Tadaaaa...another fast and long update! Your reviews made me happy! THANKS! I know that it may seem out of character that Alex wants to adopt Laura but I promise to give you some flashbacks and explain everything. He definitely didn't want to adopt her immediately...and lots of happier times will follow. I have many ideas in my head...so here comes chapter 7. Originally it's longer but I split it - I guess reading 6000 words would be kind of annoying ;)

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"Dr. Karev. I know that but it's not my decision to make!" the teacher at the orphanage told him.

"Then do something. They bullied her," Alex was furious and yelled loudly. Then he saw the girl that constantly bullied Laura. He walked over to her and took her at her sleeve.

"Let go off me!" the girl screamed but Alex shook his head.

"You stop bullying Laura. You get out of her way and leave her alone. Do you understand me?" Alex screamed at the girl.

"Yes, I do!" the girl got teary eyes and ran away when Alex let go of her.

"The weekend? Just the weekend." Alex then pleaded and looked at the teacher.

"Alex, I know you're nice to her and…"

"What is it with your orphanage? Do you want the children to be sad? She likes it at my place and you know it, so stop being so stuck up and let her spend the weekend with me," Alex said annoyed.

This time and the teacher hesitated a moment: "Fine. Take her with you and don't threaten more children." Alex nodded and walked into Laura's room. Laura was drawing a picture of her family. "Hey, this looks great!" Alex sat down besides Laura.

"I don't remember them any more," Laura whispered sadly.

"What?" Alex asked confused and went through her hair.

"I…I…my mommy always smelled great and…my brother had a funny laugh and…I sometimes forget it," Laura said sadly.

"Well, then it's time we do something against that, huh?" Alex said. He knew that he wasn't always good with kids but somehow with Laura it was easy. She made it easy for him.

"What?" Laura looked up sadly at him.

"Well, I know that you remember what you liked doing with your family because you tell me all the time. So how about we do some of the stuff this weekend?" Alex suggested.

"Can I stay at your place?" Laura's eyes got wide and she hugged Alex tightly when he nodded.

"You can stay until Monday morning," Alex said happily.

Sometimes Alex was scared of his own feelings. He loved spending time with Laura but on the other hand it felt like he was giving up a part of him. Normally weekends meant partying, having sex and living just into the moment but since Laura had come into his life, weekends could also mean reading a book to a child, going to the mall, watching Disney movies that he found annoying or playing stupid games for kids. He knew that he could just stop visiting Laura or stop caring but he also knew that he was incapable of doing so. He couldn't understand himself from time to time. Breaking up with girlfriends or even being mean to his wife had been hard but he had gotten over it. He had just worked and partied hard until all those feelings for someone had been gone and he had been alone again. He was just not good with constant relationships but giving up on Laura somehow would feel like giving up on himself.

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"Where are my mom and dad? And Louisa and Kevin?" Laura asked while everything hurt. Alex looked shocked at her. He didn't know what to answer. It was hard to tell grown-ups that their family was dead but how could he tell this to Laura. A defenseless child.

"Um…," he couldn't find the words and actually considered just leaving the room but those big blue eyes were staring at him, pleading him.

"I want my mommy. I want my mommy!" Laura started to cry. Laura started to cry louder and louder while he just stared at her.

"Karev. Get out!" Bailey pushed him outside and took the girl into her arms. Alex looked from outside how Bailey talked to Laura. He didn't even realize that his eyes got wet too.

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"I sedated her," Bailey said when she came outside and patted Alex' back. She had teary eyes as well and hated her job at the moment.

"Does she…does she have any family left?" Alex whispered.

"No. She already has a place at an orphanage," Bailey said sadly. "I hate this. She's so innocent and young and her life is about to change forever. As if it wasn't enough loosing a leg."

Bailey walked away while Alex still stood outside the room and watched the girl sleeping. He took a deep breath and walked into the locker room to get changed. He tried not to think of Laura but somehow it wasn't working. He changed into his normal clothes and looked at his watch. Perfect time for a beer, he thought, and smiled but when he thought of the little girl his smile vanished again. He just needed to be sure that the girl was sleeping now. So he went to her room and opened the door carefully and looked down at her. To his surprise Laura was looking back at him with her big eyes. "Do you need anything?" Alex asked a little unsure. He didn't like kids because most of the time he didn't know how to react to all their annoying questions and he didn't know how to talk to them. It was way easier with adults who wouldn't immediately start crying when his tone was a little meaner.

