How Am I Doing?

A Grey's Anatomy fic by Gigi

Disclaimer: I hate to have to say it at the beginning of every fic, because it totally negates my philosophy of the power of positive thinking. If I constantly say I don't own Grey's Anatomy or Shonda-land, then how on Earth will I ever come to own it?

Chapter 4: What Happened in that Stairwell?

A/N: Yes, I realize I haven't updated this in eight months, and yes, I'm extremely sorry about that. But you should be proud of me for updating four this month (this included). That's a lot for me. Don't forget I'm in college, so please don't hate me!

A/N 2: This is for Juli. Hope this cheers you up after your transportation nightmare!

Alex all but stomped into Ava's room with a glower on his face. As he walked to the bed and picked up Ava's chart, he couldn't help but replay that one confession over and over in his head.

"There may have been a stolen five minutes in a stairwell with a certain member of said practice who got it in his head to make me feel better," Addison insinuated with a coy smile.

"Damn," Ava's voice broke through his jealous reverie. "What's got your panties in a wad?"

Alex's face darkened slightly before he looked up at his patient, who was sitting up in her bed. "Nothing," he grunted, taking note of her blood pressure and writing it in her chart along with the time.

Ava's eyes twinkled in excitement. "Ah, this is about Red," she surmised.

Alex whipped his head up at her words. "It is not," he denied.

"Why do you have this need to deny the fact that she's perfect for you?" Ava asked the ceiling exasperatedly. "It is about Red, now spill."

Grumbling, Alex replaced the chart on the end of Ava's bed and braced himself against the railing. "Look, Addison doesn't want me anymore, Ava. She's got a bright and shiny new life without me just waiting for her. All it takes is a phone call, and she's gone forever. I don't want to think about that, so please, Ava, drop the subject about Red. She doesn't want me, and that's that." Alex ended his speech almost panting.

Ava stared at Alex in silence for a few seconds before she declared, "God, men are stupid."

"Excuse me?"

"I said you're stupid, Alex," Ava repeated loudly. "Do you not see that she wants you to chase her?"

Unable to help himself, Alex was listening. "What do you mean?" he asked gruffly.

"Dr. Montgomery wouldn't be over you after only a week, idiot," Ava announced tiredly. "She doesn't want to get a new life, otherwise she would have already gotten one. She does still want you, provided you're not too dense to see that."

"And you know this how?"

"In case you've forgotten, I'm a woman, too."

"Then why can't you guys just tell us these things?" he demanded heatedly. "We're not mind readers!"

"But then where's the fun in that?" Ava countered. "Besides, it sticks more often than not if we do things our way. It's how I got my husband to finally propose to me."

A retort was on the tip of his tongue when he registered just what she said. "W-Wait, your husband?" he stammered. "You remember him?"

Surprisingly, a look of panic flashed across Ava's face. "No," she denied. "I don't know where that came from."

A bright smile bloomed on Alex's face. "That's okay," he reassured. "It happens like that sometimes. You're beginning to remember."

"I really don't think I am," Ava insisted. "It was just the one little detail."

Unfortunately, Alex was already down the hall by the time she finished her sentence.

8D

"Dr. Montgomery!" Alex's voice chased Addison down the hall, but she kept walking. Frustrated, Alex jogged to catch up with her and moved to take a gentle hold of her elbow when he saw she was speaking to someone on the phone.

Addison looked to her right to see an impatient Alex Karev walking beside her. "I've got to go, Naomi," she said into her cell. "I'll call you later. Love you, too. Give Maya a kiss for me. Bye." She ended the call and pocketed her BlackBerry. "Yes, Karev?"

Completely distracted, Alex heard himself asking, "Who's Naomi?"

"Not that it's really any of your business," Addison indicated pointedly, "but Naomi is who I visited in LA. We're still catching up with each other."

Alex stiffened. "The one who wants you to move down there?"

Maybe it wasn't exactly the nicest thing, but Addison inwardly smiled at hearing the tightness in his voice. Honestly, having Karev chase her for once was quite refreshing, and she couldn't stop herself from teasing, "Why, can't bear the thought of losing such an amazing teacher?"

Alex wanted to shake this woman so badly right then. Instead, he took her by the crook of her elbow and guided her into the nearest on-call room. "Tell me two more things about this trip that made you want to pick up your whole life and move there," he demanded. He'd get the contents of that trip if it killed him, but not before he'd found a way to counter those high points to make her stay.

Addison sighed and checked her watch. "Fine, what do you want to know?"

"Why did that guy feel the need to cheer you up?"

Going straight for the personal stuff, huh, Karev? She thought to herself. "I tend to get overly emotionally invested in my patients' cases," she explained. "There was a guardian battle going on that sent the patient into pre-term labor, and they didn't even care about how she and the baby were doing. All they wanted to know was who the father was. I just got upset by it is all."

Alex, maybe stupidly, said the first thing that came to his mind. "Those guys sound like jackasses."

Addison absentmindedly nodded her agreement. "I thought so, too, at the time. What else do you want to know?"

There was a beat of silence as Alex considered what to ask her. Of course, the obvious one slipped out of its own accord. "Why did you go to LA?"

Addison's face fell. Did she really want to share something so deeply personal with him? Especially after he tossed her out in the cold after just one night? He was probably just worried that he was the reason. Maybe she had been reading too much into his actions, and all he wanted was to clear his conscience? That thought disappointed Addison more than she'd have liked to admit. "Honestly?" He nodded. "It wasn't because of you, if that's what you were worried about."

Anger boiled up in Alex and threatened to suffocate him. "While I'm glad to know I wasn't the one who finally drove you to leave," he ground out, "I genuinely want to know why you went to LA."

Okay, so maybe she had been wrong. His conscience was clear, and yet no relief showed on his face. He stood there with the most curious look in his eyes. Maybe he still wanted her? Don't go down that road again, Addie, she admonished herself.

"I wanted to have a baby, and Naomi's on of the best fertility specialists," she confessed, eyes glued to Alex's face to gauge his reaction. All she got was a pair of chocolate eyes widened in shock.

"D-Did you, did you…?" Alex's eyes trailed down to her flat stomach.

Addison shook her head sadly. "Turns out I have no fertility potential, and I ended up blubbering about my lack of eggs to Pete after I'd just met him."

"Pete?" Alex tried to keep the jealousy out of his voice, but judging by the way a small smirk made its way onto Addison's face, he wasn't very successful. "The guy from the stairwell." Addison nodded, even though it hadn't been a question. The next thing he said was one, though. "Do you like…Pete?"

Addison bit her lip in consternation. He was being awfully persistent. "I don't dislike him," she offered.

"That's not what I asked," Alex replied indignantly.

"Well, it's all you're getting," she shot back. "Only two things, remember?"

With an exasperated roll of his eyes, Alex let her out of the on-call room and resumed walking alongside her.

"Why are you still here, Karev?" Addison asked after a minute.

Alex wanted to smack himself in the forehead when he realized he'd completely forgotten Ava. "I think Ava's memory is coming back."

Addison stopped in her tracks. "Why do you think that?"

"She made a comment about how she finally got her husband to propose to her."

Addison felt the urge to smack her intern upside the head. "That's the type of thing you tell me right away, Karev!"

She settled for a punch to his arm.

A/N: I hope you liked this latest update, and I hope this cheered you up, Juli! I also hope for one last thing: REVIEWS!