Fic: Falling Awake (11/13)
Here's the latest chapter of my fic "Falling Awake". I'm trying really hard to get this story finished and posted before the show comes back. Hopefully I'll get it done before Thursday.
Until then here's Ch. 11
Fic: Falling Awake
Rating: Nothing bad here, unless you would count angst.
Feedback: Of course, feedback is like our crack!
Summary: Just when George thought his life couldn’t get any more complicated, it does.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, unfortunately. It would be cooler if I did though.
Spoilers: All the way until the end of the episode “The Other Side of Life” after that my version takes a different route. I started this fic over the summer so this season doesn’t really count, any similarities is only by coincidence. If you haven’t watch S4 yet and are staying away from spoilers don’t worry nothing here will spoil you.
A/N: Many thanks goes to those who have already read a lot of this and help me sort through my writers block. It was much appreciate! :)
Just a little warning, the medical situations in this may be completely off, I don’t know anything, really, when it comes to hospitals or medical knowledge, so prepare yourself for having to suspend your imagination and belief.
~*~
Izzie watched his even breathing from her spot at the door. She was leaning on the frame of the door watching George sleep once more. This time it was a different kind of sleep. There wasn’t the sound of agonizing beeps from machines doing things he could not. It was quiet. The only thing that could be heard was his peaceful breathing. It was the most relaxing thing she had heard in a long time.
Izzie thought he looked good too. His color was beginning to come back. He still looked a bit frail from not being able to eat properly before, but he looked like he was well on his way to recovery. His cheeks were flushed from sleeping, she knew he was not a cold nature person in sleep, always kicking the covers off in the middle of the night from being hot, which drove her mad sometimes. He also didn’t have as many bandages covering his head. He was beginning to look more and more like the George she knew and loved, which thrilled her to no end.
She didn’t know how she got there. Mrs. Harris words had haunted her thoughts all night long. Before she knew it, she was standing at his door breathing in the sight of him. She looked down at her feet, knowing she shouldn’t be there.
“It’s about time,” came a grumble from the bed.
Izzie’s breath caught in her throat as she looked up at him. She couldn’t help the small smile on her face as she watched him open his eyes to give her a small smile of his own.
“Took you long enough,” George smiled. “I was about to give up on you.”
Izzie bit her bottom lip to keep herself from smiling silly. “Yeah, well my profession keeps me pretty busy.”
“Really? Guess I wouldn’t know anything about that,” George teased, sitting up in bed.
“How are you feeling?” Izzie asked, cautiously coming in. She picked up his medical chart to give her a distraction as she looked down at it.
“Better now.”
Izzie looked up to see him smiling at her. She looked back down at the chart quickly as she felt her cheeks redden from blushing.
“Oh yeah?” She said, nonchalantly. “Well I otta kick your ass for giving us a scare like that.”
“Oh come on, you gotta admit for a vacation plan this one has its perks. I’m still at work… just not working. I still get to see everyone, still get to hear about cases, and I’m still an intern and yet… you all have to wait on me. Should have thought of this a long time ago.”
“Huh, he’s had an extraordinary brain surgery from a world-renowned surgeon…. and yet he still doesn’t have much of a sense of humor,” Izzie teased, smiling brightly. “Maybe we can install that trait next time.”
George laughed from his spot in bed and Izzie felt her stomach drop at the sound. She took a few steps closer to the side of his bed.
“So how’s work?”
“Eh. It’s work. I’m on call for the night. Hence the late night visit. It’s pretty dead around here.”
“Oh, so I’m getting a bored visit?” George asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No, more like a pity visit,” Izzie teased as she sat on the edge of George’s bed.
“Oh great, even better. You could have at least brought me a balloon bouquet or a ficus,” George smiled, tilting his head towards the throng of balloons, plants, flowers, and get-well cards by the window.
“Wow, I guess it does pay to be well liked in this hospital,” Izzie said, looking around the room. “Where’s Callie?”
George’s smile fell a little. “Visiting hours ended, so she went home.”
“Oh, I thought a nurses favorite like you would be able to pull a few strings,” Izzie said, trying to sound light.
“Yeah, well I thought she would probably get more rest at the hotel,” he said, quietly, looking down at his hands.
