Author's Note: Here's another chapter for you all to devour, my deepest apologies that you had to wait a couple of days for it, but a cliffhanger has so much more effect if I keep you dangling for a while. Many thanks for all the reviews (so many!) By the way, I may occasionally lapse into the odd occurrence of bad language – this story is rated T so I don't believe it needs an additional warning should a swear word sneak its way in, but just so you know, it may be there. Sorry if it offends.
Disclaimer: As before
'This is Alex Karev.'
The words echoed in her ears over and over again, as if her brain refused to take them in. Her eyes were telling her that he was there, Michael's words were telling her that he was there, but all she could think was how utterly impossible it was that it was him.
And how utterly impossible that it had been seven years and there was a still a solitary, persistent butterfly doing fluttering back flips in her stomach.
She realised that she must have been standing there, her face slack with a doubtlessly unflattering cod-like gape, for a far longer length of time than was socially acceptable, so she tried to make her mouth form some sort of a suitable response (although what the Hell a suitable response was, she had no damn idea).
She noticed then he was holding out a hand to her and she knew there was no way on earth that she could get out of shaking it. Immediately, the butterfly gained half a dozen friends. His skin was cool and his grip precise; unmistakably the hands of a surgeon.
'It's nice to see you again,' he said slowly, and she could tell he was waiting for her to react.
'I…' Try as she might, she was incapable of squeezing out anything more significant than that. Their hands were still clasped and his fingers fitted around her own as if they belonged there. Had things been different, they might have done.
Christ Addison, she thought, had things been different? Pull yourself together, right now.
She tried to speak again, more confidently this time. 'Yes, I…It's good to see you too. A surprise though. Definitely a surprise.'
Alex could see the absolute, blind shock on her face, and for the first time since Michael had accosted him in his office yesterday evening, he was glad that he knew about this in advance. Last night, with his mind racing, he had wished that he hadn't known it was going to be her, that he hadn't had the better part of twenty four hours to stew, but that it had just been sprung on him. Now though, looking at her, he was eternally grateful for the warning.
Seven years. Seven years. Suddenly his mind was filled of fragments of the past, a moment over an incubator, a thousand loaded looks, that kiss. And more. His chest tightened, his breathing quickened. He could see her, as beautiful as ever. More so, perhaps.
He remembered all the times he had seen Derek or Sloan hurt her with a stinging word and how protective that had made him feel. Always, he had felt a need to protect her, and he realised that seven years might have been a long time and who the hell knew what else was going to happen, but the time had not been enough to erase that feeling. He had to try to make this easier for her.
He grinned lopsidedly at her, one of his old intern smiles that he didn't think he'd pulled out in years. 'Feeling a little blindsided?'
And then the tension was broken. She laughed lightly, and he saw her shoulders relax a bit. 'You have no idea,' she admitted. 'I cannot believe you're in London. Or that you beat me to this job.' You're overtalking Addison. Stop overtalking. 'You're a consultant now?' she asked, more slowly. 'Of Neo-Natal?'
'Yep. I am,' he said simply.
He saw Michael's eyes flicker down to their still clasped hands and he realised he was still holding her hand, and dropped it reluctantly. It felt good to feel her skin again. Too good.
He glanced across at where Michael had been standing just a moment ago and their boss seemed to have disappeared. He was going to have to have a talk with him later, come clean and put him straight. Better to tell him now that eight years ago, he and Addison kissed once in a bar and had sex. Once. And that they hadn't seen or spoken to each other for years, and that absolutely nothing was going to get in the way of him doing his job, and he could vouch for Addison on that as well. Still, better that Michael heard it from him.
Addison just looked at him for a moment. Seven years had changed him. Naturally, he looked older (she knew she did) but he looked older in the sense of being wiser, mature, a better man. And the suit he was wearing was expensive, possibly even tailored. With an ironed shirt. Definitely a different Alex than she remembered.
'I expected you to go back to Plastics after...' After I left. 'After your internship.'
She'd never thought for a minute that he would have continued with the OB/GYN and Neonatal work after she left. Although she had suspected he wasn't half as against it as he pretended, she had been sure he would go back to the glamour of Plastics. And for him to be a Consultant. He must be good. She wondered what it meant, what that look in his eyes was trying to convey. Whether he felt like his skin was on fire where they had touched.
He shrugged. 'No, it wasn't for me. Besides…' he added.
'Sloan's not much of a teacher?' she finished for him.
'Actually,' he said quietly, 'I never thought Sloan was much of anything.'
'Alex…' she began, but he cut her off.
'Sorry, I didn't mean that. Well, I didn't mean to say it out loud anyway,' he corrected himself.
He looked around the room. There wasn't a single person looking at them, but they were completely surrounded. God damn all these people. Seven years, and they had to have this conversation now, surrounded by a room full of strangers? It wasn't meant to be like this. He wanted to do this on his terms. Or hers. But not like this.
Part of him wanted to drag her out of the room and out of the hospital and take her somewhere, anywhere – a bar or a café or a park bench surrounded by pigeons – and talk and talk and talk. He wanted to put the fear aside and explain everything and tell her that he knew he screwed up, but he was screwed up so that was just something he did, but now wasn't the time.
He did have to get out of here though. She was staring at him in that wide eyed way she always used to and it brought back too many memories for the moment. He was wary though; would escaping now look like a snub to her? He had done that too often, and with his track record, he knew that was how she would take it if he left.
Then he was saved by his pager beeping. He grabbed it and consulted it quickly. 'Addison, I'm sorry, I have to go. One of my preemies is having some breathing difficulties.' Her face fell, and he couldn't help but smile at her.
Was it really, really weird of him that he was looking forward to working with her again as much as the possibility of anything else? She'd been the best person he ever worked with, and not just because she was Addison.
'Come with me?'
'What?'
'Two week old twin, born by emergency c-section to a pre-eclampsic mother at twenty five weeks. Been holding his own reasonably well all things considered but now suffering breathing difficulties.' He relayed the bare essentials of the case, and felt a rush of recognition when he saw the professional interest light up her eyes.
'Sounds like fun,' she said.
Very, very lightly, he put a hand on her back, resting it just at the base of her spine, and steered her in the direction of the door.
'It will be,' he replied softly, his breath hot on her neck.