A/N – Sorry for the long wait! I got sidetracked with work.
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"I'm bored, George." Izzie just finished eating a slice of pumpkin pie and is currently munching on an apple she filched from Alex's locker. "Seriously! We have run out of patients!"
George was lying beside Izzie on the hospital bed along the basement hallway. "Izzie, it's December. People will try to stay out of the hospital this month. You know how it goes; we only get cases for stat procedures these days." He sighed. "I'm bored too, you know." He eyed Izzie's apple and was already reaching out to take a bite from Izzie's hand when she lightly slapped the back of his hand. "You're cranky."
"No, I'm not. Just hungry."
"But you ate lunch and had dessert already," George whined and reached out for the apple again. Izzie rolled her eyes and acquiesced.
"Well, we're just so benign these days that I can't seem to do anything but eat. Just maybe for a lack of better things to do," Izzie shrugged it off.
Cristina showed up at the door with her eyes narrowed and her arms crossed. "I am a surgeon! I am a surgeon! Not an interior decorator! Get up, you two, and lend us a hand. We have to come up with a theme for the Annual Christmas party for the Department." Cristina turned around in a huff, once again leaving the two of them alone.
Izzie placed both her hands under her chin. "I suppose you're bringing Callie?"
George placed an arm around her shoulders. "It's okay. We'll make it a threesome. You can go with us."
She clapped her hands in delight. "Thanks a lot, George. If it weren't mandatory, I'd rather stay home and bake. I really don't feel like going to any party."
George looked at Izzie. "What you went through is no joke, Izzie. But you got past that and survived. This is now your life – the hospital. You have to go, not because it's required of you, but because it's Christmas and this is time to be with your family – that's us."
She cleared her throat and blinked back her unshed tears. "I try, George. I try everyday to take one step at a time each day and not take a step back." Izzie smiled with exaggerated cheerfulness and got up from the bed. "Enough about me. We have to go help Cristina with the decorations. I already have a theme."
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"Good morning, Dr. Sloan," Alyssa straightened her back in her chair as soon as her boss entered the clinic. She nervously shuffled through the mail and handed these to him. "Your patients sent you their gifts for Christmas." Dr. Sloan is usually a taciturn and sarcastic man. He never spoke to her unless needed and she could tell that even then, his words spoken to her were measured.
Mark Sloan removed his favorite leather motorcycle jacket and hung it on the coat rack. He glanced at the pile of handsomely wrapped presents from his patients and nodded to his secretary in greeting. He went inside his clinic and plopped on the winged high back chair. Mark tossed his mail casually on the coffee table and thanked Alyssa for the coffee she set on the table.
"What's the schedule for the week?"
"There are no procedures due this week or the next, Doctor. Would you like some cookies with your coffee?" Alyssa smiled and offered Christmas cookies. "I baked them myself."
Mark gave a wan smile and obliged, decapitating a Santa cookie. "Thanks."
His secretary blushed and retreated back to her desk.
In his office, Mark was left alone to brood over his thoughts. I'm bored. No surgeries. Nothing excites me anymore. Just as he was about to close his eyes and rub his forehead, he glimpsed the corner of a burgundy-colored envelope with a postal stamp from Seattle. Trying to hide his growing excitement, Mark frowned a little. A hint of a smile was already tugging at the corners of his mouth as he opened the envelope. It was an invitation to the Annual Christmas party from the Department of Surgery two days from now.
Mark jumped up from his chair and went to his secretary's desk with a beaming smile. "Book me a flight to Seattle tomorrow for the next day. Take a vacation, compensated of course." His eyes were twinkling. "Make it a long one, Alyssa."
Dumbstruck at her boss's sudden change in behavior, Alyssa stammered. "Of-of course, Doctor. Why, thank you." She shook her head in disbelief that her normally-surly employer even knew her name.
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Where was it? Izzie was rummaging the contents of her locker when a black credit card-looking business card fell down on the floor. Here it is. She began dialing the number on the card, at the same time ignoring the sudden quickening of her heartbeat.
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"Here's your ticket, Doctor," Alyssa handed him the airline ticket the next day. "You had a couple of calls that came in when you left in the afternoon."
Mark was busy fixing his things from his desk and asked her without looking up. "Tell them I've gone on vacation. They left a message?"
"Calls actually came from only one caller, a Dr. Stevens of Seattle Grace. She's asking if you're coming to the Christmas party tomorrow."
At the mention of Izzie's name, Mark suddenly looked up with undisguised pleasure only to frown at his secretary. "Did you tell her I'm flying over to Seattle tomorrow?"
Taken aback once again with Dr. Sloan, Alyssa maintained her composure and replied. "No, Doctor. I only told her that she can try and contact your mobile but she said she didn't want to. Anyway, I told her I'll tell you today when you come in but not to hope too much because I did tell her that you're planning to go on vacation."
Mark raised his eyebrows expectantly. "And?"
"And what, Doctor?"
"What was her reaction?" Mark was seemingly looking down intently on a notepad, poised as if to jot something down.
Finally clueing in to what this Dr. Stevens is to Dr. Sloan, Alyssa laughed inwardly. "I found it weird that she seemed relieved that you were going away." She noticed Mark's jaw harden slightly. "But I sensed a hint of disappointment in her tone."
He prodded her slightly. "Hint of disappointment? What tone?"
Gesturing offhandedly, Alyssa examined her ruby red nails in her other hand. "Just a woman's intuition, Doctor. She's not being honest with herself," she finished bluntly, looking at Mark straight in his eyes. "I think she wanted you to go to the Christmas party."
For the first time in the three years she had worked with Dr. Sloan, he gave Alyssa a genuine smile of happiness. "Didn't I mention I'm giving you an extra Christmas bonus?"
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Hope you guys like the chapter!
More soon over the weekend, I promise!