The Invasion

It wasn't just any normal day for George O'Malley. Today was the day he returned to Seattle Grace Hospital. He knew when he decided to run, he should have run farther and now his past was back to bite him in the ass. He sighed as he opened the door to the resident locker room and took a step inside. At first glance he only recognized Cristina and Alex putting some of their stuff into their locker, but it wasn't until he really focused in that he noticed Izzie. Her hair was short, no, it was shorter than short. It was really short. It didn't look bad to George, it just looked different. Izzie was known for her long silky blonde hair, and now it was gone. Things had certainly changed.

All of George's thoughts were broken when his name was called, "Hey Man!" Charles called over to him where he was standing on the other side of the locker room with Jackson and some of the guys from Mercy West. He looked back over his shoulder as he walked over to the guys and noticed Reed and April standing next to Izzie, sending her glares. None of his old friends noticed his entrance, though.

"Hey man, this is going to be rough," Charles noted as he nodded in the direction of Alex and Cristina, "They look hardcore."

"They are," George nodded numbly as he threw on his coat over his orange scrubs. He felt weird wearing the orange scrubs in Seattle Grace for some reason.

"I said take your things out of there!" Izzie yelled, "That's our friends cubby, she will be back in a month." George looked over in confusion, wondering which friend they were referring to. He quickly assumed Meredith since she was the only one of them not there.

"Well, it's empty now, so its mine." Reed replied back smugly.

"Do you not realize that I will fight you for that?" Izzie jumped out at her, but Alex quickly grabbed her and pulled her back.

"Iz, it's fine. Just let it go." Alex replied soothingly. George watched the interaction between the two and found something oddly different about the way they acted. Sure, the last time they saw each other they were interns and now they were third year residents, but still, they were different.

George watched as the three of them walked out of the locker room in a huff.

"Geez, they're a bit territorial, wouldn't you say?" Reed joked to the rest of her Mercy West friends.

"That's a bit of an understatement," Jackson laughed as he led the group out of the room.


George and his fellow Mercy West residents were walking down the hallway on the way to the places they were assigned when they heard a commotion down the hallway. They all stopped and looked to see a Latina woman arguing with an elder man.

"You can't pray away the gay!" She yelled.

George and turned and noticed Callie walking out of the waiting room backwards yelling at her father. George's eyebrow quirked in confusion. Sure Callie had always been emotional, but he had no idea what was with her outburst.

"What kind of hospital are they running here?" Reed smirked as she walked past George, "More like a freak show, and I heard she was an attending. Professional? My ass."

Attending? George wondered. Callie had gotten a promotion, not that he was surprised. She was an excellent surgeon.


"Where do you want us?" Cristina asked Owen as the group of residents walked up to him in the E.R.

"Well," Owen replied busily as he looked around the E.R. "At this point, anywhere is good."

"At Mercy West we do zones," George announced as he made his way to the front of the Mercy West group. Everyone behind him nodded and that is when Cristina noticed him standing there.

"Bambi," She whispered in shock.

"When we're super busy we just give everyone a zone, or space," Jackson added.

"And if a nurse puts someone in that space you know that patient is yours. It helps get to everyone quicker." George finished strongly. He knew that butting in like that would only make Cristina and the rest of his old friends hate him even more, but he hadn't come this far to lose his job. He had learned something over the past two years, and that was that he needed to stop worrying about everyone else and focus on himself. He needed to become a brilliant surgeon and not worry about everything going on around him. He changed that the second he walked into Mercy West, and he had grown into one of the top third year residents.

Cristina, who had gotten over the shock of seeing George, replied, "Yeah well this is an E.R., not a school yard."

"Well, I like it." Owen nodded over at George, "What's your name?"

"O'Malley. George O'Malley." George nodded in acknowledgement.

"Dr. O'Malley it's all yours. Zone away." Owen shut his chart close and walked past the group as Cristina looked on in anger.


"Did you know Bambi is back?" Cristina asked Alex as they sat down to eat lunch later that afternoon.

"What?" Alex scoffed, "I thought he died or something."

"Who's Bambi?" Lexie asked, her nose stuffed into the tiny red notebook.

