Chapter 3

It was a morning like any other at Seattle Grace. The board was crammed full of scheduled surgeries, the locker room clamored with recent gossip, and the nurses spread more news about the recent goings-on. By now every intern knew that McDreamy would be working like one of them under the supervision of the Nazi. Most the female interns swooned at the idea of working with Dr. McDreamy, and secretly wished their resident was Bailey.

Alex strolled in the locker room and spotted his clothes on the bench where all of Dr. Bailey's interns were.

"You got a present Alex," Meredith said referring to the clothes. "There's a note but whoever wrote it didn't sign their name." Of course by now everyone had read it. There was no such thing as privacy at this hospital.

Alex opened the now slightly crumpled piece of paper. It read, "You wouldn't believe where I found these." Silently Alex pondered where his elusive clothes could have been, but gave up almost immediately, deciding that he didn't want to know.

"Nice job kicking the crap out of McDreamy," Cristina said in an amused tone, pulling him away from thoughts of Addison's hotel room and the things they had done there.

"He did not beat Derek up," Meredith argued.

"That's not what I heard. Bailey saw it. Karev had McDreamy pinned."

Alex ignored the two bickering friends. The last thing he wanted to think about was Derek when his mind kept wandering back to very pleasant memories involving a certain redhead.

"He's a wrestler, of course he'd pin Derek."

"And you're taking Evil Spawn's side why?" Meredith questioned.

"… I don't know," Cristina quickly changed the subject, "So, Evil Spawn. Who's the girl?"

"Don't know what you're talking about, Yang," Alex fished through the pants that Addison found and took out his wallet.

"It's going to get out sooner or later. You might as well tell us now." Meredith joined in on the interrogation.

"Very persuasive but uh, no."

"It's probably some nurse anyway," Cristina muttered.

Before Alex could say anything Bailey marched it. "Time for round people. Get moving!"

The group of interns was making their way down the hall when they saw Dr. Shepherd. He seemed to be arguing with someone they'd never seen before.

"Dr. Shepherd! Aren't you with me for the next few weeks?" Bailey asked in an annoyed tone. "Leave the poor substitute alone."

Derek grumbled profanities under his breath. He hadn't thought that the Chief would go as far as to get another surgeon to do his job while he was working for Bailey. "Dr. Shepherd. We're doing rounds." Bailey continued down the hall to the first patient's room. Derek unenthusiastically followed them.

The first half of rounds went well; Derek even presented one case without too much resentment. Meredith was assigned to Callie for the day and George to the substitute. The remainder of the group made their way to the gynecology area of the hospital.

"Okay who's presenting?" Addison asked.

Alex answered, "I am." He glanced down at some charts and started to recite, "Audrey Lane, admitted this morning for excess amount of vomiting." Alex locked eyes with Addison.

"And how do we know it's not just normal morning sickness?"

Most of the doctors in the room noticed that the two of them were gazing at each other intently, paying minimal attention to the patient and the other doctors in the room. Derek noticed this first and could see the electricity between them.

"She's lost almost five percent of her body weight, and should be monitored in case of dehydration due to the vomiting." Alex stated

"Good." Addison flashed a smile then faced the patient. "So Miss Lane it looks like you'll be staying here for a few days."

As the group started to exit the room Addison quietly whispered, "Uh Karev, could I have a word with you?" Alex fell back to stand next to Addison and together they watched Bailey and the other interns until the group was far enough to not overhear their conversation. "I have this great surgery later on today. If you can drag yourself away from Mark today I could let you scrub in" Addison offered.

Alex smiled. "It'll be hard getting away from Sloan but I'm sure I can find a way." He winked at her and left the room, catching up with the others just as Bailey began to give out the remaining assignments.

"Yang, Stevens, pit. Karev, Sloan. Derek…"

Alex cut her off, "Actually I was wondering if I could work with Dr. Montgomery today."

Bailey sighed, "You want to go into plastics. You'll learn a hell of a lot more about it from Sloan than you will from Dr. Montgomery." She knew that Mark wasn't letting Alex do anything but get him coffee but sooner or later he'd have to let Alex in on a surgery. "Derek you're with Addison today." Derek frowned in disapproval but dutifully met up with Addison in front of her patient's room.

"What do you want?" Addison snapped seeing him waiting for her.

"Whoa I'm sensing a little bit of hostility here."

"I thought we were going to be friends, Derek. You wanted to be friends. I try to talk to you but you just keep pushing me away. Friends don't do that."

Derek looked down. He had been ignoring her a bit but only to avoid a conversation he didn't want to have, "I'm assigned to you today." He said answering Addison's question.

