Cristina slammed her cell phone shut as she advanced towards the Chief's office, her blood boiling.
What right did he have to threaten her with what she took to be their relationship? What right did he have to use that tone with her on a voicemail?
She had her doubts about her working so much, and what it would do to their relationship, but she was also sure that he'd understand that she needed to get her life back before she could do anything.
He'd stuck by her while she earned her way back into the hospital, why the hell could he just wait while a little longer while she earned her way back to the top?
"Ass." she muttered walking into Webber's office then cleared her throat before speaking, "Chief, I need to see if there is somebody I can switch my schedule with tonight...who's available?"
"Dr. Yang, if you're on the call schedule, then you're on the call schedule. There's no switching." He replied, his eyes falling on her in a heavy glare.
"What do you mean there's no switching? People switch all the time." She argued, "I have to go home. Burke wants me to come home."
"Well, you want to be here. He should've thought about that." He muttered, looking back towards his paperwork, silently cursing himself for letting anything slip.
"He should've thought about that?" She repeated, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I meant you, Yang. It's been a long day, and I'm not going to argue with you. You're staying, end of discussion."
"Yes, sir." She sighed, and left the office, a nagging feeling in the back of her mind at his words, but pushed it away as she dialed Burke and waited patiently for him to answer.
She withdrew slightly at the anger in his tone as he answered his phone, "Hello." It was a statement, a forced formality.
"I can't come home tonight." She sighed into the phone.
"I can't do this anymore."
"Burke, I tried...I talked to everybody, Webber, Bailey...I tried to come home, I promise."
"Just like you promised that you'd marry me after you got back to work, right?" He shot back at her.
"After a few weeks." She protested, "I said after a few weeks."
"It's been two weeks, Burke. That's all it's been..."
"And you're pushing yourself farther and father away from me. This is why I didn't want you to go back to work so soon, because I knew this would happen." He muttered, fighting the urge to hang up his phone.
"What does you wanting me not go back to work have anything with me actually getting to go back to..." Her voice trailed off. "Burke...what did you do?"
He froze, leaving an eerie silence over the phone momentarily, "I don't know what you're talking about."
She clicked the phone shut and stormed back towards Webber's office, dread growing deep within her as she walked in, "Why did you let me come back?"
He looked up from his papers, "Because you asked me to."
"Wrong. Why did you let me come back?" She pressed.
"I let you come back, what does it matter, Dr. Yang?" Webber sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose gently.
"Because you weren't going to let me. I heard you tell Patricia you didn't want to see my file. That you didn't want to hear about me until after the new batch of interns were up...what the hell made you call me back?" She was boiling over with undirected anger.
He rose from his seat and placed his hands on his hips, "You need to leave my office and get back on the floor, now, Dr. Yang, before I change my mind."
She pressed her lips together and left the office, bursting into Patricia's office instead, going straight for file cabinets next to her desk.
"Dr. Yang?" Patricia questioned, standing from her desk, "You can't get in there..."
"Watch me." Cristina mumbled, looking for the 'Y's and pulling her file from the drawer as Webber followed her into the office.
"Put that file back, Cristina." Webber threatened.
"Then tell me why I'm back in this hospital when you were so vehemently against it." She held up the file in front of him, and a paper slid out from it, her eyes following it to the ground.
She crouched to the ground, picking it up, and reading it, her blood running cold.
It was a resignation letter from Burke.
"Patricia...I told you to shred that." Webber hissed at his assistant.
She shot him a look and then looked back to Cristina, quietly, taking the letter from her hands and helping her rise to her feet, "He wanted you to come back to work, Cristina." She spoke quietly, pulling the file from her frozen hands, "He wanted you to have your life back, and since Dr. Webber was so stubborn and bullheaded, it was the only thing he could do for you."
Cristina nodded, her expression blank, unable to speak.
"We'll find somebody to cover your call schedule tonight, Dr. Webber and I...you need to go home."
Cristina finally found her footing and looked up to Patricia, "No...I'll be staying here tonight. Thank you. For telling me the truth."
She brushed past her, and looked to Webber, "Do you want me here?"
"I would not expect you to leave now, if that is what you are asking. You've proven yourself, Dr. Yang."
She shook her head, "Okay then."
As Cristina walked from the office she felt numb, broken. He let her believe that she'd worked her way back to the hospital by herself, he let her believe that she could do everything on her own, when the truth was that she was weak.
He carried her the whole way.
He taught her sutures, he got her job back, he paid her bills.
She didn't do any of it by herself.
Her phone rang interrupting her already disjointed thoughts and she glanced down at it to see that it was Burke calling her and shoved the phone back in her pocket, working her way back towards the surgical unit.