A/N: Again with the reviews, you guys are way too amazing! If someone told me when I started writing this story that by the ninth chapter, I'd have over eighty reviews, I would NOT believe it. I know you guys wanted to see more A/I, and there's only a little, but you'll see more in the next chapter (:
Remember when I make promises to fix things (coughcough-G/I-coughcough), I always follow through ;)

Warning: This chapter discusses abortion. I know this is a touchy subject, so I was debating whether or not to include it at all. But this is actually based on an actual patient encounter my cousin had to deal with last weekend, so this is about as realistic as it gets. I thought I would include a warning as well, just in case.

The sound of her obnoxiously loud ringtone woke her at around 1:30 A.M. She ceased to remember when she had put her phone on anything louder than vibrate, and made a mental note that she clearly needed to get a new ringtone. The phone displayed the number as "Out of Area", and just by that, Izzie had a strong feeling that she knew who it was.

"Hello?" she said, groggily.

"Cricket! Oh, it's so nice to finally hear from you! Where have you been hiding?"

She rubbed her eyes in defeat, and all forms of sleep started to escape her. "Do you know what time it is?"

"What, you can't make any more time for your mother? I haven't spoken to you in ages, Isobel."

"I know" she said, and yawned. "I'm sorry, mom. It's been a little crazy around here."

"I can understand that – things have been crazy around here too. You know Gloria, who lives right down Wilson, near the water? Well, apparently a rumor is going around that someone snuck into her trailer last night, and almost took every last thing she owned! With her sleeping in the bed right there – imagine that! Now, if there's one thing I know, that woman can sleep through anything. I swear, I've never heard of anything–"

"Yeah mom…that's really, really interesting" Izzie replied, cutting her off in the middle of her story. She was afraid that if she never spoke up, her mom wouldn't ever stop talking. "But do you think we can maybe do this tomorrow or something?"

"It's always 'tomorrow' or 'later'. I won't keep you from your busy life very long, I just wanted to talk."

A wave of guilt washed over her. "It's fine, mom."

"So what have you been up to, Cricket? How's everything?" she said. "Any new boyfriends?"

She shook her head and slightly smiled at her mother's predictability. "No, no new boyfriends."

"Well, why not? You're young; you need to have some fun!"

"I just…I don't think I should have a boyfriend right now. Work is really competitive. I don't have time" she said, hoping to close any further conversation on the topic.

"That's all?" she asked. "Oh, sweetie, your job is always busy. Before you know it, you'll be left behind in the dust."

"I just can't, right now. I don't have the time, or the energy, to find a boyfriend."

She heard a small sigh from the other end of the phone. "It's always a different excuse; 'I'm too tired' or 'I don't have enough time'. I've heard it all before."

"Mom, it's not an excuse!" she snapped. "Please, let it go."

"What's the matter, Cricket?" she asked. "You seem angry, and you aren't the type to be angry. Not with me, anyway."

"I'm just stressed out, with everything that's been going on lately" she replied.

"Well, just talk. Explain yourself."

She contemplated the idea of telling her. Her mother would understand, right? Izzie was a grown woman. She should be able to make her own choices by now. She toyed with the thought of it before giving in. "I-I think…" she stammered. "Mom, I think I'm pregnant."

There was silence from the other end of the phone, and Izzie wondered if they'd been disconnected. "Isobel Katherine…" she could hear the disappointment in her mother's voice. "You're pregnant?"

She bit her lip. "I know what you're thinking, but I swear, this baby won't be like Hannah. I'm a lot older now; I'm a lot more responsible…"

Before she could finish her sentence, she heard a small, almost inaudible 'click', and silence, from the other end of the phone line.

Meredith slipped into her bright blue scrubs, and she neatly folded the clothes she'd been wearing and placed them in a stack in her locker.

"All I'm saying is, he can't ask me out on a date, show up drunk, and then be all McCharming the next day, like nothing even happened" Cristina said, as she re-capped the events from the previous night.

"You're right" Meredith replied, although half of her mind was somewhere else entirely. She noticed someone walking towards them from the corner of her eye. As the figure came closer, she realized that it was George.

"Hey, do you know where Shepherd is?" George asked.

Meredith shook her head. "I don't know – he mentioned something about checking up on a patient this morning."

Izzie walked in next, and Meredith noticed a lack of cheerfulness that usually surrounded her. She watched her walk past them to get to her locker, and make eye contact with George; who blatantly ignored her presence. She saw Izzie's expression drop even further down, as George continued to solely talk to Meredith.

"I have this case – well, this woman. She came into the ER this morning after she passed out on her way to work. I think it might be something else" he continued. "Can you let him know that I'm looking for him?"

Meredith nodded, and George wordlessly walked out of the locker room. She turned her attention to the blonde standing next to her. "You look terrible" she told her, brutal honesty lacing her words.

