Northern Downpour

Disclaimer: All rights belong to their respective people.

"I don't know, Cristina. They're dropping like freakin' flies around here." Meredith Grey slouched in her chair in the board room of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. She rubbed her eyes, which were feeling gritty from a long day of surgeries. Wearily, she looked up to the large flat screen smart tv that was mounted on the wall in front of her. The face of her best friend, her person, looked back at her- wild curls framed the face of Cristina Yang, who sat in her apartment in Zurich. The infamous red Stanford sweater hung loosely around the slim frame of the Korean woman as she leaned back in her chair, drawing her legs up towards her body. Cristina took a sip of coffee that was still just a little too hot.

"What do you mean, Mer? Did another one of them quit? What the hell is going on over there?" Cristina rallied back to the screen. It had become routine for the two women to Skype whenever they could, since Cristina still hated texting, though she put up with it for the sake of her person, but it helped to see her best friend, to actually be able to have a conversation where she could physically see Meredith, to be able to properly gauge her facial expression as they came.

"Dr. Michaels over in Oncology just quit. Now that everyone knows that this hospital isn't going to turn out any Harper Avery's, no one wants to stick around- it's career suicide! And we've tried to hold interviews, but everyone applying are just duds!" Meredith threw her hands out in exasperation. "I guess that's what you get when all the innovative and talented surgeons know that they'll never advance their career if they come here. Now it's just surgeons who are good, but content to just be good! There's no spark! This hospital is going to drop in rankings, and soon patients will be avoiding us like the plague." Meredith closed her eyes and tried to roll the kinks out of her neck. She had been wearing the same scrubs for 14 hours straight, and all she wanted now was a big glass of wine. Or maybe a couple of shots of tequila.

"Well, what are you going to do about it? The Harper Avery Foundation owns a huge chunk of that hospital, and if they're not allowing anyone in affiliation with them win the award then this is going to keep happening."

"I know, but short of someone buying out their portion of the hospital and cutting those ties, there's nothing we can do." Sighing, Meredith shook her head, her long blonde hair shifting with the movement. "None of us have that kind of money, and we can't risk fishing for buyers. If the foundation heard about it, they might withdraw their support and the hospital would be right back to where we started- selling for scraps. Plus, if someone were to buy it, whose to say they wouldn't change everything! I don't know which is worse." Now she groaned in frustration, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "Owen's up to his ears in paperwork, trying to make all this work out, Derek is still going back and forth between here and D.C., Callie and Arizona are busy with all their business, Webber is trying to talk to Jackson's mom, but we all know that's not going anywhere. And Dr. Pierce won't leave me the hell alone. I know I said I wanted to at least try to get to know her, but that doesn't mean I want to go to the bar with her every night! I want to go home to my babies."

"So go home to your babies, Mer. If there's nothing you can do, there's nothing you can do. Maybe Webber will actually get through to Catherine. God knows I've agreed to some stupid shit after a good orgasm, maybe he'll catch her in a moment of weakness." Cristina smirked back to her friend, shoving some of the unruly curls away from her face.

"Ugh. Ew, Cristina. I don't want to think about Webber banging Jackson's mom, let alone Jackson's mom orgasming. That's just gross." Meredith laughed, enjoying the feeling of it. Cristina always managed to make her laugh, even when everything else was falling to shit around her. However, the moment passed and the weight of the situation felt heavy on her shoulders once again. "I don't know, Cristina. I don't know what we are going to do here." She slumped back once more, letting her scrubs bunch up around her body. "Anyway, enough about here, how's Zurich this week? Saving any lives of any orphaned infants today? Any ground-breaking, Harper Avery-winning surgeries?"

"Actually, I'm checking in on my heart soon. We're almost there, I can feel it. If I can just get the damn equation right, I'll have it. I'm going in at 10:00 to check up on it, then I have a board meeting around lunch. Shit, that means I have to bring heels with me. I hate the politics of running a hospital- why do I have to wear heels and a blazer just to be acknowledged? Sexist pigs." She grumbled back, already thinking of the hour and a half she was going to have to spend in something other than her scrubs.

"Well, at least your hospital can keep it's doctors- no ones going to walk away from a hospital that's 'this close' to printing a functioning heart."

"True. Damn, I have to start getting ready, and I don't know where I threw those damn heels." Cristina muttered as she set her coffee mug down on a stack of medical journals that were taking up most of the room on small table that sat next to the chair. Standing, she rolled her shoulders and neck, trying to enjoy the last few hours of non-heel-wearing hell. "Look, Mer, don't worry about Grey Sloan, it will all work out- that's what we do, we survive, okay? So, go home to your babies, have some wine, Skype sex your husband, and come back tomorrow being the bad ass surgeon you're meant to be, okay? I've gotta go, I'll text you later."

"Yeah. Text you later." Meredith returned as they signed off. Staring at the screen for a moment longer, Meredith shook her head. "How are we supposed to survive when you're not here? You're the one who keeps everything together around here." She muttered to the dark screen in front of her. Realizing it wasn't going to do her any good to talk to the blank screen, Meredith stood up, gathering up the case files and interview folders she had splayed out on the glossy conference table.

