IF YOU HAD ASKED Courtney at the beginning of her internship, if she ever would have stood in front of the Chief for doing something illegal, she would have told you that you were insane. She was a responsible girl that would never ever do something stupid that could jeopardize her future. She had a plan, a good plan. Her future was pretty clear when she started out as a young, inexperienced intern at Seattle Grace. She would do her internship there, pass her intern exam with flying colors. She would move on to residency, be the best residents that her interns would ever have and maybe ( possibly ) be Chief Resident. After those 4-5 years, she would finally be an attending. She would have made it! She would most likely do a fellowship to give her that extra edge of her fellow attendings. Her dream goal was to be the Chief of surgery. Could you imagine that? Courtney Grey being the Chief of surgery! Her life, career wise, was all planned out.
Her social life? Well, that wasn't as planned out. In that field, she had only hopes and dreams, things that might happen, but could also not. She hoped that by the time that she was an attending that she would have someone next to her that understood her and that was there for her no matter what. She hoped that have someone that loved her unconditionally. But she knew that those dreams could not come out, so she was also prepared to do all of that by herself. She still had Meredith to count on after all. It wasn't like she would all alone, right?
However, life was full of mysteries and surprises. Being pulled into the whole Denny drama was definitely a surprise. She had not planned for that to happen. She also hadn't planned to stand in front of the Chief in line with her fellow interns. She stood next to Alex, almost at the end of the line. Izzie, luckily, was standing for away from her ( not that Courtney was going to say that out loud of course. "I cut the LVAD wire." Izzie spoke up, after a long and awkward silence. Richard Webber had just been standing there, staring at them, waiting for one of them to crack.
They were stronger than that.
"Actually, I cut the LVAD wire." Meredith said as she looked at the Chief. Their little plan had gone into motion. Before walking in, they had all decided that they were not going to let Izzie take all the blame. Courtney, Alex and Cristina had been a bit hesitant. They were the ones that weren't totally on board and needed to be convinced. They were the ones that would actually turn Izzie in if they could.
The torch was then passed over to George, who went along like it was nothing. Courtney was dreading her moment to shine. Did it not physically hurt them to say that they had cut the wire? Were they not feeling the guilt that she was feeling? They did steal a heart and were basically getting away with it. "No. I did it. I'm the one who cut the wire."
It was Cristina's turn, but she didn't say anything. George nudged her and after giving him a glare, she spoke the dreadful words. "Fine. I cut the wire."
Oh god, it was Courtney's time to speak up and make sure that Izzie didn't lose her internship. Did she want to do that though? Courtney wouldn't be upset to see Izzie go. She did after all cut a patient's LVAD wire and stole a heart from another patient. She deceived UNOS. She fell in love with a patient. This was honestly such a mess and nobody could see the light at the end of the tunnel. "They didn't do it," This hurt her so much. "I was the one that the cut wire."
Alex was the bravest of them all. "I didn't do anything! I'm totally innocent," The moment that those words left his lips, the other interns were yelling at him. Even Courtney joined in, even though he was her best friend. He was not going to get away that easily. If she had to say those awful four words, so should he. "I wasn't even here. He knows I wasn't here. You think he doesn't know that? The guy's not mentally challenged."
"That's not the point. What about loyalty?"
"We made a an agreement."
"I'm in this and so are you! You can't back out now, Alex!" Courtney pointed her finger at Alex, squinting her eyes at him. They all started arguing and yelling at each other. They were all blaming the other and throwing words around. It could have developed even further, but the Chief stopped the six interns in time.
"People! I know who did this. So, you might as well come clean. I know," Richard tried to play it strategically. But in reality, he didn't know. He only had his suspicions and the interns were quick on their feet to point that out. He also didn't have any proof to hold any of them accountable. He had nothing. "Well, one of you compromised a patient's life. One of you stole an organ. One of you jeopardized the integrity of this hospital and of UNOS. Now, you tell me, and you tell me right now!" Everybody kept quiet, even though it hurt for some of them. "All right, fine. No surgeries."
