A/N: I know I should really be finishing A Year or a Day but this story came to me and I couldn't get it out of my head. Set post 4x13 Grey's Anatomy and follows the events of Seasons 4-6 as well as Private Practice Season 2-3. Mostly canon compliant, except Alex and Addison obviously don't keep in touch (well, they might do. We can dream.). Probably a 3-shot. Knowledge of PP is probably useful but I think you'd get by without it. Let me know what you think! I appreciate it. x

Addison blinked wearily as the sound of her cell phone pulled her from her sleep and she reached out blindly and opened it.

"Hello?" She said into the phone, her voice coming out as a croak as she tried to pull herself from her sleep.

"Rebecca's not pregnant." She pulled the phone away from her ear to look at the caller ID in shock, before bringing it up.

"What?" She breathed.

"Rebecca told me she was pregnant, that day with you, by the elevator." She could hear the crack in his voice and chose to remain silent, still half convinced this was all a dream. "I stepped up, I worked extra shifts at Joe's to try and afford a house. I was scared out of my mind, but I was trying so desperately to be the guy. The barbecue and catch guy."

Addison's breath caught in her throat as she recognised her own words from a few months ago. "Alex-" She froze as she realised she had no idea what to say to him, no idea why he called her with this.

He just continued to talk, as though he hadn't heard her interruption. Maybe he hadn't. "But it doesn't matter now because she's not pregnant. And I want to be so mad at her. I am mad at her. For making me think about the future. But I can't be."

"Why not?" She whispered.

He let out a sigh. "It was a hysterical pregnancy. Ava, Rebecca, she's sick."

"Oh, Alex." The pain in his voice caused a flutter in her heart that she refused to dwell on.

"And yet I still hate her. What sort of man does that make me?"

She sighed. "Alex, why did you call me?"

"I don't know." He admitted.

"You're a decent guy, Alex. I meant it when I said that. Yes, I may kinda of hate you and you really do suck. But you're a decent guy and you know what the right thing to do is." There was silence on the other side of the line and Addison wondered if he had hung up. "Alex, you still there?"

"Yeah Addison I'm here." They were silent for a few more minutes and Addison listened to his breaths on the other side of the line. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me Alex. Just take good care of yourself, okay?"

She heard his hum of acknowledgement and went to hang up, thinking this bizarre night time conversation was over. She moved to her hand the the end call button when his voice stopped her.

"I do, Addison, I have so much to thank you for. And for what it's worth, letting you go was the hardest thing I've ever done. I did want you, Addie, I always will."

Addison's mouth dropped open in shock and she tried to form a response to that. "Uh, Alex…" She trailed off not knowing what to say, but was saved from having to form the rest of the sentence when she heard the dial tone and the line go dead.

She replaced the cell phone on the night stand and rolled over, trying to forget the conversation and go back to sleep. As she tossed and turned all night, giving up on sleep as the first rays of sun appeared through the window, she realised that forgetting was going to be easier said than done.

Addison stared at the cell phone sat in front of her as she sat on a lounger on her deck, taking large gulps of her wine. She took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, before sharply exhaling and picking up the cell phone. She dialled the number she never thought she would again and held it to her ear, downing her wine to stop her losing her nerve and hanging up.

"Addison?" She heard the confusion in his voice, and the background noise of the hospital.

"The practice is bankrupt and my best friend hates me." She blurted out at once, and she heard the background noise fading as he presumably went somewhere more private. "Sorry, Alex you're at work I shouldn't have called, I'll go."

"No, Addison, wait. I have a few minutes. Shoot."

She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Naomi, my best friend since med school, runs the practice I work at. She came to me and told me that the practice was having financial problems but she wouldn't tell anyone. And I didn't know what to do…so I told Sam, Naomi's ex-husband who works at the practice as well. We were going bankrupt and Naomi was running the into the ground, everyone deserved to know!"

