She was into neonatal and fetal. He was into plastics.
She was quiet. He was loud.
She was sweet. He was arrogant.
And yet he was attracted to her not only in the way she loved what she did but how she handled everything with such grace that it...
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Surprises can come in all shapes and sizes. They can be surprises from a birthday party and someone gave you a gift that you had no idea of. Or people can surprise you. They can surprise you by the way they are able to come back from a loss, how strong they are or unforgiving they can be. Who knows... you might even be able to surprise yourself.
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"Doctor Burke, can I talk to you?" Alison asked the heart surgeon to which he nodded his head.
"Of course. Step into this office. What did you want to talk about?"
"Your hand."
"What about it?" He laughed lightly trying to play it off.
"I know that you are still having trouble with it and that Doctor Yang is helping you. How were you even cleared for surgery?"
"I tried telling the chief," he let out a sigh as a ran a hand through his short hair. "But he was just so excited about me returning that I felt like I owed it to him somehow. Cristina is helping me when my hand starts to shake. When I start to feel it coming that's when I let her take control. I'm honestly surprised that Shepherd cleared me for surgery, if I'm being honest. I didn't think I was ready."
"You didn't think you were ready or that you are scared to come back to work?"
"I'm not scared," he let out a tired sigh. "Not anymore. My worry though is that I won't ever have good range of motion in my hand again. That I won't be able to perform heart surgery ever again. Who else knows?"
"No one but me," she gave him a small reassuring smile. "But Preston, the only way you will ever get better is by practicing and using your hand. Have you thought about therapy? Seeing a hand specialist might help. Or even talking to Derek again. Maybe he cleared you too early."
"I don't know. I don't think therapy can help me with this one. You see, when I put my hand out like this and it's in that position for too long, it starts to tighten up and shake. Like this," he showed her almost as if it were perfect time.
"You know my hands shake from time to time too. When I was younger they used to be really bad. Not from a gun shot wound, but from letting the nerves get to me. So what I like to do if it's a surgery I'm really stressed out about beforehand, I just take my hand or hands outward and just shake them like this," she told the cardiologist as she demonstrated. "I also will then bring them up to my chest, one over the other and take deep breaths in and out. That and I would also take Propanol."
"I thought you never got nervous?"
"Well, I don't so much anymore. But when it's a really big case, I definitely do. There's no shame in that, Preston."
"Thank you, Doctor Alison," he smiled at the Ped's surgeon to which she smiled and laughed and they walked out of the office room.
