A/N: So December was two parts in the end. I couldn't help it! A little bit of drama in part 1 and a little bit of fluff too. Can't help myself with the Addex fluff! Please please please review (yes I'm shamelessly begging here lol), I love every single review I get and I appreciate knowing what you all think! x

"Karev, what would your course of treatment be?"

Alex stood in the patients room on rounds with his interns and Bailey. "Labs have come back clean and the ultrasound shows no sign of where the abdominal pain is originating from. I would do a few more tests, and a contrast CT, but if those don't show anything, I would perform explanatory laparotomy."

"Good, Karev, if you get two of your interns and-" Bailey was cut off by Meredith running into the room, causing all of the occupants to look at her.

"Alex, you need to come now."

Bailey looked at her outraged. "Er, excuse me! Mrs Harris I am so sorry about this." She said to the patient before turning back to Meredith. "Grey, what are you thinking? You can't just barge in here and interrupt when we're talking to a patient."

"Dr Bailey, I'm sorry, but Alex you need to come now." Meredith urged.

Alex frowned at her. "Mer, what's going on?"

"There's been an accident, Alex. It's Addison. She's, she's been in an accident."

Alex paled and Bailey took a sharp intake of breath. "Karev go with Grey now, I'll be down when I've finished here."

Bailey hadn't even finished before Alex was running from the room, Meredith shortly behind him. He ran into the ER. "Mer, where is she?"

"Trauma 1." Alex burst into the room and stopped when he saw her on the bed, surrounded by the Chief, Derek, George and Cristina.

"Damn it." He choked out and the eyes flew to him. "What happened?"

"Karev… Alex." The Chief started. "There was a car accident. Drunk driver skipped a light. Ultrasound showed that she has a lot of internal injuries. We need to get her to surgery."

"I'm coming with you."

Derek looked at him with pity. "Alex, you can't come with us. We've got this. You need to trust us. We've got this."

Alex looked at Addison, surrounded by monitors as they clicked the sides of the bed in place and prepared to move her. Her red hair looked less fiery than normal, dulled by the blood across her body and the grey pallor of her skin. They started to move the bed towards the door, stopping as he stood in the way. "Derek, please. I need to be there."

Derek sighed. "Move out of the way, Karev. You can walk with us until we get to the OR. Then you're gone, not even in the gallery you understand?"

"But-"

"Alex." Cristina interrupted, her words harsh but her voice soft. "None of us can do this with your sad 'don't kill the love of my life' eyes watching us. Just let us take care of her."

Alex glared but moved forward and took Addison's hand in his, hurrying along the corridor with them. They reached the elevator and climbed in, the Chief adjusting her IV as Alex's gaze remained fixed on her face. George moved his hand to Alex's shoulder.

"It'll be okay." He said softly.

"Don't." The word ripped from his body and a tear made its way down his face. George let go immediately and moved away, the others seemingly understanding his need for silence as the elevator reached the OR floor.

As the doors opened, they took off at a run again until they reached the authorised personnel doors. The point of no return; separating the medical professionals from the loved ones. The Chief frowned as Alex made to go with them.

"Karev. This is where you stay." His voice was gentle, but the tone made it clear there was no room for arguments.

Alex let go of her hand, moving his own up to her face. His finger tips lightly traced the sides of her face, before brushing her hair back. He leant forward to kiss her forehead gently. "I love you, Adds. You're the love of my life, you don't get to leave me." George and Cristina looked up as Meredith and Bailey approached them, tears in their eyes as they heard Alex's words. "You hear me Adds, don't leave me."

Bailey grabbed his arm. "Karev, they need to go now."

He just nodded silently as he watched them wheel Addison away before he turned around slammed his fist into the wall. Leaning his forehead against the wall, as he kicked it repeatedly, sobs overtaking his body.

"Alex!" Meredith said in shock, moving towards him. "Stop, come on, Alex!" She rested her hand on his shoulder and he tried to shake her off. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, holding him in place, he kept trying to free himself from her grip. "Alex calm down, you'll hurt yourself, stop!"

His kicks slowly stopped and he sank to the floor, Meredith still holding him. He angrily wiped at his eyes, looking up to see some nurses staring at him. Bailey noticed and glared at them. "Um, don't you all have something better to do?"

They all anxiously ran off, and Bailey walked over to Alex, grabbing his arm and forcing him to his feet. She shoved Alex towards the waiting room pushing him down into a chair. "Grey, go into the OR and stay until you get a full update on her condition."

