AN: Thanks for all the reviews. I really appreciate them. This is the final chapter of the story. I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Meredith gave order after order to the nursing staff standing in front of her. The adrenaline was starting to pump through her body and she needed everyone to move faster than they were. She didn't notice Alex and George standing there until she turned to push Izzie out the room.
"What are you guys doing come on." She yelled at both of them and she didn't wait for an answer she just kept moving.
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Alex watched Izzie's bed move past, her skin seemed to have gone a ghostly white and she wasn't moving. It took a second for his legs to register with his brain and then he took off after her. He slipped inside the elevator with them and tried to calm himself.
"Iz," He ran his hand down the side of her face and clasped her hand with the other.
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Izzie felt Alex's hand run down her face. She felt his other hand grab her hold of hers and she squeezed it back.
"Alex," She forced her eyes open a little and gazed at him. He smiled at her and ran his hands though her hair.
"I'm right here Iz, I'm right here." He bent down so they were closer, so there eyes were level. She could see him clearly now and he looked so scared, so worried. It made her heart ache; she didn't want it to be like this.
"Alex," She tried to push herself up a bit but it hurt too much. "I'm sorry. I tried to fight him but I couldn't make him stop,"
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"It's okay, it's okay." Alex had no idea what she was talking about, he didn't understand what she was saying but it didn't really matter. "We're going to the OR now." He told her instead. "We're going to stop that aneurysm bleeding and we're going to fix you. He won't be there anymore; it'll just you and me."
She seemed to smile at him when he said that. "Alex," She tried to pull him closer to her. "I…I love you."
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She hadn't planed to say those words to him, but her fear had over ridded any conscious thought. She needed him to be with her, to stay with her more than anything. She was so scared, so afraid she might never get the chance to say it. He deserved to hear it, to know how she felt, she did love him. After everything they'd put each other through, she wanted to be with him and he was still standing there beside her.
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Alex stared back at Izzie, he was not expecting her to say that, and right then that wasn't what he wanted to hear. There was a sincerity in her voice, but it was coupled with fear, there was fear in her eyes.
He bent down and kissed her, they were at the OR floor now standing at the doors waiting to go in. "Say it again when this is over." He told her and he stepped back. He watched Meredith push her the last few meters into the OR and the doors close behind them. He began to exhale slowly and told himself everything was going to be okay.
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Izzie watched as Alex' s figure disappear behind the doors. It took every ounce of her strength not to start crying. She was in an OR, a room which always brought her comfort but she'd never seen it from this angle before. She'd never been the one going under the knife, never been the one put to sleep.
Meredith walked over to her and smiled. "Iz, I need you to count back from ten for me." She told her, she understood what that meant, they'd already given her the drugs to the make her sleep.
"I'm scared." She said instead.
"I know." She felt Meredith reach down and squeeze her hand. "Just count, it'll all be over soon."
Her eyes started to feel heavy, her head more cloudy than before. "10, 9, 8…"
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Meredith watched Izzie's eyes close and she stepped back. "You need to go now Dr. Grey." Derek told her. She nodded, she knew she wasn't allowed to stay in the OR for this, Izzie was her friend, she was too close to stay. She gave one last look at her and began walking out.
She walked out the OR and found Alex standing right where she'd left him. There was a look of shock and disbelief across his face, coupled with exhaustion.
"Alex, she's going to be in there for three maybe four hours you should go get some rest." She told him, he didn't say anything though, he just stood there.
"Alex," she tried to get his attention again, she rested her hand on his arm. "Are you okay?" He looked up at her; there was a somewhat dazed expression on his face.
"Yeah," He pushed her hand away and began walking down the corridor.
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Alex walked away from Meredith; he wasn't in the mood for talking. The last twelve hours had drained him mentally, and physically he was exhausted the last time he'd slept was some thirty six hours ago. He needed sleep but he couldn't sleep just yet, he couldn't sleep until he knew Izzie was alright.
Instead of laying down he walked to the locker rooms and changed into a pair of scrub pants and put on some runners. He made sure his pager was well attached and then he walked out the room, he walked towards the entrance of the hospital and he walked out the doors. He walked until he was a few meters away from the hospital and then he started running.
