Just Another New Year's Eve -- Addison/Burke with a little Cristina assist

For more years than he could remember, New Year's Eve had been one of those big-deal days that Preston Burke just couldn't be bothered to care about.  Sure, he was usually as glad as anyone to reach a new year, get a fresh start in some area of his life, but the whole big night out concept, the having to have someone to kiss at midnight, the manufactured romance of the whole thing... that had always annoyed him more than it had ever made him curious about participating.

More often than not, the night had lent itself to studying or to practicing in the skills lab or to voluntary shifts in the E.R. and finally to being one of the attendings who was always willing to cover that night so someone else who wanted to get dressed up and spend too much on food and drinks that cost a third of the price any other night of the year were free to go out and enjoy it.

He'd imagined when friendship had turned to love that one Addison Montgomery might force him to change his mind about that, but to his surprise, their first New Year's together had proven him wrong.  Derek had their daughter Lena for the weekend, and so when Preston suggested sneaking off for a quiet New Year's at a bed and breakfast, Addison had replied, "oh, thank God.  I thought you were gonna take me to one of those boring hotel ballroom things.  But if you promise that we'll stay in the bed at the bed and breakfast, then I say, yes, most definitely."

The next New Year's, they had been married already.  Lena had been with the Shepherd clan in New York for Christmas, an event that had nearly killed Addison, but she'd wanted her daughter to get to meet all the Shepherd cousins and spend time with her grandmother.  But after watching his bride endure the separation, Preston had known the only plan he was making for New Year's was a stack of DVDs, a fire, a fridge full of food and lockdown with his two best girls.  Addison's joy at just snuggling on the couch with him and her daughter had been all the sparkle he needed for the holiday.

Tonight was going to be more of the same... Bailey and Tucker and Tuck had come over and Preston had made his mother's famous macaroni and cheese, Tucker had grilled and the kids were building the world's biggest block structure ever seen in the playroom.  There had been no indication that he'd end up here, sitting on the floor outside of the O.R. suites that dominated his life, waiting for someone to come out and tell him that he hadn't just lost his family.

"Nathaniel."

He peered over the edge of his coffee cup to see her with glasses perched on her nose as she worked the Sunday crossword.  At his suggestion, she brought her eyes up and looked at him, considering the name.

They had been through so many by that point, Burke was beginning to think that their son would be born without them even having a top two or three to pick from.  He had liked Carson, Addison's first pick, but they agreed it didn't really go very well with "Burke."  She had not been fond of dealing with her family's reaction to Christian, his first choice.  Since then they had gone through Nicholas, Daniel, Adam, Elijah, Patrick, Seth, Atticus, Samuel and probably two dozen others.  But something had been wrong with each one... not musical enough, too traditional, too untraditional, his parents would hate it, hers would hate, one or both of them hated the nicknames someone might come up with.

And then out of nowhere sitting there sipping his coffee, it had hit him.

"Nathaniel," he said again, still waiting for some sort of comment from her.

She sat the paper down, took a sip of tea and then pulled her glasses off.

"Nathaniel Montgomery Burke."

The words rolled smoothly together, and Preston felt a part of himself fall in love with the name as she said it aloud.  He was ready to argue for this one, but then her lips broke into a huge smile.

"I love it.  But no one gets to call him Nate."

And so their son had a name and a room decorated in light gray and navy blue stripes and a teddy bear named "Blade" that his big sister Lena had picked out on one of their nursery shopping trips.  All they'd had to do was wait to meet him the first week in February when Nathaniel was set to arrive.

The walk around the block had been Addison's idea.  Her back was killing her and she just wanted to move a little, and so she and Miranda and the kids had gone on what should've been a twenty minute walk.  It was early evening, still fairly warm out considering the time of year, and the boys were finishing up with dinner, and so Preston had blown her a kiss from the kitchen as she teased him about leaving the extra-brown bits of mac and cheese for her.

They had barely been gone for ten minutes when Tucker's cell phone rang, and Burke thought nothing of it until he saw his friend's face morph from a smile into something altogether different... something that spoke about how suddenly life could take everything you'd become certain of and threaten to rip it away from you.

Tuck had a broken arm and Lena had a scrape on her head, but otherwise, the kids were okay.  Bailey was bruised from head to toe, but she'd suffered no serious injuries.  Addison, though... Addison had been clipped by the out-of-control car that had sent them all sprawling onto the ground, and now she was inside of a Seattle Grace O.R. with Richard trying desperately to stop the bleeding from a laceration to her liver.  At the same time, Karev was standing sentry over their newborn son's NICU isolette.  The five-and-a-half-pound baby boy had been delivered by emergency c-section and was doing well from what he'd been told, but Preston had yet to see him as more than a blur passing by in the hallway.

