Without Prior Appointment
Well, whoopdedoo. Oceanside Wellness Group. It looked like a fucking spa. What the hell was she doing here? Addison was hardcore -- a surgeon! This was some sort of pansy-assed New Age hippie collective. When she'd told him to go after a different girl, Alex had gone like a good boy, because really, what did a lowly intern have to offer an attending, a world renowned neonatologist with three fellowships. Except some illicit stress relief in an on-call room and like all guys, he wanted to be needed, just a little bit, by the woman who held his affection. The other redhead was the right mix of obstinacy, wit and need to fit the bill of what he wanted, but she wasn't the right redhead.
The right fucking redhead had disappeared while he was off on his wild goose chase. Telling him that she hated him a little bit was the only closure she'd awarded him and he wasn't okay with that. She didn't get to move on, like... a rolling stone, so here he was, sitting outside the Oceanside Freaking Wellness Group in his beat-up clunker of a car, gnashing his teeth and spewing vitriol inside his own head. Chasing after a woman, cross-country no less, wasn't something Alex Karev did. He was going to go in there and give Pippi Longstocking a piece of his mind and then he'd go back to Seattle, the rain and the merry band of surgical residents, and forget he'd ever laid eyes or hands on any member of Team Fire Crotch.
That decided, he got out of his car and strode up to the complex.
She had attacked him that day in the hospital hallway -- kissing him, tearing at his scrubs. Yeah, he had been an ass afterwards, saying she wasn't his girlfriend, but he'd had an upcoming exam. After failing the practicals, he'd been freaked out about the prospect of having to repeat his internship. He'd been even more freaked by what Ava... Rebecca had said about him being dependable. Husband material. Being someone's husband meant eventually becoming someone's father and Alex had had bad role models in both areas. He'd suck at the whole Sunday barbecue and coaching Little League idyll. Even worse than Addison Forbes Montgomery already thought he did.
Stepping into the elevator, he looked at the floor panel before stabbing the correct button repeatedly.
"You only have to press it once."
The only other occupant of the elevator, a tall dude who probably was there to have the resident voodoo priest align his chakras, spoke up. Alex looked him over, trying to determine what was wrong with him, apart from his inability to mind his own business. Today wasn't the day to waste energy on an inconsequential stranger, so with what he hoped was a disdainful look, Alex just turned towards the doors. He was biding his time and biting his tongue until he had the real cause of his foul mood in his sights and within hearing range.
Damn woman. After the ferry crash, after he'd found Rebecca, Addison went about saying how no one would care if she just wasn't there. Of course, he'd had to go and tell her he'd notice if she disappeared. It was the right thing to do. You reassured women about their girly insecurities. 'No, of course your ass doesn't look huge in that outfit!' He hadn't expected her to actually force him to make good on his words. Yet, here he was, tracking down a damn chick who was neither his wife, nor his girlfriend.
The flashy screen which greeted Alex as he got off the elevator hardly fazed him. It showed a bald guy promoting some book on body language, but what else was to be expected at a place like this? Real people needing real health care didn't come to places like this. They sat in the jam-packed ER at the local hospital, not giving a fuck about their own or anyone else's body language. All they wanted was to not die from the cough, rash or stab wound as they tried to avoid getting fleas, lice or something worse from the guy in the next chair whose body language consisted of scratching himself in socially questionable areas.
As Alex approached the reception desk, he found Shaggy. The dude's sole activity seemed to be ogling a voluptuous woman across the room, but it had obviously tired him out because he was resting his head on the counter. From all appearances, he was without a care of the impropriety of either action, so the quack shop couldn't have much of a policy on work ethics. Once again, Alex wondered what the hell Addison was doing there. She was well and truly lost if she thought this was an appropriate venue for a self-respecting physician.
"She's hot."
"...uh-huh... What?" The guy, clearly not the brains of this outfit, straightened up as if someone had shoved a tack to his sorry ass.
Alex had a good reply on the tip of his tongue, had actually opened his mouth to speak the words when he suddenly heard her voice. Even though he knew she'd be here, having gotten the information from a reliable source... Chief Webber to be exact, he hadn't actually believed he'd find her in this place. She didn't belong at a medical practice which looked like an upscale boutique for weekly botox injections. Addison should be in the OR. At a hospital. In Seattle. There were babies to save and residents to teach.
