Chapter 3:

She reached up to touch his face, as though to make sure he was really real, and then smacked him, and everyone in the room stopped what they were doing, to watch in horror. Negan just smiled at the smack then glanced around at everyone. He didn't need her making a scene in front of his people.

"Get the fuck back to work!" He yelled and everyone scrambled to get back to whatever it was they were doing before the slap. Negan grabbed her by her wrist and dragged her up some stairs and down some halls, into the heart of the Sanctuary, all the while, Izzie followed him in shock. She was feeling way too many feelings to be able to decide on which one to act upon first, Aggravated by the situation, Betrayed by her own facts she knew to be true, Astonished by the miracle that he's alive, defensive because her world changed so much in the last five minutes, denial because, there's no way that this is actually happening right now, confused at it all, yet relieved at the same time, but, also disgusted and disappointed, in the man he had become.

Denny shut the door behind him, then stroked his five o'clock shadow. He sighed then looked her over. She seemed to be in a mental battle with herself, but he decided he would yet again, be the first to speak.

"So...what the hell are you doing all the way over here? Aren't you supposed to be in Seattle?" He says and this earns him another smack in the face.

"What about you?! Aren't you supposed to be uh, I don't know, DEAD?!" She says, tossing her arms up in the air.

"Yes...but-"

"No!" she says, jabbing an accusing finger into his chest. "No buts, you- You DIED, I saw your body, YOU FLATLINED!" She said pacing the room back and forth, a hand over her mouth, the other on her hip as she paced.

"I didn't actually flatline, It was fake, I-" she interrupted his excuses.

"May 14th, 2006, time of death, 7:42 pm. Yeah, I remember. You had a blood clot, which caused a stroke and you...you… you're dead. You are Dead!" she said, biting at her nails as she continued to pace.

"I didn't die, I faked my death, well I didn't. I didn't have a choice in the matter. If I had any choice at all, I would have stayed with you, I would have married you, I-"

"So what? You just laid there in bed, and pretended to be dead, as I begged and pleaded with you to live. When I prayed for you to wake up, you just laid there and let me beg like a fucking idiot!?" She asked and used both her hands to shove him away from her, disgusted by his actions all those years ago, and his actions now.

"I grieved for you. Alex, Meredith, George, and even Christina dragged me home, and watched me lay in my dress on that bathroom floor for hours. For hours I didn't move from that floor, I didn't move at all, and yet, the world kept trying to move on without you, except for me. I just couldn't move on."

Negan looks at her in distress, and she shakes her head.

"I'm sorry. I would have never done that to you." He claims and she just glares at him in response.

"Then why did you?" She asks. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she recalled her years of grieving him.

"For the first 24 hours of your mourning, I laid on that bathroom floor for 24 hours. The next 24 hours, I baked muffins. And I baked. And I baked. And I baked. I did everything I could to stop thinking about how you were gone."

"Then, I stood outside that hospital. That hospital that you died in, I was supposed to go back to my job I had thought I'd lost, because I tried to save your stupid life, by the way." She says through gritted teeth, then continues, and he lets her.

"And I stood in front of it for seven and a half hours. Seven and a half hours." she emphasizes. I couldn't bring myself to go into the place you never left. Then Dr. Burke showed up. Then came George, then I stood there another five. Then Alex showed up. Put his jacket on me, and made me go home. Because I couldn't do it myself." She says, never losing eye contact with him, for fear if she looked away, he would vanish.

"The next day, I met with your father. He told me that he and your mother had already thought you were dead. For years! You really like letting your loved ones believe you died, huh?" she says with a scoff, and Denny puts his arms out to comfort her, but she smacks them away from herself.

"Then he tells me you left me money. As though that eases the pain. Which, by the way, doesn't." She informs him, and he just nods, knowing she's not gonna let him get a word in edgewise.

"You had the nerve to ask me to marry you, when you were dying. I had my whole life ahead of me. My career." She scoffs yet again. "And I had the nerve to say yes." She laughs a bit, then cries.

