Sunday on a Saturday Afternoon - 4/20
Previous Chapters: o1 o2 o3
Title: Think of the Rivers You've Crossed
Pairing: Alex/Addison
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1512
Summary: Alex finds that he misses the pink and squishy life, Addison/Derek friendship.
Think of the Rivers You’ve Crossed
Things change. There’s the ebb and flow of the tide, the slow erosion of sand, the shifting shorelines. One thing leads to another. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. You complain to your attending enough, you’ll be let off their service. Things change.
No longer did Alex wake up in the morning, dreading having to look at another woman’s good parts. If you had asked him a month ago, he would have told you that Addison was probably trying to ruin sex, as well as medicine, for him. That would have been a month ago, though. Now he was working with Mark Sloan, and now he found himself missing the pink and squishy life.
It’s not that Mark Sloan was a bad doctor. He was a very good doctor; skilled, competent. Mark could sew the smallest stitches and make cuts and scrapes simply disappear. The thing about Mark, though, was that he was like his specialty. He made no deep impact on his patients’ lives, from what Alex could see. Mark was superficial, and while Alex a month ago wouldn’t have minded in the least, present-day-Alex often wanted something more.
A week after Mark arrived, Addison let Alex off her service. It was without warning, and Alex was taken aback.
“You said yourself that you were going to be a plastic surgeon anyway. Go on and be one. Mark is one of the best, and if you really want this, you couldn’t learn from anyone better.” Addison neglected to mention that she thought that Mark might have a lot to offer, but that he probably wouldn’t know how to teach it.
“Why are you letting me go now and not a week ago, when I was practically on my hands and knees begging you to let me go?” Like many other things about her, this decision left Alex curious and wondering just exactly how her brain worked. He tried to reason out what had changed to make Addison let him go, and wondered if Addison and Mark had - well, he didn’t really want to think about that.
“Because you stopped begging,” Addison said simply, with a smile. “Now, just because you’ll be off my service tomorrow does not mean that you can slack off for the rest of the day. Put a rush on this blood sample and find me when you get the results.”
Alex let Addison round the corner before succumbing to the urge to perform a victory dance.
---
Addison missed having one specific intern assigned to her every day. It wasn’t that she missed Alex; she just missed what Alex had to offer. Instead of someone who had learned to pick up on her moods and had started to know the ins and outs of neonatal, she was left with an endless rotation of bumbling interns who had no real interest in babies or pregnant women. Most of them felt that their week with Addison was a waste of time that they could have spent on something they actually wanted to do. And Addison really didn’t like when people thought she was wasting her time.
She half-hoped that after a day with Mark, Alex would come running back to her. But it turned out that Mark wasn’t as terrible a teacher as Addison thought he would be. Apparently Alex was learning a lot, or at least that’s what she overheard him telling his friends. Not that she had been eavesdropping in hopes of hearing that he missed her. No, that he missed her specialty.
Addison even found that she missed having the companionship of someone. As much as she didn’t like to admit it, she didn’t have a whole lot of friends in Seattle. It was a shock to her when, one day, Derek invited her to eat lunch with him. After a few days of ignoring her, Derek had apparently gotten over Mark’s appearance, and was willing to be friends with Addison.
“You looked kind of lost, standing at the door with your salad and no one to sit with,” Derek said as he speared a leaf of lettuce with his spork. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you look lost. What’s Seattle done to you?”
Addison didn’t bother to mention that many of the times she’d felt lost was when he wasn’t around to be there for her. “Do you ever feel like you’ve gotten overly attached to an intern? Wait, what am I saying? Of course you have.” It felt mature to be joking about the relationship that had ended their marriage, and when Derek laughed, she smiled.
“Well, the only intern I can think of for you to get attached to would be Alex Karev. Please tell me you have not fallen madly in love with Karev. He cannot be the man that you date after me.” Derek looked rather appalled at the thought.
Addison chewed her salad thoughtfully, mapping out what it was that she wanted to say. “I don’t feel like I’m attached to him in a romantic way. We can’t all be you and Burke, seducing the innocent interns. And I’m not even attached to him. I’m just attached to the idea of having one intern.”
“If you think Meredith and Cristina are innocent, you have not spent enough time with them. And who’s to say that Burke and I were the seducers?”
Addison laughed. “So are you saying that you were just a victim? You poor sad neurosurgeon.”
“I’m just saying that you shouldn’t automatically assume that I’m the seducer.” Derek affected the tone of a wounded colleague, which was slightly hampered by the forkful of salad he had just put in his mouth.
