Hello world, I do apologise for the time delay but between university and my personal life going down the drain I've been rather preoccupied of late.

Mark: Am I going to be in this chapter?

Well hello Mark, haven't heard from you in a while.

Mark: That's because I've mysteriously disappeared from the story

Ahh…

Mark: typical…writers, they always leave out the best characters

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Chapter Nine

By Rosa241

Georges POV:

URGH! Why is apartment hunting so damn hard! Everyplace I can afford is a dump, and anywhere half decent would cost me an arm and a leg! Literally!

I must have been at this for hours now and I seriously can't find anywhere. Moving out is a must do, ever since Alex pointed out all that stuff I can't help noticing it all. Every little thing that I barely noticed before now drives me completely insane! How did I spend so much time being completely blind!

"Hey George." Damn! As of yet I haven't told the girls my plan to move out, in all honesty I'm kind of afraid to. Quickly slamming the lap top shut – well done George that wasn't suspicious at all! – I turn to her.

"Hey Mer…what's up?" She raises an eyebrow at me, so she picked up on my panicking then.

"What were you doing on the laptop George?" Okay George, don't look her in the eye, don't look her in the eye.

"Nothing…nothing…just…checking e-mails…nothing." Stop rambling you idiot.

"So wait, was it checking e-mails or nothing?" You see what happens when you ramble you idiot! "George, were you looking at something naughty?"

Oh My God! She thinks I was looking at porn!

"No! No! Absolutely not…I was just…" What do I say? What's worse? Telling her the truth or letting her think I was looking at porn.

"You were just…" She prompts me; clearly she's not going to just forget about it. "George!"

"I…I'm moving out." My voice comes out barely above a whisper, she's going to freak, she's going to freak…

"WHAT! What do you mean you're moving out!" And there she goes.

"I want to live on my own…" If looks could kill I think I'd be six feet under by now.

"Why? Did we do something?" Oh great now she looks like a lost puppy…

"No." Now that's a lie "No, I just…I think it would be a good idea for me to not live with women. You guys are great but I just…kind of need to be a guy sometimes and that's not always easy when you live with three women."

She stares at the ground for a few moments and I can see her rolling my words around her brain. It's not like there's anything she could say that would change my mind but it would be nice if she was okay about it. After what feels like an eternity she finally looks up.

"Well then I guess I'll miss living with you then." She smiles at me and hugs me tightly, cutting of my air circulation for a good few minutes. "So have you found anywhere?"

"Not yet…still looking. Oh um…could you maybe not tell Izzy about this, I kind of want to tell her myself." She smiles again and nods at me. Whew, well one down three to go.

"Oh hey, if you're not busy this afternoon could you take some stuff over to Alex for me, some groceries and stuff. I was going to do it but I'm needed at the hospital." Ordinarily I would hate for her to do this, she's deliberately setting me up to see Alex but right now I'm kind of glad. I haven't seen him since I dropped him off home a week ago. I've been too nervous about seeing him, I can't just turn up and calling him is a huge no!

"Sure."

Alex's POV:

Why do people insist on ringing that damn bell? It's the single most annoying thing I've ever heard in my life, do they not see the DO NOT RING BELL message on the door!

"What?" Opening the door I'm faced with someone I hadn't expected to see. "Sloan, what are you doing here?"

"Baileys orders." He says stepping inside. Come in why don't you. "Wants me to check you're not pushing yourself too hard too fast. Your not are you?"

"No…was there anything else?" I know I'm being kind of pissy right now but I couldn't care less, I haven't heard anything from George in a week – not that I was expecting too.

"Actually there is." He plonks himself down on the sofa, sensing that he's not going to leave anytime soon I reluctantly join him. "It's about George…well more it's about you and George."

Oh for the love of…

"See a little birdie told me that there might be something there between you but you're both being too damn stubborn to admit it." I'm going to kill Meredith. "Not that she had to tell me mind you, it's pretty damn obvious your nuts about each other."

"Why don't you mind your own damn business Sloan?" Great work there Alex, nice comeback.

"Why don't you man up and talk to George about it? Seriously you could cut the sexual tension with a knife. Why don't you just get him into bed and be done with it?" He's sitting there, with this serious look on his face and God I want to punch him.

"You think that's what I want? You think I just want to get him into bed and that's that…God! That's not what I want, alright I want more than that I…oh I hate you!" Why didn't I see that coming? He just got me to confess!

"See now was that so hard." My response is a punch on the arm. "Look just tell O'malley what you told me."

Anything I might have said back is cut off by another visitor, at least this one had the sense to knock on the damn door.

"Hi, just brought some stuff over for you." Standing right there in front of me is the object of our conversation. God I hope he didn't hear any of that! "Oh hi Doctor Sloan."

"He was just leaving." He seems to take the hint and leaves quickly, not before mouthing 'tell him' at me of course. Slamming the door in his face brings so much satisfaction you wouldn't believe. We stand for a few minutes in silence, packing away groceries, before words seem to come back to my brain.

"Any luck with finding a new place?" He merely sighs and turns to me.

"No. Anywhere I look at is either too expensive or just plain disgusting." Okay it's official, seeing George O'Malley sad is something I don't ever want to see again. "How did you find this place?"

"A guy I knew from college. He moved up here for family and I was moving for the hospital and we moved in together." He looks like he's thinking for a moment before he answers.

"I've never seen your roommate." Well considering I haven't spoken to him for a year…

"We fell out…he moved out about a year ago." And stuck me with paying for the damn place! "So now I get to pay for his rent too."

"Ouch." My thoughts exactly!

"I've tried looking for roommates but they're all just too weird! I mean there was this one guy who wanted his mother to live with us , oh and this other guy who wanted me to help him install a stripper pole in the living room." Oh god even thinking about that guy gives me the creeps.

"So let me get this straight, I'm looking for an apartment and you need one?" Wait what?

"Oh…yeah I…never thought about that…" Well I did but I'm hardly going to tell him that. "So you…want to live here?"

No! Bad Alex! Take that back right now!

"Seriously?" Oh god, now he's smiling and happy.

"Uh…sure…" Why? Why? Why? Why? Alex what the hell have you done?

Alex: Wait so now we live together?

Yes…I got tired of you living alone so decided to do something about it

Alex: But I like living alone!

But you like George more!