A/N: Here you go folks! This one's a little longer and you can see how things are starting to play out. Please please do let me know what you think of this chapter, because I found it incredibly hard to write in a balanced way. The real show has been frustrating me to no end lately, and I already was bitter about Izzie and Alex, so I tried not to let that bleed too much into things here. Thank you so much for reading, and don't forget to review.

"What exactly did she know and when did she know it?" Meredith grilled Derek from the passenger's seat of their car the next morning as he strapped a sleeping Zola into her car seat.

This whole mess had gotten started before the end of her shift, but a lot more had happened overnight. She had a small chance to check in with Alex before she'd taken Zola home and made dinner, but at that time April had still been in the OR. Alex was coping well enough, she thought. Pissed, but better than he might have handled all of this a mere two years previous. The response of his fiancee on the other hand, was completely unknown. And Meredith was worried.

"When she was there and I did Kyle's neuro exam?" Derek yawned, tired from an extra long shift. "Nothing."

Meredith shook her head in disbelief, "So April just walked in there, with no idea anything was going on? Like some sacrificial lamb for slaughter?"

Her husband huffed and gave her a skeptical look as he clamored into the driver's seat, "It's bad, but it's hardly that dramatic, I think."

"Oh yeah?" She was pretty sure that 'just unknowingly operated on fiance's secret ex-wife birthed embryo child' qualified to be about as dramatic as things got in modern times. All things considered.

"What did Bailey say happened when April saw Izzie?"

"That she looked like she had been hit by a mac truck," Derek conceded. "I guess she kind of put stuff together when she saw Alex was in the room."

"Well, obviously," Meredith rolled her eyes, pulling out her phone to text Lexie and Cristina about the situation. "I mean, if I found you waiting with your ex-wife and she had a child of suspicious age..."

Derek drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he guided them out of the driveway, "Like that is going to happen."

His marriage to Addison had always been a bit of a prickly subject for Meredith, but honestly she knew that she had nothing to worry about. She had no evidence or reason to suspect that Derek and his ex had a secret cash of frozen embryos. If that was somethingit would occur to you to suspect. And Addison's recent adoption of a little boy down in LA also seemed to indicate that this situation would, in fact, never befall Derek and Meredith.

Nope. Just their friends.

Meredith smirked as she got a near instantaneous text message reply from Cristina, informing her that she did, in fact know that Alex and April had at least started to discuss the whole Izzie-Kyle situation. Because and quote, 'Owen and I hung out with Little Spawn all night. Fell asleep on your old couch. AK's home in the too early AM. Marry Poppins tears. Evil Spawn needs a bar fight.'

"Why are you texting people? I don't think Alex and April would want their business going all around the whole hospital,"Derek chastised.

She rolled her eyes, "It's not the whole hospital. It's just relevant people. Cristina and my sister. Cristina knows most of what's up and I bet you Mark has told Lexie what he's heard already. I think it's better that our friends know then don't. They can help Alex and April. And come on. This is Seattle Grace, people are going to find out anyway. A lot of them can guess, apparently. The ones who were around during the whole cancer and divorce thing. They'll probably at least guess that Kyle is Alex's. You did."

Driving the car onto the freeway on-ramp, Derek shrugged and licked his lips, "I suppose you do have a point. It's just a very hard situation."

"Uh, yeah...I mean...I can't even imagine," Meredith shook her head. She paused and then stared at him in confusion. "If you guessed Kyle was Alex's, why didn't you at least give April a heads up?"

"Well, I couldn't tell for sure," he said carefully. "Nurse Linda just said something about Stevens being back in the hospital, and that she was waiting for her son. And then I saw him...kid looks a lot like Alex, actually. A lot. Too much not to wonder..."

"But?"

"But, like I said, I wasn't certain," Derek continued. "Not until after Bailey told me the what she knew. That Izzie and Alex told her it was true."

"Still...if you suspected, you might have been able to say something," Meredith sighed shaking her head.

Being blindsided was the part of life she'd learned to hate the most. She hated it. you can kind of prepare for bad stuff you see coming. It still sucked, but at least you could brace yourself. Meredith hated the unexpected.

She'd hated finding out her father wasn't coming back home. That her mother had an affair with Richard. She'd hated finding out that her Mcdreamy had been mcmarried when they first hooked up. That her father had a secret life with not one, but two new daughters. No, surprises like this one were not something Meredith would wish on her worst enemy, let alone someone she called a friend.

"What would I have said, Mer?" Derek reasoned. "'Hey, Kepner. Your patient is doing really well, but you might want to know that he might be Alex's kid. Just fyi.' Like that would have worked. It wasn't my place."

Sliding her phone back into her purse, Meredith groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. This was a completely over the top, unexpected situation. She couldn't hardly believe that Izzie, a woman she'd once called her close friend would ever do something like this. She knew that her friend had changed a lot over the years. Certainly following her bout with cancer. The changes were, in fact, what Meredith attributed to the demise of their friendship from one of housemate status to Christmas card only status to no contact whatsoever.

"See I just-" Meredith's eyes widened and she shook her head in disbelief. "I just don't see how could Izzie do it? Legal custody stuff aside. How do you keep a child a secret? How could she do that to Alex?"

