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Dr. Karev ran across the entire hospital while being yelled at by nurses along the way. He could not believe his eyes. Alex thought he must has been lacking sleep; or coffee. He thought she was gone for good. Out of breath, he spotted his blonde friend from the end of the hallway.

"Mer!" he shouted.

His heart pounded. Meredith looked at him with a puzzled look. Alex dragged her to a corner.

"What is it, Alex?" she asked. "You look pale."

"I think I just saw Izzie," another puzzled look from Dr. Grey. "Pretty sure I'm not hallucinating. She is Derek's replacement isn't she?"

The blue-eyed doctor gasped in realization. She couldn't believe it either. Could it be that her husband's replacement is Izzie Stevens? It totally made sense.

"Do you know anything about this?" Alex continued. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Alex, shut up," Meredith cut him off. "No one told me about about his. Not even Derek."

"I need some air."

Arizona stopped at the coffee stand near the hospital. Her head was pounding and the morning traffic in Seattle was not helping. She groaned as she walked towards the main entrance. Callie walked by with her tablet. The Latina noticed her on her way in.

"Hey, Arizona. You okay?" she asked, noticing the blonde's dark circles.

"Yeah," she said, gravelly. "I went out last night…"

"Oh? Alone?"

"With a friend," she answered. "I need to get to work, I'm already a few minutes late. Dr. Herman will kill me."

Callie pondered. Who could that friend be? Has Arizona moved on? It hadn't been long since they've separated. They have not talked about dating other people yet. But even she wasn't ready to move on. How can Arizona start to date someone else?

"Meredith!" The blonde doctor called down the hall. Izzie rushed to catch up with her old friend who continued walking. "Meredith."

"Izzie?" Meredith turned to see a familiar face standing beside her.

"Hi." Izzie smiled, not knowing what else to say. They hadn't seen each other or spoken in almost 6 years.

"What are you doing here?"

Meredith tried not to seem angry but she was. Izzie had disappeared from her life completely and all she could say was "hi". She'd ruined Alex who had spent the last couple years trying to repair his broken heart. He was finally in a good place and then Izzie appears. Izzie fricken Stevens. She'd missed so much, she didn't know Meredith was know a proud mom of two wonderful kids and that her marriage was a balancing act she felt could tumble over at any second.

"I'm Derek's replacement? I know, how weird is it that I go into neuro after having a brain tumor?" Izzie tried to joke but Meredith didn't seem to be amused. "Did he not tell you?"

"Oh boy did you miss a lot." Meredith sighed, the corners of her mouth slowly turning into a smile and laughing.

"What, what's so funny?" Izzie was confused.

"You missed so much Iz," Meredith continued to laugh.

"I know, I'm sorry Mer, I just, after I left I didn't want to hurt Alex anymore than I had and I felt if I talked to you or Cristina it would be hard on him you know? Where is Cristina?"

"So much." Meredith said finally catching her breath. "Come get drinks with me and Callie after work, I'll fill you in on everything."

"Thanks, for not hating me." Izzie smiled as though she was joking but Meredith could tell she wasn't.

Yes, Meredith was angry with Izzie, but she'd have enough to deal with when she talked to Alex and Meredith knew all too well what it was like to have fellow doctors against you. If it wasn't for Izzie and Alex, she wouldn't have her beloved post-it. The post-it that was now in DC along with her husband.

Derek caught a cab in front of the White House. His early meeting with the president was finally over. It was not that he did not enjoy working for the man… He misses the fact that he didn't have Meredith and the children with him. The doctor checked his watch. He could call, it should be lunch time in Seattle. Derek scrolled through his contacts and stopped at Amelia: the little one.

The phone rung a few times before someone picked up.

"Hey Derek. What's up?" answered the disembodied voice.

"Just checking up. Am I bothering you?"

"Not really," she replied.

The elder asked how everyone was since he left and how things were going with Izzie. Their conversation went on for a while.

"Is Dr. Stevens getting along with Owen?"

"Oh, yeah! Owen is fine," she said. "We're doing fine."

"We're?"

