grey's anatomy fanfiction, all the girls - girl talk [2/3]
Girl Talk: Part Two
Author's Notes: Um yeah, I think this is all for now.
Chapter 6: The Girls Talk ‘Tough Love’
Meredith fumbles with her keys and looks around the porch nervously, “I don’t know if this is such a good idea guys.”
“You told me today that Stevens hasn’t left her room in three days,” Addison says authoritatively, “We’re doctors Meredith. And that is not good for anyone.”
“She needs to suck it up and get over it,” Cristina echoes Addison’s sentiments, a lot less tactfully.
“I know,” Meredith finally slides the door open and pads into the living room cautiously, “And I fully sympathise with your desire to kick her ass. But I’m just not sure she can handle that right now.”
“Now or never,” Addison remarks dismissively.
“It’s been a month Meredith,” Cristina argues, “Four whole weeks of moping around this house. There’s no wonder she’s depressed. She needs to get up and get on with it. Otherwise, she’ll spend the rest of her life lying in that room, gathering dust.”
Meredith flicks the kitchen lights on and reaches for the bottle of tequila in the top cupboard, “Drinks anyone?”
Addison holds up a hand, “I could use some of that.”
Meredith hands her the bottle. She looks down at it, confused.
“That’s how we do things here,” Meredith informs her, “Drink up.”
“Ok, I haven’t done this since college,” the attending announces, tentatively raising the bottle to her lips.
“You’re showing your age,” Cristina mock-whispers, and Addison slaps her arm with her free hand.
Cristina makes a grab for the alcohol and takes a long gulp, wiping her mouth with her hand, “So here’s the plan: we go up there, we get Izzie out of bed, we bring Izzie downstairs, break out the ice-cream and the chick-flicks and the tequila, and have a grand old girls night in.”
Addison stretches her arms out above her head, “Oh I could use some of that.”
Cristina nods, “And then, we have drunken deep-and-meaningful conversations about icky things like feelings, and Izzie gets to spill her guts about Denny and it’s a whole lot cheaper than therapy.”
Addison rolls her eyes, “And she doesn’t have to talk to a lunatic headshrinker. Because you know the kind of med students who became psychiatrists. They were nuts to start with.”
Meredith giggles and takes another swig from the bottle, for courage she tells them.
“Yep,” Addison sighs, looking pleased, “It sounds like a plan.”
“Just one problem,” Meredith declares, “No one, and I really do mean no one, has been able to get Izzie out of bed insofar. She went through a brief baking phase a few weeks ago. But other than that, nada. Even George can’t get through to her.”
Cristina shrugs, “I am so much better at life than George.”
Meredith raises an eyebrow, “Whatever. All I’m saying is no amount of sweet talking or commiserating seems to work.”
Addison raises an eyebrow right back, “Who said we were going to be commiserating?”
Cristina makes a face at the mention of ‘sweet talking’ and then nods, “The girl needs a wake up call. And we’re going to give it to her.”
Meredith raises her hands to the ceiling and leads the charge up the stairs, “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Her roommate pushes Izzie’s door open cautiously and knocks a few times, before slipping into the shadows. Addison and Cristina stand in the sliver of light from the hall and watch, as Meredith gently calls Izzie’s name and tries to illicit a response by tapping at her shoulder.
Predictably, no such response is encountered.
“Shall we take over?” Cristina mutters.
Addison nods.
So Cristina sidles into the room and flips the light switch, causing Meredith to whirl around and blink furiously. And Addison follows her into the room and stands at the foot of the bed with her hands on her hips.
Cristina speaks first, “Ok, ok, I know, I’m not generally a feelings kind of person. But this is me being supportive. I’m being supportive. You’ve threatened me, physically. I get the feeling you never really liked me much, but I will be supportive, because I get it, you’re going through a hard time. But you need to get out of bed. You need to stop wallowing in your misery. Jesus Izzie, there are birds and bees and other people with problems, so move your sorry ass.”
“So your fiancée died,” Addison continues, glaring at the lump in the bed, “Marriage ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. I would know. And I get it, you got deprived of a chance at a life with Denny, and maybe you actually loved him, and that sucks. But in case you hadn’t noticed, the sun keeps coming up. The world is still spinning. You’re still on it. So like the rest of us, you have to get out of bed.”
Cristina nearly cheers, and pushes Addison up onto the bed, jumping up behind her. Together they kick (gently) at Izzie’s lethargic form, until slowly she rolls off the bed and onto the carpet.
Meredith looks on in horror, “Guys! Be nice.”
Addison and Cristina exchange a glance.
“Nice hasn’t worked until this point,” Cristina shrugs.
“And she smells,” Addison wrinkles her nose, “This is not healthy.”
Izzie sits up and stares blankly at the three women who have invaded her room. She groans, and then bursts into tears.
Meredith sinks down beside her and wipes at the blonde’s tear-stained cheeks, “Iz, it’s ok. We’re all so worried about you, but it’s going to be ok.”
Izzie nods into Meredith’s shoulder, and Meredith makes a face, “You’re right, she does smell.”
The dirty blonde lowers her voice to a soft murmur, “Iz, you need to shower. You need to eat, something other than cake or cookies,” she sighs, “And Addison is right, you need to get out of bed and get on with your life.”
Izzie shakes her head and whimpers, her silent sobs causing her to tremble as she gathers the covers around her.
Cristina flops down beside her, and Addison sinks down on the edge of the bed, leaning over Izzie’s shoulder.
“Doctor Isobel Stevens,” Cristina begins, “You grew up in a trailer park. From what you’ve said, your mother was a bit of a drunk. Or something. But you still put yourself through med school, all on your own, and until one brief lapse in judgement, you were on track to be a pretty all right surgeon. Woman,” she shakes her head, “Woman, get a grip. You can’t give up on that. You are better than this.”
Addison reaches out to brush the frizzy unwashed blonde … bird’s nest of hair out of Izzie’s face, “It hurts. It hurts now. It will hurt next week, next year… hell, it might even hurt in ten years, but it gets better. It gets easier. But you have to get out of bed. He’s dead. But you’re not. And you have to get on with your life. Cristina’s right: you are better than this.”
Meredith coos softly in Izzie’s ear and together they pull her upwards until she’s standing, and manoeuvre her towards the door.
“We’re going to take you to the shower Iz,” Meredith whispers.
Addison and Cristina look at each other.
“Meredith’s the good cop,” Cristina says in a stage whisper. Addison giggles a little, and pulls the bathroom door open, tugging at Izzie’s sleeve.
“Come on, into the shower. You’re a grown woman, but I’ll bathe you myself if I have too,” the redhead orders, with her hands on hips, “Go go go.”
Izzie reluctantly tugs at her T-shirt, and the three other women close the door, each pressing their ear to the wood, listening as water starts hitting the bathroom tiles.
“You two have a hell of a bedside manner,” Meredith glares at them, as soon as the shower starts.
Addison shrugs, “Sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind.”
“We couldn’t leave her in bed,” Cristina agrees, “I mean, things were beginning to grow on her.”
“I know,” Meredith rakes a hand through her errant fringe and collapses against the bathroom door, “But it’s not easy, when you’ve seen her at her worst. She’s so broken; I don’t want to do more damage.”
“Meredith,” Addison sinks down beside her, “She needs to move on. And the only way to convince her of that is for some firm encouragement in the right direction.”
Cristina joins them on the floor, “Tough love baby, it’s the only way to go.”
Wow, we finally get some plot. It’s only a small one though. Oh, and *smirks*… shout outs to a particular el-jay user whose handle may have made an appearance in this one. It was an accident, but I figured we could all celebrate her awesomeness anyway. ;)
Chapter 7: The Girls Talk ‘Under The Tuscan Sun’
The absence of Meredith does not go unnoticed by Addison, Cristina or Derek. And it is the concern of the last which really begins to irritate the first, so much so that she confronts him about prom night in the men’s room sometime before midday. Not exactly her best ever relationship decision, but a horribly invigorating way to end an otherwise terrible morning. Long story short, Addison screams at Derek and Derek yells back and Alex Karev asks her what the fuck she’s doing in the men’s room, so she screams at him as well.
It all ends quite horribly. Derek stalks out. Karev gives her a dirty look. And she stands there staring at herself in the mirror until Richard comes in to use the urinals. An awkward explanation later and she’s stomping through the wards to find someone to unload on. Her relationship issues are too big to tackle on her own.
Meredith really would be the shoulder of choice, if Addison wanted to have a good old cry. Derek really hates it that his wife and his mistress have become bosom buddies, but Addison can’t help it. She has a lot in common with Meredith Grey.
Lucky for Addison, the last thing she feels like doing is crying over it. Because Meredith is taking the day off to help Izzie find a therapist, and a job. (Because Jose Cuervo, Ben and Jerry’s and Meg Ryan movies can’t solve everything.) Addison thinks finding another job might be a tad hasty, because Richard Webber still hasn’t decided what to do about the situation. He can’t cover it up for much longer, but he wants to talk to Doctor Stevens, who refuses to set foot in the hospital ever again.
