CHAPTER FORTY THREE
lay your hands on me.
season four, episode eleven.

CASSIE WAS WALKING THROUGH THE WOODS WITH MARK BY HER SIDE, TRAILING A FEW FEET BEHIND DEREK. She avoided Mark's eye by locking her gaze on the mudddy ground, acutely aware of him staring at her. To say things had been a bit awkward between two lately, would be the understatement of the century.

There were many words unspoken, yet they were both to stubborn to admit how they so obviously felt. Nonetheless, they ignored the tension so that Derek wouldn't get suspicious.

"You gonna tell me where we're going?" Mark asked, walking in step with Cassie. It was almost comical, seeing as they were wearing identical leather jackets.

"Why does it always have to be about the destination?" Derek asked. "Why can't it be about the journey?"

"Because he's wearing three hundred dollar shoes, and god knows he won't stop complaining if they get ruined," Cassie answered, sparing a glance up to the man in question, who was already grinning down at her.

"Exactly."

Derek ignored them and changed the subject. "Meredith told me she doesn't want me seeing other people."

"She found out about you and Rose?"

"You and who?" Cassie frowned in confusion.

"You didn't hear?" Mark raised a brow. "Derek kissed a nurse."

Cassie turned to her brother angrily. "You kissed a nurse?! Why am I just now finding out?"

Derek rolled his eyes at Mark. "Thanks for that." He turned back to the brunette. "There was nothing to find out. It was just a kiss."

"Yeah, but you're not the kind of guy who makes out with nurses in scrub rooms," Mark said. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

"There is, actually, when I can't tell Meredith. You know I hate keeping secrets," Cassie huffed. "You better tell her soon."

Derek ignored her once again. "What do you think?"

"It was more than just a kiss," Mark shrugged.

"The view," Derek clarified. They looked out over the hill, and saw an amazing view overlooking the city.

"It's beautiful," Cassie said in awe.

"What are we looking at, exactly?"

"This is the view from my new house," Derek grinned.

☆

The next day, Cassie and Alex walked into the kitchen, and were immediately disgusted by the smell. "Dude, what the hell is that?"

"Meredith cooked," Derek informed them.

"Meredith doesn't cook," Cassie shook her head. "She can't cook."

"I can cook," Meredith scoffed.

Derek shrugged as Lexie came into the kitchen after spending the night in Cassie's room. "She wanted to do something nice for Lexie."

Lexie raised a brow. "You cooked for me?"

"It's no big deal," she shrugged. "Just eggs, and avocado, and... whatever cheese that was in the fridge."

"Oh, Lexie is actually allergic to—"

"Oh!" Lexie cut Cassie off. "I love, um, avocados."

Alex and Cassie sipped their juice, watching Lexie try a bite of the omelet from hell. "Is it okay?"

"Mhm," she smiled painfully.

When Meredith left, Cassie raised a brow at the intern. "Aren't you allergic to eggs?" she whispered.

Lexie nodded. "I couldn't just not eat it."

☆

Bailey and Cassie entered their patients room, who was having runs of v-tach. They paused in their steps, when they saw a woman standing over the man with her hands on his chest.

"You're going to have to step back from the patient, ma'am," Bailey said confused. The woman ignored her. "Ma'am?"

"Just one second."

She continued to move her hand over the man's heart, and Cristina came into the room. "Ms. Archer?" She turned to Cassie. "What is she doing here?"

"I have no idea," Cassie shrugged. "Who is she?"

"She's Hahn's patient. Ms. Archer, you need to get back to your bed."

All of a sudden, the monitor stopped beeping and the man was perfectly fine. "There," the woman said, stepping away.

"What'd you do to him?" Bailey frowned. "He was in v-tach, and now..."

"I healed him. I'm a healer," she answered, before passing out and into Cassie's arms.

The brunette looked at the woman with wide eyes. "Could I get a gurney over here please?"

☆

Bailey, Hahn, Cristina, Cassie, and Alex were in Elizabeth Archer's room, after she collapsed. Bailey looked at her skeptically. "You're a faith healer?"

"I'm a healer, and I have faith, but I'm not sure the two are related," Elizabeth answered.

"Actually," Cassie cut in. "Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures, that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing. Faith healing is usually a Christian practice, however energy healers often use the same tactics. To believers, the aura is an invisible, electromagnetic field surrounding the physical body that serves a greater purpose than its aesthetic charms. Energy healers say that the semipermeable nature of the aura's energy works discreetly to gather information from the surrounding environment and protect us from danger. They can mend and change auras at will, and believers say that it takes lots of practice to perfect."

