Author's Note: Get ready for an epically long Author's Note.
This takes place after Season 3, but without all the drama that went down in Season 3. Basically everyone is bright and shiny and blissfully happy…except for Addison and Alex. He still told her she wasn't his girlfriend after the on-call room sex, only she doesn't go to LA afterwards. And he never went after Ava. Because the Alex in my head never actually had feelings for her. (So Izzie never went for George and destroyed his marriage to Callie, Derek and Mer are happy, Cristina and Burke can be married or not married – it doesn't really matter. But they're happy. That's the important thing.)
Yes, I realize the holidays technically ended a few days ago, but well … whatever. It's never too early or too late for Christmas!
I'd like to dedicate this to Gigi (LGCoffeeAddict) and Juli (Darling Pretty) because 1. I owe them about 45 billion reviews and during my free time I wrote this instead of reviewing and 2. Well, Merry Christmas, guys! Thanks for being awesome friends! Sorry it's late!
(Also, I promise I will start updating my other stories soon. I meant to over my break but my laptop got a virus PLUS I had my tonsils and adenoids out, plus some bone in my nose taken out or something. It was the worst recovery of my life. And now that I know what I've gotten myself into with nursing school, next semester I will be able to write more hopefully. Thanks for hanging in there and not bombarding me with hate mail for my sucky updating habits!)
The end. (Told you it was a long Author's Note!)
Grown Up Christmas List by Kate811
George O'Malley tiptoed cautiously out of Seattle Grace's lobby and darted behind a tree. He had to make a quick getaway, and he had to remain unseen by any hospital personnel. He peaked out from his hiding spot, and when he was sure there was no one lurking nearby, he dashed across the street to his favorite hangout spot: Joe's Bar.
Once he was sure that none of the patrons of the bar would recognize him, he breathed a sigh of relief and pulled down his beard.
"O'Malley! Why the hell are you dressed up like Santa? Come to entertain us?" Joe called from behind the bar.
"SHHH! Don't say my name!" George whispered frantically.
He looked around once more to make sure he did not know anyone then pulled a chair out and sat down at the bar.
"Callie made me dress up as Santa for the ped's floor," he explained.
"And instead you opted to rob the children of their Christmas cheer and come here to drink?" The bartender looked at George like he was the scum of the earth.
"What? NO! I was there for hours with the kids. But then Callie told the families to go bring their other kids and we'd have ourselves a big Christmas party…"
"And?"
"And the kids got mean! They were climbing all over me and screaming in my face and demanding ridiculous presents. I mean, how is Santa supposed to bring a pony? Don't kids know elves can't make ponies! They make things like dolls, and teddy bears…and…and…and can I please get a freaking beer?"
Joe chuckled as he handed George his beer of choice and waved away his money.
"This one's on me, Santa. Can I just ask you something though? I mean, why didn't you get changed? I think regular clothes would be a little less obvious than the Santa suit. Callie will be able to find you in a heartbeat."
George rolled his eyes. "Callie hid my clothes. She said she was taking every precaution to make sure I didn't try to ditch the children to get out of the Santa costume."
"Ah, well you sure showed her!" Joe chuckled at the poor man's misfortune.
Just as George was about to retort, a loud groan from the other side of the bar interrupted the conversation.
"Joe. Refill. Now." A red curtain of hair was tossed out of the voice's face to reveal Doctor Addison Forbes Montgomery.
"Crap!" George muttered as he quickly pulled his beard back up.
"Don't worry. She's so sloshed she won't recognize you," Joe reassured as he grabbed the bottle of vodka for the woman and headed over to refill her drink.
Not willing to chance it, George decided to remain incognito. He downed his beer and signaled to Joe for another one. The man obliged, then glanced over to the door where a crowd of rambunctious men entered carrying a guy in a tuxedo t-shirt.
"Ah, bachelor parties. Always good for business! Would you mind keeping an eye out on her?" Joe motioned to where Addison was slumped over on the bar.