"Sir?" Cristina looked shocked.
"You heard what I said. No surgeries. No one scrubs in, no one watches from the gallery, no one so much as goes near the OR floor. Until someone confesses, the five of you will share a single patient: Camille Travis. Whatever she wants, the five of you will provide it! Whatever she wants. Now, get the hell out of my sight!" With their heads hanging low, the group of interns left the conference room. As they were outside, they shared a look of sadness and disappointment. No surgeries? That was the most fun to do and what all of them looked forward to the moment they stepped inside the hospital. Even though they were sad about that part, they were still glad that at least they weren't fired, which George pointed out to them.
"He might as well have. No surgeries?" Cristina disagreed.
"That wasn't bad. We got off easy." Meredith let out a deep sigh as she quickly glanced over at her sister. Courtney was listening with her arms crossed, carefully thinking about what she was going to say.
"Yeah, for now. You think this is over?"
"I could really use a good coma right now. A nice, long coma." George went with his hands through his hair.
"Yeah, wake me up when all of this is over, please. A good night sleep seems quite nice and is just the thing that I need." Courtney let out a dry laugh as she agreed with George. The two of them shared a look, before nodding at each other. Cristina then said that she had only three careers that she ever wanted and she wasn't about to lose the one that was the most realistic.
"I will go back and tell him. I will tell him it was me." Izzie spoke up, trying to make everything alright. She still didn't realize that she wasn't the only guilty one there. Sure, she had done the thing that started it all and would get punished the most, the others were still her accomplices. Meredith was quick to tell her to keep her mouth shut. She wasn't going to tell anyone anything, nobody was.
"This is crap. I'm turning her in!" Alex had had enough and received a look from Meredith. It was one of those that said stop it. "What? You were the one who said we had to stand by Izzie. But now I get stuck catering some V.I.P chick patient? I don't think so," Izzie jumped in and expressed how grateful she was for what he did for Denny. "Oh, shut up. Look, the only reason I lied to Burke is because I wanted in on that transplant surgery. I don't care about Denny and I hope you get thrown out on your ass."
Courtney wanted to voice her opinion and say how much she agreed with Alex, but something stopped her from opening her mouth. Instead she stared ahead looking at some blank, white walls. She just wanted – maybe even needed – a break from all of this drama, but it never came. Would she ever feel a moment of peace? "Hey! We stick together. You know, we all did this. Nobody's a victim. We... we stick together," Everyone looked at Cristina, strangely. What kind of thing possessed her? She had never been the type of person to cheer for togetherness and sticking together. "Damn it."
"Hey, Cristina, blink twice if you need help. Or don't blink if you have been possessed." Courtney spoke, with a hint of a smile on her lips. Cristina gave her a look and then blinked really fast to mess with the blonde girl.
"We can handle this. Camille Travis is a kid with cancer. So, we give her whatever she wants for a couple of days. How hard can that be?" George tried to be positive as he attempted to cheer everyone up. Before he knew it, Bailey and two random girls stood behind them. It was then that they got the full report of what they were expected to do. Camille Travis was no ordinary girl: she happened to be the Chief's niece who wanted nothing more than to go to prom. Due to the interns' big mishap, they were the ones who were going to be planning that prom.
While George and Alex followed Natalie and Claire – Camille's best friends – to a conference room and tried to pin down how the prom would be looking like, Cristina, Courtney and Meredith were standing outside in the hall, watching the two slowly lose their minds. "I didn't like teenage girls when I was a teenage girl." Cristina said as she was judging the teenagers being giddy about deciding their prom theme.
"I wore a lot of black, while Court over here looked like she was running for class president," Meredith laughed as she rubbed her sister's arm softly. Courtney rolled her eyes as she laughed along. High school, well, let's say that she was happy that she was out of there. She had had terrible friends, who dropped her at the sight of popularity. Every boy that she had had a crush on either had no idea who she was or dumped her after a month. High school meant a lot of pretending. She had been a sad teen who wanted nothing than to fit in. She had made it out alive, but that didn't mean that she was left unscarred. "Oh, and do you remember your bangs? Sophomore year, she decided that she could totally rock bangs and since mother was to busy to bring her to the hairdressers, she cut them herself."