Addison rolls her eyes, because she is so glad that is Meredith’s problem today.
Right now, she wants to yell, and scream and throw things.
Since none of these things are accepted in the standards of hospital decorum, she decides she’ll find Cristina Yang and bitch about her idiot husband and men in general.
Cristina Yang is, coincidentally, in the perfect mood for such a discussion, having just argued with Burke regarding staying-with-slash-meeting his parents. She doesn’t want two strangers in the apartment while he’s in the hospital. He doesn’t want his folks to have to find somewhere to stay on such short notice. She clenches her hands into fists and stalks down the hallway.
They’re both so caught up in their frustration that they don’t notice each other until Addison has ploughed into Cristina and Cristina has whirled around to snap at the inconsiderate fool who bumped into her when she realises it’s the person she was looking for in the first place.
“I hate men,” Cristina begins, falling into step behind the attending and following her into the gallery, where her husband is operating on an aneurism. The gallery is empty, so Cristina figures it’s either a boring surgery or there’s a more interesting one someone else.
Addison sighs, and agrees with her, “I hate Derek.”
“Derek is an idiot,” Cristina shrugs, “I mean ‘it’s a beautiful day to save some lives’,” she does a fairly accurate impression, with facial expressions which are slightly more pompous, “What the hell? It’s a beautiful day to act like a jerk to two of my good friends, that’s what it is. McDreamy? McShithead is more like it.”
Addison puts her hand to her mouth to suppress her laughter, “You paint a fairly grim picture Yang. He’s not all bad. I did marry him.”
“Once upon a time, I’m sure he was charming and lovely and all the rest of it,” Cristina reaches into her pocket and pops a piece of gum into her mouth, chewing vehemently, “But ever since you came to Seattle? He’s lost his mind. Gum?”
“No thanks,” Addison shakes her head, “I don’t know. Sometimes I think that I still love him, despite his lack of a working mind. But other times, I just don’t think I can be bothered dealing with the angst anymore. He’s so whiney lately. He just complains about Meredith and I being friends, and says I neglect him for Meredith, and he’s practically jealous of me because I spend more time with Meredith than he does,” she rolls her eyes, “And then I ask him if he loves her and he just broods. I’m married to you, I love you, how could you doubt me? Yada yada yada yada. Jesus Christ Derek, do you ever shut up?”
“I’ll tell you how you could doubt him,” Cristina pokes a finger into Addison’s shoulder, “He cheated on you. He. Cheated. On. You. When you were in the other room. AND he didn’t tell you about it, you had to hear it from the dirty mistress, as it were.”
Addison holds up a hand, “Hey, the score is even on that note. I cheated on him, with his best friend, and he only found out because he came home early. For once.”
“You’re making excuses for the man’s shitty treatment,” Cristina informs her bluntly, “Don’t make excuses for the man.”
“I’m not making excuses for the man,” she protests, “Facts are facts. He was never there beforehand maybe, he didn’t notice I was sleeping with Mark for,” she waves a hand around absently, “Oh God, I don’t know, months before he found out because he was always at the hospital. So what? Absence is the new excuse for adultery?”
“And what’s his excuse? Meredith was dating the vet?”
“I should date the vet,” Addison pouts.
“The lesbian man?” Cristina’s eyebrows shoot up into her hair, “Don’t do that. You’ll never get laid.”
They laugh and Addison twists her wedding bands around her fingers, “Maybe I should just divorce his sorry ass.”
Cristina nods, “Oh yeah. Make him sign the papers. I’ll become a lesbian, because God knows, I’m over Burke and his I-can’t-deal-with-a-life-crisis shit. And you can buy a villa in Tuscany, it will be very Frances Mayes. Together we shall romp about a small Italian village, drinking lots of red wine and hitting on hot European men.”
“I’ve always wanted a villa in Tuscany, or the South of France,” Addison muses, “Maybe you’re right, I should get divorced and move to Tuscany.”
Cristina rolls her eyes, “I’m always right about these things.”
“Right,” Addison rises, “It’s settled. I’ll go get the papers, make him sign, and then we’ll go to Europe.”
“Good,” Cristina responds.
“Good,” Addison echoes.
“You can approach the Chief about getting the time off.”
“You’re the one who actually wants a job here,” Addison huffs, “I mean, if it weren’t for Derek, I wouldn’t even be here in the first place. Stupid Seattle and the stupid rain.”
“But the Chief loves you,” Cristina points out, “In fact, scrap the Europe plan I have a better one. You know the ‘Boy’s Club’?”
Addison nods, “How could I not?”
“Well, Derek and Burke both think one of them is going to be made Chief of Surgery,” Cristina rubs her hands together evilly, “But I think with careful planning and a little manipulation, there’s no reason why it couldn’t be you.”
Addison laughs, “I think I’d prefer the Tuscan villa.”
“Hey, first you get Chief of Surgery then you slowly take over the world,” Cristina winks, “World domination begins here. Besides, revenge, for all of us girls. It tastes sweet.”
“I like the way you think,” Addison grins wickedly.
“Right,” Cristina saunters into the corridor as Derek steps backward from the table, about to finish up, “I’m going to tell Burke it’s my way or the highway.”
“I’m going to get divorced,” Addison announces.
“I love empowerment,” Cristina responds.
“I’m still thinking about that villa.”
Chapter 8: The Girls Talk ‘Playing Hard To Get’
Meredith is sitting opposite Addison at the conference table, and despite the appearance of being her boss, and being responsible and being the kind of attending you could imagine being a straight-A goody two shoes in high school, Addison is trying to make Meredith laugh. She’s doing this by purposefully flirting with the visiting gynaecologist from Sacramento: giggling at his jokes, borrowing his pen and putting it in her mouth, twisting her hair around her fingers and behaving like a world-class idiot. And Meredith is sitting there, kicking her under the table and trying not to smile too much when the presenting specialist starts talking about the causes of still birth.
But it’s not working, because now Addison is whispering to the balding forty-something year old that looks positively bewitched, and is smiling so stupidly that Meredith can’t help it. She giggles. Because this guy hands over his phone number without even thinking, clueless as he is, and Addison rolls her eyes in Meredith’s direction, then mouths, “He could’ve waited. Made it more fun.”
And Meredith kicks her under the table again, hard, before snorting into the glass of water she’s picked up to hide her smile.
“I’m bored,” Addison mouths, fiddling with the corners of Mr Sacramento’s business card. Who gives out business cards with their phone number on it anyway? Addison turns to the person sitting on the other side of her and decides that it would be wrong to hit on the young, rather terrified looking doctor beside her for her own amusement.
“Me too,” Meredith mutters.
Typically, the two doctors sitting either side of her are mortified that she’s spoken, and they both shoot her death glares before returning their attention to the speaker.
Addison plays with her finger nails, her left hand noticeably missing her wedding band. At length, the presenter finishes and they adjourn for lunch.
“Stupid conferences and refresher course things,” the redhead huffs under her breath, following Meredith as they attempt to get as far away from the small room and its long round table as possible.
“I know,” Meredith exclaims, “We have you. Why do we need anyone else? You’re like the best in your field.”
Addison grins, “Sharing ideas is great for medicine Meredith. Besides, I may just have a,” she snorts, “Hot date.”
“You’re not actually going to call him?” Meredith asks incredulously.
Addison feigns a hurt look, “Meredith. I am more tactful than that. Everyone knows you've got to play hard to get.”
“If that in there was you playing hard to get then Lord help us if you ever change your mind about that. You might get arrested for indecent behaviour.”
“I was bored,” Addison offers in her own defence, “Besides, admit it, it was hilarious.”
Cristina stalks up behind them and crosses her arms.
“How’s it going in conference land?” she interrupts their conversation without ceremony, “I hope it’s good because the rest of us are over run with your work Meredith. I mean, Izzie’s not back until next week so we’re still short. And I’m stuck doing discharges, so I don’t even get any OR time.”
“Consider yourself lucky,” Meredith rolls her eyes, “This thing is so boring, it makes tax law sound enthralling. And you don’t have to watch this one,” she jerks a thumb in Addison’s direction, “Hit on every man in the room because she’s got nothing better to do.”
“You’re a bitch you know that?” Cristina informs Addison, “But I like your style.”
Addison bows a little, and accepts this praise with a huge smile, “Thank you, thank you. But seriously, this whole conference thing reminds me of band camp in high school,” she leans back against the wall, “So. boring.”
Meredith and Cristina exchange glances, “You were in a band?”
Addison narrows her eyes, “Yes. I was in the concert band. And I played the flute.”
Cristina snorts. Meredith’s hand flies to her mouth. They both say in unison, “This one time, at band camp…”
Addison looks decidedly unimpressed, “Lame. That is what Mark said when he found out. So congratulations, you’ve stooped to new levels of lowness.”
