permanent price ✷ alex karev

034. time to try again

"time to try again"
good morning

" time to try again
at home i need to find my pills
something they forgot to teach was
how to relax when things look steep
but you and i've been told
that now we're getting older
to use some sense and not our luck
oh i never had enough
so i try again "

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season 3
 standalone chapter

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

eleanor had since not only been released from the hospital, but she'd been released without any further limitations. no mandated time off or therapy, which she was grateful for. bailey was suspicious, burke was hopeful, derek and addison were happy, yet still concerned, and mark had taken the forgiveness and ran with it.

but alex was still petrified.

not that he would ever say that, but he was. he was scared all of the time.

it certainly didn't help that eleanor refused to talk about it.

she just kept saying it was fine. well, she had said things were fine before and they weren't, so how was he supposed to believe that?

there was this looming presence of the whole situation, things had been weird, but nobody dared to talk about it.

they all avoided their problems. all of them but izzie, who usually channeled her feelings into baking, but meredith tried to explain that maybe that wasn't the appropriate thing to do. however, they were able to compromise for only one batch of muffins. after that, though, she was done.

so now, they were all avoiding their feelings.

none of them had ever seen alex care so much about things being in order. he had gone to the grocery store himself and stocked the fridge (something they weren't even sure he knew how to do). and he had cleaned, yeah, actually cleaned, which was another thing they didn't even know he could do.

he was so intent on making this right for eleanor when she came home, it was actually starting to freak them out. he was fluffing pillows when cristina asked what was wrong with him, meredith and izzie could only shrug.

but alex had done this before. sure, it wasn't exactly the same thing--helen needed to take her pills, eleanor just needed to eat--but the situations were close enough that he was prepared.

because he had done this before.

he figured eleanor would be a little bit more reasonable, being a doctor and all. he hoped it would be as quick and easy as she was claiming it would be, but he was prepared for that to not be true.

because one day his mother would be fine, and the next she was talking to the walls.

so maybe one day eleanor would be fine, and maybe the next day she wouldn't be.

but alex had done this before. he could take care of her.

he had done it before, he could do it now.