This is a really random chapter. Mucho intern banter. But it is fluffier and lighter hearted than all the other chapters in the story put together… Except for maybe the first chapter. Sorry I took so long to update!

Note: I don't own Grey's as usual, nor do I own the lyrics in the song "The Way We Get By" By Spoon.

"Well," Addie says. "Why the hell does he have to do that to me?"

"What?"

"Screw me up. I thought I was good with Mark. Actually scratch that, I don't know about Mark, but now I don't know even more and… Rach I've never not known!" She throws herself dramatically onto the bed, "I want a baby. I want Brandon back. I want a little girl. I wanted a little sister for my little boy."

"Addie, that can still happen."

"I'm a neonatal surgeon. I should not be having these problems, Rachelle." She pulls at her hair for affect, "And Mark is not my type. He's just not my type. And he could never be a father."

"You don't know that," I tell her. I don't know how I ended up on the Mark bandwagon, but I did. "Mark can surprise you. Do you remember how he was with Brandon?"

"Yes, Rachelle." She says, her voice becoming more high-pitched, "I do remember how he was with Brandon." She sighs. "I also remember how Derek was with Brandon."

I come in the hospital early the next morning, psyched that I get to scrub in on Alicia's surgery. I pull my scrubs on and rush into the OR, my heart beating very hard.

Derek and George smile at me as I enter. "Okay," Derek says looking exhausted. He should be, from what I've heard he was up all night diagnosing a VIP patient, and now he has Alicia's surgery. "Encephalitis doesn't usually involve hemorrhaging as you know. Why is Alicia Howe's case different? Dr. O'Malley?"

George looks at Derek with his huge baby blue eyes, "Alicia Howe had HSV which is the most common cause of hemorrhaging in encephalitis cases."

Derek nods, "Good." He turns to me, brushing his hand across his skullcap, "Dr. Montgomery, why are we operating now?"

I suck in air, and hear myself talking one hundred miles a minute, "Usually encephalitis cases aren't severe enough for surgery, the inflammation of the brain and the hemorrhaging can be treated by Acyclovir, however in this case since the Acyclovir was not affective, we need to successfully remove the hemorrhaging before it causes permanent brain damage."

Derek gives me a small smile, "Yes." Derek explains the procedure as he takes out his scalpel and begins to operate. When we're in, he has a look of total concentration on his face. It's absolutely amazing. George and I take turns answering his questions, and I peer at the magnificent thing that is the human brain. It really does stop the heart. I feel a familiar rush of adrenaline.

When he closes up, Alicia is still intact, alive. "Wow." I whisper.

His eyes sparkle when he speaks to Alicia's father. "There's no reason why this young lady shouldn't recover with flying colors. Her brain swelling has gone down thanks to the medicine we gave her, and we successfully removed the blood in her brain."

The father instantly looks relieved. I think Derek knows to be gentle with him, because Derek was often getting bad news in relation to his child. Any good news was a joyous occasion. "I-Is she going to have any more seizures?" He asks, looking at the floor.

"Well if the medicine continues to work, and the swelling dissipates, then there shouldn't be any more seizures."

"How long is my girl going to stay in the hospital?" Mr Howe asks, looking at his unconscious daughter.

"Usually it's six to eight days recovery for this kind of minor brain surgery, but we'll have to monitor her to see how she's doing. If Alicia complains of any kind of severe headache or begins to have seizures, bring her back to the hospital immediately. Unfortunately, encephalitis is sporadic, and can come back, but she should be fine as long as she keeps taking the Acyclovir as directed."

"She better not get sick again," Mr. Howe says gruffly, but looks incredibly thankful.

I call Izzie to pick me up after the surgery, thinking about Addison operating in the OR, with all that weight on her shoulders. She arrives in a somewhat beat up car. Somehow George has beaten me to the punch and is already sitting in the front seat. "Montgomery! Get in the car." She yells playfully.

"Hey!" I say, bouncing in the back seat of Izzie's car.

"Hellooo." Izzie starts the car. "Buckle in, Georgie." She says, chuckling.

George's cheeks flush red, "Don't call me Georgie."

I feel awkward sitting in the backseat of this car, as if I'm intruding. George and Izzie are obviously very close, having lived together and all. Izzie looks at me through the rear-view mirror. "So. You had your first surgery at Seattle Grace. How was it?"

