Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

How It Started

Mark scraped at his dish of creme brulee for one last bite and watched Addison pick at hers with a fork. She'd been exceptionally quiet throughout the entire meal while Derek chatted away with the other doctors seated at their table.

It worried him.

It had been a long time since he'd seen the two of them together, and their mannerisms toward each other had changed. Derek wasn't really talking to her at all, but occasionally, he rubbed her knee or her hand under the table to acknowledge her presence.

Mark couldn't deny that even just that small display of affection bothered him, especially after all the time they'd been spending together. Right now, he didn't want to deal with the morality of the fact that he might have the teenist crush on his best friend's wife. He turned a blind eye to her marital status, just like he did with every other married woman he fucked.

This was becoming increasingly difficult with her marital status right in front of him, laughing and making a joke.

He ached to take her home and spend the next few hours sitting peacefully on the couch. No one would notice their absence, not even Derek.

He was about to mention this to her when Derek's pager beeped.

Derek looked down and groaned. "Ugh. I have to go."

Mark didn't understand why Derek pretended that going to the hospital was such a chore. If he didn't love being there, he'd be home more often.

Addison looked like she was about to cry, sniffling and shaking slightly.

Derek watched her, more carefully than usual. "Do you want to come with me? If it's something that a resident can take care of, I'll spend the night with you in an on-call room."

Mark could have smacked him across the face at the moment. He kicked one of the legs of the table to release some of the energy. The entire table shook, jarring glassware, and causing everyone to look at him, including Addison who'd been spacing out for a half hour.

"Sorry," He made a face and reached down to massage his leg in faux pain. "Leg spasm."

"Ouch. I hate those." Addison instinctively stretched her arm out so their hands joined at the back of his knee. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Why did she have to care about him? And her fingers felt so wonderful tickling him at that exact spot.

"Addie?" Derek spoke, taking her away from him. "Ready to go?" He stood and placed his hand on the back of Addison's chair. "As long as you're okay, Mark, from your...leg spasm. I'm sure it hurt a lot. " His lips spread in a goofy grin, and Mark definitely did not appreciate the sarcasm.

Derek noticed that Mark wasn't smiling, and patted him on the back. "You know I'm kidding. Just stay off of it for a while." He leaned in to whisper to Mark. "And try not to get too lucky."

Mark laughed, genuniely happy that his friendship with Derek hadn't changed as much as Derek's marriage had. Maybe they could get back to where they were before Derek started being absent.

Derek tugged on Addison's arm. "Let's goooo..."

At least Addison looked at Mark before she left, her eyes pleading innocent. She consciously knew that she was abandoning him.

He shook his head in disbelief, angry that she wasn't even going to try to stay with him. Mark never would have guessed that Addison could be so submissive, especially after all that work she put forth to ward off the hot blonde- Tina, was it? Well, he supposed he could go and find her ready and willing to sleep with him, but it wouldn't be the same as Addison.

Derek started walking to the doors. "I'll get our coats. Wait here. I'll be back."

As soon as he was gone, Mark turned toward to Addison. "What are you doing?"

"I have to go." She appeared to be upset, but it didn't make him feel any better.

"Can't I just have one dance?" He watched her eyelashes flutter, and he knew he needed more than one dance with her.

"T-that would be good." She stuttered nervously. "Until Derek gets back."

She allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor when it seemed that none of the interns had ever taken a break for dinner.

He brought her into his arms and she was just tall enough that her chin could rest against his shoulder. He wished they could stay like this forever. He tried to told tight and enjoy every second, but his eyes kept wanderinig towards the door, where Derek would enter momentarily. He closed his eyes to stop his sense of time, and the DJ switched the songs.

It was Metallica's "Enter Sandman", and Mark's very first sign from God. He knew he couldn't let her leave now. He turned her in his hand, and pressed her backside hard against his thighs. He stared moving to the music, and held her in place. It took her a moment, but she followed his lead. He pulled her deeper into the crowd, so they couldn't be seen. They blended well, as everyone else was dancing like that.

But it was hot and sweaty and Mark could barely breathe. His fingers pressed against her stomach, and he could feel the smooth silk of her dress. He just wanted to grab a handful of that fabric at the skirt, but he settled for holding her tighter.

She was hot too, evident by the moisture on the back of her neck. He growled frustration into her ear, so that only she could hear, which made her move harder against him.

He wasn't ever going to let her go, not after everyone had left. He almost found the courage to kiss her neck.

But then he saw Derek, who had pushed through all the grinding interns to see Mark and Addison.

It felt like his stomach had leaped into his throat.

