"Stop!" Addison shouts with a chuckle, looking in the mirror as she tries to apply her makeup. However, Maddox's mission that morning seems to be to avoid anything that would make Addison leave the room, because her lips won't leave her neck and face. "I mean it!" Addison laughs again. "We're gonna be late."

Maddox clicks her tongue against the bare skin of Addison's shoulder. "Nobody's gonna yell at you for being late, and I wouldn't mind being yelled at by Bailey if it meant I had this view for a few more minutes."

Addison smiles a dazzling smile, wrapping her arms around the younger woman's neck, who lifts her chin, knowing she's won with her compliments. "So you would risk it? You're cute."

"I can be more than cute," Maddox smirks. Her hands go to Addison's waist to lift her up and sit her on the counter, earning a gasp from the redhead's lips, to which Maddox smirks back. "This 'taking things slow' thing not killing you yet?" Maddox murmurs against her neck.

"It's a way we can prove we're fully committed to each other, you know, enjoy the little things without the need to— God," Addison sighs, tangling her fingers in Maddox's hair, who gently bites into her skin. "Really, we need to stop. You need to stop."

"Okay, okay," Maddox finally surrenders, who sighs to herself but smiles all the same. The fact that Addison doesn't want to go any further with her managed to worry her at first, but now that she knows she's capable of inciting sighs and gasps from her lips she's convinced that the redhead's reasons stick to the explanations she gives her. "Wait, I'll tie your laces."

Maddox crouches down to be level with Addison's sneakers, and Addison has to avoid looking at the scene so as not to lose her cool. As much as the confession to Callie that she hadn't yet slept with Maddox had left the resident with her mouth hanging open, Addison thought she was confident in her decision —that is, always at times when she didn't have Maddox crouched before her as her only sight. The brunette jumps to her feet, mumbling a 'done!' and smiling childishly at Addison. "Thanks," is all she's able to say.

"You're strangely bubbly today," Cristina comments when she sees her coming. Maddox lifts her head from the counter, smiling a little.

"I think I'm the bubbliest person in this group. You're all bitter."

"Well, welcome to the group. George's dad was admitted earlier and it turns out he has cancer."

Maddox's facial expression drops quickly and she hesitates as she speaks. "Why are you telling me like this? Forget it, what happened to him? Why was he admitted?"

"He passed out, fell and broke his collarbone. We had to do tests to operate on his collarbone, and they showed abnormal results. Esophageal cancer that had spread to his stomach, and that's not the worst of it. They needed to check his heart to make sure it would be strong enough to operate, but it turns out he needs a valve replacement," Cristina sums up, and Maddox holds her hands to her head. "Do you still feel bubbly?"

"Sometimes you're scary."

"You had to know, and it's better I tell you instead of George. He wasn't able to tell his family, I was the one who had to break the news to them."

"Where is George? He must feel terrible."

"It's just a valve replacement, Maddox. Burke will operate and George's dad will be fine," Cristina purses her lips in an attempt at a smile, but it's not reassuring enough for the other brunette.

As if he had detected that they were talking about him, George appears in an accelerated manner by the elevator, and when he detects Cristina and Maddox with his eyes, he rushes towards them. However, Maddox doesn't have time to ask any questions because George rushes ahead. "What's wrong with Burke?"

Maddox frowns, because since Burke was shot but recovered she hasn't heard any more news about his health condition. Still she keeps silent because she detects that behind George's impatient tone there is well-founded suspicion of something. "There's nothing wrong with Burke. I already told you. Your father is in the best hands."

"Don't lie to me. I saw him while camping. What's wrong with Burke's hand?"

"Woah," Maddox interjects this time. "Burke has a problem with his hand? I thought he had a full recovered."

"Apparently he didn't," George sentences. "He's let Cristina in on all his surgeries. She decanulated a heart by herself, we all saw it. Isn't it suspicious that it happens just when Burke was shot and I see his hand shaking?"

"He's okay!" cries Cristina, losing her temper. "It's going to be all right. Leave me alone."

She strides off, leaving as fast as George has come for her, who gasps and clenches his jaw as he watches her go. "Wow," Maddox huffs. "What was that?"

"I know there's something wrong with Burke, and normally I'd trust him regardless, but this is my father we're talking about, and I can't let him go into surgery if I have the slightest doubt about one of the best cardio surgeons in the country."

"I'm sure Burke wouldn't be operating if there was anything wrong with him. He's a good doctor, but he's also a good person with good ethics. He wouldn't do this on purpose if he knew it was a danger to your father."

George shifts his weight from one leg to the other, somewhat unsure but somewhat calmer. "Yeah, you may be right. It's just— it's all crazy. My dad being sick, my brothers around making things harder, Callie breaking up with me."

"Wait, I thought you and Callie were fine."

"She broke up with me and then slept with Sloan," George confesses, catching Maddox by surprise. "Yeah, no one expected that. She's been in and out of my dad's room all day and it's confusing me."

