A few months had passed and Preston was still miserable. Even though he had ended things with Addison, he still found himself searching for hospitals in the Los Angeles area. He caught himself absentmindedly dialing her phone number when he thought of something to tell her. He spent a great deal of time around the NICU, pretending that the current neonatal surgeon was not an older, coarse woman but a tall, elegant redhead. Karev had approached him once saying, "It's hard not to miss her." Preston had looked at him differently after that, seeing the hidden kindness that Alex possessed, something Addison had fervently tried to convince him existed. He had gruffly replied, "Yes, yes it is," and had left in a hurry, not wanting to engage in a conversation about the woman he loved with the man stupid enough to let her go. Not that Preston hadn't done the very same thing.

Preston appreciated Karev's candor, for if he suspected anything, he kept his mouth shut.

Shepherd even noticed a change in the cardiothoracic surgeon's demeanor. "I know you don't like me, Preston – yes, I'm saying your first name, deal with it, - but I know something's wrong. What is it?"

At that moment, Preston decided to forgo secrecy, to stop hiding the fact that he was in love with Addison. "It's your ex-wife," he said.

"What's she done now? I though that if she left Seattle, she'd stop ruining people's lives." Preston found his irritation at Shepherd rising to new levels.

"She didn't ruin my life. She's…she's the way I spent my week of vacation, she's the one who came to visit me that weekend a few months ago."
Shepherd looked slightly stunned, his mouth open slightly and Preston found he enjoyed the way Shepherd looked when he was speechless. "Well, what's wrong with that?"

And against his better judgment, Preston found himself launching into the entire story. When he had finished, he leaned back in his chair and opened his hands as if asking for suggestions.

"You're an idiot," Derek said. "An idiot. Mark Sloan moved across the country and she didn't even love him. Idiot." He pushed his chair away and left Preston thoroughly flummoxed.

---

Addison sat idly flipping though the channels on her television, not really watching, when her cell phone rang. It never rang any more. She walked towards it and reached for it tremblingly, flipping it open with a shaking hand.

"Addison, hello. I'm hoping your invitation to move in still stands."

She sucked in her breath at the sound of his voice, a sound she hadn't heard in months, and almost had to sit down. She steadied herself on the counter. "Of-of course it is."

"Good. I'm on my way. And I expect a warm meal when I arrive." She allowed herself a small smile at that remark.

"Wh-what have I told you about talking on your cell phone while driving?"