As Meredith walked away, Bailey took the seat next to Alex but kept her eyes fixed straight ahead. "You know, I remember seeing Addison in Joe's 2 days after prom, after the whole nasty McDreamy prom sex business. She was drunk off her ass, we weren't friends then, ranting on and on about panties, getting fat and saying how she was 'wildly attractive'." Alex let out a humourless laugh at that. "The woman was a mess, not just that day but for a long time. I mean, I saw her throw up at Meredith Grey's house."

Alex sighed, his hands clenched into fists, ignoring the pain from bruising already forming across his knuckles. "Do you have a point, Bailey?" His voice was hoarse.

Bailey sighed. "I'm saying since New Year I've never seen her smile so much. I know I've always made my feelings clear on intern/attending relationships clear but you're good for her. So, you need to buck up."

"Excuse me?!" He said incredulously.

"This is awful. I know it is. But you need to stay string for Addison right now. You don't get to break down or fall apart. Not while she is in there fighting for her life. Because she is still alive. She's going to get through this and she's going to need you to be there for her."

More tears escaped and moved down his face. "You're right. I know you are. It's just…she is everything to me and if she doesn't make-" His voice cracked. "If she doesn't make it, I don't think I will either."

Bailey reached out and gripped his hand tightly, squeezing it as they waited silently for Meredith to return.

Alex and Bailey looked up as they saw Callie run into the waiting room, looking frantically around before she spotted them and headed that way. "I just heard. What happened? Is she okay?"

"Drunk driver skipped a red light." Bailey said as Callie sank into the seat next to her. Alex remained silent, still maintaining his tight grip on Bailey's hand. "Grey should be back any minute with an update."

A small sob came out of Callie. "I can't believe this happened to her. She's Addison freaking Forbes Montgomery. She should be invincible."

The three of them sat quietly when they saw Meredith walking up to them. Alex was on his feet in an instant. "Is she okay?"

Meredith sighed. "There was a lot of free fluid in the abdomen. It must have been We've packed her and got the bleeding under control for now, there is still a lot of damage to repair. It's looking like we're going to have to do a partial splenectomy and one of her kidneys is damaged beyond repair. There's also a lot of uterine bleeding, we're trying to stop it but a hysterectomy would be the safer option-"

"No." Alex cut her off. "Adds wants to be a mom more than anything else. A hysterectomy is the last option. She wants kids."

"Okay." Meredith said softly, laying her hand on his arm. "Okay. I need to go back now, I'll come back with another update."

She turned and walked back towards the OR. Alex sat back in the chair, resting his head in his hands. "Alex." Bailey said softly. "That was good news. They've got it under control. It's good news."

"I know." He said hoarsely, not looking up.

"So, you and Addison have spoken about kids, huh?" Callie asked and Bailey shot her an incredulous look over Alex's head. Callie just shrugged in response.

"Seriously?" Alex looked sideways at her.

"What? We need to do something rather than dwell on what's going on. Plus, she's my best friend and I'm nosy." She said, her voice falsely positive as Bailey rolled her eyes.

"Yes, we've discussed kids." Alex sighed.

"Aww, you two would have the most adorable little kids, I can picture them now. A couple of mini-Addison's running around with her red hair and your brown eyes." Callie gushed.

"They'd be brunette." He said absently.

"What?"

"Adds is actually a brunette. She's not a natural red head."

"Seriously?!" Bailey exclaimed.

"Damn, little Miss Foxy Redhead is faking." Callie smiled to herself. "Your kids will still be freakishly good looking."

"I know." He smirked. "They'll be perfect just like her."

Callie patted him awkwardly on the back as Bailey took his hand again. "You tell anyone I said this Karev, your life won't be worth living, understood?" Alex nodded. "Addison's pretty perfect but you're not so bad yourself."

Alex turned and smirked at her and Bailey used her free hand to swat his shoulder. "Oh, shut it Karev."

Alex winced at the familiar words coming from someone else and the three fell into silence once more.

Meredith walked into the waiting room with the Chief. They made their way over to where Alex, Callie and Bailey had stood up.

"She's out of surgery and on her way to recovery. We managed to stop all the bleeding and she should make a full recovery. She'll obviously be sore for a while around her incision, and she has a couple of fractured ribs from the steering wheel, but no lasting damage." A collective sigh of relief was let out at the Chief's words but Alex was still tense, turning to look at Meredith questioningly.

