𝙓𝙓𝙄𝙄.
LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR

──────

THE FIRST NIGHT in my apartment was exactly a week later.

I'd successfully moved in all of my clutter and was seriously considering a long haul trip to the local IKEA to make up for things I didn't have. A short trip to Walmart had been rather fruitful, however: I'd picked up a sofa bed, a few stools for the counters in the kitchen and adopted a fake plant for my dining table. 

I'd had to pay for a taxi, which hadn't been the best idea, and only fuelled a sudden desire to make more progression. My next step, I figured, was to achieve what I'd wanted all those years ago in New York: to finally drive. But for now, I had my apartment.

My apartment. I had an apartment.

I had an annual lease, which although it made me uneasy to go into such a commitment, I was beginning to admire. I liked the thought of having somewhere I could call my own and the longer I stood there and looked around, the more I began to like it. 

A slow smile spanned across my face and I tilted my head to the side; huh, maybe Seattle wasn't too shabby.

The thought of having something that I call my own made me giddy; my belongings were long folded away into draws and a couple of books that I'd bought from a kitschy bookstore were piled on the beginnings of a bookcase. 

I already had my new keys on my dining table and a cup of coffee in my hand. Meredith had been generous to give me her coffee machine, her reasoning had been that no one ever really used it anyway (apparently Alex lived off of espressos from Starbucks and Meredith just used the hospital canteen for everything and anything) and that it would act as a somewhat housewarming gift. 

I appreciated it a lot and had my first cup ready under an hour after she'd first visited my apartment.

"It's nice." Was what she'd said moments after waltzing through the door; she'd come bundled in clothes from the chilly weather and had taken her boots off on the doormat. I'd beamed from ear to ear, proud of myself. I'd then asked her if she wanted something to drink and she'd returned the smile. "Of course—uh, an orange juice, thanks."

"Thank you, by the way." I'd rambled, crossing the kitchen to swing open my new fridge. "For everything—" I grabbed a glass and a large plastic decanter of orange juice and poured one for the each of us, waving my hands expressively as I did so. "I really appreciate the coffee machine and the whole lodging..."

Meredith had seldom smiled as she accepted the glass of juice I passed her.

"You're welcome, Beth." She had a warmth in her voice that reminded me so strongly of the days were Addison had been able to look me in the eye without flinching. "That's what family does for one another—"

Another thing that enthralled me about Seattle was family, that was something I'd been so estranged from that it felt alien to think about. 

From the moment I'd set foot in this city, Derek had been accommodating and Meredith had fallen into step behind him. Addison had always joked that both of us were married to Derek and I could still see what she meant in a way. I cared deeply about Derek, he was like my second older brother- one that was far younger and less likely to eat dodgy worm-riddled fruit, apparently- and my experience in Seattle had only shown that Derek felt the same way.

Family. The only one missing was Amy.

As I cradled my coffee in my empty apartment and sat on an armchair, resting my head against the back of a bolster cushion, I couldn't help but wonder about her. 

Amelia Shepherd, Derek's little sister, had been my rock, had been my best friend. She'd been the last face I'd seen in New York before I left and I missed her. She'd held me tightly, hugged me so hard my bones had quivered and almost crushed—all this despite her claiming she wasn't the touchy-feely type. I wondered whether she was still the same old Amy, the shoot up at the weekend and would have week-long hangovers. 

She'd been as bad as I had and hadn't sought out any help at all.

I hadn't heard from her since that night in New York and I hoped to god that she was okay.

I closed my eyes slightly, feeling the night take its toll. I hadn't had a very eventful day, but having to run around Seattle after a shift was enough to reduce a girl to exhaustion. I had an early start too, just discouraging me from staying up very long in the first place. I opened my eyes and glanced down at my coffee in distaste—wasn't caffeine supposed to keep you awake?

 Granted, this wasn't strong by any means and I'd have to buy some more powerful mixes in the future. I just supposed that I was too far gone for even coffee to help me at this point.

I ditched my coffee, rinsing out the mug in the sink and stifled a yawn on the way to the bathroom. I stood in front of my new sink and met my tired eyes in the mirror: I didn't look as bad as I'd anticipated, to be fair. 

