So it has been a month since my last update, but I made it longer than the others. It's not heavy on Charlotte and Cooper, but the next chapter will be. Reviews and comments are always welcome and appreciated. Enjoy. :)
Addison Montgomery was the first one in the building that morning. She was in charge of the practice, assuming her role last year after being voted in by the other members (Cooper, Violet, and their colleague Pete Wilder). Addison was their neonatal specialist, Cooper was the pediatrician, Violet was a psychiatrist, and Pete focused on alternative medicine at Pacific Wellcare with Naomi. One of the founding partners of the practice was Sam Bennett, who practiced internal medicine. Charlotte King was the newest edition to the group, assuming Naomi's slot when she moved to Pacific Wellcare on the fourth floor. Charlotte specialty was urology. She had joined the group while still dating Cooper, and though Addison had thought that Charlotte would back out after a messy split, she never did.
Addison loved having the practice to herself in the mornings – before the patients came in with their problems and coworkers came in with their stories and drama. Addison was in need of some serious thinking. In trying to protect her best friend Naomi, she had crushed Sam in the process. She and Sam had been flirting with the idea of becoming an item for weeks, but Addison held off, not wanting to hurt Naomi, Sam's ex-wife. She looked for solace in Pete, and when Sam found out – he was furious. Now once again, Addison was left with no man, all by herself.
"Morning," Naomi called as she came in through the door, headed for the elevator to the fourth floor.
"At least I have my best girl," Addison said quietly to herself. Until she finds out what almost happened between me and her ex-husband.
"You're in early," Naomi said, pushing the button for the elevator.
"I wanted to get a head start."
"Same here," Naomi grimaced. "William called me from Napa, asked me how things were going." Addison opted to ride up the elevator with her friend, who was currently dating Mr. William White, who owned Pacific Wellcare and displaced Charlotte for Naomi. "He's doing well," she said with a half smile.
"You really want to him again don't you?" Addison teased.
Naomi slyly nodded her head. "I am just ready to be with someone, I've spent enough time alone, and one of my last major relationships was with Archer," she said, crinkling her nose. "No offense," she finished, referring to Addison's free-living neurologist brother.
"None taken," Addison said with a wave of her hand. "You deserve better than him anyway."
"William is better," Naomi affirmed. "William is smart, sweet, funny, interested in me. And get this – I think he's into monogamy."
"Then you're all set," Addison laughed as they entered Naomi's office.
"So how are things with you?" Naomi asked, taking a seat in her office chair. "Last I heard Mark had left."
Addison nodded her head. Naomi was referring to Dr. Mark Sloan, a world class plastic surgeon at Seattle Grace Hospital, in Seattle Washington. Addison had had an on and off affair with Mark over the past few years, which had caused the dissolution of her marriage to Derek Shepard, surgeon at Seattle Grace, and her ultimate move to Los Angeles.
"He's gone – in love with a Grey," she said remorsefully. She hated Mark at the moment. Hated him for making promises that he couldn't keep, for coming back only to leave, but most of all – for falling in love with a Grey girl – the half-sister of her ex-husband's current wife Meredith Grey.
"Now you can move on," Naomi said reassuringly. "Or try being single."
Addison grimaced at her friend. "I have tried the single thing one too many times; every time I'm single I'm sleeping with an inappropriate guy who's either married, messed up or both." Addison folded her hands in her lap. "I hate being alone," she said out loud.
Naomi shook her head. "You have me – and Sam," she finished.
Addison struggled to keep from frowning. I don't have Sam anymore, she thought to herself. "At least I still have my job," she said under her breath, wondering just how close she would be to Naomi if she knew how close she and Sam had truly become.
Charlotte quickly awoke to the chirping of birds from an outside window; she had fallen asleep on the couch last night while reading. Stretching her arm for her cell phone, she gasped at the time. "VIOLET!" she shouted, "If I am late for rounds at Saint Ambrose I am blaming you!" she howled. In addition to having part ownership of Oceanside Wellness, Charlotte was Chief of Staff at Saint Ambrose Hospital, right across the street from the practice.
"Good morning to you too," Violet acknowledged, coming out of the kitchen with fresh pancakes.
"I'm late for rounds!" Charlotte yelped as she raced for the bathroom.
"Hey, Violet, thank-you so much for giving me those extra few minutes of sleep and making breakfast for me," Violet said to an empty room with a slight grimace. She quickly dug into her share of breakfast – with juice on the side.
"Why in the world did you let me sleep in," Charlotte asked, coming down the stairs as she quickly buttoned a new blouse.
"I thought you could use some extra sleep," Violet said helpfully.
"There are a lot of things I need right now," Charlotte said, jamming a fork full of pancakes in her mouth. "And sleep is not one of them." Charlotte blanched at the taste of the syrup in her mouth. "And neither is this," she groaned, pushing her plate away.
Violet shook her head under her glasses. "It's sugar free," she offered. "I wanted to try something new."
Charlotte grabbed her purse and her keys. "I'll try to grab something at the cafeteria," she muttered.
"How was the book?" Violet called after her as Charlotte turned the doorknob.
"What book?" Charlotte asked, playing dumb.
Violet smirked at Charlotte. "Are you going to start looking for your own version of Mr. Darcy?" Violet teased.
Charlotte shook her head, not bothering to come up with a retort as she darted out the front door.
Cooper Freedman casually walked past Charlotte's office at Oceanside Wellness for what seemed like the one millionth time that morning.
