Oh, don't mind me, just starting another story that I shouldn't be. But I just got so freaking excited about this one. And I hope you are too! The first chapter's kind of heavy, but not really, and then I don't think it should deviate from light, frothy fluff. :)

I don't own anything.

Addison and Alex linger in front of Joe's, talking. They've recently constructed a fragile truce that means they don't try too hard to make the other's existence hell. Normally they wouldn't be talking to each other outside of the hospital, but Izzie's inside the bar, flirting with Mark. And that sight was enough to for them to agree to hightail it out of there. But now they're talking for really no apparent reason other than the fact that neither of them wants to go home.

Addison smiles at him as a black car drives by them. She's about to comment on his surprising self-control regarding Izzie when the shots are fired and the squealing of a car's tires trying to get traction as the driver speeds away can be heard.

Instinct tells Alex to grab Addison and get down. Fast. So that's what he does, probably not doing any favors for her shoulder in the process, but, hey, shots are being fired and her shoulder is kind of the least of his concerns.

Instinct tells Addison to look up and memorize what she can of the license plate. She whips out her phone and texts it to herself before she can forget. Then she realizes that Alex is still practically on top of her (not comfortable) and that he's positioned himself between her and the car (sweet, but still not comfortable). She half shoves him off of her and looks around. About twenty feet away, three men lay bleeding out on the concrete. Without thinking about it too much, she hurries over and starts mentally cataloguing what she can do to help.

"Addison!" Alex exclaims. "What are you doing?"

"Three men are dying, Alex. I'm clearly not playing tiddlywinks. Get your ass over here and help me!"

So he does. But not without one question, which he asks while already dialing 911. "Tiddlywinks?"

"Shut up."

0ooo0

Even though they do everything they can until the men can be transported to Seattle Grace, two of the victims die and the third lies in the ICU, breathing, but not expected to wake up. Addison is silently berating herself for not doing more when a hand is laid on her shoulder. She looks up to see Alex. "The cops want to talk to you," he says quietly. "Get your statement and stuff. I just got done."

"Oh. Um, right."

She gets up to leave. "Hey, are you okay?" he asks before she can go.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just fine. Fine."

He raises an eyebrow, something she likes to think he picked up from her. "You don't look fine," he accuses her. "You look like your clothes are covered in the blood of three men you tried to save and you look tired and hungry and about ready to kill someone. But I'm not seeing fine anywhere."

She takes a deep breath and draws herself up to full height. "I'm fine," she repeats, jutting her chin out. Maybe if she says it enough, she'll believe it.

"How's your shoulder?" he asks. "I probably banged it up pretty badly."

"A little stiff," she admits. "Thanks, for, um, that, or whatever."

"No problem," he says, just ask awkward when she brings up the fact that at the end of the day, he kind of just chose her life over his own. "Just glad you're okay."

She smiles. "Yeah, uh, same to you." They smile at each other for a moment before Addison breaks the silence. "Well, I should probably…" she trails off, gesturing vaguely somewhere in the direction of the conference room.

"Right," he says, sounding as if he had been holding his breath.

"Yeah, I… I should go," she replies and hurries off.

0ooo0

"State your name for the record, please," the detective, Detective O'Conner, asks her.

"Addison Forbes Montgomery-Sh- Montgomery. Addison Forbes Montgomery," she states, almost shoving the Shepherd onto the end of Montgomery out of force of habit. She hasn't really gotten used to leaving off half of her last name yet.

"Thanks," Detective O'Conner says. "Now, what can you tell me about what you saw?"

He asks her a bunch of questions designed to help form the clearest depiction of the events of earlier that night and she replies as accurately and thoroughly as her memory will allow. "Can you describe the car?" he finally asks her.

She smiles a little. "I can one up you, Detective. I can give you a license plate. Or most of it, anyways."

He looks surprised. "Well then, by all means, Miss Montgomery, let's have it."

He leaves the room, presumably to alert everyone to the danger lying in this car. When he returns, he announces, "I just have two more questions and then you're free to go."

She smiles. Giving her account of the night has actually helped her. At least she feels like she's doing something to help those poor men. "Fire away."

"One, would you be willing to testify? Assuming we catch the bastards, that is."

"Yes. Absolutely."

"Okay, good. And two, would it be too forward of me to ask if I can call you some time after this is all over?"

Addison smiles again. "That's very sweet," she says. "But yes, it would be too forward."

"Thought so," he sighs. "Ah well. You have my card if you think of anything else. Or if you want to rethink my offer." He ends his statement with an ironically cheesy wink and grin.

She laughs. "I'll be sure to call if I think of anything."

0ooo0

"How'd it go?" Alex asks when she gets out.