Addison looked at the man across from her with a feeling of hope. While their marriage could be considered as nothing but a failure, the possibility of friendship was something to celebrate. It relieved her to know that she didn’t have to cut Derek Shepherd out of her life.
---
Alex found himself looking through the neonatal cases when he had spare moments. He read the charts for everything from routine C-sections to a rare case of an umbilical polyp. Occasionally Mark would catch him perusing the files on the babies in the NICU and would make a snide remark about Alex’s fixation with neonatal. Alex would just roll his eyes and put the chart down. He figured that it just took time to get used to changes, and that he was just in a liminal phase.
Addison would pass him in the hallways, and she would nod her head in greeting, but that was usually the extent of their interaction. When he felt a pang of loss as he watched her leave, he convinced himself that he was just feeling regret about the fact that he was no longer working with babies. It was only after a lot of drinking at Joe’s that he allowed himself to admit (only to himself) that he probably missed Addison, too.
Instead of confronting this feeling, Alex threw himself into plastics, surprising Mark with his sudden commitment and vigor. Alex spent his time away from the hospital practicing his stitches, reading articles about plastic surgery, convincing himself that he really did want to be a plastic surgeon.
---
Addison watched Alex. She noticed that she watched him one day when he was bent over a chart, writing in some information. She watched him for a good five minutes before Mark came up behind her and said softly, “I thought you told me he wasn’t a good intern. Or were there other reasons that you wanted him on your service?”
Addison jumped when she felt his breath on her ear. “No, Mark. No. I was in a bad mood that day. Partly, as I recall, due to your sudden appearance! He’s a good intern. He’s a great intern.” She excused herself from the situation under the pretense that she had a patient to attend to so that she could avoid seeing Mark’s reaction.
She knew that he was a good intern. She even took a great deal of credit for his transformation into a good intern. She bit her lip thoughtfully as she wondered if there was any truth to Mark’s query. After a few minutes of pondering, Addison decided that there wasn’t any merit to it and that she simply was admiring her handiwork. His dedication to detail and commitment to whatever task he was assigned was due to her high standards, and it pleased her to see that it stayed with him carried over to his career in plastic surgery.
Change comes, and even though you can be prepared for it, change can sometimes bring other things into the mix that are unexpected and throw you off balance. Things change. One thing leads to another. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. You spend enough time with your intern that you begin to miss him when he’s assigned to a different attending. Things change.
[ Chapter Five]
Title: Think of the Rivers You've Crossed
Pairing: Alex/Addison
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1512
Summary: Alex finds that he misses the pink and squishy life, Addison/Derek friendship.
Think of the Rivers You’ve Crossed
Things change. There’s the ebb and flow of the tide, the slow erosion of sand, the shifting shorelines. One thing leads to another. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. You complain to your attending enough, you’ll be let off their service. Things change.
No longer did Alex wake up in the morning, dreading having to look at another woman’s good parts. If you had asked him a month ago, he would have told you that Addison was probably trying to ruin sex, as well as medicine, for him. That would have been a month ago, though. Now he was working with Mark Sloan, and now he found himself missing the pink and squishy life.
It’s not that Mark Sloan was a bad doctor. He was a very good doctor; skilled, competent. Mark could sew the smallest stitches and make cuts and scrapes simply disappear. The thing about Mark, though, was that he was like his specialty. He made no deep impact on his patients’ lives, from what Alex could see. Mark was superficial, and while Alex a month ago wouldn’t have minded in the least, present-day-Alex often wanted something more.
A week after Mark arrived, Addison let Alex off her service. It was without warning, and Alex was taken aback.
“You said yourself that you were going to be a plastic surgeon anyway. Go on and be one. Mark is one of the best, and if you really want this, you couldn’t learn from anyone better.” Addison neglected to mention that she thought that Mark might have a lot to offer, but that he probably wouldn’t know how to teach it.
“Why are you letting me go now and not a week ago, when I was practically on my hands and knees begging you to let me go?” Like many other things about her, this decision left Alex curious and wondering just exactly how her brain worked. He tried to reason out what had changed to make Addison let him go, and wondered if Addison and Mark had - well, he didn’t really want to think about that.
“Because you stopped begging,” Addison said simply, with a smile. “Now, just because you’ll be off my service tomorrow does not mean that you can slack off for the rest of the day. Put a rush on this blood sample and find me when you get the results.”
Alex let Addison round the corner before succumbing to the urge to perform a victory dance.