"Thanks" she muttered.

The clinic was almost empty, and the sunset was visible through the broad windows. A few patients were still seated, but none of them looked urgent. With every patient Izzie called, she knew that it would mean one less patient until she could go home. Every time the door of the clinic opened, her heart froze at the thought of another runny nose or stomach ache, but she was relieved every time to see another doctor, or the janitor. She was the only one working the clinic after some of the interns had left, and she had been anxiously looking at her watch, wondering when her shift would be over.

She pulled the first folder from the stack of a few files, and was relieved at how little was left. "Katie Andrews?" she called out.

A young girl, about fifteen or sixteen, stood up. With a white headphone in one ear, and music loud enough that Izzie could hear, she followed her to one of the patient beds. Izzie closed the curtain behind them. She noted the girls' general lack of acknowledgement, and lack of interest, and part of Izzie wondered if this was wasting her time.

"How can I help you?" she asked, putting on her best fake smile.

The girl sighed. "I think I need an abortion or something" she began. "Me and my boyfriend were, like, fooling around. We got a little carried away. I took a pregnancy test and everything. I just need to get rid of it. Like, today. My parents are gonna get freak if I'm home late."

Izzie stood, a bit taken aback by the girls' request. "To schedule an abortion…I would need paperwork, blood samples, an actual ultrasound…these things, they would take a few weeks, at least" she added, while shaking her head. "An abortion is an invasive procedure. There are several risks."

"Blood work doesn't take too long, right? It's just, like, a needle, and you fill the tube with blood. That can't take long. I'll fill out all the forms and everything, too."

"It's a little bit more complicated than that" she replied. "Katie, maybe you should talk to someone. Have you told your boyfriend?"

"No. And I'm not going to. That's why I need to get rid of it."

"I'm sorry" she said. "If this is something you're really set on, then you can schedule another appointment. There are always other options; adoption, or maybe keeping it. But if I were you, I would look more into it before deciding."

"What's the big deal? People bend the rules all the time! This isn't about a flu shot or some stupid x-ray; this is about me being a mom. This is about me carrying around a freakin' baby. Why can't you get over yourself and help me?"

She heard the shuffling of papers through the other side of curtain, and her voice unintentionally became louder. "I'm trying to help you. But you have to realize that I can't do this in a day. There are protocols I have to follow, or I can get in a lot of trouble."

"You're telling me you can't make an exception? Don't give me that bullshit; don't tell me you've never made an exception before! The only difference is that you look at me and think that I'm some white-trash girl who got knocked up before she graduated high school. You don't give a crap what this can do to my future!" The young girl pulled the curtain across, and walked swiftly out of the clinic. Izzie's stomach sank as she saw that Dr. Bailey, who was standing near the nurses' desk, had witnessed the entire thing.

She was pulled outside, as she had expected, and Dr. Bailey stood in front of her. Izzie suspected a speech coming on.

"Stevens, I'd like for you to explain to me what just happened between you and that patient."

Izzie paused, trying to think out her words beforehand. "Katie came into the clinic, because she claimed that she was pregnant. She wanted me to do an abortion right then and there, even though-"

Dr. Bailey cut her off. "Have we not learned that teenage pregnancies in clinic patients are sensitive cases, which need to be handled with more attention than regular clinic patients? Have we not seen the statistics of 'at-home' abortions, and the risks and complications that they lead to? Have we not learned that these complications can be fatal?" she sighed. "Continue."

"I kindly explained to her that this process takes a lot longer than just a day. She started telling me that people bend the rules, and that I should make an exception."

"Did you bother to ask how long she'd been pregnant for? If she had used protection? If she had thought out her options?"

"I told her about her options…"

"How old was your patient?"

"Fifteen."

"I don't know about you, but I don't know any fifteen year olds who can make a rational decision, especially about something like this. The girl was scared, Stevens. She hadn't thought it through, and her plan was backfiring on her" she told her. "I expected you to handle this with care."

"She's acting like her baby is something she could throw in the garbage, Dr. Bailey!" Her voice contained heat, and part of her was talking from past experience. "She has to realize that this is a big deal – mistake or not, she can't just 'get rid of it'! It's her responsibility now; she has to own up to it."

Dr. Bailey's eyebrows narrowed, and her tone turned stern. "Whatever emotional attachment you have to this case, it ends now" she said. "Again and again, you still haven't learned to keep your emotions separate from your work. You've seen what it could lead it, but you haven't learned your lesson. You may be a resident, you may be an attending, but unfortunately, you haven't acquired something you should have learned your intern year – you haven't learned distance." She held out one hand. "From now on, I will be over-seeing every patient; I will be maintaining this clinic until you can learn from your mistakes."

"But it was one-!"