She paused and Alex took it as his cue to speak. "So you told everyone behind her back?"

She sighed. "Actually it was more of a hostile take over…"

"Addison." He scolded, she had no idea when he grew up enough to scold her. Or to be the person she calls for advice, come to think of it.

"I know, okay, I know." She let out a muffled groan and refilled her wine glass. "My best friend hates me and so does everyone else in this place now and I'm lonely, and it's all my fault, I know."

She heard his pager go off through the phone. "Look, Addison, I've got to take that. What you need to do is be patient? You thought you were doing the right thing and if your best friend is really your best friend, she'll realise that and forgive you eventually. As for the alone thing, that wouldn't bother the Addison Forbes Montgomery I knew. She chased her husband across the country to a hospital where she was known as Satan and an adulterous whore."

"Jeez, thanks." She muttered as his pager went off again.

He chuckled. "I really have to go now. All I was saying is you were stubborn enough to get friends in Seattle, you'll get friends in LA."

"Alex." She sighed and heard the hospital sounds get louder as he obviously was on his way to answer his page. "Thank you. For talking to me."

"Just returning the favour, Addie." He said and with that the line went dead again.

She had a small smile on her face as she drained the rest of her glass and refilled it once again. She decided to choose to believe his comments, putting blind faith in the guy who had contributed to her moving to this place anyway. It would get better, she had to believe that.

"Rebecca tried to kill herself." She felt rather than heard the pain in his voice as he choked the words out as she answered the phone, leaning on the counter of the practice's kitchen, glad it was empty.

"Oh, Alex." She breathed, the tears filling her eyes, her voice cracking. She felt the pain because although she may have left and everything between her and Alex may have gone so wrong, but Rebecca would always be Ava, their Jane Doe. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling.

"Don't, Addison. Just don't." He spat.

She nodded slightly, knowing he couldn't see it. "Okay." She said simply, remaining silent as she listened to his ragged breathing and the tears she knew he'd deny ever crying.

After a long time he spoke up again. "I thought I could handle it. I thought I had it under control, that I could make her better."

"It's not your fault." She risked saying, not surprised when he didn't acknowledge she spoke.

"She shut down, didn't say or do anything. She peed herself, Addison. I showered her and dressed her and everything. I was making her lunch when Izzie called, I left the room."

"Alex, Rebecca was sick. All the good intentions and love and care in the world can't fix that. You're a surgeon, you know that."

"I know!" He yelled and Addison was slightly taken aback at the anger and emotion in his voice. "I know, Addison, the rational part of me knows that. But I left the room and she used the knife that I left there. I left the room." He finished softer, the pain in his voice causing her heart to clench.

"I don't know what to say to make this better." She admitted softly.

"I didn't call you so you could make it better, Addie. I don't need you to fix me. I just need you to talk to."

She sighed. "Well, I'm here, Alex. I'm here."

"Good." He muttered and hung up abruptly.

She turned and rested her head against the cabinet, letting out a light sob with the cell phone clenched tightly in her hand. The door to the kitchen opened and she desperately wiped at her eyes as Violet walked in.

"You okay?" Violet eyed her curiously and she just shook her head. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." Addison breathed. She didn't even know how she would begin to explain her emotional connection to Ava or Rebecca or Jane Doe. Or her emotional connection to Alex now she thought about it. Instead she pushed herself off the counter and out of the room, making her way in to her office.

She most definitely did not want to talk about Alex Karev.

Her phone rang in the middle of the night and she picked it up without checking the ID. She knew who it would be.

"I slept with Izzie." He whispered and she pretended like she didn't feel a pain in her heart when she heard his words.

"Did it help?" She chose to say instead.

"Yes. No. I don't know." He breathed back.

"Alex, why are you whispering? Please tell me you are not calling me while in bed with another woman."

He let out a light chuckle. "I'm not calling you while in bed with another woman."

She was silent for a moment. "Liar."

