Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy in any shape or form. But I do own my OC.
A/N: This one will start off at the beginning of No Man's Land and continue throughout the episode.
Reviews:
RHatch89: Thanks!
siriuslylovehp: Thank you! Yeah, Annabelle's the kind of person who usually sees the good in people. Maybe not automatically, but she does, and I thought adding that part with Alex to the story might be a good start. Especially considering what happens in this episode. I think Izzie's actions were justified at first, seeing as Alex was a real ass to her at first (hence what happens in this episode) but I really hate how she treated him even later, after he really changed. I'm actually not sure where I'll have Annabelle in that episode, though I will definitely have her learn about Alex's past one way or another.
: I guess you'll just have to wait and see ;) I'm not ruling anything out.
Jackie: Thank you! I'm glad you like her! Yeah, you can definitely consider her a Merder shipper. And yeah, there will be some really funny scenes once Derek and Meredith get together.
Psycho17: I guess you'll just have to wait and see ;) I can promise you one thing though, Annabelle and Alex will have a really interesting relationship. I won't tell you what kind of a relationship, but I promise you'll love it. And I do intend for there to be some sleep-arounds and mistakes before there is some real love, definitely. And yes, there will be some very funny scenes once Meredith and Derek get together, I promise.
.1884: You'll just have to wait and see ;) One thing I can definitely say is that Mark is my favorite male character ever, so I will definitely include him in Annabelle's life one way or another.
Bella: Thank you! And yeah, I'm honestly surprised how hateful Merder shippers are on this page - I've never had that happen before. Anyway, I'm glad you like the story!
DreamonAlina: Thank you! I know, I haven't seen many either, which makes me cry because I would absolutely love to read a good Mark/OC :(
Operations. Temptations. Frustrations.
Chapter 4
No Man's Land
Intimacy is a four-syllable word for "here are my heart and soul. Please grind them into hamburger, and enjoy." It's both desired and feared. Difficult to live with... and impossible to live without.
"Hey," Annabelle greeted her sister once she came downstairs, only to frown once she saw the album of the family photos someone once bothered to take during their very short time as a real family. She was already in full clothing, despite the early hour, and was wearing dark skinny jeans with a few rips around the knees and a loose white blouse with 3/4 sleeves, along with 2 1/2-inch heeled beige sandals, and the top strands of her hair were braided and pinned to the side. "What are you doing with that?"
"Uh, nothing," Meredith quickly said after looking up sharply in surprise, before quickly closing the album and putting it aside as Annabelle frowned at her reaction. Does the fact that they are sisters and have known each other for their entire lives not mean that they can openly talk about their childhood?
Intimacy also comes attached to life's three R's - relatives, romance, and roommates.
"Coffee?" Izzie suddenly asked from behind them as she also arrived downstairs, her voice muffled by the toothbrush in her mouth as she stood before them, wearing only a tank top and panties.
There are some things you can't escape... and other things you just don't want to know.
"Hello, kitty," Annabelle smiled, trying not to chuckle as she eyed the Hello Kitty picture on Izzie's panties. "Yes, please,"
4:30 AM
"You don't understand, me gonads, you ovaries," George stressed for what seemed to be the hundredth time as they all got out of the car once they arrived at the hospital parking lot, making Annabelle roll her eyes.
"George, will you please just stop? So Izzie walked into the bathroom when you were in there. It's not a big deal," she said, and George's eyes widened.
"Not a... I was in the shower!" he exclaimed, making Annabelle and Izzie both roll their eyes.
"It's not like she saw anything," Annabelle said, before furrowing her eyebrows in thought, "Did you?" she turned her head to look at Izzie, who simply shook her head. "See? And even if she did, we are all doctors here, George! And adults! We've all seen it before,"
"Oh, that reminds me. We are out of tampons," Izzie said as they started to walk through the parking lot.
"Y-You're parading through the bathroom in your underwear when I'm naked in the shower!" George exclaimed as he followed Izzie closely, while Meredith and Annabelle shared a look, both trying not to laugh.
