"You know, I thought M&Ms would be fun. A bunch of doctors in a room investigating a case, the residents and attendings taking all the hits that we interns cause. But I didn't expect it to turn into a war camp against Bailey," Maddox confesses, putting her hands in her scrub coat pockets, and Alex just gives her a brief sideways glance.

"Yeah, well, I guess they're fun when the patient they're treating isn't the one you've killed yourself," is all he mumbles, but for some reason, to Maddox it doesn't seem aggressive, but guilty. The brunette remembers how Alex has jumped to the resident's defense, and though the resident has asked him to stay out of it while answering questions, Maddox feels a little more comforted knowing that, even if Alex doesn't show it too much, he's capable of having the back of one of his own.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Maddox admits in equally hushed tones. "Do you think Bailey will get in trouble for us? I've been itching to throw one of the chairs at that guy who's taken to questioning her hormone levels."

Alex shrugs, looking ahead slyly. A few feet ahead of the two interns, Bailey and Sloan head toward one of the rooms, with Alex and Maddox as their interns for the day. Maddox still finds it hard to look Bailey in the eye, and since she knows she's going to need some time to get used to having let her down —no matter how much the resident repeats that she knows she was off the case— Maddox seeks refuge with Alex.

"You and I haven't done anything. If they want to be mad at anyone, let them be mad at the other four. I don't plan on missing any surgeries for something I didn't even do," Maddox sighs to herself as she now does see Alex's aggressive tone, and the only conclusion she comes to is that he's still upset about the Denny thing. Maddox doesn't blame him, but at least he's still alive.

"Karev, Easton, am I holding you?" Bailey turns and opens her mouth, waiting for an answer. Neither of them gives it, and they hurry forward to catch up. "The patient's name is Diana Niles. She's having a mastectomy, found a lump on her breast recently due to breastfeeding. I still have a little bitty hope in the both of you, don't waste it. Understood?"

Bailey's look is so menacing that Maddox feels like choking on her own saliva. "Yes, ma'am."

Beside her, Mark laughs so softly that Maddox thinks she's imagined it. "Come on. You can take Addison but can't take Bailey? Lady in the streets, freak on the sheets," and his tone is so mocking that her skin reddens slightly, so she knows she hasn't imagined it. Maddox gives him a brief look, short enough to let Mark know not to touch that ground, at least at work, and the plastic surgeon's gaze changes so dramatically when they enter the room that Maddox still wonders if she's imagined it. "Good morning, Diana. These are Dr. Easton and Dr. Karev, and they will be assisting me today. I brought some of the implants for you to check which ones would fit you best. If you go ahead with the mastectomy, there are several reconstructive options. Saline implants are used the most, but silicone has a more natural looking feel."

The patient looks distraught, overwhelmed with the situation, and Maddox tries to understand her. Her own mother sat in that same situation years ago, so she understands the overwhelm and helplessness Diana must be feeling. And if we add to that her baby crying in her husband's arms, Maddox also thinks she would want to rest. "I can't deal with this right now."

"Diana, come on, it'll take two seconds, huh?"

"You're the one who has to feel them, so you decide."

"I don't care."

"Dude," Alex interrupts. "Believe me, you'll care."


"Dr. Karev," Bailey warns.

"He's right," Mark intercedes for him. "You'll care."

The little boy still won't stop crying, so Maddox steps forward, aware of her resident's watchful eye on her. "I can hold him for a minute. I'm sure he's just in need of a change of air. Right, little one?" Maddox firmly picks up the boy, who looks at her with wet eyes but stops crying. The man looks at her, with a sense of both doubt and gratitude. "Be with your wife. She needs your support right now. I'll take him back in a while."

"Thank you, Dr. Easton," the man nods, patting his son's head, then taking a seat next to his wife.

"Good call back there," Mark whispers near her as they leave, but not too much, because little Gus is still in Maddox's arms and he doesn't want to scare him. "I don't like babies, but I have to admit this one is cute. At least when he's not crying."

Maddox puts her hand to her lips to quiet him. "It's been a few nights since I've slept well, so I'd be grateful if he didn't start crying out of nowhere or I'd simply die," Maddox rocks the boy to get him to close his eyes a little and stop looking for his parents.

Mark makes a strange sound that sounds like laughter. "Well, at least it's sex that's keeping you awake at night. Ah, look, here comes your girlfriend —Addison!" To Mark it seems to be a game, but Maddox reddens slightly when Addison looks at them, somewhat flustered by Mark's ironic tone of voice but still approaching the two.

"Shut up," Maddox snaps, but Mark turns away raising his eyebrows, and the brunette quickly corrects herself. "Dr. Sloan."

