Thanks to everyone who took the time to R&R. I hope this story helps you get through the tough days without PrP. I know I'm going crazy without it. . . and Merry Christmas.

oh and a Disclaimer, cause I forgot it last time: I own nothing. It's all Shonda and Co. If I did, Addie would be getting some lovin' cause it's her freaking show!

It was quarter after twelve when Addison heard a knock on her office door. It was still too early for it to have been Pete. He'd only left a half hour ago for his appointment. She was really hoping it wasn't Pete already. She'd barely had any time to sort out this little plan of hers. She was beginning to feel a little scared to be honest. What if she went to all this trouble, discarded the chance at a perfectly good relationship with someone else, only to be disappointed by Pete in the end. She was perfectly justified in her feelings of doubt. Everyone had warned her about him. But there were only a few tiny moments when she saw that guy; the guy who couldn't commit, the guy who treated every woman the same. Most of the time, though, she saw Pete only as the good guy, not the guy the others kept warning about. Sure he kept a lot of feelings to himself, but she didn't know him all that well and asking to know everything about him all at once would have been asking too much from him. She knew that. Most days she could look past it, to the man she thought she saw behind the painful past. Maybe she was kidding herself thinking that Pete would want to change himself, open up to her. She suddenly felt a little sick to her stomach. Someone knocked again.

"Who is it?" She asked taking a deep breath in through her nose and letting it slowly out her mouth.

"It's Naomi."

"Oh!" She sighed, "Get in here already."

"So," Naomi began, taking a seat on the couch, "I know you may not want to hear what I have to say, but, I want to tell you what I think about the whole love triangle you've got going on."

"Okay." Addison agreed. At this point her head was so confused that she really did need someone to help her sort it out, but she had a feeling this conversation was definitely going to be pro Officer Nelson. She let Naomi speak anyway.

"I really think that you're being stupid if you end things with Kevin because of one bad night. I know you believe in that whole 'you can't fake chemistry' thing and I get that, I do. But maybe it's just different. You had that whole angry at Pete so you were hot for him thing going on and he's still got you thinking about him, but maybe if you spent a little more time with Kevin you'd see that he's a perfect guy for you and that eventually there could be the possibility of a little chemistry with him. If not, then, oh well, you tried. But don't you think you should give it a little more time before you decide for sure."

"I suppose you're right, Nae." She could give Kevin a little more time. Besides, if she really was going to make Pete jealous she'd have to keep him around for a while. Not that she wanted to use Kevin. No, she wouldn't lead him on or promise anything she didn't want to give. She'd just be making Pete jealous by having some fun. Oh God. When did she become the girl who wanted fun? It really was bad this thing Pete did to her. . .

Pete sat in his office for almost thirty minutes after he'd finished with his patient. He wasn't planning on bailing out on her again, that wasn't it. He was just thinking, remembering last night.

He'd waited on her porch for a while, although he didn't really know why he'd bothered. Deep down he'd known where she was. He can't say he wasn't surprised. Hell, he was the one who'd pushed her to do it. But it drove him crazy to think that she was out somewhere with him, that bastard Cop. Just because he had a badge and a gun, that made him sexy? Please. It should have been Pete who was taking her out, making her laugh, kissing her goodnight… That jerk was going to kiss her goodnight. The idea of his hands on her. . . He was beginning to feel a little sick to his stomach.

He shook the images out of his head and cursed at himself. Why was this so hard for him? Why was he always one step behind? Everything he'd realized he needed to say to her he had been realizing after the fact. After that night at Sam's when she'd kissed him, he wasn't expecting it and he'd never felt so much emotion from something so simple. Instead of telling her she was the only woman who'd ever made him feel like that in his life, he'd kissed her back, thinking that'd be enough. But, she'd walked away, and instead of following her, he watched her go. So he'd kissed her again and she'd said she wanted more, and instead of telling her the truth, that he was scared to fall in love again and that they'd have to take it slow, he'd said the wrong thing, tried to go to fast, and despite his best intentions still managed to be the guy who stood her up. Which was the very last thing he'd wanted to do, and he hadn't even told her he was sorry for doing it. He hadn't told her a lot of things. Things he was realizing he was going to have to say eventually if he wanted a fighting chance with her. He'd waited too long to feel like this again and somehow he was going to prove it to her. Even if it meant he'd have to watch her date that jerk Cop for a while. He knew it wouldn't last between them; at least that's what he was going to keep telling himself.

