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waltzmatildah) wrote2009-10-20 03:16 pm
Alphabet Meme - X is for X Ray (So need your love, so f*** you all...)
Title: So need your love, so f*** you all... (X is for X-Ray)
Characters: Alex, George, Cristina
Summary: George and Cristina come reluctantly to Alex's rescue. No spoilers. No nothing, just a whole lotta gratuitious hurt!Alex.
Rating: PG (just a few swear words)
Word Count: 2500
Author's Note: I wrote this for three reasons, one – for
ice_whisper for the alphabet meme that I'm slowly working my way through and two – beacause I can't remember a single scene in 5 years of footage that was just Alex, George and Cristina and three – because ice_whisper and I both love a
It takes George a few seconds to realise that the annoying beeping he can hear is coming from his own pocket. He's spent the last thirty seven hours at the hospital and he's not exactly sleeping, but he's not all that awake either. He doesn't bother with the caller ID, there is only one person who ever rings him.
“Hi, mom,” he sighs into the handset, sinking down onto the bench in front of his locker. There is a pause at the other end of the line, he can hear the sound of traffic in the background, and heavy breathing, just a little louder than the cars.
“Mom?” he questions, slightly more awake now. He pulls the phone away from his ear and gives the screen a cursory glance. His eyebrows knit together in confusion as he realises his assumption was a mistake.
“Alex?”
The reply at the other end is almost giggled and George wants to kick himself because, dammit, of all the people it could have been on the line, he had to call Alex 'mom'. He can still hear Alex at the other end, giving him crap about something he really couldn't care less about; he cuts him off.
“Alex? What do you want?”
“Meredith's not answering her phone...”
“She's in surgery with Dr. Hunt. You rang me to tell me that Meredith's not answering her phone?”
“No, it's just...” George can hear Alex sigh at the other end of the line, frustrated and impatient, like it's George's fault she's busy. He senses Alex needs something and can't quite bring himself to ask George for it.
“Alex, can I help? Where are you? Aren't you meant to be here? It sounds like you're in traffic somewhere...”
“No, no, it's fine. Just get Grey to call me when she's...”
“Alex, seriously. She's in surgery. What do you need?”
There is a pause at the other end, the sound of the cars passing intensifies and George can almost see Alex struggling to relent.
“Is Yang there?”
Now it's George's turn to sigh because... seriously? Is he really that bad?
“Yes, she's here... we'll not here, here, but she's here at the hospital. I just saw her...”
“Okay... is she in surgery?”
“What? Alex... I said I just saw her, no she's not in surgery. Are you okay?”
Another pause, and by now George is really staring to think that maybe he should be worried.
“Can you come pick me up?”
Yep, he definitely should be worried.
“Pick you up? Where from?”
“Um, the park...”
“The park? Which park? There are lots of parks in Seattle, Alex.”
“Jeezus, O'Malley, the park down the road from the hospital, I don't know what it's called, the one with the empty fountain thing in it...”
“Oh, okay... but that's like... five minutes away, why do you need picking up.”
“O'Malley, seriously. Can you pick me up or not?”
George concedes finally, acknowledges that for Alex to have resorted to asking him for help then something has oviously happened, something he is definitely not planning on telling George about just yet.
“Fine, I'll be there in ten...”
“Um, O'Malley...”
There is hesitation in Alex's voice, like there is more to this favour than meets the eye.
“Can you bring Yang with you?”
“Cristina? What? Why? Izzie's in the clin-”
“No. No. Don't tell Izzie. Just find Cristina and bring her with you, tell her there'll be surgeries in it for her. That'll make her come, just... don't mention anything to Izzie yet.”
By now George is thoroughly confused and he seriously thinks he's going to struggle to convince Cristina to do anything, let alone traipse down the road to pick up Alex. Especially without a decent reason, though he thinks that maybe the fact that Alex called him at all is reason enough.
---
It's more like twenty minutes before George and an extremely reluctant and somewhat furious Cristina make their way through the park not far from the main entrance to the hospital. The echo of Cristina's 'if this is some kind of joke, I'm having both your surgeries for the next month' is still ringing in his ears.
The park is small which is lucky because the weather is absolutely foul; freezing and wet and bitterly windy, and it only takes them a few minutes to locate Alex, seated on a bench at the bottom of some well worn concrete stairs.
“About freakin' time,” he offers by way of a hello and if he wasn't completely and utterly drenched, not to mention tinged a little blue, George would probably turn around and walk right back to the car again. Cristina does.
