a/n: Wow, sorry it's been so long. I didn't intend to be gone this long, but life got crazy. I'm sort of back now, but finals start on Friday and go until Tuesday, so I won't be truly back until next Tuesday. At least this chapter is pretty long.

So, on the dinner party thing... When I wrote the last chapter, I thought I was going to indulge in one of my favorite overdone storylines that I have yet to write- the party where everybody gets hammered (except Addison, in this case, of course) and people play Truth or Dare and/or Spin the Bottle (usually and). Instead, I got a small, decently behaved dinner party, with no alcohol in sight, but I think it turned out better this way.

P.S. Thanks to everybody for their prom well-wishes. It was the most fantastic night ever!

disclaimer: I'm plotting the takeover as we speak.


Addison shifts nervously from foot to foot. Since Alex lived in the house, it made no sense for him to arrive with her. The sensible thing to do was to meet him at the house, but that also meant she had to deal with these moments of dread alone.

The door swings open to reveal Izzie. She's wearing a skirt, and Addison feels better knowing that she guessed the dress code correctly and is neither over nor under dressed. "Hi!" Izzie squeals, her voice reaching a frequency almost inaudible to humans.

"Hi," Addison says quietly with a smile.

Izzie makes a move, almost like she's going to hug Addison, but thinks better of it. "Come on in," she invites in a much more normal voice. "I'll take your coat."

"Thanks, Dr. Stevens," Addison says.

"Oh, please, it's Izzie. After all, you're practically family now."

Addison smiles. "Thank you, Izzie. But I wouldn't count myself as family just yet." Addison says this a little sadly, but she tries to shake the thought of her and Alex's impending break up out of her head.

Izzie frowns. "What? Is everything okay between you and Alex?" She actually sounds a little worried.

That snaps Addison out of her little introspective, melancholy mood. "Oh! No. Everything is fine. He's been absolutely amazing about everything. I just meant… There's a lot that can go wrong. But enough about that. I've been looking forward to this dinner all week—Alex says that you're a force to be reckoned with in the kitchen."

Izzie blushes at the compliment. "He's exaggerating, but I've never heard any complaints. Anyways, everyone is in the living room. Um, actually, it's just you and Alex, me, and Meredith and Derek. I hope that's okay. I meant for it to be bigger, but things just didn't work. I invited George and Callie and Cristina, but apparently Mr. Torres is in town, and George and Callie had to go to dinner with him, and Cristina's covering George's shift."

Addison pales a little at the thought of sitting through a dinner with just her ex-husband, his girlfriend, his girlfriend's best friend, and her own fake boyfriend. "N-no, that's fine," she stammers. And then she takes a deep breath and decides that it really is okay.

"We're all in here." Izzie leads the way into a semi-formal dining room directly off the kitchen. Addison takes a deep breath and enters the room.

The first thing she sees is Derek and Meredith doing their cute, couple-y thing, which makes her a little more nauseous than she already is. But she grits her teeth and bears it.

"Hey," Alex greets her quietly, snaking an arm around her waist. She nearly jumps in surprise, but then she remembers that they have to act like a couple.

She turns her head to face him. "Hi," she says. He leans in and kisses her directly on the lips. And she thought the shock of his arm around her waist was bad. She can't help it, she gasps into his mouth.

He pulls his mouth away from hers, and, for a split second, she can still feel his lips. "Sorry," he whispers into her ear. She laughs as if he's just told the funniest joke in the world, then whispers, "It's okay," into his ear.

Izzie emerges from the kitchen, announcing, "Dinner is served!"

Everyone sits down, but Alex pulls out Addison's chair for her. She smiles gratefully. Even though she is independent and can take care of herself, it is nice to know that chivalry isn't completely dead.

"It's just chicken," Izzie says, a bit mournfully.

"It looks great, Iz," Meredith replies.

"Seriously," Alex adds.

"Well, you guys know dinner's not exactly my specialty." Izzie looks at Addison and repeats, "Dinner's not my specialty."

"The kitchen is not my specialty," Addison retorts with a wry smile. "I'm just thankful to have a dinner that's not from a restaurant." Everyone laughs at that.

