Country Kind of Love

addiealex: Thank you! And I'm glad you like this AU story. Normally I prefer AU because I find it so hard to recover from infidelity… But I also have one story that's not AU and them dealing with their past is so much more difficult to write… Anyway! I hope you'll still enjoy this chapter :)

NetflixPerson01: Yeah, I really haven't given her entire NYC situation too much thought, I have to admit, but it needs to be something big (and not like 'my husband cheated' big) but I really should figure it out, shouldn't I :D...

Guest: I'm so glad it didn't seem like she was already so madly in love with him because I am :D

Addison-fan: Aww, thank you so much! I'm not sure about her adapting that easily but the country really is amazing and I really love Kansas, so maybe I'll get her there.

Guest: Well, wait no longer ;)

Addeklover: I'm glad you liked it and I do hope that this is still likable :)

MsMiuMiu: I'm so glad you guys all read Addek! Seriously, it's good I'm not the only one left :D and thank you, the sheep line seemed funny to me when I re read since his name is Shepherd and ha ha… And don't apologize for your English because it's good! But it's also not my first language :)

Lena-Prince08: Awww! Thank you! And I won't disappear because I've written a few more chapters for myself because I now am slightly obsessed :D

lorenalims: I don't think I've ever seen Heart of Dixie but maybe I should! Addek is incredible! I'm so sad that they ended :(

Uma FicWriter: Thank you! And I hope the big idea will work out the way I thought :)

geller516: I love the way you think! But I think we already are kind of a club :D I really wanted Addison to end up in a place like Capeside on Dawnson's Creek BUT it didn't seem middle of nowhere enough and since I spent a year in Nebraska, I figured Kansas might just be fun :D

Alright! So those who now think more reviews equal more updates are correct! Because reviews really do motivate me and it would be lovely to hear your thoughts on everything!

R.I.P. Prince

Purple Rain

The next day was already just a little better than the first one and maybe this flat piece of nothing was starting to grow on her when she had made it through the first three weeks. Her colleagues were nice, her cases were interesting and even the interns weren't all that mad but the country was still driving her absolutely crazy. Even in the city she missed the city because there was nothing quite like New York.

"Addison, what are your plans for tonight?" Preston had come up behind her in the doctor's lounge and chuckled when he saw the look on her face. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to ask you out, I was just wondering because a few of us are going to the bar down the street and our pool teams are just a little uneven." He clarified.

"Oh, that sounds great, but I should warn you that I'm absolutely awful at pool and the last time I played was probably in college…" Addison tried to think back but maybe that was the thing about getting old, you stopped to add years to 'when I was in college' or anything like that. It probably was for the best if she didn't even think of how long ago college was.

"That doesn't matter, we'll just team you up with Shepherd." He was already laughing at the thought of that because Derek really hated to lose at pool so maybe this time Preston and Mark would finally beat them.

"I'm sure he will appreciate that." Addison had to laugh as well and shook her head. She liked Derek Shepherd, even though he still teased her about the fact that she still didn't look like she belonged. But she was pretty sure that she would never look like she belonged in Kansas.

"I'm sure he'll teach you and you'll still beat us…" Preston mumbled. "But we are going around eight, so any time you're free." He gave her a smile and left. To be honest, she hadn't done anything except for work and go for a run and she was going a little stir crazy with Richard and Adele around her most of the time. But there really hadn't been anything to do here!

xxx

"Gentlemen." Addison greeted when she walked into the bar, glad to see her three colleagues already sitting by the bar. Once she had gotten to know them a little better she had started to like all of them, even Mark Sloan, who had stopped with the pick up lines around day two, because she had threatened to stab him with a scalpel and bury his body somewhere in this endless nothing.

"Hey, you made it!" Preston smiled and she noticed that he looked far more relaxed outside the hospital where he usually was a little stiff and stand-off-ish.

"Dude, now we are going to get beat by a girl, and Shepherd…" Mark mumbled and took another sip of his beer. Addison had to admit that he was attractive, but not her type, at all. Especially after she had heard the nurses whispering and gossiping.

"I'm so glad that you shot Mark down, because that makes you the first woman who we can actually invite to play pool with us." Derek gave her one of those smiles she found so very adorable. He was dressed in a dark blue sweater and she could see the white t-shirt he was wearing underneath and she thought to herself that he really looked so much better in this than he had in flannel, even though she hadn't complained about that on him either. But he was still the jerk who kept teasing her about not fitting in.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" Mark looked rather offended and Addison had to laugh as she sat down and ordered a martini.

