Wow, so it definitely has been a while since I've updated. Things are gonna change drastically in this story to somewhat mirror what is currently happening in the show. I'm going to apologize to all Alex/Izzie shippers now, but what is about to happen to them, you're not going to like.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Relationships Never Last

Witnesses who detected the accident managed to call an ambulance for the badly injured, unconscious Amelia Shepherd. The hospital contacted her mother as soon as they could, and her and Derek quickly made there way there. Derek was worried, and angry—but above anything, he felt guilty. He should have protected her better. Now he'd lost his father and the doctors informed them that Amelia was in critical condition. Derek called Meredith who managed to drive down to the hospital as soon as she was told what happened.

Derek and his mother sat in the E.R. waiting room when Meredith made her way through the automatic sliding doors, "What happened?" She asked, a look of concern plastered across her features as she took a seat beside him.

"They took her into emergency surgery," his mother stated, looking as though she's been crying.

"She got into a car accident. They found traces of oxicodone in her system," he said, looking at his girlfriend with an expression that confirmed both of their suspicions and Izzie's observation, "I'm so stupid."

"It isn't your fault, Der—"

"Yes it is!" He cut her off, slightly raising his voice, causing other people in the room to look in his direction. He lowered his voice, taking in a deep breath and releasing it, "Yes it is. I should've been looking out for her. I never should've taken my eyes off of her—I knew how unstable she's become since dad died."

Meredith didn't know what to say or how to comfort him with words in this moment, so she simply took his hand in hers and rested her head on his shoulder. They shared this moment in silence as they awaited news from Amelia's surgeons.

"Mom, you can't do this!" Izzie screamed, tears streaming down her face.

"I have no choice, Cricket!" She exclaimed back at her daughter, a look of sympathy on her face.

"But I'm pregnant—"

"Exactly! You're pregnant," she paused, letting her voice become softer as Izzie broke down into sobs. The redhead wondered if she should walk over and comfort her daughter or if she should simply stay put, "and I don't want to live in this trailer park forever. If I take this job, we can move someplace better. Bigger. You might even be able to keep your baby."

With that, Izzie's brows furrowed and she looked up at her mother, "What do you mean?"

"Well, darling, you didn't actually think you were keeping this baby after it was born, did you?"

The look on Izzie's face clearly said otherwise.

"Oh, dear," her mother paused, shaking her head, "you'd never be able to properly care for it here."

"But I have Alex—"

"Alex," the redhead snorted, sounding almost amused at the thought, "as if Alex could care for a child, he can barely care for you. Now, we're leaving by the end of this week, Cricket. You can fight me as long as you must, dear, but it's happening. I'm taking that job in Los Angeles."

With that, her mother left the room, leaving a broken Izzie sitting on the couch, a mess of sobs.

George was fast asleep in his warm bed when he heard his ringtone, Izzie's ringtone, and his phone buzzed against the wood surface of his nightstand. With a snort, he awakened, rubbing his eyes as the harsh light from his phone burned into his eyes. He clumsily picked it up and put it to his ear, "Iz.. do you realize what time—"

"Geroge," she said weakly, and he could tell immediately that something was wrong.

"Izzie… what's up?" He asked, becoming more lucid as he rose into a sitting position on the bed.

"I—I—" her sobs overcame her again, and she was unable to finish her sentence.

"I'm coming over. Hang on," he hung up the phone, out of bed and dressed in less than two minutes as he snuck out of his house and walked down the block to Izzie's trailer park where she was sitting out on her front porch. He hurried down the gravel driveway, stopping in front of her. He was out of breath, as if he ran as quickly as he could to her aide, "What's wrong? Are you hurt? Is it the baby?"

"I'm moving," she said, which was followed by another sob, which she tried her best to choke back.

George was utterly confused now, and he finally took a seat beside her on the top step of her porch, "Moving? What—what do you mean moving?"

"Moving, that's exactly what I mean, George," she managed to say, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands vigorously, "my mom's making me move… she got a job. She said we'll be making more money, so I can possibly keep my baby…"

George fell silent, his stomach tying itself up into knots. He looked at the gravel, asking the first thing that came to mind, "Where?" His voice was weak.

"Los Angeles," she whimpered.

George's head jerked in Izzie's direction, a look of disbelief on his expression.

"What am I gonna tell Alex? What am I gonna do?" She slowly began to sob once more.

