Izzie and Alex were babysitting for Lucy. Meredith and Derek were at the hospital, and Izzie and Alex had the day off, so they (okay, so Izzie) had agreed to look after Lucy for the day.
"It's not that I don't love her," Alex said, from the kitchen, where he was making Eggo Waffles for Lucy, "it's just that.. I thougth this could be a day for us."
"You can use some practice," Izzie told him.
"Practice for what, making waffles?"
"No," Izzie sighed. "Practice for looking after kids."'
"I am great with kids. Lucy loves me. Right Luce?!" Alex called.
Lucy was sitting on the couch, her eyes glued to the TV screen. She nodded. "Right Uncle Alex."
"You hear a word he said?" Izzie asked, sitting next to Lucy.
"Nah," she shook her head, and put a hand to Izzie's ear. "But he told me that if I said yes to everythin' he said, at the end of the day he would give ma a dollar" Lucy looked amazed. "That is a lotta money, you know."
"You bribed her?" Izzie called.
"Do I getta be your flower girl?" Lucy asked, taking her attention away from the TV and turning it to Izzie.
"Flower girl?" Izzie faked curiosity.
"Liike." Lucy sighed dramatically. "The girl that throws rose petals everywhere. I walk down the church."
"Oh! Like the flower girl!"
"Yeeees Aunt Izzie. Am I gonna do that for you?"
"Didn't your mom already tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"Well, I actually asked your Uncle Mark to be my flower girl." Izzie laughed, and gently elbowed Lucy. "Of course you're my flower girl. Who else would it be? You're my favourite niece!"
"I'm your only niece," Lucy smiled and rested her head on Izzie's shoulders. "Uncle Alex!" Lucy screamed. "Where are my waffles!" she giggled. "I'm bugging him," she confided to Izzie. "But that's okay. 'Cause we bug each other."
"They're coming, squirt!"
"You have a fat head!" Lucy happily yelled back.
"You smell like rotten eggs!"
"I'm gonna get him good," Lucy whispered. She screwed up her face and within seconds was sobbing. "A-A-Auntie Izzie," she wailed, "U-Uncle Alex s-s-said I s-smell like eggs."
Izzie laughed, and winked at Lucy. "Alex! God! What is wrong with you? She's a little girl!" Izzie could hear something clatter in the kitchen, before Alex came into the living room.
"Lucy! You know I was just kidding."
Lucy shook her head, tears glistening in her tiny blue eyes. "Nuh-uh. You're mean."
Alex bent down, knee level with Lucy. "Luce, sweetie. I was kidding! We always kid with each other, right?"
Lucy shrugged. "But you're never mean to me."
"I'm sorry Luce. Listen, how about I put ice cream on your waffles and we go play soccer after? Will you be okay?"
"Alright," Lucy sniffed, and shook Alex's outsretched hand.
"You still love me?"
Lucy smiled toothily. "I guess so."
Alex bopped her shoulder, and kissed her head of black hair. "Okay. Good."
Once Alex was gone, Lucy turned to Izzie and said excitedly, "So, am I good or what?"
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When Meredith came to pick Lucy up, Lucy and Alex were lying on the couch, watching The Little Mermaid. Lucy's tiny head was tucked under Alex's chin, her eyes closed. Alex stared in dread, at the screen, while the little red crab escaped from some fat French chef.
"Hey Mer," Izzie smiled. "She's sleeping. God, you're.. you're so lucky. She's amazing."
"Someday, Iz," Meredith said laughing. She knew how long Izzie had wanted kids, the way she had their names picked out, their hair colour and the way they'd got all of Alex's sweetness but none of his asshole characteristics, all of Izzie's beauty and her caring, but none of her sharpness and self centred-ness.
"I know," Izzie rolled her eyes. "She's asleep. Sorry," she shrugged.
"No," Meredith said. "It's good. I'm glad, we'll just be able to throw her in bed."
"Busy day at the hospital?"
