Author's Note: My apologies that it has been a few days since the last update, but I'm all caught up in Olympic Fever and as Team GB are actually winning medals, I'm going to tune in to every second I can! I hope you enjoy this chapter, I'm glad to hear that you all seem to like where this is headed.
Disclaimer: As before. I didn't mention earlier, characters that aren't recognisable as being from Grey's, are my invention, principally Michael Newton-Jones. In the unlikely event anyone should wish to use them, they are available for hire at the price of a review.
Addison felt a shiver down her spine as he spoke, starting right at the nape of her neck and trickling down to where his hand was lying, tantalisingly lightly. There was nothing particularly intimate or personal about his tone, but he was a little closer behind her than she had expected him to be, and she had to suppress a jolt of surprise.
He was just so… close. Despite the room full of people, his proximity was making her heart race. She knew the contours of his body just well enough to be able to imagine how it would feel if he was pressing against her back and she felt a crimson blush creep up her neck. He possessed an overwhelming masculinity that did things to her that she didn't even think Mark managed. She couldn't believe that it had been seven years and the memory of the supply closet was as vivid as it had ever been. She could feel the ghost of his hands over her body even now.
Then she remembered that they were at work and, unlike Seattle Grace, this was not the sort of place where that was acceptable. There would be no return trips to any supply closets, so she tried not to dwell on it. Too many times the memory had left her hot, flustered and frustrated. She took a deep breath and put on her most professional demeanour. She couldn't resist a little bit of teasing though – that hand on her back wasn't exactly playing fair.
'I'm looking forward to working with you again Karev,' she said, the hint of flirtatiousness in her voice only detectable to someone who really knew her. She knew the "Karev" would bug him.
Alex smirked to himself when he saw the scarlet flush appear above the collar of her blouse. He didn't really mean to have touched her, to have leaned in quite so close, but an old part of him wanted to see if he could still make her flustered. And it turned out he could; in fact, it had been childishly easy. He didn't want to start that whole game between them again; it was one hell of a ride but it only had one ending and it wasn't good, but… But she was Addison Montgomery and he was Alex Karev and maybe this dance was something that would always be there.
He'd thought for a minute with that blush that he had got the upper hand over her, which was a satisfying feeling, but he should have known that revenge would be swift to follow. She was Satan after all. That "Karev" was a low blow, but it amused him all the same. With that one word, she had taken him from Consultant, on an equal standing with her, right back down to intern again. Her intern. He groaned inwardly.
They made their way to the SCBU as quickly as they could, Addison letting out a girlish giggle when she realised Alex was having to follow the signs and arrows in the hallways to find his way to his own department.
The tiny Baby Reuben was more stable by the time they arrived. One of the SHOs had already upped the oxygen and Alex was pleased to discover that the situation was not as serious as he had been expecting. Reuben's lungs were weak and he wasn't at all convinced that he was going to make it, but only time would tell. After a thorough check of vitals, and a reassuring word with the baby's parents, he withdrew.
'Let me show you my office. I'm afraid it's going to be your office too for a while, until they find something more suitable, so you had better find out where it is.'
'Okay,' Addison agreed. She had been impressed by the way Alex had handled the case she had just observed, not only the baby but the parents as well. With the child he was calm and deft, and with the parents understanding, explaining everything in layman's terms but without being at all patronising.
'You know, you were good back there,' she found herself saying.
He grinned. 'Thank you, I am good.' Then, to take the arrogance out of his words, 'I had a good teacher.'
That smouldering way he was looking at her, Addison thought she might burst into flames. She tried to lighten the moment a little by breaking away from his gaze and laughing lightly. 'Well, someone had to knock you into shape.'
Oh, and what a shape. He was wearing a white shirt that made his skin look tanned and his arms look incredibly sexy. And those hands, currently occupied in chivalrously holding open a door for her. She had been on the receiving end of their dexterity and skill and it had been mind blowing.
By the time they were sitting in their office, a slightly awkward silence had descended between them. There were too many lingering looks for them to be casual, but too much time had passed for them to have reason to be anything but casual. They were teetering on the brink of something that Alex knew they were nowhere near being ready to approach yet. Maybe one day, but not now.
'Look, Addison,' he began, in a different voice, with a serious tone, the flirtatiousness gone. 'Do you want to have dinner with me tonight? I'm not meant to be on shift so it doesn't have to be in the hospital cafeteria; we could go into the city or somewhere nice.'
Yet again, he took her by surprise. What was he asking? What did he mean? She had thought she knew him well enough to know that any advance he made on her wasn't going to be so overt, so open. His deep brown eyes had lost their playful glint now, but were no less intense for it. Did it make her utterly pathetic that there was a small leap of hope somewhere deep inside herself?
'I'm sorry, I…' she stammered. 'Dinner?'
He saw her eyes widen, but the surprise wasn't enough to hide the glimmer of hope that sprung in there alongside it. It hurt him to do it, but he had to kill that off, at least for the moment. As much as he would like to drag her back to his hotel and ravish her there and then, he wasn't going to. Izzie was right, he really had grown up. She would murder him for this though.
'Yes, dinner. That thing that people do, when they eat a meal in the evenings,' he joked. 'I know it's been a long time and all, and what happened is ancient history, but I think we need to clear the air if we're going to be working together. A lot was left unsaid – by me, mainly,' he jumped in as she opened her mouth to interrupt, 'and I think we need to –'
She heard his words as if they were coming from a long way away, a train coming down a long, long tunnel and eventually catching up with her and squashing her flat. Just like last time. Had she been completely imagining those looks? Just like last time? Before he could use the word 'professional' or something equally dismissive, she cut him off.
'Yes. Absolutely. Clearing the air, that sounds like a great idea,' she replied with a forced jollity.
He knew he'd knocked her down and he felt every bit as bad as he had before. But as then, he knew that his motives were good. He wanted to tell her he was sorry and that he understood that he had hurt her, but for now at least, it was something he had to do, but if they were going to talk, they needed to do it properly, from the beginning.
Instead, he copied her tone. 'Great,' he found himself repeating. 'Where do you fancy going? Somewhere in the city?'
His smile was infectious, even when smiling back at him was the last thing Addison wanted to do. 'Somewhere nice,' she said, excited at the prospect of a trip into the city and getting dressed up in spite of that dying feeling inside. Well, she was used to that. She had spent years dying inside, first in New York, then in Seattle.
'Leave it to me. Where shall I pick you up from? Or do you just want to meet me somewhere?'
'Where've you got in mind?'
'I don't know yet. What's your cell number?' She pulled a pen and an old receipt out of her handbag and scrawled it down. He reached across the desk and took it from her, resisting the temptation to let their fingers touch. 'I'll call you later.'