Chapter 10: Rip Off the Band-Aid

Izzie didn't know how long Alex and Jo would have to discuss whatever it was they were discussing, so she didn't worry about waiting for him. She'd see him before she had to fly out for another interview in Massachusetts. Her mind had been cleared from worry about seeing Alex again, but the new worry that had started to creep in was how her old friends would react to seeing her again. And, for her, it would be different without George. Weird not seeing McSteamy in the hallways anymore. And strange to not hear Lexie spout off something from memory like she was reading it straight from a book. Due to the incidents that had happened there after Izzie's departure, there were undoubtedly new wounds for those at Grey + Sloan Memorial Hospital, but for Izzie, there were only old ghosts. She hoped she would be able to clear out the cobwebs that hid in the corners, to chase the ghosts from the hallways.

Her earlier interview with Jackson had gone well, and surprisingly, she had found that he was competent and attentive as the boss. She had been skeptical at first when she had heard about the hospital's ordeal and Jackson's new found title. After the interview, they had ended up just talking. That was one of the reasons she knew that Alex lived in Meredith's house now. But Izzie had voiced her concerns to Jackson about returning here if there was a position for her, and she didn't know how she should go about suppressing some of those concerns. And what Jackson had said had resonated with her.

'Well, Dr. Stevens, sometimes you just have to rip off the band-aid.'

He had made sure to call her Dr. Stevens because he knew she was worried that her previous firing might lower her chances, and then he had given her that dazzling smile. Handsome men always knew how to use their charms in the right situations, and she didn't mind at all. His kindness toward her had made her realize that she did need to rip the band-aid off and start over with her old friends.

That was how she found herself standing outside the hospital after she had left Alex's. The new Grey + Sloan Memorial Hospital sign shone brightly in the darkness. She stood outside, looking up at the glass windows, contemplating about whether or not to go in, when she heard someone speak behind her.

"You have a thing about being frozen to one spot outside hospitals."

Izzie turned to see Cristina standing behind her, munching on a bagel.

"Cristina!" Izzie immediately went in for a hug, and she felt Cristina recoil as she hugged her.

"I don't really... do the hugging... Okay."

Cristina didn't attempt to hug her back, still munching on her bagel as Izzie hugged her, but she let Izzie hug her anyway.

Izzie laughed. "You are exactly the same."

Lifting her shoulder in a half-shrug, she steered Izzie by her arm inside the automatic doors of the hospital. "Biologically, everyone changes. Cells are replaced every day. You know that. Or did you not retain all of that information?"

Cristina didn't smile at Izzie, but Izzie could see a softness in her eyes when Cristina looked at her, and Izzie knew then it would be okay with her. They walked together to the elevators.

Izzie was about to speak when the elevator doors opened. Clearly flirting in the elevator were Meredith and Derek. Izzie noticed that Meredith was hugely pregnant, and Izzie automatically began brimming with excitement.

Derek was animatedly saying something to Meredith. "Meredith, that's not what-"

Derek had looked up, seeing Cristina, still munching on her bagel, and then he was shocked to see Izzie standing beside her.

"Izzie! How wonderful to see you," he said, sounding genuine. He stepped up to her, and she offered to shake his hand, but he hugged her instead.

'Okay, weird, but I'll take it,' Izzie thought.

"Meredith, I have to go do a consult, but I'll see you and Zola at home." Derek had leaned over to kiss Meredith's cheek, and then smiled at Izzie again. "Hope you'll be joining our staff again. Addison emailed me this morning and told me to write a letter of recommendation for you. I told you before that I'd help you be hired here again, so I'd be happy to do that."

Meredith shot Derek a dirty look as he left the elevator. "You mean you knew she was coming here?!"

"From what I hear, you did, too!" Derek called over his shoulder.

Izzie coughed, pretending to disguise words. "Breakdown of communication?"

