Chapter 16
2017 Burke's Apartment, Seattle
"Good Morning… Mama, daddy." Cristina's yawn stopped abruptly as she saw the three Burkes looking at her as she step out from the room.
"Come here, we have made breakfast." Donald poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Cristina. She smiled gratefully and sipped it.
"Mm, do you sleep well last night?" Jane asked out of nowhere. Burke swallowed the eggs in his mouth and answered,
"Yes mama, how about you?"
"Oh we are fine too. Did you two… try… again last night?" Jane smiled ambiguously at the younger couple. At first Cristina couldn't understand what she means, but once she saw Donald's attempt at hiding his grin, she immediately understand what does "try again" means and blushed. She quickly bite on her toast to hide the embarrassment.
"Mama!" With the same mysterious redness on his cheeks, Burke growled at his mother, "No we didn't. And please, stop trying to push us. We will figuring it out ourselves."
"I am just trying to tell you that the both of you are not teenagers anymore. You don't have much time left to consider." Jane replied, "Fine, I will drop this. But later when you two go to work, I am coming too."
Noticing the shock in Burke and Cristina's eyes, Jane kindly explained, "Don't worry. I am not going to force you two have sex in the hospital. Which I think you would do without me asking." She smiled satisfyingly as she saw the couple blushing again. "I just wanted to meet Zola and Bailey. I got photos from Carolyn and I have always wanted to meet them."
"Well… That shouldn't be a problem. Daddy, are you coming?"
"Oh, I would love to, but I already have plans. Just show me the photos later."
Lobby, SGMWH
"Mama, do you want me to show you around the hospital?" Burke peeked at his beeping pager and asked. It is the arrhythmia patient admitted yesterday morning, his residents can handle it.
"Aren't you have work to do? You can go, Cristina can show me around." Jane replied. In fact it is even better for her son to stay away: she is never going to stop encouraging them to have a child. And the only thing that is standing between her and her lovely grandchildren is Cristina's stubbornness. She is going to make very good use of the day.
On the other hand, Cristina is not a moron, of course she knows what Jane Burke is up to. To prevent herself from becoming a murderer, she really needs someone to distract Jane for her. Ignoring the helplessness in her eyes, Burke nodded at his mother and walked towards the cardio wing with a smirk on his lips.
Just as Cristina decided to accept her fate, someone appears to save her day.
"Hey Cristina… Mama Burke! What a surprise!" Meredith, with Zola and Bailey by her side, approaches them.
"Meredith! It has been a long time since I last saw you." Jane smiled at Mer and squatted down to talk to the kids. "They are so much more adorable in person than in the pictures. Carolyn is so lucky to have these amazing grandkids."
Cristina rolled her eyes at Jane's undertone while Meredith couldn't help but giggled at her misery.
"Oh Meredith, how far are you along?" Jane pointed at Meredith's baby bump and ask.
'Crap.' Cristina thought. 'More sarcasm on the way.'
"It's my eighth month already."
"It is so amazing right? Cristina, look at your friend! You two are the same age, yet Meredith is having her third baby already! Don't you think you should try and catch up?"
"Haha…" Cristina could only use fake laughs to suppress her anger. She leaned towards Meredith and whispered, "Right now, I hate you."
Meredith ignored her person and suggested, "Mama Burke, how about we go to the daycare and drop off the kids first? Bailey is going to need another bottle soon."
"Sure!"
"Actually…" Jane and Meredith stared at Cristina at the same time, "I have a surgery today. I want to go prep my patient." Cristina finished her sentence and quickly walked towards the cardio wing.
"Well… Then… It's just the two of us now." Meredith grinned at Jane and led her to the escalator.
Daycare, SGMWH
"Grey! Sorry for asking you to take care of my mother." Burke entered the daycare and saw his mother playing with little Bailey, while Meredith is sitting on the sofa nearby, watching Zola put the pieces of an anatomy model back together.
"It's nothing, really." Meredith smiled at him, "But I do need a favor from you."
"Mm?"
"I left Bailey's diaper bag at home today. Derek brought it to work but he was called into surgery as soon as he arrives. So I need to go down to the parking lot and get it… Can you watch Zola for a while? I promised I will stay with her for the morning, but since you are her favorite uncle… I think she can accept having you instead for me for a while."
"Sure! Hey Zozo, your mommy needs to go get something, do you want to play with me?" Burke sat down on the floor next to Zola and asked. The little girl grinned broadly and handed him a piece of the model.
