Papa Karev

_

It was a strange feeling, the defensive one that Sofia felt when Alex had stepped in. Her mind didn’t immediately think that Alex was trying to be helpful, not in that moment. Instead, she had that same feeling that she always had as an intern. That most interns had, really. That the other doctors were telling them what they can’t do and feeling like cases were always being stolen.

Professionalism had been a strongsuit of Sofia’s, but in this moment, it lapsed. Because she looked right at Alex, brows furrowed, and shook her head. “I’m here,” she spoke, her tone a little lower as she spoke a little more assertively. “I’m going to help.”

And then she turned her head from Alex to the patient, who was being extremely brave for a child in that scenario.

_

If it was any other resident, Alex would have lost his shit at the insubordination. He looked at her, eyes narrowed, reminding himself that she was going through something. “Fine,” he said, his tone indicating that they’d be discussing it later.

 Like Sofia, he looked back to the kid. “Can you tell me what happened?”

The women who had brought him in quickly gave them the story, saying that she was babysitting the boy when he’d come off his skateboard. Alex winced in sympathy. It was probably just a strain or a break somewhere in his forearm. 

“Oof, that’s rough, huh kid? Can you tell me where it hurts?” The kid indicated his arm and Alex started an examination of it. But before he’d done much, the babysitter spoke up again, saying that the kid wanted her to bring him there because his mother was a doctor at Seattle Grace Mercy West.

Alex’s eyes naturally flicked to Sofia’s, wondering whose kid they were treating. He smiled back. “Oh, that’s cool, who’s your mom, kid?”

But then the kid replied ‘Amber Karev’ and Alex realised the boy he was treating was his own nephew, Cameron. Alex froze up as the pain washed through him because this stranger was someone he should already have loved like a son. 

It was something the boy might have realised too, given that Sofia had called him ‘Dr Karev’ already. 

“Oh,” he said. “Uh.”

audrey was on her way over to ask meredith a question, hoping she had been home but when she entered the house knowing that the door was usually always unlocked. she was surprised to see her dad there. “what are you doing here? don’t you have food at home? you’re eating all of aunt meredith’s food.” the brunette raised and eyebrow and then looked around the kitchen. she sighed as she didn’t see anybody else around and took a seat the table. “are you the only one here? i was kind of looking for aunt meredith.” 

-

“Oh my god,” Alex said, ignoring her actual questions at first. “This is great! I already had two lunches here today. This’ll be like a freaking record for the amount of Shepherd food I’ve stolen if you start eating too.” He quickly started making her a sandwich. 

He grinned. “But yeah, I’m the only one here. Bailey and Ellis left earlier, at various points. And I still can’t figure out where Mer is.” He left out the fact that his intention to find Meredith had been made derailed when he’d starting watching wrestling on their TV instead. “You okay kiddo? Something up?”

Ellis was used to hearing people in her house by now. When her parents weren’t home, she knew it was possible one of their friends or one of her aunts or uncle would stop by. It was a really good thing she never had any desire to hookup with anyone because getting them in and out without being seen might have needed an invisibility cloak or a really good lie.

So when Ellis walked downstairs and found Alex in her kitchen, she couldn’t say she was surprised. She smiled and gave him a little wave before shrugging. “Sure, I’ll take one. You want chips or fries with it?” She walked over to the fridge, also grabbing the jar of mayo and the cheddar cheese.

_

“Ooh, chips, definitely” Alex said, getting some bread out to make Ellis’ sandwich for her. “Which is cool that you’re offering, by the way, since I’m pretty sure you must be the only one keeping the pantry stocked at this point.”

Alex looked up at her and smiled. “Speaking of which, you seen your Mom around?”

The washer at his apartment had decided to crap out just as he ran out of clothes that were acceptable to head into work in, and so he’d run over to his parents’ place in order to do a couple of loads of laundry. He’d been resting in his old bedroom, which had been turned into a guest bedroom, waiting for the laundry to be ready to move over and when his alarm went off, he headed downstairs. 

It really wasn’t a surprise to see Alex standing in the kitchen and making a sandwich. His parents’ house had always been a place where certain random individuals (Alex, Mark, Amelia, Cristina) would just turn up out of the blue and make themselves at home. “Hey, I’ll definitely take a sandwich. Sounds exactly like what I need right now.”

-

“Sure, kiddo.” Alex said, setting the turkey on top of the ham. He’d really come over to see Meredith or one of the other attendings, but it was nice to see Mer’s kids too. 

“You know, I haven’t really seen you since you stopped travelling. You been working hard?” Alex added some tomato and lettuce and slid the sandwich over to Bailey, then set about making another one for himself.

The kitchen was surprisingly well stocked - Ellis or Bailey or someone must have gone grocery shopping recently. He had already piled the sandwich with ham and was now opening a packet of turkey.

“Oh hey,” he said, as he heard footsteps approaching, “You want one too?”