“Oh,” Izzie said, nodding awkwardly. “Yeah hotel sleep beats hospital sleep hands down. No pesky nurses or doctors popping in every 5 seconds.”
Izzie could tell he was lost in his own thoughts. She felt the weight of their recent sins bearing down on them once more. She knew she was not making things any easier by being there.
“Speaking of being a pesky doctor, I should probably go. If Bailey knew I was here I’d be sentenced to pit duty for a month.” She said, sighing as she stood up. “I just wanted to see how you were doing .You look good, George. I’m glad you’re okay,” she said, tenderly.
Izzie turned to go but stop when she heard George mumble.
“Just trust it.”
“I’m sorry?” Izzie asked, turning back, not quiet sure she heard him correctly.
George looked up at with a new look of determination on his face. To Izzie it looked like he was having one of his light bulb moments. He reached out and gently took her hand. Izzie looked down at his hand on hers.
“You’re my ugly coyote,” George said, in awe.
Izzie looked up at him and blinked.
“I gotta say out of all the things I pictured you saying to me when you woke up… that was not on the list.”
George gentle smile calmed Izzie’s racing heart.
“When other people see you they see this ratty looking animal who’s lost… hurt and wild and dangerous…but you’re not. Not to me.”
Izzie looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Wow this is the best compliment ever,” she deadpanned. “You’re not relapsing are you? Cause you’re not making much sense.”
“No, I’m making more sense now than I have in a long time,” George said smiling, pulling her closer to him until she sat back down on the edge of his bed again.
“Really? Cause right now you’re just calling me an ugly coyote,” Izzie joked. “Not what every girl dreams of being called.”
“Stop over analyzing everything,” George teased.
“Start making sense!” Izzie huffed, exaggeratedly, trying not to smile. “Besides what’s with everyone using this coyote analogy? Enough already.”
“What I mean is that you’re not what most people see. To me you’re not some lost wild creature. You’re Izzie and I’m George. And what we have. What we are… is beautiful. And I can trust it. It’s not going to hurt us.”
Izzie was having a hard time following his line of thinking because he seemed to be doing the nervous rambling thing he did when he was excited about something. She didn’t know rather to smile at how adorable she found it or smack him in the arm for being so confusing.
“George…”
“I know you were lying the other day.”
Izzie once again felt her breath catch in her throat. “What?”
“Or at least I think you lied. I know you. And I know you just don’t back down on your feelings. You’re hardheaded, stubborn and persistent as hell. To the point that it’s annoying as all get out and totally enduring at the same time. And the other day when you told me you didn’t have feelings for me, that our night together didn’t mean anything… I believe you were lying. It just doesn’t sound like you.” He said, but then added quickly, “And if you weren’t lying than that makes what I’m about to say highly awkward… but…”
Izzie’s brow furrowed in confusion, she looked down at their joined hands when George intertwined his fingers with hers.
“…I’m in love with you, Izzie.”
Izzie looked up in surprise at the declaration.
“I’m in love with you and I shouldn’t be. I’m a married man and I have this amazing woman as my wife and here I am in love with another woman. You’re my best friend and it complicates things to a million degrees and we’re colleagues in an incredibly competitive field and I’m this geeky guy that shouldn’t even get a second glance from an incredible, once known model, like you and there are a million reasons why me being in love with you is wrong. But… at the end of the day, after I’ve told myself of all the reasons we’re wrong for each other… I’m still completely in love with you.”
Izzie tried swallowing the lump in her throat but wasn’t successful in stopping the tears that slipped from her eyes and down her cheeks. George took the hand that wasn’t holding hers and gently wiped them away with a soft caress of his thumb and let his hand linger there. Izzie closed her eyes at his soft touches.
“I love you and with all the things making it wrong, its still right.”
Izzie couldn’t help the bright smile despite the tears slipping from her closed eyes. She let out a nervous laugh. She opened her eyes and looked him in they eyes.
“I was lying. Our night together… it did mean something. It meant everything. Because I love you, too.”
George smiled and took her hand and kissed the back of it.
“The only thing not right is…” George said, dropping off at the end, not wanting to spoil the moment.
“… is our timing,” Izzie finished for him.
George nodded in agreement.
