CHAPTER NINETEEN
what have i done to deserve this.
season two, episode nineteen.

CASSIE STRETCHED OUT HER ARMS, REACHING OVER TO TURN OFF HER ALARM. Only, her alarm wasn't there, and she soon realized she wasn't in her room at all. There was a heavy arm draped across her stomach, preventing her from getting up.

Cringing, she slowly turned her head to see a sleeping Mark with his face resting against the back of her shoulder.

The movement startled him awake, groaning into her ear. "Ugh. What time is it?"

"Uh," she stuttered, "It's early. I don't have to be at the hospital for an hour or so."

"Okay," he whispered, tightening his grip and trying to go back to sleep. Cassie's eyes widened at the action, ripping his arm off and scrambling out of the hotel bed. "What's your problem?"

"My problem, is that this—" she gestured between them, "—was a bad idea. Very bad."

Mark smirked up at her, leaning against the headboard. "I seem to be having a lot of those lately."

Cassie threw on her jeans, searching the large room for her top, which she seemed to have misplaced.

"I mean, it was fun, don't get me wrong, I just don't think it should happen again. You're in love with Addie, and I'm— it's just, it's not a good idea." Mark held her top up in the air with smug expression, which she attempted to grab, but was pulled away from her reach. "Give me my shirt."

"I prefer you without it."

"Mark!" she laughed, snatching it from his grasp. "You can't say things like that, you're my best friend."

"I know," he shrugged, before adding, "And I always will be. But, I could also be your best friend, with benefits, if you're up for it."

"No."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"You're sure?"

"I-I don't know."

Mark grinned, moving to sit in front of her on the edge of the bed. "Maybe, you just need another test run before you make your decision."

Cassie glanced at him apprehensively, before slowly dragging her feet over to stand between his legs.

"Yeah," she whispered, a smile tugging at her lips. "Maybe I do."

☆

"You're late," Alex told Cassie as she rushed into the locker room, immediately taking off her clothes and putting on her scrubs.

"Have rounds started?" she questioned, earning a shake of his head in response. "Then I'm not late."

"Where were you last night?" Izzie wondered.

Cassie avoided eye contact, putting her hair in a tight ponytail. "What do you mean?"

She raised a brow. "You never came home."

"Oh, did you get laid?" Cristina smirked, leaning up against the lockers.

Avoiding the question, Cassie looked around and noticed how strange Meredith and George were acting with each other. "What's going on there?" she asked lowly, pointing to the duo.

"Don't know," Izzie shrugged.

"Fifty bucks says O'Malley caught her doing Mark Sloan," Alex guessed, causing Cassie to choke on her own spit. "You good?"

"Yep. All good."

Izzie hit his arm. "There's something going on. I mean, look at them."

"Alright, maybe he walked in on her doing McDreamy."

"Did you just call him McDreamy?" Cassie questioned, bemused.

"Oh you know he did," Cristina laughed.

"Awesome." He turned to Izzie. "You are ruining my life."

Cassie finished tying her shoes and went over to Meredith and George. "Guys, what's going on?"

"Nothing," Meredith said quickly.

Cristina rolled her eyes. "Oh, you know we're going to find out anyway."

Cassie pointed to her in agreement. "We know everything. And if we don't know now, we will soon."

"You tell us and maybe we can help," Izzie suggested.

George shook his head vehemently. "There's nothing to tell."

"That means there's something to tell," Cristina and Cassie said in unison.

Meredith looked between them. "There's nothing to tell."

Cassie shared a look with Cristina. There was definitely something to tell.

☆

George pulled Cristina and Cassie aside on their way to rounds, making each of the girls look at him in question. "Did Meredith say anything," he asked slowly, "to anyone, about anything?"

"No," Cassie shook her head.

"Are you gonna dish?" Cristina asked.

"No."

"Then leave me alone," she shrugged, walking away as the other two followed. "I'm working."

"Well good, because I don't want to talk about it," George said. "Ever."

He shuffled in place, only proving the fact that something was up.

Cassie frowned at him. "Talk about what?"

"Nothing."

Cristina looked at him blankly. "Fine. Then don't talk."

"I'm just saying."

Before Cristina could respond, the doors at the opposite end of the hallway opened as Addison walked through them. Cassie noticed how she moved strangely, almost as if she had a wedgie.