The makeup I'd applied was cracked and faded and my eyelashes were clumped and unruly, but I still didn't look as bad as I was used to looking when I'd been living an unhealthy lifestyle. I cocked my head to the side and undid my ponytail, finding my toothbrush from a bag beside the sink.

Maybe I should start some hobbies up? Jogging maybe? I crumpled my nose at that thought as I ran my toothbrush under the tap. Maybe not, I wasn't too keen on exercise. 

I was about halfway through brushing my teeth when I was disturbed by the sound of my cell phone vibrating violently against the tabletop.

I cocked an eyebrow, stalling in my movements; a text message, I knew that from the way the sound stopped as soon as it had started. 

I unceremoniously spat into the basin and combed my fingers through my hair, eying my pager that was sat on the countertop, abandoned from when I'd taken my first bath earlier. It was dormant, sat there blinking dolefully at me as I glanced at the door.

It wasn't a medical emergency. So, that meant one other person.

I knew enough about time zones to know that Indonesia was fourteen hours ahead of Seattle—that meant that 10 pm here in the blustery city translated to the early-mid morning where he was. I sighed to myself, meeting my own gaze in the mirror fleetingly before I looked away shortly.

Derek's prompts had birthed something erratic; a communication that I'd been avoiding for two months now. But, to look on the bright side of things, he didn't call anymore, the text conversations seemed enough to stop him blowing up my phone like he had done in the first few weeks of me callously leaving him on the other side of the world.

I made it to my phone under a few minutes of receiving the text; I spied it on the dining table and inhaled sharply for a moment, before picking it up. And, just as I'd predicted, the name Charlie lit my screen.

I just wanted to say Good Morning and I hope you have a lovely day.

My chest tightened and I blew out a breath. Charles Perkins was a genius in his field but still seemed incapable of being anything other than a dork. Despite my whole crushing guilt that I always seemed to feel when it came to Charlie, I felt a smile pull at the corners of my mouth and I let out a breathy laugh.

Huh, Seattle's weird—they have their mornings at 10 pm at night.

On another continent, Charles replied in under a minute.

Darn Americans.

I rolled my eyes and turned away, my mind lingering on Charlie for a moment. I could still picture his sheepish smile, the way a little dip appeared in between his dark eyebrows when he was troubled and the way he would cradle my jawbone with his hands so lightly as if he thought I would shatter in his hands. 

I ran the faucet hard, pouring myself a glass of water. My stomach rolled, feeling sick.

Derek had prompted me to hear Charlie out, so I'd done what Charlie had wanted more than anything else—for me to contact him. As soon as the first text had gone through, Charlie had instantly phoned me, but I'd declined it.

I can't. I'd said because I knew that if I heard his voice, I'd cry and then we'd both feel bad. Because I care about you.

I understand. He'd replied. I love you. Then, as if he could sense my reaction, he'd sent another message. I'm sorry, I know you're going through a lot, but I just need you to know that I care about you too and I'm here for you.

Then there'd been the questions: Are you alright? Are you okay? Is Seattle okay? Is your brother doing alright? When are you coming back—are you coming back?

I rubbed the spot between my eyebrows and plugged my phone in to charge, my whole body aching for rest. I'd have a sleepless night, thinking about these things, I was sure of it. After all, every text conversation Charlie and I had, I could tell that he was anticipating me to send that one message that would ease his thoughts. 

I could tell that he wanted to ask me about it, but he hadn't. 

So, he was just waiting. Waiting and waiting. Waiting for an answer that I never wanted to give.

After all, how could I say yes when the thought of marriage just made me think of Mark? And then to Lexie. And then to Mark and Lexie walking down the aisle. And then to my despaired and lonely future that I'd have after Charlie walks away, exasperated by my inability to love.

I spent the first night in my new apartment sad, but, I could only blame myself for that.

***

"Congratulations!"

I blinked, slightly disorientated as Arizona exploded into my personal space, seemingly light and airy. She was all grins as she embraced me, wrapping her arms around my small frame and hugging me tightly. 

Through a face-full of blonde hair, I spied her girlfriend, who was a few steps behind, a folder pressed against her chest. Callie eyed us both oddly.

"Uh, thanks?" I responded meekly as Arizona pulled backwards. 

My brow folded and Callie stood beside her, looking at Arizona as she seemed to enthusiastically fiddle with something in carrier bag beside her. 

