Ch.4

Cristina was ruminating on her encounter with Burke at the nurse station that morning, how a cup of coffee emerged on her right half a second before Burke appeared on her left.

She glanced up from her discharge folder with a stubborn look. And what did Burke do? Nothing, only rocking his own coffee in the air slightly, staring at her, his lips moving, but no words came out.

She could smell it. It was Cappuccino. His head jerked a little.Her eyes swam left and right, absorbing the gist of it.

i " …Just coffee."

"Good."

"Good." /i

Then Burke nodded approvingly and quickly walked off.

What was he thinking? Giving me coffee? Why am I smiling?

Cristina was done with her paperwork, and almost left without the coffee. But she turned her head and examined the red cup like a piece of artwork before picking it up swiftly. She decided to give it a chance.

It wasn't Cappuccino. Hers was a Mocha Latte. Not her regular favorite, but her comfort drink when life seemed to be in need of some sugary sweetness.

How did he know that?

Yesterday, she thought they were going to get into a physical fight. In the end, he just stood there. He was there for her. Her attending, standing still, like a rock. Now he's bringing her coffee. Was there any ulterior motive?

Don't be silly. It's just coffee.

Cristina was wracking her brain thinking about when it all began.

i "Well, anyway, Sheppard had her on the case on the guy with nails in his head…Dr. Yang with be with you."/i

She remembered how Burke was unusually gentle with her in Liz Fallon's case. He didn't yell at her when she kept asking about the nails in another guy's head. He didn't grimace, didn't sneer. Burke only spoke plainly to her about what to do. He was so composed that even Webber thought Burke was not being adequately harsh to his intern.

It's a crazy world. An intern smart as myself is climbing up and down looking for the culprit who left a towel in a patient's lung while the intern who slept with an attending got to hold a heart. And now I'm getting coffee from another attending.

Then she got it.

i Patient: Stephanie Drake

Date:10-18-2000

Surgeon: John Davies, M.D.

Surgical Fellow: Preston Burke, M.D.

/i

iSo, Burke was trying to bribe her with his coffee/i