CHAPTER THIRTY
six days, part two.
season three, episode twelve.

          "DO SOMETHING," MEREDITH NUDGED DEREK, WHO WAS STARING OPEN MOUTHED AT THE SIGHT BEFORE HIM. He didn't move, so she turned to Mark instead. "Did you hear me? Do something!"

"Is this actually happening?" Derek wondered. "This can't be happening."

In the middle of the lobby, Cassie had Izzie pinned onto the ground, throwing punch after punch to her face, yelling obscenities at her in the process.

"Get over it?" she screamed, just as blood began coming from Izzie's nose. The blonde attempted to fight back, getting a few good punches in here and there, but still, she was no match for Cassie. "Get over this, you fucking bitch!"

Cristina and Alex watched with raised brows. "Damn," they chorused, making no move to stop her.

"Sloan!" Meredith repeated, snapping Mark out of whatever daze he was in as he watched Cassie beat the daylights out of Izzie. "Do something!"

Mark tilted his head in thought. "I don't see the harm in waiting a bit." She gave him an incredulous look. "What? She's winning."

"Oh, for the love of—" Bailey huffed from the other side of the lobby, setting down her bag and storming over towards the fight. "Hey, break it up! This is a hospital, not a wrestling match!"

"Get off me!" Izzie screeched, landing a particularly hard punch to Cassie's eye.

Cassie continued to fight, even as Bailey relentlessly tried, and failed, to get her off.

She moved positions slightly, so the group by the elevators could see her face. Once Derek and Mark caught sight of blood coming from somewhere on her face, they shared a quick look, before bolting towards her. They each grabbed one of her arms, dragging her away while she attempted to get out of their hold.

"I'll kill you!" Cassie screamed, glaring heatedly at Izzie, who was slowly standing up with the help of Bailey while clutching her nose. "I swear to god, I'll kill you!"

"Let's go," Derek said, shaking his head at her.

"No, Derek," she argued. "She—"

"Go, Cassandra," he snapped authoritatively, making even Mark pause in his steps. Cassie looked up at him wide eyed.

"Okay, I'm going. Jesus."

Bailey sighed in frustration as they took Cassie into an empty exam room, regretting her decision to become involved in her intern's personal lives.

The remaining doctors shared an uncomfortable look, none of them bothering to check on Izzie as they awkwardly left the building.

Webber watched someone hand Izzie a tissue with a deadpan expression, closing his eyes momentarily in annoyance as he turned to a nurse.

"Call my wife," he mumbled. "Tell her I'll be home late."

☆

"I'm fine," Cassie brushed Derek off, who was attempting to shine a light in her eyes. She slapped his hand away, making him slap hers in retaliation. "Derek!"

"Your eye is bleeding from the socket, Cass," Mark lectured. "Let the man do the damn neuro exam."

"I'm fine," she rolled her eyes, before smirking a bit to herself. "Besides, you should see the other guy."

Derek took a step back. "You're not funny."

Cassie gave him a look. "I'm hilarious."

"This is serious," he scolded, shaking his head at her in disbelief. "You could lose your job, Cass. Aren't you worried?"

"Not really, no," she answered, her voice losing it's humor. "The Chief won't fire me, because he knows that if he does, I'll sue him and the hospital for the wrongful death of Denny Duquette. Like I should have done from the beginning."

Derek and Mark paused, sharing a sad look between them. It was silent for a long moment as Cassie stared blankly down at the ground.

Mark grabbed a wet towel, taking her hand in his own and gently dabbing off the dried blood. "Screw Izzie Stevens," he said plaintively.

Cassie looked up at the two of them, the sight of her bruising eye making them cringe.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Screw Izzie Stevens."

☆

Cassie sat in the Chief's office, reminiscent to only a few weeks before. Webber was seated in the spinning chair behind his desk, an exhausted expression adorning his face as he stared at the intern.

Awkwardly pursing her lips, Cassie glanced around the room. "So," she drawled. "How are you on this fine evening?"

Webber gave her a look. "I've been better."

"Same," she nodded, pointing to her eye, which had now faded from a bloody mess into a dark purple ring extending up to her eyebrow.

He sighed, rubbing his temples. "Harper—"

"Chief."

"I can't just let you off with a warning," Webber told her, cutting her off as she opened her mouth to respond. "As much as I'd like to, I just can't."

