So/////this one has sex.

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How long an hour can take
When you're starting into open space
When I feel I'm slipping further away
I remember that everyday
I get a little bit closer to you

And when it's quiet
And I don't hear a thing
I can always hear you breathe

You know there's nowhere else I've wanted to be
Than be there when you need me
I'm sorry too but don't give up on me
And just remember that when you get asleep
I got a little bit closer to you

Callie and Alex sat in the Hotel Archfield bar. They felt like drinking but they didn't feel like being stared at for being in the same vicinity as each other so they opted to stay away from Joe's for a while. They were sitting in the corner as soft jazz played somewhere in the background. Callie was lost in drunken mirth at something Alex had said. They'd had amount of alcohol but she was definitely almost gone.

"I think you should stop drinking." Alex said, pulling Callie's shot glass out of reach.

"Why?" She pouted and pulled it back. "I'm not working tomorrow. I can drink."

"Alright. But I'm not draggin you to your room."

"Who are you kidding. Yes you are." She filled his glass. "Come on. You said let's drink. Drink."

He sighed and shook his head. "Fine. Ready?"

"I was born ready. One-two--"

"Three…"

"Four, slam it, whore."

He chuckled at her remark before they both drank the bitter liquid and slammed their glasses back down.

She made a face and picked up her beer. "Okay. Tequila is disgusting."

"Yet, you've drank half of the bottle."

She shrugged. "What else is there to do?"

"I could think of a thing or two." He wiggled his eyebrows at her and he had to look away when she only offered him a sideways smirk.

"Why do you do that lately?" She asked. "Start with the innuendos and then get all--flustered."

"I'm not flustered." He answered boldly.

"Right."

He tapped his fingers on the table top a few seconds, then leaned forwards, resting his elbows on the small wooden table. "Why do you need" a rebound?"

She started to question him, but then remembered the conversation they had had in the car a couple of weeks back. She took a deep breath. "I don't think I need one. It's just protocol."

"Says who?"

"I don't know, Alex. It just is. It just happens." She answered through heavy eyelids. "Why do you ask?"

"So, you haven't been seeing anyone." He pressed on.

She breathed in and out, calmly, and smiled at him. "Why do you ask?"

He was not about to admit he was jealous, or that he was waiting for her to get the stupid rebound theory over with so that he could ask her out. And he was not about to tell her that he didn't want her to even look at another guy before thinking of him. "I'm your friend. I'm supposed to know these things, right?"

She laughed. "I guess. So, George is staying with Izzie?"

"Not with her. On the couch--" He didn't know why he felt he had to explain but he did anyway. "You know, he's--crashing on the couch. Sleeping there."

"It's okay, Alex. I'm not stupid."

"I know you're not. I was just--"

"Yeah. I know."

"So--" He announced, changing the subject. "Have you talked to Addison? How's L.A."

"Oh, you miss her. How sweet."

"Please. I do not miss her. Passing interest."

"What was? The question or Addison?"

He rolled his eyes. "You're drunk."

"Yeah. I am. More so than that night at the park."

He looked up at this. They had not mentioned the incident since it happened. They had talked about everything BUT that.

"Are you?" She asked him curiously.

"Am I what?"

"Drunk. Are you drunk enough--"

"Stop it."

"What?"

He sighed, frustrated. "How drunk are you really?"

"Pretty drunk. Why?"

"I want to know how much of this conversation you'll remember in the morning."

"I remember everything. Alcohol does not affect my memory. It affects my judgment but my memory is always where it's supposed to be."

He nodded again and toyed with the beer bottle cap on the table.

"I haven't been seeing anyone."

He looked up at her and he smiled without even knowing it. "Good."

"Why is that good?"

He groaned and leaned back in his seat. "Are we really going to do this? Let's not pussyfoot around. I want you. You know that."

"I'm right here."

"I don't--want just one night."

Their eyes met. Callie began to feel aroused at the thought of his hands on her again. He was thinking the same thing, but he was better at hiding it.

"I don't want you to sleep with anyone else either." He added, mindlessly tossing the bottle cap somewhere across the room. "I don't buy your rebound bullshit."

She fell silent, taken aback at his frankness.

