Author's Notes: Thanks so much for the amazing comments (which I will, again, address after the chapter). I'm so glad that Danielle is having the effect that I want her to at this point--some annoyance, some amusement, etc. And I know you guys want more Alex/Izzie interaction and this chapter has it, but just give me a little more time to build up my focus and then the Alex/Izzie-ness will grow. Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters (except Danielle) and I don't own the fandom. Just my own creative interpretation.

Chapter Three - Damage Control

December had arrived quickly this year. Christmas decorations were out in full force as they usually were after Thanksgiving. A chill pierced the air--the weather was finally evening out; no more unseasonably mild days would be seen in Seattle.

Izzie stood just outside the hospital doors, taking in the last few sips of coffee before she would have to report to Dr. Bailey for the day's work. It was chilly, yes, but Izzie didn't mind so much. She liked watching the world go by in the early morning.

"Hey you," came a familiar voice. She looked up to see Alex beside her. Alone, thankfully.

She couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious--her blonde tresses were pulled up haphazardly (she couldn't get away with that as well as Meredith could) and she'd hardly bothered with makeup.

But Alex was smiling as if she was one of the most beautiful women on the planet. Or was that just what she wanted to see?

"Morning," she said softly.

He leaned into place a kiss to her lips. A warm sensation came over her. Wouldn't be needing that coffee anymore.

"Mmm, french vanilla," Alex teased, licking his lips.

Izzie smiled back. "I'm glad you like my coffee breath."

He smirked, opening the hospital door for her. "I could get used to it."

She laughed easily. This was more like it. The flirtatious teasing, the playfulness...the wonderful kiss. This was how she liked things with Alex--light and sweet. The track it had been on before Danielle showed up.

Izzie cleared her throat as they made their way through the hospital. "So what's Danielle up to today?" She hoped her voice didn't sound the way she felt.

"No idea. She was still asleep when I left. After years of getting up early to go to work, that girl still won't wake up before 11 without an alarm."

Izzie listened with a slight pang of guilt as Alex talked about his sister. The fondness was evident in his voice. She wished she knew what to do to gain Danielle's approval.

She wished she'd never brought up or even thought of Danielle.

Alex noticed the change in Izzie's demeanor right away. He hoped it was nothing he did, but he figured it was.

"You ok?" he asked softly as they arrived at their lockers to change into their scrubs.

Izzie took in a deep breath, sitting down on the locker room bench. Why not just come out with it? "I can tell your sister isn't crazy about me and I have no clue why. She just met me and it was clear that she didn't approve--she wasn't interested in anything about me even when I asked about her. Hell, it seemed like she would have rather talked to Cristina, and it was completely obvious that those two clashed big time. I'm just not thrilled about being written off by someone that doesn't even know me."

Alex thought back on the conversation he had with Danielle on the way to Joe's bar before she'd met Izzie. He shook it away quickly. "I don't know where you're getting this, she was perfectly polite to you at the bar," he said defensively. The whole truth was overrated.

Izzie's eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Yeah, perfectly polite. And cold and uninterested in someone she so presumed to be her brother's girlfriend. That's what happened, you know, actual events. Not pre-concieved ideas that no woman is good enough for my big brother." Her tone was mocking.

Alex yanked his scrubs on. "You seem to have no trouble making up your own story about how she is with only having just met her," he shot back. "You don't know Danielle and you have all these theories about her 'pre-concieved ideas' that you have no problem spouting off as if they were facts."

Izzie sighed, exasperated at the exchange. The wonderful moment outside the hospital was ruined. Thanksgiving dinner was ruined.

The extraordinary kiss at Joe's...ruined.

All because of Danielle. Maybe she was being irrational, but she didn't even care. They'd come so far, through so many peaks and valleys and now Danielle had shown up and thrown everything into chaos.

Izzie was about to tell Alex this very fact when he said, "You know, maybe my sister doesn't like hearing about how her brother--the ONLY man who has ever been there for her through everything--is being jerked around by some woman who thinks she has a right to anything she wants just because she worked her way through medical school."

People were staring by then. People including Meredith, Cristina, and George, who'd just entered the locker room.

Izzie didn't even notice them. She stood, throwing her gym bag on the floor. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I have no idea what you want from me!" He threw his hands in the air. "I try to make you happy. I mess up and you get upset. I make up for it, then everything seems good. I thought we had something. But I guess we don't if you can't see that my sister being here is a good thing for me. She makes you uncomfortable so she must be bad news. That's so typical of you." He wasn't exactly sure where that last barb had come from. Rare were the times he stood up to Izzie. But he said it and (at that moment) he meant it.

