Chapter 14: We were Buying a House

Meredith had heard Cristina yelling and when she saw Burke leaving, she could tell by his expression that their conversation had not been just unpleasant, it must have been awful. She found Cristina sobbing uncontrollably. She sat down beside her and wrapped her arms around Cristina, trying to provide some sort of comfort to her friend. Cristina hugged Meredith tightly and continued to sob.

"Oh Cristina, ssshhhh. It going to be ok. Burke is leaving, he won't hurt you again. It ok" she politely said, as she wiped Cristina's tears. After a while, Cristina finally stopped crying.

"I am not upset, I am not crying because of Burke or because of something that he said"

"Then why were, you crying?"

"Today I came face to face with both Burke and reality. I have hated him, so much, that I didn't even realize when did I turn into Burke. I am Burke, Meredith. I am Burke"

"What are you saying Cristina. You are nothing like Burke. He was an ass. You are not Burke".

"But I am. In everything that happened today, I realized that what I am doing to Owen is not much different from what Burke did to me. And I hate him for that" she barely got the words out before she broke down again.

"I can't do this Meredith, I can't do this to him".

"You are not doing anything Cristina. He is making a choice".

"Because I won't change my mind. So he is going to change himself, so we can be together"

"Cristina, he is choosing you. He could have chosen his dream but he is choosing you. He wants to be with you"

"Owen wants a family, that's who he is. And no one can ever change that, not even him. He is a father, just without a baby".

"I can't let him do this Meredith. I changed myself for Burke once and today I can't stand that man, I hate him. I can live with anything, but I won't make it, if Owen ends up hating me, for making him choose me" Meredith was about to say something but didn't, she just sat there listening to her.

"You know what I hated the most Meredith, that I had changed myself so much for someone that I couldn't even recognize myself. I couldn't look at me in the mirror. I didn't knew who I was anymore Meredith. And this tends to happen when you change yourself for someone else, you lose yourself. I won't let this happen to Owen. He wants a family, that's who he is and without that, he won't be Owen. And I love him for who he is. I can't do this. I can't let him sacrifice himself for me. I won't be able to look at myself in the mirror. I can't let this happen, Meredith".

"You know what Mer, the other day, we, Owen and I, we, went to see a house. It was a beautiful white house, 3 bedrooms, a study, a spacious kitchen. It was the kind of a house I wanted. Owen found the house, he knew that I would love it. And after a long time, I saw a ray of hope, I really thought that we would be ok, that we would make it. We were planning to buy a house together. And now..."

Meredith hugged Cristina tighter, she had seen her break down before, but this was worst of all situations. She couldn't imagine what Cristina was feeling at the time. She didn't knew how to contain her, what to say to comfort her. She just held her in her arms while she sobbed.

"I guess I'll have to talk to Owen"

"But Cristina every time, you guys break up, you always manage to find your way back together"

"Not this time, Meredith"

"What are you planning to do Cristina. What are you going to do different this time?"

"I am going do it right this time. Something that I should have already done" Cristina wiped her face clean and took out her phone and dialed, "I am in" was all she said.

Please R&R