As she was preoccupied, I looked over at Callie and frowned. "Why do I feel like I just birthed a child without realising it?"

"I'm pretty sure she has an auto-pilot setting," Callie commented in an undertone as the smile didn't seem to crack an inch on Arizona's face, even as fumbled about with an air of finicky agitation. "I think Paediatrics does that to people, kind of worms its way into the brain and holds on there until you've got the same face for every occasion—" Callie paused, realising a certain familiarity in the little quip. She gave me a slightly guilty smile. "Sorry."

I was about to reply with something along the lines of: "Don't worry about it"- but was cut short by the enthusiastic blonde in front of me.

Arizona let out an almost cinematic "Aha!" (as if she'd just discovered the culprit in a murder mystery) and produced a rather sorry-looking cactus from the depths of her canvas bag. 

She shoved it into my arms, beaming wildly as I tried to avoid impaling myself—all while looking back and forth between the death-trap plant and her glow of pride and happiness.

Tilting it upwards, I noticed that Arizona- or so I presumed- had driven a shaky but legible smiley face onto its fat pot.

"Uh, thanks?"

"It's a house-warming gift!" Arizona exclaimed, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet; from the looks on Callie's face, her girlfriend had had nothing to do with this. Instead, the Latina looked rather miffed and I supposed that Arizona hadn't told Callie about their new neighbour. "I thought it would be good to add a little decoration to your new apartment and plus... it's super cute."

Her blue eyes flashed with joy as I shakily returned her smile. I didn't quite have the heart to tell her that I had a history of slaughtering plants mercilessly (sarcasm must be noted, I'm not a heartless criminal (as such)). 

I looked down at the cactus in my hand, my brow furrowing. Then again, I wasn't exactly sure whether catcus' needed to be cared for, after all, surely if they could survive barren, crappy deserts they could survive the wasteland that would eventually be my apartment. Or at least, I thought they could.

"You can give him a name!" Arizona drilled onwards, causing me to lift an eyebrow. "You can talk to him when you're lonely---" That caused me to squint at her.

Peds really did make the brain go... odd?

"I didn't realise you got an apartment...." Callie began, a smile tugging at her lips as she seemed to glance between me and Arizona quickly. There was something about her behaviour that crinkled my brow as I returned the gesture. "That's great—congrats!"

As Callie leaned in for a hug, I had to almost juggle the cactus to stop us from being maimed by it. It teetered in my hand and barely missed Callie's stray elbow as her folder pressed against my midriff and her arm curved around my shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks," I replied, happiness spilling like the cactus almost had, running all through my body and making me feel giddy all of a sudden.

Ever since I'd signed the lease things had just felt right. Like I was where I was supposed to be; it was such a contrast to New York. I couldn't help but love it.

"I should really thank you, Arizona," I turned to the blonde and watched as she flashed her teeth, overjoyed. "I would have spent hours traipsing around some random apartments all over Seattle if it wasn't for you referring me-"

Callie paused. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Arizona drawled brightly, swinging around to face her girlfriend. But there was a certain look of panic in Callie's eyes. 

My smile faltered.

"I might have dropped Beth's name to our landlord and vice versa.... and....." Arizona seemed oblivious to the look on Callie's face as she clapped her hands together excitedly. "Beth's our new neighbour! Isn't that great!"

She looked over at me, almost toppling over with excitement and once again, as I had done many times over these last few minutes, I beamed backwards. 

But Callie's attitude was troubling me deeply; her round, mocha eyes were wide and she seemed to have a full, "Oh shit" moment. I felt my good mood sink away—but before I could ask Callie what was wrong, the orthopaedic surgeon had grabbed Arizona by the wrist and was blatantly dragging her down the hallway, seeming to have an immediate talk. 

I stared after them, almost as shocked as Arizona, whole looked back at me, confusion plastered across her once belated features.

"I'll talk to you later, neighbour!" She called before she was out of sight.

They left me alone in a corridor, surrounded by passing visitors and employees, of whom shot me a mixture of bemused and scathing looks. Cradling my newly adopted cactus I sighed to myself, frowning for a split second. 

I stuffed my free hand into my pocket and glanced down at the bedraggled plant.

