Title: The End of a Beautiful Friendship
Pairings: Alex/Izzie, Meredith/Derek, Alex/Mer friendship, Izzie/Meredith friendship.
Summary: What caused Meredith and Izzie's friendship to completely fall apart. (Various One Shots)
Spoilers: So far just spoilers for season 5/6

Salt For Your Wounds

Izzie knew she'd lost Meredith as soon as she'd left Seattle Grace Hospital. It wasn't that she'd hurt her personally, but Izzie knew their friendship was over the minute she left Seattle. Izzie may not have hurt Meredith personally, but she knew what she'd done to Alex. She knew that she'd done this because she knew it'd break Alex. And she was okay wit that he had betrayed her, and so she had done this to break his heart. And she knew as soon as Alex's heart broke, Meredith would end their friendship. She cared more about Alex than Izzie, it was something she'd always known. And if Izzie hurt Alex, Izzie got cut out.

So when Izzie's phone rang and she saw Meredith's name, she was shocked enough to pick up the phone. Maybe she hadn't lost Meredith as a friend.

"Mer! How's everything?" Izzie asked enthusiastically.

Meredith groaned, "The happy voice has got to go, Iz."

Great, she wasn't cool with her.

"What?" She questioned playing clueless.

"Don't use the happy voice. I won't be able to get through this conversation with you being all enthusiastic and happy, it's just not going to work." Meredith snapped.

Izzie cooled her voice down, "What's up Meredith?"

Meredith ignored her question, "Are you keeping up with your treatments?"

"Yes, I am, I promise I'm not stupid." Izzie assured her.

"Maybe not completely." Meredith answered coolly.

Izzie was shocked. What was she supposed to do? How was she supposed to talk to her friend who was clearly angry with her. She decided to be lighthearted, "Woah, Meredith, I'm sensing an icy vibe."

"Izzie, stop." Meredith said firmly.

"Mer, you called me. And you clearly don't want to talk to me, so maybe you should hang up with me if you don't want to hear me talk, because that's what I do when I'm on the phone, I talk!" Izzie snapped, getting annoyed, she was tired of taking the crap.

"This conversation is not about you Izzie, my god! It's not always about you! I didn't call you to talk about you! You're the last thing I want to talk about!" Meredith yelled.

Izzie felt tears coming, but she wasn't going to cry.

"Listen, that's what I want you to do Izzie, I want you to listen. Are you capable of doing that?"

Izzie nodded, worried her voice would shake, and pressed the phone closer to her ear. Clearly Izzie's nod didn't really answer Meredith's question, so she said, "Yes, I can listen."

"Good. What you did was not right. It was terrible and completely self-centered. I know in your mind that you did it cause of some I lost my job bullshit and you blamed Alex for it, but I know why you did it. You did it because you needed the attention to be on you, you can't let the attention not be on you." Meredith stated.

"That's not true, Alex betrayed me, he said I couldn't work!" Izzie yelled.

Meredith snapped, "How dare you! This is why I told you to just listen, Iz, I warned you. Don't you dare accuse Alex of ever betraying you. You know what he did? All he did was ask the chief to keep an eye out on you because you had just come back from massive treatment, he was concerned as your husband. Not as a coworker, he didn't want you to overstress yourself. He wasn't concerned with your medical abilities! Maybe if you stuck around to talk to him, you'd know."

Izzie took a deep breath. If Meredith was right, then she had made a major mistake, she didn't feel like admitting she was wrong so she whispered, "Meredith, with all do respect, you don't know anything about this."

"Izzie, with all do respect, I've done your job. I comforted your husband when you left him. So with all do respect, I'm pretty familiar with Alex's side of the story." Meredith answered coldly.

Ouch. Izzie had nothing for that.

Meredith inhaled, "And I don't care what Alex did or what you thought he did. He stayed by your side as you died of cancer. Okay, he watched you die, and he's the reason you're still alive. He stepped up and the least you could do was ask him what he'd said to the chief. The least you could do is talk to him before you leave, but no you couldn't do that. People always think Alex is the bad guy and you make him seem like the bad guy, like he betrayed you. But Izzie the truth is you're the bad guy, and you betrayed him, you betrayed your vows. Did Alex betray his? No. Through sickness and health, he stuck by you and you left him. So don't ever say he betrayed you, you betrayed him."

Izzie was crying now, and muttered, "Why are you calling me?"

Meredith sighed, "Because despite how much hurt you did and the fact that he deserves so much more than you, he still wants you. He loves you. He wants you, he'd take you back, and he's reverting back to old Alex. He's going to cheat to numb his pain, and you need to stop him. Because he can't hurt you, okay? If he breaks the vows and does something to set you guys further back, he won't be able to forgive himself. I will not let you being petty, set Alex back on his journey. He's a good guy now and I won't let you stop Alex from realizing that. I will not."

Izzie chokes on tears into the phone, "I can't just."

"You can just." Meredith told her, "Me and you? Our friendship is in dangerous waters this is the only way you can fix that."

Izzie keeps crying, not sure what to say.

"I'm not letting Alex sink into dark and twisty again, and if you do, I will never forgive you." Meredith stated it simply.

"Okay." Izzie whispered still trying to stop the tears.

"Alright, then I'll see you tomorrow." Meredith hangs up the phone.

It's at that moment that Izzie, still sobbing, finds the residency in Tacoma. It was going to have to do.

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