Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving! I wanted to let you all know that I wrote the last chapter today, so I now know how this is going to end. But don't worry, it won't be coming for a while, a lot has to happen between now and then. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! As always, if you have any ideas or complaints, please feel free to let me know!

Disclaimer: I'm starting to feel better about where Shonda is taking us, so I think I might let her keep it.

Rating: NC-17

In the ER, trouble was brewing…….

The doors to the emergency room opened, making way for a pair of paramedics pushing a gurney on top of which lay a man in his mid to late 30's. He was not bad looking, but he was not handsome. He had brown hair, was of average build and average height. Everything about him was well, average. Everything except his eyes. His eyes were blue, and cold. So cold in fact, that Lexie's first thought when she saw him was that if she looked into his eyes for too long, her insides may just turn as cold as they were.

Lexie looked around for a superior, anyone who may be able to help her, but it seemed all of the residents had disappeared. "What happened?" She asked the paramedics in a matter-of-fact tone that she had often heard coming from the mouth of Dr. Bailey.

"Alfred Charles, 37 year old male, found three blocks away. Laceration to the right leg, appears to be a stab wound. Says-"

"Okay," Lexie said, cutting off the paramedic's endless drabble. "Alright Mr. Charles, we're gonna take care of you. Take him to trauma center 3, we'll examine his wound and hopefully get him out of here by the morning," she said with a smile on her face as she tapped the side of the gurney twice as a signal of dismissal. The paramedics rolled their eyes, but understood her cue and were off. "Where the hell is everyone.." Lexie muttered under her breath as she looked around her and saw only interns.

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"Okay, closing the incision," Dr. Bailey said as she stitched up the long gash on Izzie's stomach that was really part incision, part stab wound. "Looks good."

"Ya hear that Iz, looks good. You're gonna be okay." Alex whispered into her ear. He now knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of these words that he so often said to patients. He would never take them lightly again. "You're a fighter Iz, you made it. You did good."

"Dr. Yang, please take Izzie, uh, I mean Dr. Stevens to post op. Monitor her closely. I did an excellent job, I don't want anything going wrong because my residents are too lazy to watch her after she's all sewn up.

"Yes mam," Cristina replied in an unusually quiet voice.

Minutes later, Izzie was in a recovery room on the second floor, once again resting peacefully. Alex however, who was still at her side, was feeling far from peaceful. He just watched her, just watched as she breathed, afraid that if he stopped watching, if he stopped making sure she was in fact alive, she would stop breathing. His beliefs were unfounded, he knew that, but it didn't change the fact that he was terrified of leaving her alone. After what that bastard had done to her….. Alex just prayed that she wouldn't remember any of it, and that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have to spend years of her life reliving this day.

However, being able to move past this day would most likely require catching the man (if he could in fact be called a man) that had caused all this pain. And catching this man, would require a rape kit, which Alex still not told anyone Izzie needed. But he had made a decision: the next person who came to check on her, he would tell.

It turned out that this next person Meredith. Meredith and Christina and George and Callie and Mark. Once each of them had squeezed through the door, it was silent for several seconds. Then once again George asked, "What the hell happened?"

"I-I don't know exactly." This was a lie, Alex did know, but how was he supposed to announce it to all of these people.

"What do you mean you don't know?!" George was frustrated. Actually they all were, they all wanted to know what had happened. Yet, everyone else remained silent; they all just stared at Alex. Finally, he ripped his gaze away from Izzie and looked at the horde of people crowded into the far corner of the room.

"She called me, and I found her in an alley. I picked her up, and I brought her here. She wouldn't tell me what happened, but.." Alex trailed off.

"But what." It was Meredith this time, chiming in with a much calmer voice that George had managed.

"I think she was attacked. I think he assaulted her.. I think-I think she was raped." He had said it. The words had left his lips, and he was hit by a wave that would have been relief, but instead it mixed with the anger and exhaustion he was feeling and just made him want to scream.

Again, nobody said anything. Not out of respect, but just because each of them was at a loss for words.

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Back in the ER, Lexie was stitching up the laceration on Alfred Charles' leg, trying desperately to avoid his icy gaze while making conversation. However, he refused to answer any of her questions with anything but a grunt or, "can I go soon." He certainly was in a hurry to be somewhere.

"So where ya from," Lexie said in an unfittingly cheery voice.

"Are ya almost done, I gotta go."

"Yeah, I'm almost finished, but you really should stay around a bit, we should make sure there are no more injuries."

"No. I'm fine, I really just, um, how much longer?"

"I'm just getting ready to bandage the wound. After that, I suppose I can have a nurse get your discharge papers, as long as you realize you are leaving against medical advice."

"Yeah, okay, fine."

"Okay." Lexie said, gathering up her things. "I'll get one of the nurses to bring you the papers, you should be out of here in a few minutes." The patient just grunted and Lexie left the room without looking back, wholly unsatisfied with their interaction.

However, when Nurse Tyler entered the room about three minutes later with the discharge papers, it was vacant: the patient had disappeared. Tyler just shrugged and left the room, leaving a message with the nurse at the nurses' station for Lexie: Your patient was a runner. Guess he really didn't want to be here. Sorry.

A/N: Soooo, what did you think? Have you figured it out yet? More to come soon! Please review and let me know if you're still liking it. And remember, happy writers write more, and reviews make me a very happy writer :)