"You okay, Addie?" Cassie asked quietly as the attending passed by, trying to hide her smile.

Addison abruptly grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the others. "When I page you," she said in a whisper, "do not tell anyone where I am, and do not tell anyone where you are going. Are we clear?"

"Uh, yes?" Addison nodded curtly, walking away as Cassie returned to the others with a confused frown.

"That was weird," Cristina mumbled.

"Everyone's weird today," Cassie responded, earning a nod of agreement from her person.

☆

Before he could go into a scrub room, Cassie grabbed George by the arm and dragged him into a supply closet.

"George."

"Cass, I have surgery—"

"No," she cut him off. "I can tell that something is seriously wrong between you and Meredith. I care about you, I want to help you, and you know that I would never judge you. So please, just tell me."

George ran his hands through his hair in frustration, huffing to himself. "You can't tell anyone."

"I won't. I promise."

"I slept with Meredith."

Cassie stared at him for about ten seconds.

"You slept with Meredith."

"Yes," he nodded sheepishly, shifting his feet.

"Like, sex?"

George rolled his eyes. "Yes, Cass!"

"Okay." Cassie's eyebrows shot to her hairline. "And, uh, how are we feeling about that?"

"Bad. Very, very, bad."

"Is there, you know, anything I can do?" she questioned sympathetically.

"Can you turn back time?" he wondered sarcastically.

"George—"

"I'm fine. It's fine. I have surgery." George left to open the door, but turned back around at the last second. "Thanks, Cass."

☆

"Addison?" Cassie called out into the exam room she was paged to. She opened the door fully once she heard hushed whispers, coming face to face with Bailey who shut the door right away. "Uh, where's Addie?"

"Just get in here," Bailey sighed.

"What's going— oh my god!"

Addison was sitting in stirrups, her entire lower section on display, which was covered in red bumps. It was definitely a sight.

"Cass," she whined, "Help."

"Is this why you were walking all weird earlier?" she frowned. "We all thought you had a wedgie or something."

"You all?" Addison repeated, mortified.

"You're not helping," Bailey scolded her, looking to Addison. "Mind if I ask how exactly this happened?"

"I slept with Mark."

"Fuck," Cassie gasped, "Should I get tested?"

The pair slowly turned their gazes to over to the intern. "You," Bailey stuttered. "I don't have time for this. It's poison oak."

Cassie breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god it's not an STD. I mean, I wouldn't put it past him, but—"

"No!" Addison yelled. "I slept with Mark a year ago, and apparently this is what I get!"

"Yeah, but how did you—"

"I live in a trailer. I have Meredith Grey's dog. And I went outside to throw a stick, and I had to pee. So I squatted, because I didn't want to go inside and wake up my husband, because with the way he's been looking at me since yesterday, I just wanted a few minutes of peace." She began to sob loudly. "And this is what I get!"

"No. No, no. Don't cry," Bailey pleaded.

"This is what I get!"

"Please don't cry! Please don't cry! You're gonna make me— lactate."

Cassie looked down, to see two wet spots on Bailey's shirt. It took a lot of effort for her not to burst into laughter.

"I'm sorry."

Bailey sighed. "Get me some gauze, Harper."

☆

"You think at the very least, she'd respect my privacy!" Cassie overheard George yell from down the hallway after she left Addison's exam room.

"What's going on?" she questioned, turning the corner and seeing every one of the interns following after George, including Meredith, who Cassie was a bit angry with at the moment.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Cristina repeated.

"Baby boy is freaking out," Alex said.

"They can see that!" Izzie shouted at the same time as Cristina yelled, "I can see that!"

"Why is he freaking out?"

"George, can we at least talk?" Meredith pleaded, making Cassie sigh in understanding.

"Guys," she started, "maybe we shouldn't—"

"I don't wanna talk!" George scoffed, entering the stairwell. "Not to you! I wanted to keep my mouth shut! And if you hadn't been running away from me every time you see me, you would know that!"

George started running down the stairs, as the others stayed a level above him.

"Okay," Meredith sighed, "you're right, but can we just talk now?"

Cassie began to grow concerned, having a feeling that someone was going to say the wrong thing.

"You wanna talk now, because you told everyone that we had sex!" George screamed.

Clearly, Cassie's feeling was right.

"You had sex?"

