XX

It's not his home, it's not even his apartment, but he feels weird knocking on the door and waiting for Callie to answer. She doesn't say anything, instead gives him a tired smile and heads back to the couch, picks up the book she was reading and goes back to scanning the pages as she nervously worries her bottom lip between her teeth. He would ask if it wasn't so tired, but he can barely stand, his legs feel like they are moments away from collapsing beneath him.

Jackson doesn't even question why he came to Cristina's apartment instead of going back to his own, in the back of his mind he tells himself because she lives much closer to the hospital than he does, and in the back of his mind he ignores that possibility that he could have just crashed in an on call room. He didn't want to go back to his empty apartment, he didn't want to fall asleep in the hospital, he wanted to come here, wanted to be able to fall asleep with Cristina in his arms or snuggled up against him, her face on his chest and her legs wrapped around his. He doesn't want to think about anything right now he just wants to sleep.

Hand curled around the door handle he pushes Cristina's room open and steps into the darkness, pulling the door closed behind him. She stirs but doesn't wake at the sound. He pauses, lets his eyes adjust to the darkness of the room before his eyes settle on her face, it seems insane that they've known each other, actually known each other for only a few months, but he can't imagine not been able to sleep next to, can't imagine not been able to kiss her or hear her laugh.

He wonders for a moment, pants at his ankles, whether he should just leave some clothes here, wonders if it's too soon for him to leave something here, if Cristina will freak out, if he should freak out at the prospect of wanting to move in with her even though it's still so soon. Freaking out won't change what he thinks, and he isn't really even surprised at the thought, its' not the first time he thought he'd like to wake up to Cristina every morning he possibly can.

Shirt and briefs left on, he clambers onto bed beside her, hoping not to wake her. Pulling the covers over him as slowly as he can, her foot rests against his leg and as he gets comfortable she shuffles over, sighing sleepily as she shifts from her pillow and onto his chest.

"And what time do you call this?" Cristina murmured against his chest, her eyes still shut as her fingers curled around his shirt.

Jackson smiles to himself, barely awake and she's still completely Cristina, he's not even a little shocked. Pressing a kiss against her forehead he replied, "Surgery ran long, did you miss me?"

"Hmm maybe." Cristina smiles against his shirt, shuffles a little and then stills, her whole body completely relaxed. Jackson doesn't need to look at her to know she's almost asleep, can feel it in the way her chest rises and falls against his, can hear it in her voice.

Skin soft against lips, Jackson hoped he wouldn't be woken by a pager anytime soon, hoped that he could spend a few hours of sleep with Cristina in his arms. "I missed you too."

They fall into silence, Cristina teetering at the edge of unconsciousness and Jackson being hauled there. His limbs aching he makes a mental note to never try and keep up with Alex at the gym, to never try to keep up with him when they run. His breathing slows and Cristina feels herself falling asleep, but can't sleep without a confession that is lingering on the tip of her tongue.

"I sleep better when you're here." Cristina whispered. The rise and fall of Jackson's chest remained steady, and with her eyes closed and her face pressed against Jackson's cheek she couldn't see the faint smile that curled Jackson's lips while he pretended to be asleep. Pulling her close, Jackson couldn't remember the last time he had happily slept alone.

…

Sun spilling through the window and onto the bed Jackson rolls over away from the light, and drops to the floor with a muttered, "Fuck." No laugh falls between lips so he knows without a doubt that Cristina's not in the room. Rubbing his ass he forgoes putting his jeans back on before he heads out of Cristina's bedroom and to the kitchen, hoping to fill himself up with coffee and maybe steal a bagel or two.

Cristina's leaning over the bench, phone pressed against her ear as Jackson wanders over to her. Spotting the coffee pot on the bench, he presses a kiss to her neck and murmured, "Morning." Quiet enough that only Cristina could hear.

"Uh huh yeah, see you at work." Cristina finished into the phone as Jackson took another sip of his freshly poured coffee and watched the toaster, daring it to burn his bagel again, while wishing that it heat it so much faster.