After double checking that she had everything, she turned towards the glass doors of the room, only to draw up short at the sight of their Chief of Surgery leaning up against the counters of the nurses station just outside the room. He stared at the blank screen of the tv that just held the face of Cristina Yang. Sighing, Meredith made her way out of the room, heading over to where Dr. Hunt, Owen, stood. For a moment or two they stood there, not saying anything- Owen still staring at the tv in the conference room, while Meredith waited for him to say something.

She knew that he was still having a hard time adjusting to Cristina being gone, knew he still did double takes at every dark, curly haired woman that walked through the hospital before he caught himself and reminded himself that she was in Zurich. Meredith knew that it was even harder for him because, unlike Meredith, Owen and Cristina didn't stay in touch. They had decided it was best for them to try to move on, and that the only way to do that was to cut off all interaction from each other. So, while Meredith still got to see and hear her best friend, Owen was struggling with the absence of her.

"How- uh, how is she doing? She looks like she's doing well." Owen murmured eventually, his voice low and heavy as he turned slight towards her, his eyes shifting to the floor in front of them.

"She is." Meredith confirmed. "She's… she's doing well. Zurich is good for her." Meredith responded softly, trying to gently remind him that the decision was the right one. That Cristina was meant for bigger things, that she was doing bigger things.

"Yeah." Owen shifted his face once more back to the darkened conference room. "Yeah." He muttered again as if to reassure himself.

"I- ah- I thought you had another date with Amelia tonight?" Meredith question, trying to be supportive of Owen's attempts to move on, even if it was with Derek's sister.

Owen cleared his throat before turning to meet Meredith's eyes for the first time since the conversation started. "Yeah. Yeah, I did. But with Michaels quitting today, I'm swamped with paperwork, and Amelia got a page for a consult, and it just… it just didn't happen. Too much going on." He pushed a hand through his hair before shoving it into the pockets of his lab coat. "Well. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I've got a surgery at 9:30 tomorrow. I should get home and get some sleep. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah. See ya." With a small, sad smile the two surgeons went their separate ways.

"Damn. Damn, damn, damn. Stupid heels. Stupid board meeting. Stupid, stupid, stupid." Cristina muttered as she sat in her office chair, shoving her small feet into her black open toe pumps. She slid the zipper up the back of the impressive heels and once again cursing the fact that she hadn't had time to swing by the coffee cart one last time before she had to get ready for her meeting. Just as she stood up, taking a moment to reestablish her balance on the 4 inch high heels, there was a knock on her office door. "Oh. Come in." Cristina called out, smoothing the front of her smart black blazer down over her front.

"Hey." Dr. Shane Ross said as he stepped through the door, juggling case files and two coffees in his hands. "Nice. You look very professional." He smirked as he caught his first look at Cristina. "Anyway, I know you have that board meeting, and I also know you probably didn't have time for what is probably your third cup of coffee this morning, so, here, I grabbed you one from the coffee cart." Stepping further into the room, he extended one of the coffees that he had been carrying.

"Oh, thank god." Cristina muttered as she stepped forward to relieve him of his precious burden. She closed her hand around the hot cup of coffee, relishing in the warmth that spread up her arm. "I definitely needed this. Stupid board meetings. I don't understand why I have to sit there and listen to grown men argue over this or that. I just want to work on my heart, and I have a surgery later today that I could be going over the research on one more time instead of this stupid meeting."

"Yeah, I figured that's how you'd be today. I checked in on your patient for your surgery later, her vitals are still holding stable, and she should be all ready for surgery by the time you get out of the meeting today. I'll make sure she's prepped and ready for you- we all know you're going to want some blood on those hands after an afternoon sitting around listening to proposals." Shane laughed, knowing his mentor too well.

In the past few months at the hospital, everyone here had caught on to the fact that Cristina Yang was only really, truly happy when she had blood on her hands, and she had managed to scrub in on at least three surgeries in a given day. She wasn't the administrative type, which is generally not a good quality for the head of a hospital to have, but everyone let it go fairly easily after watching just how brilliant she was in an OR. The hospital was still running at an amazing rate of efficiency, and with Cristina's work being some of the best many of them had ever seen, there was no reason to cause any problems.

"Perfect. I'm going to need to cut something after this." Cristina responded as she gathered her files and placed them in the sleek, black satchel that served as her briefcase at work. "Apparently this meeting is going to be a big one. Something happened, though I have no idea what. All I know is there's actually going to be lawyers present at this meeting, which means something big. Damn. This meeting better not go over time."

"Lawyers? That's different." Shane muttered as he followed Cristina out of the office and down the hall. Cristina's smart heels clicked on the floors as she strode along the hall, and Shane had a brief moment to wish that she had left her curls loose that day. They always looked so amazing as they bounced with every step she took, but Cristina had once told him that she looked less professional with wild curls all over the place, so she generally pulled them back for board meetings. "You worried about it?"

"Not really, no. The only thing I'm worried about is the time. Lawyers always means paperwork, and signing, and negotiating, and I don't have time to sit on my ass all day while they all bicker over what clause of what form goes where." Cristina muttered as she took another sip of the coffee that Shane had brought her.