"Don't give me that look." I scolded it shamelessly, making direct eye contact with its little doodled, vacant dot eyes. It just stared back at me, it's little-smudged smile a just a tiny bit condescending as I scowled. W

hen I raised my head, I just sighed to myself—what was this city doing to me? My thoughts seemed to be reflected by a group of nurses, all of whom shot me weird looks as I glanced over at them.

"Are you talking to a plant?"

"No, just, uh, thinking out loud," I said, turning around to face a newcomer—Derek, who had Mark trailing in his wake. They both seemed to be rather solemn, although I could see a glimmer in Derek's eye. He looked happy, overwhelming so and I had half a mind to throw my cactus in his face. "It's a cactus; actually, it's more... badass than your average house plant."

"Right." Derek mused, a smile flickering across his lips as he shook his head slowly. I looked briefly at the two of them, raising my eyebrows, just as Derek seemed to freeze in his step, his eyes glued to the conference over my shoulder.

My head swivelled around and I peered through the blinds, spying Dr Webber, the chief of surgery sat at a long desk, surrounded by an assortment of smartly dressed suits with thunderous expressions on their faces. 

I couldn't hear what they were saying, but something about the way Webber frowned and the distracted edge in Derek's slack expression told me that something was going on. Derek moved forwards, watching intently and Mark and I both followed, my curiosity pulling me towards the Head of Neurosurgery.

"More suits?" Mark sounded disgruntled, his eyebrows pulling tight over his brow as Derek let out a sigh. "It's freaking people out, talk of downsizing... Corporate takeover... Rumour's that Webber's jumping ship..."

My eyes widened. My ex-brother-in-law just shot a brief glance at Mark, not replying to anything he'd just said. Suspiciously, Mark crossed his arms over his chest, his vibrant eyes narrowing as he leant towards Derek, his voice dropping to a low drawl.

"You've got the chief's ear. What's he got planned?"

The door in front of us opened and instantly, we turned away. 

I leant against the wall, bowing my head as if to stare down at the pot in my hands and Derek and Mark both began a faux conversation. 

A parade of corporate suits trickled out of the door, each of them carrying an uncertain sense of ominous doom about them. As soon as the door was firmly closed and we were out of their earshot, Derek looked between the both of us, a hesitation within him.

But, finally, he let out a long breath. "He's retiring. They're making me chief."

My face exploded in a delighted smile. Mark, on the other hand, looked extremely ruffled, his eyes widening in shock as he repeatedly looked at a disheartened Webber and his old friend.

"That's amazing!" I said briskly, causing Derek's mouth to twitch. 

He looked over at me, his eyes bugging slightly as if he was trying to say something. The look on his face reminded me of the good old days when he'd tease Addison and joke about—my smile faded for a second and I chuckled, receiving the message instantly. 

Oh, Derek.

Mark, oblivious to our exchange, continued to mutter to himself, a dent appearing in between his eyebrows.

"No!"

"Yeah."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Really? Wow."

"Yep." 

Derek grinned to himself as Mark leaned heavily against the wall behind him, scratching his chin and staring thoughtfully into the conference room. I rolled my eyes at the pair of them, standing in between the pair of them as Mark seemed to have an acute midlife crisis in the span of a few seconds.

"I mean," From Mark's tone, we could both tell that he was about to say something utterly stupid. He puffed out his chest a little bit and leaned forward, giving Derek an indifferent look. "The Chief never said anything to me. I would've fought you hard for that." Beat. "But hell, I guess if that's what he wants—a congratulations is in order."

He reluctantly held out a hand across me, as if to congratulate Derek on his new post. I had to bite down on my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing, watching as Derek's stoic expression slowly crumpled. 

Mark paused, gaze flickering between the two of us.

He faltered. "Wait- that was-"

"You always were the slow one, Mark." I jokingly patted him on the arm just as it fell away and went back to his side. 

His face contorted as he realised that Derek had been pulling his leg the whole time. Mark didn't even glance at me, but rather shot Derek a glower. Derek finally let out a laugh, an apologetic grin breaking out across his face.

"You're messing with me?" Mark muttered, mostly to himself or to Derek for a validation.

"Yeah."

