After working on How Derek Found Out, I wanted to do something where Addison and Meredith kept their relationship to themselves for the most part, this was actually an idea I had long before most of my Addie/Mer fics found their way here and I'm happy to finally present it. This starts off at the end of 2x18 but before the disturbing George/Meredith sex, which won't happen! Enjoy and Please review!

"She won't come, he's not the kind of guy you leave if you can help it."

"He loves you, you know," Mark began.

"He chose Addison, so I sit here and pretend not to care. You should go Mark, she's not coming."

He'd been sitting there waiting long enough, he figured she might be right and he left. Meredith sat there nursing a beer and just as she was about to leave she was stunned by Addison's sudden appearance.

"I told him you wouldn't come."

"Is he gone?" The intern nodded and the redhead sat next to her "Good I need a drink, I didn't come for him."

"Joe get this woman a drink," Meredith yelled to the bartender who nodded in response.

"The usual?" He asked and after she nodded he went off to prepare her drink.

"Addison are you okay?" She shook her head and accepted her drink from Joe silently, not trusting herself to speak. "Get me a soda Joe." The man responded with raised eyebrows but he eventually nodded. They sat there in silence until about half way through Addison's fourth martini.

"Thanks for getting rid of Mark." That was all she said and they sat there in silence until closing time when Addison willingly allowed Meredith to take her home. Meredith had the woman in her bedroom and she had placed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt on the bed next to the woman for her to sleep in.

"I'm going to go get you a glass of water," Addison nodded acknowledging that she'd heard Meredith. "Give me your phone, I'm gonna call Derek and let him know you're safe." It was easier for the redhead to comply with the blonde's request and she handed over the phone and sat on the bed as Meredith left.

"You're home," George said as he popped out of his bedroom door. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about," He followed her down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Now really isn't a good time George," She replied as she dialed Derek.

"Addison where the hell have you been?" He greeted.

"Derek," Meredith began.

"Meredith? Why do you have Addison's phone?"

"Addison is with me, she's not with Mark and she's safe, a little drunk, she's probably going to have one hell of a hangover, but I think she'll be okay. I just wanted to let you know that she's in good hands so you don't have to worry about her."

"I'll come and get her," He tried.

"No, no you stay where you are Derek she uh, she hasn't said much but I get the feeling that she doesn't want to see you right now so this is me telling you that Addison is okay and goodnight," She finished before hanging up and filling a glass with water and heading back upstairs to the drunk redhead that was sitting on her bed. Addison had changed into the clothes Meredith had left for her but she looked like she hadn't moved. Meredith handed her the glass of water and she sipped at it before placing it on the bedside table.

"I'm gonna go get changed." Addison nodded her head in understanding as Meredith slipped into the bathroom to change and brush her teeth. Addie was still sitting on the bed staring off in silence when Meredith returned. "Come here," Meredith whispered as she pulled back the covers and they slid into bed together.

"Meredith, would you just hold me?" She whispered and Meredith took her in her arms letting her head fall against her chest. She ran her fingers through silky red locks soothingly, forgetting about her meeting with her father as she pressed her lips to the redhead's temple. She never excepted this woman to be falling apart in her arms. "This feels nice, it's been a long time since anyone has just held me, I feel like I'm falling apart and you're holding me together," She sighed sadly. "Thank you Meredith, thank you. You made Mark go away and you stayed with me while I drank myself into a silent stupor, you didn't have to do that, you should hate me, but you're so nice. I understand why Derek wants you now you're nice and sweet," She slurred. "I wish he wanted me." Addison buried her face in Meredith's chest and sobbed.

"It's okay Addison just let it all out." Meredith whispered while continuing to stroke the redhead's hair.

"Derek hasn't wanted me in a long time," She whispered as she pulled away from Meredith furiously wiping at her eyes. "And I slept with his best friend because he said he wanted me said that he loved me, and then he knocked me up and cheated on me, and I'm stupid I'm so stupid, I fell for it," She whimpered.