"You're welcome to come over here any time," Meredith comments. "I mean, we don't usually do sit down dinners or anything, but there's usually food of some sort."

"Oh, I…" Addison stammers, surprised at the offer.

"You should come sometime, Addie," Alex says, a mischievous glint in his eye. She can tell that he's trying to get her into some sort of trouble, so she glares at him. She just doesn't know what he's trying to get her into yet.

"I… I guess I can drop by some time," she concedes.

Alex leans over and kisses her quickly, placing one hand on the side of her face. "You're in for it now," he laughs.

"What?"

His hand is still cupping her face when he says, "You're getting drawn in, and once you're in, you're never going to leave." He doesn't look opposed to the idea.

"Who says I want to?" she replies coyly.

Suddenly, Derek has a coughing fit. Everyone looks to make sure that he's okay. "Sorry," he says after a moment. "Bone."

Addison glares at him; she knows the game he's playing. "It's boneless, Derek. There aren't any bones."

"Oh. I just… Er… Can I talk to you outside, Addison?"

She purses her lips and weighs her options. "Fine."

The pair goes out onto the porch out of habit. They've always had their important talks on the porch. "What, Derek?" Addison asks, unable to keep a hint of annoyance out of her voice.

"How well do you know Alex?" he asks immediately.

"Geez, Derek, try for an introduction next time, will you?"

"Answer me."

"Obviously pretty well," she answers, gesturing at her stomach.

"I didn't mean like that. I just… I'd hate to see you get hurt, Addie."

"You didn't seem too concerned when you were screwing your girlfriend behind my back," Addison snaps. She's sick of people questioning her choices. But at the same time, he didn't really deserve that either. "Sorry," she sighs. "That was uncalled for. I'm just… under a lot of stress right now."

"I can imagine," he says sympathetically.

"Look, Derek," she exhales. "I know that you're trying to look out for me, and I know that this is the only way you know how to do that, but getting jealous and faking coughing fits isn't going to help either me or Meredith. You and her seem happy, and I'm happy about that. You both deserve it. So don't screw it up by doing the whole jealous thing, because Grey doesn't seem like the type of woman who's going to see it as a protection thing. You're happy, and I'm happy, and maybe my happiness is coming in a weird way, but I'm happy, and that's what counts. And, yeah, maybe Alex and I will break up tomorrow, and maybe my happiness will be gone, but that's my business, not yours."

"Just… be careful, Addie. You're playing with fire here."

"Stop worrying about me, Derek. I'm not your responsibility anymore."

"Just promise me."

"Fine," Addison sighs. "I promise. Can we go inside now? It's absolutely freezing out here, and it's starting to rain."

He laughs. "It's Seattle, Addison. It's always raining."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Fair enough," Derek concedes. They head back into the dining room.

"Everything okay?" Izzie asks with a forced cheeriness.

"Yeah," Addison smiles. "Everything's fine."

0ooo0

"Remind me why you're not a pastry chef again?" Meredith asks Izzie after everyone is done with dessert. "Because that was seriously amazing."

"It's not a big deal," Izzie blushes.

"It really was good, Izzie," Addison adds.

"And this coming from the woman who's had dessert in just about every New York and Parisian café there is," Derek continues.

Izzie's face continues its progression through the different shades of red.

"Anyways," Addison says, pushing her chair back from the table. "I should get going."

Izzie, glad for something to do other than be complimented, shoots up and walks to the window to look outside. "It's coming down pretty hard," she says warily. "I don't think you should drive."

Addison laughs. "I've driven in rain, believe me."

"But look outside. You can barely see five feet in front of you. I really don't think you should drive."

"I'll be fine," Addison insists.

"You really should stay, Addison," Meredith pipes up. "The roads are going to be awful."

"I'm fine."

"Addison," Alex speaks up. "You're staying."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"I can drive, Alex. I'm not some sixteen-year-old who's had her license for a day!"

"I don't doubt you," Alex replies. "But you're insane if you think I'm going to let you drive in this and end up wrapped up around some telephone pole or tree or something. You're staying here, and that's it."

"Alex…"

"No, Addison. This isn't a conversation. I would prefer you stay alive for the next eight months," he snaps.

