I am re-uploading this because the last one had some issues.

Title: A History of Juju (Five Times Derek and Mark Learned About the Magical Healing Powers of Chocolate) (1/1)
Author: dealan311
Rating: PG for language and adult themes
Spoilers: a tiny spoiler about the new Addison spinoff in #5 (if you know the premise, you're fine)
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue.
Author's note: I started writing this story to explain how the juju became a tradition, but it ended up becoming something more. I can't explain why pre-series DerekAddisonMark have situated themselves in my head, but there they are and they sort of demanded to be written.

1. August 26, 1989.

"One should never underestimate the magical healing powers of chocolate," Addison declared, biting into her chocolate ice cream bar.

Derek nodded his head. "There's no better cure for a hot summer day," he agreed.

"I don't know," Mark said as he licked at the dribble of cool liquid that threatened to spill out of his cone. "It tastes good, gives you cavities and makes you fat, but I wouldn't say it's the best thing ever."

"Do you think I'm fat?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Derek shook his head. "I wouldn't answer that Mark. I know a no-win situation when I see it."

"Even I'm not that stupid" he said. "But I still think it's a bit of a stretch to say that chocolate is the best cure for the heat. After all, there's always sex."

Addison rolled her eyes. "Mark, can you stop and think about something other than sex for more than five seconds?"

"Awww, are you just jealous, Red? Sad that I won't flirt with you?"

"You're doing it right now, Mark," Derek said flatly.

Addison laughed at Mark's affronted glare. "What can I say? I'm just that loveable."

"Derek, I know she's your friend and all but does she have to hang out with us all the time? It's not like she's your girlfriend," he complained.

"She's my best friend outside of you, Mark. Don't make me pick between you two."

"Yeah, because I'll win."

Mark snorted. "Yeah right. Fifteen years of friendship trumps one year of med school, Red."

"Bite your tongue."

"Can you bite it for me?"

"You wish."

"You're both ridiculous," Derek laughed. "Just sit and enjoy your ice cream before it melts."

Mark flashed a devious smile and turned to Addison. "Sure, but going back to what you said, chocolate does not have any healing properties," he baited her.

"Sure it does. Chocolate releases endorphins into your brain that increase euphoria and decrease stress and pain."

"She's right, actually," Derek interjected. "Chocolate releases phenylethylamine, anandamide, and theobromine which cause changes in blood pressure and blood-sugar levels leading to feelings of excitement and alertness. They also work like amphetamines to increase mood and decrease depression."

Addison stuck her tongue out at Mark. "See?"

"Yeah but it doesn't actually heal you, it only makes you think you feel better. Can chocolate stop you from bleeding? Or fix a stomach ache? Or make you breathe better? No. Chocolate is not helpful in any way to the body."

"Feeling happy is helpful to the body," she countered. "You can't tell me that happiness isn't part of the healing process. Even if it doesn't fix things, chocolate helps you distract you from the pain."

"Besides, if anything it's helpful in soothing women's mood swings when they get their period." Derek added helpfully. Addison smacked him in the chest. "What? I grew up with four sisters. I know what PMS is like, and trust me when I say, chocolate was the only thing that kept Nancy from flying off the handle when she had her period."

Mark shuddered. "Okay, I take it back. Chocolate does have healing powers."

Addison just smirked in triumph and the three polished off their ice cream happily in the sun.

2. November 9, 1994.

Shortly after Derek and Addison got married, the trio of friends started their internships and life began to spin quickly out of control. In addition to the new challenges of being an intern and Derek and Addison's newly wed status, they had to adjust to not seeing each other on a daily basis, which was harder than it should have been. Although Derek and Addison had wound up in the same program, Mark had been accepted in another program, breaking up the DerekAddisonMark team they had become by the fourth year of med school. Derek, in particular, had come to rely on it for support, and having Addison there with him in the program helped immensely, but it wasn't quite the same. They both really missed Mark's routine sarcasm and loveable jackass moments, and as interns, they were upset to find that they simply didn't have a lot of time to hang out anymore.

When Derek's father died of a heart attack, their frustration at their inability to be together came to a head. Although Addison and Derek's resident, Dr. Webber, had been very understanding of the situation, Mark's resident at his hospital was not so forgiving. Mark could have punched him for not understanding that the man who had just died had been more of a father to him than his own had been. It wasn't until he proved to be so unfocused and useless that one of the attendings pulled rank and told Mark to go home.

Immediately he rushed over to the Shepherd house. As he expected, he found that the girls were a mess, Mama Shepherd was devastated, and Addison was barely holding them together, but Derek was the surprise. Throughout the entire night, Derek had been eerily calm. Mark conferred with Addison, who explained with shining eyes that Derek just took charge of everything and really stepped up as the man of the house, but Mark knew better. For the rest of the week, he watched Derek like a hawk, and eventually Addison too became worried when Kathleen pointed out that Derek yet to cry.

