season 5 episode 21 & episode 22
"Chicken." Alex responded as he, Meredith, Cristina, and George ate the food for Meredith's reception, "Good chicken."
"Yeah," Meredith and Cristina spoke at the same time, "chicken."
"I know it's chicken." Izzie rolled her eyes, "I want to know what it tastes like."
"Tastes like chicken." Alex shrugged as he ate more.
Izzie sighed, looking at the group, "I'm having surgery today."
"Maybe." Bailey corrected, "If the mets have shrunk."
"I am maybe having surgery today," Izzie remarked, "And as such, I cannot taste the chicken for myself, so I really need you guys to tell me what it tastes like. I need to nail down this dinner so I can announce it on Meredith and Derek's wedding web site."
Holly snorted as she walked around Izzie's bed with Bailey to update Izzie's chart and Meredith almost choked on the chicken, "There's a web site?"
"So can you please be a little more articulate than just chicken?" Izzie gasped as she saw Derek walk out of the bathroom, "Yay! Oh, that's the one."
Holly chuckled as Izzie took a picture and Bailey laughed, "Very dapper, Dr. Shepherd."
Derek nodded at Bailey before looking over at Izzie, "You're serious about this? It's not some cruel joke?"
"You look fantastic." Izzie smiled, taking more pictures, "He looks fantastic, right?"
George and Meredith nodded, "Yeah."
Holly shrugged, "Sure."
"Uh," Cristina tiredly looked back, "whatever."
As Derek went back to change, Meredith, Cristina, and George said goodbye before leaving and Izzie stared at Alex, "So?"
Alex nodded, "Pork." He gave her a kiss before leaving, which made Izzie stare at the intern and resident.
Bailey turned around slowly and saw Izzie staring at them, "Fine." She walked over to the tray, "I'll taste the chicken. Kepner--"
"Already on it." Holly nodded, walking over to grab the chicken.
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"Dr. Bailey," Holly sighed as they walked towards Izzie's room after taking Izzie's scans and finding new mats, not to mention Izzie's "limited" mother had come to visit Izzie, "how are we gonna go in there a-and lie--"
"We have to." Bailey nodded, her hand on Izzie's door as she looked at the intern, "Our patient wants to be comfortable and, right now, she isn't with her worried 'limited' mother pacing around." Bailey inhaled deeply, "So we have to go in there and do what's best for our patient, can you do that?" Holly nodded, "Good."
Holly breathed in and out before nodding at Dr. Bailey again and walked inside once she opened the door.
"Okay," Dr. Bailey announced, a smile plastered on both of their faces, "uh, good news. Great news."
"The cancer's practically gone." Holly smiled at Izzie's mother, "It looks like your psychic back home was right, Mrs. Stevens."
Bailey nodded, "Looks like we caught it early after all."
"Oh!" Izzie's mother cried in relief, "Oh, thank you God! Thank you. Oh, my baby. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, thank you," She walked over to the doctors and gave them a hug, "thank you, thank you. Oh, thank you!"
"Oh." Bailey laughed.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you. Mm." Izzie's mother let go, "But I knew it." She laughed, "Didn't I? I knew it." She leaned down, holding Izzie's cheek in one hand, "I knew because you're my cricket. Nothing can happen to you."
Izzie tightened her smile, knowing Bailey and Holly were lying as she pulled her mom into a hug with tears in her eyes, "I love you, mom."
"Oh, I love you, too, my baby girl." Her mother sighed, "I love you so, so much." Holly wiped a small tear that came out and Bailey felt her eyes begin to water so she looked away, "God," Izzie's mother sniffled, "look at me. I must be a mess." She laughed, "Well, I'm gonna go clean up, okay? And then, uh, and then I'm gonna call Jade... and Mrs. Norris, too. I got them all so worried. Oh."
Once Izzie's mother shut the door to the bathroom, Izzie paused as she looked at the ground before glancing at her doctors, "Just tell me."
"The mets have shrunk some." Bailey recalled.
"But there are new mets, too." Holly added, "Several of them are in the small bowel."
Izzie sighed, wiping away a tear, "No surgery, then."
"Oh," Bailey corrected, "I'm gonna operate. I'm going to take out absolutely everything I can, be as aggressive as I can, and then we'll take it from there."
Izzie nodded, her tears flowing, "Okay."
Bailey assured, "Okay."
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"Holly," George smiled, running up to his girlfriend with a huge smile on his face, "I'm on Hunt's service for the rest of the month-- the guy's incredible. He saved a guy that shouldn't be alive-- seventeen bullets. He has one lung, one kidney left-- it's amazing. Trauma," He laughed, "is amazing. Oh," He noted, "and never say it's a slow day in the pit, it's practically like saying MacBeth or something in the theatre."
"That's great." Holly smiled, turning around to face him as she wiped off a few tears, "T-That's great."
