Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and its awesome characters belong to the wonderful Shonda Rhimes and to ABC. I only borrow the characters for fun and own nothing. This story is merely for entertainment purposes and to satisfy my own craving at attempting to write a McStizzie story. That is all.

Note: My first Grey's Anatomy fanfic! So I started of as an Alex/Izzie fan but after reading all the wonderful McStizzie fanfics here on this site, I've decided to now root for a Mark/Izzie pairing. Woot! This story has also been sitting on my computer for the longest time (like two years now…) and I just realized that I never posted it. Better late than never right?

The timeline might be off from the actual show, but since this is just a story, no one really cares right? (grins)

Summary: "You were the last person I ever expected to be friends with. Guess it just goes to show that life is full of surprises. And you? Well, you're the best kind of surprise."

Karma.

It was an easy concept to understand when one really thought about it. The cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one or more actions according to that person's deeds in a previous situation. In other words, what goes around comes back around eventually. It was inevitable. And it was exactly this thought that was running through Dr. Mark Sloan's mind as he watched Addison Montgomery and Alex Karev stumbling from one of the on-call rooms at Seattle Grace Hospital, straightening their clothes and walking awkwardly away from one another.

They never even noticed his presence.

It was at that moment Mark knew that whatever attempt he and Addison had at a relationship, it was over. Gone. Done. Finished. Their sixty days no-sex pact was broken and it had been Addison, not he, who had broken it. And it had been Karev she had slept with, of all people. Mark Sloan was not a stupid man, far from it in fact. He had noticed Addison's distracted behavior as of late but had chalked it up to sexual frustration.

I thought you said you didn't think about me.

I don't. I'm actively not thinking about you right now.

The memory of the last night they shared together flowed through his mind and he suddenly had the urge to hit something. Anger began coursing through his veins as he began walking at a furious pace towards his office, ignoring the curious stares he received as he walked by. He knew with sudden realization just how true Addison's words were that night. How could he have been so foolish? He really should've known better. Hadn't past experiences taught him that everything he touched, he ultimately destroyed? Mark had known from the start that Addison was too good for him, but that hadn't stopped him from trying to win her heart. He should've known that things wouldn't have worked out for him. Relationships and love weren't for damaged people like him. They were for people who were good and not cynical and… irrevocably unbroken. All he was really good for was warming up someone's bed. Fairy tales and happily ever afters weren't meant to be for a one Dr. Mark Sloan.

It hadn't stopped him from having hope… he had been ready to give it all a real shot. Mark didn't fail to notice the irony in this particular situation though, Derek had lost Addison to him and now he had lost Addison to Karev. On top of that, he was alone and the worst thing was the fact that he had no one to blame but himself.

Karma really was a bitch.

Mark entered the Emerald City Bar later that night and took a seat at the counter, sitting directly in front of Joe. He knew that Addison was currently sitting with Karev and his intern friends without turning around to check. That flash of red hair was impossible to mistake, even in the dim lighting. Even from all the way across the room, he heard her laughter and he had to close his eyes. When was the last time he'd heard Addison laughing so heartily? It had been so long – he couldn't remember.

"Rough day?"

He opened his eyes to see Joe the bartender looking down at him with concern. Mark sighed, resting his arms onto the counter. "You have no idea. May I get a Scotch on the Rocks?"

Joe raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're certainly polite tonight. What gives?"

"You don't wanna know. Trust me," Mark replied as he took the glass that had been placed in front of him. "I almost wish I didn't know. But I do. And now life sucks."

"Take it easy, alright?" Joe gently patted him on the shoulder before moving to fill someone else's order.

As much as he didn't want to, Mark couldn't help but look over to where Addison was sitting. The redheaded doctor was listening intently to whatever it was that Callie Torres-O'Malley was saying but as she did so, she kept stealing glances at Karev who was sitting on her left side. It took every ounce of self-control he had to not go over there and punch Karev's face in.

It's really over. She's made her choice.