It wasn't until the night of the funeral that Derek finally broke. In the middle of having a nice conversation with his sisters about their memories of their father, he abruptly left the room. Mark and Addison found him rocking back and forth on the steps of the house, arms wrapped around himself. "Take me out of here," were his only words, and Mark and Addison solemnly obliged. They piled into the car and they drove to Mark's apartment, but still Derek refused to mourn his father. At first, the plan was to get good and plastered, but they were still interns on call, and dead fathers or not, it just wasn't a good idea. So instead, they settled on cups of hot chocolate, popped in a tape of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and just sat with him on the couch as Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane danced in the streets of Chicago.

When Mark passed him some M&Ms and Addison handed him another cup of hot chocolate, Derek looked at his best friend and the love of his life and at last, he cried.

3. March 31, 1998.

Addison was having quite possibly the worst day ever. After a roller coaster of close calls and tough battles, her latest patients, malnourished twins who had been abandoned in a dumpster, finally lost the will to live as their bodies gave out in the middle of surgery. Addison never did well with babies' deaths, which was why she was beginning to question her choice of residency. On days like this, she wished she hadn't been so fantastic at neonatal surgery and she felt unworthy of the high praise Richard had given her in his recommendation for her application. Not even the juju helped to ease her sadness or erase the memory of the babies' cold faces on the operating table. It had taken an hour of sitting alone with her hot chocolate before she felt ready to go home.

On top of that, Derek was being distant again. By the time she had pulled herself together and went to pack up her things, she found to her dismay that Derek had already left ahead of her. He had scribbled a note not worry about him getting home because he had caught a ride with Mark and left the paper in her locker with the keys to their car. The only company Addison had on the lonely ride home were her thoughts, as she contemplated how they had gotten to this position.

When Derek, Addison and Mark applied for residencies, they decided to apply only to the same hospital, hoping to avoid the problems of their internship. Unfortunately the 80 hour weeks with different specialties amounted to the same problem. They were in the same building, but they might as well have been in different continents, and this time, Addison didn't even have Derek the way she did when they were interns. It wasn't like she was one of those women who needed her husband 24/7, but by the time they got home, they were always so exhausted that they never had time to just talk anymore. Addison missed her best friend, especially when, back when they were interns, Derek would have been waiting outside with a cup of juju to comfort her after such a rough surgery. He was there, but he wasn't there when she needed him anymore.

With that thought, Addison turned the key in the lock of their apartment and opened the door with a sigh, only to find muffled voices arguing in the distance.

"No, I'm telling you, you should add more."

"Derek, if I add any more nuts it will be all rock and no road."

"Then add more chocolate chips, because the first batch was too fluffy. I told you not to add so many marshmallows."

"Derek?" she called out from the hallway. "I'm home."

"Crap, she's here already."

"Mark? You in there too?"

"Quick, grab the sponge and start washing that dish."

"Which dish?"

"Any dish! She's going to kill us when she sees this mess."

The sound of pans banging together and clattering dishes alarmed her as she made her way to the kitchen. "What are you guys doing in there? It sounds like- Oh. My. God."

Their usually spotless kitchen was a complete mess. The counter top was covered in flour, dirty bowls were piled half-hazardly in the sink, and the expensive mixer Derek and Addison had gotten for their wedding but had never actually used was dripping with chocolate batter. In the midst of the clutter stood Derek and Mark, with guilty looks on their faces. Mark was wearing in a pink ruffled apron and a thin layer of flour on his usual black t-shirt and jeans, and a streak of chocolate had somehow made its way into Derek's hair.

Addison just stared for a moment and then started to cry. The guys froze, unsure how to react. It wasn't until Addison's weeping turned into laughter that they finally relaxed and joined her. When their laughter finally subsided and Addison could breathe again, she wiped tears from her eyes and addressed her over-grown boys.

"What on earth are you were you trying to make?" she asked, peering into the mixer.

"Juju Cookies," Derek answered, greeting her with a light kiss on the lips.

"What?"

Mark grinned. "Well, Derek and I have noticed that you've been having a hard time on this case, and when we saw you in the break room, Derek pointed out that even the juju wasn't helping."

"You were there?" she asked wonderingly.

"I watched the surgery and was waiting for you after it was over, but my patient coded, so I had to leave," Derek explained.

Addison smiled warmly at him.

"Anyway, we knew you were taking this one pretty hard, so Mark suggested that hot chocolate juju wasn't enough and maybe we should make juju cookies for you instead."

"And since you love rocky road, we called up your mom for the recipe." Mark finished.

"You called my mother?" she looked at Derek skeptically.

"I called your mother. Derek over here was too chicken to talk to her."

"I was going to say."

"Hey!"

"Anyway, we called her up and got the recipe from the cook. Unfortunately it's a little more complicated that we thought it would be."

"Yeah," Derek said, holding up a deformed cookie. "Mark added too many marshmallows."

Emotion swelled up in Addison's chest and tears pricked at her eyes. She leaned over and took a huge bite out of the cookie.

"It's perfect," she said, rewarding them with a smile. "Thank you."