They rounded the corner of the hall to face the wall of glass that encased the board room. Cristina stopped before cursing her luck- there were in fact, lawyers. Several lawyers. She recognized a few of them; one as the hospitals main lawyer on retainer, one as the lawyer of the billionaire, Mr. Swavinski, who was bankrolling the hospital. "Damn." She said, before shaking her head and making her way to the room. Stepping inside, she put on her best smile, and walked through the group of people to reach her place at the table. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get started, shall we?"

Voices pounded against her ears as she stared blankly at the papers placed in front of her. The arguing was muted, as if she had dunked her head underwater the second the lawyers informed her of the situation. Shock. She recognized the feeling, it wasn't something she was unaccustomed to. She had felt it rip through her body when her dad died, when Burke had left her at the alter, when Owen had cheated, when she was rescued from the plane crash, when she had boarded the plane to Zurich without having gotten her big goodbye with Owen. Owen. She wanted to call Owen. She wanted to call Meredith. She want to jump up out of her soft seat in this board meeting, and run as far away from here as she could.

Billions. What was she going to do with billions of dollars? She already had more money than she could possibly spend, and now she had billions. She was definitely in shock, and the voices outside her head seemed to be getting louder, more aggressive with their tones.

"He left her everything?!"

"She doesn't even know anything about administration- all she wants to do is cut things open!"

"What about the hospital- what happens now?"

"Dr. Yang? Dr. Yang!" "Huh? Wha-?" Cristina looked up, certain that her eyes were wide and lost. "Dr. Yang. Upon his demise, Mr. Swavinski had all of his financial assets signed over to you, to do with as you please." The lawyer spoke directly to her, ignoring the sounds of displeasure the board made at the statement. This was the second, maybe third, time the lawyer had said this sentence, her voice unwavering and completely unfazed by the anger of the board members. Mr. Swavinski had made his wishes clear in his will, his billions would go directly to Dr. Cristina Yang, the young surgeon who he had had never actually formally met. The money was Cristina's now, free to do with as she pleased.

Alexandrea had been Mr. Swavinski's lawyer for years now, had helped him put together all the documents in order to start up the Klausman Institute, and everything else he had ever asked for, including the will that he had drawn up when it became clear that his cancer had progressed to the point of no return. They had kept it very hush hush, not wanting anyone to attempt to sway the man one way or the other during a moment of weakness. Mr. Swavinski had made it clear- his money would go to Dr. Yang, no question. He had said that she was a brilliant surgeon, that she would do incredible things. And with no other family, Mr. Swavinski had no one else he could think to give his money to. Of course, a few thousands went to various charities and projects that he was involved in, as well as a few thousand to Alexandrea herself, but the bulk of it, the billions of dollars that he had made in the stock market, went to one young Dr. Cristina Yang.

"Dr. Yang, do you understand?" Alexandrea asked, noticing the look that had taken residence on the young Asian woman's face.

"I- He- He was sick? He died?" Cristina asked, not entirely sure how this had all happened. As far as she knew Mr. Swavinski was a healthy man in his late 70's, how had he died?

"Unfortunately, yes. Mr. Swavinski had an aggressive form of cancer that progressed quickly. Upon his demise, he wished for you to receive his financial assets, for you to continue your research. It was something he believed strongly in, and it was something that he believed that you were, without a doubt, the best for the job." Alexandrea responded. She was pleased that the young doctor had actually asked about Mr. Swavinski- that she wasn't just celebrating her new found wealth, and instead seemed actually troubled over the loss of Mr. Swavinski's life. Dr. Yang seemed to be the only one who cared- the board members were more upset over the money, than the loss of life that had lead to the gifting of that money.

"I'm… I'm sorry for your loss." Cristina muttered, "I know you've been his lawyer for a long time." She looked down at the table in front of her, trying to process what had all just happened. Now that the world had come back into some semblance of focus, Cristina had begun to think about what this all actually meant.

"He was a dear friend." Alexandrea murmured back, touched by the woman's sympathy. She cleared her throat to once again gain the attention of the young doctor. "All you have to do now is read the forms, and sign in the appropriate areas, and the money is yours."

"I don't know anything about documents like this. I've never received… I mean, I've gotten money in a settlement before, but this… this is a lot of money, more than what I got in the settlement." Cristina told the lawyer, as she pulled the forms closer to her, glancing at the legal jargon that seemed to taunt her from the pages.

"See! She doesn't even know what to do with the paperwork!" One of the board members objected, shoving back from the table. "How is she supposed to know what to do with the money?"

"That is none of your concern." Alexandrea snapped at the man. Mr. Swavinski had always said that the board members were money hungry little hyenas, salivating over the next big paycheck, and now she could see why. "If Dr. Yang needs any help with the forms, she is more than welcome to seek legal counsel. The fact of the matter is, this money is now hers. If she wants to remain here at the Klausman Institute, she may, if she decides to build another hospital, that's entirely up to her- if she decides she wants to take the money, buy an island, and retire to sitting in the sand, sipping on mojitos, and banging cabana boys, that's her choice too!" Alexandrea raised her voice back at the man, angry that he would even think he had any rights to the money, "The point is, is that this money now belongs to Dr. Yang, and there's nothing you can do about it. Now. This meeting is adjourned, as far as I'm concerned. Dr. Yang, if you need any help with the documents, I still have plenty of time to stick around and help you through them."

