Another

Here it is, the sequel to "Again."

I have struggled with this one since I finished "Again," taking a short break to write "These Happy Golden Years." There has also been real life stuff going on personally. And I have to say that the recent (but expected) development of Izzie leaving the show hasn't helped my writing any. (Although, I fully predict a series-finale episode (or Justin's last episode) reunion for Alex and Izzie, kind of like Doug and Carol on ER. Especially since Katherine did say she was opened to returning for a visit … we'll just have to anticipate that day for the next few seasons, I suppose. )

But what I came to realize is that Izzie being gone now works with "Again" and therefore, it will work with the sequel. So no sadness from me. In my mind, these stories are hopeful and really could happen. Or at the very least, I can pretend that they do!

This story takes place a year after the epilogue of "Again."

Oh, and reviews are very much appreciated!

The silvery moonlight filtered into the exquisitely decorated honeymoon suite of a Canadian bed & breakfast. It had been a year since their actual honeymoon, but Alex had wanted to make their anniversary special since they never got to that point the first time around. Stealing her away for a weekend in Victoria, British Columbia, had more than surprised her. He had brought her to tears from the moment they crossed the border. Now, hours later, she lay wrapped in his arms, breathing heavily and wishing that moments like this would never end.

"You still awake," he whispered, his voice evening out.

She turned and looked up at him. "Yeah." She smiled and kissed him gently. Her gentle kiss grew hungry and she moved over him.

"Iz, I love you. But you've got to give me a little more time."

She looked up at him, smirk on her face, holding back laughter. "Oh." She finally couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. She plopped back down on the mattress beside him in a fit of giggles.

The scowl on his face did nothing to quiet her, in fact, it only made it worse. "Sure, laugh. It's hilarious. I'm not 18 anymore. Sorry." Her laughter turned into a guffaw, and she grabbed the pillow from behind her head and tried to stifle the sounds coming out of her mouth. "And neither, might I add, are you." That stopped her.

She pulled the pillow from her face and glared at him. "True. But men reach their sexual prime in their late teens. Women don't reach their sexual prime until their mid to late thirties. I'm right on time. You are way past your's," she said with a smirk.

"Give me a few minutes and I'll show you how much I am not past my prime," he said defensively.

"Oh. Okay old man. I can wait." She snuggled back up against him as he pulled her close. "You think Caleb's okay?"

He pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder. "Iz, I thought we weren't going to talk about Caleb or work or Seattle tonight."

"I know. I'm sorry but It's just the first time Mer and Derek have kept him for this long since Joanna was born. Three kids might just be enough to drive Meredith over the edge."

"They're fine. Mer can summon her inner supermom when she has to. She doesn't do it often, but she can. Plus, wasn't she going to get Callie and Arizona to bring Gracie over to play tomorrow anyway? Caleb will be having so much fun, he won't even miss us."

"True. I think Cristina was going to stop by too."

"Well, she won't be much help."

She slapped his arm with a giggle. "Alex! Be nice. She's got to get used to this parenting thing sooner rather than later. Plus she needs the distraction, with Owen being in DC for three weeks."

Alex scoffed. "She's pretty tough. I think she can handle herself without Hunt being around all the time. Why would she need a distraction?"

"She's at the end of her second trimester." She rolled her eyes at his cluelessness.

"So?"

"So, that's the time in a woman's pregnancy where all she can think about is sex." She looked back at him. "You dream about it, think about it at the grocery store or the library or in the operating room in Cristina's case. You want it so bad that you'd almost compromise your integrity to scratch the itch. It's horrible, especially if there is nothing you can do about it."

"Well, if I was Hunt, I'd get my ass back to Seattle asap. Military or no military." He paused, and Izzie could see the wheels in his mind turning. "I don't remember you going through that when you were pregnant with Caleb."

She shrugged sheepishly. "Well, we weren't exactly in the place for you to know. We were friends, and I thought ... I didn't want to ruin what we had, you know. I thought I'd lost my chance with you," she paused, not sure if she should tell him this. She sighed and gave in. "I did dream about you though." A cocky, cheshire grin appeared on his face. "Those were good dreams. But I didn't think you were interested. Cristina told me to get over myself, walk up to you and ask you to sleep with me."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Want to know what I would have done if you had?"

"What?"

"This." In one quick, unexpected moment, Alex had rolled on top of her and her pinned to the bed. She giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "And this..." He kissed her lips gently, silencing her. "And this ..." He moved his lips lower down her body and she shivered at his touch. "And this ..." He nibbled at the sensitive skin around her tattoo. "And this ..."

She didn't hear anymore. She was too busy moaning his name.

"Oh, look, Alex. Caleb would love it!" Izzie's excited voice rang out next to him as she pointed into the window of the toy shop in downtown Victoria. He knew immediately what she was pointing to. The train set. Their son loved trains. Picture books about trains, cartoons about trains, songs about trains. Alex had even taken him to a train show earlier that year, and the boy had loved it. One of the engineers had given him his hat, and it was Caleb's prized possession.

