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Chapter 8- Picking out of a Hat
The ten doctors of Seattle Grace Hospital joined up in the beautiful hotel lobby. Most of them looked a little groggy due to the fact that they had just awoken from their nap. Only Callie and George looked happy but that was probably because they had already had their fair share of drinks. The others were still too sleepy to notice.
Derek made his way to Meredith and put his arms around her. She gazed up at him, smiling, as he gave her his best McDreamy look.
'I missed you,' she said softly.
'I missed you too,' he replied gently.
'Oh God. The two of you make me sick. You've been apart for 3 hours and you're already going all mushy-gushy on each other. Seriously.' Cristina gave them both a disgusted look and went to stand next to Burke.
Derek and Meredith smiled at each other again, brushing off Cristina's comment. Derek leaned down a placed a gentle kiss on Meredith's lips.
A few feet away, Mark was slowly making his way to Izzie's side. She was too busy glaring daggers at Callie and George to notice him. Unlike everyone else, she had definitely noticed that they had been drinking. They were much more affectionate than usual and they were giggling incessantly. She was about to say something when she felt someone's breath close to her ear.
'I missed you too,' Mark said in a low voice, sending shivers down her spine.
Izzie refused to admit that could affect her. She suppressed a shiver and cocked an eyebrow at him. He was smirking and it made her mad. Well, if he thought he was going to get away with this, he was seriously mistaken.
'That's sad, because I didn't miss you at all. Me and Jonathan, you know the one I told you I seduced, we were having so much fun in the tub,' she paused to enjoy the look of jealousy that was etched on his perfect face. 'It was so hot-'
'Alright. I get it. No need to go into details,' he said bitterly, which made her laugh, and suddenly, he couldn't be bitter anymore. Her laugh had that effect on him. He laughed too and then they were laughing together. They broke out into a full hysteria. Everyone turned to look at them like they were insane, which put an end to the giggle fit. They looked away guiltily.
'What the hell was that?' Alex asked. The others all nodded in agreement to the question. They all looked slightly afraid.
'We're just…um…tired…' Izzie mumbled, her eyes avoided the group. 'So how about dinner!?'
-------------------------------------------------------
They had all dropped it and Izzie was thankful because honestly, she had no idea why she had broken out into laughter with Mark. However, she did know that it had felt so good to laugh with him. In those few moments, she had felt like she had known him all her life. It had felt so natural to her. But she pushed those thoughts out of mind, because after all, it was Mark Sloan.
The group of doctors made their way to the 5-Star restaurant in the hotel. Derek was holding Meredith by the waist and was whispering something into her ear that was making her giggle. Preston had his arm around Cristina's shoulder. George and Callie were still laughing between themselves, almost running into walls once in a while. Izzie and Alex were walking side by side talking about something making both of them laugh, with Addison and Mark behind them, both observing them intently.
Addison and Mark weren't talking to each other. They were too busy trying to figure out what Izzie and Alex were discussing. Addison felt a slight pang of jealousy while watching them. She knew they had gone out together before and she suspected that he still had some feelings for her. Not that it should really matter to her who the interns liked. It wasn't supposed to matter to her at all, but it did. She didn't want it to bother her, but it was hard to deny the way she felt about Alex Karev. She knew she didn't have any claim on him, because they weren't dating or anything. Although, she felt like if anyone they didn't know had seen them together today, they could easily have assumed that they were a couple. She looked away from them, as it was hurting her and she felt stupid feeling this way. She turned her attention to Mark, who she noticed was staring at Izzie the same way she had been staring at Alex seconds before.
'Mark,' she said firmly, trying to shake him from his thoughts.
He snapped out of his reverie and looked at her.
'What's wrong?' she asked him, although she had a pretty good idea already of the answer to that question.
'Nothing,' he replied calmly but he seemed to be boiling mad.
'Mark. Just tell me.' She and Mark had certainly had their ups and downs but they had been at one time, great friends.
'It's really nothing, Addison.' He actually looked a bit uncomfortable, which was very unusual for Mark Sloan.
She stayed silent for a moment, and he thought that she had dropped it. He sighed inwardly, grateful. He didn't want to admit his 'feelings' for Isobel Stevens to anyone, least of all Addison.
'So you've got the hots for Stevens?' It came out more as a statement than a question. He blushed furiously and glared at her for talking so loud. She smiled thinking she had him, but he was Mark Sloan, he wasn't letting her win that easily.
