Sunday on a Saturday Afternoon - 2/20
Previous Chapters: o1
Title: You Live on What They Send You
Pairing: Alex/Addison
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1751
Summary: There is more Addison/Archfield action in this chapter than Addison/Alex, I think. There is also muffins and coffee, and plans to get off neonatal.
Addison was thankful for Derek’s long surgeries and demanding hours. It gave her the necessary time to move out of the trailer, where she could deal with the end of her marriage quietly and without a fuss. She was methodical in her approach to packing. She kept herself numb to any sort of nostalgia that threatened to pop up at the sight of a chewed-on shoe or an old crossword puzzle. She would occasionally catch sight of her wedding rings and would have to busy herself folding shirts while she blinked tears away. Crying could come later, but she would not break down in this trailer.
She emptied closets and drawers, filling up the boxes and suitcases that she had optimistically thought wouldn’t be used until she and Derek moved into a house together. Pull something off a hanger, fold it, and put it in the suitcase. Lather, rinse, repeat. No extraneous thoughts, no wasted movements.
As a suitcase filled, it was loaded into her car. Her car that was not large enough to bring all of her belongings to wherever she was going in one trip. A few phone calls later, she had procured a room at the Archfield, a hotel close enough to the hospital, far enough from the trailer, and expensive enough for her to know that she would be well taken care of. It was the kind of hotel that people lived in. Not that it made Addison feel any better about living there.
After several drives to and from the hotel to the trailer, all of Addison’s possessions were brought up to the 22nd floor, where they sat crowded around the door, almost a wall between her and the rest of the room. She would organize later. Tonight she was going to order copious amounts of alcohol and watch really bad movies on late night cable.
---
Alex could kind of tell that Addison had had a rough night. She wasn’t walking around with her usual self-assurance and poise. Her posture was horrendous and Alex attributed it to the fact that she might not want to be noticed. He thought that if she didn’t want to be detected, she should have done something different with her hair, instead of letting it fly loose, and maybe should have skipped on the four-inch heels. She already towered over much of the staff, and the heels just added to her height. He smirked as she neared him. She was obviously hung over.
“Good morning, Dr. Montgomery,” he said cheerily and she winced in response. “And what are we doing today?”
“Not talking so loud,” she answered, rubbing her forehead with her hand. “Do you have the charts?” All she could think about was how much she really wanted a cup of coffee. Although, while she was wishing for things, she’d rather be in bed. Or still in a successful marriage.
“Nope,” Alex replied, seeming to take great pleasure in his failure. It was all part of his new plan, to be the absolute worst intern ever, so she would let him off of her service. He had spent about five minutes strategizing, but hadn’t taken Addison’s personality into account at all. Or the fact that she would be recovering from a night of heavy drinking.
“Dr. Karev, do you think that you’ll just become a good doctor by your looks? That no work is necessary? I know that you think you are too good to be wasted on neonatal, but until you can perform your duties to meet my standards you will be wasting away on my service. Are we clear?” Addison added to her wishlist an intern that didn’t hate her and her specialty. “Go get the charts and, so help me, if you screw up again today, you will never get off of my service.” She really just wanted him gone so that she could take care of her need for caffeine.
She watched Alex leave and turned to find the nearest coffee cart. She bit her lip as she saw Meredith and Derek walk into the hospital together, Meredith’s arm entwined in Derek’s. Not even officially divorced, and there he was, acting as though their marriage had never happened. Well, Addison could do that too. She could go get a cup of overly priced coffee and a muffin and block Derek Shepherd out of her mind. A muffin did sound good.
---
Alex’s plan was failing miserably. He knew Addison had no patience for mistakes, but he had assumed that she would just get fed up with him and hand him back to Bailey. He would admire her stubbornness if he didn’t dislike her so much. Alex begrudgingly located the charts she needed and went in search of her. He found her studying the muffins on the second-floor coffee cart and decided that he had at least five minutes before he had to talk to her again.