It took a few moments, but eventually, the board members filtered out of the room, grumbling about the situation as they returned to their normal jobs. Alexandrea stayed, stand at the end of the table, staring at the doctor who continued to sit at the other end.

"What- ah. What does all this mean?" Cristina questioned. "Didn't he have family that he wanted to have this? Why me? I'd never even met him."

"He didn't. Have a family, that is. His daughter was the last one, and she died from her heart. That's what started all this. He wanted his money to matter, he wanted his money to give another family a chance to never have to feel what he felt when his daughter died. He thought Burke was going to be his best shot, and Burke was amazing, and he might have done it, but Burke, while dedicated and talented, didn't understand."

"And I do?" Cristina asked.

"I think you understand better than Burke did. I think you know what it's like to have someone you love have their heart fail to keep them alive. You can see it. In the way you handle hearts, your dedication, your drive, I think you do understand. And Mike, Mr. Swavinski, he could see it too. He researched you. Extensively. He poured over your case files, talked to your past patients, called old mentors, he even came here and watched one of your first surgeries here. He could see it. He knew what he was doing when he signed his last will and testament." Alexandrea moved around the table, coming to face Dr. Yang. "Now, as I said, the money is yours to do with what you want. If you want to go buy that island and spend your days with cabana boys, there's no one who is going to stop you. But I think that we both know that that's not what you're going to do with the money."

"No. That's not what I'm going to do." Cristina muttered as she looked back to the forms in front of her. "So, is there anything in here that I should be concerned about? Any stipulations, or clauses, or conditions?"

"No. I drew it up myself. It's just stating that you have been read the will, that you understand what it means, that you accept the money. It gives you the rights to all of his major investments that he didn't sign away to others. There are several other projects that he managed that he signed away to people he trusted, so you won't have to deal with any of that."

"Will you stay on? Like, can I hire you to be my lawyer in all this? You know his investments better than I do, you know what he would have wanted done with certain aspects of everything. I can… I can hire you to handle that stuff?"

"Yes. It would be my pleasure to help you with all of that."

"Okay then. Where do I sign?"

"You've reached Dr. Meredith Grey, please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

"Mer. It's me. God. Ah- give me a call as soon as you get this, okay? I've got some news. Big. Big news. So, just call, okay?"

Meredith signed as she checked the time on her phone. It was too late now to call Cristina, with the time change it was almost 3 am in Zurich, and Cristina was bound to be asleep. Cursing that she had forgotten her phone in her locker for most the day, and didn't have a chance to check her messages before now, Meredith picked up her bag and made her way out of the locker room. She'd call Cristina tomorrow.

It didn't look like she was going to get a chance to call Cristina any time soon. Having been jolted out of bed with an emergency 911 page, Meredith already had her hands full. One of Bailey's Tuck-approved babysitters had agreed to come over to the house and take care of the kids even though it was only five in the morning, and Meredith sighed as she looked at the disaster that was happening in the Emergency Room at the moment. 16 car pile-ups always caused a mess, and it was no different when that mess made its way to the Emergency Room. It was all hands on deck, and Meredith jumped right in. Maybe she'd have some time later to call her person.

"You've reached Dr. Cristina Yang, leave a message."

"Hey, Cristina. Sorry I missed your call, it's been pretty hectic over here. I've got about another hour before I have to head into surgery, so give me a call, okay?" —

"You've reached Dr. Meredith Grey, please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

"Damn. Mer, it's Cristina. Look, I really need to talk to you, okay? I'm about to do something, and I need some input here. It's… it's big, okay? Call me when you can."

"You've reached Dr. Cristina Yang, leave a message."

"Cristina, sorry I missed your call, again- surgery got bumped up. What do you mean you're about to do something big? Like, functioning-heart-big, or like, quit-your-job-and-take-up-basket-weaving-big? Call me!"

"You've reached the office of Dr. Cristina Yang, this is Michelle speaking, how can I help you today?"

"Michelle, hey, hi. It's Meredith Grey, Cristina's friend? I've been playing phone tag with her all day, and can't seem to get ahold of her- is she in the office right now?"

"Dr. Grey! Nice to hear from you again! Unfortunately, Dr. Yang is not in the office right now, she's taking a small leave of absence."

"A leave of absence? For what?" Meredith asked, her voice rising an octave. "Cristina doesn't take leaves of absences! All she does is work."

"It was rather sudden, but she said she had something important to do, and that she would be back as soon as possible."

"Shit. Oh, sorry. Uh, well if she calls the office, can you let her know I called?"

"Certainly, I'll let her know."

"Thank you, Michelle. I'll keep trying her cell too."

"Oh, you won't be able to get her on her cell right now, she's on a plane." Michelle replied as she fussed with the pen on her desk.

"A plane?! Cristina doesn't like to fly."

"That would explain why she told me to make sure the private jet had tequila on it." Michelle chuckled, thinking it was just one of her interesting boss's quirks.

"Yeah. Yeah, that sounds like her." Meredith sighed, resigning herself to not know what was going on with her best friend until her plane landed wherever she was going to. "Thanks, Michelle, just let me know if you hear from her, please?"

