Chapter Twenty-Five: Life Is Beautiful

Yeah, life is beautiful
Our hearts, they beat and break
When you run away from harm,
Will you run back into my arms
Like you did when you were young?
Will you come back to me?
I will hold you tightly
When the hurting kicks in
Life is beautiful, but it's complicated
And we barely make it
We don't need to understand
There are miracles
Miracles

Vega 4

…

"Hey. Happy Valentine's Day," Meredith smiled upon discovering Alex already sitting on a gurney in their abandoned hallway. As she sat down next to him, she reached into his bag of potato chips and took a handful.

"You, too. Any big plans tonight?"

She just shrugged and answered, "My dad and stepmom are taking the kids for the night, but Derek and I are just going to stay home, I think." After a brief pause, she added mischievously, "Derek and I will have our own little party."

"Nice," he laughed, patting her on the shoulder.

"Burke and Cristina are going to the restaurant where they had their first official date… and George actually asked Olivia out. Can you believe it?" she remarked, still as much in astonishment as when Elena had reported it to her a few days before after she overheard them speaking at school. "What about you? Do you and Izzie have anything planned?"

"I wanted to do something special because Iz just seems so upset lately. I don't know what's wrong," he began and decided to confide in Meredith; maybe she would have some answers for him. "The other day, I found her sitting on the bed, holding her favorite black dress and just… sobbing. When I asked her what was wrong, she started going on about how she wasn't attractive anymore." With a look of pure sincerity, he said, "I think she's hot with no makeup, wearing one of my old t-shirts and sweatpants. Why would she think that?"

As her pager went off, she assured him, "Don't worry. It's nothing. Well, it's something, but… you'll see."

"What do you know that I don't, Grey?" he called out after her, but she was already halfway up the stairs.

"Someone paged 911?" she questioned a nurse when she finally arrived in the ER.

"That would be me," someone answered from behind, and she grinned as she heard Derek's voice.

"Why am I not surprised?" she giggled, completely forgetting that anyone aside from them happened to be in the room. "Did you want something?"

Leaning closer and whispering so that only she could hear, he answered, "To go find an empty exam room," to which she responded by slapping him playfully on the arm and turning bright red, looking around to see if anyone had heard him. "Seriously, though, let's get out of here for a minute."

"Okay," she agreed and followed him out of the ER and into an empty elevator. "This brings back a lot of memories," she smiled, recalling the numerous times throughout the years that they'd used the elevators as their own private momentary escape.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he wondered with a mischievous grin.

"Derek, don't," she laughed as her husband proceeded to stop the elevator and, for a little while at least, stopping everything else except for themselves.

…

"Hey, are you okay? Do you need a wheelchair or something?" Alex questioned as he met Izzie once she arrived at Seattle Grace. She had just called him, complaining of a pain in her stomach, and wanted him to do an ultrasound to make sure it wasn't anything serious. Or so she had told him.

"No, I can walk. The pain is intermittent, and I don't feel anything right now," she smiled reassuringly and followed him into an exam room.

"Both the girls are feeling okay, right? Neither of them is sick?"

She shook her head. "Just me."

"All right," he nodded, setting everything up for the ultrasound. "Aside from the stomach thing, are you feeling okay? You know I think you're beautiful, right?"

Izzie put her hand up to his cheek and he leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips. "I know you do."

"Let's see what's in there giving you all this trouble, then," he smiled and started the ultrasound.

However, instead of watching the screen, Izzie was instead watching her husband's face attentively; she wanted to see the exact moment when he realized that he was going to be a father once again. He had always wanted a big family because he didn't really have one growing up, and Izzie knew how much it meant to him.

"I don't see anything right here, but I—" he started, then paused abruptly as he stared disbelievingly at the screen. "Uh, Izzie…"

"Do you want a boy or a girl?" she asked with a grin.

"You know already? How long have you known?" he wondered, smiling, finding it difficult to tear his eyes from the monitor. "The baby looks about six weeks along."

"I've known for about a month. I wanted to find a good way to tell you because I know how much you want another baby, and Addison suggested this. Happy Valentine's Day."

Alex quickly wiped the gel from her stomach and immediately placed his hand there. "Hey, there little guy. Or girl," he whispered softly and excitedly. "Only about eight more months until we officially get to meet." To Izzie, he wondered, "Do you want to find out what we're having?"

"We didn't for the girls, so I think we should this time. Would you be upset if it was another girl? I know how much you'd love to have a son," she wondered, sitting upright on the table.

