Shock. Disbelief. Horror. Devastation plagued her face. 'I want you to go, and be happy, and not come back…'

He was letting her go. He wasn't going to take her back. She wasn't going to move back into Meredith's and fall asleep in his arms and wake up in them the next day. She wasn't going to make pancakes for everyone in the morning and send them all off to Seattle Grace while she went to Tacoma. She wasn't going to come home after a long day of kicking surgery ass and boast about it over dinner. She wasn't going to buy a perfect house in the suburbs with Alex where they would raise their children one day. She wasn't going to be by his side when he became the rockstar attending she knew he would become. None of it would ever happen.

Maybe she was crazy to think any of it would have happened after she left… but maybe it wasn't crazy to have thought that. She had always believed that love could save things, that love could heal everything. Despite all that had happened to her - George, Denny, cancer - she still believed it. But now she realised love, no matter how great, can't save a sinking ship. Especially when the ship won't let it. She realised that while love brought happiness, it brought pain. And that love doesn't always mean its supposed to be… even when it feels like it.

In just a few words he had crumbled her whole world, her whole future, everything she had ever dreamt of. It was gone. She was loosing her love. She was loosing her soulmate. She was loosing a part of who she was now. There was nothing to say. There were no words to justify a loss like this.

She got up, picked up her scans and walked to the door, without even giving him a glance. She couldn't bear it. She hated him. She hated his face.. his perfect face. All she wanted to do was slap him. She never wanted to have to see him ever again. Just as she was about to leave, she stopped herself. It felt like her heart was aching and breaking into a million pieces and the only way to make it better was him. She didn't want to slap him. She wanted to kiss him and be held in his arms forever. She didn't want to hate him. So she looked into his eyes and reminded herself of the love that still shadowed them.

'Alex…'

He looked up from the ground and straight into her eyes. He tried to absorb every feature; her sweet, chocolate eyes, the way her hair curled around her face, her soft, perfect skin. He knew it would probably be the last time he would ever get to look at her in the flesh. So he looked at everything that made Izzie look like Izzie and appreciated just how beautiful his wife truly was... and how much he loved her.

'I should've stayed. And I can't blame you forever for thinking you deserve better. You probably do. But when you think of me, please don't think of me as the one who left. Think of me as the woman who gave you a second chance. The woman who didn't give up on you no matter how badly you treated me or pushed me away. The woman who made you a man. Who held you when you cried and never made you feel weak for it. Who talked to you and cared about you and loved you when no one else would. Who showed you what love is and how to receive it. Who taught you how to love yourself. I know its easier to hate me, but please don't. Don't let me just be like the others. Thats all I ask.'

He just looked down. He was good at that - saying nothing even when he should open his mouth.

'Goodbye, Alex.'

She looked at him one last time - the man she loved. Who gave her that fluttery feeling… she looked at him and walked away.

He watched her fade away until suddenly she was out of sight. He watched the love of his life and only person he's ever loved walk away. He felt a pang of guilt and regret. A part of him so badly wanted to run after her and kiss her and never let her go. But that was the easy option. And knowing himself, he always had to put himself through the hardest option.

'Goodbye, Izzie.'