"Can you add it to your list, please?" Izzie asked, as if not hearing him, which made Annabelle want to laugh out loud all that much more.
"What?!"
"Tampons!" Annabelle said loudly. "To the list. It's your turn,"
"I am a man!" George exclaimed in outrage, walking quickly to catch up with his roommates. "I don't buy girl products! I don't want you walking in while I'm in the shower, and I don't want to see you in your underwear!"
"It doesn't bother me!" Izzie exclaimed, trying to hide her smile, "Okay? Look at me in my underwear, George. Take your time, it's no big deal," she said as they walked through the doors of the hospital, making George stop in his tracks as he stared after her with wide eyes.
"Oh, my God," Annabelle finally couldn't hold in her laugh anymore as she looked at Izzie once they were out of earshot.
"I've gotta say, I thoroughly enjoyed that," Izzie said, making Annabelle and Meredith both chuckle as they headed to the locker room.
"You are the first person they see in the morning. You say please, you say thank you, you apologize for waking them up!" Dr. Bailey spoke as she walked through the locker room, where all the interns were - already in their scrubs - except Alex, who walked in just as Dr. Bailey finished her sentence, "You make them feel good about you. Why is that important? 'Cause then they'll talk to you and tell you what's wrong. Why is that important? Because then you can tell your attending what they need to know during rounds. And why is that important? Because if you make your resident look bad... she'll torture you until you cry for your mama," Dr. Bailey said, and no one dared to laugh no matter how funny they found her words, fearing - or perhaps even knowing - that she was serious. "Now get out there, I want pre-rounds done by 5:30 A.M.!"
"Hey," Annabelle looked down once she heard the voice, her brows furrowing in confusion as she saw Alex sitting on the bench, looking up at her with a small smile.
"Hey," she returned, unable to keep the confusion and surprise out of her voice. Was he actually being nice?
"Ah, good morning, Dr. Model," Alex suddenly turned to Izzie, who walked over to her locker in her scrub pants and tank top, with a smirk. And the moment's over, Annabelle thought to herself as she rolled her eyes.
"Dr. Evil Spawn," Izzie returned.
"Ooh. Nice tat," Alex said as he eyed the small tattoo of a butterfly on Izzie's hip, using his flashlight to get a better look. "They airbrush that out for the catalogs?"
"I don't know. What'd they do for the 6-6-6 on your skull?" Izzie retorted before walking away, making Annabelle hide her smile.
"Mr. Humphrey?" Izzie called quietly as she and Annabelle made their way into their patient's room, with the brunette switching the light on. "Mr. Humphrey, we're sorry to wake you,"
"Come on," the man groaned, covering his eyes with his hand as he slowly woke up. "What time is it?"
"10 after 5:00," Annabelle said apologetically as she opened the patient's chart.
"I'm sorry, I just need to do a brief exam, if you could sit up for one moment..." Izzie apologized, pulling her stethoscope from her neck and getting ready to examine the patient, and the man sighed before slowly sitting up and hunching over so that Izzie could lift up his shirt and put the stethoscope to his back. "Thanks. This might be a little bit cold so just take a deep breath. If you could just take a deep breath,"
"You're not a doctor," the man suddenly spoke up as he looked up at the blonde, making Annabelle look at him strangely as she and Izzie shared a brief glance.
"I'm Dr. Stevens but you can call me Izzie, Dr. Grey and I will be helping Dr. Bailey with your biopsy this morning,"
"No, I don't think so, no," Mr. Humphrey said, pulling away so that Izzie couldn't touch him as Annabelle closed the chart, taking a step forward as she eyed the patient.
"Mr. Humphrey, this will just take a moment," she said, trying to soothe the man.
"No, get me Dr. Bailey or-or Dr. Victor," the man shook his head as he leaned over, reaching for something on his nightstand.
"I-I just need to do a brief-" Izzie tried again, but was cut off once again.
