A/N: This story started as a request by multiple people to write a flipped script version of Savvy and Weiss's visit to Seattle. I wanted to - but Savvy and Weiss and their history with Addison and Derek ... it's just too great for a one-shot. I adore them. And I was always a little troubled by the thought that Addison and Derek had no idea Savvy's mother had died a month before. I know they were busy with their marital drama, but as Derek said, "these are some of [their] closest friends!"
So I started wondering what would have happened if Weiss had called Derek to tell him, and asked him to relay the news to Addison. Close friends go to funerals. Even when they're having marital problems. So that's what they'll do. Based on the strange timeline of Season 1, you can imagine the call coming somewhere around the middle of that season, possibly that first time Derek spends the night at Meredith's house.
This story will follow a different format than the one I normally follow. No more limited narratives for me; Addison and Derek will both have their voices heard here, and probably some others too. The first chapter will be the only one before Addison and Derek meet up again. As always, everything belongs to Shonda and the wonderful actors she finds to breathe life into her writing.
This is absolutely Addison/Derek endgame, just a new - and probably angsty in some places, fluffy in others, bittersweet in more - way to get them there. It's a bit New York backstory, a bit AU, and - just to be clear - very much Addek.
.-.-.
Some Bright Morning
1. just a few more weary days and then
.-.-.
"Is that a phone vibrating on my nightstand, or are you just happy to see me?" She sits up, resting her small hands on his chest. "…or should I say see me again?"
He pulls her warm body closer, laughing a little. "I'm definitely happy to see you. Very happy. Happy enough that I'm not answering that phone."
"Derek … it could be the hospital."
"It could be … but I'm still not answering. Dr. Grey, I'm very, very busy right now." He rolls them over swiftly so he's on top of her, and she giggles as the phone thankfully stops vibrating.
"There, you see? Nice and quiet." His hands slide over her hips when the rattling sound of his phone against her nightstand starts up again.
"Damn it." He pulls away, breathless.
"Someone really wants to talk to you, huh?"
"Oh, yes. I'm very popular, didn't you know?" He kisses her deeply as the phone continues to buzz.
"Okay, Derek, if you're not going to answer it, I will."
"No, Meredith… wait…" He catches her hand before she can grab the phone and they wrestle playfully for a moment. He's still smiling when he grabs the phone, which has stopped vibrating, and then he sees the phone number.
"Derek … is everything okay?"
"Yes. I'm sure it's fine." He glances at the number again. Except it's late to be calling. Very late.
"Who was it?" Her tone is uncertain.
"A ... friend from New York." He checks the time. It's just after midnight in Seattle and three hours later on the east coast. Why would he be calling at this hour? The last time he called this late...
"A friend from New York, huh?" Meredith props herself up on her elbows, smiling at him. "Calling you now, so late? Are you sure it's not a … girlfriend?" Her voice is light, teasing now.
"Yes, I'm sure it's not a girlfriend. It's a boyfriend. I mean, it's a guy friend." He glances at the phone, then taps into his call history. "And he's tried me twice already before now. I didn't notice."
"Well…" Meredith grins. "I was keeping your hands pretty occupied."
"You certainly were." He pauses to kiss her. "Meredith ... I have to go."
"What? Derek, what happened to staying over?"
"It will have to wait. I'm sorry."
"But it's after midnight!"
"I know. I'm sorry," he says again, and leans over to kiss her one more time before fumbling in the pile of clothes on her chair for his jeans.
"You know, this man of mystery thing is only sexy up to a point," she calls after his retreating back.
.-.-.
You'll tell her, right? Weiss's voice was tense, strained, down the long-distance line when Derek called him back. Savvy's not really in a state to talk right now.
Of course I will, that's what he said even as every fiber of his being screamed out a refusal, because you don't say no to a friend in that situation … do you?