"Come on, Mark, the nurses couldn't stop giggling all day and you can just admit it, it's not like she's the first woman to ever reject you."

Just as Mark opened his mouth to say something Derek stopped him and turned to Addison. "Why don't you tell us if it's true or not? Because he just won't admit that any female, except Bailey, ever shot him down."

"Who's Bailey?" Addison asked before finally giving in. "I politely declined his offer." She heard Mark snort at that. "Well, maybe not so politely. But you were persistent, and I hate that."

"Thank you so much for that!" Preston laughed. "And for filling us in, of course." He and Derek still hadn't been able to stop laughing.

"Come on, who's Bailey? She has to be special if he didn't hit on her."

"Hey," Mark gave her a look, "you're new! You don't get to insult me!" Addison just rolled her eyes at him.

"Miranda Bailey is nicknamed 'the Nazi' and when you meet her you'll know why." Preston clarified and ordered another round of beer.

"Do you have a nickname for me too?" Addison looked a little horrified because nicknames weren't flattering, ever.

"Nope, but the interns usually make them up, so you should be really nice to them. But with your bright and shiny persona that won't be a problem at all." Derek laughed, especially at the look she gave him. "See, this is exactly what I mean."

"You know what, Country Joe, you're supposed to be teaching me how to play pool and not insult my personality." She watched as the other two laughed at her Country Joe remark and also saw that Derek was trying to hide his laugh.

"I'm not so sure that I want to play with you anymore." Derek got up from his bar stool and took a sip of his beer when she playfully nudged him and he had to laugh as well.

"Country Joe is from Washington, DC, just if anyone cares…" Preston explained when they all got up and walked towards the pool table. When he saw the looks all the others were giving him he just shrugged his shoulders. "What, the black guy can't know that?"

About an hour later the four attendings were laughing and Derek had finally given up on explaining to Addison how she was to play pool because she had been more than just awful at it. "You know, it's good that you don't operate like you play pool." He chuckled when she even missed the queue ball right in front of her.

"How do you know that I don't operate exactly like I play pool?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Because I watched today, quite impressive." He gave her a smile and came to stand behind her. "Come on, I'll show you." He took her hands in his and felt her tense up slightly. "Relax, I don't bite." And she just rolled her eyes but couldn't help the tingles in her stomach when he came to stand so close to her.

"Finally," Mark whispered to Preston, who just nodded. They had been waiting all night for Derek to finally make a move on her because they knew he liked her, even if he kept teasing her. He was a little high school that way…"Twenty bucks say he walks her to her car later."

"Nah, he won't. You're on." Preston chuckled and watched Derek and Addison.

"Twenty bucks on what?" Derek glanced over at his two friends but didn't remove his arms from around Addison.

"Uhm… On you guys not beating us even with all that intensive training…" Was the best Mark could come up with.

"They're lying, aren't they?" Addison whispered and turned her head a little to look at Derek. Having him so very close to her did funny things to her concentration. The smell of his cologne was nice and he wasn't wearing too much but enough for her to notice how good he smelled.

"Yeah…" He whispered back and smiled at her. "Come on, we'll really have to beat them now."

"I cannot believe you lied to us! You lied!" Preston sighed dramatically when they made their way back towards the bar and sat down again.

"I did not lie!" She protested and had to laugh at the looks she got from both Preston and Mark.

"She just had a great teacher." Derek grinned smugly. "Now, I believe that you two owe us some money. I mean, it wouldn't be fair any other way." He turned towards Mark and whispered the rest. "Maybe then you won't lie about what you were really betting on."

"How about we just pay for the drinks?" Preston offered. "But you'll have to drink beer. Since you decided to hang out with all of us country boys."

"Are you really calling yourself a country boy?" Mark raised his eyebrows at Preston after he had ordered the next round for all of them, glad that Derek hadn't asked what they had really been betting on.

"What? I am. I went fishing with you after all!"

"He never even caught one fish." Derek whispered to Addison and she laughed softly. He was sitting so close to her and she had moved just a little closer to him so she could hear him better. At least that was her official reason.

"So you guys aren't all from here? Originally, I mean." She questioned and took a sip of the beer Mark had handed to her.

"Derek and I are. But not from the city so it's always fun if Preston, who is from DC, refers to himself as a country boy because no one really believes that." Mark laughed at the look on Preston's face because they had laughed about it whenever he had said it but for some reason he didn't learn from it.

"Wait, you two grew up together?" Addison looked at Derek and raised her eyebrows and he nodded.

"Yep, we've been friends since middle school and if you wait for him to finish another beer he'll tell you about me being a complete loser in high school. Of course he will put it nicer but in the end that will be the impression you'll get." He was laughing so she knew that he really wasn't offended.