George nodded, and Joe was off to tend to the party. Curiosity got the best of the doctor, so he picked up his beer and wandered over to where Addison was sitting. Well, sitting was a strong word. It was more like the top half of her body was lying across the bar while the bottom half was struggling to stay perched on the barstool.
"Doctor Montgomery, are you okay?"
Addison lifted her head off the bar as if it weighed a ton.
"…Santa?" She squinted through her alcohol phase.
"No, Doctor Montgomery, it's me-"
Addison lifted a hand up to stop him. "Santa, can I just say you are the origin of every problem to ever exist in every relationship."
"I'm not Sa—wait what? How?" George asked incredulously.
"You've never heard of children wishing and hoping for some popular doll, or a puppy, or a fire truck, and then not getting it Christmas morning?"
"Yes, but I don't understand what this has to do with Santa...I mean…me…causing relationship problems." George shot her a curious look.
Addison shrugged. "You make people believe."
"Believe in what?"
Another shrug. "Anything they want to believe. Love, happily-ever-after, dreams coming true. All that crap. You. You start it and then people believe. And then they end up alone and miserable. Dreams don't come true, Santa. Happily-ever-after doesn't exist."
"That's a pretty depressing thought." George mused.
"Yeah, well I'm a pretty depressing person. Cheers." She tipped her glass at him and took another sip of the vodka.
George glanced around awkwardly. Surely he couldn't continue this conversation. Doctor Montgomery would probably slaughter him if she knew it was him underneath the red suit and beard.
A hand grabbing his shoulder for balance startled him, and George quickly moved to assist Addison in getting up.
"Woah, you okay, Doctor Montgomery?"
"Grand. I'm freaking grand, Santa Claus." And with that, she sauntered over to the jukebox.
George watched as she leaned against the jukebox fumbling with her wallet looking for quarters. Then he realized she probably needed help, as instead of putting the unwanted dimes and nickels back into her wallet, she was simply tossing them over her shoulder.
"Here, allow me." He reached into his pocket, pulling out a few quarters to appease her.
"You're the best, Santa!" She grinned and promptly took the change, placed it in the slot, and made her way back to the bar as the sad melody of Elvis Presley's Blue Christmas drifted out over the bar's sound system.
"Interesting choice of song," George quipped.
Addison sighed. "Yeah, well…yeah."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
She downed her drink and sighed again. "I used to love Christmas."
"And you don't anymore?"
"Are you going to interrupt me after each sentence?"
"No."
"Good. As I was saying," Addison glared at George for good measure as she reached over the bar to grab the bottle of vodka and an extra glass for him, "I used to love Christmas. In fact I was ALL about Christmas. I was like a freaking Who in Whoville. And now I'm The Grinch."
She paused to refill her glass plus the extra one for her jolly companion.
"First my marriage to Derek fell apart. And he's probably off being obnoxiously happy with Meredith Grey. Not that I'm jealous or anything, because I'm not. I just wish I was obnoxiously happy and he was off being drinking buddies with Santa Claus, that's all."
She took a sip of her vodka.
"Then I made a 60 day No Sex Pact with Mark. And messed that up. Not that I want to be with Mark or anything, but it'd be nice to have someone to have sex with every once in a while. Not that I should be talking to you about this, as you are Santa Claus and you bring joy to children, except for when you're crushing their dreams but we already covered that. I'm a little drunk though so I'm allowed to be inappropriate and talk about sex to you."
She took another small gulp of her drink.
"And THEN, oh this is the real kicker, THEN I got all flirty with Alex Karev. Well actually this was during the whole "No Sex" thing with Mark, but that's beside the point. I fell for Karev. And then I slept with him in an on-call room. And then he told me I'm not his girlfriend."
This time she drained the rest of her glassful of liquor.
"Seriously?" George exclaimed.
"Seriously!" Addison nodded vigorously.
