Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy.

It had been two months since Izzie and Alex's date at the Space Needle, and things had been going well between them. Izzie was driving herself crazy at home, though, so she asked the Chief if there was any way she could get her job back. He said that she could no longer be a surgical resident, but Addison Shephard has suggested that she switch her internship to neonatal. She was happy to accept, glad to have a job at the hospital again, where all her friends were.

She passed Meredith on her way out of the hospital.

"Hey Iz, how'd it go with the Chief?" Meredith inquired, worried about her friend's fate as a doctor.

"Well, he says I can't be a surgical intern anymore, but that I can work with Addison in neonatal."

"Oh," Meredith grunted, and obvious look of disgust on her face.

"I'm sorry, Mer. I know she's Satan or whatever, but I really need a job, and I'm interested in her specialty," Izzie replied, hoping her friend would understand.

"No, it's okay, just prepare for it to get ugly. Derek said he was going to tell Addison it's over tonight, so…"

"But that's good, right? Now you can have your McDreamy back?"

"You're forgetting about McVet."

"Oh yeah."

"Yeah."

"What are you going to do?"

"I dunno."

"Okay. Hey, have you seen Alex. He's been kind of distant all weekend, and he won't talk to me about it."

"Well, he called in sick today. Maybe that's it."

"Oh, okay, thanks Mer. Maybe I'll go and check on him. Make sure he stays in bed, make him some chicken soup. Bye Mer." Izzie strode out of the lobby and headed to her car and Alex's apartment.

Five minutes later she was knocking on his door. He wasn't answering, and she was about to leave, figuring he was sleeping and she shouldn't wake him up, when the door swung open, revealing a scantily clad 20-something in the doorway.

"Um, is Alex here?" Izzie asked, a slight edge in her voice. She didn't like the fact that there was a girl in Alex's apartment, especially one dressed in a short pink miniskirt and a white halter top, but decided to give Alex the benefit of the doubt.

"He's in the shower," the girl said, leaning against the door frame nonchalantly.

"And you are?" Now Izzie was getting mad. What was this chick doing in her boyfriend's apartment while he was in the shower?

"I'm Ashley. And you're Izzie. Izzie Stevens. You work at Seattle Grace with Alex. Grew up in a trailer park. Fell in 'love' with a heart patient a few months ago. Broke Alex's heart."

"Um, how exactly do you know Alex?"

As Ashley was about to answer Alex's voice cam from behind the closed bathroom door.

"Ashley, why are you answering my door? I told you-"

Alex opened the door to the bathroom, hair still wet and with just a towel around his waist. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw who was at the door.

"Izzie."

"Alex. I was just getting to know your friend here," Izzie replied sarcastically, the anger and disgust clear in her voice.

"Iz, it's not what it looks like. Ashley's, um, well, see, she's my uh…Ash, do you think you could give us a second?"

Ashley turned to him, horrified. "Wait, she doesn't know who I am, does she? She doesn't know what happened?" Ashley was looking straight at Alex, her eyes seemingly trying to pull the truth out of him.

"God, you rant on and on about how much you love her, and how you want to share everything with her, but you don't tell her that your mother died!" Ashley had tears streaming down her face, and her voice broke as she uttered the last sentence. She looked ready to punch Alex, but instead she turned to Izzie.

"I'm Ashley Karev. Alex's sister. Sorry I was such an ass to you. Guess it runs in the family." With that, she ran out of the room, and the guest room door slammed shut a few seconds later.

Alex was silent, torn between staying to talk to Izzie and going to check on his sister. After a moment, Izzie broke the silence.

"When did this happen?"

"Friday. Ashley came out here after the funeral."

"You didn't go to your own mother's funeral?" Izzie couldn't believe what she was hearing. No wonder he had been distant all weekend. She couldn't imagine what she would be like if her mother died. But she knew she'd want to be there to say her final goodbyes.

"Whatever. I've got to go talk to Ashley. I'll call you…later, okay?"

"Wait, Alex, do you want to talk about this?" She was worried about him. This wasn't healthy.

"I'm fine. Ashley's not though, so I've got to go deal with her. I'll see you later, Izzie." And with that, the door was slammed shut in Izzie's face.

Okay, I have to be honest, I love this chapter. I've known I wanted to write about Alex's sister for awhile, but I didn't think it would come up in this fic. We'll see where it goes.

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