Chapter Two

Gwennie had fallen asleep first, while Alex was reading through the file. Alex soon followed her into sleep, the exhaustion from his 36 hour shift finally hitting him.

Alex sat at his desk in his room, trying to ignore his parents yelling – again. As long as they stayed downstairs and left Gwennie alone, Alex didn't care much. They two of them never let anyone come to the house, always preferring to go somewhere else to hang out. Most of their friends knew what was going on and didn't mind when either of them stayed over.

He winced as he heard glass breaking, probably the lamp in the living room. His father never actually hit any of them, which was good, but he tended to yell and break things an awful lot. His dad wasn't home most of the time anyway, usually off playing music in one bar or another. His dad was a good musician, he played the guitar like no one he had ever seen, and Alex had been in plenty of bars with musicians. When his dad was being a "good" drunk, he would tell anyone who would listen about his son the wrestler and his daughter who played in the school band and wrote stories.

The crash of broken glass sounded again and Alex took off to the hallway just to survey the damage. His sister lay in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. His mother lay on the couch, moaning. Broken glass was spewed all over the place among used needles and white powder. Alex rushed down the stairs, checking on his sister when he reached the bottom. She was breathing, there was blood coming from her head. She wasn't awake or anything, but she was breathing – she was alive. He glared at his father as he stood up. The man was so drunk, he didn't even realize Alex was there. His mother moaned again – she was awake, she was alive. He took a deep breath.

"What did you do," he asked.

"Shut up, boy," his father said, taking another swig of beer, "it's no more than they deserve. Stay out of it."

"You hit them," Alex said, narrowing his eyes, "you hit them!"

"Yeah," he said. "We're out of beer, I'll be back."

"No."

"What did you say," his father said, facing him. Without thinking, Alex launched himself at his father and using his well learned wrestling moves, pinned him to the floor.

"Get out of here," Alex said angrily in his ear as he pushed him harder into the floor. "Get out of here and don't come back. I don't want to see you again. You do come back here and I'll do worse than pinning you to the floor." He stood up and watched his father slowly get up. He grabbed his wallet and his keys from the stand by the door and left – he didn't even bother to look back.

"Mom, are you okay," he asked, going over to her.

"I'm fine," she said, brushing him off, "I'm going to take a nap." Alex rolled his eyes and went over to his sister.

"Gwennie," he said, "are you alright? Can you hear me?"

Her eyes fluttered open. "Is he gone," she asked, weakly. Alex nodded. "He was hitting Mom and I just acted. I should have gotten you. I should have. . ."

"Stop it," he said, when she started crying, "he's not coming back. Mom went to bed. Let's go."

"Go where, Alex," she said, "I don't want to go anywhere. No one can see me like this."

"John Ortega's aunt in an ER nurse," he said, "we'll go to his house and call her."

"But. . ."

"No," he said, "now." He helped her up and they left. When they got back that night, they saw their Mom in her bedroom watching television. They spent the rest of the night cleaning up the living room and the kitchen. It was nearly time for school when the finished.

"I don't want to go, Alex," Gwennie said when her told her to get ready for school, "can't we take one day off? It's not like Mom will care and it's just one day."

"Fine," he said, "let's get some sleep." Alex waited in her room until she fell asleep before going to his own room. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Alex woke up to the sound of breaking glass.

"Gwennie?"

"Over here," she said.

Alex looked around, trying to remember where he was. Archfield, he remembered, Gwennie was in town. "Gwennie?"

"In the kitchen," she yelled, "I dropped a glass. Don't worry." He picked himself up off the couch and walked into the kitchenette. The clock on the stove shone bright neon green with the numbers – 4:00PM. He had easily slept for four hours. "Hey," she said, seeing him. "I can order room service or I can make something. I went to get groceries while you were sleeping. I figured whatever I didn't use you could take home."

"I don't know," he said, "whatever." Gwennie scowled at him as she poured out two glasses of orange juice. "So I read the file before I fell asleep."

"Yeah. And?"

"He's terminal, as far as the cancer goes," he explained. "I suppose if we want to do this then we better do it fast."

"Is he that bad," she asked, sitting down beside him. He nodded. She bit her bottom lip and stared at the table. "Do you still want to go?"

