Sunday on a Saturday Afternoon - 1/20
Title: This Used to Be a Life
Pairing: Alex/Addison
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1402
Summary: The beginning of a 20-part fic. Panties stay canon, everything else is AU from the end of S2. Addison is facing the end of her marriage, and Alex is facing a long sentence in a specialty he despises.
Addison wasn’t even sure what she felt. She sat on the edge of the bed that she shared with Derek Shepherd, holding another woman’s panties. Meredith Grey’s panties. Unless Derek was far more adulterous than she was giving him credit for. She felt regret; that she had wasted a few months of her life chasing a man who obviously didn’t want her. She felt sadness; that her marriage was officially over this time. She felt a little triumphant; the divorce was not entirely her fault. All these emotions were vying for top billing as she sat holding a pair of black underwear.
She wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t pulled on Derek’s coat over her nightie and slipped her hand in the pocket when she felt a slight bulge. Would she live in blissful ignorance? Would Derek end things? She supposed that she was glad that she had discovered the lacy sign of infidelity now, rather than waiting around for Derek to let her know it was over.
Prom had felt like a promise, like Derek was going to be better, like he was actually going to try. Instead it had been the opposite, the shattering of a relationship. Addison took the coat off, and put the panties in the washer and started it. While they were rolling around, she got dressed, not even bothering to put on make-up or take any special care with her appearance today. Who was she going to try to impress, anyway? She moved the panties to the dryer, then cleaned the trailer. She did always like to leave a place better than the way she found it. When the dryer buzzed, she pulled out the now mountain-fresh panties and methodically folded them and placed them into a Ziploc bag, then dropped them into her purse until she could decide exactly what to do with them.
It wasn’t until she got to work that she remembered all the other things that had happened. It hit her that her marriage ending was not going to be at the forefront of anyone else’s mind, if anyone else even knew. She wasn’t exactly glad that Denny Duquette had died, but she applauded his timing. And the fact that Izzie Stevens had apparently fallen in love with him. Yes, the marriage of Addison Montgomery and Derek Shepherd would have no place in anyone’s brain today.
---
Alex Karev was not particularly happy to have yet another day with Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, especially because he was expecting her to be in an especially foul mood after her outburst the previous day. And he thought he had heard Meredith and Cristina saying something about ‘doing the McNasty with McDreamy,’ which didn’t bode well for Addison.
When Addison did finally arrive, he saw that she looked horrible. Her eyes were sad, her movements jerky and distracted. Today was not a day to make her miserable. She was already making herself miserable. So he let her be. She assigned him a case that didn’t require too much attention, so when he finished it up, he hunted for Meredith.
“Listen, did you and Shepherd…you know?” he asked, nudging her with a grin on his face. Her expression was a mixture of horror and guilt, and it answered his question. “Way to stick it to the She-Shepherd, Grey.”
“Look, what happened? Not my idea. I’m dating Finn. Finn who has plans. And then I slept with Derek in an exam room. And Derek has no plans. He just asks me what it means. So, seriously? Alex? Not trying to stick it to anyone,” Meredith said emphatically with appropriately erratic hand gestures.
“Whatever, dude, you slept with Shepherd, and I’m pretty sure Montgomery-Shepherd knows.” Alex grinned. Meredith groaned slightly and he felt only a tiny modicum of guilt. He wasn’t going to make Addison miserable, but this was a good substitute.
“Get away.” Cristina appeared at Meredith’s side. “Meredith’s got enough problems without you spewing at her. She tried to make sandwiches today. That’s how bad she’s got it. She was in the kitchen. Doing things.” Meredith gave her a look. “What? You don’t cook. A sandwich was pushing it. I don’t lie, and I say it because I care. You should not cook.”
“Seriously? Cooking? That’s what we’re talking about now? I need new friends. Or maybe I should go lie down with Izzie.” Meredith ran a hand through her hair.
“Yeah, you should,” Alex chuckled and Cristina hit him on the shoulder. “Ouch! If you bruised me, Yang…”
“Oh, I’m so scared. Go away,” Cristina shooed him off with a wave of her hand, and Alex went, rubbing his shoulder, glowering. He bruised easily, and he didn’t need a big purple spot on his arm for Cristina to gloat about.
---
Addison couldn’t focus. The panties in her purse weighed heavily on her mind, and she just wanted to get rid of them. She was grateful for the distraction that Alex Karev brought with him when he handed her a chart to look over.
“Do I seriously have to do Gynie?” he asked, starting up his old song and dance of trying to convince her to let him do other things.