She gave him a small smile and grabbed his hand. "We managed to stop the bleeding without needing to perform a hysterectomy."

The words were barely out of her mouth before Alex pulled her to him in a tight hug, kissing the side of her head. "Thanks Mer." He whispered in her ear and she just patted his back reassuringly.

"You can go and wait with her. It shouldn't be too long before she wakes up." He smiled at her, walking quickly towards recovery as the others trailed behind.

He stopped in the door as he saw Addison laying on the bed. Meredith walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's not right. She's always so fiery and strong. Seeing her like this…"

"Alex. She is going to be just fine. She'll be back home, yelling at Derek and getting caught naked all over the house." Alex chuckled at that. "She's Addison. She will be okay but now she needs you to get your ass in there."

Alex patted her shoulder and walked into the room, pulling up a chair next to her bed. He took her hand in his, careful of her IV, and kept his eyes fixed on the steady rise and fall of her chest.

"A-Alex?" At the sound of Addison's voice, Alex woke up from the light doze he was in. A small smile crossed his face as he saw her eyes on him and a few tears escaped.

"You're awake." His smile turned into a full grin as he brushed a few strands of her hair from her face, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. "You scared the crap out of me Adds."

"What happened?"

"Son of a bitch drunk driver skipped a light and hit your car." He spat out.

She frowned at that. "I had surgery?"

"Yeah, ex-lap. You had a lot of blunt abdominal trauma and free fluid in your abdomen. Webber, Meredith, Yang and O'Malley operated. They did a partial splenectomy and had to remove a kidney. But you're going to be just fine." She winced slightly as she shifted. "Are you okay? Do you want some more pain meds?"

She waved at him dismissively. "You think you could just lie with me?"

Alex frowned. "You have 2 fractured ribs and you just had major abdominal surgery. I don't want to hurt you, Adds."

"You won't. Please, honey, I just need to feel you near me." She begged.

He sighed. "How could I ever say no to you?" He kicked off his shoes and laid gently down on the bed next to her, stroking her hair gently. "You have no idea how scared I was. You're never allowed to do that to me again, okay?"

"Hey." She hushed him. "Look at me. I am okay. I love you so much honey. I'm not going anywhere."

He brushed a kiss over her lips. "I'm so in love with you. Now get some rest."

She smiled at him softly closing her eyes and shortly after she drifted off, he closed his eyes and followed her.

Callie and Bailey poked their heads into Addison's room. "Hey Manhattan, do you mind if we come in?" Addison waved them in, shifting so she was sat upright on the bed. "We've come to see you loads, we just always seem to catch nap time, sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Addison smiled at them. "Alex has gone home to get me some clothes and I'm bored. Company is what the doctor ordered."

Bailey smiled as she pulled up a chair. "I hear you get to get out of here tomorrow, that's good."

Addison chuckled. "Yeah, don't get me wrong, I do love this hospital. I just much prefer it when I'm on the other side of things. Plus eating hospital food for a week sucks."

They all laughed at that and Bailey grabbed her hand as they trailed off. "You gave us all quite a scare Addison. Karev especially."

"Yeah." She said softly.

Callie smirked at her. "You've done quite a number on Hot Young Intern Boy. He's like a whipped puppy."

"I, um, he was really scared, wasn't he? He watches me now. All the time, like I might break. I don't think he even realises he's doing it."

Bailey sighed. "I was with him from when he walked with you up to that OR. He begged you not to leave him, then he broke down, punched the God damn wall and Grey had to hold him back."

"Is that what happened to his hand?" Addison sighed. "I asked but I didn't want to push it."

Bailey nodded. "He told me he didn't think he'd make it if you didn't. I had to hold the poor boy's hand. He is so in love with you."

"I know Miranda. What are you saying?"

"I think she's saying don't sleep with this one's best friend. He's a keeper." Callie nudged her playfully.

Addison let out a surprised laugh at that. "His best friend is Meredith, so I don't see that being a problem. Or Stevens…"

"Hot." Callie laughed. "A lady threesome."

"Nasty." Bailey muttered as they laughed. "There's an image I didn't need in my head."

"Hey!" Callie suddenly exclaimed, as Alex appeared in the door. "How come I didn't know you aren't naturally a foxy redhead?"

Addison glared at Alex. "You told them?!"

Alex walked over to her side and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Not my fault. Callie kept blabbering on about how cute our little redheaded kids would be."

