A/N: I don't know why I do this to myself. But I woke up thinking about birthdays, which led to this, which is the first of 300 to come based on the 100 Songs challenge over at LiveJournal (which can be found at http://community. A word of warning: I can't tell how often this will be updated because they're all oneshots and they just come when they come. That being said, I'll try to do at least one a week, but I can't make any promises, especially after school starts in August. I also can't tell if they'll all be Addison/Alex or what... I'm not against writing anything else and I'll definitely listen to any suggestions you have for this. I hope you all enjoy!

"I want to thank you

For giving me the best day of my life

And oh, just to be with you

Is having the best day of my life"

"Thank You"

--Dido

Addison hates birthdays.

She especially hates this one because it makes her officially "over the hill."

Most of all, she hates that expression "over the hill." Which hill? And why in blue hell is she now "over it"? Is it just a clever way of saying that her life is pretty much downhill from here? She snorts. Addison needs a jackhammer is she's going to go any lower.

Such are the thoughts that fill her head as she rushes in to work, grateful, at least for the fact that one three people in Seattle know that today is her birthday, and seeing as how one is her ex-husband, one is her ex-man-whore and one is herself, Addison figures she can look forward to a quiet, peaceful birthday. She checks over the OR board quickly, scanning the recent surgeries and nods, taking a slow drink of her coffee. If there ever was a good thing to come out of this God-forsaken city, Addison thinks it has to be Starbucks.

"Addison." Derek comes up behind her, his thick mop of hair wild under his scrub cap. "Are you heading into surgery?"

She narrows her eyes at him. He knows as well as she does that she refuses to schedule surgeries on her birthday. Addison really cannot handle the bad omen of a baby's death for the year ahead.

"Well…" He pulls a powder blue envelope from the pocket of his lab coat. "I know you hate birthdays, but…" Derek holds it out to her. "Well, it wouldn't have seemed right if I didn't…" He blushes.

Addison smiles gently. "Thank you." She pulls her ex-husband into her arms. She knows she should let him go before the rumor mills start, but the familiarity of his arms around her waist and her chin on his shoulder makes her heart ache for what could have been. She sighs. She really is over him. He's just always made her birthdays special.

Addison's pager beeps at her side. She glances down at it and gives Derek an apologetic look. "I have to go…" She remembers the unopened card in her hand. "I… Um… Can I open it later?"

"Yeah," he nods. "That's probably better anyway."

She kisses his cheek. "Thank you, Derek, really." Addison places the card in her pocket and heads toward the elevator.

…

The balloon arrives at lunchtime. Not just a balloon. A huge, shiny, obnoxious singing balloon complete with a huge "PRESS ME" button and holographic letter that exclaims, "Happy Birthday, Wild Thing." When the candy-striper brings it to the table she always shares with Callie, she tries to accept it as quietly as one can accept a giant, helium filled jukebox. "Happy birthday, Doctor Montgomery!" the candy-striper says loudly and Callie looks at her friend with such severity that, were Addison not wearing four-inch heels that could be lodged into someone's skull with ease, she would have feared for her life.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Callie asks as soon as the candy-striper leaves.

Addison turns the balloon around and around frantically. "There's no note. There's no card. Did you do this? Because this just screams Callie Torres."

Callie knocks the balloon from the space between them, accidentally hitting the "PRESS ME" button. "Hello! Didn't even know it was your birthday…" She pauses for a minute, listening to the song. Callie laughs. "And apparently it screams Wild Thing too!"

"Oh, my God…"

Callie laughs uproariously, but Addison wishes she could sink into a flesh colored puddle on the floor when she sees Mark wink to her from the cafeteria door.