Instead, she was having a conversation with a curly haired, mousy looking woman and a man with receding hairline. Whoever had claimed LA was a city filled with beautiful people was wrong. These two could have used the services of both Mark Sloan and a good stylist. Their poor baby would have a hard time, genes and environment conspiring in a cosmic joke. Alex was hard-pressed to decide how far along they were because she was wearing an over-sized sweater, but it couldn't be far at all. It might even be their first check-up, but they'd at least chosen wisely. The welfare of their baby was in capable hands.
Addison, impeccably stylish as usual, looked... happy. She'd never smiled like that back in Seattle. It made her look younger. Free. Like Rebecca, she'd gotten a new face, one that the people from her old life didn't quite recognize as hers. It was a beautiful face.
"She's hot too."
"Huh?"
He'd forgotten all about the brainiac behind the reception desk. Addison seemed to have that effect on him -- she'd take him by surprise and make him act like a Neanderthal, either by having sex with his mentor or rejecting a very desirable woman. Alex just hadn't expected himself to react like she mattered. He'd been angry at her leaving, about her running away while his back was turned, but he hadn't missed her.
"So, are you McDreamy or McSteamy, or a completely different -eamy?"
Glancing at the guy before his eyes strayed back to the tall redhead, Alex could see his gloating expression. He thought he had him pegged, that they were alike. Only they weren't, because Alex wasn't some stray puppy who followed a girl home after she'd petted him. Sure, he'd lusted after his boss too, but he'd never sat on his ass and sighed longingly every time he caught a glimpse of the delectable Dr. Montgomery. All he wanted from her was a proper goodbye and good riddance. Women couldn't keep dumping him, while he was trying to figure out his fear of commitment. Izzie, Ava-Rebecca, Addison.
"If you're here to win her back, you should know she has some sort of thing going with Pete."
"What?" Was this guy for real? "I don't care who she dates." What was a 'thing' anyway?
Shaggy raised his hands in defeat and shrugged.
"Alex? What are you doing here?"
He spun around to find himself staring straight into Addison's maelstrom eyes and Alex wasn't sure what he had wanted to say to her. She was beautiful and smelled even better. He wanted to kiss her. Kiss her and touch her, and possibly even play catch with her children one day. It was terrifying. Addison scared him like no woman had ever done. Not even Izzie, who'd gone from cold to hot to cold again, confusing him endlessly about what it meant to be in a real relationship. Addison, though, she wasn't an equally confused trailer park escapee.
She had money and brains, beauty and class, but most of all, she had expectations that Alex didn't know how to fulfill. George had unwittingly married his heiress and was living the life of a kept man, in the lap of luxury, but Alex wasn't like Bambi. He needed to be the man, to be the one to provide her with something, but the only thing Addison seemed to lack was a family. Alex wasn't cut out for family life, they both knew that, so she had decided for him that he didn't want her. He certainly didn't want to want her, but he did.
She was, however, right in that the window of opportunity to grab a hold of love was a rare occurrence and closing fast. Maybe his had come and gone already. Her eyes widened as he grabbed her by the arms.
"I should have given you a reason to stay."
So far, Addison had initiated everything that had happened between them, but not anymore, not this time. It was his turn and he was going to make it count. Hauling her up close, Alex wrapped one arm around her waist and cupped the back of her head with his other hand, dislodging her hair clip in the process. He didn't care. She was kissing him back, that was all that mattered.
Until she wasn't.
Alex felt Addison pushing at him, but he didn't want to let her go. Not when he'd just gotten a hold of her after driving through three states. Not when she was only going to tell him to piss off, that he was too late. That she had a thing with Pete, whoever he was and whatever that meant, and that the musty car stench he emanated made her want to vomit.
"Alex--"
He pressed a finger to her lips, to quiet her.
"I'm not soulful like Derek with his romantic proclamations and I don't have Mark's flirty bad boy charm. My manners, if you can even call them that, are abrasive, but I'm honest."
Alex wasn't eloquent, didn't know where to go from there, or how to convey that Addison was a damn crazy woman, but that he was still sure he'd chased down the right damn redhead this time. He had every reason to go back to his life. He was one of a select few, a surgical resident at one of the most competitive and prestigious hospitals in the country. He had friends and challenges and excitement in his life, even if it did rain more often than it didn't. It was a good, decent life.
He had every reason to go back, except the unreasonable woman in his arms.