"Alex?" George paused, looking back down, "What about me? What—" he paused, fighting away his own emotions, "what am I gonna do here without you? How am I supposed to survive the taunting without you there to back me up? How am I even suppose to talk to April again without you to push me? What—what am I gonna do?"

Izzie's brows furrowed slightly, and she backed away from George a bit, "This isn't about you, George. This is about me. This is about my baby, and how it's never gonna meet its father! I can't believe you're being so selfish!"

With that, she stood from the steps and stormed back into her trailer.

"Izzie!" He pleaded, but she never came back out, leaving him no choice but to go back home. Before he got into bed, he left her a text message:

I'm sorry, Iz. That was selfish of me, you're right. I'm just… I'm gonna miss you. More than you can even imagine.

Cristina's parents were away for the week and she decided to have an impromptu party that night, and regardless of how early students were to be up the next morning, it was a pretty good turn out. Who needs sleep anyway, right? Her friends invited their friends, friends who Cristina didn't even really know—but the house was big enough for everyone and at the moment, Cristina was too drunk to care about who was there. Except for Owen. He hadn't shown up yet and he wasn't answering her texts or phone calls. It was making her a bit anxious, and even more so, annoyed.

"Oh, God—I shouldn't be here. I'm gonna get in so much trouble if my parents find out I went to a party," April panicked softly.

Reed placed a hand on her shoulder, "They think you're spending the night at my house, stop worrying. Have a few drinks, dance a little. Stop being so… you. Please."

"Anybody seen Yang anywhere?" Jackson asked as he stepped forward to the pair of girls.

"No, we haven't seen your girlfriend anywhere. She's probably passed out drunk somewhere—she started drinking before the party even started," Reed rolled her eyes and she scoped out the place for any hot guys—namely Alex Karev. But her eyes fell upon someone else who caught her attention. "Well, well, well, who have we got here?" She smirked, walking up to the guy, leaving April all by her lonesome in the crowded room.

"Wait, Reed… don't leave me," she said, but it was too late. Reed's attention was gone.

"Hello, gorgeous," Reed said, stopping in front of Mark Sloan, "what's your name?"

Mark smirked down at the shorter girl, leaning his shoulder against the mantel of the fireplace, "A little forward for such a little girl, aren't we?"

"Believe me, I'm no little girl," she said, lust obvious in her eyes, "it's okay. I don't have to know your name. I just have one more question for you."

"And what's that?"

"Do you wanna go upstairs with me?"

Mark leaned forward, his cheek brushing passed Reed's to whisper into her ear, "I'm not interested, sweetheart. But thanks for the offer."

Lexie had gotten the invite from Meredith earlier that day, so she decided to go just to check it out. Maybe Mark would be there. God, did she even want to see Mark right now? What would she say to him if she did see him? Just as she thought that, her gaze met up with the sight that broke her heart. Mark and some redhead from across the room. He had that devilish smirk on his face. Was he flirting with her? He noticed her lean forward, and in her line of vision, it looked as though Mark kissed the girl on the cheek.

As Mark pulled back from the whisper, he caught sight of Lexie watching him from across the room. The look on his face made his stomach flip. Oh God. Lexie turning on her heels and started heading promptly for the door, and without another word to Reed, Mark took off after her, pushing through the crowd of people.

"Lexie!" He shouted once he got outside, stopping Lexie at the end of the driveway, "that's not what it looked like!"

She turned around, tears welling up in her eyes as she spoke with brokenness and anger in her shaky tone, "I don't care, Mark! I should've listened to Meredith! She was right about you."

She turned back toward the street once more, and Mark felt himself sprint toward her, grabbing onto her wrist gently to get her to stop, "I love you." He blurted, surprising the both of them.

Lexie froze, but then she realized that he was probably just lying to her. She yanked her wrist away, not daring to look back at him, "Tell it to somebody who cares."

Mark felt a pain in his heart in that moment. This must be what he made girls feel like. This must be what a broken heart feels like. He watched Lexie walk down the street until she was inside of her own house, and he made his way back inside. A look of guilt, sadness, and self-frustration on his face, he scoped out Reed. Once he found her, he took her by the hand and led her upstairs, "C'mon." She didn't object.

Upstairs in her parents' master bedroom, she tried Owen's phone one more time with no answer. That was when she realized that Meredith hadn't arrived yet either. She dialed Meredith's number and it rang a couple of times before she heard a voice in the doorway. She jumped, hanging up the phone, thinking it might be Owen. But she was highly disappointed when she looked and noticed Jackson standing there with that smug look on his face.

