The funeral was of a much smaller scale than anyone would have thought. Many people were hoping to pay their last respects, but Meredith turned them away. She was scared her mother's house, her house, would turn into a chaotic party place. She didn't want a re-run of Izzie's nightmarish party just a year ago.

"You look tired." The warmth in Cristina's eyes was in stark contrast to the emptiness in Meredith's.

"If there's anything…uh…Burke and I could do, let us know." Cristina was glad her best friend wasn't paying much attention to what she said, for she was mildly disgusted by the way how she was using her boyfriend.

Burke had nothing to do with Meredith. He wasn't her best friend. By putting him in the same sentence, it didn't make her sound more supportive—it only showed the lack of total commitment she gave as Meredith's best friend./

"Thank you, Cristina." Meredith managed a cordial smile before walking away with an empty pitcher to the living room.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Richard nodded slyly as he took off his hat to greet his underling. It was a far more draining experience than he had imagined, seeing the woman he once loved falter and perish. Her fiery eyes were shut, not in eager anticipation of his kiss, but death's welcoming embrace.

"She must have been a remarkable woman." Standing beside him, Burke silently added.

"She was." Richard's eyes remained fixated on the cold, powdery face before looking up. "Sometimes, Cristina Yang reminds me of Ellis."

Burke's raised his eyebrows betrayed his attempt to conceal his interest. After everything they had been through, merely hearing his girlfriend's name was enough to evoke in him a very intimate feeling. "Really?"

"Always trying to get ahead, pushing others and themselves to the brink, making you think they're unbreakable. Until, until one day, you realize their heart could be as fragile as their porcelain-like face."

The man's love for Ellis Grey was painfully strong.
Both of them started off with a forbidden love, but Preston Burke knew he was much more fortunate than Richard Webber—He still had a lifetime to shower his love upon Cristina.

He knew he could not bear to lose her, physically or emotionally.