A/N: Last chapter tonight, and I'm glad you guys are all
okay with where this is going. I promise it will go someplace good!
A few hours later Addison had managed to keep down the Sprite and the toast, and her hangover had subsided a little bit. Addison and Mark were sitting in her bed talking and watching bad soap operas. "Okay, see, she would never go for him, because he allegedly raped her twin sister."
"Addison, it's television, it's not real. More importantly, it's a soap opera, so it's definitely not real."
"I know, but still," she said as she grabbed a handful of pretzels from the bag sitting in Mark's lap.
"Hey, I thought you were too sick to eat. Stop stealing my food," he said snatching the bag and putting it on the opposite side of him, out of Addison's reach.
"Don't be such a baby!" Addison pouted as she tried to reach for the bag but Mark swatted her hand out of the way.
"That face won't work on me, you know that," he said smirking, giving her the McSteamy face.
"And that one won't work on me. Come on, I'm hungry." She crawled over Mark to reach for the bag of pretzels, but he picked up the bag and held it above his head out of her reach. "Oh, give me a break," she said, still laying across his stomach before she pushed herself back up and sat down next to him.
"Promise you won't puke on me?"
Addison rolled her eyes and smiled sarcastically. "I promise."
"Okay then." Mark put the bag back on his lap and threw a handful of pretzels at her.
"Thanks for that," she laughed as she picked up the pretzels that were now all over the bed.
"No problem!" He gave her a cheesy grin, to which she couldn't help but laugh. "This is nice…I miss this," he said, returning to a serious demeanor.
She looked over at him, gave a small smile, and sighed. "Yeah, me too." Addison returned her focus to the television, taking a deep breath as she munched on the pretzels and tried to stop the tears that were welling up in her eyes. She felt so torn, so conflicted, and she didn't know what to do. She really liked Alex, and even though he was so much younger than she was and he was just an intern, they had so much fun together and she could really see something developing from that. But at the same time, she had been in love with Mark for so long, and a part of her would always love him. She thought that this feeling could be attributed to the fact that Mark had been such a big part of her life for so long, and that all people still felt that way about their exes, but something was different. While she still cared for Derek, she didn't feel for him the way she felt for Mark, even though she and Derek had been together for so much longer. But she was afraid—afraid of Mark cheating on her again, afraid of missing the opportunity for something great with Alex.
Mark looked down at Addison and could tell something was bothering her. "What are you thinking?"
She paused for a second before looking up at him. "Things."
He nodded, knowing exactly what she meant by that. He didn't want to push her, but he didn't want to risk losing her to Karev. He tried to think of what else he could say to her that he hadn't already said, but he realized that the decision was ultimately up to her—he just hoped that she made the right one.
Addison could tell exactly what Mark was thinking about when she looked up at him—she was always able to read his expression so clearly. She could see the glint of hope behind his eyes, mixed with understanding. She leaned her head against his shoulder and continued watching TV, feeling comforted as he wrapped an arm around her and their breathing in unison.
They sat in a comfortable silence for several minutes before Mark spoke up. "Addison…"
"Hmm?" She was almost annoyed at him for ruining the moment.
"Regardless of what happens, of what you decide, I don't want to lose you as a friend. I don't want to lose this."
Addison looked up at him and smiled. "I don't either." She laid her head back down on his shoulder and rested her arm on his chest still contemplating what she would do.