WHO: Isabel Evans, Izzie Stevens, & Alex Karev WHAT: Izzie's arrival. WHEN: Monday, November 7th; Afternoon. WHERE: Storybrooke General Hospital WARNINGS: Very brief mentions of cancer.
"The cancer is gone. The cancer is gone. Why is this happening?"
The voice beside Isabel - her own voice, unsettlingly enough - sounded strained and upset. It was difficult for her to hear and she tried to soothe the woman next to her.
"Izzie. Izzie, you've got to listen to me, okay? This is not a hallucination and I am not you." She launched into her second attempt to gently explain the circumstances of their arrival into the tiny town of Storybrooke.
She hadn't meant to end up outside the mansion. But she'd gotten lost in her thoughts about wedding details while on a walk and her feet had carried her further than she'd realized. It wasn't until she heard the started shout from Izzie that she'd snapped back to reality. Panic had filled her for a split second. Historically speaking, she hadn't done well with people who shared her face. But it only took a second for her to realize the other woman couldn't possibly be Lonnie. And only a few seconds more to realize who she actually was.
Isabel tried to explain, but soon realized that it was too unbelievable for Izzie to take in right that moment. She had a lifetime of weird to ease her into her arrival to Storybrooke, but Izzie didn't. Add in that the first face she encountered was her own, and it was no wonder the other woman had thought her mind had snapped. Understanding that she needed help, Isabel texted Alex and informed Izzie she'd take her to the hospital.
Their walk from the mansion to town was punctuated by Izzie muttering to herself about hallucinations and Isabel's further attempts to present things in a way that would make sense. She had a mild headache by the time they reached Storybrooke General, but she stuck by Izzie's side as they entered the building. She sighed with relief when she saw Alex standing there waiting for them. She gave him a wan smile and headed in his direction when Izzie spotted him as well.
"Alex?"
"Iz?" Alex asked, as if still in disbelief. He'd wanted her to appear pretty much since arriving himself. He'd said as much privately to both Isabel and to Meredith. But he still couldnt believe she was actually here now, in front of him. Alex felt a wave of emotions wash over him. Relief, at seeing the woman he knew was his true love here in this place. Worry, over how crazy she seemed right now (face it, Alex felt by now that he attracted crazy like a damn magnet), and anger, over how things had ended between them back home.
"And you... found her like this?" Alex asked Iabel, trying like hell to hide how torn up he was by all this. He wanted to kiss her, check on her, and strangle her, all at once.
Izzie felt the air being knocked out of her lungs as surely as if she'd been punched in the stomach. She was terrified, truth be told. Her other hallucinations had been vivid and tangible, but they'd always been rooted in her everyday surroundings. But finding herself in some tiny postcard town called Storybrooke scared her to death because nothing was familiar (aside from her own face) and she didn't understand what any of it meant. But then there was Alex and she knew in her heart he was real. He wasn't a part of whatever game her brain was playing on her. She'd been ready to walk out the door like he'd asked her to. Ready to leave and let him move on. But now all she wanted to do was throw her arms around his neck and never let go.
...But then he was talking to the other woman. The one with her face. Not like how it had been when he'd jokingly talked to Denny, but honest to god talking. Her mouth dropped open a little.
Isabel dropped her voice so it was low and wouldn't carry. "Yes. I was on a walk and found her out by the mansion. She just got here and I was the first person she saw. I tried to explain, but she's convinced herself it's not real. I didn't know what else to do."
"You can see her?" Izzie moved closer and stared from Alex to Isabel and back again.
"Yeah, she probably thinks she's losing it again. Like when she thought she was talking to her dead husband." Ah, Alex. Never one to mince words even when it was in his best interests. Still, Isabel already knew him well enough to be able to tell that this bravado was a well-played front, and that inside? He was being torn apart.
He instinctively took her arm, and then looked back to Isabel. "Thanks. I... the last thing she needed was to be wandering around wondering what the hell happened. I got her now."
He looked back to Izzie, giving her a deadpan tone. "Yeah. I can see her. Because I have working eyes, Iz."
And just like that, he looked back to Isabel (and yes, this WAS all very confusing, even now. Thank you for asking). "Ok, so... shoes on the other feet now. Sorry I was a massive ass to you when I first got here."
Though she was surprised by his terse words, Isabel kept her expression neutral. She also suppressed the surge of annoyance that rose at his response to Izzie. Thankfully she'd had enough experience with Michael hiding his emotions with rude behavior that she could easily recognize it for what it was. "You're forgiven," she said with a slight smile and a hand on his shoulder. "I don't think my being here is going to do her any favors, so I'm going to go. But call me if you need anything." She gave Izzie a sympathetic look. "Bye, Izzie. Take care." With a small wave to the pair of them, she made her way back out the front doors and disappeared.
Had there been a chair close by, Izzie would have sank into it. Her legs were feeling weak and the stress of the situation had her feeling nauseas. "It's real?" She turned back, incredulous, to stare at Alex again. "Everything she said is freaking real?"
At first, he said nothing. Instead, Alex wrapped an arm around Izzie, and led her to a small, currently empty waiting room, where they could sit down before her legs gave out beneath her. After settling her in, Alex took a deep breath and sat down across from her, briefly setting his face in his hands, unsure of what to do or what to say.
"Yeah. It's real. There's a bunch of us from home here. From different... I dunno... points in time, or some crap. Sloan and Lexie are even here. Mere's here, and so are grown versions of two of her kids. I still don't understand how any of this is possible, so don't ask. When I first got here, Isabel greeted me and I freaked out on her, thinking she was you."
