What she always wanted…
Izzie Stevens Karev took a huge breath as she kept driving in the lonely road through the forest. She had the worst day ever in her department. Even if it was Halloween, the oncologic department was always a field full of people in need, where miracles and tragedies happened. And that day, more than one tragedy had been unfolded right before her eyes. One of them was an eighteen year old boy that had just survived leukemia but died from pneumonia just a few days after the end of his treatment.
It was already late so she had lost the opportunity to have her children out in the neighborhood for "treat or trick" and her entire body ached in pain from the hectic day at the hospital. Her husband, Alex, had taken some days off as their eldest child; Katie had a small accident and had cracked her hand. Alex was the only of the two able to take days off as Izzie had just returned at the hospital from her third maternity leave and she really needed to work again. Izzie took another deep breath as she kept on driving towards her house in the suburbs of Seattle, a house that both she and Alex had fought a lot for.
Izzie had chosen oncology after her fight and constant awareness with cancer and after proving herself worthy the new Chief of Surgery, Derek Shepherd had accepted her back in Seattle Grace Hospital. Alex had listened to all those people that had told him that he was good with children and he had chosen to be a pediatric surgeon.
Both Izzie and Alex had worked their butts off as to make it. Endless extra hours at Seattle Grace had exhausted them as to have the house and the life of their dreams. It was more than a decade back but Izzie could still remember the day she actually collapsed in the OR, right before a surgery for the removal of a tumor, she could still remember the terror that had beaten her heart at the possibility of the cancer being back. She could still remember Lexie –one of her interns at that time- calling her name as she was falling and Meredith's eyes watching her in fear from the observation post of the OR. When you're a cancer survivor you can never be sure of the time of your victory.
But that wasn't the case, because the next time Izzie had opened her eyes she had seen Meredith hugging Alex as they both beamed at each other with a grinning Christina next to them. Her two friends had left her room after beaming at her too and her husband had announced with joyous eyes that she was pregnant. In the frantic and stressful rhythm of her life back then, she hadn't even realized her period had been late.
After that, everything had happened really fast, Katie was born and both Izzie and Alex had spent some very difficult months with a baby relaying on them and especially on Izzie for everything and at the same time they had to take care of their newly built careers that needed their attention. Some years after, their second and third child had came into the world as Izzie and Alex had used some of their frozen fertilized embryos, in fear of them getting too old or the cancer returning and just a few months ago, Izzie had given birth to her fourth child, a baby that came out of program like Katie but was as welcomed. After that, with an established yet still evolving career Izzie and Alex Karev didn't need to have extra hours at the hospital but certainly did at home and in a matter of ten years, Izzie had the four kids she always wanted.
Izzie finally parked her Lancia as a buzzing sound from her pocket brought her back in the present.
"Shopping for Andrew's birthday gift."
Izzie groaned as her plans of sleeping in tomorrow were now spoiled by that electronic note in her blackberry for her Godson's birthday gift. Derek and Meredith had decided to have her to be the Godmother of their second child and Izzie had promised that she'd be the best Godmother in the world; she was indenting to keep that promise.
Izzie almost dragged her tired body out of her car and sighed as the dark windows of her double-decked house confirmed that Alex and the kids had given up on waiting for her and they had left for their "trick or treat" on their own. She thought of going and finding them in the neighborhood but it was too late for that as well so she decided to get inside as they'd return soon.
She unlocked the door and got in the dark house. As she turned on the lights, her blood started to boil at the sight before her eyes. The living room and the joined dining room along with the kitchen were a mess with countless toys, clothes, dishes, glasses and milk bottles being scattered around the area.
Izzie threw the keys on the table by the door as the thought of the mess upstairs, in the bedrooms made her even more furious. She had been working her ass off for the past days as to make up for the maternity leave and Alex had his days off but of course the Evil Spawn and their Spawns couldn't move their butts and clean the house while she worked for ten and eleven hours straight.
Izzie huffed and cursed under her breath as she started picking up things that didn't belong in the living room when her eyes fell on a picture of the family taken by Christina during Izzie's last free day of the maternity leave. Nine year old Katie was between her parents, six year old George and Alexandra were in front of Alex and Izzie respectively and the three month old Isabella was held by Alexandra in her little hug. They were all smiling and beaming at the camera; all the brown eyes were full of happiness and joy as their arms were around each other.
Izzie looked at her family for a moment, with a smile on her face and then as she picked up a dirty, full of saliva slip-on of Isabella's, Izzie's anger returned at full force for the mess around her.
It had been twenty minutes later and Izzie was still angry and cleaning up when she heard keys opening the door. She turned around and three pairs of arms wrapped around her as her eldest kids fell in her arms. Alex smiled at her from the door with little Isabella wrapped in a warm blanket in his arms. Izzie hugged her kids back and moved close to Alex, her face was still hard.
