~The Izzy Cam~

Slash watched Atreyu trek through the Swamp of Sadness, crying as his horse refused to continue on through the muck. The beautiful white creature sunk as the tears rolled down Atreyu's cheeks, and screamed at the thing to move. It wouldn't.

Slash knew exactly what Atreyu must be feeling, though he was watching a children's movie from 1984. Skipper was right beside him on that cramped bed, watching along with him. He knew this part secretely made her emotional, though it never used to be that way.

She used to think out loud when she was around him.

He moved his hand from its place on his lap, and slowly placed it over hers. She wouldn't look at him, she wouldn't move.

Skipper was sinking little by little into the Swamp of Sadness- into his best friend, Axl. Slash was tugging at her relentlessly, yelling at her, screaming at her that she could escape him if she wanted to. She took her hand away from his, and sunk into the swamp a little deeper.

On the TV screen, the horse had all but disappeared into the swamp without a trace.

****

Skipper's POV

I'm not nervous as I walk across Rosie's room in the partial darkness, with nothing but the moon's white beams pouring in through the walls to guide me. It's a little strange here, a little too quiet. I'm so used to the constant hustle and bustle of New York, and that should make me nervous, but it doesn't.

I stop at the window as Rosie is softly shutting the door behind himself. I hear the sound of his shoes tumbling against the hardwood floors, I hear the sound of his breathing.

I stare up at the moon in the sky, a bright saucer. My Dad used to tell me that the moon was green cheese, but I told him that wasn't scientifically possible. He laughed.

I think about the way Slash looked at me in this black bikini, a look that made Rosie want me to convert to Islam and wear a hijab.

I didn't want to cover myself for reasons I didn't want to think about. Slash was trying to appear perverted, but he was too pure for that. I could see easily that he just missed me, and it mafe me feel worse.

I think about Slash, until Rosie's lips press themselves against my neck. Shivers rack my body as his hands come to rest on my hips, pressing me against his chest. Nothing is said, but we both know it's time. We haven't yet, and there's no time like the present.

His teeth graze my skin lightly as he gently pulls away the towel wrapped around my damp body. He kicks it away as soon as it hits the floor, letting his hands crawl up from my hips to explore my stomach.

"Shower or bed, baby?"

I giggle, never taking my eyes away from the moon.

"Who says I want it at all?"

His hand slowly creeps downward, his fingers dipping into the waistband of my bikini bottoms.

"You should want it, Junior. It's been much too long."

My breathing is already ragged as his hand moves lower as a tantlizing speed.

"I choose bed, you took too long." He removes his hand, pulling the strings holding up my bikini top. I dive onto the bed before he can put me there, giggling with excitement and anticipation. He pulls off his shirt over his head, discarding it before he follows suit.

His hands are everywhere at once, and his mouth is on mine. He's always been one for heavy petting, but I'm not in the mood for foreplay. No matter how many times I try to communicate that, he just keeps ignoring me.

Hours have gone before the good part comes, and lucky for me that lasts for a long time. He's been building up his stamina, I can see.

And when we're done, we lie there beside each other, tangled in the sheets and our own legs. Catching his breath, he pulls my body close again, slipping his hand up my inner thigh.

"You've got work tomorrow," he says through his fatigue. "You shouldn't have stayed up so late."

"It could've been quicker, if you'd kept your tongue in your mouth," I point out, and he laughs.

"Yeah, but you taste so good."

He places a few kisses in the space below my ear, before growling to me about how amazing I am, how much he missed me, how much we needed that sex.

I only think of Slash after it's all over and he's fallen asleep with his head on my stomach. I didn't think of him while the bed was shaking, while Rosie was moaning my name repeatedly, while I was screaming his. I didn't, but somehow I feel like I've cheated.

He and the other guys left around sundown to head to Los Angeles, about an hour from here. I'm going to have to make that drive everyday unfortunately, but Rosie has quite the selection of vehicles to choose from.

I allow myself to drift off to sleep, making sure that Rosie's tongue is the last thing on my mind, instead of Slash's words.

****

"It's her!"

"You know what I heard they call her at Rose Memorial? Medusa."

