"Things just- you deserve better than me. After all I've put you through, after how I've treated you, you deserve better. And I'm saying this because I do care about you. And this is just how it has to be."

"It doesn't have to be this way. We can find a way through this somehow, please don't give up-"

"This is what's best, and you know it. We both know it. I'm sorry."

There was silence for a moment.

"I'm sorry too."

Izzie had left because he didn't leave Callie. But then he ended up leaving her anyway. By that time Izzie was already gone. And he had neither her nor Callie. He had really messed everything up.

Yet here she was in front of him. It was hard to recognize her at first, because she did not look like herself. She looked older. Her hair had changed…and there seemed to be something broken about her.

Bailey walked in behind him. She stopped suddenly as George O'Malley turned around to look at him. She had worked hard as she could to keep this a secret, but she knew that it would not last long, not with all of them in the hospital at this time.

"Dr. O'Malley," she said firmly. "You shouldn't be in here."

He looked at her with a confused expression. "What's-?"

"Come on," she said, and pulled him out by his arm. They went back in the hallway and she shut the door. He pulled away from her.

"What's going on?" he demanded to know. "Why is she here?"

"She came to me," Bailey said. "I had to operate on her-"

"Why?"

"I can't tell you that."

He looked angry. "I haven't seen her in two years. She shows up here and you won't tell me anything, just mention that you had to perform surgery on her?"

"You can ask her yourself," Bailey said. "She'll be awake soon. But this isn't my fault, make sure you tell her that."

"What-?" George asked, but she walked away. He looked back into the room, trying to get himself to believe that she was actually here. Why, he didn't know. But he sure wanted to find out.

He went back into the room and stood in the doorway for several moments. Awkwardness came over him. What would she say when she woke up and found him there? She hadn't come to find him when she initially got here, which meant that she had not wanted him to know what was going on.

He slowly made his way to her bedside and sat down in the chair next to her bed. He hadn't heard anything about an accident; plus, Bailey said she had come to her personally. After two years, she just showed up with medical needs. Why would she come all the way here if she needed help? He had so many questions to ask her, but didn't believe he'd get many answers.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When she awoke she was for a moment confused about where she was, until all the memories hit her again. She closed her eyes for a moment then opened them again. She noticed a slight shift, and she saw to her surprise her friend that she hadn't seen in two years sitting in a chair next to her.

"George," she said quickly, and he only looked at her. She figured that he had talked to Bailey; what she told him was what she didn't know, and she really didn't want to. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" he asked her, with slight harshness in his voice; he was angry, that was clear. He looked at her for a moment, and she knew that he had a million questions that she wished he wouldn't ask.

"What are you-why are you here?" he asked first.

"I came for a visit," she said.

"A visit," he repeated disbelievingly. "You disappear for two years, not calling or contacting any of us at all, and then you come for a visit without even visiting any of us."

She said nothing.

"What happened to you?" he asked instead.

She did not look at him as she said, "I fell down the stairs."

He stared at her. "You fell down the stairs. And you drove yourself here?"

"Yes," she said.

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to come here."

He didn't believe anything she said, and she didn't blame him; she wouldn't believe it if someone said it to her.

"What really happened?"

"I told you. That's what happened. That's it."

"Yeah," he said sarcastically. They looked at each other. It definitely wasn't happy reunion people usually have when they see a friend after two years. She looked away from him.

"You changed your hair."

"Yeah, I'm still getting used to it myself."

"Why'd you do it?"

"Because I wanted to."

"Everything happened because you wanted to do it."

"You don't know what you're talking about," she snapped, anger finally overcoming her. "You don't understand. You can't say anything."

"Then tell me so I can."

She shook her head. He sighed.

"Did someone do something-?"

"George just shut up. I told Bailey I didn't want you here."

"Well that's too bad."

She looked at him again, wiping the tears of anger and fear out of her eyes. She had missed him plenty in the two years that they had been apart, but right now she did not wish to be near him. She never told anyone the truth, and she wasn't ready to start now. But he wasn't going to stop bothering her about it. She looked at him a long time as she thought about the possibility of finally revealing the life she had been living.

"I-" She looked down again. "There's nothing to talk about."

He had been expecting her to actually tell him something, anything, give him some sort of clue besides the old falling down the stairs and the obvious fear of telling about what really happened.

"There's nothing that I should know."

"No."

he gave up on answers and stood up instead. She looked startled and said, "Wait-where are you going?"

"You don't want to tell me anything, and you told Bailey you didn't want me here, so I'll just go then."

"George-" In all honesty it was nice to have someone by her side that she knew would not hurt her, someone that she could feel safe with.

But he ignored her and walked out of the room, as much as he didn't want to. He wanted to be there for her…but not until she told him the truth.