"Fine. Why are you still here? Why didn't you go home already?"

He shrugs. "I wanted to make sure that you're okay."

She rolls her eyes. "I'm fine. Tired, but fine."

"Okay."

"Okay."

There's another awkward silence as they stare at each other. "I'm going to go find an on call room," Addison announces. "By the time I get back to the Archfield, I'll only get like two hours of sleep anyways. At least this way, I can sleep a little bit more before having to come back here."

"Sounds like a good idea."

It almost sounds like he wants her to invite him so (and she blames this on mental duress) she does. "Do you, uh, want to come with? How far is Meredith's place anyways?"

"Far enough when you don't have a car. So an on call room sounds good."

"Wait, you don't have a car? How do you get to work in the morning?"

"I run. Or if it's raining too badly, I catch a ride with Izzie or Meredith."

"You run. You run to work?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I guess that solves the mystery of why you're disgustingly in shape," she comments as she miraculously manages to spot an open door to an empty on call room.

"I'm going to grab some scrubs to sleep in. You want some?" he offers, ignoring the comment about his physical fitness.

"Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks. And I'll set an alarm on my cell phone so we wake up on time."

He returns five minutes later and she's already asleep on the bed. He shakes her gently and she stirs with a groan. "Here," he whispers, shoving the scrubs into her hands. "Put them on."

"I'm tired," she complains, not moving.

"Addison, you've got somebody else's blood on you. Put the damn scrubs on."

She does as she's told without any sort of attempt to hide her body (well, she's been up for almost twenty-four hours now and she's beyond caring). Alex averts his eyes, trying to remain somewhere in her good graces.

Even with the idea of an undressing Addison in his head, he manages to fall asleep quickly and doesn't wake up until her phone rings, signaling the alarm.

Even with the idea of a very physically fit Alex jogging to work in her head, Addison manages to fall asleep quickly and doesn't wake up until her phones blares the alarm.

0ooo0

"Dr. Montgomery?" one of the nurses asks two days later.

"Yes, Nikita?" Addison makes a point of knowing everyone on her staff.

"There's two people here to see you? They say it's important?" She's one of those people that don't have the ability to speak in anything but questions.

"I have my hands inside a woman's uterus at the moment, Nikita," Addison says patiently. She catches Alex's eye and swears he's grinning behind his mask. "Tell them that it's not that important."

"Um, it's a cop and a lawyer?"

"Sounds like a bad joke waiting to happen," Addison murmurs under her breath and swears that she hears Alex chuckle quietly.

"And they want you and Dr. Karev? What should I tell them?"

"Tell them that I'm elbow deep in uterus at the moment," Addison mumbles, never happy for distractions during surgery. "That ought to shut them up."

Alex develops a sudden coughing fit that sounds suspiciously like laughter.

"Tell them we'll be there as soon as possible," Addison formally replies to the nurse. That is, loud enough for her to hear. "Have them wait in the conference room."

"Alright; you're sure?"

"Positive, Nikita."

0ooo0

When they finally do get out of surgery, they find Detective O'Conner and a woman they've never seen before enter the room.

"Detective O'Conner," Addison smiles, "I thought we agreed this was too forward."

He grins back. "While I can be very persistent when I want to be, I'm actually here about the drive-by shooting."

"Dude, are you flirting? With him? Seriously?" Alex whispers in her ear.

"None of your business." She hides her response behind another smile.

"Not worth it," he informs her.

"I'm Lindsay Paddington," the woman says, holding out her hand for both of the doctors to shake. "Assistant District Attorney."

"Nice to meet you," Addison responds politely.

"Good news, Miss Montgomery," Detective O'Conner says.

"Miss? You let him call you miss?" Alex hisses.

"The license plate number you gave us let us find the car you saw two nights ago. Unfortunately, it was abandoned in a ditch, but a subsequent search of the surround woods allowed us to apprehend the criminals."

"Dude talks like a textbook." Alex comments in her ear. Unfortunately, Addison has to agree with Alex on this one. That was a very stiff speech.

"Good," Addison smiles. "I'm glad I could help."

"Are you still willing to testify?" Lindsay asks them both. They both answer in the affirmative. "Good. Then there's one thing I need to discuss with you. The men we caught, they weren't alone. They part of a much larger crime syndicate. And the trouble is that they have some friends in some very high places. Places that are in a position to make life very difficult, even dangerous, for those who cross them."

"Just what are you trying to say?" Alex asks.

"We think that, due to the high risk of retaliation from the men's friends, it might be best if…"

"If you went into Witness Protection," Detective O'Conner finishes.

I'd love to hear thoughts!

-Juli-