The alarm clock wakes you up from your few hours of sleep, and you smack your hand down on it, and look out the window to see the early morning at three-thirty AM. You're lucky that you went to sleep at six, filled with pregnancy fatigue.
You put your feet on the floor and stand up, stretching your arms and fingers and back.
All is right with the world, until you remember your brief conversation on the phone last night with dad, your pregnant incest rape victim patient, and your seventeen hours of road ahead.
You sigh and look down at your belly. It manages to cheer you up a little, but not enough to encourage you to take a shower. What the hell, you had one before bed, you think to yourself. Rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you grab a brush from your bedside table and start detangling your hair.
Half an hour later, you have your suitcase in your hand, and there's a knock on the door. You open the door and see a red 1980 Mercedes-Benz 450SL convertible.
"What the- where did you get this?" you stare at Mark, as he takes your suitcase for you.
"I've had it in storage for three years."
You look at him and pull a face. He must be joking.
"You're joking right? Do you know how much a car like this costs?" you ask him.
"Fifteen thousand, four hundred and ninety-nine dollars, ninety-nine cents." He smirks, dropping your suitcase in the back seat. "I bought it from Addison's uncle when he moved to Italy."
You pull a face and climb into the passenger seat.
"And how much did it cost him?" you scoff.
"Nearly twenty five thousand." He tells you, jumping the driver's side door and sliding into his seat.
You shake your head. "Let's get on the highway before rush hour." You say, and the car pulls out into the road.
"Rush hour won't be for another three hours." he says, and you groan at how ungodly early it is.
You've been on the road for almost three hours. For the first hour, the wind whipping you in the face was a new experience, but now you're used to it. Three hours has been a while. You've stood in surgeries for 27 hours straight, but this is sitting down doing nothing. You're bored out of your mind. It's still early for most people, but it feels like you're ready to go back to sleep.
"Have you eaten?" you ask him, after the long silence since Meredith's house.
"Nah, I won't be hungry until noon."
You sigh. "I really want some Reese's peanut butter cups." You grumble.
He laughs, and smiles at you. "Check the glove box."
You open the compartment and pull out one of the three-packs peanut butter cups.
"You know me too well." You shake your head and open the pack. "Want one?"
"Maybe later." He leans over and closes the glove box.
You bite into the peanut butter cup.
When you finish the cups and put the wrappers under your butt to stop them flying away, you look at Mark.
"So, how many scrub nurses have you screwed, between the time you screwed Addison, and now?" you ask boldly.
He looks at you funny. "Uhh …"
"I won't judge." You laugh.
"I don't know … thirteen nurses and a drug rep." he shrugs nervously.
You nod your head slowly, and pull your lips into a smirk.
"Ooh!" you point. "Portland!" you shout.
It's small in the distance, and there are other, smaller buildings around, but you've been to Portland once as a kid.
"Get your hand in the car!" he laughs, quickly reaching and grabbing you by the upper arm. "Try driving a kid to school with one arm, it won't be easy."
"There's a thing called a school bus," you tell him, unstrapping yourself.
"What are you doing?!" he asks, watching you reach up and grab the top of the windscreen.
"I'm sitting on the back of my seat!" you shout, over the wind in your face. "If Barbie can do it, I sure as hell can!"
"Barbie has no ligaments!" he shouts, laughing.
You laugh and slide back into your seat. "You can't go on a road trip in a car like this, and not do that."
"It's illegal."
"So what?" you smile cheekily at him. "Once we get into California, you'll see everyone under forty doing it."
"Unless you're pregnant, fat, or driving." He tells you, yawning.
You look at him, and notice the barely noticeable dark circles.
"Did you work all last night?" you laugh at him.
"No," he tells you, smiling. "Okay, I worked late, but then I went to get the car, go through the car wash, pack my stuff--,"
"You've had a coffee, right?"
He nods.
You nod too and lean back in your seat. "I'm bored."
"Too bad." He smiles, adjusting his sunglasses to the light.
You groan and reach for the glove box again. Reese's Peanut butter cups. They fix everything.
"You've been cleaning your house since noon, Addison. You've cancelled all your patients up until three. What's going on?" Naomi sits on your couch, drinking a hot chocolate.