She gave them both huge hugs and gave Derek another quick peck on the lips. Then she rolled up her sleeves to help them fix the mess they'd made. They made the second and third batches together, which ended up being absolutely delicious, and when they had polished off a whole plate, the men had the most self-satisfied grins on the face of earth. They could be so annoying like that, but Addison wouldn't trade her boys for the world.

4. September 12, 2001.

As doctors, they had seen the damage firsthand. The entire hospital had turned into a war zone after the two towers were hit, and people came in bloodied and covered in dust, grime, and dirt. Derek had his hands full with more head traumas he'd ever had to treat in a single day, and Addison's heart broke at the sight of every tiny body she had work on, children who should have been safe in the buildings' nursery. As the one of the rising stars in reconstructive surgery, Mark had born the brunt of it, since he was running the Pit and had seen the most patients. The broken bones, punctured organs, and dusty bloody forms were everywhere. It could only be described in four words: complete and total carnage.

Throughout the day, Mark, Addison, and Derek had stayed at each other's side whenever possible. They had been together when all hell broke loose and everything had gone into lockdown. As the bodies started filtering in, they dutifully did their jobs, but they refused to leave each other's side whenever they weren't working on a patient or in the operating rooms. In truth, the nearness of each other had been the only thing that got them through the chaos. The physical proximity to each other and knowledge that the other two were safe kept them grounded and focused on their work.

When they had finally been permitted to get some rest in the on-call room, rather than sleeping on separate bunks, Derek and Mark pushed together two mattresses on the floor and the three of them just sat silently in exhaustion. As the adrenaline wore off, Mark surprised them by being the first one to break but shortly after pulling him into a hug, Derek and Addison joined him in the breakdown. For a long time, the three friends clung to each other and wept. Eventually, they collapsed into a tangle of dreamless sleep and stayed that way until one of the nurses found them, curled up together with Addison sandwiched between the two men.

The only remotely bright memory they had from that experience had been the Great Juju Mission of 2001. Intent on countering the myriad emotions they were feeling, Addison pulled out her entire supply of hot chocolate mix and roped Mark and Derek into organizing a hospital-wide Juju Day on September 12. Derek took charge of the interns while Mark spearheaded the recruitment of the nurses, and by the end of the day, they had managed to juju every single hospital staff member. They were the "Angels Bearing Chocolate" as the nursing staff dubbed them, and though the juju was but a small relief, it went a long way and everyone had been grateful for it.

5. September 11, 2006.

After he finished his surgery, Derek received a message from the Chief to come see him in his office. When he got there, he was surprised to find Mark standing in the room instead.

"What are you doing here?"

"The Chief asked me here for a meeting. What are you doing here?"

"I asked both of you to come," Richard said from the doorway. He crossed the office, pulled out an envelope from his desk and handed it to Derek. "I was on my way out, but I made a promise so I had to give this to you two before I left for the night."

"For Mark and Derek," Derek read aloud, frowning. "What's this?"

"Addison asked me to give this to you two."

Mark raised an eyebrow. Addison had left months ago for L.A., abandoning them to work at a wellness clinic with two of her med school friends. He still hadn't forgiven her for it, even though he was happy to hear she was doing well.

"I almost forgot, but she was insistent about me giving it to you today," Richard continued. "I can only imagine it has something to do with this being the fifth year anniversary and all."

In the blur of the latest on-going drama, they had lost track of the days, and a quick glance at the calendar behind him answered their unspoken question.

September 11.

Derek and Mark blinked as a flash of memories from five years ago hit them. After the success of the Great Juju Mission, it became their tradition to drink hot chocolate on September 11. Derek, Addison, and Mark were New Yorkers through and through, and it had been their city. The pain of the empty hole where the towers used to stand went right to the core of their very being. Their sorrow ran deep, and every year after the attack they felt the need to share a cup of juju in honor of the men and women who had lost their lives that day.

Every year except the last one.

Derek and Mark regarded each other for a moment before Derek opened the envelope and pulled out exactly what they were expecting: three packets of hot chocolate mix. He also found a note, which he read silently before passing it to Mark.

On the paper, Mark saw scrawled out in Addison's distinctive handwriting:

"I don't know why we keep doing these things to each other, but I hope one day that time really can heal all wounds. Until then, the chocolate helps."

He looked up at Derek and for the first time since she left, the men let down their guards and let themselves miss the friendship the three of them once had. With a quick nod of agreement, they said good-bye to Richard and made their way to the empty break room. Mark ripped open two packets and poured the contents into the cups Derek wordlessly handed him. Only the sounds of hot water pouring into the cups and the stirrers brushing against the Styrofoam filled the room.

The men drank their chocolate in silence and mused over the people they had lost, the things mankind inflicts upon itself and the hurt they themselves had caused each other.

Time heals all wounds. Perhaps one day….

When they finished their drinks and disposed of their cups, they deliberately left the third packet of hot chocolate and an empty Styrofoam cup on the table as an offering for any who needed it.

After all, one should never underestimate the magical healing powers of chocolate.

finis