_

For whatever godforsaken reason, Sofia had been stuck in Trauma for what felt like weeks. Which, was fine, because the sporadic scheduling fit with her already scattered brain. She’d started really coming into her own, getting closer with her interns and having a strong little team blossoming from the group that she’d accidentally neglected at first. 

One thing that Sofia hadn’t realized, was that she was always working with the pediatric cases in the ER. She’d probably thought she was just giving the more sensitive cases a little extra care, but there was no denying her gravitation towards those cases while she shoved her interns to the adults. 

Sofia stood out of the way while finishing some charting on a tablet when the doors burst open, startling her just slightly as she failed to realize she’d been standing right beside them. Greeting the pair with a smile, Sofia opened her mouth to speak, but closed it quickly when Alex began to speak. 

Being caught off guard, and feeling a little defensive, she looked at Alex with slightly furrowed eyebrows. “I.. I can handle this, A —  Dr. Karev.”

_

“I know,” Alex said, trying not to look visibly confused in front of the patients. She was clearly a good doctor, but she hated peds now, right? “It’s a peds case. I’m saying you don’t have to.”

“As I said, I’m the peds chief,” he said, turning back to the patients. “What’s happened, buddy? Is it your arm?” The kid frowned like he was holding back tears and nodded. 

The pit was busier than it would normally have been on a Thursday afternoon. Flu season was taking up too many beds and there’d been a car accident. Unfortunately, April had come down with something and had asked Alex to cover. With so many peds attendings on staff, what with Amber’s addition to the it, Alex had found himself with no good reason to say no. It hadn’t been too bad though. Sofia was the resident assigned today and none of her interns had done anything actually dumb.

He was finishing up with a flu kid when the doors to the ER burst open. A harried looking woman came in with a boy who looked to be about ten years old. To his credit, despite whatever was bothering him, which was probably the arm he was cradling the kid looked like he was doing his best to be tough about it. 

Sofia happened to be right beside them as they came in and they engaged her right away. Remembering their previous conversation about how she wasn’t interested in peds, Alex went immediately over. 

“Hey, I’m Dr Alex, I’m the chief of peds here. I’ll see to your boy’s care.” He then gave Sofia a look, telling her she should go do something else. 

“Thanks, Dr. Alex,” she said softly. He was one doctor who’s first name she used instead of their last name. “Goodness no. I’m smart, but I have about as much talent as a toddler when it comes to making things like clothes or crafts,” she admitted. Mari chuckled a little. “No, not quite a fortune. Just under $1000 is all,” she told him.

“Kid, you’re like twenty. A thousand bucks is a fortune for someone your age. But same,” he said, gesturing to his own costume, “I’m store-bought all the way.” One time he had tried to help Audrey with a Halloween costume and the sound of Jo’s laughter had basically filled their entire house.

“Hey...I got a question for you though. Do you know how to punch somebody? Like if you need to?”

“It’s better than some of the alternatives.” Izzie said shaking her head and finishing the rest of her cupcake, before taking a sip of her wine. 

When alex mentioned the kids, she took a deep breath and took a minute to think about how she should answer the question but she just shook her head. “They are how you would expect. sad and don’t really want to talk about it. I think their all grieving differently and it’s just hard right now.” Izzie said as she down the rest of her wine and then nodded her head. She was truly thankful for Alex and the kind of co-parenting relationship they had. It took some time, but they were friends now and Izzie was grateful. “I know Alex, thank you. How’s everything going with you and Jo? How are the kids?” 

“Yeah. They’ve still got a good mom though. That’s gonna make a difference.” There was probably more to be said about all of it. But Alex thought she probably wanted for people to stop looking at her like she was lying on a bathroom floor. 

Alex took a sip of his drink before answering, letting her change the subject if that’s what she wanted. “Jo’s fine. Honestly, she’s worried about you and the kids, I think. And Audrey...well she’s a resident so right now everything’s about her crossing the finish line, which is how it should be. I’m just waiting to see what speciality she’s gonna choose.” He took a deep breath. “I guess...the only real thing is that my sister is town.”

“thanks alex. you guys always did like when i baked when we were interns.” she thought about the good old times, when there were five of them. she sighed when he asked if she was okay and gently, she nodded her head. “i’m doing okay. you know, taking it day by day and honestly, just putting my focus into work and the kids. it helps, i don’t know if it’s the healthiest way to grieve but it’s working for right now.” izzie shrugged her shoulders and took another bite of the cupcake. 

“Sounds fine to me,” Alex said. Because, really, what else could she have done? She wasn’t the first surgeon to pour herself into work at a time like this and she sure as hell wouldn’t be the last. 

“How are the kids?” He knew Alexis and Eli were okay because he’d talked to them, but he had always had a bit less to do with the other two considering he wasn’t their actual dad.