"Yeah, I am." She laughed as well then. "I felt better for a while."

"That's all you can do, Alex. Just keep feeling better whenever you can."

"You're really good at this advice crap, Addie."

"I know, I'm perfect. You really screwed up letting me go." She joked, pretending she didn't hear his breath hitch at her words.

"I'm sorry for waking you up." He whispered.

"I'd like to think you'd wake up for me too."

"Always." He said and she smiled at the adamant tone of voice.

"Good night Alex."

"Night Addie." He hung up the phone and she smiled at the fact they'd almost managed to have a normal end to a conversation. Not that there was anything normal about their conversations.

"I'm dating a SWAT cop." Addison blurted when Alex answered the call.

"Good for you?" Alex chuckled.

"I can't remember the last time I wasn't with someone who was a surgeon, for at least a doctor." She rambled.

"So, it's a good change?" He questioned. "I mean the other thing clearly wasn't working for you."

She hummed in agreement. "I've decided to have sex rules."

He spluttered at her words and that gave her a small sense of pride. "Sex rules? What does that even mean?"

She laughed as she stirred her morning coffee. "It means that I started a lot of relationships with sex and it has never ended well."

He laughed and she knew he was thinking of the two of them. "That's actually not a bad idea. I might take your advice."

"Oh?" She questioned. "Who with?"

"Izzie."

Addison snorted. "I don't think sex rules work when you've already slept with each other."

He gave her a self deprecating chuckle. "Maybe not, but I think we're going to start dating. No sex at the start of dating is a good thing right?"

She laughed. "Alex, I'm going now."

He gave her an over dramatic sigh. "Fine, Addie."

"Goodbye, Alex." She said as she hung up and felt a small sense of pride at the fact she had been the one to end the phone call this time.

Addison anxiously clicked her pen as she sat behind her desk and waited for Alex to answer the phone.

"Addie?" He questioned as he picked up.

"I run a private practice in LA now."

"What?" He laughed at her anxious tone.

"Naomi and Sam called a vote as to which one of them should run the practice. Everyone voted for me not for them, even though I wasn't a candidate."

"Congratulations?"

She sighed. "No Alex. Not congratulations. I didn't ask for this."

"You may not have asked for this but you're going to be awesome at this. Trust me."

The conviction in his voice caused a warmth to spread through his heart. "I like the blind faith you have in me."

He chuckled warmly. "I know you, it's not blind faith."

"Alex, who are you talking to?" She heard Izzie's voice in the background and froze.

"Um…"

"Alex, I'll go." She said.

"Okay, you can still call me whenever. You're going to be great. You always are."

She chuckled. "Damn straight. Goodbye Alex." She hung up the phone and pretended she didn't wonder what Alex was saying to Izzie.

She took longer than she usually did contemplating whether to call Alex after how their last conversation ended but in the end dialled the number she always did.

"My brother is in LA." She blurted as soon as he picked up.

"And that's bad how exactly?"

"Alex." She whined.

"Sorry." He laughed. "I'm meant to be all dark and twisty and offer you advice that way."

She huffed. "I hate to use a Meredith-ism but why are you bright and shiny?"

"Me and Izzie are doing good."

"Oh." She said. "That, that's good. Does she know it was me on the phone?"

"No." He admitted. "Does anyone know I call you?"

She thought about that for the moment. "So Archer was an ass to Kevin. Told him I was a millionaire. maybe scared him off. Probably definitely scared him off."

"You're a millionaire?" She heard the shock in his voice.

"Alex." She snapped. "Focus."

"Right." He sounded sheepish at least. "So your brother..?"

"Turned up out of the blue, broke into my house, found him having sex on my kitchen floor. Then he had sex with my best friend and scared my boyfriend off."

"You saw your brother having sex?"

"Alex!" She snapped again as he chuckled.

"So Archer had sex with Naomi and that's a bad thing?"