"Mean!" My ex-huffed, although there was something about the look in his eye that implied he wasn't as hurt as he wanted us to think he was. That was the thing about Mark, he was equally as melodramatic as he was impassive and cut off. "You got a mean streak, you know that?" After a moment, he glanced down at me, adding as an after-thought; "Both of you."

"Yeah."

"Someone's gotta keep you on your toes, Sloan." I pressed my lips together, not missing how Mark's lip seemed to twitch at my words. 

But, I just turned to stare at the conference room, just as the two men did, a sigh leaving my lips as I looked over at Derek.

In that hallway, there was a sense of impending chaos, it felt heavy on my shoulders and seemed to originate just beyond that door. Webber's head was bowed and it just appeared so grave and serious; I barely knew the man and I felt my heartache for him. Mark and Derek both silently stewed away, their eyes all stuck on their boss as something beyond our knowledge seemed to derail his whole life.

"Seriously," My voice faltered slightly and Derek didn't look over at me as I frowned. "What's going on?" It was barely my business, but I had a feeling that it would affect a lot more than just the surgical team.

There was something about the way Derek let a pregnant pause before his words, that suggested everything he was about to say was a lie.

"I have no idea."

***

When I returned home, I felt fuzzy inside just at the thought of it.

I had a key to a door and a code for the front entrance and a door number to go to. I had a floor number to find and an elevator to stand in and a staircase to ignore. I had a home.

That was utterly absurd to me.

"Hey- hold the elevator!"

Someone rushed towards me as I stood in the lift, my back to the doors as I pressed the button for my floor. 

My eyes widened and I jolted to go and intercept the door, smiling victoriously as they retracted at the waved of my forearm. I glanced down momentarily at my phone, moving backwards out of the way of the newcomer.

The woman spluttered thanks, almost collapsing as she stood beside me. 

She was holding what looked like a large box, some sort of moving box, and I could just about make out a head of dark hair behind it. The voice behind the box was breathless and for a second, I wasn't exactly sure who it was—but then a pair of doe eyes appeared and my brow crumpled in confusion.

"Grey?"

"Dr Montgomery?" 

She echoed my bewildered tone as the door closed behind her. Meredith's little sister frowned for a split second as I tilted my head to the side, not quite sure what she was doing in my apartment building. But, as the elevator began moving, I figured that she was maybe doing some scut for Callie or Arizona or something.

I watched her quiver under the box and had half a mind to chuckle, but instead, I just quirked an eyebrow. "Are you alright there?"

"Oh, yes," Lexie insisted, contradicting the clear strain that was written all over her face. 

She wobbled on her feet and there was a momentary panic in her eyes that flashed quickly and suddenly. Hastily, I dipped forwards, taking the corner of the box nearest to me. For a second, I'd thought that it was about to tumble to the ground; but, I caught her just in time. She let out a long groan. 

"Uh, no actually, thanks for that."

"No problem," I replied, my height over her allowing me to peer down at her over the box; her grasp retracted from her hugging the box to her chest to just her clutching the corner. 

I felt sorry for her—I'd been a surgical intern long enough to know that surgeons could be assholes when they had power over you. Just look at Addie, Mark and Archie. 

"I'm happy to help you," I said softly, "what floor are you going to?"

"Oh god, that would be great." She babbled instantly, eyes going round as I gave her an awkward, but gratifying smile. "Uh, I'm going to the fourth floor."

A dent appeared between my eyebrows but I didn't say anything, instead, I looked over at the button I'd pressed earlier. The number 4 stared back at me. Looking back at Lexie I gave her a pristine smile.

"That's great."

Deep down, I was surprised that Callie or Arizona would make Lexie do something like this. 

After all, I couldn't imagine anyone else in this building that would get a surgical intern from Seattle Grace to bring something here that was clearly personal—that was unless this box was something work-related like the world's heaviest surgical file or a cadaver. 

I supposed that it was more likely Callie than Arizona—I'd grown to know the bubbly blonde a bit better over the few weeks since Izzie and Alex's wedding and knew that despite how many times she liked to insist she was a hard and gritty surgeon, she was definitely too soft for something like this.

"What, have you got a dead body in here, or what, Lexie?" I joked as the doors of the elevator parted and the familiar corridor was presented. 

The younger Grey sibling let out a light, slightly breathy laugh.

