I'm no shipper for Addek, but I was intending to write a Christmas fic, and Addek just sort of fell out of it. Enjoy.

Addison had always loved Christmas. She had a tendency to hate all other holidays, but for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to hate Christmas. For her, it was never religious or family oriented. Her family wasn't religious in the least bit, and her father often worked on Christmas. It wasn't about the presents either. The Montgomery family had always been extremely wealthy, so wealthy that presents were no longer a treat. Addison and her younger sister Rachelle received them almost every week as a consolation for the lack of their parent's presence in their lives.

Addison couldn't exactly put a finger on what she loved about Christmas. Maybe it was the feeling she got when she snuggled up with Rachelle in their father's huge leather armchair, watching the tree glow in magnificence. Or maybe it was the way the cold air made her cheeks rosy when she and her sister had gone out to buy the tree with the family's staff, against her mother's greatest orders. It was eating cookies curled up in front of the fire, and listening to the Christmas music that Maria, the nanny, had painstakingly picked out.

Later in her life, it was being with Derek. On Christmas Eve they would turn off all the regular lights in their brownstone, and just let the white Christmas lights glow in the darkness. Addison had always insisted that the Christmas lights be professionally done, since one year Derek nearly fell off the fire escape putting them up. The lights always had to be white. The colored ones were tacky.

The two would lie on the couch talking until it was midnight, officially Christmas. Then Derek would always tap Addison's nose and reach into the pocket of his robe where there was always an elegant piece of jewelry, one that always went perfectly with Addison's complexion. Then they would fall asleep together.

Their Christmas's varied, but usually Mark and Rachelle would come over. They would all open presents together, all sitting in front of the tree like a bunch of overeager children. Addison would lean into Derek's chest, smelling his faint aftershave, and Derek would always proclaim that this Christmas was the best Christmas ever.

In the nighttime, they went to the Shepherd's home in Westchester. They would drive down the empty highways, pointing at the snow-covered trees. Rachelle always fell asleep in the back of the car. Mark had no family to spend Christmas with, so sometimes he would come along to the Shepherd household. Other times he would sit in a bar and pick up girls to later take advantage of. Addison had always thought that sad, although without Derek and Rachelle, she supposed she would be in the same place.

Addison loved the Shepherd family. The whole evil mother-in-law thing had never applied to Shawna Shepherd, Derek's mother. Shawna always opened the door, and took Derek and Addison in her arms, fawning over them in just the right amounts. Derek's five sisters were great too. They would treat Addison like she was their long lost family, and they would tease Derek to no end. Addison's nieces and nephews would surround her, asking for stories, loudly claiming that they loved her most. Addison and Rachelle had never seen such a family before they met Derek.

At night she would fall asleep with Derek, her head in the crook of his neck, pleasantly warm and full from their Christmas dinner. He would whisper that he loved her, and she would reciprocate back, and the tease Derek about his teenage room. She knew, at those times, that if she could ask for any gift, she would ask for Christmas's like those forever.

Now she stared at the fuzzy TV, and pulled her sheets up to her nose. She was spending Christmas Eve in her hotel room, watching A Christmas Carol, and pretending that the rain falling outside her window was snow.

She wasn't home safe in New York, she wasn't with Derek, and Rachelle was in Bolivia. She felt a thick depression in her chest, and squeezed her eyes shut, pretending Derek was lying in bed next to her, whispering in her ear.

She turned off the TV, and there was a sudden eerie silence in the room. She couldn't do this. Christmas was an Addison and Derek holiday. She marked her relationship with him by Christmas's. Now, she could only imagine what Derek was doing. He was probably with Meredith singing Christmas carols or something. They were probably having sex under the Christmas tree. Addison was bitter. She tried to think about Mark who was alone on Christmas every year, but then she really thought of Mark, which brought her back to Derek. She tried to think about how it wasn't so bad, and how she shouldn't feel so sorry for herself when there were homeless kids on the street living without parents. Her parents were still alive and well. Not that she had talked to them recently.

Addison pulled herself out of bed. She went to her suitcase, and pulled out a long gorgeous black dress, which she had recently spent three thousand dollars on as a Christmas present to herself. She didn't really realize that she was putting it on, until she looked down, and there it was, the silky material falling across her curves in all the right places.

In a trance, she walked to the door, her dress swishing under the diamond necklace that Derek had given her five years ago.

When Addison opened her eyes, she was at Joe's. She was faintly aware that all the slobs who drank on Christmas were scoping her out, undressing her with their minds. She sat at a stool, ordered a G&T, and tipped it into her mouth when it arrived.

"I thought you only drank Champagne on Christmas," came a voice behind her, and she turned around to see Derek who was alone, drinking a beer.

She shrugged, "This Christmas is different."

"I know it is," He said, and noticing she was shivering, draped his jacket over her bare skin. "But I'm here too."

They sat together there in silence. Addison thought she felt miserable, but the reality was, his presence made her happy again. He was why she loved Christmas.