Izzie laid on the examination table, feeling embarrassed and wishing that she could just disappear. Bailey had not yet said anything about what had really happened. She was waiting for Izzie to tell her, which made her feel pressured. Yet she couldn't get his face out of her mind. She couldn't get any of it out of her mind.

"You have bleeding in your abdomen," Bailey told her, showing her the results. "And you've had it there for a day or so now, so I have no idea how you got yourself up here."

"Adrenaline," Izzie said quietly.

"So we're going to have to operate," Bailey said, ignoring her. "If we don't I can tell you right now that you'll be dead by the end of the day."

"You can't operate on me," Izzie said at once. "I can't stay here like that."

"So are you saying you want me to just let you die?"

For a moment Izzie had the urge to say yes, so she didn't say anything at all. Bailey realized what her silence meant and said, "You know what, don't answer that question. I will not let you walk out of here so you can kill yourself, you hear me?"

Izzie still said nothing. All she needed was to be laid up in a hospital, a hospital where she was trying to avoid several people.

"I'm going to request an OR," Bailey told her. "I'll be right back."

"Yeah," Izzie said distractedly. Bailey left the room, leaving her by herself. This almost scared Izzie; she did not feel safe when she was alone. It was like she was expecting him to come and jump out at her any moment.

She sighed and closed her eyes. She left. That was the important thing. She finally built up enough to leave him. She wanted to fall asleep, just sleep and escape everything around her in a world that was completely her own….

She was standing in front of him-more like kneeling in front of him, tears rolling down her face as she tried to breathe. He was grinning at her, almost laughing. He looked at the gun in his hand.

"I'm not going to kill you," he told her. "Not today at least. Let's just say you got lucky. Now get up."

She didn't move.

"Get up!" he said again, more firmly and threateningly. She used every bit of strength she could and got herself to her feet, one hand on her stomach and the other grasping for something to hold on to. She looked into the eyes of the man she once thought she loved and hated him with every fiber in her body. She wanted nothing more than to just walk out the door and never look back, to escape the hell she had been living in.

She opened her eyes. Bailey was back in the room, looking at the chart. Izzie tried to sit up but found it quite painful and slowly lowered herself back down again. Bailey looked up at her.

"Just lie back," she said. "We're going to be taking you in in a couple minutes."

"Already?" Izzie said in surprise.

"Yes," Bailey said. "You fell asleep."

She must have dreamed about what had happened…relived it was more like it.

"How are they?" Izzie had to ask.

"They are all off in their own little worlds," Bailey said. "If you want to know you'll have to talk to them yourself. Don't ask me."

Izzie was still looking at her expectantly. Bailey sighed.

"They're okay, I guess," she said. "They're all still here. None of them decided to run away, like other people."

"Is George still with Callie?" Izzie asked in spite of herself.

"He hasn't been with Callie for a while," Bailey said. Izzie stared at her.

"He hasn't?"

"No, he hasn't. They weren't together for very long."

Great, Izzie thought to herself. Of course.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hey," Meredith said to Derek when she saw him at the nurses' station.

"Hi," he replied with a smile and a kiss. "How is your day going?"

"Okay so far," she said. "I have a surgery scheduled at noon. And tonight I'm going out to dinner with my fiancé. I think this day is pretty good."

"Sounds so to me," he said. Bailey walked out of a room not too far away from them and stopped suddenly. She knew that Izzie did not want anyone knowing she was there. And hiding the fact that she was there would be a problem. But to her relief she watched as Meredith departed down the hall the opposite way; they were clear for now. But she knew that it would not last long. With all of them crawling around this hospital, it would be hard for one of them to not find out.

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George looked unfocusedly at the world outside. Today was a slow day for him; nothing seemed to be happening. He had nothing scheduled, nothing had come in...it was a slow day. He never thought that Izzie would come back. She thought that she was gone away forever. It had seemed to be going that way the last time he talked to her.

"You don't know what this is like for me. I have to stand here and watch you with her while you clearly know how I feel. After everything that has happened you are still right there next to her."

"It's not that easy. We're married. She loves me. She doesn't derserve to be put through what you're asking me to put her through. I just can't. I'm sorry. If things- I don't know-

Look, whatever. You want to be with her then be with her. Go ahead. I ust won't stay here to watch it."

"What?"

"I can't do it anymore. It's driving me insane. Being here, dealing with this...I think the best thing to do is to go."

"You-you can't just-go, you- you have-"

"Nothing, really. A pathetic life, yeah. But that's about it."

"So you're just gonna leave us here? You're just going to run away? Leave your job?"

"I can get another one. And as for you...you have a wife."

That had really been the last conversation he had with her. He didn't think that she would really leave at first. But she did, she left without saying goodbye. And she never contacted him or any of them again. And now she was in the same hospital with him right now, though he did not know that yet. They would get their little reunion. And then a lot of trouble would come after that.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Bailey took Izzie into surgery, thankfully with everyone still ignorant to the fact that she was back. Everything went as well as she had hoped; Izzie Stevens was not going to die today. But Bailey knew how this had happened to her. She also knew that if she didn't get out of this situation soon, she may not be able to save her the next time.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

George was walking down the hallway, looking through charts while he was doing so. He looked up-just by coincidence-as he passed one room. He looked sideways in it and continued to walk until he stopped suddenly, thinking. He retreated back to the room and looked in it again. He did not recognize the girl with the shory red hair. But at the same time he did. He did, because, he saw as he walked into the room, it was Izzie.