'You could have cleaned up the house before taking my three month old child in the cold of October…' Izzie spat and Alex's eyebrows rose up in surprise for her spat.
'Hey you too baby,' He said as he tried to lighten the mood while Izzie took Isabella from his arms, he moved closer as to kiss her lips but Izzie moved away and Alex frowned.
'What's the matter with you?' Alex asked and Izzie glared at him this time. She turned around and looked at her kids, Katie was dressed up as a witch, George was a ghost and Alexandra his twin was a beautiful fairy.
'Sweethearts, why don't you go to the kitchen and put your candies in the candy box so they won't get spoiled?' Izzie offered and her children raced to the kitchen squealing all the while. Izzie was ready to leave away from Alex, still mad at him but he wrapped his hand around her arm and she turned around and looked at him.
'Talk to me, tell me what's wrong,' he tried and Izzie this time couldn't stop herself.
'What's wrong? Everything is wrong, Alex!' Izzie hissed in a furious whisper, not wanting her children in the kitchen or her baby in her arms to get upset. 'I work my ass off at the hospital and I don't have a choice but come home late at night, you have your days off and you're doing nothing to help me. I returned and found the house a total mess and I haven't even went upstairs to take off my clothes and see what you and the kids have done up there. I still smell sterilizing products and I lost an eighteen year old patient after three years of fighting leukemia, I also lost an eleven year old because by the time they diagnosed the tumor her brain was squeezed like a lemon rind!
'And you have taken the kids out and came back so late, and atop that you had Isabella with you! She's still a baby she could have catch a cold! You're not thinking! You never do!' Izzie said in a breath and in each word her voice rose at the point of screaming her last words, causing the laugher from the kitchen to stop and Isabella to start screaming frightened by her mom's loud voice. Alex looked at her for a moment more and then took the crying infant from her arms.
'I'm sorry for your patients, if you feel like you've vented, then I'm happy.' Alex said at first but he kept looking at her as the guilt filled her heart little by little. 'As for the work at the hospital, there is a choice of you working less, the same choice Meredith and Christina had made but of course you have to keep working your ass off as to prove that you're still good after three pregnancies and four kids.' Alex went on and Izzie sighed as she knew he was right, she was over trying again. 'For the house… we were planning on cleaning up with the kids when we'd be back, just like we did for the past days…
'As for the "trick or treat", we've done that before, and we returned so late because we had been waiting for you and we left just for the past hour. Isabella was well protected by the cold and if I wasn't sure about it I would have left her at Christina and Owen's house, just a few blocks from here. And just remember… I'm a doctor too, Iz… I know what I'm doing when it concerns my children… or my wife, because if I remember correctly I was there for you when you had the melanoma.' Alex finished his words, he had started speaking loudly but his voice got lower and lower, just like Izzie's head as he kept talking. At the end, Izzie was looking at their feet as Alex passed by her with the crying Isabella still in his arms.
Izzie remained in her spot for a few minutes as the laugher returned in the kitchen behind her. She sighed sadly as she knew he was right. She had been trying to prove herself in the hospital again, even if her career was brilliant because she was worried of being left behind by her colleagues after her three maternity leaves in a matter of nine years. She had been through death and pain and she didn't want anyone to feel pity for her or to have something succeed just because she was a cancer survivor. She was a fighter but right that moment she knew that she has been unfair to Alex. It was her choice indeed to work so much and she knew they'd clean up the house, they probably had done before but even if they hadn't, she was always too tired to see the mess in the past days as she came home in the middle of the night and left at dawn.
Izzie snapped out of her stupor a few minutes later, she realized that she was alone in the first floor of the house as she could hear the laugher of her children from upstairs. She decided to stop acting wrong, she had done it before and she had almost blown up everything… She moved up the stairs and moved towards the master bedroom, from where her kids were heard. She stood at the doorway and looked inside. Isabella was in her crib by Izzie's side of the bed and Alex with their three older kids were on the edge of the bed, between them there was a box and Alex took from inside a small puppy, a little Cocker Spaniel was held by Alex and shown to their kids. Katie squealed in happiness and clapped her good hand on her leg as she beamed at the puppy with her chestnut curls dancing around her. The twins jumped up and down as they looked at the puppy with joy, their own blond hair dancing around them, Alex was looking at his kids with a huge grin on his face. His eyes looked up at Izzie who was looking at her family.
For an instant, she was ready to object again, to say that a puppy was a big responsibility and that the kids were too young to have such a responsibility on their shoulders, she was ready to say that they had enough spared time between a hospital, three little kids and a newborn but then, as she looked at the happy faces of her family, she realized that this is what she always wanted, four kids and a puppy. She had let herself drown in the daily life and she had forgotten that all this was what she had ever wanted. Alex would be fine with a baby or two, he was fine when they had Katie, but he had agreed on using the frozen embryos and he was as happy, just like with Isabella a year back. But Izzie had allowed herself to take all that for granted. She decided to never let herself do such a thing again and she finally smiled and beamed at her husband as she moved close to her family with her children looking at her in joy, she knelt next to them, before Alex who was sat on the edge of the bed with Katie next to him.