"Wow, do you actually know all of these organs?" Burke was amazed when he saw Zola putting the pieces to the place they should be without too much struggle. 'Maybe it's a family thing,' he thought to himself, 'With Derek Shepherd and Meredith Grey being her parents, the girl is destined to be a surgeon in the future.'
"Of course!" The little girl said proudly. "This big one is the brain, this one here is the stomach and this is the heart."
"You are such a clever girl you know?"
"And I know that brain is daddy and aunt Amy, you and Aunt Cristina are the hearts." After being praised by her uncle, Zola is even more excited, "Do husbands and wives have to working on the same thing? Like you and Aunt Cristina?"
"No!" Burke chuckled at the girl's question, "Look at your daddy and mommy, they are not working on the same thing right? And you Uncle Mark and Aunt Lexie, they are also working on different things."
"Mm… Uncle Preston, can I ask you something?"
"Of course!"
"Why you and Aunt Cristina are not husband and wives anymore?" This is probably the hardest question Burke has ever received in his whole life. Seriously, he would rather be explaining the quantum mechanics to the seven-years-old. Noticing his surprise, Zola was kind enough to explain, "I heard daddy and mommy talking about you and Aunt Cristina one night. Daddy say that you two are too stupid to know how you really feel."
After mentally cursing Derek Shepherd, Burke decided to give in facing the sparkly eyes of Zola.
"Zozo, have you ever played puzzle before?"
"Yes!"
"Is every piece of puzzle the same?"
"No…?"
"No, they need to be different if they want to be fit together." He smiled and picked up two pieces of the heart and showed Zola what he meant, "But Aunt Cristina and I? We are too similar. We are like two same pieces of puzzle. We couldn't be fitted together. Even if we tried,"
He found another identical piece from the box and tried to squish them together, "It still wouldn't work, because we are not made to be put together. So instead of squishing each other and risk breaking the both, we are better off alone." He put the two pieces in Zola's Palm. Zola looked at the two pieces doubtfully, but Burke was not going to explain further, he just patted Zola's hair gently.
What he didn't notice is, Meredith was standing not too far away, listening at them the whole time. She looked at Burke's back, slightly shook her head and sighed for the two lovers who are so deeply in love but couldn't dare to be together.
Two weeks later, Lobby, SGMWH
"Your belly is huge. You really shouldn't be walking around." Cristina pressed the button and pointed at Meredith's gigantic baby bump, in returns, Meredith shot her an angry glare.
"What's wrong with you people? This is my second pregnancy and I've given birth before. I know how far my body can handle! So stop trying to put me on bed rest! I can work!"
"Dude, pregnancy hormones are really messing you up." Alex laughed and also got a glare from Meredith. They entered the elevator and Cristina added,
"Yeah… I like a bitchy and slutty Meredith, but now? It is way too bitchy. I want the old Meredith back."
"Stop talking you two." Meredith snapped. She is not feeling very well, but she couldn't tell exactly what hurts. Her brows frowned up and she had to grab Cristina's arm to stay balance.
"Mer? What's wrong with you?"
"Mer are you ok?"
Meredith didn't reply to either of them. Sweat is falling from her forehead and she couldn't say a word.
"Damn, I need to go scrub in with Robbins. Yang can you take Mer to the OB? I will page Derek."
"Yeah sure. Go." Cristina nodded and pressed the button for the OB floor, while Alex stepped away from the elevator to the OR floor.
Cristina tried her best to keep Meredith balance, but it is so hard as Meredith is so weak. She anxiously looked at the display and pray for the elevator to arrive soon. This is certainly the longest elevator ride in her life.
The doors opened, Cristina's head looked up from the floor to the door. Unfortunately, it wasn't the OB floor yet. She cursed the person who pressed the button for the elevator in her head and turns out, it was Burke.
Burke was obviously surprised by what he saw after he entered the elevator: Cristina glaring at him angrily and Meredith, who is pale and sweaty, clutching her belly with one arm and leaning on Cristina for balance at the same time.
He quickly walked into the elevator and asked, "What happened? Meredith, are you okay? Do you need some help?"
"She said she wasn't feeling great just now, but she don't know what is hurting."
"Well, okay. Take deep breaths. The OB floor is about to…" Burke kneel down before Meredith and comfort her. Before he can finish his sentence, the elevator shook and most of the lights went off. They can feel that the elevator had stopped.
"What the hell?" Meredith hissed with all her strength.
A/N: Surprise surprise... A final cliffhanger here before the final chapter... I just feel like we need a little bit more drama in the end :P