Cristina looks sideways at Meredith and they both giggle as Cristina says through her teeth, “His level wouldn’t be a bad place to be.”
The arch of the redhead’s eyebrow is the only response.
“She likes him,” Cristina announces, and Meredith nods.
“So, anything interesting come in today?” Addison changes the subject.
“Your ex-husband got a crazy guy with a bullet in his head,” Cristina muses, looking thoughtful, “But of course George got to scrub in on that didn’t he now?”
“Were they successful?” Meredith tries to look uninterested at the mention of McDreamy. And fails. Cristina and Addison are all over her momentary flicker of curiosity like a rash.
“So, do you still love him?”
“Oooh, what’s happening in McDreamy land?”
“Come on Meredith, I’m not going to hate you or anything, even if I am the ex-wife.”
“You have to tell me at least; I’m your person.”
Meredith holds up her hands, “Nothing is happening in McDreamyland. Except, well,” she pauses, “He came to me and he said he loved me. Fine. That doesn’t mean I just have to crawl back to him and pretend nothing ever happened. Right?” she looks to both of them for confirmation, “Right? I mean, he treated us like McShit. He doesn’t get to just waltz in and have everything the way he wants it.”
“No,” Addison agrees, shaking her head.
“Definitely not,” Cristina echoes.
“I mean the whole thing is very Jane Eyre,” Meredith looks down at her shoes, “I was this lowly intern who happened to meet a handsome and wonderful attending and we were sort of in love but then he had a hidden wife that he never told anyone about,” she looks at Addison apologetically, “Not that you’re mad or anything, but you know… skeletons in the closet and all. And then we broke up, and I met Finn, and Finn had plans but I just couldn’t go out with Finn because I still have feelings for Derek except,” she puts her hands on her hips, “I’m not going to just run back and pretend it’s happily ever after. I mean, Jane went back to Mr Rochester but she made him wait a little, before the declarations of love and happiness part.”
“Derek likes the chase,” Addison observes contemplatively, “Playing hard to get is not a bad idea.”
“All in all, it’s not a terrible plan,” Cristina declares, “I’m very impressed Meredith. How level-headed of you, in spite of your dark and twistiness.”
Meredith nods, looking very pleased with herself, “I thought so to.”
“But Jane Eyre?” Addison twists her face around, looking dubious, “Are you still knitting?”
“It’s a classic,” Meredith protests.
“So’s Gone With The Wind,” Cristina points out.
Meredith blushes.
“You’ve read Gone With The Wind?” Cristina looks on in disbelief.
“So shoot me,” Meredith puts her hands on her hips, “I am still knitting.”
Chapter 9: The Girls Talk ‘The Return Of Mark’
Addison was enjoying the divorced life. She liked living in a five-star hotel. She liked not having to rummage around under the bed for half an hour to find a particular pair of shoes. She liked not having a moody husband brooding around a trailer which is, at best, too small for one person with a wardrobe the size of hers to live in comfortably. She was enjoying her ‘me’ time. It wasn’t even that awkward, seeing Derek everyday at the hospital.
Note the use of past tense.
Because being divorced was great until about five seconds ago, when she rounded a corner just as the elevator was closing and caught a glimpse of the back of a very familiar head. (Too familiar, some might say.)
She pulls herself onto the gurney beside Meredith and sighs.
“Ooh,” the interns brighten at the sight of her, “We have gossip,” Meredith informs her happily.
Cristina grins.
Addison gets the feeling that she knows what’s coming next, “Oh, do tell.”
“Mark’s back,” Meredith giggles.
Cristina snorts, “Yep, Mark’s back.”
“Shit,” Addison says to no one in particular.
They laugh even harder and she begins to suspect they may be mocking her, especially when they poke her in the ribs and coo, “McSteamy’s back.”
“So how many nurses has he bedded insofar?” she rolls her eyes, hoping they’ll pick up on her obvious lack of interest. Because she’s not interested. At all.
“Um none,” Meredith wiggles her eyebrows at a very irritable Addison.
“Rumour has it he declared to the first nurse who asked that he’s saving himself,” Cristina grins slyly, “Just for you.”
Addison groans and bangs her head against the wall.
“You’re practically a done deal according to the rumour mill,” Meredith informs her.
“They’re taking bets on how long it will take you to deflower him,” Cristina tells her, “You know, take his Seattle Grace virginity.”
Addison blushes, then swears, then glares at them both.
“It’s not going to happen,” she protests.
“Damn, then I’m out of fifty bucks,” Cristina huffs.
- * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * -
Addison figures its best to avoid anything that requires her to venture too far from her nursery. Not because she’s trying to avoid him, obviously because it’s the first place he’d think of to look for her. Honestly, she’s worried about meeting them: Derek and Mark, or Mark and Meredith or Derek and Meredith. It’s a very complicated love-shape and she hates awkward geometry.
But around midday she has no choice. O’Malley pages her to the ER. She really can’t ignore it. It’s an emergency.
So, she sacrifices her dignity and answers the call of duty, almost without incident. But just as she’s rounding the corner to meet O’Malley she looks up from the chart she’s studying and sees Derek walking towards her. She looks left, and there’s Mark. She swallows nervously and snaps her head to the right, nearly running into Meredith. They all stand, smiling nervously. Both men are staring at Addison imploringly, and she wishes she could just spin on her heel and walk the other way. They continue looking at her, Derek trying to prove that looks can kill or something, waiting to see which one of them she’ll choose.
Addison beams at Meredith and takes her arm, steering her into the corridor towards the stairs, away for Derek, away from Mark, away from the hella uncomfortable and embarrassing love-shape.
“I have a pregnant mother in the ER,” she says, “It might be surgical.”
Derek turns to Mark as they disappear, “Not that I’m going to like you again, ever, but you should be cautioned. The women here are plotting against us.”
Mark shakes his head, “But they’re outnumbered four to one.”
Derek swallows nervously, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
- * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * -
She’s been avoiding the elevator all day because at Seattle Grace Hospital, bad things always happen in elevators. Especially to female surgeons who Are Not Interested in other (usually male) surgeons, who incidentally tend to be gorgeous and slightly irresistible. (Because she’s Not Interested. With capitals. Just like that. Really. The divorce isn’t even finalised yet.)
But Addison’s feet hurt. Sure, the heels are hot, but they’re hardly practical and she’s fairly certain she has several impressive blisters on the side of her smallest toe. She can’t possibly take the stairs, just limping to the elevator made her curse under her breath at the sharp stab of pain which accompanies every step.
She presses the button for the maternity floor and ignores him, as if she can realistically pretend she hasn’t seen him and that they’re not the only two people in the elevator.
He doesn’t buy it.
“What?” he begins defensively, “You’re not even going to say hello?”
She purses her lips and looks at him sideways, “Hello Mark.”
He smiles, “Much better. Hello Addison.”
“Don’t you hate the rain in Seattle?” she chews on her pen nervously.
“I’m not leaving,” he informs her, “This is a great position. I have the liberty to create a plastics department however I want and you’re not going to scare me off by pouting at me or sending me sideways glances or avoiding me altogether. This is a career move. You just happen to be an added bonus.”
“Ok then,” she forces herself to smile warmly at him.
“Good,” he grins back at her.
She meets his eyes.
He stares back.
“Do you ever get that urge to push all the buttons before you get to the next floor?” she asks impulsively.
He looks confused but nods, “I guess.”
“You should do that now,” she blurts out.
And he does.
So she kisses him. Or she attacks him really, pressing her body against his until he’s cornered against the wall. She’s not really sure how she made the transition from standing with her hands occupied with at least five charts and shuffling her feet, to her hands, occupied with tugging down at his lab coat, and her mouth very firmly pressed against his. But it happened. And his hands are now occupied with her hair and his tongue is no longer trying to convince her he came to Seattle for work. He’s making a compelling argument with it, but it has absolutely nothing to do with surgery.
The elevator opens on the third floor and they pull away suddenly.
She reaches for his arm when he tries to slide past her and stops him.
He raises an eyebrow questioningly.
“Welcome to Seattle,” she whispers, a little breathlessly, and makes a gesture that suggests he wipe her lipstick of his face.
Meredith and Cristina push past him, shooting knowing glances in her direction.
“Oh shut up,” she hisses, “So McSteamy’s back. Bite me.”
Chapter 10: The Girls Talk ‘Sleepless In Seattle’ and ‘Dirty Minds’
Addison stumbles out of an on-call room at some ungodly hour of the morning and shuffles towards the bathrooms. She needs to do something to her hair before anyone sees her, because otherwise it will be entirely obvious that’s she’s been having really, really, really amazing sex for the past few hours. What she hasn’t been doing is sleeping, and that’s going to be obvious come morning rounds too, but hey, sleep is for the weak. And the people not having really, really, really amazing sex in on-call rooms.
She smirks.
