A/N: Lots of plot development here! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Owen walked over to Cristina, his eyes stormy. He grabbed her arm and said, "We need to talk."

"Okay," she said, worried by the expression on his face. "What's going on?"

"Not here," he said, pulling her over to one of the supply closets. He closed the door behind him and then turned toward him.

"Did you notice anything during your surgery with Burke today?" Owen asked. She froze, her mouth going dry.

"What are you talking about?" she asked gingerly.

"One of the nurses came to me a few minutes ago. They said that they noticed something."

Her stomach felt like she had eaten something spoiled. "What did they notice?"

"A tremor." She swallowed hard, avoiding his gaze. "They said you took over and then-"

"He had it under control," Cristina said, feeling her face flush. "I swear to you, Owen, he had it under control. When you hired him-"

"How long?" Owen interrupted, voice low. "How long has it been going on?"

"Three weeks," she said.

It took Owen a moment to do the math and then all expression left his face. It was a blank slate for just a moment, all his emotions flashing clearly in his eyes. "Three weeks," he repeated, the words feeling strange in his mouth. "You've known for three weeks?"

"Owen-"

"He operated on my mother. You knew that this was happening and you let me-"

"I wasn't sure then," Cristina interrupted. "I thought I saw something but-"

"You should have told me," he said heatedly. "I mean, dammit Cristina, you should have told me! He could have killed someone! He could have killed my mother!"
"I wouldn't have let that happen," Cristina said. "Look, I have experience with this. I know how to handle it. When Burke was here before-"

"You mean when you covered for him?" Owen said, voice filled with disgust. "Is that what you were going to do again, Cristina? Cover his tracks?"

"No!" she said irritably. He kept interrupting her before she could get to her point. Whatever that was. She didn't even fully know at that moment, but she knew it wasn't what he was hedging at. "I just wanted to give him time."

"At the expense of his patients? At the expense of this hospital and it's reputation?"

"What happened today was different," Cristina argued. "It wasn't that bad before. I told him to tell you."

Owen snorted. "What good that did."

"Hey, I did what I could. I told him to go to you and if he didn't then I was going to."

"So, that's why I heard about it from a nurse?"

"I had to give him a chance to go himself," Cristina said. "I'm sorry if you don't like that but it was the right thing to do."

Owen shook his head. "No, the right thing was to tell me three weeks ago."

He strode past her and she said, "Where are you going?"

"To make some calls," he threw over his shoulder. "I need to find the hospital a new head of cardio."

Across town at Seattle Women's Clinic, April was having a similarly less-than-great day. It started off with her alarm not going off. Then she found out she was out of waffles. And cereal. And milk.

"I really need to go shopping," she had said, shutting the refrigerator door.

She took her coffee black for work and then proceeded to spill the cup in its entirety down the front of her dress right when she pulled into the parking lot.

"You look like you're having a great day," Michael said, smirking at the mess in front of him. April was dabbing ineffectively at the large stain with a wet paper towel.

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated."

"I hate to break it to you, but no amount of dabbing is going to fix that."

She looked up at him with a sour expression. "I don't like you right now."

"That might change," he said. "I happen to know where they stash extra scrubs."

April wrinkled her nose. "No one else wears them."

"Wouldn't you rather stand out because of that than the Texas-shaped coffee stain on your dress?"

She glanced down at her torso and said, "Hey, it does kinda look like Texas!"

"Limited time offer, Kepner," he said. "I have rounds in five minutes."

"Fine," she sighed, picking up her bag. "Lead the way."

He grinned at her downtrodden tone and said, "Come on, perk up. I bet you scrubs are way more comfortable than what you're wearing now."

"This is very comfortable," April said. "Honest."

"Well, the scrubs aren't wet. So, they still win."

April laughed. "You have a point there."

April caught a few glances at her Texas-shaped coffee stain as the walked and she gingerly asked, "This isn't much farther, is it?"

"Only a few more miles," he answered. "And a ten minute car ride. Did I not mention that?"

"You're really not funny," she said, giving him a look while he laughed at his own joke.

"I tend to disagree."

"Says the man laughing at his own joke."

