A/n: Thank you to each and every reviewer, you guys are awesome, and your feedback is so encouraging! Now that the media has gotten a hold of Jack, what will happen next? Read on. ;)

Chapter 16

Jack began shoving through the crowd again and the noise level ramped back up as the shouting restarted in earnest. Addison practically clung to him, and couldn't help wondering if the pictures that were being taken would end up in the tabloids. She'd been the subject of gossip before, usually contained within Seattle Grace, however, and didn't much like the idea of having her face – which probably looked quite frightened right about now – splashed over every newsstand.

Jack and Addison made it to the doors and squeezed through them into the hospital's front entry way. The doors slid closed behind them, muffling the din from the swarm outside. Inside, people were scattered about staring and talking in rushed tones and she could see Jack's face become flushed as a result of the attention.

"I didn't know – I wasn't even here," he sputtered, striding rapidly towards the elevators and Addison hurried to keep up. "She was probably here for me, and I wasn't – "

"Jack, you couldn't have known – "

"And now everyone knows, and they came here – "

"We should have gone around back when we saw them, I'm sorry – "

He stopped so suddenly she nearly ran into him. "No, Addison," he said, grabbing her hand tight. "I am sorry. I'm sorry I never told you the truth about who I am, and what happened to me. I should have a long time ago. I'm sorry you had to find out like this."

"It's ok, Jack, really."

He shook his head and practically pulled her into the next open elevator, where they were mercifully alone.

"It's not ok. You're the closest friend I have right now and it's not fair that I was keeping everything a secret from you."

She could see the pain in his eyes and wanted nothing more to make him feel better. She squeezed his hand and blurted,

"I already know, Jack, and it's ok. We didn't know the press would be here, or that Kate – "

He straightened and his whole demeanor changed instantly. "You knew?"

Feeling suddenly inexplicably nervous, she replied cautiously. "Yes, I know about… about the crash, and about Kate."

He dropped her hand. "How long have you known?"

"Just a few weeks – "

"A few weeks? Did you know the night in the bar when I said I'd been in a major accident?"

She couldn't understand why he seemed so abruptly angry but replied, "I found out afterwards. I… I looked you up on the internet."

It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now standing before him, the way he was looking at her made her wish that she had never found anything out. He took a step away from her.

"You looked me up." He turned his gaze away from her and she didn't know what to do.

The elevator dinged, they disembarked and still he hadn't said anything else. The silence was ice cold and Addison didn't know how to break it, especially since she was at a loss to understand the depth of his anger at her. She almost had to jog to keep up with him as he made his way swiftly to the senior resident's locker room, ignoring the looks and whispers from staff members as they passed by.

"Jack – "

He threw open the door with a bang and she noted with immense relief that because it was the early shift, there wasn't anyone else here yet.

"Jack," she tried again and when he still wouldn't look at her, she reached out to touch his arm.

He recoiled as though her touch had burnt him. "Don't."

"Just tell me why you're so furious with me!" Addison pleaded.

He slammed open his locker door. "I came here to get away from everything that happened. I just needed to start over. The crash was… it changed me, and I cannot get over it. Not yet. And I was trying to leave it behind me, and I can't even begin to tell you what a relief it was that no one here recognized me, that no one here knew who I was."

He finally faced her now. "I trusted you enough to start to let you in. And you couldn't offer the same trust that I would tell you when I was ready. You had to go behind my back and find out your own way. Now everything is different."

"Nothing has changed! I'm still here, I'm still your friend, I still – "

"No, don't you get it?" he snapped. "It's over! Everything has changed! I can't pretend that nothing happened, I can't just be Jack or Dr. Shephard – it's always going to be the guy who survived a plane crash and everyone has to treat me like I'm breakable or if they say the wrong word, I'll lose it or something. They'll look at me with that look and I already did that once, I can't do it again. That's why I left LA!"

Addison's eyes glistened with tears as she listened to the ache in Jack's voice. She desperately wished she could do something – anything – to fix this or make it better.

"On top of that, now everyone knows about Kate. They all know she was here to see me, and they'll all know about my past with her." His anger seemed to have subsided and his shoulders slumped. "I can't be just anybody anymore."

"But you're not just anybody," Addison said intently. "And you did survive a plane crash. You can't hide that. I'm sorry that it came out this way, but you had to know it would happen sooner or later, didn't you?"

His jaw muscles clenched tight. For what felt like several minutes, the silence stretched. Then, in barely more than a whisper, Jack said,

"Do you ever feel like… like you're just hanging on by a thread?"

Addison didn't have a chance to reply, however, as the door to the locker room swung open and Erica Hahn entered, followed by Mark.

"It's not a matter of will or won't, Sloan," she was saying. "We work together and that means – "

Hahn stopped as she and Mark caught sight of Jack and Addison.

"Jack, we heard," Mark said sympathetically.

"Kind of hard not to with that media circus out there." Hahn put in.

"I remember hearing about that plane thing too, way back. I can't believe you were on that. Man, I'm so sorry." Mark shook his head.

Stop talking! Addison mentally shouted. She could feel Jack stiffening beside her and she tried to glare at Mark, wishing he would read her mind.

"It must have been awful to endure an experience like that." Hahn said.

