Before We Turn to Stone

Season 16, Episode 20: You Belong

"And I wanna help you be better than me.

There won't be a star in the sky you can't reach.

I'll wipe off your tears, but I'll let them fall first,

And I will be brave when you fall and get hurt.

You can be you, you don't have to be strong

'Cause you belong,

You belong."

* * *

"Okay, now see, this is the tricky part." Alex pauses and looks down at his daughter, who is hovering next to his elbow. "You ready?"

Alexis rubs her hands together in glee. "I'm ready!"

He strokes his chin, playfully thoughtful. "I really think you are. Okay." He hands her a sticky bottle of pure maple syrup. "Now: the perfect pour gets syrup in every hole in the waffle. They're called syrup traps for a reason: you want to fill them up. Let's see you do it."

With a surgical concentration, Alexis takes the syrup and carefully drizzles a thick, gummy stream over the waffle on the plate in front of her. When she's done, she looks up at her dad expectantly.

"You sure you haven't done this before?!" he asks her. He crosses his arms over his chest and gives her a suspicious look.

"No!" She presses a little hand over her heart. "Mom never lets me pour the syrup because she says I am a sugar monster." She looks around furtively before she confesses. "Also, Mom does not make very good waffles. We usually just have scrambled eggs."

He stifles a laugh. "Well, she's been missing out. You're clearly a natural. Try your brother's waffle next."

They finish all four plates of waffles just as Izzie and Eli come in through the kitchen door, the one that leads out to the chicken yard. Eli has his arms banded around a basket of peaches that must weigh as much as he does, which he gingerly sits on the ground before toeing off his battered light-up sneakers. He glances eagerly at the kitchen table and his face falls. "Awww," he says. "You guys already did the syrup! I wanted to do one!"

Alex holds up a hand. "Don't worry, buddy, I've got you covered." He produces a bowl of fresh whipped cream with a flourish. "You are in charge of whipped cream."

Eli cheers and rushes to the table, where his father hands him a large spoon with the instruction to "go nuts!"

"Alex! The sugar crash that happens in a few hours is going to be monumental," Izzie laughs. She takes the peaches up off the floor and moves over to the sink, where she dumps them in a colander.

He shrugs and gives her a lopsided grin. "That just means a really good nap on the couch later." He wanders over to the sink and plucks one of the peaches out of the colander.

"Want me to wash it first?" she asks him, turning the water on with a tap of her wrist.

Alex shakes his head and takes a huge bite. "I like them fresh off the tree," he says. "Tastes like sunshine."

Izzie smirks at him and reaches out to wipe a smear of peach juice off his chin. The pad of her thumb rasps against his five-o'clock shadow. "You've got some sunshine on your face there, Dr. Karev."

They grin at each other for a moment. Alex wants to frame her in his memory forever: her hair messy and lose around her face, no makeup, a gentle pink flush coming up in her cheeks when she realizes that he's studying her. Before he can tell himself to stop, he reaches out and threads a lock of her hair through his fingers. He gives it a gentle tug, which broadens her smile.