Meet The Parents

chapter 6

greyeyedgirl

This chapter's dedicated to lilitiger...I'm sorry I "blamed" you for chapter 12 of Make a Wish. :p :D : )

written April 5, 2006 7:03 PM

edit rated R because I use the 'f' word once at the end.

"Angel of mine, won't you take me away..."

Preston Burke listened to the soft rising and falling of notes, the deep crescendos, the small pitch differences that made the music pleasant to his ear. He could smell the smell of the ketchup, the air seemed sickeningly warm around him, and his fingers were grasped around the small ring in his hand as he sat at the table in the back of the coffee shop.

He couldn't let this change anything. He couldn't let her escape so quickly. She'd tried to run away before, and he comforted his mind with the thought that it didn't matter if she ran, it only mattered whether or not he went after her.

He placed the ring back in it's soft velvet box, hearing the soft snap of it's clasp over the sound of the jukebox, closing the box and putting it in his pocket.

He was just going to have to go after her.

The water brushed against her toes, the sun was hot on the back of her neck, as she breathed in the scent of chlorine, her senses processing the smell of the fake nature surrounding her.

"Good afternoon," she heard, it startled her, and next thing she knew Burke's lips were on the side of her neck, and she felt her shoulders collapse, gasping for air.

"Hey. It's all right." Burke whispered soothingly in her ear, and she turned to face him, worry clouding her delicate features.

"I-you-we-"

Burke looked at her solemnly. "Will you tell me when you're ready? When you know what you want?"

Cristina gaped at him. "Burke, I-" she whispered.

"You're not ready to marry me. Fine."

"I...I...Burke, I..."

Burke looked at her, his smile slipping. "What?"

"I...don't want to get married."

"Ever?"

Cristina looked at him patiently.

"I see," Burke said softly.

"Nothing personal," Cristina said.

"No. No, of course not." Burke responded.

"It's just...my career. With marriage comes children, and responsibility, and I don't think I can do both. I want my career."

Cristina tried to smile.

"Are you...mad?"

Burke managed a smile, the forcedness of it making it feel like a grimace.

"No. No, of course not."

Cristina smiled, coming closer so she was standing in front of him, her back to his chest as she took his arms and wrapped them around her waist, staring into the depth of the long end of the swimming pool.

"So, you two have fun today?" Helen Rubenstein asked, bringing a fork to her mouth. Neither of them answered her for a moment, until Burke looked up from his salad, forcing a smile. "Yes. Yes, we had a good time."

Saul looked at him from over his spectacles.

"It was fun," Cristina repeated, her voice high pitched, her smile fake.

"Ohhh, you two fighting?" Helen asked. Burke tried to smile. "No, of course not. I'm sorry, I'm just a little tired. This jet lag threw me."

"Oh, I sorry." Helen smiled.

"Yeah. I'm tired, too. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to bed," Cristina said, setting down her fork against her untouched meal.

"Cristina, it not polite to not eat your food. This is your last night, here, we should spend it together."

"Mother!...I-I just...I'm going to bed."
Burke watched her run up the stairs in silence.

He had never planned on falling in love. Why did it have to be that when he did, his heart picked the most challenging woman it could possibly find? There were plenty of nice, sweet women in Alabama. There were even plenty of nice, friendly women in Seattle. He could have picked any one of them. Instead, his heart was stubbornly sticking with the one who could cause him the most heartache, the most pain.

She could also cause him the most happiness.

Cristina walked down the stairs an hour or so later, the confinement of her childhood room forcing her to need air. She heard a soft laugh coming from the living room, and paused. She knew that laugh.

She strolled into the room carefully, not being noticed by its occupants. Burke and her mother were looking down at a thick photo album, and Burke was grinning the same smile as he had that morning when he'd proposed. "How old is she here?" He asked Helen.

"Um...two, I think. That right after she start ballet."

Burke's voice was quiet underneath his smile. "I had no idea she danced," he breathed. "God." He grinned, the laugh making its way into his voice. "She's adorable."

"She love it, she do it till she 16. The only time I see her eyes light up like that. Except for now. Now, she look like that all the time, when she with you."

Burke was silent, and for a second the sadness passed over his face. "Could I get a copy of one or two of these?"

"Sure, any you want. Here, look at this one. First day of preschool. She showed off to the teacher, she could already read...And I remember she used to write her name over and over, on everything, her notebooks, the walls...You know her first word was 'no?' That's our Cristina." Helen let out a loud laugh and Burke grinned to himself.

When Cristina had been upstairs, she had thought a lot. Her mind tended to wander around before it could finally focus, and she had closed her eyes, seeing the pain in his eyes when she'd told him she wouldn't marry him. She had tried to get to sleep, she was exhausted from the number of time changes, but all she'd been able to do was toss restlessly on the bed, not being able to get his face out of her mind. Damn, damn, damn.