Because that’s practically everyone except her and that makes her feel very, very smug. It is in fact the smug smile and not the contorted fringe that makes Cristina suspect Addison may have been having really, really, really amazing sex in an on-call room for the better part of the night. In fact, if Cristina hadn’t been doing something similar herself, she’d probably have the energy to tease the attending, mercilessly, about her obvious ‘lack of interest’ in Mark (whom she rightly assumes is the person Addison has been having really, really, really amazing sex with). As it is, all she can manage is a yawn as she braces herself against the bathroom sink and watches Addison shuffle through the door.
“Jesus,” Cristina rolls her eyes and then rubs at them, “I’d hate to see what would happen if you actually liked a guy.”
The red-head blushes, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Cristina yawns, “Maybe the fact that Miss ‘I’m-Not-Interested’ jumped the guy she’s Not Interested in.”
Addison shrugs, “I’m not interested. Technically.”
“Was it that bad?” Cristina jokes, as she disappears into a cubicle.
“Oh no,” is the quick rebuttal, “No. It was very good.”
“Good?” Cristina raises an eyebrow and stares at an advertisement for an ovulation test, “How can you use ‘good’ to describe sex?”
Next to her Addison taps her fingers against her thigh nervously, “I don’t know. I can’t exactly say it was mind-blowingly toe-curlingly amazing. That many clichés in one sentence is enough to kill a girl.”
Cristina shrugs, “Ok then. It was mind-blowingly toe-curlingly amazing. And you’re not interested?”
“No,” Addison shakes her head decisively, more for her own benefit than the intern who can’t see her anyway, “Well. Maybe. A little. But officially, no.”
“It’s way too early in the morning to interpret the true nature of your feelings given the ambiguity of your previous assertion,” Cristina mumbles.
“Do you always talk like you swallowed a dictionary at 4am?”
“Mostly.”
“Wow, sexy.”
“I try. Burke wasn’t exactly complaining.”
“I’m sure he wasn’t,” Addison grins, “Do you ever wonder about the conversations you have in bathrooms? Like what if there’s someone else in here now? Are they going to think we’re really strange, having a conversation through the walls?”
Cristina pushes open the door and makes her way to the sink, splashing her face with water, “Sometimes. Because out of context, most of my conversations sound incredibly odd. But don’t worry, there’s no one else here anyway. Apparently we’re the only two getting any action.”
“Or,” Addison suggests, joining the intern at the sinks, “We’re the only two whose lives are that screwed that we have to have sex in a hospital.”
Cristina acknowledges that she may be right and Addison smiles, sleepily.
“I’m definitely going home tonight,” she yawns, then pauses thoughtfully, “Well. Actually. Perhaps I’ll stay.”
Cristina’s lips twist into a mocking smile, “You are so interested.”
- * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * -
In Addison’s defence, it was an ambush. He was lying in wait, when she (the unsuspecting prey) cautiously pushed open the door to the stairwell in order to avoid the Curse of the Elevator. And was she really meant to object when he cornered her against the wall in between flights of stairs and kissed her good morning? Five times.
Several minutes later, they both look up to find Meredith looking down from the level above, bent over double with laughter. Addison turns an interesting shade of scarlet, as the intern bounds down the stairs, no doubt with an arsenal of teasing remarks at the ready.
“Good morning,” she says brightly.
They both mumble a response and stare at the ceiling, or their shoes, or the spot of gum on the side of the third stair from the top.
“As a doctor,” Meredith giggles, taking their silence as permission to continue, “I feel I have an obligation to inform you of my concern for your health. Jesus Christ, you’re going to get the worst pash rash ever.”
Mark blinks a few times and then smiles widely, “Thank you Doctor Grey, I’m glad that you’re concerned. But damn,” he turns back to Addison and winks, “It would be a good way to die. Right ladies, I’m off.”
And as he leaves, Meredith backs away from Addison’s murderous glare until she is cornered against the wall.
“I would be so mad at you,” Addison tells her, “If I wasn’t so incredibly embarrassed that I wish the ground would swallow me whole.”
“So you’re interested,” Meredith shrugs, “You’re single. He’s single. He digs you. It’s not a crime.”
“Oh,” Addison shakes her head, “I don’t know. I’m fairly certain it’s a crime to get involved with your ex-mistress.”
“Not when your ex-mistress looks like that,” Meredith jibes, poking her in the shoulder, “I mean, if you’re not interested, I definitely might be.”
“What right do you have to be so perky anyway?” Addison yawns, following the intern up a flight of stairs. A door bangs and they look up to find Cristina attempting to hide from George, who takes one look at all three women and promptly spins on his heel and swings the door open, mutterings something about women taking over the world.
Said women exchange bewildered looks and Cristina joins Meredith and Addison. Both Cristina and Addison yawn in unison, reminding Meredith of her previous assault.
“Ooh,” the dirty blonde looks down at the attending mischievously, “Was someone up all night?”
“Sleepless in Seattle, as it were,” Addison says wryly.
Meredith giggles, “Oh my, I thought I was the only one who thought that about that movie.”
“Thought what about that movie?” Cristina looks confused.
“That it was going to be about sex,” Addison finishes Meredith’s thought, “And I know, it’s terrible, it’s wrong, but… what were we meant to think? It is called sleepless in Seattle.”
“And when I think of sleepless nights,” Meredith gesticulates with a free hand, “I don’t think of lying awake and ringing up a radio station.”
“Nope,” Cristina catches on, “Definitely not.”
“I mean, I was expecting something like Wild Things,” Meredith rolls her eyes, “Not a cute five-year-old and a sappy love story.”
Addison giggles, “Derek was so annoyed when I dragged him to that movie… and it was so different from what I expected, but I was a little mortified I was so wrong about it. I don’t think I ever told him.”
Cristina smirks, “Kind of awkward really. So, um, I totally thought this was going to be porn.”
Addison snorts, “Yeah. Please continue to love me, even if I do have a dirty mind.”
“I have the worst mind ever,” Meredith declares with her hands on her hips, “Seriously. I laughed in the House of God. That makes me a terrible person.”
Addison giggles again, “Everyone laughed in the House of God.”
“In the sex scene? When he was fantasising about having sex with the nurse who was trying to revive the dead guy having a cardiac arrest?” Meredith narrows her eyes.
And Cristina laughs out loud, “Oh, that was priceless. And then he was picturing everyone in the room having an orgy and the Hawaiian underpants,” she wipes her eyes, “Meredith, everyone laughed at that part.”
Addison nods her agreement, “That part was sick. But hilarious.”
“Maybe we just have dirty minds,” Meredith counters, “Maybe we’re sick, sick people who are obsessed with sex. And how much sex everyone else is having. And how much sex we’re not having.”
Cristina meets Addison’s eyes and they both smirk, “You’re the only one not having sex.”
“Shut up,” Meredith groans, “Why oh why did I ever decide to be celibate? Ever since then, things have gone down hill.”
“Yeah, how’s the knitting coming by the way?” Addison teases.
“Shut up,” Meredith snaps again, “Not all of us are totally in love with plastic surgeons who worship us in every possible way.”
The side of Addison’s mouth curls upwards, “Oh yes. Well, that’s too bad because you are definitely missing out.”
“I told you that you were interested,” Cristina remarks, with a satisfied smile.
Addison blushes.
“And Meredith,” Cristina rolls her eyes, “Are you still going all Jane Eyre on McDreamy’s ass?”
Meredith shakes her head, “No, but he wants to take things slower this time. Considering last time he picked me up in a bar and ripped my clothes off as soon as we were out the door, you’d think that two weeks would be slow enough to constitute slower… but no,” she pinches at her arms, “No, we have to wait. I’m beginning to think he’s never going to put out.”
Cristina shrugs, “I’m not saying it’s for certain, but he’ll definitely put out before Finn.”
Addison studies her fingernails, “This is awkward.”
Meredith nods, “Um, yep. Awkward.”
Cristina shrugs, “So you’ve both slept with the guy, one of you has married him, and now the other is dating him. Don’t let it be awkward. Compare notes.”
“He really does consider it an insult if you out last him,” Addison remarks, still studying her fingernails.
“He didn’t speak to me for a week!” Meredith exclaims, “It’s not my fault.”
“Tell me about it. And he gets lazy, after a while. I mean, I guess all men do. But we got repetitive and tedious after a few years. It was almost like a set routine for every day of the week, except it was more like the first Saturday of every second month, before he left.”
“Is that why you slept with Mark?” Meredith looks worried.
Addison shrugs, “Not the only reason. But it certainly made the decision of accepting the offered sex a lot easier.”
“And you’re sure he wasn’t cheating on you?”
“What? House of God style?” she raises an eyebrow, “He was married to his job. He didn’t have time for me, he certainly didn’t have time for someone else on the side as well. Besides, I would’ve known. I know these things.”
Meredith’s eyes widen, “Then I might have to sleep with Mark too.”
Cristina giggles when Addison involuntarily narrows her eyes.
“Because I have a dirty mind and a girl has needs,” Meredith pouts, “And if he can for that long without sex,” she trails off, “I just may never get to be sleepless in Seattle.”