It just didn't equate with the Izzie she'd known. Even after everything that had happened.

After a long pause, Derek replied, "I have no idea. Why don't you ask her?"

Meredith only shrugged, "I don't know if I can."

The opportunity was there. She'd worked on Robbie Stevens case, and honestly she should have gone in with Bailey to explain the outcome of her mother's surgery to Izzie. But something had held her back. Derek had seen her in the Neuro department right afterward, and had of course intuitively sensed her hesitation. He'd been pestering her about it ever since. Which was a little irritating, since he hadn't exactly gone out of his way to see Izzie either. Granted, they'd never been as close of friends. Still.

Derek knew that it was a sensitive topic for his wife, and mercifully he didn't push the issue. The rest of the drive to the hospital was silent, and the day started with little tension or fanfare. Zola got dropped off at daycare, Derek went into the OR on one of his cases, and Meredith checked in on a few of hers. A normal day for them really, but the buzz and energy of the hospital demonstrated that the day was anything but normal.

For Alex and April this day was not at all routine. The news was out. The nurses were chattering and the residents were whispering, and it was all over the hospital that Isobel Stevens was back. And somehow she couldn't stop the nagging thoughts. Why didn't she want to talk to Izzie?

Meredith didn't quite know why she felt the way she did. It wasn't like she didn't want to go see Izzie. Or was it? She felt a little bad, because when she examined her true emotional reasons for avoiding her old friend, she found that they were spiteful and ambiguous more than anything else. This was a terrible time in Izzie's life. She could have lost both her son and her mother in one fell swoop. She could have lost everything. You needed people around you at a time like that.

But Meredith too had been in dark places herself over that past three years. Terrible times. She'd survived a shooting and a miscarriage and almost lost her husband. She'd tampered with a clinical trial and lost her job. For two years, she'd been in Seattle without her best friend. Her sister was currently living in another state. Meredith had even for a time, lost her daughter. And where was Izzie then? Where was she for Meredith's darkest hours? Gone. Out of contact.

Izzie had left, even when Meredith begged her not to go.

You don't just walk away from people. You don't just throw them away. Not matter how much you want a new start. You shouldn't turn your back on your family.

And finally, it was that very notion that tipped the scales. The same concept that kept Meredith away from her old friend influenced the decision she made after lunch to stop by Kyle Stevens's room. Just to update Izzie on her mother's continued progress. And because Meredith wasn't Izzie. She didn't just walk out on people. Or throw them away. She had sympathy for serial killers. Even more compassion for people she loved. A small part of her compassion did go to Izzie, for all that she could not understand her friend's choices. But the larger share of her empathy lay with the residents of her old home. Adam, April, and Alex. The largest share for Karev. This was a game changer.

It had taken her a long time to get a family and Meredith was not about to turn her back on that now.

Izzie did that to Alex, but Meredith wasn't about to let her continue to do hurt him. Her friend deserved better. After all he'd gone through, and how much he had grown. He needed life to stop throwing eggs in his face. Metaphorical or frozen, the universe just needed to freakin' stop.

Approaching the room quietly, Meredith paused in the doorway, and took a moment to observe her old friend. Izzie still looked as beautiful as she always had. Hair and eyes and all. She could probably still be a model if she wanted to. Older. Not the same kind of stuff. But Meredith thought time had been good to her old friend.

Turning her gaze to the small figure in the bed, Meredith felt a clench in her heart. Kyle Stevens looked so small, dwarfed by the hospital equipment surrounding him. Derek was right. The boy did look at lot like Alex. He certainly had the man's complexion, more so than Adam. And his jaw and chin were unmistakable. The Karev forehead, though framed by blonde hair, rounded out the similarities between father and son. Meredith couldn't help but find some small satisfaction in that. Izzie might have tried to erase Alex from both Kyle's life and her own, but she had to get up every day and see the many traces of him in the boy.

Karma might exist.

At the same time, her vengful thoughts made Meredith feel a little bad because she also couldn't help but imagine what it would be like if Zola was laid up in a hospital bed like this. It would be terrifying.

Sighing, Meredith straightened her shoulders and entered the room, "Izzie, I just wanted to swing by and give you a small update about your mother. She is stable and continues to do well. My residents tell me she has woken up once, briefly, but did very well. I'd say she is on the road to be discharged in a matter of days."

Izzie jumped, and stared at Meredith, wide eyed, clearly startled to see her friend, "Uh...thank you...for the update...Dr. Grey."

Meredith crossed her arms, "Dr. Grey? Seriously?"

The other woman's face faltered, and she broke eye contact, turning to look wearily at her son, "I don't know. I can tell you are mad at me...all of you are mad at me. I'm not sure I am on 'Meredith' terms anymore."

Meredith scoffed, "You are really surprised we're all mad at you? What did you think was going to happen?"

"I didn't think there was going to be a car crash," Izzie replied simply.

She reached out and squeezed Kyle's hand, "And right now, I just want to help my little boy get better, so I'd rather not worry about dealing with all of you and your hurt feelings over me leaving a job."