'So, do you still turn into a blubbering idiot every time Karev gets within a ten feet of you?' he asked her making her eyes widen in horror. They were having a silent battle, daring one another to say something more. They looked away resigned. They knew each other too well. They stared ahead once again. They heaved a sigh as the jealousy returned.
Luckily, they had just arrived at the restaurant and everyone was once again in a group instead of in pairs. Alex ended up next to Addison and Izzie with Mark, which made the latter two very happy.
Everyone looked down at the table and were quite shocked to discover that there was assigned seating. However, Richard had been nice and hadn't placed people by order of how much they hated each other. In fact, the seating arrangement was quite acceptable. The table was a long rectangle, having four seats on each side and two at the very ends. There were little name plates for them to know where they had to sit. On the left side of the table would be, Derek, Meredith, Cristina and Burke. At the first end was Addison. Next to her was Callie, followed by George, Alex, and Izzie ended the right side of the table. That left no one else than Mark at the other end, facing Addison.
They took their seats and Addison was a little disappointed that Alex was so far away from her. She felt the rush of jealousy return as she saw Izzie sit down next to Alex. But then she saw Mark take his seat at the other end, very close do Izzie, and she didn't feel so nervous anymore. For some reason, she was pretty sure that if Stevens got too close to Alex, he would do or say something to split them up, and that reassured her.
Meredith and Derek were pleased to see their names side by side, although Derek was a little mad that he would once again be this close to Mark. He brushed it off though, as his girlfriend was right next to him and he didn't have to look at him if he didn't want to. He could just keep looking at Meredith, and that was great.
Meredith was also glad that she was next to Derek, as she was kind of getting freaked out by Preston. He was a clean freak and it scared her a little. When they had arrived in their hotel room, he had immediately unpacked all of his things, down to his socks, into the hotel drawers. Sure, she was going to do that too, eventually. But not only had he done this, but he had taken everything out of his suitcase, all the neatly folded clothes, and he had unfolded them all, only to refold them five minutes later. She had pretended to go to the bathroom because she didn't want him to see the freaked out look on her face. She understood that he was neat, but wasn't this a bit extreme? And so, being next to Derek made her happy, because honestly, if she had come to the Bahamas for her own vacation, it would be with Derek, and they would be sharing a room with each other, and they would have a great room because they wouldn't be leaving it very often.
Cristina looked to both her sides and smiled, thanking the Chief for having pity on her this time. She had Meredith and Burke to keep her company. Although she still had Bambi across from her, but that wasn't so bad. Burke had his arm around her and all was good. She didn't have to deal with George's incessant whining and she had her fiancé, and her best friend with her.
Mark smiled to himself, thinking about how lucky he really was to be next to Izzie Stevens once more. Maybe the Chief could see the sparks that were so obviously flying between them every time they were together. Mark noticed that Karev was seated next to her and felt an overwhelming need to protect her from him, not that he really thought he would do something. But he wondered why Karev was all over Izzie when it was usually clear he wanted nothing more than to just grab Addison and take her right then and there.
Izzie sat between Alex, a man who she had dated, and Mark, a man who she would maybe date later on. No! Had she actually just thought that? Was Mark getting to her? Could it be that is arrogance and womanizing ways were a turn on to her? No way! She turned her head towards Alex in an attempt to make conversation with him. She wanted to busy herself so she wouldn't get distracted by Mark. However, Alex was not available for discussion. He wasn't talking to anyone else, but his eyes were glued to the beautiful redhead seated at the end of the table. The redhead in question was speaking with Callie and laughing softly. Izzie noticed that each time Addison smiled, Alex would also. It was then that she figured it out. When they had been in the limousine, Cristina had said he had a crush on someone, and she had been stupid enough not to get it. But it was clear now: Alex was falling for Addison.
'Alex?' she asked softly, trying not to make him jump. He turned to her slowly, reluctantly taking his eyes off of Addison.
'Yeah?' he replied distractedly.
'It's Addison, right?' she whispered, although she pretty much already knew the answer.
'What? Where would you get that idea?' he asked quickly. His face turned a delicate shade of pink and it made her smile.
'Wow. She's really got you head over heels!' she murmured, giggling at his facial expression.
'Izzie, please,' he said, trying to put to bravado back on, but it was too late.
'Alex. Seriously. You were looking at her just now, and your whole face lit up every single time she smiled. And now, thinking back, I've seen you just randomly staring at her once in a while, like almost slobbering, which is kind of gross, but very cute in a weird way,' she told him, smiling at his discomfort.
