It was 2 am. She'd been up for nearly 24 hours, continuously working on this stitch. Her eyes heavy with sleep, her heart full with frustration, she continued to work. It was the suture that would give her life back.

That would pull everything back into place, and help her resume her normal function in the world, in her relationship, in her career.

It would make everything better.

She let out a sigh, and pulled the proline from the arm once again, then straightened it out. She had to get it before she could rest.

Even if it was just once pass, she had to get it right.

She looked up as Burke walked out of their bedroom, alarmingly awake, and walked towards her, his eyes never leaving hers.

He slid behind her, his chin coming to rest between her shoulder and neck, his lips just inches from her ear, "Let me help you." he whispered low, his hands sliding down to grasp hers in his.

She nodded quietly and his hands begun to guide hers in a series of quick and flawless movements, the running whipstitch.

Together, they were fixing things.

"In and out, right, left, in and out, left right..." he mumbled in her ear, a rhythmic, soothing voice. "Then your purse strings..."

His hands released from hers as she continued to do it on her own, and he brought them to grasp her waist as she continued to work in front of him, "You've got it now...all you needed was just a little bit of a refresher. You knew it all along."

She completed another three series and set the needle down and turned to face him, "I've done them all. There's no more I can do...except for talk to the chief and hope that I can get my job back."

"Are you ready?" he asked her, wrapping his arms around her waist again, pulling her close.

"I'm..." she paused for a moment, "I'm scared."

"Understandable."

"I'm scared that the chief will say no, or that he'll get angry, or...that he'll say yes, and then I won't be able to do it."

He kissed her forehead, "You can do anything, Cristina...It hasn't even been 12 weeks, and you've already got most of your muscle mass back in your arms, and you know your textbooks like the back of your hand as always, and you can do a running whipstitch again, something that most of your fellow colleagues haven't mastered yet."

"How did you know?" she pulled away for a moment and glanced up to him, her eyes reddened from exhaustion.

"How did I know what?"

"That I needed you...to show me how to do it again." her voice trailed off as she fell away from his gaze, "How did you know to help me?"

He smiled down at her, "Because I know you, and I know how stubborn you are, and I know that you had to try and fail so many times on your own before you would ever admit defeat and I also knew that you'd never ask for help."

"Why didn't you help me earlier?" she pressed, scoffing lightly.

His mood brightened at her making an attempt to joke, "Because you would've pushed me away. I set the alarm for 1:45, knowing that if you weren't in bed by then, it was time for me to come and help you."

"Well...y'know...thank you." she let a smile creep across her lips, "It's a little after 2, y'know. We could go to bed, and you could sleep in and go in at 7 instead of 6, and maybe I could go with you? Talk to the chief?"

He pulled her close and started towards the bedroom, "It sounds like a plan to me."

"Burke, I need to clean up..." she stopped, turning back to the counter.

He pulled her hand towards the bedroom, a smile on his face, "For the first time in a long time, you just offered to come to bed with me. I'm taking advantage of that, we can clean up later."

She followed him into the bedroom, her hand clasped in his, "Whatever you say. You're the boss...for a few hours."

"Does that mean there's no more rules?" he asked, his eyebrows raised as she walked to her side of the bed to settle in.

She glanced up at him, and gave him a single nod, "No more rules. You can torture me and treat me like a China doll all that you want now. Not that I'm going to respond to it, or anything."

"You'll respond." he assured her, turning off the lamp and falling into bed next to her. "Trust me, you'll respond."

"Are you so sure?" she mumbled, already feeling the exhaustion wear through her body and begin to take over.

His arm fell into place around her waist, and he took in her scent as he rested his chin on her shoulder, contentment painted oh his face, he kissed her shoulder. "I love you." he offered up and waited patiently for a response.

"Burke?" her voice pierced through the silence.

"Yeah?"

She grinned, though he couldn't see it, "I'm tired."

A/N: Okay, that really is all for tonight.