"You sleep well?" Jackson asked, smiling over at her as the toaster popped. They chat for a few minutes, falling into easy conversation as Cristina texts Mere and reads over two files Callie left for on the table. Bagel finished, Jackson swallows the rest of his coffee and moves to start washing his dishes.

Eyes still scanning the last page of the second file, Cristina asked, "When does your shift start?"

"Not until-" Jackson started, only to sigh as his pager cut him short. Coffee still in hand he ignores the smile that curls Cristina's lips that he so desperately wants to kiss off as he slips back into her bedroom in search of his pager. "20 minutes."

"Perfect." Cristina smirked.

"Perfect?"

Cristina seemed to sigh at Jackson, sighing at how slow he could be when he was coffee was still waking him up. Hands move to turn on the tap as she answered, "You still have to shower before we head to work."

"I don't take twenty minutes to-" Jackson started, shaking his head, not understanding Cristina's smirk until her noticed her fingers wrapping around the bottom of her shirt. "Oh." Jackson breathed as Cristina pulled her shirt over her head and took another step backwards towards her room.

Eyes trailing after her, he stayed in the kitchen, palms still resting on the corner of the sink. The shower flicks on, and Jackson's body moves before he tells it to. Grabbing Cristina's shirt on the way to the room, he threw it on the bed and started to strip as he kicked the door shut behind him. Callie and Arizona were out now, but he knew Cristina could be loud.

Lips on his the second he entered the bathroom, he kissed her back hungrily, it had been far too long since he'd kissed her. Palm against his chest, he let her push him under the stream of water, let her tongue slide between his lips as his hands wandered over her skin. Finger tips digging into her thighs as he lifted her up and shifted them both, pushed her against the shower wall as his lips left hers. Pressing kisses across her jaw, he smiled against her skin as her hands clung on to him, Jackson paused underneath her ear, and he moaned against her skin as she rolled her hips against his.

"Morning." Cristina whispered her lips hovering above his as she lowered her right hand between them. His eyes fell shut and he kissed his lips hungrily, needing more of him she wrapped her legs around his waist, and pulled his body closer to hers.

She really should have been on her way to work already, but she had barely seen Jackson in over two days, hadn't really had time to feel his lips against hers, have his body pressed against hers, have him inside of her. Unable to control her mouth, unable to filter like she usually did, Cristina moaned and whimpered, her voice breathless and needy as Jackson took her apart in a way only he knew how. His eyes burned into her the moment their lips weren't on each-others anymore, and god he looked gorgeous when he was like this.

Lips no longer on lips, Jackson pressed kisses down her throat, his body still moving, still making her cry out and dig her nails into his back. Lips paused, and he looked up at Cristina through his lashes, watched her smirk at him and open her mouth to say something, but words morphed into a moan as Jackson clamped down on her, lips sucking and teeth grazing against her skin, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to leave a mark for a few days, a mark that no one could see but she could feel, a mark just like Cristina had given him only minutes ago.

Fingers tugging on hair, mouths hot and bodies panting against each other, Cristina arched her back and moaned over the sound of the shower as Jackson's body slackened and his eyes fluttered shut again. And for a few minutes, nothing mattered in the world except for each other. Soft smiles and languid kisses followed, the moment dragged on and the water ran down their skin, work forgotten as Cristina smiled against Jackson's lips, and for a few seconds there was something she had to tell him, something that she felt couldn't wait, but then her pager went off on her bedside table, and what she had to tell him was forgotten.

…

Four hours into his shift, Jackson would be pulling his fucking hair out if he actually had any of a length able to yank at. Part of him wants to page Cristina, he knows that she will laugh at him, tell him he's an idiot, but she's in surgery. He feels like an idiot, absolutely idiotic, but that doesn't solve the problem, so he gives his patient a smile and heads out of the room, hoping that someone will be out there, someone who can help.

"What?" Alex takes a sip of his coffee, eyes lifting from the chart he is scanning. Jackson's sigh of relief has long since faded and he is ready to be insulted, knows that he probably will be as he comes to a stop in front of Alex, eyes on him, not really sure how to put what he has to say.

