Izzie had an idea that had been eating at her for a while now, and she'd gotten up this morning feeling a little more bold than usual (in her defense, her head was pounding from the massive hangover she'd gotten the night before).

So, she'd put on her new lip gloss, pulled back her hair (which looked remarkably good considering that she woke up with half an hour to get to work), and nonchalantly searched for a chart that did not exist.

She didn't have to wait long for a flash of red to catch her attention. Placing the chart back neatly, she jogged a little to catch up to Addison.

"Dr. Montgomery, could I talk to you for a second?"

Addison tapped her foot repeatedly against the floor, sitting behind her desk as she stared at her watch. She'd just gotten out of surgery and was feeling extra anxious. Paging Mark immediately would have made her look desperate, and honestly, she was a little, though she'd never admit to it. That would be happening soon enough though.

She'd probably never stop hating the fact that she was no longer in charge of her body, at least, not for the next six months. Her hormones controlled her emotions. Her new eating habits and the growth of their baby would change her body whether she liked it or not. There was really nothing she could do, but she'd begun to accept those facts and that she'd just have to deal with all of it for quite some time.

After a while, Addison finally deemed the time that'd passed long emough. She pulled out her blackberry and paged Mark, leaving our some of the more embarassing details like having thought about him and their stuff all throughout her surgery.

When she finished, she put it away and tried to wait patiently. Getting antsy, she stood and started to pace her office, walking back and forth in front of her couch. Mark really could not come any sooner.

Despite her late night out with Izzie the night before, she wasn't that tired - or maybe she was and she just refused to stand still. She had gotten to scrub in on her first plastic surgery, and there was no way she was going to take a step back and graciously bow out now. While she was appreciative, she had proved that she could in fact remain a silent observer in the OR. So now Mark really didn't have en excuse to exclude him from his surgeries. She realized she still had a lot to learn, but cooperating with her superiors had never been a problem with her.

She hadn't seen or spoken to Derek since they'd agreed to go their separate ways, and in a way that made it easier to go back to the way things had been: attaching herself to Sloan and begging him to let her do something worthwhile. Fortunately since he had caved once already, she had at least one patient that she could link herself to, and she took every available opportunity to go and make sure that patient was comfortable.

She had just come back from her second routine check since she'd clocked in that morning, deciding that she should stop dropping in so frequently. She had a bad habit of doing that. Once she got comfortable with doing something or being around someone, it was like she gravitated towads them. She wouldn't necessarily consider herself clingy because she rarely grew comfortable enough with someone to continually hang around them, but there were a few exceptions.

So now what to do? It was amazing that no many how many times she circled the hospital, there was rarely a doctor in sight. It's like they were in hiding or something. Or they could just be busy doing their jobs, but where was the likelihood in that? But there was one way to get ahead. She had a tendency to sneak a peak at the surgeons' schedules. Major things to look for was when they were coming in and if or when they had scheduled surgeries. That always helped. So when she saw that Mark Sloan didn't come in for another half hour, she'd go ahead and grab two cups of coffee ( one for him and one for herself ) and circle back around to the lobby.

This gave a whole new meaning to 'pouncing' someone as soon as they walked through the door, but hey, she had done her share. She'd sorted through some more of Mark's paperwork and filed the folders in their proper places, and she was going to be sure to point that out. Besides, there wasn't anyone else standing in line waiting to be his intern for the day. The only other person who had shown a primary interest in Plastics was Alex, and he was busy with . . . other things. One thing Sloan couldn't say about her was that she wasn't dedicated.

Fingertips drummed lightly on the desk as she cast a brief glance to the clock before resettling her gaze on the glass doors.

Mark had heard several nurses commenting on the large smile that had adorned his face the entire day, but he wasn't bothered in the slightest by their gossip. That afternoon was Addison's first prenatal appointment, and he was truly looking forward to it. It would make the reality of everything that was happening even more obvious. They were having a baby, and he was amazingly excited.