"Archer is like Mark Sloan 2.0."

"Right. Not who you want with your best friend."

"Exactly." She sighed. "Are you really bright and shiny?"

"No." He admitted after a small pause."Are you?"

"I'm trying." She whispered.

"Me too, Addie." He sighed. "Me too."

He ended the call and she lay back on the bed, tears running silently down her face.

She answered the phone, seeing Alex's name and smiling despite her day.

"Hey, Alex." She breathed, the happiness in her voice appearing involuntarily.

"Izzie told me she hallucinates about having sex with Denny." Her breath escaped her all at once.

"Alex." She breathed, biting her lip. "What did you say?"

"I said that there's nothing wrong with a good fantasy." Alex didn't say anything for a few seconds but listened over the line. "Dude, are you laughing?"

"No." Addison breathed before letting out a big laugh, Alex joining in a few seconds later, both of them laughing until they were breathless. "What do you really think?"

He sobered up. "It's karma. I'm crappy at relationships so Denny will always win with Izzie. Karma."

"That's crap, Alex." She said simply.

Alex sighed. "Whatever, Addie. What's going on with you and SWAT cop? You must have good gossip?"

She sighed. "Charlotte, the Chief of Surgery at St Ambrose and Cooper's boyfriend, opened a rival practice downstairs which doesn't help the financial problems I am having."

"That was not about SWAT cop." Alex stated.

"Well, I don't want to talk about SWAT cop." Addison snapped.

"I don't want to talk about Izzie and Denny." He admitted.

"Okay." Addison breathed.

"Okay." He repeated.

"I kissed a guy who wasn't SWAT Cop." Addison said flopping onto her bed. "I'm an adulterous whore again."

"Is it adultery if you're not married?" Alex mused.

"Okay, just a cheating bitch this time." Alex let out a low chuckle. "I'm serious, Alex!"

"Okay, okay." He said and she could hear the sounds of a bar, probably Joe's in the background. "Does SWAT cop know?"

"Yes." She sighed. "He left."

"Oh." She heard him order a beer. "Are you okay?"

He seemed almost reluctant to ask and she sighed. "Are you not with the other interns?"

"We're residents now." He stated.

"Right." She sighed and paused for a moment. "I feel relieved. Does that make me a bad person?"

She could almost see the shrug from 1000 miles away. "You are a cheating bitch."

"Alex." She warned.

"Sorry." He laughed. "It doesn't make you a bad person, it just proves you weren't in the right relationship."

"Right." She was silent for a moment more. "I'm sick of being in the wrong relationship."

"Me too."

"Stevens still having crazy ghost hallucinatory sex with Denny?" She asked curiously.

"Yes. I presume." He huffed. "I don't bring it up."

"When did we get so screwed up?" She questioned.

"Who the Hell knows?" He chuckled and hung up.

She rolled over on the bed face down, groaning into the pillow at her situation.

"Addie?" Alex's voice floated down the line, filled with sleep and she couldn't hold back the choking sobs which wracked her body. "Addie, what's wrong?" He sounded alert and vaguely panicked now.

"It's Archer. It's Archer." She was choking out the words, trying to get them out in spite of the tears.

"Addie, baby. Come on. Talk to me." He sounded so panicked and urgent and it brought on another round of sobs. "Addie."

"He has neurocysticercosis, Alex. I'm coming to Seattle. Derek, um, Derek…" She was stopped by another round of sobs.

"Oh, baby. Addie." She could hear the pain in his voice in his voice and she tried not to question it. "Shepherd is the best, you know that."

"Yeah." She choked out. "Look, I need to get on the medevac. It's just will you be there? I know it's a lot to ask, Alex but please. Will you be there?" A sob cut through the end of her sentence.

"I'll be there, Addie. Now get on that helicopter. I'll be waiting for you."

"Thank you." She breathed and ended the call, climbing onto the helicopter beside Archer and Naomi.