"You are not stupid Addison," Meredith whispered as the sobbing redhead buried herself back into the blonde's chest crying herself to sleep. Meredith eventually relaxed and fell asleep herself.

"Thank you for last night," Addison said as she handed the intern a cup of coffee the following morning.

"I should be thanking you," Meredith responded with a smile. "Apparently George was planning to confess his undying love to me last night and that would just be uncomfortable so I'm avoiding. How is your hangover?" Addison made a face in response.

"It's too bright and there are pregnant women with all these feelings and stuff and I'm uh avoiding Derek which is hard to do considering I have the urge to put sunglasses on and I think everyone can already tell that I'm hungover." Meredith couldn't help but chuckle at the redhead. "I need a drink and I still haven't recovered from last night's drinks."

"Well I am done at 8 so if you still want to avoid and drink, I will happily drink your ass under the table."

"You're on Grey," Addison responded with a grin.

That evening found the pair in Meredith's kitchen sharing a bottle of tequila. It began with gulps of the amber colored liquid and quickly progressed to giggling and was followed by kisses and touches and nudity. When the early morning sunlight poked through the blinds the following morning they were lying naked in Meredith's bed.

They didn't talk about it and when Meredith found Addison drunk and alone at Joe's the following evening she dodged Addison's attempts to talk about it.

"About last night," Addison began the moment she caught sight of Meredith.

"We were drunk," Meredith whispered just loud enough for Addison to hear. Addison took the hint and didn't mention it again.

"Can I come home with you again?" The redhead asked softly, "I can't face Derek, at least not yet." Meredith took a moment to consider before nodding in agreement.

"You can stay with me tonight, but tomorrow you're going to go home with Derek, sober," Meredith added as an afterthought. "And you're keeping your clothes on," She added with a small smile. Addison accepted Meredith's terms and allowed the blonde to take her home for the third straight night.

Once they were in bed Addison snuggled into Meredith allowing the younger woman's warm embrace to comfort her. Neither woman was taken by sleep and they laid there in silence until Addison who couldn't stop thinking about the previous evening's intimacy asked Meredith to kiss her. She had to know if last night had been because of the alcohol or if there was more too it and when Meredith complied to Addison's wishes and kissed her, it was the best kiss either of them had ever experienced. The moment their lips parted they stared at one another acknowledging the moment before Addison placed her head back against Meredith's chest and they both dozed off together.

The following morning when Meredith and Derek happened to be sharing an elevator Meredith was overcome with guilt as she looked at the man, thinking of all the times she had made his wife climax. She tried to push the images of Addison wriggling beneath her aside as she pressed the emergency stop button, surprising the neurosurgeon.

"Derek," Meredith began as she turned to face her former lover fully. "Tonight you will take your wife home," Meredith said trying to sound commanding, but also trying to remind herself that what happened the other night with Addison could not happen again, she was Derek's wife not hers. "You will not mention Mark," Meredith added in her commanding tone causing Derek to nod in response. "You will not let her drink, you won't put the McDreamy moves on her," She said earning a grin for her efforts. "And you will not under any circumstances make her feel guilty, her liver has been marinating in guilt since Mark left." He nodded in understanding before Meredith continued. "I am on call tonight, so I'm trusting you to take care of your wife, and be nice to her, but not get in her pants nice." Derek nodded in understanding as his ex-girlfriend continued to ramble about how he should treat his wife. He looked like he wanted to question her but she told him not to as she hit the emergency stop button again setting the elevator back into motion. Everything went back to normal until the surgical day from hell where everyone had a death and Addison was sitting at Joe's drunk between Derek and Meredith. Derek to her left and Meredith to her right and she had a hand on Derek's right thigh and her right hand on Meredith's left thigh.

