"I think you should go to a psychologist," Izzie's voice startles her from beside her one morning.

Maddox lifts her head from the array of cakes on the table. The brunette knows it's Burke who set all that up, because Cristina would be incapable of getting involved like that even at her own wedding. The news still surprise her, but at least the cakes are delicious. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You died for a few moments on a gurney with your organs frozen a few days ago and you're already back to work, not to mention saying you knew Meredith could be saved because you saw her in a strange dream."

"Why are you saying this to me and not Mer? My mother didn't die the same day I did and I did come back to life, and yet I'm back at work."

Izzie scoffs. "We already know she's dark and twisted. You're supposed to be the sane one," the blonde sits down in front of her, grabbing a slice of vanilla cake. "Oh, and I can go on. You have obvious mommy issues dating Addison —Dr. Montgomery," Izzie quickly corrects herself, bringing the plastic spoon to her mouth.

This elicits a gasp from Maddox. "I don't have mommy issues, I love my mom very much. You're just jealous that you don't have your own attending."

Izzie seems to think about it and blinks a couple of times. "Yeah, that may be true. I'm just saying that because I care, you know? You've had a lot happen to you in the last few months and you seem to be recovering well. I know you had a hard time with George's father dying, and the bomb inside that man, and now dying and coming back to life. I just worry that you don't think about yourself as much as you should," Maddox chews her piece of pie slowly, as if reflecting on the comment. However, Izzie adds something quickly and causes Maddox to dismiss her thoughts just as quickly. "I can call the psych ward for you."

"Call the psych ward for what?" Cristina's voice interrupts their conversation, and the smile freezes on Izzie's lips. Meredith, Alex and George enter right after her, all except for Cristina diving in to sample the pies Burke has brought.

"I'm just crazy about the red velvet cake," Maddox dissembles, winking at Cristina.

"What are you all doing here?" Bailey frowns, bursting into the room. "You have exams coming up, you should be studying. You'll appreciate not repeating your intern year. Now, now. Grey, Yang, go study. O'Malley and Stevens, to the clinic. Easton and Karev, go with Ava."

Alex motions to protest, but Maddox stops him before Bailey can see or hear him. "What's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?" Alex frowns.

"You and Jane Doe. One day you're staying with her all night, encouraging her to pick a new forever face, creating all these inspirational stories, and suddenly you don't even want to see how she's doing? You're weird."

"Weird? She yelled at me saying it's not Ava, when the family who came to pick up her daughter said it wasn't her. I tried to help her, but it's clear to me that I never should have because that's the only response I get."

"Try to understand how she feels. Her life changed all of a sudden. A baby, a new face, no family, no husband in sight. Now she's alone, you're all she's known these days, so it's normal for her to blow up at you when things don't go as planned. I'm sure she's sorry," Maddox tries to reason.

"Could you just —go in by yourself?" asks Alex, exasperated. "You owe me. For being annoying and trying to be my psychologist when you're the one who clearly needs it," the boy heads for the nurses' desk, away from Ava's gaze in the room, avoiding entering her field of vision.

"I don't need one!" Maddox shouts behind him, catching the attention of the staff around her. He clears her throat, trying to hide inside Ava's room. "Good morning. How was your night?"

"Great. I slept like a baby," Ava smiles. "No offense, Dr. Easton, but I was expecting Alex today."

"He's feeling a little under the weather, so I came in his place."

Ava smiles some more. "I can literally see him a few feet away from us. Still mad, huh?"

Maddox smiles apologetically. "Sometimes men are harder than boys. I have a brother, I know what I'm talking about. He'll come around, you'll see. I won't always be here to save his ass. Everything seems fine. Dr. Sloan did a perfect job, you have no scars, and your vitals are perfect. Your baby is healthy, so my checkup is done. Is there anything you need?"

"A glass of water, maybe?"

Maddox winks at her. "I'll tell Dr. Karev you won't take your meds if he's not the one coming."

