Hours had passed since she last laid eyes on him. Having caught a cardio case in the pit that she was able to assist on she forgot about him, about everything. That was the beauty of the OR. Cristina found that when she scrubbed in she scrubbed her mind free of everything, every tiny detail of her life. In that OR all that was important was saving the patient's life, she didn't matter, only her skills mattered, only what she had learnt, nothing else.

But that only applied in the OR, after she scrubbed out her mind was full again, filled with personal crap. She wanted to find Jackson, first Mere but definitely Jackson after. It had been hours since she had touched him, kissed him. However right now food was the priority as Cristina headed down to the cafeteria. Grabbing a salad and a coffee she plonked herself down onto the chair next to Alex. "That surprise party was a complete bust." He moaned.

"Not for some of us." Mere retorted giving Cristina a knowing look.

"How would you know you didn't even go?" Alex replied, completely oblivious to the stare they had just exchanged. Taking a mouthful of his burger he continued, "No drunk chicks to nail."

"I don't think others had that problem." Mere said as Cristina took a sip of her drink, which she quickly spurted out on the table.

"What?" Alex glanced from Cristina to Mere, "Wha.." His pager went off causing him to pause mid-word. Checking it, he sighed and continued, "Damn. It's the clinic." Stuffing the last portion of his burger into his mouth, he stared at his plate for a minute before chucking the fries to Cristina, stood up, grabbed his coat of the back of the chair and walked off.

"So..." Mere started as she moved to Alex's recently abandoned chair.

"I don't Mere I.." Cristina replied not wanting to be grilled by Mere about her escapades with Jackson.

"Not where I was going." She said as she stole one of Cristina's newly acquired fries. "Izzie's back."

"What!?" Cristina almost dropped the fork she was holding. "Since when," spinning her head around to check he was gone, "Does Alex know?"

"No. She told me not to tell him." Mere replied.

"Tell him what?" Both turned to look to see George sit down next to them holding a sandwich and a file.

Exchanging a nervous glance with Cristina Meredith answered, "Izzie's back."

"Wait what?"

"Save it Bambi, been through this already. Let's get to the new part, why?" Cristina interrupted, impatient as ever and wanting to know more.

Giving Cristina a glare to let her know how much he despised that nickname he took a bite of his sandwich and sat silently ready to listen.

"She had this patient from her.." Mere began.

"Where is she?" George interrupted.

"She doesn't want you guys to know." Thinking silently for a moment she decided against her instructions, "The Clinic."

Jumping up George grabbed his stuff, heading towards the clinic at a run.

"When did life get so..." Mere started.

"Complicated." Cristina finished. Sitting quietly for a moment a thought suddenly crossed her mind, "Mere?"

Not looking up from the patient file she was currently filling in she answered "Yes."

"You said Izzie's in the clinic." Cristina remarked.

"Yes."

"Alex just got paged to the clinic." Cristina said finished her trail of thought.

"Shit." Mere exclaimed. "That will not be good."

"Especially if Izzie mentions that you know she's here, and you didn't tell Alex." Cristina added.

"We have to do something.." Cristina's pager started beeping, cutting Mere off mid-sentence. A smile spread across Cristina's face.

"Cardio consult. The pit. Got to go, keep me posted on the Izzie situation." She said pushing her leftover food towards Mere.

"Just leave me. I'm fine not to worry. I can do it by myself, don't need your help." Mere yelled after her as Cristina ran towards the cafeteria doors, ready for another case.

She was just so tired. Her surgery turned out to be 11 hours, which wasn't long by normal standards but when you start the day with a 6 hour surgery and limited sleep the night before they can add up. She was no longer hungry; her tiredness seemed to override everything else. Slowly she walked towards an on call room.

Alex rushed past who, angrily stomping away from the OR gallery. 'I'm guessing he found Izzie' she thought to herself. Usually she would try find out the cause but she was just so tired.

She needed to brag to Mere about her surgery but she was too tired. She wanted to find Jackson but she just wanted to sleep. Everything else could wait sleep came first. Turning the knob on the door handle she found it locked, she knocked and out came a loud cry, "OCCUPIED" from somebody was obviously tied up, evidently not sleeping judging by their tone.

Trudging forward she came round the corner and tried the next door. Luckily this one was empty. Shutting the door behind her she flicked off the lights, kicked her shoes off and collapsed onto the bed. Shutting her eyes, she took a deep breath, smashed her face into the pillow and fell asleep.

"Oh shit sorry." A voice muttered from the direction of the door. Opening her eyes she saw light streaming in from the hallway through the open door, belting down on her face. Moving her head slightly she squinted trying to make a face. In a sluggish tone she spoke, "Jackson?"

The shape stepped forward shutting the door behind him, "Yeah. I can leave I just.."

Yawning she spoke over him, "No stay. You look exhausted." She patted the bed, gesturing for him to come and lie down. Rolling over to face the wall she shuffled slightly, making room for him to lay next to her. Taking the hint Jackson locked the door behind him, kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the bed.

