𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓, 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑛

𝒊𝒙.

season 3, episode 1

meredith and her house mates, minus athena, are all crowded around outside the bathroom door. izzie had shut herself in there since last night. all of them, besides athena, had tried to get her out of the bathroom, and all of them had failed. athena comes down from her bedroom which was located in the attic and looks at all her friends who are staring at her.

"okay stop staring at me you freaks. just ask." they all look at her and act clueless. "you guys want me to talk to her. i'm not stupid."

"well.. it might help? i mean you know how to handle stuff like this."

"stuff like this? like death? cause i killed my brother, right?"

"that's not what we meant. you just might be able to help her. we all know you don't like her and we get it but please? just try?" alex almost begs. not that he'd admit it or anything.

"woah, alex karev, begging? i like it." she smirks at him before opening the door. the interns try and peer in to see whats going on but athena glares at them and shuts the door in their faces. athena looks over to izzie and sees her lying on the floor, still in her prom dress. athena lays next to her and looks at izzie. "you know this floor is gross, right? pretty sure doc has taken multiple dumps on it." athena jokes, trying to lighten the mood slightly. it works as izzie smiles a little.

"what are you doing in here athena? i know you hate me. and you should." athena shrugs, and gets more comfortable on the floor, having a feeling that she might be lying here a while.
"well, it's not a secret that you're not my favourite person in the world anymore. but i don't hate you, not as much as i did at least. you were trying to save denny, it's understandable. you loved him, but izzie he loved you too. he wouldn't want you to be lying on this nasty ass floor." both girls sit in silence for a moment before izzie begins to talk.

"sometimes..sometimes i can still hear his voice. it's like.. it's like he isn't dead and he's still here, talking to me as if nothing ever happened."

"yeah, thats the grief talking. sometimes i still think i can hear zephyr, like he's not really dead and i can just text or call him about my day and everything is normal. but it's not, and it might never feel normal again. but that's okay. you'll heal and soon he'll just be a thought in the back of your mind. you'll always love him iz and that's okay."

izzie clears her throat. "does it..does it go away?"

athena smiles at her sadly. "the grief? no, it's always there. it will always be a part of you no matter what, it just only gets slightly better. but, it's also good. it means you still care about them, you still love them. it helps to keep them alive, even when they're gone."

"how did you do it? with your brother? i mean you were all alone, you had your family but they weren't there, in the accident with you, they didn't feel the same grief you did."