"Are you sure you want to meet at Joe's? I don't care, but won't your friends be there and make a big deal about us having a drink together?" Addison said into her phone as she made her way to her rental car in the parking lot.
Addison had been hoping to avoid Joe's, but was also glad she had been invited. The bar held so many memories, both good and bad, and she wasn't sure what of those memories would come up being back there. She entered the dimly lit room and scanned the crowd before she saw Alex Karev sitting at a table with Cristina and two people she didn't know, but had seen around the hospital.
"Dr. Montgomery. What are you doing here?" Cristina asked.
"It's Ella's weekend with Mark. I just dropped her off over there and thought I'd stop by for a drink before calling it a night. I don't really know anyone here, mind if I join you guys?"
"Uh, I guess," stated a rather confused Dr. Yang.
Alex quickly finished his beer before saying anything. "I'm gonna go get another drink. Can I get you one, Dr. Montgomery?"
"That'd be great. Thanks Alex," she said as she followed him over to the bar. "So you gonna ditch your friends for me? You were the one who invited me. Trust me, I didn't come just to sit in a bar with Yang and two other residents I don't know," Addison was more than pissed off.
"You know, it worked five years ago to get you upset. That on-call room was pretty amazing. They know I won't be coming back to their table. Now, we can either sit here or we can go somewhere where we aren't being watched by everyone."
Twenty minutes later, they were in Addison's hotel room. "Alex, I hope you aren't planning on just hooking up with me and leaving. I wanna hear about peds. I heard about your Africa kids. I always knew you'd be good with kids, still wish you had stuck with OB after I left."
"There was no reason to stick with OB. My teacher was gone and I had no interest in learning from the new OB attending. Arizona is a great teacher, though. How's LA? How's Ella?"
"You had your pizza. Now, it's time for a bath and bed. We're going to the Space Needle tomorrow. Do you know that I've lived in Seattle for six years and I've never been there? We can try calling Sloan in the morning, too. Lexie is working tonight, but she really wants to come with us. Can you handle a bath by yourself or do you need me in there?"
"I'm a big girl. I take baths by myself. Can we read after my bath?"
"Sure. I'm gonna put Sofia to bed. Just holler if you need anything," Mark said as he lifted Sofia from the bathtub and wrapped her in a towel.
After Ella was out of the bathtub and in her pajamas, she pulled a book from her backpack and handed it to Mark. "Do I have to go home on Sunday? I'm off school for the summer, can't I stay here for longer? I miss you when I'm not here."
"That's a question for your mom, kiddo. I'd love if you could stay longer, but you'd have to be in daycare or with a babysitter while I'm working and I work a lot. We can talk to your mom about it more tomorrow. Now what book did you pick for us?" Mark asked as his daughter snuggled in next to him on the couch and handed him a book she had brought with her.
