A/N: Sorry about the delay in getting this up, but I suddenly developed a social life and was out of my house most of the time. And I'm thinking that the cat that hates me offers inspiration and the fact that I only dealt with her once this week (and that she no longer seems to hate me) is a factor in how long this took me to write. And…that's enough of that, so I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Addison had a cell phone. She rarely used it. Technology left her bemused and more than a little frustrated. She'd had Preston program his phone number in before he left because she was ninety percent sure that she had no idea what she was doing. Most people used the good old-fashioned landline telephone if they wanted to reach her. It was kind of nice that way because now whenever her cell phone rang, she was pretty confident that Preston would be on the other end.

They had begun scheduling phone dates. It had started off as a weekly thing, then slipped into bi-weekly, and now it was pretty much a nightly affair.

Their first conversation had been full of sappy clichés and long silences where they were trying to avoid anything that would make the distance seem farther. It was understood that they would not discuss missing each other or visiting. Surgeons had few vacations and Preston had used up his. On the one and only occasion where he had suggested that Addison come for a visit, he had been treated to a long, involved monologue detailing all the things that could potentially go wrong if she went to Seattle. Addison had clearly put a lot of thought into this, judging by the many scenarios in which Seattle Grace employees would come across them while they were out on the town.

"You could always spend the entirety of your trip in my apartment. Preferably naked," he had offered, but she had laughingly declined.

"I know my scenarios are lacking in plausibility," she had explained, "but with our lives up to this point, it seems like anything could happen."

He conceded on that point, but still dubbed her paranoid and ridiculous. After that, there was no more mention of Addison flying out to Seattle.

Their phone conversations had rules. They were mutually agreed upon and only put in place after the fact. Incidents would occur and they would realize that, in order to continue happily, it would have to never be talked of or done again.

Rule number one was no phone sex. They had tried it once after Addison had joking said that she "needed some and needed some right now." Preston was never one to decline a lady's request, so they had made an attempt. And it had been awkward and uncomfortable and fulfilled neither of them, especially after they had experienced the real thing.

Rule number two was no bashing of the exes. Addison had made a flippant remark about "Yang's cold and unfeeling personality" and Preston had retaliated by calling Karev and selfish and arrogant mini-Sloan. Both felt stings at the digs at their most recent break-ups (although Addison bitterly wondered if it counted as a break-up if you were never really boyfriend/girlfriend to begin with) even though neither harbored feelings for them.

Rule number three was that one could never put the other on hold. That rule had been instated after Preston (it had to have been Preston – the last time Addison had tried to put some on hold, she had succeeded in hanging up on both parties) had gotten a call from Bill, his best friend, and had let Addison sit on hold for fifteen minutes before she hung up and then left an angry message on his answering machine.

Rule number four was that they couldn't hang up on each other. They had conflicting viewpoints in some matters and Addison could get quite heated as they debated. Preston had found it quite a turn-on, but when her told her that, he found he was left listening to a dial tone.

Rule number five was that they could only have sexually suggestive conversations on days when they didn't have to go to work. They had been having a heated conversation of a different sort when Preston had been paged from the on-call room and had had to delay coming in until after he had taken a cold shower throughout which he thought about old nuns and ruptured spleens. Addison had been amused even if Preston hadn't.

Rule number six was that Addison couldn't set the phone down while cooking. Preston had taken to walking her through making a few dishes starting from pasta and working their way up. The last time he had been giving her instructions, she had set the phone down to do something and all Preston heard was the sound of something catching on fire and a shriek. When Addison had recovered, he learned that she had almost completely singed off her eyebrows and that the Cajun chicken was now a lump of charcoal. He had told her sternly that she was not allowed to set the phone down anymore so that something like that would never happen again. "I'm a surgeon," she had said, "I can do this." "Your eyebrows," he told her, "say otherwise."

---

Addison found herself counting down to the time when her phone would ring and she would hear his voice on the other end. She felt that if she pressed her ear against the phone even harder, it would somehow bring him closer to her. She knew it was slightly irrational to refuse to go to Seattle but the last thing she wanted was for their lives to be once again subject to the nurse's gossip mongering.

With that aside, she greatly enjoyed their conversations. No longer were there long pauses where they tried to figure out whether or not the other one was flirting with them. It was a safe bet that they were always flirting.

Addison missed the feeling of dating. She wanted to dress up and go out to dinner and be flirted with in person. She wanted to feel that burst of excitement when his leg would accidentally brush against hers or the electricity through her fingers as they drifted across his hand. She didn't know the next time she would be able to do that. Between conversations she seriously considered taking a trip to Seattle. After a certain point, she just couldn't stand how long it had been since she had last seen Preston.

"What if I just came up for the weekend?" she asked, more than a little nervously. Seattle seemed like a distant and frightening city now, but the prospect of seeing Preston made the idea a little less scary.

Preston tried to sound indifferent because he didn't know how for sure this suggestion was. "It would be a good weekend. And we could do that naked in my apartment thing."

Addison laughed, albeit a little timidly. "Maybe…maybe in a few weekends, I'll fly up there."

---

A few weekends passed and sure enough, Addison did fly up to Seattle. When Addison saw Preston casually waiting by the baggage claim with his hands resting in his pockets, she paused for a moment just to take him in. Then he turned and saw her, and they practically flew into each other's arms. Addison couldn't remember a better reunion. Passers-by didn't seem to be able to decide whether to look disgusted or give in to their jealousy.

A good part of the weekend was spent with Addison naked in Preston's apartment, but some of it was spent out in public, and while Addison was extremely paranoid, Preston holding her hand helped assuage some of her fear. They stayed away from the hospital and anywhere that people from Seattle Grace might show up. They enjoyed a fancy dinner in which Addison did get to dress up and Preston allowed his knees to touch hers whenever he leaned forward and she let her hand graze his as she reached for the bread. As wonderful as the weekend was, it did make it even harder for her to go back to Los Angeles without him. Their good-bye at the airport was less painful than when he had driven away from him, but it was still excruciating for her to enter the security line and watch him turn around and walk back to his car.

Addison got on the plane and felt extremely grateful that no one from her past had seen her the entire weekend. She settled into her seat and closed her eyes, trying to think of anything that would keep her mind off of Preston Burke.

As soon as the plane landed, she called him, careful to avoid any mention of how she missed him already.

"I told you that we would be safe from the prying eyes of Seattle Grace," he said, the humor evident in his voice.

"Who knows what would have happened if we had left your apartment more than once," she answered jovially.

"Which is why I thought it would be the best plan to not leave at all, but you seemed insistent on eating food."

"Well you seemed quite insistent on doing activities that required sustenance," she answered with a laugh. "Now I have to get home, but I assume that we'll talk later tonight."

"Of course. You should probably do some grocery shopping, too, because I found a new recipe to try." She heard him flipping through something.

"Oh, Preston. My eyebrows just grew back," she said, touching them with a slight grimace.

"It'll be fine if you just keep the phone pressed to your ear the entire time. That's why we made the rule. If you put it down, disaster will strike. That's how your chicken exploded the first time."

"It did not explode! The burner exploded. The chicken was fine."

"Until it turned into something that you could grill with."

Addison tried to be offended, but couldn't muster anything close to indignation. Instead they said their good-byes and Addison went home.

Addison had never before thought that she would be one of those women who would wait by their phone, but she hadn't thought that she'd be in a relationship with a man like Preston Burke. And so she waited for him to call.

A/N: So there you have it, I hope it satisfied all of your Burke/Addison needs. Have a wonderful day!