"What's that?" The patient turns her head slightly away from the window, and when she does Maddox follows her gaze. Callie and Addison talk to each other in whispers, and Ava squints.

"That's Dr. Montgomery and Dr. Torres. Dr. Montgomery is a neonatal surgeon and Dr. Torres is an orthopedic surgeon, so they've been very close to your case and—"

"No, I know that," Ava smiles, "I mean they're talking about you. In fact, they've been talking about you this week. The redhead is worried about you, saying you jumped after someone in the water during the ferry accident and you've gone back to work like it's nothing. The other woman says it's normal because you tried to save a friend's life, and going back to work so soon must be a way to cope with everything that's happened," Maddox snorts to herself, averting her eyes slightly to try to catch some of their conversation, and reflects on so many people being worried about her. She honestly isn't able to see the problem in her actions, but she appreciates Callie coming to her defense instead of saying she needs a visit to the psychologist. "I get it, by the way. I think I'd want to move on as soon as possible —why drown yourself in the past?"

"Yeah," Maddox says, noting on Ava's chart that everything seems fine, but absentmindedly watching as Addison and Callie each start down a different path. "Excuse me. I'm going to call Alex."

She apologizes to Ava with a half-smile and rushes off —trying not to let Bailey see her— after Callie, whom she catches picking up some x-rays. "Hey. What's the rush?"

Think fast, Maddox says to herself. Callie isn't exactly known for keeping secrets, so she tries to think fast of something that will get her to fess up to what she and Addison are talking about. "I just saw Jane Doe, whose room happens to be quite close to the front desk," Maddox says slowly. "Would you like to share something with me, Callie? Because she told me that you and Addison have been talking about me."

Callie stops in her tracks, nervous, and the smile on her lips denotes it. "What are you talking about?"

"Please don't make me repeat the things she's been telling me. It was embarrassing to hear it from a patient."

The resident stammers a little. "Eavesdropping is not polite, you know that?"

Maddox shrugs. "Or maybe you talk out loud. It's not like she can get up to hear you chatter."

Callie sighs, pursing her lips. "Okay. How much did she tell you?"

"Just the part where Addison's been keeping an eye on me."

"Okay. And how do you feel about that?"

Maddox is thankful she's quick at making up excuses. "I don't know how to feel about it. I thought maybe she'd talk to me about it."

"No, yeah, you're right," Callie sighs, and Maddox mentally claps her hands together: the resident is about to spit out the words. "Hearing that your older, reputable girlfriend is crazy desperate and horny must not be an easy thing to hear from a patient," Callie sighs again, shaking her head, and Maddox chokes on her own saliva. She nods slowly as Callie turns so the resident can see that this is the message she had been expecting. "I've been telling her she needs to talk to you, because she says you've been taking things slow and all. But she says it's not the right time because of the accident. She thinks maybe it's early for you since, well, you died just a few days ago."

"Yeah... Yeah, I know," Maddox clears her throat, feeling heated. "I was thinking maybe you could help me. She told me she's got the night shift off tomorrow, so I've been thinking about taking her out. You know, show her I'm okay. Could you make sure I don't get called in tomorrow night? At least for a few hours?" Maddox asks with a charming little smile, trying to accomplish her goal.

"It's getting awkward talking about sex and dating with you. Why don't you just ask Bailey?"

"Don't you think it would be worse if I talked to Bailey about sex and dating?" Callie relents, affirming. "Besides, you're my friend. And Addie's friend. So I'm sure you'll work something out."

"Okay, okay!" exclaims Callie, feeling a little dirty. "I'll see what I can do. As long as you tell Yang to back off."

"Cristina?" Maddox frowns. "What did she do?"

"Sucking up to get my cards," Callie explains. "For the intern exam," the resident explains again at the doubt evident on Maddox's face. "I was top of the class and got the best mark. Now the rumor has spread."

"I don't think I can do it without Cristina biting me," Maddox comments. "But okay, I'll try."

"Wait," stops Callie, "Aren't you going to ask for those study cards?"

