Author's Note:I am overwhelmed by the amount of interest the first chapter of this story stirred. A few things I want to get out there. When I gave that warning to JoLex fans it wasn't because I have anything negative planned for them. I'm not cruel by nature. The only time I will ever write something that can be construed as horrible towards a character is when it is for the characters growth. (My story Leave Out All The Rest is a prime example of that) So, if you are like a lot of people and ship both couples, this story is still okay to read. By the end, I think you will agree that the routes I take work best in this storyline. Now, about this chapter. It was difficult to write. For many reasons. I hate writing sad Alex. And this Alex is sad. His life is falling apart. At least that is how he feels. And now he has this new little sister he is supposed to worry about but he can't muster the energy to care. The conversation that takes place with Jo was one of the hardest things I have ever written. I had to dig deep and really think about what each character would say and how they would react. I feel as though I have been true to them. If you feel I haven't, that is alright. Feel free to voice your opinion...in a constructive way. I am all about growing as a writer. If you have ideas on how I can flesh out Jo in this story please let me know.

-Please note that character bashing is not allowed!-

Chapter Two

"We like to think we're in charge of our own lives, but we ain't." Moira Young-Rebel Heart

A nasty grit coated the inside of Alex's mouth as he tried to focus on sanding away years of stain and droplets of paint from the hardwood floors in the front room. For the past two days he had tried to loose himself in all the work that needed to be done before he could sell the old Creole Cottage his father had left him. Two days of avoidance; as Meredith would call it. So what if he was avoiding? He was pretty sure even a therapist would agree that he had a right to avoid some of things life had thrown at him lately. Especially when one of those 'things' was a fourteen year old girl. According to the lawyer who had given him the keys to the cottage, her name was Avery Michelle Karev. She was fourteen years old and was currently living with her maternal grandfather while they sorted out some child abuse accusations against the mother. The allegations had been against their father as well, but hey, the old man was dead so his charges had been dropped.

"Sure know how to pick them, don't ya dad," he grunted as he put all his weight behind pushing the sanding block of a particularly stubborn blotch of dark blue. The same hideous blue that had been on the walls. That had been his first project. It had taken four gallons of primer and three gallons of a color called Chick. Really it was just a pale yellow. Why couldn't the paint manufacturers call it that? Pale yellow. Why did it have to have some unmanly name that had the paint guy at the hardware store snickering when Alex asked for it? He'd almost punched the zit-faced kid in the throat. If he wanted to paint his walls pale yellow, or "Chick," he would. People liked yellow. Especially pale yellow. It was a warm, welcoming color. With some stark white trim and refinished hardwood floors, the front room would be both those things. Warm and welcoming. Those had to be great selling points.

He let out a sigh as he felt his phone vibrating in his back pocket. Please be Jo, he thought as he reached for the Galaxy something or other he'd been suckered into buying. Jo's name and image flashed across the screen. Relief coursed through him. "Hey," he answered softly, his heart pounding. This was the first time she'd returned one of his calls since the 'break-up.'

"Hey yourself," she greeted. Her voice sounded cheerful, yet leery, at the same time. "So...you went?" It had been over a year since his father's death and any mention of him going to see the place his father had left him had been met with a brick wall. He wouldn't have come this time except, he had needed to get out of Seattle. Being around Jo and pretending they'd never been anything other than friends had been to difficult. Maybe she could shut those feelings off, but he couldn't. "Alex? Are you still there?"

"Yeah. I'm here. I came. Place is a real dump." A dump with potential, a quiet voice corrected. Alright, so the place had potential. He didn't want to talk to Jo about the house or whether or not it had potential. "So...I think I have a little sister." The words were drawn out, spoken slowly, as if he were trying to avoid saying them.

"You mean other than Amber?"

Amber. He still hadn't called his twenty year old sister in Iowa, or their brother Aaron. At first his excuse had been he needed to be sure this kid was legit. Once it had been confirmed that she was indeed his younger sister, he hadn't wanted to deal with the drama that was sure to unfold when Amber and Aaron learned there was another Karev kid. With the way their twisted minds worked they would think her life had been better than theirs because dear old dad had been in it. From Alex's point of view, especially after hearing the hellish childhood Avery had endured so far, they had all been better off without the old man. "Yeah. Other than Amber. Her name is Avery. She's fourteen." He could be her father. Not literally, but age wise. That was one of the things he couldn't stop thinking about. He was old enough to be Avery's father. He'd been twenty when she was born. Which meant his father had been forty-two. Part of him wanted to ask what the hell had his father been thinking, having a kid in his forties, but people did it all the time. Look at Derek. And Meredith. She was pushing forty.

"Wow. What's she like?" There was a soft rustling and Alex could almost picture Jo settling down in the corner of their couch. Not their couch, he had to remind himself. She'd moved out. Hospital gossip said she was living with Stephanie.

"I...I don't know. I just spoke with her for a few minutes." A few minutes as the stranger moving in across the street.

