A/N: So I lied when I said no updates until after the 5th. This turned out to be an excellent way to distress after two finals. Yep. Anyway, I think this is the first time I've given voice to any characters other than Alex, Addison and Burke. I tried to stay in character. If I failed, don't hesitate to tell me. Anyway, this chapter is back at Seattle Grace, all the usual suspects are present. Also, I did my best to figure out the residency timeline. And to come up with surgeries. I'm in no way an expert or anything remotely close, so bear with my mistakes in that area.

"Where's Burke?" Meredith whispered to Izzie, careful to say it out of Cristina's hearing. Izzie glanced back at Cristina and shrugged. Cristina was preoccupied with whatever new medical journal had just come out. She was underlining things as she walked. The doctors were grateful for her slow pace this once, if only so that they could talk about Burke

All the new junior residents were walking around on eggshells around Cristina. The mention of Burke's name often caused her to snap and make biting commentary on whatever flaw she thought of first. The first time Meredith had made mention of him, her hair and her dirty scrubs had been viciously attacked, leaving her self esteem momentarily shattered.

"Dude, where's Burke? Wasn't there supposed to be a coronary artery bypass surgery today?" Alex scanned the surgical board as they walked past. He turned to look at Izzie and Meredith as he spoke.

"Maybe George knows." Meredith kept an eye on Cristina, and urged the other two along so that they could continue their conversation.

"Like George knows anything. Dude's still an intern," Alex snickered and Izzie hit him in the stomach. He pretended to grimace in pain and punched her shoulder in return. She responded with a smack across the back of his head, and he gave her a mock bow, letting her have the victory.

"Be nice. In all fairness, if anyone knows anything about Burke, it's gonna be George. He and Burke are friends," she said. And that was true. George was one of the few people Burke still spoke to with any frequency. He had distanced himself from much of the hospital staff after the wedding-that-wasn't.

"Meredith!" Cristina's voice cut through the conversation and the three slowed down, shooting each other looks that all clearly said, "Be quiet." She caught up to them and they all tried their best to not look guilty. Cristina stared at Izzie and Alex until they backed away and headed for two chairs nearby. They started whispering to each other and Cristina shot them a nasty look that was returned with equal spite by Alex.

"I'm so glad I'm not Meredith right now," Izzie said softly to Alex and they both stifled chuckles.

"Where's Burke?" Cristina asked quietly, bending towards Meredith to avoid being overheard. Meredith looked at Cristina, startled. Cristina had never been the one to bring up Burke before.

"I-I don't know. Maybe he took a vacation?"

Cristina scoffed. "Burke doesn't vacation. The last time he tried, he didn't even last the d…" She trailed off as she remembered the last time he had tried taking a vacation. They had been together; they had been a team. "He just doesn't vacation."

"Maybe he needed a day off. Why do you even care?"

"I don't. I don't care. I don't. Didn't Callie have an excision arthroplasty this morning?" Cristina began looking through the charts.

"I did, but it was rescheduled for later – Did you say Burke's gone?" Callie had come up behind them and grabbed a chart from the stack and handed it to Cristina. "Here. It's happening later in the day. You can scrub in if you want." She had been especially generous to Cristina since Burke had left her at the altar, allowing her to scrub in on more surgeries than she would normally have allowed one junior resident to scrub in on. She knew the pain of not being loved.

"Yeah, Burke's gone. We don't know where," Meredith answered to save Cristina.

Cristina had shut down any emotion she might have felt about the situation and practically snarled, "While you are all worrying about Burke, there are people that need surgery. There are people that need to be cut open and sewn back up. People! Focus!" Cristina shook her head at Meredith and Callie and walked away, studying the chart. Meredith's eyes widened in slight disbelief and she shot a glance to Callie who just looked slightly confused.

"Is she okay?" Callie cocked her head after Cristina. "I mean, I know she's not okay. She's never okay, she's Cristina. But I mean…is she okay?" Callie knew that most people wouldn't be okay after what had happened to Cristina, but Cristina wasn't most people.