Cristina rolled her eyes, "He obviously transferred to Mercy West."

"Same difference." Alex replied as he reached across the table and stole one of her fries.

"Hey, how are your people?" Izzie asked curiously as she took a seat.

"Bambi is back." Cristina told her nonchalantly.

"Who's Bambi?" Lexie repeated looking up curiously.

"What? George is back? Here at Seattle Grace?" Izzie asked in shock, her entire body going numb. She had no idea where George had left to, but the last thing she ever told him was how much she loved him. She felt guilty each and every day because she felt that she was the reason he had to leave. If it weren't for the affair, they could have been best friends still.

"Yep, and he thinks he's all high and mighty because he has "zones." What the heck is that?" Cristina muttered.

"Zone's?" Alex asked in confusion.

"Don't bother." Cristina shook her head.

"Who's George?" Lexie asked again.

"Some 007." Cristina muttered, even though she knew George meant so much more to them. Cristina, however, would never let on how much she missed George when he left.

"He's not just some 007, Cristina." Izzie fired back at her as she got up from the table, "George is back." Izzie whispered.

"Are you gonna go find out why your wife is freaking out?" Cristina asked Alex.

"Her ex-best friend is back after suddenly vanishing into thin air. I know why she is freaking out about." Alex mumbled as he looked around the cafeteria curiously. "Dudes..." Alex slapped at the table trying to get Cristina and Lexie's attention. "They're not in here."

"Good." Cristina and Lexie both nodded.

"No, that means their working. They're not eating lunch." Alex replied quickly as he grabbed the rest of his sandwich and took off running, so Lexie and Cristina did the same.


"So, that Stevens girl is the one we need to worry about." Charlie told George as the stood at the nurses table doing charts.

"Why do you say that?" George asked curiously. He wasn't doubting her, of course. He always knew Izzie had the exact tools and skills to become a brilliant surgeon.

"She has cancer and is still working her way through her residency. If that isn't hardcore, I don't know what is. Plus, they wouldn't fire her. Firing someone with Cancer is just unethical." Charles explained.

"Izzie has cancer?" George asked softly looking up at Charles.

"Yep." Charles nodded. Just then Reed and April came walking up to them laughing.

"So how is it going?" Charles asked curiously.

"I have a photographic memory girl, and let me tell you, it doesn't help. She's an idiot." April laughed out loudly.

"My guy is an asshole. I wouldn't worry much about him though." Reed explained, "What about yours?"

Charles scoffed, "The woman does whatever I ask. I want something, she gets it for me. It's like having my own surgical bitch."

"Hey." George quickly jumped into protective mode but stopped when he noticed Izzie standing a couple feet away from them with a cup of coffee.

"Izzie." George whispered.

She threw the coffee In Charles' direction and quickly darted her eyes before she walked off in the opposite direction.


"Dude, Stevens royally screwed up today." Charles whispered to George as they stood in their locker room later that night.

"What to do you mean?" George asked.

"She almost killed a patient, and Dr. Bailey is having to go all the way to Los Angelos to try and fix it." Charles shook his head, "She was just so upset today."

"Do you blame her?" George muttered before throwing his coat into the locker and walking out. As he turned down one of the hallways he noticed Alex coming the opposite way reading a letter and walking very zombie-like. George was about to turn the other way, not wanting to confront the other man, but then he noticed him turn into a patients room. Letting curiosity get the best of him, he followed him a little ways and stood outside the doorway so that he could hear.

"Tell me everything." George heard Meredith's voice and smiled. She sounded very different than the last time he heard her. "Did you beat them? Kick their asses?" George grinned madly. It was so like Meredith to say something like that. "Come on I want a full report everything that happened."

"Izzie left me." Alex mumbled softly. "I don't know if she's coming back." George was surprised at how hurt Alex sounded. The last time he was around Alex, he was the biggest jerk, and now it seemed like he actually had feelings. It was too surreal for George.

"What do you mean she left, where did she go?" Meredith asked. George didn't hear anything after that. It was silent for the next couple of minutes before he decided to head home. He couldn't believe how much had changed in the

TBC...