A is for Appendectomy
By: PhoenixJustice
Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy belongs to Shonda Rhimes, ABC, and others who are not me. I only own this story and make no profit from this.
Warning: Rated T for language, etc.
Characters: Teddy Altman, Cristina Yang, Owen Hunt, etc.
Pairing: Owen Hunt/Cristina Yang. hints of Teddy Altman/Cristina Yang(?)
Setting: Sometime during late season 11.
Summary: "It's good. It's great, even. But...it's not the same." "Which is why you're doing appendectomy's instead of groundbreaking surgery on the heart."
A/N: This is part one in an unconnected series of stories. I decided to do a story for not only each letter of the alphabet, but for fandoms I have yet to write in, so this makes 26 stories to expect from me. I hope you enjoy!
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"You let her leave? Just like that?"
"It wasn't that easy. You have no idea how much I wanted her to...but it-was for the best. She couldn't ever win a Harper Avery award here. Did you hear about that?"
"Yes, I did. And I also heard how stupid you were."
"Teddy-"
"No." Teddy bites back, fiercely. She had come back to Gray-Sloan. She had tried her hand elsewhere and while it had been fulfilling in its way, it hadn't been exactly what she had hoped. And even though Gray-Sloan had been filled with horrible memories for her, it also was a place of great joy. She had met Henry here and had been with him and grown with him. She had lost him, but she had also been lucky enough to know him before he was gone. And while she was still mending, she was still grateful for the time they spent together, even if it was all too brief. What happened to Henry was no one's fault and it hadn't been fair to blame Owen for it or to blame anyone else.
It had taken her awhile to realize it, but she did and now she was here once more. But then she is here and there is no Cristina in sight. Her protege, her friend. They had been through a lot together and she wasn't here. She had looked forward to talking to her so much, to catch up, to see what techniques she had learned and to show what she had also learned in the time away from Seattle.
"I still can't believe you let her leave." Teddy continues. "Did she really mean that little to you?"
Now Owen fights back with words just as fiercely as she had. "Of course she is important to me. She has meant more to me than anyone else ever has. Ever. Even in the relationship I'm in now, it-" He turns away, jaw clenched. He often didn't like to show his weakness, Teddy knew. He had been through so much during the war. She had as well, but not as much as he had; he had been the one to deal with the night terrors, the PTSD to the extent he had. He finally looks back at her. "She's great, but it isn't...it's not Cristina. It's not Cristina and me. I can't love her like I love Cristina and I feel terrible about it."
"Then fight for her." Teddy says. That felt obvious. If you loved someone you fought for them. Back when she had thought herself truly in love with Owen she had fought and when she had actually been in love, with Henry, she had fought to have him, to keep him. Had done everything to keep him around her for as long as possible.
"I can't make her stay, Teddy." Owen says. He looks weary now, as if keeping around the thoughts and emotions of Cristina and what it all meant for all this time. "I've tried and it didn't work. She doesn't want to stay. Not with me."
"I don't think you're right. I know I haven't been around in awhile, but I know Cristina. And I know you. And I don't think that letting her go because she thinks you want something she doesn't is a good thing."
"But I do want it. Children. I..." he hesitates and it's long enough that she knows what he's thinking.
"You think you want it. You've even had opportunities to have them. But you've had Cristina, had her with you, been with her. Why would you ever give up what you know you want versus what you think you might want?"
Again he shakes his head. "She's convinced I can't be happy with just her. So much so even I thought it might be the case. But..."
"But?"
"But having been with her and now her not being here..." He swallows hard. "I'd give up anything and everything to have her back. To be with me. Anything. But I don't want to force her. I want her to come back here. I...I can't go there. Not now." Maybe not ever, was the unsaid thing that she picked up on.
"Then I will."
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Flying was something she wasn't exactly scared of, but it made her uncomfortable; it reminded her too often of flying in helicopters or the like during war time and the sounds and smells and things. But she pushes it away from her mind easily enough now compared to before.
Zurich was cold, but a nice looking place. And considering all that had been offered to her, she couldn't exactly blame Cristina for leaving, but all the same the fact that she left made her sad. After having lost the love of her life, she did not want to see others lose theirs.
She eventually finds her, after looking around and asking some of the staff. Before she heads into the room, she looks at the board and laughs a bit as she sees the surgery attached to Cristina Yang's name. She pushes the door open and sees Cristina with her back turned to her, scrubbing at her hands, obviously finished with surgery and doing some clean-up.