Alex watches him, waits for him to say something, he nods at him as he takes another sip, wondering what Jackson is going to say that he is having such a hard time getting out. "Look if this is about Cristina- " Alex started, thinking he has some idea what Jackson might be wanting to talk about, but Jackson's eyes widens and he shakes his head.

"This uhm.. this patient, I can't find a heartbeat."

"So call the morgue, 40-watt." Alex answered, eyes going back to his chart as he sighs, he likes Jackson he does, and he seems a smart enough guy, he would even consider him his friend, but sometimes, he worries about him.

"He's not dead." Jackson answered, still not sure how to put this. Alex looks up, shuts his folder as Jackson continued, "He's sitting up, he's talking."

"Dude, You're lucky you have a famous name." Jackson shook his head, wanting to tell him that he's not an idiot, but instead he just sighs and follows Alex back into the room. He feels like an idiot and as Alex gives him a glance before the door falls shut behind him, he hopes that he can't find a heartbeat either.

Wiping the condescending look he had thrown at Jackson completely off his face he said, "Take a deep breath, sir."

"Having…. trouble doing that." Todd replied, hands resting on his knees as he tried not to look at his girlfriend who was still glaring at him.

"When he was nine they removed his right lung" Jackson explained to Alex. He doesn't want Alex to find this guys' heartbeat either, knows that if he does he'll never hear the end of it, not from him, not from anyone and certainly not from Cristina.

"Now the other one's crapping out on me."

"Or maybe you're having an anxiety attack because I asked you to move in with me." Molly answered, her tone frosted over as she glares at him.

Jackson glances over at Alex, who doesn't seem to be listening to Molly, his face is screwed up in concentration before confusion shrouds it and he looks up at Jackson. "I can't find his heart."

"Oh yeah? Me neither." Molly answered, dropping into the chair by the window, wishing that she hadn't gotten out of bed this morning, this whole day would have been so much better if she had simply refused to rise with the sun.

"No, I really can't." Alex shook his head, eyes on Jackson before he glanced back to his patient who was staring up at him in confusion.

Jackson smirked, glad he wasn't the only one who couldn't, "Who's the 40-watt now?"

"I can't... I can't..." Todd starts murmuring and falls backwards unable to hold himself up any longer. Hands on shoulders Alex supports him as Jackson grabs his legs and rests his legs up on the seat, all the while both of them wondering why they couldn't find his heartbeat.

"Get a stat chest xray, page cardio." Alex commanded, as Molly rose from the chair, her eyes wide as she watched Todd struggle to breathe, and for the first time since she asked him, she forgot all about the prospect of them moving in together.

…

Feet finally off the floor, Cristina leans back in the chair at the nurses station. No need for coffee she goes through her stack of files, writing and signing in them as she zones out just a little bit. She doesn't think about Jackson, not really… except she does, and when she nears the end of her last file she glances up, hoping to see Jackson but finds George leaning against the nursing station instead.

George smiles, looks down at his pager and Cristina waits, she knows that expression, knows George, knows that he's got something to say. Grinning George leant forward and said, "Heard your boyfriend couldn't find a mans heartbeat."

"Mercy Westers." Cristina sighed.

Glancing back down at her chart she gets a few words written down before Jackson's voice is coming behind her. "It was by his damn kidney!"

"He has postpneumonectomy syndrome?" Cristina turned to face him as she looked up from her chart and bit back the 'Sure sure', making a mental note to tease him about it later.

"Yup, he needs saline implants to hold it into place."

"Bet that made him happy, what guy doesn't want fake books in his chest." Cristina laughed, and stole George's smoothie, gave him a smile as she took a sip.

"Does he have a choice?" George asked, smiling at the nurse who gave him a chart before he stole his smoothie back from Cristina and took a chug.

Cristina grins. "Not if he likes to breathe." Chart finished, she slams it shut and ignores George trying to flirt with the nurse. Eyes on Jackson, she feels her heart flutter as he smiles at her. Cursing herself for feeling this happy by just being around him, she tries to ignore the way he smile brightens as he looks at her.