So, when he'd scrubbed out of his last surgery of the day at 1, Mark had taken a record amount of time to change into his regular clothes before hurrying to her office. The appointment wasn't until 2, but he'd made a vow to make this perfect for her. And showing up early would prove that he cared. And then there wasn't any risk of getting caught up in work and forgetting... like Derek would have.

Without knocking, Mark entered her office through the unlocked door. The lights in the office, however, were off, and Addison was nowhee to be found. It actually, Mark realized, wasn't that strange. Addison didn't spend a whole lot of time in her office, and she never locked it when she was there for convenience purposes.

Figuring she was still checking up on her patients or something, Mark shut the door behind him and took a seat at her desk. He propped his feet on the desk and reclined in the chair, pulling out some medical journal (with a picture of an ultrasound on the front) and started reading while he waited.

She hadn't been assigned to anyone for the day, so her shift had ended earlier than it usually did. After doing a sweep of the hospital and being unable to find Izzie, she assumed Mark had sent her off on one of his wild errands. So for now she'd go home just long enough to shower, planning on returning to the hospital once she was done. The last few days - or the last week, really - had been incredibly exhausting. She hadn't really taken the time to unwind from it all, but she knew there was plenty of time for that later. She had a habit of shoving her problems to the back of her mind and focusing on others. She wore herself thin, even if she refused to admit it. But overall, she knew she could deal with whatever came her way.

Izzie was another story. She knew very little about how strong her female companion was. So as of now, she would be the supportive friend willing to lend an ear, shoulder to cry on, or simply be there to lift her spirits. She would be the person Izzie could lean on, although she already had George and Meredith. But it never hurt to have options - not that she would know much about that from personal experience. Still, she had survived a lot in her lifetime, and she knew that if she could make it through, anyone could. Sometimes a person just couldn't see that on their own, so someone else had to step up and show them that they would be okay.

After she showered and changed, she'd reapply her make-up and dry her hair before brushing it and sleeking it down. Hands briefly tugged at the hem of the denim skirt she'd chosen to wear for the evening as she made her way to the door. She wasn't sure what kind of plans Izzie had in mind, but she was down for whatever - although after they got a chance to talk, she had a feeling they could both use a little pick-me-up. Maybe now was't the best time for her to be trying to cheer somewhere else up. She wasn't exactly level-headed at the moment. She was still 'nursing a broken heart' from being dumped by Derek who hadn't seemed to regret his decision any. At least that was the conclusion she'd come to since he hadn't tried to talk to her since they broke up. And the fact that she'd called her father and spoken to him for the first time since she'd ran away also put a huge damper on her mood. But she wanted him to know that she had a good life. She'd succeeded despite his best efforts to knock her down, and she'd found her brother. Of course they'd batted insults back and forth, but the reality of the situation was he was a pathetic, bitter old man who had nothing - he couldn't hurt her anymore. She'd won, no matter what damage he'd done. She'd always carry the scars he left behind, but she'd survived.

On her way back to the hospital, her mind wandered to Derek once again. Really, she would do or try anything to take her mind off him. Thinking of him only made keeping her distance harder, and that's obviously what he wanted. She had to respect his decision, but it was difficult. Even she wanted to be loved. She wanted to be desired. And maybe the particular attire she'd selected for the evening, it demonstrated that. Tonight she wasn't holding back: she was fair game. If Derek and Alex wanted to play the field, there was no reason she and Izzie couldn't go out and have a little fun of their own. What's the worst that could happen? A dangerous philosophy? Maybe. But she was willing to go to any extreme to cheer both Izzie and herself up, because they deserved a break.

Once she re-entered the hospital, she'd take a seat in a vacant chair on the far side of the room, reclining back as she waited for Izzie, legs crossed, mind drifting back to someplace else.

