Heyy guys! I realize that I haven't updated in like...well forever. I am soo sorry. There are no words to express how sorry I am. The truth is...I almost died! Okay no, that's a lie. The real truth is I've been really busy with school and I've been so tired. I've also been feeling a little uninspired and lazy so...I don't think it's my best chapter...but I hope you'll still like it! Thank you soo much for the reviews. Your support is greatly appreaciated. So, on to reading, and then reviewing! Enjoy. I'll try and update sooner.

Chapter 12-Teamwork

Crap. He had almost told her. He had almost told Addison how he felt about her. He had almost poured out his heart to her. Almost, but not quite. He had finally worked up the courage to just tell her even if there was a small possibility that she wouldn't return his feelings, but he was still going to tell her. He was going to tell her because he couldn't stand the tension anymore. He couldn't stand not to being able to touch her or kiss her again. Although, she could shut him down. And then he'd have made a fool of himself. But at least he'd know that he had tried. It was that not knowing what could happen that was killing him. Besides, from the way she had reacted earlier, when he had gotten a little too protective of Izzie, he was pretty certain that she felt it too. There was no way she didn't feel the connection between them. There was just no way. Unless…no. She felt the same way, and he was sure of it.

They arrived in the lobby to see Nigel awaiting them, tapping his foot impatiently. He looked at them sternly, or at least he was trying to be stern. They snickered at his facial expression, knowing they really shouldn't but having a difficult time suppressing their laughter.

'What took you so long?' he questioned, his eyes bulging. He looked insane, and they suspected he might be…

'We were at the beach,' Preston explained, smiling slightly at his demeanor.

'That does not explain your tardiness!' he exclaimed in response, which made them shrink back in surprise.

'Okay, seriously, who says tardiness?' Cristina whispered to Meredith. Meredith laughed and Nigel turned to her, furious.

'Is there something funny, Dr. Grey?' he inquired, eyeing her suspiciously. Meredith stopped laughing and glared at Cristina, who was laughing silently, for getting her in trouble.

'Nothing, sir,' she answered lamely. It was Derek's turn to laugh, but it turned into a fake couch when he saw the dark look Meredith was shooting him.

'I didn't think so,' Nigel said as returned his attention to the entire group. 'You are late and I do not appreciate that. Frankly, I must say you have let me down. You are surgeons! PhD certified surgeons! I would expect you to be punctual,' he continued and shook his head to illustrate his disappointment.

'Sorry,' they mumbled in unison although none of them felt particularly remorseful. Nigel didn't seem to have noticed. He nodded in satisfaction.

'Alright then. Today we shall engage in another activity. Yesterday was about openness and clearing the air. This afternoon is about working together,' he explained excitedly. They all groaned and he smiled. He pulled out a pack of pages and he distributed them. He gave one to Meredith, Addison, Mark, Cristina and George.

'What is this?' George asked, curiously.

'Why don't you look at it, or can you not read?' Cristina shot at him.

'I can read! I can read, I just didn't read it because-' George stuttered out.

'Now, now! What have I been telling all of you?' Nigel cut in. 'Now, these pages are a map of the entire resort. There are instructions to follow and a list of items to find. They are hidden all over the resort. First team to return here, with all of the items, will win a special prize,' he continued speaking slowly as if they were all children.

'So basically, we're going on a scavenger hunt,' Addison said, sounding very unimpressed. Nigel simply smiled and nodded, mistaking her attitude for enthusiasm.

'This is ridiculous,' Mark added and Addison nodded in agreement.

'Don't be so negative. It could be…fun,' Preston said, smiling mischievously.

'What's wrong with you?' Cristina asked him, looking afraid.

'What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine.'

'You've been spending too much time in the sun,' she spoke as she eyed him in confusion. Everyone laughed. Nigel interrupted them, trying to bring the attention back on himself.

'I wasn't done yet!' he yelled, although his voice wasn't very loud.

The laughter slowly died down and turned into giggles until everyone was quiet once more. They looked at Nigel expectantly, and a little impatient.

'Yes, as I was saying, there will be a secret prize for the winners,' he started, calmly but he seemed a little on edge. They stared at him, waiting for further explanation. 'Dr. Montgomery, you will be partnered with Dr. Shepherd here.'

There was a very awkward silence in the air. No one spoke. And yet everyone had the exact same thing on their mind. Derek looked to Meredith who couldn't suppress a laugh. She broke out into a full giggle fit and soon, everyone was laughing again.

