My brothers keeper

The French lace cascaded over Izzie Stevens’ shoulders like spun sugar, delicate and impossibly soft against her skin. Standing before the antique floor-length mirror in the bridal suite of the Rainier Club, she smoothed her palms down the bodice, listening to the muffled rumble of string instruments tuning up in the courtyard below.

Her stomach fluttered—not with terror, but with a giddy, dizzying rush of anticipation.

"You’re going to rub a hole right through four thousand dollars worth of Italian silk if you don't stop fidgeting," a dry, raspy voice drawled from the doorway.

Izzie gasped, whipping around, one hand flying to the pearls at her throat. "Alex! You can’t be in here! It’s bad luck!"

Alex Karev leaned against the heavy mahogany doorframe, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his impeccably tailored black trousers. His bowtie was slightly crooked, his jaw dusted with dark stubble, and his amber eyes fixed on her with that familiar, intense broodiness that usually made interns run for cover. Yet underneath the hardened exterior, the muscles in his jaw ticked with a pain he was desperately trying to conceal.

"Bad luck is getting married in a drafty museum to a guy who used to score nurses like he was collecting frequent flyer miles," Alex muttered, though his voice lacked real venom. He stepped into the room, kicking the door closed behind him with the heel of his shoe.

Izzie sighed, softening instantly. She couldn't help it. For all of Alex’s snarl and armor, she knew the wounded boy underneath. She stepped forward, reaching out instinctively to straighten his lopsided tie.

"Mark is not just a guy with frequent flyer miles, Alex," she said gently, her voice lilting with that sweet, unyielding optimism that had survived cancer, surgical residencies, and heartbreak. "He loves me. He makes me laugh until my ribs hurt. And whether you like it or not, he's good to me."

"He’s a man-whore with a trust fund, Iz," Alex said roughly. He caught her wrists, his grip firm, warm, and trembling just a fraction. He held her hands against his chest, right over the steady, frantic thumping of his heart. "You deserve someone who sees you as the whole damn universe. Not someone who settled down because Addison Montgomery ran away to sunny California and left him high and dry."

Izzie’s smile faded into something quieter, more guarded. "He didn't settle, Alex. We fell in love. Real love. The kind where we eat takeout on the floor of his penthouse at two in the morning, where we talk about having three kids and a golden retriever, where nobody is hiding ghosts under the bed." She met his fierce gaze, her blue eyes shining with genuine affection