Touch: "Kiss me." "What?" "You heard." MerAlex. Don't judge based on the ship!

I'm sitting in the bar, trying again to get over him. I keep thinking he's the one, but Derek keeps hurting me, and it's over. I make a vow silently to myself that never again will I let him hurt me.

A voice from behind me greets, "Hey,"
Expecting to see Derek, I turn, scowling, "Leave me the he-" When I realize it's just Alex, I relax. "Sorry," I say.

"Don't be," he replies. "I would have expected him too."

I nod silently.

We are quiet for a moment, until he tells me, "I'm sorry."

He was the one who told me of Derek's cheating with Addison. You'd think that if they divorced, they would be over. But apparently the whole dirty mistress karma isn't done kicking my ass. "He hurt me too, you know."

"Because of Addison?" I ask.

"Yeah."

Alex had been dating Addison casually, and everyone could tell he was into her. "I'm not sure what we were thinking, falling for our attendings."

I had never heard him use the phrase "falling for" before Addison. I smile sadly and say, "I dunno." I look to Joe, who's already heard the story, and he pours me another, and Alex a first. I down it quickly, but don't ask for another.

"Are you okay?" Alex asks me.

"I think so."

"He didn't deserve you. If all he wanted from you was a way to get back to Addison, he didn't deserve you."

I give him an appreciative look and say, "I could say the same to you."

He nods. "I know."

Again in silence, I watch him down another shot, and I do the same. I realize that none of the others will be here tonight- Cristina's got a date with Burke, Izzie's on call, and George is out with Callie. "I guess it's just you and me tonight," I tell him somewhat conversationally.

He watches me for a moment, and agrees, "Yeah. Just you and me."

From the jukebox in the corner, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw sing out "Like We Never Loved at All." "Just what we freaking need right now!" I exclaim before putting my head down in my arms and really crying.

Alex puts his hand on my back to try and soothe me. I get a chill, something I never thought I'd feel after Derek's touch. A single tear drips onto my arm, and he wipes it away with his thumb. I sit up and stare at him for a moment.

"Kiss me," I say simply.

"What?" he asks.

"You heard."

Unsurely, he leans into me and kisses me. He pulls away quickly, as if certain I'll hit him if he tries to deepen his kiss.

"Why did I do that?" he asks, more to himself than to me.

I watch him closely. "I don't know." Smiling slightly, he looks up at me, questioning. I simply nod, and again he leans into me, more passionately this time, and when we break away now, we're smiling.

"I never thought…" he begins.

"Me either." A comfortable silence falls, and Alex intertwines his hand with mine. We each down another shot, and then walk into the rainy Seattle night together, blocking each other from the rain.