She had never planned on falling in love. It had come as a shock the day she had realized it, that she was in love with him. Why had she had to fall in love with him, the antithesis of herself...but the one man who not only tolerated her dirty messes, but had now grown used to them, grinned when he saw her dirty clothes scattered beneath their bed. The only man who had continuously forgiven her for every stupid thing she had ever done, the only one who grudgingly went after her every time she ran, willing to play her game of cat and mouse if it meant being able to see her smile, and wake up next to her day after day after day.

What did he want to marry her for, anyhow? What did she have to offer that he couldn't get from a million other women? Why in the name of God had he had to fall in love with her?

"Burke," she said softly, her voice echoing over her mother's voice. Helen and Burke looked up in surprise, and Burke looked as if he was trying to hide the smile on his face, a contrast to the sadness she could see in his eyes.

"Um...I..." She paused to breath, a small smile coming over her face. "Could we talk?"

Burke stood up so fast he almost jumped, he sent a reassuring smile down at Helen, who beamed up at the strapping young doctor.

"Come on," he said, leading the way, as she took his hand, pulling him into the courtyard.

He sat down on a small bench near an especially bright patch of flowers, only tens of yards away from the entrance to the swimming pool, set off by a surrounding fence, painted white in a soft creamy shade very similar to the house. She stood in front of him, looking down.

"Are you going to tell me you're ready?" Burke asked, looking up at her, not daring to hope, feeling his rage resurface.

"No," Cristina said quietly. Burke jumped up, shaking, moving to go back inside the house.

A surge of energy pushed through Cristina, she shoved him back onto the bench, before pacing back and forth in front of him, ringing her hands restlessly.

"I am Cristina Yang."

Burke stared, his eyebrows frowning, as Cristina paced back and forth in front of him, trying to organize her thoughts.

"I am Cristina Yang," she began again, pausing only long enough to catch his eye briefly. "A nothing, an intern, yes, the best intern, but most definitely the bottom of the surgical food chain. I am a person who told her mother she hated her every day before high school, and more than that, I am the type of person who isn't sorry about it. I am a person who leaves wrappers in her locker for months at a time, and would rather perform a suture on herself with no anesthesia than admit to you that I love you. I eschew people, I don't sympathize with my patients, and the first thought I think in the morning is, 'Oh, fuck.' I don't smile...I'm competitive...I'm always right...and I love you. But you! You are..." Cristina turned around in her pace, staring around at the fake greenness around her. "You are a man who organizes his books by the Dewey Decimal System. You are a man who, half the time, smells like a bottle of Fabreeze. You...you...the other half of the time...you smell like anesthesia. You are an arrogant, sickeningly proud trumpet player from Alabama. You're a cardio-thoracic surgeon, and I am an intern who considers a good day one I don't spend in the Pit or in the Gallery." Burke stared at her, and Cristina stopped, taking a soft breath in and out like a small child. I am Cristina Yang, and I want to marry you."

Burke jumped up from his spot on the bench, wrapping his arms around her and lifting, clutching her body to his as she wrapped her legs around his waist, inhaling the sweet smell of her hair as he tried to keep himself from crying.

"I love you, Cristina."

"I know," Cristina's voice sounded muffled from where she'd dug her head into his neck, her hair tickling his face and making him grin.

"And?..."

"I love you too."

Burke finally let the laugh release, swinging her around so her hair flew out in the dimming light of Los Angeles's evening. "Cristina..." He breathed.

"Mmm---Uh huh?"

"Do I really smell like Fabreeze?"

Cristina laughed wildly, cupping his chin and her hand and kissing him, he staggered backwards, laughing, almost tripping over the bench he'd been sitting on, trampling a few flowers in the process.

"Come on," Cristina whispered, slipping out of his grasp, pulling him forward. Burke followed, laughing. "What are you doing?"

Cristina grinned, pulling him into the gate surrounding the pool, leading him to the edge. Burke looked down hesitantly at the water.

"Jump."

Burke turned to look at her, his eyes momentarily drifted to the sweater he was wearing. "Come on," Cristina said. "Together."

"One..."

"Two..."

They jumped into the water hand in hand, before Burke pulled her under, laughing hysterically as he kissed her one more time.

author's note...too scared to read it over again...Hope it was okay. Btw, writer's blog for this chapter and chapter five are up at I'm 'bang2009.' Hopefully I did what I was trying to do with this chapter...

And by the way...the 'oh, fuck,' line Cristina uses in her speech... stolen directly from a quote by prestinaluvr, fanfic queen and Goddess of all that is BANG. : ) ...