Chapter 14 New idea

For those of you curious, the research of Car T-cell therapy was true but its application on cardiac tumor was fictional, I made that up because Cristina is a CT surgeon. The stem-cell therapy was true as well, currently going through clinical trials.

Also, I suck at describing M contents so I will skip these parts.

Disclaimer: GA and all characters belong to Shonda and ABC

Fiona's POV

In the attending's lounge

Glancing through the magazine, I found an article listing every year's breakthrough for Harper Avery winners.

"Last year Dr. Ellen Walter discovered the CAR T-cell therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and hit a home run on the possible treatment for all B-cell cancers. This year Dr. Preston Burke was nominated for Harper Avery and I personally think he had a huge chance at winning it. His research on stem cell therapies for heart muscle regeneration is revolutional and his surgical record is impeccable."

His surgical record is damn well perfect. First he left something in a patient's abdomen and now he had an intern did all his surgeries. What a perfect surgeon. Why did I want to work with him in the first place? I would be better off working with this Dr. Ellen Walter for those T-cell therapies, at least I got to learn something new or even chose a second major.

"In T-cell therapy, doctors would genetically engineer the patient's own immune cell to recognize and attack their tumors. Dr. Ellen Walter found a genetically engineered T-cell and named it CAR T-cell specialized in attacking B-cells, which worked miraculously on patients with end stage leukemia. Scientists are now looking forward to adapting it to shrinking solid tumors like brain tumor..."

Wait, solid tumors. Baby Nason had a secondary cardiac tumor, that's a solid tumor. What if I could adapt another T-cell that could control his tumor growth and gave him more time until he was strong enough to survive the surgery?

I ran towards Dr. Thompson's office and caught a hold of him. "Dr. Thompson, I had this idea about this adoptive cell transfer method on this patient..."

"Fiona, you know that I am doing my own clinical trial now so I couldn't help you with that. This is a huge topic and would need a lot of fundings. You need a clinical trial to work on this, not to mention the FDA approvals would take time too. By the time you finally figured everything out, it could be too late for baby Nason." He was very surprised by my sudden idea.

"I am well aware of that, Dr. Thompson. What if I could take care of the FDA approvals and the fundings? Would you be ok if I started my clinical trial? Because in that case I wouldn't be able to help you with your trial anymore." I felt guilty about that. Fiona gave him tremendous help for his research and I was going to drop all of that.

"Fiona, I saw greatness in you from the beginning. If you succeeded in this trial, I would like the medical community to know that I helped train you and mold you." He patted me on my shoulder and handed me back Nason's chart.

"Thank you Pop, that means a lot to me. And yes, I will definitely mention you if I succeed." Usually I was not a hugging person but I gave him a hug this time before walking away.

I spent the afternoon researching all the articles I could find about T-cell therapy and found a laboratory working on specialized T-cells for solid tumors. I negotiated with the laboratory and signed the contract with them in the conference room at the hospital. I even persuaded the board that I would use my own money to start my clinical trial. At the end of the day, I got my own laboratory set up at the hospital and a clinical trial to start. What a roller coaster day! Yesterday I was telling Kepner that we couldn't save the baby, today I am going to start a phase one clinical trial because of him. It was getting late. Taking a look at the clock hanging on the wall, I realized it was already 4 in the morning. It was another day. I stretched my arms, turned off the lights and headed towards home to take a shower and change my clothes.

Outside Fiona's apartment

Approaching my apartment, I saw Burke sitting at the corner, sleeping. Why is he here? Did Mer not tell him I don't want to see him today? I tried my best to lower the sound of my footsteps and turned the lock of the door. Just when I was shutting the door and getting in, a black and strong hand butted in the slit and stopped me.

"Are you crazy? You could destroy your precious hand that worth value to you and there will be no Harper Avery." Why do I even care? He wants to destroy his hand, fine, I don't care.

"Cristina, I am sorry that I said my hands were the only thing that worth value to me. I didn't mean that. You are the only thing that worth value to me. I could live if I can't operate anymore, but I couldn't live without you." He put his hand up like he was going to touch my face.

"Oh now after everything you have the gut to say that. Now what? You have your career back and you're on your way of winning a Harper Avery. Now you have the time to think of me. You know what, screw you!" I tried to push him out of my apartment but he was stronger than me so he didn't move.