When Addison saw her husband, she knew it was going to be a long night.

He already had his coat on, and was holding hers, shaking it impatiently.

She almost forgot about Mark, dancing behind her, until his hand moved down to her hips, letting her know she wasn't going anywhere.

Not that she wanted to leave. The smell of his cologne mixed with sweat was absolutely intoxicating. His white shirt scratched against her bare arms, but the way he held her- she'd been longing to be touched like that for weeks. She held up her pointed finger, indicating to Derek that she wanted one more minute of feeling like she was worth something.

Derek didn't take it well, throwing her coat violently onto another table and stomping out of the room.

She tore away from Mark, leaving him in the middle of the crowd. She grabbed her coat and ran after Derek. "Wait!"

It wasn't until they were in a secluded part of the hallway that Derek finally turned around. "If you wanted to come, you shouldn't have been off gallivanting with Mark. Why did you hide from me?"

"I wasn't hiding," she protested. Mark had led her away from sight, for reasons unknown.

He paced the hallway, like he always did when he was nervous or upset. "I had to look for you. This is what I get, for wanting to spend time with my wife."

She wanted to make him see how self-righteous he was being, but she knew he wouldn't understand. Placing her hand on his chest, she stopped him from moving, "I really appreciate the 'effort' you are making, but I don't want to be with you out of convenience."

His eyes were wide with hurt. "Why were you dancing with Mark?"

"You wouldn't dance with me!" She threw her hands up in aggravation. Couldn't he be just a little empathetic?

"So you picked the next best thing? How many times do I have to tell you, Addie? I don't like to dance! And it would be nice if you respected that for once." He pulled his blackberry out of his pocket and checked the time. "We have to go now."

She ignored him. "Do you ever think about me? Ever? Because I want to stay and dance." She crossed her arms. He had no right to be jealous if he wasn't going to even try to make her happy.

"Dance like that? You looked like a slut." He shook his head as if he were embarrassed by her actions.

Addison felt the color rise in her chest and cheeks out of fury and humility. She couldn't open her mouth or she would scream at him and everyone would hear about their marriage troubles, even over the loud music.

He surprised her by taking a long stride towards her and kissing her close-mouthed.

They didn't move or breathe for a while. She started to feel light-headed and bored, so she pulled away.

He caught his breath, saying, "Can you be less selfish, just for tonight, and come with me?"

Addison pinched her bottom lip, and stared at him. He didn't love her. When people were in love, they didn't purposely hurt each other or use physical affection to get their way. She made her decision, "I can't go with you."

"Okay." He nodded and she thought she saw his eyes water.

She hadn't meant to make him cry. "I'll see you tommorrow, at the hospital. We'll do something," she offered.

He thought for a moment, staring into space, and then warned her, "Don't dnace with Mark." He still refused to look at her. "I know he'd never try anything, but when that guy gets sex in his head..." His voice trailed off and he grazed his knuckle against the back of her hand, as if anything else would be inappropriate. "Get home safely. I love you."

At this point, she didn't know if that was the truth or not. She kissed him on the cheek. "Love you too." She almost followed him, out of habit, and she stayed in the hallway until she couldn't see him anymore.

After a few minutes of thinking and standing, she made her way back to the banquet, but everything seemed slower and heavier than before. To her surprise, Mark was waiting just outside the door. He'd put the black jacket of his suit back on and stuffed his hands in the pockes. "You stayed," he observed.

She motioned to the door as she shuffled towards him. "Did anyone hear?"

"No," he smiled at her, "Damn music's too loud to hear yourself think."

She twisted her fingers together and looked up at him. "Did you hear?" She hoped not.

He shook his head. "Didn't want to."

"Good." She took a deep breath and tried to recollect herself so she could enjoy the rest of the party.

"Why? Did something happen?" His hands strained against his pockets.

She considered telling him what Derek had said. She knew Mark would side with her decision, but he'd be angry with Derek. And she didn't want them to risk their lifelong friendship over her. "We talked and I decided to stay here."

"Did he say something mean?" Mark watched her cautiously, as if analyzing every move she made.

In response, she threw her coat on a table and walked back to the dance floor to wait for him. She wasn't about to lie to Mark when Derek was the asshole.

Metallica wasn't playing anymore; it had been replaced by another slow R&B song. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hoisted herself up to bury her face into the shoulder of his jacket. He held her hand against his chest, letting her feel his pounding heart.

She couldn't get Derek out of her head, and felt her throat closing up at the thought of choosing Mark over her husband. It was wrong, completely out of character for her. Her face grew hot and her sight, clouded. Hating the sounds she made when she cried, she bit softly into Mark's jacket to muffle them. The rough material scraped against her tongue and tears seeped out of her eyes. No one noticed.

