Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own Grey's Anatomy or anything of the show, mind though I wouldn't mind owning McDreamy
"Uncle Alex!" yelled the small girl jumping up from the floor only to be scooped up by the all too familiar doctor.
Izzie watched the scene play out in front of her. She watched as Alex entered the room, and she saw the pale young mother smile as her daughter looked up from the book she been reading to see her apparent 'uncle' Alex.
"How's my favourite princess?" he asked in a voice unheard of my most of his fellow interns. With her chocolate brown long hair swinging in its pigtails, Lily jumped back to the floor to pick up the book she'd been reading.
"Mommy said we'd probably see you here, so I brought the book you got me for my birthday" she paused for breath again after collecting the fairytales book and reaching to be picked up again. Once back safely held above ground she continued the excited babble. "Mommy always reads me a story every night before bedtime an since we're staying here for a while she said I could bring it here so I could still have my stories"
Alex laughed in response, kissing the girl on her forehead before placing her on the foot of her mother's bed. This time turning his attention to the mother he looked at Marie's charts.
"I'd say it's good to see you but I gotta admit I'd rather it be under different circumstances" the young woman in the hospital bed tried to joke now her daughter finally returned to her book. Marie James had, like her daughter, chocolate brown hair only shoulder length, and on this occasion fairly flat. The two girls had different eyes though. Marie had dark almost black, brown eyes whereas Lily had piecing blue eyes; her fathers eyes.
"Why didn't you call? I could have picked you and Lily up" Alex spoke quietly, breaking his silence "How long have you known?" he asked, this time struggling to hide the emotion thick in his voice.
"Hey why don't you take Lily here for a walk? I can sort things out here" Izzie finally made her presence in the room known, also giving Alex the chance to get out of there for a while. "I bet you've been stuck in this hospital room all day" she smiled taking the little girls hand, looking over to Alex.
"Yeah, come on kiddo let's get you some sweets your mom can shout at me for later" he said, smiling faintly. "Thanks Iz" he added in whisper to Izzie as he left the room.
"So; I didn't know Alex had a sister" she started, picking up where Alex left off reading Marie's charts, "I'm Dr. Isobel Stevens" she introduced herself.
"I'm not Alex's sister, he's like a family friend, long story" she smiled at intern who appeared to be not much older than her.
"Well it's almost the end of my shift so I have time. Alex doesn't seem to be coping with the news at all" Izzie offered, she'd never seen him like that before. She may have been getting used to the other side of Alex, the sweet side he still refused to show to her friends, but this was different. The woman reached over to her bag sifting out a photograph of three people. On either side of the picture were a clearly younger Marie and Alex, but in the middle was a man Izzie had never seen before.
"That's my Lucas" smiled the ill brunette, gesturing to man in the middle. Straw blonde hair framed his face, some falling in his eyes; his piecing blue eyes.
"Lily's dad?" Izzie questioned, unable to hide the smile that came with seeing such a young carefree Alex, barely 20.
"Yeah, and that's about a year before Lily was born" she paused for a moment remembering when her and Alex's life was simpler. "They were best mates Alex and Lucas, even planning on going to medical school together. Alex was the best man at our wedding, made sure everything went to plan. Found out I was pregnant a few days later"
"Were you on your honeymoon?" Izzie asked, feeling comfortable with this woman.
"Something like that" she laughed at the memory "We couldn't really afford anyway too far, so Alex drove us out to a near beach town. A while after that me and Lucas went to one of those prenatal classes, ya know to prepare. To be honest we didn't take it seriously, it was more of a laugh. We were on the way home, he didn't see it coming" this time Marie went quiet, as if scared to remember.
"It's ok, you don't have to talk about it" assured Izzie, calmly placing a hand on the shaking shoulder of the other young woman.
"No, it's just it's been a while since I told someone what happened" she stated before picking up where she'd left. "The couple in the other car had a problem with the breaks, just couldn't stop. Lucas was dead on impact, in the drivers seat, didn't stand a chance. They called it luck I was alright and didn't lose the baby. Since then Alex just took over looking after us, helped us out with a few bills, he was there on Lily's first day of preschool."
"I'm shocked, Alex usually seems so…" Izzie started, trying to get her head around everything the other woman had just told her.
"Like a jackass? Yeah he really doesn't like people getting too close, mind though Lily's never known that side to him, he's like another person around her" once again she paused "I worry about how she'll cope some days, I mean her dad was gone before he could know her, and I won't exactly be here for long. I knew something wasn't right for a while, always tired but then again being a mum you get used to being tired, and I had to wear my glasses to see more and more. The hospital back home couldn't do much, recommended the brain guy here"
"You mean Dr Shepard?" Izzie said quietly suddenly feeling quite guilty. She'd always thought Alex was a jerk because he thought he was better than this place, it was only recently she found out about his relationship with his father. Now this; she began to understand why he could put on a defence against everybody.
"Yeah, the cute one" both women laughed at this, Izzie couldn't remember how often Derek had been referred to as 'cute' by patients and staff in her short time here. "That aside, I'm getting worse and my parents aren't exactly in the best of health themselves, so I thought maybe Alex…"
And as if on cue the sound of laughter echoed down the corridor moments later followed by Alex carrying Lily piggyback
"Did you have fun honey?" Marie asked her little girl, smiling at the sight of her best friend in the world and daughter so close.
"Yeah we meant a woman called Christina who called uncle Alex Evil Spawn, she was funny" Lily said so honestly it caused Izzie to burst out laughing and Alex to grin mock evilly. "And we got ice-cream from the canteens"
