A/N - Just an idea I had for an AI story. Let me know if you like it and think I should continue. :)
Izzie smiled as she ran her perfectly manicured hands over the detailed drawings that had recently leap off the page into her upcoming spring collection. She'd worked meticulously perfecting each button, ruffle, and stitch. The colors worked together perfectly and weren't something that had been done before. She was extremely proud of the collection she and her designing partner and best friend Addison Montgomery had produced. This would be the first year that she and Addison would be presenting at New York's fashion week and just thinking about it had her stomach twisting in excitement.
Just then Addison poked her head into Izzie's office.
"Hey, Iz. Are you coming? We've got a meeting with marketing in a few minutes."
"Ehh, yeah," Izzie said frustrated, getting up from her desk and following Addison out of the door. It wasn't that she wasn't excited about the major ad campaign they had planned for their upcoming line. She was. It more her marketing team that irked her. She couldn't stand the head of their marketing team, Alex Karev. He was an arrogant ass that had produced some of the sleaziest campaigns in history but everyone else thought that he would be good for them and Izzie was outnumbered.
She walked into the conference room after Addison and saw him sitting there. She tried to ignore slightly bit of stubble that was gracing his chin and the way his shirt accentuated his chest. He's an ass Izzie! Remember that. Look away. She tripped over her heel and awkwardly sat down in her chair. Why was her usual grace lost around him?
"So is it just you today Alex?" He nodded at her and then winked. "Ok let's start then." She looked over at Addison to take over.
"Well why don't you just start by showing us your prints, then Karev," Addison said nodding to Alex. He nodded back and got up to get the covered boards in the corner of the room.
"I think you're really going to love these. I think everything…" Alex began, but was cut off by Izzie.
"Wait, what?" Izzie interrupted. "Why do we already have prints? We haven't talked about our campaign yet?"
"Well," Addison began. "We kind of did. I talked to Alex a while back. We decided on the general path we wanted to take."
Izzie looked shocked and upset. "You what?" she asked angrily.
"Don't worry. You're helping to choose now." Addison smiled reassuringly. The truth was they hadn't included Izzie in their planning because they knew she wouldn't agree to it. Now it would be too late. The money had been spent and she would have to choose from what they already had.
Izzie made a childish scowl before she turned to Alex's direction and gritted her teeth. "Fine! Then lets see what you've got."
"Okay… like I was saying. I think everything turned out perfectly. Just as I imagined." Alex smirked as he moved to unveil the stack of posters he had. Izzie's face grew more and more horrified as he revealed each print.
"What are these?" Izzie demanded appalled. "They're barely wearing our clothes!" She looked to Addison for support but she only shrugged.
"Yes, they are. And besides, this is what sells," Addison replied nonchalantly.
"She's right," Alex interrupted, grinning. "I would want to buy your clothes from this campaign." He gave her another one of his trademark smirks.
"Addison!" Izzie said, ignoring Alex and turning away from him. "We make classy, sophisticated, beautiful clothes! They shouldn't be reduced to this!" She turned back to Alex and pointed at one of the prints. "That girl! She's not wearing pants, Alex! That was supposed to be a shirt, not a dress!"
"I know," Alex tried to interrupt but Addison beat him to it.
"Izzie, listen to me. If we want to compete with other designers we have to have ads that are kind of sexy. And I don't think they're as a bad as you think they are."
"Please, Addison. That girl looks like she's practically having sex!" Izzie said pointing to another print. "It's pretty much porn."
"Shut up, already," Alex said to Izzie annoyed. "You hired me to design your damn campaign and that's what I did. It's what sells, Izzie. And if you don't like it, then you can hire someone else to give a shitty mediocre campaign that will be forgotten before its even seen," he gritted out.
"Okay," Addison said trying to smooth things out. "How about you leave the prints now, Alex and Izzie and I will talk about this and get back to you later, ok?"
"Whatever," he spat out as he started walking to the door. "Tell me when you've decided to release it to press."
Once he'd left the room Izzie turned to Addison. "How can you think it was a good idea to hire him? Did you see those pictures?" Izzie asked, still feeling somewhat aghast. This was not how she had imagined her line would be portrayed.
"I don't know, Iz. I think he's right. What's the point of designing clothes if they fly under the radar and nobody wears them?"
"I don't think they would fly under the radar," Izzie retorted. "Do you have such little faith in our designs?"
"No, that's not it," Addison sighed, frustrated. "How about we drop this for now? Let's sleep on it and talk about it again tomorrow," she said standing up. "Besides, it's getting pretty late and I think almost everyone else went home already."
"Okay," Izzie agreed. She stood up too and Addison pulled her into a hug.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you'd feel this strongly about this," she said. "Maybe you'll feel differently tomorrow?"
"Maybe," Izzie said doubtfully. "I'm going to go back to my office. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay, don't forget to go home though."
"Haha," Izzie replied sarcastically. She would go home. She had a life outside of work. She did.
Sitting back in her office she thought about what Alex and Addison had said. And if you don't like it, then you can hire someone else. Alex's words rang through her head. The more she thought about it the more sure she became of what she wanted to do. If Addison could make decisions without her, then so could she. She ran out of her office and into the deserted hallways where she saw a light coming out of the room at the end. Perfect. That was Alex's workspace. She ran down the hallway as fast as her heels would allow and burst into the office. Alex was sitting at the desk and looked up at her, confused.
"Shouldn't you have left by now? Haven't got any place better to be?" He asked
"Well then why are you still here?" she retorted. Alex made a face and waved her remark away with his hand.
"What do you want?" He spat out.
"Well, I've been thinking about what you said and…."
"You've decided to stop being such a prude?" Alex cut her off.
"No." Izzie pinched her face together. "Not that. About hiring someone else. You're right. I'm going to do just that. So you're…"
Izzie stopped as she heard a muffled scream coming from down the hallway followed by a voice she couldn't understand.
"What the hell?" Alex got up from his chair and joined Izzie as she walked into the hallway. She hurried down to the bend of the hallway but then pulled back when she saw what was there.
"You stupid little bitch! You didn't think I would find out about this?" A large man with his back to Izzie and Alex hissed to someone she couldn't see. He moved slightly and Izzie saw the new intern girl they hired last week. She let out a gasp when he slapped her and was about to move forward to stop when he pulled out a gun and held it to the girl. Alex's hand moved up and covered her mouth to top her scream. He hooked his other arm around her waist and slowly pulled her back. He quietly shushed in her ear and started to walk them back slowly down the hallway.
"Please, no! Don't do it. I'm sorry!" The girl cried. The large man didn't respond. He only moved his finger against the trigger. At the sound of the gunshot Izzie let out a cry through Alex's hand and the man turned around and looked them straight in the eye.