**Authors Note**Taking place when Addison brought Archer to Seattle in that Derek would remove the parasites from his brain. Thank you and I hope you enjoy!
**Feedback is welcome**
It had been a full 36 hours since Derek had operated on his former brother-in-law and only 3 since he and Meredith had their last go-around at a quarrel; one that has lasted far too long that usual. He dreaded the idea of willingly being in the same room with a male Montgomery but this was his job- and the easiest way to avoid his incredibly independent girlfriend that seemed to be everywhere.
Derek rounded the corner to the hallway he was seeking and knew full-well that Archer was still in an induced comma to wait out the pain. Or maybe it's because its 2 AM and we should all be asleep?
He made the final turn into the presumably vacant room where his patient lay, but instead found his ex-wife. She sat asleep in the dark room, head rested on her arm and slouched in a chair, her heels were discarded under her chair. The positioning of her hand pulled her upper-lip just in the slightest bit to her right and he watched her eyelids flutter. A Forbes-Montgomery sleeping in a chair? If only Bizzy knew.
Derek made his best efforts to accommodate Addison's rest; Turning on a lamp instead of the overhead. He flipped out his small light and checked for dilation, went over his charts, observed his incision...
"Derek?" Her voice was drowsy and light.
He looked up and into her dimmed corner, only then did he see it; The heavy and near-vacant eyes, her bare face, uneven breathing and even her skin looked a bit paler.
"Der, what are you doing he-" she glanced at her watch, "Why aren't you home? It's two in the morning." Addison tried to reposition her sore but enduring body.
Realizing he'd been staring at her for the past full minute he went back to Archer, "Doing what you asked." He walked to the far side of the bed, trying not to stare again.
They sat in a comfortable silence for a few seconds to which Addie broke, "I trust that you did your best," her voice began to trail off, "You're Dr. Sheperd, you always do-" she yawned, "Your best."
Derek found himself looking at her again, she seemed to have returned to her head-leaning-on-hand state with closed eyes. "I'm shocked you're here."
He watched as she raised her eyebrows in response to the semi-blunt question, drowsily coherent, "Mmm? Why is that?" Eyes still closed.
Derek manged to interrupt her last three words, apologizing for the way his question sounded. "You don't seem like you're sleeping well here." He went back to his check-up again. "You need sleep, Addie."
She opened her eyes to his shortening of her name-She couldn't remember the last time he used it. She wanted to continue her examining of Derek but her eyelids wouldn't permit it. "I can't leave Arch-" another yawn escaped as she battled her own eyelids by finding different focal points.
He looked at his ex-wife, anger struck him in the oddest of times. Not anger at the red head, but at her family; At Archer for being a complete dick, and Bizzy and Captain for making both their kids's lifes hell. Angry for Addison for trying when no one else would. He watched her eyes wander, get lost under her eye lashes, then reappear looking elsewhere.
"Yes you can." He walked to her, she was now staring at a corner of the ceiling, acting as though she hadn't registered his words, or that they simply weren't an option.
Just as soon as her eyelids won again, a blanket was draped over her shoulders and down as she was being picked up, inhaling deeply, "What are-"
Derek had her cradled in his arms once she fully registered what was happening, "You just said you trusted my work and me." He left the room and began down the hallway. She must have been too tired to protest because once most of the situation was taken in, Addison laid her head in the crook of his neck and let him execute his plan.
He walked out of the elevator and saw the first and only nurse at the receptions desk, with Addison's new haircut, and with many new nurses, Derek was presumed to be carrying a relative to a comforted place for sleep. Only part of her face was visible, and understandably asleep, her designer dress was hidden under the blanket, along with her arms that were tucked between both of their chests.
Walking right past the on-call room, he rounded a corner to a second door on his left, a room that the residents were unaware of. A room kept to the attendings; a room for actual sleep. Using his elbow to open the door, Derek gave seconds for his eyes to adjust and made his way to the nearest bed.
He slipped of his shoes and leaned down to set the very limp body of Addison in a sitting position where the blanket fell, to which she protested by leaning in to him. "Addie," his voice was hushed as he whispered into her ear, she could hear his smile, "Two seconds."
Reluctantly, Addison slouched up, eyes still closed, She could feel his hand run over her sides, then her back; Zipper. Why can they not all be in the same place?
When she felt the dress loosening from her and setting in cold air, she straightened, Her sleep depraved arms worked against his, "Derek." It was the weakest protest she's ever made and fighting was no subject she's ever failed to win.
"Addison," she wearily watched his hand burrow through his own hair, "You've never been one to sleep in a dress." Because you're a godforsaken Forbes-Montgomery.
She leaned her head into his stomach, reasserting her slouch. He unzipped all the way and pulled the material from her body, her arms nearly fell through the holes.
Derek pulled back the thin blankets and ushered the incoherent body under to warmth, watching her curl halfway into fetal position as he relieved himself of his own shirt. Accidentally finding his gaze on her again, he noticed how her short hair manged to glow in the dimness of the room. His eyes traced her spine to her laced bra that was wrapped around her rib cage in a seemingly uncomfortable fashion. He unhooked it, grateful for the lack of straps; there was no protest, but Addie seemed to pull her arms closer to her chest. Derek dropped the bra onto his scrub shirt and retrieved the blanket that traveled from Archers with them.
The dark haired man draped the blanket over her chest, and climbed into the small bed next to Addie. Wrapping his arm around her torso, he pulled her close enough to where her back was perfectly molded into his own chest.
To Be Continued...