Addison shot Callie a look and she shrugged. "Come on your kids will be freakishly adorable and you know it. Hey, even Miranda agrees!"

"They will be 'freakishly adorable'." Bailey reluctantly commented.

"Anyway, it just came out. Plus, you would have just disappointed them anyway when you pop out some brunette kids and ruined their mental image of our family."

Bailey and Callie chuckled at that as Addison hit his chest. "Ass. You're so eloquent, you know that?" She said, rolling her eyes.

He smirked down at her. "You love me."

She pulled him down to her. "I do. So freaking much." She kissed him softly breaking away when the heard Bailey awkwardly clearing her throat.

"And that is our cue to leave."

They stood and made their way to the door. "We'll come find you before you break out of here tomorrow."

As the two of them left, Alex sat on the bed next to Addison, running his hand through her long red hair. "I'm going to warn you now, Izzie has turned the house into Santa's freaking grotto. Seriously, it looks like the North Pole or something."

Addison pouted. "You did decorations without me?"

He dropped a kiss on her pout. "Don't sulk with me. I made her leave the tree. I know you can't move that much, but I figured you could at least lay on the couch and boss me around, tell me where all the decorations should go. I know you live Christmas."

"I do." She grinned at him. "You're too good to me, you know?"

He shrugged. "Nah, you're pretty amazing." He kissed her again. "Iz baked Christmas cookies to celebrate you coming home."

She laughed. "That's why we still live there."

Addison lay on the couch the next day as Christmas songs played loudly in the living room. She smiled as she watched Alex and Izzie bickering over decorating the tree, while she happily munched on the plate of cookies on her lap. They all looked at the door as it slammed open and Meredith walked in, sighing dramatically as she flopped on the foot of the couch.

"Am I seriously going to have to deal with this Christmas crap for the rest of December? It's bad enough I have to deal with it at the hospital, but now my house looks like Santa's elves threw up over it?"

Addison kicked Meredith lightly. "Come on, it looks good! Happy and festive!" She looked over at Alex, who was placing a bauble on the tree. "A little to the left honey." She smiled sweetly at him as he glared at her.

Meredith groaned dramatically. "You're one of those freakishly festive people, aren't you? You're lucky you just were in an accident, otherwise I'd kick you out." Addison just rolled her eyes and held out the plate of cookies to her. "Why couldn't you be a Grinch?" She continued to grumble.

Addison laughed. "Between you and Alex, I don't know how Izzie managed to bully you into all the decorations. You're all Scrooges."

"Hey!" Alex protested. "I'm decorating a tree over here for you!"

"You're doing a great job, honey, carry on. Just… don't you think that bow should go on the branch above?"

Alex angrily moved the bow, before sitting on the floor in front of the couch. "That's it! I've had enough, I'm done." Addison just smiled and ran her fingers through his short hair, placing a kiss on his head.

"I think I'm finished too." Izzie announced, standing back with a hand on hip appraising their work. "What do you think?"

"You forgot to put something on top of the tree." Meredith pointed out, as she shoved another cookie in her mouth.

"Well, I thought Addison could do the honours?" Izzie said, reaching into a box and pulling the star for the top.

Addison broke out into a big grin as she squealed excitedly. She took Alex's hand as he helped her gingerly to her feet, before helping her stand on the chair Izzie had pulled over. "Try not to stretch too much." Alex said as he handed her the star and she rolled her eyes at him.

She placed it on top as Izzie clapped excitedly. She allowed Alex to help her down, before wrapping her arms around his neck, kissing him softly on the lips. "I am a surgeon." She said gently. "I know to take it easy. I'm not going to break."

He looked sheepishly at her, reaching to stroke her cheek gently. "I know. I just worry about you. I love you."

She smiled and kissed him again. "I love you too. Now what are we doing tonight?"

"We thought we'd let you choose." Meredith said, as she joined her back on the couch. "As it's your first night home and all."

Addison grinned mischievously. "I'm thinking hot chocolate, junk food and It's a Wonderful Life."

Alex and Meredith both groaned as Izzie squealed happily. "I knew I'd regret letting you decide."

"You can suck it up. I was in a car accident." She fluttered her eyelashes at them.

Meredith sighed. "How long is that excuse going to work?"

She smirked at Alex who rolled his eyes, kissing her on the forehead gently. "A very long time, if I get my way."

They all laughed at that as Izzie moved to get the snacks from the kitchen and Meredith reluctantly put the film in.