Title: Underwater I Wrote Drowning

Summary: Sequel to Deep As The Sea Goes. AU episode set in s3, spoilers up to 3x07.

Category: General

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy or any of the characters, this is a work of fan fiction, sadly, sadly, I still don't get any money out of this.

Music: Tegan and Sara - Underwater

Previously on Grey's Anatomy:

"Get out of my car, Mark, I mean it!" "Why would you be pining over someone who left you standing out in the rain, then walked out on you, had a relationship with a gorgeous young intern, forced you to give up your practice, your friends, your life and move into a trailer only to cheat on you again." "I'm not pining for Derek. I'm ready to move on." "Is that why you're still wearing your wedding bands?" he inquired with a pointed look to her hand on the steering wheel. "We were married for eleven years and in love for…well, at least as long!" she exclaimed. "Obviously I'm having a hard time letting go of that, hence the moving and the trailer and the self-humiliation. But I will, okay? I will!" "Addison, watch out!" Mark yelled, and jerking her head around she was just in time to see the SUV in front of her crashing into a truck.

"Addison," she tried again, "Addison, it's Miranda. You have serious internal injuries but we're taking good care of you, okay?" "Derek," Addison breathed more than spoke, clearly fighting to stay conscious. "He's on his way," Miranda lied, recognizing the intonation. She had been there once herself and – oh, the irony - Addison had been there with her, telling her the exact same thing she was about to tell her now. "He'll be there," she said soothingly, "don't worry. He'll be there."

"He didn't even want to know how she's doing," Meredith blurted out while sitting up and turning closer towards Cristina. "One second he was in complete shock and rushing to her side and the next he couldn't care less and just walked away. He said that he loves me. He said that he wants to be with me. He should care enough about her right now to be worried or even afraid, but he shouldn't care so much as to blindly hate her just because she's sleeping with Mark again."

"Either nobody knows anything or they all just refuse to tell me. So I thought who better to ask but Derek. Her husband of eleven years. Her best friend. Her one true love," Mark overemphasized the last one. "He would know. Because he would care no matter what and not hide out in some basement pretending not to. Just because his sad little ego couldn't get over the fact that she had been on her way home with somebody else while he was in the hospital, blissfully unaware and burying himself in work. Just like so many times before." He had thought he was prepared but when Derek jumped to his feet and came flying at him, Mark had barely enough time to hold his breath before Derek sent them both crashing to the floor. "The way I see it you got two options," Mark explained, rubbing his knuckles. "Either you beat the crap out of me or I beat the crap out of you. Either way you can vent some of that anger and stop being an ass pretending not to care."

"It's good he's there for her," Meredith declared, nodding as if to emphasize her words or maybe to convince herself she really meant them. "He always will be," Mark said and turned back to the window pane once more. "He just didn't know it for a while." He didn't have to look at Meredith to sense her tensing up while she processed his words and so they just stood and stared, watching Derek sitting at Addison's bedside, his back towards them, resting in a chair, protectively watching over his wife's sleep.