Back To You ~ (Cazzie Fanfic)

The More Things Change

Adding this chapter from my phone instead of computer so hope everything looks ok. I lost some of the italics in the process and don't have time to add it all back so hope everything makes sense.

Everything is written but finding time to add it all is hard rn.

Hope you like it!
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Izzie feels her phone vibrate in her pocket as she pushes through her front door, dropping all her bags onto the couch. She'd swung by Target, the dry cleaner and the grocery store on her way home. She shuts the door, blocking out the cold December air, and fishes through her pocket for her phone. There's a text from Casey.

Hey are you picking me up for this thing or am I picking you up?

She smiles. Her office holiday party is tomorrow night and she's taking half the day off work to get ready. It's a big, fancy affair with a cocktail dress code and she's rented a fancy dress and coat from an online clothing rental company. It fits perfectly. Having the party on a Friday is less than ideal. All her coworkers have been complaining about it. Budget cuts, apparently. They are just lucky they are allowed to bring "Plus One's." At least she'll have the whole weekend to recover from the fun though. Casey had agreed to be her plus one and she is so excited to get dressed up and go somewhere nice together. They never do anything like this and it feels like something normal couples do. She unlocks her phone and sends a quick message back.

Can you pick me up? It'll take me a lot longer to get ready.

She takes off her coat and begins to put the bag of groceries away.

Her phone buzzes.

You got it gorgeous

Casey had been doing this more lately. Dropping her old pet names for Izzie into text conversations and pillow talk. It feels almost like before. Like when they were together. Maybe it means that they are "together" now? Probably. Definitely. Hopefully. Izzie has been meaning to talk to Casey about this. Have a good old "define the relationship" talk. After, what... 4 months of this quasi dating, sleeping together situation? But as the weeks continue to stretch on she continues to lack the courage to do it. But Casey had agreed to be her date to an event where she'd be meeting all of Izzie's coworkers and bosses. That was really significant! Right?

Casey lives a short, five minute drive from Izzie's apartment now. Izzie helped her find the apartment and pick out all the furniture and then arrange it. Elsa had flitted around happily, putting away dishes and organizing the linen closet. Casey's been placing in the top tier of all the races she runs in, earning enough prize money to represent a respectable yearly salary. She finally worked up the courage to fire Steve last week and begins training with Kate in a couple more weeks. It's a huge risk. But Izzie feels good about it. The night Casey made her decision she sat on Izzie's couch, clenching and unclenching her hands; agonizing over all the details.

"Do you think I should do it?" she asked, for the hundredth time.

Izzie had been trying not to sway her either way. Trying not to influence her decision. But it was so clear what Casey wanted. She just needed that extra reassurance. So Izzie sat down next to her, took Casey's hands in hers and looked her in the eyes.

"Yes," she said gently. "I think you should do it."

Casey smiled.

Izzie had been going through her own test of courage lately. For months and months she's been biding her time and gathering evidence of her manager, Dan's, sexist, racist and just inappropriate treatment of his staff. He had texted her a gif at 2AM the other night that could only be construed as sexual in nature. And she's pretty sure she's not the only one. Everyone is too afraid to speak up or even speak to each other about it. Even now Izzie's not sure how many of them are ok with his behavior. But she sees the tight smiles, uncomfortable body language and hears the nervousness in their laughter as he throws another inappropriate joke their way. She has pages of emails and text correspondence saved in a PDF. She has a dated list of comments and jokes he's made. Her email to HR is all drafted and ready to go. She will send it tomorrow morning and then take the rest of the day off to get ready for the party. And with any luck she won't have to deal with the fallout until Monday.