Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy.


Klausman Institute for Medical Research, Zurich, Switzerland

Budget, new protocols, surgery reports. Paperwork for 3 hours. No one told me this was part of the deal. Why didn't anyone tell me?! Cristina grumpily reviewed the department's annual budget, silently complaining about the amount of paperwork she had to complete, because everyone suddenly had new research ideas when the new chief came in. It perfect in there – the surgeries she got to pick, the unlimited funding for her research, the cutting edge technology . . . but the paperwork. Freaking paperwork. She sighed. Almost perfect.

"Dr. Yang, Dr. Gardner from University Hospital Zurich is on line 2."

Great, just when I have so many things to work on.

"Thank you, Alicia." Cristina plastered a smile on her face and picked up the phone. "Dr. Cristina Yang speaking."

"Hello Dr. Yang, this is Dr. Gardner. How are you? How's your research going?" The voice almost sang into the phone. She rolled her eyes.

"Great, great, thank you." Please just let me finish my paperwork. I want to go back to my OR. Please, please.

"The seminar you gave last week was wonderful! My attendings and residents can't wait for you to come back. I must say, everyone was utterly amazed—"

"Thank you, that's very nice of you." Can I get my pen to automatically sign everything while I work in my research lab? Maybe I should start a project like this here.

"Uhm, this might be rather abrupt. May I ask you for a quick favor? One of our trauma surgeons has left and we are looking for suitable candidates to fill up the job opening, so I was wondering if you had any recommendations?" A wry smile flickered across her face.

Trauma, trauma. Quick and dirty.

"Oh okay. Trauma – Let me see what I can do. I'll get back to you soon."

No time to make things pretty, no time for mistakes.

"Thank you, Dr. Yang! Have a nice day."

"You too, Dr. Gardner."

She put down the phone and was immediately lost in thought. Thinking of those days in Seattle, her lips curled into a smile.

Mistakes are how you learn.

After a while, she asked for her assistant. "Alicia, could you get me Dr. Manning from Trauma?"

"Right away, Dr. Yang."


Mindlessly watching the world go by – an attempt to withdraw herself from the pile of papers on her desk - Cristina decided that for every hour she spent on paperwork, she would spend double in the OR, or her research lab. Just when she was silently complimenting herself for making such a brilliant call, a gentle knock on her door caused her to jump out of her daydream with a start.

"Dr. Yang, is there anything else you need?"

"No, you can go home now."

Alicia turned to leave and Cristina was lost in her daydream again. She was contemplating if she should just abandon everything on her desk and go home when she heard Alicia mumbling about something.

"What?" She was slightly baffled. Did Alicia say something?

"Oh, it's nothing Dr. Yang. I'm just saying that there is a full moon hanging over us tonight. . ." She gave a quick glance out the window.

"Oh right, right, yeah, there is." I wonder if he is looking at the moon now, she said to herself, and it is not even night at Seattle. She smiled, shaking her head at her silly thought.

"What are you laughing at, Dr. Yang?"

"Nothing," Cristina shook her head again, "Good night, Alicia."

After her assistant bid her farewell, she continued with her paperwork, reading reports till she got immensely bored and decided to divert her attention towards the files sent by her head of trauma –profiles of a few trauma surgeons in Europe.


Our life is patched up of various decisions. We spend every day making countless decisions, ranging from the simpler ones like what to eat for lunch, to those that ought to be taken seriously, like picking a major in college, declaring a war on a country or moving across the world. Some people trusted their instinct and followed their heart; some hired analysts and set up a focus group, while some simply flipped a coin.

Well, as a rational person, Cristina would make a pros and cons list in order to get a clear grasp of the whole situation. Stanford or Columbia? Smith or Boston? Write it down, and you shall know – so as she believed.

But this was different.

She put down those profiles and sighed. She didn't need them, for she knew all along whose name she should give. His experience at Maryland Shock Trauma and the sandpit would be valuable for the hospital, and as compared to Seattle, research opportunities are more abundant at Zurich - she knew he had always wanted to start his own research. She thought that this would be good for him.

And she missed him.

She could remember how he always looked when he was in the ER - she loved watching him, sneaking a glance at him once and then.

She could remember that his face would be obviously relaxed when there was a slow and quiet day in the ER, and he might even take a short trip to the cardio wing.

She could remember how his brow would furrow when he was working with such intense concentration.

And she could remember how he frowned when he couldn't stop the bleeding.

If the patient started coding, his face would harden and he would look really grim – afterwards, if they managed to bring the patient back, she'd catch his relieved-looking eyes, and he would give her a subtle nod before continuing to work on the patient.