'You should've seen your face! It was priceless!' Meredith said through giggles.

'Yeah, Shepherd, you looked like someone had just punched you in the nuts!' Cristina said gleefully.

'I resent that,' Addison put in, she was not laughing.

'Don't take it personally, Addison. You have to admit, Derek's face was hilarious,' Mark said as he nudged her playfully. She glared at him.

'This isn't funny, Mark,' she said in a warning tone.

'Dr. Sloan,' Nigel began very loudly and everyone dropped their conversations to turn to him, 'will be paired with Dr. Burke,' he ended softly. Preston and Mark eyed each other carefully and nodded. 'Dr. Stevens, Dr. O'Malley,' he gestured to them and they smiled.

'Yeah!' Izzie whispered to George.

'We're the lucky ones. Did you see Dr. Shepherd's face?' he whispered back.

'I know!' she answered, still grinning. Callie, who was standing behind George, was glaring daggers at the both of them. Addison put a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave her a look of understanding. Callie mouthed lucky bitch and Addison couldn't help but laugh a little. Callie smiled slightly, that is until Nigel announced that she would be partnered with Meredith.

Meredith smiled uncomfortably at Callie and looked back at Nigel. 'That leaves Dr. Yang and Dr. Karev,' he finished, smiling broadly.

'You have got to be kidding me!' Cristina exclaimed. 'I'm stuck with Evil Spawn?'

'Come on, Cristina. Alex isn't that bad. He's actually kind of nice once you get to know him,' Meredith tried to calm her.

'I don't intend on getting to know him,' she said coldly, eyeing Alex in disgust.

Alex however, had hardly noticed anything that had happened since they had gotten into the lobby. His mind had been on Addison. He was trying to figure out what to tell her and when. He had heard Nigel say that he was with Cristina, but it hadn't really clicked, that is until she had yelled 'Evil Spawn'.

'What?' he asked, breaking out of his daze.

'We're getting started soon,' she mumbled unhappily.

'Listen, Yang, I know you don't want to be my partner,' he started in a bored voice.

'Damn right,' she stated unfeelingly.

'But,' he continued ignoring her comment, 'I want to win this, and I'm pretty sure you do to. So stop being a whiny bitch and let's you and me work together.'

She seemed to think this over for a little bit. She then looked up at him and said: 'Fine, but you have to stop being an ass.'

He smirked and nodded and she rolled her eyes.

'The rules of this game are as follow: you cannot steal an item from another team, nor can you buy the item from the store, or use yours if you own this item. Other than that, it's every team for itself. Are they any questions?' Nigel explained loudly. They shook their heads. 'Good. Now….GO!!' he yelled making them jump but none of them moved.

'Were we supposed to do something?' Meredith asked.

'Yes, yes! You can all go now! The hunt has started!' Nigel yelled, practically jumping out of himself with excitement.

'Oh,' they muttered in unison. Nobody had caught on the first time. But suddenly, everyone started reading the page hurriedly. And just like that, they were off, all in different directions.

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Derek and Addison ran into the hotel gift shop. The shop owner gave them a look that clearly said what the hell?. They ignored it.

'Are you sure this is the right place?' Derek asked Addison, his eyes roaming the store.

'Yes I'm sure! It said gift shop! This is the gift shop!' she answered angrily.

'Well I don't see a pair of blue sunglasses! Do you?' he replied harshly.

'No, not yet. I'm still looking,' she started scanning the shelves of cheap souvenirs for the wanted item.

'I bet you read it wrong. We're probably in the wrong place,' he accused.

'Derek! Will you stop it? I didn't read it wrong, okay? It's always my fault, and I'm sick of it!' Addison yelled, completely oblivious to the looks of disapproval she was receiving from shoppers.

'Addison, lower your voice a little-'

'No. I don't care if they're looking. I do however care that we can't be civilized for five seconds!' she said, tiredly. Her eyes were pleading with him.

'You're right,' he conceded, 'I'm sorry.'

'I'm sorry too,' she said gently. 'And I want to win this Derek. You of all people should know how competitive I am.'

'Yeah, I do. And I want to win too,' he admitted, smirking slightly.

'Then let's stop arguing and show everyone that we can work together,' she said decisively.

'Yeah, the others seem to be under the impression that we can't stand each other…and we're not seen as a threat,' he said with an grin on his face and a playful glint in his eye.

'I don't know where they got that idea. We're Derek and Addison. Damn right we're a threat!' she exclaimed, her expression matching his.

