"Awwwwwwww…" Cristina's violent turn in the bed almost sent Burke off the mattress.
Outside, the ambulance siren had been coming off at a steady 10-minute interval the entire morning. Cristina was not a fan of Fourth of July. Long weekends, celebration, and fireworks meant more accidents. Cristina had long passed the stage of wanting to cut open every single one of her patient, and fewer accidents meant more time in bed. I love my bed. It's all mine…
Burke was grateful their bed was low. In fact, it didn't hurt as much when his head hit the ground than when Cristina slapped his arm in her dream. Gently rubbing his forehead, he walked into the bathroom.
"It's a holiday!" As usual, Cristina refused to wake up.
"Only for the majority of the country," Burke teased. "We're the minority. C'mon." He pulled her out of bed.
"Emmmmmmmm…" Cristina went through her morning ritual in silence, by the time they were back to Seattle Grace, it was almost 7am.
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"Where's Bailey?" Cristina whispered when she saw Meredith. They were disturbed to see the substitute resident who almost killed her with her suffocating hug.
"Hello, gals. It's such a great day. I'm so happy to be taking Miranda's place this week." The woman couldn't stop giggling.
"Bailey's taking time off to celebrate her son's first Independence Day in Florida." George proudly informed the other interns. Not only was he Burke's guy, but he had also become Bailey's.
"Whatever, pig boy. She's the one in Florida, not you. Stop showing that sunshine face of yours." Cristina forked her hair with her fingers, trying to vent her irritation.
"Don't be a sullen bi, Yang. Most people are out of town. Work's gonna be easy. You'll definitely have time to go celebrate with your sweetheart." Alex smirked.
"Shut up, Evil Spawn." Alex's remarks actually made Cristina blush. It's her second Fourth of July with Burke and she sure as hell wanted to make it better, but she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy with her best friend Meredith, who, obviously, was everyone's sweetheart without a sweetheart of her own.
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"How will you celebrate with Burke tonight?" Meredith asked her friend when everyone else had left for their rounds.
"I don't know." Cristina shrugged.
"Oh." Meredith was clearly disappointed.
Cristina completely understood what it meant. Cristina wasn't a big fan of any holiday and she didn't mind spending them alone. Meredith was more like Burke—Independence Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter—all of them seemed to mean something to them.
"Well, since we didn't make any plans, I guess you could join us." Cristina knew her body was low in caffeine and that kept her from being clear-headed. Immediately after saying that she regretted playing the supportive best friend role. What if Burke does have plans? He surely isn't expecting Mer. But it's his fault, it's the fault of that crappy, watery cup of coffee he made that stopped me from thinking straight.
"Gals, I'm so glad to have found you here."
Cristina's icy stare was unfortunately not intense enough to freeze the grin on the annoying resident's face. "Any cool surgeries you'd like us to help you with?"
"Well, we happen to have a lot of food poisoning cases today." Blood drained off the interns' faces.
"I can't stand vomit, last time I did I threw up on my patients… I would faint… I would uh…" Cristina could still vividly remember the horrid experience last time she pissed off Nurse Debbie and her gang.
And Burke wouldn't want a puking Cristina who refuses to eat tonight. Cristina secretly added that to herself.
"Oh no, Cristina. In that case I won't put you on that." The resident's look of concern made Cristina's lips curl up for 3 seconds, before she heard about her next assignment. "I have dozens of rectal exams waiting to be done."
The devil with the brightest smile always won.
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Ch. 2
Preston Burke did have a plan. He was very impressed by his girlfriend's surprise during the Memorial Day weekend. But he was even more surprised when he saw Meredith Grey coming his way, asking him what she could bring to their apartment that evening.
"When should I be at your house this evening?" The confusion roused by her question was as poorly received as the smell she was carrying.
"My house? Aren't you going out with Derek tonight?" Burke was beginning to wonder if Cristina had promised Meredith anything.