Letting out another sigh, he turned back around and finished his drink, placing some bills next to the empty glass on the table. He glanced one last time at Addison before heading towards the entrance and going out the doors into the night alone.

Alone.

For months now, she had felt alone. Sad. Solitary. Isolated. And because of her most recent actions – she was now lonelier than she could ever remember being.

The night air was cool and crisp as Izzie Stevens made her way home from the hospital. A strong gust of wind whirled around her, making her long blonde hair fly around wildly and she reached up and brushed a lock of hair away from her face, tucking it behind her right ear as the wind began to settle. She wrapped her jacket tighter around her and continued walking. The moon hung high in the sky, all full and illuminating and if she hadn't known any better she would've believed that the full moon was a symbol for all things good and beautiful.

Her life was a mess. The only positive thing that had happened within recent months was her career sort of going back on track. Granted, the only thing she was allowed to do at the moment was to listen and observe but at least she was still a surgeon-in-training. At least she hadn't totally blown everything out of the water, so to speak.

Izzie Stevens was a lot of things but the one thing she had never done before was adultery. Well, until a few weeks ago anyway. Tears began to fill her eyes as she thought of her best friend. It had only been a few weeks but she missed his presence desperately. And there was nothing she could do to convince George to speak to her again. Their drunken one night stand had resulted in a broken friendship, causing everyone to take sides and who would've thought that she'd end up alone?

But alone she was. Alex had taken the news of her sleeping with George very badly and refused to listen to her attempts at an explanation. Even Meredith had turned away from her, unable to deal with her actions, but Izzie supposed she couldn't really blame her friend for being mad. After all, Meredith knew what it was like to be sleeping with a man who was married. And of course, being Meredith's person, Cristina Yang was automatically against her too. Though, Izzie suspected that Cristina wasn't really all that mad at her but more disappointed than anything.

For once in her life she had no idea how to fix things. She didn't know what to do to earn her friends' forgiveness and their respect; she had no idea how to fix things with George… and with Callie. As much as she didn't care for Dr. Torres… Dr. Torres-O'Malley, she corrected herself… she didn't like to hurt people and her actions had caused Callie a world of pain. She had no idea what to do and she wished that she still had someone to talk too.

Meredith's house loomed in the distance and she was relieved to see that it was dark – if the house was dark, then that meant it was possible no one was home. She knew Alex was at Joe's as she had overheard him talking about his plans after work in the locker room earlier. As she walked up the pathway, she looked around to see if Meredith's car was in the driveway. It wasn't, and Izzie was grateful that she would be able to get into the house without running into anyone.

She opened the front door and headed straight to her bedroom and as soon as she had shut the door and locked it, Izzie let out a sniffle and the tears came flooding out. All day she had been holding in her emotions, refusing to let anyone see her in a state of distress. She laid on her bed, hugging a pillow to her chest as she cried, wishing that she had someone there to comfort her. She reached out for a tissue from the Kleenex box that was lying on her nightstand and in doing so; her eyes strayed to the picture frame that rested on the small table. Her hand automatically reached for the picture and she looked at it, her eyes scanning the five smiling faces staring back at her. She recalled when the picture had been taken – on a rare day off for the five interns, they had spent the whole day at the park on a warm sunny afternoon.

That had been when she had been at her happiest… before her one night stand, before her fight with George, before… Denny.

Now, she was just an empty shell of the woman she used to be. The last couple of weeks, her life had been without force or effect. She felt hollow and meaningless, just… empty. She longed to be the person she was before – bright, warm, bubbly and happy. More than anything she just wanted to be happy again. Her sobs began to quiet down until the tears began to silently fall down her cheeks as she thought of what she could do.

One of her philosophies in life was that if you didn't like something, change it. And right now, she didn't like who she was. Starting first thing tomorrow, Izzie Stevens was going to do her best to right all the things that were wrong in her life. Priority number one: taking the time to focus on herself and to be content with who she was. She had to heal herself first before she could even attempt to fix everything else. It was time to move on and let certain things go.

And it was with that last thought, Izzie felt into an uneasy sleep.

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