"Holl--"
"Izzie's got new mets on her small bowel." Holly revealed, causing George's smile to fade slowly as she shrugged, bringing up her hands to show the scarf she was knitting, "And I can't knit for the life of me."
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holly really just said my knitting skills suck and im sad cause i can't knit anything for izzie
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"You should see the bridesmaids' dresses, Dr. Bailey." Izzie smiled as Holly made Izzie follow her finger before using an otoscope, "Oh, and the flowers-- they're being delivered at 5:00. I had to pay extra for them to decorate the church, but Derek gave me his credit card, told me to do what I had to do, so..." She laughed as she grabbed Alex's hand, "it's gonna be perfect."
"How's her blood pressure?" Alex asked Dr. Bailey.
"Within normal limits." Dr. Bailey nodded.
"And her incision site?"
Holly answered, "As expected two weeks after surgery."
"Well," Alex remarked, "she just got off the I.L.-2 thirty-eight hours ago. She could still have--"
"Her mets are gone," Izzie responded, "her blood pressure's fine, her incision doesn't hurt. She's doing well. It's wedding day, and I am going to the wedding. I'm a bridesmaid. I'm going. Right," She looked to her right, "Bailey?"
Bailey nodded again, "I said you could go."
"Wedding day!" Izzie smiled brightly, bringing her hand up for a high-five, "Up top, Alex."
Alex got off of Izzie's bed and leaned over to kiss her forehead, "I'll check on you later."
"Come on." She brought her elevated hand up to Bailey, "Don't leave me hanging, Bailey. Wedding day."
Bailey chuckled softly, "Wedding day."
Izzie shook her head, "You just did that 'cause I have cancer. You didn't mean it."
Bailey shrugged, "True."
"Come on." Izzie groaned as Holly chuckled, "Holl, up top."
Holly smiled, giving Izzie a high-five, "Wedding day!"
"There's the spirit!"
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Holly sighed in the elevator as Derek walked inside. Since it was only the two of them, Holly told him, "This day sucks."
Derek scoffed, "It's my wedding day, you're invited." He nodded, "Cheer up."
"I will when it's fine." Holly shrugged, groaning as the elevator door opened and the other interns quickly flooded it as Derek and Holly pushed their way out of it. Once they were out, Holly gestured behind herself, "That is why this day sucks." She sighed, "I'm gonna drown in a pool of my own self-pity."
Derek chuckled, "Why?"
"Everyone, and when I say everyone I mean everyone, is being paged to the pit for some massive trauma because Callie said it was going slow and I can't go 'cause I haven't been paged." Holly complained, slouching down slightly.
"Mm." Derek hummed, "You wanna know why you weren't paged?"
"Hmm?"
"'Cause we're gonna work on a craniotomy and you're gonna scrub in and watch."
Holly perked up, "Really?"
"Yup." Derek smiled, handing Holly the chart she recently noted was in his hands, "If you stop complaining, I might let you suction."
Holly smiled back, eagerly grabbing the chart, "Thank you."
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Holly chewed on a piece of celery as she read the chart before looking up at Derek, who was approaching her after visiting Izzie, "So when are we--" She stopped herself, noticing the glum look on his face, "we're not doing the craniotomy... are we?"
Derek shook his head, "We need to order an M.R.I. for Izzie and page Bailey."
Holly sighed, nodding as she put away the chart, "Right away."
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"Look." Derek gestured at the M.R.I. scans for Izzie to look at as Holly stood behind her and Bailey sat down.
"I'm looking," Izzie frowned her eyebrows, "but I don't see anything."
"Because there's nothing there." Derek enlarged the scan, "The scan's clean."
Bailey nodded, "I told you."
Holly smiled, "The scan's clean."
"Then why is Denny back?" Izzie noted, "The man's a hallucination. That means there has to be something there."
"Look," Bailey started, "Izzie, i-if it's clear, then..."
Izzie sighed, turning her head to Bailey, "I want to go to this wedding. I want to watch the bride walk down the aisle. I want to hear the vows. I want to catch the bouquet. I planned this wedding down to the very last detail. It's the perfect wedding. This wedding..." She placed a hand on her chest as she looked at the three doctors, "is perfect. You know how much I want to be there. So why would I tell you about Denny, today of all days? Why wouldn't I just wait? Denny is back. That means something is there."
"Well," Bailey exhaled, "it's not like we can just... map the brain for hallucinations the way we do a seizure."
Holly frowned her eyebrows, coming up with an idea, "Wait..."
"Wait a minute." Derek chuckled, an idea already in his head as he faced Izzie, "What are hallucinations?"
"Hallucinations are neurons firing in the brain." Izzie shrugged.
"Exactly."
Bailey tilted her head, "Why?"
