed by what she was about to say as she usual would be if she was sober.

"Christmas makes you want to be with people you love. And Derek is probably spending It with Addison."

"He is a pig and you deserve better!" Was Cristina's reply. If they were sober she would have rolled her eyes instead.

"That McAss!" She added immediately.

*That seems more like it.* thought Mer.

"Seriously! He is such a McAss! And I do deserve better."

She took a big sip and added "Am I pathetic?"

"You know what's pathetic?"

"What?"

"Let Izzie convince me to invite Burke at this stupid party and then avoiding him for the whole evening."

"Ugh. I hate this party. I hate peo-" she wasn't able to finish her sentence and ran toward the toilet bowl.

"Are you going to throw up now?" Cristina was used to Mer throwing up, and it was never a nice thing to witness.

"False alarm."

"Good! Come back here!"

Mer crawled back near the bathtub where Cristina was sitting.

"I drank too much!" She said before passing out with her head on Cristina's shoulder.

"Yeah!"

Not longer after she passed out, too.

(*)

Five minutes later, or at least it felt like it had been only five minutes, they were both woken up by Izzie's voice.

"What are you doing? I needed you down there."

They both looked up, her and George were standing at the door. Izzie looking kind of pissed off, George just sleepy.

"Shut up, Tinkerbell" said Cristina.

"Yeah! What time is it?" Added Mer.

"It's 2 AM."

"2 AM and she calls me..." Mer started singing. She was still drunk.

"Mer! My head hurts" Cristina was starting to get an hangover. Plus she wasn't in the mood to listen to Mer sing.

Izzie ignored both of them and continued what she wanted to say

"I just finished cleaning. Alex is downstairs sleeping on the couch. He said he didn't have anywhere else to go. He said something about his rent."

"Burke said he'd be back home for tonight." Added George "He asked me to remind

you he'd be at the hospital the whole day tomorrow."

Mer and Cristina looked at each other. The kind of look where you don't have to talk. Cristina tried to get up a few times before actually being able to stand up. She walked toward Izzie and George, pushed them out, and locked the door.

"Go bother someone else Santa's helpers."

Cristina sat beside Mer once again. This time, she was the one leaning her head on the other's shoulder.

"Happy freaking Christmas!"

"Whatever!"

They both passed out within minutes.