'There the sunglasses! I see them!' he pointed towards a shelf full of chocolate where a pair of sunglasses lay. That was one item they could cross off their list, and one conflict they had resolved.

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'So it says to go to the beach hut and get a little pink umbrella thingy that they put in drinks,' Meredith said as her eyes scanned the page Nigel had given her.

'Okay,' was Callie's only response.

'Listen, Callie, I…um…' Meredith tried to break the awkwardness but she couldn't.

'Yeah,' Callie answered.

They walked towards the beach house, not really in a hurry. That is until they passed George and Izzie who were running like insane freaks. In any other situation, Callie would have laughed. She would have laughed of how stupid and childish they looked. But now, they had 4 items from the list in their hands! Four! And she and Meredith had…none. Callie wanted to win this. She wanted to show Izzie that she wasn't really the lucky one, because she was going to lose.

'Come on. We've got to run. Let's pretend you and me are great friends okay? Let's beat the pants off all of them!' Callie exclaimed, her eyes wild with excitement. Meredith looked afraid for a few seconds but then she broke out into a smile.

'Sure,' she replied and grabbed Callie's wrist. She started running towards the beach house, pulling Callie along with her.

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Izzie and George were on a roll. They already four of the items needed to win and they were pretty close to getting their fifth one. Izzie had laughed when she had seen Callie's face. It was just so hilarious! It didn't look like she and Meredith had any items which was pretty pathetic. They were so going to lose. And George and Izzie were going to win. No doubt about it. She and George worked together great. They were a great team. Callie was going to be so jealous when she saw the wonderful prize they were going to have. And Izzie was going to rub it, subtly of course, in her face.

'Come on, George! We have to beat them!' Izzie yelled at George who was falling behind.

'I…trying…slow….down,' he panted through ragged breaths.

'George! Pick up the pace! We'll never beat Callie this way!' she said while motioning for him to hurry up with her arms. But then he stopped. 'What are you doing?! They're going to catch up to us!' she yelled and she ran back to him. She grabbed his arm and tried pulling him into a run but he wouldn't budge.

'Why do you want to beat her so much?' he asked suddenly. She ceased pulling and looked him carefully.

'What do you mean? This is a competition, and I'm competitive! I just want to win! Don't you want to win?' she answered smiling. He didn't smile back.

'Yeah, I want to win. But this thing is first and foremost, a way for all of us to learn to get along,' he said confidently and it surprised her. She looked at him in shock for a moment and then recovered.

'We already get along, George.'

'I'm not talking about you and me, and you know it,' he stated, staring her down. When she didn't answer, he continued: 'What do you have against Callie? Really? What is it?'

'She's bad for you, George! I just don't want to see you get hurt,' she shouted and he jumped back.

'Seriously, Iz,' he said and she cracked.

'Fine! I'm jealous!' she yelled.

'What?' he asked dumbfounded.

'Yes, George, I am jealous…of Callie,' she spit out.

'Why?'

'Because you're my best friend! And now, you're always with her. I guess…I just miss you…' she said softly.

'Iz, that's not even true. I'm always trying to make time for you and its Callie that hardly sees me. She gets so mad at you because she feels like she can never measure up to you,' he rationalized.

'Seriously?' she asked.

'Yeah.'

'I've been a real bitch haven't I?'

'Yeah.'

'Forgive me?'

'You should be asking Callie.'

'I will,' she stated sincerely. 'But can we still hurry up? I really want to win that prize!' she said cheerfully. He just smiled, feeling like maybe, things were finally going to be okay between her and Callie. He sprinted off laughing and she soon caught up with him. Her legs were much longer than his.

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'It's this way!'

'No. It's that way!'

Saying that Cristina and Alex weren't getting along was an understatement. They were at each other's throats all the time. They hadn't yet found one of the items listed, because they couldn't decide which way to go.

'It says to go the big slides and ask them to take a snapshot of us in front of it!' Cristina yelled at him.

'Thanks, I got it the first time, but when you yell it at me it makes so much more sense!' he said in a fake sincere manner.

'Evil Spawn, it's that way! The slides are that way! I'm sure of it!' she replied harshly.

'No. It's the other way. If we go your way we'll be at the wave pool,' he countered and he left. Cristina muttered something about assholes and scalpels and followed him.

Five minutes later, they arrived at the big slides and Alex turned around to smirk at her.

'I told you Crack Whore!'

'Well, whatever,' she mumbled.

