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CAMILLA STARED AT THE TURTLE NECK SHE WORE UNDERNEATH HER SCRUBS AS SHE STOOD IN THE CHANGING ROOM.
She didn't know what she was going to say. It wasn't cold enough out for a turtle neck. But the bruises were too dark to hide with makeup.
With a sigh, she left the locker room and headed out to check the charts for her patients.
"You're wearing a turtleneck under your scrubs." Meredith commented as her and Cristina came over,
"It's ugly." Cristina stated, "Not as ugly as the fact that you hugged him."
"You hugged him?" Meredith gawked and turned to Cristina, "You didn't tell me she hugged him."
Camilla rolled her eyes, "I get it. I hear you. Let's move on now, shall we?" She gave them a tight lipped smile,
"Turtle necks aren't okay, you're not okay, and your boyfriend isn't okay." Cristina whispered,
Alex stepped over, glancing at Camilla for a moment before turning to Meredith, "Is your boyfriend okay?"
"What?" The trio asked at the same time,
"To be cutting into brains today," Alex clarified, "Is he okay to be back?"
"Yes, of course. Derek is fine." Meredith answered,
It was Derek's first day back. Maybe Meredith should be worrying about her own boyfriend instead of Camilla's.
Not that Owen was officially her boyfriend.
"I was there for his carnage in the OR, remember? This isn't just any patient today. It's Izzie."
Camilla bit her lip. With all the drama in the past few hours, she forgot it was Izzie's big surgery today.
And with that, the four of them went to go watch the presentation they were doing on Izzie's case. With a cancer with that survival rate, this was a rare surgery,
Dr. Bailey walked over to them, "Okay, I understand why you four are here, and I know you want to help, but I will be the resident on her case today. I will be prepping her for surgery, and if you're going into that hospital room today, you will do so as her friends. Izzie needs her people around her. She needs you to tell her everything will be fine. She needs you to hold her hand. She needs you, not more doctors. Understood?"
With a nod, they entered Izzie's hospital room.
The four of them gathered by her bed, where she was knitting, "Great." She smiled when she saw them, "Let's get started."
Bailey opened her file, "Okay, as you know, you have stage IV metastatic melanoma. We have a lot of surgeries and a lot of procedures lines up for you over the next few weeks."
"We've seen evidence of mets on your liver, so one of those surgeries, Dr. Bailey and I will resect them." Chief Webber continued, "We also lined up Dr. Parker from OB to harvest as many healthy eggs as she can before you undergo radiation."
Izzie nodded and glanced over at Alex, "Right. Babies."
"We're just leaving the option open for you if you want it." Bailey added,
"But our priority today is to address the temporal lobe mets on your brain." Derek stated, "I'm surprised we didn't catch it sooner. This kind of thing causes headaches and seizures and intense hallucinations. But hopefully, the lesion has clear margins and I can remove it all."
"Are you people done?" Dr. Swender, Izzy's oncologist, asked before she stepped forward as Meredith and Cristina moved to the side, "Over the next four weeks, you're slated for three major surgeries, seven outpatient procedures, and that's just for the mets we've already found. In all likelihood, we will find more, which means we may have to cut into you more. You may as well get used to the idea now. I'll be administering all your radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The treatment will be aggressive. It will be harsh. You should prepare yourself. I'll be overseeing all your procedures, including today's with Dr. Shepherd, which means every surgeon in this room now answers to me." She said, making eye contact with each attending, "Welcome to the cancer wing, folks."
Derek gave Izzie a comforting smile, "See you in the OR."
All the doctors left the room, leaving just Izzie, Alex, Cristina, Meredith, and Camilla. Meredith handed Izzie her knitting project back and she began wrapping the yarn around the needles,
"Seriously, don't just stand there staring at me while I knit. It's making me nervous." Izzie commented, "Get outta here. Go save lives."
Meredith nodded, "Yeah, we have rounds."
They all said their goodbyes and Camilla left a kiss on Izzie's cheek before leaving the room.
After doing her rounds, Camilla was updating her charts when Cristina stood next to her, "He wrapped his hands around your throat this morning, and you're pretending like nothing happened." Camilla pursed her lips, "Hunt literally tried to kill you. He's barely back from Iraq. It's obvious he has issues."
"And that means I just abandon him? You didn't abandon Burke after he was shot and had to learn how to use his hand all over again. Why should I leave Owen when all he needs is some help?" Camilla shot back,
"Psychological help, Cam. Not physical."
She shook her head, walking away from her colleague and friend and heading towards the stairwell.
She opened the door into the basement and spotted Owen, who turned to look at her. He looked so heartbroken.
Camilla closed the door behind her, "I haven't seen you all day."
He paused for a moment, "What if I hadn't woken up?" Owen sighed, "I can't even remember what happened. It's gone. I have no memory, no way to..." He began to get worked up, "I would never hurt you, ever. But I did. My hands just... I mean, how could my own two hands be capable..." He couldn't even finish his sentences, "I can't do this, Cam, we can't do this."
"But you did wake up." Camilla began to approach him, "Stop blaming yourself for something that is out of your-"
"We need to stop seeing each other."
"Why?" She asked,
"Camilla, I almost-"
"Almost what?" She raised her voice, "I know my limits, Owen. Let me decide what I can and can't handle." She stared up into his bright blue eyes, "Please?"
