Well I saw a clip on youtube where Alex walked in on Izzie just after she got out of the shower, and after watching the other alex/izzie themed scenes, I had to expand on it, lol. This fic happens about a week after that ep, pretending all the Izzie/George stuff I read about didn't happen.

warning- one use of a swear word.

As Meredith's watch beeped, signalling the time to be half past six, she began to brush her teeth hurriedly, knowing she didn't have much time left. Within moments, her friends and fellow interns, Izzie Stephens and Alex Karev would be awake and rushing around their respective rooms, grabbing whatever they needed. She'd barely got out the door when Izzie raced from her bedroom towards the only bathroom Meredith had just vacated. Alex appeared moments later, tumbling from his room and ran full pelt down the narrow hallway, beating Izzie into the desired room by an inch.

"Alex!" Izzie shouted, pounding on the door, "I was here first!"

"Sorry" was the only answer she received before the sound of running water began.

"Did you see that?" Izzie turned to Meredith, looking furious, "I still don't get why you invited him to live with us."

"Because he's…"

"Yeah, I know, 'one of our people'. But that doesn't make him any less of a..."

"Pain?" Mere suggested tiredly

"I was going to say bastard, but that works too." She sighed, before turning on the door again, "Hurry up!"

Meredith sighed, shook her head and left them to it. The little race of theirs was becoming a daily event, and she had found herself waking up half an hour early, solely to avoid the stampede. Sometimes Alex won, and sometimes Izzie, whoever it was, it left the other irritated for the rest of the morning, and Meredith was so sick of it, she was considering throwing the both of them out until they could sort out their problems with one another.

And it wasn't as if they couldn't work through them if they tried. Izzie had forgiven Alex for cheating, and he'd taken the whole Denny thing in his stride. Surely, compared to that, a compromise over who gets to use the bathroom first wouldn't be that difficult.

It was obvious to everyone but the pair involved that this was about more than just a shower. Izzie had never minded when George went in before her, and Alex really couldn't be that obsessed, could he? No, the real, underlying cause had to be their history. And the fact Izzie was still hung up over Denny wouldn't help matters either.

Alex had been great for her though. He'd shown a sensitivity that Meredith would never have expected from him. It was the way he held her immediately after the death of Denny, when no one else knew what to do, which made it become clear to everyone in the room that Izzie and Alex's 'fling' was so much more than that for him.

Maybe inviting him to live with them wasn't exactly the best decision in the world, but Meredith was still confident things would work out okay… eventually… if they confronted their feelings for one another, and if Izzie managed to get over Denny. Because those feelings were certainly not unreciprocated on Izzie's part. She'd seen her shoot Alex little glances when she was convinced no one was looking, and saw the way she sat close to him when they were eating lunch. Maybe her feelings weren't quite as deep as Alex's, but they were growing ever stronger, especially when he gave her that special smile he seemed to reserve just for her.

At that moment, Alex came downstairs with a skip in his step

"Why are you so happy?" Mer asked. She only received a shrug in response, so she spoke again, "And do you two have to run around like that every morning?"

"Yeah" clearly Alex was in one of his monosyllabic moods

"Why? Why can't you just let her have it? She'd be pleasantly surprised…"

"If I let her have it, she would have won." He said it as if it was obvious

"Why does it matter!" he evidently had no answer to that, because he didn't reply as he hunted in the cupboard for something to eat.

Soon, he had some cereal out and she sat opposite him, watching him eat it absent mindedly,

"So how's things with McDreamy?" he asked, conversationally. Once, so long ago, they'd laughed at him for calling Derek by the nickname they all used to frequently. Not anymore. He was part of their inner circle now, by seemingly no real effort on his part, and hearing that name coming from his lips seemed as natural as hearing it from Izzie's.

"Same as usual." She sighed, and then smiled at him coyly, "How's things with Izzie?" A smile flickered over his face at the mere mention of her name, but it was gone in an instant, quickly replaced by a look of forced indifference,

"She hates me for stealing her place in the bathroom."

"She'll have forgotten about that by lunch" Meredith brushed it off, "How are things really between you?"

"Oh. Then same as usual" he mimicked, shovelling yet more cereal into his mouth.

"But that's just it. You two don't have a usual. You're either screaming at each other, or you're acting madly in love around her." That got his attention. He looked up and said quickly,

"I'm not in love with her."

"And apart from the bathroom riots you have every morning, you generally don't scream anymore, and that just leaves us with you being madly in love." She went on as if he hadn't spoken; smiling at the dark look he was shooting her

"I'm not in love with her." He repeated slowly

"You can deny it all you want, it doesn't mean… oh hey Izzie" Meredith said as her last roommate arrived, glaring at the back of Alex's head

"Hey. What are you talking about?" she sat down on the free side of the table, and refused to look at Alex.

"Nothing." Alex said, with his mouth full

"Alex's lack of love life" Meredith filled in

"What about your big date from a few nights ago?" Izzie asked, in spite of her wall of silence.

"You had a date? When?" Meredith asked quickly

"It was nothing." He stood up, and dropped his bowl in the sink, signalling his part in the conversation was drawing to a close. He left the room after that, without so much as a backward glance.

"Are you okay?" Meredith noted Izzie's down expression

"Yeah, it's just he's finally over me. I just didn't think it would happen so... suddenly"

"You haven't gone out in about…"

"Yeah, but a while ago, he kissed me" Izzie interrupted

"When? What happened?" Meredith could not believe no one had told her about it.

"Just after I came back to work after Denny died. I let him down gently."

"He was being tactful as usual then" Meredith joked

"I think I sort of led him on a bit. I know I was flirting with him, but I didn't actually think he would do anything about it."

"And then he did"

"Yeah. And now he's listened to me for quite possibly the first time ever, and gotten over me."

"And you don't want him to be over you?"

"I'm still not ready." Izzie said quickly, "But the thought of Alex being with anyone else… it's just weird."

"Why don't you just tell him that?"

"I already did" Izzie said sheepishly

"And then what?" why didn't anyone tell her anything anymore?

"And then he kissed me on the cheek" Izzie stopped, seemingly unwilling to say any more.

"Well, honestly, I don't think you and Alex will ever be just friends."

"Me neither." she sighed heavilly.

"So about that bathroom race you have every morning..." Meredith began

"I'm not letting him win." Izzie said firmly

"Why not?"

"Because then he would have won." Meredith sighed in defeat. It was no use arguing with them. They were just too alike to ever give in.

In most ways, they were the perfect couple. It was just a pity that neither had the courage to tell the other how they felt. Maybe a little interference from her and Christina would send them in the right direction. Meredith smiled as she watched them stand by the car, flirting as usual. By the time she was standing next to them, ready to go to the hospital, a plan was already formulated to get them together.

I don't know whether to continue, or leave it like that, as I have no plan lol.

Tell me what you think in your reviews.