AN: I know you guys have been patiently waiting for this. I had a health thing and a procedure done, but I'm back for now and the story should stay on track!

It was raining, which Alex both loved and hated. It was a downpour, and there was flooding, so it made getting to work twice as hard. It reminded him so much of Seattle and Jo and it was bittersweet.

"Ugh, I hate it when it rains like this," Izzie complained as she parked the car and Alex's mood immediately soured. "Everything gets soaking wet, and the twins are going to be covered in mud when they get home from school and track it all over my kitchen."

"I'll wash the kid's boots when they get home and make sure they don't track mud in the house," Alex said with a sigh as he grabbed his bag from the back seat and put up the hood of his jacket.

"Oh yeah, and then you'll take them out half an hour later. Then, the three of you will get covered in mud again and you'll drag it through the whole house," Izzie said with a roll of her eyes as she gritted her teeth and collected her own things.

She referenced the time Alex and the kids played out in the mud. It was a happy memory and he didn't regret doing it for a second. Still, Izzie got so angry about it when she got home and found they left mud prints on the hardwood and that the twins were so dirty, even though he had spent the entire night cleaning everything up. It was one of the little things that they had clashed on since he arrived. Alex had one way of doing things with the twins and Izzie had another way of doing it. They just clashed every time.

Alex got out in the car and headed out to the rain. He smiled as he heard the pitter-patter against the hood of his jacket as he walked inside, letting himself enjoy it for a moment as Izzie hurried past and ushered him in. He pulled back the hood of his coat and the two of them walked up to his office.

"Good morning Dr. Karev," Jada greeted him with a particular bit of snark as they walked by her in the hallway. "There's a package from your wife on your desk."

"Thank you, Jada," Alex said with politeness, despite her tone, because she was kind to Jo, and for that, he was grateful.

Still, he heard the way that she whispered to the other nurse in the hallway. Of course, all of the nurses are on Jo's side, which made work hard for both of them. The gossip here was worse than it was at Grey-Sloan. The rumor mill was running with the bits and pieces they got about what happened between the three of them. Affairs, cheating, babies. They think that Izzie and Alex met back up close to when the twins were conceived and that they said that he had been secretly visiting them ever since, but that they just now worked up the courage to go public with everything. There was even a rumor going around that Jo was pregnant. He tried to correct everyone, but it didn't stick, and at this point, he was sick of trying.

Izzie glared at Jada and the other nurses that passed her by. "Remind me to file a harassment claim against her at lunch."

"You can't do that. She hasn't done anything against you," Alex argued with a huff.

"She's spreading lies about us, Alex. Don't you care about that," Izzie said as she grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop, and he resisted the let out a great sigh.

"It's just gossip and half of it's not true," Alex said with a shrug as he continued walking. "But the half of it that is…."

"It doesn't give her the right to whisper behind my back," Izzie said as she cut him off.

"Look, you and Jada already work in different departments. Just avoid her whenever you see her and everything will quiet down like it always does," Alex said, looking back at her. "And if you don't like it, we could always just move."

"At this point, I'm seriously considering it. I know we did this whole thing so we wouldn't have to, but..." Izzie shook her head as she trailed off.

It was a conversation they had been having for a little while. With the way things were at work and things with the kid's school, nobody was happy. Alex first asked her about moving back to Seattle when he first came here. He even offered to buy her a house close to her mom's and in a good school district for the kids. Unfortunately, the Baldwin City School District left much to be desired and Alexis and Eli were both behind academically. On top of that, Eli's teacher didn't respect the IEP in place for Eli's dyslexia and until Izzie threatened to sue.

"Why don't I pick up dinner and we can talk things over at the house tonight," Alex offered as he pulled out his key to let them into his office.

"Are you ever going to call it home?" Izzie asked, already knowing the answer.

Alex didn't reply, he just looked down at his shoes. Nothing had felt like home since he got here and he didn't know if it ever would. Izzie said a quick goodbye before she headed down to the clinic. She reached up and put a hand on his chest as she leaned in to press a kiss to his cheek. He let her do it, but he didn't linger at her side as he pulled away and went into his office.

Izzie loved him and he wasn't lying to Jo when he said he was in love with her too, but he was in love with the Izzie that left him. The one that he married. The resident who was in her third year, and that woman didn't exist anymore. Izzie was in love with that version of him too. The hot-headed, playboy resident who secretly cared, but he hadn't been that boy in a long time. They were still trying to get to know each other now and work out how to co-parent and live together.