'We need a name for her,' Katie said and everyone nodded with smiles on their faces.
'What about Fifi?' Katie tried but the twins grimaced.
'What about mama?' Alex said and the kids giggled, just like Izzie did.
'None but me is called "mama" in here…' Izzie said and everyone laughed again. 'What about Lulu?' Izzie tried and the kids squealed in unison and looked at their dad after a moment to make sure he was ok with the name as well.
'Lulu… yeah… ok, whatever…' Alex said and shrugged and the kids squealed again but stopped immediately as they realized the puppy was getting scared by their voices. The little dog was white and light brown with two long ears and two beautiful, seemingly begging eyes.
'Lulu's not a game, sweethearts, she needs care and love and she's not a toy, we're not tossing her around, we're not treating her wrong, she's a little baby just like Isabella is… she needs love and protection.' Izzie said and her three kids nodded their heads and looked at their dad expectantly. Alex nodded his head in agreement with Izzie and finally gave the puppy to Katie who took the little pet in her arms carefully.
'Katherine Emma Karev, I'm expecting you to threat little Lulu with love,' Izzie said and her eldest nodded her head with a smile, 'The same stands for you too, George Michael and Alexandra Isobel…' Izzie said and the twins nodded again, the three kids knew that when their mommy used their full names she was very serious. Izzie then smiled and hugged her kids one by one and let them go to their bedrooms to play with the puppy until it was dinner time. Izzie got up from the floor and looked at the sleeping Isabella as the baby had dozed off apparently and then she looked at her husband who was waiting for her to make the first move. Izzie moved close and stood right before Alex, he finally raised his hand a bit and took hers, he squeezed her hand and she sat on his lap, they soon captured each other's lips and they moaned against their mouths.
'I'm so sorry for talking to you like that, I know you don't like big talks… but I'm so sorry it's not your fault it's all minn—' Her words were cut off again as Alex's lips captured hers and his hands ran in her long hair and her back. Her own arms wrapped around his shoulders and caressed his short cut hair as he moved them both and soon she was with her back on the mattress and Alex half on top of her with his lips still claiming her own lips along with her every breath. Soon his hand was moving from her back on her front and he started caressing her flat stomach, his hand slipped under her blouse and caressed her butterfly tattoo he so much loved. Izzie moaned at the teasing and slipped her own hands under his shirt, caressing his toned body as they kept on kissing and playing with each other.
'We need to stop, we need to make dinner,' Izzie gasped when Alex broke the kiss as oxygen was needed, he nodded his head and captured her earlobe with his lips, coaxing a moan out of her and a small whimper as his teasing hand was now moving down her leg to the back of her knee and back on her waist where he pushed her middle section against his as to show to her how glad he was to have her back. 'We…oh… need to stop…' Izzie repeated again breathlessly but Alex kept up.
'Yes we do…' He agreed as he started kissing her neck and sucked at her pulse point, causing her to whimper in need. They had a few days to find some time for themselves as four kids, Izzie's exhausting hours at the hospital and a house that needed care had absorbed all their time but now the bubble of need inside them had burst and they needed to do something about it…
Screams, laughs and more screams along with the twins' voices calling them and saying that Lulu just peed on the carpet of Katie's bedroom caused both Izzie and Alex to stop their heated snogging. Izzie let her head back on the mattress and Alex rested his own head on the crook of her neck. They were both disappointed but they were both smiling as well. Izzie grinned as she looked at the ceiling; she knew this was the life she wanted, her children interrupting her and her husband because their puppy peed on the carpet, it sounded stupid, yet utterly cute.
'Just out of curiosity… you were here with the kids all day… how did you have Lulu in? By their squeals I understand it was a surprise…?' Izzie asked and Alex raised his head and looked at her with a grin on his face.
'I had Christina sneaking in and leaving the box here while I was outside with the kids… I will be serving her mocha late for a week when I'll be back…' Alex said and Izzie chuckled and kissed her husband's neck.
'Poor baby…' Izzie said and Alex pinched her thigh, causing her to squeal and sigh, their kids were still calling for them. 'You take care of "Alexander the Great" in the bathroom and I will take care of Lulu's peeing… then we can make dinner and then… we can put them all to bed and have some fun...' Izzie said as she cupped Alex's crotch, causing him to suck in his breath. She winked and stood up.
'Dr. Model…' Alex called after her for being so evil with him.
'Dr. Evil Spawn…' Izzie said as she grinned behind her shoulder and winked at him again. 'Alright, mummy is coming, stop screaming you'll wake up Bella!' Izzie then called out as she moved towards her daughter's bedroom with a huge smile on her face, she was happy, after all the troubles in her life, she finally had what she always wanted.