Grey's Anatomy - George/Izzie - 30_romances prompt #11: limitation
Title: Wherever You Lead, I'll Follow
Theme(s): 30_romances prompt #11: limitation
Pairing/Characters: George O'Malley and Isobel "Izzie" Stevens
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Characters and all other things Grey's Anatomy related belong to Shonda Rhimes and ABC.
Summary: George makes a choice. (Takes place during episode 2.26, "Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response")
George breathes in, sharply, when his back hits the wall. Izzie has him pinned there, hands gripping his shirt with a strength born of sheer desperation. He can feel her hands trembling against his chest, like bird wings beating against a cage that bars them from flight. But Izzie's voice is steady where her hands are not, and she is saying things he never thought she’d say to him. The words ring in his ears, drowning out the alarms from the monitors wailing in the background.
When given the choice between flight or fight, George will choose flight, every time. Izzie is different, he knows. Izzie is a fighter. Izzie will fight because she is passionate, and strong, and most of the time he loves that about her, but in this moment he is completely terrified by it. Izzie is on edge, so George is on edge, too. He whispers her name, trying to call her back as he struggles free of her grasp, closer to flight.
There is something in her eyes, though, that holds him there, makes George reach out even though every instinct he has is screaming at him to pull back and run. Her eyes are wide, wild with frantic hope. It's that hope - so wretchedly out of place in this little room of fear and sweat and noise - that has George reaching out, and Izzie's hands flail like they can’t decide whether to push him away or hold on for dear life.
Somehow, George makes the choice for her. Her wrists are in his hands and he can feel her pulse racing beneath his fingertips, his own rushing to meet it. They are fraying fast. There is an end here, he can feel it, one that is rising up to meet them as they speed headlong down a course that can only lead to destruction.
Izzie isn't fighting now, but she is still defiant. She stares at George, into him, and says, "You have a decision to make. You can stay here and help me with this, or you can go."
There is a pause, a lapse, filled only with their mutual panting breath. Then: "What's it gonna be, George?"
The words rest heavy in his mind, and there is a part of George that is angered by them, angry that she dragged him into this. This is Izzie's mess, her heartbreak, and George doesn't need another fracture in his already splintered world. For so long, he has been trying to hold himself together, stay within the carefully fixed borders of his life. George likes boundaries: if he doesn’t cross the lines, he is safe.
There are no boundaries left, here, Izzie has broken them all, and George doesn't know how to operate without them. He doesn't know what to do, but Izzie is making him choose. He just needs a moment, just one moment to breathe, to think this through. But Izzie can't wait, because Denny can't wait, and, suddenly, George hears the alarms again.
In the end, there is no decision. George will fight, for Izzie. He will stand by her because he doesn’t know how to do anything else. If they fall, they fall together.
Slowly, like approaching a wild animal he is trying not to startle, George slides his hands up from Izzie's wrists and tangles his fingers with hers. She grips back like he's a lifeline, and when George nods, Izzie breathes out.
Theme(s): 30_romances prompt #11: limitation
Pairing/Characters: George O'Malley and Isobel "Izzie" Stevens
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Characters and all other things Grey's Anatomy related belong to Shonda Rhimes and ABC.
Summary: George makes a choice. (Takes place during episode 2.26, "Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response")
George breathes in, sharply, when his back hits the wall. Izzie has him pinned there, hands gripping his shirt with a strength born of sheer desperation. He can feel her hands trembling against his chest, like bird wings beating against a cage that bars them from flight. But Izzie's voice is steady where her hands are not, and she is saying things he never thought she’d say to him. The words ring in his ears, drowning out the alarms from the monitors wailing in the background.
When given the choice between flight or fight, George will choose flight, every time. Izzie is different, he knows. Izzie is a fighter. Izzie will fight because she is passionate, and strong, and most of the time he loves that about her, but in this moment he is completely terrified by it. Izzie is on edge, so George is on edge, too. He whispers her name, trying to call her back as he struggles free of her grasp, closer to flight.
There is something in her eyes, though, that holds him there, makes George reach out even though every instinct he has is screaming at him to pull back and run. Her eyes are wide, wild with frantic hope. It's that hope - so wretchedly out of place in this little room of fear and sweat and noise - that has George reaching out, and Izzie's hands flail like they can’t decide whether to push him away or hold on for dear life.
Somehow, George makes the choice for her. Her wrists are in his hands and he can feel her pulse racing beneath his fingertips, his own rushing to meet it. They are fraying fast. There is an end here, he can feel it, one that is rising up to meet them as they speed headlong down a course that can only lead to destruction.
Izzie isn't fighting now, but she is still defiant. She stares at George, into him, and says, "You have a decision to make. You can stay here and help me with this, or you can go."
There is a pause, a lapse, filled only with their mutual panting breath. Then: "What's it gonna be, George?"
The words rest heavy in his mind, and there is a part of George that is angered by them, angry that she dragged him into this. This is Izzie's mess, her heartbreak, and George doesn't need another fracture in his already splintered world. For so long, he has been trying to hold himself together, stay within the carefully fixed borders of his life. George likes boundaries: if he doesn’t cross the lines, he is safe.
There are no boundaries left, here, Izzie has broken them all, and George doesn't know how to operate without them. He doesn't know what to do, but Izzie is making him choose. He just needs a moment, just one moment to breathe, to think this through. But Izzie can't wait, because Denny can't wait, and, suddenly, George hears the alarms again.
In the end, there is no decision. George will fight, for Izzie. He will stand by her because he doesn’t know how to do anything else. If they fall, they fall together.
Slowly, like approaching a wild animal he is trying not to startle, George slides his hands up from Izzie's wrists and tangles his fingers with hers. She grips back like he's a lifeline, and when George nods, Izzie breathes out.