"Well," Derek explained, "it's never been done before, but if we can somehow induce your hallucination, there's a chance--"
"We could pick it up on an E.E.G." Holly smiled.
"Exactly, Dr. Kepner." Derek nodded, "Then we could pinpoint the part of the brain that's hallucinating."
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"So..." Izzie exhaled as Holly placed the wires on her head, "now what? I just try to have a hallucination?"
"Pretty much." Holly nodded as Derek hummed.
Izzie shrugged, "Okay."
"Stevens," Bailey asked from behind Derek as Holly continued to place the wires, "is it always Denny? I mean, no one else?"
"Yeah." Izzie nods.
"Mm."
"What?"
"Oh, no, nothing," Bailey shakes her head, "It makes sense. He's the man you love."
"He's not the man I love." Izzie corrected.
"He's not?"
"Well," Izzie sighed, "I mean, I... I love Denny. I will always love Denny. He means a lot to me. I... but I think I hallucinate Denny because I associate him with death and dying. When I think about my future-- who I am now, who I wanna be, how I want to spend the rest of my life, when you get that flutter in your chest--" Izzie smiled warmly, making Derek and Holly smile as they thought of their own significant other, "Alex." Izzie nodded, "Alex is the man I love."
Bailey smiled, "Karev."
Izzie chuckled, "I love Alex Karev." She inhaled deeply as Holly brought her seat back, "So... let's find this tumor and get it out of me. So that we can have our perfect wedding-- a wedding not wasted on two people who don't appreciate weddings."
Holly and Bailey chuckled as Holly walked back to look at the monitor and Derek squinted at Izzie, "I can hear you."
"I know you can hear me." Izzie rolled her eyes, "I mean for you to hear me." Derek cleared his throat and Izzie turned her head at the group, "What if I can't make him appear?"
"We'll wait until he appears."
"Well," Izzie reasoned, "you have to be at the church in two hours. It could take more than two hours."
"I'll be late." Derek shrugged.
"What?" Holly shook her head, "You can't be late."
"No. No being late." Izzie leaned back in the chair, "I'll make him appear. I can do this." She inhaled deeply before whispering, "Come on, Denny."
After a few minutes of waiting, Holly had yet to remove her eyes from the monitor as she waited for any type of spike to occur.
"All the times I didn't ask for you, and you were here." Izzie whispered as she complained at Denny, "Now I'm asking, please. Please come to me now. Please help me now. Come on. Come on, Denny. Just-- you come to me now." She sighed, "Denny."
Dr. Bailey kept her eyes on Izzie, who was groaning each time she opened her eyes to not see Denny.
"Denny. Denny!"
"There." Holly jumped up, pointing at the monitor and looking at Derek.
Derek nodded with a smile, "It's right there."
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Derek sighed sadly as Dr. Bailey and Holly took a look at the scans. "These the results of the Tesla Seven M.R.I." Bailey asked.
"Yeah." Derek sighed, "You know that part of the brain that reacted during the hallucination?"
Holly nodded and Bailey spoke, "Yeah."
"It was the other temporal lobe." Derek enlarged a scan.
"That..." Bailey trailed off.
"That small little dot's the tumor?" Holly questioned.
"Yeah." Derek nodded, "Tiny. Too small to pick up on a normal M.R.I."
"But..." Bailey sighed, "o-okay, if it's that small, how are you gonna get to it?"
Derek's silence was enough of an answer for the two women and Holly shook her head, "N-No." She looked back at the scans, "There has to be a way to get at it."
Derek shook his head lightly, "I wish there was something I could do for her. I wish I could... I like Stevens. She's one of the good ones. I wish there was something I could do for her."
Bailey paused, thinking of an idea, "I, um..." She turned her head, "I know something you could do."
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"Red," Mark noted as Holly and George sat next to Lexie and him at the church, "you clean up nice."
Holly smiled and shrugged, "You don't look half bad, I guess, Dr. Sloan"
"You kidding?" Mark scoffed, looking down at himself, "I look hot." He nudged Lexie, "Tell her I--"
"Oh, look." George pointed behind him, "They're starting."
Holly chuckled as everyone stood up and watched as the doors opened to reveal Izzie, in a white poofy dress, walking down the aisle with purple flowers in her hands.
Everyone watched with smiles as Izzie slowly walked down the aisle-- except Holly frowned her eyebrows when she noted Izzie was walking with a bit of a stumble.
Izzie's smile slowly faded as she looked down at the ground in front of her and Holly nudged George, "George..." He looked back at her and she nodded her head at the blonde, "Go."
George nodded and walked out, offering a hand for Izzie to take as Derek, Bailey, and the Chief went back to their seats, "Take my hand." Izzie smiled, grabbing George's hand as she walked down the aisle with his help before he passed her off to Alex and walked back to witness a momentous occasion.
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bro... the next five chapters... O O F