This is set Post-S.F.3. Just a random drabble that came to mind. Yeah, it's kind of angsty, but that's the Grey's way, isn't it?
Mark looked up to see Derek approaching him, slowly meandering down the hospital's corridors. The other man was still in his tux. A forlorn expression completed the ensemble.
"What are you doing here, Derek?"
Shepherd shrugged. "It's over."
"What's over? The wedding?"
Sloan glanced down at his watch, noting the time, before returning his gaze to the other doctor inquisitively.
Derek emitted a haggard, drawn out breath. "Everything. Everything's over. The wedding, Meredith and I…."
Mark scoffed in amusement. "You're joking."
"I wish I was," Derek murmured despairingly. "I told her that I loved her and that all I needed was a sign, for her to tell me she wanted my love… me. One sign. She couldn't even give me that, Mark. We're over. Our relationship just burned to the ground."
Sloan just stared at him. When Shepherd turned away, eyes brimming with emotion, he knew he had to take some sort of action. Reaching out, Mark laid a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. When he spoke, his voice was hesitant. "Not that I have any experience with this sort of thing, but it seems like "everything" isn't over."
Derek looked at him curiously.
Mark shrugged. "As long as the feelings are still there, can't you rebuild?"
Derek paused for a long moment, before meeting his gaze, a determined look in his eyes. With a slight smile, he murmured his thanks and left.
Upon watching his friend turn away, Sloan sighed with relief. Matters of emotion were not his forte.
However, he wasn't alone for long.
"I can't believe you just did that."
He looked up to see Izzie Stevens rounding the corner. "Did what? Oh, with Derek? Did I mess it up?"
She shook her head at his anxious expression and widened eyes. "No, you were… positive. Optimistic. Helpful."
"Huh." He truthfully didn't know what to think of that.
She cleared her throat nervously. "I just don't know if it will help at this point."
He spun around to look at her pointedly. "Why?"
She threw her hands up in despondency. "Everything is over. Can't you feel it around here?" She sniffed slightly. "It's in the air."
He shot her a look that declared her certifiable. "It's in your mind."
"No," she declared confidently. "Everything's changing. I feel like I'm stuck in a river current that's about to throw me into the ocean to fend for myself. Don't you feel it too?"
He stopped and seemed to give her thought his full attention. She watched as his gaze narrowed, his eyes crinkling in deliberation. "Maybe I do. The search for the next Chief is over and, well, it wasn't me. But so what? I'm not in dire misery.
She shook her head feebly. "That's different. You still have your sense of self. Our internships, our relationships as we know them, they're over, Mark. Meredith and Derek…me and George." She gave a distraught laugh before plopping down into a nearby chair. "I slept with him. I love him, but… he wants Callie. They're going to have a baby. I'd say that ends everything for me."
His mind quickly evoked his relationship with Addison. It too was over. He laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.
"Then isn't it time to build again?"
She glanced up at him and treated him to a half-hearted smile. He knelt down to bring himself eye level to her sitting frame. "That's life, Dr. Stevens. It doesn't stop for anyone. But you'll go on, just like the rest of us, and maybe you'll find yourself better off."
She nodded tentatively, taking in his words. Wiping away tears from her watery eyes, she pleaded with him via her gaze. "I might need some help with that," she choked out.
He stood up and backed away a few feet. Shooting her his trademark smirk, he shrugged. "We'll see what we can do."
FIN