"I don't know, Gwennie," he said, standing up. He went to the other side of the kitchenette and leaned against the counter, facing her. "Sometimes I like to think it was all a bad dream," he told her, "that it happened to someone else. That man never loved us. He was our father, not our dad. Hell, as far as I'm concerned, we're orphans. It's pretty much just been you and me since you were born. No, I take that back. Mom at least potty trained you before becoming indifferent to you."

"I wonder why they even had kids," she said aloud. Alex shrugged. As much as he hated his parents, he was glad he was born. Oh, and Gwennie, too, it would have been harder growing up without her. "I'm not going by myself, Alex, with him being terminal or not. I won't make you go," she said, "but. . ."

"But you want to anyway," he said, "so I'll have to go. I wouldn't let you go alone, Gwen. I'll be honest, though, I don't think we should bother. We haven't had anything to do with him in ten years. Even if . . . what happened hadn't happened, do you really think we would have stayed in touch after we left there?"

"You did."

"Huh?"

"After you left home, to go to college," she said, staring at him, "you stayed in touch with people from home. Friends and stuff."

"That was mostly for you," he said, "someone had to make sure you were okay." She rolled her eyes at him and then shook her head. "Look, it's real simple. Yes. Or. No."

"It isn't that simple," she said, laughing lightly. "It's never that simple." Gwen rested her chin on her hand and closed her eyes. "I think I want to go," she said, her eyes still closed. "Nikkos and I will eventually get married, have kids, and do all of that domestic stuff. I don't want to have the thought of my father haunting me forever."

"Demons," Alex nodded, although his sister couldn't see him.

"Demons," she echoed. She opened her eyes. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to be better then he is."

"You already are," his sister smiled.

"Yeah, whatever," he said. "Wanna see where I live?"

An hour later, Alex pulled into the driveway. They had stopped to pick up some food. He didn't know why, but he felt a compulsion to introduce his friends and his sister. "Anyone here," he called out, dropping a bag of groceries on the counter. "Hello?"

"What is it, Alex," a tall, blonde woman exasperated, a phone jammed against her ear. "I'm on the phone."

"Oh," Alex said, blinking, "it can wait, Izzie." The blonde woman shook her head and walked out of the kitchen. "Um, that was Izzie. Oh, um, Izzie Stevens. She's a surgeon, like me."

"Are you sure she's a surgeon," Gwen asked.

Alex nodded. "She gets that a lot, actually."

"And you live together," Gwen asked. "Well, that makes sense. Neither of you probably get to spend a lot of time at home."

"O'Malley is shacking up here, too," Alex told her, "and Meredith Grey. It's her house. Oh, and Yang is staying here, I think. We're all Residents, except O'Malley." Gwen nodded. "So, yeah, let me show you around."

"Alex," she said, grabbing his arm, "don't be nervous. You suggested this. We don't have to. . ."

"Yeah, we do," he said, "I want to. These people, as odd as it may sound, have become like a family – like a family for me, maybe us. We have to do better than our parents did. They didn't keep in contact with their siblings or anything. We're trying to be better, so we're here and you'll meet everyone."

"Okay," she said. "You'll have to come to Chicago and meet everyone, though."

"Alright," he said, leading her out to the living room.

"Uh, hi, Alex," a woman with dirty blonde hair said.

"Hey, Mer," Alex said. "My sister, Gwennie, is in town," he said. "Gwen, this is Meredith Grey. This is her house. Mer, this is Gwendolyn Karev."

"Gwen is fine," his sister said, holding her hand out for Meredith to shake.

"Hi," Meredith smiled. "This is my, uh, my. . .Derek," the woman finished lamely.

"Derek Shepard," the man beside Meredith said, standing up and holding out his hand, "Head of Neurosurgery at Seattle Grace."

Gwen smiled. "Nikkos has mentioned you, actually," she said, "you were in on the conjoined adult twins separation."

Derek Shepard smiled. "Yes, indeed I was. When you say Nikkos," he said, "you mean . . .?"