Author's Notes: Um yeah, I think this is all for now.
Chapter 6: The Girls Talk ‘Tough Love’
Meredith fumbles with her keys and looks around the porch nervously, “I don’t know if this is such a good idea guys.”
“You told me today that Stevens hasn’t left her room in three days,” Addison says authoritatively, “We’re doctors Meredith. And that is not good for anyone.”
“She needs to suck it up and get over it,” Cristina echoes Addison’s sentiments, a lot less tactfully.
“I know,” Meredith finally slides the door open and pads into the living room cautiously, “And I fully sympathise with your desire to kick her ass. But I’m just not sure she can handle that right now.”
“Now or never,” Addison remarks dismissively.
“It’s been a month Meredith,” Cristina argues, “Four whole weeks of moping around this house. There’s no wonder she’s depressed. She needs to get up and get on with it. Otherwise, she’ll spend the rest of her life lying in that room, gathering dust.”
Meredith flicks the kitchen lights on and reaches for the bottle of tequila in the top cupboard, “Drinks anyone?”
Addison holds up a hand, “I could use some of that.”
Meredith hands her the bottle. She looks down at it, confused.
“That’s how we do things here,” Meredith informs her, “Drink up.”
“Ok, I haven’t done this since college,” the attending announces, tentatively raising the bottle to her lips.
“You’re showing your age,” Cristina mock-whispers, and Addison slaps her arm with her free hand.
Cristina makes a grab for the alcohol and takes a long gulp, wiping her mouth with her hand, “So here’s the plan: we go up there, we get Izzie out of bed, we bring Izzie downstairs, break out the ice-cream and the chick-flicks and the tequila, and have a grand old girls night in.”
Addison stretches her arms out above her head, “Oh I could use some of that.”
Cristina nods, “And then, we have drunken deep-and-meaningful conversations about icky things like feelings, and Izzie gets to spill her guts about Denny and it’s a whole lot cheaper than therapy.”
Addison rolls her eyes, “And she doesn’t have to talk to a lunatic headshrinker. Because you know the kind of med students who became psychiatrists. They were nuts to start with.”
Meredith giggles and takes another swig from the bottle, for courage she tells them.
“Yep,” Addison sighs, looking pleased, “It sounds like a plan.”
“Just one problem,” Meredith declares, “No one, and I really do mean no one, has been able to get Izzie out of bed insofar. She went through a brief baking phase a few weeks ago. But other than that, nada. Even George can’t get through to her.”
Cristina shrugs, “I am so much better at life than George.”
Meredith raises an eyebrow, “Whatever. All I’m saying is no amount of sweet talking or commiserating seems to work.”
Addison raises an eyebrow right back, “Who said we were going to be commiserating?”
Cristina makes a face at the mention of ‘sweet talking’ and then nods, “The girl needs a wake up call. And we’re going to give it to her.”
Meredith raises her hands to the ceiling and leads the charge up the stairs, “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Her roommate pushes Izzie’s door open cautiously and knocks a few times, before slipping into the shadows. Addison and Cristina stand in the sliver of light from the hall and watch, as Meredith gently calls Izzie’s name and tries to illicit a response by tapping at her shoulder.
Predictably, no such response is encountered.
“Shall we take over?” Cristina mutters.
Addison nods.
So Cristina sidles into the room and flips the light switch, causing Meredith to whirl around and blink furiously. And Addison follows her into the room and stands at the foot of the bed with her hands on her hips.
Cristina speaks first, “Ok, ok, I know, I’m not generally a feelings kind of person. But this is me being supportive. I’m being supportive. You’ve threatened me, physically. I get the feeling you never really liked me much, but I will be supportive, because I get it, you’re going through a hard time. But you need to get out of bed. You need to stop wallowing in your misery. Jesus Izzie, there are birds and bees and other people with problems, so move your sorry ass.”
“So your fiancée died,” Addison continues, glaring at the lump in the bed, “Marriage ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. I would know. And I get it, you got deprived of a chance at a life with Denny, and maybe you actually loved him, and that sucks. But in case you hadn’t noticed, the sun keeps coming up. The world is still spinning. You’re still on it. So like the rest of us, you have to get out of bed.”
Cristina nearly cheers, and pushes Addison up onto the bed, jumping up behind her. Together they kick (gently) at Izzie’s lethargic form, until slowly she rolls off the bed and onto the carpet.
Meredith looks on in horror, “Guys! Be nice.”
Addison and Cristina exchange a glance.
“Nice hasn’t worked until this point,” Cristina shrugs.
“And she smells,” Addison wrinkles her nose, “This is not healthy.”
Izzie sits up and stares blankly at the three women who have invaded her room. She groans, and then bursts into tears.
Meredith sinks down beside her and wipes at the blonde’s tear-stained cheeks, “Iz, it’s ok. We’re all so worried about you, but it’s going to be ok.”
Izzie nods into Meredith’s shoulder, and Meredith makes a face, “You’re right, she does smell.”
The dirty blonde lowers her voice to a soft murmur, “Iz, you need to shower. You need to eat, something other than cake or cookies,” she sighs, “And Addison is right, you need to get out of bed and get on with your life.”
Izzie shakes her head and whimpers, her silent sobs causing her to tremble as she gathers the covers around her.
Cristina flops down beside her, and Addison sinks down on the edge of the bed, leaning over Izzie’s shoulder.
“Doctor Isobel Stevens,” Cristina begins, “You grew up in a trailer park. From what you’ve said, your mother was a bit of a drunk. Or something. But you still put yourself through med school, all on your own, and until one brief lapse in judgement, you were on track to be a pretty all right surgeon. Woman,” she shakes her head, “Woman, get a grip. You can’t give up on that. You are better than this.”
Addison reaches out to brush the frizzy unwashed blonde … bird’s nest of hair out of Izzie’s face, “It hurts. It hurts now. It will hurt next week, next year… hell, it might even hurt in ten years, but it gets better. It gets easier. But you have to get out of bed. He’s dead. But you’re not. And you have to get on with your life. Cristina’s right: you are better than this.”
Meredith coos softly in Izzie’s ear and together they pull her upwards until she’s standing, and manoeuvre her towards the door.
“We’re going to take you to the shower Iz,” Meredith whispers.
Addison and Cristina look at each other.
“Meredith’s the good cop,” Cristina says in a stage whisper. Addison giggles a little, and pulls the bathroom door open, tugging at Izzie’s sleeve.
“Come on, into the shower. You’re a grown woman, but I’ll bathe you myself if I have too,” the redhead orders, with her hands on hips, “Go go go.”
Izzie reluctantly tugs at her T-shirt, and the three other women close the door, each pressing their ear to the wood, listening as water starts hitting the bathroom tiles.
“You two have a hell of a bedside manner,” Meredith glares at them, as soon as the shower starts.
Addison shrugs, “Sometimes you’ve got to be cruel to be kind.”
“We couldn’t leave her in bed,” Cristina agrees, “I mean, things were beginning to grow on her.”
“I know,” Meredith rakes a hand through her errant fringe and collapses against the bathroom door, “But it’s not easy, when you’ve seen her at her worst. She’s so broken; I don’t want to do more damage.”
“Meredith,” Addison sinks down beside her, “She needs to move on. And the only way to convince her of that is for some firm encouragement in the right direction.”
Cristina joins them on the floor, “Tough love baby, it’s the only way to go.”
Wow, we finally get some plot. It’s only a small one though. Oh, and *smirks*… shout outs to a particular el-jay user whose handle may have made an appearance in this one. It was an accident, but I figured we could all celebrate her awesomeness anyway. ;)
Chapter 7: The Girls Talk ‘Under The Tuscan Sun’
The absence of Meredith does not go unnoticed by Addison, Cristina or Derek. And it is the concern of the last which really begins to irritate the first, so much so that she confronts him about prom night in the men’s room sometime before midday. Not exactly her best ever relationship decision, but a horribly invigorating way to end an otherwise terrible morning. Long story short, Addison screams at Derek and Derek yells back and Alex Karev asks her what the fuck she’s doing in the men’s room, so she screams at him as well.
It all ends quite horribly. Derek stalks out. Karev gives her a dirty look. And she stands there staring at herself in the mirror until Richard comes in to use the urinals. An awkward explanation later and she’s stomping through the wards to find someone to unload on. Her relationship issues are too big to tackle on her own.
Meredith really would be the shoulder of choice, if Addison wanted to have a good old cry. Derek really hates it that his wife and his mistress have become bosom buddies, but Addison can’t help it. She has a lot in common with Meredith Grey.
Lucky for Addison, the last thing she feels like doing is crying over it. Because Meredith is taking the day off to help Izzie find a therapist, and a job. (Because Jose Cuervo, Ben and Jerry’s and Meg Ryan movies can’t solve everything.) Addison thinks finding another job might be a tad hasty, because Richard Webber still hasn’t decided what to do about the situation. He can’t cover it up for much longer, but he wants to talk to Doctor Stevens, who refuses to set foot in the hospital ever again.
