Isobel, "Just...don't talk to me right now."

This is just a small taste of a new fic I'm writing. Let me know if you want more.

Rating - 13 +

Izzie Stevens went to her mail box like she had every day since she had lived out in Los Angeles. She had been there about two years now, and like every other Monday, she found another letter in her mail box. She took it inside, and went up to her daughter�s room. She was about to wake from her nap. �Cadence�� she called out, in a soft voice. Her daughter�s eyes opened. �Hi, Pretty Girl!� She picked her up. �Your daddy sent us another letter. How about we go read it?� Izzie carried her toddler down the stairs and sat her down in her highchair. Then she opened his letter:

Izzie,

I know, I know. You�re probably sick of these letters by now, but I just want you to write back. Hell, you can even write to tell me off. I�ll listen. I just want to know you�re okay.

Two years is a long to stay pissed because I cheated. I said I was sorry, Izzie. You didn�t have to up and leave to God knows where. Everyone misses you.

Listen Iz � just please write back this time. I get it. You don�t want to be with me because I was an ass and I cheated. I get it. But as a friend, I care about you. Please just let me know you�re okay.

She folded up his letter and threw it in the trash. She began to tear up just a little bit. Obviously, he still cared if he was still writing every Monday after two years. It was not like him to care this much. Or at least she did not think it was. It makes her feel just a little special. Still, she was miles away from him now, with no plans to ever return to Seattle.

Not even five minutes after Izzie discarded the letter, she was sitting on the floor, reading Cadence a book, when the phone rang. The sound startled the 19 month old. “It’s okay,” Izzie said, with a smile. “It’s just the phone. Somebody’s calling for us.” She got up. “Hold on.” She picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Hi, Izzie,” a male voice said. “It’s John. How’s Cadence today?”

“She’s good,” Izzie said.

“Good,” John said. “I have her results.”

“And…?”

“Can you come by my office?”

“I don’t have much time today. Cade needs to be fed soon and then I have a sitter coming so I can leave for work.,” Izzie said. “Can you just tell me over the phone please? I just want to know.”

“The transplant didn’t work,” John said. “She needs another one.”

Dr. John Harrison was a trusted colleague of Izzie’s. They both worked at L.A. General Hospital. He was also her daughter’s pediatric oncologist. When she was just ten months old, Cadence was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. She had been batting the horrible disease ever since. Just recently, Izzie had donated bone marrow for a transplant, which, according to John was not a success.

Izzie tried her best to hold her tears back. She did not want to break down on the phone. “So, what to we do now?”

“Do you have any other family we could try?”

“No.”

“What about her father?” John asked, knowing that Cadence’s dad was a touchy subject for Izzie.

Izzie watched her sick toddler slowly lay herself down on the floor – her favourite brown teddy bear still in her hand. She knew that Cadence needed another bone marrow transplant and her father would probably be the best place for it to come from. That meant Izzie would have to return. But as she watched Cadence lay on that floor, she knew she did not have a choice. She would have to go back. “Okay,” she said. “But once I go back and ask him, if he’ll do it, do we have to come back here, or…?”

“No,” John answered. “I’m good friends with the Chief at Seattle Grace. I’ll make sure he finds a doctor for her.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” John replied. “Sorry for the bad news.”

“She’s made it this far,” Izzie said. “She’ll be okay.” She had to think positive. Her daughter could beat this.

“She is a tough little girl.”

“Yep,” Izzie said. “Okay, we’ll leave as soon as we can.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks. Bye.” Izzie hung the phone up. She went and picked up her daughter. All the medications she was on made her tired all the time, not to mention how ill she would get. “Hey, Cade…” Izzie sat on the floor and held the child in her lap. “We’re gonna go on a little trip, okay? We’re gonna go and visit your daddy and see if that will get you all better. Sound good?” She gave her a kiss. “We’ve gotta go as soon as we can, so Mommy has to pack.” She stood up. “I’m gonna put you down for another nap. You look like you could use one, huh? Yeah. You can just eat later, I guess.”

Thank you.

This fic is sort of dedicated to my person who battled the same type of cancer that Cadence has for almost 3 yrs. Thankfully now she is in remission.

After canceling the babysitter and calling in to tell her chief she would not be working for a while (a fact he was fully accepting of given the circumstances), Izzie spent the next three hours packing for the trip back to Seattle and calling travel agencies to book a flight. When she found a red-eye fight directly from LA to Seattle, she took it. Hopefully Cadence would just sleep right through it, and it would be an easy ride.

About a half an hour after she booked the flight, Cadence's woke up with a loud cry. Izzie went into her room and picked her up. "What's wrong, Cade?" she asked, already knowing the answer. "You're hungry, huh? Okay, Mommy will stop packing and make you something to eat."

She took her toddler downstairs and into the kitchen. "Should we make...noodles?" Izzie asked her. "I think so." Izzie put some water in a pot and began to boil it. Cadence started to become quite heavy, but she was so cuddled into Izzie's body by this point that Izzie just did not have the heart to put her down. "Mommy's almost all pack for our trip," she told her as the noodles cooked. "Yep. We leave tonight when you're sleeping."

"Go?" Cadence asked. She may have had cancer, but she was still a typical 19 month old when it came to her development. She could walk and talk and play. Actually, most of the time she was a happy child. Today she just did not feel well, so she was quieter than usual, and very clingy. Izzie could not blame her; the poor girl had been through so much at such a young age.

"Yep," Izzie answered her question. "We're gonna go on a airplane. Can you say 'airplane'?"

"Airpain," Cadence said, the best way she could.

