Chapter 2: Awake

The ragged screeching of an alarm clock ripped Alex away from a nap in the on-call room. The clock read 4:15 a.m. Groaning, he sat up, allowing his senses to fully wake up. The residents usually rotated in 36-hour shifts, and he only had about 3 hours left to go in this shift before he could go home and get some decent rest. He stood up and stretched, straightened his scrubs, and made his way into the hallway. The floor was quiet, as it usually is in the early morning hours before rounds. Before all the idiot interns came bustling in all eager and annoying.

He went to the nurses' station and picked up a folder that contained his newest case. A little boy kept coming in to the E.R. with stomach pains, and they discovered he had a hiatal hernia. They had to admit him for a course of antibiotics before surgery. Alex would be operating tomorrow morning. 'Wonder which idiot will be scrubbing in on this,' Alex thought absently, signing off that he had seen the latest stats. Behind him, he heard the sound of fast moving shoes coming toward him. 'Cristina,' he thought, placing the folder back in its place, and turned around. He had known her so long, now lived with her, that he knew the sound of her walk coming up the hall without even thinking about it.

"Morning Peds boy," Cristina reached beside him, grabbing a folder.

"What you got?" Alex asked, craning to look in the folder she opened.

"9 year old girl came in with a murmur. She needs a new atrial valve, and I, my lowly kiddie candy striper, am gonna perform a real surgery," she slammed the folder shut and held it over to him, signaling that she wanted him to put it up. "You should try it."

"Go to hell, Yang," he put the folder in its proper place, and then checked his pager. "Who's on your service?"

"Ross," she said, inspecting her fingernails. "He wants to be Shepherd's bitch, though. Suits me." Her pager went off, and she sprang into action down the hallway. "Oh, cereal! No more in the cabinet!" She called over her shoulder at him as she disappeared around the corner.

"You buy something for once!" He yelled. A nurse coming out of a patient room shot him a dirty look that clearly said he needed to keep his voice down. He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender and headed to the bathroom to splash some water on his face – he was still feeling a little groggy from his nap.

He thought it would have been weird, him and Cristina living together, but it wasn't that way at all. She spent most of her time in the hospital trolling for cases anyway. She and Owen stayed tangled up in her bed most of the time when he came over. Occasionally, she would plop down beside him on the couch and share a cereal box or a beer with him. Having the company was nice, but as usual, she expected him to buy all the necessities (necessities meaning Lucky Charms and beer).

Walking into the resident lounge, he noticed Meredith sitting on the couch, her feet propped up, a hand on her belly.

"Alex! Come here! Feel," she motioned, pointing to her stomach.

"Ah, nah. That's-" he shook his head, but she cut him off.

"Come here! McFetus is having a 30-second dance party."

"Okay, okay," he stepped toward her and she grabbed his wrist, placing his hand on her stomach.

He felt a slight flutter, and they looked at each other and grinned. "Probably just combing its weird and already glossy head of Shepherd hair," Alex said, taking a step back, shoving his hands into his coat pockets.

Meredith laughed and talked down to her belly. "Are you coming out sporting a daddy 'do?"

Alex stepped into the bathroom and splashed water onto his face, looking at himself in the mirror. Meredith had changed. Become a little more positive. Just a little. Cristina had mellowed out somewhat. Wiping the water from his face, he wondered if he had changed any.

"Hey, Alex," Meredith called from her spot on the sofa.

"Yeah?" He came out, towel in his hands, drying them off.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" She asked, not looking at him.

Puzzled, his eyebrows furrowed. 'What the hell?' he thought. "Uh... no. Not that I know of?" he said questioningly. Had he done anything worthy of gossip? Not really. But he noticed Meredith still wasn't looking at him. "What do you know that I don't, Mer?"

She glanced up at him, and then became quickly interested in a magazine. "It's... oh... well, I'm not sure it's anything..." she stammered, glancing up at him again.

Frustrated, he gestured for her to spit it out.

"Well, I'm not totally sure how hiring works now, you know, with the whole owning the hospital thing..." she trailed off, seeing Alex wanted her to get to the point. "But I heard Jackson on the phone with Mommie Dearest about finding a new Vagina Squad attending." She didn't say any more.

Alex looked at her in utter annoyance. "Yeah, so? What's that got to do with me?"

"Jackson told her no attendings had applied yet. The whole 'Pegasus is happening, Pegasus isn't happening' thing has thrown people. But a couple of residents have." She stopped again, this time looking him dead in the eye, but she hesitated - thinking. This drove Alex to distraction when people wouldn't give him a straight answer. And Meredith was the worst at doing it. Things had to be dragged out of her. Beginning to storm out of the resident's lounge, he heard her voice behind him.

"One of the residents applying here is named Dr. Isobel Stevens, Alex."

He paused in the doorway, afraid to turn around and look at Meredith. Afraid to see what kind of look she was giving him. The words she had just spoken clanged in his head.

He was certainly fully awake now.

A/N: I hope you guys are enjoying it so far! Are things moving quickly enough? Let me know what you think!