He was surprised to see her sitting alone in the locker room, even though he noticed that she had been distancing herself from the rest of the group lately. She had always struck him as a loner, and he saw that in himself as well, but tonight, he saw something more than that in her eyes.
The desperation radiating from Cristina Yang made him feel uncomfortable. Instinctively, he shrugged, without knowing if he should make his presence obvious to her. After all, they were hardly on talking terms most of the time. Even if he did say something, Cristina probably wouldn't be too interested to listen.
He wondered why she had become so quiet, so confused, almost sad. Things were going well in her love life, or so it seemed; she was in every single competitive surgery that any other intern and resident would die to get into. In fact, she seemed to be the only one in their cohort who was acting most like a brilliant surgeon-to-be.
Unlike him.
Alex Karev didn't know what he wanted, let alone whether he would succeed. He didn't know if plastics was his calling anymore, nor did he know if he was drawn to OBG only because he was tired of trying out different things and looking for what he really liked.
He wished he could be like Cristina—determined and steadfast, riding at full speed towards her goal. Alex envied people with a clear goal.
Throwing his stethoscope into his locker and pulling his baseball cap out, Alex turned around to see if Cristina was still sitting there. The sight of her biting her nails was beginning to unnerve him.
He wouldn't give a dime about Callie Torres and the plastics god, but it always made him cringe when he saw someone in distress—whether it was Izzie, Addison Montgomery, or Cristina. Perhaps especially Cristina—because she was unbreakable.
Slowly, he sat down beside her, and handed her a candy bar.