CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
let the angels commit.
season three, episode six.

AFTER TAKING A WEEK OFF FROM WORK, CASSIE WAS SITTING IN THE CHIEF'S OFFICE. She had spent pretty much every second of every day over the last week at Joe's, way too drunk to function. It was how she coped with the large amount of blood money weighing on her back.

And after Mark convinced her to deposit the 10 million dollar check into a secure bank account that only she can access, she was more than ready to distract herself by cutting people open.

At least, she was, until she heard a rumor that made her want to go back to Joe's bar forever.

"Absolutely not," Cassie deadpanned, leaning back in the chair with her arms crossed.

Webber sighed heavily. "Dr. Harper, I know you have some personal issues with Dr. Stevens, but—"

"Personal issues?" she scoffed. "She single handedly killed Denny. So yeah, I guess you could say I have some personal issues."

Richard removed his glasses and put his hands together. "I'm sympathetic towards you, Cassie. I really am. But doctors, surgeons, make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes cost us a life."

"It's not a mistake if it was on purpose," Cassie countered, standing up, arms still across her chest.

"You want to know how many patients I've personally killed in my career?" he asked, making her frown with confusion. "9. That's 9 people, with 9 families. Families, that consisted of sisters, brothers, wifes, husbands, and parents. And I wouldn't ever expect them to forgive me for what I did. For the mistakes I made. And I don't expect you to, either."

Cassie scoffed and raised her voice to a shout. "All due respect, sir, but being forced to work civilly alongside her, and be around her without there being any problems, sounds a hell of a lot like forgiveness!"

"Dr. Harper, sit down," he instructed loudly, standing up as well.

"No."

On the strip outside of the Chief's office, the interns watched the argument intently, along with Derek, Mark, Addison, Burke, and a few other members of the hospital staff.

"Is she yelling at the Chief?" George gaped. "No freaking way."

Cristina raised her eyebrows. "It's the daddy issues. Leads to little respect for authority."

"No," Meredith disagreed. "There's no way she'd argue with the Chief unless it was about something really important."

"I don't know, she's pretty unstable lately. Wouldn't surprise me if she did something she'd regret," Alex added.

"She's not unstable," George shook his head.

"Have you been to Joe's recently?" Alex asked as if it were obvious. "She practically lives there."

"It's Izzie's fault," Cristina said. "It's her first day back tomorrow."

"Should we be worried?" George asked.

"She's fine," Meredith and Cristina said in unison, sharing a look that showed they both knew she definitely was not fine.

Alex watched as they continued to fight. "She's totally unstable."

A few feet away, Mark glared at the intern. "Hey, Karev!"

"Dr. Sloan," Alex greeted nervously. "What can I do for you?"

"You ever say anything like that again, and I'll make sure you don't see the inside of an OR for months," Mark threatened lowly. "Understood?"

Alex gulped. "Understood."

Back in the Chief's office, Cassie was pacing across the floor. "What do you expect me to do, just work around her like nothing ever happened?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I expect," Richard said sternly. "You are a surgeon. Good surgeons put their personal issues aside and focus on their patient no matter what. And you are a good surgeon, Harper."

Cassie paused. "I don't know if I can do that."

"Izzie is an intern. She made a bad choice, and she lost the man she loves and a close friend because of it. She messed up, but that's what interns do. And there's no doubt in my mind that one day, you'll mess up too." He took a deep breath. "I'm not saying that you have to forgive her. I'm saying, that if you're not able to do your job with her around, we will need to have a longer discussion about your future at this hospital."

Cassie took a long look at him.

"If I were you, I would contact your lawyer."

She stormed out of the office.

☆

"Isobel."

The blonde's head snapped over to her bedroom door, where Cassie was standing in the frame with a blank look on her face.

"Cassie!" Izzie said in alarm, standing up from her place on the bed. "I—"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

Cassie waltzed into the room nonchalantly, observing the decor and leaning against the dresser. Izzie watched nervously, scared for what she would do.

