Woohoo! I'm back. Before we get on with it I just want to update you on a couple of things.

* Firstly I am aiming to update at least once a month's (I know I'm sorry!). I wish that I had the choice to update more often and I will try to update every two weeks but I can't guarantee that I will be able to what with work commitments. Life as a teacher is not quiet. I will update once a month minimum I promise.

* Secondly some of you may have noticed that I have posted a second Grey's Anatomy story. In case it wasn't clear that story is in no way linked to this one and is completely separate.

I hope you all enjoy this!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Chapter Twenty Eight

By Rosa241

George POV:

Screw this!

Ever since that kiss I have been wracking my brain trying to work out what I did to scare Alex off. Trying to figure out why he was so determined to avoid me and I just can't figure it out. There is clearly something wrong with him, something he is refusing to talk to me about, but I don't know what. At first I was upset that he seemed to regret it, then I was worried now…now I'm just plain angry.

What the hell is wrong with him?

Here was me thinking that we could actually have something together and that we could work out how to get moving with a relationship. Now it's like…

It's like he's gotten what he wanted.

Don't do this! Meredith said that he likes you.

For some reason Meredith seems determined to see the two of us together and she's convinced that he cares about me. I just don't see it. If Alex truly cared about me then why would he push me away like this? She just doesn't want to face the truth.

Alex wouldn't just pull away for no reason. Not from you. Not you.

Yeah right! I can't help rolling my eyes at the memory of her words. At first I'd tried to believe her, convinced myself that I just had to be patient. I was sure that if I waited Alex would deal with whatever crap was going through his mind and come back to me. Now I know better. He's not interested. He regrets ever kissing me and now he's just trying to run away and be the coward that he is. Something within me sparks at the thought but I push it away. Now isn't the time to be sentimental.

As I round the corner a familiar voice reaches my ears.

"Why don't you just let it go?" The object of my thoughts voices.

"Why don't you man up?" I can't help growling at the other voice that enters the conversation. Sloan. Every time I turn around he's there with Alex, I swear the two of them are joined at the freaking hip or something.

"I'm telling you what happened with O'Malley and me was a mistake. I should never have let it happen." A dagger of pain goes through me as I get confirmation of my thoughts. "Was so stupid."

"You really are determined to be miserable aren't you?" I don't hear Alex's reply to Sloan's words but whatever he says has the older man shaking his head. "You know if you told me what the problem was then maybe I'd be able to help."

"I already explained it once." Are you kidding me? He can't even talk to me about a kiss that we shared but he can talk to Sloan. What the hell? For a moment I'm so caught up in my anger that I almost miss the next part of the conversation.

"Yeah you did and I still don't get it. I don't understand how you can possibly believe all that stuff you said." This is so pathetic. Why can't he just talk to me?

For a moment the anger within me grows too much for me to contain and instead of walking away, which naturally would have been the smart choice, I storm over to the pair.

"So that's it right?" My voice startles both of them and truth be told even I'm a little shocked at the anger laced within my words. "You won't even look at me but you'll tell him what's wrong?"

"Hey!" Sloan attempts to intervene but I'm too angry to listen to him right now.

"You know what you have no say in this!? Hell you're pretty much making this worse." Apparently those were completely the wrong words to say.

"Leave him out of this! You have a problem why don't you take it up with me?" Is he actually serious? He's actually got the nerve to say that to me!

"You're the one who brought him into this. After all the two of you are like best buddies these days. Hell you'll have a full on conversation with him about our kiss but you won't even look at me unless you have another choice. What the hell is wrong with you!?" Any other time I would have felt bad about blowing up like this but right now I have no more control left.

"What the hell? Are you jealous?" I want to deny it but I know I'd be lying if I did. "Holy crap you're jealous."

Alex POV:

"Holy crap you're jealous." The fact has me reeling for a moment and for a second neither of us says anything. Truth is that George is right. I've been so determined to ignore our kiss, so determined to ignore him, but I've talked to Mark about this way more than I should have done. It's just…easier to talk to Mark about it. I don't feel like he's judging me when I speak to him not like George.