"So what did you do?"
"Nothing. I've avoided him since. And I've been fine. Really fine. But with the holidays and the stupid togetherness of it all, I decided it was time to hit the bottle. And then you showed up, Santa, so I'm taking this as a sign that you're here to hear me out and help me." She smiled at him sadly and refilled her glass.
George didn't have the heart to tell her that he wasn't really Santa and that he was probably the most awkward person in the world to ever go to for help involving relationships. Granted he was part of a successful marriage, but that was mostly due to Callie and her ability to make everything right. If she left matters to him, he'd probably be alone and still living at home with his parents.
"Yeah…I can help you. What do you need help with?"
She took a deep breath. "I need closure. Closure from Karev. I need to move on. Or I need for him to get his act together, or whatever. I don't know. I just need something. I just don't want to be so damn lonely anymore. Oh, and I wish for world peace, because I'd feel bad if I didn't ask for that."
George gulped and said a silent prayer to God or Santa or whoever was watching over him at the moment that this woman, technically one of his bosses, would never ever remember anything about the night. "Okay, well that's a steep order, but I'll do my best."
Addison smiled ecstatically. "This is kind of like that song, you know the one, with the grown up and the Christmas list. What's that called again?" She snapped her fingers as she tried to place the name of the tune.
"Grown Up Christmas List?" George guessed.
"That's the one!" Addison threw her fist in the air in a moment of triumph and consequently lost her balance on the barstool.
George immediately flew to Addison's rescue, catching her inches above the ground. A few tense seconds passed in silence before finally the sound of Addison's resounding laughter echoed throughout the bar.
"I am one hot mess," she managed to get out between peals of laughter.
George smiled, mostly out of relief that the woman did not fall and hit her head, because trying to explain to everyone in the hospital why he was dressed like Santa and aiding a very drunk Doctor Montgomery did not sound even a little bit fun.
"Do you want me to get you a taxi?" He offered, realizing he'd have to send her home before he could go home since they both resided at the same hotel. He couldn't very well have her think Santa was going to try to have his way with her at one of Seattle's finest hotels. That'd make her even more cynical about the holidays.
The laughter finally subsided, and Addison sighed, "Yes, please."
He helped her up, she gathered her things, and they ventured outside into the chilly Seattle night. George hailed her a cab, gave the driver strict instructions to make sure the woman made it safely into her hotel building, and handed him more than enough money to cover the fare and tip. Just as the driver was about to pull away (clearly not even phased that Santa just handed him a drunken woman who kept humming some Christmas song he couldn't quite place) Addison rolled down her window and yelled to George.
"Wait! Santa!" She motioned for him to come to the window.
George obliged, "Yes?"
She shot him a grateful smile and patted his hand, "Thank you. And have a merry Christmas."
This was George's undoing. He took in Addison's hopeful, vulnerable smile and he knew he'd help her out in any way he could to help make her Christmas wish come true. He'd restore her faith in "happily ever after" and "dreams coming true" no matter what.
"Merry Christmas, Addison."
With those parting words, he backed away from the car allowing the driver to speed off into the night.
Realizing he didn't actually have any clue as to help Doctor Montgomery out, George hurried back into the bar to say a quick goodbye to Joe.
"She make it home alright?" The bartender asked as he mopped up a spill from one of the intoxicated groom's men.
George nodded, "Yeah. I'm gonna get going. I gotta face the wrath of Callie at some point. If you don't hear from me for a few days, please tell the police that my wife murdered me."
"Tell her I said hi!" Joe laughed as George rolled his eyes and exited the bar, going home to the death sentence that surely awaited him.
"Cal?" George tentatively stuck his head into his hotel room, only to narrowly miss being hit on the head with a bottle of shampoo.
"YOU LOUSY, NO GOOD JERK! JUST WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" Callie shrieked as she reached for various other cosmetics to peg at him.
"Callie, I can explain, really!"