He turned his back to the redhead and lounged against the railing running along the bridge. He flipped through the charts nonchalantly, but saw that if he played his cards right, he might be able to scrub in for two surgeries. Which meant that he couldn’t put any more elements of his plan into action until after they were over. Which meant sucking up to Addison for a good part of the day. He couldn’t decide if it was worth it or not.
“Slacking off again, Karev?” Addison’s voice jolted Alex from his pro and con lists. She had appeared almost silently by his side with a muffin in one hand and a steaming cup of coffee in the other. There was a little hint of a smile on her face, and Alex was more than a little unnerved by it.
“No, no ma’am,” he said, almost instantly cursing himself for calling her ‘ma’am.’ And for choosing the sucking up route. He usually prided himself on his honesty and refusal to brownnose. Addison’s smile widened even as she twisted her mouth to hide it.
She cleared her throat. “Well, that’s good to hear. Let’s go check on our patients then, shall we?” Without waiting for an answer, she took the charts from Alex and moved ahead of him towards the patient rooms.
---
Alex had to admit, as much as he hated to, that Addison was good at what she did. He could offer her his reluctant respect. Watching her in surgery was almost inspiring. She had quick reflexes, dealt with problems as quickly as they arose, and was flawless in her technique. It was with amusement that Alex watched the same woman fight with the towel dispenser as she washed her hands after surgery.
Addison was feeling much better. Her headache was gone, she had eaten three muffins, and Derek and Meredith had been seen fighting in front of the nurse’s station. She knew that the last thing shouldn’t give her pleasure, but it did, so there it was. She thought about getting another muffin, but she had been to every coffee cart in the hospital, and wasn’t sure if she felt comfortable buying two muffins from one cart. It was the principal of the thing.
She did buy another cup of coffee, though, and then wandered slowly towards an on-call room in hopes of a nap. She hadn’t slept very well the previous night, having dreams filled with characters from cheesy horror movies mixed with nightmares of being attacked by her clothes. In response to that dream, Addison had gotten out of bed to unpack her clothes, in case they really did possess some sort of supernatural power. Clearly she was not performing at the top of her game last night.
“Dr. Montgomery?” Alex’s voice made her turn to face her unwilling intern. She grimaced slightly, but masked it with a sip of warm coffee. He kept popping up when he was the last thing on her mind, and when there was something that she really wanted to be doing instead of talking to him.
“Yes, Dr. Karev?” She struck a pose of impatience, hoping that it would speed whatever he was going to say along.
“I was just going to thank you for letting me scrub in today. Also, tomorrow, there’s a surgery to remove a guy’s pancreas, so I was hoping that you’d let me off your service for the day so that I could watch.” Alex hoped that his combination of flattery and sincerity would give him a break from neonatal for a day. He was thankful, and he did want to see the surgery. The fact that he despised her specialty wasn’t relevant to this conversation and could be saved for another time.
“We’ll see what’s on the schedule for tomorrow. If there’s nothing important, then you can have the day off. But I expect you to be back and ready to work when the pancreas-removal is completed.” Addison was only focusing slightly on their conversation, the other part of her brain imagining the on-call bed, and how soft the pillow would be and how cozy the blankets were.
Alex nodded his thanks and headed off in the opposite direction. Addison breathed a thankful sigh and high-tailed her way to the bed that she was so looking forward to.
---
The way Alex saw it, he had a day free from Addison. If he could get one day, then he could get two. And if he could get two, then he could get three. It would only be a matter of time before he was back doing surgeries for other doctors and learning about specialties he actually cared about. He smiled to himself. Only a matter of time, and Dr. Montgomery would crack.
Addison lay down on the bed, adjusting to the real thing, which was so unlike her imagined bed. She contemplated Alex Karev. It was in her nature to teach where she could, and she hadn’t met anyone who needed teaching more than Alex. The fact that he was so unwilling made it into a challenge, and she wasn’t one to shirk a challenge. She knew that he was most likely coming up with plans to get off her service and complaining about her to his fellow interns, but she was confident that she was more determined than he was, and that she could outlast any of his schemes. It was with that thought that she closed her eyes and slept. At least for fifteen minutes, until her pager went off.
