Author's Note: I am blessed with the internet again – sorry it's taken a while but you know how these things are. Not as long as the internet people told me it would, so I suppose they're justified in taking my money each month. Thank you for all the reviews, nice to check my emails again after so long and have something interesting waiting for me. I hope you judge this update to be worth the long wait for it, it sort of moves things along a little, timewise. Twelve chapters are quite enough for pretty much one day in the life of the story!
Disclaimer: As before
It was a long, lonely night, just as he had known it would be. As was the one after, and all the ones that followed. It was amazing, and not in a good way, how quickly he and Addison had fallen into the "colleagues" bracket again.
After that first night, Alex had every intention of saying something the next day, all the things he'd been thinking before Izzie called. He had it all planned out – he would go and buy her a vanilla latte from Starbucks (for old times sake, and to remind her of one of his better moments) on his way home from work and stop by her hotel. Then he would tell her, and everything would fall into place. Well, it wouldn't happen precisely like that, because they didn't live in a romantic movie, but he'd apologise, and ask for another chance, and maybe, just maybe, she'd give him one.
But work went crazy, as if every baby born in London that day was seriously ill and needed to be transferred to his department, and every surgery he did ran into lengthy complications. In the end, he didn't get out of theatre until two in the morning, and he didn't get home at all, let alone to her hotel. He didn't get a spare moment to breathe, let alone call her. But it was okay. He could go tomorrow.
Except the same thing happened the next day, and time just seemed to slip away from him. Then it had been three days since they went out to dinner and it sort of seemed rude to finish off a conversation he'd deliberately left unfinished. By the time she started work on the Monday, it definitely seemed rude.
So he hadn't said a word. He could tell she was a little hurt by his apparent indifference, but he was painting himself into a corner and didn't know how to turn things around. He was making up for it with the work though. God, it was good to work with her again. He had a good team, two great Registrars and a selection of SHOs that he could really rely on, but with Addison… Every surgery was a pleasure. When she was assisting him, he never had to ask for suction, or a clamp, it was right there before the thought had even finishing formulating in his head.
Sometimes he got distracted a little by her hands, or more specifically, their hands. It wasn't quite the same with latex gloves and a film of their patient's blood, but the way their hands worked together fascinated him. It was like having another pair of hands. He thought he hid it pretty well, but once she caught him staring and he was treated to a very condescending 'Karev…' delivered in such a delicious sounding warning tone it distracted him in a whole different way. But apart from the odd moment like that, it was strictly professional, and it was driving him insane.
Michael, being Michael, could pick up sexual tension a mile off. Addison was taking a rare day off (her first, in fact, since she'd started) to move into the apartment she'd just purchased, and Alex was scrubbing out after assisting on a cleft palate repair. Michael was waiting for him.
'Successful?' he said, sauntering in.
'Yes. And fascinating,' Alex replied. 'Assisting Edwards on a cleft palate repair. I used to want to go into Plastics when I was first starting out so it was pretty cool to get an in on that.'
'Nice,' Michael agreed. 'Come on, I have some decent coffee brewing in my office. Better than that rubbish they serve in Starbucks; all foam and no coffee.' Starbucks and chain coffee shops in general were a frequent victim of Michael's insults. There was a Starbucks on the corner and he refused point blank to drink anything from there; he kept a tin of something Costa Rican or Colombian or anything equally expensive under lock and key.
Alex could feel him waiting to pounce, lowering his defences with the good coffee. They hadn't been sitting there long before it happened.
'I was observing the surgery you and Addison were doing on the Aktar baby yesterday. It really was beautiful you know.'
'It was only a –'
'Not the procedure Alex. I honestly do not think, in all the years I've been doing this, I have ever seen two surgeons so in tune with each other. Not a word passed between you in three hours. You didn't need words. Like I say, beautiful.'
Alex shook his head. 'Don't start Michael.'
'Well, it strikes me that perhaps someone needs to, as no doubt an American would say, give you a kick up the ass. The lovely Addison has been with us for a month now and apart from one dinner, I haven't heard of any gossip.'
'I thought you didn't approve of gossip,' Alex said, rolling his eyes.
'I don't. Unless it is interesting, about people I like, and delivered in a tasteful manner. It rarely fulfils all those criteria, therefore as a general rule, you are correct, I don't like gossip.'
'Plus it makes it a helluva lot harder for you to stay one step ahead of your wife?' he asked with a raised eyebrow.
'Well, that too,' Michael admitted. 'But we are moving away from the point.'
'Sorry, remind me what that was again?'
'Ah, you're quite good at this game Alex,' the older man said appreciatively. 'I never thought you would be, being American. Banter is such a British thing, after all, and I do enjoy it.'
'I'm glad I'm a source of amusement to you.'
'It's a source of amusement watching you and Addison anyway. Now tell me, are you ever actually going to get off your backside and do anything about it? She's terribly beautiful, a fantastic surgeon as well, I wouldn't wait forever if I was you. Half the consultants in London are talking about her, you know.'
'Stop it Michael, I'm not taking the bait.' He sipped his coffee casually. A month of Izzie nagging him about finding out where Addison was in London was hardening him off nicely to these little assaults.
'You bloody well need to.'
'It really isn't your business.'
'So you wouldn't mind if I took her out to dinner then?'
Alex felt whatever he was about to say next be completely knocked out of him. Addison and Michael? That was just… Well, it… Against his will, his mind conjured the image of Addison with another man. It began as being Michael, but it quickly morphed into Sloan, and he felt his fingers curl into a fist, his blood start to boil with jealousy. He took a deep breath, and tried to calm himself. No matter how angry it was, it wouldn't be a good idea to punch his boss, even if he damn deserved it.
'If that was meant to be funny…'
'It wasn't. But it was designed to be that kick up the ass I was talking about.'
'I don't appreciate it.' There was a steely hint in his tone and his eyes were absolutely jet black.
'All right, all right. For goodness' sake, if you're that sensitive about her, tell her, don't sock me on the jaw because you don't have the balls to face up to it. I admire you enormously Alex, you're a man of his word, a gifted surgeon, and you are blessed with a bedside manner that does not come naturally to surgeons. You've also been in love with the same woman for years and years, and faithful to the memory of her for most of those.' Michael had managed to extract the majority of the story from him over the last four weeks since Addison had arrived. 'Don't screw that up now.'
'I've told you over and over Michael, it isn't that simple. I treated her badly, and I got what I deserved – she left. I pretty much drove her away. Not that I can really take the credit for all of it, but I didn't help. I've still got a lot of ground to make up.'
'Alex, I've seen the way she looks at you. Trust me, she's waiting on you right now.'
'I don't think so. What makes you so sure?'
'I've had four wives, six mistresses, and an awful lot of women in between. I don't claim to be any good at all at the sort of thing I'm sure you would do well at, marriage and monogamy and love and all, but one thing I do know about more than anything else is the thrill of the chase.' He paused to drain his coffee and put the mug down on the desk with a certain finality. 'And exactly when a woman is ready to give in.'