'Come on. Stop being a baby. What did we say about being a whiny bitch?' he reasoned, smirking devilishly.

'Shut up. Let's go,' she said and they left the slide area, picture of them in hand. Only 9 more items to find.

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Izzie and George ran to the lobby, all ten ridiculous items in hand. They walked up to Nigel and dumped their things at his feet. He eyed the both of them with disgust. They were sweaty from running, and wet and sandy from retrieving a certain rock from the ocean. However, they were all smiles, and Nigel seemed happy about that.

'Congratulations. You have found the items, but I hope that you have also found a better understanding of each other,' he said softly. They smiled and nodded.

'So…did we win?' Izzie whispered to Nigel, in a semi-suggestive manner. He seemed shocked and appalled that she was so close to him. He jumped back.

'You'll have to wait and see,' he said sternly, putting as much distance between himself and Izzie, which she found to be hilarious.

A few minutes later, Derek and Addison ran towards them with a big bag in hand. They dropped it at Nigel's feet and he smiled at them.

'Sorry, guys, we got here first!' Izzie said cheerfully. She and George were grinning broadly.

Nigel looked through their bag of items and nodded, indicating that they had indeed completed the hunt. Addison smiled in thanks and Derek nodded in his direction.

'Well, it's not so bad. I bet the others will be expecting us to come dead last,' Derek whispered to Addison, who looked a little disappointed.

'Yeah, I guess,' she sighed, 'We did good.' She smiled softly at him and he reciprocated. Just then, Callie and Meredith came sprinting through the outside doors, arms full of stuff. They arrived, breathless, and dropped the things.

'Everything appears to be in order,' Nigel said while standing over the items that lay scattered on the floor.

'Yeah!' Meredith cried and she gave Callie a high five. Everyone looked at them, surprised, especially Izzie.

'What? Why are you all looking at us like that?' Meredith asked, giggling at their expression.

'Yeah, Meredith and I are great friends,' Callie said, smiling at Meredith.

'Are you okay?' George whispered to her.

'Yeah, I'm really good,' Callie answered, still smiling.

During the hunt, Callie and Meredith had talked. Well, they had talked as much as possible while running. But they had discovered that they actually had a lot in common. It seemed that they really didn't any valid reasons for disliking each other. At first, they were just pretending to be friends for the sake of winning, but somewhere down the line, they formed a real bond.

'Well, that doesn't really matter, because you guys still arrived third!' Izzie said.

'Izzie, be nice,' George hissed.

'Sorry…it's become a habit,' she whispered to him and turned to smile at Callie. Callie looked confused and afraid at this sudden change in the blonde.

'Does she look like she's been drinking to you?' Callie asked Meredith, who laughed and shook her head.

At that moment, Alex and Cristina came in, pushing and shoving each other. They consequently dropped items everywhere in the lobby before they actually made it to the gathering of doctors…and Nigel.

'We're here!' Cristina yelled as they arrived.

'Yes, we can see that,' Addison said slowly and Derek laughed.

'You two made up?' Alex asked Addison, but she didn't answer. Obviously, she was still sore about his little freak out earlier. Derek, sensing the tension between them, cut in.

'Yeah, we…um…talked,' he said, smiling slightly, but it did nothing to help the situation. Alex was staring at Addison intently, while she refused to look up.

'Addison,' Alex tried but Nigel cut him off.

'Listen, all! You've all completed the hunt and now-'

'We get the prize?!' Izzie exclaimed.

'Well, someone gets the prize,' he told her and she looked confused.

'What do you mean? George and I were here first, therefore, we get the prize,' she reasoned.

'Actually, you were here second,' Nigel answered.

'What?' George and Izzie said at the same time.

'Hey! There are Seattle's slowest doctors!' Mark yelled from across the lobby, drink in hand. Preston followed behind with his own drink.

'Did you guys give up or something?' Cristina asked, baffled.

'No. We got here a while ago. We got tired of waiting so we went for a drink,' Preston explained, smiling at their surprise.

'You and you, won?' Addison said skeptically.

'You're underestimating us, Addison,' Mark stated and she rolled her eyes.

'You two don't exactly scream teamwork,' Derek put in, also looking perplexed.

'Well, while all of you were arguing like children, Preston and I split up and finished the race in about half an hour,' Mark told them, smirking.

'You could all learn from Dr. Sloan and Dr. Burke,' Nigel informed the group and they laughed.

'Laugh if you will, but while you're doing that, Preston and I will be enjoying our prize,' Mark said gleefully. They all shut up.