"I can't imagine what that would have been like," Mark continued, oblivious to the look on Addison's face. "If it were me, I don't know if I would have survived being on an island for three months."

Addison cleared her throat and when her friend finally looked at her, she widened her eyes at him and gave her head a small shake, trying to get her message across. Typically Mark didn't seem to understand, so he merely narrowed his eyes in slight confusion.

"I have to go." Jack mumbled. He rushed forward, exiting the locker room at once.

Addison exhaled harshly and strode after Jack. She turned to Mark when she was level with him and snapped, "God, Mark!"

"What?" he held his hands out, palms up. "I was being nice!" He called after her but she was already out the door.

As Addison hastened down the halls of the hospital, various people tried to talk to her both about Jack and work-related issues. She brushed them all off and managed to catch up to Jack as he was climbing into a cab across the street from the hospital, the paparazzi still gathered nearby fiercely taking photographs. She managed to skirt around them while they were busy with Jack and it wasn't until she was hurrying awkwardly in her high heels across the parking lot that they recognized her from earlier and began shouting questions after her. Addison paid them no mind as she started her car and took off after Jack's cab.

She almost lost him at two separate stop lights (she ran one of them and thanked God there were no cops around to catch her), but was able to follow the cab all the way to Jack's apartment building. She parked hastily in front of a house nearby and sped towards the building's entrance. He had already gone inside, but she hardly hesitated, simply running her hand down the list of apartment buttons, buzzing them all. There was a chorus of "Hello"s and "Who's there"s but someone hit their buzzer without checking who had buzzed. She glanced at the list to note which apartment was Jack's before seizing the door handle and dashing inside.

Addison didn't have any second thoughts about following Jack until she was standing in the elevator riding up to his apartment. She doubted he'd be very pleased to see her and probably wouldn't let her in, but the way he'd said "go" in the locker room was frighteningly final, like if she let him walk out of the hospital, he'd be gone forever, and that was that. She couldn't let him do that, which is why she'd rashly followed him. Addison hoped with everything she had she could talk him out of disappearing if that was what he was indeed planning to do.

"Jack?" she knocked rapidly on his door and called his name a second and third time before he opened it.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Please let me in, Jack."

He complied, surprising her, opening the door and retreating into his apartment. She saw at once half full bags and boxes that he was clearly just throwing things into for a quick departure.

"You're not leaving, are you?" Addison asked worriedly.

"I have to. I can't stay here anymore."

"Jack…"

"You saw Mark and Erica. The way they looked at me? That is why I have to leave. I can't be here, surrounded by them all looking at me like that."

"They – we are your friends, Jack, and finding out you survived something like this doesn't change that fact. We know you better now."

He was busy shoving clothes into a duffel bag. Addison stepped forward and gently grabbed his arm, stilling him.

"I typed your name into a search engine because I couldn't wait to know you better. I care about you, Jack, and I'm the first one to admit my damn curiosity gets me into a lot of trouble. But knowing those things about you didn't change the fact that I still care and I'm still your friend."

She paused and when he didn't reply nor continue to pack at top speed, she continued softly,

"Everybody has baggage, Jack. Yours is just bigger than most. But you can't just keep running away and hoping it will disappear – it will always come with you. Starting over fresh is a nice idea, but you can't do it, not really. You have to deal with things and move on from them. That's the only way it will get better or easier."

Her words came back at her, hitting her sideways: wasn't she trying to move to LA for the exact same reason that Jack had come to Seattle, and was now trying to leave again? She wanted to get away from Seattle, away from her past with Derek and Mark, and she wanted to start over and start new. She wasn't dealing with her baggage either. She was trying to bury it and pretend it never happened, just like Jack was.

It finally dawned on Addison then that she shouldn't be moving to LA at all, but staying here and taking her own damn advice. She gave herself a small mental shake, however – she would have to deal with her own issues later – and returned her focus to Jack.

"I'm here for you, and I will be here, as long as you need me."

Finally he lifted his eyes to meet hers, and there was no more anger there. She had gotten through to him.

"You've already overcome so much, Jack," Addison added. "You have what it takes to get through this. You just need to let go."

He looked at her funny for a moment and then he burst out laughing. Stunned and rather taken aback by this reaction, Addison simply stared until he had recovered.

"I'm sorry," he said eventually. "It's not funny – it's not funny at all, actually. It's just that… my father used to tell me that I don't have what it takes. He said I was never good at letting go. And of all things to say, you go and say that."

Addison's lips quirked into a half-smile. "Well, it seemed appropriate. It's also kinda true."

He exhaled. "I know."

He began taking clothes out of the duffel bag and putting them back in his closet. Without a word, Addison moved forward and began helping him. As she unpacked with him, she thought about the part that she hadn't said out loud to him.

What would I do if you left? I can't imagine you gone and I never want to.

It was amazing how in just a few months, Addison had grown so used to having him around and having him as a friend, that the idea of him leaving was awful. Not to mention the fact that she realized she'd fallen in love with him – that turned merely "awful" into unbearable and devastating, in her opinion. Addison didn't know what to expect going forward, but he was staying and so was she.

Which reminded her: she had a phone call to make.

A/n: Thanks for reading! :D