Chapter 3

Izzie and George got home to an empty, darkened house. George barely had time to shut the door before Izzie had him pinned to the wall, kissing his lips feverishly.

"Izzie, can we slow down a bit" George managed to murmur between attacks.

"Oh yeah, Sorry George," Izzie said, composing herself, "don't know what came over me, must be the beers"

Looking slightly embarrassed by the incident, Izzie walked into the living room. George took off his jacket and hung it at the bottom of the stairwell. He then followed Izzie into the Living room, where they sat on the sofa and watched the TV.

Meredith entered in a silent rage. She slammed the door, which was far from silent. It caused George to lean over the back of the sofa and look towards the front door. He saw Meredith run up the stairs, tears welling in her eyes.

"Izzie, I think something is wrong with Meredith," George commented, "I think you should go talk to her."

Izzie got up haphazardly, not really wanting to go, and went to see what was wrong. She entered the room and closed the door behind her. We see George sat alone on the sofa. He gets up and goes upstairs. He slowly walks past Meredith's room door, he tries to hear, but is greeted by silence. He walks to his own room, and closes the door behind him.

The next day flew by, and before they knew it, the three interns were returning home from another day at Seattle Grace. It was dark and cold outside, as it tends to be in Seattle in the late autumn/winter months. They were moving through to the living room, having just closed the front door behind them. Izzie was pulling off her phenomenally long scarf, while George had his arm half out of his jacket. Meredith had stopped dead in their path.

There on the sofa, watching TV was Doctor Burke. Lying beside him, asleep on the couch, her head resting on Burke's lap was Christina.

"She was discharged this morning; she didn't want to be alone. I hope you three don't mind me being here."

"Of course not Doctor Burke" answered Meredith

"Preston" Burke corrected her.

"O right, Preston," said Meredith awkwardly, fingering through the pile of mail. It was strange seeing a doctor outside of work, it was even stranger calling them by their first name, "Guess you better call me Meredith then."

"Yes, I think that's best Doctor Grey….Meredith." Burke said, also awkward. He turned to George and Izzie. There was an awkward silence.

"George and Izzie" George said after the prolonged silence finally got to him.

"Thanks for that George" Burke said, clearly glad of someone finally telling him their names. When it came to interns, he learnt them by surname (as he shouted it after they messed up) or by mess ups they made which he had to fix.

Izzie had by this point been to the fridge and gotten beers for all of them. There was an awkward tension between the group. They sat in silence watching TV, sipping their beers. Christina eventually awoke, surprised at the crowd that had miraculously appeared around them. It was getting late, it was almost 10pm. Burke stood up as Christina did.

"I'd better go. Christina I will see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure"

Burke just stood there, coat over his arm, just standing in the centre of the room. Christina walked back to him, hugged him, and planted a kiss on his cheek. Burke clearly got very embarrassed. Meredith, Izzie and George looked away, pretending they hadn't seen it. Burke walked out of the front door; Christina closed the door behind him. As she turned around, Izzie George and Meredith were looking down at her from the bottom step of the stairs.

"What?" Christina said innocently enough.

"Kettle…Pot…Black" Meredith called as she walked up the stairs.

Christina followed her, Izzie and George behind them.

The weekend was here at last. Strangely, it was a weekend free from work for the interns. Christina was visited by Burke; he was now a regular guest at the house, calling either before or after his shifts to dote over the slowly recovering Christina. Burke had clearly worked his way into the group; George even opened a beer for him before he'd even arrived.

There was a knock at the door. Izzie looked confused, who else visited them? She stood and went to the door. She came back a minute later.

"Erm…Meredith, it's for you." Izzie said, gesturing to the door. At that moment the door was heard closing, and a man appeared behind Izzie. It was Derek Shepard. After getting over his initial shock at seeing Burke with his arm around Christina, Derek gave a greeting to Burke, then went into the kitchen were Meredith was sitting on the counter top.

"Derek…" Meredith began, but her sentence was cut short by Derek's lips meeting hers. His hands rested on her thighs. Her arms went around his neck. The kissing was feverish and deep, as it always was between them. Meredith pushed him off her for a second:

"Are we seriously doing this again?"

"Well Burke and Yang are; why can't we?"

"Just because they are together doesn't mean we should be."

"Meredith, stop thinking things over so much."

Their lips met again. Our focus is taken from them, out of the kitchen and into the living room, where Christina and Burke are now sitting alone. Burke is sat upright on the couch, his arm along the back of the sofa. Christina is lying with her head on his lap, her fingers tracing the contours of his knees.

"Christina…"

"Yeah?" Christina says quietly.

"If you hadn't have lost the baby, do you think me and you would have, well you know."

"No I don't know, you will have to tell me"

"Gotten married and all that?"

"Why would we have needed to?" Christina said in shock, she was now kneeling up on the sofa, her hand on Burke's thigh, holding her up.

"Well, it seems like the right thing to do."

"The right thing to do? THE RIGHT THING TO DO! You marry for love not the right thing to do!"

"That's what I meant." Burke answered, now looking Christina square in the face. Christina was in shock, her mouth wide open staring into Burke's deep dark eyes.