…

She doesn't know how to take this. For her last fifteen birthdays, she's managed to either avoid or successfully complete surgeries. But she supposes it makes a weird kind of irony that she loses her first surgical birthday baby on her first birthday in Seattle. Then there was that yelling match with Alex Karev in the scrub room right after she called time of death. He had blamed her for the baby's death and she can't even argue with him, because she can't help but think that if she hadn't been so worried about the still unopened card in her lab coat and the stupid balloon that let loose with a rousing chorus of Wild Thing every time she bumped it with her shoulder, the baby might have lived. She presses her palms to her eyes and sighs. Addison doesn't know what to do. She picks up the envelope with her name scrawled across the front in Derek's handwriting and slides her finger under the flap, but she puts it back down. She isn't enough in an emotionally stable place to open it right now. The balloon floats across the ceiling of the hotel room, the red string trailing across her face and she brushes it away absentmindedly. She reaches for the remote, but drops it when she hears a knock on the door.

She pulls open the door and Callie pushes past her into the room. "Okay." Callie hands Addison a cup of coffee and a Tupperware container with four chocolate cupcakes. "Happy birthday."

Addison manages a tiny smile. "Cupcakes?"

"Mmm…" Callie nods as she takes a drink of coffee. "They're really good. An Izzie Stevens original."

She can feel her jaw drop. "You brought me Izzie Stevens' cupcakes? Are you criminally insane?" Addison looks warily at the pink icing. "They're probably poisoned or something."

"Well, all the bakeries are closed! What did you want me to do?" Callie spits. "I mean, I know it's not a singing balloon, but…"

Addison catches Callie's eyes and they laugh. "I'm sorry," Addison apologizes. "I lost a baby today. I've never lost a baby on my birthday before and… I think Karev… He blames me. He acted... Kind of pissy."

"Oh!" Callie gasps. "I almost forgot tot ell you." She peels the silver baking cup from a cupcake. "There's a very handsome doctor that is not of the McEamy persuasion waiting for you in the lobby."

Addison feels herself smile as she grabs her key card from the nightstand and follows Callie out the door.

The ride down to the ground floor of the hotel feels painfully long and Addison taps her thigh impatiently as she watches the numbers tick by. Finally she reaches the bottom and the doors slide open.

She knows that bad posture covered with the equally terribly jacket anywhere. Addison stops three feet behind him and clears her throat. "Doctor Karev."

Alex turns around at his name and immediately blushes. "Doctor Montgomery." He shuffles his feet.

"Why are you here?" she asks him quietly.

He sighs and runs a hand over his hair. "Well, I felt bad about earlier… About blaming you. You know it wasn't your fault, right? Then I found out it was your birthday…" He holds out a pick icinged cupcake. "I helped Izzie make them. I frosted." He motions to the pink swirls. "Anyway… I felt like I needed to apologize, but I couldn't…" He ducks his head, embarrassed. "I couldn't actually work up the courage to go up and then Callie…" He stares at his shoes.

Addison fiddles nervously with a string on her sweatshirt. "How long have you been here?"

He glances at his watch. "Only about an hour."

She laughs and they stand in awkward silence for a moment. "Why don't you—"

"Look," he interrupts her, which she hates, but there's something in his eyes that make her bite her tongue. "Sorry, but I have to get this out." He takes a deep breath "When I said I wasn't interested, I… It was a lie, okay? I kind of… Well, I could… Potentially… Like you a lot…" He searches her face. "Okay?"

Addison feels fifteen again, standing there in the brightly lit hotel lobby in an oversized Yale hoodie because July in Washington is still cold for her taste, holding a chocolate cupcake with lopsided pink frosting, looking up at the man she loves. She grins.

"Umm…" He leans toward her. "Do you think you could say something?"

She looks down at the cupcake. "Thank you for the cupcake. Callie brought me more. Why don't you… Well, if you want… Why don't you come upstairs with me?" She extends her free hand to him. "I have coffee," she adds as an afterthought.

"You bet." Alex takes her hand.

…

They talk for a while, but they both knew what was coming. Before she can process what's happening, his lips are on hers, her tongue is against his, and they're struggling with the endless layers of clothes like teenagers. But soon, Addison's gripping the sheets and sighing, rocking her hips against his in a rhythm that's unlike anything she's ever experienced. She peaks first and sighs his name against his shoulders. He follows her soon and as he spills inside her, he kisses her collarbone. "Happy birthday, Addison."

She smiles.

Addison loves birthdays.