a/n: Yeah it's been a while since the last update but here it is. The end is near; there are probably two maybe three more parts to go until this story is finished. I hope you enjoy.
Izzie spoke to Ally on the phone every other day for a week organizing the details of this speech. In the end they decided on a Friday six weeks away so Izzie would have enough time to prepare and also so it coincided with the schools end of semester assembly.
Izzie was truly excited when the date was finally set. She'd been afraid they'd want her to do it much sooner and she wouldn't have enough time to prepare, but six weeks she thought was plenty of time. Soon everything she did became about this presentation. She thought about it constantly, during the day when she was home alone. She would come up with new ideas, and new angles to present the same stuff and then in the evenings when Alex was home she'd run her new ideas by him.
He'd sit and listen and offer feedback when he thought it was necessary. He couldn't believe how much this project was changing her. They'd been told so many times that things were as good as they'd get but things just kept getting better. This project gave Izzie confidence and a sense of purpose like nothing he could have imagined. The very thought that her story might make a difference to someone else's life excited her; it scared the shit out of her as well but in a good way.
She practiced and practiced and by the time the day of the presentation arrived Alex knew her presentation as well as she did.
/\/\/\/\
Alex organized to have the whole day off work so he could drive Izzie to the school. The presentation wasn't scheduled until 1pm but they'd decided to drive down in the morning and have lunch somewhere near the town.
Izzie stood in the bedroom getting ready while Alex cooked breakfast in the kitchen. The smell of bacon began wafting into the room. Bacon and eggs had kind of become his specialty; he cooked it at least once a week.
"Are you nearly ready?" he called dishing the food up on two plates.
"Yes." She called back buttoning the blouse she was wearing. She used her hands to smooth the front of it and walked over to the mirror to have another look at herself. She kept second guessing her choice of outfit, she kept thinking she was overdressed and then underdressed. She stood in front of the mirror telling herself that what she was wearing was fine but as she stood there her vision began going strange. Everything became very bright and then she smelt the burning rubber.
"Shit." She thought to herself before yelling "Alex help!" She was able to walk over to the bed and lay down right before everything went black.
Alex arrived in the room just as her body seized and began convulsing. He grabbed his watch and began timing the seizure. Sixty three seconds later her body went limp and two seconds later she started taking big gulps of air.
She lay flat on her back trying to get her breathing right, her head pounded and she felt exhausted. She felt Alex placed his hand on her forehead and she turned to face. "How long?" she asked.
"Just over a minute." he told her, noticing a tear run down the side of her face. "It's okay. We don't have to go to the hospital. I can finish packing and you can sleep it off in the car."
She nodded and closed her eyes again. "Why did this have to happen today of all days," she thought to herself. She hadn't had a seizure in weeks.
Alex walked back to the kitchen and ate breakfast on his own. He placed Izzie in a container and added it to the things which needed to be placed in the car. He packed the car by himself and smiled at the situation he'd just found himself in. He would never admit it to Izzie but he was glad he could pack the car by himself. He had a few things planed which she didn't know about and this made keeping them a surprise so much easier.
/\/\/\/\
Just after 10:30 Alex parked the car and turned off the engine. They'd reached their first destination for the day. He looked over at the passenger seat, Izzie was still sound asleep. He smiled to himself and pulled the leaver to open the boot. He walked around the back of the car and pulled out the picnic basket and blanket he'd packed. He made sure Izzie was still asleep and headed off down the path to check things out.
After walking for five minutes he found the perfect spot for them to eat. The spot was on the banks of the river under an old red gum tree. He lay the rug on the ground and placed the basket down on top of it. He paused to take the setting in for a moment and then headed back up the path to get Izzie.
She was thankfully still asleep when he came back. He opened her door and gently shook her shoulder to wake her.
"Iz," he whispered softly, "we're here."
Slowly she opened her eyes and blinked, taking in the surrounding which were unfamiliar but at the same time oh so familiar. "Where are we?" she asked.
"Somewhere." Alex smiled at her and he took hold of her arm and pulled her out the car. "Come on I'll show you."
Izzie took Alex's arm and walked with him down the path. As she walked she began taking in her surroundings. She recognized where she was. It had been a long time since she'd last been here, it had changed a lot, the trees were bigger, the path better maintained but it was still the same place.
After walking for five minutes the path opened up and Izzie saw the river for the first time. She saw the picnic blanket and the basket. "Alex." She said gripping his arm tighter. "This is beautiful."
"I know." He said with a smile and he walked her over to the blanket. He sat down first and then pulled her down on top of him. They both laughed and he kissed her before opening up the basket. He began pulling out the food he'd packed. He hadn't been sure what they'd feel like eating so he'd packed a little bit of everything. There were breads and cheeses, crackers, chicken, beef, salads, a few muffins, and to drink he'd packed a bottle of Maison. He popped the cork on the bottle first and poured the drink into two plastic Champaign glasses so they could pretend they were drinking Champaign.