"No, I only do that when I want to score with the chick you haven't been able to seal the deal with all night," Mark watched Derek look down and Addison just rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless, "but since Addison has already declined my polite invitation to dinner, she's all yours, dude."

"Hey, I'm sitting right here!" She gave him a look. "I'm not a piece of meat or something. Who even says that I'm interested in any of you?"

"Oh, I think the way y—" Mark started but was quickly stopped by Preston.

"Wait, he asked you to dinner?" Preston asked rather amused. "Mark never asks women out to dinner so you should be really flattered."

"Well, he said something as eloquent as 'and maybe after dinner we could have dessert at your place'." Addison laughed at the memory.

"Seriously?" Derek just looked at his best friend and shook his head. "On behalf of men from Kansas, I apologize to you." He put his hand on her knee and she just smiled at him.

"No, no, on behalf of men everywhere!" Preston rolled his eyes before he saw that Derek's hand was still on Addison's leg and she didn't seem to mind at all.

"So this is what you guys do for fun around here?" Addison was giggling by now because there had been one round of beer too many for her.

"Nope, there are many ways to have fun in the country!" Derek was still sitting very close to her and had been touching her arm or her knee most of the night and she had done the same, once she had even had to lean against him because she had felt like she was about to fall off her bar stool. Which also was the reason she had switched to water.

"And Derek will be sure to show you all of them." Mark grinned and set his empty beer bottle down.

"And Mark will stop being sleazy now." Derek gave him a look. He had been doing that ever since high school and it was kind of annoying, especially since Derek was really different than his best friend when it came to women.

"Oh, I don't mind you showing me around." Addison gave him a smile. "I'd appreciate it if you stopped being sleazy, though." She said to Mark and had to laugh. "Now, I'd like to hear about that high school loser phase." This caused a triumphant look to appear on Mark's face.

"Well, my good friend Derek with that perfectly wavy hair used to have an afro." This caused Addison to almost choke on her water and Derek to give her a look. "And he was in band."

"Oh, me too!" She said after she had finally been able to stop coughing.

"Oh my god, it's a match made in heaven." Mark mumbled and Preston only nodded in agreement.

"I have to admit, this was really fun, even though you two beat us…" Preston said once the four of them were outside of the bar.

"Yeah, I still don't understand how that even happened." Mark shook his head and tried to hail cab.

"Don't worry, you'll get there." Derek laughed.

"I would be offended but you've already been punished enough by not living in the city and therefore having to stop drinking." Mark only said and got into the cab, Preston following because they didn't live far from each other.

"Good night!" They waved before the cab took off, leaving Derek and Addison.

"Oh, that's right! You stopped drinking way before I finally did." She gave him a look like he was some traitor who let her drink with the others all by herself.

"Which now enables me to drive you home."

"Hmm, yeah, maybe I like you just a little better now." She smiled at him as they continued walking. "Even though you keep making fun of me."

"Well, you're just very different from all those women you normally meet around here." He unlocked his car and opened the door for her, something no one had done in a very long time.

"And that's bad?" She raised her eyebrows at him and leaned against the truck, not getting in just yet.

"No." Derek gave her a smile and rested his hand next to her on the car. When he had first met her he had found the way she had gotten upset and annoyed about so many things pretty funny and somehow endearing. But now he had gotten to know her a little better and was still amazed at how incredibly gorgeous she was and how time seemed to stand still whenever she gave him a smile.

"Good." She looked pleased and got in the car.

"Thank you for bringing me home and actually walking me to the door." Addison smiled at him. "I don't think anyone has done that since high school."

"Oh… Yeah…" He looked rather embarrassed and took a step back.

"No, I liked that." She pulled him a little closer and ran her hand along his upper arm. The entire night she had been nonchalantly touching him but by now she was starting to get the feeling that he really wasn't interested in her.

"I'm glad." And then he had taken another step towards her and her breath had gotten caught in her throat because of the way he smiled at her. But still he didn't kiss her.

"So, are you ever going to kiss me?" Yep, way to go, Addison, she thought to herself when she actually heard herself ask him that. Sometimes she could just kick herself for the things she said but maybe this time she could blame it on the alcohol.

"Gee, you city girls are impatient." Derek chuckled and just as she was about to reply she noticed that he was leaning in and slowly closed the distance between them.

WHAT DID YOU THINK?

So those darn city girls are always so impatient and then he kisses her mhmmhmmm :D

Which characters would you like in this story? Tell me! Review :)