"Cristina.." He began before she quickly cut him off in a sleepy voice, "Later. Shhush. Sleep." Feeling behind her in the dark she grabbed his arm, draping it over her. Leaning forward slightly he kissed her on the cheek and then pulled her into him. She lay still for a few seconds listening to him breathing before once again sleep took over her. It took Jackson mere minutes to fall asleep, his day had been hectic too and lying with her in his arms made his day feel complete. He was content.

Cristina groaned slightly, cracked her neck and groggily opened her eyes. In front of her lay a wall. She turned her head slightly to discover Jackson lying behind her, fast asleep, with his arms wrapped around her. Slowly she sat up, desperately trying not to wake him while squirming out of his grip. She didn't really remember all that much and it took her a minute to regain her semi-awake conversation. She had said later. They were going to talk about it later, when she wasn't half asleep she guessed, but did she have any idea what she wanted to say? Any idea at all?

Glancing down at her watch she saw that she had been asleep for about 5 hours, that was pretty good. Sadly that meant she had to leave. She needed to talk to Mere, to Alex, to George – Izzie returning had probably not been an ultra-pleasant experience, especially if you factor in a pissed off Alex escaping the gallery several hours ago. Was Izzie still here? Or had she left already, she needed to find out. Plus she had rounds in about an hour. Looking around her she surveyed her options, how to move without waking sleeping beauty.

She moved her leg over him, and paused for a moment as she looked down on him. He looked so happy, so peaceful, lying there asleep between her thighs. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek before rising again, ready to move off the bed. BEEP-BEEP. The bedside table lit up as a pager went psycho, flashing and beeping. Leaning forward she grabbed it, quickly shutting it off. Glancing over she saw a confused look on Jackson's face. "What a way to wake up Dr. Yang." He remarked.

"Shut up. It's not my fault you woke up, it's your damn intern paging you at all hours of the day. I was stealth." She said indignantly, only slightly blushing, but in this light, he couldn't tell.

"Uh-huh." Jackson replied, raising his hands to her hips, pushing her down so she was no longer knelling over him but sitting on him. "The kiss was a nice touch."

"How did… wait." She hit him playfully, "You were awake."

"Do you really think I can sleep with a gorgeous woman hovering over me in such a compromising position?"

"Compromising? Hardly."

Raising his hands slightly he pulled off her scrub top and singlet all in one go. "How about now?"

"No." she said with a grin spreading across her face. "Compromising would be if you didn't have pants on." She lowered her hands to the top of his scrub pants and tugged slightly, pulling them down slowly, never breaking eye contact. "Like this." She said as she chucked them behind her onto the floor and slid forward to resume her position sitting on top of him.

"Well that's hardly compromising." He answered, peeling down her scrub pants slowly, over her knees they went and then off completely, and quickly joined his pants on the floor beside the bed. "This might be."

Cristina placed her hands slightly higher and grabbing the bottom of his shirt pulled it off him with little assistance. Chucking it onto the floor to join the rest of their clothes she leant down and gave him a quick kiss before resuming her position.

Looking her up and down Jackson whispered, "Well this is hardly fair. I'm only wearing one thing, you're wearing two."

Cristina leant forward, nibbled on his ear lobe slightly and whispered into his hair, "Life isn't fair." Shifting her head slightly to the right, she kissed him. A kiss full of passion but no urgency, full of desire but barely any lust, it was a kiss full of feelings. She lowered her hands and began to massage his upper thigh, slowly moving upwards. Jackson groaned as her skilful delicate hands got higher, his own hands searching her body. First holding onto her hips, then through her hair, then deciding to make life fair; he moved his hands to her lower back, and quickly brought them higher. His hands eagerly undid the clasp at the back of her bra, and ready to remove the rest of it he whispered, "Now we're even."

Cristina smiled for a second before annoyance passed over her. On the bedside table a pager was going off its head, she leant forward imperceptibly. But was stopped as he grabbed her hips and pulled her back towards him. Not wanting to stop but curious she leant forward, this time harder and faster, not wanting to abide by his wishes. She picked up the pager, which read '911 – Grey, M.'

"Shit." Dropping the pager she slid her hands to her back and hooked her bra together again.

"911?" Jackson inquired, obviously annoyed by this interruption.

"I have to go." Rolling off him she bent over grabbed her pants, pulled them on and quickly pulled her shoes on, not bothering to retie the laces.

"Just stay a little longer." Jackson pleaded as he sat up quickly and watched Cristina dress herself for the second time today. Pulling her top over her head she leant forward and kissed him.

"Finish without me." She said as she grabbed her pager off the table and turned to head out. Jackson's pager went off behind her as she approached the door. Pausing for a moment, she pulled her hair up into a quick bun and took a deep breath, stepped forward and unlocked the door. She pulled it open slightly before it shut in front of her. Behind her stood a fully dressed Jackson who spun her around and pushed her up against the door he had just closed. He kissed her hungrily for a moment before pulling back.

"See you later." He whispered. Softly nudged out of the way by the door she moved to the side as Jackson exited and the door closed behind him. She stood still for a few moments before she pulled herself together, straightened her scrubs, pulled open the door and headed off to find Mere.