The surgical floor was buzzing with the afterglow of the clinical trial success, but Christopher felt the temperature drop the moment he saw Izzie Stevens near the coffee cart. She was laughing with Alex, but she was rubbing her temple with a distracted, rhythmic twitch.
In the original timeline, Izzie would ignore the hallucinations of Denny and the intermittent blurring until her Stage IV melanoma had metastasized to her brain.
Season 5, Episode 17, Christopher thought, his internal script flashing a warning light. I'm not letting you ghost-sex your way into a casket, Izzie.
"Stevens," Christopher drawled, his voice a clinical razor that sliced through her laughter. "Step into Consult Room 2. Now."
Izzie blinked, her smile faltering. "Dr. Wright? I'm just about to—"
"I didn't ask for your itinerary, I asked for your presence," he snapped, leading her into the soundproof room.
He didn't sugarcoat it. He didn't have the bandwidth for intern feelings. He leaned against the whiteboard, his surgical loupes glinting.
"You have a mole on your lower back, about three centimetres from your spine," Christopher said, his voice dropping into a low, lethal monotone. "It's asymmetrical, the borders are irregular, and you've been experiencing flashes in your peripheral vision."
Izzie went ashen. "How do you... I haven't told anyone about the flashes."
"I'm an oracle, remember? Or just a surgeon who notices the way you squint at the light-box," Christopher lied smoothly. "You have melanoma. I want a full-body scan and a biopsy by 1600. If you ignore this, you won't be scrubbing in for Season 6."
"Season 6?" Izzie whispered, confused.
"It's an expression. Get the labs, Stevens. Don't tell Alex yet; he has the emotional depth of a teaspoon and we need his head in the game."
He walked out, his heart hammering against his ribs. He had intervened months early. He was cutting the cancer out of the script itself.
He pulled out his phone as he reached the lobby. "I just broke the news to Izzie. The The Wright Way just became a cancer ward. I'm coming home to Jack before I start hallucinating Denny myself. - C"
He found Jack in the kitchen of the brownstone, decanting a bottle of Cabernet. The lawyer took one look at Christopher's haunted face and pulled him into a hug.
"You're saving everyone today, aren't you?" Jack murmured, his sandalwood scent grounding Christopher.
"I'm editing the inevitable, Jack," Christopher whispered. "It's exhausting."