He smiled at his wife's excitement and nodded. "His birthday is coming up."

"It's perfect." She was beaming at him as he tugged on her hand and they entered the store, ready to make their purchase.

A few hours later they were seated in a little cafe on the main street, waiting on their lunch to arrive. Alex couldn't help but notice that she looked beautiful, even in the simple tan sweater and casual jeans she wore. This time away from everything was just what she needed. She looked relaxed and happy, and he knew that he'd give just about anything in this world to keep that smile on her face.

Her cell phone rang as he was staring and he quickly shook himself from his thoughts as she answered. "Hey, Mer. Is everything okay?" A soft smile quickly formed on her face and Alex knew that Caleb was fine. "Okay I'll put it on speaker." She looked up at Alex as she placed the phone on the table between them. "Caleb wanted to talk to us."

Momentarily, a chipper little voice came over the line. "Hi, mommy!"

"Hi baby," came the equally chipper response.

"Is daddy there?"

Alex leaned in toward the phone."I'm right here, little man."

"Daddy!"

Izzie giggled at her son's excitement. "Are you having fun at Aunt Meredith and Uncle Derek's?"

"Yep! Aunt Callie and Aunt Zoni brought Gracie over to play. Jo's still too little."

"Are you behaving?"

"Yes ma'am," Caleb said, a little too sweetly and a little too quickly. Alex was suspicious, and he knew from the look in her eyes that his wife was too. But their boy just continued. "Aunt Cristina is here too. She promised that she'd buy us ice cream if we weren't loud." Izzie looked over at Alex, and he knew that it was a warning to not make a smart ass remark about Cristina's parenting skills. So he resisted.

"What have you been doing?" Alex asked.

"We watched a Thomas movie. And then we played hide and seek inside since it's raining. Then Aunt Zoni helped us play with finger paints. I might have got paint on the wall. Just a little bit," he said quickly. Ah, there it was. Alex bit back a laugh at the horrified look that covered Izzie's face. "Okay, gotta go. Georgia wants to play duck duck goose. Bye Mommy. Bye Daddy. Love you!"

His voice was quickly replaced with Meredith's. "Iz?"

"God, Meredith I am so sorry about the paint."

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's washable. Derek's taking care of it now." Izzie tried to protest. "Seriously, Izzie. It's all taken care of. Caleb's fine. He just mentioned this morning that he missed you and asked if we could call you. I figured you two would be sleeping in," she said suggestively, "so I told him to wait until lunch time. We're fine here."

"You're sure?"

"You two have one more day left of your vacation. Enjoy it. Don't worry about what's going on here. Oh, and by the way, I think Caleb has a little crush on Gracie."

"What?!" Izzie shrieked in horror at the idea but Alex just chuckled and leaned back in his chair, thinking that his son had good taste. The little girl that Callie and Arizona had adopted from Nicaragua the year before was only six months younger than Caleb. With tan skin and dark hair and eyes, she was already a pretty little girl.

"It's cute, Izzie!"

"No Meredith, it's not." A little pout appeared on her face.

"Callie and Arizona think it's cute."

"He's not even three!" The two women continued their conversation until the food they had ordered was placed on the table. The couple was starving and they wasted no time digging into their dishes.

"We need to figure out what to do for his birthday party." She looked up at him as she sat her phone down on the table. "He already told me that he wanted 'Thomas the Tank Engine' on his cake, so I guess we'll just go with that theme. Do you want to have it somewhere else, or just something simple at the house?"

He looked back up at her, eyebrow raised. "I'm not taking a bunch of kids miniature golfing, if that's what you're asking. Something at the house sounds like a better idea."

"Okay. Good. That's what I wanted to do too." Her phone beeped and she picked it up. Her smile turned upside down in a moment and sadness clouded over her eyes.

Concern washed over him as he leaned closer to her. "Mer again?"

"Uh, no. Dr. Campbell's office was just sent an email confirming our appointment for next week." She sighed and put the phone back down. That was exactly what he didn't want to happen. Her excitement over planning their son's third birthday party suddenly disappeared, and a solemn look appeared on her face.

"Iz. It'll be okay."

"Alex, you heard what she said last time. This is it. We're using the last of the viable embryos. The last two treatments didn't work. What if the next one doesn't either."

"Then we deal with that when the time comes." He hated bringing this up, knowing what her reaction would be. He placed his hand over hers, rubbing gently with his thumb. "There are other options, you know."

"I know, I know. I just want to give birth to another baby. I can't explain it."

"You don't have to explain it. I understand, really I do." His hazel eyes locked with her chocolate ones, and he was unable to keep the sigh from his voice. "But you know as well as I do that we can't change the results of the IVF. It just doesn't work all the time. We got lucky with Caleb. Blood doesn't make a family, Iz. We can still have another baby, even if you don't give birth to it."

She half-smiled at him. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm being silly. But it could still work."

"Right. It could." He knew he had to get her mind off of this subject, or it could ruin the rest of their vacation. "So, we were talking about Caleb's party. …"

Okay, let me know what you think. Should I keep going? Reviews, please!