─── INTO YOU
CHAPTER TEN...!

❝ the temperature's rising in here ❞

"OH, I cannot get this stupid thing to work." Lilia's patient's girlfriend spoke, trying to get the room's TV remote to work. Izzie, who was now discharged and cleared for surgery, smiled.

"Try knocking it on something."

The woman knocked the remote on the table, and it began to work. Lilia and Izzie shared a laugh, as the oncologist whispered to the blonde.

"Insider trick?"

"Yep."

"What other tricks you know?" The patient asked, laying in the hospital bed.

"Well, stay away from the lime jell-o." Izzie began, as Lilia examined the man, "And, if you want the good meds, tell them you have a headache, not a stomachache. Oh, and if your arm starts to hurt from all the needle pokes, tell them you want that anesthetic cream. It numbs it."

"You've done this before?"

Izzie smiled sympathetically at the patient, "Stage four melanoma."

Lilia looked back at the wife, "Uh, Ms. Helsby? We're going to have to give him a rectal exam, you may want to leave the room for this."

"Oh, no. I'm─ I'm not his wife, Dr. Love." The woman laughed, "What's that saying? Uh, they won't buy the cow if you give them the milk for free? Yeah, we're working on eight years of free milk."

The man shook his head, "Hey, I was gonna propose last year, but I got distracted. By this little thing called cancer?"

"You got the best excuse in the book."

Lilia chuckled at the couple's playful banter. From what she could tell, they were pretty perfect for each other.

The wife soon left the room so the rectal exam could begin, before the man told the doctors, "The ring's at home in the mouth guard container, alright? I'm just waiting for the right moment."

Lilia had to contain her squeal, "I think that's the cutest thing anyone's ever said."

She wasn't lying. She grew close to the couple in a short amount of time, and it was obvious they were made for each other. The one they tell the stars about, the one they look at and see a lifetime, the one that makes life ever so joyful.

Lilia sighed. She hoped she could find someone like that soon.

Or─  maybe she already had?

˗ˏˋ  INTO YOU ˎˊ˗

IN THE OR, Lilia and Izzie stood next to each other, looking inside the man's body. The oncologist sighed, shaking her head, "It's worse than I thought. The scarring completely fused his organs together."

"God, it looks like somebody poured a bottle of glue down there." Izzie muttered, "How do we fix it?"

Lilia let out a heavy breath, before they could here a voice on the gallery's intercom filled the room.

"You don't."

The two looked up to see Owen Hunt, who had been watching their surgery. The patient on the table was originally a trauma patient, so he wanted updates.

Izzie looked at him, before back at Lilia, "If we could just get to the cancer, I think we could get clean margins."

Lilia saw Owen's gaze on her, knowing he wanted her to inform her resident.

The oncologist sighed, directing her words to the blonde, "With this many adhesions, the risk of tumor rupture is too high. We're doing more harm than good if we cut into him again."

"Maybe if we just─"

"We have yo known when to say when, Stevens." Owen interrupted her, before walking out of the gallery "And I'm saying when."

˗ˏˋ  INTO YOU ˎˊ˗

LILIA sat outside the hospital, on a bench, with her knees pushed against her chest. As she took a bite from her sandwich, she saw Mark beginning to approach her, carrying a folder in his hands.

She nodded towards it, as he sat next to her, "What's that?"

The man grinned, opening the folder, "Penis plumps."

Lilia's eyes immediately opened, the right side of her cheek being filled with a bite of her sandwich, "Oh."

"Wanna see?"

"Not really."

Mark let out a chuckle, closing the folder again. Looking at her, his smile only wider, and hers did too.

"Want one?" Lilia asked the man, referring to a slice to her sandwich, where he responded with a nod.

As she began to take out the sandwich from her bag, it had dropped on the ground. Lilia let out an 'oops', beginning to pick it up. Mark also didn't hesitate to help her get her things back in her bag.

However, as Mark reached for a certain paper that fell out, his eyes fell on the title.

Letter of Resignation.