The reminder of the baby is obviously the right card to play, because the fight goes out of Addison's posture. "Fine," she snaps. "But I'm not happy about it."

"She can sleep in my room," Alex tells everyone else. "I'll show her."

He leads her upstairs to his room. "I could have gotten home fine," Addison insists.

"Addison, it would have looked terrible if I let you drive home in this. And since we manage to carry this thing off this far, it would be stupid to screw it up over something like you driving home."

"Alex, you letting me go home doesn't exactly scream that we're not actually dating."

"Yeah, it does. Maybe not exactly, but it does. If we were dating, and you were pregnant with my kid, there's no chance I'd let you out of my sight in weather like this. My friends know that." He digs in his dresser and pulls out a T-shirt and pair of boxers. Instead of giving her time to respond, he says, "Here."

"What?" Addison asks, confused with the clothing.

"I assume you don't want to sleep in your skirt."

"Oh. Right." He smiles and she smiles back. "Thank you, Alex," she says. "For everything."

"Not a problem. I'll, uh, I'll let you get changed."

"Thanks."

He leaves and she's changed long before he returns. When he does, though, he knocks. She smiles; who knew Alex Karev was such a gentleman? "Come on in," she calls. He opens the door, bearing blankets and then grabs a pillow of the bed. "What are you doing?" Addison asks.

"You can have the bed," he explains. "I'll sleep on the floor."

"Alex, there's more than enough room for both of us on the bed. I'm fine with sharing."

"You sure?"

"Think about it, Alex. How good would it look if Izzie or someone were to come in for whatever reason and saw you sleeping on the floor? It doesn't exactly make our story believable."

"True," he agrees, but there's a note of uncertainty in his voice.

"It's fine. Really," she says, more to convince herself of the fact than anything else.

Awkwardly, they get into bed, each hugging their side of the bed so they don't accidentally touch. It takes awhile, but eventually they drift off to sleep.

0ooo0

Around three in the morning, Alex wakes up. Groggily, he checks the time on the clock and rolls over to go back to sleep. But then he realizes that his bed is empty, and this is the one night when it's not supposed to be. He starts to panic. Addison is stubborn, and it's completely possible that she waited for him to fall asleep and then drove home. Which means that she could be anywhere—at her hotel, on the road, or worse. He doesn't want to think about the possibility of the or worse.

He jumps out of bed, already making a mental checklist of things he'll need to grab in order to search for her. First step, keys. But those are downstairs. He goes to grab them. To get to the stairs, he has to pass the bathroom. When he does, he notices the light on, and then becomes aware of the sound of someone throwing up.

The door isn't fully shut, and the light coming through the crack casts a line onto the floor. He knocks quietly, then sticks his head inside. He finds Addison white knuckled, clinging to the toilet, attempting to be quiet as she expels the contents of her stomach. Without asking permission, he's in the bathroom the second he realizes what he sees. She looks up when he kneels down beside her and begins holding her hair back from her face, but then returns to being sick. He holds her hair in one hand and rubs circles on her back with the other. Finally, she seems to gain control.

"Sorry," she croaks.

"Don't worry about it," he replies. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she assures him. "The baby just refuses to let me keep food down."

"You're never sick at the hospital," he points out.

"The baby also has a very literal definition of the word morning," Addison replies wryly. "I'm up every night from three to four, throwing up. Just like clockwork, which makes me think the baby is Mark's. Pete has never been on time to anything in his life." She gives a little cynical laugh. Then her face turns ashen, and she turns back to the toilet. He holds her hair back and rubs her back again. When he can see her face again, there are tears falling from her eyes.

"Hey, it's okay," he says, pulling her into a hug.

"I'm sorry," she cries. "I'm sorry I'm making you miss out on sleep."

"I don't care," he tells her. "It's okay."

"You need to sleep," she says, pulling away from him. "Go back to bed. Don't stay up because of me."

"No," he replies. She opens her mouth to retort, but her face returns to its ashen color, and she begins to throw up again. "I'm here, Adds," he tells her quietly as he continues to hold her hair and rub her back. "As long as you need me, I'm here."


So I hope you enjoyed it enough to drop me a review! ;)

-Juli-