"It has to be a statistical improbability for this many horrified faces to be assembled in one place at the same time," Addison said under her breath as she leaned into Burke.
The two stood poised atop the stairs into the surgical unit, standing slightly behind Richard Webber who was announcing their return to Seattle Grace with pride. He continued to blither on about how with their help that Seattle Grace would once again return to it's former ranks.
It sounded like more of a demand of the staff rather than the promise of a good leader.
Burke didn't respond to Addison. His eyes were scanning the crowd, eagerly seeking out the on face that his heart longed to see. With each face he met, each set of eyes that lingered for only a split second, he grew discouraged.
The one person he wanted to see wasn't there.
Addison reached over, rested a hand upon the back of his arm as the gathering finally broke. Seeing that her friend was crestfallen and offered the only thing that she could, "It looks like we have a busy day already. We should ignore the work to do and start with a cup of coffee."
With the slightest of nods, he followed her from the unit leaving the sea of stunned surgical staff in their wake. He was not eager to hear the scores of whispers and gossip when he would return but took a fraction of seconds to remind himself that it would die down.
Perhaps it was his punishment for leaving the way that he had.
"Are you getting settled into your apartment?" Addison asked, saving her friend from his own thoughts.
"I am," He answered in with a distracted tone, "You were right about your agent. She's quite reliable. And your place? How is that?"
Pretending to play with her blackberry despite that some niggling part of her mind knew that the action was quite transparent, Addison answered in the most casual tone possible. "Oh, it's not bad. The apartment itself is amazing. The location is convenient, actually- it's more than convenient. We can spy all we want to."
Burke stopped and looked down with her with an arched eyebrow, "Spy? And exactly what are we spying on from your apartment."
"Cristina," Addison answered with a smug grin. Mentally she added that she could watch Mark too, but then convinced herself in that same second that she didn't care about Mark. She'd given herself a new mission.
Surveillance could be fun.
"Cristina," Burke repeated slowly. "Cristina lives in your building?"
"Which makes the spying that much easier," Addison beamed.
As much as he wanted to be, Burke wasn't convinced. Perhaps it was that too many things were happening at once- moving to Seattle, returning to the hospital that his heart had longed for and now already considering how he could work his way back into the graces of the woman he never stopped loving. It was too much too quickly and he knew that it's how Cristina must have felt. He cleared his throat, forced a slight grin and then continued walking, "We have a busy day. We should get our coffee."
Sensing his hesitance, Addison dropped the topic and followed in silence. She wasn't sure of the reason, but she just got him. She understood his actions. Because of all of that, Addison couldn't help but feel some amount of woe for the sentiment they'd shared a few weeks ago that it couldn't be so easy that they would be right for each other.
It was her greatest hope that the small feeling there would be replaced in the coming weeks with something more encompassing and meaningful.
At least for one of them.
x-x-x-x-x
Lexie Grey was intimidated by a lot of things: bumble bees, big dogs, speaking in front of large groups, girls who were way more beautiful than she, and Cristina Yang.
All were mostly normal things to be afraid of and intimidated by, except for maybe the Cristina thing- unless people knew her and then they totally got where she was coming from. It wasn't that Cristina was always cruel or hateful.
It's just that she was usually cruel or hateful. And incredibly brilliant and smart and witty and all of the things that she would never be- not that she wanted to be cruel or hateful, but she wouldn't mind being able to remember everything under the sun without having a photographic memory.
She kind of wished that Cristina wasn't cruel or hateful either.
Under the cold glare of Cristina, Lexie worked with a shaking hand on her mattress suture and was completely aware that if she screwed up just the tiniest movement that Cristina could kill her. Lexie knew far too much today; she knew about the argument with Dr. Hunt about not getting a surgery and how the guy from Mercy West with the hot eyes took it from her. She knew that Cristina was in Meredith's room and very upset and probably the most important thing of all, she knew that Dr. Burke was back.
Lexie's hand shook a little bit and she dropped her needle holder onto the bed. Okay, so maybe thinking about Cristina's problems right then wasn't the smartest idea, "S-sorry," She stammered, picking them back up.
Cristina, seeing an opportunity to torture somebody beneath her, seizing the opportunity to forget her own issues for a moment replied in an uncharacteristically nice voice, "It's okay. I'd be worried if my boyfriend's ex was back too."
