Cristina stood poised across the table from Meredith, a cold glint in her eyes, slicing through Meredith more effectively than a 10 blade. "We can salvage her bowel, Dr. Grey."
"There's no way to salvage this, Dr. Yang. She needs a colostomy."
"What she needs is the necrotized tissue removed and a near and far suture to pull the rest of it together and finish it up with some mattress suturing. She'll be on NG suction for 14 days, the bowel will heal and she'll be able to defecate in a toilet like the rest of us. Or is that too much time for you?" She argued angrily, "Because if it is, I'll do it for you."
Meredith let out a sigh, puffing out the face of her surgical mask, "I don't know how to mattress suture good enough to reconstruct her bowel, Cristina, and you know it." she hissed low enough that Cristina could only be the one to hear her.
Cristina smiled behind her mask, Meredith was making this too easy for her, "I'll take over, Grey. Just say the words."
Meredith cleared her throat, "I think that the best way to proceed would be a colostomy, Dr. Yang. There's less risk of complication."
"There's a greater risk of complication if you give the patient a colostomy and then go to do a takedown later. She's 74. More surgeries make for a greater risk of dementia, pneumonia and long term complications." Cristina argued.
"Do not argue with me on this, Dr. Yang. This is my patient. This is my surgery."
Cristina glared at her as the words slipped through Meredith's lips, anger pulsating through her body, "Fine. Then you do it."
"Dr. Yang."
Cristina moved from her side of the table to Meredith's side, "I need some 3.0 proline, please."
The surgical nurse looked to Meredith, then to Cristina, unmoving, her eyes widened as if she was a deer caught in the headlight.
"Do it." Cristina snapped at the nurse then turned to Meredith, "You may not know how to do it well, but you're going to do it, and you're going to spare this patient a life of having to disguise a bag on her abdomen that has feces in it if I have to walk you through it step by step."
Meredith squinted her eyes, trying to read Cristina, trying to understand her motive and finally let out a long sigh, "3.0 proline."
"Start at the distal end of the bowel at the interior portion, thread your needle through and move to the medial bowel, bring it through the interior portion as well, now pull the sections together, don't pull at the bowel too hard, you need it to remain open to work with." She paused, allowing Meredith to follow her instructions, watching carefully over her shoulder.
"Go on." Meredith's voice was softer, almost sad in a way.
"Work from the surface of the bowel, alternating deep and shallow stitches every other stitch, all the way around the circumfrence of the bowel, then do a near and far around your connecting sections of the bowel to pull it all together."
Meredith worked slowly, her hands exploring new maneuvers nervously as Cristina stood over her shoulder, watching her every move.
"You're done." Cristina muttered, and walked away from her, leaving the surgery.
"Sam, close up for me." She called to one of her interns as she followed Cristina into the scrub room. "I need to talk to you. You need to talk to me. This is ridiculous, Cristina...you can't sit here and show me up in my own OR."
Cristina turned to face her, "Excuse me? I just saved that patient from another surgery. Trust me, if I was trying to show you up in your own OR, you'd know it." She paused for a moment as she pulled her surgical mask from her face, "It must be nice?"
"What's nice?"
"Being the new shoo-in for Chief Resident. Taking everything that I worked hard for because my mother isn't a famous surgeon, taking all the hard work and time that I put in to get where I was and destroying it. Taking it over."
"Do you think that's what I wanted to do?" Meredith questioned, pulling her own mask from her face, "Do you think I did it on purpose?"
"Anybody with any kind of testicular fortitude would've left the program knowing that they'd effectively destroyed their best friend's life and career."
"Your life isn't destroyed. You've got Burke, you're back here at work, what's destroyed?"
"This...this is destroyed. I'm reduced to being your assistant in an OR, I'm no longer the best, only a burden to this hospital because I won't take no for an answer."
"Do you want me to say you're the best?" Meredith questioned frantically, "Is that what you want? Because you're best, Cristina, you always have been."
"Not in the eyes of Dr. Webber, not in the eyes of Dr. Bailey...but I will be the best again."
"Is that why made it point to exhibit my weaknesses in the OR? To be the best again?"
Cristina scoffed at her, "No. That's just good medicine." She moved closer to her old friend so their faces were inches apart, "Rest assured, Meredith. I will take back my position as the best, but I won't have to make your weaknesses known to do it."
Meredith crossed her arms over her chest, fury building within her, "Since when has the great Cristina Yang cared about patients?"
"Since I've been one." She shot back and walked from the scrub room, leaving the words to tear through Meredith.
A/N: Okay, I know I promised two, but it's 12:33 in the morning, and I have to be up in 4 and a half hours for work, so I hope I'm excused. :)