A/N I couldn't go for a while fic without getting inside Burke's head at some point, and this seemed like the right time! Thanks for everyone that's reviewed, especially those that have left regular comments – I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

Interlude: Burke

His reflections in the helicopter as he flies to, and from Mercy West.

Lucky he was the attending in this setting. Once Alex took the hint that Burke was most certainly not in a talking mood, the silence provided Burke with a cover to partake in one of his most frequent pastimes.

Reflecting on Cristina.

He didn't get nearly enough time to do this, but an hour long helicopter ride seemed to provide ample opportunity. She seemed to infuriate him at every turn.

Falling asleep. During sex. Of all places.

He knew she was exhausted, when he climbed into bed with her that morning. But that had never been a problem before. He fully planned on joining her for a sleep afterwards.

Afterwards, being the operative word.

Yes, she was infuriating from the beginning. From the moment she locked the door. She'd been happy to keep meeting him in the on-call room, but avoided talking about what their newfound attraction meant. They were perhaps the last two people in the hospital people would suspect – both because they were exact opposites, and obsessively focused on their job; why would they risk it for meaningless sex?

It was never just meaningless sex. That's why he almost choked on his words when he ended it with her. It was for the best, he reasoned. He was doing irrational things, like granting her surgery when she asked for it. It was only once, but he could not slip again.

Sometimes, even Preston Burke was wrong.

Yes, she was infuriating. She'd neglected to tell him she was pregnant, with his child. She'd been utterly disrespectful when they were apart. Even when she decided they were in a relationship, Burke thought performing heart surgery with rusty instruments would be easier. She was awkward on their first date, she was the most untidy person he'd ever met. She kept her apartment when she'd told him she'd moved him, refusing to trust him completely. He asked her to leave the floor the bomb was on, and she walked straight into the next O.R with Shepherd.

She worked more hours than any other intern, she was uncomfortable being physical in public. And she fell asleep during sex.

Infuriating. At every turn. And, in some senses, so wrong for a man like Preston Burke.

His women had always been open, warm, kind. Intelligent and driven, yes. He couldn't respect them otherwise. But they'd been eager, sometimes overly so, to let him in.

And they'd counted themselves lucky to have him, to call him theirs.

Cristina wasn't even comfortable calling him by his first name. When she first heard his full name, she'd actually laughed, stressing every syllable.

Preston. Xavier. Burke.

He never thought he'd love someone that was someone else's dream. Perhaps it was someone else's dream to fall in love with an incredibly guarded person, someone that fought the urge to fall in love, tooth and nail. But it wasn't his.

He'd never counted anyone as an equal before Cristina. He had never been challenged so much before her. And he'd never known what it meant to love in a way that consumes your every breath before Cristina.

He knew he'd eventually forgive her. He always did.

So why was he so determined to punish her for this? To pass her over so quickly in front of Alex, and pierce her with his gaze as they flew away?

Maybe just to show that he wasn't invincible. That he could take a lot – would take a lot – from her, but he couldn't take everything. She'd didn't anticipate his need in the on-call room. She didn't even realize it. She'd just taken, then fallen asleep.

She was good at that. Take, take, take. Take his rational thought, his control, his surgeries, his key, his heart.

He was still rolling his eyes when he got off the chopper with Alex. She moved him. All over the damn place.

Straightening his back, Burke strode into Mercy West hospital, determined to get back in his element. Where he was in control, in his known arena, without Cristina Yang to throw him off guard.

What the hell is Stevens doing? The question kept bouncing off the walls of Burke's skull, as he hurriedly climbed into the chopper to fly back to Seattle Grace. How far would Izzie go to secure that heart for Denny?

Too far Burke realized with dismay. Preston. She'd called him Preston. She was desperate.

It seemed love messed with everyone's heads.

Even amidst his animosity over what he'd discover back at Seattle Grace, Burke's thoughts still wandered to Cristina. He found himself back at a place that often haunted him.

He wondered just how much he'd taken from her in the on-call room that day, back when he was temporarily chief, back when he ended it, ended them. Her inability to trust him completely had to stem at least partially from that day. She'd finally sought him out, was finally letting her guard down. Maybe she'd even come to tell her about the pregnancy. And he abandoned her. Burke swallowed painfully at this memory. He hadn't known, of course, he couldn't have known. But Preston Burke was raised as a gentleman. Not to get an intern pregnant, and then leave her high and dry. That still plagued him.

He saw the haunted look in her eyes when he asked her to leave the O.R with the bomb. It mirrored his own emotions when he'd seen Cristina collapse in his O.R that day, when she'd lost the baby. He was pushing her, annoyed she didn't seem to be focusing. He also wanted to reinforce their professional relationship. And then she fell.

Preston Burke always finished his surgeries steadily. Except that day. He let someone else close, with the pretense of giving them the experience, but in reality his hands were trembling.

And he couldn't go to her. Not the way he wanted. For days, actually. Stopped by Richard, by the other interns, by her mother. Then, he threw caution to the wind. Who cared who saw them? She was lying, broken in a hospital bed. And all he wanted to do was put her back together.

Of course, she was far from helpless. She'd only let him do that to a certain extent. But she was his partner now, well and truly.

He'd left her standing, on that helipad, punishing her as though she was a child. It was time to go back to her, and, as usual, put things right.

He grinned to himself when he thought of the way their reconciliations always ended. She'd just have to make damn sure she stayed awake this time.

A/N Please continue to r&r!