Title: This Is Good.

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Izzie/George

Summary: The girls are exceptionally good at being mysterious, and George is exceptionally good at being oblivious. So, really, this shouldn't be that different to any other couple of days, but it is.

A/N: Loosely inspired by a StagesOfLove drabble challenge, which I really wanted to claim Izzie/George for. But it being November and me being another of those crazy Nano people, it probably would have been a disaster, so I wrote a short story instead. This is also kind of personal wish fulfilment from the George/Izzie Fic Exchange that didn't go ahead, writing my own prompt.

THIS IS GOOD

There was nothing quite so fulfilling as walking through the front door to the sounds of upbeat music, people sloshing wine around, and laughter. A moment later came the smell of dinner cooking, more of a surprise than it should be, but they were interns after all. They couldn't be expected to do anything so mundane or time consuming as eat a balanced and healthy diet. That was for their patients, not for them.

So, when George dropped his things by the door and headed for the kitchen, he wasn't that surprised to find that those particularly mouth watering smells were actually from some fancy, and seriously expensive, but very easy pre-made meals. Thank god for Meredith. Or rather for Meredith's mother's house. The big, roomy, close-to-the-hospital house, which passed from one surgeon to another, along with a variety of tips. Like where to get half decent food made for you when your surgeries ran over. Or when someone was brought into the E.R. with a particularly disgusting injury, just as you were getting ready to clock off and head home.

Meredith and Izzie were chatting and giggling at each other from opposite sides of the kitchen table, which wasn't too unusual really. What i was /i unusual was that they both went quiet as soon as George walked into the room. Granted, he'd complained about being treated like a sister, but for all his bluster he'd gotten used to being included in all the girly chatter and whatnot that went with living with a bunch of, well, girls.

Izzie was grinning into a mug and refusing to meet his eyes, and Meredith was just plain grinning. Actually, scratch that, that wasn't grinning. That was verging-on-creepy beaming. Pure beaming and large quantities of happiness that apparently required shutting up when George got home.

George wondering whether it had something to do with McDreamy, and if it did, did he really want to know? Maybe he was better off with the shutting up, it was probably the safest option. Not that they'd given him the option anyway, they'd just forced him into the boy corner with the shutting up and the stopping of the gossip.

"So, uh, what's going on?" George grinned a little nervously. Why were they suddenly shutting up around him?

Izzie just smiled some more into her mug and swept mysteriously past him, leaving Meredith to take her place at the stove and keep stirring whatever expensive, fancy re-heatable meal they were having.

"It's ok, it's good." Meredith smiled magnanimously at him some more.

"What's good?"

"It doesn't matter, it's just... good, yes, it's good."

"What is it, why did you both go quiet when I walk-"

"It's just good, George, it's good. That's all." Meredith shrugged and swept past him as well, leaving George standing in the middle of the now quiet kitchen, perplexed and probably about to burn dinner.

George couldn't figure how it had happened quite like this. It was obvious how it had happened, and it was good that it happened, because it was nice to see that he and Meredith really were all right together again. But at the same time, he wasn't quite sure how that had happened. It wasn't like they were doing anything criminal, though you wouldn't have known it from the way Izzie was glaring at them when he first woke up.

But, really, it had been a long day in surgery and they didn't mean to. All three of them were supposed to stay up and watch a movie together that night, because they hadn't done anything together in too long, and if Meredith and George had a long day... Well, Izzie was stuck at the hospital even longer.

So George and Meredith had opened a bottle of wine early and had taken it in turns to try and keep each other awake until Izzie got home. Maybe, with hindsight, the wine hadn't been such a good idea. Actually, if they hadn't been quite so tired, opening the wine would have been an obvious no-no. It, of course, made them happy and groggy because Izzie took forever. They'd nearly finished the bottle and she still wasn't home, and there was even more yawning than before and then before they had known what was happening they'd both fallen asleep on the couch.

When George had heard the front door slam he'd stirred a little, but hadn't made much of an effort, not really registering that it wasn't just hard to move because he was exhausted. A few minutes later he'd started feeling extremely uncomfortable, and had pried his eyes open just in time to meet a bout of very angry glaring from Izzie, before she'd twirled and stomped away. Well, he assumed it was a very angry glare from the stomping. He'd had a little trouble assessing the exact degree of anger from behind Meredith's hair.

Meredith's hair, which was spread across his face because Meredith was all tangled up with him on the couch, where they'd both accidentally fallen asleep.

He tentatively poked Meredith in the shoulder, and she stirred just enough to elbow him in the gut.

"...oof, Meredith?" George poked her again. "Meredith, wake up. Izzie. We... slept, Izzie cranky," George let his head flop back on the armrest. He'd made an effort, he didn't have to move anymore now. Meredith groaned into his chest.

"... did you say Izzie?"

"Mhmm, Izzie home, cranky." Dammit, there was a great big crick in his neck, but he didn't think he could move to get it out without encountering Meredith's elbow again.

"Izzie?!" Meredith started upright immediately, eyes wild and hair tangled around her head like a glorified halo. "Oh no, George, that's bad."

George shifted just enough to ease the crick in his neck and eyed her in silence.

"That's... that's not good, George." Meredith seemed to be looking at him meaningfully. When he didn't reply, she punched him in the shoulder and scrambled to her feet.

"Idiot."

George had the feeling he should be feeling offended, but without Meredith he could get more comfortable, and these particular cushions were really soft. He barely registered Meredith half tripping over herself in her rush to the stairs before he was fast asleep again.

There was definitely something to be said for alternating who had to clean what parts of the house, because then no one got stuck having to do the not so cool chores, like the bathroom, all the time. However it had definite downsides, like when Izzie was in a mood and baking like a crazy thing and George had to spend one of his few days off chasing her around the kitchen, trying to keep up his dish washing with her baking pace.