You press the 'Go' button on your dishwasher and lean on the counter, facing the living room. "Mark's driving from Seattle down to LA, and he's spending the night here, I don't want the place to look like I've been having sex all weekend."
"But you have." Naomi scoffs a laugh into the cup.
"Shut up, Naomi," you snap. "Where's my jacket?"
"Oh, so now you're going to work?"
"No, I thought I'd go shopping, since my fridge is completely empty and I have two guests who will have driven nearly eighteen hours to get here. I want to have food when they get here. Are you coming or not?"
Naomi laughs sand puts the half-empty, half-full, depending on your optimism level, cup of hot chocolate on the coffee table.
"Wait, Two guests?"
"Yeah, he's bringing his ex down as well."
"Oh. I was under the impression you two were going to get together."
"Pete, Naomi. I have Pete, for all the sex I need." you smile, grabbing your keys.
"Bobbie, let me go!!"
"I've looked after you since you were a little kid, it's about time I got what I wanted!" your brother yells at you, as he pushes you into a bent-over position over the bonnet of the car in the garage.
The weak light bulb is swinging from the low ceiling, as you feel your skirt lifted and the cold air on your skin.
"Miss Thompson?" you wake up from your daydream/nightmare, and look up at the nurse.
"I'm sorry, I spaced out." You laugh nervously.
She laughs as well, and then places a hospital meal on the table over your bed. You feel your brothers eyes on you from outside your room. You repeat to yourself;
"I really don't want this baby."
At 9:51pm, you pull the car up in front of Addison's beach-house. Lexie is half asleep, her eyes on the front door as Addison stands on the porch waving and smiling with the porchlights illuminating her auburn red hair.
There's just enough summer light left to see a pale purple and blue hue behind the house over the beach horizon.
You get out of the car at the same time as Lexie, and you almost immediately see a confused look on Addison's face when she sees Lexie's baby bump. You realize you forgot to tell her about the baby that may or may not be yours.
You carry both yours and Lexie's suitcases to the door, with Lexie not far behind you, tired and hungry.
"You're not the patient, are you?" Addison gives Lexie a half-serious smile.
"No. God no, I'm fine." You hear Lexie say from behind you, as you put the bags down in the hallway.
"Good. That's good." Addison smiles, walking into the house behind Lexie, and shuts the door.
You collapse onto The leather couch and kick off your shoes. "Addison, can I get a beer?" you ask, with your eyes shut.
"Sure, Mark." She yawns, walking into the kitchen. "Lexie, do you want anything?"
Lexie yawns. "Uh, no, I'm fine."
By the time Addison brings you the beer, you're sound asleep and it seems your sleeping arrangements have already been made.
Addison has ordered in a pepperoni Pizza, which is now on the counter, with only a few slices left, since the two of you have eaten most of it.
"So, are you two back together?" Addison asks you nosily. "Because his exes are the type that usually burn down apartment buildings and key his cars."
"No." you laugh. "We're friends. Just friends,"
"So what about the baby? Is it Karev's or what?"
"I'm actually not sure." You smile. "It might be Alex's, it might be Mark's, though Mark is more interested." You look at Addison. "Alex is caught up in his Izzie-stuff."
"Oh yeah, I heard they got married." Addison reaches for the beer Mark never drank and opens it.
"And she's got cancer, and they're almost divorced, so …" you trail off.
"Mmm," she nods. "Girl or Boy?"
"Girl." You tell her. "Meredith's having a baby girl too."
Addison grumbles a little bit.
"Sorry."
"Huh?"
"I shouldn't have said that." You frown, taking a bite of Pizza.
"I've moved on too many times to count," Addison shakes her head. "From Derek to Mark, from Mark to Alex, from Alex to LA, in LA, Pete, Noah, Sam …"
"Oh." You nod.
Mark stirs in his sleep, and you smile at the same time as Addison. You smile at the beautiful man you fell in love with and never told him, and you wonder;
Do you both want the same thing?
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It's not the best chapter, I know, there's no interesting plot twist, It's not my best work. I didn't live up to my flashback promise either. Trust me, Meredith's baby is coming soon, so please don't lose interest!! There will be lots of plot twists!!!