She remembered. She remembered everything.

Weren't these reasons good enough?

But she couldn't bring herself to do so. No matter how many reasons she can find, she was afraid of ruining his life, again.


She thought about the night they met - the pen trach, the icicle, and the kiss. How absurd did it all seem now, that she was impaled by a freaking icicle. An icicle? Seriously?

And he came to save her like a knight in shining armor. "Damsel in distress." He had muttered under his breath and slightly shook his head as he scooped her up from the cold, freezing ground to take her to the ER. She had protested silently in frustration. "I am not some poor little girl who needs saving," she had thought, "put me down!"

But she remembered how that thought had died down. That was the first time she'd gotten lost in his blue eyes, and she'd gladly do so for years.

That night, Dr. Webber had offered him a job at SGH. She'd raised her eyebrow when she heard it, wondering how he would respond. Even though it had only been a few hours since they met, she wanted him to stay. She wanted to know more about him as a doctor, and also as a person. Sitting on the gurney, she couldn't see his face, but she could feel that he hesitated. He swiftly turned round to face her for a brief second and that got her hopes up, wishing that he would stay, for her. However, he turned down the offer to return to the army.

She had been upset for no reason – "I had only known him for like, 4 hours?" she had thought. But she tried to put on a smile, to mask her disappointment, to hide it in front of him – and then all of a sudden, he had grabbed her face and given her a long slow kiss on the lips.

She remembered his warm blue eyes telling her that this wasn't the end.

Like Dr. Webber's job offer, she understood that this one would turn his life upside down too. Would he uproot his life to move 5251 miles from Seattle to Zurich, to her?

Should I do this? She wondered.


A weak stream of sunlight peeked through the curtains at Klausman Institute for Medical Research. A young man in blue scrubs nodded at Alicia and walked into the office of director of cardiothoracic surgery. Instead of looking nervous, his eyes were beaming and he couldn't stop grinning.

"Dr. Yang?"

"Yes, Shane. Come in. Have a seat." Cristina couldn't help noticing that Shane looked very, very happy. He tried to put on a straight face, but his effort was in vain. Shane was really excited.

"Shane, you look… happy. Or high. " Her brows knitted together, pursing her lips in concentration. Why was her resident so elevated? She wondered if he was stealing morphine from patients because he looked exactly like a kid in a theme park who had just gotten off a roller coaster and couldn't stop bouncing up and down and was now ready to go for another round.

"Yes, I am on an adrenaline rush - two back-to-back surgeries and another one in the afternoon, I am thrilled! The patient was coding, and Dr. Lockhart just . . ." Shane rambled on about how great the surgery had been, leaving a speechless Cristina staring at him. He finally realized that he was talking too much, "Sorry Dr. Yang. That's inappropriate. I am sorry. You wanted to see me?" He looked at Cristina apologetically and took a deep breath to cool himself, but he could barely contain his excitement.

"Yeah, it was, and I did. You looked like you were going to burst in glee. " Shane's eyes widened, and his face flushed with embarrassment. Cristina cleared her throat, "Listen, Shane, I wanted to ask you something. I was wondering what made you want to move to Zurich?"

"Oh. That. . ." Shane took a second to think. They both waited. "Uhm, it's because I think I'll be better off here. For my career, and also myself. You knew what happened back then. . ." Shane cringed at the thought, shaking his head as if to shake off the memory. "I wasn't sure at first, but I took a chance. I am glad that I did. Well, I felt like Bilbo Baggins, except that I volunteered."

Cristina laughed at the Hobbit reference. "Thank you, Shane. Now go back to work."

The moment of enlightenment had come; she knew exactly what she should do.


University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

"Dr. Gardner, did you receive my email?"

"Yes, I did. Thank you very much Dr. Yang, we really appreciate it."

He got off the phone and started studying the list of names. There was a Dr. Owen Hunt from Seattle with a very interesting remark– "Constructed an OR table from an exploded Humvee in the middle of a desert."

Amazed, he called out to his assistant. "Caitlin, can you please leave a message for David Lee from HR? Tell him to find out about a – one second – Dr. Owen Hunt from Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital from Seattle. He is potentially our next head of Trauma."


Cristina's apartment, Zurich, Switzerland

Sipping on her cup of tea, she sat on her balcony staring at the sunset, lost in her own thoughts.

You should ditch this place. Go for the adventure. You telling me this place gives you a rush? A high?

Owen, will you take this adventure with me?


NOTE: I hope you enjoy this chapter and also a big thank you to Eliza for beta reading! ;)