"I felt like I was moving in slow motion and everything else was moving so fast and I just wanted to go back. I laid on that bathroom floor asking myself "where is Denny?" And I wouldn't ever get up if it weren't for my friends. They were there for me. And you were Not. You. Were. Not." She says and laughs again as tears rolled off her face and she couldn't wipe them off fast enough.

"At least you had an excuse not to be there, because you were dead, but LOOK you're not. So what's your excuse now?" She asked, and as he opened her mouth to speak, she put her hand over his mouth.

"No. I don't wanna hear it. I don't wanna hear whatever it was that was so much more important than the life you already had, the life that you wouldn't have, if I didn't cut that stupid freaking L-Vad!." She says, then brushed past him and stormed out the door. Yet again, he stood there dumbfounded, unsure of what to say to her, unsure if he should follow, or let her adjust to the situation. But he knew one thing for sure, he wasn't gonna let her slip out of his hands this time.

Negan followed her into the hall, and called after her, it wasn't til she got to the end of the hall that she realized, she had no idea where she was, nor where she was going. She spun around to face him.

"Did you know that my reputation as a doctor was never the same after you?" She said, glaring at him in the eyes.

"I almost didn't get my job back, and when I did, I was constantly looked down on, and labeled as the woman who killed her patient, or gets too close to them." She looks him up and down.

"Well look at you. I didn't kill you at all. Did I?" she said and sighed. Today was emotionally exhausting from the start for Izzie. She didn't even know how to begin explaining it to him, not that she had to.

"Izzie...look, please come back to my room, we can talk about this, just hear me out. Where the fuck else are you gonna go? You think they're gonna let you parade yourself out those gates? You think I'm gonna let you expose yourself to the dangers out there?" He asks and she laughs.

"Let me? You act like you own me. If I remember correctly, you didn't marry me, you DIED!" she says then turns around to walk off, that's when Negan picks her up by her waist and throws her over his shoulder and carries her back to the room.

"Let go of me, you caveman!" she said, beating on his back with her fists. He says nothing, and closes the door behind him, and plops her onto the couch.

"Izzie...just hear me out, please." He begged, his chocolate eyes pleading with her. She shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"No. Last time I listened to you, you slept with me, and let me walk around talking to nothing like a crazy person, and I listened to you! Y-you knew I had a tumor. You, knew I had a tumor and you let me-"

"What?!" He asked, looking at her as though she were completely insane.

"Izzie...we never slept together...during our whole relationship, I was laid up in a hospital bed, I had a heart condition, if we had sex I would have died-"

"You did die!" Izzie said, running her thin fingers through her blonde hair.

"You died. And then you came back. At the hospital, at Meredith's house. You followed me around for weeks, months. And we slept together. Except we didn't because you're not real!" She stood up and banged her fists on his chest.

"You're not real!" She yelled at him, continuing to hit his chest.

"You can't be real! You can't be! You're not...you…" Izzie broke down crying against him.

"I...I don't wanna die." She croaked out as he pet her hair, holding her head against his chest. She listened to his heartbeat, from the same heart she stole for him.

"You're not gonna die, Izzie. I won't let you." He said and she shook her head against his chest.

"But if you're here, then that means my tumor is back. And I'm dying. Don't lie to me this time." She said and he just looked down at her.

"What do you mean?" He asked, completely puzzled.

"You have a tumor?" He asked, getting tears in his eyes.

"Had. When I had a tumor, you…" She paused and looked down at the floor, then back up at him.

"When I had a tumor, I hallucinated you." She explained, then furrowed her brow.

"But if you don't remember that...then you're not the same hallucination…" She said then backed away, looking at him.

"So you're really real." She realized aloud with wide eyes.

"You're really real...but how?" She aided, looking at him horrified.

"How am I alive you mean? I'll tell you, if you just sit down-" Denny started but he was interrupted.

"No. That's not what I meant. What I mean is…" She looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"How did my Denny turn into...you?"

Author's note: Thank you so much to Doctorwho9, Christiejohn921, and Dauntlessofthesea for reviewing/favoriting/following the story! Did y'all find this story by looking for Greys or TWD, I'm curious haha thanks again for the views!