"Understatement of the century. Some asshole thought it would be a great idea to steal his neighbor's car, while the neighbor was in it, and then drive around blindfolded. Three little kids killed, one four year old paralyzed." Meredith shook her head. "I hate when that happens."
"Wow. Tough day. Sorry."
Meredith waved it off. "I'm just glad Lucy's here, safe."
"Always."
Meredith smiled at Lucy on Alex's chest. "God Alex," Meredith said, scooping her up, "you're so good with her."
"We get along okay, right Luce?"
Lucy waved sleepily, nuzzling her head into Meredith's shoulders. "Hi Mommy."
"Hey sweet pea."
"Bye guys. Love you Uncle Alex, even if you said I stunk."
Izzie walked them to the door, kissing Lucy's cheek. "Bye sweetie."
"Bye Aunt Izzie. I'm gonna practice my walk for you, okay? My flower girl walk."
"Okay," Izzie laughed gently. "You'll be the best flower girl in the world."
"Better than Junie B. Jones?"
"Hm. Sure."
Once they had gone, Izzie sunk down onto the couch beside Alex. "Hey, Alex?"
"Yeah, babe?"
"Why are you still watching the Little Mermaid?"
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Iz,
Apparantly it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. That doesn't mean I can't leave her notes on the fridge, right? I love you so much. You're going to make me the luckiest man alive.
See you soon,
Alex
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"Oh, Izzie," Meredith sighed. "You're beautiful."
"Yeah," Lucy echoed Meredith, "Real pretty, Aunt Izzie."
Cristina nodded. "Alex will kill himself."
"Thanks guys," Izzie smiled. "I.. I'm so happy."
"Then why are you crying?" Lucy asked.
Izzie laughed. "Oh, sweetie. It's hard to explain."
"Did you cry when you and Daddy got married?"
Meredith nodded. "Yeah."
"Yikes," Lucy made a face. "Happy tears, like Aunt Izzie?"
"Oh yes," Meredith had a far away look in her eyes, "very, very happy tears."
"Mommy," Lucy turned nervously to Meredith, "what if I drop my flowers everywhere? And then nobody will like my anymore, 'cause I ruined the wedding."
Before Meredith could say anything, Izzie knelt down (carefully though, so as to not ruin her dress) by Lucy. "Luce, honey?"
"Hm?"
"I don't care if you drop the flowers, or if you trip, or if you eat the flowers," Lucy giggled at this, "I mean it. All I care about is marrying Uncle Alex, and having everyone I love with me to celebrate. Okay?"
Lucy nodded. "You're really cool, Aunt Izzie," she said.
Izzie hugged Lucy. "You're not so bad yourself."
"We're ready now," Cristina stood up from the church pew.
"Okay," Izzie shook her head. "Okay. God," she laughed, "I'm nervous."
"You'll be fine, Iz."
"I know," Izzie sighed. "Oh, I know."
The doors opened, and Lucy stepped out first, to a chorus of quiet "aw's," and teetered, a little uncertainly, down the aisle. She smiled and tossed the flower petals and didn't fall over once. Cristina next, and then Meredith.
George was there as well, holding onto Izzie's arm. He kissed her cheek. "You deserve this, Iz," he murmured into her ear, as they started down the aisle.
Izzie looked up at Alex, standing there beside the priest, in his tux. She read, somewhere, that you could always tell the outcome of a marriage based on the way the groom looked when he first saw the bride. Sometimes, they said, the groom looked uncomfortable, sometimes he looked really nervous or bored. And then there was the other category; the guys that looked like they were going to die from happiness, that looked as though they'd never seen a person quite so beautiful before.
The guys like Alex.
Izzie had been writing (and rewriting, and okay, so, re-rewriting) her vows, and she had finally got them right. She thought she had anyway, but walking up the aisle with George, she was certain her mouth would open and out would tumble last week's grocery list, rather than today's feelings. She'd be the actress at the Oscars that flips over her que cards for the acceptance speech and flows right into reading the entire world the recipe for the cupcakes that her daughter loves.