"No, why would I? I'll study on my own. I'm pretty confident," Maddox smiles. "I'm going to ace that exam."

"I'm so not going to ace this exam," Izzie complains the next day. The interns are hovering around Maddox, who looks at herself in the mirror as she changes out of her intern clothes into a more casual outfit. She adjusts her hair and shakes it out as she takes off her blue uniform shirt. "Where are you going?"

"I've told you a thousand times: I have a date. Stop hovering," Maddox complains for the third time. "Red or black?" she asks, holding up two dresses in front of her friends.

"Red," Meredith replies.

"What? Black," Izzie chimes in.

"Just wear whatever, it'll be fine," Alex replies in a tired tone, turning the pages of his book.

"You'll look like a strong, independent woman if you wear black. However, you'll look like a goddess if you wear red. Oh, and don't forget the lipstick. A dark shade is always a triumph," adds Cristina in a perhaps too hasty and cheerful tone. The other four stare, quizzical, and Cristina throws her arms up. "What? I need those stupid study cards," she then adds, huffing. "If you pick red you're going to look like a whore."

"Cristina!" Meredith scolds, and Maddox doesn't know if it's because of the insult or because she has picked red herself.

"Perfect. Red is it then," Maddox nods and goes into the cubicle to change clothes. "Are you that afraid of failing, Cristina Yang?"

"Of course not, I'm going to pass the exam with flying colors. I just want the cards, is that so hard?"

"Accept defeat, Yang," Alex scoffs. "She's not giving them away to anyone. Except maybe to O'Malley. He's her husband and all that crap."

"Maddox is her friend. Once you see someone naked they automatically become your friend, right?"

"Why don't you study with Burke?" proposes Izzie. "He's one of the best cardio surgeons in the world, he must know things even Callie doesn't."

"She's too proud to ask Burke," Meredith comments, laughing. "She couldn't stand not having a question right in front of him."

"Fine!" Cristina complains. "Can we stop talking about it? Imagine how well we'd all do on the test if we had the cards. I do it for you, too. We'd all pass, and we'd be together for the whole residency...," Cristina entertains, again too bubbly, and everyone knows it. "I can't do this. Maddox, light of my life, Mads, I just need you— Oh, wow."

The girl instantly falls silent just as Maddox opens the bathroom door and steps out into the locker room in her new outfit. The chosen red dress hugs her curves perfectly in the right places, the make-up highlights her golden skin and eyes, and Cristina sees that Maddox has decided to heed her in terms of lipstick choice. The girl opens her arms, waiting for a reaction from her friends. "So?"

"I'd sleep with you in exchange for those cards," Cristina murmurs.

"And I wouldn't be mad if you didn't give me the cards," Alex agrees in a whisper, but when he comes out of her reverie, he reacts. "I mean, you look stunning."

"Come on, or you'll be late!" Meredith hurries to lead her out. "Put the scrubs on so no one sees."

Izzie pulls the robe up to cover the outfit and smiles, "Our baby is growing up. You're gonna have an amazing date. We expect all the details by tomorrow morning."

Maddox smiles broadly. "I will tell you everything. Tell George I'll see him tomorrow, okay? I know he's busy with the whole Jennings case."

Izzie's face unhinges a little, but Maddox is too excited to notice, so she interprets Izzie's smile as sincere, not giving it a second thought. The four interns escort her out the front door to avoid being discovered —if Bailey hasn't heard all the hospital gossip in the last week, then Maddox will have a lot of explaining to do— and when Maddox leaves the hospital to wait for Addison, the four of them wave her off from inside through the large windows.

It isn't too long before Maddox sees Addison coming down the stairs, saying goodbye to the nurses on duty and some of the doctors until the next day, and when she sees the smile slowly drawing on the redhead's lips, inevitably her own lips mimic the gesture. "Good evening, doc," Maddox greets her, ducking her head. "Had a good day?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Addison replies, still smiling somewhat incredulously. "Did I miss something?"