Addison rolls her eyes, because she is so glad that is Meredith’s problem today.
Right now, she wants to yell, and scream and throw things.
Since none of these things are accepted in the standards of hospital decorum, she decides she’ll find Cristina Yang and bitch about her idiot husband and men in general.
Cristina Yang is, coincidentally, in the perfect mood for such a discussion, having just argued with Burke regarding staying-with-slash-meeting his parents. She doesn’t want two strangers in the apartment while he’s in the hospital. He doesn’t want his folks to have to find somewhere to stay on such short notice. She clenches her hands into fists and stalks down the hallway.
They’re both so caught up in their frustration that they don’t notice each other until Addison has ploughed into Cristina and Cristina has whirled around to snap at the inconsiderate fool who bumped into her when she realises it’s the person she was looking for in the first place.
“I hate men,” Cristina begins, falling into step behind the attending and following her into the gallery, where her husband is operating on an aneurism. The gallery is empty, so Cristina figures it’s either a boring surgery or there’s a more interesting one someone else.
Addison sighs, and agrees with her, “I hate Derek.”
“Derek is an idiot,” Cristina shrugs, “I mean ‘it’s a beautiful day to save some lives’,” she does a fairly accurate impression, with facial expressions which are slightly more pompous, “What the hell? It’s a beautiful day to act like a jerk to two of my good friends, that’s what it is. McDreamy? McShithead is more like it.”
Addison puts her hand to her mouth to suppress her laughter, “You paint a fairly grim picture Yang. He’s not all bad. I did marry him.”
“Once upon a time, I’m sure he was charming and lovely and all the rest of it,” Cristina reaches into her pocket and pops a piece of gum into her mouth, chewing vehemently, “But ever since you came to Seattle? He’s lost his mind. Gum?”
“No thanks,” Addison shakes her head, “I don’t know. Sometimes I think that I still love him, despite his lack of a working mind. But other times, I just don’t think I can be bothered dealing with the angst anymore. He’s so whiney lately. He just complains about Meredith and I being friends, and says I neglect him for Meredith, and he’s practically jealous of me because I spend more time with Meredith than he does,” she rolls her eyes, “And then I ask him if he loves her and he just broods. I’m married to you, I love you, how could you doubt me? Yada yada yada yada. Jesus Christ Derek, do you ever shut up?”
“I’ll tell you how you could doubt him,” Cristina pokes a finger into Addison’s shoulder, “He cheated on you. He. Cheated. On. You. When you were in the other room. AND he didn’t tell you about it, you had to hear it from the dirty mistress, as it were.”
Addison holds up a hand, “Hey, the score is even on that note. I cheated on him, with his best friend, and he only found out because he came home early. For once.”
“You’re making excuses for the man’s shitty treatment,” Cristina informs her bluntly, “Don’t make excuses for the man.”
“I’m not making excuses for the man,” she protests, “Facts are facts. He was never there beforehand maybe, he didn’t notice I was sleeping with Mark for,” she waves a hand around absently, “Oh God, I don’t know, months before he found out because he was always at the hospital. So what? Absence is the new excuse for adultery?”
“And what’s his excuse? Meredith was dating the vet?”
“I should date the vet,” Addison pouts.
“The lesbian man?” Cristina’s eyebrows shoot up into her hair, “Don’t do that. You’ll never get laid.”
They laugh and Addison twists her wedding bands around her fingers, “Maybe I should just divorce his sorry ass.”
Cristina nods, “Oh yeah. Make him sign the papers. I’ll become a lesbian, because God knows, I’m over Burke and his I-can’t-deal-with-a-life-crisis shit. And you can buy a villa in Tuscany, it will be very Frances Mayes. Together we shall romp about a small Italian village, drinking lots of red wine and hitting on hot European men.”
“I’ve always wanted a villa in Tuscany, or the South of France,” Addison muses, “Maybe you’re right, I should get divorced and move to Tuscany.”
Cristina rolls her eyes, “I’m always right about these things.”
“Right,” Addison rises, “It’s settled. I’ll go get the papers, make him sign, and then we’ll go to Europe.”
“Good,” Cristina responds.
“Good,” Addison echoes.
“You can approach the Chief about getting the time off.”
“You’re the one who actually wants a job here,” Addison huffs, “I mean, if it weren’t for Derek, I wouldn’t even be here in the first place. Stupid Seattle and the stupid rain.”
“But the Chief loves you,” Cristina points out, “In fact, scrap the Europe plan I have a better one. You know the ‘Boy’s Club’?”
Addison nods, “How could I not?”
“Well, Derek and Burke both think one of them is going to be made Chief of Surgery,” Cristina rubs her hands together evilly, “But I think with careful planning and a little manipulation, there’s no reason why it couldn’t be you.”
Addison laughs, “I think I’d prefer the Tuscan villa.”
“Hey, first you get Chief of Surgery then you slowly take over the world,” Cristina winks, “World domination begins here. Besides, revenge, for all of us girls. It tastes sweet.”
“I like the way you think,” Addison grins wickedly.
“Right,” Cristina saunters into the corridor as Derek steps backward from the table, about to finish up, “I’m going to tell Burke it’s my way or the highway.”
“I’m going to get divorced,” Addison announces.
“I love empowerment,” Cristina responds.
“I’m still thinking about that villa.”
Chapter 8: The Girls Talk ‘Playing Hard To Get’
Meredith is sitting opposite Addison at the conference table, and despite the appearance of being her boss, and being responsible and being the kind of attending you could imagine being a straight-A goody two shoes in high school, Addison is trying to make Meredith laugh. She’s doing this by purposefully flirting with the visiting gynaecologist from Sacramento: giggling at his jokes, borrowing his pen and putting it in her mouth, twisting her hair around her fingers and behaving like a world-class idiot. And Meredith is sitting there, kicking her under the table and trying not to smile too much when the presenting specialist starts talking about the causes of still birth.
But it’s not working, because now Addison is whispering to the balding forty-something year old that looks positively bewitched, and is smiling so stupidly that Meredith can’t help it. She giggles. Because this guy hands over his phone number without even thinking, clueless as he is, and Addison rolls her eyes in Meredith’s direction, then mouths, “He could’ve waited. Made it more fun.”
And Meredith kicks her under the table again, hard, before snorting into the glass of water she’s picked up to hide her smile.
“I’m bored,” Addison mouths, fiddling with the corners of Mr Sacramento’s business card. Who gives out business cards with their phone number on it anyway? Addison turns to the person sitting on the other side of her and decides that it would be wrong to hit on the young, rather terrified looking doctor beside her for her own amusement.
“Me too,” Meredith mutters.
Typically, the two doctors sitting either side of her are mortified that she’s spoken, and they both shoot her death glares before returning their attention to the speaker.
Addison plays with her finger nails, her left hand noticeably missing her wedding band. At length, the presenter finishes and they adjourn for lunch.
“Stupid conferences and refresher course things,” the redhead huffs under her breath, following Meredith as they attempt to get as far away from the small room and its long round table as possible.
“I know,” Meredith exclaims, “We have you. Why do we need anyone else? You’re like the best in your field.”
Addison grins, “Sharing ideas is great for medicine Meredith. Besides, I may just have a,” she snorts, “Hot date.”
“You’re not actually going to call him?” Meredith asks incredulously.
Addison feigns a hurt look, “Meredith. I am more tactful than that. Everyone knows you've got to play hard to get.”
“If that in there was you playing hard to get then Lord help us if you ever change your mind about that. You might get arrested for indecent behaviour.”
“I was bored,” Addison offers in her own defence, “Besides, admit it, it was hilarious.”
Cristina stalks up behind them and crosses her arms.
“How’s it going in conference land?” she interrupts their conversation without ceremony, “I hope it’s good because the rest of us are over run with your work Meredith. I mean, Izzie’s not back until next week so we’re still short. And I’m stuck doing discharges, so I don’t even get any OR time.”
“Consider yourself lucky,” Meredith rolls her eyes, “This thing is so boring, it makes tax law sound enthralling. And you don’t have to watch this one,” she jerks a thumb in Addison’s direction, “Hit on every man in the room because she’s got nothing better to do.”
“You’re a bitch you know that?” Cristina informs Addison, “But I like your style.”
Addison bows a little, and accepts this praise with a huge smile, “Thank you, thank you. But seriously, this whole conference thing reminds me of band camp in high school,” she leans back against the wall, “So. boring.”
Meredith and Cristina exchange glances, “You were in a band?”
Addison narrows her eyes, “Yes. I was in the concert band. And I played the flute.”
Cristina snorts. Meredith’s hand flies to her mouth. They both say in unison, “This one time, at band camp…”
Addison looks decidedly unimpressed, “Lame. That is what Mark said when he found out. So congratulations, you’ve stooped to new levels of lowness.”
Cristina looks sideways at Meredith and they both giggle as Cristina says through her teeth, “His level wouldn’t be a bad place to be.”
