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Alex tried to push forward, tried to get to Izzie but Meredith held tight onto his arm.

"What's happening?" he asked again and finally Shepard turned to face them.

"Tyler can you finish this up?" He said to one of the nurses "I'll be back in a minute," he motioned for Alex and Meredith to follow him into the corridor. He shut the door behind him and turned to face Alex.

"Last night after you left she started trying to breath against the ventilator. We've been weaning her off it all night."

"Off the ventilator?" Alex couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "She's breathing on her own?"

"For the time being. We're going to see how she goes."

"She's awake?" Alex could feel his heart racing. He hadn't been expecting this, not this soon. "Why didn't you phone me?"

"Because you didn't need to be here."

"I should have been here." Alex looked down at the medal he still held in his hand. Suddenly the very thought of it made him feel sick. Yet again he wasn't there when he should have been. "Can I go see her?" He needed to talk to her. He needed to explain.

"Soon." Shepard walked back into the room leaving Alex and Meredith in the hall.

"She's awake?" Alex looked at Meredith disbelief was all over his face.

"That's what he said."

"Oh my god." Alex was excited, pleased, happy, this was good, really really good. This was a sign, evidence that Izzie was getting better. He waited anxiously in the corridor for Shepard and the nurses to finish what they were doing. He wasn't sure what he'd say to her or what she might say to him but it was going to happen soon.

After another ten minutes Shepard and the nurses walked out. One of the nurses smiled at Alex and he smiled back. Shepard pulled Meredith aside and was talking to her about something. So Alex entered the room by himself.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting to see but what he saw wasn't it. He'd forgotten that life wasn't like the movies; people don't just wake up and be fine. He knew this, he was a doctor but some how he'd thought things would be different. This was Izzie not…

She lay in the bed, her eyes were open and she was more alert than she'd been all week. The ventilator had been removed but in its place was a CPAP mask. The mask wasn't as scary as the ventilator to look at but it wasn't nice either. It covered her nose and her mouth and had been carefully secured to her face to avoid her injuries.

"Hey Izzie," He said walking up to her bed and taking her hand. She smiled at him but didn't talk, instead she tried to move her hand to her throat to say she couldn't but her coordination was off and she hit herself in the head instead.

Tears started to water up in her eyes.

"It's okay." Alex reached over the bed and took her other hand as well. He held them both tightly, so he could feel connected to her, but also so she wouldn't try to move them again. "I understand. You can't talk yet."

She nodded at him and smiled. They sat in silence for a while. Alex wasn't sure what to say to her, not when she couldn't communicate back. Then he remembered the book he'd brought.

That morning on his way to the hospital he'd stopped at a book store. He'd spent an hour with the shop assistant trying to find this one book he'd remembered Izzie saying she'd like to read. The problem had been all he could remember about the book was that the cover was yellow. The assistant had pulled out almost every single book with a yellow cover before they found the one Alex was looking for. The experience had actually been a little fun. The assistant had been really nice, and chatted to Alex about unimportant things. It wasn't until he went to pay for the book and the assistant told him he could just have it that he realized she knew who he was.

"You can have it." She'd said. "My boyfriend was at that bar. It's the least I can do to say thanks. I hope your girlfriend likes it and gets better soon."

"Thanks." He'd said on his way out. That had been the reason he hadn't seen Izzie in the morning.

He pulled the book out of his bag. "I brought this for you this morning." He said showing it to her. "Would you like me to read it to you?" Her eyes lit up when she saw it. It was perfect. She squeezed his hand a little and Alex knew exactly what she meant.

He read to her all afternoon. They stopped only a couple of times when he needed to get a drink or the nurses needed to check something. Izzie was doing really well. Only twice did they need to remind her to breath. But that was okay; it just meant she needed to be closely monitored.

By the time 8pm rolled around and visiting hours were officially over the book was finished. Alex was exhausted and so was Izzie; this was the longest she'd been alert for since it happened. The nurses came and shooed Alex out of the room.

"Visiting hours are over." They said. "She needs to get some rest and so do you." Alex left without to much fuss. He kissed her hands goodbye and promised to be back in the morning.

/\/\/\

That became Alex's routine for the next three days. In the morning he'd stop at the bookstore and buy a book. The shop assistant would help him pick one out that she thought him and Izzie would enjoy. She wasn't allowed to let him have them for free but she did give him a heavy discount on them.

At the hospital he'd sit in Izzie's room and read to her all day. He only stopped when others came to visit. Mainly George and Meredith but they were both back at work now so they only stayed a little while. The other doctors stopped by sometimes as well but they never stayed very long. Addison and Bailey started coming in the evening together. One would stay in the room with Izzie while the other would take Alex into the corridor and talk to him about coming back to work. He'd tell them he wasn't ready, they'd accept his answer and he'd go back to reading to Izzie.

It was a good little routine. Izzie was getting better, she was getting stronger. Her breathing was improving; she was only on the CPAP at night now. She still couldn't talk though, the ventilator had irritated her vocal cords but Shepard said the problem should fix its self in a few days. She could move her mouth to try and form words but no sound would come out. Alex wasn't any good at lip reading though so their communication was confined to hand squeezing. Her coordination was still too off for her to be able to do anything else. At night and whenever she was alone her hand were tided to the bed to prevent her from hurting herself. As soon as Alex would arrive in the morning he's loosen the restraints. It was horrible to see her tied to the bed so that she couldn't move when she wanted to but it was worse to see her hurt herself.

On the fourth day Alex arrived a little later than usual. When he came into Izzie's room there was a speech therapist in there talking to her. When she saw Alex enter the room she excused herself and told Izzie she'd be back later in the day.

Alex sat down in his usual seat and pulled out today's book. "Look what I have today." He said showing the book to Izzie. She reached out and took his hand. She pulled him a little closer to him and said her first words to him in almost two weeks.

"Who are you? Why do you sit here with me everyday?"