"The airplane flies, Cade!" Izzie told her daughter. She knew she would be excited about that.

"Flies?"

"Uh huh. It flies Mommy and Cade wayyyyy way up in the sky."

Cadence began to laugh. Izzie loved these moments when Cadence could be a "normal" happy kid and just have a good giggle. It made them both forget, just for a few seconds, how sick she was.

You'll have to keep reading to find out who her daddy is.

As Izzie sat on the plane that night, with a sleeping Cadence on her lap, she began to pray many silent prayers. It had been two years since she had left Seattle and that was the last time she had seen her daughter's father. She had left without even saying a real goodbye. Now she prayed to God that he would forgive her and that he would give Cadence the bone marrow.

She was not so sure he would though. She knew from his letters that he felt completely abandoned. He understood his mistake, but still he felt wronged that she left him. If he was that upset that she left, he was going to be furious that she left without even telling him he was going to be a father.

Izzie kissed Cadence's head. She really did not want to have to face her father again, but she knew she had to. It was going to be the only way to save her child's fragile life.

Ever since Cadence had been born, it had just been the two of them. Izzie was rather lonely in LA. She only had a handful of friends from work and that was it. She had no time for much else. This had made her bond with her daughter so strong. They were each others best friends, even though one of them was just a toddler. Izzie's entire life revolved around Cadence. Even when she was working, she was there to make money for her little girl. Being a single mom to a sick child was not easy, but Izzie's love for Cadence always kept her going through each rough day.

So even though she was extremely nervous about this return to Seattle, it was just something she knew must be done for the sake of the sleeping child she held on her lap.

Two hours later, Cadence woke up as Izzie was driving the rental car to the house. She was a little fussy, as any child would be at this time of night. "Oh, Cade..." Izzie sighed. She did not really have much to soothe Cadence right now. She began to dig through her carry on bag, which was in the front seat. There was a pacifier in there. She got it out and passed it back, hoping that would be what Cadence wanted. "Want your pacie?" she asked. Cadence took the purple pacifier and held it. "Put it in your mouth," Izzie told her, as she glanced back in the rear-view mirror. "Mama's driving. I can't do it for you."

"In," Cadence said, showing her mother that she could do it all by herself.

"Good girl, Cade," Izzie praised her. "Guess what? We're in Seattle now. We're going to see Daddy right now."

Izzie pulled up to the house and parked the car a few minutes later. "Stop," Cadence said. It was completely mumbled by the pacifier, but Izzie could make it out.

"Yep, we stopped." She said, getting out of the car and opening Cadence's door. She undid the straps on her car seat and lifted her out. Cadence, who was still half asleep, rested her head on her mommy's shoulder. "Let's go see Daddy," Izzie whispered, closing the car door and walking up to the house.

She knocked on the door and there was no answer. After waiting on the porch for a minute in the damp weather, Izzie put Cadence back in the car, and did the car seat straps up. "I don't think he's home, Cade."

Izzie closed Cadence's door and got in the driver's seat. Doing up her seat belt, she decided that he was probably working a night shift. She began the drive to Seattle Grace. Even after two years, it was a familiar one.

Really good so far.

Can't wait for more.....................

Thank you! I'm updating now.

Izzie walked into the front door of Seattle Grace hospital for the first time in two years. It seemed like nothing had changed much. Everything was exactly how she had remembered it. The sights, the sounds, the smells, even some of the people rushing by her were the same. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice calling her name. "Isobel Stevens?" It was Dr. Miranda Bailey. "Is that you?"

Izzie smiled and turned to face her. "How'd you recognize me from the back?" she asked.

"You were my intern," Bailey said. "I saw a lot of you."

"Yeah, you did," Izzie agreed.

"Before you fell off the face of the earth that is."

"Yeah, about that -"

"How old is she?" Bailey asked, looking at the little girl asleep on her mommy's shoulder.

"19 months."

"Karev has no idea, does he?" she asked.

"How'd you know he was -?"

"Please," Bailey said, dismissing any other thought. "I know everything. That girl is his spitting image."

Izzie looked down at her daughter's sweet face. "Yeah, I guess she is," she smiled.

I thought it would be Alex.......

Hope he's ready for this...........I doubt it, but you never know................

Great update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Do you want me to page Karev for you?" Bailey asked.

"Could you, please?"

"No problem," Bailey said.

"Thanks."

After Bailey paged Alex, she left Izzie to wait for him. This was not a moment that was any of her business as far as she was concerned.

Cadence woke up as Izzie waited. Realizing she was in another hospital, Cadence began to cry. She had spent much of her young life in the hospital. Most of the time she was having painful procedures done and she had learned to associate those with hospitals. "Shh..." Izzie gently rocked her, trying to calm her a little. It was not working. "You want Eddy?" she asked. "Eddy" was the way that Cadence said "teddy" and therefore, this is what she called her favorite bear. Eddy was a comfort to Cadence. He was there every time she was in the hospital, and she had learned that he was very comforting. "Okay. let's go get Eddy."

Izzie went out to the car. The bear was in the carry on bag in the front seat. She dug it out and handed it to Cadence. "Is that better? Can we go back in now?" With that, she walked back into the hospital, and right to where she had been waiting.

There he stood. "Iz? What the -?" Clearly he had noticed Cadence.

"Listen - we need to talk."

"Ya think?" Alex was in shock. "Is she mine?"

"Yeah," Izzie slowly nodded.

Whoa, what a way to meet your child for the first time...................

Alex must be in shock right now.....................

Can't wait for more.................

I'm working on an update now.