Izzie didn't reply. But her face remained clenched and her piercing eyes remained on him. They barely heard the door open and close, even in the eerie silence.

"Karev, Stevens, you have something you need to take outside?" Bailey's voice broke the thick tension that hung around them.

Izzie snapped to attention, turning to the supervisor. "No Dr. Bailey," she said, turning back to Alex, whose eyes hadn't left her. "We're finished here."

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Alex spent the rest of the day regretting his words. He knew Danielle didn't like Izzie. Or Cristina. Or even Meredith. At least not what she'd seen of them so far. He knew Izzie was right about that. Why had he attacked her?

No doubt, it was unpleasant to hear someone speak so bluntly about his baby sister, but he could have at least been civil. Danielle was no saint and she'd shown her unsaintly side to Alex's companions right away. It was foolish to think they wouldn't notice or just ignore it.

But she was his baby sister and she had been through a lot in her life. He'd always been there for her. And she'd always been there for him.

Alex sighed and took a swig of beer from the bottle he was nursing. He wasn't at the Emerald City Bar, but rather alone in his kitchen. It was only 7:30; thankfully it had been an early day at the hospital. Those were usually few and far between--and the fact that he was getting one today most likely meant that another wouldn't come for months and months.

Izzie... Alex knew he wouldn't be able to get her off of his mind. He knew that the fight had less to do with Danielle and more to do with his own insecurities--which wasn't a manly thing to admit, and he didn't plan on admitting it to anyone. He knew so many things. But he screwed up everything anyway. He'd had his chance with Izzie and now he'd blown it. Though his instincts told him that it wasn't likely, he hoped she was a forgiving person.

Just then the door opened and Danielle breezed in, shivering from the cold.

"Hey, what are you doing home so early?" she asked, taking off her coat and scarf and hanging them on the coat rack by the door before joining him in the kitchen.

"Work ended early," he answered shortly. She didn't seem to notice. "So where have you been?" he asked.

"Here and there. Kind of showed myself around the city a little. Almost got lost a few times." She chuckled.

"Want a beer?"

"No, thanks," Danielle replied, turning and getting a good look at him for the first time. "Are you ok? Did you eat anything? You look awful."

"Thanks, Mom," Alex said pointedly, as if it was the worst insult he could ever give her. "I'm fine. Rough day, that's all. Happens when you're a doctor."

Danielle sat back and folded her arms at his snappy tone. "Don't take it out on me."

Alex suppressed the urge to laugh. It wasn't all her fault, but her blissful ignorance made him want to blame her.

But he wouldn't tell her. There was no reason she needed to know what happened with Izzie--she'd probably be too happy. Besides, for all Danielle knew, 'Alex and Izzie' was nothing.

And maybe they had been.

"So are you heading to Joe's tonight?" Danielle was asking.

That was the last place he wanted to be. "Nah."

Danielle seemed surprised. "Ok, well, how about a movie? There's probably something good on one of the pay-per-view channels. My treat."

Alex took in a deep breath. "Actually," he said, standing from the table. "I think I'm just going to take a walk."

"Are you crazy? Its freezing out there!"

Alex wrapped his scarf around his neck and pulled his coat on. "Yeah, I know. But I just need to be alone. The fresh air might do me good."

Danielle just stared at her brother. The fresh air might to me good? Since when did Alex talk like that?

"Ok, see you later."

Gone before she got the words out, Alex slipped away with a near-silent click of the door.

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It was a good thing that Alex decided not to head to the Emerald City Bar. Izzie, Meredith, Cristina, and George were there that night.

Izzie had considered not going. But she wasn't going to let Alex run her life like that. If he was bold enough to show up there, then bring him on. If he wanted a fight, she was ready, willing, and able to go round two.

No one was speaking at the moment, just sipping their drinks and listening to the sound of the crowd and the music behind them. The interns hadn't had a chance to talk much during the day, so Meredith, Cristina, and George had never gotten an explanation for the incident they witnessed in the locker room.

Cristina tapped her glass on the table and looked at Izzie, as if she was going to burst if she didn't get the story right then. "It wasn't another woman, was it?" she blurted out.

Meredith and George looked surprised, but both were inwardly happy that someone had broken the ice.

Izzie laughed bitterly. "Actually, it was."

"Who?" asked Meredith.

"Danielle." Izzie practically spat the name out.

No one replied for a minute or two. Izzie couldn't tell by their faces what they were thinking. She hardly knew what she herself was thinking. She just didn't want to think about Alex and she especially did not want to think about Danielle.

"She seemed pretty nice to me."