He ran so he could forget, so his body could feel something other than what he was feeling. He wanted to feel his heart rate increase, he wanted to feel the sweat running down his face, and his lungs scream for air. He wanted to feel something other than the fear running though him, he wanted to forget the fear. Fear wasn't helping anything, everything was out of his control, he couldn't fix Izzie, that wasn't his job. He ran until he was exhausted, until he couldn't run any more, he sat down on a bench behind the hospital and rested his head in his hands. He closed his eyes and for the hundredth time that day he told himself everything would be okay. He told himself that when this was all over Izzie would still be his, she would still want him.
He sat on the bench for an hour waiting for his pager to go off, waiting for the signal that the procedure was over, that he could see Izzie again. When it finally went off he was ready, he'd worked himself into the right state of mind.
He walked back inside the hospital, and caught the elevator to the ICU floor. Meredith and Shepard were waiting outside for him.
"How did it go? How is she?" he asked as soon as he reached them. They both smiled at him.
"It was textbook." Shepard began saying. "We'll keep her in the ICU for a few days for observation but she should be fine."
Hearing those words, 'she should be fine', in that instance were the most beautiful words he could have heard. He smiled and he began to let the relief run through him.
"Good, good." He started saying to him self. "Can I go see her?"
"Sure, her room is at the end of the corridor."
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Izzie lay half awake in her bed, she could hear movement around her but she couldn't work out what it was. She couldn't keep her eyes open for more than a second and her leg was throbbing and her head pounding. She let out a moan and tried to sit up a little but she couldn't lift her head. She couldn't do anything but lay there and wait. Somewhere the door opened, she heard footsteps walk towards her and the sound of someone dragging a chair over to the bed.
"Alex," She moaned his name, she didn't know who was in her room but she hoped it was him.
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He hadn't even sat down when he heard her whisper his name, he wasn't expecting it, not this soon, he'd been told she'd be sleeping for another hour or so.
"Iz," He let go of the chair and stepped up beside the bed. He reached for her hand and wrapped his around it. "I'm here, I'm right here."
"Alex," She whispered his name again and opened her eyes. She looked straight at him and smiled.
"Hey Iz," He smiled back at her and he touched his hand to her cheek.
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Alex's hand on her cheek was warm, it sent a warm feeling through her body completely unlike the feeling she got when Denny had touched her. She reached up with her hand, touched his face, there was rough stubble across it, the feeling made her smile and she tried to pull him closer.
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Izzie's hand on his face was a soft gentle touch, her fingers brushed against him and she gazed into his eyes. She looked like she was really looking at him, trying to work him out.
"How are you feeling?" he asked her, it was the logical first question to ask but it wasn't the question he really wanted to know the answer to. He already had a good how she'd be feeling.
"Tired, my leg hurts." She told him, he was expecting that answer. He picked up the PCA controller and pressed the button on it.
"This will help." He told her and he slipped it into her hand.
"Thanks." She smiled at him and her eyes drifted shut. She was tried, he could see she was tried but there was one thing he had to ask her before he let her go back to sleep.
"Iz," he bent down closer to her and hooked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Is he here?"
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She knew which he, he was talking about, she hadn't noticed him, heard him. She tried to push herself up in the bed a little to have a look around, if he was there she needed to know but she couldn't lift her head.
"Don't move about." He told her. "Just tell me. Is he here?"
She couldn't see him, she couldn't feel him, he couldn't be there. "No," she said and she began to smile it was really over.
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Alex watched the smile spread across Izzie's face. "That's good." He told her, "It's just us now."
He bent down and kissed her, he was finally starting to feel like it was over, that they'd past the worse of it. He cupped her cheek in his hand and smiled. "I'll let you get some rest now." He told her. "You look really tired."
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She was tried but she didn't want Alex to leave, as he went to step back she grabbed hold of him. "Stay with me." She whispered. "I don't want to be alone."
He stopped moving away from her and paused for a moment. "I won't leave you." He said and he rubbed her cheek again, that wasn't what she meant though.
"Can you hold me?" She forced herself to move over in the bed a little and tapped the space beside her.
"Okay," He climbed up on the bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her. She liked the way it felt with him holding her. He made her feel safe and she started to drift back to sleep. She wouldn't fall asleep just yet though; there was one thing she needed say.
"Alex," she felt him run his fingers through her hair, his soft gentle touch. "I love you."'
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He heard the words slide from Izzie's mouth; they didn't surprise him this time they made him smile. He pulled his arm tighter around her and held her as close to him as possible. "I love you too." He whispered and he finally let himself relax. Izzie fell asleep in his arms within minutes and it didn't take long for him to follow.