This chapter is for Deepy! Who also knows who the thoroughly delicious Damien Rice is! Brava! You have good taste...both by reading this fic...and by listening to DR. LOL...I also want to applaud my reviewers! It's nice to see that everyone was listening when I said the more you review, the faster I update! And now...onto chapter two...for anyone interested...the song of choice for this chapter is..."Into the Fire" by Thirteen Senses...some of you will recognize this as the song as it has been on GA before... I can't help it...I DLed it, and I'm listening to it as I write. It's a really good song.

The morning went by quickly, considering that Cristina was taking every chance she could to stand on the lobby balcony and shoot glances at the conference room where Burke was being evaluated. She knew that the meeting was only supposed to last an hour, but for some reason...it seemed like longer. Burke was the last of the attendings to have his meeting, and there was a staff meeting scheduled right after, supposedly for the announcement of Dr. Webber's replacement. Though the man had claimed that he wouldn't be vacating his position, after the panic attack last month, the tumor, and the rumored marital problems, good Dr. Webber had decided to renege on that little promise. Thus, the battle for new chief had begun. It was widely anticipated that either Burke or McDreamy would be getting the position, seeing as Dr. Webber had promised it to both of them.

Personally, Cristina had a lot invested in Preston becoming chief...a hundred in the betting pool to be exact. Meredith and George had declined betting, Izzie had a twenty on Shepard, and Alex had a whopping three hundred on Webber not leaving at all. Well...money in the bank, Cristina told herself.

Even now, though she had a patient needing an MRI and another patient with head contusions, Cristina was standing on the walkway, surreptitiously not looking at the door. Beside her, Meredith and Izzie were doing the same. George and Alex would probably have been there too, had they not been in surgery with Bailey as an intracranial bleed needed draining. Cristina loved surgery, but she didn't like drainings. Reminded her too much of sausage making.

"Do you think he'll get it?" Cristina asked for the seventh time in the last ten minutes.

"No. McDreamy has it all sealed up."

"Would you stop calling him that?" Meredith replied to Izzie.

"Why?"

"Cause he's not McDreamy any more...he's Mr. Addison Shepard."

Cristina smiled and it wasn't nice. "Well...we do call her Mc Bitch."

Meredith tittered. "Yeah...well...he's her McDreamy now."

Cristina sighed. "You're not going to go all Mc-Conversation again are you? Cause even the first time you did that it wasn't very understandable." Cristina mocked. "Mc-Life, Mc-Dog...all that really does is make me want some McNuggets."

Izzie laughed, and even Meredith could chuckle a bit. Though Meredith still wasn't back to the way she was before the whole bomb thing, she was working her way through it. She'd confided to Cristina that she was seeing a therapist, to work through survivor's guilt, mother issues, and general "I hate Redheads who wear Chanel" kind of things.

The door opened, and Burke stepped through shaking Webber's hand. He seemed...normal. Not upset, not happy. Damnit. Why couldn't the man jump with joy for once?

Cristina realized that Burke and Webber were walking right towards them. It wouldn't do for three interns to just be hanging out around outside one of said intern's big meetings. She turned in slight panic to Izzie, who was steadily watching Webber and Burke. "We should go."

"Why?"

"Because we're spying?"

Izzie nodded. "Good idea. Meredith, you go that way. Cristina and me will walk right past them...all business-like."

The three girls nodded and went into opposite directions. Cristina looked ahead, not even glancing at Burke, though she sensed the instant he saw her. Izzie, who couldn't play poker, grinned broadly the entire time they were walking. In T-minus 30 seconds they would be walking past the duo in front of them. "What are you grinning about?"

"Something tells me I'm gonna make forty bucks tonight."

"Why only forty?"

"I bet twenty."

"You bet twenty against five people. That's a hundred, Iz."

"Oh."

"Remind me to never have you operate on me."

"It's not like that, I've never gambled before."

That statement was surprising enough that Cristina almost stopped walking. "You're almost 28 and you've never gambled? What's wrong with you?"

Izzie started to speak, but they were passing Burke now, and like lightning his hand whipped out and grabbed Cristina's. Unable to do more, the two girls stopped walking.

"If you'll excuse me, Dr. Webber," Burke started. "Dr. Stevens, don't you have some charts to be doing?"

"Yes, sir." Izzie looked at Cristina before walking off. Dr. Webber merely nodded his head, and in a distracted way continued after Izzie. That left Burke and Cristina along, so to speak.

Without speaking Burke slid his hand down so that he was holding her hand, instead of her arm. Again, wordlessly, he pulled her off the balcony and into the empty stairwell. Cristina could have pulled away at any time, but she was curious as to what he was doing.

"I have patients," she said pointedly, as they walked down several flights.