"You don't need to do anything!" Mr. Humphrey snapped, before holding up the magazine he retrieved from his nightstand, and Annabelle's eyes widened as she eyed the picture of a tall, beautiful blonde model in sexy lingerie, "Is this you? Huh? Is this you?" he pressed, but Izzie's mouth couldn't form words as she stared at the picture. "It is, isn't it? You know, get out of my room,"
"Mr. Humphrey-"
"Get out of my room," the man snapped, before pointing to Annabelle. "She can examine me. But you can't,"
"I-"
"Iz, it's... fine. Go," Annabelle spoke up, before nodding reassuringly as Izzie looked at her helplessly. After giving the man one last sad look, Izzie walked out of the room as Annabelle pulled her stethoscope off her neck and moved towards the patient. "Okay, I'm gonna need you to... take a deep breath,"
"55-year-old woman with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Has had radiation therapy to reduce the tumor load. Rates her abdominal pain 3 out of 10, positive nausea but no vomiting. Diarrhea, um, hematochezia, melena, afebrile with T-max 37-2 and stable vital signs. Lab significant for a total ability of 7, and elevated liver enzymes,"
"Thank you, Dr. Yang," Dr. Burke quickly spoke up before Cristina could continue as they and Chief Webber all stood beside the former scrub nurse's bed, the African-American woman staring at Cristina with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Aggressive little witch, isn't she?" she spoke up, looking up at Dr. Burke and Dr. Webber, "She stole my chart during pre-rounds so she could scrub in on my surgery. She's hoping for a whipple," she directed the last part to the chief, nudging him.
"Uh, actually, Liz, I was gonna give you to Meredith Grey," Dr. Webber said with a smile, and Liz looked up at him.
"Ellis' daughter?"
"Yes, she and her sister are both interns this year," Chief Webber replied, smiling. "Thought you'd have something to talk about,"
"Oh, I doubt that. I was Ellis' scrub nurse for 18 years, practically lived with that woman, I didn't meet those daughters once," Liz said, a sudden sadness in her eyes.
"Well, anyway... Shepherd has Meredith Grey on the guy with nails in his head while the other Grey is on a case with Dr. Bailey," Dr. Burke said.
"There's a guy with nails in his head?" Cristina suddenly spoke up, bewildered.
"Seven of them. Shot himself in the head with a nail gun,"
"Nail nails?"
"16 pennies. 3 1/2 inches long,"
"I me-and he's still alive?" Cristina asked incredulously.
"Fully conscious. Should be a pretty interesting surgery," Dr. Burke nodded, looking over at Chief Webber with a small smirk, which was returned.
"But I guess you've got the whipple," Dr. Webber looked at Cristina, while Liz smirked.
"Is he prepped?" Dr. Bailey asked Izzie, who was standing outside of the O.R. The blonde hesitated, before glancing over her shoulder to take a peek through the window.
"I think they're doing it right now," she replied.
"You think?" Dr. Bailey repeated in disbelief, "He's having a prostate biopsy, trust me, if you'd been in there, you'd know," she said, just as Annabelle opened the door.
"He's ready," she informed the resident, who nodded before stepping inside the O.R. as Annabelle remained where she was, looking at Izzie a bit worriedly. "Iz? You coming?"
"Yeah," Izzie nodded with a sigh after a few seconds of silence, and Annabelle nodded before going back to the O.R. again, the blonde woman following her.
"Okay, Mr. Humphrey, we're gonna get started," Dr. Bailey informed the patient, who was lying on the table with his legs spread in the air.
"Get her out of here," Mr. Humphrey snapped as soon as he saw Izzie.
"J-"
"I want her out of here! Just get her out of here!" he yelled as Annabelle and Dr. Bailey both attempted to calm him down, "Just you, go! Now! Just go now!" he continued to yell, and Izzie eventually listened, quickly leaving the room.
"He-Hey, relax! Relax, Mr. Humphrey," Dr. Bailey ordered, shooting Annabelle a confused look.
"You okay?" Annabelle asked Izzie as soon as Mr. Humphrey's biopsy was finished, seeing her friend sitting on a gurney outside the room, playing with her shoelaces.