There was a part of her that wanted to resist being shuffled off to a side room, but at that moment, she needed the comfort of Alex's touch. The memories of his words still echoed in her mind, but she ignored them and focused on the feeling of his arm around her. She sat and immediately felt the relief in her wobbling legs. She rubbed her hands on her thighs and breathed in deeply before she looked up at her husband again. She was silent for a long moment after he spoke, then without warning she burst into laughter. Oh god. Why did she always have to laugh at the most inappropriate moments? Her husband had just told her he wanted her gone. Then she shows up in a magical town greeted by a woman with her face and her name. And now apparently there was time traveling too. Her laughter continued until tears began to prick the corners of her eyes and she buried her face in her hands.
"......." He started to say something. Really. He did. But when she burst out laughing? Whatever he'd had on the tip of his tongue went buh-byes immediately out of sheer distraction. He blinked incredulously at her, realizing as they sat there that she looked exactly as she had the last time he saw her. Which meant that either she was aging DAMN well in spite of everything, or she was from at least a few years in the past. Ugh, this shit was going to kill him before it was all over, he knew it. "...the hell, Iz? After everything you've been through, everything you've literally just seen, what the hell could possibly be so funny?"
She could hear the bewilderment and irritation in his voice, but it only made her laugh harder. "I finally-" Oh god, her stomach hurt. "I finally thought things were going to go back to normal." She got a few words out in between laughs. "My cancer was gone and I thought I was going to fix things with us. But then you told me to leave and then instead I ended up here in a giant freaking cloud of purple smoke. Where there's another woman with my face, and Meredith has grown up children and we can't leave, and magic is real." Her laughter had begun to fade the longer she spoke. "I am literally in crazy town right now, so I'm going to laugh." It was either that or cry and she was not going to cry.
And right there... hearing that adorable little laugh that she had when trying not to completely break down... he couldn't help but start laughing as well. "And it gets better. I'm from a few years after you. And I was pretty much on my way to freakin' jail." For obvious reasons, he decided not to even mention Jo for now. She wasn't here... and truthfully they weren't exactly on any kind of speaking terms before he came here anyway.
"Isabel there... she was one of the first people to really try helping me here. I was so damned angry when I saw her, because I thought she was you, pretending not to know me. It's all so damn stupid..." He shook his head, knowing 'the old Alex' would have likely yelled at her, or made some horribly hurtful comment... but since The Deluca Incident, he was trying to reign himself in. Be a better man.
"I'm sorry, Iz. About everything. How things went down between us." He missed her. He loved her. But he couldn't bring himsefl to say those things. God, did he want to. But he couldn't. Not yet.
She'd almost gotten herself under control, when he started laughing too and she lost it all over again. She covered her mouth to try and keep the laughter from getting too loud as he continued. Awesome. Beautiful. He was from the future and facing jail time. Izzie's cheeks hurt and her stomach ached. Isabel - god, that seemed bizarre to think about - had seemed kind and Izzie pictured the poor woman facing the brunt of Alex's temper and having no idea why. The anger that she had left him with.
That was the thought that finally sobered her. That and his apology. She wiped at her eyes and breathed in deeply. Hope had already sprung up in her chest. Did they still have a chance? "I'm sorry too, Alex. I wish to God I had handled things differently. I- you're right. You deserved so much better."
"You know I don't... talk about crap like that. Feelings, and drama, and all that stupid stuff. It's not me." He sighed, tentatively reaching over to place a palm on her cheek. "But I missed you Iz. You don't even know. When I got here? I asked Isabel to hang out with me just because it gave me a chance to look at you."
Oh she knew all right. She'd often found it ironic that she'd fallen in love with a man so completely unwilling to discuss his emotions. But he was talking to her now. And she recognized that for the gift that it was. Especially coming on the heels of the conversation that had been so recent for her, where he'd told her to leave and so thoroughly shattered her heart. It was easy to read between the lines and realize that she had left. That she hadn't come back. She closed her eyes to hold back tears of sadness this time, and put her hand overtop of his to hold it against her cheek. "I'm so sorry. I was so messed up-" No. The cut herself off. She wouldn't make excuses. She wouldn't blame her mistakes on the cancer or getting fired or anything else. "I still don't understand even half of what's going on in this place, but-" she paused for the briefest of moments, terrified of rejection again. But she pushed through it. "But I want to make things up to you, if you'll give me the chance."
"....shut up." He told her, giving a wry little smirk. From anyone else, it would be a shockingly insulting gesture, but... from Alex? And said in that time? It was just his way of brushing everything aside and focusing on the now. He threw caution to the wind, leaning in to positively crush his lips to hers, a kiss that was at once loving, lustful, and full of an almost heartbreaking amount of longing.
Her heart practically leapt up into her throat at those two words. It was everything she'd hoped for since Meredith's phone call and her own return to Seattle. And everything she'd been denied up until this moment. There was no time for her to say anything before his lips were on hers and she was kissing him back with the same level of intensity. Her hands hooked behind his neck and pulled him closer and her body arched into him. Months of pain, anger, hurt, and longing faded away as she lost herself in him. Nothing else in this town made sense, but at least he did. At least this moment felt right. She pulled her lips back just long enough to whisper, "I love you. I love you" before she pulled him close again.
When he finally broke the kiss, he stared at her for a moment. Not out of any kind of disbelief or anger... no, this was because he wanted to reply. He wanted to tell her he felt the same way. That he'd never stopped loving her, that he'd thought about her nonstop from the moment he saw Isabel when he first arrived here.
But this was Alex Karev. So of course he wasn't going to be able to put verbiage to those thoughts. Instead, he did the best he could get out of himself, which was to rest his forehead against hers and mumble a simple, to-the-point: "Love you too, Iz."