Photographic Memories
chapter 8
by greyeyedgirl
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This chapter is dedicated to norabelle, aka Vella, who was very persistant in getting her fanfic updates. :D
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"Ow! Burke, she bit me!"
Preston Burke took away Cristina's hand from off her lap, where sure enough, there was a small hole where a miniature tooth might have gone. "Don't be ridiculous," he said smoothly, seeing the bite mark. "She's only got 3 teeth, I doubt she could bite you if she wanted to."
Cristina glared at him as the small baby crawled across her stomach, disturbing the IV cord with her tiny foot. "What kind of child have you been raising?" She asked pointedly.
"Oh, she didn't get biting from me," Burke laughed. Cristina smirked, sitting up the rest of the way as Avery crawled towards her, scratching her face with her tiny fingernails. "Don't do that, munchkin," Cristina said absentmindedly. Burke looked up from where he'd started to scribble something on her chart.
"Sico dinefo. Buh deeko feecie," Avery gurgled, a bit of drool dripping down. Burke smiled lightly, sweeping her up from off of her mother. "That's about all for you, today, Avie," he murmured, cradling her in his arms. Cristina watched them carefully, not letting her emotions show.
"Muh!" Avery whimpered. Burke rubbed her soft curls, before getting her bottle and letting it gently enter between her lips. "There ya go, Avery," he muttered, as Cristina looked on.
"So where do you guys live?" She heard herself ask. Burke glanced up, surprised. "Ummm, a house a couple blocks away, the street right next to Grey's. Mendon road. It's a big white one with green shutters. There used to be a fence, but you made me get someone to take it down...something about not being a...'freaking soccer mom.' I have a 2008 Porsche, and you have an SUV. You gave up your bike right after we found out Avery was coming."
Cristina nodded vaguely, drinking in all the details of their life.
"What about everyone else? What's going on?"
Burke closed his eyes, thinking. "Hmmm. Karev transferred to a hospital in Los Angeles, where he's pursuing a career in plastics, I believe. O'Malley's going into cardio-thoracic for his specialty, so are you." He paused. "At least, you were. Grey wants to specialize in neuro. Stevens actually took some time off right before your guys' second year . . . a friend of hers passed away, she took it pretty hard . . . Anyway, she's going into neonatal. Her and Addison are pretty fond of each other, they're pretty good friends."
Cristina tried to process all this new information, and apply it to what she already knew.
"So we're...How did this all happen?" Cristina tried to sound politely interested, but couldn't hide every ounce of confusion she had.
Burke glanced up from where he was feeding Avery, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, he smiled.
"You mean, how'd I convince you to marry me?"
Cristina frowned uncomfortably. She did not know him well enough to be able to think of him as her husband. Still, it was Burke. The way she felt about him didn't allow her to really be able to think of him as anything. She wasn't sure how to describe it.
"If you want to put it that way...fine. How did you...as you said...get me to do that?"
Burke brought Avery to his shoulder, cradling her head gently. "There were a lot of factors. We realized we were in love with each other. We grew closer after I got hurt-"
"What do you mean?" Cristina broke in, frowning. "Hurt!"
Burke looked at her. "I got shot, right before your second year. I was coming into the hospital one night, and the shooter was obviously just crazy."
Cristina felt a weird kind of anger, it scared her to feel anything so powerfully that didn't have to do with work. "He's in jail, right!"
Burke started to burp Avery, who made a soft cooing sound. "He shot himself...He was killed. Anyway, the bullet lodged itself into my spinal cord. I experienced some . . . tremors . . . after the surgery, but you pulled through fantastically in the end. You were there for the three months of my physical therapy...and after that you were never really the same. I think you realized something about yourself." He set Avery down in the small carrier he'd set on a nearby chair, giving her a pacifier and her favoirte rattle.
Cristina frowned, watching him play with their daughter. This wasn't the Burke she remembered, he seemed so much more domestic, and the way he looked at her and their daughter scared her. It was weird to her to have to look for the cockiness, for it was still there, there was a precision and almost arrogance in the way he moved, he was so sure of himself, so sure that she would still be in love with them, once she got over the initial shock.
"Muh. Deco nifita," Avery slurred, stretching out her arms. Burke bent down, picking her up. "Shhh, shhh," he murmured, as she started to cry. He bounced her gently, pushing back her small mass of dark curly hair. "What's the matter. Princess?" He murmured.
"That's her diaper cry," Cristina heard herself say. She frowned. Where did that come from? She'd only been around this kid for a couple weeks... There was something familiar about her words, like she'd heard something similar once long ago, but she couldn't place it. She frowned, trying to concentrate.
Burke, meanwhile, had unzipped Avery's pink footie pajams, and was inspecting quickly. "You're right," he said, his eyebrows crinkling as he turned to look at her. Cristina averted her gaze towards the painting of the sailboat in her room.
Burke had just taped the sides of Avery's fresh diaper and slipped her feet back into her footies, when there was a knocking on the door. Burke turned to see Derek walk in, right as he was zipping up Avery's pajamas, rubbing her tummy lightly as he did so.
"Dr. Burke," Derek said smoothly, smiling his brainless-brainsurgeon smile. "Dr. Yang." He grinned, moving closer to Avery and rubbing her soft hair. "Hey to you, too, cutie," he said smiling. Burke casually but quickly picked up his freshly-changed daughter, cuddling her once again to his shoulder.
"Dr. Yang," Derek said, his tone changing slightly. "I was wondering how you were doing, looking at the literature I gave you? Like I mentioned, if we're going to proceed with the surgery, we have to start it soon. The more you continue to go on without it, the less of your memory may return, even with an excellent surgery. The point is, every second is precious." He turned to smile at Avery. "I know the risks are high and it is a difficult decision, but honestly, it must be made in the next couple days, or it might not even be worth the try." He looked at Burke, who was frowning greatly. Cristina bit the inside of her bottom lip gently, trying to think.
"Okay. I will think about it. I just...need some time. Okay?" She tried to avoid Burke's gaze, thinking he would be angry, but he was looking at her almost curiously. Derek tried to smile, and nodded.
"All right then. I'll try to check in with you as often as possible, and lets make the deadline for your decision...Um, Tuesday?" He looked at her questioningly.
"Tuesday. Like in two days," Cristina breathed. She tried to smile. "Right. Great. Well...Other than some weird jostling in my stomach-" Burke flinched. "I feel fine," Cristina continued. "I'll see you later, Dr. Shepherd."
Realizing he was being dismissed, Derek tried to smile, before exiting, winking at Avery as he did so. Burke sighed, taking a step forward towards the bed.
"I didn't say I was getting it, Burke," Cristina said, noticing his stiff composure.
"I know," Burke responded quietly. Avery cooed from his arms, reaching out her hands towards Cristina. Burke raised his eyebrows at his wife, and after getting her nod, handed their child to her. Cristina allowed Avery to curl up next to her, as she looked at Burke and continued.
"...Burke..." She said quietly. "I didn't say I was not getting it either."
"I know," Burke said, even quieter.
Cristina looked at Avery, who already had closed her eyes and was breathing softly, her tiny chest raising up and down. "I'm not her mom, Burke, " Cristina said, pushing back her hair. "I can't be a mom." She looked up at him, then back at Avery.
"Don't you think she deserves her mom back?"
Burke didn't answer, just took a step forward, taking her hand in both of his.
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a/n: I'll try to get a update up soon, but I'm having serious issues on my writing computer. Anyway, leave a review...Oh, and wish me happy birthday for today, June 5th...I'm 15 today:D
