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CHAPTER FIFTY NINE elevator love letter. season five, episode nineteen.
author's note — the song i mention at the end of the chapter is called can't smile without you by barry manilow! i recommend playing it as you read that part to get all the feels <3
CASSIE RESTLESSLY TAPPED HER FOOT AGAINST THE TILED FLOOR, THE QUIET BEEPING OF THE MACHINES FEELING LOUD IN HER EARS. She looked down at a sleeping Izzie in the hospital bed, thinking about the possible outcomes of her diagnosis.
Sensing a presence in the room, Izzie woke up, startled by the sight of Cassie staring down at her. "Um, hi?" she mumbled groggily, turning onto her back and sitting up slightly. "It's like, four in the morning. What are you doing here?"
Cassie pursed her lips. "I don't like you."
"I— what?"
"I don't like you," she repeated. "And I haven't liked you for a long time. But then, George calls me in the middle of the night, telling me you have freaking cancer, of all things, and suddenly I'm not sure how I feel anymore."
Izzie frowned, sitting up straight and resting her back against the headboard. "I don't need your pity, Cassie. You don't have to change your mind just because I'm dying."
Cassie sighed, shaking her head. "I spent years of my life watching my mom die of cancer, Izzie." Playing with the hem of her sweater, she glanced down at the ground. "Call me selfish, but there's not a chance in hell I'm going through that again."
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Izzie knit her brows together, confused after not having an actual conversation with Cassie in months.
"I'm saying, that even though I may not like you, we were friends once," Cassie shrugged. "I cared about you, and despite what I've been telling myself, that didn't stop just because of what happened with Denny." She sat up straight, looking at Izzie with an unreadable expression. "I refuse to just sit back and watch you suffer, Izzie. If you're going to fight this thing, then I'm going to be here for you."
Izzie grinned slightly, the prospect of getting Cassie back as a friend giving her a new sense of hope. "Even if you don't like me?"
Cassie nodded as she, albeit reluctantly, returned the smile. "Even if I don't like you."
It was silent for a while, before Izzie spoke up once again. "I am," she said assuredly, elaborating at Cassie's raised brow. "I am going to fight this."