As usual her pager interrupts her thoughts and as she checks it her grin widens. Rising from the chair Cristina quickly pulls her hair off her face and into a bun.

"We still on for dinner?"

Cristina pulls on her coat and grins. "Probably."

"You gonna stand me up for a surgery?" Jackson asked. In all truth they won't make dinner, well the time they were thinking for dinner, but it doesn't matter, they don't have a set time or even a reservation. Jackson has a takeaway place that he is shocked that Cristina has never heard of, so they can order in at 3am and it still be dinner.

"Depends how good it is." Cristina smiled, pulled Jackson towards her and kissed him. Ignoring George groan beside them, she kissed Jackson again before pulling back. Grabbing George by the arm and saving the nurse for George's unclear attempts of flirting, she pulls him down the hallway and smiles as she feels Jackson's eyes linger on her before she heads round the corner. "What about Sarah?" Cristina asked George as soon a few steps later.

Blushing slightly, George started, "I haven't done any like flirting in a while, I just-"

"You were practicing!" Cristina exclaimed, interrupting George as she understood. She can't help the grin that forms, and with George groaning beside her, she cooed, "That is adorable."

"Shut up." George mumbled, and let her wrap her around him and ruffle his hair as she laughed. Grinning she ignored George's glare and wondered how she was so genius, she had given George Sarah's number to help him but she helped herself too, this was going to be brilliant. Musing over how much hilarity George would now provide with his new love life, Cristina chuckled her way down the hallway.

…

"Mark's trying to kill Alex." Lexie groaned as the door shut behind Cristina. Mere and Lexie were scrubbing out of surgery and Cristina was about to scrub in.

"What?"

Cristina's question ignored, Mere shifts over a little so Cristina can stand next to her as she looks over at Lexie who is trying her best not to shout, or cry, whichever comes first. "Well I mentioned sleeping with Alex was bad idea."

"No, it's not a bad idea. It's happy and easy. You know how much mental energy Mark took up? I'm telling you, ending it is the best thing that could have happened to me. And for him! You know how much happier he'd be if he could just move on?" Lexie is almost yelling now, even though she is trying to convince both herself and them that she doesn't really care about Mark. Cristina and Mere exchange a glance but say nothing for a few seconds. Cristina continues to scrub in and wonders whether she should keep her smart comments to herself for now.

"Looked to me like he was trying to pick up Teddy." Mere doesn't want to tell Lexie what she actually thinks, she can do that later, because Lexie is going to crack about this Mark thing, and there is nothing Mere can do to stop it.

Both hands resting against the edge of the sink, Lexie shakes her head and tries to not think about for a few seconds, but of course fails miserably. "Sure, he'll sleep with her. He slept with Addison. He'll screw anything that moves, but I'm supposed to check into a convent. Why is he hanging on like this?"

"You're just that good, little grey." Cristina grinned, scrubbing her hands together as she met Lexie's eyes before she added, "There's no getting over you." Lexie shot her a look before she shook her hands and headed out of the room without even drying her hands.

Smile curling lips Mere laughs. "You clear the room every time, you clear the room."

"She's not ready for him to move on is she?" Cristina asked after a few moments.

"No."

Cristina shook her head, this girl really shouldn't let her heart live in her vagina, it doesn't do her any good. "And she doesn't even know it yet."

"Not yet." Mere answered, leaning against the door. Cristina shot her a smile before Mere stepped out into the hallway and let the door fall shut behind her. Pushing all thoughts of Lexie and Mark and Alex and even Jackson out of her head, Cristina continued to scrub in, ready for surgery, ready for a few hours of peace from all the drama.

…

Patient in recovery, Cristina tosses up between heading to the pit to find a new case before her patient wakes up and eating, and as her stomach rumbles as she steps into the lift, eating wins.

"Mark basically told Teddy she needed implants." Alex is telling Lexie as Cristina drops down beside him, sandwich hand and smile on her face, she knows this will be good.

Lexie almost drops her drink, her mouth opening as she absorbs what Alex just said. "What?"

