Burke paced through their living room, trying to burn of nervous anger for her blowing him off once again. He knew that he couldn't ever leave her, or give up on her.

But it sure as hell didn't mean that he couldn't be angry with her.

He glanced up to the clock once again, and it was 8:15, only 3 minutes later than the last time he'd looked at the clock.

Bailey said she'd gotten the night off, but she still wasn't home.

She was pushing him away once again.

He came to rest on the counter, leaning over it, his face buried in his hands in frustration. He had to figure out a way to make her happy, to make her stop acting as if they had just started dating all over again.

He looked up as he heard her keys jingle against the door lock, and his resolve melted away.

She came home.

Cristina threw open the door of their apartment as forcefully as she could without putting a whole in the wall and tossed her keys to the bureau, "Have you seen my overnight bag?" She questioned angrily.

"It's in the closet." Burke replied, looking at her curiously, "Why?"

His heart sank when he realized that she wasn't happy to be there, and he found himself coming to the distinct impression that she wasn't going to be there long.

"Because I'm leaving." She called behind her, stalking into the bedroom after the bag, her only goal to get in and out in as much time as possible.

To cause as little pain as possible in the process.

"Whoa, whoa...what's going on?" He grabbed her arm as she went to pull the closet door open, "Cristina. Talk to me."

She jerked her arm away and pulled the bag from the closet floor, "You went to Webber."

He froze, fear painting itself over her expression, unable to speak.

"You went to Webber." She continued, repeating herself, "And told him that you were going to quit if he didn't give me back my job, if he didn't cave into your demands. And then you let me think that I'd done it all by myself. You'd let me think that I earned my way back into the hospital."

Her voice was rising to a yell, and her eyes glistened with tears of anger, "How could you do this to me? I worked so hard, and I believed...I believed that I could do it by myself, despite everything that had happened.." her voice trailed off.

"Cristina, you did it by yourself." He argued, "I wasn't trying to hurt you. I didn't want you to know."

"So you wanted to lie to me? To make me believe that it was all better? That I had recovered all by myself without help?" She questioned angrily.

"It's okay to have help, Cristina. You're being irrational."

"I'm being irrational?" She brushed past him into the bathroom, grabbing up her toothbrush and comb, and a few other things, jamming them into the bag, "You lied to me."

"I didn't lie to you."

"You withheld the truth." She snapped.

He backed down, recognizing his own words from so very long ago, "I just wanted you to be happy, and obviously, I'm not enough to do that."

She picked up her bag and looked at him, "You took away my independence. You made me think I did something that I obviously wasn't capable of. By doing that? You hurt me more than Meredith ever could have."

"And what about the hurt you've caused me?" He sputtered, "The nights alone, you disappearing, the avoidance. We've been together for two and half years, Cristina. Two and a half years of me chasing you, catching you, losing you and chasing you all over again. Two and a half years of you pushing me away while I was pulling you to me. What about the hurt that you've caused me."

"So what, we're even? Hardly. You know how important..."

"How important surgery is to you. Of course, how could you let me forget?" He interrupted her.

She stood there with her mouth opened in protest, then finally closed her mouth, letting out a long sigh, "This...this was a huge mistake. On both of our parts. Mine mostly, I guess. I'm sorry, Burke..."

She felt the words coming from in between her lips, but couldn't believe that she was saying them.

"A mistake?"

"I think it'd be best if..." She couldn't finish the sentence. "It'd just be for the best."

She walked from the room and grabbed her keys from the bureau, as she pulled the door open, an 'I love you' nearly escaped her lips, but she caught it.

She couldn't love him anymore.