It had been one week, 4 days, 12 hours, and 8 minutes since Burke had nearly lost the woman he was so enchanted with.
He watched from the side of her bed, grasping her hand tightly as Dr. Shepard removed the drain from the base of her skull.
Another step.
Earlier this morning she had her chest tube pulled, and the extra peripheral IV line pulled.
More steps.
Steps towards going home.
Steps towards getting better.
"You better not have butchered my hair, Shepard." she muttered jokingly as he slid the drain out.
"My other job is in a beauty salon, Yang." he joked back, pulling the suture strings to close the minute incision left.
"I doubt that." she sighed, reaching to feel for the clump of hair that was missing.
"I saved your life, y'know. You should be thankful or something. Not complaining about your $75,000 hair cut." he tossed the drain in the trash and stood across the bed from Burke. "I don't know how you put up with her."
Burke nodded, "I do." was all he replied.
There was still a bitterness lingering in his heart towards Shepard. Somehow he had transferred the responsibility for the accident onto him as well as Meredith, and try as he might to shove it out of his heart, out of his mind.
It still lingered.
"Well, I hope this room is a bit better for you than the ICU, a bit more quiet, maybe." he smiled, signing the chart and placing it back at the end of the bed.
"I was tired of Nurse Debbie...I swear that she was trying to kill me when she was hooking up my antibiotics. I told Burke to double check the bags to make sure it wasn't cyanide." she scoffed.
"Debbie took excellent care of you, Cristina." Burke sighed. "I told you she was the one who caught your leg..."
"I know, I know, and I have to thank her or whatever."
Burke smiled inwardly, committing this moment to memory.
His Cristina was making a comeback, and much faster than he could've ever hoped.
"Well, I'd love to stay and chit chat with you, Dr. Yang..."
"Cristina." she cut him off, "You can call me Cristina. For now. But when I'm back to work, don't even dream of it. The meds have gotten to me or something..."
He grinned as he left her room, "I'm going to tell everyone."
After she was sure the door was closed, she gingerly slid over in the bed, guarding her ribs. "God, that hurts."
"What are you doing?"
She patted the empty space she'd left on the bed, without saying a word.
"Cristina..." he breathed.
He longed to just hold her in his arms, he'd thought about it every second since she'd been in the hospital.
"You're too sore...your ribs still haven't..."
"Get over here, I told you I'm fine." she cut him off.
He slid into the bed next to her, carefully scooping her up into his arms. "I missed you." he mumbled, kissing her forehead gently.
She closed her eyes, a single tear of happiness sliding down her cheek.
"Are you crying? I told you that I'd hurt you."
"I'm not crying." she sniffed. "My eye was watering."
He nodded, resting his head against her pillow, taking in the sensations that overwhelmed his body just from being close to her once again.
They remained silent for what seemed like forever, just taking each other in, reveling in being in each other's arms once more.
Cristina was the one to finally break the silence, "Have you heard about Meredith?" she mumbled.
"We don't need to worry about her right now." he replied, anger flaring within him from the mere mention of her name.
"Burke, I want to talk to her...she's my friend, even if she did make a mistake."
"Her mistake nearly killed you." he uttered low. "She was reckless...irresponsible."
"We've never done anything that was reckless or irresponsible?" she questioned, knowing she was pushing his buttons.
"We didn't almost kill anybody."
"She wasn't trying to kill me, Burke. It was an accident." she argued.
"She almost took from me the one thing I cannot live without...I am allowed to be angry for that." he mumbled into her ear, kissing her forehead again.
Cristina remained quiet for a second, absorbing the words he'd just said.
Just a few months ago, he'd told her that his hands were the only thing of value to him, and over the past week, she'd seen something different.
She'd always known that Burke loved her, that he cared for her.
But she'd never felt like he did.
"I don't have to be angry for that." she finally spoke, her voice quiet but steady.
She was not giving up on this.
"When you're better."
"I am better." she protested.
His Cristina was definitely back in full swing, as stubborn as ever.
"You can talk to her later...I'll have someone find her later. But for now? For now I want to lay here with you."
Cristina smiled, closing her eyes. "I can handle that."
A/N: Another fluffy. For now. Don't get used to it...and I should be sleeping, BTW.