Dr. Bailey emerges from behind the closed doors. George, Callie, Christina, Alex and Mark stand up.
"She's okay physically." Dr. Bailey says, before they can speak, "But if I ever get my hands on the guy that did this to her, so help me god, he's gonna pay in ways he can't even imagine!"
"Does she mean she'll cut it off?" Christina whispers to Callie who suppresses a smile.
"Can I go in?" George asks.
Dr. Bailey shakes her head. "No O'Malley. She doesn't want to see anyone right now. We're going to let her lie down for a bit and then we'll send her home. I assume Dr. Grey will be taking her home and you can all go see her there."
"But…" George begins to protest.
"O'Malley, get back to work. I've already had a bad day," Dr. Bailey snaps.
Everyone stands frozen for a minute, before Alex says, "Does anyone know where Palmer is? I'm going to find him and ask him what the hell happened on their so-called date," he fumes.
"He's off until tomorrow," Callie says calmly.
"Then he better get a good night's sleep tonight, because tomorrow's gonna be the worst day of his life!" says Alex.
Meredith taps her foot nervously. Izzy still has her hand in a tight hold, but has not met her eye or uttered so much as a sound since Bailey had left. She glances at her watch. They have sat in silence for almost twenty-minutes.
"Iz? I feel like I should be saying something to help you, but I don't know what to say. Is there anything I can do, or say or…"
Izzy laughs almost hysterically. Meredith waits for almost a minute until Izzy catches her breath.
Meredith waits for her to speak, but Izzy doesn't. She is silent again.
"Iz? None of this was your fault. What happened to you, it wasn't your fault." Meredith says, knowing even as the words leave her lips, how trite they sound.
"How do you know? How do you know that it wasn't my fault. You weren't there. You don't know what happened," Izzy challenges, pulling her hand away.
Meredith is startled by Izzy's sudden recoiling of her hand. She reaches for it again as though if she relinquishes physical contact, she will lose Izzy forever, but Izzy pulls away.
"Just go Meredith. I'm fine," Izzy says, coldly.
"Bailey told me to stay here and when you were ready to take you home. Bailey's wrath is a lot scarier than yours. I'm not brave enough to leave," Meredith says with a falsely bright smile.
"I want to be alone. I'm not going to talk to you, I'm not even going to look at you, so go. Just leave me alone," Izzy says.
Meredith sits down, feeling defeated, in the chair next to Izzy's bed. Izzy continues to stare silently at the ceiling. Meredith reaches her hand out and tentatively touches Izzy's hair. She waits for Izzy to jerk away. When Izzy doesn't move, Meredith strokes Izzy's head, maternally, and murmers, "You're going to be okay," over and over again. Izzy begins to sob quietly.
"Stop being nice to me," Izzy says flatly.
Meredith is so grateful for the fact that Izzy has spoken to her that she smiles despite Izzy's words.
"I can't help being nice to you. You're the nicest person that I know. Usually its actually a little nauseating, but you actually bring out the rare nice side of me," Meredith says, as she hears the door open a crack.
"Mer?" she hears Christina whisper.
Meredith is relieved to hear Christina's voice. She feels like she is completely out of her league and relishes the chance to share the burden with Christina. She motions behind Izzy's back for Christina to come in.
"I'm coming in, but I don't do sappy and comforting," Christina says.
Izzy doesn't react one way or another, so Meredith moves to the edge of Izzy's bed and takes her hand again and gives Christina her chair.
"I'm off the rest of the day," Christina complains. "I'm bored already. After you came in, Izzy, the hospital's been so quiet all day I've been begging to stitch someone up or something. The highlight of my day was a boring double bypass. Come on! Challenge me!"
"The highlight of my day was getting raped for the second time by Bailey's metal speculum," Izzy replies.
Both Meredith and Christina sit awkwardly, not knowing whether to laugh or not. In the end, they both let out a half giggle that sounds forced and unnatural.