She had done it that way because she wanted to break the tension with Meredith. Izzie remembered being slightly bitchy to her friend before she had left. Meredith had asked her not to leave, had told her this was her home. And Izzie had said that it wasn't. It was just a place she worked, and she could do that anywhere. She realized after that she had no right to say that to Meredith, but she had been mad at Alex, and it had just come out. She had known Meredith wouldn't have forgiven and forgotten it so easily, and quite frankly, Izzie couldn't blame her.

"Hey, you just don't get to show back up here and expect everything to instantly be peaches." Meredith shot her a wary look.

"Peachy, Mer. The term is peachy," Cristina corrected her, now scrolling through her phone.

"Ugh, it's this pregnancy brain. This baby is sucking the smart out of me."

Meredith waddled off the elevator, with her hands on her hips, giving Izzie a looking over.

"This is totally weird, but you look so much like your mom right now," Izzie said, smirking.

"Wow, you really don't want to get back in her good graces, do you?" Cristina had her eyebrows raised, now looking at Izzie.

Meredith rolled her eyes, giving Izzie a dismissive wave with her hand. "Well, tell us where you've been. And do it while we walk to the coffee cart. The tiny human is actively trying to break out of my stomach to steal the rest of Cristina's bagel."

"I can't believe you're pregnant! That's so great! And who is Zola?" Izzie asked her as the three of them headed to the coffee cart.

"Nuh uh. No. I ask the questions, you answer," Meredith said, shaking her head.

Izzie opened her mouth to speak, but this time, Cristina interrupted her.

"She took off about a year, started a residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami under Dr. Mary Caldwell, who is only the most respected neonatal surgeon in, hmm, the world, besides Addison," Cristina stated, like it was the most well-known information in the world, "oh, and she takes her oral boards next month."

Izzie and Meredith both looked at each other, puzzled looks on their faces.

"Stalker, much?" Izzie said, "but really, how did you know that?"

"Cris-tina," Meredith said in her manner of scolding, "you knew all of that and didn't tell me?"

"What? She's got shared publication on an amazing clinical trial. It was in the American Journal of Medicine." She looked at Izzie. "Not that you're amazing. But the clinical trial was amazing."

Meredith and Izzie just stared.

"Don't you read?" Cristina asked her, rolling her eyes. "And anyway, I wanted to make sure that she wasn't, you know, dead."

Izzie laughed. "Pretty sure I couldn't have shared publication on a clinical trial if I'm dead."

"Not necessarily," Cristina said, about to continue, when her pager went off. "Well, I'm out." She began to head in the direction of the E.R. "And welcome back, Dr. Model."

"Oh, I know about that. If a doctor dies during a clinical trial, they automatically publish them for a memorial thing," Meredith said, sighing. "But no one tells me anything anymore, apparently."

"Well, I would've told you where I've been, but she obviously still knows everything," Izzie said, nodding in the direction that Cristina had gone in.

"I know. She reads," Meredith shrugged.

"You know that I'm really sorry that I acted like a complete bitch when I left, right? There were a lot of things that... that I said that I shouldn't have, and I had no right to just dismiss you. You were there for me, too," Izzie blurted.

Meredith smiled a little. "You're forgiven. I mean, I was pissed, but you had cancer." Her cell started to ring in her pocket. "One second, Izzie," she said, answering it.

"Hello? Hey, Brooks. Yes... ye- stop talking. Hold on a second," Meredith shifted the phone away from her mouth, talking to Izzie, "I have to take this, but we'll talk soon. I'm glad you're okay."

Izzie smiled brightly at her, giving a small wave, and turned to walk out of the hospital. But then she heard Meredith speak.

"Hey, Izzie?"

Izzie turned around to see her still holding the phone to her ear and shifted away from her mouth, Heather Brooks obviously still holding on the other line.

"If you and Alex decide to give it another go, do not hurt him. He's one of my favorite people, and you used to be. But you left," she said, giving Izzie a stern look, "not saying you won't be again, but I love Alex. Do it right this time or don't do it at all." Meredith nodded at her, giving a small smile, then shifted the phone back up to her mouth and began talking to Brooks.

Izzie sighed, watching Meredith walk away. Ripping off that band-aid had stung a little.