“I know everyone says this kind of stuff, but I am around if you need anything.”

_

“If it was a fight I think I could even come close to winning, I’m sure it would’ve happened by now,” she teased. “But I’m pretty sure she could get much scrappier than I could.”

At the mention of the current interns, Sofia’s eyes widened. She’d been working with them firsthand, and could tell that most were probably going to be gone by the time their residencies rolled around. “They’re really something,” she nodded, “I’ve been trying to tell if pushing the baby birds out of the nest or waiting for them to jump is going to help ‘em any, but I’ve not really had too much luck with my group. A few of them are decent, but the rest? The rest, I could do without, for sure,” Sofia chuckled.

A soft sigh escaped Sofia’s lips. She did lean towards Peds for a while, and was down between Peds or Trauma up until recent months. “There’s nobody?” The question was posed rhetorically, though Sofia knew just how picky the hospital higher-ups were when it came to Department Heads. That, and who worked where. “I’ll be honest, I can’t really even tell where I want to be right now. Department-wise, career-wise, life-wise,” she trailed off, shaking her head. “I do think I want to get a dog, though. So there’s one thing I’m sure of, at the very least.”

_

Alex nodded sympathetically as she talked about where she was in life, a softly concerned look on his face. This was the first time he had heard her actually talk about it. He smiled when she talked about the dog though. He opened his mouth to ask what breed she was getting when his phone went off with his pager sound.  

He stopped in his tracks, “Ah, crap,” he said when he checked the notification. The patient wasn’t coding, but it was still emergent. “Sorry, I gotta get to the OR.”  

He started to backtrack in the direction they’d come when he turned around to face her again, jogging backwards. “Look, I don’t know the specifics. But you’re right where you need to be. Just get your dog and keep coming into work and stick with us. You’re a good doctor, okay?”

izzie wasn’t thrilled about going to the halloween party - sure, she liked parties and she loved halloween, but ever since her husband passed away it didn’t seem the same. she also didn’t want to be seen as some sad widow and didn’t feel like everybody staring at her. the blonde was happy when she found alex at the party, a familiar face. “i have seen them, but haven’t taste them yet. are they really worth it?” she questioned looking at the baked goods and then shrugging her shoulders, before actually taking one off the tray. “hmm, it is pretty good.” 

“Not as good as yours,” Alex replied, with a smile. He chewed his own for a second, thinking. Izzy definitely looked flat and it wasn’t like Alex could blame her. 

He’d been trying to think of a way he could ask how she was doing without being the guy at the party who reminded her that her husband fucking died. But there wasn’t really a way that he could do that. The silence was starting to go on for too long as he thought. “Look, I don’t know if maybe you don’t want me to ask, but... how’re you holding up?”

Just because she wasn’t lying on a bathroom floor, or baking too many muffins to fit in a kitchen, didn’t mean she was fine.

The halloween party was about as expected. Alex was working the food tables, having just got off a shift, when he caught sight of Izzy. He’d tried to give her some space after her husband’s funeral so it was the first time he’d seen her in a while. He placed a handful of mummified pumpkin cookies on his plate and headed over to her. 

“Yo, Iz have you seen these? The baked goods here are actually decent enough that you might not be offended by them.” He held out his plate, offering her one. 

Scout’s eyes widened a bit when Alex began to take the form of a boxer, but he watched very carefully and listened to every word the surgeon said. Perhaps he could learn quite a bit from the pediatric surgeon. He doubted very much whether any of the other doctors around here would be so lowkey about something like this, and then he smiled imagining Amelia walking in and wondering what the hell was going on in the cafeteria with them. 

But then Alex was telling Scout to practice on him, and he found himself unsure. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” he said, hesitant to make a fool out of himself. Still … it would be good to know how to hit someone if anything like what he’d gone through before happened again.

Stepping out from around the food counter, he approached Alex and focused on getting the stance right. Dominant foot - his left - behind him, he loosened his legs as Alex had told him and then prepared his left hand to strike. He made sure his thumb was on the outside of his fingers and then struck out, hitting Alex’s hand. He was pretty sure it was a weak hit, and it wasn’t even about protecting the surgeon hands; Scout just wasn’t really a violent person.

“Yeah, I think this is hopeless. I couldn’t punch my way out of a wet paper sack.”

_

Alex chuckled happily as Scout hit his hand. The kid had paid attention to the form - he just wasn’t a dude with a lot of fight in him. “Not bad. Form was pretty good. You won’t be winning any prize fights anytime soon, but that doesn’t matter.” 

“Christ knows I’ve gotten into trouble in my life because of that crap. And if you ever do need to hit someone, in an actual self-defence situation, your body will be full of adrenaline, so you shouldn’t have to worry too much about it. It’s not a bad thing that you’re a good kid.”

“By the way,” Alex said, picking up his tray and starting to continue past the rest of the food options, “do your sisters know how to punch somebody?”