TITLE: The Clichés of Camping part 1 of 2
AUTHOR: Sarah
RATING: PG13
PARINGS: Addison/Izzie
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, otherwise everyday would be Izzie/Addie day :D
WORD COUNT: 2200
SUMMARY: What if the girls went camping too in season 3?

NOTES: Ok, so minus a few of the original campees, and with none of the original couple issues! It's a naff title too, I couldn't think of anything other than all the clichés you will come across when reading the story.

"Whose stupid idea was this anyway?" Cristina whined.

"I actually have no idea." Izzie mused, "It's going to be so much fun." She squealed with excitement.

"Are you serious?" Cristina asked exasperated.

"Yeah, why not? Camping, the great outdoors, at one with nature, sleeping under the stars."

"If you come out with one more cliché I'm going to vomit."

"You have no sense of adventure, that's your problem." Izzie accused.

"I so have! I, I moved in with Burke."

"And kept your own apartment, hardly adventurous Cristina." The blonde scoffed.

"Will you two please give it a rest, I'm trying to decide which socks go with which gloves." Meredith sighed.

"Oh do not get me started." Cristina groaned.

"What?" asked Meredith, Izzie laughed as Cristina rolled her eyes. "Do you think I should take a bathing suit?"

The trek to the camp spot was fairly rigorous, people had naturally taken up in their couples, Meredith and Derek, Cristina and Burke, George and Callie, which left Izzie and Addison walking together.

"How did we end up on a couples camping trip?" Addison mused.

Izzie laughed, "Hmmm, I don't know, we have mean friends."

"Callie sold this as a girlie weekend, I wasn't expecting partners and ex-husbands."

"Well if I'd have known she was coming, I wouldn't be here."

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" the redhead glanced sideways.

"No." Izzie said without second thought, "She has never been nice to me, however civil I try to be to her. George is my best friend and she hates that."

"I can see that, look at the triangle that was me, Derek and Meredith."

"The difference is, I don't want to sleep with George." Izzie's statement elicited a giggle from the attending. Izzie hadn't heard Addison laugh much before, or talked with her in a setting other than the four walls of Seattle Grace Hospital.

"So what about you?" Addison asked.

"What about me?"

"Is everything ok with you?"

"As ok as it can be, I guess."

"Are you settling back in at work ok?" Addison enquired. Izzie was becoming suspicious of the redheads insistent questioning.

"Fine. Bailey has me observing, which sucks, but I guess I deserve it."

Addison stopped. "You don't deserve it, you've been through enough." Izzie turned to look at her, confused.

"Huh?"

"Izzie, I know we're not exactly friends, but I do care, working together creates certain connections and I'd like to think we got on pretty well."

"Yeah but, I never thought . . ." the blonde trailed off.

"Never thought what?"

"That you were interested in anything to do with me other than work."

"Just because I never showed it much doesn't mean I never thought about it." Addison picked up the pace to catch up with the others, Izzie in tow, unsure of the meaning of the conversation they were having. She had no idea how to respond to that. Her knitted brow indicated she was deep in thought, Addison smiled, contemplative Izzie was kind of cute.

"So let me get this straight, we have four tents between the 8 of us?" Izzie barked.

"Correct." Derek said.

"Which means, it's two per tent." The blonde surmised.

"Correct again, give that girl a gold star." He teased.

"Which means," Izzie began, "that you and you will share," she started pointing at various couples, "you and you and you and you which leaves me and her." She pointed lastly at Addison.

"Yes?" Cristina was becoming frustrated. "Get over yourself Izzie, you're sharing with Dr Montgomery, what could be wrong with that?"

"Don't answer that Stevens." Derek teased once again. It was evident the neuro surgeon was having fun, Meredith was clinging to his side like a lost puppy.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to swap with any of us." Meredith pointed out. She was right, all kinds of awkward would ensue should anyone swap. Izzie could see that was true, and if she was being completely honest with herself, she wanted to share with Addison. The attending was beautiful and smart and Izzie had a feeling she would be fun to spend time with too. Besides, they shared a few things in common, what could possibly go wrong? The rhetorical question bugged the young blonde as she admired the way Addison's jeans fitted her fine figure.

"You want to pitch up over there, out of the way?" Izzie blinked, Addison had surely transported herself to be inches away because she had only just this minute admired her from afar.

"Huh?" Izzie blinked again. Addison laughed at the intern's blank expression.

"I said do you want to put the tent up away from the others?"

"Oh," Izzie said in realisation, "that would be a good idea, we don't want to hear things go bump in the night." She over exaggerated a wink for Addison's benefit. The redhead laughed heartily. It was like a symphony to Izzie's ears, she loved the pitch and range of Addison's amused vocal.

"What?" Addison said as she steadied herself, looking at the strange look on the blonde's face.

"Oh, nothing, you just have a beautiful laugh." The intern blushed at her own comment.

Addison was surprised, "Thank you?" she asked rather than stated.

"I hadn't heard you laugh like that before, it's lovely to hear."

"I haven't had much to laugh at, truth be told." Addison said as she perched on a rock. Izzie joined her, their shoulders touching.

"Do you think we could have been friends?" Izzie asked out of the blue.

"Yeah," Addison nodded thoughtfully, "I think we still could, maybe the timing was wrong, you know with Meredith and all."

Izzie nodded in agreement, "Yeah, boy, she was not happy when you turned up!" she laughed nervously.

"You know I don't think Derek ever loved me like he does Meredith."

"You don't know that Addison." Izzie reassured.

"I do, I can see it in his eyes, his body language, he's different with her, so carefree and dare I say it, happy."

"You can still find that." The blonde began, "I don't think I've had that, not truly, I mean, there have always been barriers in my relationships." She scoffed.