Izzie walked toward the nurses' station, feeling pretty bad. She hadn't really caught a break in weeks, was way too busy to talk to anyone, and hadn't slept in a really long time...2 days? 3 days? The last time she had slept had been for a lousy 5 hours...2 of which were spent crying, 1 of which was spent ransacking the refrigerator. It resulted in her feeling completely gross and depressed, and rather irritable.

So when she had given Bailey a smart ass remark (not smart), she had been automatically assigned to Sloan, which added to her already pissy mood. But she hid it as well as she could while she walked up to him.

"Dr. Sloan," she said, trying to keep her voice light. "I'm assigned to you today."

She'd finished observing her first cleft palate surgery about a half hour ago, and ever since it'd been hard for her to sit still. She didn't know whether it was the surgery that had gotten her adrenaline pumping or whether there was any correlation between the two at all. But whatever the case, she stayed active, shuffling here and there as she checked in on the patient ( as well as a few others whose cases she'd been keeping up with ) and filed the pre-op paperwork into its rightful location after making sure it had already been signed by Dr. Sloan whose crafty handiwork in the OR she had complimented ( only after he was completely finished and stepped outside the room -- incase he decided to include that as her breaking her promised silence during the procedure ). All in all, everything had run smoothly.

Her mood was a strange one. One minute she was up, the next down. Her day had been a mixture of good and bad, and one didn't seem to cancel out the other as it normally did. She still had a lot on her mind, but no one would think she was anything but happy because of the small smile that remained worn across her face.

The hospital seemed to be fairly quiet today. She hadn't run into any of the others interns, nor had she run into Derek ( which she was thankful for - she wasn't looking forward to the awkwardness that was bound to ensue as they pretended that nothing had ever happened between them ). The temporary calm was a refreshing change from the chaotic lives of not only the patients, but the doctors, interns, and other staff members as well, and she intended on taking full advantage of the short-lived change of pace - even if it was just to catch her breath.

Speaking of which, she hadn't realized how tired she was until now. Maybe it was all the small, random tasks she'd busied herself with since the day started that had worn her out so, or maybe her sudden state of exhaustion was because of the mental and emotional strain she'd been dealing with as of late. No matter what the reasoning was behind it, she needed to sit down for a minute - take a break. She decided to grab a bite to eat as well. She hadn't had anything since breakfast, and even then she'd been running late, so it had been a small one. With that in mind, she veered towards the best place to do both: the cafeteria.

After grabbing a tray filled with the more edible appearing items to choose from, she'd turn and spot Addison seated at a nearby table. She hesitated a moment, unsure of whether she was angry with her or not or whether she should approach her. But she decided that they were bound to run into each other sooner or later, and she preferred sooner. Besides, it was best to get everything out of the way instead of letting things settle and build over time. That tended to make things worse. With that mentality, she made her way over and took a seat in the vacant chair across from her. "Hey. Hope this seat isn't taken . . ." Realistically she knew it wasn't, but the remark was made primarily to get Addison's attention and see how she would greet her.

Alex had piled his tray high with food, plen ty for both him and Callie. He had goten a chicken sandwich, a turkey sandwich and a roast beef sandwich, not knowing what she would want. A coupel bags of chips and pieces of fruit along with two bottles of water and a cartoon of milk.

O'Malley had said nothing to him about the ultrasound photo. In truth, it sort of pissed him off. Alex had made the effort, now George needed to make it back. Although it was probably better for Alex if George stayed out of the picture. It meant Callie wouldn't have to pick between the two of them. It meant he had his family.

He had never had a family. Well he had a father who beat the shit out of him. That was a family, but not what a family was supposed to be. He knew his grandfather had beaten his dad as well, but the cycle ended with him. He had been resolved in that fact since his teen years. He would never ever lay a hand to his child. He would be there for the sporting events and help fix their cars and their broken hearts.

Alex had never pictured it happening like this though. Not with Callie. Not with her carrying George's child. Not in his intern year, but here it was happening and he was allowing it to happen. Sure he had doubts, but Callie....when he held her in his arms.....all the doubts seemed worth it for her.