Author's Note: Apologies for any heart attacks/near heart attacks/major coronary events I gave anyone with the last chapter. Apparently some found the ending quite dramatic (you know who you are!) I would like to say this one is the calm after the storm, but that would be a lie. The storm is only just beginning. By the way my lovely ER readers, I will be trying to get back to Chicago/Baton Rouge as soon as possible, probably the next chapter. I wouldn't want you to think I've forgotten about you.

Disclaimer: As before. The song is Somewhere a clock is ticking by Snow Patrol.

Alex felt his whole body sag in relief as she called yes across the street through the rain and darkness. He hadn't realised how scared he was of losing her again until she said that. Already his mind was whirring with trying to work out how much leave he had, and how soon he might be able to get down to California.

Christ, he was an idiot to have ever let her go. Two wasted years, for both of them. She was wet and bedraggled by the rain, but standing there next to the cab, half illuminated by the orange glow of a streetlight, he thought she looked at her most beautiful. It was the smile, he realised. He didn't think he'd ever seen her smile with such pure, undisguised happiness before, and it smoothed out the crinkled lines of worry that her brother's illness had left on her face and made her look years younger.

His head was full of finally having the chance to fold her into his arms and call her his girlfriend. He was determined to spend the rest of his life making up for that rash, stupid comment.

That he currently had a girlfriend – Izzie – barely entered his thoughts. He would go to the airport to wave Addison off and eke every last second out of the time they had together, then he'd go back to the house and finish things with Izzie. He had no idea how she would take it, and although he knew it probably made him a bit of a bastard, right at that second he couldn't give a damn.

He knew he was getting a little carried away, but wondered fleetingly whether, if he couldn't persuade Addison to come back to Seattle, he might be able to transfer to a program at a L.A. hospital. The Seattle Grace surgical program was one of the best in the country, but for neo-natal Addison was the best. And that was before you began to factor in the whole being in love with her thing.

She was beginning to cross the road towards him, and he ran to meet her.

Suddenly, a shrill scream, laced with terror, cut through the darkness and pierced his ears. There was just enough time for his soul to contract in fear as he saw the expression on Addison's face before the truck hit him.

The sound of the connection of his body with the metal of the truck exploded in his ears, and the headlights filled his eyes with a bright, white light. It wasn't quite like pain. Not like the sting of the back of his father's hand across his jaw, or the cut of a leather belt into the flesh of his back. It was too monumental, too widespread across his entire body to actually hurt. The closest thing it was like, he pondered, was in wrestling, when a move took him by surprised and knocked all the air from his lungs.

Yes, that was right; there was no air in his lungs. Which meant he couldn't breathe. Oh God, he couldn't breathe. He wasn't breathing. Alex wasn't sure if he was conscious or not, alive or not. He could feel the burn of the lack of oxygen in his chest and a thousand shooting pains now all over his body (if he could feel pain, he decided, that must be a good sign), but everything was black. Even though he could feel the wet asphalt underneath him, and the weight of the truck above him, at the same time he had a weird sensation of floating above the scene as well, looking down.

He watched as Addison ran over to his body, disregarding of the cars that were slamming their brakes on and swerving to avoid the stationary truck. From above, he could see that he was lying partly under the front of the truck, with one enormous wheel resting on his legs. Joe had come out of the bar, and Addison seemed to be screaming something at him. He was drawing a cellphone out of his pocket and dialling quickly.

Even though it was dark, and still raining, he watched as a red pool of his blood gradually seeping out from under the truck into the puddles of rainwater. Addison was kneeling next to him, the blood staining her clothes. He could see her holding his hand.

'It's okay, you're going to be okay. Joe has called an ambulance.'

The squeeze of her fingers and the sound of her voice in his ear brought Alex back to reality. He was no longer hovering above his body, and now the pain of his injuries hit him with full effect. Christ, he was in agony. His legs. He couldn't help letting out a groan of pain.

'Addison –' He croaked out.

'Shh, it's all right. Don't try and talk.' She held his hand even tighter, and he took comfort from her. 'I'm right here, I'm not going to leave you.'

'I don't want to die.' His statement sounded ridiculously childish, he realised as he said it. He didn't care though, it was the truth. He really had something to live for now. 'Not now.'

'I don't want you to die either. And I promise you I'm not going to let that happen.'

Alex's eyes fluttered closed for a moment, and she glanced briefly down at his legs, which were mangled and still trapped under the heavy truck. And there was so much blood. It was everywhere. With a strong feeling of nausea in the pit of her stomach, Addison admitted to herself that things were not looking good. She wasn't going to let him know that though.

