2
Earth
Cristina and Preston have parked their car and visited the local restaurant for a last good meal. From now on they will be living on canned beans, canned corn, more canned food, pasta, pasta, and some more pasta. Being together, just the two of them, gives Cristina a better feeling than she'll ever admit to. It hasn't always been great having a boyfriend with such a strong personality as Preston, but secretly this makes her feel safe and secure. Not that she wouldn't be able to take care of herself, no, she'd be perfectly fine without him. It's just that eventually she decided having him around is good. She decided that she wanted to be with him. And everybody knows that if Cristina Yang has her mind set on something it's most likely to happen.
Preston Burke has a reputation of being arrogant. Genius, but arrogant. And he doesn't care to change that. He cares about his reputation, yes, but as long as it includes him being the best in his field he's content with it. His choice to let Cristina move in with him was not, even to his own surprise, based on his love for her, but on his interest in her. Cristina Yang is a very interesting person, one he'd like to get to know all about. She is probably the way he would have been had he been born a girl. When they were in surgery together they worked as a team. They were individualists but they worked well as a team. Their hands worked together, they didn't need any directions, they complemented each other. Love simply followed.
As Cristina and Preston mount the path up a hill they don't need to say a word. Simply enjoying the quiet and the smells of nature.
"Cristina!"
She turns around.
"What?"
Preston quickly catches up and drops his backpack on a rock.
"Are you tired?" Cristina asks him as if she can't believe that she even has grounds to suspect him.
"No, of course not," Preston is quick to reply. "I just... we need to drink some water. It's pretty hot out here and you don't want to get dehydrated."
"I know that," Cristina says in a slightly offended tone as she drops her backpack, too.
They sit down on a large rock in the shadow and take in their surroundings. Large trees, fir-cones sitting on soft moss, and a fresh blue sky.
"So," Preston says as he lowers his bottle of water and rests his elbows on his knees, "If you get the map out of your backpack I'll show you the rest of the route."
Cristina looks pointedly at him.
"I know the route," she says in an icy voice.
"Oh, well, I thought that, maybe, you know," Preston tries to talk himself out of it.
"I never do anything unprepared," she lectures him.
"No. You don't. I'm sorry."
Cristina looks straight ahead.
"Good. Good."
"You still love me?" Preston asks in a serious voice.
"Yeah. Sure I do."
"Okay. Let's get going then."
Cristina and Preston put their bottles in their backpacks and continue down the path.
They arrive at their camping space hours later. Cristina drops her backpack and then herself in the grass but jumps up quickly when Preston asks her if she's tired.
"Of course not."
Only fifteen minutes later their tent is up and Cristina spreads out the last sleeping-bag. Meanwhile, Preston has cooked their dinner: pasta. They eat in silence, feeling totally relaxed and secretly looking forward to crawling into their sleeping-bags.
Dishes being done and clothes being hung over some low tree-branches, Preston and Cristina put on their pyjamas and zip open their sleeping-bags.
"Wait," Cristina says just as Preston's finally comfortable.
"What? What is it?"
"We have to christen this tent," she adds and rolls on top of Preston and starts to kiss him.
He doesn't want to end their kiss, which is deep and passionate and a little unpatient, but he does after a few moments.
"Cristina... I'm tired," he admits.
She lifts her face.
"You're what?"
"I'm tired, Cristina. I don't have the energy for this now."
Cristina rolls off him and sighs meaningfully.
"You better be more fun tomorrow," she says and turns on her side so her back is towards him. Preston isn't at all affected by this and scoops closer to her so he can wrap his arms around her and lie spooned. He grins as he hears her breaths have already become regular.
Wind
"Okay... So this is our hotel, George."
"All right. It's all right. I'm feeling very positive about this."
George and Callie stand in front of their hotel checking out the building. It's painted white and has red window frames with bright-coloured flowers in front of them. On the whole it looks... very boring. Although neither George nor Callie is going to admit it.
"So, let's get inside. Check out our room."
"You think they have roomservice here?"
"No."
"Me neither."
Unfortunately, the interior of the hotel is pretty much the same style as the exterior. A broadly smiling elderly lady sits at the counter. She gives George and Callie the keys to their room. An awkward silence follows until Callie gets it.
"Oh! Okay, George let's go. We're supposed to get our own luggage up to our room."
The lady nods with a beaming face and points toward a staircase.
"Where... Could you perhaps tell us where we can find the elevator?" George asks politely.
"We don't have one," the lady answers without blinking.
George grudgingly takes over some of Callie's suitcases and starts mounting the stairs with Callie on his heels.
"Wow, that woman scares the hell out of me," Callie exclaims as they have finally reached and unlocked their room and dropped the suitcases on the bed. "That broad smile of hers, it gives me the creeps. It's like she looked in the mirror at midnight looking like that and her face has never had a different expression ever since. Or she just had surgery," Callie adds dryly and shrugs.
"Seriously. How much stuff do you need for two weeks, Callie? In two weeks you need less than in two months," George sighs. Callie grabs two of her suitcases and jerks them off the bed to unpack them.
"I'm a girl, George."
"I- I know, I just didn't think you were the girl that packs her entire wardrobe. But it's okay, it's fine," he quickly adds as Callie shoots him a scolding look.
"Nothing. There's nothing," Callie states desperately as she and George lie next to each other in the king-sized bed. "We don't even have loud and dirty neighbours."
George stretches his arm out to her so Callie can lay on his arm.
"I guess we're just here to learn how to deal with not having anything to deal with at all," George says, being capable of finding the positive in every situation.
"Except non-existing cute guys carrying your bags to your room."
"Except those," George soothingly agrees. "And I'll be your cute guy."
Callie closes her eyes and listens to George's steady heartbeat, always a means to calm her down.
"You are my cute guy," she replies and George tenderly kisses the top of her head before they fall asleep.