Hey, everyone! Sorry it took me a little while to get this to you. I'm still rooting that the next chapter won't be so far away as the last two have been. Thank you for keeping up with it and reviewing. I greatly appreciate it. :oD
"New York?" Mark asked casually as he stood in the doorway to Addison's hospital room.
"Callie told you." Addison frowned.
"No," Mark answered. "Well, yeah. But, she thought I knew. Which I didn't."
"It was just a thought," Addison said. "I was going to tell you."
Mark entered into the room and sat down in his usual chair. "You really want to move back there?"
"I don't... know what I want right now, Mark." Addison gave a small shrug. "I talked to Richard. He thinks it would be good for me to work as long as I'm physically up to it."
"So, you're going to work until you're better and then go to New York?" Mark asked her.
"You can come with me if you want," Addison suggested. "I'm not swearing you away."
Mark shrugged out of his lab coat. "Why do you want to go to New York?"
"What's keeping me here?" Addison replied.
Mark brought his attention back to her. "Derek hadn't been keeping you here for a while either, but you stayed."
"I know that." Addison diverted her eyes. "But, now... I don't want to be here."
"You think you'll be happier in New York?" Mark cocked an unsure eyebrow.
"I don't know, Mark, I'm not currently in New York," Addison snapped and looked back up at him. "But, Savvy and Weiss are there. I need Sav right now. And Weiss, too."
"What about what you have here?" Mark asked.
"I need to get away," Addison told him, her fingers tracing lightly over the scar on the right side of her face.
"Addison, running away won't fix anything," Mark said. "It'll be the same problems in a different setting."
Addison lowered her hand. "How do you know?"
"Because I followed you here," Mark answered.
Addison's eyebrows drew together. "What?"
Mark shook his head. "Never mind."
"No, Mark, what do you mean by that?" Addison insisted, confused.
"Fine," Mark met her eyes. "When I followed you to Seattle, I thought that it would make the problems between you and me go away. A new place, right? It didn't make anything go away. You still ignored me, still hated me."
Addison glared at him. She didn't very much appreciate his story even if it was based on fact. Mark gave her a simple shrug.
"Derek will still be dead even if you are in New York."
"How could you say that?" Addison asked him.
"The truth?" Mark raised his eyebrows.
"But, to say it like that." Addison shook her head.
"Addison, you have to deal with this," Mark told her.
Addison folded her arms across her chest. "With death? Everyone handles death differently, Mark. I'm doing my best here. It's a little difficult considering I never had the chance to go to his funeral."
"That wasn't my fault." Mark raised his hands defensively.
Addison stared at him. "Did I say it was?"
"You sounded like you were accusing me," Mark replied. "I wish you could have gone, Addie. You should have been there. But, you weren't and you have to deal with this."
"I am dealing!" Addison exclaimed, frustrated with Mark.
"By running away to New York!"
Mark stood from his chair and crossed the room. He stared at the bulletin board of cards.
"Who cares, Mark!" Addison raised her voice. "Who cares where I live! Like you said, Derek will be dead no matter where I go so why are you putting up such a damn fight? Why do you even care? I told you that you could come with me if you wanted. What's so great about Seattle anyway? It's rainy and cold."
"It has ferry boats," Mark spoke softly over his shoulder.
"Ferry boats?" Addison repeated, her volume lowering. "When have you ever cared about ferry boats? That was Derek. You want to stay in Seattle because of Derek's ferry boats?"
Mark turned. "Don't you?"
"No!" Addison shouted. "I don't! I want to go back to the city I fell in love with. I want to be in love with something again, Mark. I need to be somewhere that will make me happy. Seattle hurts."
"Fine, Addison." Mark walked back over to his chair and picked up his lab coat. "Do whatever you want."
"Why are you getting so upset?" Addison's confusion was evident.
Mark met her eyes. "I just feeling like you're running away."
"I'm not," Addison replied. "I'm running to something."
"I don't see the difference," Mark told her and stormed from the room.
"Hey, babe," Callie greeted as she strolled into Addison's hospital room. She stopped halfway to the bed. "Why so sad?"
"I..." Addison shook her head and gave a roll of her eyes. "Fought with Mark... over stupid things."
Callie continued over to the bed. "He's aggravating."
"I know," Addison agreed.
"He riled Karev up again today," Callie told Addison as she climbed onto the bed. She settled down next to her friend. "Men are..."
"Stupid," Addison finished her thought.
"Full of themselves," Callie clarified what she was going to say.
Addison nodded. "Especially surgeons."
"God complex," Callie replied.
"Right." Addison fell silent.
"So, what happened?" Callie asked and tucked a strand of hair behind Addison's ear.
"It's... really stupid," Addison told her. She shook her head. "I don't even want to talk about it. That's how stupid it was."
"Okay." Callie shrugged and then smiled. "So, guess what?"
"What?" Addison brightened at Callie's enthusiasm.
"People magazine." Callie pulled out a rolled up magazine that was tucked into the back of her scrub pants. "George Clooney's on the cover."
"Gimme," Addison commanded.
"Here." Callie handed the magazine over, still smiling.
"Wow." Addison stared at the cover. "He's gorgeous."
"Indeed," Callie agreed, cocking an eyebrow.
Addison frowned slightly. "I need a George Clooney."
"Me too." Callie nodded. "I have a George. But, not a Clooney."
"An O'Malley is nice," Addison looked to Callie and gave a nod.
"But, he's not a Clooney." Callie shook her head in response, her dark curls bouncing as her smile widened.
"No, not a Clooney." Addison gave a smile in return.