"We. As in all of us. I have a thing to do. Bye!" Amelia hung up. "So sorry about that."

Dr. Herman was settled on the plastic chair facing the other woman. She was feeling worse. Perhaps she didn't have as much time as she hoped.

"It's okay, Dr. Shepherd…" she smiled. "So? What do you say?"

After her conversation with Arizona the other night, she felt like she didn't have any friends to talk to. Of course, the doctor could not befriend the blonde when she is so near her time of death. It is cruel to get her emotionally attached. Nicole went through everyone she could think of… and Amelia seemed to be the perfect fit.

"Yeah, I'll talk to Arizona more often. I totally understand her situation."

She sighed in relief. Maybe her protégé will be fine after all...

Arizona received a text earlier about Dr. Herman's case from Amelia. Since her schedule has been a mess that day, Dr. Robbins decided to take a few minutes from her break to go see Amelia.

To her surprise, she finds Nicole.

"Oh. Um. I am interrupting anything?" she asked.

"Nothing at all, Robbins," Dr. Herman gets up. "I ought to go back to work. I'll leave you two… and don't be late for the next consult."

The blonde waited a few. She was sweating profusely.

"What were you two talking about?", questioned Arizona nervously.

"Nothing much. I have to go though… We can talk later!"

Amelia speeded out the door, leaving Arizona who was still freaking out.

"Hey, Alex wait up!" Jackson ran to catch up with Alex as he walked out of an OR. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, what do you want?" Alex sighed, exhausted from standing on his feet for the past 8 hours.

"Um, can I crash at your place for a couple nights? There's just a lot going on with April and the baby and I think it's best if I -"

"Dude, I don't need a back story. You need a place to crash my door's always open. When does your shift end?"

"Now."

"Oh. I got a set of key's hanging in my cubby, just take those, keep the door unlocked. I have another surgery and I'll be home and we can drink some beer or something." Alex said

"Thanks, man." Jackson replied and made his way to the residents lounge.

Alex walked into ready to collapse after a long day at work. He looked in his cubby for his keys, briefly forgetting he had told Jackson to take them and stay however long he needed. Alex knew better than anyone what it was like to have marital problems. At least April didn't leave him and appear almost 6 years later.

"Did you tell Jackson he could stay with us?" Jo appeared in the doorway looking angry.

"Yeah is that a problem? God, I've had a long day I'm not doing this now." Alex huffed and changed out of his scrubs.

"You have to stop doing this Alex. You can't decide who can stay at our house and not consult me."

"It's not your house Jo! You live with me there, yes but I pay the rent, my name is on the lease. Half the time you're not even there anyways so what does it matter to you!" Alex yelled.

"I have a right to who I want to live with Alex!" Jo yelled back.

"If you don't like who you live with then move out!" Alex retorted, silence sweeping the room once he did.

"Fine," Jo said softly, holding back tears and exiting the room as fast as she could.

"Wait." Alex called after her, running to catch up to her but finding himself running into someone who was all too familiar.

"Alex." Izzie spoke sending chills up and down Alex's spine. He couldn't look at her. "Alex, can we talk, please?"

"I don't have anything to say to you." He tried not to sound like she'd broken him.

"Please, Alex I want to talk, I know you're mad and you have every right to be but please, Alex please let me talk, let me apologize." Izzie said, tugging at Alex's shirt as though she was begging him to look up at her.

"Not now, Iz." Alex replied softly, leaving Izzie alone as he went to go search for Jo.

As soon as Alex was around the corner Izzie let tears come pouring from her eyes. She didn't know how bad she had hurt him until it was impossible for him to look at her. She wanted him to yell at her, she wanted him to tell her how angry he was and how upset he was and how she could fix it. She needed to fix it.

Izzie wiped away the last of her tears and tried to make it look like she had enjoyed her first day of work and that it had not ended in tears. It was useless however, her eyes were swollen and bloodshot. She told herself it didn't matter, she was going to a bar to drink, after enough drinks she wouldn't even remember the events of today. As she went to leave the hospital, a short woman cut in front of her and looked at her, unimpressed.

"Isobel Stevens." Bailey said, almost in disgust.