"It was never just a job," Meredith countered. "And you know it. You wouldn't have had any frozen embryos in the first place if your time here was just a job. Alex did that because he loved you. You lived here. You loved here. That is a home."

Izzie set her jaw and glanced back to Meredith defiantly, "Maybe once. Maybe it was my home once. Not anymore."

The expression in her old friend's eyes didn't quite line up with the words coming out of her mouth. There was a sadness there. A longing. Maybe regret even, so Meredith pressed ahead, half out of spite for getting left behind and half out of pity for that look.

"I have a daughter," she announced, determined to educate Izzie on the magnitude of what she'd missed when she bailed on them all. To make her see just how much they had all changed as well as how much they survived without her.

"Her name is Zola. We adopted her from Malawi. I had a miscarriage because I have a hostile uterus."

Izzie sighed, and looked at Meredith with sympathy, but she didn't allow the other woman to speak.

"We had a shooting. Derek got shot. Alex got shot, did you know that?"

"I, uh...I saw on TV," Izzie looked at her hands. "I wanted to call, but...I just..."

"People died. Cristina got PTSD and got married," Meredith held out a hand and shook her head. "Alex got trapped beneath a collapsed building too. Uh let's see, what else? Oh, we were in and ambulance accident, Cristina nearly killed Alex with a shot of epinephrine...we did clinical trials, saved children in Africa, figured out specialties, passed boards, did fellowships, had children, got...new cars, houses...we lived. And where were you? Where were you? You were an important part of our lives once. But then you just dumped us."

Izzie swallowed, and appeared to be on the verge of tears, "I'm sorry, Meredith. I don't really know what else I can say."

"And you," Meredith continued, taking three careful steps to the bed, stopping just behind her old friends chair. "You had a little boy. Got and job and I don't know what else...you lived too. Alone."

"I know."

"Why? Just because you were divorced didn't mean Alex wouldn't have...stepped up. And we missed you. You never called or anything."

"I...I-I don't know. I just-It's not like any of you came after me, anyway...I needed a new start."

They sat in silence for a moment. Meredith though of all the things that had changed between them. Izzie turned around to face her, and Meredith thought she was about to speak when the door suddenly opened. April appeared awkwardly in the doorway, biting her lower lip and leaning heavily on her cane.

"Oh, uh...sorry," she mumbled, clutching a chart in her hands so tightly that her knuckles were white. "I...was just going to ch-check in, and g-go over some care stuff. I-I can come back, if this is a bad time..."

Meredith sighed, as Izzie looked back to April, and the moment, or whatever it was had been broken. And Meredith still felt just as confused about her feelings toward her old friend as she did before. Because in person, Izzie didn't seem all that different. And she still didn't understand how it had all ended up this way. She still couldn't pinpoint exactly when things had started to change. Was it the cancer? The wedding? Denny? George?

Or maybe it wasn't possible to say for sure. Meredith just wished things hadn't ended up this way.

"No it's fine," Izzie muttered. "Let's get it over with. What do have to tell me, Dr. Kepner?"

April's hands shook, and she was actually glad to come into the room and find Meredith there too. She could admit that Izzie made her feel nervous. And strangely inadequate. It was nice to see a friendly face, although she knew she'd interrupted an important conversation.

And she supposed she probably couldn't quite count on the other woman's loyalty. Izzie had been Meredith's friend long before she'd known April.

"W-Well," she fumbled, struggling to get the words out. "What I wa-"

"W-w-what? Just spit it out," Izzie mocked, glaring at April in irritation. "Please."

She looked April up and down, lingering for a second too long on the handle of her cane and the nervous trauma surgeon couldn't help but gulp. Here she was, looking like crap. She stood here with dark circles under her eyes from not sleeping well, a cane because her stupid crippled leg couldn't handle the long hours she'd put in, and pale from nerves and fears and god knows what else.

Compare that with Izzie Stevens. A woman who'd spent the night in a hospital chair waiting by her injured child's side. If there was ever a reason to look like crap, that had to be it. Only Izzie didn't. Izzie with her dirty blond hair, and curves in not awkward places, and appropriately proportioned bone structure. She looked fine. April might have known.

She suddenly felt acutely aware of the fact that Izzie had once been as familiar with Alex as she was. Married familiar. Emotionally familiar though, given the divorce, that must have only gone so far. Sexually familiar.

It wasn't like April didn't know that Alex was wildly more experienced than she was. She knew there'd been other women. Lots of them, in fact. And, because they were together now, she was fully okay with it. Or so she thought. She'd met previous flings before. Hell, she'd lived with Lexie Grey. Only things had never felt this humiliating with Lexie. But looking at Izzie, April knew she just couldn't measure up to what Alex had experienced in his first marriage.

Great. Just the sort of unprofessional thoughts to have right before you are meant to be saying something important. April flushed.

Now it felt like her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth.

"Hey," Meredith interjected sharply, glaring at Izzie. "Behave."

April felt a tremendous sense of relief. Meredith was sticking up for her. Even though she'd known Izzie first, and for longer, and probably found her less annoying. The release of tension spurred a little courage.

She cleared her throat, straightened her shoulders and walked to the other end of the bed, quickly looking at the heart monitor and taking in Kyle's vitals.