"You want to tell me what that was all about?" Dr. Bailey asked as she came out of the room, not giving Izzie a chance to answer Annabelle's question.
"Nothing," Izzie tried to lie as she stood up, "He's probably just crazy or something," she said, but Annabelle simply shot her a look, silently telling her to not make her situation any worse by lying to their resident, while Dr. Bailey didn't react at all. After a few seconds, Izzie took in a breath and walked over to stand beside the resident. "Bethany Whisper,"
"What?"
"Bethany Whisper," Izzie repeated in defeat. "I did a new Bethany Whisper lingerie ad, he saw it in a magazine,"
"You got time to pose for magazines?" Dr. Bailey asked incredulously.
"No, the shoot was last year, it just came out,"
"So because he saw you in a thong-"
"No, it wasn't a thong," Izzie scoffed.
"You're hiding out in the hallway," Dr. Bailey continued as if Izzie never said anything.
"I just think it might be easier if you assign another intern, or let Anna do this one by herself,"
"Easy is not in your job description," the resident said, "You are a doctor, he is a patient, he's your patient. Biopsy these," she ordered, "If they come back positive, I expect to see you in surgery," she said, before walking past Annabelle and proceeding to walk out of the room. However, she stopped in the doorway and turned around to face the blonde intern again, seeing her head hanging in defeat. "Hey, you're on this, you understand me?"
"You never answered my question," Annabelle spoke up after a few seconds of silence once Dr. Bailey left the room.
"What?" Izzie looked up, looking quite distracted.
"Are you okay?" Annabelle repeated her question from earlier, and Izzie sighed as she looked down at the test samples in her hands.
"Not really," she finally answered after a moment of silence, "But I guess she's right. Easy's not in our job description," she attempted a small smile, though it looked more like a grimace.
"No, I guess it's not," Annabelle agreed, before offering her a small smile and taking one of the samples out of her hands. "Okay. Let's do this,"
"The good news is it hasn't spread from his prostate to his lymph nodes," Dr. Bailey reported to Dr. Victor, coming out of Mr. Humphrey's room to stand next to Annabelle and Izzie.
"With a radical prostatectomy, we could probably get it all," Dr. Victor said, looking at the chart his resident handed him. He was an older man, around his 60's. "Good prognosis,"
"Spare some nerves, give him a chance at a normal sex life?" Dr. Bailey proposed.
"Young puppies like to take chances with cancer. Old dogs like me, we do what works," he said.
"Yes, sir, of course," Dr. Bailey replied.
"We on the schedule tomorrow?" he asked, handing Annabelle the patient's chart back.
"Uh, 10:00 A.M.,"
"Good. Maybe I can squeeze in a round," Dr. Victor said, before walking away, leaving Annabelle to wonder how a jerk like him was such a successful doctor.
"An ass who deals in asses," Dr. Bailey hummed, and Annabelle couldn't agree more as she and Izzie shared a look. "We call him Limp Harry. He never spares the nerves,"
"Hey," Cristina greeted the two women hastily as she almost bumped into them while leaving the gallery of the O.R. where Dr. Shepherd and Meredith were working on the man who shot himself in the head with a nail gun.
"Hey," Annabelle and Izzie replied, smiling at her briefly before entering the gallery.
"Here. My share of the grocery money," Izzie said, handing George, who was also sitting in the gallery and watching the surgery, a few bills.
"When are you going?" Annabelle asked as she and Izzie looked for any seats, the blonde quickly taking the one behind Dr. Burke, leaving Annabelle to sit behind George, right next to Alex.
"Tonight," George replied.
"Okay. Seriously, George, please don't-"
"Yeah, could we not talk about it here?" he quickly interrupted Izzie.
"What - tampons?" Annabelle asked, unable to help herself.
"Did you not hear a word I said?" George asked, and Annabelle had to bite her lip so that she wouldn't laugh.
"You're a man, we know," Izzie said, making a few men in the galley chuckle and 'ooh', one of them, of course, being Alex.