He waits until he's home to place the call, sitting on the porch of his trailer breathing in the clean, healing air. The phone rings four times – it's after 4 a.m. by now in Manhattan; the call should go to voicemail; he has a brief flicker of hope that he won't have to talk to her at all. But Addison always keeps her phone on in case a patient needs her; they were both awakened by laboring mothers in the middle of the night often enough over the years.
Sure enough, the fifth ring is interrupted by the click of the call connecting.
"…Derek?" Her voice sounds shaky and far away, almost unfamiliar. He's clearly awakened her.
"Hi," he says shortly.
"I … can't believe you're calling." For a moment he just hears her breathing into the phone. "Wait, are you … is everything okay, are you okay?"
"Fine," he says brusquely. "I'm only calling because-"
"Derek, where are you?" Her voice is higher and more anxious now, far more familiar. "You never returned my calls and I saw Nancy last week and she didn't know either, and I didn't want to call your mother because she, you know she –"
"Addison," he cuts her off sharply. No one can go directly from asleep to high-speed chatter like Addison, and he's in no mood. "Weiss called me."
She stops babbling instantly. "He did? Is he – are they all right?"
"Catherine died," he says quietly. "…ovarian cancer," he adds when she doesn't respond.
"Savvy's mother died? No, that's impossible, Derek. She wasn't sick, I saw her a few months ago in the city and she was fine."
"Have you talked to Savvy lately?"
"No. I haven't, um… " Her voice shakes slightly. "Well, you know, it's been … "
He rubs a frustrated hand through his hair, anxious to get off the phone.
"Addison…"
He hears the quiet rumbling of another voice in the background, then Addison's again, low and conciliatory now. So she's not alone. Maybe he caught her in an on-call room.
"Do you need to go?" he asks pointedly.
"No, sorry," she says into the phone. "I'm here. I ... can't believe Catherine's gone."
"The funeral is on Tuesday but they're gathering this weekend on some … island. Weiss said you would know what that meant."
"St. Cera's," she says softly. "Of course."
"Weiss said he and Savvy are already there. I guess Catherine wanted to be … buried … out there."
She's silent for a few moments, just breathing. "What?" he asks finally.
"Nothing, it's just – I've been to the island - not for years, but it's, um, it's a little complicated to get to … the closest airports aren't that close, it's only accessible by boat and you have to have someone on the island come to get you…" she pauses. "But you're going to go?"
"Of course I'm going to go." Weiss is one of his closest friends. Has been for years. Wasn't Weiss the one who-
"I'm going to go, too."
"I assumed," he says coolly.
"Derek … look, I don't want to make extra work for Savvy's family. The island, it's, um … complicated. I can talk to my travel agent so we can, um, coordinate. To make it easier for-"
"Fine," he interrupts. The sooner he can stop talking to her, the better.
"Derek…"
"What?"
"Where are you? I mean, where are you living? Because if we're going to meet in Charlotte or Atlanta or wherever … I kind of need to know."
He breathes for a moment. A last moment of breathing in air that he's not fighting for before she can get it first. The town won't be his alone once he shares its name.
"Derek?"
"Seattle," he says finally. "I'm in Seattle."
"…oh."
"Have your travel agent call me," he says shortly, and hangs up.
.-.-.
For a few moments she just stands in the bedroom doorway, staring at the closed cell phone in her hand.
"That was Derek," she says finally, faintly.
"Yeah, I got that impression already when I heard you say his name." Mark's voice is gruff, but then it softens when he sees her expression. "What's wrong?"
"Savvy's mother died." She feels tears come to her eyes. If ever there were an opposite of her own cold, withholding mother, it would be Catherine Sevier. She and Savvy were so close and she never hesitated to extend her particular brand of warmth to Addison. Just a few months ago the three of them were strolling on Fifth Avenue, shopping and laughing and ducking into whatever galleries caught their eyes, and now … life just isn't fair. It isn't fair at all.
She glances at Mark, who's sitting expectantly on the side of the bed, watching her.
"Savvy … oh, right. Blonde Savvy. Her mother died? That sucks," he says bluntly. "Hey … you okay?"