The arch of the redhead’s eyebrow is the only response.
“She likes him,” Cristina announces, and Meredith nods.
“So, anything interesting come in today?” Addison changes the subject.
“Your ex-husband got a crazy guy with a bullet in his head,” Cristina muses, looking thoughtful, “But of course George got to scrub in on that didn’t he now?”
“Were they successful?” Meredith tries to look uninterested at the mention of McDreamy. And fails. Cristina and Addison are all over her momentary flicker of curiosity like a rash.
“So, do you still love him?”
“Oooh, what’s happening in McDreamy land?”
“Come on Meredith, I’m not going to hate you or anything, even if I am the ex-wife.”
“You have to tell me at least; I’m your person.”
Meredith holds up her hands, “Nothing is happening in McDreamyland. Except, well,” she pauses, “He came to me and he said he loved me. Fine. That doesn’t mean I just have to crawl back to him and pretend nothing ever happened. Right?” she looks to both of them for confirmation, “Right? I mean, he treated us like McShit. He doesn’t get to just waltz in and have everything the way he wants it.”
“No,” Addison agrees, shaking her head.
“Definitely not,” Cristina echoes.
“I mean the whole thing is very Jane Eyre,” Meredith looks down at her shoes, “I was this lowly intern who happened to meet a handsome and wonderful attending and we were sort of in love but then he had a hidden wife that he never told anyone about,” she looks at Addison apologetically, “Not that you’re mad or anything, but you know… skeletons in the closet and all. And then we broke up, and I met Finn, and Finn had plans but I just couldn’t go out with Finn because I still have feelings for Derek except,” she puts her hands on her hips, “I’m not going to just run back and pretend it’s happily ever after. I mean, Jane went back to Mr Rochester but she made him wait a little, before the declarations of love and happiness part.”
“Derek likes the chase,” Addison observes contemplatively, “Playing hard to get is not a bad idea.”
“All in all, it’s not a terrible plan,” Cristina declares, “I’m very impressed Meredith. How level-headed of you, in spite of your dark and twistiness.”
Meredith nods, looking very pleased with herself, “I thought so to.”
“But Jane Eyre?” Addison twists her face around, looking dubious, “Are you still knitting?”
“It’s a classic,” Meredith protests.
“So’s Gone With The Wind,” Cristina points out.
Meredith blushes.
“You’ve read Gone With The Wind?” Cristina looks on in disbelief.
“So shoot me,” Meredith puts her hands on her hips, “I am still knitting.”
Chapter 9: The Girls Talk ‘The Return Of Mark’
Addison was enjoying the divorced life. She liked living in a five-star hotel. She liked not having to rummage around under the bed for half an hour to find a particular pair of shoes. She liked not having a moody husband brooding around a trailer which is, at best, too small for one person with a wardrobe the size of hers to live in comfortably. She was enjoying her ‘me’ time. It wasn’t even that awkward, seeing Derek everyday at the hospital.
Note the use of past tense.
Because being divorced was great until about five seconds ago, when she rounded a corner just as the elevator was closing and caught a glimpse of the back of a very familiar head. (Too familiar, some might say.)
She pulls herself onto the gurney beside Meredith and sighs.
“Ooh,” the interns brighten at the sight of her, “We have gossip,” Meredith informs her happily.
Cristina grins.
Addison gets the feeling that she knows what’s coming next, “Oh, do tell.”
“Mark’s back,” Meredith giggles.
Cristina snorts, “Yep, Mark’s back.”
“Shit,” Addison says to no one in particular.
They laugh even harder and she begins to suspect they may be mocking her, especially when they poke her in the ribs and coo, “McSteamy’s back.”
“So how many nurses has he bedded insofar?” she rolls her eyes, hoping they’ll pick up on her obvious lack of interest. Because she’s not interested. At all.
“Um none,” Meredith wiggles her eyebrows at a very irritable Addison.
“Rumour has it he declared to the first nurse who asked that he’s saving himself,” Cristina grins slyly, “Just for you.”
Addison groans and bangs her head against the wall.
“You’re practically a done deal according to the rumour mill,” Meredith informs her.
“They’re taking bets on how long it will take you to deflower him,” Cristina tells her, “You know, take his Seattle Grace virginity.”
Addison blushes, then swears, then glares at them both.
“It’s not going to happen,” she protests.
“Damn, then I’m out of fifty bucks,” Cristina huffs.
- * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * -
Addison figures its best to avoid anything that requires her to venture too far from her nursery. Not because she’s trying to avoid him, obviously because it’s the first place he’d think of to look for her. Honestly, she’s worried about meeting them: Derek and Mark, or Mark and Meredith or Derek and Meredith. It’s a very complicated love-shape and she hates awkward geometry.
But around midday she has no choice. O’Malley pages her to the ER. She really can’t ignore it. It’s an emergency.
So, she sacrifices her dignity and answers the call of duty, almost without incident. But just as she’s rounding the corner to meet O’Malley she looks up from the chart she’s studying and sees Derek walking towards her. She looks left, and there’s Mark. She swallows nervously and snaps her head to the right, nearly running into Meredith. They all stand, smiling nervously. Both men are staring at Addison imploringly, and she wishes she could just spin on her heel and walk the other way. They continue looking at her, Derek trying to prove that looks can kill or something, waiting to see which one of them she’ll choose.
Addison beams at Meredith and takes her arm, steering her into the corridor towards the stairs, away for Derek, away from Mark, away from the hella uncomfortable and embarrassing love-shape.
“I have a pregnant mother in the ER,” she says, “It might be surgical.”
Derek turns to Mark as they disappear, “Not that I’m going to like you again, ever, but you should be cautioned. The women here are plotting against us.”
Mark shakes his head, “But they’re outnumbered four to one.”
Derek swallows nervously, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
- * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * -
She’s been avoiding the elevator all day because at Seattle Grace Hospital, bad things always happen in elevators. Especially to female surgeons who Are Not Interested in other (usually male) surgeons, who incidentally tend to be gorgeous and slightly irresistible. (Because she’s Not Interested. With capitals. Just like that. Really. The divorce isn’t even finalised yet.)
But Addison’s feet hurt. Sure, the heels are hot, but they’re hardly practical and she’s fairly certain she has several impressive blisters on the side of her smallest toe. She can’t possibly take the stairs, just limping to the elevator made her curse under her breath at the sharp stab of pain which accompanies every step.
She presses the button for the maternity floor and ignores him, as if she can realistically pretend she hasn’t seen him and that they’re not the only two people in the elevator.
He doesn’t buy it.
“What?” he begins defensively, “You’re not even going to say hello?”
She purses her lips and looks at him sideways, “Hello Mark.”
He smiles, “Much better. Hello Addison.”
“Don’t you hate the rain in Seattle?” she chews on her pen nervously.
“I’m not leaving,” he informs her, “This is a great position. I have the liberty to create a plastics department however I want and you’re not going to scare me off by pouting at me or sending me sideways glances or avoiding me altogether. This is a career move. You just happen to be an added bonus.”
“Ok then,” she forces herself to smile warmly at him.
“Good,” he grins back at her.
She meets his eyes.
He stares back.
“Do you ever get that urge to push all the buttons before you get to the next floor?” she asks impulsively.
He looks confused but nods, “I guess.”
“You should do that now,” she blurts out.
And he does.
So she kisses him. Or she attacks him really, pressing her body against his until he’s cornered against the wall. She’s not really sure how she made the transition from standing with her hands occupied with at least five charts and shuffling her feet, to her hands, occupied with tugging down at his lab coat, and her mouth very firmly pressed against his. But it happened. And his hands are now occupied with her hair and his tongue is no longer trying to convince her he came to Seattle for work. He’s making a compelling argument with it, but it has absolutely nothing to do with surgery.
The elevator opens on the third floor and they pull away suddenly.
She reaches for his arm when he tries to slide past her and stops him.
He raises an eyebrow questioningly.
“Welcome to Seattle,” she whispers, a little breathlessly, and makes a gesture that suggests he wipe her lipstick of his face.
Meredith and Cristina push past him, shooting knowing glances in her direction.
“Oh shut up,” she hisses, “So McSteamy’s back. Bite me.”
Chapter 10: The Girls Talk ‘Sleepless In Seattle’ and ‘Dirty Minds’
Addison stumbles out of an on-call room at some ungodly hour of the morning and shuffles towards the bathrooms. She needs to do something to her hair before anyone sees her, because otherwise it will be entirely obvious that’s she’s been having really, really, really amazing sex for the past few hours. What she hasn’t been doing is sleeping, and that’s going to be obvious come morning rounds too, but hey, sleep is for the weak. And the people not having really, really, really amazing sex in on-call rooms.
She smirks.