"That wasn't a great look, but it still wore it for the rest of high school. Oh god, what was I thinking." Courtney buried her face into her hands as she remembered the terrible fashion mistakes that she had made when she was a teenager.
"Even though I didn't have bangs, I did have the whole angry pink hair thing going on. I wouldn't have been caught dead at prom."
"Oh, my mother made me go. My date barfed on my dress and then tried to feel me up." Cristina shared her prom horror story.
"I actually wanted to go. I thought that if I went, I would be a normal teen and suddenly boys would be dropping like flies before me," Courtney sighed as she thought back to 17-year-old Courtney wearing a light blue dress which she had had to buy with her own money, since her mother didn't want to pay for it. "I went with this one guy from my mathematics class – Robert was his name I think. It went alright for the first half of the night, until I found him making out with his ex-girlfriend. To make it all better, a bunch of girls then accidentally bumped into me and spilled punch all over my dress. I had to walk all the way home with big stains on my dress."
"There's a lot to be said for being an adult."
☤☤☤
Courtney felt like her insides were slowly burning up and exploding inside of her stomach. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this nervous. Oh, wait, she could now. There had been numerous times where her stomach had been hurting due to all the stress. For example, in her senior year of high school, during exam season, she had felt so sick to her stomach that she almost had to throw up. She had been so afraid that she would fail her exams and that she then wouldn't be able to graduate. Also, not knowing if she had gotten into certain colleges had caused her lots of stress as well. Over the years, she had gotten better at keeping the stress at bay, but as she sat in front of the Chief of surgery she struggled.
The moment that she had gotten a page that requested her presence in a conference room, Courtney had gone pale. Leaving the setlist for prom for what it was, she had walked over to the room, going over and over of what she was going to say. It had been a toss up between telling the Chief what had happened and keeping quiet, like all the others had probably done as well. The reason that she wanted to reveal the truth was, because that way, she thought that it would all turn out okay. Nobody would get punished, except for Izzie. Everyone else would be safe. She would have saved everyone's careers, but would they see it that way?
Maybe they would think that she betrayed them.
She still didn't know what she was going to do as Richard was staring her down with a stern look in his eyes. He hadn't said a word to her since she had entered a couple of minutes ago. So, now, they were sitting there, staring at each other in total silence. Courtney was fidgeting with her hands as she smiled awkwardly at the Chief. Was it supposed to be this way? Had he been this quiet with the others? She was the last one that had to go, but hadn't heard from the others what had went down.
After which seemed like ages, Richard finally spoke up. "You're a smart and responsible young woman, Courtney. I know that you didn't cut those wires," Courtney looked away and refused to meet his eyes. "Everything will feel better after you tell me who cut Denny Duquette's LVAD wires."
Courtney folded her hands over her lap and looked straight at the man in front of her. "When I walked in here and sat before you, I had the intention to tell you all about what happened in that room. I would have told you who had fired the starting shot and you would have punished that person accordingly, but now," She licked her lips. "I can't do what I was supposed to do, even though my conscience is telling me that I should do it. My heart is winning in this debate. I might be a responsible young woman and I could live without my friends, I guess, but that's not what I want. I don't want them to hate me for doing, well, the right thing. I don't want to betray their trust. After this is all over, I want them to still like me and talk to me. I'm not ready to sign myself up for a lonely life like my mother. I want to have a life where people love me and want me around them. So, I'm sorry, Chief, but I won't be telling you what you want to know."
Not waiting for an answer, she pushed her chair back and left the room. The moment that the door closed behind her, she felt her heart fell. She hoped that her friends were happy. She had endangered her career even more to protect a girl that put a patient's life in jeopardy. Her mind was going into overdrive and she felt like she was going to crash any second, but she kept strong. She took a few deep breaths, before walking away from the conference room with her hands in her coat pockets. In the distance she saw the familiar figure of her best friend. "Glad that you made it out alive," Alex said. "Did you tell?"