"Talk about shrinking the salamander," he said with a grin, leaning over to speak in George's ear. However, he quickly pulled back and groaned in pain as Annabelle elbowed him in the side, "Oooh. Ouch," he looked over at the brunette, smirking. "If you weren't so obviously a woman, I'd say you hit like a man,"
"Oh, trust me, sweetheart," Annabelle spoke, before turning her head to look at him, "You wish I hit like man. Because then, it wouldn't hurt so much," she gave him a sweet smile, before turning back around to watch the surgery as Alex looked down, chuckling quietly to himself. He was starting to like this girl more and more.
"What's with all the yelling?" Annabelle asked the next morning as she followed her sister into the bathroom, where George was taking a shower and Izzie was standing with her arms crossed over her chest, looking beyond angry. The brunette was already fully dressed, wearing a black-and-white striped blouse with 3/4 sleeves, her favorite jeans, and white sneakers. To complete the look, the front strands of her hair were braided and pinned on the back of her head.
"I'm not riding in the same car with him," Izzie said.
"Well, if you're going like that, you're not riding with me, either," the brunette said, eyeing the blonde's tank top and panties as her sister crouched down and opened the cabinet underneath the sink.
"Where are the tampons?" she asked.
"He didn't buy them," Izzie answered, nearly growling in anger.
"You didn't buy them?" Meredith repeated in disbelief.
"Men don't buy tampons!" George yelled.
"You know what, you are gonna have to get over the man thing, George, we're women!" Izzie yelled as she opened the cabin door, making George fall down in the bathtub clumsily as he struggled to cover himself up. "We have vaginas! Get used to it!"
"I am not your sister!" George yelled after her as she walked out of the bathroom, while Annabelle simply stayed where she was, her lips pressed together in a line and her eyebrows raised in amusement. What the hell have I gotten myself into?
Annabelle frowned as she walked to the locker room, sensing something to be wrong. She walked into the hospital a few minutes later than her sister and friends because her phone fell off her lap while she was driving and she had to look under the seats to find it, which wasn't as easy as it sounds. She ended up with at least two bruises on her head.
"Go!" she suddenly heard Izzie scream, and quickly stepped aside as the blonde walked past her angrily. It was then she realized that Izzie was only in her underwear, her clothes in her hands. Annabelle's frown deepened, and her eyes widened in shock as she finally entered the locker room. The lockers, the door, the walls, everything was covered in pictures of Izzie in sexy lingerie, both colored and black and white. Annabelle looked around in disbelief, before her eyes finally fell on Alex, who was standing in the middle of the room.
"You did this?" she asked, her tone both knowing and disbelieving.
"Look-"
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" she scoffed, cutting the young man off, before looking at all the other men in the room, "You are all disgusting!" she said loudly, before looking at George, who was standing by one of the lockers quietly, "Take these down," she ordered, and he nodded as she quickly grabbed her scrubs and ran out of the room, wanting to find Izzie before she did anything stupid. Which Annabelle wouldn't blame her for if she was being completely honest.
She ran down the halls, looking around for any sign of the blonde doctor, before finally halting as she Izzie, now in her scrubs, walking towards Mr. Humphrey's room with one of the pictures in her hands.
"Iz. Izzie, wait!" Annabelle tried calling, but Izzie ignored her and entered their patient's room, making Annabelle close her eyes briefly before halting by the doorstop.
"This is who I was," Izzie said as she slammed the picture of herself on Mr. Humphrey's table, "It has nothing to do with who I am now. I'm a physician. A surgeon. And I am just as qualified as any other intern on this floor. So you're just gonna have to get over your chauvinist crap and allow me to do my job," she said, her voice cracking the tiniest bit.
"I'm sure you're a very good doctor," Mr. Humphrey said after a few seconds of silence, and Annabelle's brows rose in surprise.
"Then what is your problem?" Izzie asked, wondering the same thing Annabelle was.
