Distilled Hearts (It's How We Breathe)

chapter 3

by greyeyedgirl

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His tongue slid in and out of the soft skin, as he blew lightly against the cooling material, soft bursts erupting.

Da duhn da duh duh duhn---

The short, jazzy tunes escaped from the bell of the trumpet, as Burke quickly inhaled, continuing the tonguing for the staccato notes as the melody released out into the room.

The cool metal was soothing against his burning lips, he wetted them quickly one final time as he got prepared for the grand finale.

DAAAAAA duhn! Da duhn daaaaaaa duuuuuuhnnnnnn.

The ringing broke through with the final notes. Burke dropped his trumpet onto the couch, taking out the mouthpiece hazardly. His rhythm was off. That high G wouldn't come out. Something was wrong.

"Hello?"

"Preston! Oh, oh god, Preston, I didn't know who to call, I was just so worried! I've got the kids, they're in the waiting room, I'm watching them from the window. But one of your doctors just told me what's going on, oh god, Preston I don't know what to do..." The young woman's voice was high with emotion as she cried into the phone.

Burke tried to breathe, listening to the voice. "Lydia? Is that you? Okay, it's okay, calm down and tell me what happened."

"Preston...oh god, no one's told you...how can you not know..." The woman wailed louder into the phone.

Burke felt his chest tighten. "What are you talking about? Lydia! Lydia, you have to calm down. What's going on? Did something-Nate?"

There was a high, soft sobbing emancipating from the phone. "He got shot, Preston."

Burke felt his stomach muscles collapse, he had never had such a strong impulse to vomit. "Where are you? I'll catch the soonest flight-"

"Seattle, we're already in Seattle! Nate wanted to surprise you so we came early, but we were at a restaurant and there was a shooting...Oh god, Preston."

Preston Burke had never felt a fear quite like this, where an actual member of his family was in mortal danger. It hurt almost as much as watching Cristina collapse in his OR had, but there was something about this that seemed so much more real.

"Are you at Grace?" He whispered.

"Yeah," Mrs. Burke murmured.

"I'll be right there."

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"How's he doing, Yang?" Bailey stepped into the private hospital room, taking in the still unconscious Nathan.

"Um...his wife was called, she's on her way up, she should be in here any minute."

"I meant medically."

It was the only time that Bailey had had to tell Cristina to use medical terms and not intrapersonal, instead of the other way around.

"Oh, um, BP is stable, stats are all as good as can be expected, but the wound was clean and the bullet came out smoothly with barely any complication."

"And what was that complication, Yang?"

Cristina winced. "The bullet slightly grazed the skull during resection, causing shattering of the bone that Dr. Shepherd repaired."

"Good. Now, you said the wife was on her way? You can explain what happened, and then find out how Dr. Burke feels about all this."

Cristina froze. "What do you mean?"

Bailey looked up, slightly angry. "I mean, Dr. Yang, that you will be the one telling Dr. Burke about the situation ahead of us, and you might want to start paging him, because he got off call about half an hour ago after a surgery." Bailey smirked, and Cristina groaned.

"What was that, Dr. Yang?"

Cristina frowned. "Nothing, Dr. Bailey. Just getting ready to call."

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Preston Burke entered the hospital at a sprint, taking off his soaking coat and wiping his feet on the mat.

"Excuse me. I need to find out where Nathan Burke is," he said to the woman at the reception table.

"Are you family?" The woman asked.

"He's my brother, and I'm Dr. Preston Burke. You know, Head of Cardio-thoracic surgery. Now, are you going to tell me or am I going to have to find the chief?" Burke hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but something was erupting in him that made finding his brother immediately critical.

"Of course, sir," The woman said. "Nathan Burke...room 319. Under the care of Drs. Miranda Bailey and Cristina Yang."

Burke froze. "Bailey and who?"

The woman looked at him, hesitant that he would begin to yell again. "Cristina Yang, sir?"

Burke stared at her for a moment, then with a quick, "Thank you," sprinted towards the elevator.

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Cristina was pacing in front of Nathan's room, waiting for Burke to show up, when a small woman was led towards the room by a middle-aged nurse. The woman was in hysterics.

"Oh, god," she murmured. "Oh, god. Look at him." The woman was looking right into the window to Nathan Burke's room. Cristina watched her curiously.

"Are you talking about Mr. Burke? Oh, you must be his wife. I'm Cristina Yang, his doctor." Cristina nodded quickly.

"Oh, oh, you're the one who saved him," Lydia murmured, reaching forward to hug Cristina, who backed up instinctively. "I'm Lydia Burke, oh, my god, I'm sorry, I just can't believe this is happening..."

"It's okay. We often experience shock during an emergency room case. But I promise, Mr. Burke has excellent shots of recovery. His brother, Dr. Burke, we just notified him and he's on his way. I couldn't get a hold of him, but when I paged him with a '911' he responded back."

"I already called Preston, he knows what's going on. He said he was coming right away, he should be here any minute." Lydia continued to shake, and Cristina looked at her with some uncertainly, not sure how to handle the situation.

"Well, if you want to go in, he's allowed a visitor," Cristina said finally. Lydia shook for another moment, then opened the door to Nathan's room and stepped inside. Cristina sighed, closing her eyes and leaning against the wall.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Cristina opened her eyes, looking at the man in front of her. "Burke!"

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