"I was very close, but no. Everyone's second favourite blonde gets to stay here for a little while longer."
"Izzie is very lucky that she got all of us. If it had been anyone else, I bet you that they would've snitched on her the second they realized what she was doing," Alex looked ahead in the distance. "I still don't even know why I didn't tell the Chief. I think I might have lost some braincells in that whole process."
Courtney looked at the man beside her. "Maybe we care too much. We don't show it all the time, but we do. Once we have people in our lives, we don't let them go. We do things we normally wouldn't do just because we want to keep them safe," Alex didn't reply as it seemed like he got caught up in his own little world. "But maybe you're right. Maybe it has nothing to do with caring and we just lost our braincells the moment we stepped foot in this hospital. I mean, which sane person decides to help someone steal a heart?" They walked together in silence, until Courtney stopped walking and tugged on Alex' arm. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure."
"What do you know about the guy that was originally supposed to get the heart?" Courtney carefully asked him. That question had been plaguing her mind ever since the reality of what they had done set it. Aside from those higher up, Alex seemed like the only one who was going to be able to answer her question.
"Why do you want to know? Denny got the heart, so does it really matter who would've gotten the heart if Izzie hadn't done what she did?"
Courtney bit on the inside of her lip, pondering how she could make Alex give her the information. She just needed to know whose heart they had stolen. Would it make her feel better? Most definitely not, but Alex didn't need to know that. Nobody did. "Please, Alex, I just want to know. It's not like I'm going to do anything with it. I just want to know the full story."
He looked at her oddly and was hesitant to tell her what Hahn had said to him about the original receiver of the heart. "Denny got the heart and he's doing alright, so why bother with the what if question?" She looked at him with a pleading look in her ocean blue eyes. Alex ended up cracking. "Fine, but don't forget that all of this is all over now. We can't do anything about it anymore," The blonde nodded, saying that she understood. "Hahn said that he had two young kids and that he had been waiting for a heart for a while, but that's all she said."
"Oh, okay, thanks Alex." She faked a smile and looked at her shoes for a second, before holding her head high again. Knowing that the other man who had needed a heart had children made their deed even worse. Oh, how she wished that she could rewind time and decide to never answer George's page.
To lighten up the sour mood, Alex brought up the subject that everyone and their mother was talking about in this hospital: prom. Richard had earlier announced that everyone had to go, since his wife had made him go as well. "Do you have anyone to go with?"
"To the prom? What do you think?"
"That answers my question then. Since we both don't have anyone to bring, why don't we take each other? I honestly don't want to waste a decent chick on this."
"Oh okay, ouch?" Courtney laughed, not taking it very seriously. She understood where he was coming from. Most people that they knew had someone to take by default: Cristina had Burke – well, he was in the hospital as a patient currently, so she didn't really know how that was going to work -, Meredith had Finn and George had Callie – but they were threading on fine ice, so they probably weren't going together. Then there were Courtney and Alex, who were both single and would actually have to look for a date.
"What? Are you saying no? You gonna go stag?"
"Hold up, when did I say no to going with you?"
"So you're saying yes?"
"Yes, I am. I don't think I can find a date that fast."
"Great, it would be more fun with you anyway."
"Aw, Alex, that's so kind of you. My heart is melting."
"Don't get used to this kindness. It's only for today," Courtney rolled her eyes, knowing that wasn't true. "I think it would be best that we meet up here, around 6:30, good?" Courtney nodded. She was glad that she didn't have to invest her time into finding someone. Courtney then said her goodbye and walked away to help finish up the last few things of their hospital prom.