"Dr. Bailey." Izzie replied, eager to leave.

"Nice of you to once again grace us with your presence."

"It was an offer I couldn't refuse." Izzie smiled.

"Well you should have. You broke Karev, you know that? Took him years to get over you then you saunter in here like you never even left. You're doing more harm than good here, Stevens."

"I want to fix it."

"You can't fix everything."

"I just need to talk to him." Izzie confessed.

"Good luck with that. I had to deal with a broken Karev when you left. and that is not a fun thing to do."

"I know I screwed up but I'm trying to fix things, I really am."

"Try harder!" Bailey yelled in a familiar tone and walked away.

"So Cristina really moved to Switzerland?" Izzie was in shock. She really had missed a lot.

"Does she know who gave her the job?" Callie asked Meredith as she took another shot of tequila.

"Who?" Izzie asked, intrigued.

"Burke." Callie and Meredith said in unison.

"Burke moved to Switzerland?"

"None of us knew that to be fair." Meredith replied.

"How are things with McDreamy?" Izzie said, quickly changing the topic to something she'd thought would be happier.

"Wrong person to ask." Callie answered as Meredith took another shot of tequila.

"We're doing the 30 days thing Callie and Arizona did when they were in couples counseling. We started before he went back to DC. If this doesn't work I don't know what we're going to do."

"Sure didn't sound like you were doing the 30 days of no talking or sex." Callie snorted.

"We started the next morning." Meredith lied. Callie eyed her with a smirk. "Fine, we started when he left."

"Wait, you were married?" Izzie asked Callie.

"You know Dr. Robbins she's my, uh, wife? I guess. We're separated, not divorced. At least not yet." Callie sighed, staring glumly at the glass of alcohol.

"Did you see anyone? While you were wherever?" Meredith asked, not remembering where Izzie had left too or if she'd even stayed there.

"A few dates, here and there. Nothing serious. I still felt like I was married it was weird. I thought about coming back, I thought about coming back a lot but I felt I couldn't just come without reason. I moved around a bit, never really felt like I belonged anywhere but Seattle. Derek going to DC was like a gift from God. Oh, sorry Mer -" Izzie bit her tongue.

"It's fine." Meredith's words slurred. "Something would have happened sooner or later."

The rest of the night consisted of shots and stories; Callie and Meredith filled Izzie in on all she had missed, including their children, showing her dozens of photos of the three young kids. Izzie wished she had stayed, she missed such important milestones in her friends lives. Her heart melted at every photo that was put in front of her face.

"You should stay with us so you can meet them!" Callie proposed, eagerly.

"Is there enough room? I have a hotel room -" Izzie began.

"Derek finally built us that house in the woods, there's more than enough room. Trust me." Meredith and Callie laughed knowing Izzie had no idea just how big the house was.

"Uh, sure? Yeah, let's do it! I'd love to meet them." Izzie was surprised at herself for being so excited, and by how sweet Callie had been to her. It's like they were old friends, not a wife to the man she had thought she was in love with.

Alex chilled on the out with Jackson. He did not have any guy friends around. They were watching a random channel on TV. Both were not focused. Karev stared at the blue-green eyed man before returning his attention to his beer.

"What is it?" Jackson said without looking. "I can see you staring."

"Nothing."

"You can't stare at me and tell me you don't have anything to say, dude."

They watched the TV screen in silence until Alex elbowed the young Avery.

"How would you feel if Lexie came back?" he asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"I saw Izzie today."

Jackson has heard many stories about Dr. Stevens. When he met her in his office when she arrived, it was an exciting yet weird feeling.

"It's different," he replied, gaining an eyebrow raise from the other. "Lexie is dead and Izzie isn't."

Suddenly, Jackson's phone rang. Who could be calling this late, he wondered. He picked it up from the coffee table. April's name was flashing.

"Hey April," he said softly.

"Something is wrong," she sobbed. "I think there is something wrong with our baby."

"Do not move. I will be there in a flash."

The plastic surgeon picked up his jacket and ran to his car without any explanation to Alex.

"Ok. Fine, more beer for me."