"Look... I fantasized about you. About the woman in this photo, whoever she is. I'm not proud of it, but it's a fact," Mr. Humphrey said, before looking down, "Do you know what they're gonna do to me today? I have cancer. And they're gonna lift up my legs and expose me to the world and cut out my prostate and my nerves - effectively neuter me. So is it so hard to understand that I don't want the woman who's in that photo to witness... my emasculation?" he said, and Annabelle looked down, as did Izzie, both feeling even more sorry now for the man in that bed.
Annabelle was wandering around the hospital pointlessly, surprisingly not knowing what to do with her free time. She was an intern, which usually meant that she didn't have a chance to even so much as catch her breath, and yet here she was, wandering around the hospital, with nothing to do. Then it hit her. Liz Fallon, her mother's scrub nurse for 18 years was in the hospital. And she was dying.
With her mind made up, Annabelle quickly checked the patient registry and then headed to her room, wanting to finally meet the woman who knew her mother better than her. However, as she made it to her destination, she stopped as she heard a very familiar laugh. But it sounded as though her sister was laughing and crying at the same time.
"I'm sorry. It's not really funny. It's not funny, but..." she heard Meredith say, and stopped right beside the doorway, remaining out of sight.
"What's her diagnosis?" she heard another woman's voice, and concluded that it must be Liz Fallon's, seeing as it was croaky and even sounded sick.
"Alzheimer's," Annabelle answered after a few seconds of silence, coming out from around the corner and leaning against the doorway, making Meredith look up in surprise. The woman in bed slowly turned around, and Annabelle could finally see her. She was an African-American woman, her wise and warm eyes already mostly yellow from her disease. "Early onset,"
"I take it you're Annabelle," Liz said, and Annabelle offered her a small smile.
"That's me,"
"And she doesn't want anyone to know?" she spoke up about Ellis Grey again, and Annabelle shook her head.
"No,"
"She's in a nursing home, and..." Meredith said. "We're the only people she'll allow to see her,"
"But if I know Ellis Grey, she made the nursing home sign a contract to that effect," Liz said, and Annabelle looked at her.
"You know our mother well," she said, sounding quite impressed, and Liz hummed.
"What a bitch," she commented suddenly, and Annabelle and Meredith looked at her in surprise before laughing, Liz quickly joining them. Even if it hurt, it felt good to laugh.
"It's a waste of a bed and it's a waste of my time," Annabelle and Meredith heard Cristina say as they walked over to her and Izzie outside the hospital. Cristina was lying on a bench, while Izzie was leaning against a railing.
"Wait, who are we talking about?" Annabelle asked in confusion as she moved to lean again a pole, Meredith taking up the spot beside her.
"Miss Fallon. They brought her here to die," Cristina answered.
"Wouldn't you want them to do the same thing for you?" Izzie asked.
"No. You know what, I'd want the doctors to do everything they could, I want them to cut me open until the minute I die," Cristina snapped, sitting up and picking up a magazine.
"Sometimes, doing everything can be worse than doing nothing," Meredith said, not looking up from the book she was reading.
"You are eight feet tall," Cristina suddenly spoke up, making Izzie and Annabelle look at her in confusion before realizing that she's probably talking about the Bethany Whisper picture, "Your boobs are perfect. Your hair is down to there. If I were you, I would walk around naked all the time. I wouldn't, uh, I wouldn't have a job, I wouldn't have skills, I wouldn't even know how to read. I'd just be... naked," she said, handing the magazine to Meredith, who laughed at her friend's comment as Izzie rolled her eyes.
"It's makeup. It's retouching,"
"You get that we hate you, right?" Cristina said, and Annabelle laughed as Izzie smiled before both of their pagers went off.
"It's Bailey again," Annabelle said, and Izzie nodded.
"You know what, any patient who spanks to his doctor's pictures forfeits his rights," Cristina spoke up again, looking at Izzie, "You're seriously not gonna give up the prostatectomy, are you?" she asked, but the blonde remained silent as she put on her coat, "Izzie," Cristina called again, but received no answer. "Oh, forget it. You know, sometimes it is actually, you know, painful to be around you,"
"You'll get over it," Annabelle promised with a sweet smile, making Izzie and Meredith chuckle.