"Can we take her home Derek?" He actually chuckled in response, thinking that it was a joke until she turned to face Meredith fully, removing her hand from Derek's thigh. "I think it would be fun." The whole bar fell silent, and there was no doubt in Derek's mind that Addison wasn't serious as she leaned into whisper in Meredith's ear. "we don't have to let Derek join, he could watch, or we could just leave him and go somewhere together, because I haven't been able to stop thinking about us, and I'd like there to be an us again." Even with the complete silence and every eye in the bar being on them Meredith was the only one that heard Addison's words. She pulled back as she waited for Meredith's response. The blonde smiled leaning into Addison's ear to whisper her response just loud enough for Derek to hear. "I think you've had a little too much to drink Dr. Shepherd." Addison tried to hide her disappointment as Meredith stood up and left the bar. The doctor Shepherds left soon after.

"How are you feeling?" Derek asked as his wife groaned the next morning.

"Hungover and possibly mortified, please tell me I didn't drunkenly come on to Meredith Grey last night, it was just a dream right?" He shook his head.

"It happened, and it was so hot, but as you pointed out last night it would be rude to take advantage of my drunk wife, so is it taking advantage if you're just hungover?" She shook her head and grinned wickedly at the man before straddling him and wiping all thoughts of Meredith Grey from her mind.

"I'm sorry about last night Meredith," Addison whispered as she spotted the blonde intern and handed her a coffee. "My behavior was inappropriate."

"And quite possibly the sexiest thing I have ever witnessed," Meredith whispered back in response. "And despite the fact that I spent the night alone in an on call room, the entire hospital thinks we had a threesome last night, the nurses love us. There is a reason why they call Cristina to clean up vomit and not me." Addison took a moment to take in their surroundings and noticed that everyone was in fact staring at them. "I'm sorry about last night, you looked disappointed and I, I wanted to, with you, but the situation and uh, I think about us too." She finished, taking a sip of her coffee as she walked away from the redhead.

xxx

"Do you really think about us?" Addison questioned as she cornered the blonde intern later that day. Meredith nodded, not trusting her voice as she looked at the neonatal surgeon. The redhead glanced around to take in their surroundings and upon realizing that they were alone she reached out for the woman and kissed her. Meredith was surprised at first but responded almost immediately to the older woman's lips on her own. She didn't know how it had happened but after their drunken encounter Meredith had found herself less interested in the neurosurgeon she had know as McDreamy and more interested in Mrs. McDreamy. In the beginning things had only been uncomfortable, the wife and the mistress who didn't know she was a mistress, she'd just thought that she'd found a man that was perfect or as close to it as was possible. They were uncomfortable, but nothing else. Addison hadn't been unkind, she'd even defended the blonde to their patient and she had also saved her friend's life. Addison was kind and absolutely gorgeous, of course she was on Meredith's mind. The moment they pulled apart they stood there ginning at each other like idiots.

"You know the on call room on three? The one that's out of the way of nosey nurses? Meredith nodded. "Meet me there in 15?" Addison asked and Meredith agreed and they shared a final kiss before separating. They met in the on call room at least half a dozen times over the next week and a half and as they stood there together again Addison kept her hands on Meredith's hips and made no move to untie her pants as she normally would. Meredith was a little more grabby as she sought to remove her lover's clothes. Addison reached for her partner's hands and took them in her own and looked at the blonde with a silly smile. She was nervous. Addison Montgomery was nervous about asking the woman she'd been naked with almost a dozen times, a woman who currently wanted her naked to dinner.

"I was thinking," She began, "I saw the schedule and you're not on call tonight, and I'm off and," Derek would be at the hospital all night, but Addison tried not to think about the fact that she was cheating on her husband again. "And I wanted to take you to dinner," She finally managed to say. Meredith didn't say anything right away and to Addison the silence had lasted hours and not just a single minute, and when the blonde finally spoke she didn't give Addison the answer she had been hoping to hear.

"I can't do this Addison," Meredith whispered sadly.

"You can't have dinner with me?" The redhead asked, feeling her head drop at the blonde's rejection. She shook her head and Addison saw tears slipping from sad blue eyes.