"No problem. Have a nice day, Dr. Grey."

"You too. Bye."

Meredith sighed as she hung up the phone. She had been hoping to catch Cristina before going into the board meeting that had been called by Jackson earlier that day. She always liked to be able to talk to Cristina before having to deal with conference meetings, they just stressed her out, especially when Derek wasn't there.

"Meredith?" Recognizing the voice, Meredith turned around, her eyes locking on the sight of her husband.

"Derek? What are you doing here? I thought you were in D.C. until next Friday?" She questioned as her husband leaned in for a kiss.

"I was but Jackson called this morning and said it was 911 emergent that I get here in time for the board meeting tonight. Do you know what's going on?"

"No, no one does. I already talked to everyone, and we have no clue. And Jackson's not budging either. I'm worried it has to do with the Harper Avery Foundation. With us losing so many doctors, maybe they don't want to keep their share of the hospital? I mean who wants to put their name on a mediocre hospital? And if they do that, then what do we do? We don't have the money to support it without the foundation, and I don't want a new company coming in and running this place like a company- that's what we were trying to avoid in the first place! Doctors on billboards, and OR efficiency times, and locks with codes on medications, this is a hospital, not just a business!"

"Calm down, it's just a board meeting, Meredith." Derek tried to console. He could see the spiral happening and was trying to ward it off before she went into a full rant mode. "Have you called Cristina?"

"That's just it! She's not answering her phone! She's taking a leave of absence, and she's on a plane right now to some place, and I don't even know where she's going, I forgot to ask her assistant."

"Cristina's on a plane?" The two doctors turned to see Owen standing just outside the conference room with Callie and Arizona off to his shoulder.

"A leave of absence? Yang doesn't do leaves of absences- Yang works, that's all she does." Callie pointed out, her eyes a little round at the idea of Cristina Yang abandoning her work.

"That's what I said to her assistant!" Meredith replied, "Cristina and I have been playing phone tag for the last few days, and she said she was going to do something big, that she had big news, but we kept missing each others calls, and now she's taking a leave of absence, and she's on a plane."

"Woah. That's… that's not right." Callie muttered. "I mean was there anything going on the last time you talked to her?"

"No. Last I talked to her, she was going to check on her heart, and then she had a board meeting. She was pissed that she had to wear heels, but other than that, everything was normal."

"Maybe something happened at the board meeting?" Arizona asked. It really wasn't like Cristina to walk away from her work, or to get on a plane without at least talking to Meredith about it first.

"Speaking of board meetings? Let's get started with ours." Jackson said as he came down the hall. He moved around Owen, Callie, and Arizona, and made his way through the glass doors and into the conference room.

Sighing, the group followed Jackson through the door, ready to get this over with.

"What do you mean, 'someone wants to buy the hospital'?" Derek questioned, a look of confusion crossing his face. "That's the last thing we want! That's why we did all this to get the hospital in the first place!"

"Look, I know, okay? I know. But with all the doctor's leaving, the Harper Avery Foundation is getting antsy okay?" Jackson tried to soothe.

"You mean your mom is getting antsy!" Meredith shot back.

"Yes, okay? Yes." Jackson scrubbed a hand over his face. "She's worried about having her name on something that looks like it's on it's way out. And, no respectable doctor is going to want to come here after what happened to Yang. They all know she was supposed to get the award. There was no competition, but she didn't get the award, and everyone knows it's because she worked here, and that the Harper Avery Foundation isn't going to give anyone in affiliation with them get the award. So, this is our best option! Someone buys out the foundations share, we get better doctors back into Grey Sloan Memorial, and everything goes back to normal!"

"Except the part where this new company comes in and changes everything!" Callie snarled at Jackson.

"No, that's the best part! What this new buyer is proposing is that everything stays the same! They want you all to remain on the board, they don't want to change anything. If anything they want to give us more! Who ever it is is proposing a bigger budget, better equipment, better staff. They don't even want a real say in most decisions made by the board. It's a mostly hands off approach." Jackson reasoned back.

"That's what they say, but they'll get in here and start to make little changes, and by then it will be too late to stop them from making big changes!"

"Look. Just… Just think about it okay?" Jackson asked. He dropped back into his chair at the table. He was exhausted from dealing with his mother all day, and all the surgeries, and that 16 car pile up this morning. He was running on fumes. "The new buyer should be here tomorrow, to discuss it with the everyone. All I ask is that you give them a chance, okay? The foundation can throw more money our way, but that's not going to get the best of the best in here. People want the recognition that comes with being a great surgeon, and the Harper Avery is one of the best ways to get that. And my mother isn't budging on her new 'no affiliation' policy. So just give them a chance, okay? See how you like them."

"Wait, you don't even know who it is?" Owen asked.

"No. I don't. They came at us fast, and wanted to remain anonymous until the time became necessary when their identity should be revealed."

"Jesus. Are you kidding me?" Callie snorted. "You don't even know these people. We're so screwed."

"Just go home and think about it, okay? And come in tomorrow ready to meet them." Jackson sighed. "I'm going home, it's been a long day, and tomorrow is going to be just as long." With that Jackson got up and left the room.

