chapter thirty five

scars and souvenirs.season three, episode eighteen.

note: this chapter will switch between scenes of cassie's therapy sessions and current time. to avoid confusion, just know that the therapy scenes happenedbefore the others!

. A shorter woman, no older than thirty five and wearing beige linen overalls, sat across from the couch Cassie was seated on. "I'm Dr. Rainierson, but you can just call me Rain. It's a pleasure to meet you, Cassandra."

Smiling politely, the brunette shook her head. "Just Cassie is fine. And it's nice to meet you as well."

"Noted. How are you feeling today?"

"Really good, actually. It's been two weeks since my surgery, and Dr. Burke said I'm recovering much more quickly than he'd expected. I have no shortness of breath, which is a big improvement from last week, so that's awesome. Yeah, I'm good."

"I'm glad to hear that," the therapist said honestly. "Though, that's not exactly what I meant. But you know that."

Cassie breathed out a laugh, her gaze trained to the carpet. "I'm fine. Really. Just a little tired."

Rain gave her a look which showed she was well aware of the lie, before smiling softly at her patient.

"Alright then, Cassie. Let's get started."

☆

Cassie woke up, threw her hair into a sad excuse for a bun, and made her way out of her room. When she walked by George's room, she felt a sting of hurt. George had moved out after he and Izzie got into a heated fight over Callie, and now the house felt empty.

When she went to stand in the doorway and sulk like she had for the last few days, she realized that the room was full of boxes... and Alex.

"Oh, hey Cassie," Alex said absentmindedly when he saw her, ignoring her confused expression.

Cassie looked around. "Are you moving into George's room?"

"Yeah."

Cassie turned on her heel and opened the door to Meredith's room. They had a silent agreement that Cassie and Cristina didn't have to knock. When she entered, Derek and Meredith were fast asleep, next to each other in the middle of the bed.

With a sigh, Cassie dragged herself over to the bed and squeezed herself in between the two.

"Hi," Meredith smiled, turning to face Cassie.

"What are you— I was asleep," Derek said confusedly, when he woke up and saw Cassie in between him and his girlfriend.

"Alex is moving in?" Cassie asked Meredith, ignoring Derek.

The blonde went to respond, when she was interrupted by the door opening. "Alex is moving into this house?" Izzie asked loudly, fresh out of the shower.

"He's taking George's room," Meredith said.

"Oh," Cassie shrugged. "Okay."

"Why?!" Izzie groaned.

"I was asleep just a minute ago," Derek huffed.

"Yeah, and I was naked in the bathroom when Alex walked in. I'm lucky I didn't come out of the shower to find him peeing all over the seat."

Derek sighed to himself. "And we're up."

"What's wrong with where he was living before?" Izzie continued to question.

Meredith shrugged. "I don't know where he was living before."

Izzie scoffed. "Probably a whore house. I can't have him living in the room next door, it's weird."

"People are what matters," Meredith smiled.

"? You don't like people."

"I had a near death whatever. I was dead, and now I'm not, so I'd like to use this chance I've been given to be more positive. People are what matters. Paint with all the colors of the wind," Meredith grinned.

"I agree. Alex is one of our people, we can't leave him out in the cold," Cassie added. "Also, you look really pretty today, Izzie."

Izzie froze, Meredith frowned, and Derek slowly walked backwards into the room.

Looking behind her as if there were a secret camera crew waiting to catch the moment, Izzie's face morphed into one of confusion. "Are you... being nice to me?"

"Are you being nice to her?" Derek and Meredith questioned in unison.

Cassie smiled. "Yep."

"But, why?"

"Why not?"

Meredith gave her a look. "Because it's weird. You're not nice to Izzie, we all know this."

Her smile turning into a frown, Cassie grumbled as she pulled up the covers to her chin. "Fine, I won't do it again."

"No!" Izzie exclaimed, having been waiting for this for months. "No, uh, it's okay. You can keep doing it. If you want. I was just, uh, caught off guard."

Rolling her eyes, Cassie gave the blonde a once over. "My shrink says I need to let go of the massive amount of hatred I have for you. So I'm trying. To let go. But to be completely honest, seeing your face first thing in the morning is making that kind of hard."