But then everything turned out okay, the way she knew it would. What she said wasn't grocery lists or recipes, what she said was exactly what she had planned to say, and then a little more.
"Alex," her voice started off quiet, and then became louder. She had worked hard on this vow, and even though the only person that needed to hear them was standing across from her, she wanted the rest of the church to hear them as well. "I grew up in a trailer park. People used to tell me that I'd be lucky to make it out of highschool. Then they told me I'd be lucky to graduate college, then med school. My neighbour used to tell me that I should set my sights on becoming something like a kindergarten teacher, or the manager of a grocery store. She told me that I wasn't lucky enough to become a doctor, that none of us were.
"But nobody ever told me I'd be lucky to find a husband, someone that I loved more than anyone in the world. Somebody that I would stay up all night with, watching old horror movies, someone I would slow dance in the rain with, someone that I would listen to American Pie thirty four times on repeat with, singing along every time. Someone that would get up at three thirty after being on call for two days, and make me pancakes and lemonade, because I was hungry. Someone like Alex Karev.
"And so, I never really thought about it, never thought about the luck part of it. I didn't realize, until I already had him, how ridiculously lucky I am to become the wife of a guy like Alex," she swallowed. "All I know is that, through everything, I have loved you. When we weren't together, when I thought I hated you, when I was sick, I loved you. I love you now, and if I'm lucky, I'm going to get to love you for the rest of my life.
"And so that is what I promise you, I promise love, because I think love is the best kind of magic in the world. And so that is all I ask back of you, is that you love me as well, and that we take care of each other. That we never run away, and that if we do, we always come back."
Alex went next. He had to be careful, because he didn't want his voice to go all crackly from crying in the middle of his speech. "For a long time, I've thought I was the tough guy. The guy that couldn't be touched by anybody, or anything. Couldn't feel much of anything. I thought I was the guy that was a damn good doctor, and a good son, and that was where it ended. I never thought I would make a good husband, never thought that I'd meet a person that could break me out of the shell I was.
"Iz, you.. you changed that. All of that. Before you, I never would have wanted to write notes to another person on the fridge, while I was at work. Never wanted to sit through all those movies that all women just seem to love, for no reason. I didn't.. I wasn't the kind of person to cry or.. I just, I didn't show feelings. And," he smiled, gently, "I love you because of that. And in spite of it.
"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, I want you to know that. When I go to bed, I honest to god, I think about how lucky I am to be with you. And when I'm done a surgery, and it's gone really badly, and I have to go out and tell a couple that their daughter, or their husband, or their father, has just died, the only thing that keeps me going is the thought that I get to go home and I get to be with you.
"I love you, Isobel Stevens, and I'm never going to stop realizing how amazing you are. I'm never going to stop holding on tight, making sure I don't screw it up again and accidentally let you go."
Izzie smiled through her tears, a big, stupid smile. She couldn't think of the last time she'd been so happy.
A few minute later, they were man and wife, and then two hours later, he held her close to him as they danced. It was a song he hadn't heard of before, but a song that she loved and that, even though it was cheesy as hell, was the kind of song he'd want to dance to at his wedding.
This
is the first day of my life Yours is the first face that I
saw And so I thought I'd let you know Remember the
time you drove all night So if you want to be with me
I swear I was born right in the
doorway
I went out in the rain suddenly everything changed
They're
spreading blankets on the beach
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I don't know
where I am
I don't know where I've been
But I know where I
want to go
That these
things take forever
I especially am slow
But I realize that I
need you
And I wondered if I could come home
Just to meet me in the morning
And I
thought it was strange you said everything changed
You felt as if
you'd just woke up
And you said "this is the first day of my
life
I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
But now I
don't care I could go anywhere with you
And I'd probably be
happy"
With these things
there's no telling
We just have to wait and see
But I'd
rather be working for a paycheck
Than waiting to win the
lottery
Besides maybe this time is different
I mean I really
think you like me