AN: I love you, my reviewers. I want to hold you and kiss you.

It makes me so happy when you're so nice:D

And thanks for the pairing suggestions … sorry, but I'm not going to do Izzie/Alex because I'm giving Izzie a break from the male population of Seattle Grace. Or any male, for that matter. Maddison? Hmm. That I will do. Don't get too mad, people.

Ok.

KEEP REVIEWING:D

- - -

Addison felt herself dying. It was if something in her body had broken off its hinge and was just hanging there, precariously. It was ready to drop; it was ready to rumple all of her insides and turn her life onto the 'off' switch. She felt herself dying.

She also felt Mark's hand, half-unconscious or not, it was there. She felt his eyes rubbing along her skin, the burning passion that the two shared equally. She felt Mark Sloan.

She felt death and Mark Sloan, all mixed up – bittersweet ness that she had so long desired. She couldn't talk now, but she pleaded with whatever was up there in the sky watching them that Mark would still be there. She needed to talk to Mark. She needed to think also, so being half-unconscious came in handy. All she did was mutter.

Hopefully the message that the mutter had concealed would reach him and he would stay. But now she had to think.

He was Mark Sloan. The Mark Sloan, the man whore of Seattle Grace. The Mark Sloan, the man she'd cheated on Derek with. The Mark Sloan, who had broken their "pact." But, Addison reminded herself, probably after she'd broken it with Alex.

Mark seemed incapable of growing up; he had stopped aging at the age of about twenty-five. Now he was dimwitted, sex-wanting, and immature. He and Alex would've made such good friends if they didn't hate each other's guts. They both had stopped growing.

Addison wanted to smile at that. She loved to immature men.

Love? Hold on.

She did not love Alex Karev. Settling that in her many trains of thought, she threw herself back on the subject, almost reluctantly. But not quite. She thought of Mark's face, how caring it could be when he wasn't sexually harassing her in public. Behind his take-over-the-worldly huge ego, there was something more. It was bitterness. It was hatred. It was desire.

Mark was so complicated.

And Addison liked that.

She was complicated too.

- - -

Derek smiled at Meredith from across the table.

"That was …"

"Brilliant," giggled Meredith.

"That it was."

"You don't know how to miss or whatever now, do you?"

"Well, I know. But I don't have to use it … luckily." He leaned over and planted a ripe kiss on her lips, full of the wanting that it held. He was so glad to have Meredith back – his Meredith. And now he was her McMeredith. He liked the sound of that, he liked the way it rolled along his tongue in the selective way it was, full of her beauty and her desire for him that matched his desire for her.

It was a desire-filled world and two of the people in it had finally smiled at it and given in. Now they were here: happy and serene.

- - -

Izzie looked at the dog in the cage. Its eyes seemed to penetrate her being, it seemed to be looking at her thoughts.

About Alex, about George, about everybody.

The dog's eyes were wide, like Georgie's. They were shy and full of pout, although love rimmed them like red rimmed your eyes when you were ready to cry. The dog seemed to have been hurt, like so many people in this world. It touched Izzie. The admiration that Izzie felt for it illuminated her features, slowly dragging them away from her many emotions.

She reached out, as if to hold the dog, but her hands were met with the wires that imprisoned him so fiercely. Izzie looked at the price.

Well, she was a resident now. As the cage slowly weighed down her body, she hugged it close. She felt like this was a new beginning – a startling new beginning with this dog that she held in her hand.

"Can I have this dog?"

"That dog? Oh … um … RODNEY?"

"Rodney?" inquired Izzie, her eyebrows knitting.

The cashier didn't respond, but only searched the crowd for this "Rodney." Rodney soon came; a devilishly handsome blonde man.

"What?"

"Uh, can we … sell this dog?"

"Uh, yeah. Duh."

"But it was …"

"Abused? So were half the dogs frikin' in here, Karl, get over yourself."

"O … k … here's your … change."

The change was handed back to Izzie, a whopping nickel.

"Thanks," said Izzie.

She felt her spirit rising with every step, she felt her sins fading as she slowly walked out the door, and she felt herself – Isobel Stevens felt herself for the first time in a while.