“Yes, you seriously have to do Gynie. I would think you’d be grateful for the opportunity to work with patients that don’t talk and can’t understand you.” Humor was evident in Addison’s tone, but Alex really wasn’t in the mood.
“Look, this isn’t a specialty I care about. At all. Couldn’t you turn me loose and let me do something that will actually help my career?” He took back his earlier vow to not make her miserable today.
“This will actually help your career. If you bothered to learn. But, since you don’t want to do Gynie today, I won’t make you scrub in on my C-section, and you can go do stitches in the Pit instead. Enjoy.” Alex had to give Addison credit. She was a master at making him miserable. And there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it. He wanted in on surgeries, but couldn’t ask to be in on them, because then he’d look like he was interested in her specialty. Which he wasn’t. He groaned and walked away. “I don’t like that attitude, Karev. Keep it up, and you won’t have any surgeries for a while.”
Addison found that she rather enjoyed taking out some of her anger on the irascible intern. Although she missed working with interns that actually wanted to work with her. It was moments like this when she missed her practice in New York, where she had a staff that was energetic and willing to work with her, and patients were begging her for her services. Now she just had a grumpy intern who tried to avoid her work as much as possible and complained about it constantly when he couldn’t avoid it.
---
Alex sat in the Pit, crossly sewing up minor wounds. He watched, scowling, as George came running through with a victim who had a head wound, and resisted the urge to make an obscene gesture at Cristina as she stuck out her tongue at him while she wheeled a man who had severe burns to the ICU. It was not a good day.
When he finished for the day, he walked up to the third floor to find Addison, and found her pacing back and forth in front of a bulletin board. He stood out of the way, so she couldn’t see him and watched her take out a plastic bag from her purse and pin something up to the board, then walk away, looking defeated.
Tonight didn’t seem like the night to give her crap about the Vagina Squad.
---
Addison wasn’t particularly proud of what she’d done. She appreciated the fact that she didn’t have to confront anyone and that the matter would probably resolve itself. While she drove down the road to the trailer, she realized that it wasn’t really her home anymore. All the lights were off, so she sat on the front porch, leaning against door. She didn’t want to go in, back to the bed that Derek was currently occupying, back to the place that she had put up with for three months while Derek fantasized about an intern. So for right now, she would stay outside. And decide what to do tomorrow.
[ Chapter Two]
Pairing: Alex/Addison
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1402
Summary: The beginning of a 20-part fic. Panties stay canon, everything else is AU from the end of S2. Addison is facing the end of her marriage, and Alex is facing a long sentence in a specialty he despises.
Addison wasn’t even sure what she felt. She sat on the edge of the bed that she shared with Derek Shepherd, holding another woman’s panties. Meredith Grey’s panties. Unless Derek was far more adulterous than she was giving him credit for. She felt regret; that she had wasted a few months of her life chasing a man who obviously didn’t want her. She felt sadness; that her marriage was officially over this time. She felt a little triumphant; the divorce was not entirely her fault. All these emotions were vying for top billing as she sat holding a pair of black underwear.
She wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t pulled on Derek’s coat over her nightie and slipped her hand in the pocket when she felt a slight bulge. Would she live in blissful ignorance? Would Derek end things? She supposed that she was glad that she had discovered the lacy sign of infidelity now, rather than waiting around for Derek to let her know it was over.
Prom had felt like a promise, like Derek was going to be better, like he was actually going to try. Instead it had been the opposite, the shattering of a relationship. Addison took the coat off, and put the panties in the washer and started it. While they were rolling around, she got dressed, not even bothering to put on make-up or take any special care with her appearance today. Who was she going to try to impress, anyway? She moved the panties to the dryer, then cleaned the trailer. She did always like to leave a place better than the way she found it. When the dryer buzzed, she pulled out the now mountain-fresh panties and methodically folded them and placed them into a Ziploc bag, then dropped them into her purse until she could decide exactly what to do with them.
It wasn’t until she got to work that she remembered all the other things that had happened. It hit her that her marriage ending was not going to be at the forefront of anyone else’s mind, if anyone else even knew. She wasn’t exactly glad that Denny Duquette had died, but she applauded his timing. And the fact that Izzie Stevens had apparently fallen in love with him. Yes, the marriage of Addison Montgomery and Derek Shepherd would have no place in anyone’s brain today.
---
Alex Karev was not particularly happy to have yet another day with Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, especially because he was expecting her to be in an especially foul mood after her outburst the previous day. And he thought he had heard Meredith and Cristina saying something about ‘doing the McNasty with McDreamy,’ which didn’t bode well for Addison.