"I was just going to do a quick check on his incisions," April said as she carefully pulled back the bed covers, gown, and dressings. In his sleep, Kyle shifted and moaned slightly, calmed only when his mother squeezed his hand.

April winced, continuing her exam, "And then I wanted to talk to you about the rest of his care plan...and...how that is all going to work going forward."

Mostly, the part about how it wasn't going to work going forward with April. She knew that she couldn't continue working on his case in good conscience. Not ethically, but mostly not emotionally. Kyle deserved a physician who's whole world wasn't tilted on it's side by his very existence. He needed someone more detached, and she wasn't too proud to admit that that surgeon was not her.

Taking in the neat rows of stitches she'd placed the previous day, April smiled faintly when she saw there was very little inflammation or sign of infection. The odds were still pretty high that he might encounter some sort of infection later on.

"So far, so good," April said, as brightly as possible as she moved to replace Kyle's bandages and cover. "He doesn't have an infection yet, though given the placement of his incision and the extent of his injuries, the possibility remains-"

"Highly likely," Izzie cut in, sadly. "I know. I am a surgeon."

April blinked and ducked her head, feeling like an idiot. She knew that.

"Um...Right. Well, then you know a little bit about what you are facing. Kyle will likely spend a few weeks recovering here and working with a physical therapist," she continued quickly,struggling to maintain her professional mask as best she could while reading off the list she'd drawn up on the boy's chart."I've got him signed up with Bobby Larrin. Trust me, speaking from my own experience with him, Bobby is really the best."

Izzie blinked and made a small huffing sort of noise, sharing a questioning glance with Meredith. April couldn't, and didn't really want to over-analyze the exchange so she carried on, "Once he is released from the hospital, he will need to continue to come back for therapy with Bobby and regular check ups, for about 6 months, depending on how his mobility level is doing."

"Check ups with you?" Izzie asked skeptically.

"No, uh...that was actually the last thing I wanted to talk with you about," April replied, clearing her throat when her voice began to falter, and gesturing frantically in the vain hope that her hands could convey what her words could not. "I, uh...given the...the unusual situation..."

"Unusual? Yeah, let's call it that," the other women snorted under her breath, as Meredith made a 'shh' sound.

"Given the unusual situation that exists between us...I really think that it is best that I turn over Kyle's case to Dr. Webber," April said. "He was in on Kyle's procedure, and as you know he is one of the most respected doctors in this city. Now, if you'd like me to find someone else, I could-"

"Webber is fine. I'm comfortable with him," the blonde haired woman nodded, speaking in the most sincere tone April had heard her use in the whole conversation. "That's sounds reasonable...makes sense. And cuts down on, well awkward encounters like this, I suppose. Thank you. Really. For everything. Kyle means the world to me."

April closed the boy's chart and pressed it to her chest, offering Izzie a closed lipped smile, "Little guys can be like that. I'm just doing my job."

Meredith and Izzie nodded. It was the one thing that all three of the adults in the room had in common and could agree on. They were all mothers. And the little ones in there lives really did mean the world to them. And so April would have done her level best to save Kyle, no matter what, even if she had known the whole or any portion of the truth before hand.

April swallowed again, "Uh...I'm gonna just...I'll just go..."

She was beginning to get that weird feeling of claustrophobia again, like the walls around her were gliding closer, and the discomfort level she felt in this room drove her toward the door. Pausing in the doorway, April winced as she remembered her last conversation with Alex. She swallowed hard and turned to the women in the room once more.

April looked pointedly towards Izzie, "Oh, um, Alex said to tell you he'll be by as soon as he g-gets out of surgery. He can stay for about an hour and a half then...so...you could maybe eat or visit your mom or something..."

This whole thing made April uncomfortable. And maybe that made her a terrible person. It wasn't like she blamed Alex for wanting to share the burden of sitting at his son's beside. It wasn't. She knew first hand that he was an excellent father. And she also knew that if their places were reversed Alex would be just as eager to sit in here with Adam. Maybe that was the point. He felt just as eager to be in here with Kyle and Izzie. She knew it wasn't meant to be at the expense of Adam and herself, but all the same...it was just uncomfortable. It felt like they were suddenly secondary somehow.

Maybe it was because the bombshell realization was still settling in. Or because April really did spend 11 hours in the OR doing one surgery the previous day. Or because she'd gotten home early that morning to find her own little child asleep, having spent almost 18 hours without consciously seeing her. Or the fact the she spent the night fighting back tears instead of sleeping because she knew that Alex was curled up next to her and she didn't want him to feel bad. Or maybe her feelings arose from the way her skin itched when she felt Izzie's calculating gaze, feeling suddenly so inadequate compared to the only woman Alex had actually married. Maybe it was all of it.

But April felt more than a little jealous.

Izzie looked frustrated and rolled her eyes, "He doesn't have to."

Later on, Alex scowled and crossed his arms, "Of course I have to stay! The hell I don't have to. You said it yourself. He's my freaking kid."

"Biologically yes," Izzie countered, resting her head in one hand. "But if he wakes up and I am not here, that's not going to make a difference."

"He won't be alone and I'd-"

"Kyle doesn't know you, Alex! And you don't know him."