"What? I can't be both the rebound and the new guy?" he said, half joking.

"Maybe." She added then cleared her throat. "So that time at the park--"

"Yeah." He smiled, remembering.

"Yeah. That was interesting."

"It was."

"I don't know if it was the alcohol or the lack of sex for so long but--I could have gone for it right then and there if you hadn't totally killed the moment. Talk about buzz kill." She joked, drinking from her beer.

"You pulled away first."

She shook her head. "No, I didn't."

"You wouldn't even be saying this if you weren't completely shitfaced."

"Yeah. But I'm saying it. So what does it matter what the circumstances are?"

"True."

"You want to have sex with me, Alex?"

He wasn't sure if he had just heard an offer. He leaned forward again. "Are you kidding? Were you not there during the kissing? Do you?"

"Were you not there?"

"Do you still think about George?"

"Yes." She said honestly.

"You still in love with him?"

"Yes."

"Would you get back with him if he apologized and begged for forgiveness?"

"No. There's nothing he can do anymore."

Silence.

"What about you? What about Izzie?"

He shook his head. "That was--that's over for me. I'm done with it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"So, if she wanted you back--"

"I don't want her. I want--I'm done with that."

"Okay." She nodded as they came to a silent agreement. "We got that out of the way then."

"Great."

"I should get to bed."

She started to take out her wallet but he beat her to it with his. "I'm paying."

"No, Alex. I said it was on me."

"Shut up. I got into your shirt and I didn't even pay for your drinks. I'm paying for this. It's the least I can do."

She laughed and shook her head. "Oh, the cockiness of you."

"You love it." He dropped a few bills on the table and stood up. "Come on. Let's go."

She took his hand and stood up with slight difficulty. "Wow. So drunk."

"Told you."

XXX

"So--" She started as they stepped out of the elevator, arm in arm. "Solve this little riddle for me."

"Okay, Tipsy. Ask away."

"Why didn't you sleep with Addison while she was here? I mean, come on. You had an open door."

"It was, just--complicated. I don't like complicated. I mean, one kiss and she went scurrying off like a mouse. If I'm attracted to someone, I'm attracted to someone. Besides, I'd never even talked to her outside of the hospital. What were going to talk about after sex? Babies?"

She laughed. "Well, I don't know, I'm just saying--" She tripped over her own feet as they reached her door.

He grabbed her by the waist quickly, flashing back to the last time they found themselves in that position.

"Ow." She laughed again as she leaned against the door. She blew a strand of hair from her face, then was suddenly, very aware of Alex's harm around her waist.

She looked up at him and he lost all train of thought. Her eyes were half closed and he couldn't tell if it was from arousal or from drinking. She bit her lower lip and he became transfixed with her mouth again. And there was the smell again. That floral scent, and he couldn't move. And suddenly, one of them was breathing audibly. He couldn't tell who.

She raised a hand and traced the shape of his lips with her fingertips, and that was when he felt he was touching actual bare skin where he held her waist. Her shirt had shifted when he grabbed her and now he was touching her. He needed to let go. He needed to get her in her room and go home.

"Alex?" She asked in a breathy whisper.

"Hm?" Was all he mustered to get out. He REALLY needed to go because he couldn't tear his eyes away from her lips.

"DO you want to come in?" She asked, moving her lips closer to his.

"I really, really do." She had somehow pulled his body closer and now he was pressed against her. And he knew she could feel ALL of him.

"So do."

"No, I can't."

"Why not?"

She moved under him and he had to close his eyes for a second. When he opened them, she was so close, al he had to do was take a breath and he'd be kissing her. "You're VERY drunk. That's why not."

"So what?"

"Don't say 'so what'."

Her lips grazed his and he had to bring his free hand up to brace the wall. "I can't."

"Well--" She pulled away slightly and he felt a bit relieved. "--if you don't want to have sex, do you want to just come in and sleep?"

"Sleep?"

"Yes, sleep."

He watched, dumbfounded as she pulled herself together like she hadn't just wanted to jump his bones. She turned away from him and opened her door. "I'm not letting you drive home. You're drunk too so…come in." She invited him inside, closing the door after he stepped in.