When Addison did finally arrive, he saw that she looked horrible. Her eyes were sad, her movements jerky and distracted. Today was not a day to make her miserable. She was already making herself miserable. So he let her be. She assigned him a case that didn’t require too much attention, so when he finished it up, he hunted for Meredith.
“Listen, did you and Shepherd…you know?” he asked, nudging her with a grin on his face. Her expression was a mixture of horror and guilt, and it answered his question. “Way to stick it to the She-Shepherd, Grey.”
“Look, what happened? Not my idea. I’m dating Finn. Finn who has plans. And then I slept with Derek in an exam room. And Derek has no plans. He just asks me what it means. So, seriously? Alex? Not trying to stick it to anyone,” Meredith said emphatically with appropriately erratic hand gestures.
“Whatever, dude, you slept with Shepherd, and I’m pretty sure Montgomery-Shepherd knows.” Alex grinned. Meredith groaned slightly and he felt only a tiny modicum of guilt. He wasn’t going to make Addison miserable, but this was a good substitute.
“Get away.” Cristina appeared at Meredith’s side. “Meredith’s got enough problems without you spewing at her. She tried to make sandwiches today. That’s how bad she’s got it. She was in the kitchen. Doing things.” Meredith gave her a look. “What? You don’t cook. A sandwich was pushing it. I don’t lie, and I say it because I care. You should not cook.”
“Seriously? Cooking? That’s what we’re talking about now? I need new friends. Or maybe I should go lie down with Izzie.” Meredith ran a hand through her hair.
“Yeah, you should,” Alex chuckled and Cristina hit him on the shoulder. “Ouch! If you bruised me, Yang…”
“Oh, I’m so scared. Go away,” Cristina shooed him off with a wave of her hand, and Alex went, rubbing his shoulder, glowering. He bruised easily, and he didn’t need a big purple spot on his arm for Cristina to gloat about.
---
Addison couldn’t focus. The panties in her purse weighed heavily on her mind, and she just wanted to get rid of them. She was grateful for the distraction that Alex Karev brought with him when he handed her a chart to look over.
“Do I seriously have to do Gynie?” he asked, starting up his old song and dance of trying to convince her to let him do other things.
“Yes, you seriously have to do Gynie. I would think you’d be grateful for the opportunity to work with patients that don’t talk and can’t understand you.” Humor was evident in Addison’s tone, but Alex really wasn’t in the mood.
“Look, this isn’t a specialty I care about. At all. Couldn’t you turn me loose and let me do something that will actually help my career?” He took back his earlier vow to not make her miserable today.
“This will actually help your career. If you bothered to learn. But, since you don’t want to do Gynie today, I won’t make you scrub in on my C-section, and you can go do stitches in the Pit instead. Enjoy.” Alex had to give Addison credit. She was a master at making him miserable. And there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it. He wanted in on surgeries, but couldn’t ask to be in on them, because then he’d look like he was interested in her specialty. Which he wasn’t. He groaned and walked away. “I don’t like that attitude, Karev. Keep it up, and you won’t have any surgeries for a while.”
Addison found that she rather enjoyed taking out some of her anger on the irascible intern. Although she missed working with interns that actually wanted to work with her. It was moments like this when she missed her practice in New York, where she had a staff that was energetic and willing to work with her, and patients were begging her for her services. Now she just had a grumpy intern who tried to avoid her work as much as possible and complained about it constantly when he couldn’t avoid it.
---
Alex sat in the Pit, crossly sewing up minor wounds. He watched, scowling, as George came running through with a victim who had a head wound, and resisted the urge to make an obscene gesture at Cristina as she stuck out her tongue at him while she wheeled a man who had severe burns to the ICU. It was not a good day.
When he finished for the day, he walked up to the third floor to find Addison, and found her pacing back and forth in front of a bulletin board. He stood out of the way, so she couldn’t see him and watched her take out a plastic bag from her purse and pin something up to the board, then walk away, looking defeated.
Tonight didn’t seem like the night to give her crap about the Vagina Squad.
---
Addison wasn’t particularly proud of what she’d done. She appreciated the fact that she didn’t have to confront anyone and that the matter would probably resolve itself. While she drove down the road to the trailer, she realized that it wasn’t really her home anymore. All the lights were off, so she sat on the front porch, leaning against door. She didn’t want to go in, back to the bed that Derek was currently occupying, back to the place that she had put up with for three months while Derek fantasized about an intern. So for right now, she would stay outside. And decide what to do tomorrow.
[ Chapter Two]