"Iz..."

She shook her head, "I'm sorry, but you're nobody to him."

Alex duck his head and looked at his hands, one of which was carefully clasping the smaller hand of the child in the bed. He worked to control his rage and frustration. Iz's words stung. In no small part because Alex did know that they were logically true.

"He's gonna be hurting and scared and when he wakes up, he's going to want me and only me," Izzie explained. "I know my son Alex and he is no fan of owies."

Despite the tension in the room, Alex found himself snorting at the unexpected use of baby speak, and quipped, "Owies?"

His eyes lifted to hers across the bed. He could see that Izzie had noticed her little slip up. She shrugged and said, "That's what he is going to call this. A great big owie."

"Yeah, yeah. I work in peds," Alex reminded her. "I'm familiar with the whole gamut; owies, booboos, and ouchiwawas."

Izzie chuckled, "Job lingo."

Alex nodded. This was the least charged exchange they'd had since her return to the hospital. It almost reminded him of the old days. Almost.

He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, thinking of the issue they'd been arguing about moments previously. As much as Alex hated to admit it, Izzie had a point. He was a complete stranger to his older son, and Kyle was a complete stranger to him. But he couldn't let go of his own perspective on the subject either. There was just no way Iz could stay at the hospital 24/7 until Kyle went home. There were times he'd have to be by himself, and times when someone else, Alex or whoever, would be with him.

"Look," Alex said as calmly as he could. "We know that when he wakes up, he gets moved out of post op, and they'll kick us both out a 7 when visiting hours end. There's no way to be absolutely positive either of us will be here all the time. I have a job. So do you. As he recovers, there is going to be times when he is here on his own. Now between us, we can work together to minimize that time, but there is no way to completely avoid it."

The truth irritated Izzie, Alex could tell. She pursed her lips, and twisted the edge of Kyle's bed blanket. She might not have wanted help these past two years, but Alex was damned if she was going to let her cut him out now.

"Alex...I don't...I don't need him getting all..." Iz shrugged.

"What? Attached to me? I'm his father. He should be attached to me. Now that I know he exists, I am damn well going to be a part of his life."

"I-I don't know yet, Alex...I don't."

That took his breath away. It was actually painful to think that, after all this, his ex wife would still try to keep him out of his son's life. Alex didn't freaking understand it. Now that he knew that Kyle was his, he was all in. And he was a good father. April could vouch for that. Then again, Iz probably wouldn't listen so.

"Look," Izzie continued, cutting into his stunned silence. "I don't know yet, because...I haven't had time to process. I never wanted this to be an issue. That's why I wanted it settled in the divorce. Right now, I just want to focus on what's best for Kyle."

Alex was about to reply, but the boy in the bed stirred, as though he sense the anger flaring between his parents in the room. Sighing, he shut his mouth. None of this sat well with him at all. It was like he'd inadvertently signed over all his cards to Izzie before Kyle was even alive. Just because he had agreed to divorce her. He could never have known how things would end up. And he had the distinct sense that she would pull Kyle away from him in a second. Which was freaking unfair. He didn't want to think that going forward he'd need a lawyer or some crap to deal with all of this. It really sucked.

But arguing about it now wasn't going to help anything right now. And Alex was tired and frustrated. So, he swallowed hard and shrugged. The boy in the bed between them needed the focus on his recovery. Alex could understand that.

"Fine. Whatever," he mumbled. "We don't have to talk about this right now."

"Then you can just go ahead and go ahead and go home and leave me here to sit with him-"

"Ah ah ah!" Alex held up one finger. "I'm putting in my time with my kid, Iz. Whether you are here or not. Take a break if you need it, but for right now I am staying."

Her eyes narrowed, "Fine."

"Fine!" Alex snapped.

"I know."

"Whatever."

Silence filled the room, only interrupted by the steady sounds of Kyle's monitors beeping intermittently. This was so bogus. Alex had never had to deal with crap like this. He didn't get emotionally intimate with many people, and he didn't know how to deal with one of them after that level of intimacy had ended. Izzie had been everything to him once. And she knew crap about him. Once. Now, things were different, and he just didn't know how to handle it.

Kyle shifted again in the bed, and his eyes fluttered. Both Alex and Izzie suddenly sat bolt upright, leaning over the bed.

"Kyle?" Izzie prodded gently, moving closer to his shoulder and running her hands along his unbroken arm. "Mommy's here. I know you hurt. It's okay."

The child whimpered and tears rolled from the corners of his eyes. He shifted and moaned, and for the first time Alex got a look at his son's eyes. They opened slowly, and squinted around the room. Kyle's lower lip jutted out and he started to bawl. Alex swallowed hard. Hearing Kyle cry bothered him as much as hearing Adam's tears.

"Owie!" was the only discernible word out of a cascade of hiccuping sobs. Poor little guy. He was in a lot of pain and terribly confused. Alex had seen it before in Peds. When kids first woke up, freaking out was pretty common.

"I know, I know," Izzie soothed, looking so desperately sad, that Alex was at a loss for what to do. She had every right to be pained. It's not easy watching your kid hurt. But her reaction would impact Kyle's. Kids picked up on their parents emotions. In pediatrics, distraction is key.