"Things don't change in a day. She must be worried about you, I'm sure she still loves you. Maybe this is her saying she's still around in case you need to make up your mind. If you reciprocate her feelings, make sure she knows that. Sometimes all a girl wants is reassurance," Maddox shrugs, smiling and putting a hand on her friends' arm.

"You know too much for someone who's single and all that. I'll reconsider your words. Thanks, Mads," George smiles a little and turns away from her, and Maddox can't help her face from falling into disappointment at lying to them and sighs to herself.

I can't tell you now. George's father has been admitted. Spirits are at rock bottom. I'll tell them soon, I promise, Maddox types as fast as she can, because she hasn't seen Addison all day, and even though she knows they've talked about telling as soon as possible, she doesn't want the redhead to talk more than she should, presuming all her friends already know.

"Hey," Meredith approaches her from behind, removing her surgical mask regretfully. "Who are you texting? Never mind," the blonde shakes her head, sighing. "Did you hear about Burke and Cristina?"

Maddox nods regretfully, knowing that George's doubts from the other days were well-founded. "I heard about it this afternoon. I said Burke could operate without her, but I understood from the look on her face that he didn't. He couldn't," Maddox corrects herself. "I saw Cristina go into the chief's office, and when she came out she had that long face, so I assumed she told him. Now Burke doesn't want to talk to her, and she feels guilty about keeping the secret and letting him down, somehow."

Meredith nods as well, taking a seat next to her. "She kicked Derek out of my room this morning at 5 o'clock and told me about robbing a bank and turning herself in. Then I watched Burke's hand during a procedure. I should have noticed it. Do something."

"You couldn't do anything. We know Cristina: she's the best at keeping things if she doesn't want people to see them. That's why she did it alone. I don't dare think about why Burke wouldn't say anything. He's a perfectionist."

"Maybe he thought he'd get over it with Cristina's help," Meredith is silent for a moment, thoughtful. "Derek's going to be mad at me for not telling him. He cleared Burke. He should have seen that Burke wasn't fit to operate."

"He has to understand it's not your fault. It wasn't yours to tell. By the way, how are you and Derek doing? Have you made it official yet?"

Meredith smiles a little. "We're doing better than ever. Taking things slow has been a positive so far," Maddox raises her eyebrows but tries to hide it, because that taking things slower has been the same idea Addison has had, and she curses fate for that trick it has decided to play on her. "He's been spending the last few days at home with me, so I think it's going well," The girl nods to herself, as if the mere memory of all those days spent was enough to make her smile, and Meredith clicks her tongue at the sight of Maddox's thoughtful countenance. "Do you have something to tell me?"

The brunette turns quickly, her eyes going wide, fearful that Meredith has discovered her secret. "What, what do you mean?"

The blonde smiles a little. "You're not spending all these nights at home, but you're not spending all these nights here either. I'm just saying you can tell me if you have a booty call or something."

"Um, that's not... that's not what's going on."

"Okay. Then I'll wait patiently for you to tell me what's going on. If you want to, of course."

"Mer," Maddox calls after her before the girl gets up and leaves because the pager is ringing on her hip. Meredith turns, attentive. "I won't be home tonight."

"That's okay. You'll save yourself a lot of stress. George is on edge and Izzie is constantly meddling in everyone's business now that she's on probation. And, you know, you won't have to hear me and Derek."

"That's a relief," Maddox laughs nervously. "I'll tell you. I'm just waiting for the right time. But thanks for being patient."

"Izzie!" Maddox shouts a few days later, when she catches a glimpse of her roommate's blonde hair one morning in the hospital. "Just the person I wanted to see. So, I have a question. I opened the fridge this morning and bent down so fast to grab a big, fat check that I almost died."

Izzie laughs. "Okay, the question?"

"Oh, yes, the question. Why the fuck is it still at home? Yeah, that was the question," Maddox whispers hastily. "Every time I open the fucking fridge it's there, looking at me, and every time it looks at me it's dirtier. Do you guys step on it for fun? Why haven't you deposited it yet?"

"I don't know, okay? I'm keeping it there until I figure out what I can do with 8.7 million dollars. That's a lot of responsibility."

"Is it because of Denny?" Maddox asks more softly this time. "Are you holding the check close because it reminds you of him?"

Izzie shakes her head. "No, it's not because of that. At first I thought it was that, but I've realized it's not. It's because I still don't know what to do with all that money. I want to put it to good use, you know?"

"Well, I'm no economist, but you're losing hundreds of dollars of interest every day. I think you should deposit it as soon as you can. Maybe by the time you realize you really have all that money, you'll know what to do with it. Or, I don't know, think about what Denny would have wanted you to do with it," Maddox squeezes her friend's shoulder, throwing her a small smile. "I have to go. Sloan asked for me and I can't wait to suffer all day."

Halfway through, before reaching the nurses' desk, Cristina holds Maddox back for a few moments in a hurried manner. "Hey, Maddox. I need to ask you something."

"Okay. Shoot."