Laura didn't answer him but just closed her eyes. That was when all the machines started to beep loudly. "Fuck!" Alex screamed loudly, "She's crashing!"

The next hour he spent trying to save the girl's life. He had to cut her open to stop the internal bleeding and when her small heart was finally working on her own again, he was relieved. Some patients come in and continue living and some patients come in and die. He knew that and he hated it but once a patient died, Alex just got over it. But he also knew that if that little girl had died, he would have never forgotten that.

For three days he managed not to visit Laura and find out whether she had awoken from her coma or not. But on the fourth day he just went into her room and sat down besides her and started to play the Playstation. From that day on he spent at least one hour a day with the little girl that was in a coma now.

"Whooaa, guess what Laura. I made it to the next level," Alex cheered and took another bite of his hamburger while his feet were on top of Laura's bed. "Okay, now it's your turn." As usual Alex put the joystick into Laura's hand and moved her short fingers. Of course Laura's fingers never moved. For 17 days Alex told the little girl in a coma all about himself. He told her about his problems with relationships, about his family and everything that bothered him. On the 18th day Laura's finger suddenly moved a bit when she had the joystick in her hand. Alex jumped up in shock and looked down at the girl that was trying to wake up. And then he was suddenly looking into the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.

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Alex opened the door in his boxer shorts and a shirt. "Good morning, rise and shine!" Callie smiled at him but he immediately closed the door again.

"Alex! Open the door. This is an order," Callie knocked at it again and again.

"What is it? Go away!" he rolled his eyes and looked madly at Arizona and Callie who seemed to be in an extremely cheery mood.

"Look, we wanted to apologize and give you this," Arizona gave him a cake and tried to show her best smile.

"Great! Can you go away now?" Alex just asked and was about to close the door again.
"Actually, we also wanted to know what um…I…well we could do to apologize to Laura," Arizona stuttered.

"Just leave her alone," Alex said harshly and tried to close the door again but Callie held her hand against it. "What. What is it? I had a horrible night and it's eight in the morning. You don't ask me such questions before twelve."

"Oh…who's with you? A nurse? Bad sex?" Callie joked.

"No Callie, it's not a nurse. Laura is with me and she had one nightmare after another. But now she's sleeping and I'd prefer doing that too instead of listening to your crap," Alex answered madly.

"She's with you?" Arizona asked softly, "Can…can we please come in?"

"No, you can't. Go away," Alex was about to throw the door into their faces but Callie just pushed it open and went inside.

"Alex, please listen to me. I…I didn't know that Callie sent Laura to help me and she always told me about her family. I didn't thought for one moment that her family was dead or that she would be living in an orphanage. And I know that that's no excuse for my yelling and I feel horrible because of it but…I want to make it up to her and…I still don't really understand the relationship between you and Laura because it's…so not you…but maybe I underestimated you and you're the one with the bigger heart…not me…well…what I want to say is that…I think that Laura deserves an apology and…please, can I just tell her right now? I mean when she wakes up?" Arizona stuttered.

Alex hesitated a moment and looked from Callie to Arizona and then just rolled his eyes, "This is the last time you come to my place at eight in the morning. No, this is the last time you ever came to my place, got it?"

"Got it!" Callie and Arizona said in unison.

"And don't wake her up," Alex yawned and went into the kitchen.

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Arizona walked up the stairs slowly. Stairs weren't easy with her prosthesis and it took her a long time until she was finally upstairs. Her heart was beating fast and she hoped that she was doing the right thing. What if Laura would not talk to her? Or cry? Slowly she opened the door and had to smile. Alex room was a big chaos. There were games and pictures on the floor and somewhere under the big blanket Arizona could hear a peaceful breathing. She looked under it and saw Laura in her pink pajamas, sucking her thumb. Arizona didn't want to wake up and decided to just lay down besides her and watch the girl. She couldn't believe that she was really sitting on Alex' bed and tried not to imagine how many women had already had sex in this bed with him. Then she felt Laura moving around a bit faster and could tell that Laura was waking up. She jumped up herself a little when Laura got up into a sitting position in a second and stirred. The girl was still sucking her thumb and rubbed her eyes with her other hand. Then Laura looked confused at Arizona and immediately let herself fall into her lap. Arizona smiled softly and went through Laura's hair while the girl had her eyes closed again.

