Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, or the characters, and chances are that I never will.

A huge thank you everyone who have reviewed and read this fic so far! It really encourages me to keep writing.

Enjoy!

The relief amongst the group was palpable, when a minute later Alex asked. "How long 'til I'm getting out of here? It feels like I got hit by a truck."

They couldn't help but laugh slightly at his all too accurate description. Bailey moved closer as she told him. "You've had us worried, Karev. Do you remember what happened?"

"I remember leaving the house this morning… what happened?"

Bailey sat down on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath before telling him. "From what we've gathered, seven days ago you were driving to work, there was a car broken down on the highway, the truck in front of you hit it and jackknifed, you ran into the side of the truck. Damn it, Karev, when you came in here you were as close to dying as I've seen people."

"Seven days? A week?" Alex questioned, he couldn't believe he'd lost so much time.

Bailey nodded as she told him. "You've been in an induced coma."

"How bad is it?" Alex could tell, even through the copious volumes of pain killers being pumped into his body that he was hurt, badly.

Bailey thought briefly about lying, but there wasn't much point, he would eventually realize the extent of his injuries. "Sternal fracture, bilateral open leg fractures, left radius and ulna fractures, cardiac tear, epidural bleed… near amputation of left arm. You're lucky to be alive."

"Where's Iz?"

"I'm right here." Izzie said, moving closer, into Alex's line of sight, she put her hand to his cheek, and stroked it in a comforting way. "I'm here. How're you doing?"

"Everything hurts."

Izzie looked up at Bailey, and asked. "More morphine?"

"No, his respiratory functions already lower than I'd like, any more morphine in his system and he'll be back on the vent." Bailey replied, she wanted Alex to be comfortable, but there wasn't much she could do on this occasion.

Izzie had known that that would be the answer, but she had needed to ask. "Sorry." She said genuinely to Alex. "Is there anything I can do?"

Alex was exhausted, his whole body was throbbing, and his mind was somewhat clouded by the morphine. "Just stay." He whispered in reply as he drifted to sleep.

Izzie sat down carefully on the other side of the bed, being careful of his injured arm, and she gently took his hand in hers, focusing on his skin of his fingers than the cast that encircled most of his hand and forearm.

"I've got to go, I've got a surgery. Is there anything I can get either of you?" Bailey asked as she stood up to leave.

Izzie just shook her head, and then Meredith replied. "I think we're okay. We'll page you if anything changes."

One that note, Bailey left, and not long after she had walked through the door, Meredith commented. "It's a good sign, Iz. That he's been awake and alert."

Izzie knew this was true, but she wasn't ready to get optimistic yet. They would have a long road ahead of them. "There could still be problems, and what about his arm? If it doesn't heal perfectly he won't be able to operate again. That'd kill him, this shouldn't be all we have, but it is and when it doesn't look like you'll get it back, it is the worst feeling, I know."

To that statement there was no response.

The positive that was Alex waking up was soon forgotten when the next morning, Alex woke up to discover that he couldn't feel or move anything below his waist. Izzie had gone home to rest, and Meredith had left to check on a patient she was concerned about. He went through what he could of a neurovascular check, no response.

Alex tried not to panic as he worked through it, but as he realized that he had no feeling or control over his lower body it became harder and harder. When one of the ICU nurses, Amy came into his room, it was all he could do not to scream out for help, but instead of that, in a tone that somewhat resembled calm, he asked her. "I can't feel my legs, I have complete sensory loss below my waist. Can you page Dr Shepherd?"

Amy's pretty face contorted into an 'oh my god' type of expression. She said nothing before rushing out of the room, assumingly to page Derek.

Within minutes Derek came into the room at a brisk stride, with Bailey following closely behind. Derek moved straight to the end of Alex's bed, and pulled the blankets off his casted legs, up to his waist, glancing apologetically at Alex as he exposed him completely.

Bailey stood at Alex's head, talking him through Derek's complete neurovascular exam.

And just minutes later it was over, Derek was hastily preparing Alex's bed and the equipment that surrounded it for transport, as he told Alex. "You've definitely got a spinal injury that we initially didn't appreciate, but there are signs that it is incomplete. We're taking you for an MRI, and we'll go from there. But whatever we're going to do, you know we need to work quickly."

They had rushed Alex into the scanner, and it had revealed what they were dealing with. "There." Derek pointed out a point on the MRI image. "Fracture of the L3 vertebrae, bone fragment impinging on the cord, a lot of swelling in the cord. We've got to get in there and get that piece out or he's never going to walk again."

Bailey did not say anything as she rushed into the scanner room, and quickly pulled Alex out of the scanner.

"What is it?" Alex asked her, sensing her urgency.

"L3 fracture, Shepherd is booking an OR." Bailey said matter of factly as she worked.

Alex was instantly terrified, a part of him knew that this was a possibility, but hearing that, he knew the prognosis, chances were that he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Twenty minutes later, and Alex was lying on an operating table again, he was still awake, but in almost every other way he was prepped. He was lying on his back, but as soon as he was intubated they would roll him over for the operation.

Bailey was sitting on a stool beside Alex, she was scrubbed in for the surgery, but she had wanted to speak with Alex before he was sedated.

"Not much longer, Alex. How're you doing?"

"Been better." Alex said with a dry laugh.

"You know this is what we have to do for you to have any chance of getting back to work, and I have put too much effort into training you to have you forced out of it now. This is just a bump in the road, and when you get back here, you won't even think about this."

"I know this has to be done, I say no then I have no chance of recovering fully, I say yes and I have a slight chance of regaining some function."

TBC...

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