A/N: It took a little while to write this, because once I had finished writing it, I realized that I didn't like it very much, ha! I love the way this one ends though, and I hope you guys will too! I got a bunch of reviews for the last chapter, so thank you all SO much! I really appreciate them all :)

She sat on the bench in the residents' locker room, which was conveniently right next to the bathroom. She stared at the clock, as time seemed to be passing even more slowly. Ten minutes to eleven and she hadn't felt nauseous, or dizzy. She knew that morning sickness wasn't always on-time, but it had been an hour and a half. Maybe not this morning, she thought. She shook it off, and got up to go finish her rounds.

As the weather became colder, so did the atmosphere in the hospital. She and Alex were strangers, to say the least. Alex didn't look at her with intensity anymore; he didn't look at her at all. He treated her like nothing more than a fly on the wall. And she got used to it, even though it pained her to walk past him like nothing had ever happened. They remained civil when they were assigned to work together on a case, and only talked when it was necessary. Alex didn't sit with them at lunch anymore; he was usually nowhere to be found at that time. The empty chair at the table stayed that way; and Meredith and Cristina stopped asking where he was. And as each wordless day went by, Izzie became situated with the idea that that night may have been the last time they were ever going to speak.

"Mr. Michaels, 43, has a slight mitral valve regurge, and is scheduled for an echocardiogram later this afternoon" Alex said, presenting the case.

Dr. Hahn looked over the file. "Well Mr. Michaels, since your regurgitation is so minor, I don't think you'll need surgery just yet, but we'll know more when your test results come in."

Mr. Michaels was a young man, with a wife and two beautiful little children. Alex had been working with that family for a while now, he'd learned a lot about them. He knew that the older girl, Jackie, refused to eat hospital food; but if you took the wrapper off and put it in a plastic bag, she wouldn't know the difference. He knew that every now and then, both girls would ask to hear the story how her parents got married, and each would take turns telling different parts in the story, as if they had been in the story themselves. He almost envied Mr. Michaels, to an extent. He had everything that Alex had wanted for himself; a good job and a loving family.

Everything changed his perspective since the night Izzie told him that she was pregnant. It was all wrong; he had never envisioned himself having a kid before he was married. And he couldn't accept raising a child in a broken family. He'd learned how parents were the biggest influence in a child's life, even when a child was too young to know who its parents were. When Ava had had a hysterical pregnancy, he hated to admit it, but part of him felt relieved, of all things. He had been in love with Ava, but he hadn't loved her. And he knew that being a parent with someone he didn't love wouldn't end well. Whatever happened, he knew that raising a kid like that would be the exact opposite of what he'd been aiming towards for most of his life.

He went to check up on Mr. Michaels, who asked Alex to call him Dave, before he ended his shift. Dave's wife was reading a bed-time story to their two girls, as they were slowly falling asleep. In that room, he should have been focusing on his job, he knew he shouldn't be thinking of toilet-paper-roll Christmas ornaments that he may receive, or messy finger paint drawings that he could hang on his fridge. But thoughts like this began to invade his head, and began to light his perception of that entire situation. Maybe it's a good thing, he thought, maybe it'll work out.

With Izzie, things were different. Izzie was always that person who understood him, or cared enough to understand him. He had loved Izzie, and he had loved her for a while. Feelings that strong don't go away that easily. It broke him to know that Izzie had chosen George over him, especially when he'd told her how he felt about her. It wasn't easy for him, and it took away some of his pride. But Izzie was that girl. The girl he would take home to meet his mom, and the girl that he could imagine living in a house with. He started to realize how his words had an effect on her; because in the end, he knew he was wrong. Izzie hadn't done anything, and he was angry. But it was all different now because she was having a baby, his baby. He could either continue ignoring her, and be that dead-beat dad who doesn't give a crap what happens to his kid, or push past everything, if not for her then for this baby.

As he walked into the residents' locker room the next morning, he found that Izzie had just gotten to work as well. He noticed that she didn't once turn around, even though he was sure that she knew he was there. This was a routine she had probably gotten used to, and he knew he could only blame himself. He was the one who had been ignoring her, and tried to pretend that she didn't exist. Pushing his problems away was a technique that never ended well, but he did it anyways, almost like it was a habit.

He knew what he had to do; he had to make things better between them. She walked out of the locker room, and he followed her.

"Izzie…"

No response. She didn't turn around, she kept walking forward.

"Izzie" he repeated.

She stopped, but didn't bother to turn around. He pulled her into the supply closet that they were standing next to, and closed the door behind him.

She turned to face him, and he looked at her in the eyes. "When I was little, my parents fought. A lot. I would sit in my room and pretend to watch T.V. while I could hear them yelling across the hall. I would take my brother and sister outside to play so they didn't hear the slaps that I would hear every now and then. And when they finally split up, I thought we were free. I thought everything would be okay."

She eyed him, cautiously. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Even though all of that is what got me to where I am today, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. And I promised myself that when I had a kid, I wouldn't ever let him or her go through what I did."

"I know that you don't want to feel like an asshole, but I also know that you're not ready for this. You say things like this to me, and I believe you. And I put it behind myself and think 'wow, maybe he really has changed'. But nothing has changed, Alex. You have the same mentality you did four years ago when I first met you. And if I hadn't told you I was pregnant, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"I'm not ready to be a dad, but how many people are? It's something you learn; nobody is born-ready for it. I know that you think that I'm still the same guy who broke your heart, but I'm also the same guy who took you off Denny's bed when he died. I'm the same guy who waited for hours until your shift ended so we can go home together. I'm still the same guy, I'm still Alex. So maybe if you can see past the crappy things I've done, we can actually do this" he told her.

She shook her head. "You've been walking around this hospital, pretending that I don't exist. You haven't said a word to me in three weeks, and now you're standing here, expecting me to forgive you, and raise a baby with you?"

He had a feeling this wouldn't be easy. "I didn't mean for it to happen this way. But after Ava and what happened to her, and then you telling me that night; it was the wrong way to deal with it. I know that."

"I don't know, Alex. I just don't know how much I can depend on you anymore" she replied.

"Iz, you can say what you want. But if you plan on having this baby, then I swear I'm gonna be around. I know what it's like to grow up without a dad, and I don't plan on having this kid find out."

She didn't say anything, for what seemed like hours, and then spoke quietly. "So…we're having a baby?"

He nodded, and smiled softly. "We're having a baby."

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