"And then told her she had fantastic breasts." Alex continued, and Cristina barked out a laugh before taking a sip of her drink, wondering if George will show up just to steal some of it.

"What?" Lexie doesn't seem to be capable of saying anything else, and Cristina can't really blame her, not when she knows how Lexie still feels about Mark.

Totally missing Lexie's pained expression, Alex added, "Then asked her out."

"What!?" Lexie moaned, her expression falling completely and Cristina takes a bite of her sandwich and nods hello to Charles who hesitantly drops in the seat next to Lexie, he's still a Mercy Wester, but they are friends, all of them, sort of.

Sensing a desperate need in a change of conversation, Charles thinks for a moment, wondering what to say. "There is some big tumour case that someone is working on."

"And Bailey's going to Warren's place for dinner, and Callie says she freaking out about the sex, since it's the third date." Cristina added.

"What?" Lexie isn't alone, Alex and Charles both ask it with her and it takes Cristina a few seconds to realise that she probably shouldn't have said that little nugget of information.

"Oh yeah, she told me not to mention that to anyone else." Cristina shrugged and took another bite of her sandwich as she gave each of them a look. Behind her Mere was laughing as she pulled up a chair and sat next to Cristina, obviously she had heard Cristina too.

"Teddy was going on a date with Mark, she wants to go to Joe's, but he wants to go to dinner." Mere said, the words already out of her mouth before she thought about it, before it actually occurred to her that Lexie was sitting across the table from her, and despite Lexie sleeping with Alex, despite her being over Mark, that wasn't the case, not properly.

"Ohh he's finely growing up." Cristina smiled.

Alex shook his head, "Teddy just wanted sex."

"Why are you telling me this!" Lexie groaned, dropping her head down on the table as she sighed again, wondering why she even came here to eat in the first place. She should have known better, should have waited for the labs she needed to get and ate at the same time, she shouldn't have stayed in the cafeteria to chat.

"Callie still can't get her cartilage to be anything but liquid." Cristina said, changing the subject and earning a grateful smile from Lexie who popped her head back up. Cristina smiled in return before she groaned as Alex stole her smoothie and finished it off for her with a grin.

Head back on her arms, Lexie offered, "My patient had a cyst that his parent ruptured by hugging him too hard."

"And Webber went off on Derek, since he picked Mitchell's plan over his for the tumour surgery. Said something about him lacking vision." Mere stole another few chips from Alex as she spoke.

Charles shook his head, "What a sore loser."

"Did Mrs Taylor live?" Alex asks, wondering whether a good case in on the cards for him today. He needs a good case.

Lexie shrugs, head still on the table. "No clue, ask George."

"He's in on the surgery?" Mere asked with a groan. She shouldn't be surprised, he spends most of his time in trauma now, it's no wonder he's the trauma dudes guy.

"Yeah, so is Jackson." Cristina sighed. She wasn't jealous of her boyfriend, not even a little bit, she was jealous of her fellow resident who got on an awesome case that she didn't get on.

Alex groaned, "What?" A pager went off and they all shifted to check, all hoping it was theirs calling them to a surgery, onto a new case, onto something.

"And so am I!" Cristina shouted, grinning down at her pager. Handing what was left of her sandwich to Alex she grabbed her phone off the table and ran out of the cafeteria, it was 911, she didn't have to walk.

...

In surgery Jackson is not Jackson, Jackson is Dr Avery, a fellow resident, a fellow competitor, a fellow surgeon. But as Cristina glances up at him, she can't help but smile behind her surgical mask, she lo- no, she shakes her head to herself, she likes, she likes not the other l word. She likes the look in Jackson's eyes, and she has to look away and back at her patient, she's not distracted, she doesn't get distracted in surgery, but if she spends much longer looking at Jackson and his obscene eyes, she will be distracted.

Dr Mitchell's voice is helping to ground Cristina, helping her to not focus on how much she wants her hands on Jackson right this fucking minute, as he said, "I've isolated the bloody supply and mobilised the liver, but I can't get enough exposure to get to the tumour."

