"Alex don't leave me."The words came out of Izzie mouth in a soft gentle moan. She pulled him closer to her and she buried her face in his chest.
"I'm right here." He whispered back to her and she felt his hand rub the back of her head. "Right here." She pulled him even closer to her, she held onto him as tight as she could but then everything around her dissolved and he was gone.
She was standing alone in a very dark place, so dark she couldn't even see herself. "Alex?" she whispered under her breath. But there was no reply, she spun around but behind her was just the same, total darkness. "Alex!" she screamed but he wasn't there. The darkness scared her, "Alex!" she screamed again. She stood very still and tried to listen, he was there, he had to be there, he wouldn't…from behind her she thought she heard something she spun around again but it was still the same. "Alex." She began crying, "Where are you?" And then she smelt him, his scent wafting through the air and she began running.
-8-8-8-8-
Meredith watched as Izzie rolled over on the bed again. She'd been doing that a lot in the last hour, thrashing around, it wasn't nice to watch, she didn't look like she was dreaming, she looked like she was having nightmares. Meredith stood and walked over to the bed again, she sat down on the edge of it, and began going through the same routine she'd been doing for last five hours. She tried to wake her and when that didn't work she talked to her until she seemed to relax again. Once she was still she checked her vitals and the site of the IV, an hour earlier she'd thrashed so hard she'd ripped the needle out, blood had dripped onto her sheets but even that hadn't woken her up. Sometimes she'd give her another dose of antidote but it didn't seem to be working.
-8-8-8-8-
George walked down the hallway and into Izzie's kitchen. He wasn't really hungry but he was looking for something to do. They'd been there for five hours and he was starting to go stir crazy, he didn't like sitting still and waiting, he was still a little unsure about what they were doing but Meredith kept telling him that it was in Izzie's best interest. In a way he supposed it was, he understood where Meredith was coming from and she assured him if it appeared Izzie was getting worse in any way they would go to the hospital. She wasn't getting worse though, she was slowly getting better, every time Meredith took her vitals, which was often they were a little closer to the center of normal.
He walked over to her fridge and opened the door. As soon as he did he could smell something was off. He couldn't quite place the smell but it wasn't a normal smell, it wasn't a smell that should ever be coming out of a fridge. He bent down on his knees and stared at its contents in hope that the source of the smell was obvious, it wasn't, there were several things which looked like they shouldn't be there. He sighed and pulled the garbage bin out from under the sink. Then he knelt down on his knees and began the process of cleaning out Izzie's fridge.
-8-8-8-8-
Christina pulled out her phone and ducked into the residents lounge. There were three second years sitting there playing cards.
"What are you doing?" she growled at them as soon as she saw them. "There is work you could be doing, go!" She glared at them until they packed up and left.
As soon as they were gone she fell into one of the arm chairs and began dialing Meredith's number. She hadn't seen her friend all afternoon and she was stressed out. The hospital was a mad house and there weren't enough residents to cover everything.
-8-8-8-8-
Meredith sat down on the edge of Izzie's bed and ran her hand down the side of her face. "Izzie, please wake up." She whispered quietly under her breath, this waiting was starting to get to her, she felt completely totally utterly powerless, and she was worried. She kept telling herself she was doing the right thing, but a part of her kept asking, what if she wasn't.
She was still sitting there when she felt her cell phone begin to vibrate in her pocket, she pulled it out and looked at the caller ID, it was Christina, before answering the phone she swore under her breath, she was supposed to be helping her out today.
-8-8-8-8-
"Come on answer." Christina said under her breath as she heard her phone continue to ring. It rung four times before she heard the sound of the line connecting.
"Christina." She heard Meredith's voice down the phone line. "What's up?" Her voice sounded casual, way too casual.
"Where are you?" The question wasn't meant to sound accusation but it came across that way.
Meredith gulped, she hadn't consciously decided not to tell Christina but she hadn't decided to tell her either. "I'm at Izzie's."
She heard Christina let out a sigh, "What are you doing there? You're supposed to be at the hospital."
"I know, but Izzie needs someone with her."
"I thought O'Malley was with her."
"He is but…" She didn't know quite how to put it. "I need to be with her."
"Why?" There was a pause on the line, before Meredith could answer Christina kept talking. "I need you here. There are trauma cases everywhere, interns running around that don't know what they're doing, half the residents don't seem to know what they're doing. I need your help."
Meredith let out a long slow breath, it wasn't often that Christina admitted to needing help but she still couldn't leave. "I'm sure you can handle it." She offered instead.
Christina wasn't handling it though, not how she wanted to be anyways, Chief resident was a hard job to begin with and she was doing it with a third of her senior residents absent. This wasn't what she'd signed up for. "Why do you have to be there?" She asked again, she just wanted her friend back at work with her. "Is she dying or something?"
