Pete looked from Addison to both sets of eyes looking at them from the porch. The woman was the first to speak.

"Ok, I'm going to pretend like the reason you didn't sound happy to see us just now is simply due to the fact that we seem to have dragged you from bed with an unbelievably attractive man so early on a Saturday morning."

At the sound of her friends voice Addison began to smile and by the time she'd finished talking, Addison was laughing. "Callie!" Addison exclaimed, pulling her friend into a hug. "Let me try that again. What are you two doing here!" she sighed happily, more enthusiasm in her voice this time.

"You left without saying goodbye, Addie. We thought we'd better come and see how you were doing," Callie admitted to her friend, "—which apparently isn't half bad," she joked motioning to Pete.

Addison laughed and flushed realizing Pete was standing next to her wearing only his boxers and she still in his t-shirt. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal if it was only Callie, but her cheeks began to blush harder considering who it was she was standing with.

"Mark—" she started, but then was completely at a loss for words. It had been a long time since she'd seen him and she wasn't exactly sure how she should feel about seeing him again—or how she should feel about the fact that Mark was seeing the two of them in so little clothing.

"We missed you, Addison." He offered, sensing her hesitation about what to say.

She smiled lightly. The truth was, Addison really missed her friends. But she had a new life now, she had Pete. She wasn't sure how throwing people from her Seattle life into the middle of her relationship with Pete, without so much as a warning to him, was going to turn out. Though he knew about her past with Mark and she'd talked to him about Callie quite a bit, he sill looked like he felt awkwardly out of place and Addison mentally kicked herself for not speaking sooner.

"I'm sorry," she said grabbing Pete's arm, who was still just standing shirtless at her side, "This is Mark." Though Pete had one of two guesses on who the guy could have been when he'd opened the door, he was extremely relieved to have been told it was Mark. He'd have punched her ex-husband, if it had been him. Mark he could handle, maybe.

"Mark, this is Pete," Addison continued with the introduction. The two men graciously shook hands, but as Mark looked away, Pete studied him disapprovingly.

"This—" Addison started.

"Must be Callie," Pete stated, turning his attention to the vivacious, wide smiled woman in front of him.

"Yes," she beamed, "It's nice to meet you, Pete."

"Do you guys want to come in?" Pete asked stepping aside and giving the two of them room to let themselves in.

"Make yourselves at home for a second and we'll go put some clothes on," Addison laughed nervously, excusing her and Pete.

--

"I'm so sorry," she pleaded as soon as they'd reached the bedroom and closed the door, "I had no idea they were coming."

"What are you sorry for? They're your friends. They are allowed to visit you," Pete replied studying her curiously.

"I just—it's just, we didn't have time to talk about it, you and me and… I don't want you to feel overwhelmed." She stated, removing Pete's shirt and replacing it with her own, but not without a small sigh from Pete, he loved the way she looked wearing only his t-shirts.

"Why would I feel overwhelmed?" he questioned, watching her pull on a pair of khakis.

"They're the kind of people who… They're going to ask you a lot of questions." She said nervously fidgeting around with the buttons on her blouse.

"Its not like they're moving in, Add. It's Saturday. I'm sure they're just here for the night. Look—we'll hang out with them today, take them to dinner tonight, and they'll be gone in the morning. They're your friends, you should be happy they came all this way to see how you are," he told her, but she still looked worried, so he pulled her into his arms. "I can handle a little interrogation. I'm sure they just want to make sure I'm good enough for you," he teased and smiled into her hair and then lifted her face so he could kiss her quickly. "I'll go shower and give you some time alone with them, okay?"

"Okay," Addison agreed, finally relaxing a little. "But hurry. I…"

"I know, you want to show off your quack to your friends—I'll be quick." He said with a playful smile.

She smirked as Pete walked into the bathroom and couldn't help but think maybe she was excited to show him off to her friends; make sure they knew she'd found one of the good ones. Suddenly she didn't feel as uneasy at the thought of Seattle in her LA life (well, some of Seattle anyway). It couldn't be that bad, in fact she was looking forward to it, and she ran downstairs to see her friends.

They were both sitting on stools in the kitchen, their backs to Addison as she came down the stairs. They were sitting awfully close and Callie was smiling like an idiot at something Mark had said. "So, what's going on with the two of you?" she questioned, her usual Addison tone was back in her voice now. They turned, quickly looked away from each other, blushing, and Addison thought it best to save that subject for later. "How in the world did you convince him to come down here with you, Cal?"

