Chapter Two:

A/N: Ugh right now I am attempting to type while sitting uncomfortably on a chair due to the large ice pack that needs to be kept on my ankle, thank you soccer and dance. So thank you for all the reviews, they made me smile lots: and that is good when I am uncomfortable and in pain! This is now a multi chapter fiction obviously so I hope you enjoy it!

And I guess, for the sake of this story, Richard was a resident in New York while they were doing their internship in New York.

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"Are you packed?" Derek asked excitedly.

"Are you excited?" Addison rolled her eyes. Despite Derek's attempts over the past month, her opinion on the reunion had not changed at all. But that certainly hadn't changed his opinion.

"Yes!"

"You'd think we were going to your reunion or something. In fact, you went to high school ten years ago, your reunion should be coming up. Let's wait and go to that."

"Oh, we will." She groaned. Another reunion. Not that she'd mind going to Derek's. It was his reunion that he wanted to go to that he would enjoy. She still didn't understand why he wanted to go to hers. It wasn't like they couldn't go dancing or whatever was on the itinerary for this stupid thing elsewhere in New York.

"Derek I really don't want to go."

"And I still don't understand why. Don't you want to go back there to show them what you've become?"

"Going back there and facing those people, those memories… Derek it's not going to show them what I've become. It's going to make me question everything I've become and turn back into a fifteen year old band geek with a lisp."

"Except you're not fifteen, you're not in a band and you don't have a lisp." Derek gave her a small smile. "Ads, you are beautiful. You are epitome of calm and sophisticated. You are a surgical intern. And of course, you have me." He smiled charmingly at her and she relented and let a small laugh escape her lips. "I couldn't resist throwing that one in there."

"Well, I guess if you're going to make me do this, I better pack correctly." She sighed, pulling her suitcase out of the closet.

"Take your time." He lay down on the bed and turned on the TV as she began to carefully pull things from their closet and place them in the suitcase.

"I thought you'd be all over me to hurry. You know, so we could get to the hotel in time to check in and put our things away before the mixer starts?"

"Well, as much as I'd enjoy being all over you," He smiled broadly and she made a face at him, "I assumed this would happened. So I started bugging you about leaving an hour before we actually had to leave so that I'd have time to convince you that this is a good idea, and we could still leave on time."

"You thought about that way too much." Addison commented as she contemplated which of her cocktail dresses she should bring. "Derek?"

"Mm, the green one and the blue one." He answered her question without her having to ask it.

"I guess I should have looked at the itinerary."

"You didn't look at it?"

"Not once. I opened the letter, put it in your book accidentally and haven't touched the thing since this whole fiasco began."

"You're over exaggerating."

"I'm really not Derek." She shook her head good naturedly as she continued to pack. Truth be told, the weekend would be bearable. The memories? Not so much. Her former classmates? Not so much. But the weekend as a whole? Bearable. Because she'd have Derek with her. And they could banter, and flirt, and dance, and she could ignore the fact that she was surrounded by people she despised. Still despises.

"You'll need the two cocktail dresses, one for the mixer, one for the dance on Saturday night. Then you'll need a regular outfit for the majority of Saturday and one for Sunday. Oh, and your bathing suit." Addison packed as he listed, scowling the whole time. Regularly, she loved going places, dressing up… in fact, she could think of very few times when she didn't jump at the chance to get dolled up. At least next time when they had some sort of hospital event that Derek would give anything not to attend and he asked her, 'Is there ever at time you don't like to get dressed up Ads?' She could say, 'Remember that time Derek? Remember my ten year high school reunion?' She was always one to look for the small victories in every situation.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes." She pouted, because despite her acknowledging that the weekend would probably be bearable with Derek by her side, she couldn't help but dread it.

"Let's go!"

--

"Oh god. There's a check in. And a banner." Addison was walking more slowly than Derek thought was humanly possible.

"Deep breaths. Relax." Derek said soothingly, jokingly. Though it worried him slightly that the mock advice seemed to help her a little. He felt bad for making her do something she didn't want to do. He did, really. But she couldn't go through life fearing what she used to be. If she still didn't like it after the mixer, they could leave and spend the weekend together like she had originally suggested. "Seriously Ads, it's going to be fine."

"It really won't, Derek. See, this is a reunion. Where people reunite. I have no one to reunite with Derek, so remind me again why we are going to a reunion?"

"I thought you wanted to look up Skippy gold?" He teased.

"No I do not want to look up Skippy Gold."

"Good, I was sort of worried I'd have some competition."

"Derek this is no time to make fun of me."

"I'm sorry." They were second in line to sign in for the weekend and Addison

looked genuinely terrified. Derek slipped his hand into hers and she sighed. One would have thought they were preparing themselves for something much more treacherous and dismal than attending a mixer judging by their body language.

"Name please?"

"Addison Montgomery."

"Addie?" The petite, mousy brunette asked. Addison inwardly groaned for not recognizing the woman right away. So it begins.

"Jenna, hi!" Addison tried her best to look pleased to see the woman. Derek tried not to laugh because she was doing such a bad job of it. "How have you been doing?"

"I've been okay, and you?"

"Good, great, really." Addison smiled.

"You look really good. Really… different."

"Yeah, thanks." The smile faded.

"And this is your… friend?"

"Fiancé, actually." Derek corrected, shooting the woman, Jenna, his 'dreamy' smile.

"Well, congratulations! We'll have to catch up later Addison, have fun at the mixer!" Jenna smiled.

"See you later." Addison nodded as she led Derek away from the table.

"Aw, see that wasn't too bad!" Derek said as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Did you see how strained and awkward that was Derek?"

"I just assumed you two weren't on good terms in high school."

"Jenna was the closest thing to a friend I ever had."

"Oh." Derek sighed. Maybe this wasn't going to be quite as easy as he thought. Addison couldn't have been completely serious in her description of high school for her, could she? She had to have been exaggerating a little, right?

"I wasn't being dramatic when I told you how much I hated high school Derek!"

"We'll get through this Ads. We'll go in there, we'll dance, and you'll have to explain who you are to a bunch of people because no one knows who the hot redhead is."

"Cute." Addison smirked as they began to make their way towards the room where the mixer was being held.

"Seriously Addison, you look great."

"Okay, okay. Let's just go, dance, drink and get out of here."

"We do have a hotel room waiting for us," Derek winked as Addison took a deep breath, too worried about what was behind the doors to even consider the implications of Derek's remark.

"You'll do fine." Derek once again squeezed her hand as he opened the door and they stepped inside.

"Good God, we're back in the eighties."

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A/N2: They would have gone to school in the eighties… right? Hah I think so. If I'm wrong, someone correct me. Reviews make me happy!