So he fell back to his Peds instincts. He leaned into the boy's vision and grinned. Kyle's tears were still flowing, but his whimpers subsided, and Alex knew he had the boy's attention.

"Hey Kyle," Alex said calmly, reaching into his lab coat pocket and pulling out his stethoscope. "You are in the hospital. Have you ever seen a place so freaking clean?"

He cast his hand around the room, gesturing at the pristine white room. Alex felt absurdly happy when Kyle's cries further died down and the boy's gaze followed Alex's hand.

"Cl-ean," Kyle parroted.

"Yep," Alex agreed, offering the long end of his stethoscope to Kyle.

The child took it with his good hand, and stared suspiciously at the case and apparatus holding his broken pelvis in place, "L-egs. Owie."

"It kind of sucks, dude," Alex said, reaching around and placing the earpieces of the stethoscope by Kyle's head. "No two ways about it. But you'll be fine. The Doctors are taking really good care of you."

He then pulled the chest piece of the stethoscope to his elbow, "Hear anything?"

"Uh, uh."

Alex moved it to the back of his head, and Izzie chuckled, "What about now?"

"Shh..." Kyle whispered, and a small smile appeared on his lips. Alex wanted to jump up and stand on his seat. It was working. His diversion was making Kyle less aware of his pain, and the kid seemed to like him.

"Maybe I'll try putting it here," Alex continued, moving the chest piece to the middle of his forehead. Izzie laughed and shook her head. "Ope...Mom says that is is bad idea..."

They played the little game for a few more minutes, and Alex made a point to involve Izzie more and more, moving the chest piece over to her so Kyle could see if he could hear stuff from her hand. It seemed to have a calming effect on both of them, and before long Kyle started to yawn and get drowsy. Which was also pretty normal for kid patients. The stress of drugs and undergoing procedures and healing was a lot for a little body to take. So sleep was good. Kyle had done really well with staying awake for the short time that he had.

When he was all the way asleep, Izzie sniffed and held her head in her hands, crying softly. Alex let her have the moment, because he was actually having a bit of a moment himself. He was overwhelmed. Truly freaking overwhelmed. It was the strangest contrast to the first time he met Adam. This was his son too. Granted, he'd acted as more of a peds surgeon than a father in their first interaction, but Alex would take what he could get.

"Thanks for that," Izzie sniffled.

"No problem. Adam likes the stethoscope," Alex shrugged. "Kids in peds usually go for them too."

"Still..."

Alex was dying to know more about Kyle. It was like the boy's small moment of wakefulness had opened up a bottomless pit of interest. He needed to know everything he could about his other son. He knew everything about Adam. Kyle shouldn't be any different.

"Iz..." he ventured, tentatively. "Can you...can you just tell me about him. What's he like?"

He expected her to hem and haw again. To say no, or that it wasn't a good idea, or that now wasn't the time to worry about all that. To Alex's surprise, Izzie only nodded and sniffed again.

"Well," she began. "He...he loved pears. He always asks for them. Pear was one of his first words actually. And...he's a little bit of a dare devil. A real boy's boy, you know? Likes the swings in the park. Climbs anything he can get traction on. He doesn't always do as he is told."

"He really needs an eye on him then?"

Izzie laughed, "Yeah. Two eyes. Um, what else? Kyle is loving, but he can be pretty pig headed. He's at that age where he needs help with stuff still, but he kind of shrugs it off because...well because he wants to be a big boy and do everything himself."

Alex found that he was hung up on every word, paying closer attention to Izzie's talking than he ever did a lecture in school.

"He's interested in sports. He has quite the collection of balls. Soccer balls, basket balls baseballs. Plush ones anyway. When he's old enough, my friend at work knows this little baby soccer team for three year olds. I...I was going to put him in that..."

Her eyes flicked to the broken pelvis, and Alex winced, "You still can. He'll get better. Kid's with broken bones heal much faster than adults. And with less chance of re-fracture. It's...he'll be okay."

Izzie smiled gratefully, and concluded, "He's also loud when he wants to be. It's a bit of an issue at the daycare. We've been working on the whole inside-outside voice thing, but...it's slow going."

Alex smirked, "That might be my fault. Adam is pretty loud too. I mean, for a baby."

"Is he? That's...that's kind of funny," Izzie replied. Her expression was unreadable.

"Yeah," Alex agreed, looking at her seriously. "Thank you. For that."

Izzie nodded, and out of the corner of his eye, Alex spotted a familiar figure in the hallway. Oh, April. He felt bad, but a part of him dreaded the sight. Not because he was a jerk or whatever. He really didn't mean it to be. He only felt dread just because he'd had a nice moment with his son, and this was all going to remind him even more about just how complicated all this crap was. And Alex found that he was again super uncomfortable about Iz and his fiancee being in the same room again.

April opened the door to the room and stepped inside. Alex felt even more deflated when he saw that she was in her street clothes and Adam was strapped securely to her chest in his carry wrap. Instantly he felt guilty for his thoughts though. Even if he didn't want to further acknowledge the mess that all this was, it wasn't April or Adam's fault.

Alex rose to his feet and approached the door, "April? Everything alright?"