“So what does that mean?” Izzie asked, a little afraid of the answer. She knew how George felt about his commitment to Callie. She was scared that they were doomed to be forever stuck in this awkward limbo.
“It means we make it right,” George said, assertively. “Life’s been over whelming. For the longest time I’ve felt like I’ve been drowning and I keep swimming for the nearest shore I can find, but it seems the harder I try to swim, the more tired I become. Callie has been my much-needed life preserver. She’s helped me keep my head above the waters. But she deserves more than that. She deserves someone who isn’t drowning.”
Izzie nodded her understanding. She let out a shaky breath as she asked the next question.
“So what does that make me?”
“My steady ground,” George said, softly, eyes shining with love. “You’re the safe shore I’ve been swimming too.”
Izzie didn’t think she could smile anymore than she already had, but he kept proving her wrong.
“But Iz, before we can…”
“I know,” Izzie interrupted him, squeezing his hand to let him know it was okay. “You have to make things right with Callie.”
George nodded. His smile from before faltered.
“I don’t hate Callie,” Izzie said, trying to explain to him that she wanted the same thing he did. “I know I’ve had my qualms about your relationship with her, but I never wanted to hurt her like this. I’m not that person. I wish I could fix this for her. Make it easier somehow. But I can’t. Love is never easy.”
“Right. Which is why I say we’ll make this right with time,” George said.
“Right,” Izzie nodded. “In time… so what should we do in the mean time?”
George thought about this for a moment before smiling.
“Be George and Izzie.”
He scooted over in his bed and lied down on his side so that he was facing her. She looked back down at him and smiled. She wondered for a moment if they could just be George and Izzie. After a moment, she brought her feet up and scooted closer to him as she lied on her side facing him as well. They were both lying in the hospital bed facing each other, staring into each other’s eyes.
“So, really. How’s work been?” George asked, smiling.
“Better now,” Izzie replied with his earlier statement, smiling back.
“Did you hear about me scaring the hell out of Alex by faking a seizure?”
Izzie kept smiling as she gently placed her hand besides George’s hand lying in between them and let her pinky touch his.
“No, but please do tell me. And don’t spare any details.”
“Okay, well let me first say that I didn’t think his eyes could bulge out that much….”
Izzie’s laughter could be heard from the hallways.
~*~
Until then here's Ch. 11
Fic: Falling Awake
Rating: Nothing bad here, unless you would count angst.
Feedback: Of course, feedback is like our crack!
Summary: Just when George thought his life couldn’t get any more complicated, it does.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, unfortunately. It would be cooler if I did though.
Spoilers: All the way until the end of the episode “The Other Side of Life” after that my version takes a different route. I started this fic over the summer so this season doesn’t really count, any similarities is only by coincidence. If you haven’t watch S4 yet and are staying away from spoilers don’t worry nothing here will spoil you.
A/N: Many thanks goes to those who have already read a lot of this and help me sort through my writers block. It was much appreciate! :)
Just a little warning, the medical situations in this may be completely off, I don’t know anything, really, when it comes to hospitals or medical knowledge, so prepare yourself for having to suspend your imagination and belief.
~*~
Izzie watched his even breathing from her spot at the door. She was leaning on the frame of the door watching George sleep once more. This time it was a different kind of sleep. There wasn’t the sound of agonizing beeps from machines doing things he could not. It was quiet. The only thing that could be heard was his peaceful breathing. It was the most relaxing thing she had heard in a long time.
Izzie thought he looked good too. His color was beginning to come back. He still looked a bit frail from not being able to eat properly before, but he looked like he was well on his way to recovery. His cheeks were flushed from sleeping, she knew he was not a cold nature person in sleep, always kicking the covers off in the middle of the night from being hot, which drove her mad sometimes. He also didn’t have as many bandages covering his head. He was beginning to look more and more like the George she knew and loved, which thrilled her to no end.
She didn’t know how she got there. Mrs. Harris words had haunted her thoughts all night long. Before she knew it, she was standing at his door breathing in the sight of him. She looked down at her feet, knowing she shouldn’t be there.
“It’s about time,” came a grumble from the bed.
Izzie’s breath caught in her throat as she looked up at him. She couldn’t help the small smile on her face as she watched him open his eyes to give her a small smile of his own.
“Took you long enough,” George smiled. “I was about to give up on you.”
