Preston Burke was the cardio "god" that won over Cristina Yang. She was attracted to his skills and started out just wanting his attention and the experience in the O.R., but over time, the relationship got more and more serious. Burke actually got to know Cristina and wanted more from her all the time. They eventually move in together and things continued progressing. in a tragic accident, Burke is shot in the hand and after all the healing is finished, he is left with hand tremors that are getting in the way of his surgeries. Cristina helps him "hide" this fact and is "his hands" in most of his surgeries. This works for a while, but Burke starts to try to do more and more on his own before Cristina realizes the danger in it all. She runs to Chief Webber telling him about everything. Until that time, Chief had considered Burke to take his place as Chief of Surgery when he retired. Things eventually work out, the couple makes up, gets back together, and he even proposes to her. The wedding was set, everything was on it's way, when suddenly a wrench is thrown into the gears. Colin Marlow comes onto the scene. Colin is not only a well-renowned cardio surgeon, but he also happened to be Cristina's professor and ex-boyfriend. Colin is jealous of Preston's ability to get Cristina to settle down and takes every chance he can get to plant seeds of doubt into Burke's mind. Evidently Colin had tried to settle Cristina, but she's always been opposed to marriage and never wanted to take that step. Through numerous discussions, Preston realizes that Cristina is only marrying him to make him happy, though she "tries" to assure in her own practical way. Cristina, who is having some cold feet as well, pushes herself through it, gets ready for the wedding while wishing she was in surgery where she feels safe and finally makes it to the wedding only to find that Preston has left. Left her! Standing at the alter. Preston quits his job and disappears after the last episode of Season 3 never to be seen or heard from again. Now he's won a prestigious award for his incredible work in surgery with no mention at all of Cristina Yang, despite her help while he had the tremors.

Related Articles:

"Telling Off Chief Webber"