"Oh, I'd love to hear whatever explanation you have for DITCHING CHILDREN AT A CHRISTMAS PARTY! CHILDREN. SICK CHILDREN, GEORGE. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? Take off that damn costume. You don't deserve to be lumped into the same category as Santa. You deserve a Satan costume, that's what you deserve!" Callie rolled her eyes and bent down to pick up her hair products and makeup, all the while cursing her husband out in her native tongue.
"Technically I didn't ditch the sick kids because all of them had already sat on my lap … I just ditched their families." George pointed out. He then realized his mistake when Callie offered him the finger she usually saved for truck drivers who cut her off when she was in a rush to get to the hospital.
"You are unbelievable, you know that? Absolutely unbelievable. And you smell of cheap booze and cigarettes so I take it you hid out at Joe's?" She looked at him in utter disgust.
"Yes, but…but-" George hastily tried to explain as Callie sent him another dirty look . Her eyes then shot to the door and he knew he was seconds away from getting hurled out of there.
"Look I know what I did was really horrible and wrong and you can torture me all you want later but Doctor Montgomery was there and she seemed down so I talked to her and she thought I was Santa and told me what she wanted for Christmas and now I need your help to make it happen otherwise she'll never believe in dreams coming true ever again." He managed to get out in one breath.
At the mention of her best friend's name, Callie's face immediately morphed from fury to curiosity.
"Addison? Addison was there?"
George nodded.
"And she thought you were Santa?"
"In her defense, she was so drunk I don't even think she really knew who she was let alone me, but yes, she thought I was Santa." George clarified.
Hearing this and picturing it made Callie's face soften completely and she sank down on their bed.
"She's been so down lately. I don't know what to do about it. What did she say to you?"
George sat down across from her on their couch (he may have escaped Callie's wrath for the moment, but he knew one wrong move and she'd have him out in the cold, lonely streets. And castrated) and recounted his evening to his wife.
When he got to the part about Alex, he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, because all of Callie's rage and plans for murder were immediately channeled to him instead.
"I will kill him. I know that ass feels something for her; he's just too chicken shit to admit it." George could practically see wheels turning in Callie's head as she worked out the details of her plan to get Alex alone in a dark alley and destroy any traces of evidence.
"Yeah well don't kill him yet, because all Addison's list for Santa included was either closure or for Alex to get his act together. She also mentioned something about world peace, but that was just because she felt bad not including it. I have a feeling it was really just that first thing she wanted."
Callie looked at George like he just won the Nobel Peace Prize.
"You really want to help Addison? Even though she was trashed, will most likely not remember this night at all, and thought you were Santa Claus?"
George thought about it for a moment. "Well…yeah, I really do! If I don't, she'll never be truly happy again. She said when kids don't get what they want from Santa, that's their first sign that dreams don't come true and happily-ever-after doesn't exist. I don't want her to think like that for the rest of her life!"
"Okay, you get that you're not really Santa, right?" Callie joked as her husband glared back at her in response, "Alright, alright, I'll help you! It shouldn't be too hard. Tomorrow's Christmas Eve. Karev's working, right?"
George nodded, "Alex always works the holidays."
Callie chewed her lip thoughtfully. "And Addison is working tomorrow, too, so…we'll get them alone somehow. And force them to talk. Boom, there you have it! Fool-proof."
"That's it? That's the brilliant plan you've come up with?" George looked at her incredulously.
"Oh, give me a break. It's not like I've had weeks to plan this. You JUST sprung this on me! Besides, look what happened the last time Addison and Karev were alone together. They got busy in an on-call room."
"It's just…nothing about this feels Christmassy to me. I was hoping for something more…festive."
Callie rolled her eyes for the millionth time that night, only this time it was good-natured. "One night in a Santa suit and suddenly you're Kris freakin' Kringle himself? Oh, alright, fine. We'll throw some mistletoe in whatever room we can get them alone in. How's that?"
