Izzie smiled to herself as she checked off another day on her calendar. She knew it was childish, counting down the days to her vacation like that, but she couldn't help it. Work had been stressful lately, really stressful, and even though she loved working as a neonatal surgeon, after a while the long hours were too much to handle. Soon, though, she would get a break. Only one more day until she would leave for San Diego for two whole weeks, for two whole weeks with Alex.
She met Alex back when they were both in med school and they had been really close. Even though they frequently teased each other and bantered, Izzie knew she could always count on him to be there for her. They'd kept in touch after they left to go on separate internships but Izzie hadn't seen Alex in over two years now and she was as excited as she was nervous. She knew she had no reason to be. It wasn't as if Alex were a stranger and there had never been anything between the two of them, nor did she think there ever would be. She had thought about it before but… no. She shook her feelings aside. Alex never felt that way about her and he never would. They were just friends, which was fine with her because she needed a friends right now, especially a in southern California, far away from her home, Seattle, with a house on the beach. She had recently messed up quite a few friendships and a place far away from all those mistakes with a friend who would not be able to judge her, simply because he didn't know anything was perfect. The fact that she had a spot just for her on the warm, relaxing beach just made it that much better. She needed this vacation badly and it had to be perfect.
Alex groaned as he threw more crap out of his guest bedroom. He hadn't realized he had accumulated so much trash and the task of preparing a room for Izzie to stay in while she visited had been a larger task than he had expected. He needed things to be perfect for her. She was the one woman with whom he had never fucked up. He managed never to disappoint her or betray her and he was proud of that. She was the one constant in his life of ruined friendships and one-night-stands and he wasn't going to risk messing that up now.
Alex heard someone moving in the bathroom down the hall and quickly went to see who it was. "Shit," he muttered to himself. He had completely forgotten about… what was her name again? He walked down the hallway and hesitantly knocked on the door. The girl, whatever her name was, opened the door. He had hoped that seeing her face would help him remember her name. "Umm…" Alex stalled, "You really need to leave…" He still couldn't remember.
"It's Kennedy," she mutter, "I don't need an explanation, Alex. I'm leaving." She quickly grabbed her things and left the bedroom. Alex watched as she left and realized the next two weeks were going to be harder than he thought. Of course he wasn't going to bring some girl home when Izzie was there but what else he do to slip up and piss her off? Up until that point he hadn't really realized what kind of lifestyle he had; he just never really thought about it before, but now he would have to change it, if only for a little while. Change it for Izzie. Why? He never really thought about that either. He didn't know why it was so important for him to impress Izzie or to be there for her, or to not let her down. She was just an old friend after all.