a/n: Thank you everyone who has reviewed. This part is for you and please keep reviewing.
"Izzie!" Alex screamed inside of himself.
He stared across the room at her body beckoning for it to move, react, show some sing of life but she just lay there. He wanted to run to her, help her, save her but he was frozen.
Later people would tell him he stayed on top of the man until the police arrived so the man couldn't get away. But he stayed there because he literally could not move. He was afraid to go over there, afraid of what he would see. He could see a lot from where he was and that was scary enough. The police arriving snapped him out of it. He ran over to her body and knelt beside her. Thinking like a man in love and not a doctor he pulled her into his arms and held her. He thought she was already gone, there was so much blood, but she was still warm and the wound was still bleeding. He felt blood pooling in his hands and then he heard her breath.
Her breathing was weak but it was there. There was hope. He called out to the paramedics that he needed a hand. They brought him over a gurney and helped him lay Izzie on it. They wheeled the bed across the road to the hospital. Alex held Izzie's hand the whole way. He talked to her, told her to hang on, that help was on its way. Told her she wasn't allowed to die on him. His voice, his touch, something he did stimulated something inside of her. Just as they were entering the hospital she opened her eyes. See looked straight at him, tried to say something but no sound came out.
Inside the ER was crazy. Twenty people had been shot and they were all being brought into Seattle Grace. Later they'd try to move some of the less serious to other hospitals but every single victim was an employee at Seattle Grace and they were all reluctant to leave.
Alex stayed with Izzie in the ER. He did not leave her side as the doctors and nurses ran around them both trying to stabilize her. A 911 page had gone out to every surgical attending, resident, and intern who wasn't already working or at the bar. Ten minutes after the shooting they started arriving at the hospital. Dr. Shepard was sent straight to Izzie's room. By the time he arrived she was somewhat stable. He ordered them to take her up for a CT and clear an OR. Then he told Alex he should probably get someone to check out his shoulder. It was then and only then that Alex even realized he'd been shot.
The rest of the night blurred into a mass of blood, trauma, tests and waiting. There was a lot of waiting. Waiting for doctors, waiting for x-rays, waiting for ORs to empty, waiting for news on Izzie. A doctor Alex didn't recognize stitched up his shoulder. The wound was a very fortunately placed through and through, it missed all the important blood vessels, nerves, and bone. The doctor told him he'd be fine. Alex wondered what definition of fine the doctor was using. He wasn't fine.
He wondered the halls of the hospital, not knowing what to do with himself. He avoided the OR floor, for once he didn't want to see what was going on there.
He found Meredith and George sitting in a room on the fifth floor. George was sitting up in the bed. His right leg was heavily bandaged. Meredith sat in a chair next to him; there was a piece of tape covering her right cheek.
When he came into the room Meredith stood up and hugged him.
"Alex. I'm so glad you're okay." She exclaimed. " What you did, that was amazing."
"Yeah." He pushed her away; he didn't want her touching him. He took a seat in one of the chairs and closed his eyes. It had been four hours since the shooting, 36 hours since he'd last slept. He was drained of all energy. The room was quiet; none of them knew what to say to others.
"Alex?" George was the one to break the silence. "Where's Izzie?"
They didn't know? How could they not know he thought to himself? "She's in OR two with Shepard." He paused "A bullet hit her in the head." There was silence for a few minutes. Then George asked again.
"Is she okay?"
A lump formed in the back of Alex's throat. He told the truth, that's what he did. He couldn't lie but he didn't want to admit the truth to himself.
"Alex?"
He swallowed the lump. "No she's not okay. She has a bullet lodged in her brain. She is bleeding, she's having brain surgery. Shepard has her skull open trying to save her life. She's not okay."
Alex stood up and left the room. He paced the hallways again and ended up on the roof. He sat on the edge and looked out at the city. Beneath him he could see Joe's. There were police cars parked all out the front and a small crowd of people gathering to see what was happening. Beyond Joe's the city looked much like it did every other night. Everyone was going about their business just like nothing had happened. To most of the city nothing had happened.
Alex was still starting out at the city when he heard the door to the roof open. Dr. Shepard waked toward him. His face was void of any expression. Alex couldn't read him. Shepard sat down next to him but didn't look at him.
"I've been looking for you," he said. "About Izzie…"