Unraveled

By greyeyedgirl

One-shot fic for Bang (Burke+Yang, baby!) during "A Band-Aid Covers The Bullet Hole." No spoilers except for what's in preview, r&r, enjoy, come on D/M lovers, you know you want some Cristina'n'Burke action. :P

Oh, my love

Please don't cry

I'll wash my bloody hands,

And we'll start a new life...

Cristina awoke to a horrible, horrible sound. Laughter drifting in from her kitchen. She recognized vaguely the sound of her boyfriend's deep chuckle, and the other was was unmistakably George's. She groaned loudly, rolling out of bed and preparing to smack both of them with a spatula (or whatever that egg-cooking thing was called), rendering them incapable of ever disrupting her sleep again.

Oh, ew. They were cooking together. She could smell the odor of frying eggs, and George was expertly flipping a large chunk of ovum. Ohhhhhh, ick, who could eat something that smelled like that, especially so early in the morning?

"Morning." Burke had grinned at her when she came out, and now he leaned towards her, kissing her forehead quickly. She tried to force a smile, as she surveyed the scene in front of her. Burke had already moved back towards George, and they were talking and laughing again, as Burke took over the cooking and George grabbed some plates from the cupboard.

"G'morning, Cristina," said George, smiling that awkward, George-ish smile that was currently making her want to commit mass homicide sing only a spatula. Or, hell, she was feeling lazy. Why not steal the whole pan?

"I gotta go," Cristina responded, trying to shake the mental image from her head so she would not be permanently scarred for life. She moved to grab her jacket, pulling her hair out from under it. She'd just gotten the door to the apartment open when she felt someone twirl her slowly around, and was briefly allowed a glimpse of shining white contrasting against smooth dark skin, and then Burke kissed her forehead again lightly, looking into her eyes.

She tried to seem nonchalant, like it was no big deal, but her heart raced at the contact. "Bye," she said, hating the sudden breath-y quality of her voice, knowing her face was twinging red. Burke grinned at her again, laughingly, and silently handed her a piece of toast and her mug of coffee. "Thanks." Cristina allowed him one tiny smile, seeing Burke's eyes light up, and turned to make her way down the hallway, shooting Burke a grin over her shoulder.

"Rounds. Come on, move it, our pit woman isn't going to heal herself, and as I already explained, Denny has yet to grown a new heart." Bailey's drone seemed tired and fprced today, opposed to the usual snappiness. Cristina dragged behind, conversing with Meredith. "It's just, seeing them together, running, and cooking, and...bonding?" She shook her head wearily, a look of disgust on her face. Meredith nodded understandingly. "You four take care of Denny, Cristina, you're with me." Cristina turned back to Bailey, slightly disoriented, but nodded. "Of course, Dr. Bailey."

Cristina and Bailey exited he hospital at a jog, with Miranda falling a step behind, holding the baby tight to her as they caught up to the EMTs outside. "Thirty-one year old female, has a, uh..." The paramedic gestured to the patient on the gurney, who was smiling with forced chipperness at them. Bailey stared down at the woman in front of her, with a fork sticking out of the side of her neck. "Right," she said distractedly. "Uh...Cristina...here, take him. Send Grey to room 309."

"Uh...wait...no, you really don't want me to do this!" Cristina's voice started out hesitant and ended in a panic. "No---Dr. Bailey! You can't leave me with it-"

Cristina stared down at the figure in her arms, before watching it's mother helping to push the gurney into the hospital.

"Shhh...Hey...no! Stop crying!" Cristina tried to calm the baby in her arms, it's crying becoming more persistent. She tried frantically to get it to drink from the bottle Bailey had left in the baby bag someone had thrown at her, but it was to no avail. "No...baby...eat...please, eat!"

"Are we having a problem?" Burke's voice was smooth, making her jump as she looked behind her at the door to the on-call room. "Um," Cristina attempted, "I seem to have...a situation."

"I can see that." Burke entered the room, smiling down at her, and Cristina cleared her throat. Burke sent her a reassuring nod, a smile tooying at his lips, and removed the small baby from hjer arms, cooing at him softly.

The baby's crying ceased at once. Cristina stared up at him, in apparent awe, as Burke continued to coo gently at the baby, taking the bottle from Cristina's hand as he did so. "Hey, buddy," Burke murmured.

"He wouldn't stop crying before."

"You were holding him wrong."

"I was not! I took a class in natal when I was at school-"

"Babies want to be loved, Cristina." Burke looked down at her. "Scared you'll catch the baby bug?"

Cristina decided not answering was best. "I'm not good with them," she mumbled.

"You were doing fine," Burke reassured her. "It just takes a little practice."

"And where did you get practice?" Cristina stared at him, startled.

"I have a baby brother. He was six years younger than me, and my mom let me help take care of him every once in a while. And now he has kids, I've been around them, too-" He broke off. "It's not hard," he assured her, smiling. "You were doing good for a first time."

"I already told you, it's not a first time, I took a class at med schoo-"

"Holding a doll and holding a baby are 2 very different things, Cristina."

Cristina sent him a death glare, but Burke just smiled. "Here," he said, "Come closer, I'll show you-"

Cristina took a few tentative steps, as Burke carefully set baby Jones in her arms. He stood silently right behind her, holding her close, his arms under hers as they supported the baby. Cristina felt her breath catch, both from his closeness and from the tiny life, now lying calmly, in her arms. "He's cute," she murmured, suddenly feeling a lot calmer around it that Burke was there. "He likes you," Burke said softly.

Cristina turned her head to look up at him, and their gaze caught the other's. "What do you think he would have been like?"

"What?"

Cristina's voice was soft. "Ours."

The thought shook him. Cristina had never mentioned their baby as an actual living person before.

"I don't know," Burke breathed softly, carefully squeezing her closer to him. "Perfect, I suppose. Like his mother. Beautiful and brilliant and-" his voice shook, feeling the pain of their loss for the first time in months.

"Yeah." Cristina's voice seemed sad in a very high-pitched sort of way. "I can't imagine you fathering a child that was not perfect."

"Thank you...I think you'll be a perfect mother," Burke breathed. Cristina seemed to shake in front him.

"Are you ready?"

"No...don't let go yet..."

Burke kissed the side of her neck gently. "I'm letting go," he said softly.

"No, what if I drop hi-"

Burke's arms carefully lessened under Cristina's, moving so he was touching her waist. "You got him."

Cristina stared down at the baby in her arms, nodding quietly to herself. "I got him."