He grinned, stopping at a door. "Come on, they're in here."

They stepped into a supply closet and she saw an entire shelf of scrubs. Michael made a sweeping gesture toward them and said, "And this concludes our tour. Gratuity is not required but highly recommended."

She laughed. "Thank you, Michael. I do owe you."

"No problem," he said. "Take your pick. We'll just put it on your tab."

She laughed again and gave him a small wave before he headed out for rounds. She turned back to the scrubs and began to leaf through them.

"Ooh, salmon ones. I always wanted to wear those."

Meredith had a late night at the hospital with a patient and the next morning she went to take a nap between rounds. She opened the door and shut it quickly when she caught a flash of skin on one of the bunks.

"Everything okay?" Derek asked from behind her. Meredith turned around, nodding with a tight smile.

"Just some busy interns," Meredith said. "Don't they have work to do?"

"Probably," Derek said, putting his arm around her waist and kissing the side of her head. "But if I remember correctly, we found time."

"Yes, but you were an attending at the time. More wiggle room."

"Are you saying I don't have a heavy work load?"

"I'm saying you were the one cornering me in those on-call rooms."

Derek laughed. "Okay, can't really argue that. But can you blame me with you in those scrubs?"

She gave him a look and said, "You find scrubs sexy?"

"When you're in them."

She smirked. "And here I was thinking it was just the nice light shade of blue."

They stopped at the next on-call room and he gently tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"You know, I could join you in here if you want."

She grinned. "I need sleep, Derek."

"I've been told I'm very soothing," he tried, laughing at the look she gave him.

"Uh huh, I'm sure you are. But what you have in mind right now is not even remotely close to soothing. Sleep. It is needed so that I don't kill people."

"Alright," he relented, leaning forward and kissing her forehead. "I'll see after your cat nap."

"Owen knows," Cristina said, walking into Burke's office. He looked up from the paperwork he was going over and said, "I know. He left about two minutes ago."

"I'm sorry," she said, shifting uncomfortably. "I should have spoken up when I first noticed. I should have…I should have done something."

"This isn't your fault," Burke said. He took of his glasses and rubbed his hand over his eyes. "This isn't anyone's fault but my own. I'm not the surgeon I was before. I'm not."

"You could try another surgery," Cristina suggested, stepping toward him. "Callie is one of the foremost surgeons in the country. If any could-"

"I'm not having any more surgeries," Burke interrupted. "What's the point? Another surgery and then another long recovery that lands me in the exact same place."

The thought of Burke not performing surgeries upset her more than she expected. Her chest tightened and her head throbbed. Preston Burke was a surgeon. More than anything, he was a talented and skilled surgeon and the thought of him not being that anymore…

'What will you do?" she asked.

He put his glasses back on, exhaling loudly. "I don't know. I could do research."

"Research," she said, the word sounding as preposterous when she said it as when he did. "You can't be serious."

"What are my other options?" he returned. "Continue practicing and kill someone?"

"You could fight," she urged him. "You could let Callie look at your hand and maybe you'd get another chance!"

"I appreciate your faith in me," he sad wearily, "but there comes a time when you have to realize that you're not the surgeon you were before. Whether that's from age or…" he trailed off, his jaw tightening, "…or getting shot, there comes a time when you need to accept it and reevaluate what you're doing. That time has come, Cristina. I tried to fight it. I tried to go on like nothing had changed, but what happened in that OR…it was the wake up call I needed."

"So, you're giving up?"

He held her gaze when he said, "No, I'm moving on."

"It's weird," April said, taking a bite of her salad. She reached up and readjusted her phone, tiling her head to the side to put it in place. Her and Jackson had a routine phone call during lunch, and she was telling him about her quick-change that morning.

"No one wears scrubs here," she continued. "Like, they do for surgeries, but then they change. How weird is that?"

"Very weird," Jackson said.

"And less comfortable. Believe me, you don't miss the drawstring waist until it's not longer an option."

Jackson laughed. "No big lunches for you then, huh?"

"Nope. Strictly salads lest I want a big ol' stomachache during rounds. Anyway, tell me the Seattle Grace gossip."

"There really isn't much."

