Stitches of Life

State of Love and Trust

"Can we please not talk about this?" I sighed.

"Fine," she nodded. "How are you handling the breakup with Mark?"

"Lexie." We both looked towards the door, finding Arizona standing there.

"Yeah?" Lexie asked while I sat there, relieved to see the blonde attending, meaning that Lexie wouldn't be able to question me about Mark, not now at least.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked as he, Cristina, and I all had our lunch down in the morgue while Meredith and Avery were practicing for their whipple surgery later today.

"She's on this thing-" Meredith began.

"Okay, if you had to choose between the thing you love- surgery- and the person you love, which would you choose?" Cristina asked him.

"You would choose Izzie, right?" Meredith questioned before Alex had a chance to answer. "Because you two are gonna get back together."

"Shut up." Alex rolled his eyes.

"Wait, why do you have to choose?" Avery frowned in confusion.

"That doesn't matter. You just do." Cristina shook her head. "Which is it- surgery or love?"

"I want both." Avery said.

"That's what I said." Meredith nodded in agreement.

"No, you- you can't have both." Cristina told them.

"Why the hell not?" Avery pressed.

"Why the hell is he here?" Cristina asked.

"I said he could be in here because he's in the whipple, too." Meredith said.

"Okay, whatever." Cristina brushed it off. "Once again, you cannot have both. You have to choose."

"Choose what?" Izzie asked as she joined us, taking a seat next to Cristina. "Uh, my... my PET-scan got pushed back an hour, so I thought I'd join you for lunch."

"Okay. That." Cristina pointed at the cadaver that Meredith and Avery were working on. "You have to give up that- learning the procedure, tuning out the world until you get it, like, you know, doing the procedure is the only thing that matters, like if you don't get to do it, you'll die. That's why you have to give up."

"For what?" Izzie asked.

"Love." Cristina, Meredith, Alex, and I all answered her at the same time.

"Why?" She frowned.

"Yeah, that's what I said." Avery chuckled.

"Okay, that's not the point." Cristina cut in. "You know you couldn't do it. You know you'd choose the procedure."

"Fine!" Meredith gave in. "If I had to choose, gun to my head, I would choose surgery, okay?"

"Okay, well, thank you." Cristina nodded, satisfied. "Is that so hard to say? I don't know, why is it so bad to say that out loud?"

"Because it's crazy." Izzie shrugged. "It's crazy. Surgery- it's just a job. It's just a job. It's the thing you come home from, not the thing you come home to. And if you lose your job, you get another one, 'cause there's always another one. But... if you lose your love... If you think you're losing your love... well, then suddenly, nothing else matters."

"This is what you guys talk about during lunch?" Avery shook his head.

"I'm with them." Alex spoke up, looking across the table at his wife. "Love comes and goes. Surgery doesn't."