I didn't put a disclaimer for the last chapter, oh dear.
Disclaimer: I do not in anyway own Grey's Anatomy or any of the characters. The only thing I own is my plot.

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I wasn't expecting that number as it was quite a short starting chapter…


We're all second best and second place. We work hard for what we want, but we rarely get it. The better we want to be, the harder we work, leaving us empty inside, leaving us needing more.

'I was sure!' Alex told everyone that was crowed around Izzie's hospital bed, 'So, so sure…,' he whispered to himself.
'What happened?' Dr. Bailey commanded, holding up her pager, 'I got your page Karev.'
'Alex here thought that he saw Izzie wake up,' Cristina blurted out coldly.
'Cristina!' Meredith exclaimed, 'You shouldn't have said it like that,' she whispered to Cristina under her breath.
'Well someone had the tell Dr. Bailey!' Cristina hissed back to Meredith.

'I was so sure it happened…,' Alex was still talking to himself, sinking down lower in his chair, he stared at Izzie's body, 'Izzie…,' tears formed in his eyes.

'O'Malley's family is outside waiting for someone to talk to them, Grey go!' Dr. Bailey ordered.
But before Meredith could move, Derek spoke up, 'I'll go if that's okay with you Dr. Bailey. I was the attending on the case.'
'No, no, no,' Dr Bailey waved her charts around, 'I don't know why but they want Grey.'
Meredith nodded at the Chief Resident and left the room.

'Erm, Dr. Bailey, what should I do?' Cristina asked.
'I don't know Yang! Go find your interns and go do your rounds if you want!'
As Yang made her way out of Izzie's room, Derek stopped her, 'Yang, didn't you take the day off like Meredith?'
'No, I didn't,' Cristina said over her shoulder and she left.

'Wow,' Derek said to Miranda as soon as they were out of the room, 'One of her friends is dead and the other one is close to death and she's still working?'
Dr. Bailey shook her head, 'She doesn't feel, all she ever wants is to operate. She's a great at surgery, but at the end of the end, she might not make that good a surgeon.'

Meanwhile, Meredith had found George's mom and brothers waiting outside, 'Mrs. O'Malley, I am so sorry about your loss,' she started.

Mrs. O'Malley started sobbed and one of the O'Malley boys spoke, 'Georgie, how did he, you know, how did it happen?'
Meredith took a deep breath, 'He had signed up for the army, you know. As a trauma surgeon. He was going to go to Iraq and save the lives of soldiers. But before he left, he was going to come back to the hospital and he was at the bus stop. There was a girl at the bus stop and she was about walk in front of a bus but George pushed her out of the way, getting run over instead. When he-'

'Wait a minute,' the other brother cut in, 'Georgie saved a girl?'
Meredith gave him a smile, 'Yes, yes, he did.'
'Wow.'
'My George,' Mrs. O'Malley said between sobs, 'he died doing a good thing. He was so brave. My George.'

Meredith watched Mrs. O'Malley was comforted by her sons. Even though they had lost their father and their brother, they were still a family. They were still there for each other.
Meredith compared this to her 'family' with Izzie, Cristina, Alex and George. They had lost George and had come close to losing Izzie, but they were still a family, they were still there for each other… right?
'Yeah,' Meredith thought sarcastically to herself, if Cristina and Alex don't kill each other and if Izzie woke up, they were family.

Family…ever since her and Derek had written down their vows, this word had a new meaning to Meredith. Her and Derek could build an actual family, which is a thing she had never had. Never remembered having.

Since she had taken the day off, Meredith wondered to Izzie's hospital room to give Alex some company and make sure that he was okay. On her way she bumped into Lexi, 'Oh, Hi Meredith,' Lexi smiled at her.
Meredith didn't have much she wanted to say and simply smiled back as she watch Lexi walk down the corridor.

Lexi watched Meredith carefully making sure that she couldn't be seen. She then slipped into the on call room quickly. Holding up her pager and smiling, she asked someone in the dark on call room, 'You paged me?'

Meredith walked into Izzie's room. 'Hey Alex,' she said in a small voice, as she sat down in the chair next to him.
Alex didn't reply, he just kept staring at Izzie. For a while, Meredith did the same thing.
'Look Alex, I know you need someone right now, we all need someone. So how about you be my someone and I'll be your someone?'
Alex nodded, showing no emotion.
'You guys were my family. You, me, Cristina, Izzie and George. But we've been torn apart. George is gone. Izzie is well, you know. And, I'm broken without you guys. Cristina's being all cold. Derek doesn't get it. I don't have anyone right now.'
Alex nodded, 'Well, I'm still here,' he answered in a flat voice.

'You know, I was wondering what might have happened if we just let her die last night. This is what she didn't want right? To be living like a robot, with no feelings, to be living, but not… alive,' Alex buried his face in his hands.
'Alex, you shouldn't feel bad about this. I'm sure Izzie would have done the same thing if she was in your shoes.'
'Yeah, but all the same. You know how she was like with the DNR. She's going to be mad at me, I know she will be.'
'Alex, let's look at it this way, she still has a chance right now, to wake up and everything, and if you really want to, after a while, you could take her off life support,' Meredith suggested lightly.

Meanwhile, in the on call room, Lexi lay in Mark's arms.
'So you're definitely moving in with me, right?' Mark asked.
Lexi giggled, 'There's still the option to say no?'
'No, there isn't.'

After a quiet day, Dr. Shepard walked into Izzie's room to see Meredith and Alex talking. He smiled, 'Meredith? Time to go home.'
Meredith gave him a wide smile, 'Right.'
She turned to Alex, 'Alex.., you going to come?'
'No, I need to stay, just in case.'
'Okay then,' Meredith nodded, 'I'll bring you a change of clothes tomorrow, how 'bout that?'
'Okay,' Alex nodded and sunk down even lower in his chair, 'Thanks for everything Meredith.'
'Oh, we're family, it's what we do.'

Holding hands, Derek and Meredith walked smiling into Joe's, accompanied by Mark and Lexi. After a while at the bar, they were joined by Cristina.
'A toast,' Meredith announced, lifting up her glass, 'To George O'Malley, who passed away as a brave man.'
'George O'Malley.'

But at the end of the day, being second best and second place doesn't matter to us anymore, if we have family. In the end, it's family that keeps us together, family that keeps so going. Family that fills our emptiness.


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