Chapter 2
Cristina started to run, her heart beating loudly against her chest. All she could see were blurred images flying past her, but her mind took no notice. Doctors and nurses yelped and jumped away as she ran blindly down the corridor until she reached a sign reading 'stairwell' and quickly barged through to seek privacy. Seeing that no one was there, Cristina collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily under her breath. The image of seeing Burke replayed again and again in her mind, and his voice - which she hadn't heard for ages – echoed like an ongoing chant. She wasn't prepared at all to even deal with her feelings for Burke ever since he left, let alone meet him here.
Shit, what do I do? She thought frantically. Shit, shit, shit…why is he doing here? What should I do? Is he following me? What should I say if he found me? But why would he follow me? He's the one who bloody left me! God I feel like vomiting.
Her head burrowed into her knees, she tried to keep herself together, but all she could think of was Burke's shocked and rigid expression when he gasped out her name. What does he think of me? She questioned. Does he hate me?
"Cristina?" someone suddenly opened the door and to her relief, it was Henry.
"Are you ok Cristina? What's wrong?" He crouched downed beside her, hand outstretched to comfort her.
"I'm fine." She shook away and immediately stood up.
"Are you sure? You just ran away for some reason and-"
"Yes Henry, I don't need you to tell me what I did." She scowled and returned back to her old self.
"Oh..ok then." Henry smiled unsurely but didn't pursue to question her any further. "You still haven't told me why you're doing here."
"Oh right, crap I forgot. I need to bring back a heart for a heart transplant waiting for me back in Seattle Grace."
"Really? You mean the Seattle Grace Hospital?" Henry gaped, wide-eyed. "So you actually got into that hospital."
"Henry, I don't have time standing here bragging about my glorious years at Seattle Grace, I need the heart."
"Oh right, right." Henry quickly turned to the door and went out. "I've heard about the heart transplant, but I didn't know it was you coming to retrieve it. I'll go and get it for you while you wait at the cockpit if you want."
Cristina looked up at him, surprised at what her friend had offered to do. She never understood how he would know what she was thinking and feeling.
"Um..ok. But I need to see if the heart is at the right condition…"
"Trust me." Henry took the container from her hands. "I'm also doing cardio, and Dr Burke made sure it was a healthy heart." He winked and left her standing bewildered at the staircase.
At the cockpit, Cristina stood waiting for Henry. She was still shocked at how fast she would meet Burke again, and also her old school friend at the same time. Henry is a nice guy, she thought to herself, but frowned slightly as she remembered how annoying and hateful he also is.
"Here it is!" a voice shouted and she jerked up to see Henry running up to her, holding the white container that contained the heart.
"Thanks." Cristina thinly smiled and took the box.
"So um…nice meeting you again." Henry said as she boarded the plane.
"Ah yea, me too." She replied over her shoulder and began to close the door.
"Wait! How-How can I reach you?"
"Huh? Um well…don't." And she slammed the door shut.
Back at Seattle Grace, Cristina successfully returned with the heart and the surgery went according to plan. The middle-age patient laid peacefully on the hospital bed in her room whilst her family quietly rejoiced at the miracle.
"So the heart surgery went well?" Meredith asked as Cristina filled in the conditions of the patient.
"With me, it always goes well." she bragged.
"So can we stop over at Joe's after work?"
"Sure, sure."
"I have done 12 straight rectal exams in the past six hours!" George suddenly came up and slammed the folders down in front of Meredith.
"Woah, Bambi's angry." Cristina smirked.
"George, I can't do anything about it." Meredith annoyingly replied back. "You're an intern and this is what interns do."
"We were interns before, and we never had to do straight rectal exams during the past few weeks without any surgeries." he snapped back.
"Didn't Izzie do that on her first day?" Cristina said.
"Shut up." George glowered.
"Look George, just finish them off and I promise I will let you in to one of the surgeries."
"Yeah well, they better be good surgeries." he muttered and started to trod off.
"So how was Washington Hospital like?" Meredith asked Cristina.
"You went to Washington Hospital?" George sprung back, eyes wide.
"What? It's just like any hospital." Cristina frowned.
"With a big reputation." Meredith added.
"My uncle's nephew's son works there...or was it his son's son?..."
"Look! Nothing happened at the hospital, it was just like any other hospital, and I didn't meet anyone at that hospital." Cristina fired back much to the others' confusion.
"But I didn't mention about meeting anyone at the hospital." Meredith defended, leaning slightly back away from her.
Before Cristina could reply, the breathing alarm at the patient's room went off and the patients' relatives were yelling for help. Cristina ran towards the room and checked the patient's pulse.
"No pulse." she cried as Meredith and George hurried in after her. "Call code blue!"
As the nurses rushed in, they immediately went into routine mode as they prepared to use the defiberlator. After a few tries, the heart was back to normal.
"What-what happened?" One of the patient's relatives asked, looking worryingly back and forth between Cristina and the patient.
"The heart should be right for her." Cristina said as she checked the pulse. "I'm pretty sure...I need someone to run some tests again."
"I will." George volunteered.
"Is mummy going to die?" a child cried, clutching onto his father's leg.
"You're mother's going to be fine." Meredith reassured and looked up at the patient's husband. "We just need to make sure your wife's condition is right for the heart."
"But I thought you already made sure about that." he replied.
"It can be many things." Cristina said. "The heart can be rejected by her body, or it can be affected by something else running in her system that might disrupt its progress."
Finishing her examinations, she left the room with George tailing behind her, leaving Meredith to reassure them once again and left after her.