"You're coming back to work."

"I, um, yes. I am."

Cassie nodded slowly, bringing her piercing gaze back to Izzie's eyes. "I was going to sue the hospital for negligence, and sue you for malpractice. Or murder. I didn't decide."

Izzie gasped. "You can't do that, Cassie, the hospital will lose it's transplant accreditation and—"

"Shut up," she repeated. "I said was. Past tense. God, can't you listen?"

She sighed. "Why didn't you?"

"I decided that sueing you wasn't worth losing my education, or my friends. And no amount of money will bring Denny back anyways."

"Okay," Izzie paused, furrowing her brows in confusion. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because the Chief is letting you come back, and I can't stop him," Cassie shrugged. "But that doesn't mean I can't make your life a living hell in the process."

She shuffled her feet. "What do you—"

"Every time you see me," Cassie glared. "I'll make sure that you can only think about Denny. I'll be polite and civil when other people are around, maybe even friendly, but you'll never be able to forget what you did."

"Anything else?" she mumbled after a moment.

"Yeah, actually," Cassie smiled wryly, lowering her voice. "If you even so much as think about speaking to me directly, for any reason other than to save a patients life, I promise you'll regret it. And I don't break promises."

☆

The next day, Cassie stood in the back of the elevator with George, Meredith, and Izzie. She sent daggers through the blonde's head with her eyes, only stopping when the other two turned around.

"I'm feeling really good," Izzie said, trying her best to avoid the brunette behind her.

"Good."

"Good."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Fantastic."

"First day back, it feels good. Big. Kind of nervous. I feel good. Do I look alright?"

"Great," Meredith and George chorused.

Cassie looked her up and down, scrunching her nose in distaste. "Eh."

"I want to get off on the right foot, get my ID renewed, new time card, sign some papers with legal then I'm back. Really back."

"Yeah," the three nodded at her, as Cassie gave her a sarcastic smile.

"This is me. Human resources. See you guys on the floor."

George immediately turned to face Meredith and Cassie. "I'll be Cristina for you two if you'll be Izzie for me."

"Deal."

"Deal."

George stopped the elevator as Meredith began to talk. "Derek had a woman in his trailer last night. She was ugly, very ugly. Except she was tall and beautiful. And he was naked."

"Oh, uh, McDreamy was doing the McNasty with a McHottie? That McBastard," George said. "How was that?"

"That was good!" Meredith said, as Cassie nodded in agreement. "Channeling Izzie, go."

"Okay, Callie— she won't forgive me, and she won't talk to me. She dumped me. Which, I dont care about, at all."

"Good, because you deserve better, because you are George. I mean seriously. Seriously!" Meredith exclaimed.

"You are George and Callie is— no. She's not good enough for you. Seriously," Cassie imitated in an annoying, high pitched voice.

"Was that Izzie optimistic?"

George looked at them with wide eyes. "That was very, uh, Izzie."

Meredith looked at her person. "Okay, Cassie's turn, go."

"Well, Izzie is here," Cassie crossed her arms. "And I'm trying not to let my personal feelings affect my work, but that's really hard to do while I'm trying not to strangle her to death. Also, everyone thinks I'm unstable, which I'm clearly not."

"Screw her!" George exclaimed in a very Cristina-like fashion. "You are Cassandra Lynn Harper, for god's sake. You're a surgeon. Go. Forget about her. Do surgeries. Kick ass."

"That was good," Cassie complimented. "Really good." She poked his forehead. "Do you have her hidden up there or something?"

Meredith groaned. "What has happened to us?"

"We are now the people that the people we want to be with avoid," George said.

Cassie shook her head. "We have careers to think about."

"We don't need attention from men with perfect hair," Meredith added.

"We should make a pact. No more dating, no more drinking, no more murder fantasies," George proposed.

"No more Derek. No more Callie. No more Izzie. No more tequila."

"Just one hundred percent focused on our work." Cassie agreed.

"They are dead to us."