"What if we lift the liver up, give you more visibility?" Webber answered immediately.

"That'd help with the periphery, but I'd still have to deal with the vessels." Dr Mitchell's eyes were stuck to the cavity as he mind whirled and he tried to think of some way to do this. "I wish we could just take the damn thing out." He added with a sigh.

"Well why not?" Webber answered after a few seconds of silence. Jackson glanced over to Cristina who was pointedly ignoring her gaze, he wondered for a second what that was about before he looked over at Webber, wondering whether he was joking or completely serious. "Let's take the liver out. I can clean off the tumour ex vivo, you can work on the vascular supply in the cavity." Webber was completely serious.

The OR feel silent, Cristina glanced over at George who asked, "Will it work?"

"No one's ever tried that." Cristina answered, shaking her head as she watched Webber and Mitchell, who were staring at each other, both of their expressions set, both obviously locked in their minds for a few seconds, trying to work out whether they could actually do this or-

"She's crashing. If you're trying something, now's the time." Jackson interrupted.

…

Soap and water.

Stillness and relief.

All scrubbed out, no longer fearing for the life of his grandfather, Jackson leans back in his chair, yet another chart resting on his lap as he fills out details that he can barely remember, and wishes that his residents were somewhat less incompetent.

"No Harper Avery for this one." Mere sighed, chart in her lap long forgotten. Sitting beside Jackson with her feet tucked underneath her chair, she keeps her eyes on Cristina for a few seconds, willing herself not to yawn.

"Waste!" Cristina's facing Webber and Mitchell, both of which seem completely satisfied with the result of the surgery, no longer butting heads but actually discussing things, and she's not disappointed they aren't fighting, although that would be entertaining, she is disappointed there is no aware for that surgery, not this time.

"No it's not a waste. It's what my grandfather had in mind when he came up with the stupid thing." Jackson started. His eyes are on Mitchell and Webber now too, watching them converse, and smiling as his pen hovers over paper, his residents failures forgotten as he continued, "Find some way to keep surgeons motivated. Make them take it to the next level, even if they're already at the top of their game and that's exactly what it did today."

Jackson is facing Cristina now, telling her and Mere, but Mere is looking back down at her chart, knowing that Cristina won't be able to resist, knows that even though she can't see her that Cristina is nodding solemnly and fighting not to tease Jackson, but not very hard, because she wants to tease Jackson and she wouldn't be Cristina if she didn't.

"This message was brought to you by the Harper Avery Foundation of America." Cristina kept her face as expressionless as possible, her body still as she remained leaning on the nurses station. Mere cannot help that laughter that slips between her lips and with eyes on her chart, her shoulders shake and she grins, knowing that if she catches Cristina's eye, or that look on her face, she'll laugh even louder. Jackson purses lips and gives an exasperated sigh, not even a little surprised at this treatment as he turns from her. "Donations to the Foundation can be made at www..."

Jackson doesn't mind, not entirely, only a little bit, and his annoyance is partly feigned as he cut her off, "You're kind of a bitch you know that?"

"What? It was inspiring." Cristina grinned and Jackson's expression started to soften. "And anyway that's why you love me." Cristina added as she continued to fill out the chart sitting on the nurse station. She didn't notice the shift in expression on Jackson's face, but Mere did, Jackson didn't notice that Mere noticed the way his face lit up before he wiped that doe eyed look off his face and desperately tried not to focus on the 'love'. He knows Cristina doesn't mean it like that, but the thought that she could, makes his breath catch.

"Uh huh sure." Jackson managed to say instead, and Cristina smiled as she missed the way Mere's eyebrow raised just a little bit before she smiled to herself, having discovered something that it seemed neither Jackson or Cristina knew yet.

Chart shut and pushing herself off the bench, she smiles at them both, unawares of the cogs turning in Mere's head, unaware of what she just said. "I'm just gonna check on Callie and then dinner?"