'Izzie, can we not talk about this?' he pleaded, his eyes desperate.
'Only if you admit it. Say it.'
'Okay fine! I'm falling in love with Addison!' he whispered angrily because she had made him admit his feelings. When he looked at her, she had her mouth slightly open in shock and her eyes were very round. 'What?' he asked her.
'I…um…I was…I was just thinking you'd tell me that you liked her…or that you thought she was hot or something. I was so not expecting the love part of that,' she stuttered still in shock.
'If you tell anyone-' he started his tone dangerously low.
'Don't worry. I…I won't.' She looked at him sincerely and he nodded in thanks. He turned away from her to resume watching Addison smile.
At the end of the table, Addison was talking with Callie and George, and laughing quite a bit as both of them were slightly drunk, which she found quite amusing. They couldn't finish one sentence without losing their train of thought or breaking out into to laughter, which in turn made her laugh. She could still feel someone's eyes on her, but she refused to look in the direction it was coming from. If she did, things would get awkward, and she really didn't mind him watching her. It made her feel special.
A man in his mid-40s, wearing an exquisite suit came to the table and stood at the corner, between Preston and Addison. He looked down at them smiling, a genuine smile, and cleared his throat to get their attention. They all looked up at him expectantly. They were silent, except for Callie and George who giggled once in a while.
'Hello and good evening. I am your host, Nigel, and I will be taking care of tonight's activities,' he said. They all raised an eyebrow, wondering what the activities were. 'Dinner will be served shortly, however, Chief Webber has asked me to conduct an experiment with you all to release the tension in the air,' he finished.
'Experiment?' Derek asked his face full of confusion.
'Yes sir, an experiment. Half of you shall pick a name out of a hat to begin with. The other half has their names in it. That name represents the person with whom you will be attempting to make progress with tonight. I shall give you further instructions once everyone has their partners picked out.'
They all looked at him incredulously as he pulled out a black magician's hat and put it in front of Addison. He told them not to tell anyone who they had picked once they looked. It would be a secret until afterwards. Addison reached into the hat, hoping she wouldn't be paired with Derek or Mark for she really couldn't deal with that today. She pulled out a little piece of scrunched up paper. She opened it, daring herself to look at the name that was scribbled. Well, she hadn't picked Derek or Mark, which was good. Instead, the paper read: Meredith Grey.
Addison's face looked uneasy. Her eyes had widened a little and her mouth was slightly open. She suddenly remembered that everyone was looking at her and so she quickly tried to change her expression to indifference but it was useless. They had all seen the expression that had crossed her face.
Nigel passed the hat to Callie who seemed to have sobered up considerably since his announcement. She put her hand into the hat and pulled out the little paper that was going to be controlling her fate. She groaned as she read Mark Sloan on her paper.
And then it was George's turn. He looked incredibly nervous, almost sweating. He put a shaky hand into the hat and felt around. He had picked a name, but decided to drop it back inside the hat. He did this a few times, but he could tell the others were getting impatient, and so he settled for one. Opening it, he saw the name Preston Burke. Great. He was going to have to talk to Dr. Burke…he didn't really want to go back there.
Alex took the hat from George whilst glaring at him for taking so long picking a stupid piece of paper. Alex put his hand in, resigned. There was only one person he really wanted to make progress with, and that was Addison. But she had already picked a name and so there was no chance of his picking hers. He took out the paper and opened it. Derek Shepherd. Just fabulous.
There was only Izzie left, and she knew there was only one name left in the hat. Quite a great selection. She took the paper and opened it, read it. Well it wasn't so bad. Cristina Yang. They were friends…kind of…it really depended on the days where Cristina was concerned. But at least she wasn't with Callie again. God, she just wanted to get away from her.
And so, all names were picked. Nigel took the hat from Izzie and looked at the group once more. He smiled at how nervous and uncomfortable their faces were.
'Now that all names are picked, you shall have dinner. Enjoy,' he said lightly. He was about to turn away when Cristina spoke up.
'Wait a minute. We pick names for this experiment and then you tell us to have dinner without telling us what the hell the name picking is all about?' she asked loudly.
'Yes,' he stated simply and walked off, leaving Cristina stunned.
The group exchanged looks between themselves before taking their menus in hand to decide what to order. None of them were really paying any attention to what they were reading because they were too busy trying to figure out what they and their partner would have to be doing. Whatever it was, they had a feeling it was not going to be pleasant.