'What is the prize?' Meredith asked Nigel.

'The winners get a gourmet dinner tonight, and, they get to make the teams for the next activity,' he announced lightly.

Mark and Preston were grinning madly. They started whispering between each other while eyeing different people. They were laughing mischievously. Everyone was freaked out, one, because they were chatting like old pals, and two, because they had the power to partner them with anybody they wanted. Mark lifted an eyebrow and Preston nodded and they turned back to the others who were staring at them in fear.

'Well, Mark, how about that dinner?' Preston said loudly, smiling.

'Sounds good,' Mark answered and they left in direction of the restaurant.

'What the hell was that?' Derek asked once they were gone.

'Quite possibly the scariest thing I've ever seen,' Cristina answered.

'Does anyone else feel like we're running out of air?' George stuttered and grabbed at his throat.

'We're not running out of air, O'Malley,' Alex said as he hit him over the head.

'I can't believe we lost to them,' Izzie said suddenly, changing the subject.

'I know. It really sucks. They're never going to let us forget it,' Addison stated dully.

'How about we go eat?' Meredith proposed, trying to sound cheerful.

'You mean eat the dinner that isn't gourmet because we didn't win?' Cristina asked bitterly.

'Exactly,' Meredith answered, laughing at Cristina's expression.

They left together towards the restaurant. Meredith and Derek joined up and he put his arm around her. George went to Callie and did the same. Cristina, left without her fiancé, decided to go talk to Izzie who was also looking pretty lonely without Mark Sloan drooling after her. That left Addison and Alex who were keeping an awkward distance between each other.

Alex walked up next to her, ignoring the obvious fact that she didn't really want to walk with him right now.

'Hey,' he said softly.

'Hi,' she replied a little stiffly.

'How are you?' he said carefully.

'Fine.'

'Are you still mad at me?' he asked, skipping right to it. Alex Karev didn't play stupid little games.

'I wasn't really mad at you…' she trailed off.

'But?' he continued softly.

'But…I was upset.'

'Yeah…I was a jerk,' he said sincerely.

'You embarrassed me back there,' she said, a little more confident now.

'I know…I'm sorry…I don't know what got into me,' he spoke gently. But it was partly a lie. He did know what had gotten into him. He got jealous, when he saw that guy all over her. He was furious when he saw her actually flirting back. Sure, he had no claim on her, but he felt so protective of her. It was almost overwhelming.

'Yeah…,' she replied, not knowing what else there was to say. She had a feeling he did know why he had acted that way. He wasn't telling her something.

'Are we…okay? I mean, we have to share a room and everything. I would hate for things to be awkward,' he said, quickly turning back his arrogant self.

She squinted at him. If he was going to be like that, so could she. 'What aren't you telling me, Karev?' she asked, putting emphasis on his last name. He pulled his shoulders back and stood up straighter than before. He smirked at her.

'Nothing. Why? Is there anything you'd like to tell me?' he asked, turning the tables on her. If she wanted to play it like this, they would.

'Nope, nothing,' she answered her eyes flashing.

They arrived at their usual table and sat down with their coworkers. Derek leaned over to Addison: 'Is everything okay with you and Karev?'

'What do you mean?' she replied nonchalantly.

'I mean, the other day, you two were all close and cute and now, you're ignoring him,' Derek elaborated for her.

'I'm not ignoring him,' she said.

'Addie.'

'What?'

'If you like him, and it's pretty obvious that you do, just tell him!' he whispered gently.

'Well maybe I don't like him,' she continued in an indifferent voice, while playing with the straw in her drink.

'Addison, what's happened?'

'He…he freaked out about Mark and Izzie!' she finally admitted.

'And?' he asked, not seeing the relation between the two things.

'And…and it's clear he still has feelings for her!' she said a little too loudly. Luckily, everyone else was deep in conversation with another.

'Addie, he cares about her. They're friends. They used to date. He'll always care. But it doesn't mean he wants to be with her,' Derek assured her.

She thought about what he said for a moment and then said: 'But how do you know?'

'Addie, I feel the same way about you. I'm happy with Meredith, but I still worry about you and I was a little anxious and protective of you when he said-' he stopped short. She eyed him curiously.

'When he said what?'

'Nothing,' he lied. Open mouth, insert foot.

'When he said what, Derek?' she demanded, glaring at him.

Derek shook his head but the look she was giving him was enough to scare anybody into telling the truth. 'When he said he was falling in love with you.'