"Cristina, I'm so sorry for everything. I love you and you promised we still had a chance. Tell me, what could I do to prove to you that I love you. I would do anything you ask. Please..."

"Don't 'Cristina' me! I am Fiona White in case you didn't notice. Last night was a mistake. I don't want to see you or talk to you anymore. Now, get out of my apartment!" I pointed to the door furiously to make myself clear.

"Fiona, what's wrong? Why did you change overnight? Talk to me, we can sort this out. Please, come home with me."

"First, that is your apartment not my home. Second, no matter how many please you use, I'm not buying, get out of my apartment!" I snapped at him.

"Is this about the Harper Avery? I could tell the foundation that I am willing to give you all the credit..."

"Oh save it. You know it and I know it, the credit always goes to the attending. You know what, fine, you stay, I'll go." I was so tired of him and just wanted to get away from him.

"No, no, you stay, I'll go." He stumbled outside, his tall figure seemed to shrink with his exhaustion and sadness. I almost wanted to stop him and let him stay, but I made a mental note to stop myself. You can't do this to yourself anymore. He's not worth it. I slapped the door of my bedroom and hopped onto the bed.

at 7.30 in the morning

Damn, I couldn't sleep for 2 hours. His stumbling back keep replaying in my mind. I took a shower and get dressed to go to starbucks and get my morning coffee when I saw him still sitting on the ground with two coffees in his hands.

"Coffee." He stood up and handed me the coffee as soon as he caught a glimpse of me getting out of my door.

"You're here the whole night? Don't you have a morning shift?" He always knew what to say. Damn him.

"I took the morning off. Come on, you didn't get enough rest. I'll give you a ride and pick you up after your shift. What time does your shift end?" He smirked at me with his you-know-my-shift-you-care-about-me eyes. I was so annoyed at him that I didn't protest, simply agreed with his proposal, "Five thirty."

"Five thirty it is then. Do you want to have dinner at my place or your place?" He asked when we were on our way to his car.

"You realized that I still don't want to talk to you, right?" I hated him when he could predict me so well.

"I'll take that as you prefer your place. You know I couldn't break into your place if I have to prepare dinner..." He said like it was a matter of fact. I glared at him and threw my key into his car. He laughed at my childish behavior. It was always like this between us. Not many words were needed, but we stick even if I am mad, even if he's mad. We stick till we figure it out.

At home after the shift

As soon as I opened the door of my apartment, a brown suitcase came into my view. "What is that?" I pointed at the suitcase and planned to interrogate him.

"That's a suitcase." He looked at me with his innocent puppy eyes again.

"I know that. If the owner of the place doesn't want or ask for the suitcase, will it produce a sound when you wheel it around?" This conversation sounds awfully familiar.

"It's just a suitcase." He looked away immediately after he said that. "Or...it could be me moving in with you." Now he was blushing slightly.

"Excuse me?! Are you saying that you transferred all your stuff here unauthorized by the owner?" What is he thinking about?

"Well...I got a key from you, so it is not exactly unauthorized..." He winked at me.

"Stop that, winking doesn't suit you. Plus, Burke, seriously?"

"Listen, you were mad at me because I forced you to take all the steps in our relationship, because I forced you to move in. So I won't force you anymore this time. I'm going to chase after you and I'm not letting you go, ever. So yeah, I moved in without your permission. Are you going to throw me out?" He pulled me towards him and kissed me gently. "Hell no." I was impressed by his commitment this time and kissed him back with all my passion. Just then my phone rang. I was startled and jumped all of his embrace at once. I dragged my phone out and found it was Meredith calling. I tried my best to steady my breath before answering the phone.

"Hey, what's up Mer?"

"You're killing me here. Burke forced me to tell him your address and acted like someone ate his cheese all day yesterday. Today he took the morning off and when he came back, he returned to his usual cocky and arrogant Burke again. What did you do to him?" Meredith was obviously itching to know the story.

Burke grabbed my phone and started to talk to her, "Grey, I can hear you and you are intruding a moment now." He hanged up before she had a chance to say anything.

"You frightened her." I used my fingers to draw circles on his chest and quickly ran towards the dinning stable, "That means we are having dinner now."

"No, you are going to feed me first..." With that said he started to loosen the belt of my jeans.