Disclaimer - i don't own Greys Anatomy, nor do i own any characters
A/N - i wrote this after the finale. This is a Cristina and burke fan fiction, so i suggest that if you thought christina was cold throughout the finale, you might learn something from this.
Everything has Changed
The interns sat on the trolleys towards the back of the surgical ward. This was their usual spot, and they looked mush the same as they had a couple of days ago, but everything had changed.
Izzie was gone; Meredith had stopped talking about her man problems in an effort to not alienate George, whose mind was quite clearly on Callie. Cristina looked at Alex; just waiting for him to make a remark she could snap back at, all he did was look away. They had all been affected so much by that one day, Cristina had too, she was now part-girlfriend part-carer but she didn't mind. She did what she had to do but she didn't want everything to change.
pager beeping, Cristina looked down at her pager. "Oh its Burke" she said with surprise and without another word the interns watched on as Cristina ran off down the hall.
As Cristina was running towards Burke room, her mind was field with many bad thoughts. She had told Burke to page her if he needed her. He never had, he knew she was busy; this made her all the more scared. What if something happened to his arm? What if he had taken a turn?
"Stop it?" Cristina told herself, not realizing she had said it out loud until people stopped and looked at her trying to calm herself outside of his room.
As soon as she entered the room Cristina knew why he had paged her. "Oh Burke", she said watching his right arm and hand totally convulsing with tremors.
Cristina felt sick to her stomach and it must have shown because Burke said her name.
"Cristina", Burke started "It's not as bad as it looks"
"Are you in pain?", Cristina asked, "Have you paged Dr Shepherd, Have you…?"
"Cristina just wait a second, I just talked to Shepherd he wants to do some tests"
"Right …tests" Cristina looked around Burkes room. It looked like every other hospital room, but for some reason entering this one made her feel uneasy. Once the room started spinning Cristina decided to sit at the end of Burkes bed. He used his left arm to pull her closer to him.
"Dr. Burke, Dr. Yang", Shepherd said while walking into the room. Cristina jumped up off the bed, feeling like a naughty schoolgirl, whose parents had caught her in a compromising situation.
Burke chuckled seeing Cristina reaction, "Cristina it's ok just sit, im sure everything will be alright". Cristina sat back down softly at the foot of the bed, she opened her mouth to speak but decided better of it. Lets hear the news first she thought to herself
"Ok", Shepherd started, "I did some tests and we've found more nerve damage then we originally thought"
Cristina continued to sit quietly, Burke looked at her as if to say 'what have you done with the real Cristina, who at this point would have ordinarily been jumping up and down with questions", but instead Burke asked the important question, "so what do we do?
Shepherd swallowed loudly, contemplating his next words, "we have to go back to the OR and see how much we can fix…"
"And if we don't", Burke queried
"We don't know what will happen, most likely it will continue as it is…but there is a chance it could get worse. Shepherd looked down, knowing that this would shatter Burke.
"Could we have a minute", Cristina asked, speaking for the first time since Derek had entered the room.
"Sure", Shepherd replied a light smile on his face.
Once Cristina had heard the click of the door closing she got up and walked slowly in circles around the room, thinking.
pager beeping, Cristina took a look at her pager to see who needed her.
"Burke, I'm right here", Cristina said cracking a smile.
"No, your not, your head is somewhere else"
"How do you do it", Cristina asked, "How do you keep so calm, this could be you're career finished".
Burke winced at the thought, "I'm keeping positive, and you should try it sometimes"
"Im just worried…for you...ok is that all right", Cristina replied
Burke decided to stop pushing as he sensed anger in her voice. "Thanks for being here Cristina",
Cristina softened on hearing this, "It seems I've bettered my best caring girlfriend act".
"Yang…Rounds", Bailey appeared at the door interrupting their conversation.
"Just because your boyfriend is in the hospital, doesn't mean you can skip you actual work"
"Yes, Dr. Bailey, of course Dr. Bailey"
Burke chuckled seeing Cristina run out of the room with just a quick nod in his direction.
"How are you doing Dr. Burke?" Bailey queried not moving from her spot at the door.
Burke hesitated slightly, "I'm fine Bailey"
"Oh don't you pretend with me, I know everything that happens in this hospital, I heard about the nerve damage"
Burke was at first taken back by this, then reminded himself that this was Bailey he was talking to.
"Ok yes, there is more nerve damage then first thought", Burke stopped and clenched the bed frame in an attempt to stop the tremors in his hand. It didn't work.
"What did Cristina…?" Bailey stopped herself
"It's ok", Burke started, "She didn't say much…it's a lot for her to cope with"
"I know it is Burke, but she cares about you…she'll figure it out"
Burke stared at the now empty doorframe where Dr. Bailey was standing. He picked up his pager to contact Cristina. With a smirk he put it back down on the table, "I'll give it an hour"
Cristina slid her last patients chart into the holder at the nurses' station. Letting her hair out of its clip, she followed the now well-worn path to Burke's room. She still, after at least a week, hates walking into that room.
"Burke", Cristina whispers through the doorway into the darkened room. Hearing him snore, Cristina turns around to leave and let him sleep. Thinking better of it she quietly enters the room
"In the tradition of admitting things to the sleeping" Cristina mutters under her breath while taking a seat in the hard plastic chair next to Burke's bed.
"So, you got shot…that scared me. I was scared of losing you, but also scared of the way that I was scared of losing you"
Cristina stops, "Jeez this is stupid, im rambling to a sleeping man", she continues anyway
"Now I'm still scared, but now im scared of looking after you. I can give you medical help, but the emotional stuff…maybe I wont be able to give you what you need. Anyway I am here as long as you need me"
Cristina gets up and walks towards the door and looks at Burke who is still asleep, "ass"
When Cristina had gone burke slowly opened his eyes, turning to lie on his back, "Well ok then".