Well, I guess things never really and truly change, because the looks of terror I get walking through the UCLA hospital are practically identical to the ones back in New York. I don't smile, I don't even look at them for one doctor longer than a few seconds. The effect is good enough.

Throughout history, many rulers fought and debated with themselves or others on how to keep control of the people. Was it better to be feared, or loved? To me that's not even a question, but you must add other elements to the fear.

The halls are open and tall, the hospital itself isn't as big as mine but it'll do. I even bare my teeth at people as they walk by and give them a little snap, laughing loudly when they jump backwards and scurry in the opposite direction.

Rosie furrows his eyebrows at me a little, glancing at the scared runners. "What are you doing that for?"

"I do bite." I simply say as we approach the massive O.R board on the surgical floor, it's hard to find since there isn't a land bridge connecting the east and west wings.

"What?"

"You know how some people introduce themselves to a new group of people, and they say 'I don't bite' to be comforting? Well, I do bite."

He scoffs, running a hand through the length of his hair as he studies the scheduled surgeries. "That's a bit much, don't you think? Just be you, that's enough to strike fear into the hearts of many."

"Of course you think that," I grumble, glancing around the crowded hallway. I need scrubs.

"What do you mean?"

"You're a man, you don't understand the struggle. Everyone looks at you and assumes you're in power because of the thing dangling between your legs. Me? I've gotta make sure everyone knows. I'm short, black, and female. Worst three things to be in this business."

He isn't looking at me anymore, which irritates the hell out of me. I follow his gaze over my shoulder to a tall woman, who seems to command authority just by walking down the hall. Every nurse, intern and janitor turns to look and nod respectfully, and the pod of doctors following her seem to love being in the spotlight.

She bares a striking appearance to Molly Ringwald somehow, having the deep red hair and the brown eyes. It's actually a little bit creepy. Her red lips curl up into a smile when she lays eyes on Rosie, a perfect match to her red dress. It isn't a 'hi old colleague nice to see you' smile, it's the smile someone like Erin might give him, full of affection.

Rosie brushes right past me to catch her up in a hug, one that lasts too long in my opinion. I stand there awkwardly counting the floor tiles as she gushes over him, three beige tiles and then one lucky faded one that looks like it used to be red.

"Oh, William Bruce Rose! It has been so long, and you haven't stopped by to see me? You become this big shot Chief of your own New York Hospital, and your fifteen-year-old protégé discovers GRID? Wow, I-"

"AIDS, and I'm eighteen now."

My voice is rough and hard, harsher than I wanted it to sound. She looks past Rosie momentarily, and nods once.

"Yes, my apologies. Eighteen now." The life seems to have dropped out of her voice just like that, but returns quickly when she looks over Rosie.

"My god, you're a man now! I guess it never mattered back then, but..." Now it is my turn to furrow my eyebrows as I stare at her.

No, I'm not mistaken. That glimmer in her eye is far too bright not mean what I think it means.

Rosie went black during his high school years- as far as dating goes- and he made the mistake of actually going back. There's a saying about it for a reason, it's virtually unheard of.

"Yeah, I grew up." "

I know you've got this big... rock star thing going on now, but do you still practice?"

"Occasionally, just to keep my skills dusted off."

When? When the hell does he practice medicine?

"Oh, well, that's good to hear, I might have you... assist me, just like old times, huh?" He gives a little laugh.

"Candy... it's good to see you." Candy, huh? Well that just tops it all off. She's a tall red woman, and he's a tall red man. It makes too much sense.

Candy finally looks at me again before turning to her group of doctors. "Alright, well.. this is going to be our guest attending Neurosurgeon for the next few weeks, she's pretty popular so you already know the name-"

I step out from behind her shadow, and approach them all with my hands clasped behind my back.

"I am Dr. Nelson, this is what you will call me to my face. Behind my back? I don't care, you may have heard from your buddies over in New York that I am called Medusa, Adolf Hitler, Stalin, I even heard someone call me a 'groupie' before, but... that was oddly enjoyable."

I am being dead serious, but somehow they laugh and smile to each other, grinning at me with bright eyes and bushy tails. It's annoying.