"You want to SLEEP? Now?!"

"Yeah. I'm so tired." She kicked off her shoes and climbed into bed, not bothering to rid of her clothes. "Turn off the light when you come to bed."

He stood, staring for a long time. He thought he should probably go, but he was still in shock from the hallway. She was--if she was as turned on as he was just a couple of minutes ago, there was no way she was just going to go to sleep. "Callie?" She was out like a light. After a while of just--staring, he shrugged off his jacket and jeans and carefully crawled into bed next to her. He took a deep breath and shut the light off.

An hour later, Alex still had not gotten to sleep. He lied on his side. Callie was still knocked out next to him. She opened her eyes for only a second, smiled and snuggled up next to him, falling fast asleep. He carefully draped his arm over her and kissed the top of her head.

XXX

There was someone next to him this morning. A warm, soft body next to him that smelled intoxicatingly good. His arm gently brushed against Callie's as he shifted in her bed and turned over and caught glimpse of her face, covered with her hair. He chuckled and stiffened as she stirred and her eyes opened slowly.

"Morning." She mumbled groggily.

"Morning." He brushed her hair out of her face and she hummed approvingly before she flipped over on her back and stretched, her arms over her head.

"God…I feel…a little drunk still." She looked over at him and smiled.

"Yeah? Must have been that tiny Tequila river you slurped down last night."

"Not even, Steven." She joked.

He wanted to ask her about last night. He wanted to know if she still wanted him or if those two times were really just the alcohol talking.

"How'd you sleep?" She asked, fumbling under the covers with her legs.

"Fine. What are you--" He stopped as she pulled out her jeans from under the covers and threw them across the room.

"There."

"I'd be a lot less nervous about you doing that if this was last night?"

"Why?"

"Because--" He sighed and covered his eyes with his hand. "--it just amazes me how you can turn it on and off like that."

"Who said it was off?"

"What?" He looked at her and she only smiled. "Tease."

"It's not off." She repeated and this time he looked over at her and it felt okay to kiss her.

He held her gaze for a while until she turned on her side and touched his cheek, his neck. She leaned forward and touched her lips to his, lightly. He caressed her shoulder, down her arm and over the curve of her hip, past the fabric of her cotton panties, to the soft skin of her thigh. He never felt the need to memorize anything the way he wanted to memorize her body.

She shivered as he shifted his body closer to hers and brushed her hair to the side to kiss her neck. Her eyes closed and her lips parted at the feel of his tongue on the tender skin there. She reached to touch him but he gently pushed her on her back. He wanted to give her that.

He kissed her once. A soft, lingering kiss, but as much as he loved the idea of pacing himself, he wanted more. He kissed her again, deeper, longer this time as he eased the lower half of his body between her thighs. They were both breathless when they pulled apart and he took her shortage of breath as a good sign when his lips traveled lover to her jaw line, her collar bone. He pushed her shirt up, letting his palms run over her stomach in the process.

The sheets had been kicked off the bed and the morning light shone on both of them through the hotel curtains.

She couldn't think straight. Her mind was clouded as Alex tugged at the clasp of her bra and quickly slipped it off her body. Before she could say or do anything, his mouth was on her again, his lips wrapped around her nipple while his hand mimicked his mouth's actions on the other. She bit back a moan and her neck arched as hi free hand roamed inside her thighs, doing everything but what she wanted him to do.

She lifted her hips slightly and he chuckled against her skin. Releasing her now moist nipple from his mouth, he moved back up and kissed her again. "You need to wait."

She smile wickedly and pulled his head back down, capturing his lips again as her hands snaked under his shirt, feeling his lower back arch a bit under her touch and his muscles moving as he did. She grabbed hold of the shirt and pulled it over his head, tossing it carelessly on the floor. He smiled down on her before slipping one of his hands south and played with the waistband of her underwear.

He watched her squirm under him, purposely shifting her hips so that she grazed his erection. He finally slipped his fingers inside the elastic and pushed down, over her hips. He kissed her again, then used both hands to get rid of the garment completely.

He kissed her stomach and made her giggle as he tickled her bellybutton with his tongue before trailing a path to lower regions.