---
Addison missed having one specific intern assigned to her every day. It wasn’t that she missed Alex; she just missed what Alex had to offer. Instead of someone who had learned to pick up on her moods and had started to know the ins and outs of neonatal, she was left with an endless rotation of bumbling interns who had no real interest in babies or pregnant women. Most of them felt that their week with Addison was a waste of time that they could have spent on something they actually wanted to do. And Addison really didn’t like when people thought she was wasting her time.
She half-hoped that after a day with Mark, Alex would come running back to her. But it turned out that Mark wasn’t as terrible a teacher as Addison thought he would be. Apparently Alex was learning a lot, or at least that’s what she overheard him telling his friends. Not that she had been eavesdropping in hopes of hearing that he missed her. No, that he missed her specialty.
Addison even found that she missed having the companionship of someone. As much as she didn’t like to admit it, she didn’t have a whole lot of friends in Seattle. It was a shock to her when, one day, Derek invited her to eat lunch with him. After a few days of ignoring her, Derek had apparently gotten over Mark’s appearance, and was willing to be friends with Addison.
“You looked kind of lost, standing at the door with your salad and no one to sit with,” Derek said as he speared a leaf of lettuce with his spork. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you look lost. What’s Seattle done to you?”
Addison didn’t bother to mention that many of the times she’d felt lost was when he wasn’t around to be there for her. “Do you ever feel like you’ve gotten overly attached to an intern? Wait, what am I saying? Of course you have.” It felt mature to be joking about the relationship that had ended their marriage, and when Derek laughed, she smiled.
“Well, the only intern I can think of for you to get attached to would be Alex Karev. Please tell me you have not fallen madly in love with Karev. He cannot be the man that you date after me.” Derek looked rather appalled at the thought.
Addison chewed her salad thoughtfully, mapping out what it was that she wanted to say. “I don’t feel like I’m attached to him in a romantic way. We can’t all be you and Burke, seducing the innocent interns. And I’m not even attached to him. I’m just attached to the idea of having one intern.”
“If you think Meredith and Cristina are innocent, you have not spent enough time with them. And who’s to say that Burke and I were the seducers?”
Addison laughed. “So are you saying that you were just a victim? You poor sad neurosurgeon.”
“I’m just saying that you shouldn’t automatically assume that I’m the seducer.” Derek affected the tone of a wounded colleague, which was slightly hampered by the forkful of salad he had just put in his mouth.
Addison looked at the man across from her with a feeling of hope. While their marriage could be considered as nothing but a failure, the possibility of friendship was something to celebrate. It relieved her to know that she didn’t have to cut Derek Shepherd out of her life.
---
Alex found himself looking through the neonatal cases when he had spare moments. He read the charts for everything from routine C-sections to a rare case of an umbilical polyp. Occasionally Mark would catch him perusing the files on the babies in the NICU and would make a snide remark about Alex’s fixation with neonatal. Alex would just roll his eyes and put the chart down. He figured that it just took time to get used to changes, and that he was just in a liminal phase.
Addison would pass him in the hallways, and she would nod her head in greeting, but that was usually the extent of their interaction. When he felt a pang of loss as he watched her leave, he convinced himself that he was just feeling regret about the fact that he was no longer working with babies. It was only after a lot of drinking at Joe’s that he allowed himself to admit (only to himself) that he probably missed Addison, too.
Instead of confronting this feeling, Alex threw himself into plastics, surprising Mark with his sudden commitment and vigor. Alex spent his time away from the hospital practicing his stitches, reading articles about plastic surgery, convincing himself that he really did want to be a plastic surgeon.
---
Addison watched Alex. She noticed that she watched him one day when he was bent over a chart, writing in some information. She watched him for a good five minutes before Mark came up behind her and said softly, “I thought you told me he wasn’t a good intern. Or were there other reasons that you wanted him on your service?”
Addison jumped when she felt his breath on her ear. “No, Mark. No. I was in a bad mood that day. Partly, as I recall, due to your sudden appearance! He’s a good intern. He’s a great intern.” She excused herself from the situation under the pretense that she had a patient to attend to so that she could avoid seeing Mark’s reaction.
She knew that he was a good intern. She even took a great deal of credit for his transformation into a good intern. She bit her lip thoughtfully as she wondered if there was any truth to Mark’s query. After a few minutes of pondering, Addison decided that there wasn’t any merit to it and that she simply was admiring her handiwork. His dedication to detail and commitment to whatever task he was assigned was due to her high standards, and it pleased her to see that it stayed with him carried over to his career in plastic surgery.
Change comes, and even though you can be prepared for it, change can sometimes bring other things into the mix that are unexpected and throw you off balance. Things change. One thing leads to another. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. You spend enough time with your intern that you begin to miss him when he’s assigned to a different attending. Things change.
[ Chapter Five]