I felt a smile creeping across my face despite myself. "Oh my god. It was amazing. Not to sound really stupid, but it was freaking amazing! George, wasn't the surgery amazing?"

He nods, "It was pretty amazing."

Izzie looks nostalgic, and her eyes are glassy, "I remember my first surgery."

George coughs, "Well I'd like to forget mine."

I feel an amused look cross my face. "Why?"

"Nothing." He mutters.

"My first surgery was a lung transplant in Bolivia. It was pretty major, considering we were working at a clinic. You have no idea how nervous I was."

"No, I have a pretty good idea." George laughs, and I smile gratefully at him as we drive down the road.

I open the window, "God it's nice out!" I yell outside.

"Shut the window," Izzie complains, "It's cold out."

"Not compared to what it was like in New York. Muy frio." I say. "Come on Isobel, live a little."

George smirks at Izzie, "Yeah, Isobel."

She lightly smacks him on the head, "Okay, Georgie." She laughs and sticks her head out the window. "It's so freaking nice out!" She screams.

"Goddamn!" I yell. I forgot how much tension I was holding these past few days. It comes out now. With friends. "It's not raining anymore!"

"Finally!" Izzie yells. She sticks her head back in the car, "George, yell with us."

"Come on George!" I say, "George needs to let it all out!" I yell out the window.

"MOOOOOOTHER FUUUUUCKER!" George yells. I burst out laughing. George sticks his head back in the car, his cheeks very red. "Sorry."

"No, seriously George. It's good." It's good. I just met these people two days ago and I don't even care.

"Before we go home," Izzie starts, "Do you think we could stop somewhere? It's two seconds away."

I shrug, "Sure."

Izzie feeds a CD into the car and turns up the volume. "Okay."

The music comes out of the speakers loudly, happy and bouncy with a great rhythm. I love this song. I know all the lyrics by heart.

We get high in backseats of cars. I smile at George and Izzie who both smile back. We break into mobile homes. George is bobbing his head to the beat. We go to sleep to shake up you. And then wake up on our own. He's so adorable. Izzie starts singing loudly when the chorus hits and I join her. "And that's the way we get by to Way we get by Aw that's, the way we get by to Way we get by."

Izzie stops in an empty grassy lot on the side of the highway. She jumps out of the car, leaving the door open so the music fills the emptiness. We go out in stormy weatherDroplets of rain begin to fall. "It's raining again!" I yell as Izzie grabs George's hand and dances with him under the drops. "We rarely practice discern."

"We make love to some with sin." Izzie yells into the trees.

I go up to George, dancing, "We seek out the taciturn." Izzie takes my hands and dances. The droplets of rain are bouncing off my shirt and leaving wet cold on my skin. "It's still nice out." I yell. The song continues and I dance, almost in slow motion. It feels so good to be out in the cold rain, almost as a reality shock. When the song ends, I'm lying on the grass, my scrubs wrinkling against my skin. Izzie plops down next to me. "I forgot how good it felt to have fun." I murmur.

"Me too." Izzie says, slightly out of breath. She rests her head on George's stomach. The sky is grey overhead. Izzie's hair is hanging wetly over her scrubs, a dark blonde, and George's face is covered with tiny droplets. We stare up at the rain for a while.

"Thanks." I say quietly.

Izzie knows exactly what I'm thanking her for. She nods with a half smile. "Well."

"Well."

"Well." I start laughing. "God I hate stress, why did I ever decide to become a surgeon?" I say, feeling slightly crazy.

"I don't know." Izzie says quietly. The next song on the CD comes on. The side of Izzie's car that's open is getting drenched. "Being a surgeon sucks." She takes a breath, "But I love it."

"Me too." George agrees.

"What do you want to go into?" I ask them, taking a piece of grass and shredding it between my fingers.

"Neonatal." Izzie doesn't look at me. I continue to shred grass. I look at George.

"General." He says. I nod. "What about you?"

I shrug, "No clue as always." I watch Izzie, "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Depends." Izzie answers.

"Does Meredith hate me?" I ask.

Izzie laughs, "Do you hate Meredith?"

I shrug, "I don't really know Meredith."

"Well there's your answer." Izzie says. More silence.

"How'd you know about this place anyways? I mean was it an impulsive find or what?" I ask wiping the rain out of my eyes and looking around the barren field.

"I've lived in Washington all my life. This place isn't too far away from my hometown, Chehalis. When I was like sixteen I used to drive out here with friends and watch the stars." Izzie looks forlorn again.