"What's going on here?" Addison wants to know when part of the conversation reaches her ears. "And why do you have a child in your arms? Dr. Sloan didn't give you a real job today?"

"Oh, Addison, you got off on the wrong foot today, huh?" Mark snorts, falsely offended. "Didn't Maddox give you—"

Maddox opens her eyes wide and speaks over his voice to quiet him. "A patient came in this morning to have a mastectomy, and the kid wouldn't stop crying, so I decided to give her and her husband a break. Gus is behaving very well, isn't he?" Maddox's friendly voice seems to be pleasant to the baby, who drools. "Dr. Bailey has given me a half hour of freedom and I've been in this hospital for almost seventeen hours, so if you'll excuse me, I'll go somewhere else to spend the twenty-two minutes I have left. See you later, Addison. Get lost, Mark," Maddox's face loses the amusement of the moment and turns serious. "I'll get back to your service later, Dr. Sloan," and she bids Addison goodbye with a wink.

Mark smiles broadly, pushing the doctor aspect aside for a moment, and stares at Maddox until she disappears behind the elevator doors. "That girl is something else. You sure you don't wanna share?"

"Get lost, Mark."

"No, I'm serious. Is she your girlfriend yet, or what?"

Addison sighs, busying herself with some papers as she tries to keep the conversation low key to avoid outside ears. "It's private. But no," the doctor sighs again. "We don't think it's the most appropiate thing, you know, being official just after the divorce. Maddox said Meredith's still waiting on Derek, too."

"Looks like you're driving both of them crazy," Mark comments. "And you're the adults here."

"Besides, she doesn't know how to tell her friends. She thinks they'll freak out because I'm Satan and all that."

Mark raises his eyebrows. "And she's told you that?"

Addison opens her mouth, ready to answer, but realizes the answer would be no. "Well, no."

"I think the girl is crazy about you. Yeah, maybe she's scared of her friends' reaction, but maybe part of you is scared, too, and you're holding onto her fear to hide yours. Who cares what people think if this makes you happy? Really, talk this through."

Addison smiles, leaning against the counter. "Since when did you become so mature, Mark? You know what, never mind, but find your own intern and leave Maddox alone."

"What do you mean you went camping with 'the guys'? Who are 'the guys'? What do you mean Burke, Shepherd, the Chief, Joe and his boyfriend, and George? Since when do you like so many people?" Maddox frowns as she tries to find the balance between holding her phone against her ear and handling papers with her other hand. "Anyway, no, I don't want to know. I guess with this call you mean to tell me that I have to cover your shifts this weekend, right? There, there," Maddox rolls her eyes. "Save the compliments, Karev. No, I don't want to go on a field trip with the guys because I'm not one of the guys," the girl spots Mark down the hall, entering through a doorway, and looks through all the papers in her hand for the one for the plastic surgeon and then runs over there. "I have to leave. One of us has work to do. Have a good time! Dr. Sloan, I was looking for you. Here."

"What's this?" Mark frowns.

"Donna's papers. The surgery went well and she's resting. She'll need all the support she can get when she wakes up, so it's good news that Vicky's back," Maddox smiles, somewhat more relieved that there's good news at last that day. "I have to admit. I didn't expect to see such a humane side of you, with the shallow impression you give off."

"Ouch."

"I said the impression, not that you are," Maddox sticks her tongue out at him, feeling oddly comfortable with him. It's not something she'd admit out loud, but Mark's company is far more pleasurable than anyone would expect. "I know it's none of my business, but... Thank you for making it so natural. You were just what Donna needed today."

Mark stares at her with a kind gesture on his face, as if he wants to tell her something. Maddox raises her eyebrows, waiting for a reply, and watches from her position as night has already fallen through the windows of Seattle Grace. Far from what Maddox expects, Mark makes a proposition: "Would you like a drink? I could use a drink. Rough day."

Maddox smiles a disbelieving smile, putting her hands in her pockets. "I thought I'd be nothing more than an intern to dump your coffee orders on."

Mark smiles. "That's your friend Karev. He's got something that gets on my nerves, so the farther away I keep him, the better," the man takes a couple of glances at the paperwork the girl has asked him about. "Well, what do you say? My shift is over now."

The girl briefly recalls everything that happened during the day, and it is finally the tenderness and naturalness with which Mark has treated Donna and Vicky that makes her smile broadly and accept his proposal.

However, Mark's intentions don't seem to be the same as Maddox thinks, Callie and Addison can tell from across the bar. If Callie's face has been shocked as she's seen walking them in together and laughing, Addison's facial expression has not been far behind. She has clenched her jaw angrily, trying not to be jealous but with the recurring thought of Mark pursuing everything she wants, though to what end? Mark's eyes dart several times to Maddox's ass as Maddox stands up and Addison understands.