As the oncologist was occupied still trying to get everything back into her bag, he turned to Lilia, holding the paper up.

"Lilia, what's this?"

The woman turned to him, her face immediately falling as she realized what he was holding. She could only stay silent, not knowing what to say.

"You're leaving?" Mark asked, the hurt in his voice not being that well hidden, as she took the paper from him.

"I-I was going to tell you. I swear, I was, Mark. B-But─ I didn't know how!" Lilia explained to him, "It took me like half an hour to get myself to sign the paper."

"Wait, wait, wait─ backup. Why are you leaving?"

Lilia sighed, looking at the plastic surgeon, "I was supposed to be here for one patient. One patient, Mark. And now─ Stevens is back at work, and there's nothing left for me to do."

"Nothing left for you to do?" The man furrowed his eyebrows, "Lilia─ you have patients here that need you."

"The only reason I have those patients is because I extended my stay. I mean, I was supposed to leave after Izzie's first surgery, and monitor her from Hawaii." Lilia admitted to him, "But I didn't. I stayed. A-And, I got attached. Plus, with the merger happening soon, I'd rather leave on my own terms, instead of the Chief laying me off."

"The Chief isn't going to lay you off." Mark tried to convince her, "I mean─ you're the best oncologist in the country. One in a million, Lilia. what makes you think you won't make the cut?"

Lilia only looked at the man for a moment, before she could hear her pager go off. She sighed, looking down at it.

She got up from her seat, gathering her things. She dared to look him in the eyes, as she spoke one last time before leaving.

"You were the one person I wanted to tell, Mark. I just didn't know how to."

˗ˏˋ  INTO YOU ˎˊ˗

LILIA, IZZIE, AND HUNT stood in front of the patient and his girlfriend, telling them the bad news of the man not being able to remove the tumor.

"I'm sorry, but there's gotta be something else you can do." The woman spoke, her voice trembling, trying to hold back her tears, "He's 31. We just bought a condo together. We just rescued a puppy!"

"Ange, Ange─" The patient tried comforting his girlfriend, "It's gonna be okay."

"No, it's not!" She cried, "They're just sending you home to die. What kind of doctors are you?! You're supposed to do something."

"They're doing everything they can." The man told her, "Alright, look, Dr. Love and Dr. Hunt have given us extra time. Time that we never would've had..."

Lilia's eyes kept trailing to Izzie, seeing the resident clearly hurt at the situation in front of her. The oncologist shook her head, turning to her other colleague.

"Dr. Hunt? Can I speak to you outside for a moment?" Lilia asked the man. When he nodded, the woman gave the couple a small smile, before leaving the room.

As the man followed her, closing the door behind them, leaving Izzie with the couple, Lilia was quick to speak up.

"We could try cytoreductive surgery."

"It won't work." Hunt shook his head, already knowing why she called him out here, "Ae have to be able to remove the entire tumor. With these kind of adhesions, you can't do that."

"Ball-Tipped electrosurgery." Lilia suggested again, "It could help get around the adhesions─"

"It can't help us get around the adhesions." Owen interrupted her, "His cancer is incurable. Now, I'm not gonna put that man through another excruciating, painful surgery, and I'm not sure why you're trying to."

Lilia scoffed, "I'm not trying to, Hunt. I'm trying to help him live."

"When he's got a survival rate of 13-percent?"

"Izzie had five."

"Dr. Love─"

"Izzie had a five-percent chance of survival." Lilia began, "That doctor in there has incurable cancer, but she is living with it. And the only reason she is, the only reason she's standing in there, trying to make that poor couple feel better, is because I never told her I've done everything I could. She's alive right now because people fought for her."

Lilia looked at him, staying silent for a moment, before huffing, "He deserves the chance to fight. If he doesn't want it, fine, I will zip my mouth. But he deserves the chance."

Lilia could feel Owen's heated glare send chills down her spine, but that didn't stop her from fighting for her patient.

"And if you can't see that─ then I don't want you on this case." His eyes widened slightly at her words. "We're dealing with an oncology patient now, Hunt. This is out of your hands."