"As do I," Burke replied, his voice cool. Oh, great, was all Cristina could think, he's mad again.

"I had a very good reason for being where I was."

"Enlighten me."

"Izzie and Meredith wanted to tell me something."

"What?"

"Girl things."

"What kind of girl things?"

"Izzie has a crush on you."

Now that made him pause. "Really?"

"No...Now why would you ask 'really'? Are you interested in her?"

"No. I'm interested in you," Burke replied as he pulled Cristina into one of the basement's unused labs. "What did you mean this morning?"

"About the breakfast? That was me meaning that I'm hungry. Might I add, I didn't get to eat. That's unfair."

"No, not the breakfast. The...comment."

"The "love" comment?" Cristina asked, well adjusted to having said it in a moment of pure insanity.

"Yes, that one."

"It means...that you have a very nice butt, may I go now?" Cristina asked, pulling away and starting for the door.

"Why were you on the balcony?"

Cristina glared at Preston from the door. "There's a wild chance that the man I'm living with could get a new position and afford to buy me many pretty glittery things to put upon my beautiful naked body...I wanted to know if he got it."

Preston laughed. "What if he doesn't know?"

Cristina gritted her teeth. "They didn't tell you?"

"They're telling everyone all at once at the staff meeting in half an hour."

Cristina walked over and stood in between Preston's legs as he sat on a spare gurney. "A half an hour? That's a long time."

Preston smiled as he recognized the look in Cristina's eyes. "It definitely is."

Cristina kissed Preston's chin. "Need some comfort? From all this tension?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

Big John had never seen so much blood and have someone still living. Brian was definitely still living. He was screaming. The screams weren't right though; it was like he was screaming through water, all gurgling and stuff. Big John didn't know what to do, for the first time in his life. He was always so sure about what to do, following his instincts and all that. His only family's life was on the line now and his instincts were conflicting, telling him to do things he wasn't entirely comfortable doing. He knew one thing though. He had to get some help, and make sure the cops didn't know about it until he and Bri were long gone.

The entire staff of the OR was crammed into one room. It reminded Cristina of the safe sex talk they'd all been forced to undergo a month and a half ago. Poor George...the nurses still called him Syph Boy. It was also a little known fact that the banana used in the demonstration had later been eaten by Syph Boy himself. Just thinking of it made Cristina want to laugh. Well...laugh and check her clothes.

She and Burke hadn't "gone all the way" but they'd gotten a little too hot and heavy for on-duty time. At the beginning of their relationship, she and Burke had gotten into the habit of getting it on at inappropriate places and times. In the little interim break up they'd had, it'd been decided that neither would engage in such activities again. It bordered on exposing them. Of course, that became a moot point when Burke told Webber about their relationship. You know, that's a good train of thought. Since everyone knew about them (yes, Alex did indeed like to call her Burky's Babe), she and Burke could quite feasibly resume their hospital visits. Never at an inappropriate time...but those on-call nights could get reaaally long in a dead OR. Purely for his benefit, of course. Couldn't have the Chief of Surgery becoming cranky.

Well...he might be Chief of surgery...but come on! Had you seen Preston Burke, M.D. in action? It's hot. He's hot. Or so say the entire female population of the intern program. This was basically Mer, Izzie, Cristina, and two other girls who'd better watch what they say lest they end up on Cristina's bad side.

Dr. Webber cleared his throat with the intention of getting the nurses, the interns, the residents, and the rest of the ramshackle bunch to quiet down...it didn't work.

"Excuse me? Can I have your attention? Do I need to get a bell or something?" The ire in Dr. Webber's voice had everyone quiet. Cristina looked at Burke, where he stood across the room from her, with the rest of the "respectable" doctors. "I have an announcement. With my retirement getting closer, I've decided to announce who will be the new chief upon my retirement early, so as to help the transition. Myself and the board have reviewed this extensively, and have decided that-..."

Suddenly one of the ER nurses burst into the room. "We have an emergency! We need a doctor! NOW!"

Webber gestured, and both Burke and Shepard hurried out. A gesture from Bailey had Izzie and Cristina following. Of course, they took their time, hoping that Webber would announce it while they were still in the room. Alas...

Once outside, Cristina could only grit her teeth. "Damnit, I wanted to know."

"Well...put it this way...at least now we won't know until all this is over. Both Burke and Shepard won't know either. You and your boyfriend can find out at the same time."

"You know what? You're being glib. I don't appreciate it. That's my area of specialties."

Okay...so...another chapter! WHAT IS THIS BIG EMERGENCY? REVIEW! AND MAYBE...IF YOU'RE LUCKY! TOMORROW! YOU MIGHT FIND OUT! Love to all my reviewers! You're all great! I appreciated the love I get! I DO! I DO!