The future. Our lives weigh so heavily upon it. Every day we wake up. We get dressed. We go to work. To school. To church. We do it everyday because somewhere along the line we have something to look forward to; our vacations, our weddings, the birth of our children. We invest everything in our future, never stopping to live moment for moment until life is cruel enough to deal us a hand that demands that we take pause, forget the future, and focus on the now.

Burke pressed his lips to Cristina's, his heart rate increasing, his airway constricted. A mixture of blood, sweat and tears dripped from his face to hers as he forced air into her lungs, "Come on, Cristina...the ambulance will be here soon..", he pleaded with her limp form, pumping her chest harder.

Rain dropped from the sky, an onslaught of anger from the heavens.

The other car came out of nowhere and blindsided her side of the car.

They were talking about getting married, about what their future could be like, and the car came out of nowhere and ended it.

"No!" he cursed to himself, giving her more of his own air, trying to keep her body alive.

She was mangled and twisted on the pavement when the paramedics arrived, "Sir...we can take over." the young woman tried to take over compressions.

He looked up for only a second to recognize the paramedic Hannah, and he began to panic. "You're still new...you can't do this."

"Dr. Burke..." The young girl was slightly taken aback, but said no more.

He continued to do compressions while the EMT began to bag Cristina's limp form.

"She need's to be intubated. You need a 7.5..."

Hannah looked to him and nodded, pulling an intubation kit from her bag, "Move, Dennis!" she snapped as they pulled a carefully coreographed move.

She moved Cristina's jaw forward with a sickening crack to open her airway, "Hyperventilate her..."

The respirations sped up and Burke was satisfied as he saw the rise and fall of her chest, continuing the compressions.

He could feel her ribs giving way under him, and he tried to push it out of his mind, he was saving her.

He had to save her.

They had a future.

Hannah slid the laryngoscope into place, "I need cricoid pressure, I can't see anything...portable suction..."

The EMT laid his hand over her neck to make it easier for the vocal cords to be seen while simultaneously handing the suction to the young brunette.

"I see cords..." she muttered to herself, inserting the tube into her airway. "Bag her!"

The EMT continued to bag her, and Hannah slid a strip into the bag-valve mask. "Good color change...get the boards."

Dennis ran back to the rig to grab the boards and Hannah placed a stethoscope over Cristina's chest, "Bag her for a minute." she told Burke.

He stopped his compressions and took over the bag, "Do you hear anything?? Anything?"

He looked down, his Cristina ashen and bloody, and his heart ached.

"She's got a heartbeat...we gotta get her to the hospital before we lose it again."

Burke fell backwards on the wet pavement looking to the sky as the rain washed the blood from his face. His own heart was racing as was his mind.

The EMT hooked her to a monitor and Burke watched her rhythm.

It was bradycardic, but there were no arrhythmias, and that was a good sign.

For now.

He leaned forward to help slide the long board under her and watched as they strapped her the board.

She was like a rag doll.

The fighter in her was gone.

He clutched his head in frustration, he had to quit thinking like this.

She wasn't gone.

She hadn't even started to fight yet.

"We have to start fluids on her before we leave, Dr. Burke." Hannah called to him through the rain. "She's going to go into shock if we don't!"

He nodded his head, "Do it. Just be quick! We need to get her to Seattle Grace now..."

They were talking about the future.

And then that damn car.

He paused.

The other driver...where was the other driver.

He was quickly on his feet and walked to the other car that had become meshed with Cristina's side of his car, "You almost killed her...you could've killed her!" he was balling his fists in anger.

He was no longer a doctor, but a boyfriend who nearly lost his girlfriend.

As he rounded to the driver side of the car to see the driver behind the wheel his fists became unclenched and his heart sank deep into his stomach.

Meredith Grey was behind the wheel.

A/N: Thought of it at work today. It's not going to be updated as quickly as Hanukkah was, but hey...you guys will live, right?