"You see, I haven't exactly lived up to the expectations since I asked you out, because I never really took you on a date. So this is me inviting you to dinner."

"I just got out of work and I must smell like an OR. Besides, you look so beautiful and I'm still in my work clothes."

"You're joking, right? You wear dresses and skirts for work, and I wear my old sneakers and sometimes my pyjamas under my scrub pants," Addison laughs, but opens her mouth to protest again. "I know you would complain about your attire, so I have that sorted out in case you say yes to dinner."

Addison's smile widens, and the woman wonders to herself how long it's been since she's felt this excited. "Of course I do," Maddox reaches out to clasp her hands and pull her to herself. "Where are we going?"

"Just wait and see. For now just take this, go inside and change."

"Canlis?! Are you crazy?" Addison complains loudly as Maddox slows the car in front of a fancy-looking restaurant. "Look, we don't need to do this. We can go elsewhere, it's fine."

"Addie, shut up. It's a date, okay? There will be plenty of time to go to Taco Bell. Let me worry about money later. Now get your butt out of the car. Wait, first," Maddox unbuckles her belt and leans toward Addison, covering her mouth with hers. "It's permanent lipstick, don't worry. I know I made the right choice as soon as I saw this dress. You look stunning in it," Callie's words from the day before replay in her head constantly, so she tries to use her most charming voice and Addison doesn't miss the intern's slight lip bite, causing her to lose her breath momentarily.

Dinner is a give and take of emotions. Maddox doesn't give a second thought to whether Callie's words about Addison's uncontrollable urges were false, because if it was a joke, her sassy behavior has definitely had the expected effect on the redhead. The delicate touches, the thinly disguised glances, and her confident, seductive body language cause Addison to shake her head to regain reality on several occasions, sipping from her red wine and wondering if the girl in front of her has the intentions she perceives, or if her desperation is so obvious that her head is imagining all those signs.

Despite Maddox's long stares, meant to provoke more than just bewilderment in the doctor, the girl also intends for this to be a real date, and not just lifting her legs so her heels occasionally —Maddox has trouble concentrating with the beauty of the woman in front of her, but she's not just attracted to her physically, so questions about her personal life roll off her tongue with ease. "I never asked before. Does your family know about your sexual orientation?"

Maddox may show confidence on the outside, but on the inside she's afraid to screw up at any time and about any question; that's why she asks about 'family' in general. "I think a point in your life comes when you don't have to explain yourself to anyone, not even your family. I've never told them anything because the truth is I'd never felt this way before about a woman. They say parents always know, somehow, but I think after divorcing Derek they won't even care because I'm already an adult and they'll think I've already screwed up my life," Addison says, sipping some more wine. "You're still young," the woman adds. "Do your parents know?"

"No," Maddox smiles as if by way of apology. "I considered telling my mother when she was sick, because I didn't want her dying without knowing who I really am, but I thought maybe she'd take it badly and end up dying because of the burden I would become, so," Maddox trails off. "I never told them. I don't think they would care, though. It's been years since I'm not home so I think they'd accept any life I'd made for myself."

"So they wouldn't be upset you didn't have kids?"

"Oh, no, I do want kids," Maddox replies, and something sparks in Addison's head, as if fate has placed the perfect person in front of her despite the circumstances. "At some point I would love kids. I don't know when, though, but it's something I've always wanted to happen. The time will come."

"Yeah," Addison smiles. Addison, however, is a bit frightened by the number of thoughts flying through her head. She has always wanted children, though for love towards Derek she has given them up. Now she has stability and a good person by her side who wants them too, so what's holding her back from doing so? But Maddox is very young, and their relationship has almost just begun, so to place that burden on her would be a very selfish thing to do. Addison thinks the mix of wine and self-doubt will be explosive, so she quickly changes the subject. "The interns exam is coming up, right? How are you feeling about it?"

"I feel good about it. I think I can do well. My residency is at stake, so no pressure."

"I know it's soon, but have you chosen your fellowship already? I heard Yang is a cardio-obssessed person."

