Cristina appeared devastated.
"Are you sure you don't want to go home? It's raining like crazy." Alex asked again.
She nodded automatically. Her eyes were still red but she had calmed down. Damage control was in place. It's causing enough trouble that George knew. Alex didn't need to know.
"I will stay in the on-call room."
"Alright."
Cristina nearly lost her balance when she stood up. She hadn't eaten all day and the sleep deprivation was wearing her out.
Without saying a word, Alex walked her to the on-call room. She wasn't a patient. But she wouldn't last very long before becoming one.
"Thank you."
Alex shrugged. That was the least he could do.
From talking to the distressed unborn baby instead of holding the scalpel to closing the on-call room door for his fellow intern, he seemed destined to tend to small things. It wasn't grand gestures, but the subtle ones that made him a nice guy, one who would persevere without counting the cost.
Although, he wasn't much better than Cristina. He didn't realize he was a good person. He had the same sense of insecurity about who he was and what his life entailed. It would probably take people like them a while to realize that every little thing counted. No matter what they did, they would always make an impact on someone else's life.
As he walked down to the parking lot, he wondered what O'Malley would have done. The idea of calling Dr. Burke crossed his mind, but immediately Alex cautioned himself: they were not friends.
Besides, the moment he considered doing that, Preston Burke appeared, this time not as calm as he was 2 hours ago.
Burke was a well-groomed man. Even after he was shot, he always had matching pajamas when he was in his hospital bed. He seemed to have a thing for the color green, but Alex's never seen Burke match his green outfit with other flamboyant colors or accessories.
That's why it's odd to see him in his navy-blue track pants and an oversized orange sweatshirt, looking disorganized and soaking wet.
"Karev, has Cristina left?" He caught his breath as he spoke.
"She's in the on-call room. Meredith isn't free to pick her up tonight, and it looks like she doesn't want to leave."
Burke's lips parted slightly, but no words came out.
"The rain seems pretty bad. It's good that you're coming to pick her up," Alex added.
Only a few days ago, seeing George O'Malley's disturbed face about Callie and Sloan made Alex laugh. It was not easy to imagine this same person would be overcome by a pang of sadness as he pieced the distressed faces of Burke and Cristina together in his head.
"Thank you, Alex."
The grimace was novel to him. Alex mumbled good night to his superior and left.