"Ah. I can't imagine having lived in Washington your whole life." I shiver from the cold. The rain is beginning to let up.

"Let me elaborate, I lived in a trailer park in Washington."

I cringe, "Oh."

She shakes her head, "Not so much fun."

"Yeah." Awkward silence. Izzie knows I was rich, I mean, that I still am rich. Although I'm sure I had as many issues as she did. I turn to George, "Where did you grow up?"

"Near Seattle." George says with some guilt. "Tudor house."

"Mmm."

"I can't imagine growing up in New York City. That's where you grew up right?" He asks.

"Actually I lived in Boston until I was eleven, then we moved to New York City."

"Boston? Never knew that." Izzie says, "Meredith partially grew up there, you know."

"Mmm, I think I knew that."

"Why'd you move to New York?" George asked.

Oh, the past. "My father was the CEO of a company that relocated to New York."

"Let me guess," Izzie chuckles, "You lived on the Upper East Side?"

I cringe again, "Yes."

Izzie sighs, "I'm not going to blame you for being rich. It's not your fault." She sits up, "Anyway, I'm rich now so it doesn't matter."

"She is," George agrees.

"Care to elaborate?" I'm freezing at this point, but the rain has stopped. I hate being rich.

"Denny left me a check." She says bitterly. "Let's go." Wow. She must hate being rich too if that's how she got so rich.

George gives me a look. I stand up and wipe the wet grass off of my scrubs. Izzie's already in the car when we get in and I can tell the ride home is going to be pretty somber. I rest my head on the back of the upholstered chair and brush my fingers through my wet hair. It's silent for a while, but luckily Izzie decides to talk again.

"You're friends with Mark Sloan." She states.

"Yes. I'm sure you all think of him as an asshole."

"Pretty much," Izzie laughs, "But you never know."

"You really don't." I say, thinking of Mark and the irony of his sweetness.

"It's like a different world." Izzie comments.

"What is?" I ask leaning over to the front seat.

"You're so part of it. The whole attendings social group." Izzie taps her fingers on the dashboard. "I mean you know so much about them. To us they're just our bosses." She laughs, "Sorry, I'm being weird."

It's hard to think of Addie, Mark, and Derek as just my bosses, because they're my family. I know all their faults, but to someone like Izzie they are these cool intelligent people who are never wrong. They're almost godly. Mysterious. I almost guffaw when I think of Addison, Mark, and Derek as godly. They are anything but. "I guess you're right. It's not weird to me. I've lived with Addie for my whole life, lived with Derek for a bit… And I practically lived with Mark."

"Could you imagine living with Addison Montgomery?" Izzie asks George.

"Um, no."

"Exactly."

"She's not so scary." I shrug. We arrive at a nice house. "This is yours?"

"No, Meredith's."

"You really weren't kidding when you said house."

"She wasn't." George says, opening the front door. Inside it's dark but cozy. "Meredith's mom used to live here."

"I see."

George plops down on a couch, and Izzie takes me into the kitchen. She leans on the wooden counter. There are baked goods all over the place. "Muffin?" Izzie asks me, handing one over.

"Thanks, but I'm not really a muffin person."

Izzie pretends to look offended. "How can anyone not be a muffin person?" She opens the fridge, "Cupcake?"

"Are you trying to make me gain twenty pounds?" I eye the heavily chocolate frosted cupcake in her hand and take it. "It's been forever since I've had a cupcake."

"You should change that." She says, licking the frosting off of one of her own creations. She yells across the hall, "George you want a cupcake?"

"No more cupcakes. Please!" George yells back. Izzie pouts.

"Fine, whatever." She sits up on the wooden counter, and places a spot next to her. "Do you like?" She asks nodding at my cupcake.

I nod, "Gourmet cooking."

"So be honest, what do you really think of Seattle Grace?" Izzie lies back on the counter facing the ceiling.

I stay sitting. "It's interesting. Overwhelming I guess. Everyone knows everyone's business. In that way it's a lot like the clinic, except more gossipy."

"I hate it when people talk." Izzie's ponytail is hanging off of the side of the counter. "The nurses are particularly nasty and some of the cocky residents." She pauses, "God I hate them."

"Yeah, Addie was telling me about it. Back in New York everyone loved her, but once she got to Seattle everyone was talking behind her back. Hard." I smile, "It was kind of hard to ignore the whispering that went on behind my back when we were all in the locker-room."

