A/N: Hey everyone! I'm sooo sorry for the long wait, real life got in the way. The holidays have been absolutely crazy! So here's the next chapter. I had a little trouble getting started with it, and I thought a lot about whether or not to include the actual rape kit in the story, but it offered too much potential for good fluff, so I had to put it in. It's all pretty vague, so I wouldn't worry too much about it, it's more of a background event than anything else. Also, I wanted to say thank you for all of the wonderful reviews, they are the reason I've continued this fic, and I'm so glad that I have! Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Does anyone seriously think that I own Grey's Anatomy. Seriously?

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After getting everything and everyone in place, Nurse Maria and a female cop were the only two who remained in the room with Izzie, the cop having asked Alex to wait outside assuming that Izzie wouldn't want to share this experience with anyone else. So, Izzie lied alone in her hospital bed with only an unfamiliar hand belonging to her by an unfamiliar policewoman to offer her support. "Okay, I'm about to start, but whenever you need, you tell me to stop and I will, no questions asked, alright?" Izzie began to nod her head and closed her eyes, trying to pretend she was somewhere else. Somewhere with Alex, without some nurse she had never met and a cop who thought she was a lot more helpful and comforting than she actually was.

"Wait stop," Izzie said, her eyes flying open.

"I haven't really started yet," Maria responded, sounding almost annoyed. However, she swallowed her annoyed tone and returned to her impossibly sweet one saying, "What's wrong, can I start again?"

"It's just um- am I allowed to have someone with me for this, is that..is that allowed?"

This time the policewoman answered her question, clearly a bit surprised. "Yes, it's just that normally people want to do this in private. But uh, if you want us to get someone for you before we start, we can." Izzie looked from her to Maria, still positioned between Izzie's legs looking at the blonde expectantly.

"Alex. Can you get Alex."

"Sure, I'll page-." Maria pulled her pager out from her belt hesitating momentarily. "Now what does she look like again."

"He."

"Excuse me."

"What does he look like again." The policewoman, still sitting in a chair next to Izzie's bed, looked almost right out shocked at this, and apparently, couldn't help but interrupt-

"Are you sure?" Izzie just gave her a confused look. "I mean-are you sure you want a man in here for this, we just want you to feel comfortable." How were they not getting this: she wanted Alex there, he would make her comfortable. She had had possibly the worst day of her life, and really, all Izzie wanted to do was curl up with her head resting on the chest of none-other than Alex Karev and cry. But instead, she was stuck in a hospital bed with two strangers about to violate her for the second time in 24 hours, and all she was asking is that they page someone for her, because they only way this would be okay, is if he was here with her.

"Yes I'm sure. Can you please just page him."

It would be an understatement to say that Alex panicked when he received a page and a message telling him to get to Izzie Steven's room as soon as possible, and it would be an understatement to say that he was relieved when he found out why he was paged. He jumped from his chair in the hall outside her room, pushing past the police stationed outside the door, and making a rather dramatic entrance as he just about tripped over his own feet trying to make it back to Izzie.

"What's wrong? Why did you page me?" He said, as he walked over to Izzie's bedside in a much calmer manner than that of his entrance just moments before. "Are you okay?" Izzie wasn't quite sure how to answer that question. Fortunately, she didn't have to, as the policewoman again interrupted.

"She asked for you to be here for this," she said, tilting her head in the direction of Maria as she finished speaking. In response, Alex smiled at Izzie and kissed her forehead, taking a hold of her hand.

"Are you ready?" Maria asked yet again. Izzie closed her eyes as she had before, and tried to prepare herself for what was to come-but this time, she didn't have to pretend she was anywhere else with anyone else, because this time, Alex was there with her. "You ready?" Maria asked again, the annoyed undertone returning to her voice.

"Yeah." Izzie said softly, prompting Alex to plant yet another soft kiss on her cheek as he squeezed her left hand- the hand that was so desperately gripping his.

"You can do this," he whispered into her ear, wishing that he could just do this for here. Because he would-if it would make her stop hurting-he would. He just hoped that she knew that.

Alex felt Izzie's body tense as Maria began the exam, and watched her cringe as Maria collected samples. "You okay?" he asked, as Izzie's face crinkled further and a few tears escaped her eyes.

"Yeah-just-hurts," Izzie said, taking a breath between each word, still not opening her eyes.

"Why-" Alex started to ask her, but, realizing that Izzie couldn't provide him with an answer, he turned his head and directed his question towards the nurse instead. "Why does it hurt."

"It shouldn't hurt too much, but there is significant bruising and trauma, so a moderate amount of pain should be expected." Maria said quietly, knowing that neither Izzie nor Alex would really benefit from an answer. "Plus, they took her off of the morphine-" Now it was Alex's turn to interrupt.

"Why did they taking her off morphine? She just got out of surgery a few hours ago." Maria seemed at a loss for an answer to this question, so the policewoman answered for her.

"They had to. She must be sober for her statement to hold any weight in court- we don't want to give the defense attorney anything when we catch this guy, so she can't be on a narcotic pain medication." She smiled a little, trying to provide a sense of encouragement. Alex looked back down at Izzie, squeezing her hand again.

"They've started her on a prescription dose of both acetaminophen and ibuprofen though. Which helps-just not as much as the morphine."

Izzie could tell Alex was getting impatient, so she intervened, hoping that he would shift his focus back to her.

"I'm fine-it's okay." She said, in such a weak tone of voice that she wasn't very convincing. However, her words brought Alex back to why he was really there, not to hassle the nurse, but to take care of Izzie.

"I think I'm supposed to be telling you that," he said with a hint of a smile before kissing her cheek for the umteenth time.

"Okay-all done," Maria said as she began to collect her things and headed for the door. "I'll give you two a minute and then send the other officers in," she said as she exited the room, closely followed by the female cop.

"You did it," Alex said, when him and Izzie were finally alone.

"Yeah," Izzie said, giving him a small smile as she tried to roll over a bit to face him, only to feel a bolt of pain shoot up through the side of her body. Alex's expression changed as he saw Izzie's being react to the pain.

"How bad is it?"

"5 and a half-maybe more of a 6 sometimes, but only 'cause I'm so tired." They were silent for a few minutes, the both of them enveloped in their thoughts. Finally, Izzie spoke again. "Alex, thank you."

"For what?"

"For being here, for staying with me. I don't know what…" Izzie trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought.

"You don't need to thank me Iz. And you don't need to worry about what would happen if, you know, cause I'm not going anywhere-I promise."

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A/N: A month ago, if I had read a fic with Alex saying the sort of things he says to Izzie in the last line of this chapter, I wouldn't have believed it. But, I'm taking advantage of his character's sudden growth to create some really sweet (or what I think are really sweet) Lexzie moments. Although the premise of this story is absolutely awful, it has provided many opportunities to see Alex's sweet side, and this chapter was a bit longer than the others, which gives him an even greater opportunity to make us all swoon :) hopefully that makes up for the wait to a certain degree. Really hope you all enjoyed the chapter- it's a bit different from the others, just because that's how it turned out- so please let me know what you think!