'You're going to be okay,' she repeated, not knowing what else to say. 'I'm going to look after you.' She paused. This might be her only chance to say this. 'I love you Alex.'

She didn't know if he heard her.

He drifted in and out of consciousness after that. Every time he was with it, he could feel Addison's presence beside him, her voice – trembling in fear – pouring out a stream of reassurance. He had a feeling Joe was there too. Yes, he was; Joe was holding an umbrella over them, trying to keep the worst of the rain off.

The ambulance couldn't possibly have taken more than a few minutes, as the hospital was just around the corner, but they all lost their sense of time and space. Alex was vaguely aware of paramedics buzzing around, and possibly some firemen trying to free him from underneath the truck. He was being loaded onto a backboard, and into an ambulance, but all he was certain of was Addison still being next to him.

As long as Addison was still next to him, he would be fine.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Izzie and Meredith were sitting quietly in a back corridor, hiding from the world. Meredith had patiently cleaned Derek up after the fight, doing her best not to speak her mind, but she wasn't stupid, or blind. Derek didn't punch Sloan over Lexie. He couldn't care less whether Mark was sleeping with Lexie, not really.

It was about Addison. It was always about Addison.

Izzie wasn't in much better humour herself. Though Alex was as kind and caring as ever, he'd been following Addison around with all the starry eyed hero worship as he had when he was an intern. Except Izzie was no more stupid or blind than Meredith was. It was a Hell of a lot more than professional respect Alex felt for Addison.

She should have known, if she was honest with herself, when he started to specialise in OB/GYN and neo-natal. Meredith was absolutely right, it was always about Addison.

She was eating dry muesli from a box she had extracted from her locker before they went into hiding, and offered some to Meredith, who took a handful.

'You know,' Izzie mumbled around a mouthful of raisins, 'he says he loves me, and I think in a way he does, but I always get the impression his heart isn't quite in it.' She was too proud to actually voice her fears about Addison, but she wouldn't have been surprised if Meredith knew what was running through her head.

Except Meredith wasn't listening to a word she was saying, as her reply gave away. 'Sometimes, I don't know why he divorced her. I mean, it's as if they're still married. She comes to him for help to save her brother, and he asks her to hang around and consult on his case. Seriously, where the Hell do I fit in with all this cosy familiarity?'

Izzie was vaguely aware she hadn't received the response she was looking for, but she was just warming up to her rant now, and wasn't going to let a less than attentive audience put her off.

'He's been following her around like a puppy dog the entire time she's been here. He says it's because she's the leading expert in his field, but I know there is something more to it than that.'

They continued to talk at cross purposes for a little while until they were interrupted by Cristina plopping down on the end of the gurney next to them. She'd picked up on their topic of conversation as she had been walking down the corridor towards them.

'Well, I'm sure you'll both be delighted to hear that the surgeon formerly known as Satan is off back to California. Her flight leaves this evening. In fact, she's probably in a cab on the way to the airport as we speak.'

Neither Izzie or Meredith went quite as far as saying good. It wasn't that they disliked Addison, but they didn't like the influence she seemed to have over the men in their lives. They couldn't exactly say they were sorry to see her go though.

Cristina plunged her hand into the box of muesli and withdrew with a handful. 'Are some people feeling a little insecure with the longer than expected presence of a certain neo-natal surgeon?'

'I thought Derek and I were actually getting somewhere,' Meredith admitted. 'I didn't expect to have to fight for him every time she appears in Seattle.'

'Who says you had to fight for him this time?'

'Come on Cristina. Do you honestly think Derek could care less if Mark is sleeping with Lexie? That fight wasn't about her.'

'You don't know that.'

'Don't I?'

Cristina was about to start on Izzie, who looked about as miserable and fed up as Meredith did, but the sound of running footsteps cut her off. George, out of breath, appeared around the corner, and just as he did so, all their pagers started beeping simultaneously.

'What is it? What's happened?' Meredith asked, her hand going to the waistband of her scrubs, where her pager was clipped.

'Alex,' George panted. 'Accident.'

'What?' Izzie leapt off the gurney and began to run towards George, closely followed by Meredith and Cristina.

He put out a hand and leant against the wall, using the other to clutch the stitch in his side. He'd run all the way up from the ER, where he'd been downstairs on a consult when a bloody and battered Alex had been rushed in. It was three flights of stairs from this particular hiding place, and all the lifts had been full.

'Alex was hit by a truck outside Joe's. He's… He's in a bad way.'

'Oh my God.' All the colour drained from Izzie's face, and for a moment, the spectre of Denny hovered before her eyes. She couldn't lose someone else she loved, she just couldn't. She wouldn't live through it a second time.