Everyone stared at Cassie with a blank expression, used to her rambling at this point, other than Hahn and Elizabeth; the former with annoyance and the latter with respect.

"Ms. Archer," Hahn said, completely ignoring the resident, making her pout. "You collapsed. You could go into cardiac arrest at any moment. So I'm less interested in what you do for a living, than I am with getting you-"

"Wait. I wanna know what she did to Mr. Greenwald," Bailey interrupted.

Cassie nodded. "He's been in and out of v-tach all day, and now he's stable."

Hahn scoffed. "Maybe because of the amiodarone he got two hours ago."

"Really? Does amiodarone usually take two hours to kick in?" Elizabeth raised a brow.

"Ms. Archer, you have a coronary artery dissection. Dr. Karev and I need to get you into surgery as soon as possible."

"I appreciate that Dr. Hahn, but I am not going into surgery until we've exhausted all the other possibilities."

"Ms. Archer, if you don't have the surgery soon, I can guarantee you that the blood supply to your heart will be cut off, and I'll have to open you up anyway," Hahn said.

Elizabeth sighed. "All I'm asking for is that you give me some time and talk me through the surgery that you'd like to perform so that I may visualize it while I do what I do. And if it doesn't work, then you can slice me open, okay?"

"I think that sounds fair," Cassie shrugged, earning a glare from the cardio attending.

☆

"What happened?" Cassie asked, rushing to where the residents and George were gathered.

"He got crushed under a bookshelf," Izzie sighed, pointing to Bailey, her husband, and Bailey's son, who was crying on the exam table.

"Oh my god," she gasped. "Poor Tuck. Is he okay?"

"Multiple rib fractures."

"Might've dropped a lung."

"They're worried there may be damage to the heart."

Webber came out into the hall with a grim expression. "Yang and Stevens, get him to radiology for a head, chest, and abdominal CT. O'Malley, tell the lab to move fast. Karev, Harper, clear out. We'll keep you posted."

Cassie took one last look into the exam room where Derek was looking at a crying Tuck's head, and left with a worried sigh.

☆

Alex and Cassie came back into Elizabeth's room, when two of her friends were performing a healing ritual on her.

"I'm sorry about that," Cassie apologized.

"Uh, there was an emergency," Alex added.

"Dr. Karev, Dr. Harper, this is Don and Mai,"
Elizabeth introduces.

"Hello," Cassie greeted politely.

Alex gave them a fake smile. "Nice to meet you."

Mai spoke without looking up. "He's a skeptic. He shouldn't be here." She made eye contact with Cassie. "She can stay."

"Is Dr. Hahn coming?"

"Dr. Hahn's been called into an emergency surgery, so she asked us to talk you through the procedure," Cassie said.

"Is she gonna be long?"

"I'm hoping she's done before your heart blows, but I can't make any promises," Alex shrugged.

Mai scoffed. "I told you he shouldn't be here."

"I need someone who knows what they're doing to talk me through the surgery," Elizabeth said.

Cassie looked between everyone in the room. "Well, I can do it if you'd like."

She shared a look with her friends, that Cassie didn't quite pick up on. "Not you, either."

"This— it's crap," Alex shook his head. "You're stalling. You're scared."

"Of course I'm scared," Elizabeth nodded. "Surgery is... barbaric. You tear flesh and spill blood. I work with light. I work with energy. I visualize healing. If there's even the slightest chance that what I do works, isn't that preferable?"

"I don't believe in what you do."

"Well, I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to help me to do it."

Cassie nodded, leaving the room with Alex to get the information they needed.

☆

"They're back," Mai said, not opening her eyes.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but," Cassie paused. "Your most recent echo shows the dissection is extending. You need to let us prep you for surgery."

"Oh, no, not yet. We haven't finished our work."

"You're gonna die," Alex stayed bluntly.

Cassie smacked his arm. "Alex!"

"Do you know how Mai knew you were back, even with her eyes closed?" Elizabeth raised a brow.

"She heard me?"

"She felt you," she corrected. "It's like a pull, like... a darkness."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Right, right. I'm the angel of death. Got it."

"No. You're not the angel of death, Dr. Karev. You're actually a very sweet boy. He's got a beautiful heart, wouldn't you say, Mai?

"I would... but his gut and his throat..."

"They're blocked. Second chakra's worse."

"Seriously? You're talking about chakra?" Alex looked his his fellow resident. "Don't buy into all this crap."