☤☤☤
Courtney stepped outside of her car, making sure that her prom dress didn't get stuck between the doors. After she and the others had finished up all the preparations for the hospital prom, they had been allowed to go home to get changed. She had gone home together with Meredith and had helped her sister pick a dress. Once Meredith had chosen her dress, Courtney had gone back to her room to get ready, while being on the phone with Callie the whole time. They helped each other chooses dresses even though they couldn't see how said dress looked like. It was lots of describing and failing to get the other to see how it looked like, while pointing at dresses on hangers. After a half an hour, they had made a decision and Callie talked to Courtney about her problems with George. Apparently, Callie had told him that she loved him and he should have called him back that night.
However, that never happened since he had been pulled into the Izzie/Denny situation. Courtney had defended George about why he hadn't been able to call back, without spilling the secret and seeming like Callie didn't deserve to know. She wanted to tell her, but she didn't want to drag her friend into the whole mess. Even though it hurt, it was best for Callie to stay out of it. After the subject was dropped, Courtney went on to hype Callie up and make her see how great that she was. Just because George hadn't told her that he loved her didn't mean that she was not good enough. He would be dumb to not fall in love with her.
Meredith got out on the other side, having gone with her sister together. Since they were both meeting their dates there, they thought it would be best if they drove together. Besides, if Meredith wanted to leave either earlier or later than her sister, Finn would hopefully drive them. The oldest sister waited for her younger to meet her, before she made her way over to the entrance. "You look beautiful, Court." Meredith said as she glanced at her sister again.
"Oh, shush, so do you, Mer. Finn won't know what hit him," They walked through the double doors leading into Seattle Grace. "I'm happy for you, by the way. You deserve a kind man, who isn't married to someone else. Even though I have only talked with Finn a handful of times, he seems like a really good guy."
"Yeah, he is."
Alex' back was facing them. Before nearing Alex, Courtney pressed a kiss to her sister's cheek and told her to enjoy her evening with Finn. Meredith squeezed her sister's hand and made her way down to the prom area to meet up her date. "Hey, if you're waiting for someone to show then it's best that you face the entrance." Courtney greeted Alex with her hands on her hips.
Alex turned around and tried to hide his surprise for how pretty she looked. He had gotten so used to see her in either some blue scrubs or some jeans and a blouse that it felt odd to see her wearing a gown. He had always known that his best friend was pretty, but seeing her dressed up like that accentuated it even more. Courtney was wearing a dark red, off the shoulder dress which touched the ground, which meant that she had to hold it up a bit or she would trip over it with her heels. "You look decent."
"Decent? Alex, please, admit that I look good as hell."
"Don't make me lie." Courtney slapped his shoulder, letting out a laugh.
"Fine then. I think I should mention that the suit makes you look like a troll who just left his cave for the first time. Maybe I should hand out some buckets, so that the floor doesn't get vomited on when people see you."
"You really went there, huh. Here I thought that you were my friend." They walked down the stairs, making their way over to the dance floor. An upbeat song was playing and lots of people were breaking it down on the dance floor. Courtney spotted her sister dancing with Finn and a smile crept onto her face. Her sister looked genuinely happy, while Finn couldn't keep his eyes off of her.
"I'm just being honest. Isn't that a quality that you want in a friend?"
"Oh shut up."
They joined all the other couples on the dance floor and danced to every song that was playing. From upbeat, happy songs to the slow, romantic ones. The latter were those where they couldn't stop laughing and probably looked like a couple of fools. The only time that they left the area was to get some drinks. The two of them were having a good time and Courtney felt more happy than she had been for a while. Maybe everything would turn out alright in the end. Maybe this was the point where things were only going to go up.
As they were swaying on the dance floor, they gossiped about everyone in attendance. "Oh wow, is that girl number five or six now?" Courtney wondered as her eyes landed on one of the cardio surgeons. He was number two, right after Burke. When people didn't get Preston, they would usually go to him. He was pretty rude and had a terrible attitude, but somehow managed to seduce lots of ladies. What they saw in him, she absolutely had no idea.
"Isn't she number seven? I heard he broke up with number six earlier this week," Alex spotted someone else in the crowd. "Hey, look, even she brought someone to the prom. Poor guy, who would want to be with her?"