Cassie paused. "You'd like to?"

He removed his glasses from his face. "I heard what Dr. Stevens said. In fact, I'm pretty sure the whole hospital heard it. And even though I don't agree with your, methods, of expressing your anger, I can't argue that it wasn't deserved."

Raising her brows in surprise, she let a small smile tug at the corner of her lips. "Sir?"

"I'm not condoning fighting, Harper—"

"Oh, of course not."

"Especially not in my hospital. But, I would be lying if I said she didn't deserve it," Webber said truthfully, shocking Cassie. "I made a mistake, letting her come back. I realize that now. Unfortunately, it's too late to go back on my decision, but the least I can do is be lenient with your punishment."

Cassie nodded, taking it all in. "So what is it?"

"A three day suspension," he said decisively. "Which just so happens to be the amount of time your hand needs to heal before you can perform surgery again."

Cassie gave him a tight lipped smile. "Thank you, sir."

"You may go."

She got to her feet, a bit lightheaded, and made her way to the door. But before she could walk through, she turned back. "Chief?"

"What is it?" Webber asked.

Cassie took a deep breath, before looking him in the eye. "I'd like to talk to you about a patient of mine. Heather Douglas."

☆

The next day, Cassie was walking towards Meredith and Cristina, when she ran into George on the way.

"Cassie, you're here!" George smiled, before frowning in confusion. "Wait, you're here. Aren't you suspended?"

"Yep, but my patient is having her surgery today, and the Chief said I was allowed to watch from the gallery," she said, making him hum in understanding. "Oh, how's your dad doing?"

"Good," he shrugged. "Well, as good as possible, I guess. He's stable."

"I'm glad," Cassie told him genuinely, squeezing his arm in support. Once word got out that Bailey and Webber had went through with his dad's surgery despite the major risks, she'd been worried for George and his family. Losing a parent hurt more than anything, and she didn't want him to have to go through that. "I'm here all day, if you need me. Just page, and I'll be there."

"Okay," George nodded, giving her a quick hug as he left in the opposite direction. "Love you, Cass."

She smiled after him. "Love you more, Georgie."

"Cass, get over here," Cristina called from a nurses station, not far from where she'd been fighting Izzie the night prior. "Settle a debate for us."

Cassie waltzed over, settling herself on Cristina's left and Meredith's right. "What's up?"

Cristina raised a brow as she got closer, pointing to her eye. "Nice shiner."

"It makes me look like a badass, right?"

"Oh, definitely."

"Cass, tell her that I am nothing like Thatcher," Meredith interrupted, watching her father as he stood in the waiting room on the phone with his wife, spilling coffee and generally looking like he was in shambles. "I mean, look at him. He's a mess. I mean, he's a disaster. A stammering, mumbling, clumsy disaster, with whom I have absolutely nothing in common. Not one thing."

Cassie looked her up and down. "I hate to break this to you but—"

"What?"

"You do your own share of stammering yourself."

Cristina gestured into the air. "Told you."

"Yeah," Cassie nodded. "That nervous talking thing you do, it's actually a lot like him."

Meredith shook her head adamantly. "No, no, it's not."

"Plus, that messy thing," Cristina added.

"Totally."

"You're the messy ones," Meredith scoffed.

"My apartment is messy, my locker is messy, but I am not messy. Sometimes you have like, food and stuff in your hair," Cristina said as she picked off a piece of lettuce from Meredith's shirt.

"Yeah, and band aids on your face," Cassie agreed. "I can still kind of see the indentation from that nose strip you were wearing last night. And I'm not messy. Well, physically, at least."

Meredith rolled her eyes at them. "You are in a relationship with no words, and you are a millionaire who shops at Goodwill."

The two watched her walk away, tripping on her own feet. "Oh my god, she's just like him."

"Right?"

"Wow."

☆

A few hours later, Cassie grinned down into the gallery, where Callie and Derek were prepping Heather Douglas for surgery on her spine.

Cassie didn't bother mentioning to anyone how she'd paid for the surgery. It had only made a small dent in her bank account, and she really didn't feel the need to get praised just for being a decent human being.

As someone in possession of millions of dollars, she knew that it was her responsibility to use her wealth wisely, unlike most people with access to that kind of cash.