"You're the best, Cal!" He smiled eagerly at her, and her heartstrings tugged at her husband's thoughtfulness.
She got up, sat down next to him, and kissed him sweetly on the cheek.
"You know, I think it's really sweet how you're doing all of this for Addison…"
"Yeah?" George asked, leaning in towards her inviting lips.
"Yep," Callie nodded, "But you still ditched the children for a night at Joe's, Mister! So it's the couch for you tonight!"
She quickly got up and into their bed, throwing him a pillow and spare blanket for the couch.
George groaned and went to change into his pajamas. He folded his Santa suit carefully and regarded it for a moment.
As he settled into his makeshift bed and drifted off to sleep he wondered softly to himself, "And I've only got one person's wish to fulfill. Can't imagine having the whole world's wishes…"
On Christmas Eves of the past, Addison could be counted on being THAT person. The one decked out in some snazzy red dress, handing out perfect, thoughtful gives to family and friends, singing Christmas carols off-key at the top of her voice…
This Christmas Eve, however, found Addison hunched over a nurses' station, donning navy blue scrubs and a messy bun piled on top of her head, scribbling notes in a patient's chart. There'd be no celebrations, no decking of any halls, and as soon as her shift was over she had big plans to crawl into her bed and stay there until the New Year.
"Addison! Can you do me a favor real quick?" Addison looked up to find Callie's head peaking out of a patient's room.
"Sure. What's up?" She slid the chart back into its cubby and walked over to the room Callie was in, surprised when Callie blocked her from entering the room.
"Can you just run down to the supply closet and get me the largest basin you can find? I've got a patient in here projectile vomiting."
Had Addison been in a better mood, she might have noticed that there were plenty of interns, nurses, and patient care technicians all standing nearby, and all readily available to help with the mundane task of fetching a basin.
"No problem. I'll be back in a sec." She smiled sympathetically at her friend. Projectile vomiting on Christmas Eve sounded only marginally worse than Addison's plans for the holidays.
"Alex! Hey, Alex! Can you do me a favor, please?" George called from a patient's room as Alex walked down the hallway.
"No." Alex answered. He was on break. He was ticked off at the utter giddiness that went along with it being the holidays. He was in the mood to be a Scrooge. He wasn't doing anyone any favors.
"Please, Alex! I just need a bed pan from the supply closet. It will take you 30 seconds at the most." George pleaded.
"Get someone else to do it."
"There's no one else around! Fine. I'll get it myself. But that means you have to stay in here with my patient and make sure he doesn't get out of bed and pass out. PS – he has explosive diarrhea." George smirked knowingly.
"Fine, I'll get you your stupid bed pan." Alex rolled his eyes and made his way down the hallway.
Just as he was about to turn the handle to open the closet, a hand got there before him, and Alex found himself facing Addison.
"Oh…hey." Alex said politely, going against every alarm that was blaring in his head to bolt and run in the opposite direction instead.
It wasn't that things had been awkward between him and Addison ever since the whole "You're not my girlfriend" disaster, but…
Okay, it was exactly that. She hadn't spoken to him since that night unless absolutely necessary (not that he had really tried to speak to her. What was there to say? "I'm sorry I'm an absolute ass and hurt everyone who ever gets close to me?" So not happening.)
Addison nodded in his general direction before opening the door to the closet and heading in, and it took Alex a moment to realize this was all the greeting he was going to get from her.
Going against better judgment yet again, he followed her in, letting the door shut behind him. He immediately spotted the bed pans sitting on the shelf right in front of Addison, so he reached around her and grabbed one, accidently brushing his hand along her side, sending an involuntary shudder throughout her. Evidently this was all he needed to do to get her to speak to him.
"Would you mind waiting your turn?" She snapped.
Granted it wasn't exactly the response he was hoping for, but this…this was familiar. The fighting he could deal with. It was the sad eyes and the avoiding and the awkwardness he had trouble with.