- - -

"What the hell is that?" cried Meredith, looking at the dog with extreme mortification.

"It's a dog, Meredith. See? It's got four legs, ears, and fur. It's a mammal that can-"

"Izzie! I know what it is, I'm asking why we have a dog in this house!"

"Oh, he's mine. His name's Love."

"Love? No way! No way. I am not having that dog in here and-"

"Hey, look – a dog," smiled Alex, looking at the dog and chortling a bit. "It's so cute! What's its name?"

"Love," announced Izzie proudly. As Alex and Izzie leaned over the dog to pet it, Meredith looked on with a horrified expression set upon her whiny face.

"Why do you have a dog? Why did you name it Love? … Seriously? Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Ugh!"

Meredith stormed out, leaving Izzie and Alex alone to Love, the hyper little beagle.

There was a faint knock on the door. Izzie, hearing it, reluctantly parted with her new best friend and opened the door. Slightly shocked at seeing Derek there, she asked, "Are you here to make up with Meredith? 'Coz if you are, I don't think she's –"

"Haven't you heard? Meredith and I are … back."

"Oh. MEREDITH!"

Meredith was there in T Minus three seconds. The trample down the stairs seemed deafening to Izzie, who hastily made her arms stay at her sides.

"McDreamy's here," announced Izzie triumphantly, glad that Meredith was back.

"He's McMeredith now, haven't you heard?"

"I should have," smiled Izzie, raising her eyebrows. "I'll see you two crazy kids later." With that, Izzie ducked out of the front hall, leaving Meredith and Derek.

"My room?" suggested Meredith. "I mean, no sex but it's not exactly private down here."

But it was too late; Derek was absorbed in watching a dog come near them. The dog's slight pout entranced him as Meredith's had, but there was something else. It was a peculiar-looking dog, spotted and slightly chubby. But it was beautiful. He didn't know what it was. Derek looked up inquiringly.

"It's a dog. Love."

"Odd name."

"I named him!" Izzie was just peeping in, finding Love and dragging her back into the kitchen. Meredith and Derek walked upstairs, not a word passed until they were cuddled up nice and close on the comfortable, warm mattress. Then, Derek asked.

"Why don't you like Love?"

Meredith didn't bother asking how he knew, Derek knew all her emotions by one little flick of an eye.

"I had a bad experience when I was younger. I don't like dogs. They're vicious little creatures that are out to kill us."

"I wouldn't go that far."

"I would. Love's just another adding to my long lists of hates for this house."

"Oh yea? What are they?" Derek began plucking his lips around her neck, checking if she responded. She did, with a slight smile and then she gave in to his question. She wouldn't usually answer a question like that.

"The fact muffin-Izzie lives here, the fact that Evil Spawn Alex lives here, the fact that I'm not alone. The fact that we now have a dog, against my permission. The fact that … that I can't see you so easily."

Derek blinked, feeling like he was in some sort of trance. Meredith didn't usually say cheesy things like that, she didn't do the whole "lover's" thing. She was changing. He could feel it. And he liked it.

"It's not that long."

"I guess not."

"Which one bothers you the most?"

"Uh … the dog."

Derek laughed. Meredith, not knowing why, just stared up at the ceiling and tried to jigsaw-puzzle piece together everything she was thinking into one sentence.

"You … I'm … we're … - I don't do mushy stuff. I don't do teddy bears, I don't do flowers, I don't do romantic evenings out in the park, making out on a bench. I don't do too much sex. I don't do too little sex."

"I know that; you're pretending like we've never been together. I know you, Meredith."

"It's just, I want you to know that since you're Mc…Whoever, and I'm McDarkandTwisty if you may, I don't want to feel obliged to do that."

"Since when have you felt like that?"

"I don't know. I just … felt it. But now that's over. So, anyways! Love's going to be a bratty dog."

"I think she seems sweet."

- - -

AN: Gah, I know. More fluff. More randomness on my part. I'M FORMULATING A DRAMA PLAN, DON'T' YOU WORRY! It'll be up in … well, I'd say at most an hour.

So review, review, review and surprise me!!!

:D