“Okay, fine... I'm sorry...” Alex calls to her retreating back, slightly frantic and breathless. She turns towards him with raised eyebrows and meets George's gaze momentarily over the top of Alex's head. The silent 'what the fuck' is clear in her eyes but George thinks he may already have things figured out. He rounds the bench and positions himself in front of the still seated Alex, arms crossed in front of him, both to keep warm and to look intimidating. He doesn't think it's working on either count. There is a reddish scrape on Alex's left cheekbone and his palms, facing up in his lap, are torn and bleeding sluggishly. His eyes are glazed and he looks somewhat defeated and miserable. George can't help but grin.
“Left or right?”
“What?” Now it's Alex's turn to be confused, and as he continues to shiver silently in front of him, George decides to cut to the chase.
“Leg, right or left leg? Because seriously, only you would be stupid enough to run to work on a day like today. So I'm guessing that you fell down these stairs here...” George gestures vaguely behind him, in the general direction of the concrete stairs he'd noticed earlier, “... and did, I dunno, some kind of damage that meant you couldn't make it the rest of the way to the hospital and I'm also guessing that Izzie warned you about this happening this morning before you left which is why you were so adamant that I not tell her and finally I'm guessing that you were hoping that Meredith would come and pick you up so no one would have to find out, only Meredith ruined your plans and so now you are stuck with us.”
Cristina has joined George, they are standing almost shoulder to shoulder, their poses mirrored. She releases a burst of harsh laughter that has Alex closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, causing her to stop as fast as she started. George is fairly certain that his guesses have hit the nail on the head and he can't help but notice that Alex actually looks pretty bad. Probably concussed, most certainly cold and wet, and definitely in pain. He opens his eyes again and looks up at them both from under lashes that are heavy with rain.
“Left,” is all he offers, but it's tight and squeaky and has George shrugging out of his coat and settling it around Alex's shoulders because this may be Evil Spawn but George is still a gentleman. Alex glares at him but makes no move to reject the offer and George thinks that must be the turning point for Cristina too because she squats suddenly and picks up his wrists without a word to examine the damage.
“Ouch,” she comments and the tension finally breaks as Alex sighs and relaxes a inch.
“Ya think?”
“So, we've narrowed it down to the left, where abouts? Ankle? Knee? Hip?” And George really hopes it's not the hip, because if it is then this rescue mission just got a whole lot more complicated.
“Knee or ankle, not really sure anymore...”
“You're not really sure? How can you not be sure?” Cristina barks, looking up at him like he's gone mad, but George gets it.
“Well, I'd say it's a combination of the concussion and the bone numbing cold that is making it kind of hard to tell? Am I right?”
“Yeah...” Alex nods slowly, “... that and the fact that they've both been reconstructed in the past, could be either, though it's probably both...”
“Oh, damn.” Alex knows that that is as close to sympathy as he's likely to get from Cristina anytime soon.
“Yeah, damn.”
“What the hell happened?”
“Um, I got pushed down the stairs there...” Alex lifts his chin and uses it to indicate behind them.
“You got pushed?”
“Okay, fine. So I tripped and fell, there was no pushing involved, whatever...”
George allows himself a smirk, just a quick one that he tries not to let the others see.
“So, where to from here?”
“Well, I was kinda hoping that you two would take me home...”
“Take you home? What? Are you crazy? You need x-rays and scans and maybe even surgery... Wait a second!”
Alex and George both turn to Cristina, waiting for her to contine... just like she's asked.
“Is this the surgery you were talking about, when you said if I came here there would be surgery in it for me? Ortho.? You think ortho. is enough to make me come half way across town to collect your sorry ass? The least you could have done is punctured a damn lung. Do I look like Torres?”
“Cristina! Geez!”
George squats as she straightens back to standing and hovers his hands over Alex's left foot.
“Can I have a look?”
“No, shit! Don't touch it.”
“Alex, seriously. You may not remember this, being all concussed and everything, but I am a doctor, a surgeon actually, just like you...”
“You are nothing like me, O'Malley...” Alex counters, but it's quiet and defeated and there is no sting in his words, “...just... be careful, please?”
George nods and doesn't look up, there was something about the please at the end of that request that was painful to hear and so he sets about rolling the black fabric of Alex's trackpants up as far as he can without actually moving the leg. Apparently it's not gentle enough as Alex muffles what George is sure was the start of a scream into the crook of his elbow. It morphs the sound into a groan that makes Cristina jump.
“Um, Alex? Do you think I should maybe call an ambulance? You don't look too good?”
George looks up as Cristina speaks, there is worry in her voice that he's rarely heard before, not without bomb threats or ferry boats involved anyway, and suddenly he can see why. Alex is shaking, visibly and his face is ghost white, George sticks two fingers out and reaches for the pulse below his right ear.
