Nurse's station – 13 hours later…
Cristina rolls her eyes as she schleps over to the nurse's station where Alex is pretending to write up notes so he can harass the new night nurse. Her mood improves spying her shiny new coffee mug on the desk in the same spot she put it this morning. Grabbing her charts, she's grinning as she thinks how well things have been going for the two of them but the smile leaves her face as soon as she remembers about the talk. She never did see Burke again and still has no idea what he wants to talk about. The shocked looks she got while asking around about whether the Chief would be retiring soon eliminated that possibility. Normally, she would have spent the day avoiding Burke, but today was so busy she didn't need to and now she is so tired she doesn't have the energy to bother. She didn't even have time to drink the coffee he brought her.
"What's that face for? You look like I just beat you for a surgery!" Alex's nurse had to get back to work leaving him with nothing to do.
"Why can't you mind your own business?" Alex is the last thing she needs right now.
"No reason to. So what's with the look?" He prides himself on being up on all of the latest gossip at the hospital and to this day brags that he knew about her relationship with Burke before anyone else.
"None of your business. Don't you have work to do?" Glaring at Alex, Cristina sits down with the pile of charts she has to write notes on before she can go home. Paperwork is her least favorite part of being a surgeon, especially when she was scheduled to be done an hour ago.
"Actually," Alex puts his feet up before continuing, "I'm so good I finished all my work unlike some people around here. I am a free man. Too bad all that time you spent in the pit today backed you up."
"A free man, huh, well, I'm happy for you and me because now you can leave me alone and be free somewhere else."
Alex can't resist one last cocky comment as he walks away "You know you want me. Give me a call when you're tired of Burke."
"Say hi to Satan for me."
Wanting no parts of the charts in front of her, Cristina's thoughts turn to Burke. It was just like him to get her a new mug when there was absolutely nothing wrong with the old one. He's always trying to change things so quickly instead of enjoying being comfortable. It's one of the things that she understands least about him. As she starts to write up her notes, she stares at the mug wishing that there was fresh coffee in it. She would kill for a cup of coffee right now and is debating if there are really any downsides to drinking coffee that's more than 10 hours old when something about the cup catches her eye. Cocking her head, she takes a closer look.