Here is the final part… enjoy! And thank you guys soo much for the reviews!
By the way, I totally stole this idea from the movie Stranger Than Fiction. I just thought it was the cutest thing I'd ever seen, and I also thought it would be a perfect gesture for Izzie. Sorry if you guys thought it was going to be some big huge thing lol.
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By the time George finally arrived home that night, it was 1:30am. He was expecting to go right upstairs and go straight to bed, but as soon as he opened the door to his house, his nostrils filled with a horrific scent.
It was a smell so terrifying, it sent fear trembling through every inch of George's tired body.
It was the smell of freshly baked cookies.
"Oh no," George thought, mentally kicking himself for causing this. "It's even worse than I thought. She's baking."
Fearing the worst, George entered his kitchen, his eyes immediately resting on a tray of cookies. Setting down the box he was carrying, he apprehensively approached the baked goods.
Oh shit. They were oatmeal raisin. That was never a good sign. George knew what oatmeal raisin cookies meant. They were not happy cookies.
Izzie had a way of depicting her moods through baked goods. When George saw cupcakes, gingerbread, or chocolate chip cookies, he knew Izzie was happy. But oatmeal raisin cookies were the kind of cookies Izzie baked when she was really, really pissed off. They weren't quite as bad as strawberry cheesecake, which Izzie baked when dealing with breakups, and they weren't near as bad as muffins, which she baked when coping with death. George had unfortunately been seeing a lot of muffins lately. But still, oatmeal raisin cookies were never something you wanted to see in Izzie's kitchen.
George grabbed a cookie, shoving the whole thing in his mouth at once and moaning at the taste. For something baked with such a bitter rage, they were pretty damn good cookies.
George lifted the box he had been carrying back into his arms and started up the stairs. Although he was unbelievably tired, all George really wanted to do right now was talk to Izzie, although he knew she would be sleeping by now.
George carefully approached Izzie's door, and peered under it, just in case she happened to be awake. Just as he thought, the lights were off. George prepared to walk back to his own room when he heard a noise which made him turn around. Very quietly, he pressed his ear against the Izzie's door. What he heard made his heart sink; it was the unmistakable sound of Izzie's muffled cries.
George lightly rapped on the old oak door, not bothering to wait for a response before slowly sliding it open. "Izzie?"
Izzie sat up in her bed, startled by the sound of her own name. But as soon as she saw George's head peeking through the crack, she turned away. "Go away George."
George flicked the light on, feeling waves of guilt wash over him as he saw Izzie's eyes red and puffy from crying, used tissues littering the floor space around her trash can. Ignoring her request, he entered her room, quietly shutting the door behind him. Setting down his box on the floor next to him, he darted his eyes back towards Izzie who still hadn't turned around to face him.
"Izzie, please. I'm sorry… please, just don't cry."
"George, would you please just leave? I already told you not to bother apologizing to me until tomorrow."
"Technically, it is tomorrow. It's almost quarter to two…"
"Please stop bugging me with your "technically's" George!" Izzie let out an exasperated sigh. "You have done enough, okay? Just go."
For a second, George almost gave up. He almost turned right around and walked back out of her room. But that's what George always did – he never fought for what he wanted, and look where it had gotten him? Alex was right, he needed to make Izzie listen to him.
"I'm not leaving," he said simply. Realizing he wasn't going to go away, Izzie sat up in her bed, finally looking at him. Despite her protests, George walked over and sat down on the bed beside her. She turned her face away from him as her eyes filled with tears, but George firmly grasped her shoulders and angled her back towards him.
"Look at me, okay?" George gently grabbed the bottom of Izzie's chin and forced her to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry. Really, really, really sorry."
Izzie tried to resist, but George just pulled her closer. Finally she gave up and rested her head against his shoulder, letting her tears escape the corners of her eyes. "I wasn't thinking," George continued, running his hand soothingly up and down her back. "When I said that, Iz, I wasn't thinking. I was just scared for my dad. You told my parents to switch the surgery to Burke, and I knew they would listen to you. You're Izzie! People, especially my family, they are just way more likely to take advice from you than they are from me. I didn't know what else to do, I was desperate and I knew it was a mistake the second I said it. I just didn't know what else I could say to make them not believe you."
"I'm sorry, and I didn't mean it," he concluded.
Izzie sighed, finally breaking her silence. "I know you're sorry. I also know I'm overreacting. It's just – I just feel like I have no one on my side anymore, you know? Sometimes even I don't believe I can be a surgeon, but you always did. At least, I always thought you did. Now, I feel like I just don't know. I am trying so hard to prove to everyone I can be more than a Candy Striper, but I feel like I'm just moving backwards."
Fuck. George really hated himself right now. "Listen to me, you are a great doctor. You're an amazing doctor. I've always thought so, and I still do. What I said today was no reflection on what I actually think of you. It was just rambling. It meant nothing."
Izzie just nodded wordlessly against him.
George sat there, holding Izzie in his arms. She had stopped crying at least. Feeling like he had said all he could say, he decided it was time. "I got you a present."
Izzie pulled away from him and sat up, crossing her arms over her chest. She tried to mask her excitement with a fake look of disinterest, but she was always bad at hiding her emotions. "Oh really?"
George moved off the bed and over towards her door, picking up the cardboard box he had been carrying and bringing it back to Izzie.
Izzie studied the box. It seemed ordinary enough; it defiantly didn't look like a present. Inside were a dozen small, white bags, individually wrapped and rolled closed at the top. Izzie wrinkled her nose. "What is it?"
"It," George smiled, "is a bouquet of flours."
Confusion filled Izzie's face. "Those aren't…" All of a sudden, realization dawned on her, and a wide grin crept onto her lips. "Flours," she smiled.