"You're kidding, right?" April said. "It's Seattle Grace. There is always gossip."

"It's pretty calm around here," he said. "Sorry to disappoint."

"I can't believe there's no gossip," she said, frowning. "There's never anything here. This morning I spilled my coffee on my clothes and that was the water cooler gossip."

"Was it actually done around a water cooler?" he teased.

April thought for a moment and then said, "Actually, yeah. We have one in the doctor's lounge. It's a real crowd favorite."

"Wow. I didn't know that was an actual thing anymore."

April laughed. "We're old school like that."

"Look, I need to head out for rounds. I'll see you tonight?"

"Yeah," she said. "I probably won't be able to make it for dinner but perhaps some dessert?"

She said the last word lasciviously and he grinned. "I like the way you think, Kepner. Love you."

"You too. Bye."

Jackson hung up and slipped his phone into the pocket of his lab coat. He picked up his tray and headed toward the tray corral. Lexie caught him as he was depositing his tray on the moving conveyor belt and she whispered, "Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

Lexie looked around quickly before saying, "Burke is out."

"What? What do you mean he's out?"

"I don't know all the details but something happened with one of his surgeries and now he's out."

Jackson stared at the moving belt in disbelief and murmured, "I guess I was wrong when I told April things were calm over here."

Owen at his desk looking through the old resumes he had collected when the search for a new head of cardio began. He put a few to the side and made a mental note to call them the next day. He came across Burke's resume and frowned, his eyes travelling over all the awards and accolades.

A few knocks sounded on his door followed by, "Chief Hunt?"

Owen looked up and was surprised to find the head of the legal department standing at his door. He picked up Burke's resume and folded it in half, slipping it into the garbage bin next to his desk.

"Lacey, what can I do for you?"

Lacey stepped in and closed the door behind her. She was holding a manila envelope and walked forward, placing it on his desk.

"We have a situation."'

Owen looked at her in confusion before flipping the manila folder open and reading the first few lines of the document. His mouth went dry as he read further, eyes brows furrowing.

"We already have the team working on it," Lacey said, voice measured. "You will have to talk to Dr. Grey, though."

Owen nodded. "I'll page her immediately."

"Good. We're going to need Terry Radivicho's chart and any other material relating to her treatment at Seattle Grace."

"I'll collect everything," Owen said.

"Hopefully we can get this dealt with swiftly," Lacey said, although her voice sounded anything but hopeful. "I will let you know when we are ready for the next phase."

"Alright, thanks Lacey."

"You're welcome."

Owen stared at the document for a few seconds, a throbbing pain just above his eyebrows developing. First Burke and now this – he should have never taken the position of Chief.

After taking a few moments to gather his thoughts he paged Meredith.

Meredith walked into Owen's office, wondering what she was being paged for. Maybe it was something to do with Cristina. Considering what she had heard about Burke leaving, she wouldn't be surprised.

"Dr. Grey," Owen said in greeting, tone overly formal.

"Chief," she answered in like, wondering what the hell was going on.

"I'm going to ask you something and I need you to be completely honest with me."

"Okay."

"Do you remember a patient Terry Radivicho?"

Meredith nodded. "Yes."

"Did you order a colonoscopy for Terry Radivicho?"

"Yes."

"Did you inform her that it was for the detection of colon cancer."

Meredith hesitated, her cheeks coloring. "No, I did not."

"Did Terry Radivicho not specifically tell you she did not want cancer testing-"

"She was being irrational," Meredith interrupted. "There was a history of-"

"Dr. Grey, answer my question," Owen said forcefully. "Because Terry Radivicho said you performed a colonoscopy without her full consent is suing both you and Seattle Grace Hospital."

Meredith's mouth dropped open as she processed what Owen said. She was silent for a long while before she finally said, "Yes. She did tell me she didn't want cancer testing."

Owen exhaled sharply, jaw tense.

"Her sister asked me to do it," Meredith said. "She said she was being irrational. She said-"

"I don't want to hear what she said," Owen said wearily. "I'm not who you should be telling this to, anyway."

Meredith swallowed hard. "I was only trying to help her. I was trying to save her life."

"Legal will want to meet with you as soon as possible."