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Alex sat alone in Izzie's bedroom, her real bedroom. It had been weeks since he'd been last been there. Even before the shooting they'd been spending most of their time at his place. Beside him sat a box filled with Izzie's possessions. He'd been searching through her room for the last hour trying to find things that might help her remember who she was. He'd found a lot of little things, ticket stubs from hockey games they'd been to, little notes he'd left stuck to her locker, he couldn't believe she'd kept them. There were other things too, the ear rings he'd given her because he could, the shirt he always wore when he stayed there, her mothers cupcake recipe, and photos. There were so many photos. He remembered when most of them were taken. Izzie loved to have her photo taken, probably a side effect of her modeling days. There had been so many times he'd cringed as Izzie walked up to complete strangers and asked them to take their photo. He didn't like his photo being taken.

"Why do we need our photo taken?" he'd always said. "We'll remember the moment."

For the first time he was glad Izzie liked her photo taken so much. There were defiantly things here that would help, that he hoped would help. There were so many memories, so many moments that he wanted her to remember, wanted her to feel. But he didn't know where to start, how to go about it, how many details to include. Did he need to tell her that once he wall papered the hospital with pictures of her in her underwear? Did she need to know that once he cheated on her? That she walked in on him with another woman. That he hurt her so bad that it drove her into the arms of another man, a man who was dieing. Did she need to know these things or could he pretend they never happened? Should he start when they first met or when they became happy? He didn't know and it was driving him crazy.

He was leaning towards starting when they were happy. Things were easier to explain from there, they made sense. But did they really make sense without the history, without the context. That afternoon he'd tried to explain things to her. She'd asked him to help her remember and he'd tried to but after ten minutes they were going no where. Izzie was getting confused and frustrated. Not only could she not remember her past but she couldn't remember the things Alex had told her two minutes earlier.

Nothing would stay in her head and the more Alex tried to explain the more and more frustrated at herself she became. Tears began streaming down her face and all Alex could do was hold her. He wrapped his arms around her and let her tears soak into his shirt. This was the first time since the shooting that he'd really held her. He was afraid that if he held her too tight he might hurt her but he wanted to hold her so tight that her pain would become his.

In the end they stopped trying to remember things. He pulled out the book and they read all afternoon instead. They stopped only once when Dr. Shepard came in, to introduce the rehabilitation team to them. Provided nothing happened over night, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy sessions were going to begin the next day. There was no mention of memory recovery, Shepard seemed to think that it was best to just let things be and focus on the physical aspect of the recovery. He said they shouldn't try to force it, that it would come if you gave it time.

Alex didn't want to sit idly by and just wait for her memory to return, and neither did Izzie. He hated her not knowing but she hated it even more. Together they'd decided to run their own recovery sessions. Tomorrow morning after her physical therapy session they were going to try remembering again. Alex had till then to work out what he wanted to say and how on earth to say it.

He placed the lid on the box and went down stairs. Meredith and George were sitting in the kitchen eating grilled cheese sandwiches.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Meredith asked as he came to stand in the doorway.

"Yeah I found some stuff."

"Do you think it will help?"

"I hope so." He walked into the room and sat down at the table with them. "I want her to know who we are, who she is so bad, but it's so hard to work out where to start."

George swallowed his grilled cheese and placed the rest on his plate. "She really doesn't remember any of us?" he asked.

"Not a single thing, not today anyways. Shepard says that her memories might return but we just have to wait and see."

"How's she handling it?"

"As good as can be expected. She doesn't understand what is going on. She gets confused, frustrated and cries a lot." Alex paused and they all sat there in silence. It had been nearly two weeks since it had happened, the shock of it all was beginning to wear off. For Meredith and George things were starting to return to normal. They were both back at work and trying to move forward. Alex was still stuck in limbo, he couldn't move forward without Izzie; he didn't want to move forward without her. "I wish I could make everything better." He continued. "It tears me apart to see her so sick, so helpless."

"I know." Meredith placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're doing everything you can. You've been there for her everyday, and you're going to keep doing that. This is Izzie we're talking about, just give her time. She'll get through this."

Alex nodded in response to everything Meredith said but he had doubts about almost all of it. Izzie was strong but as a doctor he'd seen even the strongest people fail. As a doctor he'd also seen the closet of relationships crumble at the seams, a little voice inside of him was afraid he'd crumble too.

"If you need anything Alex," Meredith continued. "George and I and everyone else is here for you. If you need a break, someone to talk to or another familiar face, just let us know and we'll be there."

"Thanks," Alex said pushing his chair back and standing up. "I should probably get going. Tomorrow is going to be a big day." He began walking out the room and Meredith got up and followed him.

At the door she stopped him. "Alex," she said. "I meant what I said. We're all here if you need anything. You're not the only one who's taken this hard. Izzie is our friend too."

"I know." Alex understood what Meredith was saying. They were all there and they all wanted to help but they couldn't possibly know how he was feeling. They didn't love Izzie like he did. But they did want to help and he really did need help. "How about you come around tomorrow during your lunch break more familiar faces might be helpful."