"They are freaking corpses to us."

After an incredibly determined three-way fist bump, they each stepped out of the elevator and headed in opposite directions.

☆

"Cassandra!"

Cassie turned around and was pleasantly surprised at who she saw standing next to Derek. "Nancy?"

"Derek, why didn't you tell me she was working today?" Nancy asked her brother, while hugging the brunette.

Derek smirked. "Because I knew that it would give you a reason visit."

"Harsh," she said playfully. "Cass, how are you? Mom filled me in on some of the stuff that went down recently."

Cassie plastered a fake smile on her face. "I'm good. I'm fine. Fine. Good."

"Cass, why don't you take Nancy to grab a cup of coffee?" Derek proposed.

Cassie rolled her eyes at his obvious attempt to get away from his sister, but agreed despite it. "Let's go, Nancy. The best coffee is on the fourth floor."

☆

After getting coffee, Nancy and Cassie found Derek on the catwalk talking to Meredith and Izzie. Cassie smirked, knowing now that this was the woman Meredith saw in his trailer. She remembered her conversation in the elevator, completely ignoring Izzie as they joined the group.

"Okay, the trailer sucks," Nancy said to Derek, "but in the light of day, the land is nice. Seattle's pretty in the daylight. Plus, you have your thing for ferry's."

"Ferry boats," Derek, Cassie, and Meredith corrected her in unison.

"Right, whatever."

"Meredith, this is my sister, Nancy."

Meredith raised her eyebrows. "Sister? You're one of Derek's sisters?"

Nancy scoffed. "Well, I knew you didn't think I was the wife, seeing as how you already ran her off."

Cassie bit back a laugh, and Meredith just smiled politely.

Derek cleared his throat. "Nancy is visiting from Connecticut. She's on her way home now. Straight back home."

"Well it was nice to meet you," Meredith smiled, trying to be kind.

"Okay," Nancy deadpanned. Not knowing how to respond, Meredith walked off with Izzie following behind.

"Don't be so rude," Cassie scolded, watching Meredith leave. "She's my person."

"Well, sorry Cass, but being your person doesn't stop her from being a slut."

☆

Cassie found Derek in the CT room looking at scans. "What's wrong with you?" she asked, noticing his persistent frown.

"Nancy is here. What's wrong with you?" he countered.

"You really want to know?" she asked as they walked into the hallway.

"Of course I do."

"Okay then," she said indifferently. "I have 10 million dollars."

Derek laughed, his smile dimming when he noticed that she wasn't joking. "You have 10 million dollars."

"Yup," Cassie grinned sarcastically.

"How—"

"It's Denny's blood money," she interrupted him. "According to his will, he gave it to me to take care of me, but I'm pretty sure this is just Denny getting his last laugh from beyond the grave."

Derek frowned. "Well, I don't know if—"

"HA HA!" Cassie suddenly screamed at the ceiling, startling Derek and earning stares from the dozens of people surrounding them. "VERY FUNNY, ASSHOLE!"

Derek grabbed her arm, pulling her into the closest supply closet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," she shrugged.

He stared at her like she'd grown two heads. "Karev was right. You are unstable."

Cassie scoffed. "I'm not unstable."

"Sure," Derek rolled his eyes.

"Hey, wait, I heard you have a surgery. Can I scrub in?"

☆

"I've been waiting for you guys for half an hour in the cafeteria. Since when do we eat in a patient room?" Izzie asked when she came into the room saw the interns surrounding an old patient.

"You can go back there," Cassie said. "We won't miss you."

"Izzie, meet really old guy," George interjected, not liking the awkwardness. "We found him a couple of days ago. He sleeps all the time. He's our new best friend."

"It's quiet. No one bothers us," Cristina said. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything. Turns out, I'm literally not allowed to do anything. I knew coming back would be an adjustment. But—"

"No, what are you doing now?"

"Eating my lunch."

"Okay, if you want to socialize, or talk about your day, or get in a quick therapy session, go do it over there."