“Shit, Alex... okay... I think maybe an ambulance is a good idea...”
“No, nnnnnoooo, no no, it's okay... I'm okay... just take me home...” his teeth are chattering now, and his eyes are completely glazed over from the pain. He makes a move to stand, stuttered and halting and both George and Cristina lunge for him and push him back down onto the bench. In a move that couldn't have been more precise if it had been choreographed, George cradles both of Alex's legs in his arms as Cristina grabs his shoulders and they lift and turn in unison to have him lying on his back on the bench before he can react.
Alex groans again and slings an arm across his eyes.
“'Mmm gonna be sick...”
“No you're not,” Cristina counters, “just take some deep breaths, if you vomit on O'Malley's jacket he'll tell the whole hospital how you squealed like a girl...”
“I didn't squeal...”
“I know, but who are they gonna believe?”
The banter effectively gets Alex's mind of the roiling nausea and dizziness and George takes the opportunity to pull the trouser leg back down. He's enough of a doctor to know that there is nothing he can do for Alex here, they need to get him back to the hospital. He pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and takes a few steps away.
“Who are you calling?” The suspicion in Alex's voice is almost but not quite masked by groggy confusion and George just wishes he would shut up and trust them.
“Santa Claus, who do you think I'm calling?”
Cristina has removed her own jacket and is laying it over Alex's upper body, testament to the amount of concern she is feeling, Alex barely notices as he scrunches his eyes up at George.
“What?”
“Alex, I'm calling an ambulance, I dunno about you but I'm pretty keen to get out of here and it's obvious that your jogging career has been put on hold for a while so I'm calling an amb-”
“No ambulance, just take me home.”
“Seriously? You can't even stand up without passing out, I'm calling an ambulance and taking you to the hospital or I'm leaving you here...”
“Okay, fine, you can take me to the hospital but, can't we just go in your car?”
Cristina's uncompassionate snort is somewhat watered down by the fact that she is standing over Alex's head to stop the rain falling in his face.
“How do you propose we get you back to the car?”
Alex struggles to a sitting position and they let him, heartened somewhat by the fact that he actually manages it without too much swearing. He reaches down towards his knee with both hands and slides his fingers under the back of his leg before slowly lowering his feet back to the ground. It's quite obviously excruciating but neither George or Cristina speak until he's seated upright with both arms in the air.
“What now?” they comment, again in unison.
“Help me up?”
“You are crazy, you know that?” Cristina retorts as she moves to position herself under his right arm. George moves to do the same on his left as Alex replies...
“And that's why you keep me around...”
Cristina laughs as they take their first tentative, miniscule step forward before they both hold their breath tightly, an antidote to Alex's harsh and rasped breathing between them.
“I swear to God, if we get back to the hospital and this is just a sprain I'm stabbing you in the chest myself just so I can sew you back up...”
George releases a sigh of relief as Cristina's banter allows him to focus on things that aren't Alex's pained moans and the twitching shudder of his muscles beneath George's fingers.
“You do realise...” Cristina continues, “... that Izzie is totally gonna say I told you so.”
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Hurt!Alex = the perfect thing to make me happy before I go to work on a term paper
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(that's if I conveniently forget about the 150 squillion word thesis that I have to complete!)
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Oh, and I don't know if you saw, but I'm trying to see if anyone would be interested in doing another Gex-fest. I posted the idea yesterday and nothing. *sigh* I know there are still people that like the pairing. They write and review.
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Sigh. Is it bad that I'm enjoying FanFiction more than the show right now? LOL.
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Thanks for the review, glad you liked!!!
The only thing I don't like about show at the moment is the orange scrubbers! Grr, lose them. I'm enjoying pretty much everything else so I'm not too worried.
In the mean time I will try to provide you with some more fic!
(BTW, LOVE your icon... hawt!!! - I still think that is one of my most favourite screen caps for pure sexiness).
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such a cute little group.
i miss George.
and I love woobie Alex. woobie Alex makes my day.
and I love these stories, and I love your writing.
you make my day. <3
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As for woobie Alex, woobie Alex has the ability to make anybodies day!
(and I'm very glad I managed to make yours!)
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(Anonymous) 2010-05-01 01:13 pm (UTC)(link)I've always loved Alex and it make me a little sad when he said that both his knee and ankle have been reconstructed in the past.Poor Alex.
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I miss George too!!!
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I also don't really ship Izzie/alex anymore but I'm imagioning a sequel where she yells and it's making me smile. This was a really fun group dynamic. Hurt! Alex is adorable.
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