"Just some things from Meredith's house," was Lexie's reply. "I think I'm moving out of there for a while. I'm not sure whether you've heard, but they're being a bit... Well... they've become..."

"Exhibitionists?" I mused, my lips twitching as a brief flash of red flickered across Lexie's cheeks and she seemed speechless for a second.

"Right," Lexie interjected. I got the feeling she didn't want to have this conversation.

I laughed to myself and helped her along the corridor. All the while, I kept an eye out as we moved closer and closer towards my new apartment. 

There were only four doors on this floor; one of them, I figured, must have been Callie and Arizona's. Opposite my new door, resided an elderly couple. The one to the side was newly renovated and vacant. I craned my neck up and down the hallway as she indicated that she wanted to set the box down. Lexie stood on Callie's doorstep, searching for something in her pockets as I faced her, my back almost touching the door of the vacant apartment.

"I forgot the keys." She grumbled to herself, a light frown dusting her lips.

"They gave you keys?" My eyebrows raised and Lexie glanced over at me, too brief for me to see her expression. Instead, she began rifling through the box's contents, her hair falling around her face. "They're awfully generous..."

"What do you mean?" Lexie stood up, a key ring swinging from her finger as she brushed her hair out of her face. Her eyebrows were drawn down and I watched as she moved towards me. I stared at her, confused.

What did she mean?

"Callie and Arizona," I stated plainly, jerking my head in the direction of their apartment opposite me. As if she'd been struck by lightning, Lexie's eyes lit up in realisation.

"Oh. I forgot they live here."

I was utterly bewildered. Lexie asked me to move to one side and waltzed to the vacant door, slipping a key into the lock. I stared at her as it clicked and the door swung ajar, giving her just enough room to glance inside. 

I spent the whole time stood, bewildered on the doorstep, only reanimating when she looked back at me, a guilty smile on her lips as she glanced down at the box.

"Do you think you could...?"

Beat. "Oh, yeah, sure."

Lexie moved forwards to pick it up, but I was already gingerly lifting it on my own. As much as I hated doing exercise, it'd be required when I'd done my brief military training stint for Iraq and I wasn't utterly hopeless with doing things—unless it was opening pickle jars, those fuckers were booby-trapped. 

It wasn't the easiest thing to carry, but I managed, Lexie, watching with wide eyes as she held open the door for me.

The supposedly vacant apartment had that new, renovated smell to it, as if it'd just had the floor laid and the walls painted. Everything seemed so fresh and clean, the layout mirroring mine, but something about just suggesting that it was a little higher rent that the ones around it. 

Lexie directed me to the kitchen, a set up at the back of the open layout; I set the box onto the glossy, marble top and pause for a second.

This didn't quite scream Lexie. It screamed bachelor pad.

A knot appeared in my stomach.

"I didn't know you were secretly Bruce Banner." Lexie joked, closing the door of the apartment and taking off her coat, hanging it up by the door. 

I lingered in the kitchen, looking at the overwhelming amount of stainless steel, kissing my teeth before swinging around to give Lexie a smile that was all teeth,

"I've got my secrets."

"And I've got a lot of thanks, so thank you." Lexie's smile glittered in her eyes as she swanned towards me. 

Suddenly, it troubled me that the lights in this apartment were already on, and that the door at the corner of the room was ajar—there was a jacket by Lexie's at the door and there was the muffled sound of a radio in the next room, beyond what I presumed was a bathroom.

I crossed my arms over my chest.

"It's no problem," My voice mirrored how spontaneously uncomfortable I was, but there was something about the way Lexie turned and rubbed her hands together that implied it went amiss to her. "I should probably go I-"

"Don't be silly!" Lexie interjected, much to my dismay. "Can I get you a drink, just to say thanks? I mean—we've got..." She paused to peer in a large, almost industrial fridge, the chill that swept my bones was far from what was scientifically possible. "OJ, lemonade, root beer..." Her eyes popped out to glisten mischievously at me as if we were teenagers snooping around in their parents' beverage collection. "Wine?"

A glass of wine sounded exactly like something I needed.

"No thanks," I said quickly; Lexie looked disheartened and closed the refrigerator, turning away to run the faucet, pouring herself a glass of water. "I've got stuff I need to do..."