"Actually, it was Mark's idea." Callie informed her friend. "And there's nothing going on with us," she threw in, "We're just friends." Addison's face scrunched up into a smile, Mark was never just friends with women, please.

"I had to bring her so she'd shut up about missing you so much all the time." Mark said in his scruffy voice. "But, I wanted to see you, too. Make sure you'd found whatever it was you were looking for when you came out here."

"I want to know about Pete," Callie interrupted. "The last time I talked to you, he was just 'cute hippie boy', but now he's new boyfriend Pete. New Pete needs a name." Callie smiled.

Addison held up a hand in protest. "Uhh, no. No Mc-ing my Pete, please," She spat and then laughed realizing how ridiculous she sounded. "He's Pete, okay?"

"So, tell me everything." Callie begged, but she noticed Addison feeling hesitant in front of Mark. "Okay, fine. We'll have time for girl talk later."

"How long are you guys here?" Addison asked.

"Just the night, we've got a flight back tomorrow at four," Mark informed her as he and Addison continued to breathe in the awkward air, which Callie could plainly see.

"Why don't you two take a walk, clear the air," she suggested. "I'll wait here for Addie's hunk to come back. I want to talk to him anyway."

They were both hesitant at first but Mark was smiling sweetly at her and she quickly agreed. They headed toward the back door when Addison turned back to Callie, "Go easy on Pete, please. I'd like to keep him around, you know, if you can help it."

"Oh, I'll be nice. I swear." Callie promised as she watched the two of them walk to the beach.

--

Not five minutes later did she hear a "Hey" from a smiling Pete as he came into the kitchen, but his expression changed a little when he noticed Addison and Mark were gone. Callie sensed the worry and explained they'd needed to clear the awkward air and left her here to hang out with Pete. She also offered to move out to the deck outside so they could see the other two on the beach.

Pete laughed a little, "I shouldn't be worried, right, I mean, she's over him. But he… he's—

"Over her, too—yeah. At least he'd better be or I swear to god, I'll hit him." She spat. And Pete laughed, so Callie and Mark, he thought, at least it stopped him thinking about Addison and Mark so much. He looked at Callie and she was smiling and he knew what was coming.

"You can grill me—I'm ready." Pete joked and they both laughed.

"So, what's your story? Been married, kids?" she pried, but he just smiled and answered genuinely.

"Was married, no kids."

"Divorced?"

"No. She… she died." He said running a hand through his hair.

"Crap. I'm sorry." She said scrunching her face in discomfort.

"Don't be, it wasn't your fault."

"Ok, um, change of subject." She offered quickly and smiled, "What exactly are your intentions with my best friend?"

"I think that's a question you'd ask if I didn't already have her. But I've got her. The only intention I have now is not letting her get away." He replied, and Callie smiled.

"So how long have you two been…?"

"Been what, together? Flirting? Friends?" he realized there where a lot of stages their relationship had been in before it was an actual 'relationship'. He continued speaking when he realized Callie wanted to know everything anyway, so he'd leave nothing out. "To be honest, I'm quite sure I've had a thing for her since the moment I met her, so, I guess it's been a year since I knew that I wanted this woman in my life. We flirted for a while and then we were friends and then at Christmas we finally started to get it together. Then, New Years was when we first, well, you know… So, I guess it's been a year, more or less, depending on how you look at it," he finished with a smile on his face.

"Do you love her?"

"Yes." He replied almost immediately.

"Okay, but, have to told her?" Callie questioned and Pete smiled remembering the amazing events of the previous night.

"I told her last night, actually."

"A year," Callie stated. "You've had a thing for her since day one and you wait a year to tell her you love her?"

"I had to. I—I'm sure a part of me did love her when I met her, but not the way she deserved to be loved. I couldn't say it then, it wouldn't have been enough, especially from a guy like me. She—we—we've both been disappointed by love before and I needed for it to be different this time. I wanted her to know that when I said I loved her that I meant it in every possible way."

Callie looked as if she were about to cry, "Can I have you instead?" She teased but then she was staring at Pete waiting for him to continue.