Izzie scoffed. "Seriously?"

Cristina waved her off. "Goodbye Izzie."

"So, O'Malley, your two uteruses..." Alex trailed off.

"Two uteruses?" Cassie questioned George, taking a sip of her green tea. "Awesome."

"Very," George nodded in agreement, turning back to Alex. "You're on scut. Glorified plastics scut. You're in no position to mock me or my uteruses."

"Mark is making you call the DMV, isn't he?" Cassie smirked, knowing the attending better than anyone.

Alex ignored them. "Any cervical changes on the ultrasound?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't."

"I am so glad to be back," Izzie said sarcastically.

"That makes one of us," Cassie mumbled.

"I called Callie a pig," George said randomly.

"To her face?" Alex asked.

"What happened to the whole corpse thing?" Meredith and Cassie asked in unison, just as Cassie got a page.

"I gotta go. Derek's clipping an aneurism." She glanced at Izzie. "And unlike George, I'm sticking with the corpse thing."

☆

"We haven't talked in a while," Derek said to Cassie in the middle of their surgery.

"Yeah, sorry, I've been drunk," she apologized.

Derek frowned. "For a week?"

"Yep," she confirmed, suctioning the incision in the patient's brain. "Joe was so kind as to lay out a sleeping bag for me in the back room." Derek gave her a look. "What? I have ten million dollars."

"Okay then," he paused. "Addison and I got divorced."

Cassie slowly looked up with wide eyes.

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"When?" she wondered.

Derek smirked behind his mask. "When you were drunk."

"Oh."

After a long moment of silence, he looked at her over his surgical glasses. "Did you know?"

Cassie furrowed her brows. "Did I know what?"

Derek cleared his throat. "Did you know that Addison and Mark had a relationship after I left?"

"They what?" Cassie shouted, turning a few heads. She lowered her voice. "They what?"

"Yep."

"I had no idea," she scoffed. "Not at all."

A few seconds later, he handed her the instrument in his hand. "Would you like to do the honors?"

"Are you serious?" Cassie gaped, looking down at the aneurism that needed to be clipped. "Hell yeah, I'd like to do the honors. Thank you."

☆

"Derek's sister is in town," Meredith said, sitting on the stairs between Cristina and Cassie.

"I clipped an aneurism all by myself," Cassie added.

Cristina was silent, which made them both sigh in confusion.

"Cristina, are you mad at us or something, because we've been trying to talk to you—" Meredith started, before she was cut off.

"Not everything is about you," Cristina snapped.

"What's going on?" Cassie asked softly. "Because you've been acting really distant, scrubbing in on all of Burke's surgeries. And that's coming from me."

"I... don't care."

"What is your problem?" Meredith groaned.

"I have bigger things in my life right now," she replied simply, leaving the two alone, curious and upset.

☆

"You should have seen the two uteruses," Nancy said, coming into the lounging area with Derek and Cassie. "Unbelievable. And a cute baby to boot."

"I'm glad you're enjoying your trip," Derek rolled his eyes.

Nancy scoffed. "Oh Derek, I'm going. I'm on a plane back in two hours."

"So, you're going to report back to mom that—"

"That you're you. Still running circles around all the women in your life. But that's to be expected with 4 and a half sisters and a dead dad."

"I'm not running circles," Derek said, at the same time as Cassie asked, "And a half?"

"You're the half," Nancy whispered. Cassie made an ahh sound. "Can you even remember the last time you were alone, Derek? You've never been single. I mean you're fine, but you're not happy. And you're not going to get happy until you get some space. You just need to get away. Away from Addie, away from the intern, just... away. Think about what you want."

"I thought Kathleen was the shrink, not you."

Nancy smiled and stood up. "I gotta go."

"Nancy, thanks for flying out here. It was, uh, thanks."

"Bye Nancy," Cassie waved, resting her head on Derek's shoulder.

author's note —
cassie do be unstable
as fuck tho <3 it's
okay we still love her