Everything is so easy, so domestic, Jackson wonders wistfully for a moment if this is what it will be like in the years to follow, if perhaps the promise of food with become routine, if he will wake up to her lying beside him in their bed, in their apartment, in their home. Scrambling to get control of some words, to say something, he smiles easily as he pushes those thoughts to the back of his mind for now. "Sounds good, I'll order now, what do you want?"

Glancing down at her watch, Cristina thought for a moment before she shrugged, "Surprise me."

"Extra mushrooms it is." Jackson grinned, leaning back in his chair, no hope for this chart now, not with Cristina looking so gorgeous, so happy, so just, perfect.

An exasperated sigh and a roll of the eyes is followed with, "I hate you." That isn't meant, is delivered with a curling of the lips and a shine in her eyes and Mere quickly tries to focus on her chart so she doesn't tease Jackson, so she doesn't let Cristina read her expression like she so easily can.

Biting back the 'you looove me', Jackson laughs and simply says nothing. He can feel Mere's eyes on him and when he glances up at her, she gives him a look that he can't read. Cristina takes the stairs two at a time and Jackson looks at his phone, still feeling Mere's gaze on him. "What?"

"Nothing." Mere shook her head and looked back down at her chart for a few words before eyes dart back to Jackson, the corners of her mouth quirk quickly and then she is looking away and down at the file. Jackson sighs, he can't read her expression, doesn't know what she is possibly trying to tell him, if she's trying to tell him anything at all. He can tell she is assessing almost, but what, he doesn't know.

A few minutes pass, charts are completed and Mere keeps glancing over at Jackson, not saying a word, not giving any clues in her expression. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Jackson manages to be silent for a moment longer before he sighed, "Seriously, what?"

Mere offers no reply, simply chuckles to herself as she rises from her seat and heads down the corridor, leaving a confused Jackson behind her. "Don't forget to order." Mere called back to him, and chuckled again at the muttered 'shit' followed by a clatter and another muttered profanity. Mere can't tell Cristina that Jackson loves her, not just yet, not when Cristina probably ready to admit to herself that she loves him. Mere knows her, knows her better than anyone, and she hopes more than anything, that Jackson is who she thinks he is, that Jackson will be as good for Cristina as he seems.

…

Upstairs Cristina is sitting beside Mark, both of them watching Callie in rapt attention, cardio may be her one and only but Callie is getting close to making-

"It's not liquid!" Callie yelled, jumping up for her chair and grinning at Mark and Cristina.

Rising from her chair, Cristina moves closer to Callie to get a better look. "Holy shit!"

Mark opens his mouth, a grin already forming but the words never make it off his tongue. Callie's excitement is fading and to no one in particular she muttered, "Arizona doesn't want kids."

Cristina keeps her mouth shut, knows that she is not going to be helpful in this situation, glancing at Mark he nods, he has this. Her attention on the test tube that no longer contains a liquid, it simply contains a solid, she blocks Mark and Callie out for a few moments.

"Just go with it." Cristina announced upon glancing up at Callie and seeing her expression crumbling, the excitement now simply a memory, her brown eyes are shining and they all know that she is seconds away from crying.

Test tube handed to Mark who watches Cristina with amused curiosity, Cristina steps forward before wrapping her arms around Callie. Callie stills for a moment before she is hugging Cristina back and smiling against her shoulder. Wondering why Cristina is hugging her, she simply assumes it's her way of congratulating her on making it solid, but Cristina knows what Callie isn't aware of yet, what Mark knows too. Callie wants kids, she almost needs them to make her happy, and Arizona doesn't want them, both Mark and Cristina know what Callie hasn't yet accepted, this won't bode well for their relationship.

"It's solid." Cristina muttered against Callie, and she laughs, and grins, proud of herself, proud of her work. Absentmindedly Cristina wonders if Jackson knows kids aren't on the table for her, wonders if for him kids are important, wonders if like Callie and Arizona, the discovery that she doesn't want to have children will be the end of their relationship.

XX

AN: School is hectic, so updates to follow will be a little further apart, but once I manage to write the next few chapters updates should come more regularly, well fingers crossed.

Thanks to everyone still reading this, and thanks to those who review, you have no idea how much what you say means to me :)