"You had sex with George?"

Cassie sighed. "Here we go."

George's eyes widened drastically as he glared at Meredith. "You didn't tell them?"

Meredith shook her head uncomfortably. "No."

"Damn it!"

George moved to run down the next flight of stairs, but ended up falling down them instead. The interns watched worried from above, other than Alex, who was laughing.

☆

"He's gonna be okay right?" Meredith asked nervously while the group stared at George, who was sitting alone in a trauma room.

"He dislocated his shoulder. He's gonna be fine," Alex said as he walked off.

"That's not exactly what I meant."

"Meredith," Izzie sighed. "If you can't make this right, if you can't fix this with George, just so you know if it comes to choosing sides, I'm on his."

Meredith turned to Cristina and Cassie after Izzie left.

"He's the weaker kid," Cristina shrugged. "I mean, I don't even beat up on weaker kids. It's cheap."

"You really shouldn't have done that, Mer," Cassie said bluntly.

"I did a terrible thing. I did a very terrible thing."

"He's been in love with you since day one," Cassie told her. "There's no way you didn't know that."

Cristina heaved a sigh. "We all do terrible things."

Meredith looked up miserably. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Cassie left them to join George in the trauma room, who was sulking and holding his shoulder.

"Go away," he said without looking up.

"It just me," Cassie smiled sadly, sitting next to him and holding his hand for comfort. "I'm really sorry this happened."

He shook his head. "It's not your fault."

"I know, but I just—"

Her sentence was interrupted by a doctor coming into the room. She looked vaguely familiar to Cassie, but she didn't recognize her name.

"George O'Malley?" the doctor asked.

George nodded. "Uh, hi."

"Hi, I'm Cassie," the brunette grinned, reaching out to shake her hand in greeting.

"You're Dr. Cassie Harper, right?" She smiled when Cassie nodded. "You're the heart in the elevator girl! I'm Callie Torres. That was amazing."

"Thanks," Cassie blushed slightly, silently wondering if the other doctor was straight. She really hoped she wasn't.

"I, uh, dislocated my shoulder," George cut in.

Cassie checked her pager as it went off. "Well, I'm sure you can take it from here. I need to head out."

"Thanks, Cass," George smiled.

"No problem." She leaned in close to him to whisper, "She's cute. Get her number."

☆

"I'm going to murder Izzie Stevens."

Denny looked up from his hospital bed, grinning sheepishly at the girl in the doorway. "Hey bubbles, fancy seeing you here."

"You've been in the hospital the entire day?" Cassie questioned angrily, storming over and smacking him on the arm in a similar fashion to days prior. "Why the hell am I just now being paged?"

"Calm down, Cass," Denny said, "I'm fine."

"You're fine?" she scoffed. "Why didn't you tell me you were here? No, why the hell didn't Izzie?"

"Because I asked her not to. I didn't want you to worry."

Cassie glared at him, sitting down in one of the chairs reserved for family.

"Listen, I get that you don't want to be around me anymore, but you still need to tell me these things. I'm the only family you have left, if you don't recall."

"What?" he laughed, ignoring the actual point of her statement. "Cass, of course I want to be around you."

"Really?" she raised a brow in challenge. "I couldn't tell."

"Look," Denny sighed. "I love you, bubbles. More than anyone. But I— I loved your mom too, and I miss her. I'm trying here, I really am. But, the reality is that my best friend died, and you look exactly like her." He began to tear up. "It's just... it's hard. But I'm trying, and I'm really sorry for avoiding you this past year. Honestly."

Cassie wiped her eyes, despite them being mostly dry. "I never had a dad."

"I know," Denny smiled sadly.

"But I had you," she shrugged, "And that was more than enough. Please don't shut me out. Not now, not when your heart is— I mean, I just read your chart, Den, and it doesn't look great. I get that you miss her, believe me, I miss her too. But you're like, my pseudo father, or whatever. You can't just ignore me."

"I know," he repeated. "I know. I'm sorry."

"And you can't die, either," she added as an afterthought. "You can't die."

"I won't," he assured, patting the side of the bed that was free from tubes and wires. Cassie got up, laying next to him and resting her head on his shoulder. "I'll fight this thing, bubbles. I'm not going anywhere."

authors note —
the tva to denny after that
last paragraph : you sure
about that, buddy???