It had been three days since Alex had woken up next to Joel after having what she considered to be the most important conversation of her life. Since then they have been taking things slow. Joel had asked her to move in with him saying that she should not have to live in a place that she had bought with Charlie.

"Alex, have you given it some thought?", asked Joel.

"Yes, you know I would like to move in with you. But I am not sure now is the best time. I am not sure if I can handle packing and unpacking and working at the hospital and studying for my boards all at once Joel", said Alex.

"Well, when you're ready just tell me. Anyways you do have the pair of keys to my place right? Feel free to drop by whenever you like."

"Thanks. Oh has Maggie come to see you about that orthopedic consult? About the man with a tumor growing close to his spine?"

"No, I'll go look for her now. And Alex take care and take it easy okay".

With that Joel kissed the Alex's forehead and left in search of Maggie. Not long after he leaves the doctor's lounge, Charlie walks in.

"Hi, Alex, how are you feeling?", asks Charlie.

"I'm fine. I'm glad you're here. I was just about to go look for you.", said Alex while carefully looking at his expressions.

Smiling, totally undisturbed by the slight nervousness on Alex's face Charlie faces her. He pauses for a second, wondering if something is amiss. She looked happy. And she was glowing, the pregnancy suited her. Even if she did not feel it. Just looking at her, he was reminded of all the reasons he fell in love with her. He wanted a life with her. He still does. And despite the whole situation with Joel he desperately hoped the baby was his. It was the life he had always hoped for, to have a woman who he loved be the mother of his baby.

"Okay, what were you going to tell me?", he asked while taking a seat opposite Alex. She gently held his hand in hers and looked into his eyes.

"Charlie, I don't want to hurt you. I never have. But you've been so distant and that has taught me a few things. Charlie, I love you. And you will always remain in my heart because of that but I am not in love with you anymore".

"Wow, okay. That I was not expecting", said Charlie sounding more withdrawn.

"I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I wish I did not have to do this but I don't want to lead you on. I am moving on and so should you. You're a wonderful man Charlie, you deserve better".

"Wait! You're moving on?", asked Charlie looking confused. He then paused looking up from their entwined hands to Alex's steady gaze.

"It's Joel isn't it? The reason you're giving up on us. The reason you no longer feel they way I feel about you", said Charlie slightly more upset than angry.

"You and I both know that is not true. We've been drifting apart. Ever since you woke up from your coma you've been different. I desperately wanted things to remain the way they were so I didn't say or do anything about it. But you have been distant. You're a different person Charlie. You talk to walls. Yell in the morgue, you even missed Luke's speech. You know how much I wanted you to be there and still you stood me up".

"Alex, I was busy and I am sure Luke appreciated his buddy Joel being there more than his judgmental future brother in law, at that point at least".

"No! You've always misunderstood him. Yes he was friends with Joel. That was mostly because Joel and I were together as I went through medical school. He was the first boyfriend I ever introduced Luke to. They got along because wanted to be his friend."

"So this is what that has become of us Alex? We've turned into people who blame each other for all that has gone wrong?" asked Charlie.

"I didn't mean for this to happen. I just want to tell you that you can be who you are. So can I with Joel. It took almost dying to realise that I missed him, I may never forgive him for all he had done in the past but I can move on from it. I know you think I am making a mistake but just for once I want to do what my heart tells me. I want to take this risk. Embrace it, and him. I don't want to look back to this day in the future and think of him as the one who got away and imagine how life would have turned out had I been brave enough to allow him into my heart."

"Alex, you're making a mistake. And you deserve someone better than Joel. But if that is what you want then I will stand by your decision. And if that baby is mine I will be present in its life. Oh and Alex when Joel leaves you broken in pieces I will be there to pick them all up", Charlie said. He then woke up and left the room.

Alex took a deep breathe in. That had not gone as planned. Calming herself down she stood up and went to the ICU. She needed to talk to someone. Melanda could listen to her rant. After all she already knew the mess Alex's love life was. As she made her way to the ICU she was paged to the ER. Thankful for the distraction and sightly disappointed that she would have to wait a little longer to speak to her friend she quickly made her way down to the ER, well as quickly as pregnant woman could close to her due date.

The ER was a insane. So many people were being wheeled in on stretchers. That is when she heard Zach yell over all the commotion for her to come over to the bed where he was standing at. There was a woman on the bed. Blonde, mid thirties, but all those details were irrelevant. She had a large pole sticking out of her midsection. The only way to remove it was to cut of all the excess metal and then get her into an OR, where the chunk of metal will be removed slowly so the full extent of the damage can be seen.

And just her luck, she would be spending the next three hours in an OR with Charlie and Joel.