Well, it's not my best and it's not my longest. But it's an epilogue, and I kind of like it anyways. I hope you do too. I'm a little sad to say goodbye to Bex. I wouldn't be surprised if she pops up somewhere else. I like writing her a little too much to leave her here.

I do get to claim Bex, which is good for me. I don't get to claim Grey's or Private Practice, which is not good for me.

Addison glances at the clock besides the bed as her vision comes into focus. It's around five in the morning, which is wrong in and of itself.

It's becomes much, much worse when she realizes that the clock is not the one that currently rests beside her bed. In fact, this isn't even her bed. Well, at least she knows who she's going to see when she turns over.

Sex on the first date. Really, Addison? she berates herself. Okay, yeah, so technically they've already slept together, but that was three years ago and so doesn't count. And this certainly doesn't exactly help out with that whole new leaf thing she was hoping to manage. This is just plain bad.

At least he took me on a date first this time.

And at least it wasn't just me shoving him into a supply closet.

But still… I've got to get out of here. Too awkward.

As quickly and as quietly as possible, she dresses and sneaks out. She reaches the front door and thinks she's home free when her destination swings open to reveal Bex dressed very much like Addison is. That is, buttons hastily buttoned, clothing slightly crooked. She's doing her very own walk of shame. The two women freeze and stare at each other in silence.

"Umm… hi," Bex finally says.

"Hi," Addison replies.

More silence. Lots of silence. "This is awkward," Bex admits. "Do you want some coffee?"

"You just got home. How could you know if there's coffee?"

"There's always coffee in this house," Bex explains. "And if there is not coffee, then I will make coffee. You should have some to wake you up, before you go and do your sneaky thing and have to drive home at five in the morning."

Okay, so there may be an ulterior motive to this little bit of hospitality. Like the fact that Bex has spent far too much effort getting her doctor and best friend together to allow her doctor to ruin everything by sneaking out of the house at five in the morning without so much as an apology to her best friend. But flat out taking her hostage seems a bit extreme, so hospitality seems to be the best reason to get her to stay.

"Er, I, um…" Addison stammers. There's not really a way out of this without being totally rude. "Okay."

They head into the kitchen and surprise, surprise; the coffee pot is getting started on its daily task of preparing coffee. Bex motions for Addison to sit at the table.

They sit in silence for a moment. "So that was a nice little walk of shame you were doing back there," Bex finally comments. "The shoes in hand were a nice touch." Addison opens her mouth to offer some sort of retort, but Bex just keeps going. "But the part I don't understand is the motivation. I mean, you're clearly head over heels for Alex, so there should be no walk of shame. You should currently be fighting him for the covers. And yet I open the door and there you are, doing the walk of shame. Care to enlighten the audience?"

Addison looks down at the floor, then seizes upon her only chance of escape. "What about you?" she asks.

Bex laughs. "Oh no, my walk of shame was already pretty much complete, which makes yours ten times interesting and important. No changing the subject."

Addison's silent for a moment. Then, in a miniscule voice, she says, "It was our first date."

"Yeah, so?" Bex replies. "It's not like you haven't slept with him before."

"Yeah, but that was different. That was stupid and impulsive. And this… this I thought about. But I still chose the stupid and impulsive route."

"Sometimes stupid and impulsive is a good thing," Bex informs her.

Addison shakes her head. "The last time I was stupid and impulsive, he told me I wasn't his girlfriend and…"

"And?" Bex goads gently. Her eyes are soft and all signs of mischief have left them.

Addison doesn't answer for a moment, choosing to study the tiles of the floor instead. When she looks up, Bex thinks she can see a glimmer of a tear in her eyes. "He broke my heart," she admits in a child's voice, so quietly Bex almost misses it.

Bex smiles and hugs the older woman. "He's different now," she promises. "He's grown up a lot since then."

"I just… I can't go through that again. I'm not strong enough anymore." Bex is now sure that she can see tears.

"The coffee had better be ready, Bex," Alex announces as he enters the kitchen. He looks completely grumpy, and he is. As far as he knows, Addison spent the night with him and then just left, like she was embarrassed. He is not happy right now.

But then he sees Addison sitting in his kitchen, Bex by her side, brushing away tears. All thoughts of anger leave his mind. "Hey, are you okay?" he asks, coming to stand by her.

She looks up at him. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," she reassures him. She's not fooling anybody though, it's clear she's reassuring herself.

"You sure?" he frowns. The care in his eyes pretty much threatens to squeeze more tears out of her eyes, which is simply not acceptable in her mind. She's cried enough in his presence, thank you very much. But that exact same care… Love maybe? the dreamer in her thinks.

She smiles. "I'm sure."

"I was just making coffee," Bex informs him. "And I thought maybe you could make breakfast and Addison could stay."

Bex looks at both of them and tries her hardest to send them psychic messages. Mess with my plans and I'm going to scream. Quit sabotaging yourselves. Just stop it.

Addison and Alex look at each other. "Sure," Alex agrees, grabbing a mug of coffee. "You want some?" he asks Addison.

"Sure," she agrees.

"So you're staying?" Bex asks.

Addison looks around. "I'm staying," she announces. "I can't pass up breakfast that I don't have to make."

That is so not why you're staying, all three of them think. You're staying because of him, and you don't even look like you're planning on leaving. Ever.

And it's over. Really. Wow. That's kind of sad. But like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if Bex starts popping up places now. I like Bex. She's good for Alex.

So, in my very last words of this story I'm going to ask you the perennial question of an author on this site- could you possibly take the time to write a review?

-Juli-