Chapter Two

Izzie peered around the corner, her dark eyes darting back and forth, scanning the hallway before she stepped forward to finish her rounds. For the past two days, she'd been trying to work through her feelings for George, and she'd come to a desperate realization that their friendship was never going to be the same again. Callie, thankfully, didn't seem to know what happened, and the two women's relationship had stayed frostily polite.

On the other hand, George had been avoiding Izzie's eyes, and just today, he'd turned and practically ran the opposite way when he'd caught sight of Izzie coming out of a patient's room. That had broken her heart, and she'd had to slip into the linen closet (ironically, the same one that she'd kissed Addison in) to gulp back the hot tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

Addison – that was another knot in the tangled ball of twine that was Izzie's life right now. So far, Izzie had been doing some avoiding of her own. She'd seen the red-haired attending a few times in the hallway, but as soon as she had caught Addison's blue gaze, she had quickly averted her eyes and walked the other way. She didn't want to deal with her feelings right now – she just wanted to get through her mess, one day at a time.

The coast seemed clear, so Izzie started across the hall to check on a young girl recovering from a tonsillectomy. Just as she put a hand on the doorknob, Addison came bustling around the corner, her red hair bouncing jauntily in a perky ponytail, and her short skirt swirling around her long legs. She was reading a chart and didn't see Izzie until it was too late. Addison's stiletto dug painfully into Izzie's sneakered foot.

"Ow!" Izzie yelped, hopping on one foot. She rubbed the sore spot on her toe and looked up at Addison indignantly. "Jeez, you couldn't watch where you were going? Oh – " She stopped, seeing who it was. "I'm sorry, Dr. Montgomery. I didn't mean to be rude."

Addison looked down at Izzie, half-amused, half-surprised, and somewhere deep inside her heart, secretly ecstatic on seeing the pretty blonde again. "Yes you did, Stevens, but you're forgiven. I'm sorry for stepping on your foot. Are you all right?"

Izzie nodded, feeling a little foolish. "Fine. I've got to – I mean, Lauren's waiting, and she's been vomiting a lot of blood, and – I've just got to go," she finished, blushing a faint coral pink and ducking into the tonsillectomy patient's room. Addison smiled broadly, shook her head, and continued on her way down the hall.

Alex Karev lounged against the wall beside the elevators, looking tired and sipping a cup of what looked like sludge. Addison peered into the white vessel and wrinkled her nose. "Honestly, Karev, why do you drink the hospital crap? There's a perfectly good coffee bar down the street."

"Well, unlike rich red-haired attendings with trust funds, I don't have a lot of money, Addison," Alex drawled, narrowing his eyes at her. "But, I wouldn't mind if said rich red-haired attending wanted to buy me a coffee. After all, she does owe me for the other night."

"Owe you for what? You ran out on me sometime after I fell asleep. It really made me feel like you cared," said Addison, a little hurt creeping into her voice. "Nothing like abandonment to make a girl feel amazing."

Alex's predatory look left his face and he leaned forward, a smile curving across his lips. "How about another chance? I don't think I gave you a fair chance last time," he said, his voice growing soft. "You really are an amazing woman."

Addison felt her heart quicken a little as her eyes traced over Alex's toned body and her familiar feline smile crossed her lips. But she was still hurt, and despite the fact that she really wanted him to, she shook her head. "Sorry, Karev," she said, affecting a breezy tone. "But I like to play hard to get." The elevator dinged and the doors swished open. "Have fun at Joe's tonight."

Alex frowned. "Oh, I will. Whore," he muttered under his breath. The elevator doors shut and Alex turned, heading down the hall towards the second set of elevators. He was due in Sloane's rhinoplasty surgery in two minutes.

Dr. Mark Sloane was scrubbing in when Alex burst into the OR antechamber, breathing hard. "Karev . . . nice to see you," he boomed. "Normally when I schedule a surgery, I like my interns to be on time. What's your excuse this time?"

"Addison Forbes Montgomery," muttered Alex, slamming on the water and snapping some soap into his hands. "She's such a bitch. All I had to do was say the word "sex" and she starts drooling. And then, when I offer to pay her a little visit this evening after Joe's? She gives me that stupid smile and tells me that she likes to play hard to get. I tell you what, man, I have no idea how you put up with her for months on end."

Sloane grinned and put a surgical apron on. "That's Addie. She does like to play hard to get, but she's a hell of a firecracker in bed. Nah, Addison is one hell of a woman. And when you do get her into bed? She'll rock your world, Karev. You're dealing with a grade A lady there."

Alex snorted, tying a skullcap onto his head. "What do you mean, when? I've already bedded her, Sloane. She's easy as hell to get into bed. Grade A lady? More like first-class whore. The woman is gasping for it. You'd swear she'd never been serviced before." He grabbed a mask. "Let's go."