He dropped the bed pan back on the shelf. "Well excuse me, your Highness."
The cold, dead look in her blue eyes was quickly replaced with a fiery brightness.
"How DARE you!"
Yep, Alex smirked to himself, fighting was good. Fighting was familiar.
Callie quickly scurried down the hallway towards the supply closet, her husband on her heels.
"See? It's already working!" She exclaimed to George.
"We heard them screaming at each other from the other end of the hallway. How is that even close to working?" George cried.
"You'll see! It'll work." She produced a key from her pocket and locked the closet, the occupants none the wiser of her move.
"Where'd you get a key from? I thought we were just going to stick a chair under the handle?"
"I may have … slipped it off the janitor's key ring this morning." Callie explained.
"You pick pocketed the janitor," George deadpanned, his wife's actions not surprising him one bit.
"Whatever." Callie shrugged and turned to the crowd of hospital personnel that were now watching the two of them and the closet with morbid fascination.
"No one goes near this door unless I say so. Got it?" She announced to the staff in her best "Don't Mess With Me" voice.
"Yeah, move it along! Nothing to see here!" George added, and the crowd immediately dispersed.
He turned to his wife and sighed. "And now…we wait"
"…Look, Karev, I don't care what kind of warped history you and I have, I am your superior. You will not speak to me in a matter of disrespect ever again. Understood?" Addison finished off her lecture, proud that she was able to maintain an authoritative tone.
"If you expect me to slink off with my tail between my legs, I won't do that. You got mad because I reached for a bed pan." Alex sent her another one of his trademark smirks.
Addison glared daggers at her ex…whatever he was. "If you don't get out of my face in ten seconds, I very well may beat you over the head with a bed pan."
Alex laughed in disbelief, and she promptly reached over to the pile of bed pans and picked one up.
"Okay, okay. I'm leaving!" He turned towards the door, jiggled the handle, and turned back around. "It won't open."
Addison rolled her eyes and stomped over to the door. "Move. I'll do it."
Alex made a grand, sweeping motion with his hands towards the door and stepped back. "She's all yours."
Addison tried the handle. Then she tried it again. Then she tried it while forcibly pushing against the door. After a few minutes, unwilling to turn around and admit defeat to Karev (because anything was better than that) she began pounding on the door and yelling for help.
"HOW IS NO ONE RESPONDING?" She shrieked as she turned around, leaned against the door, and slid to the ground.
"Maybe they're relieved they don't need to endure your wrath for a little bit. I heard you reverted back to your Satan-like ways today." Alex shrugged smugly.
Ignoring the fact that her former intern just called her the devil, she mumbled, "It's not my fault everyone's behaving like incompetent idiots tonight."
"It's the holidays. They bring out the idiot in people."
"They do not."
"They really do."
Addison sighed. "No, Christmas is a time for people to be happy, to be with the ones they love. That doesn't make them idiots."
Alex regarded her for a moment. "What are you doing here then? Aren't you like, the spirit of Christmas or something?"
"I had to work."
"Yeah, your shift ended hours ago." Alex pointed out.
"I'm a workaholic, so sue me."
"Don't you have family? Why didn't you just—"Alex began, but Addison angrily cut him off.
"Look, I could have went home to my family, but they kind of…they're not…they suck. And I could have hung out with Callie and George, but being a third wheel on Christmas just seemed even more depressing than being a third wheel on a non-holiday. Everyone is married or coupled off and I just felt I could hang out here and be useful, instead of sitting in my hotel room staring at the mini-fridge and wondering how many of those little bottles of liquor it'd take me to black out, alright?"
Alex threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay, sheesh. Sorry!"
"Turns out this is even worse than being some third wheel to a happily married couple. I'm trapped in here with the likes of you. Merry freakin' Christmas."
"Yeah, well I'm not exactly pleased with this arrangement either, you know." Alex, who had been leaning against the back shelf, sat down on the ground across from her.
