HER HEART
Maddison fic, a few years after Addison leaves Seattle Grace. She and Mark are at the same conference in Paris when a cruel coincidence brings them together. Can they fall back into place beside each other or is the past too much to overcome?
Disclaimer: I don't own Greys, Shonda owns it all, damn her.
SPOILER WARNING - spoilers for season three, but not big ones!
Addison Montgomery tossed and turned for an hour. She could sleep. She had cleaned her teeth three times, but she couldn't get the taste of him out of her mouth. She had washed her face, but she could still feel his hands cradling it gently, lovingly. It was deadly silent, but she couldn't get his words out of her head. You are lonely, I know you are. I love you. Addie, we are meant to be together.
She sobbed quietly into her pillow. There was a strip of moonlight across her face, where the curtains didn't quite pull together. Her head was beginning to throb like mad, the aftermath of her drinking and the beginning of the worst hangover ever. She slowly raised her head from the pillow, tears streaming down her face. Silently she opened the door to her room, and crept across the suite.
She edged open Mark's door and stood in the doorway, the moonlight illuminating her. He sat up slowly.
"What?" he asked. She could tell from his voice that he hadn't slept either.
"I am lonely." She said simply and walked across the room towards him. He lifted the bed covers and she slid under them next to him. He wrapped his arms slowly around her, as if he was nervous and she was something fragile he could break. She lay down close to him and he slid down beside her, kissing her face lightly, stroking her hair and holding her to him.
"Why?" she whispered, closing her eyes in response to his kisses.
"What?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbow and smiling down at her face, lit by the thin strip of moonlight that graced his pillow.
"Why didn't you fight for me? It wouldn't have taken much, you know. All you had to do was tell me you loved me and I would have stayed for you."
He kissed her lips softly, savouring the taste of her, terrified that she would run away again.
"Derek tried to fight for you, and it drove the two of you apart. I thought that you had fallen out of love with me, like you once told me you had with him. I didn't think that I could fight for something that I could never have."
She brought her hands up to his face.
"I never fell out of love with you, Mark. I thought you had fallen out of love with me."
"Never," he said gently, "I could never stop loving you, and you should know that by now, Addison."
She kissed the tip of his nose. "Call me Addie, please." She whispered, and she felt his laugh.
"We have two more days of this convention. Then I have to go back to LA and you go back to Seattle and then what, Mark?"
"I've got another week here…Addie. Couldn't you call in sick and we could stay here? A romantic week in Paris, the love city?"
She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled up even closer to him.
"I thought Paris was the gay city?"
He kissed her neck, sending shivers down her spine. "Shut up." He said, and moved his kisses down over her shoulder. She shuddered, and he stopped, brought his head up and looked into her eyes.
"Sorry. We can just cuddle if you want. I don't want to rush into anything and spoil this. It's a week in Paris, and then we really need to think about it. Where we're going to end up, where we're going to be... together."
At that, she kissed him deeply, passionately, making his heart pound. "Together." she echoed. "I want you so much." She whispered in his ear, leaving him struggling for breath. "And a week in Paris sounds great…"
She trailed off. Mark had started to kiss her.
Addison Forbes Montgomery had forgotten how good it felt to be kissed and held and touched by someone who you loved, who loved you back. She had forgotten how helpless she felt in Mark's arms, and how much she loved it. She had forgotten how he would whisper to her, telling her how beautiful she was and how much he wanted to be with her forever. She had even forgotten how, afterwards, when they were both exhausted and panting, he would put both his arms around her and hold her to him tightly, kissing her forehead and playing with her hair, his hot skin burning against her hot skin.
"You're still wonderful." He said gently, his fingers entwined in her hair.
"So are you." She whispered, "I love you, Mark."
She felt him freeze, his fingers stopping against her scalp.
"Thank you." He said breathlessly, and kissed her mouth, his fingers moving again in her hair and then drawing away to wrap her in his arms, kissing the top of her head.
"For what?" she giggled.
"For loving me back. I… I thought that there might be someone else, and that I was just a one night – one week – stand for you. I thought maybe you would go to LA afterwards and never see me again."
"No, no, no." she soothed, "I love you I love you I love you." She was murmuring feverishly now, and her eyes were filling.
"I love you too." He whispered, "Please don't cry."
She sniffed, "It's just…it's just…this is so perfect."
"I know, I know." He murmured, and she buried her face in his neck. "Sleep now, Addie. I'll be here when you wake up."
"Don't ever leave me again, Mark." She whispered.
"I didn't leave you!" he said, mock indignant.
"Yes, but…" she began.
"Yes, but." He mocked softly and rocked her in his arms.
"I'm going to stay with you forever, whether you like it or not." She said, a few minutes later.
"I will like it." He replied, "But you should be asleep."
She smiled, and he felt her lips curl in his shoulder.
"Love you." She said.
"Love you too."
And then she watched as he fell asleep. The man who had captured her mind, her body, and finally her heart.
