"Have our folks arrived yet?" Ayden asked Caitlin in the elevator.

"No" she replied, squeezing his hand.

"You know what to tell them" he said assuredly.

Alex and Izzie both looked over at Caitlin and Ayden, grasping each other's hands.

"Cait?"

"Yeah?" she asked, looking down, gently stroking his hair.

"I'm getting scared" Ayden replied in a small voice.

Izzie looked away, but Alex continued to stare at Izzie, noticing the smallest of changes in her face.

"March in California, September in Idaho, June in Nebraska…" Caitlin whispered, "And January in Alabama", she leant down and kissed his forehead, "just think about this year" she whispered.

"Here we go" Alex announced, "Caitlin, you can't come past this point"

Ayden's grip tightened and Caitlin lowered herself down to listen to Ayden whisper something in her ear that neither Alex nor Izzie wanted to hear, and then they wheeled him away, with Caitlin watching behind them.

"Izzie!" Alex called out, but she had already bolted down the corridor, still wearing her blood soaked scrubs.

"Do you want to go and tell the wife, or will I?" Bailey asked, coming out of the operating theatre.

"What about Izzie...?" Alex began.

"This is just something she has to learn to deal with all over again" Bailey replied, nonchalantly.

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

and the tears come streaming down your face
when you lose something you can't replace
when you love some one but it goes to waste
could it be worse?

"Hey"

Izzie looked up. "Hey"

"What happened to…?"

"He went home last night, in remission"

Alex nodded and sat at the foot of Denny's old hospital bed.

"Ayden's chances weren't good, Iz…"

"I know"

"You can't do this every time a patient…"

"I know!"

Alex remained silent for a moment.

"As jealous as I was of them, I would never have wished this upon Caitlin" Izzie whispered.

"Well, of course not"

"I know what it feels like, and I wouldn't"

"Iz -" that was all Alex had to say and she crawled into his arms. No tears came; only the same gnawing pain she had become accustomed to when she thought of Denny, which was often. It seemed as though her tears had dried up, but that painful regret at the pit of her stomach, Izzie knew that was there to stay.

"I wouldn't wish this on anybody" she repeated.


Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

High up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Izzie headed towards Ayden's room, fully prepared to take Caitlin into her arms and lie, telling her it would all be okay. But when she got there, she saw both Caitlin's and Ayden's parents had arrived, and were all listening to Bailey delivering the bad news.

"I'm sorry" Miranda ended, and headed out the door.

She stood beside Izzie and both watched as Caitlin collapsed into her mother's arms, her father stroking her hair, while Ayden's parents held each other.

"She's lucky" Izzie whispered, "having that support now"

Bailey nodded, "so were you" she replied, and walked away.


Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I

Izzie pulled the brown sweater over her head and did up the fly on her jeans, shrugging her tote bag over her shoulder.

"Izzie?"

She turned around to find George standing before her.

"Hey" she said, closing her locker door.

"Sorry about your patient" he murmured.

"Yeah, me too"

"Do you feel like drinking?"

Izzie gave a small shake of her head, "nah"

"Oh, okay" George said, heading toward his locker.

"But I do feel like food… do you feel like food?"

George looked up, "just let me get changed and we'll go out"

"I'll go find Alex and Meredith; they get off about now too"

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you.

LYRICS: Coldplay's "fix you"