[ Chapter Three]
Title: You Live on What They Send You
Pairing: Alex/Addison
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1751
Summary: There is more Addison/Archfield action in this chapter than Addison/Alex, I think. There is also muffins and coffee, and plans to get off neonatal.
Addison was thankful for Derek’s long surgeries and demanding hours. It gave her the necessary time to move out of the trailer, where she could deal with the end of her marriage quietly and without a fuss. She was methodical in her approach to packing. She kept herself numb to any sort of nostalgia that threatened to pop up at the sight of a chewed-on shoe or an old crossword puzzle. She would occasionally catch sight of her wedding rings and would have to busy herself folding shirts while she blinked tears away. Crying could come later, but she would not break down in this trailer.
She emptied closets and drawers, filling up the boxes and suitcases that she had optimistically thought wouldn’t be used until she and Derek moved into a house together. Pull something off a hanger, fold it, and put it in the suitcase. Lather, rinse, repeat. No extraneous thoughts, no wasted movements.
As a suitcase filled, it was loaded into her car. Her car that was not large enough to bring all of her belongings to wherever she was going in one trip. A few phone calls later, she had procured a room at the Archfield, a hotel close enough to the hospital, far enough from the trailer, and expensive enough for her to know that she would be well taken care of. It was the kind of hotel that people lived in. Not that it made Addison feel any better about living there.
After several drives to and from the hotel to the trailer, all of Addison’s possessions were brought up to the 22nd floor, where they sat crowded around the door, almost a wall between her and the rest of the room. She would organize later. Tonight she was going to order copious amounts of alcohol and watch really bad movies on late night cable.
---
Alex could kind of tell that Addison had had a rough night. She wasn’t walking around with her usual self-assurance and poise. Her posture was horrendous and Alex attributed it to the fact that she might not want to be noticed. He thought that if she didn’t want to be detected, she should have done something different with her hair, instead of letting it fly loose, and maybe should have skipped on the four-inch heels. She already towered over much of the staff, and the heels just added to her height. He smirked as she neared him. She was obviously hung over.
“Good morning, Dr. Montgomery,” he said cheerily and she winced in response. “And what are we doing today?”
“Not talking so loud,” she answered, rubbing her forehead with her hand. “Do you have the charts?” All she could think about was how much she really wanted a cup of coffee. Although, while she was wishing for things, she’d rather be in bed. Or still in a successful marriage.
“Nope,” Alex replied, seeming to take great pleasure in his failure. It was all part of his new plan, to be the absolute worst intern ever, so she would let him off of her service. He had spent about five minutes strategizing, but hadn’t taken Addison’s personality into account at all. Or the fact that she would be recovering from a night of heavy drinking.
“Dr. Karev, do you think that you’ll just become a good doctor by your looks? That no work is necessary? I know that you think you are too good to be wasted on neonatal, but until you can perform your duties to meet my standards you will be wasting away on my service. Are we clear?” Addison added to her wishlist an intern that didn’t hate her and her specialty. “Go get the charts and, so help me, if you screw up again today, you will never get off of my service.” She really just wanted him gone so that she could take care of her need for caffeine.
She watched Alex leave and turned to find the nearest coffee cart. She bit her lip as she saw Meredith and Derek walk into the hospital together, Meredith’s arm entwined in Derek’s. Not even officially divorced, and there he was, acting as though their marriage had never happened. Well, Addison could do that too. She could go get a cup of overly priced coffee and a muffin and block Derek Shepherd out of her mind. A muffin did sound good.
---
Alex’s plan was failing miserably. He knew Addison had no patience for mistakes, but he had assumed that she would just get fed up with him and hand him back to Bailey. He would admire her stubbornness if he didn’t dislike her so much. Alex begrudgingly located the charts she needed and went in search of her. He found her studying the muffins on the second-floor coffee cart and decided that he had at least five minutes before he had to talk to her again.