"Nikkos Rowan," Gwen smiled. "I see my boyfriend is going to make me very popular around here," she said, when Derek Shepard smiled in recognition, "what a pity he couldn't make it. He's ego could have definitely used a boost." Meredith started laughing. Gwen directed her smile towards her.

"So, I don't think that Karev has ever mentioned a sister," Derek said. "Where's he been hiding you?"

"Chicago," Gwen said, "with Nikkos."

"I haven't been. . ."

"Calm down, Alex," Gwen said, "I'm sure that Dr. Shepard was only joking. Right, Doctor?"

"Of course," Derek said, smiling charmingly at her.

"Derek," Meredith exclaimed, hitting his leg from her seat on the couch.

"What," he asked, sitting back down.

"Do not McDreamy Alex's sister," she exclaimed.

"McDreamy," Gwen questioned.

"I'll explain later," he said. "Anyway, this is the living room. There's a Den like place through that door. Over here is the dining room. There are bedrooms upstairs and a bathroom." Gwen giggled. "What?"

"You're quite the tour guide," she said, sitting down on a chair, "you should think about changing professions."

"Yeah, sure," Alex said, sitting down in another chair.

"So, Gwen," Derek said, striking up conversation, "how long are you in town?"

"I'm not sure," she answered. "Alex has invited me for Christmas. I hope that's alright. I'm not sure if Nikkos will make it out or not, I haven't mentioned it to him yet."

"Why not," Meredith asked, curiously.

"He was paged to surgery."

The three surgeons nodded, understandingly. "Where are you staying," Derek asked.

"The Archfield," Gwen said. "It's a very nice hotel."

"That's pricey," Meredith said. "Mark's staying there, isn't he?" Derek nodded.

"Yes, well, like I said, Nikkos was planning on coming with me. He made the reservations. I would have been happy just about anywhere, but Nikkos definitely has that 'deserves the best' attitude."

"So, are you just here for the Christmas holiday," Meredith asked, "or . . .?"

Gwen smiled. "I just missed my brother," she said, not wanting to mention the pending trip to see their terminally ill father.

"Alright, George is picking up pizza," Izzie said, walking into the living room, "and Cristina is on her way home. Oh, hi, Dr. Shepard. Are you two. . ."

"Yes," Meredith said, "we are."

Gwen raised her eyebrows at her brother. "Meredith and Shepard are very on again off again. At the moment, they're on again."

"This is it," Meredith insisted, "we're in it for good." Alex rolled his eyes and laughed good naturally.

"So, how does one end up dating one of the top Cardiothoracic surgeons in the United States? If you don't mind me asking," Derek asked.

"Not at all. I was working at a hotel while I was going to college," Gwen said. "Nikkos came to pick up a colleague from out of town. We got to talking and made plans to meet up later at the restaurant off the lobby. The rest, as they say, is history. We've been together for two years now. It feels like a lot more, but in a good way." She paused for a second, "So, if you don't mind me asking, how does one end up dating the top Neurosurgeon in the United States?"

"I met her in a bar," Derek spoke up, when it was clear Meredith wasn't going to, "and I'm just too damn charming to resist."

"You keep telling yourself that, McDreamy," Izzie said. "And you are. . .?"

"Izzie," Meredith scolded, "she's our guest."

"Sorry," Izzie said, not sounding very sorry at all.

"Izzie, this is my sister, Gwendolyn Karev. Gwen, Izzie Stevens."

"Nice to meet you," Gwen said, not bothering to offer her hand to the other young surgeon.

"Yeah," Izzie said, a confused look upon her face. "Nice to meet you. I'll be upstairs."

The doorbell rang. "That's probably Lexie," Meredith said, jumping up, "I'll get it."

"Oh, are we being nice to your sister now," Derek questioned.

"Yeah," Meredith said, standing in the middle of the living room, "Thatcher. . .is being Thatcher and Molly is busy with the baby. . .she doesn't have anyone else."

"It's fine, Mer," Derek said, "I was just asking. Go answer the door." The doorbell rang again.

"Ava, what are you doing here," they heard Meredith ask. Alex paled.

A/N: I'm not that I actually like this chapter but I've been going over it and over it and can't figure anything out. Let me know what you think. I'm hoping to get into some heavy plot stuff soon. Thanks for reading. . .Megan.