He sighed and took a seat next to her. "Iz, this kid is half you and half me. He or she is a life that we made together. I don't care what we have as long as it's a healthy baby. I love this baby no matter what."

…

As quietly as she could, Elena crept downstairs late that evening. She couldn't bear another minute of staring blankly at the ceiling, so she decided to sneak off to the kitchen to have a bit more of the macaroni and cheese that Mark had made for dinner. However, the glow of the television from the living room captured her attention, assuring her that she wasn't the only one who couldn't seem to fall asleep.

"What're you doing up so late?" Mark wondered, noticing that it was nearly eleven o'clock. "Is your mom all right?"

"She's okay. I can't sleep, though," she sighed, taking a seat beside him on the sofa.

"Yeah, me neither."

"What's on your mind?" she wondered.

"You first."

Elena shrugged. "It's nothing in particular… just a lot of little things, you know? It's not all bad things, though. Izzie and Alex are going to have another baby, so that's really exciting. Meredith said Alex was showing the ultrasound to everyone in the hospital. Izzie just told him today."

"That sounds like a great Valentine's Day surprise," Mark commented, feeling like he was having a conversation with an old friend instead of the love of his life's six-year-old. But then again, he and Elena had gotten to know one another well over the past few weeks, and it was almost like he'd been with them all along.

"And… I also can't stop thinking about Mommy starting with chemo and all that cancer stuff again. She's only just starting to feel better from the surgery, and it's to feel sick all over again," she finally admitted—a confession that she wouldn't have dared to make to anyone else.

Mark put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "I know it's scary, but all this stuff is to try and get her well again. I don't like seeing her sick or hurting either, Peanut, but it's always hard before it gets easier. After a storm, what do you get?"

"A rainbow?" she guessed.

"Exactly," he nodded. "So try not to worry just yet, okay?"

"I can't help it; I love her too much not to worry."

Mark sighed. Elena was being honest with him, so he decided that maybe it would be all right to confide in her as well. "Me, too. But the good news is that we can worry together now."

The little girl smiled, finding unexpected comfort in knowing that despite their fear of what the future would hold, at least neither was alone in that fear. "Okay, your turn."

"My turn?"

"I told you why I couldn't sleep. Now you," she commanded and waited intently for him to answer.

With a sigh, Mark reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny black box. He stared at it for a moment before placing it into Elena's hand.

"It's so beautiful!" she gasped quietly, upon discovering the gorgeous diamond ring inside. "It's for Mommy, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Do you think she'd really say yes if I asked?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, she actually let you stay with us, which is a big deal. She never gets close to any men because she's so worried about us getting attached and having him leave." With a smile, she added, "But I guess this means you aren't leaving."

"No, I'm not leaving," he assured her. "I just figured it would be a little bit too cliché to propose on Valentine's Day."

"Well, it all depends on how you do it. Valentine's Day is traditionally the most romantic day of the year, so how you ask is what makes it cliché or not."

After hearing that come out of her mouth, he couldn't do anything but stare at her for a moment. He hadn't spent much time around kids, but he never met any who knew all the things that Elena did. Come to think of it, he wasn't certain that many adults who managed to see the world quite the way that she did. Even Addison had no idea how Elena had come to have that particular sort of old-souled wisdom. "How do you know all this?"

"Do you have any idea how many times I've seen An Affair to Remember and Casablanca and every single Audrey Hepburn movie?" she questioned in a tone that hinted that she could probably quote each movie verbatim. "A few times, Mommy and I stayed up all night and watched all those old romantic movies. "

"Seriously?" he wondered. He'd had no idea that Addison liked that sort of thing.

"Yep. She said she has a thing for all that classic romance stuff." She then handed back the ring and started toward the TV. "Ingrid Bergman or Deborah Kerr?" she asked, holding up two movies.

"Um… Ingrid."

"Okay," she nodded and started the movie. She then left the room briefly, returning to hand Mark a glittery red envelope. "It's really dumb, but our teacher made us do it. Good night," she said hastily, hugging him before hurrying back upstairs.

Upon opening the envelope, Mark discovered a handmade Valentine's Day card, covered in sparkling hearts with a smiling, cherubic cupid in the center. Inside was a note written in Elena's neat, loopy handwriting.

Dear Mark,

Thank you for being here with us. I know that none of this is easy for you, but it means a lot to us that you're here. Especially to me. Just between the two of us, I've noticed how much happier Mommy is now that you're here. I hope that you'll stay around for a while. Or longer, if you want to. Happy Valentine's Day!

Love, Elle