Hello, Hello!

First, I'd like to thank you for deciding to read this story. It means a lot to me. Second, I'm going to warn you right now that I am notorious for abandoning story lines. I will try my hardest not to do that with this one, but I make no promises.

Third, I love Grey's Anatomy as much as anyone else, but I had to change some things around for the sake of this storyline.

First, Alex is 15. Arizona is 40 and Aaron and Amber are 10 and 6 years old. I recognize that the Karev kids grew up in Iowa, but this story takes place in Seattle.

Without further ado, here is The Grace that Follows.

"When the worst case scenario comes true, clinging to hope is all we have left."

~Arizona Robbins

Chapter 1: Déjà vu

He's seen this scene a hundred times on his Ma's medical shows, but he never thought he'd be an active participant. Lying on a gurney that feels as if it's going a hundred miles an hour, Alex Karev feels ready to puke. The lights in the ceiling fly by in a white blur, and it's all he can do to stay conscious.

Everything hurts. His arms and his legs, his back, his head. He'd like to think that he had a high pain tolerance. It's not like his father is usually gentle when he kicks his son's ass, but the pain he feels now is indescribable compared to all of that. This time things have gone too far.

Doctors and nurses shout instructions at one another but try as he might Alex can't make sense of any of it. The numbers and the medical terminology mean nothing to him, but the looks on their faces tell him this is serious.

The day had started out like any other, he'd gotten up and gotten his siblings ready for school. He got them on the bus and, just when he got his own bag together, realized that his Ma had slipped out again. It wasn't unusual, but it was definitely inconvenient. One more tardy meant a week of after school detention and an afternoon detention meant that Alex wouldn't be home in time to get his siblings off the school bus, an issue in and of itself.

He'd spent nearly half an hour looking for his mother this morning, eventually finding her on one of the neighbor's porches, laughing as she talked to someone only she could see. He'd coaxed her into their house and turned on her favorite soap opera channel, begging her to stay put until he got home from school.

He hiked to school on his bike, making in just before the end of first hour. Forget his worries about a tardy, an absence would have been even worse. He slipped into Geometry with a mere ten minutes left in the class and tried to ignore his teacher's scathing look. At the end of class, the bell rang, and he immediately began to plead his case.

"It was a family emergency, I had to get my siblings to school."

"You seem to be having a lot of those lately Mr. Karev."

It was a lost cause and Alex knew it long before he was called to the Principal's office that afternoon.

"Mr. Karev, you know our school's policy on attendance. I'm sorry, but family emergency or not, I have no choice but to give you detention. I'll be contacting your parents later this week. Perhaps we can work something out a way for you to get here on time. Maybe an alarm clock?"

Alex gave him a forced smile as if an alarm clock would be of any help when it came to keeping his mother safe.

That afternoon, he'd gone to detention just as he was supposed to. Even though he knew that things would be in a state of complete and utter chaos the minute he got home. When he parked his bike at the house at 4:30, an hour and a half after his siblings were due to be dropped off by their school bus, he was greeted by the sound of his father's harsh voice and his mother's terrified sobs.

"Why can't you do anything right Helen? Those kids had to go to the damn after school care because Alex wasn't here to pick them up. What are you? Stupid or something? A big yellow bus comes by our house and you don't think to go out and get your own goddamn kids? Do you know how much extra that daycare costs? $10 a minute. It was half an hour before I could get there Helen. Do you see $300 lying around? Because I sure as fuck don't!"

Alex flinched when he heard his father's harsh words directed towards his mother.

"Lay off her, would ya? It was my fault that they couldn't get off the bus. Ma had nothing to do with it."

"Ma had nothing to do with it. Your Ma had something to do with it, seeing as she raised your sorry ass. Where the fuck were you kid?"

"I had detention."

"Fucking off during school again?"

"No, I had too many tardies. I have to stay after for the rest of the week."

"Fucking hell. Was it your Ma again?" One glance at his mother made Alex hold his tongue. The older woman was lost in her own world, playing with her fingers and whispering softly to herself. It was something she did when she was uneasy.

Alex's silence told his father everything he needed to know.

"God Dammit. You see what you did Helen? You and your stupid fantasies have fucked everything up and now I'm going to have to take time out of rehearsals. Time is money. You think I'm made of money?"

Alex tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but it seemed to stick.

"I'll pick up a few extra odd jobs, see if I can't make the money to pay for the daycare for today." He suggested, taking notice of Amber peeking out from the other room. He waved her away with his eyes, but the little girl didn't seem to get his message. Rather, she curled up on the floor next to their mother.

"That's not all you're gonna do boy. You just can't seem to get through a week without a royal fuck up. What am I going to have to do to get you to learn your lesson?" His father fiddled with his belt buckle as he spoke.

"Pop, I'm sorry. It won't happen again I just need to…" Alex's attempts at calming his father were interrupted by the harsh crack of leather on his skin. He didn't have to look down at his arm to know that a welt was already forming.

He glanced in the direction of his mother and little sister. His mother was curled into herself, Amber held tightly in her embrace. Aaron was nowhere to be seen, which sent a sense of relief through him. His little sister might not have the sense to stay safely kept away in her bedroom, but Aaron knew better. If things got too bad, he'd be able to step up and get her out safely.

Alex didn't flinch when his father made him take off his shirt so there would be more space for him to slap his belt. He didn't fight back when punches were thrown in his direction. He held back the urge to cry out when his father's boots delivered several blows to his abdomen, even though he definitely felt one of his ribs crack.

He sat there, and he took it like a man. It was safer for his mother and siblings if he took the heat and wasn't that what being a man was about? Making things safer for his family?

His father eventually grew tired and lost interest in beating his son. He mumbled something about going out to the bar and, without another word, he left. He always ended up leaving.

It wasn't anything out of the ordinary until the flashing lights of a police car appeared outside the living room window and a heavy knock was heard at the front door.