He twirled Courtney around, so that she could see who he was talking about, before he pulled her back to face him. He had been talking about one of the other interns who belonged to another resident. She had been dancing with some guy that Courtney hadn't recognized. It was probably her boyfriend, since they seemed quite close. Courtney had talked to the girl in question a couple of times, when they were waiting in line for MRI's. She had seemed quite nice to her. "Are you still bitter that she stole that one surgery from you? Alex, come on, that was months ago."
"But she still rubs it in my face. She bothers me." It should also be mentioned that Alex tried to ask her out one time, but she rejected him. He wasn't her type, she had said, she didn't like assholes who jumped from girl to girl. Courtney hadn't been able to stop laughing when Alex had told her about it. Alex twirled his friend around again, right when Meredith left the dancefloor and Derek then went after her. She didn't see Finn and Addison standing there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. They continued to dance for which seemed like ages. It was getting later into the night, when someone came up to them and stopped them from enjoying the rest of their night.
A nurse told them that Denny had passed away not that long ago and that Izzie wouldn't leave his side. She didn't want to get out of the bed, which meant that the nurses couldn't do their job. The others had been notified as well. The two friends shared a look, before quickly leaving the prom to go to the now deceased patient's room. As they made their way down there, Courtney felt sick to her stomach. They had stolen a heart for nothing. Someone could have gotten that heart and lived out the rest of his days with his family. But Denny had gotten it instead and barely lasted two days with it. Oh, what had they done?
"Izzie, that's not Denny." Alex said as he entered the room with Courtney behind him. She stayed with the others, while he neared the distressed blonde. Courtney didn't know what she should say, so she just kept quiet. Her brain was going to fast to register a normal and sincere response. "Iz, that's not Denny. The minute his heart stopped beating, he stopped being Denny. Now, I know you love him, but he also loved you. And a guy that loves you like that, he doesn't want you to do this to yourself. Because it's not Denny. Not anymore."
"An hour ago he was proposing. And now...And now he's going to the morgue. Isn't that ridiculous?" Izzie started sobbing uncontrollably, while everyone looked at her with sympathy. "Isn't that the most ridiculous piece of crap you've ever heard?" Alex leaned closer to the blonde and picked her up from the bed. Holding her in his arms, he sat down on one of the couches to comfort her. They sat there for a while, until Izzie was calmed down. Cristina had been the only one to leave, while everyone else stayed in the room with Izzie. She was probably going to see Burke.
Once Izzie felt the tiniest bit better, Courtney suggested that it might be best for them to go home. Staying in the hospital any longer would only cause her more pain. Alex held onto Izzie, while the others followed them from behind. They stayed silent the whole way down to the where the party was happening. The Chief, their resident and Derek with Addison and Finn saw them head down the stairs. Izzie stopped in front of Webber. "It was me. I cut his LVAD wire. I did it. No one helped me. And now...I thought I was a surgeon, but...I can't. I thought I was a surgeon, but I'm not. So I quit."
Courtney followed the two men and Izzie out of the hospital, while Meredith stayed behind. The youngest Grey drove everyone back to their home, before separating from them. Alex and George didn't leave Izzie by herself, while Courtney went up to her room. She needed to be alone for a bit, since she couldn't look at her friends without feeling guilty. They had stolen a heart from another person and the person who they stole it for died. Courtney stared out of her window as she was rubbing over her arms, trying to comfort herself. She was blinking away the tears as one question kept flying around in her mind.
What had they done?
What had they done?
What had they done?
☤☤☤
BAM, SEASON 2 IS FINALLY DONE!
WE DID IT, EVERYONE! We finally made it past season 2! I do really apologise for taking so long hahaha, but it's better late than never right? So, now, we finally get to see our dear Courtney into season 3, which will also mark the end of this book BUT don't worry that doesn't mean it's the end of Courtney! I am super, super excited for season 3 (and the later seasons)! I've got next season all planned out and prepare yourself hahaha. We'll go through some things next season, both good and bad, but i'm looking forward to it and I hope that you are too!!
So, let me know what you thought of this chapter! Also, what are you most looking forward to in season 3?