Day Three

The sun hadn't even begun to rise over the Seattle skyline as Burke and Cristina advanced towards the glass and concrete fortress that owned both of them.

She reached out to grasp has hand, an unexpected move on her behalf, her reinforcement to him that she was going to stick through this.

He stopped walking and pulled her close, sensing her rising anxiety level, "It's just four days." He mumbled low to her, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

"I know."

"Four days, and we can go home, and then you have another day off before you have to go back to work, right?" He urged.

"I know."

"Cristina." He cupped her face in his hands, "This won't last forever. This won't be as complicated as the last surgery. The tremor will be gone, I can go back to work, you'll go back to work, and we'll be fine. Everything will be easier from now on, I promise you."

His heart ached to see her with such reservation, such pain in her eyes as she studied him for a moment, then faked a smile, "I don't like easy."

"Yes you do." He shook his head, interlacing his fingers with hers as they approached the hospital.

Normally the rush of entering the hospital was the one that Cristina enjoyed, but as she entered it took everything in her not to choke on the sterile air, for her to not want to walk out, leave, and forget the place ever existed in the pretense of being the family member of a patient.

A family member.

Did she really consider herself to be his family? She thought, their fingers still interlocked with one and other as they made their way to the admissions lab. She was sticking, as she called it. She wasn't going anywhere.

The only logical step then would be for her to be his family.

She pushed the thoughts from her mind though, reminding herself it was better to focus on the here and now and to worry about the future later.

Cristina knew she would have plenty of time during the surgery to think about anything else but the present.

Her spirits continued to dampen as she watched the phlebotomist obtain specimens from Burke, though she tried to distract herself by identifying which each one was obtained prior to surgery and what the numbers meant for each test ordered and what the implications were for the surgery if a single number was off.

She followed quietly as they assigned him to room 4815, a private room not too far from the room where she'd left him alone for so long the first time, and silently she thanked the powers that be that the old room was occupied by Mr. O'Malley.

He laid his bag down in the corner and looked to the bed, opting instead to sit in the chair next to it, and she sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes looking to the clock nervously, "I wonder where Shepherd is. He's probably off ogling Meredith somewhere."

"Cristina." He chided her lightly, his eyes focused on the floor.

"Well, he's a surgeon. He should be on time. You're never late." She rambled.

"You've made me late on more than one occasion." He reminded her, finally cracking a hint of a smile.

"No, that was all you."

Shepherd strode into the room in his characteristically ceremonious manner, looking to the couple, "So, I have some bad news."

Cristina looked up, "Bad news? You haven't even done surgery yet, and you have bad news?"

Burke shot her a glance and focused his attention back to Shepherd, "Out with it."

"Your white count is up just a little bit, and I'm postponing the surgery for tomorrow. There's a great risk of osteomyelitis if I cut before I treat the white count, and I'm not willing to risk it." Derek's eyes shifted to Cristina on the bed, "I don't suppose, Cristina, that you would mind going to the pharmacy so that we can get the round started earlier? I wouldn't ask but the other -"

"I'll go." She nodded, raising from the bed, then she looked to Burke, "I'll be right back."

As she disappeared from the room, Shepherd closed the door behind her and looked to him, his voice stern and steady, "There's something else."

"There's always something else." Burke rose from the chair and crossed to him, "The question would be, why was it bad enough to send away my girlfriend?"

"We have to do another wake up test, Preston." Shepherd dared to use his first name, somehow thinking by adding his first name, that it would lessen the blow, "I need to make sure that the nerve isn't compressed, and the only way to do that is to wake you up."

"Induce the tremor by compression of the muscle around the nerve to see if the scar tissue presses on it..." Burke mumbled his thoughts aloud.

"Yes."

Burke was quiet for a moment, "This is how I got the tremor in the first place."

"If you can just talk to Cristina. She'd be better prepared for it, coming from you, she's stronger now- she could handle it." Derek began, his words mixed with a long exhale.

"No." Burke looked up to him, pain in his eyes, "I will not put her through that again. I will not let her see me like that again."

"Burke..."

"Absolutely not. Get Richard in there, get an intern in there, get somebody else. I don't want Cristina in there. It took her long enough to get over it the first time. Though she wouldn't readily admit it, it scared her, Shepherd, and I still haven't forgiven you and Richard for doing that to her." Burke snapped, "I won't allow it."

Derek nodded, but the words didn't seem to mesh in his head for a few moments, then he finally gave in to Burke's reprimand, "I'll schedule O'Malley to be there."

Burke gave him a curt nod, "That would be fine."

"We'll schedule you first thing in the morning." Derek left him in the room and he sunk back down in the chair, the levity of the situation coming to him.

Another wake up test.

He felt heavy with dread as he massaged the palm of his hand, thinking about the implications of another wake-up test. And silently thanked God that the anesthetics would work effectively enough that he'd never remember O'Malley being there.

It was then that Burke made the decision not to mention the wake up test to her, knowing that she'd feel as if she had something to prove, and she would make her way into the OR even though he refused for her to be there.

There was no anesthetic strong enough to numb him to Cristina's presence, and he didn't want to see that look in her eye ever again.

His mind drifted from the surgery to her, to what she would do or say if she knew that he was going to be put through a wake up test for a second time. He glanced to the bed where he'd be laying in a little over 24 hours, weak and vulnerable once again, but he took comfort in knowing that she would be there for him this time.

This time would be easier for the both of them, they had each other. It was more time for them. More time for Burke to picture the look in her eyes whenever she pulled the ring from the coffee mug. Time that no matter what the circumstances, it was time they had together.