Hunt knew if he were to argue back, he could say things that'd ruin their work relationship forever.

So with that, the man only stormed off.

˗ˏˋ  INTO YOU ˎˊ˗

     LILIA AND HUNT stood next to each other in the elevator. The surgery was a success, and the patient was in post-op. However, Lilia couldn't seem to pinpoint why the man remained so tense. Even when seeing what success the surgery was from the gallery, he had stormed out once they finished.

"He had a couple months and we just gave him a lifetime." Lilia told the man, her voice a bit lower than usual, "I don't understand why you're─"

"You wanna know what I think, Dr. Love?" The man interrupted her, raising his voice, "You're a fantasist. You see one in a million and you want to believe. You let your dreams cloud your judgement. You let Izzie Stevens, your one in a million patient, cloud your judgement. Well, guess what. You cannot be a fantasist and doctor here."

As the elevator door opened, Lilia followed the man out.

"You're wrong, Dr. Hunt." She began, "You can be a fantasist and doctor. That's what I do, that's what we do every damn day. We see a problem, and look for a solution to fix it. That's that one in a million chance that we fight for. And, yes, not everything's sunshine's and rainbows but─ that doesn't mean we can't hope for a happily ever after."

And after that, this time she was the one to walk away.

And there stood Mark Sloan a couple feet away, by the nurse's station, having heard everything.

He couldn't help but have a small smile form on his lips, muttering under his breath.

"That's my girl."

˗ˏˋ  INTO YOU ˎˊ˗

LILIA LOVE sat on the bar stool in Joe's Bar, downing her first shot. Sighing, she propped her elbow on the counter, holding her head in her hand.

That's when she could sense another body next to hers, looking to see Mark Sloan sitting to her right.

Giving him a smile, she slid one of her shot glasses to him, "How was your penis plump?"

He let out a chuckle, shrugging, "Good. Inspiring. Mesmerizing."

They shared a laugh, as Lilia downed another shot. As it fell silent between the two, Mark kept his eyes on her.

"So, you're uh─ really leaving?"

The man could notice her tense up a bit, as she turned to him.

"I haven't turned in my letter yet." She admitted, not being able to keep eye contact with him.

Mark's eyebrows slightly furrowed, indicating he was questioning why she hadn't turned it in. Lilia sighed once more, speaking up.

"The Chief offered me the Head of Oncology position." She told him, shrugging, "I told him I'd think about it."

The man nodded, still slightly bummed that there was no guarantee that she was staying. Of course, he wanted what was best for her.

He just kinda wished staying here was what that was.

There was a silence between the two. Not a normal one. Not the usual that Lilia loved, and felt comforted by. But, an awkward, longing silence, that was almost deafening for the oncologist.

"I feel like I'm my best version when i'm with you."

Lilia broke the silence, causing Mark's head to turn to her almost immediately. Where she was going with her words could be the biggest mistake of her life.

However, if today taught her anything, it'd be to screw the odds, and take the chances.

"I can be─ vulnerable without feeling weak. I can stand up for myself without getting embarrassed. And I─" She paused for a moment, sighing, before continuing, "I sleep better when you tell me goodnight. I feel like my food tastes better whenever you say it looks good. I get this─ sudden burst of energy every time I see you."

She paused for a moment, not making eye contact with the man, "And I know, you aren't really one for─ serious, romantic-styles crap, but-- I don't think I could leave here without at least saying telling you."

Mark only continued looking at her, not saying a word. Lilia only thought to take that as a sign that she screwed up. She let out a quiet tsk, beginning to get up from her seat.

"I shouldn't have poured that out on you, sorry." Lilia told him, grabbing her coat, "Night, Mark."

She then began to head to the door. However, she didn't end up getting too far, feeling a hand pull her arm back.

She turned back to Mark.

The two locked eyes.

And soon enough, their lips met.

Oh, she was definitely staying in Seattle now.

˗ˏˋ  INTO YOU ˎˊ˗

AUTHOR'S NOTE. |

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𝗐𝗈𝗋𝖽 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗍.
2376.