Elizabeth shook her head. "We're talking about how you've got a darkness at your throat chakra, where your voice should be, because whatever happened to you was so ugly, and went on for so long that... you don't talk about it. You were hurt so badly, that sometimes you want to hurt other people just to spread it around. You were a good boy, Dr. Karev. A good, sweet boy, but you're not a very good man. What happened to you?"

Alex paused for a moment, while Cassie sent him a look of confusion and sympathy. "Alex?"

"Your artery is shredding," he repeated hastily. "You need surgery. I'm not a very good man, but I do tell the truth. And the truth is, if you don't get this surgery fast, you're gonna die."

With that, he stormed out of the room.

"I, um," Cassie trailed off. "Sorry about that."

"Do you know why we wouldn't let you talk me through the procedure?" Elizabeth asked.

"Um, nope."

"Your heart chakra... it's blocked," Mai said. "You're constantly fighting an internal battle, and it's taking up much of your time and energy. You're not focused. You have an inability to trust yourself or others, and deep down you feel unworthy of love, so you don't accept it. I couldn't have someone like that involved with Elizabeth's healing."

Cassie widened her eyes at the statement. "What? My heart chakra isn't blocked!" They all gave her a look. "I mean, not that I believe in that, because I don't, but it is not blocked."

Mai tilted her head. "You're holding something back, and it's killing you from the inside out."

Elizabeth looked at her sadly. "I need someone else."

☆

In the pediatric ICU later that day, everyone was gathered outside of Tuck's room.

"They don't deserve this," George sighed.

Cassie rested her head on his shoulder, choosing to ignore the fact that she was still angry with him. "Nobody deserves this."

Bailey looked up, and saw the group looking into the room. She came out and gently shut the door. "Hey, it doesn't help me to have you all clustered here, watching. It just doesn't help me. I appreciate that you care, that you're concerned, but I don't need to be watched."

"Miranda, he's choking!" her husband banged on the door.

"He's choking?" Bailey and the other doctors rushed inside.

"Oh, thank god," Cassie sighed.

"What are you talking about?"

Cassie helped Tuck up with a smile. "It's good. He's fighting the tube. It means he can breathe on his own."

☆

"Hey," George said, approaching Cassie, who was standing outside of Elizabeth's room with a grim expression.

"Hi," she said, not moving her gaze.

"Listen," George sighed, guilt weighing on his chest. "I know that you're still mad at me for cheating on Callie. But I miss you, Cass. Plus, it turns out, you were right. Izzie and I are over. It was a mistake, a bad mistake. I'm sorry for lying to you, and I'm sorry for being insensitive to what she'd done in the past. Believe it or not—" he smiled weakly, as Cassie finally turned to look at him. "—you're my best friend."

Cassie stared at him for a long moment.

"Dude, you make it really hard to hold a grudge against you."

George shrugged. "I try."

"Come here," she rolled her eyes, bringing him into a bone crushing hug. "Fucking idiot."

"I know," he mumbled into her shoulder. "I really missed you."

Cassie didn't realize how much she valued his friendship, until she didn't have it anymore. She didn't realize how much she needed him. "You're my best friend, too," she whispered. "I love you, man."

"I love you too, Cass."

☆

"Hahn said you'd have a heart attack this afternoon, and you didn't," Alex said.

"So you think there might be something to this healing thing after all?" Elizabeth smirked.

"No, but I'm gonna help you anyway."

"Actually," Cassie interjected, pointing to George, who was awkwardly standing there with a smile. "He is. Elizabeth, this is Dr. O'Malley."

"Hello," Elizabeth smiled.

"Hi," George replied, a bit confused. "I'm sorry... I'm not sure what I'm doing here."

"You're going to talk her through a coronary artery dissection repair," Cassie said.

"He's an expert?" Mai asked.

"No, no, no. He's actually an intern. But, he's fully capable of doing what you need him to do."

"Well, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but..."

"He's like a bright yellow, right?"

George looked at Cassie oddly. "Huh?"

"What?"

"What?"

Cassie sighed. "What I'm saying, is that his chakras are clear, or whatever. He's made peace with the bad, so he's exactly the kind of person you want helping you, right?"

Mai smiled knowingly. "He brightens you, that's for sure."

George grinned at Cassie, who shoved him in retaliation. "Shut up."

"I didn't even say anything!"

author's note —
before you ask, yes i did
skip a bunch of episodes
because season four is like
really boring and i hate
writing it. lol. i promise
there will be more mark in
the next couple chapters!