Hey, Soul Sister

A Grey's Anatomy fic by Gigi

Disclaimer: I'm not Shonda, otherwise Alex would move his sorry (but hot) ass down to Private Practice.

A/N: Do you know what I love about this being the fourth story in the Love Game series? That it's the fourth story in the Love Game series. Enjoy!

Alex sat hunched over the newspaper in the Grey kitchen, not really registering what his eyes passively scanned over, looking for the name that wasn't there. All he could think about was that kiss. It consumed his brain, the way she stroked his cheek, the way she gently placed her lips upon his, the way she slid her free hand up to his face, the way her pale blue eyes slid open afterwards.

The way those same blue eyes widened in shock two minutes later.

The way she stood up so fast that her purse, which had been sitting on her lap, promptly fell to the floor, spilling the contents around the foot of Alex's stool. Bending down, she furiously started collecting her things in order to flee as quickly as possible. Her red hair swung in front of her face and hid her delicate, yet bold features from view.

Alex couldn't help himself. He'd bent down and tucked her long hair behind her ear, making her look up. He slid his hand to rest on the back of her neck, bringing her face only inches from his own. Her eyes fluttered shut as she felt his cool forehead lean against her hot one, her face flushed and her breath heavy.

She jerked back, finishing gathering her things and beginning to straighten. It seemed as if she still couldn't resist, seeing him squatting on the floor, staring at her feet. She leaned forward slightly and pressed her lips against his left temple before she stood and walked hurriedly out of the bar.

Alex remembered going home that evening and looking in the mirror while he readied himself for bed. A faint hint of lipstick marked the left temple of his forehead.

That night he had dreamed about her, and the night after that, and the night after that. He smelled her perfume, heard her breathing hitch, felt her caress, just as if it was all happening again. The time in the NICU, their awkward run-in in the hallway, Joe's, he recalled them all at night, and he woke up with a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead.

Now, he sat at the breakfast table, unable to get her face out of his head.

8D

"Hey," he called, jogging a little bit to catch up with the tall redhead walking toward the stairs and typing on her BlackBerry.

"Oh," she started. She looked back to see who had called her name—despite the fact that she recognized his voice the second he spoke—and quickly whipped her head back around. "Dr. Karev, hello," she said succinctly, going back to her BlackBerry.

"What's wrong with you?"

Finally putting her phone in her pocket, she looked back at him and made eye contact as they descended the stairs. "Me? No, I'm good. I'm good. I'm all good—all good," she insisted, hoping she sounded convincing.

"You've been avoiding me for a week," Alex said bluntly. He needed some answers. Why did she kiss him? Why was it so horrifying to her that she kissed him? Why won't she talk to him? Why do I care?

"No, I have not," she denied. Guilt tinged her voice just as it clouded her pale blue eyes. That guilt and the complete determination she had to deny what happened a week ago made Alex's wobble. Was he that awful? Did he really repulse her that much? Seriously, why do I care?

"Okay, fine, forget it," he finished, disappointed. He walked in front of her and went to go to the locker room, leaving her standing on the stairs.

Callie passed him on her way up, and she stopped by the redhead, who heaved a momentous sigh.

"I kissed Karev," she declared.

"George has become a sex machine," Callie responded. The two shared a look and then continued on their ways, unable to fathom how exactly they were meant to survive the undoubtedly emotionally draining day ahead of them.

8D

Alex really wasn't paying attention to what Izzie, Meredith or Christina were yammering on and on about in the locker room until Meredith lifted her head from her horizontal position on the bench and mentioned his name. "And Alex…" she trailed off, trying to recall any major events that might have happened to him and coming up with a blank. "I don't know what's wrong with Alex."

Channeling the flame-haired vixen currently occupying 95 percent of his brain function (the other five percent, unfortunately, had to be devoted to his work lest he be fired for stalking the woman who happened to be his boss), Alex kept his face as devoid of emotion as possible and gently banged his locker door shut. "I'm good," he insisted. "I'm all good."

He tried to avoid Izzie's confused gaze and walked out before anyone could say anything about the obvious bitterness that seeped into his voice. As soon as the door closed behind him, she looked back at Meredith. "Is it just me," she began, "or is Alex starting to sound a lot more like Christina?"

8D

Derek was acting weird, shifty even, and it bothered a certain redhead. He kept going on and on about why Richard asked her to come out here, and how it had absolutely nothing to do with being Chief of Surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital. Needless to say, he made a speedy exit when he realized what he'd let slip.

Derek, her moronic, naïve ex-husband, just added another horse to this race in his own futile attempts to get ahead.

