Wow. I'm incredibly flattered. It took you guys like an hour to meet my standards. Now THAT makes me happy. By the way, I think you should be proud of me for that first chapter way back when. (I keep meaning to mention this and never do.) Because I managed to write a whole chapter in which Addison is mentioned multiple times without once writing her name. Is it weird that I'm prouder of that than I am of the story itself?

Still not mine.

Addison tugs self-consciously at her bathing suit. Leave it to Bex to only have skimpy bikinis. Addison's stuck in a bright blue sting bikini that really has no business on a woman her age. That's not to say she doesn't pull it off, because Bex is pretty certain the woman looks better in the thing than she does (and Alex is more than pretty certain), it just really doesn't have any business on someone who isn't Bex's age.

"I'm going in the water," Bex announces. In homage to the classic song, she's wearing an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, yellow, polka-dot bikini.

"And I'm not," Addison says. "But have fun."

Both women take in the other's bikini clad body and suddenly understand exactly what Alex Karev sees in her (although, the thought makes one much more jealous than the other).

"I will," Bex grins and runs into the ocean.

"Where'd Bex go?" Alex asks a few seconds later. He'd been relegated to carrying beach chairs, and lagged behind the women.

"Water," Addison explains.

He laughs, forsaking the chairs he carried in favor of a spot in the sand next to Addison. "She always did have a thing for water, ever since we were kids. She can sit and stare at it for hours."

"You've known her for a long time then?" Addison asks, careful to keep her eyes towards the horizon, or the sky, or the sand. Anywhere but on Alex Karev's bare chest, because that would lead to thoughts that she's already had far too many of tonight. Except then she starts thinking about Alex Karev's bare chest, and then the breathing thing pretty much stops, and she has to look just to stop thinking about it. But when she looks away, the thinking thing starts again, and there goes the breathing thing again.

"Since I was born pretty much. Her family took me in after…" He hesitates. She looks at him again. Well, she looks at his face this time, and suddenly all thoughts of sex leave her mind (well, almost all anyways). She's seen that face before, sitting next to her in Joe's after one of the most wretched days the hospital had ever seen.

"After?" Addison probes gently.

He debates telling her. "After my mom kicked me out. After I hit my dad."

Her jaw drops slightly. She knew he had a bad childhood, but not to such an extent. "Alex, I'm so-"

"Don't," he interrupts. "It's not your fault my mom was too screwed up to figure out that she was better off without him. He kept her high and that's all mattered to her. She didn't care how many bruises it got her."

Addison doesn't know how to respond to that. Nothing in her substantial social knowledge is of any help at all. So she improvises. "Since we seem to be sharing… I almost had an affair with a patient's husband. Actually, there was no almost about it. I did. I don't know what I was thinking, but it just seemed so right. Except it wasn't, and now I'm back to hating my reflection. It's like Seattle all over again."

"Don't hate your reflection," Alex tells her. "Yeah, it was stupid, but you figured out that it was wrong and you stopped, and that's what matters. You're a good person, Addison Montgomery. Don't let yourself beat it out of you."

She smiles as she recognizes her words from three years ago, if twisted to suit his purpose. They lock eyes and go quiet. They're suddenly traversing incredibly familiar territory. She swallows as they lean in and his lips brush hers in the softest of kisses.

She jumps back and slaps him. She covers her mouth, her eyes wide, though whether it's in surprise at the slap or in dismay at the kiss is anybody's guess.

"Ow! What the hell?" he asks, rubbing his face.

"You have a girlfriend!" she exclaims.

"Girlfriend? What girlfriend?" He frowns.

"The one currently a hundred yards away!"

"Bex?" he asks. "You think I'm dating Bex?! Why would you think that?"

"You moved to LA for her, you take her to her OB/GYN appointments, and let's not forget the fact that, oh yeah, you live with her!"

"She's my best friend!" he laughs. She can feel her arguments getting weaker by the second. "Sleeping with her would be like sleeping with my sister!"

"She's been flirting with you all night," she protests weakly.

"That's just Bex," he explains. Then he grows serious. "Addison, there's only one woman on this beach right now that I would ever want to date—seriously or otherwise."

Addison opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. And then she starts thinking, which then points out a couple of flaws in this scenario. "So I'm just supposed to take what you say as gospel, and forgive you?" she asks.

"I was kind of hoping so, yeah," he admits.

"No! No, Alex, you rejected me. Twice. You told me you weren't interested, and then that I wasn't your girlfriend. You broke my heart and then you went and got married! You don't get any more chances."

"She was dying, Addison! What the hell was I supposed to do? We all knew it, everybody in that hospital knew it, and you would have too, if you had been there. I don't wish that I hadn't done it. I'm glad that I could make her happy. Don't blame me for wanting that. There are other things I regret." The look he gives her tells her he's talking about her. "But I don't regret that."

"You married her," Addison insists, brushing away tears. You wouldn't even sleep with me a second time, but you married her.

"And the entire time I was thinking about you!" he yells. "I married her, and I sat beside her, and all I could think about was that if it were you in that bed, I'd never be as calm as I was then, because I can't stand the thought of losing you! I thought about you at the funeral. Izzie was being buried and I was thinking about you!"

Addison's eyes turn to ice. "Don't you dare make that my fault. It is not my fault that you married her. I gave you plenty of chances, and you kept pushing me away. It is not my fault that you didn't pay attention to your dying wife!"

Sobs threaten to overtake her body, so she grabs her car keys and starts to get to her feet.

He grabs her wrist, overtaken by a desperate need to make her understand that he doesn't blame her, that he knew it's not her fault. He just wants her to understand that he loves her. "Addison, I didn't mean it like that," he starts to explain.

She wrenches herself from his grip. "Screw you," she snaps and sprints up the beach.

He stares hopelessly after her. It's no use chasing her, he knows—she's as good as gone forever.

So don't hate me. Trust me. I've never led you wrong before, have I? Don't answer that. But you KNOW Grey's is annoying like this! So quit glaring at your screen. It's not his fault.

And in my mind, Addison's face when she slaps him is like the scene where Addison and Mark meet after the transcontinental booty call. Just so you know.

Unfortunately, I don't really have much to blackmail you with, but I already know where this is going, so review and I'll write that up so you can get it later today or tomorrow. ;)

-Juli-