Ten

Fifteen minutes until the surgery and Meredith was still watching the board with Derek right beside her. She knew there was no point in erasing Cristina's name right now because he would just put it back on. They were at a stalemate, and neither of them was planning to surrender. He was giving her his confident grin, the one that had allegedly charmed half of Seattle Grace. How she wanted to wipe that smug look off his face, but she resisted. That would be giving in.

Derek was doing that thing where he leaned on things or whatever and watched her. It would have been distracting, but she was used to it by now. Suddenly, she had an idea. He would not let her erase Cristina's name, but there was no reason for him to stop her from adding herself. She broke the stalemate and grabbed the dry erase pen, but Derek was alert and now he was watching her very carefully.

She reached forward to write her name in, but was interrupted. "Grey, what the hell are you doing?"

Shit, it was Bailey. "Oh, she's just adding her name to Dr. Burke's surgery, right Meredith?"

Damn him.

"Let me ask you something Grey." Fantastic. She was in for it now. "When did you pass your intern exams?"

"Three days ago. Well, that's if you count the day I took my test as one of my days, but if not then that was two—" One look from Bailey and she knew to stop talking.

"Two days as a resident and you're writing on the board. It's always one of my interns doing what they shouldn't be doing, always."

"I'm not an intern," Meredith blurted before she realized the true idiocy of her actions.

"You'll always be one of my interns Grey. Get used to it. If I see you go near this board for the next two years I will make sure you get to work with Dr. Heron." Oh my god, Bailey was serious.

She carefully placed the pen back on the board and stepped away. Derek started laughing the moment Bailey left. Smug McAss. Still laughing, he walked toward the elevator. It would be too much of a risk to add her name. Bailey would find out. The Nazi had ways. She sighed. At least she could still watch the surgery from the gallery. If anything happened Meredith would page Cristina with some 911. Cristina would be pissed, but at least she would not have to talk to him.

The elevator ride was silent despite the fact that it was only the two of them. This was twice now that they had been in elevators together today. Where was all the hair sniffing and the charming flirtation? Where were the actions that verged on sexual harassment? Derek was not even gloating about his victory except for a certain look in his eyes. This had to be a sign of the apocalypse. It was just so odd and unnatural and all…weird.

She opened the door into the gallery to find it completely full. There were nurses and doctors filling the seats. It was a routine surgery. There was no reason for them all to be here. God, even the interns were here. They should not even know what had happened. Someone had snacks. This was not some spectacle for them to see. Dammit.

"Why are you all in here?"

" Dr. Burke is an excellent…I've never seen one…it's the only surgery open…"

"You people…what is wrong with you? This is not some car accident you get to watch. Are your lives not interesting enough that you have to pry into theirs? Seriously!"

The crowd sat there silent for a moment before turning away to ignore her. Fine they could ignore her. That was just freaking fine. She moved to the middle of the glass and stood directly in front of at least ten people. Their complaints did nothing to phase her. She refused to move and after a moment Derek joined her. Unfortunately, no one had picked up on the hint and left.

Though she could not hear anything from the gallery, Meredith could imagine the conversation. There were two scenarios. In the first case there could be awkward silences filled only by the sound of instrument requests. On the other hand, Cristina could be in full on bitter snark mode which Meredith wished she could hear. Then again she supposed Cristina might be polite, but cold. That route had hurt Burke before.

Two hours passed before the two of them began to close up the chest. It was amazing how well they worked together. Their movements were never jarring or sudden. The entire surgery had been smooth and graceful. No blowups or arguments could be seen. Meredith bet the audience was disappointed. Bloodthirsty asses that they were.

Finally, they were done. Meredith hurried down to the scrub room to meet with Cristina. She needed details. Plus she did not want Burke to be able to speak to Cristina. He had no right to press his whatever on her right now. Derek had been taken by surprise and was still steps behind her. Ha! She was winning this time.

" Cristina, you good?" She was washing her hands, not even looking at Burke.

"Yeah."

"That was a good surgery Cris— Dr. Yang." His eyes were pained.

Cristina shut off the water. "I'm a good surgeon."

When they were outside Cristina told her, "He's coming to the apartment later to pick up the rest of his stuff."

"I'll help you pack it." To be honest, she was not exactly in the mood to box things up, but her presence would ensure no emotional, Cristina-breaking conversation or speeches from Burke.

That was what mattered: protecting Cristina.