"Mer says you were at Derek's consult last night about Burke. Any chance you know if Burke has had any hand tremors?"

"Uh, no chance. Derek didn't ask him and Burke didn't mention anything. He seemed fine, though. He had a cast on his arm but he said he made it through the night with no problems."

"And you're a friend of Derek's, right? I know you had a good relationship with him even when he wasn't with Meredith."

"You could say that, I guess."

"Well, can you ask him if Burke has had any tremors?"

"Why don't you go and ask him yourself? Haven't you talked to him yet?"

"He doesn't talk to me either," Cristina corrects. "We don't talk to each other. And if I go and ask him, he wins."

"Wins what?" Maddox frowns. "You're weird people. All proud and shit. Talk about things. It's not that hard. And for the record, I'd ask Derek. I'm on your side. But Meredith must have asked him too, because he's made it clear he's not going to give out personal details about his patient. Tough luck."

"Great," Cristina complains. "I hate that sleeping with attendings isn't as effective as I would have thought. Make sure if you sleep with one, they do us favors, okay?"

Maddox swallows silently as Cristina gives her a nod and leaves. "Got it."

It's already past ten o'clock at night when Maddox is finally able to rest in one of the beds in the on-call rooms. She sighs with relief when she sees that it's empty, because the company of strangers and banal conversations are two of the things she needs least right now, and she lies down on the bed that is closest to the window, because in some strange way it comforts her to see the moon from the bed. She tries to close her eyes a couple of times, because she can think of few worse feelings than what she has experienced that day, but precisely because of how she feels it's impossible for her to fall asleep.

George's dad has died. She and Meredith received 911 on their pagers while they were watching Izzie's patient's experimental surgery, which, thankfully, went well. Maddox was clinging to the miniscule possibility that it was a passing thing, something they could fix but needed a lot of hands on deck, though part of her knew that getting that message from Bailey was not too hopeful. Meredith's face tried to remain impassive in an attempt to embrace the sliver of hope Maddox was trying to evoke, but the somber faces of the O'Malley family in that small meeting room were clear: there was no good news.

The next thing Maddox remembers clearly is standing outside the room, discreetly watching as Bailey explained what process they were about to perform, and looking away as Mrs. O'Malley began to sob in pain. She and Izzie shared a painful look, possibly because they were the two most empathetic people in the group, and when Maddox sees her lower lip quiver she knows she has to look away or the same thing will happen to her.

She sighs to herself on the bed in helplessness, in anger too, perhaps. George has burst out in the middle of the hallway, claiming Webber and Bailey have proceeded to operate when his father's cancer was so advanced. Maddox knows that she herself would also be in a dilemma: abide by the patient's wishes, ignorant of the possible effects, or heed the instructions of his son, an expert in the field but oblivious to his father's wishes? Maddox can only cover her face with her hands as she senses the pain George must be feeling right now.

The door to the room opens, but the girl is still looking out the window, so she doesn't see who is coming in. However, she sees that the same amount of light is coming in through the gap in the door, so the person who opened the door is still standing on the threshold. Maddox finally obeys her curious wishes and looks away from the window, fixing her gaze on the figure of Addison, who smiles a little when she sees her. Everything seems a little less heavy when Addison is around, so Maddox returns the gesture, albeit faintly. "Hey."

"Hey. You weren't answering the phone, so I thought I'd look for you around. Long day?" Addison asks, laying down next to her.

"Really long," Maddox sighs, pressing a kiss to her hair. "You smell great," Maddox smiles, trying not to let the sadness show in her gaze. "How do you do it while having these long shifts?"

"It's a secret," Addison replies with an enigmatic smile, brushing a lock of hair away from her face and draping her arm across the intern's abdomen.

"I heard you took care of Meredith's sister's daughter. Is everyone doing okay?"

Addison sighs but nods. "Everyone's doing great. Molly Grey came with her mother a few days ago, and when she delivered her baby daughter she needed surgery. Both Molly and Susan, her mother, caught the flu, so it was her father who took over. I suppose that's had Meredith on edge," the redhead replies. It takes her a few seconds to say something again, but what she says surprises Maddox. "You're amazing, you know?"

She frowns. "What do you mean?"

"You could've had the worst day of your life and still you worry about other people's wellbeing more than your own," Maddox hesitates but Addison silences her. "I know George's dad died today. I know you were probably wishing no one came looking for you, hoping to find any piece of calm left in this hospital, but I couldn't not look for you. You need someone to be there for you, especially when you're the one trying to be there for everyone. You don't have to be strong all the time."

Those words are enough to make Maddox's eyes water as she seeks refuge in the hollow of Addison's neck, and it doesn't take her too long to hear the young woman's sobs against her tear-wet skin. "He died," hiccups break through her voice. "George's dad died and all I could do was stand outside and wait. I don't know if I can stand this anymore. I take everything so personal, even when it's not even my family. I can't stand more people disappearing in front of my eyes, Addison. I don't know if I can do this. Maybe I wasn't born to be a surgeon."