A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys. Sorry about the late update, I was working on a few other things.

Chapter 9-

The four doctors sat there without a sound.

Meredith started fidgeting with the neckline of her shirt, "So…" She began, not being able to stand the awkward silence. She and Alex had never been really close, so she wasn't too sure what she should say.

"Sooooo Alex," Izzie repeated, stretching out her words. "Is everything alright?"

"Yep," Alex replied. Then there was another silence.

Izzie picked at her food, but couldn't hold what she wanted to ask any longer, "So what happened?"

"You really want to know?" Meredith and Izzie nodded in unison. "It stays between us," Alex shifted his eyes and paused. "I woke up late this morning and decided to sleep in, and that's what happened," he confided.

Cristina laughed, chocking on her hotdog. "Nice. You should have seen the disappointment on your faces!" Alex smirked; the expressions on Meredith's and Izzie's face were priceless. Cristina got up to leave but the look Izzie shot her sat her back down, "Alright Karev, are you going to tell us what happened or not?"

"Cristina!" Izzie and Meredith exclaimed simultaneously.

"Nope," Alex said flatly.

"Even if we beg and pled and nag?" Cristina continued even after Izzie kicked her under the table.

"Yep."

"See guys? He doesn't want to talk about it. He probably wants to be alone so let's just go," Cristina got up and started to leave.

"Cristina, hold on." Izzie grabbed her arm. "We're not here to get gossip or anything. We're your friends, we care. If you want to talk to us you can," Izzie said genuinely. "Any of us," she emphasized, glancing at Cristina.

Alex nodded and the three women left to go back to their original table. "Why'd you have to be so insensitive back there?" Izzie dropped her tray down.

Cristina sat down and shrugged, "What?"

"I know you don't like Alex, but God Cristina, you could have at least been a little less rude."

"Whatever. I was just doing him a favor. Not everyone wants to talk about their feelings. They have different ways of dealing," Cristina responded. "I have some research to do," she picked up her tray with her half eaten food and left.

Izzie stared in awe after her, "Wow. Maybe in a way she does care."

Meredith nodded, "Sure, in some twisted alternate universe."

"Maybe just a little bit," Izzie shrugged.

"I guess it's… possible."

Behind them Alex slumped down in his seat and let out an inaudible sigh.

- - -

Richard hurried into the elevator just barely making it before it closed. "Richard," Derek greeted him with a goofy smile. "You are late."

The chief pushed the button for his floor. "I had some car trouble," he replied wearily. "Oh, Derek did you get a chance to talk with Addison?"

Derek shook his head, "I thought it would have been better if Dr. Karev talked with her." He said somewhat unhappily.

The elevator stopped. "I see," Richard respond thoughtfully and stepped out of the elevator and headed towards his office.

Richard pulled out his keys and unlocked the door to his office. He glanced at the pile of papers, which seemed to grow bigger each day. He decided that he would get started going through it, after he checked the board and had some coffee. He was about to leave when a manila envelope caught in the corner of his eye. He didn't remember it being there before. It sat right on top of the mound of papers. Richard opened the envelope and pulled out a sheet of paper. He pulled out a piece of paper and skimmed through it.

It was Addison's letter of resignation.

- - -

"Count backwards from 10, Ms. Vance," Derek told his patient, while the anesthesiologist put a mask over her face.

"Ten, nine, eight, sev…" as soon as she was knocked out, the mask came off.

Suddenly the doors slid open and the chief entered, sterilized. Derek glanced up, "Richard... what are you doing here?"

"I'll be assisting you," Richard moved to the other side of the operating table.

Derek started to protest, "Chief, I'm pretty sure I can handle this one myself, I've done it at least--"

Richard leaned in slightly and in a low whisper he said, "And there's something we need to talk about."

- - -

It was a busy day for the interns; most of them were assigned to the pit. There weren't any interesting surgeries and on a normal day they wouldn't be worth kissing up to, to get in on. However most of them attempted to get into one, so they didn't have to attend to the tedious things in the ER.

By the late evening the commotion died down and the interns could take a break. Alone, Cristina sat against the wall, on one of the gurneys, munching on a bag of chips. Walking down the long brick hallway, Alex noticed Cristina and sat down next to her. Cristina stuck out the bag of chips, offering some to Alex. He grabbed some and they ate in silence for a few minutes.

"I think we broke up," Alex said, about his relationship with Addison.

"You really liked her didn't you?" Alex nodded. "You don't want to talk about it or whatever, do you?" Cristina asked, somewhat doubtful that he would want to.

"No."

Cristina was somewhat relieved. "Okay." They then sat there, eating chips.

- - -

With a little bottle of vodka, from the mini-bar, in one hand, Addison sat down on her bed, finishing up the last drop of her drink. All her belongings were packed into two large suitcases, which were placed next to the door.

There was a soft knock at the door, then a louder one. She put on her slippers, walked over to the door and opened it. Somehow she wasn't surprised at who was at the door. "Why is it never room service?" she wondered aloud. "Come in, I guess."

Derek offered a small smile and sat down on the edge of the bed. Addison stayed standing, waiting for an explanation for his visit. "So I heard you were leaving."

She nodded, "Tomorrow I'm going to California to see Naomi. You remember her don't you?"

"Addison," Derek started. "You don't have to leave. Whatever it is you're going through, you can get through it."

Addison sat down next to him, "No Derek I don't think I can. It's the ferries, the rain, everything."

"You have people who care for you here. Everything else doesn't matter." Derek comforted in a reassuring voice. He got up and started to the door "Think about it," He said as he headed out of Addison's hotel room.

Lazily falling back on her bed, Addison sighed. It was a hard choice to make, however it wasn't something she should think about more thoroughly. Yawning, Addison decided she would sleep on it and slowly drifted off.

When Addison woke up she didn't feel any differently about her situation. Sluggishly, Addison got out of bed and started to get ready for her long drive to Santa Monica.

- - -

A/N: Don't worry all will resolve itself by next chapter, hopefully. Reviews would be absolutely lovely.