"I heard you had a bad night?" Arizona whispered and loved having Laura that close. Laura didn't say anything but yawned loudly and kept her eyes closed while she cuddled a little closer.

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Alex looked into the room and watched Arizona interact with Laura. On the one hand he was relieved that Laura liked having Arizona that close. On the other hand he felt a little jealous. When Arizona started apologizing he went downstairs again and got a cup of coffee.

"She's not going to steal her away from you?" Callie said to Alex who looked madly at her.

"Stop assuming what I think," Alex answered and sat down at the table and started reading a comic.

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Arizona took a deep breath and then started talking: "Laura, I'm here to apologize. I didn't mean to yell at you. I was…I was just so annoyed that nothing was working right and my leg that's not even there hurt but it was not okay to yell at you and I promise you it won't happen again! You are a very special tiny human being and I hope that I can still be friends with you and see you?"

Laura didn't say anything but just listened. "I feel very bad that I was that mean. Normally I don't yell at anyone. I love being nice and cheery. Yesterday was a bad day for me and I couldn't stop thinking about you for the whole night because I felt so guilty. I like you very much and I'm so much happier because of you. You showed me all the good tricks with the prosthesis and when I'm with you I have a lot of fun. So…I hope you still want to be around me too because I'd love to continue spending time with you."

Arizona looked at Laura who opened her eyes and got into a sitting position again. "I sccchhhhiilll onsshshhh schoooeee b ssssure friend."

Arizona smiled at the girl, "Um…I don't understand you if your finger is in your mouth."

Laura put her thumb out of her mouth and then talked again, "I still want to be your friend."

"Oh, that makes me so happy," Arizona hugged Laura tightly and was relieved when Laura slung her arms around her. They stayed like this for a while until Laura started to whisper, "I don't like when people yell at me."

"I know and I'm so so sorry. I don't like it either. I promise I won't yell at you again," Arizona said honestly and then pulled the thumb out of Laura's mouth, "Why don't you try leaving your poor little thumb alone? It already looks like a bitten and wrinkled cucumber."

Laura laughed and put her hands down and into Arizona's hand and just listened to her heartbeat.

"How about we go downstairs. Callie and Sofia are there too and I overheard that you and Alex have plans?" Arizona asked and wished to be as mobile as Laura who immediately jumped to her clothes. She got out of her pajama pretty fast and looked confused at Arizona who stared at her body.

"That's a scar."

"Huh?"

"That's a scar," Laura said again and pointed at the long scar on her chest.

"Yes, I know," Arizona got out of her trance and pulled the little girl towards her and touched the scar, "This must have hurt?"

"A bit," Laura whispered and touched her scar, "But now it doesn't any more!"

Arizona smiled up at her and then kissed the scar, "I'm glad it doesn't hurt any more," she said, "arms up!"

Laura did as she was told and let Arizona help her getting dressed. When Arizona brushed her hair, she couldn't stop thinking how lucky she was.

"You know, I was a little jealous at you at the beginning."

"Why?" Laura asked perplexed.

"Well, because I want to be just like you. You are such a great girl, you are intelligent, strong, beautiful, you care a lot for others, you are funny and you run and walk around as if you don't even have a prosthesis!"

Laura couldn't hide her huge smile in this moment, "And when I'm big I want to be like you. You are good with kids and you don't have to be jealous because for you it's still new with a prosthesis but for me it's already normal. You just have to learn it. It's like school. First you don't know what 1 + 1 is but one day you can't even imagine that you didn't know."

Arizona nodded proudly and then tried to keep up with the running girl.

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"When are we going, Alex?" Laura asked Alex who was still moody.

"Not before twelve," Alex answered and yawned.

"Where are you going?" Arizona burped out.

"Laura and I, are just going to have a bit fun today."

"Oh great. We didn't plan anything this weekend and we don't have to work. We're going to join you!" Callie answered but could tell that Alex didn't like that idea.

