Chapter Six: Never Forget

"Cristina!" Meredith exclaimed, hugging her old friend happily. "Look at you!" Cristina shrugged happily and hugged her friend back.

"What can I say? Burke really got to me!" Meredith and Cristina chuckled. "You still look the same, gorgeous, and freakishly skinny as always. I could kill you."

"But then who would you gloat about your glorious career to? No one else would put up with you, in case you haven't noticed," Meredith said. "Can you believe that Alex is dead? Just like that. I mean, we're so young. Not as young as we all used to be, but life is so short"-

"Oh, God. Stop your whining. You've got two kids, an amazing husband, your own practice, you're anorexic-thin- you're not dying, and your husband isn't dead. Give it up!" Cristina snapped, massaging her bulging stomach.

"Whoa, Whoa. You okay Cristina?" Burke said softly, coming up behind her, placing his dark leathery hands on her creamy, white soft hands, and easing her into a nearby chair. "You'll have to excuse Cristina here," he said soothingly, while he was shifting her, making sure she was comfortable. "She's been more than a little hormonal lately, mood swings, sudden outbursts, you know. Last trimester, only a month left to go." He chuckled, as Cristina objected, and started to snap at him.

"All in all not too different from the regular Cristina," Meredith laughed, and Burke nodded.

"Just 24/7,"

"Will you two shut up? I'm about to burst a bladder here!" Cristina said, struggling to get up. "Mere, come with me? Then we should try and find Izzy," Meredith helped Cristina out of the easy chair, which was no easy feat- Cristina was HUGE, and that chair was one of those comfy chairs that your butt sinks in to, and the two women headed off to the bathroom.

"George, I missed you. God, what am I going to do?" Izzy said, sitting on the bedroom floor, near the bed she and Alex shared- well, the bed that they used to share. "I mean, when you marry someone, you think it's going to be forever, I got six years! Oh, God, next weekend would have been our seventh year wedding anniversary. We had planned a vacation to Africa, going on a safari before repairing a cleft palate on a little girl. Oh, no. What will happen to her? I have a picture and everything. It was all confirmed! She will be brutally disfigured for the rest of her life!! Why did Alex have to die? Why? Why, God Why?? He was my life. She's going to be disfigured because of him, he died, and he abandoned her! He abandoned me! Oh, oh I can't breathe," Izzy said, gasping for air. "Why, God why?" she asked, looking at the roof, banging her head on the mattress with every word. George rushed to her side, helped her up, and made he lie down in the bed.

"Izzy, oh, Izzy," he said, as he joined her in the bed, holding her hand. They were both on their backs, looking at the roof, and George's arm was around Izzy's shoulders, his hand rubbing her head, and Izzy was in the small space between his arm and his side, her head on his shoulder, tears streaming down her face. "it's going to be fine, you'll make it through this," George said soothingly.

"How, how George? How the hell am I supposed to make it through this? How the hell is it going to be fine? My husband, the love of my life, my world, just died. He's gone! How"- she paused, steadying herself, "am I supposed to go on with my life?"

George paused, unable to think of a good answer. For a while the two of them lay there, and steadily, Izzy's breaths slowed and returned to an almost normal rate, identical to George's. Finally he spoke, softly, barely a whisper. "It's tough, and for a while you won't be able to get out of bed. Just waking up will be painful. You won't be able to make it through ten minutes without thinking of him. But over time, you will be able to go an hour, two, even three before he crosses your mind, and eventually, you will be able to go a day without thinking about him. For a while, just thinking about him will make you cry, then it will knock the breath out of you, and someday, it won't hurt to think about him, but it will make you happy to remember. The pain dulls over time, the memories fade. He'll always be with you, Iz, but the pain won't be a strong."

Izzy nodded, and snuggled in closer to George, who responded by tightening his grip and kissing the top of her fair blonde head. "I'm just," she whispered, barely audible, "afraid that I won't be able to remember,"

"I know," George said softly. "Believe me, I know. But you'll never forget the important memories."

A/N - - I am working on chapter seven tonight!! It should be up very soon.

Don't forget to review. It's pretty short, but there will be Mer/Der content in the next few chapters, I promise!