"Because you're a baker!" George said, grinning like an idiot. "Get it?"
Izzie beamed at George and drew him into a hug. "Awww! Thank you!" she squealed. Pulling back, she looked at the box again.
"George, that has to be the cutest play on words I've ever read about, heard of, or seen on TV."
"So you like it then?"
"Of course! So much better than regular flowers, and practical too." Izzie seemed to be forgetting that she was supposed to be mad at George, and that was exactly what he'd planned on.
"Sooooo, do you forgive me?" George asked slyly, noticing the fact that Izzie was no longer crying, and was in fact beaming at him. He stuck out his bottom lip in his best imitation of the puppy-dog face. Luckily for him, he did a very good puppy-dog face.
"Okay, fine," she smiled. "I forgive you."
"Yay," George beamed. He silently thanked Alex as he pulled her into yet another hug.
"In all seriousness though, you better not bake anymore oatmeal raisin cookies with that flour."
Izzie faked innocence. "What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb with me," George said. "I saw those cookies you baked before I came up here. Only happy food is to be made with this flour. I want to see some cupcakes."
Izzie laughed. "Am I that obvious?"
"Yes."
"Okay, okay. No more angry cookies, I promise."
"Good, 'cause although they taste good, I feel really weird eating the angry cookies."
Izzie just laughed. "Hey, George? I'm wondering something."
"Shoot," he responded.
"Well, how is it you can think of something that cute to do for me, yet you still haven't managed to make up with your own girlfriend? It was very un-George of you."
"Well, I have a little confession to make. I didn't exactly think of it by myself. I sort of had a little help. But, I swear, the $11.99 spent was all me," George smiled.
"Help?" Izzie raised an eyebrow. "From who?"
"Uhh… Alex." Izzie's mouth dropped open a little.
"See, after you came home tonight, I went over to Joe's. Alex was there, and we kinda got to talking and… he helped me figure out a way to make up with you."
"So, you're telling me that Alex thought of this? Alex, of all people." Izzie seemed stunned.
"Well, he said he thought of it a long time ago. And, well," George searched for the right words. "Um, do you remember that day you broke up with him in the scrub room?"
Izzie nodded. "Well, I guess before you did that, he was planning on doing this flours thing for you. He was trying to win you back from Denny."
Izzie sat in silence, trying to process it all. "I didn't think he cared so much."
"He really does care, Iz. He loves you."
"Alex never loved me, George. That's a bit of a stretch. I mean, we were never even officially a couple. Just because I felt that way about him didn't mean he felt the same way about me."
George swallowed. "Well, the thing is, he told me tonight that he's still in love with you."
Izzie looked up at George abruptly. "He told you that?" George nodded. "Then… why…"
"Apparently, he was trying to push you away. Trying to prevent you from getting too close to him. He said he was scared about how he felt about you."
Izzie narrowed her eyes. "Did he really tell you all of this?"
"Every word, I swear. Which brings me to my next point: please keep this between us, because he could seriously kick the crap out of me."
"So… he had a reason for being such an ass?" Izzie really couldn't believe what she was hearing. She still loved Alex; just because she loved Denny didn't make that go away; despite her wishes, it seemed nothing would make that go away. When he had kissed her last week, a part of her hadn't wanted to pull away. The man she loved was being unbelievably sweet, and he was kissing her, after all.
But the other part of her, the part that did make her pull away, was the part that loved Denny, and that was still grieving for Denny. The way she loved Denny really was incomparable to her feelings towards Alex; they were completely different kinds of love. Izzie loved how Denny made her feel about herself, and she respected how positive he stayed despite his circumstances. He was a good person, a strong person, and he didn't deserve the fate he was dealt. Maybe that was why she took it upon herself to try and save him. Denny was the kind of guy a girl was supposed to fall in love with, minus the deteriorating health. He was a Romeo, a prince on a white horse to ride off into the sunset with. He was, in every sense of the word, perfect.
But then, there was Alex. Alex: the man she loved and hated all at the same time. The one who caused her blood to boil and her cheeks to fill with colour with a single heated gaze. He had complete power over her and she hated him for it; he could build her up and send her crashing back down at his leisure, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She had never felt so passionately about anyone before. All she really wanted to do was to forget him, to stop caring about him, to stop loving him; she wanted to shut him out of her life, but it seemed impossible. No matter how many times he hurt her, she just couldn't stop her feelings towards him. She couldn't choose who it was she fell in love with, and as fate would have it, she seemed to have fallen for the worst possible man alive.
But now, Alex loved her back. Now, he had a reason for hurting her, and to Izzie, that changed everything.
The sound of George laughing broke through Izzie's thoughts. "Well, that's what guys are like. We see commitment, and we run like hell. We begin to care, and we push the feelings away. It's just what we do."
Izzie laughed. "We?"
George rolled his eyes. "Okay fine, that's what most guys do. For some reason, I'm just not like regular guys, okay? I admit it."
"No," Izzie smiled genuinely at him. "No, you're not."
"I really am sorry, Izzie. I felt like shit all night. I still do."
"I know. It's okay now. Let's just forget it ever happened, okay?" George nodded. That defiantly sounded like a good idea.
"It's late, and we have to work tomorrow. We should get some sleep," Izzie said. She got up out of her bed and turned off the lights in her room as George shrugged off his coat and shoes. He pulled back the covers and slid under Izzie's fluffy duvet. Girls really did have the comfiest beds, he decided, letting the warmth engulf his body.
"Mmmm… 'night George," Izzie said as she got back into bed. She was feeling uncharacteristically hopeful. Sure, she needed time, but maybe one day, there was a chance her and Alex could finally be happy together. George wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest.
"Goodnight Izzie." George closed his eyes and smiled happily into his pillow. Things were going to be alright.
