SHE | alex karev

chapter twenty five

"There is nothing familiar about this. Unfamiliar. Denny died. The man she loves died," Meredith whisper-yelled.

"Yeah, but you're all dark and twisty inside."

"Dark and twisty?"

"The mother with the Alzheimer's thing and the father you don't talk to." Cristina gestured with her hand.

"And the tequila thing. And the inappropriate men thing," Alex added.

"You are dark and twisty inside, Meredith, and now Izzie is dark and twisty inside." George nodded.

"So, all of a sudden I'm the president of people with crappy lives?"

"Seriously, we have to do something," George said. "Someone has to go in there."

Again, they all turned to Meredith and stayed quiet, but the blonde simply rolled her eyes. Alex, who had been left thinking, bit his lip anxiously and then talked as an afterthought.

"Has any of you visited Billie yet? 'Cause she's got about three more days in the hospital before she's discharged, and I don't want her to feel like we've forgotten about her," he asked, and judging by the guilty look on his friends faces, he knew none of them had been around.

☆

"Hey," Alex said once he walked into Billie's ICU room.

The girl laid on her side, cheek delved into her pillow. Her body shifted none in reaction to his voice or even his presence in the room. She simply looked straight ahead into the static nothingness, even when Alex pulled a chair and sat in front of her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, leaning a bit forward in order to speak intimately.

Billie didn't answer verbally. Instead, she simply limited herself to shrug her shoulders and avoid his eyes, not for any particular reason, but because she was so emotionally devoid that doing it would've costed her an unimaginable amount of energy she lacked.

"Allen told me your incision's healing nicely," he then proceeded, concerned at his girlfriend's disconnected stance. "That's good, can I- can I take a look?"

Billie didn't answer yet again, but turned over onto her back as a way to silently grant him the permission. Alex nodded and lifted her gown very slowly, softly, in order not to trigger her in any way. He took a look at the scar and nodded his head, then covered her with the gown and sat back down on the chair.

"Have you been having any pain, any...?" he asked, trailing off near the end in order to wait for the answer.

When it never came, he sighed very softly. Alex intended to stay the rest of the afternoon in that room with her just so that she knew he was there, but with great timing, his pager went off. He bit his lip.

"I have to go, Bil," he said, caressing her head softly with his palm and then standing up to plant a soft kiss to her forehead. "I'm sorry."

He gave her one last look, as if waiting for her to say something, but when she didn't, he turned on his heel and walked towards the door. Until he stopped.

"Could you just-" he began, softly. "Could you tell me what's going on inside your head? Please?"

Billie closed her eyes and said nothing.

☆

"Has she said anything yet?" Edward Allen asked Derek as they both stood outside Billie's room, watching her through the glass.

Derek shook his head, "It's like she's not even there."

"Have you considered talking to Psych? Calling in one of the shrinks? Maybe they'll be able to talk to her." Edward turned, leaning his shoulder against the glass.