Chapter One

Emergency Room Seattle Grace

She is really angry this time. Choosing George is one thing but Alex. That's more than she can take. Competition means everything to an intern. Burke knows that. If he wants to keep punishing her, that's his choice but she does not have to take it. She does not have to stand for it. That is not Cristina Yang. That is not why she spent years earning degrees. To be punished by some guy. Not even if that guy is Preston Burke. So what if she loves him. Love has its limits and even he is not worth her self respect. She's going to tell him that it's over. Bitter. That's what her patient called her. Bitter is better than stupid. He had some nerve. Telling her all of those things she never thought she wanted to hear. Making those words she always believed were meaningless have meaning. How dare he fill those empty words with love, making her want them. Need them. Maybe she won't end it. Maybe she'll try to talk to him instead. Looking at her watch, she's sure that Burke and Alex are back in the hospital by now. It's been hours and he has a habit of harvesting organs quickly because it is not something he particularly likes doing. At least Izzie should be happy since Denny is on his way to having a new heart. She smiles thinking of Alex having to help Izzie's new boyfriend. Serves him right. Men are such asses.

"Heads up Yang. There's a trauma coming in. It's surgical unless the guy's already dead. This is the ER. Pay attention if you want to keep up." The doctor doesn't even pause as he hurries past her.

Looking up from the chart she's been pretending to write in for the past 15 minutes, Cristina notices there's a lot more going on in the ER. She must have been daydreaming longer than she thought. Closing her chart, she runs after the doctor "I'm ready. What's coming in?"

"Helicopter" The nurse was busy gathering supplies.

"A helicopter crash." Trying to control her grin, a wide eyed Cristina leans closer to the nurse "Seriously?"

The nurse is amused by Cristina's enthusiasm. She's seen it a hundred times with a hundred different interns. "Yeah. We don't get too many traumas like this so enjoy it."

"Wow. What a great day to be in the ER!" After the crappy day she's had, Cristina can't wait to get into the OR.

"Everyday is a good day in the ER Yang." The ER intern walks by her and Cristina looks over her shoulder remembering, as she does every time she works in the pit, why Bailey has little respect for E.R. interns.

Cristina is giddy as she puts on a gown to await the arrival of the crash victims. She's smiling from ear to ear "This is so much better than a harvest. Burke and Alex can keep their heart."

"You get that you're sick right?"

Cristina turns around to see Meredith staring at her with a disapproving look and a bag of chips "Whatever, you're just jealous that you're stuck with the SheSheppard."

Meredith tosses Cristina the chips and ties the back of her gown. "At least the SheSheppard has all of her parts. Do you realize what these patients are going to look like?"

"Oh yeah! That's why I'm excited. That's why I'm a surgeon. To fix all of the mangled parts so they're all nice and pretty again. Well, less mangled anyway."

Meredith shakes her head. She is always amazed at how excited Cristina gets over bloody body parts. You would think Cristina's the one whose mom is the surgeon.

"You know they probably won't even be alive when they get here. You don't have much chance of surviving a helicopter crash."

Cristina looks in the chip bag as if she's searching for just the right one to eat "Actually half of all medical helicopter crashes have at least one survivor."

Meredith is speechless, surprised that Cristina knows anything about helicopter crashes.

"What? Harvests. Helicopters. Medical journals."

"You're out of control." Meredith takes her chips back and walks away from a laughing Cristina. She doesn't get very far before she sees the Chief and Bailey speaking with the E.D. attending and two police officers.

Believing she's been passed over one too many times by her boyfriend, Cristina heads outside. She's making sure that she gets in on this surgery. She'll show Burke. She doesn't need him to get good OR time.

"Dr. Bailey, why is everyone down here?" Meredith knows that the level of activity in the ER is higher than usual. There are a lot of doctors but not many patients, and, most of those are leftovers from the restaurant shooting.

Bailey walks towards her "Why are you down here?"

"I came down to tell Cristina something but was just on my way up to meet
Dr. Sheppard." Meredith knows she's not doing anything wrong but the Nazi had a way of making the interns feel guilty even when they were innocent.

Bailey looks suspicious.

"Addison Sheppard." Meredith smiles weakly. She has never fully recovered from her embarrassment when Bailey caught her kissing McDreamy in the car.

"Oh, okay. Look, the helicopter that crashed had multiple passengers and they need all available surgeons to assist so you stay. That's why the Chief and I are here. The survivors, if there are any, will have sustained severe injuries. Did you say Yang was still down here?"

"Yeah," Meredith looks around "She probably went outside. She's determined to get in on the trauma. She's still upset that Dr. Burke took Alex on the harvest instead of her."