"You don't get to not be pleased. I'm the one who's mad at you; therefore, I'm the one who gets to be annoyed by the situation. Not you." Addison explained childishly.
"Oh, well excuse me. I didn't realize you became The Dictator of Human Emotions since we last talked." Alex mocked.
Addison glared at him for a few moments before speaking, "How about neither one of us talk for the duration of being locked in here. How's that sound?"
Alex narrowed his eyes. "Sounds perfect."
"Great."
"Great."
Minutes passed in tense, awkward silence as Alex quite literally twiddled his thumbs and Addison tried to massage away the beginnings of an oncoming migraine. Finally Alex had enough and disregarded their agreement of silence.
"Do you have a headache?"
Addison glowered at him before answering, "If you must know, I'm hungover."
"That sucks. Joe's?"
Addison nodded, "Yep. And a lot of vodka. It's honestly all a blur now. I don't remember a thing."
"Sounds responsible," Alex quipped.
"We're supposed to be quiet." Addison reminded him through gritted teeth, but Alex ignored her.
"You know, I don't think you were really mad about how I reached for the bed pan."
Addison rubbed her temples. "Everything you do makes me mad, Karev, especially your inability to follow directions. I thought we agreed not to talk?"
Alex swatted his hand as if tossing that idea off to the side.
Growing incensed by his behavior, Addison responded with the one thing she knew would render him speechless.
"Well if you must know, I tend to get a little pissed off when the guys I have sex with tell me I'm not their girlfriend."
There. It was out there. No turning back.
Alex took a deep breath, clearly not expecting her to actually bring it up.
"Let me guess, you thought we'd sit in here until whenever we're found, dance around the subject the whole time, then go back to being awkward and not speaking. Well I said it. What are you gonna say about it?" Addison challenged.
Alex sighed. "I shouldn't have said it. You deserved better from me."
"Your damn right I did. I deserved better than almost kisses and vanilla lattes and real kisses if I was just some one-time sexual conquest to you." Addison choked out bitterly, tears filling her eyes. She blinked them away; she was certainly not going to cry in front of him.
"Is that what you think of me?" Alex asked quietly, so quietly Addison wasn't sure she didn't imagine it.
"What else would I think?" She responded with a question of her own.
A few moments passed as Addison stared sadly at her hands while Alex tried to find the right words.
"I got scared," he admitted.
Addison snorted. "Well that much was obvious."
"Rebecca told me she heard you and Callie talking…about settling down and barbeques and stuff."
It was Addison's turn to suck in a breath from shock. "Oh."
"Yeah," Alex picked a piece of lint off his scrubs, not sure what to say next.
Her hard expression still hadn't softened. "I wasn't expecting all that from you, you know."
"That's what you deserve though…and I could never give it to you."
"You didn't want to be with me, I get that. It may have sucked for me and I may still be hurting but it's fine. It'll be fine." Addison nodded knowingly, refusing to make eye contact with him again.
"No! You're not getting it!" Alex yelled somewhat frantically, forcing Addison to look up.
"Not getting what?" She asked.
Alex glanced nervously around the room and rubbed at the back of his head, distressed by whatever it was he needed to say.
"Look…where I come from…my family…they're really messed up. My dad was a drunk who beat my mom up for my entire childhood until one day I finally beat him back and he left. But he destroyed everything. The reason I work every holiday is because the only memories I have of holidays are trips to the ER so my mom's ribs wouldn't puncture her lungs, or the cops coming over because the neighbors complained about the screaming, or my mom forcing me and my brother and sister to get dressed up and plaster smiles to our faces so we could go visit my dad in what was sure to be another failed rehab attempt. My family is broken. My mom's broken. I'm broken. And I didn't want to fall for you because I'd break you. You … you deserve better. Not someone like me."
By the end of Alex's speech he was fighting back tears, while Addison was unabashedly crying. She stood up, walked over to him, held out a hand to help him stand up, and hugged him.