He couldn't move.  He wasn't leaving this spot until she was out of that room, one way or another.

The sound of someone clearing their throat broke his focus on the door he was waiting to swing open and drew Preston's eyes to his left.  Cristina stood there in scrubs, hair hanging down her back.

"Shepherd has Lena in his office.  She fell asleep on the couch, and Meredith is sitting with her.  I just thought you'd want to know."

Burke nodded, and when he said "Thank you," his voice didn't sound like his own to him.  The shock of that kept him from saying more, and he fell silent even though he kept staring at her, as if she was going to say something that might rouse him out of the stupor he was in.

She moved closer and eased herself down on the floor, the gesture surprising him. Though they were civil to each other, even friendly, he wasn't sure he'd describe them as friends.  Their breakup long in the past, each of them having moved on--if rumor had it right, she was about to go public with a year-long not-so-public hookup with Sloan--he wished her well and hoped she felt the same about him, but they never actually talked about much past their surgeries and what was going on after work or on the weekend with their co-mingled group of friends.

"He's good, too.  Alex says he has your hands and Addison's eyes.  And he's not a screamer.  And he's already eating, so... that's good."

Preston nodded and felt his eyes pulled back toward the door that he'd marched through hundreds of times since his first day at Seattle Grace.  It stood rock solid, unmoving, with no hint that anyone was coming through it anytime soon.

"Sometimes things work out," she offered, her voice hesitant, and he glanced back to his left to see Cristina staring down at her hands.

"Sometimes things go the way they should.  And I know I don't act like I believe that a lot of the time, but... sometimes they do.  And I really hope this is one of those times."

Burke felt his throat ache as emotion put a real, tangible physical strain on his body.  The words had been maybe the most loving and generous thing she'd ever said to him, and because he'd once known her so well, he wasn't ignorant of what it had taken for her to find that much hope to hand to him.

"His name is Nathaniel," he said, and after a moment of thought, Cristina looked up at him and smiled.

"Just don't let people call him Nate.  You and Montgomery would never have a kid named Nate."

The certainty of her statement drew a laugh from Preston.  He made a note to remember to share the story with Addison as soon as he could.

And then suddenly Richard and O'Malley were standing in front of him, the door he'd practically willed to move having opened without his noticing.  Burke stood quickly, rising to meet Richard's eyes, and he held his breath as the older man's hand settled on his shoulder.

"She's gonna be okay, Preston."

*****

It was just after one in the morning on the first day of the new year when Preston Burke held his son for the first time.  Nathaniel did have his hands and Addison's eyes, and he cried in that choked, tragic, near-silent way that his mother did. 

They sat in the quiet of Addison's room, the baby now the holder of a clean bill of health despite his early arrival, father holding son as they waited for the center of their universe to open her eyes.  And just as Preston began discussing the benefits of a Tulane education over Yale, her eyes fluttered, and he shifted his position on her hospital bed just slightly so that the newborn was lying flush against the front of his body.

"Nathaniel Montgomery Burke, 5 pounds, 5 ounces, 17 inches long, and he is very pleased to make your acquaintance."

The relief on her face was accompanied by tears, and Preston eased their son onto her chest as he moved so he could help support them both.

"Lena is sound asleep upstairs, Bailey and Tuck are gonna be fine.  And now that you're awake, our new year is off to a very good start.

Addison smiled and slowly drew her hand up and down Nathaniel's back.

"I guess we know what our plans are for the next eighteen New Year's Eves."

He looked at her quizzically and her smile widened.

"Birthday parties."

He had fought so hard not to break down throughout the night because he'd known that if the worst had come, he had to be prepared to help tell Lena, ready to go in and make decisions about his son's care without her there to guide him.  But thinking of how they would spend those next eighteen years together brought the reality of what he'd almost lost crashing in on him, and Burke let himself fold down around them, his face burrowing into Addison's hair.

When he felt her grasp his hand, he surrendered control of it and then sighed as she settled his palm over Nathaniel's back, her hand then covering his.

"Happy New Year, Preston."

And it was... the happiest new year of his life, and he kissed the top of his wife's head and felt the warmth of his son's tiny form seeping into him.

After all these years of apathy and flat-out resentment, New Year's Eve had just become his favorite day.