"Mine too I guess." Addison agreed. "Why didn't we have these discussions sooner?" she thought aloud.

"I guess the opportunity never presented itself." Izzie concluded.

The sun had set on what had been an exhausting day, trails were hiked and tents were pitched. Everyone was now sitting round a campfire in thick warm coats and under blankets, a spot of liquor providing much warmth and merriment.

"Oh we can play truth or dare," Meredith yelled excitedly, "or I have never." She looked as though she could spontaneously combust at any moment. Derek tried to keep her still as the rest of the campers moaned and rolled their eyes. "Pleeeeaaaaase." Begged Meredith, rather unsavoury Addison thought.

"There's a problem with both, there is the potential to upset people in truth or dare, or become exceedingly drunk with I have never, and that could be dangerous out here." Addison pointed out.

"Don't be such a party pooper." Meredith whined.

"She's sorta right Mere." Izzie agreed with the attending.

"I think it might be kinda fun." George piped up.

"I'm with Bambi." Cristina added, "So is Burke." She said as an after thought.

"I'll play." Callie said.

By this point Meredith had a proud 'I told you so' smile firmly planted across her face like a four year old.

"Ok, ok, I'll play." Izzie gave in, she looked at Addison, pleading with her eyes. "You have to admit, it will be fun." She said.

Addison sighed, "Ok, I'm in."

"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist it Addie." Derek laughed.

Addison was slightly rattled by Derek's comment, what right did he have to know how she would react, he wasn't her husband anymore. Izzie sensed a slight tension in the redhead.

"You ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, fine, he bugs me." She smiled.

"I dare say." The blonde replied, returning the smile.

"Ok," Meredith said placing a bottle on the floor, take it in turns to spin the bottle and whoever it lands on gets to choose truth or dare, the spinner decides the question or the dare." She span the bottle, it landed on Burke. "Truth or Dare Burke?"

"I'll go for truth."

"Ok, have you and Cristina ever had sex in the hospital?"

"Meredith . . ."

"Rules are rules Burke and you love rules, answer the woman." Cristina ordered before taking a swig from her bottle.

Izzie's face was lit by the fire, shadows occasionally waving across her face caused by the movement of the flames. Her face was positively glowing, her blonde locks almost a halo around her head. Addison was captivated by how beautiful the young intern looked, how fresh and young she appeared without makeup or the strains of the hospital. This seemed to be natural Izzie, laughing and cajoling with her friends, no stress or worry lines adorning her features. The intern turned to look at her appraiser, Addison adorning a similar glow, the flames of the fire dancing in her eyes. Izzie smiled, a huge tooth bearing grin, if it was possible, Addison thought, she just became more beautiful. Addison blushed at her own thought but returned the 40 watt smile regardless. She was content right now and she had not felt that in a long while.

"IZZIE!" Cristina yelled.

"WHAT?" Izzie yelled back after drawing her attention away from the delightful attending next to her.

"Truth or Dare?"

Izzie rolled her eyes, her turn was going to come up sooner or later. "Truth."

"Ok, who out of the seven of us do you most want to kiss?"

"That is a stupid question." Izzie stated matter of factly. Callie was scowling at her across the camp fire.

"You have to answer." Meredith said.

"And why." Cristina chipped in.

"That was not in the original question." Addison pointed out.

"Ha, so there." Izzie stuck out her tongue at her friend.

"Stop avoiding and just answer the question already!" Cristina yelled in frustration.

"Ok, if I were to kiss one of the seven people before me it would be . . ." she pretended to think for a moment, the pause became unbearable.

"IZZIE!" The three interns shouted at once.

"Ok, it would be Addison."

"Huh?" was Addison's reaction at hearing her own name. Everyone else just stared at Izzie and Addison, mouths agape, they were all certain she would say George, even if it meant receiving dagger stares all night from Callie.

"Addison?"

"Yeah?"

"No, not you Addison, Izzie. Izzie, Addison?"

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with me, I kiss perfectly well thank you."

"She does."

"You are not supposed to be thinking about kissing your ex-wife."

"I'm sorry."

"Why Addison?"

"I answered my question, it's someone else's turn to spin."

Addison was looking at Izzie and had been for a good while now, a baffled look on her face, did she say Addison's name to avoid confrontation? Or did she really mean it? Izzie was hard to read, she wasn't giving anything away to her friends, which meant Addison didn't stand much of a chance either.

"Ooh, Addison, truth or dare?"

She knew if she wanted to find out the answers to her own questions, now was the time. It was plainly obvious what would happen if she chose dare. "Dare." She stated.

"Hmmm, this is a hard one," Callie muttered sarcastically, "Kiss Izzie."

Addison smirked, these lot were so predictable, like a group of drunken teenagers. The redhead looked at Izzie and saw something different in her eyes, almost like a challenge, a dare within herself. Addison slowly inched her way forward, her lips gravitating towards Izzie's, who was moving in closer herself. A gasp echoed when their lips touched, like soft cushions against one another. It was sweet and so so tender, the intern quickly became lost in the moment when she closed her eyes and slipped her tongue out prizing Addison's lips apart and forcing entry into the attending's mouth. The redhead welcomed the intrusion, allowing the blonde an access all areas pass, the blonde was an amazing kisser and Addison was more than satisfied with Izzie taking the lead. Her heart was pounding against the wall of her chest, she would have to break this up before Burke would have to perform heart surgery on her in the middle of the woods. Addison was quickly becoming breathless, she moved her hands up and cupped Izzie's face, gently pushing her away, their lips losing grip, suddenly they were apart, the cool air hitting their faces and bringing them back to the harsh reality.

"She kisses more than perfectly well." Izzie concluded with a huge soppy grin to a group of speechless doctors.