"Don't argue with me, Stevens. Keys" she repeated, and Izzie reluctantly fished the spare keys out of her pocket, and dropped it into Dr. Bailey's hand.

"Good work today, Karev" Mark Sloan said, as he scrubbed out simultaneously. "Didn't know you had it in you."

"Thank you" he said. "I've always had my eye on plastics, but I still haven't picked a specialty yet."

"Didn't I hear you were pursuing Ped's, or Gynie a few years back? You can't cheat on plastics."

Alex laughed a little. "I wanted to try out different things. Expand my horizons, you know?" he added.

"Plastics isn't the one you cheat on. Plastics is the one you have an affair with" he said. "You don't go into plastics unless it's the only specialty you can think about."

He left and Alex took a quick look at the clock on the wall behind him. It was past two in the morning, and he wondered how time had gone by so quickly. The last time he checked, he was rolling in the patient into the operating room at six o'clock. It seemed that everything disappeared under the bright lights of surgery.

His drive home was surprisingly calm, and it was the first drive home he'd felt at ease. With barely anyone else on the road, he got home faster than usual, and he hadn't had anything to fill up his mind with useless thoughts. He was finally at a point in his life where everything had seemed to be falling into place. Everything seemed right. Even though his life was a circus act most of the day, he oddly felt that this was the way it was supposed to be.

Walking into a dark house, he was careful to make his movements quiet and careful. He pondered if anyone was still awake, but shook it off when he headed upstairs towards the mostly dark hallway. He saw a faint light coming from Izzie's room, and as he walked closer, he saw that she was sitting on her bed, with what looked like a medical book sitting on her lap.

"Alex?"

He stood in the doorway to her room. "Hey. You're still up" he said.

She nodded. "Yeah, I couldn't really get to sleep. How was your surgery?"

Walking in, he took off his jacket before sitting on the edge of her bed. "It was good; Sloan said it went well. There was something about post-op infection but I think the patient's gonna be fine" he replied. "How was your day?"

Her face kept still, and Alex sensed there was something wrong, something off about her. "It was…terrible" she said, honestly. In a matter of a couple seconds, Alex noticed the few tears that rolled down her cheeks, as they turned into sobs, which turned into louder sobs. "Just…George ignoring me…and my mom hanging up on me…and Bailey taking back her clinic…I can't do a freaking abortion in an hour!...All because of stupid Katie Andrews…"

He didn't know how to react; it was the one of the few times he'd seen her break down like this. He could barely make out what she was saying, not that he could understand what it meant anyway. She covered her face with her hands, as her loud cries kept constant. He moved towards her, unsure of what to do, except put his arms around her. "It's okay, Iz" he whispered.

When she felt him move up to her, she rested her head on his shoulder, leaving small tear stains on his t-shirt. "I can't do all this…I can't – I…I'm supposed to be having a freaking baby!" she spoke through sobs. He didn't say much, but he hoped that simply being there would make her feel better. He placed a soft kiss on her cheek, and her cries began to calm down.

"Alex" she said; her voice a bit more steady now, but still clearly upset. "I need…I, I can't…" she said, before another wave of sobs hit her. "I need you to stay here tonight…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

With no intention of anything more than them staying friends, he cut her off. "Don't be stupid. Of course I'll stay."

As she began to quiet down, he couldn't help but to think back to the first night it had all happened; the way she held him while he cried. With every tear that rolled down her cheek, he wanted more than anything for her to be happy again. He knew it had taken a lot for her to get down to the level that she was, and he kept his hold around her as he thought about the events that had taken place three months before, that had led them to end up where they were now.

His pager directed him towards the conference room on the third floor. As he opened the door, a few people were seated and an unfamiliar woman stood at the head of the table.

"Dr. Karev…" the woman spoke firmly, yet respectfully. "Take a seat."

He looked around the room; Chief Webber and Dr. Hahn were sitting at one side of the table. Next to them was the scrub nurse that had operated on Mr. Michaels' valve repair. On the opposite side of the table was a man that he'd recognized from Human Resources.

He took a seat next to Dr. Hahn. "What is this?"

"My name is Mary Callahan, and I've asked Mr. Wes from Human Resources to join us. I am the Seattle Grace Hospital attorney, and we've all been called here in response to a lawsuit that was filed yesterday."

He raised both his eyebrows. "A lawsuit?"

"According to my records" she pulled out a packet that seemed to be a few pages long. "Yesterday, Mrs. Christine Michaels filed a lawsuit against Seattle Grace Hospital; in particular, against Dr. Erica Hahn and Dr. Alexander Karev. She is claiming malpractice, and had her lawyer come by today" she finished. "We will be investigating this case before, if needed, taking it to court. But the two of you should be aware that she is pressing charges, which may impact a lot" she said. "All I'm saying is…you should prepare yourselves."