Everyone turned toward George at the sound of his voice. Izzie and Cristina glared his way while Meredith looked perplexed.

"I--I mean from the little bit of time I saw her, she didn't seem so bad. A little rough around the edges, yes, but come on. She is Alex's sister." George laughed tentatively, but it died away at the confused look on the three women's faces.

Izzie thought about that last statement. She is Alex's sister...

"Maybe George is right," Meredith offered. "We don't know much about Alex's family but we know now that he's close to his sister. And he is going through a lot here trying to prove himself." She paused, knowing that she was the only one who knew about Alex's failure of the medical boards. She directed her statement to Izzie, "Maybe you should give him a chance to come around. Maybe you should give Danielle a chance to come around. She might not, but do you really want to think back on this and know that you let a man's sister come between you and what could potentially be something great?" Izzie's expression didn't change. Meredith certainly knew what she was talking about--she herself had been through a lot the past few months.

Cristina snorted dismissively. "I still say that you shouldn'tve given him the time of day."

Ignoring that proclimation, Izzie asked Meredith, "So you're saying if you had gone through this same thing with Dr. Shepherd...Derek, you would have given him a shot to explain himself? You'd have given him another chance?" Izzie knew she was treading on a sensitive subject.

Meredith turned away with a melancholy smile, taking a sip of her drink. "I was going to give him another chance after I found out about his wife, wasn't I?"

That hung in the air for a few seconds. Izzie wrestled with herself as she downed the glass before her. There was a large part of her that wanted to scoff at Meredith's advice, a part that agreed with Cristina wholeheartedly. But a small, ever-nagging part of her heart wouldn't leave her alone. Just give him a chance to say something, anything, it prodded. If he didn't, then she could go back to despising him just like she wanted to so much.

And if he did...maybe she hadn't lost an opportunity at something that could potentially be great.

"Well, I'm out of here," Cristina said, snapping Izzie back to reality. "I don't know you people anymore. Especially you." She pointed at Meredith.

Meredith made a face at her with a laugh. "Night Cris."

"Yeah, I'm going to call it a night too," George said, standing. "Its almost midnight and tomorrow comes early. See you two at home?"

"In a little while," Izzie answered.

When Cristina and George were gone, she turned to Meredith. "Did you mean what you said before? You really think I should give Alex another chance? Haven't I given him enough chances?"

Meredith shrugged. "Its really up to you. He might not be worthy of another chance. I just don't want you to miss out. I want you to think about all the options before you make the decision to hate Alex forever. You might change your mind someday and by then it could be too late."

Izzie took in a deep breath. "When did you get to be such a big fan of Alex anyway?"

"I'm a big fan of you." It was the truth, but she was being slightly evasive. "I might not be Alex's biggest fan, but I'm not blind. I can see the way you guys are with each other."

Izzie looked away. She was missing him and she didn't want to. "I have a lot to think about," she said. "And no time to think."

Meredith draped her arm around her friend's shoulders. "Let's get home."

Life stopped for no one.

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RedLA: Ooh, I love to hear readers' theories. That one certainly is intriguing but I make it my policy not to confirm or deny anything anyone theorizes/asks. Thanks for reviewing.
skylinechick07: When I said 'hints of Cristina/Burke,' I really meant that I'd be mentioning them sporatically throughout the story--they're not the main focus. But thanks for the compliment. :)
ELM-Tree10: Thanks so much! I'm actually not exactly sure what I'm going to do with Derek yet, seeing as he's not the main focus. I have a pretty good idea, though. ;)
AJeff: Thanks. I'm glad you like Danielle and I look forward to more feedback from you.
Greyaddict: There's only one way to find out the answers to your questions--wait patiently. Hehe. ;P Thanks for the review.
yaba: Ooh, do tell your theory! As I said before, I love hearing readers' theories. I love your comment about Danielle and Alex because it nails my feelings too. Their relationship is so complex. Thanks so much.
rach: Thanks. Ditto to what I said before.
Am I mOrE tHaN yOu BaRgAiNeD fOr YeT: Haha! Well, I hope that means you liked it. ;)
jadedlily1478: Glad to hear your thoughts. And I'm glad to hear your feelings on Danielle. You're actually the first (I think) to tell me she annoys you and I was surprised by that. She annoys me sometimes and I created her! ;P
zira: Mystery, mystery. All your questions will be answered. Thanks for reviewing.
sweetgir: Wow, thank you so much! I'm trying to show more facets of the characters' personalities. Sometimes on the show they can be a little one dimensional save a few bits here and there.
izzabella: More Alex/Izzie to build as the story gets its footing.

Thanks again!