The color drained out of Lexie's face and she looked up at Cristina, "What? What are you talking about?"
"Oh, you didn't know?" Cristina asked, well aware that she didn't. "Dr. Montgomery. Her and Dr. Sloan had a thing. A very long very involved thing that involved cheating and adultery and babies and stuff; anyway, I'm sure it's not important if he didn't mention it."
"Y-you mean Dr. Montgomery? The Prada doctor? The red hair? With the shoes? A-and the legs?" Lexie clarified.
She was intimidated by women more beautiful than her and she definitely was not nearly as beautiful as Addison Montgomery.
"Is there another Dr. Montgomery in this hospital?" Cristina asked, obviously annoyed by the stupid question.
Lexie fell quiet and went back about her suturing without looking back up at Cristina. That woman- Dr. Montgomery, she was a thing with Mark. Not anymore.
Cristina was just trying to mess with her.
She hoped.
x-x-x-x-x
The day wore on for Burke and Addison, both separate between meetings and filing paperwork. There were no consults or surgeries on the board- those would be reserved for later in the week. Rather their day was full of awkward reintroductions and empty exchanges with former colleagues.
Seattle wasn't as welcoming as either had hoped- though Addison's luck was much better than Burke's.
One place however, that had welcomed them with open arms was The Emerald City Bar and Joe. With open arms they greeted and Joe called their drinks 'on the house' as he'd heard enough of the crap that they were going to be dealing with for a while and decided they needed to save their money for the ensuing therapy bill.
Addison chuckled slightly as he walked away, "Therapy. At least he hasn't changed."
"It's one thing," Burke agreed, raising his glass to hers. He paused a moment before continuing, "Long day."
"The longest," Addison agreed before sipping her drink and then setting it down, "I know that it feels like we're not supposed to be here. Right now it feels like we made the wrong choice. I know that. So before you say anything else, I know. And it will get better. This will be the right choice. I promise."
Burke being Burke, it wasn't really open to discussion. The day had been long and exhausting and he knew that he needed to prepare himself because the worst was yet to come, he'd still not seen Cristina. Addison hadn't seen Mark or Derek. Neither one of them were going to have it easy over the next few days and he wasn't sure how Addison could be so upbeat about any of it.
He had to admire her determination.
"I have consults tomorrow. I'll be in the OR by Wednesday," Burke finally replied before taking a long drink of his beer. "I'm anxious to get to work. It's been a while since I've been in the OR."
Addison glanced at him, "Really? Did you resign?"
With a shake of his head, he set his bottle down on the napkin. "I had taken a position at Hopkins as Chief of Surgery-" He began, but was immediately halted by Addison's reaction.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa- you…you were Chief at Hopkins? Before this? Before you agreed to come here?" Addison was in disbelief and not entirely sure that she would have left it.
"Yes," He answered succinctly, his eyes never leaving hers.
"She has to realize what, I mean- you'll tell her, won't you?" Addison asked softly, "Preston you need to tell her that?"
"It doesn't matter. As I said, I'm just anxious to get back to work. Maybe I can find time to work in a case tomorrow instead of Wednesday," He glanced up at the door as another patron entered and he took note of Mark Sloan entering the bar with a very young woman and he slid his glance to Addison. "It would appear that I've just met Mark's girlfriend."
Addison very obviously turned her head to look at Lexie Grey and she groaned softly, turning around. "She's a twelve year old, Preston. Why do all of the men in my life have to date twelve year old girls? Just for once can't they at least date somebody our age? Or at least attempt to date somebody closer to our age?"
Burke couldn't hide the amusement and Mark's current choice of significant other, "Is this one old enough to drink?"
"No, Joe probably has to stock chocolate milk behind the counter just for her. And juice boxes," Addison couldn't help but partake of the prodding just a little bit.
Okay, she wanted to prod a lot. And poke a lot of fun.
She needed to hate this girl.
"As a matter of fact, I bet Joe has changed his hours so that Mark's girlfriend can make it to bed on time. She's very cranky in the morning if she misses bedtime," Addison laughed at her own joke and then looked at Burke who wasn't laughing. "Not a very good joke, huh?"
"No," He answered with a small smirk, "But the chocolate milk was good."
"I haven't lost my touch then," Addison shrugged, proud that she could at least execute one joke well. She turned back to watch the two of them, catching Lexie looking back at her and she turned around, nearly knocking her drink over. "What's she doing? I can't watch."