Slowly they began making their way through the food. Izzie hadn't eaten breakfast so she was starving. After an hour most of the food was gone. Alex was leaning back against the tree and Izzie was leaning back against him. They were both staring out to the river admiring the view and the tranquility of their surroundings.
"Thank you for bring me here." Izzie said not looking at him.
He leant forward and around and kissed her. "It's a lot prettier than I thought it would be."
"Yeah…" Izzie sighed.
There was a silence between them, for a moment all they could hear were the birds. "I used to come here as a kid." Izzie began. "My dad and I used to go fishing just over there." She pointed to a spot just down the river a bit.
"Really? I didn't know you liked to fish."
"I don't." She paused for a moment before offering a little more explanation. "I used to like it with my dad but he died a long time ago."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Alex offered and she felt him pull his arms around her tighter.
"It's okay." She smiled at him. She was beginning to feel a little embarrassed for bringing it up. "It was a long time ago."
They went back to sitting in silence, enjoying the scenery. "What time is it?" She asked after a while.
"Nearly noon." Alex said looking at his watch. Izzie pushed herself off him and sat up straight.
"Where are my cards?" She said, now facing him. "I need to practice my presentation again."
"They're in the car." Alex said and he stood up. "I'll go get them for you."
Alex set off down the path toward the car. He was going to have a look in the car for the cards but in his mind he knew exactly where the cards where and it wasn't in the car. In his mind he could see the cards sitting right where Izzie had left them the night before. They where sitting on her nightstand next to her bed at home. He'd completely forgotten to pack them. He looked in the car for them anyways. He was using the time to try and work out what on earth he was going to say to her, how on earth he could fix the problem. She was going to freak.
After five minutes of looking he slowly began to make his way back to Izzie. He didn't have her cards but in his hand he had some paper and a pen. He knew her presentation well, he tried to tell himself. If they have to, they can rewrite the cards.
Izzie watched Alex come down the path toward her. She could see in his hand he held something but that something wasn't her cards. "Alex," she said as he sat down next to her. "Where are my cards?"
She watched him lower his head a little and his eyes look at the ground. "I forgot to pack them." He said in a whisper loud enough for her to hear.
"What!" He looked up just in time to see the color begin to drain form her face. "That's not funny Alex. Where are they?"
"I'm sorry Iz. I'm not trying to be funny. I forget to pack them."
He watched her face for ques. She didn't look angry, she looked hurt, lost, almost devastated. "Alex how could you!" She reached out and slapped him on the shoulder.
She felt her world begin to crumble. Over and over in her head she was thinking. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? She wanted to scream at Alex, hit him or something but it wasn't going to help the situation. She began freaking out and did the one thing she always did, the one thing she couldn't seem to control, she began crying.
Alex moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her. Her reflex told her to push him away but she liked him holding her. "What am I going to do?" she asked him, hoping he had an answer.
"We could rewrite the cards." He offered holing up the scraps of paper he'd found in the car.
She looked at the scraps of paper and started crying more. "We can't rewrite the cards. I don't know what the cards said."
Alex let go of her so he could look at her while he talked. "We can rewrite the cards. You practiced your presentation one hundred times. You know what the cards said."
"No I don't. That was the whole point of them. That's why I practiced so much. Alex I can't remember anything."
"You remember this Iz, You know this." He tried to tell her.
"No I don't." She cried as more tears ran down her face. She pulled her knees up to her chest. "I can't remember anything."
"Yes you can." He reached over to her face and lifted her chin so she was looking at him again. "And if you really can't, I can."
"Okay." She whispered, using a hand to wipe the tears from her face. "Start writing."
/\/\/\
Izzie stood backstage in the high school's auditorium. It was just after 1pm and she was due to start any minute now. In her hands she held the scraps of paper Alex had written notes out for her on. She'd managed to stop crying but she was so nervous, her hands couldn't stop shaking.
"I'd like to welcome on to the stage Isobel Stevens." The schools principle announced. There was no round of applause just the squeak of students moving around in their chairs.
She took a deep breath and tried to tell herself she was ready for this. Alex was still standing with her. He reached over and squeezed her hands. "You're ready for this." He told her. "You're going to do great." He gave her a kiss on the cheek and a small push towards the stage. "I'll be at the back watching."
She gave him a weak smile and walked on to the stage.
/\/\/\/\
Izzie took her place behind the podium on the stage. She stared out at the sea of adolescents. Most of them didn't look interested in what she had to say. She saw kids sleeping, and others reading books or magazines, a few girls were braiding each others hair and some even looked like they were doing homework.
She looked down at the papers she held in her hands. Alex had done a very good job at remembering her speech but he hadn't remembered it all. What was written those pieces of paper wasn't her speech, what was written on them wasn't going to get through to these kids. She felt her heart begin to race, she took a deep breath and told herself she could do this. She took another deep breath and told herself she was about to do the right thing. She heard someone in the audience cough and then she walked out from behind the podium. In front of everyone she tore her notes in half and then walked to the back of the stage. She picked up a chair which was sitting there and carried the chair to the front of the stage. She sat down and took one last deep breath. She was calm, she was composed, she was ready she told herself and began talking.