Because that’s practically everyone except her and that makes her feel very, very smug. It is in fact the smug smile and not the contorted fringe that makes Cristina suspect Addison may have been having really, really, really amazing sex in an on-call room for the better part of the night. In fact, if Cristina hadn’t been doing something similar herself, she’d probably have the energy to tease the attending, mercilessly, about her obvious ‘lack of interest’ in Mark (whom she rightly assumes is the person Addison has been having really, really, really amazing sex with). As it is, all she can manage is a yawn as she braces herself against the bathroom sink and watches Addison shuffle through the door.
“Jesus,” Cristina rolls her eyes and then rubs at them, “I’d hate to see what would happen if you actually liked a guy.”
The red-head blushes, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Cristina yawns, “Maybe the fact that Miss ‘I’m-Not-Interested’ jumped the guy she’s Not Interested in.”
Addison shrugs, “I’m not interested. Technically.”
“Was it that bad?” Cristina jokes, as she disappears into a cubicle.
“Oh no,” is the quick rebuttal, “No. It was very good.”
“Good?” Cristina raises an eyebrow and stares at an advertisement for an ovulation test, “How can you use ‘good’ to describe sex?”
Next to her Addison taps her fingers against her thigh nervously, “I don’t know. I can’t exactly say it was mind-blowingly toe-curlingly amazing. That many clichés in one sentence is enough to kill a girl.”
Cristina shrugs, “Ok then. It was mind-blowingly toe-curlingly amazing. And you’re not interested?”
“No,” Addison shakes her head decisively, more for her own benefit than the intern who can’t see her anyway, “Well. Maybe. A little. But officially, no.”
“It’s way too early in the morning to interpret the true nature of your feelings given the ambiguity of your previous assertion,” Cristina mumbles.
“Do you always talk like you swallowed a dictionary at 4am?”
“Mostly.”
“Wow, sexy.”
“I try. Burke wasn’t exactly complaining.”
“I’m sure he wasn’t,” Addison grins, “Do you ever wonder about the conversations you have in bathrooms? Like what if there’s someone else in here now? Are they going to think we’re really strange, having a conversation through the walls?”
Cristina pushes open the door and makes her way to the sink, splashing her face with water, “Sometimes. Because out of context, most of my conversations sound incredibly odd. But don’t worry, there’s no one else here anyway. Apparently we’re the only two getting any action.”
“Or,” Addison suggests, joining the intern at the sinks, “We’re the only two whose lives are that screwed that we have to have sex in a hospital.”
Cristina acknowledges that she may be right and Addison smiles, sleepily.
“I’m definitely going home tonight,” she yawns, then pauses thoughtfully, “Well. Actually. Perhaps I’ll stay.”
Cristina’s lips twist into a mocking smile, “You are so interested.”
- * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * -
In Addison’s defence, it was an ambush. He was lying in wait, when she (the unsuspecting prey) cautiously pushed open the door to the stairwell in order to avoid the Curse of the Elevator. And was she really meant to object when he cornered her against the wall in between flights of stairs and kissed her good morning? Five times.
Several minutes later, they both look up to find Meredith looking down from the level above, bent over double with laughter. Addison turns an interesting shade of scarlet, as the intern bounds down the stairs, no doubt with an arsenal of teasing remarks at the ready.
“Good morning,” she says brightly.
They both mumble a response and stare at the ceiling, or their shoes, or the spot of gum on the side of the third stair from the top.
“As a doctor,” Meredith giggles, taking their silence as permission to continue, “I feel I have an obligation to inform you of my concern for your health. Jesus Christ, you’re going to get the worst pash rash ever.”
Mark blinks a few times and then smiles widely, “Thank you Doctor Grey, I’m glad that you’re concerned. But damn,” he turns back to Addison and winks, “It would be a good way to die. Right ladies, I’m off.”
And as he leaves, Meredith backs away from Addison’s murderous glare until she is cornered against the wall.
“I would be so mad at you,” Addison tells her, “If I wasn’t so incredibly embarrassed that I wish the ground would swallow me whole.”
“So you’re interested,” Meredith shrugs, “You’re single. He’s single. He digs you. It’s not a crime.”
“Oh,” Addison shakes her head, “I don’t know. I’m fairly certain it’s a crime to get involved with your ex-mistress.”
“Not when your ex-mistress looks like that,” Meredith jibes, poking her in the shoulder, “I mean, if you’re not interested, I definitely might be.”
“What right do you have to be so perky anyway?” Addison yawns, following the intern up a flight of stairs. A door bangs and they look up to find Cristina attempting to hide from George, who takes one look at all three women and promptly spins on his heel and swings the door open, mutterings something about women taking over the world.
Said women exchange bewildered looks and Cristina joins Meredith and Addison. Both Cristina and Addison yawn in unison, reminding Meredith of her previous assault.
“Ooh,” the dirty blonde looks down at the attending mischievously, “Was someone up all night?”
“Sleepless in Seattle, as it were,” Addison says wryly.
Meredith giggles, “Oh my, I thought I was the only one who thought that about that movie.”
“Thought what about that movie?” Cristina looks confused.
“That it was going to be about sex,” Addison finishes Meredith’s thought, “And I know, it’s terrible, it’s wrong, but… what were we meant to think? It is called sleepless in Seattle.”
“And when I think of sleepless nights,” Meredith gesticulates with a free hand, “I don’t think of lying awake and ringing up a radio station.”
“Nope,” Cristina catches on, “Definitely not.”
“I mean, I was expecting something like Wild Things,” Meredith rolls her eyes, “Not a cute five-year-old and a sappy love story.”
Addison giggles, “Derek was so annoyed when I dragged him to that movie… and it was so different from what I expected, but I was a little mortified I was so wrong about it. I don’t think I ever told him.”
Cristina smirks, “Kind of awkward really. So, um, I totally thought this was going to be porn.”
Addison snorts, “Yeah. Please continue to love me, even if I do have a dirty mind.”
“I have the worst mind ever,” Meredith declares with her hands on her hips, “Seriously. I laughed in the House of God. That makes me a terrible person.”
Addison giggles again, “Everyone laughed in the House of God.”
“In the sex scene? When he was fantasising about having sex with the nurse who was trying to revive the dead guy having a cardiac arrest?” Meredith narrows her eyes.
And Cristina laughs out loud, “Oh, that was priceless. And then he was picturing everyone in the room having an orgy and the Hawaiian underpants,” she wipes her eyes, “Meredith, everyone laughed at that part.”
Addison nods her agreement, “That part was sick. But hilarious.”
“Maybe we just have dirty minds,” Meredith counters, “Maybe we’re sick, sick people who are obsessed with sex. And how much sex everyone else is having. And how much sex we’re not having.”
Cristina meets Addison’s eyes and they both smirk, “You’re the only one not having sex.”
“Shut up,” Meredith groans, “Why oh why did I ever decide to be celibate? Ever since then, things have gone down hill.”
“Yeah, how’s the knitting coming by the way?” Addison teases.
“Shut up,” Meredith snaps again, “Not all of us are totally in love with plastic surgeons who worship us in every possible way.”
The side of Addison’s mouth curls upwards, “Oh yes. Well, that’s too bad because you are definitely missing out.”
“I told you that you were interested,” Cristina remarks, with a satisfied smile.
Addison blushes.
“And Meredith,” Cristina rolls her eyes, “Are you still going all Jane Eyre on McDreamy’s ass?”
Meredith shakes her head, “No, but he wants to take things slower this time. Considering last time he picked me up in a bar and ripped my clothes off as soon as we were out the door, you’d think that two weeks would be slow enough to constitute slower… but no,” she pinches at her arms, “No, we have to wait. I’m beginning to think he’s never going to put out.”
Cristina shrugs, “I’m not saying it’s for certain, but he’ll definitely put out before Finn.”
Addison studies her fingernails, “This is awkward.”
Meredith nods, “Um, yep. Awkward.”
Cristina shrugs, “So you’ve both slept with the guy, one of you has married him, and now the other is dating him. Don’t let it be awkward. Compare notes.”
“He really does consider it an insult if you out last him,” Addison remarks, still studying her fingernails.
“He didn’t speak to me for a week!” Meredith exclaims, “It’s not my fault.”
“Tell me about it. And he gets lazy, after a while. I mean, I guess all men do. But we got repetitive and tedious after a few years. It was almost like a set routine for every day of the week, except it was more like the first Saturday of every second month, before he left.”
“Is that why you slept with Mark?” Meredith looks worried.
Addison shrugs, “Not the only reason. But it certainly made the decision of accepting the offered sex a lot easier.”
“And you’re sure he wasn’t cheating on you?”
“What? House of God style?” she raises an eyebrow, “He was married to his job. He didn’t have time for me, he certainly didn’t have time for someone else on the side as well. Besides, I would’ve known. I know these things.”
Meredith’s eyes widen, “Then I might have to sleep with Mark too.”
Cristina giggles when Addison involuntarily narrows her eyes.
“Because I have a dirty mind and a girl has needs,” Meredith pouts, “And if he can for that long without sex,” she trails off, “I just may never get to be sleepless in Seattle.”