"Anyway, I want you to treat me like you would any other superior. With respect. Now, I'll want a group of you to be my scut monkeys, if you can answer a few questions."

I pace back and forth a little bit, staring down this group of people. Their light colored scrubs tell me that they're little more than interns or residents, a part of life I never had to suffer through.

"You're in the O.R with me on a Hippocampectomy, and I'm using a standard keyhole incision. What kind of retractor am I using?"

They stare at each other with slight confusion before a brunette guy with perfect hair slowly lifts his hand into the air. "Yes?"

"A... self-retaining retract-"

"False! Can anyone tell me why?"

The only girl of the group shoots her hand into the sky. "Yes?"

"You risk damaging the anterior choroidal arteries."

I nod once, waving her over to me. "Good, you're with me." She yips excitedly and stands at my side, luckily only a few inches taller.

"Okay, being the inexperienced surgeons you are, you accidentally damage those arteries. What happens as a result?"

Pretty hair boy responds, "Infarction of the internal capsule and adjacent basal ganglia!" I wave him over, and raise another eyebrow.

"What else?"

A timid looking fellow raises his hand, "Check for PCA Infarct when the patient wakes?"

"Bingo, come over to the dark side. Looks like the rest of you are starstruck or just stupid. Either way, you're out of luck. Come on, monkeys."

They follow me as I walk up to the O.R board. "Oh, by the way," I turn to 'Candy,' "I'll be taking this Hippocampectomy, this astrocytoma, and this Multiple sclerosis ablation."

Candy's face doesn't scream happiness as I strut down the hall as if I own the place, waiting for my monkeys to keep up.

"She's... arrogant." I hear Candy say, to my own annoyance. Of course I am, all good surgeons are.

"Yeah, but she's excellent enough to be." Rosie's response makes my cheeks warm.

As soon as we're out of earshot, the monkeys pipe up.

"Can I have your autograph?"

"Can you please introduce me to Slash, I don't know if you guys' thing is real or just a publicity stunt but, I want him!"

"Teach me the Nelson method, I-"

I spin around on my heel, glaring at them intensely. "No! You cannot have my autograph, I can't even talk to Slash when I want to, so why would I help you? And the Nelson method is my method for a reason. It's got a patent."

"You can't talk to Slash because you're obligated to Axl now? Is that who you chose?"

"I will not talk about this!" I boom at them, and they instantly shut up, following me wordlessly again down the hall.

"Now where can I get some scrubs?" Pretty hair boy points me down the hall.

As we get there, the girl leans and whispers in my ear. "I'd watch out for Chief Kaine if I were you. She and Axl have some history, she talks about their intern year together all the time. It's disgusting." I go into the scrubs room and slam the door behind me, sagging against it a little bit. But wait... her name is 'Candy Kaine'?

****

Rosie is there at the end of my day, a quarter to eleven. Luckily he isn't talking to that stupid Candy bitch, who seemed to have been nagging at me all day. In the future I couldn't 'steal surgeries from people' or whatever that means. I see a good surgery, it's mine. That's how it's gonna have to be.

He greets me with a hug and a kiss on the forehead, drawing some attention from lurking interns.

"Aw," they swoon, as I contemplate giving them the middle finger.

"Fuck off!" Rosie barks at them, and they scurry in all directions to escape him. He hasn't lost his touch.

"So... how was it?" Rosie drapes an arm around me as we exit the hospital and walk leisurely down the crowded street. I wonder where he parked.

"It was fine, I had some surgeries today. Those little residents are... really-"

I am interrupted my someone tugging on my pant leg, someone shorter than me. "Mama?"

I look down to see two big blue eyes staring up at me; it's a tiny little boy with longish blonde hair, barely looks old enough to walk on his own. He's got a pacifier in his mouth too, but other than that he looks pretty grimy and unkempt. I look around wildly for anyone who could remotely be his parent, but no one is even close. I kneel down beside him and he giggles, blinking those long eyelashes of his at me.

"Hey little buddy, where's your mommy?" He yips and claps his hands before pointing at me.

I look up at Rosie with utter horror on my face, but his screams the complete opposite.

Annnnnd here we go again with the sluts. It's gotta happen I guess.

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