-1Chapter Three

Choose Your Weapons Wisely

There was no way around it. Things were going to get ugly. Alex was leaving her with little choice. Correction, Izzie was leaving her with little choice. The other woman had taken the be a good friend thing a little too far; giving him advice on how to smooth things over. If Addison didn't know better she would think Izzie wanted Alex and her to stay a couple. Luckily, she did know better.

Slowing her pace, she grabs Izzie by the arm. She had requested both Stevens and Karev for several reasons. One, she needed to talk to Izzie without it looking odd. Two, it would give her a chance to throw the two together. "You have to stop being his friend," she hisses in Izzie's ear. A few feet in front of them Alex pauses, glancing over his shoulder. She flashes him a tight, if not indulgent smile. He smiles back, then turns his focus back to wheeling their patient to the OR. Nothing like an emergency cesarean section to start the day off.

"I've been his friend for a while now. I can't just stop being his friend. Not without him asking why." The response was made in a low voice, a fake smile on the blonde interns face. The friendship between Alex and Izzie was the one glitch in an otherwise perfect plan. Every time Addison did something to drive Alex off he went to Izzie for advice. Good friend that she was, she gave it. Even Addison couldn't feign anger or disinterest when a man like Alex was cooking dinner, buying flowers, and writing sweet notes.

"Can you at least lay off on the advice? The whole point of this is for you to make him want you over me. Instead, you're trying to fix things!" Addison let out a disgruntled sigh. If this plan with Izzie failed she would have to start cozying up to Mark. As appealing as that notion was, she knew it would break Alex. She wasn't sure she wanted to break him; she just wanted him to go away.

"Fine. No more fixing things. What do you want me to say though? That you're a manipulative bitch and he deserves better?" So close to the truth. She was being manipulative, which made her a bitch. Sort of. Didn't it? And, that being the case, Alex did deserve better. He deserved Izzie, who loved him. Oh maybe the girl didn't realize it yet, but she was in love with him.

"Yes! That is exactly what you tell him!"

Fighting back a rather angry string of curses Izzie bursts into the gallery. After their heated exchange Addison had informed her she wouldn't be needed in the OR after all. It was the attendings way of getting back at her for not being a cooperative ally. Perhaps she wasn't being the ideal ally for Addison's plan. She was being a good friend though; which laid the foundation for a strong relationship. Of course trust and honesty trump friendship, she reminded herself. The whole situation sucked. It sucked the big one. Addison didn't want Alex, didn't love him. Izzie did. She was starting to realize that. This was no longer about finding some guy to get married to, or helping Addison out. She was falling in love with Alex.

"I had to buy tampons," Meredith's sulky voice pulled from her conflicted thoughts. Arms and legs crossed, Meredith sat in the front row. She resembled a surly toddler on the verge of throwing a fit in the grocery store. It wasn't a pretty picture.

"Is there any reason why you wouldn't have?" As soon as she asked the question Izzie remembered. Meredith was trying to get pregnant.

Cristina drops into the seat between Meredith and Izzie, propping her feet on the edge of the glass window that overlooked the operating room. "She poked holes in all the condoms."

"Meredith!" Both Izzie's eyebrows shot up. Little Meredith Grey was getting under handed. Apparrently just asking McDreamy to give her a mcbaby had not gone over very well. Not that she had expected it to. She had, however, underestimated Meredith's desperation. "I'm shocked!"

"Oh please. This from the girl who is scheming to get another woman's man!" Meredith snapped. "Sorry. I'm moody. And I had to buy tampons!"

"Okay, first of al, I'm not stealing him. She's giving him to me. And…second of all, did you stop taking birth control pills?" No matter how she said it, it still left a bitter taste in her mouth, still ate at her conscience. Alex wasn't Addison's property to be given away. When it came right down to it who was to say Alex would even want her when his relationship with Addison ended? With their rocky romantic history there was a good chance Alex would never look at her that way again.

"Crap," Meredith groans.

"I must say, you make a poor deviant Meredith. Really. You do. Stopping the pill is step one." The other two women stared at her. She rolls her eyes. "That's common sense speaking, not personal experience."

"What was with you and Iz?"

The question startled Addison. She pauses from scrubbing her hands, fear creeping in. Her first thoughts were he knew. She didn't know how he knew, but he knew. Then, she realized, he was merely concerned. He had seen his girlfriend and best friend arguing. Concern was normal. "Nothing really. We had a difference of opinion is all."

"Really? That's it? You just had a difference of opinion?" Skepticism dripped from his voice. Even his look was skeptical. Damn it. She did not need him catching on.

She turns away, reaching for a towel to dry her hands on. "Alex, we had a difference of opinion. Nothing more. It happens. It doesn't mean I dislike her or that I'm going to demand that you stop being friends with her."

"It wouldn't matter. You could ask. I would have to tell no. She's my best friend. Nothing's going to ever make me stop being Izzie's friend." There was a warning in his tone. One that brought a smile to her face. Straight from his mouth, the perfect ammunition. He didn't know it yet, but she was going to do just that. She was going to wait for the perfect time and then throw one hellacious fit. One that had her demanding that he choose between Izzie or her. She already knew he would choose Izzie. He had just as much said so. It was perfection. It was fool proof.