You've got to love the irony, she thought to herself as she called him on his lies. She followed him walking away with her head, making sure he heard her, when she saw a movement in the corner of her eye and jolted back into her previous activity, which had consumed the majority of her day – avoiding Alex Karev.

"Dr. Montgomery," he called out, using her name for the first time since that night in the bar, even if it was only her last name.

She quickly averted her eyes and almost dropped a chart she tried to pick up in order to look busy. "Uh, I'm busy now, Karev," she excused. She turned her back to him, taking off her reading glasses and failing miserably at fleeing the scene before—

"When you get a minute, I'd like to talk about the kissing!" Alex's voice rang out in the hallway, attracting the curiosity and attention of countless nurses.

The cart of charts rattled as she jerked straight from placing a chart onto it. Immensely flustered, her eyes shifted this way and that as she unsteadily continued on her way down the hall, praying that nobody of immediate consequence had heard their little interaction—or rather, Karev's interaction.

Pissed at her avoidance as he might have been, Karev still loved watching her strut down the hallway, especially once she'd regained her stride. It really wasn't fair that she could look so good simply by moving from one foot to another.

He needed to clear this—them—up soon, because he didn't know how much longer he could miss out on anymore of her walking.

8D

This was just getting ridiculous. He'd been chasing that infuriating woman around all day, and she still managed to weasel out of having to talk to him! He had a one-track mind that was set on finally straightening things out with her; she had a one-track mind that was set on avoiding Alex at all costs.

I'll give her this, he thought wryly to himself as he walked past countless patients' rooms, she gave me a goal—a direction I need to follow, even if it is chasing her down until she finally talks to me.

He heard her heels clicking down the hallway, about to round the corner just ahead of him, and he saw her first. Gotcha.

"Dr. Montgomery," he greeted in satisfaction, grabbing a hold of her elbow.

Still buried in her file, she didn't even look up as she told him, "Now's not a good time—Karev!" She did look up when he whipped her around by her elbow and dragged her into the supply closet that was directly behind them. "Listen to me," she urged as he pulled her inside and closed the door.

"No, you listen," Alex cut her off. "You kissed me. You kissed me and ever since then you've been avoiding me."

"Alex," she used his first name with a sigh. She didn't even seem to realize that she had done it, but he definitely noticed.

"No, it isn't okay, Addison!" There. He had said it. He'd finally called her by her first name, probably for the first time since he'd worked under her. It caught her attention, at the very least. "You kissed me, and made me think about you like I haven't thought about anybody in a very, very long time, and then you avoid me. You don't get to make me dream about you, you don't get to make me watch you watch away, you don't get make me only see red hair when I close my eyes or smell your perfume. You don't get to do any of that and then cut and run." Alex paused, having said it all in one successive breath. Dr. Montgomery—Addison—looked shell-shocked. He could tell by her stunned silence that, if she expected anything out of this conversation, this was not how she expected it to go by any means. "It isn't okay that you made me actually want you for more than sex and then not give me the chance to tell you that." A few seconds later, another thought popped into his head from their conversations in the NICU. "And you do not get to blame any of this on having a weird week."

Addison exhaled slowly. She really had nothing to say. She wouldn't even know where to begin, but she knew she had to explain herself. "I'm sorry," she apologized softly. "I have enjoyed having you on my service these last few months, and I liked the fact that we were becoming more friendly. But then you said what you said to the pregnant woman with the glass shard in her heart, and then you said what you said to me in the NICU…I didn't want to mess with it." She dropped her eyes to the glasses she still held in her hand and added, "With us."

"Addison."

"Yeah?" she answered glumly, looking up.

Alex's lips were on hers before she even understood what was going on. One minute, she was standing next to the towels and apologizing. The next, she was pressed up against the door, kissing her intern for all she was worth. She grabbed fistfuls of his lab coat as he raised her up and pushed her even more into the door. His hands explored her body, his fingers leaving a trail of fire in their wake.

When the two parted for lack of oxygen, Alex looked directly into Addison's dark blue eyes. "If you avoid me again, I swear this'll just happen again," he warned.

"Okay," Addison panted, unable to form any coherent thoughts past that. She had definitely learned her lesson.

Kissing Alex Karev? Good.

Avoiding him subsequently? Pointless.

A/N: So what do you think? Please don't pull the whole "I'm reading this, and I liked it, but I'm too lazy to review," because I really don't appreciate that. If you liked it, hated it, wanted to marry it, wanted to bury it (hehe, I rhymed), please tell me! You know how? REVIEWS.