Meredith woke to a high pitched wailing. She instinctively rolled over and reached for her pager, next to her she felt Derek do the same but no pager went off like that. It took a moment for her to identify the sound but when she did she was jumping out of bed. She picked up her robe from the grown and pulled it on than raced out the door. Behind her she could hear Derek doing the same. As she raced toward the stairs she noticed the door to the guest room was open and Izzie wasn't in there. Down stairs she could see a light on in the kitchen. She slowed down a little and opened the door.

Inside the kitchen was full of a smoky haze, the benches were covered in baking materials and on the ground a tray of burnt muffins lay. Izzie was crouched down in front of the oven. She still had on the dress she'd worn the day before and she was coughing uncontrollably. Meredith walked over to her and knelt down beside her. This close she could see Izzie's face was streaked with tears. She was crying and her whole body was shaking. She wrapped her arm around her back. "Izzie, come on." She said pulling her up. As they walked out the room Derek picked up the broom and used it to shut off the smoke detector.

Meredith walked Izzie out the back door and they sat down on a bench. Izzie used her arm to wipe her eyes. She'd finally stopped coughing and her breathing was returning to normal but she couldn't stop shaking. Meredith put her arm around her and tried to comfort her but she didn't know what she was supposed to say. It was 5am and five minutes ago she'd been asleep. After a while Izzie started talking.

"I'm sorry." She started saying. "I'm sorry I woke you up. I…I didn't mean to. I just…I just couldn't sleep. And I…I needed to do something. I couldn't keep lying there and I…" her voice trailed off, she'd almost told Meredith about the pills she'd taken.

"It's okay." Meredith whispered pulling her closer to her, the affection made her wince in pain but she still liked it.

"I never burn things. I…"

"Iz, it's okay, it's just a bit of smoke."

"I…" she went to say something but she didn't have anything to say. She closed her eyes and tears welled up in them again. She wiped them away and stood up. She walked over to the wall at the back of house and stared out at the view of the city, it was beautiful. Behind her she heard the door open and then Meredith and Derek talking. She couldn't hear what they were saying; she didn't care what they were saying. A few minutes later Meredith walked over to her, she was carrying with her two mugs of coffee.

"Derek made coffee." She said holding out one of the mugs. "He's been called into the hospital so you're wakeup call was kind of perfect."

"Thanks." Izzie tried to smile as she took the mug from Meredith. She sipped the drink, it tasted good, it was the first coffee she'd had in a week. They drunk the coffee in silence and watched the city light up as the sun rose. "It's beautiful." Izzie whispered.

"Yeah." Meredith sighed. She sipped the last of her drink and put the mug down. She looked over at Izzie, she was looking better, she'd stopped shaking and her tears had appeared to stop. 'Iz," she began, "What are you going to do today?"

"I don't know." She replied, she hadn't thought about what she was going to do now that she was out of the hospital. Now that she was going to have to start living in a world without Alex.

"I have to go to work." Meredith began telling her. "You can come too if you want, or you can stay here or I can take you home."

Izzie breathed in a small breath and a shiver ran through her body. She didn't like the sound of any of those options. She wasn't ready to go to work, she couldn't be responsible for other people's lives, other peoples loved ones, not when she felt like she did, she'd never forgive herself if she made a mistake and she could just see that happening. She didn't want to stay at Meredith's either. This house wasn't her home anymore and she didn't want to intrude on Meredith anymore than she already had. She knew Meredith didn't mind but she still didn't want to. But she didn't want to go home either. At home she'd see Alex but she wouldn't see him, he'd just be everywhere.

"Iz?" Meredith asked again.

She closed her eyes and breathed in again. After a moment she whispered. "Take me home." She had to go home eventually; she may as well do it now.