"She's not here," a male voice called out behind him.
Cooper turned to see Sheldon Wallace, resident psychiatrist at Pacific Wellcare.
"I was not looking for Charlotte," Cooper said defensively.
"Right – and I suppose you were merely admiring the walls and carpeting."
Cooper turned to leave, disgruntled after a rushed and unpleasant morning. He didn't know why he bothered to stop by her office in the first place. He didn't know what to say to her after last night – what hadn't already been said already. She said stop, Cooper reminded himself as he walked down the hallway, nearly smacking into Violet in the process.
"Hey," Violet said with a smile for her friend.
"Hey," Cooper said back as they walked to the kitchen.
Violet reached for a piece of fruit from the fridge. "Did something happen between you and Charlotte last night," she asked as Cooper popped a peanut in his mouth.
He nearly choked on the shell as he listened to his friend. "No," he said quickly – not since before the wedding.
Violet nodded her head, reaching for a napkin.
"Why do you ask?" he wondered, leaning his elbows on the table.
"Charlotte just seemed a bit off this morning."
"More than she usually is?" Cooper joked.
Violet sent Cooper a stare. "I'm serious. I wonder if this has anything to do with Dr. Parker."
Cooper scowled inwardly at the mention of that man's name – the man that he was convinced Charlotte associated with only to make him jealous.
"They were semi-serious," she said to herself. "Maybe it's bitterness over a relationship lost."
Cooper nodded his head, wondering if that was the relationship that Charlotte was thinking of.
Violet shrugged as she waved to her friend, heading off for another round of patients.
Cooper stayed seated, replaying the previous night in his mind. She seemed cold and distant after their encounter together – pushing him away, wanting to pretend that nothing happened.
He gave her the chance to say something – anything – about them. One word from her and he would have left Jordana at the wedding to be with her. There was a part of him that wanted to ask for her forgiveness – the part of him that knew that he was wrong that night at the practice – where he had verbally lashed out at her – for something that she had no idea about – because he didn't tell her. You weren't the only one keeping secrets he told himself as he headed down to his office.
He walked past a very preoccupied Naomi as she headed for Sam's office. With a short knock, she slowly opened the door.
"Hey," Sam acknowledged with a head nod at his ex-wife
"Hey yourself," she said with a small smile. She hadn't spoken to Sam a great deal since moving to Pacific Wellcare – there was too much that had happened between them. Over the past two years since their divorce they had been pinning for each other, though never at the same time, and never wanting to admit it to the other. "How's Maya?" she asked softly.
"Fine," Sam promised her, "She and Dink are having a short honeymoon in Santa Monica."
"Good." Naomi was still struggling with the concept of her only daughter being married and pregnant at sixteen. She envisioned more for her little girl, a good life, better than her own.
"She'd love to hear from you," Sam said encouragingly.
Naomi shook her head. "I'm not quite there yet," she whispered.
"I understand," Sam nodded.
"Will you tell her I love her?" Naomi asked as she turned to leave.
"I will," Sam promised her. "But it will mean more to her coming from you," he finished as Naomi walked out the door and up to the fourth floor.
Addison slowly lifted a cup of hot coffee to her lips as she sat in the kitchen, owned by the practice. She needed time to think, time to backtrack before things got worse than they already did.
"Good morning," Pete Wilder acknowledged to her with a nod and a smile.
Addison blushed, her cheeks becoming a slightly less subtle red than her current hair color.
Pete laughed and took a seat next to Addison. "You don't have to do that," he reassured her.
"Do what?" Addison asked, nonchalantly, avoiding Pete's gaze.
Pete rested his hand on Addison's. "It was fun," he said. "For both of us." Addison gave Pete a very curious stare as he continued. "We should be able to have some fun every now and then."
Addison shook her head. "My fun with you cost me any hope of a relationship with Sam," she muttered.
Pete lowered his gaze at Addison. "What exactly were you hoping for with Sam?"
Addison tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I don't even know." Addison let out a low sigh. "I just know that we've gotten close over the past couple months – and I really liked the closeness – having someone that I could always talk to."
Pete touched Addison's hand once more. "Is there a chance that you could be mistaking the closeness for something else?" Addison cocked her head at Pete, silently urging him to continue. "If something were going to happen between you two – it would have happened already," Pete reasoned. "It would be forced, or delayed, or derailed by something else. And you'd know for a fact that it was the right thing to do."
Addison gave Pete a smirk. "Are we still talking about me and Sam or you and Violet?"
Pete shook his head and reached for a potato chip on the counter. "I gave Violet all the space she could possibly need and nothing has happened since then." Pete looked at Addison. "I don't know how much longer I can wait or be expected to wait but I do know that I don't want to do it alone. And if you ever need companionship while you wait to make up your mind about Sam – you can find me," he winked as he turned to go.
Addison shook her head, suppressing a laugh. Pete was beginning to remind her of her ex in Seattle. She watched him walk away and wondered if that was such a bad thing. Taking another sip of her coffee, she couldn't help but agree with his slightly unorthodox logic. Intimacy didn't always have to equate to love – life in Seattle had taught her that – and there was no reason to be permanently lonely, even if she wasn't in a long-term relationship.
Outside of the kitchen, Dell Parker grabbed for the phone at Oceanside on the first ring. "Oceanside Wellness," he said, starting a brand new day at the practice.