"Where the hell have you two been?" were the first words out of Dr. Bailey's mouth once Izzie and Annabelle made it to Mr. Humphrey's room, where George was helping a few nurses move the patient onto a gurney. "When I page, you answer, it's not that difficult to understand. O'Malley answered your page, he's doing your prep,"
"We're sorry," Annabelle apologized as Izzie and Mr. Humphrey shared a look before the man looked away. The two interns then quickly stepped aside as the nurses began wheeling Mr. Humphrey out of the room, while George shot his friends an apologetic look to which they just shook their heads.
"If I heard the words 'Bethany Whisper' one more time-"
"I can't," Izzie cut Dr. Bailey off, which both George and Annabelle knew was a very bad idea. "Okay? I just... can't. He doesn't want me in there,"
"No, what he wants it to not have cancer. What he wants is to be saved. Y-You want to stay in the scrub room, that's your choice," Dr. Bailey said, before pointing her finger at Annabelle. "But I expect you to be there,"
"Yes, Dr. Bailey," Annabelle nodded, and the woman shot Izzie one last look before walking out of the room, Annabelle quickly following her. She then realized that Izzie was walking right behind them.
"Dr. Victor, I'm sorry, but these are viable nerves, we should save them," Dr. Bailey spoke up as she and Annabelle watched Dr. Victor resect the prostate.
"It'll take at least an hour longer. And we might not get it all," Dr. Victor responded, and Annabelle silently shook her head. Now she understood why they call him Limp Harry. The man is terrible.
"But his prognosis with chemo is nearly as good and frankly, if you're worried about missing your tee time, I'd be more than happy to finish," Dr. Bailey pressed, before they all looked up as Izzie suddenly entered the room, holding a mask over her mouth and nose. "Dr. Stevens,"
"Can we help you?"
"I'm sorry, Dr. Bailey," Izzie said, "Dr. Victor, I agree with her. You just can't... You have to save the nerves," she said, pulling her mask away from her face.
"What?"
"The nerves - you have to save them,"
"Dr. Stevens, I can handle this," Dr. Bailey snapped.
"No, you told me the most important thing is giving the patient what they want, what Humphrey wants is his erection," Izzie said.
"She's yours. You get her out," Dr. Victor said to Dr. Bailey, glaring at Izzie.
"Can't do that, sir," Dr. Bailey shook her head, "You know how these young puppies are," she said, and Annabelle looked away, licking her lips as a smile grew on them.
"I'm going to tell Richard about both of you,"
"You do that. In the meantime, let's pretend it's you on this table and give this a try," Dr. Bailey said, and Annabelle bit her lip to stop herself from laughing as she and Izzie shared a look, while George grinned and gave them a thumbs up.
I wish there were a rule book for intimacy. Some kind of a guide that could tell you when you've crossed the line. It would be nice if you could see it coming. But I don't know how you fit it on a map.
"Of course, now you know every time he gets a rise, he'll be thinking of you," Dr. Bailey said to Izzie as they and Annabelle were in the scrub room after the surgery on Mr. Humphrey was over, making the interns chuckle. This time, it will be a good thing.
You take it where you can get it... and keep it as long as you can. Maybe there are none. Maybe the rules of intimacy are something you have to define for yourself.
A/N: Hope you all liked the chapter! I tried to mix the plot as well as some Annabelle/Izzie bonding. I want to start all the relationships out slow, so it may seem like they're all kind of all over in the first few chapters, but I think it's a lot better this way than just one chapter of conversation and then a sudden "he/she's my best friend."
I hope there wasn't too much non-originality in this chapter. There wasn't really much to work with, and I definitely wanted to flash some of Izzie's good characteristics rather than just Annabelle's. Frankly, I've seen way too many stories where a friendship starts out because a character admires the OC. I want Annabelle to be the one to find admirable characteristics in her friends instead. Also, if you want any pairings, let me know and I just might be able to be persuaded!
By the way, sorry about the lack of Derek in this chapter. I'm sure I'll be able to add a bit more of him in the next chapter.
Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter and don't forget to review!