"Hey, sorry," April said quickly, glancing around the room uneasily, and gesturing to the hallway with one thumb. "Chief Hunt's letting me off early, so I am just gonna take him, and go home. Get dinner going and all that."

Adam kicked his feet and smiled, sucking his fingers happily, "Duudde. Udududumm."

Well, anyone would be hard pressed not to smile back at that. Alex grinned, and he was glad to see that even Izzie was looking at Adam with a soft expression.

"Okay," Alex nodded to April, reaching out and tickling Adam's chin. She looked immensely uncomfortable. Why couldn't she just freakin' text him? This was awkward enough. "Well, uh...that sounds good."

"Yeah," April nodded rapidly. "So...it'll be ready...when, um...when do you think you'll be home?"

Wincing Alex sighed and checked his watch. He had another small procedure in about fifteen minutes, and then he he had the rest of his shift until 8:30. And after that, he wanted to stop by Kyle's room one more time. He could tell April was feeling insecure. It was practically radiating from her.

But if Kyle woke up again, Alex wanted to be there. He wanted to start building some recognition with his son, so that they could have a relationship. Surely April would understand that.

"I get off at 8:30. Then I wanna check on him once more time," Alex gestured to the bed. "I'll probably make it home around 9 or 10, okay? Just save me a plate. Give my man an extra song at bed time for me."

"Oh," April nodded. "Yeah...okay. then, I'll, uh, I'll see you tonight."

Alex grinned. She did get it. He could always count on April.

"You bet," he leaned forward and kissed her cheek, as well as the top of Adam's head. "Thanks."

"S-see you later," April backed out of the room, looking over to Izzie awkwardly. "Have a goodnight, Izzie."

"You too," Iz nodded, pursing her lips.

Alex was relieved. Izzie and April seemed to be acting civilly towards each other. It wasn't like he'd expected some 'chicks gone wild' fight kind of thing, but he had expected them to be a little pissed. And maybe they were, but at least they were controlling themselves. His fiancee had almost retreated from the room, when Alex slapped a hand to his forehead. He'd almost forgotten.

"Hold on!" Alex beamed. "Guess what?"

April paused, "What?"

"Kyle woke up already, April," he explained eagerly. "He stayed awake for oh, 5 or 10 minutes?"

Izzie smiled, "Something like that."

"He's doing really well," Alex continued, squeezing April's shoulder. "You did a really good job with his surgery."

"That-that's great, Alex," April said, ducking her head before turning to leave the room.

He was so relieved that no all of them, both his kids, Izzie and April had managed to be in the same room, without out yelling or crap. Even though it was a short amount of time, Alex felt like it was a good thing. Maybe it boded well for the future. Maybe they could work this all out. Like, maybe someday, when Kyle was better or whatever, they could have him over for weekends and stuff. Or throw him birthday parties and all. Okay, Alex realized he was getting ahead of himself. He was just happy Kyle was doing okay.

However, if he wasn't so freaking excited about Kyle's continued recovery, Alex would have noticed that April's tone rang hollow.

Meredith and Cristina sat, side by side, on an abandoned gurney in the tunnels. Just like they had in the olden days as interns. Once, they had sat here with Izzie by their sides.

Finally after a long silence Meredith said, "This is a mess."

Cristina nodded, "I know."

"Such a mess."

"Total mess."

"Have you seen her yet?"

Cristina shrugged, "When she first came to the hospital last night. For like a split second. Not since. You?"

"Yeah," Meredith blinked and shook her head. "It was weird."

Cristina made a face and nodded.

"So are you going to see her?"

"Probably," the cardio surgeon replied. "It's probably going to be unavoidable."

"You don't want to see her?"

"Like you said, it's gonna be weird. I'll let the weird happen in it's own time."

That made sense actually. Meredith's encounter with Izzie today had been more than a a little disconcerting. At the same time, she'd gotten the opportunity to say some things she needed so, and that had been oddly therapeutic.

"She's different," Meredith said softly. "It's like, she's the same, but different."

"Well, duh. It's hardly surprising. Stuff's happened to her. She had a kid. And...boards and everything. We don't even know."

"But, we've all gone through stuff too."

"And we're different too. The same, but different."

"She just missed it all."

"Exactly."

Meredith sighed and looked straight ahead.

"I miss George," Cristina remarked.

"Me too."

"He'd know what to do."

Blinking back an unexpected wave of feeling as she thought of her departed friend, Meredith agreed, "He would."

"What am I doing?" April asked the little boy, strapped in his carrying wrap, as she quickly made her way across the parking lot her her parked car. "What on earth am I doing?"

Adam only grinned, drooling heavily, and reaching out to tangle his hand in April's hair. His response was an incomprehensible gurgle.

Kissing the top of his head with a shower of pecks and fighting back tears, April whispered, "I'm so sorry, baby. I should never have tried to use you like that. I'm so sorry. I promise I never will again."

"Dudum," Adam giggled. April smirked mistily. He might be finally getting the hang of his 'M' sounds.

April could have just texted or called Alex when she picked up Adam from daycare. It would have been easier. She really didn't know what she'd been thing thinking.