"This is ridiculous." Meredith muttered as they all gathered at the base of the stairs waiting for Jackson to arrive. He had called a meeting early this morning of the staff, to explain to them the situation. "He just wants to make sure we are all primped and ready to be sold off like cattle, all because his mommy doesn't want to back down on her stupid policy."

"Yeah. Hey, did you hear anything from Cristina?" Callie asked as she sipped at her coffee. Truthfully, Callie had tried to get ahold of Cristina herself, both last night and early this morning. While she was concerned about the new buyers, she was also worried about her old roommate. If not even Meredith could get ahold of her, something was definitely wrong.

"No. I tried her this morning, but nothing. I'm surprised I haven't heard anything though, I left her a message about the new buyers and everything, but nothing." Meredith muttered back, her face impassive. To be honest, she was a little annoyed at her best friend- this was something big, even Derek had come back for it, and her best friend couldn't pick up the phone and even text her? Another part of her was terrified. There was always going to be that part of all of them that was going to be worried when one of them got on a plane, and the fact that she hadn't heard from Cristina yet, kicked that fear into overdrive.

"What if something happened?" Callie fretted, her hand gripped her coffee cup a little tighter as she thought of the possibility of another crash.

"Nothing happened." Owen said firmly as he stepped up besides the group. "I called her assistant this morning. Michelle hadn't heard anything from Cristina personally, but she said that the plane reported in just fine sometime late this morning, and that Cristina was fine."

"You called-" Meredith started.

"Yes." Owen replied, not looking at any of them. He kept his eyes on the staircase, though his hands clenched tighter in his lab coat pockets.

"Okay, then. Well, at least we know she's safe." Derek soothed as he ran his hands over his wife's shoulders. Meredith hadn't slept well that night, too worried about Cristina, and the plane, and the new buyers.

"She should have called." Meredith mutter angrily.

"Yeah, she should have." Owen responded just as Jackson came down the stairs, his mother at his side.

"When did Catherine Avery get here?" Arizona muttered out the side of her mouth.

"No clue, but that's not a good sign." Derek grumbled back.

Jackson took his position on the landing before the last flight of stairs, clasping his hands nervously in front of him. "Thank you all for coming in such short notice. Now, as some of you may have heard, we have received an offer from a new buyer…"

Cristina Yang hated flying. Hated it. Every bounce of turbulence, every slight shift in position had her gripping the arm rests of her seat in the cozy cabin of the jet. Even after three shots of tequila, she still had a hard time relaxing. She kept reminding herself that she had hired this jet herself- that it had a perfect track record, and as per her request, it under went a complete inspection every time she was going to fly. Every time. And every time it came back spotless. Perfect. But that doesn't mean she wasn't scared. Terrified even.

"This is not some tiny little plane that's going to fall apart. This is not some tiny little plane that's going to fall apart. This is not some tiny little plane that's going to fall apart." she muttered under her breath, as they hit another small bout of turbulence.

"Scared of flying, Dr. Yang?" Alexandrea questioned from her position across the cabin. She had noticed how nervous Cristina had seemed from the very moment they decided to put their plans into action.

"Ah. Yeah. I was… I was in-uh- plane crash. A while back. Got stranded out in the middle of fucking nowhere for four days." She muttered as she squeezed her eyes shut. "We- ah. We lost some people in the crash, and I suffered from PTSD afterwards. And… and I don't know why I'm telling you all this."

"No worries, Dr. Yang. We all have our demons to fight." Alexandrea reassured. "We are almost there though, so it will be over soon."

"Oh, thank god." Cristina muttered as she pressed herself back into the soft cushions of her seat.

She couldn't get off that plane soon enough. The moment they touched down on solid ground she let go of the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. It was about four in the morning here, and all she wanted now was to take a hot shower, and watch some DVDs of heart surgeries.

"Your secretary arranged for hotel rooms for us not too far from the hospital, so we should be able to check in, get some sleep, and make it there on time tomorrow." Alexandrea said softly. She liked to talk through plans, it was one of those things that made her a damn good lawyer- knowing her plan and being able to execute it perfectly. "So, lets check out a rental car, and head on over, the sooner I can get into a hot shower the better." She chuckled.

They grabbed their luggage, and made their way over to the rental desk, giving their names and registration numbers. Cristina's assistant had already arranged for their vehicle, and Alexandrea was shocked to see the choice that she had made. Opening her mouth to protest, she glanced over at Dr. Yang, only to see a small smirk playing at her full lips.

"I- ah- didn't realize rental places stocked Lotus's" Alexandrea muttered out of the corner of her mouth as Cristina accepted the keys from the valet who had pulled the low slung sports car around to meet them.

"They don't usually. Michelle must have called it in." Cristina smiled as she slid behind the wheel of the fancy car. "Must have wanted us to arrive in style."

"Oh. Well, okay then." Alexandrea said as she buckled her seatbelt. "Do you know where we are going, or should I GPS it?"

"No. I know exactly where we're going. I'll have us there in no time." With that, Cristina put the car in drive, and pulled out of the parking garage and into the early morning light.

"So what now?" Meredith asked. "We just… wait for them to show up and take over?"