"Oh… Avery," Cristina slurred in her drunken state, disappointment in her tone.

"Cristina," he smirked, entering the room further.

"Who invited you?"

"Reed and April."

"Who invited them?" She made a face, looking over at him as she took another swig of the beer in her hand.

"You're drunk, aren't you?" He kept walking closer until he was literally a foot away, and Cristina felt herself take a step back until her back touched the wall.

"That's none of your business," she said, and she felt a small half grin form on her lips as Jackson filled the space between them.

"I'm tired of this cat and mouse thing we've got going on here. Just… let me…" his words trailed off as he leaned in, pressing his lips to hers. She actually let her lips react for a moment, kissing him back for what seemed like an eternity until she finally forced herself to sober up for a moment and make sense of what she was doing. But before she was able to pull away and give him the slap on the face she fully intended on doing, she heard, "What the fuck is this?" It was Owen.

BEFORE OWEN ARRIVED AT THE PARTY

Owen had gotten a call from Teddy earlier that evening, and he had spent some time with her and her place.

"I really like her—or… well, I thought I did. Maybe I was just…" Teddy didn't finish her sentence, she just shook her head and looked away from Owen.

"Maybe you were just what?"

She let her hazel orbs come up and meet his blue ones, speaking after a moment of just staring into his eyes, "Maybe I was just trying to do something totally out of character for myself to… to try and get over you."

Owen ripped his eyes from hers and he looked down, "You're gonna have to try harder. It doesn't mean you… go try out lesbianism, because that clearly isn't for you," he offered her a small smirk, not able to make direct eye contact, "you're just gonna have to find someone… someone who's not me. A guy who can make you feel the way I apparently make you feel."

"There is no one," she forced a smile on her face to keep from crying.

There was a long silence after that.

"I think I'm going to leave. I'm gonna ask my parents if I—if I can just transfer to a different school. So I don't have to see you every day."

Owen felt a tinge of sadness appear on his face, "But, Teddy, I—"

"Don't. Seeing you every day, and not being able to have you. It's killing me."

Owen sighed, looking down at the floor again.

"I love you, Owen."

He didn't stick around to talk more after that. He couldn't bare the thought of losing his best friend in the entire world.

Once Reed ditched April, the shy, auburn-haired girl didn't stay at that party for too long. Some jerk spilled his drink on her, and that was it. What was she going to do now? She couldn't go home with beer on her shirt. Her parents would kill her. She walked down the street, wondering if she should just wait it out in Reed's backyard until Reed was finished at the party, or if she should just risk it and go home.

George couldn't get back to sleep after not hearing anything from Izzie. So he got up and headed outside once more. He didn't get very far, though, as soon as he noticed a distressed looking April walking down the sidewalk. He swallowed his nerves after realizing that Izzie probably wouldn't care to see him right now away, then spoke up loud enough for April to hear him across the street, "April…"

The doe-eyed girl peered up, wondering herself if she should stop and talk to this boy… who that she was pretty… or if she should just keep walking.

"Is everything okay?"

She simply nodded her head, continuing to walk down the sidewalk. That was when she realized she couldn't go home. Not like this. She stopped, and then made her way across the street and stopped in front of George, "Actually… everything's not okay."

"Callie," Arizona's mother called for the Latina as she sat at her dining room table. She knew the girls were still awake. She could hear the two of them talking upstairs.

Callie made her way down not long after she was called, with her blonde girlfriend trailing behind her, "Yes, Mrs. Robbins?"

"Sit down," she said politely, which began to make both Callie and Arizona quite nervous.

"I won't leave you with this horrid anticipation you must be feeling, so I'm just going to tell you," she paused, looking her daughter's girlfriend directly in her eyes, "I would like to speak with your father."

Callie and Arizona shared a look, then they looked back at her mother, "W-What?"

"He's your father, honey. He'll want to know that ever thing is okay. I just want to have an adult conversation with him, and let him know that I'll be happy to keep you for as long as you need to stay here."

"I—I don't think that's a good idea, Mrs. Robbins," Callie stuttered.

"Yeah, her dad's… kind of a hard person to talk to."

"So be it. If he doesn't want to hear from me, I'll politely leave."

Callie and Arizona both just looked at each other once more, anxiety on their features before both nodding in agreement.

I know it's rough. It's been a while since I updated, but I really love this story and all the love you guys have for it. So I'm definitely going to continue it! Read & review! Thanks, loves!