Cassie was leaving the gallery of Heather's surgery, which was luckily successful. She had a small smile on her face, which quickly left when she heard yelling coming from the hallway.
"Why did you do it?" George shouted, making her speed up her pace. She got to where he was, seeing Webber and Bailey standing there looking sympathetic. "Why did you do it?!"
"Dr. O'Malley—"
"Why did you do it once you saw the cancer had spread?" he questioned, tears brimming in his eyes.
Bailey sighed heavily. "George."
George shook his head vehemently. "He asked you, right? He asked you to do it, no matter what?"
"We have to honor our patient's wishes," Webber said simply.
"You said you would be straight with me. He could have lived for weeks, or months. We could have had months with him!"
Cassie felt herself start to tear up as she slowly approached a crying George, knowing more than anyone how it felt to lose precious time.
"Georgie—"
"My mom," he scoffed, barely even hearing her, "she could have had months with him."
"He wanted a chance to fight the cancer, George," Webber said. "It was his choice."
"He didn't know any better!" George screamed, tears steaming down his face. "You knew better!"
"George, this isn't helping," Cassie whispered, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and gently pulling him back. "Come on."
"You shouldn't have done it," he sobbed, leaning into her chest. Cassie did her best to soothe him, but to no avail. "You shouldn't have done it!"
☆
George sat on a ledge outside the hospital, with red eyes and blotchy cheeks, staring humbly at the sidewalk.
Wordlessly, Cassie sat down next to him and grabbed his hand. He squeezed it so hard, Cassie was sure it would be sprained. She didn't care.
"My dad died," George said, looking at the side of her face.
She turned her head and made eye contact with him, seeing how truly broken he looked. "I know."
He continued to stare at her. "Does it ever get better?"
Cassie thought for a moment. "No. It doesn't get better," she paused, "it doesn't get better, but it does get easier. Eventually."
"Easier," George repeated, turning his gaze back to the ground.
The pair sat silently, hand in hand.
Cristina approached them, making Cassie nudge George so he would notice her presence.
"There's a club," Cristina said. "The dead dad's club. You can't be in it, until you're in it. You can try and understand, you can sympathize, but until you feel that loss," she paused. "My dad died when I was nine. George, I'm really sorry you had to join the club."
George shook his head. "I don't know how to exist in a world where my dad doesn't."
Cristina sighed. "Yeah."
Cassie looked up at him. "That never really changes."
author's note — this chapter had like 983920393 different emotions in it but at least cassie finally got to beat izzie's ass lol
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