He turned his back to the redhead and lounged against the railing running along the bridge. He flipped through the charts nonchalantly, but saw that if he played his cards right, he might be able to scrub in for two surgeries. Which meant that he couldn’t put any more elements of his plan into action until after they were over. Which meant sucking up to Addison for a good part of the day. He couldn’t decide if it was worth it or not.
“Slacking off again, Karev?” Addison’s voice jolted Alex from his pro and con lists. She had appeared almost silently by his side with a muffin in one hand and a steaming cup of coffee in the other. There was a little hint of a smile on her face, and Alex was more than a little unnerved by it.
“No, no ma’am,” he said, almost instantly cursing himself for calling her ‘ma’am.’ And for choosing the sucking up route. He usually prided himself on his honesty and refusal to brownnose. Addison’s smile widened even as she twisted her mouth to hide it.
She cleared her throat. “Well, that’s good to hear. Let’s go check on our patients then, shall we?” Without waiting for an answer, she took the charts from Alex and moved ahead of him towards the patient rooms.
---
Alex had to admit, as much as he hated to, that Addison was good at what she did. He could offer her his reluctant respect. Watching her in surgery was almost inspiring. She had quick reflexes, dealt with problems as quickly as they arose, and was flawless in her technique. It was with amusement that Alex watched the same woman fight with the towel dispenser as she washed her hands after surgery.
Addison was feeling much better. Her headache was gone, she had eaten three muffins, and Derek and Meredith had been seen fighting in front of the nurse’s station. She knew that the last thing shouldn’t give her pleasure, but it did, so there it was. She thought about getting another muffin, but she had been to every coffee cart in the hospital, and wasn’t sure if she felt comfortable buying two muffins from one cart. It was the principal of the thing.
She did buy another cup of coffee, though, and then wandered slowly towards an on-call room in hopes of a nap. She hadn’t slept very well the previous night, having dreams filled with characters from cheesy horror movies mixed with nightmares of being attacked by her clothes. In response to that dream, Addison had gotten out of bed to unpack her clothes, in case they really did possess some sort of supernatural power. Clearly she was not performing at the top of her game last night.
“Dr. Montgomery?” Alex’s voice made her turn to face her unwilling intern. She grimaced slightly, but masked it with a sip of warm coffee. He kept popping up when he was the last thing on her mind, and when there was something that she really wanted to be doing instead of talking to him.
“Yes, Dr. Karev?” She struck a pose of impatience, hoping that it would speed whatever he was going to say along.
“I was just going to thank you for letting me scrub in today. Also, tomorrow, there’s a surgery to remove a guy’s pancreas, so I was hoping that you’d let me off your service for the day so that I could watch.” Alex hoped that his combination of flattery and sincerity would give him a break from neonatal for a day. He was thankful, and he did want to see the surgery. The fact that he despised her specialty wasn’t relevant to this conversation and could be saved for another time.
“We’ll see what’s on the schedule for tomorrow. If there’s nothing important, then you can have the day off. But I expect you to be back and ready to work when the pancreas-removal is completed.” Addison was only focusing slightly on their conversation, the other part of her brain imagining the on-call bed, and how soft the pillow would be and how cozy the blankets were.
Alex nodded his thanks and headed off in the opposite direction. Addison breathed a thankful sigh and high-tailed her way to the bed that she was so looking forward to.
---
The way Alex saw it, he had a day free from Addison. If he could get one day, then he could get two. And if he could get two, then he could get three. It would only be a matter of time before he was back doing surgeries for other doctors and learning about specialties he actually cared about. He smiled to himself. Only a matter of time, and Dr. Montgomery would crack.
Addison lay down on the bed, adjusting to the real thing, which was so unlike her imagined bed. She contemplated Alex Karev. It was in her nature to teach where she could, and she hadn’t met anyone who needed teaching more than Alex. The fact that he was so unwilling made it into a challenge, and she wasn’t one to shirk a challenge. She knew that he was most likely coming up with plans to get off her service and complaining about her to his fellow interns, but she was confident that she was more determined than he was, and that she could outlast any of his schemes. It was with that thought that she closed her eyes and slept. At least for fifteen minutes, until her pager went off.
[ Chapter Three]