"Ahh, well that explains why you're talking to me." Addison informed Derek of her schedule for the day, "I have a c-section in a few minutes. You'll scrub in for that and afterwards I have three other patients that need to be checked on, so make sure to see them immediately after the c-sec. I also need their charts updated and I've got another surgery in the afternoon." Addison knew that she was giving Derek a lot of work but technically he was an intern and with the title came the heavy work load.

Derek groaned, "You're torturing me for ignoring you right?"

"Don't you remember your intern years?" she asked.

"Yeah and I especially remember how much I hated them." Derek grouched.

Addison just smiled and walked away.

- - -

It was lunch and Addison had just sat down at an empty table with a tray of very questionable-looking meat and other assorted foodstuffs. Staring unhappily at the unappetizing mess on her plate, she started picking at the food with her spork only to recoil in shock and disgust when a gooey liquid oozed out of a hole in the crust of the imitation meat. What the hell were they serving in this hospital? Deciding that she didn't want to eat something she couldn't even identify, Addison pushed the tray away and opened a book. Before she could get started reading, however, Alex plopped his tray on the table and took a seat next to her.

"Do you know what this … thing is?" Alex asked referring to the foreign looking objects on his tray.

Addison closed her book, "I'd rather not know."

Alex stabbed his spork into the meat, "Well it can't hurt to try." He took a small bite and immediately started gagging. Addison giggled at the disgusted look on Alex's face. He crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry but your expression when you put that thing in your mouth…" she burst out laughing again.

Alex glared, "I'm going to get a sandwich or something… Want anything?"

"Actually a salad sounds good." Alex nodded and headed off to the cafeteria. Addison followed him with her eyes until she saw Callie staring at her with a smug grin on her face. Addison sighed as Callie made her way over to the table.

"So you and Karev huh? I knew it would happen sooner or later."

"No, there's no Karev and I," Addison denied. "There's Karev, and then there's me."

"Oh there's something going on between you two. I know it," Callie decided to pursue another subject. "So how's your day with McDreamy going?"

Addison gave her an incredulous look, "I can't believe you just called my ex, McDreamy. You've been hanging out with the interns way too much. He thinks I've been torturing him. He even gave me a new name - McSatan."

Callie snorted, "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Addison laughed.

The two girls became silent as Alex came back with the food. Callie could practically see the tension her presence was causing. "Um I have this really important thing that I just remembered I have to do so I'm going to go do it" she mumbled, standing up. "See ya later."

With Callie's departure, the mood at the table lightened considerably.

Taking a bite of his sandwich, Alex asked, "So, do you still need an intern for that surgery?"

"Did you get away from Mark?" Alex nodded, "I'm in OR two in an hour."

A few tables away Meredith, Izzie, Cristina, and George avidly watched the exchange.

"What… is he doing?"

"He brought her food."

"They're laughing." The interns were in awe. They remembered how not too long ago Alex would rant and complain about Addison and the gynie squad.

"Alex sucking up to Addison is making me sick. I'm leaving." Cristina finally stated.

"Yeah, me too." Meredith got up. Izzie shrugged and started to walk away too, leaving just George.

"Hey guys wait up!" George shouted, heading off to catch up with them.

- - -

Addison strode down the hall in the direction of OR two. Derek caught up and started walking alongside her.

After a minute or so Addison spoke. "You're following me."

"Yes."

"Don't follow me. It's kind of creepy."

"You have a surgery. I want to scrub in." he declared.

Addison started to feel a little guilty, "Oh… are you sure? I mean I didn't think you were interested in my field and so… and… well"

"You're rambling."

"I, um, don't need anymore help on this one. Another intern is already scrubbing in."

"Oh," Derek actually sounded disappointed.

"Yeah, but at least you get a break from running around, you deserve it." Addison offered.

Derek mumbled something she couldn't make out and turned the other way. Addison sighed. Being with Derek all day was exhausting.

- - -

It seemed like Addison had held her breath throughout the whole surgery. It was a delicate procedure and one minor mistake could have resulted in a complete disaster. There were a few moments of uncertainty but the patient made it through and the surgery was a success.

Addison let out a big sigh of relief and smiled happily as she walked to the large stainless sink in the scrub room. Everything was so much sweeter after a good surgery.

Alex, too, was ecstatic, "Man, that was amazing!" he exclaimed. "The best surgery I've ever scrubbed in on. You were great!"

"You were pretty good yourself," Addison complimented.

"We should go to Joe's tonight."

"What? Why?"

"This was a tough surgery. We should celebrate not screwing up."

Addison contemplated it, "I don't know Karev…"

"Come on. You know you want to, and plus I still owe you."

Addison hesitated, "Okay."

"Okay?" Alex was surprised. He'd been sure that she was going to turn him down. "Okay," He said with more confidence.

Addison wondered if she was making the right decision but decided not to dwell on it. After all, she deserved to have a little fun.

- - -