Well, she did. April had wanted to make Izzie jealous. She'd wanted to make the other woman feel as jealous as she did, and April had tried to do it by throwing her own perfectly healthy child with Alex in his ex wife's face. By making Izzie watch Alex walk away from Kyle for the evening in favor of Adam. Which somehow in her mind equaled Alex walking out on Izzie in favor of April.

Which was so incredibly stupid, and just wrong that April felt disgusted with herself. She'd used her little boy. She'd used him in a misguided attempt to make someone else feel pain. The lowest of the low things she could do, if April really thought about it. She hated that she'd wanted to do something like that. And she hated herself more, when she realized that her plan hadn't worked at all.

Because Alex would be staying extra at the hospital tonight. With Kyle. And Izzie.

She knew she should be happy that the boy had woken up. She was actually. It was all looking very good for an uncomplicated recovery. He didn't have an infection and he'd remained conscious for a period of time that exceeded three minutes. Top signs. But April was mad that Alex wasn't going to be home with Adam for the night. This would be the second night in a row that the little boy's routine was messed up. And over the past 6 months, they'd found that Adam thrived on routines. Plus, the odds of Kyle waking up again tonight might not be that high. So really Alex was opting to sit vigil next to a child who was literally unconscious, over the chance to interact with someone who was wide awake and needed a father too.

April knew these thoughts were unfair. She knew it wasn't as simple as all of that. She just couldn't stop herself from thinking them.

Opening the doors to her car, April carefully buckled Adam into his car seat, talking quietly to him, "I don't think anyone has told you yet...Adam, you have a big brother. His name is Kyle."

Adam babbled and April nodded, pretending to know what he was saying.

"I know, it's kind of a shock. He has a different mommy than you do," April continued making a fish face at the baby.

He gasped and laughed.

"I agree. You get me. You're the lucky brother," she joked, buckling the last strap and moving to the front seat. "I don't want you to worry, because it won't be that different. I don't know exactly what is going to happen, but I will make sure of that for you. Okay?"

Glancing into the rear view mirror, April chuckled and Adam struggled to pull his foot to his mouth.

"I always wanted a big brother when I was little, you know. And then I grew up and got Jackson. And he's really great."

April could admit that Jackson was like a brother to her. And that knowing he had her back was one of the best confidence boosts she'd had in her residency. She could only hope that Kyle and Adam would have a good enough relationship so that her son could experience that sort of feeling. Because it was nice to have.

After locking the car doors, April guiltily pulled her phone from her pocket. Jackson and countless others were probably trying to have her back today. She'd just ignored it all. Because for some reason, she felt embarrassed about all of it. Even thought she knew she really had no reason to feel like that. It just felt like she was the one who looked stupid in all of this. Because it seemed like everyone in the hospital that had been there pre-merger somehow knew about the frozen embryos. Cristina and Mer had obviously known. Bailey and Dr. Shepherd. Even Webber. Everybody knew but her.

At the same time, April believed what Alex had told her the previous night. It wasn't an easy thing to talk about, and he hadn't had any reason to believe it was a part of his past that might come back. So, he'd chosen not to tell her. She just felt stupid.

Sure enough, April's phone was filled with messages and voice mail. Jackson, Meredith, and even Cristina had contacted her throughout the day. Even Mara had sent an sympathetic text. Glaringly absent, were messages from Alex however. April shook herself. She didn't mean to be bitter. He'd had 3 surgeries that day, and he was never big on sending little texts anyway. She was the one who did that. It would be reading too much into it to assume that today's low contact meant anything, right?

Sighing April rested her head against the steering wheel. She didn't feel like driving home yet, so continued flicking through her phone and her eyes paused on one simple, but unexpected message. From Lexie Grey of all people, all the way down in Portland.

'Hey, Mer told me what's going on. I kind of know where you are coming from and how you might be feeling right now. It gets better, I promise. I'm here for you. Call me anytime."

April stated at the text. She and Lexie had never been the closest of friends by any stretch of the imagination. At first April had hated the younger Grey. Lexie had stolen her precious diary and humiliated her in front of Dr. Shepherd and God knows who else on her very first day of work at Seattle Grace. And April had known all the while when Lexie was dating Jackson that she was in love with Mark Sloan, so it was all really just leading her best friend along. She'd even tried to convince her sister that April didn't deserve to live in the house.

But at the same time, Lexie had been the one who'd helped Alex during the shooting. And the other woman had been amazingly nice and helpful during April's whole recovery after the earthquake. Then when Lexie had taken over April's position as chief resident they'd bonded. She actually missed Lexie when she'd gone off to Portland for her fellowship. And right now, the prospect of talking to someone who actually knew how she was feeling was appealing to April.

Jackson couldn't know what it was like. Neither could Meredith or Cristina. Certainly not Mara. She wasn't even entirely sure how Lexie knew, but the prospect of a sympathetic ear was too much to pass up, for April. Even if Lexie wasn't her closest friend.

Biting her lip, April impulsively dialed Lexie's number. She sighed in relief when she heard the phone pick up, "Uh, hello? Lexie? Hi."

The tears that had been threatening all since her retreat from Kyle Stevens room overflowed in full force, "It's April."