Meredith didn't answer; there was a long silence, before Christina finally spoke again, the realization hitting her. "Meredith what has she done?"
Meredith looked over at Izzie's sleeping body; Christina would be the first person she'd tell, possibly the only person she'd tell. "She's taken some pills." As the words came out she tried to sound as flat as possible, she didn't want to sound scared or worried. She kept talking before Christina had a chance to say anything. "She's going to be okay, she just needs to sleep it off, but I have to be here when she wakes up."
Christina listened to the words come out of Meredith's mouth. She felt her insides turn but a part of her wasn't surprised something like this had happened, she'd once said out of all of them Izzie was the most likely to go postal, and while this wasn't quite the same thing, it didn't totally surprise her. "Okay." She finally said in response and then her pager went off. "Keep me posted on how she is. I've got to go." She slipped her phone back into her pocket and started running. She was once again grateful for the chaos, she'd take an over crowed understaffed hospital over a potentially suicidal Izzie any day.
-8-8-8-8-
"Who was that?"
Meredith looked up to see George standing in the doorway, holding an over stuffed bag of trash.
"Christina. She wanted to know where I was."
"Oh, did you tell her?"
"Yeah." She watched as George began shifting his weight between his feet. "What's with the garbage?"
"Oh, I arr…cleaned out the fridge." He gave her a weak smile; he wasn't normally one to clean fridges. She smiled back at him. "I was going to go to the store and buy some more food. Is there anything you'd like me to get you?"
She thought about the offer for a moment before declining. "Nah, I'm alright."
"Okay." He went to leave but stopped before he left. "How is she doing?" He asked.
She didn't smile at him; she shrugged her shoulders and simply said, "She hasn't changed."
"Okay." He stood in the hallway a little longer, not sure if he should leave now or not.
"George," Meredith began speaking again. "She's going to be okay, she just needs to sleep it off."
"I know." He began shifting his weight between his feet again. Meredith watched him, he looked uncomfortable.
"You don't have to stay if you don't want to." She told him. "We'll be okay, I can watch her and I can phone you when she wakes up."
"Maybe, I arr…don't know. I'm going to go to the shop now." He turned and this time he started to walk away.
-8-8-8-8-
George walked out of Izzie's house and threw the trash into the bin. Leaving was hard, but staying was harder, he couldn't sit there and just wait. He climbed into his car and began driving away. He told himself he'd be back, that everything was going to be okay. But he wasn't sure if he really could stay.
-8-8-8-8-
Meredith opened her eyes and sat bolt upright, she'd fallen asleep, she wasn't meant to fall asleep. She was meant to be watching Izzie, she checked her watch, it was going on 7am, she'd been asleep for hours. She felt the knot inside her stomach begin to form, she crawled onto her knees and began making her way towards Izzie's bed, she found herself praying she was still okay, she'd never forgive herself if she wasn't.
She placed her hand gently on her forehead, she felt normal, she listened closely and she heard her softly breathing, she was still okay, or as okay she was, she wasn't really okay, she still hadn't woken up and it was going on thirty six hours since they thought she'd taken the pills.
"Izzie," Meredith grabbed hold of Izzie's shoulder and began shaking her again. "It's time to wake up." She wasn't really expecting any reaction, she'd been shaking her ever so often all night and nothing had happened but she couldn't not try it again. "Iz, come on."
-8-8-8-8-
"Iz, come on." The words pierced into her dream, and she felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her. The images of her dream dissolved, replaced by a blackness. She rolled onto her back and moaned. She wanted the shaking to stop, and it did for a moment, then she felt it again, harder and more forceful than before. She moaned again, but it only made the shaking more determined, she waited a moment hoping that it might stop, but when it didn't she tried to open her eyes.
She blinked a few times but she couldn't focus, the shaking stopped though. She closed her eyes again, and rolled back onto her side.
"Iz, no, no, come on wake up." As she heard the words she felt someone roll her back onto her back, they weren't going to stop. She lay there for another moment and then tried to open her eyes again. The sun was starting to come up though and the light was beginning to spill into the room, it hurt her eyes and she wanted to close them again. She blinked and then when the shaking finally stopped she tried to sit up. She used her arm to prop herself up on her side, she couldn't move any further on her own she felt so sick. Her head was spinning and she felt like she needed to vomit. She was still trying to get her bearing when she felt arms wrap around her and pull her into a tight embrace.
"Iz, I'm so glad you're awake." Someone said to her. It took her a moment to work out who the voice belonged to, who was holding her like she might have been gone.
"Meredith," She finally said pushing herself away from the embrace. "What are you doing here?"