She opened her mouth a little to breathe and a moan escaped. She took her mouth off of him and wiped the saliva off his jacket. Mark twitched against her and the hand that had been resting on her low, low back slid upward to between her shoulder blades.

She knew he could feel her sobbing, and she felt guilty. It wasn't fair that he had to give up a night of great sex for an emotional, crying woman. She wasn't being any fun. In effort to be less boring, she tried to focus on happy thoughts.

"Are you okay?" He whispered. "Do you want to go home?"

She tensed her body to stop shaking. "No." She gripped his arm tighter and moved her face so their cheeks touched.

"I'm going to kill him for making you cry..."

"I'm not," she lied. This was exactly what she didn't want to happen.

"Then why is your face wet?" He stepped back a little to look at her, and locked his hands together just above her ass. It was dark, but he could still see her red-rimmed eyes.

With her newly freed hand, she touched his shoulder and subconsciously massaged it. "I'm okay. I promise." She tried to pull him back so he couldn't see her face.

His arms remained rigid. "Let's just stay like this for a minute."

She sniffled, but held eye-contact with him. Her gaze traveled over the side of his jaw, past his lips, and down his neck.

He brought his hand up to touch her face, and used his thumb to brush under her eyes. It was so relaxing that her eyelids drooped.

He said something so quietly that she didn't hear. She figured that he hadn't meant her to. He curled his arms around her waist, drawing her very close and locking her in. He lifted her on the balls of her feet and she rested her hand on his upper back.

They just danced like that for a while. She liked the feeling of being pressed up against him as close as possible. Another couple of slow songs played and she almost forgot about Derek.

But then a faster song began to play, and Mark grabbed one of her hands from his shoulder. He spun her around, standing behind her, and pressed her back against him, facing the other direction. She stood, stiff, unmoving and silent.

He tugged at her hips, reminding her to dance. "Come on."

"No thanks." She held onto his hands very loosely, and stayed still.

Other people began to bump into them, as they weren't following the beat. He used his strength to force her to sway, and she complied, for a minute or so. It wasn't like before. She was cold and somehow she'd become immune to his touch. Blindly, she pushed through the crowd, placing her hands on top of his to slide them off her body.

She felt him follow behind her, but she was smaller and could fit through the bumping bodies more easily. She was just out of the crowd when she felt a hand grab at her ass. Mark was there when she turned around, "Sorry. Didn't mean to..."

"Mark!" She yelled, this time, in front of everyone. "I said, 'No'!"

He stood startled, holding his hands up. Some people glanced at them, but most didn't notice. "Addison. I didn't-"

"No !" She ran, as well as she could, towards the bar. She couldn't look back at him because she knew he'd be sad. He really didn't do anything wrong, but she kept hearing Derek's voice in her head and she had to get a drink.

It wasn't far enough. He could still see her, but he wasn't following this time. She ordered a double scotch and hoped it would sooth her twisting stomach. The bartender winked at her, "Rough night?"

She let the liquid burn down her throat. "Yeah."

"I've had a few rough nights."

She looked up. He was cute. She rarely noticed cuteness on men anymore. She knew Mark was rugged, and Derek was dreamy, and every other guy- she just stopped paying attention. "Can I have another?"

"Sure," he laughed and poured. "What's your name?"

"Addi-idison." She took a sip this time, trying to make it last longer.

"Cool. I'm John." He made a motion to the other bartender.

She hunched over, suddenly exhausted. "I'm so tired."

He patted down next to him. "I gotta stool back here."

She looked over to the nearest table. She didn't think she could make it before she fell asleep. Using her arms, she pushed against the counter, drink in hand and dragged her feet. "Is it okay if I sit there?"

He helped her sit. "Wow, you are really sleepy."

She supposed all of this mess with Mark was catching up with her. She usually didn't stay up this late anyway, and after spending an hour dancing, it seemed reasonable that she would be tired. Not to mention all the emotional stress and alcohol.

He gave her the drink. "Here, sip this."

"Thank you." Oh, it wasn't her drink. But it was a wonderful fruity taste. "Can you just...hmmm?" She rested her head against him, and his beard tickled the top of her forehead.

Her eyelids drooped, and she searched for Mark. She needed to be taken home. "My friend..."

He was gone.

A/N: This is soooo long. There's only one more part. I promise.

I guess nothing really happened this chapter again, but a lot will happen next chapter. It's a big resolution!!

Thanks for reading!