"Since when did these two get along so well?" Callie asks her between whispers, hiding behind her beer.

Addison, however, is not so discreet, instead watching the scene with little secrecy. "It seems that ever since Mark saw Maddox come out of my room," the redhead sentences, and Callie's eyes go wide. "Yeah, Mark knows it too. If he's pretending he wants me to break this glass over his head he's doing just fine."

"You two shouldn't put on a show here. No one knows anything about Maddox, and it's better that things stay that way for the time being: with the bond she has with the rest of the interns, she'll want to tell them before anyone else. I don't want to sound like a pessimist, but maybe Mark is behaving this way because he sees Maddox receptive. Have you talked about exclusivity?" Addison opens her mouth, surprised and incredulous. "I know maybe you assume exclusivity, but she's an intern and she's twenty-four. She may like you, but maybe she doesn't see this in the same light as you do. That's something you two need to make clear."

"I... I hadn't thought of that," Addison sinks back in her seat, and it's amazing the capacity with which she forgets that until a few days ago she was still married to Derek. "You think I'm not the only person she's been with?"

Callie shrugs. "I don't know, I slept with Mark and thought I had some stability in life. You slept with Mark while married. If we set these standards, there's nothing stopping Maddox from sleeping with him too."

"God," Addison brings her hands to her temples, rubbing them gently. "But we were talking about dating and everything."

"You know how the younger generation is. They date and date until they make up their minds. Or not," Callie shrugs again and drinks.

"I feel stupid," Addison huffs. "I'm thirty-seven and I'm after a girl. I'm supposed to have my shit together and she's the one who's supposed to enjoy the youth ahead of her."

"Don't act like you're going into a nursing home tomorrow," Callie smiles a little. "You should talk to her, you know, know what everyone is looking for. We may be underestimating her and she's just as much after you as you are after her. Oh, here comes Mark. Pretend it's nothing," Callie encourages, popping a snack into her mouth and laughing out loud suddenly, feigning amusement. Mark arrives with an impish grin, leaning on the table with familiarity.

"Good night, girls. Having a good time? I thought I detected some negative energy coming from this table."

"What do you want, Mark?" Addison growls under her breath.

Mark's smile widens. "Me? Nothing, I was just leaving. I was just stopping by to say goodbye, and to tell you that you have nothing to worry about. I'm not interested in taking the girl away from you, if that's what you think, and she certainly doesn't have any intentions either. You should take off that dog face because you'll get wrinkles sooner, and go get her. You've got her in the bathroom, by the way," Mark gives them a wink and waves. "Have a good night."

"What a bastard," Callie hisses as the door closes behind him. "What do you plan to do?"

But Addison doesn't answer because she's already heading for the bathroom. Luckily, Joe's bar isn't too crowded, so it's just Maddox in the ladies' room, crooning to herself a familiar song as she washes her hands, her back to the door. When she looks up she sees in the mirror Addison leaning against the door, staring back at her, and she holds a hand to her chest with a frightened smile. "Fuck, you scared me —everything okay, do you need a ride home?"

"Be with me," is all Addison says.

Maddox turns around, drying her hands slightly, and arches her eyebrows, quizzical. "What do you mean? I'm with you."

"No, I mean it. Be with me. I just," Addison snorts. "Mark's been messing with my head and I'm already this jealous. I may be old-fashioned, but I want you to be just with me. Do you think you want the same thing?"

The younger one smiles a little, incredulous. She finds it so surreal that Addison is the one feeling insecure that she has no choice but to approach her. "Do you remember when I first saw you? I do. Meredith had just told me Derek had a wife. I was thinking about how I would hate her as much as Mer did, because that's what friends do, but when I turned around and saw you, I thought 'wow'. You're beautiful. I thought 'I gotta have her'. You held yourself so confident, even when you knew you'd be gossip. You're a good doctor, you're kind and you're so easy to talk to. I'm glad I gave the chance to know you and not disregard you just because of who you were," Maddox tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and smiles warmly. "I want the same thing. And I'm definitely not interested in Mark, or anyone else, if that thought's ever crossed your mind. I'm with you, all in. Are you?" Maddox raises her eyebrows, amused. "Interested in someone else?"

Addison shakes her head. "No. No, God, no," she strokes her cheeks softly and gives her a long kiss, as if afraid that's a dream, and Addison thinks about what moment she's moved on to feeling so intensely what had at first seemed like a stupid crush. Maddox smiles against her mouth and neither Derek nor Mark come to her mind.