"Yaaay!" Laura cheered and took the milk out of the refrigerator.

Alex couldn't believe what was happening and let his head fall onto the table.

"Be nice to us. It's an order. Please," Arizona smiled unsurely at him.

"Fine but if you make her cry again, then…"

"She won't. She promised," Laura told him and then saw a picture of Alex and a girl, "Ewww…I didn't like her. She was mean!"

"She was not mean, she just didn't like kids and you weren't very nice to her either," Alex snapped the picture out of Laura's hand.

"You don't like kids either but you're nice to me," Laura said while she ate.

"You're different and very annoying right now," Alex said grumpily.

Callie and Arizona smiled at their interaction.

"Alex is always grumpy in the morning and he hates that I'm cheery in the morning," Laura explained to Arizona and Callie.

"Well, my wife is exactly the same," Arizona kissed Callie's forehead.

"Okay, so here's the deal. You can spend the day with us. But you don't comment on any of our plans. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, yeah. Totally. No comments!" Callie and Arizona said in unison. It was funny how hard Alex tried not to show how nice he could be.

"When are we going?" Laura asked Alex with sparkling eyes.

"Whenever you want. I got everything in my bag. Do you have the treasure map?" Alex asked Laura who nodded up very excited.

"Look, Sofia. This is a treasure card and here's a cross. We have to find the treasure. Can you help me?" Laura asked Sofia who nodded enthusiastically.

"We are going on treasure hunt?" Arizona looked at Alex skeptically. She was not a girl who loved the woods. She hated the wood. She hated camping and she definitely hated all the little animals that would be in the woods.

"No comments, honey and treasure hunts are awesome." Callie jumped up in excitement.

"Awesome? It means I will meet spiders and all these little bugs that…", Arizona realized that Alex was looking annoyed down at her "Um…yeah, let's go on a treasure hunt! Yay!" Arizona tried to sound enthusiastically and leaned against Callie.

"You'll survive it," Callie kissed Arizona's forehead and laughed to see her wife pouting.

"Are you coming?" Callie laughed when she heard Arizona screaming because of a branch.

"Robbins, if you continue being that slow, we'll still be here in the dark. Do you want that?" Alex asked amused. He actually enjoyed their company a little bit.

"No…no, I don't want that but it's not easy with my leg, okay. You don't know how it is to walk through the woods with a wooden leg," Arizona whined and tried to keep up.

"You don't even have a wooden leg and stop using your leg as an excuse. Laura is the fastest right now and she doesn't complain about her leg," Alex laughed when Arizona pouted.

"But she's Laura. She's a champ," Arizona whined and clung closer to Callie.

"You're my champ, baby," Callie flirted and pulled her arm around her whining wife.

Meanwhile Sofia and Laura sat down on the ground and looked at the map. "That way?" Sofia suggested but Laura shook her head.

"The compass says that this is north. We have to go south!" Laura looked up at Alex, "Is that right?"

"Yup, right!" Alex nodded proudly, "You two are amazing hunters!"

"You too!" Sofia answered and laughed when he pulled her onto his shoulders.

"C'mon, we have to hurry," Laura took Arizona's hand and pulled her along.

"That looks like a treasure!" Arizona said after a while and held her ears when the kids started to scream real loud. The kids sat down besides a huge box and then opened it. Immediately their eyes widened.

"WOooooow!" Laura whispered happily. The box was full of sweets and in the middle there were two beautiful pink earrings."

"I guess that means that it's time to get your ear pierced," Alex touched Laura's earlobes.

"Really? I'm allowed to?" Laura asked excited and slung her arms around his neck. "This day is awesome!"

"Awesome?" Alex looked shocked at Laura and then at Arizona, "Stop making her imitate you. I don't want Laura to become a mini Arizona."

Callie burst out into laughing when she saw Arizona's shocked face, "Awwww…a mini Arizona would be totally sweet!"

"I don't make anyone imitate me. And by the way, getting earrings is awesome. So get over it!"

"This is so sweet, Alex!" Callie said to him when all of them walked to the shopping hall.

"Stop it you two! I said no comments." Alex turned around and rolled his eyes when Arizona and Callie continued smiling.

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What are your thoughts now? Thanks for reading and staying with my story!

CaseyJr