-1Author's Note: I don't like writing these but I had an anonymous review, so I am going to answer their question here. This story is a two part story. Life's Choice's is from Izzie and Alex's perspectives with some Addison and Mark thrown in. Life's Truth is going to be Addison and Mark's perspective's with some Alex and Izzie thrown in. It is almost impossible to understand one story without reading the other. And please, don't dislike Addison in this story. She hasn't done anything to earn that dislike. If you stop to realize what she is going through you might understand her a bit better.

Chapter Eight

Questions

An old friend from Seattle Grace.

That is what he has remained. It isn't how Alex wants things to be, but right now there really isn't much choice. Izzie wanted Lexie to get to know him. Then, once they were comfortable around each other, had developed a relationship, so to speak, they would tell her, together.

The relationship was coming, slowly. He has been to every soccer practice, a rather painful piano recital, and some welcome back to school social. The first few soccer practices, Lexie looked at him oddly. He later overheard her asking Izzie why he was there. Izzie had smoothed it over saying they were old friends, he was there to keep her company while Lexie practiced. Gradually, she just accepted that "the old friend" was going to be there and started talking to him a bit more. It was after her last actual game that she first hugged him. She had scored the winning goal, and he had been proud of her. He had told her as much. She had flung her arms around him, saying he was the best daddy ever, and wasn't his little girl lucky to have him? It had taken him a moment to realize she was talking about Kylie. Kylie was Izzie's other excuse for him being around. He missed his daughter, she had told Lexie, and hanging around them made him miss her less. After that, most of their conversations had been about Kylie, Lexie asking him what sort of things he did with his daughter.

"You like my mom, don't you?"

Alex blinks, looking down at the face he has come to love. A cross between him and Izzie. All their best features rolled into one. She'll be a heartbreaker when she gets older, he thinks. "Yes. I do. I like your mom very much."

Lexie nods, her honey colored hair bouncing around her shoulders. Her hazel eyes narrow slightly. "I think she likes you, too." One slender index finger reaches up to twist a curl. She seems to be thinking on that. Alex liking Izzie. Izzie liking Alex. "I like you. You're nice. And, if I didn't have a dad, I think you would make a good one."

His heart skips a beat. He wants to tell her. To just wrap his arms around her and tell her that he is her father. He couldn't though. Whether he likes it or not, Izzie is right. They have to go about this cautiously, otherwise she would end up resenting them both. "Thank you. That means a lot. More than you know," he says huskily. His hands itch to hold her. He has missed so much. Izzie had given him the box from under the bed. It had been full of hand-made father's day cards. Little crafty "gifts" and crayon drawings. As much as all those had meant, it had been the letter from Izzie that had torn his heart in two. She had poured all the love a mother has for a child into those pages. His gut had twisted with anger when he had seen Addison's familiar script on the back. "You are a part of Alex's past he doesn't care to remember. At least respect him enough to stay out of his life. You are not welcome." Hateful lies. Born out of Addison's jealousy.

"She loves my dad, though. And, one day, he's going to come back." Lexie says it so matter of factly. He isn't sure if it is little girl wishes or something she knows to be a fact. Although, he can't see Izzie confessing to a child that she is still madly in with the man who had left her to marry another woman who was also pregnant with his child. Most likely Izzie had told Lexie that she would always love her father, a mother soothing a child with questions. "She didn't tell me that," Lexie continues "I heard her and Aunt Meredith talking once. 'Bout how she loved my dad, but it was too late, cause he was already gone. I'm not sure where he went, but my mom knows. She sends him things for me. And I know one day he's gonna come back. That's why I try to be really good. So he'll come back. That's why Megan's dad left, you know? Cause she wasn't good. Her mom tells her that isn't true, but Megan says she knows better."

He can't move, talk, breath, nothing. His heart broke. For Lexie, who thought if she was good enough he would come back. For sweet little Megan across the street, who thought her father had left because of her. For Izzie, who had raised the amazing little girl sitting on the swing next to him. "Megan's dad didn't leave because she wasn't good. Sometimes, mommy's and daddy's just can't get along. It has nothing to do with the child." For the first time, he wonders if that is what Kylie thinks, that she is the reason him and Addison had divorced. God, he hopes not.

"Is that why my dad left? Him and mommy couldn't get along? Cause, mommy loved him. I heard her tell Aunt Meredith that." Lexie's lower lip trembled a bit. There is the threat of tears in eyes that are mirror images of his own.

"I...your dad loved your mom. Very much. He didn't know that she loved him, though." It was a fine line he was walking. One that would bring Izzie's wrath upon him, no doubt. He just couldn't say nothing though.

"You know my dad?" Her face brightens. So eager to know her father. He wonders if Izzie has any clue how much Lexie has missed having him. Something told him she did.

"Uh. Yeah. I know your dad. Really well." I am your dad, he wants to say. He can't though. Izzie and him have a deal. A deal that he is really starting to question. Lexie is his child, too. He should have some say in how this all played out. Except, he doesn't know her, and Izzie does.

"Does he love me?" It is asked softly, with eyes pleading for an answer. A slight movement behind her draws his attention. Izzie. She looks beautiful, even in a pair of faded and ripped denim jeans that cling to her every curve and a long sleeved t-shirt with Lexie's soccer team emblazed across the front.

"Yeah. Your dad loves you," he answers, almost as softly. The words are for Lexie, but his eyes are on Izzie.