I was given a déjà vu of Meredith's house, standing over a table, eating an apple as I stared at a bowl of Lucky Charms and a spoon dipping in and out. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a box, just propped as if the person who'd been eating them had had to leave suddenly and hadn't had the time to put their breakfast away.

"...and Arizona?"

I blinked, my head snapping back to face Lexie as she looked at me expectantly. It was as she leant against the counter, a glass lingering on her lips, that I realised she must have been talking to my deaf ears. I smiled weakly, glancing at my interlocked fingers.

"Sorry, I zoned out for a second..."

"That's okay," Lexie said warmly, finishing her glass and discarding it in the sink. She ran a hand through her hair and moved as if she was about to accompany me to the door. "I said that it's nice for you to go and visit Callie and Arizona, I know that Callie's been struggling with uh..." She paused and the word seemed to catch at the back of her throat. We exchanged a look and she knew that I knew what she was referring to. "It's nice."

I spoke before thinking. "Actually, I've moved in next door."

Lexie looked delighted. "Oh, that's excellent! I didn't realise, I'm so sorry! Congratulations on the new apartment."

I smiled weakly. "You too, it's a nice place you've got here."

"Oh, it's not mine-"

The moment those words passed her lips, something moved in the background. We'd made it to the door and I paused for a second, my stomach twisting as a figure appeared from the ajar door at the back of the apartment. 

For a second, I felt my heart drop out of my ass and I felt as though the whole world had come crashing on top of my little puny body.

Lexie turned around, following my gaze as I averted my attention to the background. She missed the slight horror in my eyes and instead turned to grin, her hair bouncing as she greeted the newcomer—the owner of the vacant apartment beside my own.

"Hi there," Her voice dropped an octave and I had half a mind to glance at the back of her head. 

I could tell that she had a wide smile plastered across her face from this angle. 

She echoed my words from earlier, yet the circumstances couldn't have been more different.

When I'd said it, I'd been faced with Lexie almost being crushed from a box of her belongings.

 Now, as Little Grey said them, she was faced with Mark Sloan in all his glory, shirtless, wet and with a white fluffy towel loosely wrapped around his hips.

He, like me, was frozen in his steps. He looked like stupid fucking James Bond in that one fucking movie in that one stupid fucking ocean scene but had an edge of a deer caught in headlamps. His eyes bounced between Lexie and me as if he wasn't exactly quite sure what was happened.

Meanwhile, I was doing everything humanly possible to avoid looking anywhere but his face.

My expression was stoic but had the edge of amusement and I was thankful for that. I could catch my reflection in one of the stupid glossy furnishings Mark had littered across his stupid apartment. The brief but excruciating silence was enough to make the skin crawl and the look in Mark's eyes spoke a million things. I suddenly understood.

When I was sure Mark was watching, my eyes flickered with the purpose to Lexie's dark locks.

She didn't know about us. She didn't know about Addison. She didn't know how awkward this situation was.

Mark hadn't told her anything.

And from the way his face twisted momentarily, I knew that he didn't want her to know. My lips twitched and he shot me a look.

I had something on him.

"I've gotta go," I broke the silence, giving the two of them a pristine smile- more Lexie than her boyfriend. 

My whole body itched to make a sudden, erratic exit and my head was wondering whether it'd be quicker to just be Bruce Banner and burst through a wall to get away from this whole scenario. 

"Thanks," I said, even though I didn't really mean it: "for the hospitality, though-"

"Mark, Dr Montgomery helped me bring up my things!"

 Lexie smiled back at Mark as he ran his fingers through his hair, catching my eye intently. He seemed to make prolonged eye contact... My eyes narrowed a fraction.

Well, someone didn't take their menopause medicine today

"That's nice of her." He commented, although there was something about those words that implied he didn't think that at all.

I turned to leave.

"Yes, and did you hear?" Fuck. "She's our new neighbour! Apparently, she's moved in the apartment next door..."

There was a pregnant pause.

"It was nice seeing you both." I hastened, flashing them both a smile once again. That's what Addison and my mother had always taught me. If you were ever in a disastrous, dire social situation, smiling until your Botox riddled face cracked- well, maybe that just applied to my mother, but still.

There was no interjection in my parting statement, so I went to walk out of the door, but a voice called out behind me, causing me to pause.

"Nice seeing you too, neighbour."