Izzie bit her bottom lip to keep herself from smiling silly. “Yeah, well my profession keeps me pretty busy.”
“Really? Guess I wouldn’t know anything about that,” George teased, sitting up in bed.
“How are you feeling?” Izzie asked, cautiously coming in. She picked up his medical chart to give her a distraction as she looked down at it.
“Better now.”
Izzie looked up to see him smiling at her. She looked back down at the chart quickly as she felt her cheeks redden from blushing.
“Oh yeah?” She said, nonchalantly. “Well I otta kick your ass for giving us a scare like that.”
“Oh come on, you gotta admit for a vacation plan this one has its perks. I’m still at work… just not working. I still get to see everyone, still get to hear about cases, and I’m still an intern and yet… you all have to wait on me. Should have thought of this a long time ago.”
“Huh, he’s had an extraordinary brain surgery from a world-renowned surgeon…. and yet he still doesn’t have much of a sense of humor,” Izzie teased, smiling brightly. “Maybe we can install that trait next time.”
George laughed from his spot in bed and Izzie felt her stomach drop at the sound. She took a few steps closer to the side of his bed.
“So how’s work?”
“Eh. It’s work. I’m on call for the night. Hence the late night visit. It’s pretty dead around here.”
“Oh, so I’m getting a bored visit?” George asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No, more like a pity visit,” Izzie teased as she sat on the edge of George’s bed.
“Oh great, even better. You could have at least brought me a balloon bouquet or a ficus,” George smiled, tilting his head towards the throng of balloons, plants, flowers, and get-well cards by the window.
“Wow, I guess it does pay to be well liked in this hospital,” Izzie said, looking around the room. “Where’s Callie?”
George’s smile fell a little. “Visiting hours ended, so she went home.”
“Oh, I thought a nurses favorite like you would be able to pull a few strings,” Izzie said, trying to sound light.
“Yeah, well I thought she would probably get more rest at the hotel,” he said, quietly, looking down at his hands.
“Oh,” Izzie said, nodding awkwardly. “Yeah hotel sleep beats hospital sleep hands down. No pesky nurses or doctors popping in every 5 seconds.”
Izzie could tell he was lost in his own thoughts. She felt the weight of their recent sins bearing down on them once more. She knew she was not making things any easier by being there.
“Speaking of being a pesky doctor, I should probably go. If Bailey knew I was here I’d be sentenced to pit duty for a month.” She said, sighing as she stood up. “I just wanted to see how you were doing .You look good, George. I’m glad you’re okay,” she said, tenderly.
Izzie turned to go but stop when she heard George mumble.
“Just trust it.”
“I’m sorry?” Izzie asked, turning back, not quiet sure she heard him correctly.
George looked up at with a new look of determination on his face. To Izzie it looked like he was having one of his light bulb moments. He reached out and gently took her hand. Izzie looked down at his hand on hers.
“You’re my ugly coyote,” George said, in awe.
Izzie looked up at him and blinked.
“I gotta say out of all the things I pictured you saying to me when you woke up… that was not on the list.”
George gentle smile calmed Izzie’s racing heart.
“When other people see you they see this ratty looking animal who’s lost… hurt and wild and dangerous…but you’re not. Not to me.”
Izzie looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Wow this is the best compliment ever,” she deadpanned. “You’re not relapsing are you? Cause you’re not making much sense.”
“No, I’m making more sense now than I have in a long time,” George said smiling, pulling her closer to him until she sat back down on the edge of his bed again.
“Really? Cause right now you’re just calling me an ugly coyote,” Izzie joked. “Not what every girl dreams of being called.”
“Stop over analyzing everything,” George teased.
“Start making sense!” Izzie huffed, exaggeratedly, trying not to smile. “Besides what’s with everyone using this coyote analogy? Enough already.”
“What I mean is that you’re not what most people see. To me you’re not some lost wild creature. You’re Izzie and I’m George. And what we have. What we are… is beautiful. And I can trust it. It’s not going to hurt us.”
Izzie was having a hard time following his line of thinking because he seemed to be doing the nervous rambling thing he did when he was excited about something. She didn’t know rather to smile at how adorable she found it or smack him in the arm for being so confusing.
