Title: The High Road

Author: Darley1101

Rating: M (contains adult content)

Characters: Alex/Izzie, with mention of Meredith/Derek, Callie/Arizona, Cristina/Burke/Owen, Alex/Jo

Premise: An unexpected inheritance from his father has Alex spending his vacation in a small town just south of Mobile. While there he is forced to deal with his past and re-evaluate his future.

Author's Note: I really suck at premises. Seriously, I can't write a good one to save my life. I don't know why I'm writing this story. Maybe it's because I know there are other Alex and Izzie fans out there who the amazing-ness that was Alex and Izzie. I hold no ill-will towards Jo. On her own I like her. With Alex...I just can't picture him with anyone but Izzie. Call me a selfish fan if you like. I don't really care. I miss my OTP. For those of you who feel the same way, this story is for you! (FAIR WARNING: If you are an Alex/Jo shipper this might not be the story for you. I don't have anything ugly planned between them, just the opposite really. They just aren't together romantically in this story. I know that there are some who don't want to read stories where their favorite couple isn't together so I like to give a warning.) If you want to leave a review that would be fantastic! If you don't, that is great as well. Although, it would be amazing to top the 560 reviews I had on The Only Exception. At any rate: Enjoy my dearests...enjoy.

Side Note: The title for this story came from the Three Days Grace song The High Road. (Adam singing, not Matt)

Side side note: This first chapter is rather short. It is mostly setting things up for the second chapter. I promise the story does get better! As you will in the end there are some BIG changes in store for Alex...

Chapter One

"Giving up doesn't always mean you're weak; sometimes it means you're strong enough to let go."

Dr. Alex Karev sat behind the wheel of a rented Nissan and stared. The house before him was supposedly a Creole Cottage but looked more like a neglected shack. It was two stories of peeling white paint, cracked windows and rose bushes gone wild. This was what his father had left him? This was what he had used three weeks of vacation for? An all to familiar anger started squeezing his heart. He should have known. As a kid his father had never given him anything worth having, what had made him think it would be any different now? A grimace twisted his face. Nothing. Nothing had made him think it would be different. He'd needed out of Seattle for a while and checking on the property his estranged father had left him had seemed like the perfect excuse. Now that he was faced with the shit hole his father had left him he wondered if staying in Seattle and dealing with Jo's sudden desire to take a break wouldn't have been the lesser of two evil's.

Dead grass crunched beneath the soles of his boots as he made his way through the weed infested yard. Each step Alex took added fuel to the fire burning in his gut. The old man had disappeared without so much as a fuck you for eighteen years, only to show up in Grey-Sloan Memorial's emergency room strung out on drugs. If that hadn't been bad enough, the piece of shit had died. Most of his father's death could be credited back to that incompetent ass Shane, but at the moment Alex wanted nothing more than to blame the old man. If his father hadn't died, he wouldn't be wasting his vacation time fixing up some run down cottage so it could be sold.

"Hey! You can't go in there!"

Pausing mid-step, Alex glanced over his shoulder to find a tall, slender girl of maybe fourteen or fifteen standing near his car. She stared at him with wide hazel eyes that looked vaguely familiar and had a determine look on her face. "I have keys," he called back, holding up the key ring the lawyer in Mobile had given him. His answer didn't seem to satisfy the girl because she stayed put, one brow arched towards her wispy side angled bangs. "I'm the new owner."

"Really? You bought this dump?" Curiosity shown in her eyes as she started walking towards him.

Alex bit back a sigh. He wanted nothing more than to tell the kid to scram. He wanted to scope out his "dump" in private. That wasn't going to happen. Whoever this kid was, she wasn't afraid of strangers and didn't know how to take a hint. "No. I didn't buy it. My dad left it to me."

"Seriously? Does your dad hate you or something?"

A smirk twitched on his lips. The kid had no idea how close to the truth she was. "Or something," he replied when he seen the expectant look on her face.

She shook her head, strands of long blond hair sticking to her cheek. An almost bitter smile twisted her lips. "My dad was a piece of shit to," she said softly, her hazel eyes darkening with a haunted look Alex knew all to well. He'd seen the look many times. It was the same one he'd had growing up. Seen to much. Grown up to soon. "Is it wrong that I'm kinda glad he's dead?" The question was asked in a low whisper. "I know I probably shouldn't ask you that because I don't really know you but I don't have anyone else I can ask."

"No," Alex answered softly. There was probably a shrink out there some where screaming that he was in the wrong; that he should have told this kid no matter how awful her father had been he had still been her father. People who pushed that propaganda had grown up in normal homes with normal parents. They hadn't watched their father shoot the grocery money into his veins. They hadn't tried to keep their family together while their mother sliced her wrists and took to many pills. Alex had done that, and so much more. Something told him the girl in front of him knew what that life was like. He didn't have the time to be her shoulder or confidant. His focus needed to remain on fixing up the place in front of him and selling it so he could get back to Seattle. Back to Jo. They weren't over. He wasn't going to let them be over. Not over something she couldn't even explain.

"Thanks." Her face lit up with a brilliant smile that reminded him of his little sister Amber. Amber hadn't smiled often but when she did...it was bright enough to light up a room. "I'm Avery by the way. Avery Karev." The blood in his veins stilled. He hadn't heard her correctly. He couldn't have. His mind raced through the last conversations he'd had with father. Another family in Florida. Alabama wasn't far from Georgia. No. He refused to believe it. He didn't have another sister. This girl wasn't related to him. The last name was just a coincidence. It had to be. Didn't it?