"You're back already?" Cristina asks, back still turned. "That was quick. Well, if you have the rest of the-"
"Hi." Teddy cuts in.
The other doctor immediately stops what she's doing and turns to look at Teddy with shock in her eyes, her brows furrowing.
"Teddy?"
"Hey, Cristina."
"What the hell are you doing here?" she demands.
"Well, I heard so many good things about those Swiss bank accounts-" she starts, then stops the joking as Cristina continues to frown at her. "Why the hell do you think I'm here? I've come to bring you home."
Cristina shakes her head. "Did Owen put you up to this? Did he say-"
"He didn't put me up to anything. I came here on my own. He's the one who was trying to talk me out of coming here." She holds back a wince at the wounded look on Cristina's face. For all that Cristina was supposedly over Owen and ready for a new life, she certainly didn't look like it. Not to Teddy, who knew her so well.
"But why are you here?" Cristina continues, almost desperately. "You don't even work for-"
"As of now I do." Teddy replies back promptly. "I came back to Gray-Sloan days ago. And the new doctors there? Yeah, they're great, but they're no Cristina Yang. If you hate the place..."
"It's not that I hated it." Cristina says, leaning against the large sink where she had been washing her hands. "So much crappy stuff happened, but there was a lot of good things to. But I couldn't ever win the Harper Avery there."
"Are you sure about that?" Teddy asks. "There's always ways to deal with things. And I would think you of all people wouldn't let something like that stick. That's not the Cristina Yang I know."
"The Cristina Yang you know..." she shakes her head, looking thoughtful and sad for a moment before reeling it back in; she often kept her feelings held in, never letting them show on the surface except for brief moments. "That person doesn't exist anymore."
"I doubt that," Teddy says drily. "I'm looking at her. And I know her better than she, or anyone else, thinks." She looks at Cristina for a moment then sighs. "But really, what are you doing, Cristina? Leaving Owen like that?"
"Well what did you expect me to do, Teddy?" Cristina fires back fiercely, pushing off the sink and standing close to her. "Really, what do you expect from me? From him. I can't give him what he wants. I can't, I won't, give him children and that's-"
"If you really think that's it, then you don't know Owen. Or yourself, for that matter. When you love someone, Cristina, you fight for them." she drives back, just as intense as Cristina. "You fight with everything you've got. You don't want to lose the love of your life. I did and it's worse than anything you can ever imagine. I'm sure you're hurting about how it went down with Owen and I know he's hurting too, but you can still salvage this. It's not something that can't be changed, like with me. You..." she feels the pressing of tears and fights them off. Not because she considered them weakness, but because she wanted to focus on the now, focus on Cristina, and Owen, and not her own breaking heart.
"Owen doesn't-"
"Owen wants you. He knows that. Don't throw away the love of your life for the 'what-if's' or the 'maybe's'." She looks around the room. "I get this could be something special to you. I know you want to win a Harper Avery, but-"
"I..." Cristina starts, frowning. "It's-different than I thought it'd be. Burke made it sound like this dream job. Everything I could ever have wanted."
She felt a but coming along. "But?"
"But..." Here Cristina hesitates for a long moment, looking lost in thought, as if having thought about this for a long time. "He wanted to leave." She finally says. "I thought it was just about his family. Now I know it was more than that. It was about this job as well. It's good. It's great, even. But...it's not the same."
"Which is why you're doing appendectomy's instead of groundbreaking surgery on the heart." Teddy says pointedly.
Cristina shrugs, shaking her head as she lets out a mirthless little laugh.
"It needed to be done but it's not what I do, it's not who I am. It's not what I was meant to do. I want to work on hearts. I want..."
She moves forward to thin the rest of the distance between them and places her hand on the other surgeon's arm. The younger woman jumps slightly at the touch.
"Come home, Cristina." Teddy says feelingly. "Come home."
"I-" There was still hesitation there.
Teddy holds out her hand.
"I could use a friend to help me get used to a new workplace?" Teddy offers.
Cristina laughs, seemingly surprised at herself. She looks at Teddy for a long moment and a smile comes onto her face, a smile that was wonderful to see and it seemed to surprise Cristina-as if she had almost forgotten how to smile like that.
She takes the hand.
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A/N: This is my first foray into Grey's Anatomy. I've gotten to really like the show from watching reruns over and then the newer episodes. I can only hope I did justice to the characters.
I hope you enjoyed this!
Let me know what you thought!