"You are not your father, Alex. You don't have it in you to break anyone because you're decent. You are a good person. You deserve better than what you've been through. You deserve to have new memories of happy holidays with people you love. You deserve to be happy." She stroked his back as she whispered the soothing words into his ear.
"With you?" Alex asked.
Addison froze. "I…I didn't mean me. I meant whoever you end up falling for. If it's not me it's okay, I just hope we can go back to being friends."
"Do you mean that?"
"Yes, I really do. I understand now what I didn't understand before." Addison admitted honestly.
"I don't want to just be friends. I want it to be you. I want to be happy with you," Alex whispered.
"Good," Addison whispered back, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Addison?"
"Yeah?"
"It's after midnight."
"Is it?" Addison glanced at her watch, still wrapped in her hug with Alex, "So it is! Merry Christmas, Alex."
"Merry Christmas, Addison. Hey, Addison?"
"Yeah?"
"Now will you admit you weren't really mad about me not waiting my turn to get the bed pan?"
Addison pulled back from their hug, laughing and rolling her eyes when something caught her eye.
"Look," she pointed up to the ceiling, where a sprig of mistletoe hung.
Alex looked up, "Mistletoe, huh?"
"Well, it is Christmas. And you haven't kissed me yet. I'm just saying!" Addison giggled as Alex pulled her back to him and kissed her sloppily on the forehead, nose, cheeks, and neck, before finally letting his lips crash down on hers passionately.
"It's after midnight, should we go get them?" George asked Callie as they sat on an on-call room bed, waiting to go home.
Callie nodded. "Yeah, I think so. It's officially Christmas so that means Addison either got her wish or she didn't. Let's go."
The two nervously walked down the hallway, got to the closet door, and took deep breaths as Callie unlocked the door.
"Oh, God! Sorry!" The husband and wife duo exclaimed as Addison and Alex pulled apart from their lip-lock.
"Don't be sorry! You just busted us out of here! What took you so long?" Alex struggled to make small talk as he adjusted his clothes and wiped Addison's lipstick off his mouth.
"Yeah what the hell! Do you know how long we've been in here?" Addison added as she blushed furiously and tried to tame her hair.
"Someone told us you guys were locked in here, so we went to get the janitor but he couldn't find the key!" George explained as he eyed his wife who had the good grace to blush and look down at the floor.
"Well, whatever, thank you. Merry Christmas, to the both of you. Now let's get out of here! Your place?" Alex grabbed Addison's hand and pulled her out of the closet hurriedly as she nodded.
Addison stopped him so she could exchange goodbyes with Callie.
"Merry Christmas, Cal!" She hugged and kissed her on the cheek.
Then she turned to George. "Merry Christmas, Doctor O'Malley!"
"Merry Christmas, Doctor Montgomery!" George smiled.
Something about Doctor O'Malley and Christmas seemed a little familiar to Addison. She shot him a curious look.
"Something wrong, Doctor Montgomery?" George asked.
The moment was gone. Addison shook her head. "No … it couldn't be. I don't even know, anyway! Well, goodnight, you two!"
"Goodnight!" George and Callie called as they watched amusedly as Alex and Addison practically sprinted down the hallway.
"Do you think she knows it was you?" Callie asked.
George shook his head no.
"Are you ever going to tell her?"
"No, I don't think I will. I hope she just thinks her dream came true," George admitted.
"You're a wonderful, wonderful man." Callie threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.
"Does this mean I get to sleep in our bed tonight?" George asked hopefully.
Callie pretended to think about it for a moment. "Well, I guess that could be arranged … seeing how I'm basically the Mrs. Claus to your Santa."
George laughed and grabbed her hand. "Let's go home. Merry Christmas, Callie."
"Merry Christmas, Santa George."
AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER!
The end!
WHEW. I hope you all enjoyed it! Merry belated Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!