"You want me to list the ways?" he questioned, looking at Callie as if she might be slightly insane. "I haven't even listed them out to her, Callie," but she didn't look like she'd ever back down, and Pete caved. "Addison is the type of woman you can't help but be attracted to. She's the most beautiful woman … you know she's beautiful. You know that, so I know I don't need to tell you the obvious physical reasons, the trivial things. She's so much more than that. It's the little things about her that get me. The way she kicks me uncontrollably in her sleep, but still manages to wake up holding on to me. It's the way she looks in my t-shirt in the morning, imperfectly-perfect. It's because she's passionate about what she does and because she's unnervingly stubborn whenever she doesn't get her way. When she laughs at me for saying ridiculous things and then kisses me when she finally catches her breath. Because she's not afraid to yell at me if she's had a bad day, and then the way her eyes light up when I yell back. I love her because there isn't anything I would ever change about her, even the things that drive me crazy."

Pete finished with a confident smile on his face. Callie looked as if she might be about to t cry again.

--

"You look good, Mark." Addison commented honestly. Even though the conversation had still been a little awkward up until now and mostly consisted of stories about work or the wonders of California weather, Addison was starting to feel a little better.

"You look good, too. I haven't seen you like this in a long time." Mark commented honestly.

"Like what?" She laughed, "Tan?"

"Well, yeah—tan is definitely a good look for you—that and, you look happy. Like honestly happy without trying to force yourself to be," Mark told her. It was the truth, for so long in Seattle he'd only ever seen Addison's forced happiness; it was nice to see the real thing was still possible for her.

"Thanks, I think." She laughed again. "What about you Mark? Are you happy?"

"Trying." He replied quickly.

"What's really going on with you and Callie?" She asked again, feeling that they were falling back into their old groove with each other, she relaxed a little more.

"We're… I don't know, trying to make it work, you know?" Addison smiled, knowing exacting what he was saying. "I haven't slept with her—apparently Callie thinks it would be a good idea if we waited." Addison smiled again, but raised an eyebrow at Mark, thinking she knew him all too well. "I haven't slept with anyone else since she made this ridiculous decision."

"Wow, very proud. Who knew Callie would be what it took for Mark Slone to keep it in his pants," Addison teased, and Mark stared curiously at her.

"You know, I didn't ever really break the no sex bet I had with you… You were what it took. I just didn't want you to have to feel…" but he trailed off, it seemed pointless to bring it up again, he exhaled a little bit and stared at her.

"I thought maybe you hadn't." she smiled at him.

"It doesn't change anything, does it?"

"No, it doesn't. But thanks for telling me the truth. I'm sorry about that, about everything. I should have told you the truth about everything then, but a part of me didn't want to let you go."

They were both silent for a few minutes, watching the waves, breathing relieved to have laid it all out there, finally.

"So this Pete—he's a good guy?" Mark questioned, smiling at Addison.

"Yes."

"Do you—"

"Love him? I do." Addison nodded.

"Good, you deserve it." Mark said with what Addison was sure was the most sincere tone she'd ever heard from him.

"Thank you. Hey, Mark? Do you think that we can be friends? Despite everything complicated and terrible we've been through and done to each other, you were always one of my best friends. I'd really hate to lose that." She said looking him in the eye.

"I think, I'd really like that." He nodded in agreement.

"Good." She smiled happily and she reached up and hugged him quickly.

"We'd better head back," he said looking over Addison's shoulder, "They're staring disapprovingly."

Addison laughed as she turned to look back at Callie and Pete watching them from the back porch. She and Mark made their way back to them making small talk. When they all four were together again Addison smiled, "So you guys need to check in at your hotel, Mark tells me. Call us in a while when you get settled and we'll take you by the practice later and show you where we work."

"And we'd like to take you to dinner later, if you want." Pete added.

"Sounds perfect," Callie agreed, "And after that, we'll need some girl bonding time. We must talk." She gushed at Addison.

Mark and Pete exchanged uneasy looks, apparently they were going to have to spend some guy time together later, whether they wanted to or not.


A/N: So I hope I didn't freak everyone out too much with the visitors. I also choose to hope that Callie and Mark really will end up together, cause they're the only ones left on that show I can actually stand. . . Anyway this chapter I had written is extremely long, so I broke it into two parts. I'll get the next one up pronto. Thanks for all the reading and reviewing. I love hearing what you have to say.