"Yeah," Maddox smiles. "Cristina is hell-bent on becoming the best cardio-thoracic there's ever been. And she'll make it, I know she will. Me, on the other hand, I'm still undecided."

"Come on," Addison encourages her. "You were the elevator guy. You did an appy right on your first try. Mothers and women in general trust and confide in you to take care of them or their children. You're gonna make a hell of a surgeon. Whatever you decide will be fine. Even if you decide to break my heart and not go for OB/GYN."

"Wow, no pressure then," Maddox jokes. "Seriously, I would love for you to be my mentor. I admire your work. But there are other fields I need to explore before I choose. I also like neuro, you know that."

"So it all comes down to Derek or me," Addison smiles knowingly. "What's it gonna take?"

Maddox smirks. "I don't know. What can you give me that he can't?"

Addison struggles not to look away, to hold Maddox's green eyes on her, but her gaze is too searing, so in the end she looks away, getting a triumphant smile from Maddox, and their conversation is briefly interrupted by one of the waiters. "Here's the bill. I hope your meal was lovely."

"It was," Maddox replies, smiling and returning to her usual mood. The amount of money is high, a little higher than she expected, but that doesn't stop her from pulling out two bills. "Keep the change, yes?"

"Thank you, miss. Have a good night."

Addison looks at her open-mouthed as the waiter leaves. "That was too much. You're going to have a lot of cereal from now on to —how did you say?— recover financially from this."

"Excuse you, I love cereal. It's fine by me, this was worth it. It's a bit late now, and I know we both work tomorrow, but I would let myself be invited for a drink at yours."

"Yeah, I think I can manage that," Addison smiles.

Maddox smiles back, and her stomach can't help but flip as she realizes how happy she is and what Addison's smiles provoke in her. A couple of months ago, she wouldn't have believed she could be at such a beautiful stage in her life: friends, a job she's learned to love, the best partner she could wish for. Maddox has the perfect balance right now and thinks nothing can mess it up.

Contrary to what she might think, when they arrive at the hotel Maddox is not nervous. She's not worried about overstepping boundaries or other headaches she might otherwise think about. She's thinking about the soft music that has accompanied them on the way home, the wind stirring their hair with the windows down, her hand releasing the gearshift and caressing the bare skin of Addison's thigh. On the odd occasion she's heard the breath catch in her throat, something that has given her even more self-confidence —Addison wants tonight as much as she does.

"What can I get you?" Addison asks once they get up to the room.

"Scotch is fine."

"Scotch?" Addison raises her eyebrows. "You surprise me everyday."

"What can I say? My father taught me well," Maddox winks, and the atmosphere grows increasingly heated. "Mind if I use the bathroom real quick?"

"Mi casa es tu casa," Addison tries.

It's time, Maddox thinks. She strips off the red dress that seems to have surprised Addison in more ways than one and hangs it where the towels are. The lingerie on her body is so daring that it would have managed to impress her hospital mates even more. Maddox feels a little ridiculous looking at herself in the mirror as she fixes her hairdo again and sees to it that everything is in place, because she's never done that before, and now her mission is to turn on a woman older than her who has never had sex with another woman.

"Supéralo," she whispers to herself.

She slips into one of Addison's bathrobes, taking care to have it somewhat untied so that her bra straps can be seen. "Everything okay in there?" The redhead's voice echoes through the room.

"Perfect," Maddox replies, emerging from the bathroom. She grabs the glass of whiskey from the tray, sipping slowly as she notices Addison's gaze on her body. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just— Wow— I didn't...," Addison rambles, smiling nervously. "I wasn't expecting this."

Maddox's lips come dangerously close to Addison's earlobe, taking a gentle nibble, and the redhead melts at that precise moment. "I don't think I wanna take things slow anymore. Let me show you how bad I want you."

Addison's dress falls to the floor, her throat emits a loud gasp, and the previous nibble is the slightest mark of the night in which Maddox realizes she has fallen in love for the first time.