Opal Dreams and Magnolia Memories
This is my first multi-chapter Grey's story. So far its up to at least eight chapters, probably more. And I have a sequel planned as well.
I don't own anything! If I did, Ava, Denny and Olivia would be locked away in a dungeon somewhere.
I got this idea when I attended a conference for work in Savannah, Georgia. I absolutely fell in love with the city and I can't wait to go back. The story is very much an Alex/Izzie story (although the others are involved ... and the sequel will be ensemble). It takes place about a year or so after the end of season 4.
Izzie takes on a new city and a visitor from Seattle makes her life there even more enjoyable. Please leave reviews, or I might be tempted to leave the story incomplete. Enjoy!
"I'm leaving Seattle."
She hadn't intended to blurt it out. It just came.
Four sets of eyes looked up at her, shocked. They stared silently for what seemed to Izzie like hours.
"Somebody say something ... please?"
"Seriously?!" Meredith finally said, quietly but urgently.
"Why?" Cristina asked.
George and Alex just watched her, waiting for an answer.
"I've done everything that I can do with the Clinic here. Lexie is more than prepared to take over for me. I ... Clinics like this one are needed all over the place, not just here in Seattle. Last week, when I took my vacation time, I went to an interview. Actually it wasn't really an interview. They sought me out. I went there and ... They need me. They need a clinic. I can really help people there."
"Where?" George finally broke his silence.
"It's a great opportunity ... I couldn't turn it down."
"Izzie, where is it?" Meredith pressed.
"Well ... "
"Look Barbie, tell us where it is so that we can tell you why you shouldn't go there."
"Cristina, I have to go."
"WHERE?!"
Izzie turned and looked at George, surprised at his outburst, and slowly opened her mouth to respond.
"Savannah."
"As in Georgia? Izzie, you'll die of heat stroke down there! Plus, have you ever seen a little movie called 'Deliverence'?"
She looked at Cristina wearily.
"That's the best you could come up with?"
"Give me time, I'll come up with something better."
"Izzie," Meredith spoke up, "it's not that we don't think its a great opportunity, its just ... why does it have to be so far away? You're part of our family."
"And I still will be, but Meredith, you didn't go there. You didn't see how much this is needed. The city is beautiful and historical and all, but there is an inner city, too. And twenty minutes outside of town is some of the poorest rural farm areas in the country. They need a clinic. They need someone to run it ... someone who knows how to run a clinic. I know how to do that. I learned it from Bailey, and now its my turn to take the lead. I need to do this. It won't be for forever. I'll be back, I just have to do this for me."
She looked over her friends' faces. Meredith looked sad, but understanding. Cristina looked pissed. George looked like someone stole his puppy. And Alex ... for once, she couldn't read the face of the man seated next to her. It momentarily crossed her mind that she should have given him a warning about this. But she didn't. She regretted that.
They sat in tense silence for the next few minutes, munching on their food, until George and Meredith's pagers went off simultaneously.
"It's Mr. Carlen. We have to go."
They left without saying another word.
Cristina looked from Alex to Izzie and back again before getting up herself. As she left, she mumbled to herself, "Yeah, don't want to be around for this."
The pair sat encased in the silence that had covered the table, unable to look at each other.
Finally, Izzie couldn't take it anymore. She turned, watched him move the pasta around his plate and started the conversation that neither of them wanted to have.
"Alex ... please. Just say something."
He continued to stare at the table, so she put her hand to his cheek, forcing him to look at her.
"Please."
"Fine, what do you want me to say? That I'm happy for you? That I want you to go? Because I'm not going to say that ... you know I'm not."
"I know that," she responded quietly.
"What about us, Iz? Did you stop for one second to think about what's good for us? For the first time, we've got it together. It took us too many tries to get it right just let it all go."
She knew he was right. First it was Olivia, then Denny, then Rebecca, and now ... she would be the one to cause them to fall ... again. It had been a year since Rebecca was sent to the institution. It had taken him months to get back on his feet. But she was always there for him. She knew from the moment that he had cried on her shoulder, sitting on his bed that she always would be there for him. And the fact was, she needed him as much as he needed her.
They just naturally and slowly grew together again. Their friendship became stronger than ever and grew into a passionate affair that was greater than anything either of them had ever experienced. The past six months had been the best six months of either of their lives, and they both knew it.
And now ...
"Why didn't you just tell me about this," he said, looking back down at his now cold food. She could tell he was angry. "We could have talked about it. Figured it out."
"I know. I'm sorry. I was ... scared."
He sat back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair.
"You've accepted the job?"
"Yesterday."
Tears threatened to fall from her glassy eyes.
"Okay."
He rose from the table, scraping the feet of his chair against the cement. He walked away, not looking back, not kissing her goodbye as per their usual.
She watched him go, and immediately began to question her decision.
No, she told herself. This is what I have to do. This isn't about Alex.