They all sat in the cafeteria, picking at their respective plates. A somber feeling had settled over the hospital after Jackson's speech that morning. The place was a buzz with gossip, but no one seemed overly excited about the idea of someone taking over.

"I guess so." Callie muttered as she shoved her lettuce from one side to the other. She wasn't feeling particularly hungry, but Arizona had insisted she eat something, knowing that Callie could get cranky if she didn't have something to eat, and with the impending board meeting, it was best to have Callie in a somewhat decent mood.

"This could be good for us." Arizona tried to interject. "I mean, if they don't really want to change anything, and they are willing to expand our budget, it could be good, right?" Everyone shot her disgruntled looks at her attempt to be cheery about the situation.

"Or we're screwed." Meredith muttered back.

"We'll just have to wait and see." Derek sighed taking a bite of his meal. "Have you heard from Cristina yet?" He tried to change the subject.

"No." Meredith snarled back. It had been hours, and still no word from her friend. "What ever it is had better be damn important if she's taking this long to respond."

"I'm sure it is." Arizona agreed.

"I mean, it doesn't take much to pick up the damn phone and send someone a text." Meredith groused.

"You know she hates texting." Owen muttered back.

"Still. I'm her person. She's supposed to respond."

"Do we have everything?" Cristina questioned as she picked up her satchel briefcase.

"Yes. I have checked and double checked, everything is in order." Alexandrea watched as Dr. Yang pressed a hand to her hair, smoothing down the newly styled curls. Gone were the wild, voluptuous curls, and in their place was a more sedate style of curl. They curled away from her face in a way that was reminiscent on hollywood, and fell a full three inches longer than the usual tight curls.

"Okay. Okay." Cristina blew out with a hard breath. "And they know we're coming?"

"Yes. I confirmed everything with a Jackson Avery this morning." She checked her watch, before walking to the door of the hotel room.

"Stop fidgeting, you look fine." And it was true. Cristina was dressed in a tight fitting capped-sleeved grey dress that stopped just below the knee, muted black red-soled stiletto pumps, and a beautiful gold upper-arm band bracelet. Combined with the gorgeous, smooth curls and subtle make-up, Cristina Yang looked like a some sort of business badass. She looked like she ate hospital board members for breakfast.

Alexandrea pressed the button to the lobby on the elevator, and shifted her briefcase. "We have time to stop for coffee, and will arrive just in time to look flawless." She laughed, hoping to get Cristina to relax.

"Yes. Coffee is a definite yes." Cristina replied, already relaxing at the thought of that first cup of liquid gold. "I- I haven't had a chance to call Meredith, tell her what's going on…"

"That's good. We want this to be a surprise. Take them by storm. From the way you spoke of the situation, there shouldn't be too much of a fight, so just relax. These are your people, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Yeah, they're my people. And they're going to be pissed that I just decided to spring this on them." Cristina muttered as she started up the sleek rental car. "I didn't even tell Meredith I was in Seattle yet." Pulling away from the hotel, she navigated them into the bustling morning traffic of Seattle. She had missed this place. True, she never really explored the city that much when she was here, too concerned with surgeries, and marriages, and friendships. But, damn if she didn't miss this. The air was different in Zurich- lighter, filled with sunshine. But Seattle… Seattle had weight to it's air. That just-after-a-rain kind of weight. It felt like coming home, that first breath of Seattle air settling in her lungs like a welcoming. Today, Seattle was sunny, something that didn't happen too often here, but it felt right.

"Well, I'm sure they'll be happy to see you." Alexandrea replied. "And you did try to contact Dr. Grey several times before we actually put the plans into motion."

"We kept missing each other. This didn't feel like a conversation you just text a person, you know? Damn, I should have called her this morning."

"We had to go over what we were going to say this morning." Alexandrea reminded her as they pulled up to the coffee shop around the corner. "It's important that we are prepared for anything." They parked in the first available spot, and made their way inside of the small coffee shop that Cristina used to go to on her rare days off.

"This is the best option." Cristina muttered mostly to herself. She had been reminding herself of that from the moment she came to the decision that lead them to Seattle. "Everyone gets what they want."

"And you get a branch in Seattle. You did your residency here, right?" Alexandrea asked as they ordered their respective coffees.

"Most of my fellowship here too. This hospital raised me. I just want to see it survive." Cristina replied quietly. "No. No, I want it to thrive, to become the best there is. This hospital has so much potential, so many amazing, brilliant doctors, and they deserve the best." She said with more conviction as she reached for the coffee that had just been called up.

"So, let's give them the best, shall we?" Alexandrea replied, as they made their way back to the car. "Besides, it's hard to stay mad at the kind of money you're willing to put into this." With a laugh, Alexandrea took her first sip of coffee, relaxing as Cristina guided them back into the flow of traffic.

Dr. Owen Hunt was having a rough day. Board meetings, new buyers, and they were out of his favorite at the cafeteria. The hospital had shifted with the impending sense of doom that came with the prospect of a new buyer. Moral was low, and gossip was high- a worrying combination. People got sloppy when they were distracted, and the whole damn hospital was distracted.

"Kepner, make sure we have enough of everything stocked in the ER, and then can you check in on in Room 2132? He's been stable all morning and I want to keep it that way, especially since I'll be in that board meeting for a large chunk of the afternoon." He passed the file over to the red-headed young doctor that was taking over his ER for the afternoon while he dealt with this new buyer business.