The two doctors filed into the OR, laughing. Addison, who had come up to the door of the antechamber a few minutes previously and had overheard everything, slumped against the doorjamb, her eyes filling with tears. Was that how everyone saw her? As a cheap whore who was easy to entice into bed? She closed her eyes, the tears falling on her porcelain skin, and drew a shuddering sigh. She had to pull herself together – she was assisting on Sloane's surgery today since the woman getting the nose job was pregnant. Clad in her salmon scrubs, she scrubbed in and marched into the OR, head held high.

Somehow, Addison managed to get through the surgery, ignoring the daggered looks that Alex was sending her from Sloane's side. She monitored the fetal monitor, helped clean up and then pulled off her mask, stalking out of the room past a surprised Sloane, who had no idea that she'd overheard the prior conversation. She had nothing on the roster for an hour – she could indulge in a good, feel-sorry-for-herself cry.

Throwing open the door of the linen closet, she charged in, a sob already breaking from her throat as she pulled the door shut behind her and fell to her knees, hands coming up to cover her face. She was so concerned with trying to find privacy to cry that she didn't see Izzie, sitting against one of the shelves, reading a magazine. Izzie rose to her feet and emitted a surprised noise.

"Dr. Montgomery! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in surgery!" Izzie tried to step over Addison to get to the door, but stopped when she heard the older woman's low, heartbroken sobs. She paused, then turned back and hunkered down beside Addison. "Dr. – Addison?

Addison looked up, her makeup running in darkened streaks down her tear-stained face. Surprisingly, this didn't make her look any less beautiful – her baby-blue eyes became even bluer with the infusion of tears. "Izzie . . . I didn't know you were here." She sniffled, wiping her eyes roughly on the back of her hand.

Izzie sat down beside Addison, the warmth of her body radiating onto the attending, and put a tentative hand on Addison's salmon-clad knee. "Are you okay? What happened?" Her gentle voice caused another influx of tears from Addison, who suddenly turned in towards the intern. Like she'd done it a thousand times before, Izzie took the red-haired woman into her arms and began to make comforting sounds.

"Addison . . . shh. Oh, it's not worth this much emotion," she soothed, stroking back Addison's soft, silky hair. She breathed in Addie's sweet floral scent and felt something awake inside, but she pushed it determinedly down and continued to rock Addison back and forth. Unbidden, Izzie said, "Someone as beautiful as you should never be this sad."

Addison looked up. "Izzie, do you think I'm a whore?" she choked, her voice foggy. "I've always tried to be – well, classy. The way I was raised. But now that I think about it, Alex was right. I'm just a cheating cunt who threw away a perfectly good marriage for a stupid fling. He doesn't even love me." She sniffled and began to sob again.

Izzie pulled Addison closer, rubbing her back. "I don't think you're a whore. If anything, it's me who's the whore. I had sex with my best friend . . . his wife already hates me. In fact, that's why I'm here. I'm hiding from Callie O'Malley," she said ruefully. "Can't take her gimlet gaze anymore," she quipped, smiling broadly.

Addison leaned closer against Izzie's soft body and sighed. "We're both pathetic." She turned her pretty face up to meet Izzie's, her blue eyes searching Izzie's brown eyes. She seemed to find what she was looking for, because she closed them, leaning up and covering Izzie's mouth with her own.

Izzie expected herself to draw away. After all, she'd spent all this time avoiding Addison – why was she giving in now? But something else took over – she realized that for the first time all day, she wasn't hurting inside. This time, she didn't want to miss out on the beautiful attending's charms. This time, Izzie didn't even hesitate – she automatically opened her mouth, thrusting her tongue into Addison's.

Addison began to kiss Izzie desperately, her fingers digging into Izzie's back, her legs folding underneath her skirt so that she could kneel. She tangled her hands in Izzie's soft curls, rumpling them up, running the strands over her fingers. Her tongue twined around Izzie's, tasting every part of the intern's mouth she could find.

Izzie responded, her own hands finding Addison's hair, her mouth alternately covering and breaking away from Addison's. When they broke away, they were both breathing hard. Izzie didn't take her eyes from Addison's as she slid a hand up the attending's scrub shirt and her fingers found Addison's bra.

Addison leaned closer to Izzie, her hand going behind her back to cover the intern's hand on the bra's clasp. "Izzie, I want this, but do you?"

Something snapped in Izzie's eyes and she took her hand away from Addison's. "Yes . . . but not here. Not in this setting." Her arms encircled Addison, drawing the attending close to her chest. "Come with me tonight," she breathed.

"I don't have sex on the first date," Addie breathed back, snuggling into Izzie. "But how about we have dinner? We'll take it from there." Her eyes rose to meet Izzie's tender gaze. "You're so beautiful, oh, God . . . I want you so much."

Izzie gently detangled herself from Addison, smoothing down her scrubs. "Okay, dinner. Pick me up at seven?" she smiled, tying her hair back up.

Addison smiled back, her lips coming forward into her customary pout. "Seven, at the intern's locker room."

Izzie grinned widely at her, then let herself out. Suddenly, the thought of George didn't hurt her at all. As Callie passed by, throwing Izzie a scowl, the intern gave her a demure smile. She wasn't afraid of Callie, either!