"So what the hell happened to you?" Christina asks.
"Christina! She doesn't want to…" Meredith warns.
"How do you know what I want?" Izzy shoots back at her.
A stunned Meredith drops Izzy's hand and blinks back hurt tears at the harshness of Izzy's tone.
"Palmer picked me up at the house. I was so excited, and nervous because, you know…it was my first date since Denny," Izzy begins.
Christina and Meredith nod silently.
"I was all dressed up, and he kept complimenting me, telling me how beautiful I was, he was so sweet and charming and everything seemed perfect," Izzy begins in a detached tone.
"He always seems charming. That's what makes me vomit in my mouth a little every time he walks in a room," Christina says.
"Dinner was really nice, except that he drank so much, and every time I would ask him if he had too much, he would get angry. Then he started to get crazy. Like he thought I was getting text messages from other guys, when it was just a message from all of you saying you were at Joe's," Izzy continues as though she's telling a story about someone else.
Meredith is still scared to speak for fear of evoking Izzy's anger again, but it seems to be gone. She seems far away and completely calm. In some ways, Meredith almost preferred the anger. This was eerie.
"I knew it. The guy's a total psycho," Christina mumbles under her breath.
"Then, he apologized. I invited him in for coffee. We were having a nice time. I was attracted to him. I invited him into my bedroom, and he started kissing me. Then things got out of control. Somewhere along the lines, he was hurting me, so I told him to stop, but he wouldn't…and then…things got a little rough."
Both Meredith and Christina are hanging on Izzy's words and staring at her so intently that neither one of them has noticed that Addison has walked into the room. Addison makes her presence known when she closes the door a little too loudly.
"Izzy. Are you okay?" she asks gently.
"I'm fine. Why is everyone acting like I have a terminal disease? I had a little rough sex last night. Does everyone at the hospital have to know about it?" she retorts.
Addison lifts up Izzy's hospital gown and touches the welts on her stomach and legs which are still swollen and raw. "Rough sex? Is that what you call this? Your were raped, Izzy. You can call it whatever you want, but that doesn't change what it is. Did you tell him to stop?" Addison asks.
"Not until things were already out of hand," Izzy says.
"I don't care if it was hours after things got 'out of hand.' Once you say 'no' and he penetrates you anyway, that is rape, so I don't ever want to hear you call it 'rough sex' again." Addison says, firmly.
Meredith and Christina are grateful for Addison's presence and for the way she took charge of the conversation. Both of them were at a loss for words and Addison seemed so sure of herself.
"I'm so tired. Can I go home now, Dr. Montgomery?" Izzy asks coldly.
"You can go home anytime you want, Izzy. But I want you to take a few phone numbers with you," Addison hands her a sheet of paper. "These are of rape hotlines and rape crisis centers in the area. There are a lot of people who…"
Izzy cuts her off. "Thanks Addison, but I wasn't raped. Things got a little out of control, but I am fine now, don't worry." Izzy says with a smile.
Addison whispers, "Take her home, Mer. But don't leave her alone,"
Meredith nods and although nervous that she will say or do the wrong thing, begins to gather Izzy's personal belongings.
"Christina, grab a set of scrubs off that shelf. She doesn't have any clothes here," Meredith says.
For once, Christina doesn't have a quick answer. She just grabs a pair of scrubs and hands them to Meredith and quietly leaves the room.
Izzy flinches in pain as her bruised and welted body shifts positions in an attempt to stand up. "Do you need help?" Meredith asks?
"No. I'm fine," Izzy replies.
Meredith waits another moment as Izzy struggles, before she pulls Izzy to her feet.
Izzy wobbles a little once she is finally upright. As she starts to fall forward, Meredith catches her. The two friends face each other, and after an emotional day, Izzy finally looks at her friend.
"Thank you," she says simply.
"You're welcome," Meredith says, as she chokes back her own tears.