“George…”
“I know you were lying the other day.”
Izzie once again felt her breath catch in her throat. “What?”
“Or at least I think you lied. I know you. And I know you just don’t back down on your feelings. You’re hardheaded, stubborn and persistent as hell. To the point that it’s annoying as all get out and totally enduring at the same time. And the other day when you told me you didn’t have feelings for me, that our night together didn’t mean anything… I believe you were lying. It just doesn’t sound like you.” He said, but then added quickly, “And if you weren’t lying than that makes what I’m about to say highly awkward… but…”
Izzie’s brow furrowed in confusion, she looked down at their joined hands when George intertwined his fingers with hers.
“…I’m in love with you, Izzie.”
Izzie looked up in surprise at the declaration.
“I’m in love with you and I shouldn’t be. I’m a married man and I have this amazing woman as my wife and here I am in love with another woman. You’re my best friend and it complicates things to a million degrees and we’re colleagues in an incredibly competitive field and I’m this geeky guy that shouldn’t even get a second glance from an incredible, once known model, like you and there are a million reasons why me being in love with you is wrong. But… at the end of the day, after I’ve told myself of all the reasons we’re wrong for each other… I’m still completely in love with you.”
Izzie tried swallowing the lump in her throat but wasn’t successful in stopping the tears that slipped from her eyes and down her cheeks. George took the hand that wasn’t holding hers and gently wiped them away with a soft caress of his thumb and let his hand linger there. Izzie closed her eyes at his soft touches.
“I love you and with all the things making it wrong, its still right.”
Izzie couldn’t help the bright smile despite the tears slipping from her closed eyes. She let out a nervous laugh. She opened her eyes and looked him in they eyes.
“I was lying. Our night together… it did mean something. It meant everything. Because I love you, too.”
George smiled and took her hand and kissed the back of it.
“The only thing not right is…” George said, dropping off at the end, not wanting to spoil the moment.
“… is our timing,” Izzie finished for him.
George nodded in agreement.
“So what does that mean?” Izzie asked, a little afraid of the answer. She knew how George felt about his commitment to Callie. She was scared that they were doomed to be forever stuck in this awkward limbo.
“It means we make it right,” George said, assertively. “Life’s been over whelming. For the longest time I’ve felt like I’ve been drowning and I keep swimming for the nearest shore I can find, but it seems the harder I try to swim, the more tired I become. Callie has been my much-needed life preserver. She’s helped me keep my head above the waters. But she deserves more than that. She deserves someone who isn’t drowning.”
Izzie nodded her understanding. She let out a shaky breath as she asked the next question.
“So what does that make me?”
“My steady ground,” George said, softly, eyes shining with love. “You’re the safe shore I’ve been swimming too.”
Izzie didn’t think she could smile anymore than she already had, but he kept proving her wrong.
“But Iz, before we can…”
“I know,” Izzie interrupted him, squeezing his hand to let him know it was okay. “You have to make things right with Callie.”
George nodded. His smile from before faltered.
“I don’t hate Callie,” Izzie said, trying to explain to him that she wanted the same thing he did. “I know I’ve had my qualms about your relationship with her, but I never wanted to hurt her like this. I’m not that person. I wish I could fix this for her. Make it easier somehow. But I can’t. Love is never easy.”
“Right. Which is why I say we’ll make this right with time,” George said.
“Right,” Izzie nodded. “In time… so what should we do in the mean time?”
George thought about this for a moment before smiling.
“Be George and Izzie.”
He scooted over in his bed and lied down on his side so that he was facing her. She looked back down at him and smiled. She wondered for a moment if they could just be George and Izzie. After a moment, she brought her feet up and scooted closer to him as she lied on her side facing him as well. They were both lying in the hospital bed facing each other, staring into each other’s eyes.
“So, really. How’s work been?” George asked, smiling.
“Better now,” Izzie replied with his earlier statement, smiling back.
“Did you hear about me scaring the hell out of Alex by faking a seizure?”
Izzie kept smiling as she gently placed her hand besides George’s hand lying in between them and let her pinky touch his.
“No, but please do tell me. And don’t spare any details.”
“Okay, well let me first say that I didn’t think his eyes could bulge out that much….”
Izzie’s laughter could be heard from the hallways.
~*~