Disclaimer: It's safe to say that anything you recognise doesn't belong to me.

Hi all! Welcome to yet another addex fic. This is quite different to any of my other stories but i hope you still enjoy it.

Falling Slowly is a song by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from the movie "Once". If you haven't heard it you should go listen to it on youtube because it's one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard.

Somewhere a clock is ticking

It could just be my imagination but I'm sure my husband is even more distant than usual tonight. We may not be as close as we once were but I can still read his moods like a book, and tonight he seems almost angry about something. I have no idea what that is though.

I turn to face him in bed and place my hand on the side of his face gently. He doesn't respond to my touch so I question him lightly.

"How was your day?"

He acknowledges my question with a forced smile and a shrug of his shoulders. "The usual," He says after a long pause.

I wait for him to elaborate but he doesn't say anything else. He couldn't make it any clearer that he doesn't want to talk tonight so I whisper goodnight and turn back to face the wall. I hear him sigh and feel his warm breath hit my neck as he moves closer to me.

His arm reaches around my waist and he squeezes my hand gently. I know it is his way of saying sorry, and I accept his apology by snuggling closer to him with a sigh. I fall asleep in his arms with a small smile on my face.

Derek is gone when I wake up the next morning and for a moment I feel a familiar stab of disappointment. Waking up alone in a freezing cold trailer is not the best way to start a day, and consequently by the time I arrive at the hospital I am not in the best of moods.

My mood only worsens when I see Alex Karev waiting for me at the nurses station. I had forgotten that I had assigned him to my service for an indefinite amount of time. What the hell had I been thinking? This is as much a punishment for me as it is for him.

"Karev," I greet him, a lot snappier than I had intended. Maybe he will take the hint that I can't take any of his smart assed comments today. I give him my best glare just to make it perfectly clear.

Whereas most people would cower at my expression, he stands taller and smirks in my direction. I should have known it wouldn't be that easy to intimidate him.

"Dr. Montgomery-Sheperd," He replies. His voice is dripping with sarcasm, almost as if he his mocking my authority over him. I realise that I could stand all day arguing with him but we have work to do. Instead I turn and stride down the corridor, leaving him no choice but to follow me. I win that round, Montgomery-Sheperd 1 : Karev 0.

I have no scheduled surgeries that morning so we round on my pre and post op patients. I try to stay calm even as I feel Karev's eyes boring holes in my back as he glares at me. He looks bored as I explain the cases to him and he makes very little effort to be sociable with my patients.

I watch him converse with one patients husband and he becomes so abrupt I have to intervene before the situation gets out of hand. I apologize to the man and all but drag Karev from the room. The second that we are out of earshot I round on him.

"What do you think you're doing?" I hiss angrily.

"Come on, he deserved it, the guy's an ass," He looks angry now too, I notice as I glare at him.

"He is a patients husband, and you have no right to talk to him like that! I don't care what your personal opinion of the man is, for as long as you're a doctor here you will show respect to patients and their relatives. Understood?" I put my hands on my hips and tap my foot impatiently as I wait for a response.

"Look, I'm not like you. You might be able to respect a man like that but I won't, I'll be professional around him if that's what you want, but I won't respect him."

I stare at him confused as I try to work out what the hell his problem is. I don't understand why he has such major issues with this guy. Did I miss something?

He scoffs loudly and starts speaking again, I realise I must have said the last part out loud.

"You seriously don't get it, do you? You're so caught up with your own life and playing happy families with Sheperd you can't see what's right in front of your face. Well I'm not explaining it to you, figure it out yourself." He turns and walks away from me, leaving me standing there with a frown on my face.

What was all that about? How dare he accuse me of "playing happy families"? Derek and I are married, we're not playing anything and even if we were it would be none of his business.

It is only after I have calmed down slightly that I realise Karev's comment about my personal life bothers me more than I would care to admit. I check the OR board and see that Derek isn't in surgery so I send him a page. I feel like I have to prove to Karev and myself that everything is fine with my marriage.

He arrives 5 minutes later, looking stressed and less than impressed that I paged him for no apparent reason.

"What's wrong, Addison?" He doesn't sound happy to see me and it occurs to me that maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"I just wanted to talk to you, you seemed angry last night and I never got a chance to ask you about it," I quickly make up an excuse for paging him

"I'm fine. I just have a lot of work to do right now, did you want something else?" He asks quite sharply.

For reasons I can't even begin to explain I feel my throat tighten and my eyes become teary. His face softens slightly when he sees my expression but I blink back the tears and try to smile at him. I tell myself to stop being stupid, everything is fine and Derek's just busy with work.

"Look, Addie, I'm sorry. I don't have any free time now but we can talk later. Do you want to meet for lunch?" He still doesn't sound exactly happy about it but at least he's willing to set aside time to talk to me.

"Yeah, that sounds great," I give him a small smile and lean in to kiss him on the cheek.

He nods his head and brushes past me before my lips get anywhere near him. He leaves me standing there alone, replaying the brief exchange over and over in my mind and trying to convince myself that there is no truth to Karev's words.

Somewhere a clock is ticking - Snow Patrol

Soooo that was the first part. I don't know how long this will be but i can say it is a lot longer than anything else i have ever wrote which means i need lots of encouragement to keep writing. So please leave a review!