"Sure thing, Dr. Hunt." April responded. "Good luck in there today, sir."

"Thank you." he muttered as he walked down the hall towards the conference room. He hated the idea of leaving his ER for the afternoon, hated the idea of a new buyer, hated the idea that the hospital was making all these big chances and she wasn't even here to talk to.

"Damn." He growled. He had promised himself that he was work harder to not think of Cristina, that he would work harder to get over the loss of her. She wasn't dead, she wasn't gone, at least not like that. She was doing well. Great, even. She was living her dream, surrounded by thousands of hearts for her talented little hands to fix.

'Mine? Little geniuses.' Damn it. Stop thinking about her, he ordered his brain.

"Hey there, stranger!" he glanced up just as Amelia Sheppard stepped into his range of vision and press a gentle kiss to his lips. "I missed our date the other night. Want to try again tonight?" she asked, her pretty brown hair falling around her beautiful face.

"Huh, oh, yeah. Well… lets see how this board meeting goes, alright?" He responded as he automatically brought his hands up to rest on Amelia's elbows. It had almost been an entire year since Cristina left, and still the feeling of another body in his hands felt wrong, but he was trying. He was trying to find his happy again, even when the touch of another woman's lips, regardless of how pretty, and kind, and wonderful that woman was, left the sensation of burning behind. Like it was his body's way of punishing him for trying to push forward.

"Yeah. Good call, there." Amelia smiled sweetly as him. "Just text me to let me know how it all goes, yeah?"

"Yeah, no problem. I'll text you later." Owen responded as he automatically moved forward to accept the kiss Amelia had stepped forward for. Their lips had just parted as Amelia's pager beeped at them. She glanced down at it, quickly reading the information as it came across the screen.

"Oh. Consult in oncology, gotta go." She said as she step away from him. "See you later!" And with a parting smile, she took off down the hall.

'Take care now.' The words popped into his head without any provocation, her voice wrapping around his brain without his consent. Damn it. Without another word he continued down the hallway.

If she would just call, or text, or Skype Meredith. Something, anything, to let them all know what she was up to. Cristina Yang taking a leave of absence was never a good sign. Cristina Yang getting willingly on a plane, and even worse sign. Talking to her assistant this morning had calmed the fear that had gripped him since he had heard that she boarded a plane, but it didn't stop the worry he felt. Cristina always got ahold of Meredith. It was the one scrap of her he had left that he could rely on to know she was alright, and now? Now she was silent.

"Hey." Meredith greeted as he same to a stop outside the conference room where she stood. "I-ah… haven't heard from her yet." She offered, knowing that he was worried about Cristina. "I'm not sure what to do at this point, and once we go into this meeting, it's back to playing phone tag if she does call…"

"Well, Cristina does things at her own pace, we all know that." Owen said trying to keep his tone light, but there was no denying the bitterness that tinged the words. Turning he saw Callie hustling down the hallway towards them.

"Did I miss anything? Are they here yet?" she asked as she glanced around to see if their new arrivals had shown.

"No, not yet. They still have close to 15 minutes before the scheduled time." Derek answered her question as he stepped up to the group. "We should probably get in there." He told them. "Settle in. Show them that this is our place."

"Yeah. Arizona is on her way up now with Jackson and his mother. Little traitor." Callie muttered the last bit under her breath.

"Is Bailey on her way?" Meredith asked. "Should we have Alex here too? I mean, I know he's not on the board technically, but he does own Cristina's share of the hospital…"

"Yeah, I paged both of them a few minutes ago. They should be here soon." Owen responded as he pushed away from his spot against the nurses station. "Well, lets get in there."

The room felt crowded. And stuffy. And too damn crowded. They had all arrived, and sat waiting in the board room for the new buyers, and Owen couldn't help but fidget with the pen in front of him.

'Army Surgeon Badass, did something crazy with a pen on some guys throat.' Damn it. Frustrated, he set the pen back down on the table and tried to focus on anything other than the past, and the stuffy, crowded board room.

There was only minutes left before the new buyers showed up, and everyone was anxious. Despite Jackson's reassurances that the new buyers were the best option, they couldn't afford to have someone who had never even seen the inside of the OR running the hospital. And it was always someone who had never seen the inside of an OR that seemed to want to buy hospitals. They wanted to slap their names on a hospital and play God without ever getting their hands dirty. They were concerned with the image, not the actual patients. Probably wanted to change the name too, he thought to himself as he picked at his sleeve.

The sound of heels clicking down the hallway drew their attention to the door, and it didn't take more than a moment to see two women stride across the expanse, and reach for the door, pulling it open, and stepping inside.

"Cristina?!"

A/N: Not the most surprising of turns, but hopefully it's gets a little less predictable- I just had to get through the first section to set the story. This will be an Cristina/Owen story, make no mistake about that. It's been years since I've actually written a fan fiction, or really anything other than term papers for that matter, so hopefully I didn't fuck it up too bad. The formatting may be a little weird, since I haven't had to use the fanfic system in a while, so just tell me if you find any mistakes, and I'll fix them. Thanks!