Well, he didn't really have to do it. But he felt a little responsible after the other night, which was the most likely cause for the baking that he could think of. It did seem to be mollifying Izzie a little. Though if that was because she was venting a lot of whatever was bothering her by yelling at him for being under foot all the time, or just because he was spending his day off with her, George wasn't sure.

Besides, at this rate she would destroy the kitchen if he left her to it, and he'd still have to try and clean up at the end of the day anyway. Really, it was purely selfish reasons motivating George to hang around the kitchen with angry, baking Izzie.

Not that she'd gone into what was bothering her, but George was pretty sure it had something to do with him. Everything had blown up so spectacularly last time there was anything going on with Meredith and George, and he supposed it could have been... not that it was... but it could have been seen that way. Like there was something to worry about. Not that there was! But he could see why Izzie might have looked at it that way, from what she'd seen.

Now she was throwing a muffin tray at his head.

"Ow." George furrowed his brow and rubbed his head. Best not to say anything, she'd probably just yell at him for getting distracted again. Not that she was giving him anything in particular to pay attention to, but that was Izzie for you.

George sneaked a quick peek out of the corner of one eye. Izzie had her arms crossed and was staring at him with her best ominous expression. George gulped dramatically and quickly spun back to the sink. Just keep cleaning, George, and leave Izzie to it. Surely she'll bake herself out soon.

And in the meantime George could just keep eating those muffins. They were quite good, and worth the wrist slap he got whenever Izzie caught him. Besides, she was smiling a little every time she had to slap his wrist, so maybe they were getting somewhere. Now if only she would talk so that he could assure her that she didn't need to start worrying about him threatening to move out again.

This time George was sitting on the couch with Izzie. No Meredith. Meredith wasn't even meant to finish work for hours yet, and that was if an interesting looking emergency didn't catch her attention and keep her there later. So it was just George and Izzie, and he had already gotten past the awkward explanation for the sleeping on the couch with Meredith thing. Izzie now knew, in no uncertain terms, that he was over Meredith, and it was totally innocent, and he wasn't going to try and move out again.

Even if he had still been seeing Callie and thus had a girlfriend to crash with, he wasn't going anywhere, because this was his house too and besides it was totally innocent.

For once Izzie seemed to believe him straight off, no questions asked. He supposed it might have had something to do with him spending the entire day following her around in the kitchen, trying to get her to calm down about it.

But, whatever the reason, they seemed to be cool again. Izzie was smiling at him more, and they were settling in to watch a movie with a nice, wholesome, reheated dinner (which George hadn't burnt this time because no one abandoned him in the kitchen) and it was all going swimmingly when Izzie announced that she was tired.

"Tired? But we were... and I did... and then we were..." George stammered out. Maybe things weren't as fine as he'd thought they were.

"Yes, George, I'm tired. Aren't you tired? All that time cooking, and really, we were just about due to spend a day off in bed. We've been working so much lately." Izzie briskly gathered up their dishes and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving George to gape wordlessly after her.

"But, you were... and we were..."

"Come on, George, we can watch a movie anytime. Aren't you tired?"

George supposed he was a little, they were interns, they were always tired. He wasn't entirely sure if this was genuine or if Izzie was still pissed at him, so he followed quietly when she snagged the edge of his sleeve and tugged him towards the stairs. In fact, he followed her quietly all the way up the stairs before he finally got up the nerve to say something.

"Izzie, are you still mad at me?" George stalled in the middle of the hallway, grabbing Izzie's sleeve now, so that she couldn't brush him off again.

"No, George, I'm not mad at you," Izzie smiled and pushed him up against her bedroom door. That big smile pressed against his lips and those hands fumbling behind him for the doorknob and oh, George supposed he was rather tired.

Izzie gave him another one of those amazing smiles, this time pressed against the side of this throat, and she quickly eyed her alarm clock over his shoulder at the same time.

"Meredith won't be home for hours, best get some rest in before she gets back and starts making a racket." Izzie grinned impishly at George and pushed him down across her bedspread.

Izzie had been trying to read the newspaper when George walked in, reached over her shoulder and rifled through it, then grabbed a great big chunk of it and arranged himself in the next seat. Meredith was sitting opposite them and blinked at them a lot when Izzie did nothing but smile and let him get away with it, even though part of the section he had grabbed had included the story she was in the middle of reading.

Then Izzie had reached over and grabbed George's coffee, the last of the coffee actually, and refused to give it back. But George had just happily gotten up to get himself juice, without a word, or even a look of anything approaching complaint.

Meredith shook her head and went back to her own breakfast, figuring it was too early and she was hallucinating from sleep deprivation. You could do that, right? Hallucinate from sleep deprivation?

When Izzie had handed George the shopping list, and then pulled him back by his shirt sleeve to write tampons on the bottom though, Meredith knew something really weird was going on. Izzie hadn't felt the need to sarcastically ask if George would mind, and George didn't even blink. Meredith frowned around her fork. George had watched Izzie write that down, and if Meredith could read it from over here then he couldn't be having any problems on that count, and he hadn't even flinched. He was just smiling, nodding, folding the list up and pocketing it and then... kissing Izzie on the forehead before depositing his glass in the sink.

Meredith watched all this in a kind of daze. Izzie just eyed her a little, with maybe a smug smile playing about her lips.

"So... this is good, right? Everything is good?" Meredith wondering aloud, looking a little bewildered.

"Yes, Meredith, this is good." George smiled at her before pulling Izzie in for a serious goodbye kiss and grabbing a muffin on his way out the door.