Friends, she'd asked him to be friends. That was what she wanted. So that was it, he decided. He was going to be the best damn friend she'd ever had and then she wouldn't see if coming. He'd distract her by being her friend. He was going to try and tell her everything, because it was Addison, and she was worth it. He just wouldn't tell her he had every intention of making her fall in love with him. Him, the last person she'd ever expect to make her happy.

Somewhat pleased with what he'd just decided, he grabbed his jacked and headed down the hall to her office. The door was open and he could see her doing paperwork at her desk. He watched her for a moment, tapping her fingernails on the desk and absentmindedly tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. He felt like he just wanted to stay that way, enjoying her beauty and the silence, but she must have heard him move because she'd looked up at him and she smiled.

"Where do you want to go for lunch?" She asked him.

"I do recall you being the one who asked me out for lunch," he pointed out to her.

"Ok, you're right, but I'm still new around here. I don't know all the good lunch spots."

"Alright," Pete said smiling, "Let's go."

Addison grabbed her things and followed close behind Pete to the elevator. He pushed the button and looked over at her. She looked back. For a second they both waited for the other to say something, both feeling the tension flowing in around them. The doors opened and they stepped in.

"Remember the first day I met you?"

"What?" Addison replied even though she'd heard exactly what he'd said.

"I met you in this elevator. I came pushing in, late for something, I'm sure, and there you were," he smiled realizing they were standing in the same places they had been then. "You laughed at me."

"I wasn't laughing at you!"

"You were laughing at me, and you said something about wanting to ride me in the, what was it that you called it? The. . . horny aphrodisiac elevator?"

She laughed out loud at this. She remembered the horny aphrodisiac elevator word vomit that had occurred that day. God she must have sounded completely crazy. "Yeah, dirty, that's exactly what I said," she replied, shaking her head at him.

"Your hair was down, it was a little deeper red than it is now, and, you were wearing a little black dress."

"You remember what I was wearing?"

He didn't say anything, but she gazed at him as if she wasn't going to look away or let him move until he'd answered.

"Trust me," he said. "When you see the most beautiful woman you've ever seen in your life, you remember what she was wearing."

All she could do was look at him. She didn't care if he saw her smiling. There wasn't any way for her to hide it if she'd wanted to, and he was smiling back at her. She was almost scared to breathe in fear of ruining the moment. This was the Pete she'd wished everyone else would see. The one who made her heart beat faster just by smiling at her, who could say something like that to her and make her want to grab him by his face and kiss him hard. But she stopped herself and thought that maybe it was just one of those moments where he'd slipped and said something he hadn't meant to, and she'd never hear him say anything like it again.

He was still smiling at her and just as he was about to say something else the doors to the elevator opened revealing the lobby to them. Addison was the first to walk out and Pete followed.

She'd turned to the left heading toward the parking lot when Pete grabbed her by the hand to stop her. "Nope," he said, "We're walking," and he started in the other direction. He hadn't noticed he was still holding her hand until he felt the pull on his arm when he'd realized she hadn't moved. She was looking at their hands. They had absentmindedly intertwined their fingers with each other's. She'd wondered if they hadn't noticed because it felt so natural, they fit. As soon as he'd realized what she'd been looking at, he pulled his had away. He'd thought maybe the gesture had scared her even though he hadn't even been thinking when he'd done it.

She gave a little giggle and shook her head. Pete cleared his throat.

"So, this place you're taking me? Is it close?"

"It's just down the street," he nodded ahead of him and she followed him out the front door.