I could have kept this chapter short, but I want to have the luxury to give a better depiction of the background before moving on. Hope it wasn't too boring.
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Ch. 2
"Daddy!"
"How is my little girl doing?" Preston brushed his daughter's cherry-colored cheeks as she blew him a kiss.
"We're caught up in traffic. I have a surgery scheduled at 4. Can I leave her here with you?" Cristina's become a lot more polite since the birth of Asha that sometimes it made him nervous.
"Sure. Richard's back. See if you'll run into her."
"OK. Asha, be a good girl. Tell Daddy where you want to go for dinner tonight."
"Bye, Mummy!"
"Bye, love."
Preston watched contently as his favorite woman disappeared into the corridor. Being the Chief and the Number One cardio surgeon along the West Coast, having a beautiful wife who's become the youngest surgeon to have completed her hepatology specialist training in a year, and a lovely daughter with a unique sensitivity about the world far beyond kids her age, Preston Burke couldn't have felt luckier.
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He never knew if he would live to see the next morning. The pain was wearing him down, but it was his years of guilt that made things harder. Half his life he spent like an exile, shunned off by society and everyone near and dear to him.
He wasn't sure if he would be welcomed, let alone being forgiven. But before his very final day, he wanted to see that very handsome face once more. Just a glimpse of it would suffice.
Thus, he considered himself a lucky man today, lying in a hospital bed at Seattle Grace.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Jones. I'm Dr. O'Malley. The test results are not as good as we would have wanted. We'll have to refer you to a liver specialist. She's in a surgery now but will come by later this evening." George was the only other intern who stayed after residency and it was a surprise to many that he was now in charge of the emergency unit.
"Thank you, doctor."
"Is there anyone you'd like us to call?" The puppy-eyed doctor inquired.
"No. I live by myself." Jones wasn't lying. The only person he still kept in touch with was the warden he befriended in the correctional facility, who was now confined to his bed after a stroke earlier that year.