Seeing Bailey's expression, Meredith immediately knows she gave too much information and braces herself for the resident's irritated response.

All she gets is silence.

"Dr. Bailey? Is everything okay?" Meredith has never seen Bailey silent.

Bailey sighs looking over to the ambulance bay doors and speaking in a soft voice "She's not going to want to see this."

"What?" Meredith doesn't understand why she would say that about Cristina. Of all the interns, Cristina is least likely to be upset by a patient's injuries.

The Chief walks over to them, his voice missing its usual confident tone "It's confirmed."

Bailey feels her stomach drop "Grey, go get Cristina."

"But Dr. Bailey…"

"Meredith. Go." Bailey knows using her first name signals that there is no time to explain because, yes, there is a problem.

Meredith is alarmed by Bailey's use of her first name. Without another word, she makes her way towards the door to get Cristina. Something is very wrong. There are too many people around for something not to be wrong.

"Cristina you need to come inside."

Glancing over her shoulder, Cristina has other plans "Yeah, right. I spent the day babysitting dysfunctional lovebirds. Nothing is stopping me from getting into the OR."

"Cristina I'm serious. Bailey wants you." Meredith is standing so close to the automatic doors that they will not shut.

"Tell her you couldn't find me."

"Seriously?"

Rolling her eyes, Cristina walks over to explain again "Look Mer. If I don't get in on one of these surgeries I'm going to lose it. Do you really want to be responsible for that?"

Seeing the determination on Cristina's face, Meredith grabs her arm and drags her inside.

"What is your problem?" Cristina is yelling at Meredith as they reach the nurse's desk where the Chief, Bailey and Sheppard are standing. Meredith is even more concerned seeing McDreamy in the ER.

"Found her." Meredith gives Bailey a quick toothless smile as Cristina, frustrated and confused, yanks her arm away.

"What is going on?" Cristina is annoyed that she might miss another shot to get into the OR today. She looks at Meredith then back to the group in front of her.

Sheppard and Bailey both look at the Chief then back to Cristina who is standing there impatiently waiting. Her curls falling out of their clip and onto her face.

"What?" A little calmer, Cristina begins to realize that the faces of the surgeons that she works with each day are different. At that moment, she sees worry in all of their eyes. They're not supposed to look like that. She's used to seeing confidence in those eyes.

The Chief clears his throat "Cristina. The helicopter that crashed is one of Seattle Grace's."

"What?" Cristina doesn't know why she asked a question. She heard exactly what he said.

Taking a deep breath, the Chief continues with sadness in his voice "The one coming back from Mercy West."

"Mercy…" Cristina is not able to finish her sentence. Feeling Meredith place a hand on her shoulder, she swallows and looks down at her feet as she tries to hold back tears. Trying to think of another reason they'd be telling her this.

"Yes." Baileys tone is soft. It's not the tone of the Nazi. It's the caring tone of a parent.

Cristina looks up, her breaths are deeper, more frequent as her hope reveals itself "Oh. There was a second helicopter up today?"

"Cristina"

She laughs, confidently, brushing her hair off of her face, "Burke's back. The harvest doesn't take that long. He got back hours ago."

Cristina turns to Meredith and shakes her head "Mer, it's a mistake." Burke's upstairs operating on Denny's heart is the thought running through her head. He had to be back already.

Biting the inside of her lip, Cristina watches as none of the surgeons say a single word. Her eyes scan their faces, begging them to say something. Anything. Their silence tells her everything. Burke isn't upstairs in the OR. Denny doesn't have his heart. They don't need to say anything.

The Chief confirms what their faces have been telling her "There was only one Mercy West trip today."

"But…" Suddenly she can't focus. She's trying but she can't. She feels her hand touch the desk as she braces herself. Feels her feet moving but she's not going anywhere. Her face feels hot and the pressure behind her eyes is even greater now.

"We're still trying to find out what happened. There is a lot of confusion. We do know that there is at least one survivor." The Chief has seen and done a lot of things in his career, many of them very unpleasant, but he has never had to do anything as painful as this.

Meredith whispers to Cristina "You were right. He could be that one."

Meredith is stunned. She cannot imagine what Cristina is feeling. None of them can. Burke is important to all of them in different ways. A friend, a surgeon, a mentor, a colleague but he is everything to Cristina.

A/N: Hope that you enjoyed the story. If you're interested in reading more Bang fics that are not posted here visit http/s15. The More Than Coffee Message Board is a very active forum focused on discussing the characters of Cristina Yang and Preston Burke.