"I'm not sure. She seems like Cristina, but she's always been good at hiding things. She's no worse than she was when Burke had a tremor, I guess. She keeps herself busy, but that could just be because she's a resident now. It's hard to say." Meredith knew Cristina better than anyone, but that didn't mean that she understood all of Cristina's moods or actions. For all she knew, Cristina could be planning to kill Burke in his sleep.

"Mmm," Callie hummed softly and went towards the surgical board to see what exactly her surgery had been rescheduled for.

Miranda Bailey was standing, tapping her foot as she looked up at the board. She looked up as Callie joined her. "Where's Burke's artery bypass?" Bailey had almost forgiven Callie for getting Chief Resident and was just starting to be civil again. Bailey's ego had been bruised by the Chief's decision in that matter, and Callie knew it. She had tried her best not to rub it in, but occasionally she did have to give Bailey orders and the hurt, angry look in Bailey's eyes made it hard.

"Burke's not here today. I thought if anyone would know, it'd be you. You seem to have your fingers on the pulse of this hospital." Callie was doing everything she could to get back into Bailey's good graces and Bailey knew it, smirking a little bit every time Callie gave her a compliment.

"He's not here? That man has not been able to voluntarily stay away from this hospital for more than a day. Hmph," Bailey looked up and down the board before writing her name in on a surgery being performed in a few hours.

"Bailey, Torres. Good board today?" Derek Shepherd joined their line, and looked up.

"Your tumor removal trumped my arthroplasty? You and your neurosurgeon ego. Of course whatever you have to do is more important than what I have to do." Callie turned to Derek and sighed heavily.

Derek looked away sheepishly. He knew it was true, and so did everyone else. There was no use trying to deny it. But the brain was more important with bones. Obviously. Everyone else just needed to realize that.

"Do you know what has Preston Burke taking a day off?" Bailey asked him and he shrugged his shoulders. He really didn't have a relationship with Burke these days, having reverted to the formal nature of their relationship before the bomb incident.

"Burke took the day off?" Mark Sloan came up as Callie stalked off, no doubt to complain to someone about cocky surgeons who think that they are better than everyone else.

"So it would seem," Derek answered and Bailey nodded.

"Why?" Mark's incredulous tone seemed to imply that anyone who took a vacation from surgery was crazy, and that earned him a skeptical look from Derek. Everyone knew Mark tried to get as much vacation time as humanly possible. Mark just gave a characteristic Mark grin and looked at Bailey.

"If we knew that, do you think we'd be sitting around here talking about it?" Bailey grunted slightly. This was a prime example of the speed at which gossip flew around the hospital. She knew of no other place with such an efficient rumor mill. "Chief!" she called as Richard Weber walked past, looking through papers on his way to his office. He paused and looked back at the three doctors over his glasses.

"Yes?" he said, trying his best to sound very busy and important, as though this was an absolutely unwanted interruption. In all honesty, he was glad to have a reason to avoid paperwork.

"Where's Burke today?" Mark asked and the Chief glanced towards the plastic surgeon, seeming almost surprised that Mark cared and the reaction caused Bailey to cover up her chuckle with a cough.

"Burke? He asked for the week off. I couldn't say what he planned to do with all the free time."

-

Preston Burke was driving along the I-5, windows rolled down and Eugene Foote tinkling from the car's speakers. He couldn't say exactly why he was going to Los Angeles, but he knew that he missed Addison enough that it was worth the trip. Even if it meant eighteen hours in a car.

In a dangerous move, he flipped open his cell phone and dialed her number. She picked up on the second ring, sounding genuinely glad to hear from him.

"I hope your offer of a visit to Los Angeles still stands," he said and he heard an intake of breath on the other end. She must have gathered herself quickly because she responded with a hasty, "Of course, Preston, of course it is."

"Good. Because I'm on my way now. And I'm expecting a warm meal when I get there."

"Well, unless you are planning on picking something up before you arrive, you shouldn't get your hopes up. I didn't have to cook for six months and I'm a little out of prac-Are you driving? Hang up this phone and concentrate on the road!"

Burke laughed as she hung up the phone, and set his cell on the passenger seat and turned up the music.

To be continued…

A/N Again: I hope you enjoyed Chapter Three. No promises when the next chapter will be up. I start work a week from today, but this will always be on my mind, never fear.