The packet of divorce papers was sitting on his desk when he opened the door. It was thicker than the one that he sent to Jo, evidence of the changes she said she would make. Alex could feel the dread build up inside of him as he looked at the package. He didn't want to look at it, but he knew he couldn't avoid it. He took off his coat and hung it up and dropped his bag and unloaded the case files he had for the day. He checked his schedule, but it was light today. He sat down on his chair as he stared at the packet. He wasn't on call, and his first scheduled surgery wasn't until this evening, and it was a simple cleft palate repair.

He knew he couldn't avoid it as he took the packet and ripped open the seal. There it was. At the bottom of the first page was Jo's simple, elegant signature above her name. He took in a breath and paused for a second. He knew that she would, she said that she would, but he never thought she would actually sign the divorce papers. Still, there it was. Right there in black ink on the paper. There it was, the end of their marriage.

Alex let out a sigh as he got choked up, and tears collected in his eyes. There were little arrow tabs sticking out indicating where he was supposed to sign and he flicked over the pages to see every single one. He read it over, looking for the changes she talked about, but he didn't see any yet. She agreed to take the Loft, his car, his shares in the hospital, and everything else like he wanted her to. That was what she was owed. It was what she deserved.

Then he saw it at the top of the page in big black bold lettering. Custody agreement. His heart stopped in his chest as he stared at it. For a second, he was confused. He didn't quite believe it. They didn't have a kid together, she would have told him. Then he remembered the way Jo held her stomach when she came to see him. The reason why she held it was because she was putting her hand over their baby. Suddenly it all made sense, the reason why she vomited in the parking lot, her full cheeks, and the little bump. At the time, he thought it was just a little extra stress weight, but it wasn't. It was her baby bump. Jo was pregnant.

He quickly read over the custody agreement, it was all legal jumbo and stuff, but the gist of it was that Jo got full custody, but he could see the baby whenever he wanted. However, only if he traveled to Seattle. Izzie didn't want to ship her kids to Seattle to see him and now Jo didn't want to ship her kid to Kansas. There was a line saying that Jo was unwilling to travel with her infant to see him and Alex thought it was fair considering everything that they were doing.

The baby didn't even have a name yet, and he was sure Jo didn't know the gender as it was just listed as Baby Karev. Baby Karev, his baby. His child with Jo. Alex realized that now he was in the same position that he left Jo in. He once again had an ex-wife and a baby in another state.

When he got to Kansas, he knew he couldn't go back to Seattle. If he did, he would constantly be hopping from one place to another. He'd be half a husband to Jo and half a father to the twins, and he wouldn't get the chance at having custody of them. He didn't want that, so he chose his kids. He wanted to be a father to his kids. He knew that Jo would understand that, but he would have to leave her and stay with Izzie and he knew that would break her heart one way or another.

Leaving her was the hardest thing he had ever done. He regretted it from the moment he did. He felt like he took the coward's way out instead of figuring out how to be both a good husband and a good father. He decided to be a bad husband and a good father and now he was both. He was a bad husband to his wife and a bad father to their baby.

Maybe it was too late to make it right, but he had to try. Even if it messed up everything that they were trying to do, he had to try and do right by Jo and their baby. That was what Alex thought as he got up. He grabbed his coat and his bag and checked his wallet for everything he would need for the flight to Seattle. Then, he ran over to the free clinic to find Izzie checking over her daily schedule.

"Jo's pregnant."

Izzie's eyes went wide as she slowly looked up from the tablet she was holding. He realized how crazy he must look with his coat half on and his bag slung over his shoulder. He was still holding the divorce papers in his hand open to the custody agreement as he showed it to her.

"Jo's pregnant, and I need to go home to her and take care of her and our baby. I'm still her husband and our baby's father, and I'm also Alexis and Eli's father, and I want to be both. So I'll work things out with Jo and I'll, I'll call you, and they have a soccer game on Friday, so I'll fly back for that, and I'll stay for the weekend and…. I don't know what I'll do from then on, but we can figure it out. I promise, Izzie, I promise, I'm gonna be there for the twins, but I need to be there for Jo and our baby right now."

His speech was wild, and he was desperate, but he meant every word of it. Izzie looked at him wide eyed as she took it all in. She looked between the custody agreement and him before she just nodded.

"You only smile, really smile when you talk about her. You love her. I've grown up enough to know not to get in between two people who love each other," Izzie said with a slight smile. "So I'll tell the twins that you'll be back to spend the weekend with them and we'll figure out another way for you to get partial custody of them. Maybe the judge will see what you've done so far and be sympathetic."

Alex let out a breath and smiled. "Thank you."

Izzie nodded and Alex smiled as he reached out to hug her. She gave him a quick squeeze before she let go and Alex ran out of the hospital. He ran all the way to the car, and he didn't even bother taking the time to go back to the house and pack a bag. He just went straight to the airport. He went home.