"No," Meredith whispered gently. Just as the redhead bowed her head Meredith reached out for her and cupped her cheek before forcing her to meet her eye. "I will not be your dirty mistress Addison," She whispered with strained confidence. "I can't," She choked. "I want to go to dinner with you because I'm your girlfriend, not because Derek is on call." They were silent for a while before Meredith spoke again. "You have to decide if you want Derek or me." Addison knew that it would come to that, she couldn't keep lying to herself. Things with Derek were far from ideal, and again she found herself in bed with someone else, and it wasn't fair to Derek and it certainly wasn't fair to Meredith, but Addison wasn't ready to make the choice that she needed to make. "Take your time deciding, just don't make me wait too long Addie," Meredith whispered as she stroked the redhead's cheek with the pad of her thumb before turning away and leaving her alone in what had become their on call room.

xxx

"Rough morning?" Meredith asked as she handed the redhead a cup of coffee. "Yes," Addison groaned in response. "I figured after you spilled your coffee on yourself that you could use this," Meredith said.

"Thank you," Addison whispered. They stood at the nurse's station next to each other in silence for a few minutes before Meredith spoke again.

"You know three weeks ago when we were going at it in the on call room the sex was pretty phenomenal, a shame the same thing can't be said about sex with your husband," Meredith whispered, causing the redhead to look up from her charting with wide eyes.

"He told you?" She hissed.

"Next time I call you in the morning, don't let your husband answer your phone." Meredith whispered angrily before walking off. Addie reached into her lab coat pocket and pulled out her phone. 7:37 AM Received call Meredith Grey, duration 2:43. "Shit!"

xxx

Richard had reached out to her, his hand grasped her arm reassuringly as she looked down trying to blink back the tears. "And I love her too," She sobbed as she looked up at the man. He took her into his arms allowing her to sob freely. When she began to calm down he whispered, "I think you know what to do Addison," before he released her.

xxx

"I can't do this anymore Derek, I can't humiliate myself for your attention," Addison stated as she handed him the divorce papers that now contained her signature. He looked at her disbelievingly for a moment before she continued. "I'm not happy, you're not happy, the sex has been downright awful and I absolutely despise the trailer," She added as Derek offered her a weak smile. "Our marriage is over Derek and we've been denying it for a long time, but now it's time to accept it." He looked at the papers and his wife and realized she had a pen in her hand and he took it and added his signature to the papers before handing them back to her.

"I love you Addison," He whispered. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but I do." She offered him a weak smile in response.

"I love you too Derek." She had reached out to cup his cheek and despite everything there were tears in their eyes, and when Addison leaned in to kiss him, they knew it was a kiss goodbye.

xxx

"I know that seeing you with Finn drove him crazy, because it did the same thing to me Mer. You make me crazy, I can't stop thinking about you, I try and I can't stop. I want to touch you, kiss you, hold you and feel your body against mine, and I try to want my husband but I don't, and I can't do it anymore. I can't lie to myself, I can't pretend not to want you so Derek and I are getting a divorce. We signed the papers two hours ago. And I know I don't save puppies, but," Meredith cut the redhead off.

"You are so hot when you're jealous," Addison opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. She had entered the supply closet that Richard told her Meredith was in and had started speaking without a second thought and now she couldn't find any words.

"You," Addison whispered in disbelief.

"I just thought that if you, if you thought that Finn, that you'd make a move because we, I thought we had something and you wouldn't just leave me waiting. I didn't want to wait," Meredith whispered.

"I love you Meredith." Addison whispered as she pressed Meredith against the door of the supply closet. "I love you so much," She groaned before kissing the blonde quite soundly. "I never want to stop kissing you Meredith," She breathed when they parted. "I fell so hard and fast for you Meredith," the redhead whispered, "And I don't have the best impulse control when it comes to things that I want, and I want you. I don't know if this is going to work, and I can't promise that I won't do something stupid, but I really want us to try." Meredith was smiling at the redhead.

"I can't promise that I won't do something stupid either," Meredith grinned in response. "I don't know what you've done to me Addison, but I love you so much," Meredith whispered, and Addison embraced her silently. "What are we going to do Addie? We can't," Meredith began, but Addison shushed her.

"We'll figure it out later Mer, but right now you're all I care about, I don't want to think about anything other than you and me in this moment."