"Well, actually—"
"Actually Dr. Grey is going out with me tonight to watch the fireworks and cross the harbor." The He-Sheppard suddenly popped up and grabbed Meredith by her waist.
Burke thought Meredith was startled, shocked, and uncertain if she was dreaming. He also found it absurd for a married-man like Derek to be openly wooing another woman. But it was none of Burke's business so long as he could spend the evening with Cristina, alone.
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Cristina was trying to avoid Burke all day. She sweated at the thought of him finding out about Meredith. Why is it so hard to be a good girlfriend and good friend at the same time? Thanks to the monotonous rectal exams, she was having too much free time to ponder on the consequences of her action—something she hardly ever did in the past.
Last time he stopped talking to me for a week because I fell asleep in the middle of sex. If he finds out I'm inviting Mer over without telling him first…
"Dr. Yang, you're doing such a good job. I'll certainly tell Miranda when she's back." The devil's overdramatic note of appreciation rescued Cristina from her thoughts and induced a sneer on her face. As if Bailey doesn't already know I'm the best.
"What's that giddiness for?" Burke's appearance caught her off guard.
"Oh, nothing." Cristina blushed and tried to turn and escape.
Checking to make sure nobody was around, Burke fondly pulled her towards him and muttered, "why don't we get off work early today?"
"Burke," Not knowing Burke already talked to Meredith, Cristina bit her lips and decided she ought to warn him about their evening plans before he found out from someone else.
"Yes?" Burke gave her a reassuring smile and a squeeze in her jelly-swamped hand.
"We have to—"
"MOVE and forget about the celebration tonight. The boat carrying the fireworks just exploded in the harbor!" The Chief yelled from behind and everyone in the hospital started running up and down the stairs.
Great, now I don't have to worry about whether Mer's coming this evening or not.
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Ch. 3
Cristina gave out a sigh of relief that the Chief misinterpreted as her glee for a busy board. What an uncompassionate girl, thriving on others' misfortune. Richard shook his head in disbelief.
"Meredith," Cristina's hand sprang to her mouth, "tell me you weren't there!" Cristina was horrified when she saw her friend sitting at the emergency ward, looking like a zombie.
"Weren't you on my way to my apartment?" Cristina furrowed her eyebrows. She didn't recall living across the harbor and she didn't hear anything about her house being bombed by fire crackers.
"It's Derek." Meredith's voice was shaking, her head buried in her hands. "He's taking me out. Sorry. I didn't tell you earlier, Cristina."
"What about Derek?" Cristina still couldn't figure what gave Meredith the shock. "He's alive, isn't he?"
Meredith looked up and turned eerily calm. "The fireworks. It's over. We're over. We were kissing on the ferry when we saw the explosion and he cried out both my name and Addison's."
"Oh." Cristina was silent. It wasn't the first time Meredith was in such a wretched state. Now Cristina's time as the good friend was up. "I can get you a psyc referral. I'm sorry, Mer, but I must go now."
Cristina was keeping her fingers crossed that Meredith and Derek would never be over. There was simply too much drama, too much fun.
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"I thought Sheppard died, but he didn't." As the intern, Cristina stayed in the OR longer than Burke. By the time she was home, it was almost mid-night.
"You wanted him to die?" Burke laughed, not knowing what his girlfriend was up to.
"Not exactly." Cristina muttered. "He'd better live as many years as he can and keep Meredith busy. And when he's busy, he'll forget about becoming Chief…"
Stroking her hair, Burke chuckled as he asked, "do you want me to live for many many years and keep you busy too?"
"I guess so..." Cristina responded awkwardly.
Burke didn't give her a chance to speak further and shut her up with his charming lips.
The day didn't turn out the way Burke expected. There was no celebration, no fancy dinner, and only a moderate degree of drama. But as long as they had one another, nothing really mattered. Already, they were looking forward to their next year, and many more to come.
One thing they knew for sure was that there would never be fireworks, ever.