a/n: Thanks to everyone who gave reviews they are much appriciated and a great motivator for the next part.

Meredith took Alex to a small café a few blocks away. She thought it would be good if he got away from the hospital for a little bit.

As they walked down the street people stopped and stared at them. Alex didn't notice, he was too consumed in his own thoughts but Meredith did. Subconsciously she tried to shield Alex from it, it was him they were looking at.

She made sure the table they sat at was at the back and collected menus for both of them.

Alex stared at the menu in front of him. The food on it sounded so nice but he wasn't hungry.

"Meredith you really don't need to do this. I'm not hungry." He tried to say. He wanted to go back to the hospital. Coming here was a mistake. He needed to be with Izzie. George was in a wheelchair if something happened he wouldn't be able to get help fast enough. "Can we go back?"

"You need to eat Alex. We're not going back until you eat something."

Alex put the menu down and refused to look at it. Meredith ordered them both chicken salads. When they arrived Alex played with his, he wasn't going to eat it at all but when he realized that they weren't leaving until he ate something he slowly began to eat. The food tasted like cardboard. Swallowing was difficult, he just wanted to spit it all out but he couldn't. Something about eating felt wrong. Why should he be able to eat and enjoy food when Izzie was being fed through a tube in her nose.

They didn't talk much at the table. Well Meredith talked but Alex just nodded or grunted. He didn't know how to answer her questions and he didn't feel like talking about how he was feeling.

As they were about to leave a small boy came up to their table. In his hand he held a copy of that morning's paper.

"Excuse me." The boy said to Alex placing the paper on the table. "Will you sign my paper?"

Alex took one look at the paper and the nausea he'd been fighting over came him. He ran to the bathroom and vomited. On the front page of the paper had been a very large photo of Alex below the headline.

"Meet Seattle's Latest Hero."

Meredith glared at the small boy and his mother who was standing a few feet away. She'd been hoping Alex wouldn't see that. She left some money on the table to cover the bill and followed Alex into the men's room.

Alex was bent over a stall vomiting up everything that she'd just made him eat. She waited until he'd finished then walked over and handed him a glass of water.

"Are you ready to go back?" she asked.

Alex nodded and they left the café. Under other circumstances there might have been a joke in Meredith being in the men's room but Alex wasn't in the mood for jokes or smart comments. They walked back in practical silence. Alex was thinking about the paper. The headline, that word 'Hero'. He wasn't a hero. How could he be a hero when he couldn't save the one he loved? Walking back he noticed everyone staring at him. He didn't like it. He'd usually love the attention but not now. All he wanted to do was get back to the hospital and sit with Izzie.

Meredith didn't ask him about the newspaper or why he'd reacted the way he did. For that he was grateful. He didn't want to talk about it. When they reached the hospital Meredith made them stop at the hospital gift shop. She brought him chocolate and told him that he needed to eat it all by tomorrow. It wasn't the healthiest thing to eat but at least it had a lot of sugar.

/\/\/\

Over the next three days a bit of a routine developed. In the evenings Dr. Bailey and Addison would stop by for progress reports. Alex would tell them what he knew and they'd read Izzie's chart. They'd ask how he was doing as well. Alex would usually mumble an inaudible response but neither woman would push for him to clarify what he'd said. They'd just let him know that when he was ready to return to work they'd be waiting for him. Very early in the mornings Christina would stop by read Izzie's chart and leave. Sometimes Alex would be asleep and not even hear her come in. Later in the morning Dr. Shepard would visit. He'd draw blood and take Izzie for a CT or an x-ray. And around lunchtime Meredith would stop by with George. She'd leave him in the room and take Alex out for lunch.

They always went to the same café and sat at the same table. Alex liked the café, the staff there were nice. They left them alone and didn't try to ask them questions. Alex was developing a little bit of a celebrity status around the city and whenever they stopped somewhere on the way to or from the café people would come up and want to talk to them. They'd pat Alex on the back and tell him what a great job he did. They'd assume Meredith was his partner and tell her how lucky she was to have him and how proud she must be. They'd both smile nod and keep moving as fast as possible.

Meredith could tell Alex wasn't comfortable with the attention. A few times she found herself grabbing hold of his arm to prevent him from lashing out at people. Once at the café she asked him about it but he brushed it and Meredith didn't try to peruse the topic.

If the circumstances had been different Alex may have enjoyed the attention and being called the hero but as things stood he hated it. It was a slow news week in Seattle so the shooting was still front page news. They ran story after story about Alex, the shooter, and even Izzie who had the unfortunate title of the only seriously injured person. None of the articles made the connection between Alex and Izzie, the only people the reporters were able to get statements from were people who'd been out of both their lives for several years.

As the days went by Alex found leaving easier. His mind was still wrecked with guilt but not so much worry. The tests showed Izzie's condition was slowly improving. Occasionally she'd open her eyes and stare at him while he talked. And a few times Alex swore she squeezed his hand. Shepard told him it was just a reflex but it still gave him hope.

/\/\/\

Four days after the accident Alex smiled for the first time. He was walking back from lunch with Meredith and she was telling him this joke she'd heard about a monkey and a banana. The joke was really really lame but for some reason Alex found it hilarious. Maybe the physical and mental exhaustion that he was feeling had made him snap into a fit of delirium.

"Mer, tell that to Izzie when we get back. Maybe we can laugh her out of this coma." He said still chuckling to himself.

"Laugh her out of it. I like the sound of that." Meredith smiled. She was glad Alex was a little more upbeat. His depressive state was starting to worry her.

They walked down the corridor through the ICU to Izzie's room still smiling at each other. "Do you think it will work? Do you reckon we can laugh her out of it?"

"It's worth a shot." They both laughed again, knowing full well that laughing someone out of a coma was medically improbable.

They were still laughing when they reached Izzie's room. They were both playing images through their head of Izzie waking up and telling them to quit laughing because "that joke so wasn't funny".

When they opened the door to Izzie's room though the laughing stopped. George was sitting alone in the room, tears were streaming down his face. Meredith ran forward and knelt down beside him.

"What happened George? Where's Izzie?" she kept repeating over and over.

Alex just stood in the doorway frozen.