Love Squared

A Grey's Anatomy fic by Gigi

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 4: In My Pocket

A/N: So I've officially decided who the lucky winner is! Whether or not you find out in this chapter depends on my fingers, because my brain apparently has no say in how the story goes.

A/N2: This chapter is a little bit more emotional than I intended it to be. Sorry if you don't like emotional, but you should still read!

Addison woke up in Derek's arms, almost the exact same position in which they'd fallen asleep. As quietly as possible, Addison slipped out from under the covers and Derek's arm. She stopped moving, however, when her feet touched the ground.

The red dress still lay crumpled on the floor. Addison stared at it for a few seconds, after which she continued getting out of bed. She gathered the soft red fabric in a small bundle and threw it into the laundry machine on her way to the bathroom of the very tiny trailer.

The woman in the mirror—the puffy-eyed, tired woman with cheeks that matched her hair—was completely foreign to Addison, and yet she'd seen her before. In New York. Closing her eyes in disgust, she left the view of the mirror and walked across the "hall" to the shower.

8D

Alex watched the woman from afar for a little bit. She looked tired. Okay, so she looked exactly the same as always—gorgeous, confident, strong and sexy—but she seemed tired to Alex.

Taking a deep breath, he approach her and offered her one of the cups of coffee he was holding. "You look like you could use a pick-me-up," he explained.

Addison raised her head from the chart she was reading and took in the sight before her. Alex Karev, holding coffee, and actually acting thoughtful. Smiling slightly, she accepted the coffee and put the cup up to her lips. "Thanks," she murmured over the rim.

"So what's wrong?" Alex asked, sipping his own coffee as he leaned against the counter behind him.

"What makes you think anything is wrong?" Addison wrote something in her patient's chart and flipped it closed, giving Alex her full attention.

"Well, normally, you would have made some sarcastic comment about me being civil for once," he quipped, feeling a small sense of triumph when he saw the corners of the redhead's lips curve upward slightly.

"It is kind of weird," she commented.

Alex allowed himself to chuckle at her smooth reply before diving right back in. "Seriously, what's up?" He saw hesitation appear in her eyes. "It's okay. You can tell me."

Addison quirked an eyebrow at him. Had the prom been some sort of turning point in their relationship or was he just being friendly? Either way, she found herself confiding in the intern. "Derek and I had a little thing after you left."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I got on his case for being so rude to you when we were having what was probably our first civilized conversation, and he got all weird and defensive." Alex's face darkened. Addison may not know the reason behind her husband's odd behavior, but Alex had a pretty good idea. "He thought I wanted to sleep with you."

Alex froze with his coffee halfway to his mouth. "W-What?" he sputtered. "What did you say?"

Something was different about Alex's voice. It was higher, but Addison couldn't pinpoint why. "I pulled away from him and told him I wanted to go home." She sighed and turned so her back was against the counter, sipping her coffee. "I just feel like he's slipping away again."

"Again?"

Addison looked at Alex from the corner of her eyes, debating whether or not to tell him her side of the story. "In New York, about a year before Derek came out here, he started working more," she started. "He'd come home later and later, leave earlier. He even missed our tenth anniversary because he decided work was more important. Somewhere during that year, I lost my Derek. I didn't know him anymore, and I just snapped. Mark came over one night and told me that Derek wasn't going to be home in time for dinner yet again." Addison paused once again, closing her eyes. "I asked him if Derek still loved me. When he couldn't answer me, I broke down. I couldn't stand the thought of being alone again, so when Mark kissed me I didn't stop it. Then Derek showed up."

Alex didn't know what to say. Shepherd's story was so different. His always made her seem like the adulterous bitch and him seem like the perfect husband who'd been betrayed. Now, after hearing Addison's side of the story, Alex wanted to punch Shepherd out more than ever.

"And when you came here, he called you Satan," Alex prompted darkly. She nodded slowly.

"Things have been better though," Addison said into her coffee. "But for the fight, things have been a lot easier than before."

"He's your Derek again?" Alex wanted to vomit at that, but not because it was so cheesy.

She shook her head, still gazing into her coffee cup. "I don't think he'll ever be that Derek again," she declared sadly. "But at least he's trying, now. It's not just me trying to fix our marriage."

Alex wanted to scream at her and shake her by the shoulders and tell her that he wasn't trying, that he was screwing Meredith in exam rooms and then yelling at Addison. But instead he tore his eyes away from the sad redhead and muttered, "Well, that's good."

8D

Addison dragged her feet entering the trailer. She truly hated this trailer. She didn't understand any of the appeal it had to her husband, but he loved it so she stayed.

Dropping her bag by the door, she looked to the bed and saw his tux lying in a heap beside it. Derek was never one for good housekeeping.

At least that's still the same, she mused to herself, making her way to the other end of the trailer. Bending down, she picked up the suit and dress shirt. Opening up the door to the washing machine, Addison saw a flash of her red dress before flicking in his shirt. It didn't matter that his shirt was white—she had found an amazing detergent that kept colors from bleeding so she didn't have to go through all that separating-darks-from-lights crap.

Addison thrust her hands into the pockets of his tux jacket and took out some spare change and the receipt from the restaurant they went to before prom. After chucking it into the washing machine, she did the same for the pants.

Her hand wrapped around something soft and silky. Addison's head turned toward the table. No, his handkerchief was sitting next to the receipt, so that couldn't have been in his pants. Extracting her hand from the pants pocket, Addison opened her fist.

A pair of black panties rested, crumpled, in her palm.

A/N: So I'm pretty sure you can tell who the final pairing is going to include. If you still can't, well, look at the tagged pairing—that's right. I've changed it. Now you know what you should do? Freaking REVIEW.