"You're not a very good spy," Burke teased in a low voice, casually glancing in their direction and straightening out.
"Don't say that I'm not a good spy, Preston. I'm a good spy and if you're not nice to me I don't have to share the information that I get from living upstairs from your ex-"
Burke cleared his throat, "Dr. Sloan, so good to see you again."
His tone was less than sincere.
"Dr. Burke, I see you came back. Is your tail still between your legs or did it just fall off?" Mark greeted with a smug grin, "Addison, you know Lexie," He paused to look at Burke, "Dr. Burke, this is my girlfriend, Dr. Lexie Grey, one of our best second year residents."
Lexie took Burke's hand warmly, "Dr. Burke- I recognized you from your article about the Harper-Avery award. I've heard a lot about you. I have a minor interest in cardiothoracics and so when I saw you here- I-I just wanted to say hello," She stammered slightly, in awe of the man before her. He was kind of hot, but he looked mostly nice and he seemed somewhat nice, which was so not what she expected out of a guy that Cristina Yang was going to marry.
Burke chuckled, more out of amusement than anything else, "It's good to meet you Dr. Grey," He responded to her rambling introduction, "And I'm certain we'll work together at some point."
Mark glanced at the man with contempt as if Burke would actually make some sort of move on his preschool aged girlfriend and then glanced at Addison, "Have you seen Derek yet?"
"No, no I have not. I haven't seen many people at all. Where is everybody?" Addison asked, pushing out a seat for him and then inwardly cringing at her action.
Why couldn't she think first and act second?
Mark took the seat and Lexie looked blankly at Burke until he moved next to Addison, mumbling something about her having a seat. Mark glanced back in Lexie's direction for a moment before turning his attention back to Addison, "He's out with Grey for a couple of days. He should be back later in the week."
Addison nodded, taking notice at how uncomfortable Lexie seemed to be. "I see."
"Is everything okay?" Burke asked, his eyes leveling on Sloan.
"It is," Lexie interrupted. "Meredith donated part of her liver to our father. Well, my father. Biologically he is her father too, but it's…messy and complicated. V-very complicated."
Burke slid a knowing glance towards Addison, who answered for the two of them. "Tell her that we hope to see her back at the hospital soon," It was a diplomatic answer and one that couldn't allude to trouble.
Or so they hoped.
Both of them knew that Meredith would be getting the low-down on their arrival soon enough from another party.
An awkward silence lingered over the table and finally Mark stood up, "As much fun as it's been, Lexie and I are going to leave you two lovebirds alone." He slid a glance to Burke who looked a little stunned by his words and then to Addison.
"Lovebirds- Wait, we're not- you think?"
Mark looked at her in question, "What?"
"What Addison is trying to say is that we're-" Burke started, but then was cut off by Addison's hand smacking his leg under the table.
"We'll see you later," Addison finished and then waited for the two of them to leave before she turned to Burke. "They think we're together. This is good. It's a plan."
"A plan? For what?" Burke asked reluctantly, "And do we really need a plan at this point? We're here. I'd say that we're past the planning portion, Addison."
Sometimes he really couldn't help but doubt her sanity.
"If we're not a threat," Addison explained, motioning between the two of them, "If we're attached, it gives us an in. It makes it easier. If they think we're here- if Cristina thinks you're here for the reason that you are-"
"That's not the only reason I'm here," Burke interjected. It was partially a lie.
"The point is, if we're an item, we're not a threat. What needs to be said can be said. What needs to be done will be done. It's a good cover."
Burke wasn't convinced but he wasn't in a place to argue with her either. It was Cristina and merely walking up to her and apologizing probably wouldn't get him very far. Despite his lack of faith in Addison's latest scheme, he gave the slightest of nods and lifted his beer.
Glancing towards Lexie's direction, she grabbed her own drink.
"Don't worry," Burke smirked, noting her distraction by Sloan's choice in girlfriend, "We'll close down the sandbox and he'll be all yours. Though I have to question your choice in man."
Addison shook her head, looking up at him and then playfully hitting his arm, "Oh stop. You don't know Mark. He's good. Mark can be good. When he wants to be."
Ignoring Burke's sarcastic comment, she reached for her drink and watched the two of them for only a moment more. She wished that she had seen that Mark was good before she made the decision to move away and start all over.
She wished she had known what she knew now.