"I bet she's excited to have a big brother like you," Jo enthused. Leave it to her to try and invent some good in the situation. Alex almost hated to burst her bubble but he couldn't let her think he was starting some relationship with the girl when he wasn't. Or hadn't. He was still confused on what he wanted to do where Avery was concerned. "You have to tell her Alex. Trust me, she's going to be so excited. I know when I was her age if some wonderful older brother had came into my life..." her voice trailed off. Her childhood was something they only talked about when they had to. Foster home to foster home. Each one horrible in one way or another. The last one had been the worst. A sexually abusive foster father. Alex's blood still boiled when he thought about the things Jo had endured before finding the courage to run away. Nobody had noticed she was gone or tried to find her. Would that happen to Avery? Would she go unnoticed if she disappeared? And what about this grandfather she was living with? Could he be trusted with a fourteen year old girl?

"Jo? Do you think we could talk?" There had been so much left unsaid between them. Things he needed clarity on. He had thought everything was going great. There had been no indication that she wasn't as happy as him. They'd been talking about marriage, about having a family. How did someone go from talking about those things to wanting distance?

"I thought we were talking." The careful way she said the words were almost a warning.

"About us."

On the other end of the line, Jo let out a sigh. "Alex, do you really think now is the time? I mean, you need to be focusing on getting things in order there. On figuring out how or if you want to be in this girl's life." Not on us. It was left unspoken, but still loud and clear.

"It's kind of hard to do that when I don't understand what happened between us." There. He had said it. He didn't understand. He was man enough to admit that. In the past he would said good riddance and found the nearest bar to drown his sorrows. That man no longer existed. He hadn't since Jo came into his life. She'd picked up where Izzie left off and made him realize he was better than the miserable existence he was wallowing in.

Jo let out another sigh. "I have to go. I told April I would cover a shift for her."

Long after she had hung up, Alex stared at the phone. He had to believe that her returning his phone call meant there was still a chance. The fact that she was having a hard time talking to him about why they had broken up meant she had to be having second thoughts or that she herself wasn't sure why. He could be patient. And she was right. Now wasn't the time. His focus needed to be on the house and on figuring out whether or not he wanted Avery to know who he was. Since that first day he hadn't seen her, except in passing. She always looked fine. Hair perfectly done. Stylish clothes. A smile on her face. It was difficult to associate her with the kid the lawyer had described. The kid had grown up in a world similar to his own. Drugs. Insanity. Verbal and physical abuse. The lawyer hadn't known specifics, just that there was an investigation and instead of placing her in foster care they had entrusted her to her grandfather. Once more Alex couldn't help but think his father sure knew how to pick them. His own mother had been crazy and from the sound of it Avery's mother was as psychotic as their father.

"Alex Karev?"

The sound of his name broke through his thoughts, causing his body to stiffen. Alex shifted his attention from his phone to the doorway. An elderly man leaned with one hand against the jam and the other against a cane. "Yeah?"

"Dexter Adams. I'm Avery's grandfather. Mind if I come in? There are some things we need to talk about."

Swallowing a lump that had formed in his throat, Alex nodded. It was almost as if divine intervention were at work. He'd been thinking about talking to the grandfather and then, bam, the man shows up. "Sure." He waited as the older man shuffled inside. Walking across the road had to of been an ordeal for him. Yet he had done it. Alex couldn't help but wonder why. Did he know Alex was Avery's brother? Or was he just a concerned guardian wanting to know more about the man living across the street? Since he'd known Alex's name, Alex was leaning towards the former, rather than the latter. "I don't really have anywhere to sit."

"That's fine. Even if you did, I wouldn't. To hard to get back up," Dexter chuckled, his rhumy eyes twinkling. "So...you're Jimmy's boy."

"Jimmy Karev was my father, yes," Alex replied hesitantly.

"I'm going to get right to the point. I've done a lot of digging on you, Dr. Alex Karev. You're an attending at some fancy hospital in Seattle. Been married and divorced. No criminal charges in your background other than an unpaid speeding ticket in Des Moines, Iowa." Having a brief recanting of his life laid out by some man he didn't know was a bit unsettling. He wanted to ask what the man's point was but discovered Dexter Adams hadn't been lying when he said he was going to get right to the point. He had stage four stomach cancer. There was nothing anyone could do. "I'm not afraid to die. In fact, I'm ready for it. I just need to know Avery is going to be taken care of."

For the second time that day, Alex felt his heart starting to race. This man couldn't be serious. Just because nothing had shown up in a Google search, didn't mean he wasn't some crazy person. Hell, for all Dexter Adams knew Alex really was Jimmy's son. "You don't know me," Alex murmured.

"No, but my doctor does. And if she says you're capable of raising Avery, that's good enough for me."

Confusion masked Alex's features. His mind raced through all his medical contacts. Did any of them work in Alabama? Maybe that Joel kid from med school. No. Dexter had clearly said she. Which narrowed it down quite a bit. Lucy had taken a job on the East Coast. Some place in Maryland. It was possible she moved to Alabama, but not likely she had changed specialties. Cristina was still at the Mayo Clinic. And even if she wasn't, she wouldn't be the type to recommend him as a legal guardian to some kid. "I'm sorry, your doctor?"

"Yeah. My doctor. Your ex-wife."

Izzie. Alex felt the blood draining from his face. Could his life get any worse or complicated?