Shut Your Eyes {::} Addison & Alex
adulterousbitch.
The day felt long and unforgiving as the seconds slowly dragged on, and Addison was anxious to set foot in the OR again. Being forced to take time off before she’d even really begun her work had left a bitter taste in her mouth. Slipping into the familiar, rough fabric of a pair of navy scrubs felt transformative, and she breathed a sigh of relief as at last, her hair was tucked back and auburn hues were buried beneath swirls of teal and azure. Finally, the redhead was going to find sweet relief from the murky, tangled thoughts that had churned through her head since long before she bid her oceanside home adieu; and provide her colleague Alex Karev with the same gift. Sliding her lab coat into her locker, she straightened up and couldn’t help the trace of smile that tugged up the corner of her lips. She needed this.
Expecting to find him already scrubbing in after finishing the pre-op preparations, she made an authoritative beeline toward the OR floor. It was much to her dismay that she spotted him loitering near the elevator doors just as she rounded the corner. “Karev,” she barked, a disappointed frown gracing her features. “What are you doing down here? You were supposed to be upstairs prepping her ten minutes ago!” First his bad attitude, now this? It wasn’t exactly characteristic of the Alex she was used to working with. Brushing past him, she reached out and pressed the button to call the elevator, the light illuminating her fingertip for a second before she pulled away.
“Did you get through the work I gave you to do, at least? Do you know the differences between the standard and the novel approach? The risks? Long-term complications? … Are you actually ready for this surgery?” She knew she wouldn’t regularly be pimping him quite this hard, but she, too, was irritated long before they’d crossed paths this morning, and this was only refueling the fire that never quite extinguished throughout the day. That, and she was eager to get the scalpel in her hand and let go of everything else. When the door opened, she stepped inside, expecting him to trail sheepishly after her. It wasn’t until she’d fully entered and turned around that she realized he hadn’t.
“… What are you waiting for, an invitation? Let’s go!”
Alex knew he shouldn’t complain. He had scored a surgery, and not just any surgery but a neonatal case with Addison. It was the best possible opportunity to distract himself from the haunting memories of what had transpired under this roof a mere two weeks ago. In all honesty, Alex wasn’t quite sure how he had managed to squeeze past detection and get cleared for surgery so soon. Not when he was still bypassing the elevator hall and settling instead for the staircases. He wasn’t the kind of guy who went on health kicks just for fun, and he couldn’t remember a time he had volunteered to take the stairs over the elevator since his internship. Just the time he had chosen it purely for life or death reasons to keep the hospital from blowing to pieces.
Now he was choosing it to keep himself from unraveling in the public eye. It was a trigger he hadn’t anticipated, and one he (and the therapist) should have thought of. Alex just figured he would eventually summon the courage to step foot in it again when the time came. In the meantime, a little extra exercise never killed anyone. Elevator’s on the other hand... they were deadly. And for Alex, they carried nothing but bad memories. Embarrassing, humiliating memories. Memories of choking on his own blood staring up at the ceiling as screams of terror washed over the hospital. He had been the first to come eye to eye with the shooter and live, therefore he had been alive for every grim second of the whole terrible ordeal.
He had been on his way to the stairs when the shrill voice of Addison Montgomery made him stiffen. Crap. “I was just heading up there. Sorry, got sidetracked.” He tripped all over his words in an effort to prove that he was capable and ready to scrub in, fearing she might throw him off the case for his tardiness. He watched as she pressed the button to an elevator and heard the familiar ding, feeling a familiar panic begin to rise in his gut. She just so happened to choose the exact same elevator. His elevator. “Um, yeah, I did the reading. I’m ready. I...” He wanted to disappear before the inevitable happened. The doors opening and her walking in, turning to him with a questioning stare. In that moment he felt trapped by her blue-green eyes, like a deer in headlights as he gazed into what he had been pretty sure at one point was going to be his death chamber.
It looked so friendly and inviting. Everything looked safe and familiar. Addison was being her usual irritable, uptight self. His surroundings were normal. Nobody was screaming. She was standing on the exact same place he’d been bleeding and gasping for breath as she snapped at him to join her, completely oblivious to the gravity of the situation. After a split second of hesitation, Alex moved on instinct and shuffled into the space with her as the doors slammed shut. He immediately took a slow, silent deep breath and stared straight ahead at the metal, counting down the seconds for them to open once again. He didn’t even notice he was holding his breath.