Izzie looks sympathetic. "We never knew Addison had a sister."

"Mmm, as if she was going to tell that kind of personal information to a girl who made fun of her salmon scrubs!" I tease, licking the last crumbs of the cupcake off my fingers.

"She heard that!?" Izzie asks incredulously. "Oh god that's awful. Damn it."

"She got over it." I laugh. "Seattle Grace is just strange you know? And it's just really hard to be there when Addie, Derek, and Mark all work there."

George appears in the room, "I have to go, Burke just 911 paged me. Mind if I take the car, Iz?"

She holds her hands out, "Be my guest."

"Bye." He says, "It was good to talk to you."

I smile at him, "You too. Good luck on that surgery."

"Ah, thanks." He stutters, and waves goodbye.

When he's gone I share a look with Izzie. "He's a sweet guy."

"Yeah," She says, smiling at the thought of her friend. "He's great." The room fills with silence and my back starts to cramp against the wooden surface. "Must be strange to have your family working in the hospital with you."

"Probably no stranger than it is working with Meredith and George." I point out. "Got anymore cupcakes? I'm having a craving."

She smirks, jumps up, and gets me one from the fridge, "No one can resist my cupcakes."

"But it is hard working with Addie. I forgot how she was… She's so… Addie, and I love her, but right now she's taking over my life, because of stuff that's not really her fault. Although I guess some of it is. Anyways, suddenly it's like my life is so involved with her, and I love spending time with her, but we haven't really gotten to spend much time alone because she's so busy." Okay. I'm ranting.

"It would be so hard for me to be her sister."

"Yeah, but she's always been there for me. Always. It's cheesy, but I honestly don't know where I'd be without her." I jump off the counter, following Izzie into the living room.

It's weird. With Izzie I don't have that awkward tension I have before I get to know another people. "I wish I had someone like that growing up."

"Yeah?"

"It was just my mom and me… My mom was screwed up…" She trails off. "I haven't even talked about this stuff with George…" She says, implying the whole 'why should I talk about it with you' thing.

"My mother was screwed up too." I say, snuggling into the couch. Why am I here? "And my father." I add nodding. "Very screwed up. I don't know why I'm telling you this, since even Diego didn't know."

She looks at me, taking a bite out of her now third cupcake. "Who's Diego?"

I point to the cupcake, "How do you not get fat?"

"Screw that, who's Diego?"

I shrug, "Diego's a guy."

"Mmm hmm…"

"A guy who was Bolivian and sexy. Tall dark and handsome." I pause, "And he loved me. I never understood why he loved me over everyone else, but he did. He was second in command at the clinic. Taught me everything I know…"

"We are going to practice this suturing on this… How do you say?" Diego looked at me with a grin on his face. He pointed down at the soft plastic covered mannequin in front of him. The soft plastic served as flesh.

"It's a dummy." I said.

He laughed. His laugh was loud and happy. It was infectious. "A dummy. What a strange name." His accent was beautiful and goofy at the same time. "But I thought we did agree. For the time now, you speak Spanish; I speak English in order to practice."

I shrugged. "Es un dummy." I took the scalpel in my hand, "No sé. ¿Como se dice dummy en español?"

"This?" He pointed to the dummy. I was about to cut. "We would call it un maniquí. Perhaps. Now slow down querida." He moved behind me. "Do not cut like this." He wrapped his arms around me and took my hands in his, moving to the correct location. "Like this." He whispered, his voice mellifluous like honey. "Comprendes?

"Si. Habla ingles, you hypocrite."

Diego shook his head, feigning stupidity. "What is this hypocrite?"

I smacked him lightly over the head before finishing the suture.

She smiled at me. "He sounds like a great guy. What happened?"

I nodded, "Things change. I had ended my program in Bolivia, and Addie had already told me about this job… He asked me to stay with him in Bolivia. I asked him to come with me. The clinic was his life, so he didn't. I needed a job, so I didn't. These things happen." My voice sounds bitter.

"Yes, things happen, things change." She says, "Denny. Denny was… I only really knew Denny for a few months." Izzie says nodding. "A few months. God, a few months. Life can change in a few months."

"It really can."

As you can see Izzie and Rachelle have a tendency to blurt things out to eachother… Things that they never meant to tell anyone… Hope you enjoyed "my young cherubs" as my chem. teacher would say. Thanks so much for the reviews, they keep me a-going.