"Did you hear that someone anonymously donated the money to cover for this?" Meredith wondered aloud.

"No way," Cristina scoffed. "If I had that kind of money, I would buy the Bahamas. Or at least a Bahama."

Cassie looked between them, smiling to herself.

"Hey, how's your old man?" Alex asked, looking down at George.

"His urine output's holding steady, which is good," he sighed nervously.

"Hey," Cristina turned to George. "Have you seen Burke today?"

He scoffed. "Even if I did like you, I still wouldn't tell you that."

"How can you be okay with Burke but not Cristina?" Meredith frowned.

"Her career wasn't on the line when she lied to me."

"Why don't you just ask Burke about the hand yourself, Cristina?" Cassie suggested, not taking her eyes off the OR.

"I'm not talking to him. He owes me."

"What?"

"Oh, I don't know."

"So you're together, but you don't talk to each other," Alex mused. "Wish I could find that in a woman."

Meredith leaned back in her chair, looking to Alex. "Hey, how's it going with Addison?"

"What?" he spluttered. "Why would you— what do you mean by that?"

"Laura Grey. Tiny baby."

"Oh Laura. Right," he tried to play it off, which Cassie found odd. "She's doing fine. She's doing well. I gotta get out of gynie though. I gotta get back to Sloan."

Cristina eyed him. "What are you plotting, and can I get in on it?"

"Shut up."

Cassie continued to watch the surgery for a moment, before the sound of a pager going off stole her attention.

George's quickly got up. "No," he mumbled, rushing out the door. "Excuse me."

Meredith's pager went off as well. "Mr. O'Malley," she sighed.

"911?"

"Yeah."

"Sucks," Cristina frowned.

"Mer," Cassie stopped her from leaving. "Can you, um, when you find out, can you let me know what's going on?"

"Of course," she nodded.

☆

Cassie was leaving the gallery of Heather's surgery, which was luckily successful. She had a small smile on her face, which quickly left when she heard yelling coming from the hallway.

"Why did you do it?" George shouted, making her speed up her pace. She got to where he was, seeing Webber and Bailey standing there looking sympathetic. "Why did you do it?!"

"Dr. O'Malley—"

"Why did you do it once you saw the cancer had spread?" he questioned, tears brimming in his eyes.

Bailey sighed heavily. "George."

George shook his head vehemently. "He asked you, right? He asked you to do it, no matter what?"

"We have to honor our patient's wishes," Webber said simply.

"You said you would be straight with me. He could have lived for weeks, or months. We could have had months with him!"

Cassie felt herself start to tear up as she slowly approached a crying George, knowing more than anyone how it felt to lose precious time.

"Georgie—"

"My mom," he scoffed, barely even hearing her, "she could have had months with him."

"He wanted a chance to fight the cancer, George," Webber said. "It was his choice."

"He didn't know any better!" George screamed, tears steaming down his face. "You knew better!"

"George, this isn't helping," Cassie whispered, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and gently pulling him back. "Come on."

"You shouldn't have done it," he sobbed, leaning into her chest. Cassie did her best to soothe him, but to no avail. "You shouldn't have done it!"

☆

George sat on a ledge outside the hospital, with red eyes and blotchy cheeks, staring humbly at the sidewalk.

Wordlessly, Cassie sat down next to him and grabbed his hand. He squeezed it so hard, Cassie was sure it would be sprained. She didn't care.

"My dad died," George said, looking at the side of her face.

She turned her head and made eye contact with him, seeing how truly broken he looked. "I know."

He continued to stare at her. "Does it ever get better?"

Cassie thought for a moment. "No. It doesn't get better," she paused, "it doesn't get better, but it does get easier. Eventually."

"Easier," George repeated, turning his gaze back to the ground.

The pair sat silently, hand in hand.

Cristina approached them, making Cassie nudge George so he would notice her presence.

"There's a club," Cristina said. "The dead dad's club. You can't be in it, until you're in it. You can try and understand, you can sympathize, but until you feel that loss," she paused. "My dad died when I was nine. George, I'm really sorry you had to join the club."

George shook his head. "I don't know how to exist in a world where my dad doesn't."

Cristina sighed. "Yeah."

Cassie looked up at him. "That never really changes."

author's note —
this chapter had like
983920393 different
emotions in it but at
least cassie finally got
to beat izzie's ass lol