Every time I talk to George I feel like he's weighing up every single word I say, like he's hanging on everything. Mark just listens. He just waits for me to speak and listens, actually listens, to what I say. I don't think that people hear me sometimes. I don't feel like anyone really pays attention to what I say sometimes except Meredith and Mark. I've always been able to talk to Meredith but I can't, not about this. She's too close to George to really be able to fully listen to me. Mark though…

He's got nothing riding on this. He and George aren't exactly close of anything so it's not like he's risking a friendship. Mark just wants to listen and help. I've never felt like anyone really just wanted to be there for me before, not like this.

I don't get why you're not good enough for him, whatever happened is your business and clearly you're not ready to share but you're definitely wrong.

His words from that surprise phone call last week have hung with me ever since.

"You're jealous of Mark, you're jealous of me talking to someone? So you're telling me you've never said one word about us to Meredith. You're telling me that you haven't spoken about what happened between us with anyone." I can tell from his eyes that I was right. "Okay. So let me get this straight. You can talk to Meredith, Cristina hell even Izzie about what happened between us but I'm not allowed to talk to Mark. Possessive much?"

"You are such an ass." I know I'm being an idiot right now but I can't help it. There's so much tension between us.

"I'm an ass!? For what?" My voice is rising and I ignore Marks attempts to break this up. "I'm an ass for having doubts. I'm an ass for not wanting to jump into something I'm not sure that I'm ready for. I'm an ass for having second thoughts. Really? You're telling me that I have to jump into something with you because that's what you want?"

For a moment he says nothing and I can't help cringing as what I've just said sinks in. Oh crap! I never planned on telling him all that stuff. I just thought if I left it alone he'd get bored and find someone else to deal with. I shouldn't have said anything.

"I don't believe this!" A familiar voice cuts through whatever response George had been planning to say. Despite knowing that Bailey is going to kill both of us part of me is grateful for it.

I can't deal with him.

Bailey POV:

"I have lost count of how many times I've had this conversation over the last few weeks. Apparently neither one of you have learned a damn thing so I'll repeat myself." Both men wince as I speak. "This is a hospital. We treat patients here. People come here to recover, they do not come here to listen to the two of you ranting about your personal lives!"

"Bailey I'm sorry we were just-" Oh hell no boy I am not done here.

"Did I say you could speak O'Malley? I've told you before I don't want to hear about your personal lives in this hospital. This is a place of work! Do you understand?" Both nod their heads but my expression doesn't change. "Now. I can't claim to know whatever is going on between you and right now I don't care. What I can say is this. Over the last few months I've seen the two of you bring out the best in each other and for some reason that's changed. For some reason whatever friendship you had has gone to hell. I don't know why and I hope the two of you settle it but I do not want to hear about it in this hospital again!"

"I'm sorry." Whatever else I was planning on saying is gone as Karev opens his mouth. "You're right. We shouldn't be arguing in front of the patients, it's not professional and they don't need to know about whatever's going on between us. I should have kept my cool."

"It's my fault." Looking between them I can see the genuine guilt written on both of their faces. Maybe they were paying attention. "I started the argument. This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't have been such an idiot."

"You didn't have an argument with yourself. It's both of our faults." For a moment whatever tension that had settled between them disappears and I find myself wondering, not for the first time, why the two of them don't just get their acts together but that's none of my business.

"Well at least you're both willing to admit that you were wrong." It's more than I can say for Stevens who still maintains that she wasn't in the wrong over what happened. "But that doesn't change it. Pit both of you!"

Neither of them chose to argue and both scuttle off without a word.

Men.

Just…Men!

Oh dear.

George has finally had enough of Alex ignoring him and now he's jealous of Mark (without reason let me remind you, this is George/Alex end game!). Poor Alex let slip just how he's feeling (or at least some of it) so what will George think?

What will it take to get the two of them together?

Well I promise you won't have to wait for too much longer.

Until next time,

Bye!