Izzie threw her scrubs into her locker. It was only 5pm. She was leaving early but she didn't think anyone would notice. She'd been stuck in the pit all day with Alex doing sutures. She'd told him there was something she needed to do and asked if he'd cover for her. He didn't mind covering for her but was a little annoyed when she wouldn't tell him why she had to leave early. She couldn't tell him though, not yet, not like that. How do you explain to someone in two minutes as you run out the door that you're going to meet your child's adoptive mother because she wants you to donate your kidney? It's not the type of conversation that you can have in two minutes. She'd tell him and everyone else but not yet. The time wasn't right. . This had to be her decision and she didn't want anyone else telling her what she should be doing. She didn't want anyone else knowing, not yet, not like this. She knew her secret would come out eventually but not yet.
Outside the weather was beautiful. For once it wasn't raining and the sun was shining. Izzie decided to walk home. She'd never done this before despite the fact their home was only three miles from the hospital. The walk would do her good. Give her more time to think and delay the inevitable. Today was the 22nd and Izzie was positive Katherine would be waiting for her at the house.
The walk took almost an hour. She walked slowly and thought a lot. The same arguments that had been going through her head the previous night were still there. The mother and the selfish man, both arguing their case. The mother was winning. It wasn't in Izzie's nature to be selfish, not in situations like this at least. She'd become a doctor to save people. She couldn't just let Hannah die, not when there was something she could do about it.
By the time she reached the house she'd made up her mind. She was going to do it. She always knew deep down that the mother would win. Even though Hannah wasn't in her life, she would always be a part of her life; a part of her history that would never go away.
Katherine was waiting for her at the house. She was sitting on the front steps reading a medical text book. She stood up when she saw Izzie coming up the road. The look on her face was that of nervous anticipation. She forced a smile and Izzie forced one back. Their last meeting had not ended pleasantly and there had always been some hostility between them.
The last time they met was five years ago. Izzie had just graduated from her BA and was preparing to go to med school. Katherine had showed up on her door step and asked her out for coffee. She told her Hannah was sick and she needed her to donate bone marrow. Izzie agreed to do it without so much as a second thought and had found herself on a plane to San Diego that afternoon.
The three days she'd spent in San Diego turned out to be some of the most trying of her life. Physically the procedure went fine, the wound site became infected a week later leaving a small scar on her back, but a little infection she was prepared for. What she wasn't prepared for was the psychological stuff. Katherine refused to let Izzie see Hannah. She told her that Hannah didn't know she was adopted and she wanted to keep it that way. She told Izzie she had no right to see her and waved the adoption papers in her face. The papers prevented Izzie from trying to initiate any contact whatsoever with Hannah. Which was fine, but Izzie thought the contact had already been initiated.
The experience turned out to be emotionally unbearable.incredibly painful, not just physically but emotionally. Katherine saw Izzie not as a person but as a human incubator. She looked down on her and had absolutely no regard for how she was feeling. They had several screaming matches in the hallways of the hospital. All Izzie had wanted to do was see her daughter. She didn't even have to talk to her; she just wanted to see her. Karl, Hannah's father, had to intervene several times to prevent the women causing physical harm to one another. In the end Izzie couldn't take it anymore and just left.
The experience left her an emotional wreck. For weeks after she'd thought of nothing but Hannah. The feelings of loss that she'd buried deep inside of her had all risen to the surface and she couldn't put them back down. She didn't regret putting her up for adoption, they both had better lives because of it, but she couldn't help wondering how she was, if she was okay. Three months later Karl sent Izzie a letter with a photo telling her Hannah was doing well, was about to go back to school and that the family was moving but he didn't say where. That had been the last time she'd heard from them, until she'd received the letter from Katherine last week.
On the steps the two women stood facing each other. Neither one of them felt comfortable in the presence of the other. They'd never really gotten along with each other. Even during the adoption there'd been hostility. Katherine saw Izzie as nothing more than white trailer trash, a teenage girl who was stupid enough to get herself pregnant. The only reason Izzie had even let them adopt her baby was because of Karl.
Karl, Mr. Jones as she'd always called him had been a substitute teacher at her school. He'd arrived a couple of weeks before Izzie found out she was pregnant. During those weeks he'd taken a real interest in her and not in the sleazy I want to have sex with you way, which was why most people took interest in her. He genuinely cared about her. He told her that she was gifted, smart, and had the power, and the ability to become more than a waitress at a truck stop if she wanted to be. When she found out she was pregnant she'd been devastated. She'd thought all her hopes and dreams were shattered. It had been Mr. Jones who'd told her there were other options. He left a few weeks later but his influence had already changed her life.
Six months later when Izzie was looking for adoptive parents she found the Jones name on the list. When she agreed to meet them she didn't realize it was Mr. Jones she'd be meeting. When he'd suggested she put her child up for adoption he'd had no intention of adopting a child himself. But since their encounter he'd discovered his wife was unable to bear children. At first he'd tried to stop the meeting, he'ds told her to put the child up for adoption, he shouldn't be the one to adopt it. But Izzie couldn't think of anyone else she'd rather have raise her child. She ignored the fact his wife was cold and bitter toward her, she put it down to her being upset she couldn't have children herself.
Things had never changed between Izzie and Katherine though. In the few times that they had met since the birth, Katherine had always been cold, bitter, rude, superior acting toward Izzie. Now Izzie was a doctor she was superior, well maybe not superior but defiantly not inferior.
Izzie indicated that they should sit down on the steps. She didn't want Katherine inside her house. She didn't want her to judge her anymore than she already was. She also wanted to make this encounter as brief as possible. There conversation lasted maybe fifteen minutes. It was formal, direct. They avoided the small talk.
"Good evening, Katherine."
"Good evening, Isobel."
Izzie was the only one who called Katherine, Katherine; she was Kate to everyone else. And Katherine was the only one who called Izzie, Isobel. It was like they were having a business meeting. I guess it kind of was a business meeting as far as Izzie and Katherine were concerned anyways. They didn't care about each other, only Hannah. Izzie said straight out that she'd donate so most of the conversation was about the logistics of it all. The family was living in Portland now, and Hannah was a patient at the Portland Children's hospital. Katherine had brought with her Hannah's most recent test results, which Izzie perused. The transplant needed to be imminent. They agreed that Izzie should have the pre donation tests done in Seattle. Katherine would organize for Izzie to have them done the following evening at Mercy West. If the tests were clear they'd fly out to Portland the following morning and the procedure would happen that afternoon.
Izzie sat on the steps for an hour after Katherine left digesting what she'd just agreed to. In 36 hours she could be in Portland about to go into surgery. She'd thought it might happen fast but not this fast. If she was going to sought things out before she left she only had one day to do it.
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Reviews please. I love to know there is people actually reading this and thanks to everyone who wrote one already.