"Savvy called me, Mark. She called last week and I didn't call her back because I thought she was calling to yell at me about … you know, about you and about Derek and I just couldn't listen to it."
"Addison." He reaches for her hand and pulls until she sits down on the bed next to him.
"She must have been calling to tell me her mother was sick. And I never called her back. I never …" her voice trails off.
"Hey. You didn't know that's why she was calling." He rests a hand on her shoulder, starts a comforting massage.
"I still should have called her back."
"It's okay."
"It's not. She's one of my closest friends, Mark. I should have called her back. I'm a terrible friend."
He leans forward to kiss her temple. "You're not. You're a good friend, Addison." The hand on her shoulder moves down her arm to pull her closer. "You're a very good friend to me..."
The last month has made it fairly clear to her that Mark's playbook of comfort is limited, but it's generally effective. This time, though, she tenses under his practiced hands.
"What?" He kisses her neck. "Come on, don't beat yourself up, Addison, you didn't know…"
"It's sad, that's all." She swallows hard. "Mark…"
"It's okay. And now we're both awake, so..." She's lying on her back, not sure how she got there, with Mark smiling down at her. "...let me show you what a good friend you are."
"Wait."
She sits up, with some effort. "I'm going to the funeral."
He nods. "Where's she from … Virginia or something? Georgia?"
"Her family has a summer place – well, it's more like an island; it's sort of complicated but … anyway, that's where the funeral will be." She glances at him. "Derek's going too."
He doesn't say anything.
"Weiss called Derek and … I guess he picked up." She wipes a hand across her eyes. "It's starting this weekend, the … stuff, I mean. Savvy's told me about island funerals before. It's days of … people and drinking and fireworks and … "
"…and you and Derek are going."
"Right." She twists a corner of the stark white sheet. "I guess I'll … fly out tomorrow, if I can."
"So let me say goodbye to you tonight, then." He pulls her back down and she lets him, a curtain of hair hiding her face.
"Wait, Mark, stop." She presses a hand to his chest after just a moment.
"Addison." He groans, sitting halfway up. "Can you just make up your mind?"
"I need to call the travel agent." She swings her legs out of bed.
"It's four in the morning," he calls after her.
"I'll leave a message, then." She leans against the blinding white wall in Mark's kitchen, her mind racing. Savvy's mother, gone. Their closest friends, already out on the island …
It's complicated, that's what Savvy told her the first time they discussed the island; they were perched on top of a wall on the quad, feeling grown-up with their cigarettes and leather bags filled with college books. It's a complicated place.
She glances at the phone in her hand, the one her husband – because he's still her husband – called; it's his best friend waiting for her to rejoin him in bed now. Complicated is the last thing she needs. She has complicated all on her own.
Derek just needs space, that's what Nancy said last week, and if he's really in Seattle with a whole country between them, then she supposes it's true. She closes her eyes briefly, calling up an image of the island she first saw years ago. Unspoiled beaches, remarkable sunsets, waving green marshes, privacy. Serenity.
But ... it's tiny. As in seriously tiny.
And now her fingers hover over the pad of her cell phone, hesitating. A shadow crosses the pool of light in front of her.
"I thought you were going back to sleep."
Mark shrugs. "I guess I was too … wide awake." He glances at her as he pours a drink. "Want one?"
More like need one.
"So … Derek told me he's living in Seattle," she says, taking the glass from his hand and swallowing a grateful sip.
Mark raises an eyebrow at her over the top of his glass. "And did you tell him where you're living, Addison?"
She drains the rest of her glass instead of answering.
to be continued, assuming anyone else wants to read it! Next time: Addison and Derek see each other for the first time since that night. If you're interested, please review and let me know!
Also, would appreciate any thoughts on whether you like the idea of Savvy and Weiss getting a chance to do some narration as well ... because I'm pretty tempted.
Story title and chapter title both from the hymn I'll Fly Away, by Albert E. Brumley (lyrics from the 2000 version recorded by Krauss/Welch).
