Webber peered up from over the crisp white paper at Preston Burke, his most valued surgeon. A world renowned surgeon that brought in a great revenue to his hospital, who had won more awards, more recognition than any other surgeon in his hospital and let out a long sigh, "Preston, what the hell is this?"

"It's my resignation sir. Isn't it clearly stated in the twelfth line?" He replied, irritatingly nonchalant as he rocked back and forth on his heels, his hands jammed deep into his pockets of his white coat.

"I can read the twelfth line and the rest of this bullshit in front of me, but why the hell are you giving this to me, you can't leave this hospital...you can't resign. Where the hell are you going?" He sputtered, throwing the paper to his desk.

"I can probably list 400 hospitals that would take me in a heartbeat, Richard."

"Sit down, Preston."

"That's quite alright, Chief, I have a surgery in about 20 minutes, so I really must be on my way. I just wanted to deliver this to you in person before I got to work."

"There aren't 400 hospitals. There has to be one, one that's offering you more than you get here?" Webber persisted, rising to his feet as well.

"There is one in particular, yes, but it's actually a pay cut. They're offering Cristina a position as a second year resident in their program, no internship or hoops to jump through, and they happen to need a chief of surgery. I'd be a shoo-in, I'm sure you know." He removed his glasses from his face, "Seattle Presbyterian, actually."

"This is about Yang?" Richard could feel his temple start to pulsate as anger raged through his veins, "You'd give up your career at Seattle Grace for her? Your girlfriend with commitment issues?"

"No, I'd give up my career because of a chief of surgery that will let the offender get away with her crime unscathed and punish the victim, Richard."

Webber balled his fist, placing it against his lip while he sought out the words to express his feelings in a professional way.

But there were none.

"It's simple, really." Burke continued, his voice steady and strong, "You can either bring Cristina back into the program with full credentials, or you can watch two excellent surgeons walk out that door and never come back, and I assure you, that when Cristina completes her fellowship, you're going to want her in your hospital."

"This is blackmail, you realize this?" Webber argued, looking for some sort of ground to stand on.

Burke chuckled, raising an eyebrow, "What are you going to do, Richard? Fire me?"

Webber sunk back into his seat, and began to massage his forehead as he often did when he was upset or irritated, "I can't win, can I?"

"Cristina Yang will be a great surgeon one day, better than me, better than anyone in the four walls of this hospital, so as I see it, we're both winning."

"I can't accept this resignation, Preston."

"And I can't accept the fact that Meredith Grey is out on the floor, learning and growing as a doctor, moving on with her life after the accident, when Cristina is sitting at home suturing bananas, sir. So I guess we've come to an impasse." Burke settled himself into the seat in front of Webber, a sly glimmer in his eyes.

The men sat in silence for a long while, trying to stare each other down, but neither would back down from his stance.

After a great pause, Richard picked up his phone and punched in a telephone number, "Fine, Preston...you win. I can't afford to lose you."

"She doesn't need to know about this conversation. Are we clear?" He was doing his best to reserve a grin until he could walk away from the man he'd just manipulated into doing his bidding.

Webber said nothing as he heard Cristina's voice answer on the other end of his phone, "Dr. Yang, this is Dr. Webber." he announced into the phone, "I have put some thought into what we talked about yesterday, and I've decided that I need you to come back to the hospital. You've obviously put a lot of time and effort into getting your game back and I value that."

Burke listened intently and his heart swelled when he heard a slight bit of jumbled words of excitement through the telephone, then a pause.

He shot a look at Burke as he swallowed hard, "No, Preston didn't have anything to do with this, he's actually in a emergent surgery right now. I just think that bringing you back would be the best thing to do after your show of dedication and desire to be here at Seattle Grace. I know that one day you'll make a fine surgeon, and I can't afford to lose you."

Burke stood from the seat and nodded at the Chief, "Thank you, sir." he mumbled low at him, stepping away from the desk.

"I will see you next Monday, Dr. Yang. You'll continue on your GI rotation with Dr. Bailey as your attending. Congratulations and let me be the first to say welcome back, Dr. Yang." he hurriedly hung up the telephone and shot a glare at Burke as he began to make his exit from the office.

"There wasn't another offer, was there, Preston?"

"Of course not, Chief." He let out a chuckle, "But I think you definitely made the right call. You won't regret it."

As soon as the words slipped from his mouth, he looked to his pager to see that Cristina was paging him from home. "That's Cristina, I'll see you around, Richard." And went to walk out of the office.

"You're in surgery, Preston...I'd hold off on calling her for a while." He reminded him, his forehead falling into his palms.

"Of course, Chief. Thank you."

Burke walked from the office, a wide grin spreading across his face.

Cristina was coming back to work.

A/N: I like manipulative Burke. I so wish I could just get Bang in my hands. I could do so much with them!