'Where is he?' Meredith asked.

'In the ER,' George answered. 'But they were bringing him up to surgery.'

All four of them ran back down to the surgical floor, George forgetting his exhaustion in their collective panic and fear. The page they had all been sent simply read '911 Alex OR 3' so they ran there as fast as they could.

When they got there, Callie, Derek, Mark and the Chief were already scrubbing in, their faces grim. One of Derek's eyes was empurpled and a little swollen, and Mark's lip was split, his cheek grazed, but the fight was the last thing on any of their minds right then. Outside the OR, Bailey was stationed, looking formidable.

They made to push past her, but she placed herself squarely in their path. 'I can't let you in there. You know that.'

'What happened?'

'He was crossing the road outside the Emerald City Bar and he was hit by a truck. His condition is critical but reasonably stable. His main injuries are severe crush injuries to both his legs, and unless there is some sort of miracle in there, Doctor Torres will be performing a double below knee amputation.'

Izzie felt her knees waver, but she didn't fall. She grabbed George's arm and held onto him tightly. She swallowed, her throat bone dry.

A double below knee amputation. Oh God. Oh God.

Suddenly, they realised that they were not the only blanched faces standing outside the OR. It was Meredith who saw her first, and one by one they followed her gaze and turned to look at the figure by the doorway.

Addison was soaked to the skin, her hair plastered in cold wet tendrils to her face. Her clothes were dripping a pool of water onto the tiled floor, except the puddle around her feet was pinkish in colour and they realised it was Alex's blood that was staining the water. She was even paler than Izzie, and looked utterly terrified.

'What the Hell are you still doing here?' Izzie asked accusatorily.

A nurse poked her head out of the OR. 'Doctor Bailey, they want you to scrub in, in case they need another pair of hands.'

Miranda disappeared into the OR, quick to help, and Addison watched her go feeling as if her only possible ally was deserting her. But she didn't care what they said to her, as long as she was there holding Alex's hand when he woke up.

Izzie repeated her question, and there was a certain venom in her voice. She should have known. She should have damn well known that somehow Addison would be involved in this.

'I…'

'Because it seems to me whenever there's trouble, there's you Doctor Montgomery.'

Izzie knew she was being unnecessarily cruel, but seeing Addison standing there, drenching in Alex's blood and clearly petrified for his safety confirmed all her suspicions and more. She was scared for Alex herself, and jealous, and indescribably hurt. She wanted to be the one at Alex's side when he woke up, the one to hold his hand and take care of him.

'I'm sorry,' Addison managed to utter, and in spite of herself, she felt hot tears begin to spill down her cold cheeks. She was so scared. After taking a quick look at Alex when he first came downstairs, Callie had already declared it unlikely that she would be able to save his legs.

'I don't care if you're sorry. You just can't help yourself, can you?' Izzie hissed. 'Wherever you go, you cause carnage. Do you hurt people for fun, or are you just that thoughtless?'

'I… I don't…'

Meredith, Cristina and George looked uncomfortable at Izzie's outburst, but not one of them spoke up to defend Addison. She hadn't expected them too – they were bound to be on Izzie's side.

As if there were sides, she thought suddenly. Surely we're all on Alex's side, and that should be what matters right now.

'I think you should go. No-one wants you here; you don't have any right to be here. So just go, go back to California.'

Addison stop frozen to the spot, trying to make her mouth form the words of a response to defend herself. Images of Alex flashed through her mind – the kiss at the bar, and his whispered confession of love. The passion in his eyes as he'd looked at her, and the utter dismissiveness in his tone as he had said To Hell with Izzie. Holding his hand and promising she would stay with him. He had been scared, and she was scared for him. She couldn't leave him here. He would want her to stay with him.

She couldn't not be here when he woke up.

She began to shake her head, standing her ground, but Izzie's expression made her resolve waver. Maybe she was right, maybe all she ever did was cause hurt and pain. Look at Alex for Christ's sake, if it hadn't been for her, he would be safe and whole, not fighting for his life and about to lose his legs.

Maybe she should just walk away. Izzie loved him, she would look after him. He would be okay.

His voice was soft and scared. 'I don't want to die. Not now.'

'I don't want you to die either. And I promise you I'm not going to let that happen. You're going to be okay. I'm going to look after you.' And then the pause before she said what she realised had been true for a long time before this evening. 'I love you Alex.'

She wanted to stay. She had to stay here, with him.

Except she couldn't. She turned and ran.

Something happened that I never understood
You can't leave
Every second dripping off my fingertips
Wage your war
Another soldier says he's not afraid to die
Well I am scared