She spread her legs co accommodate him and she moaned in anticipation, biting her lip as she closed her eyes when his tongue finally lapped where she needed him to.

He tasted her, slowly, taking his time in leaving his mark all around her, finding pleasure in just hearing her response. The sighing and the tiny moans only urged him to continue. She began to shift her pelvis, and her hand came to rest atop his head. He smiled and wrapped his lips around her clit, licking and ever so gently grazing his teeth against her, then wrapping his lips around her again as he suckled and he brought two fingers and dipped them inside her, pushing slowly with every thrust, curving his fingers once inside. The moaning got louder and he had to bring his free hand to steady her hips as her hips thrust forward against his fingers. He rubbed her leg as he continued until she was completely still and her hand fell away from his head and she sighed his name contently.

She felt him crawl up her limp body and kiss her neck and cheek before she turned to him. She saw him lick his fingers and smile and she couldn't help but want to return the favor. She moved atop him and leaned down to kiss him, and he tasted like her. She paid special attention to his bottom lip, biting it and kissing it--licking it before trailing kisses down his neck, his chest, where she latched onto one sensitive nipple and carefully placed it between her teeth.

He hissed and covered his eyes with his hands when her hand traveled down and cupped him over his boxers. "No, Callie. Don't."

She ignored him and smirked against his chest, slipping his hand under the boxers and wrapping her hand around his length. She kissed her way down his torso, until she reached the waistband and slipped her fingers just under it. "Up."

Alex shook his head.

She frowned up at him. "Alex, lift your hips."

"NO. If you do what I think you're going to do, this is not going to last long." He said sternly, raising his upper body and resting on his weight in his elbows.

She smirked and lowered her lips back to his stomach, just above the elastic waistband.

He watched her, helplessly and began to complain when he felt her hand slip inside from the leg of his boxers. Her nails grazed him and his hips lifted subconsciously. He groaned as she slipped off his underwear and wrapped her lips around him before he could oblige. Her mouth was warm and her tongue was doing all the right things but there would be other times.

He begrudgingly grabbed her shoulders and lifted her so that they were face to face. He nuzzled her neck as she moved to straddle him and he ran his hands up and down her thighs. She smiled as he kissed her nose, then her cheek. She lifted her head and he traced the swell of her bottom lip before leaning forward and kissing her.

She sighed into his mouth as his hands moved around her back and lower, grasping her behind and pushing her closer against him.

She lifted her hips, feeling the tip of him at her waiting entry. They both seemed to hold their breaths, their eyes glued to the others, as she lowered herself onto him until she filled with all of him. They took deeper breaths as they stayed still. Not moving, not speaking. Just taking in the feel of each other.

She moved her arms over his shoulder and wrapped them around his neck, leaning forwards to kiss him, deeply and she began to move. Slowly. He let her find a comfortable pace, forcing himself to not move, stealing a kiss or two once in a while.

She groaned as he slid deeper into her every time she moved. As both their breaths quickened and his hold on her hips tightened, he began to thrust up and she had to toss her head back with a moan. He thrust his hips upward at her pace, burying his face in her neck as she tightened her muscles around him, moaning along with her and moving one of his hands away from her hip and up her slightly slick back, which arched under his touch.

He pulled her even closer, her breasts pressed tightly against his chest as their thrusts became shorter and sharper, their bodies slicker with sweat and their kisses more eager. When he felt he wouldn't last much longer, he somehow managed to slip one hand between them and found her clit, massaging it with his fingers. She whimpered and let out a loud moan as she rocked her orgasm and Alex once again pressed his face to her neck and did the same, licking and biting at her collar bone in between groans.

They remained entangled in silence, eyes locked, only the sound of their ragged breaths filling the silence, until she began to shiver. They collapsed on the mattress and Alex reached for the blankets that had been tossed on the floor.

He covered both their bodies as he spooned up to Callie and pressed his nose deep into her hair and wrapped one arm tightly around her as his eyes closed. "What do you think?" He mumbled almost incoherently.

"Mm--" She let out, her eyes closed, her body resting against his, exhausted. "--I think we just started a really big project."

He smiled and kissed the back of her neck as they both drifted off to sleep.