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"And you must be the woman who's been screwing my husband."
The words rang over & over in Meredith's head. Derek was married? Her mouth hung open as she stared from Derek to Addison. How could this have slipped his mind? She faintly heard Derek saying her name & apologizing, but the questions filling her head drowned him out.
Derek couldn't believe Addison. Maybe he'd asked for it, but why had she waited three months before coming after him. Three months; long enough for him to settle in, make friends, fall in love. He apologized again to Meredith, hoping this time she would react, he couldn't do anything else. He stared in disgust at Addison.
Addison knew what she'd done was harsh, but what did he expect? She glanced at Meredith, taking in her features. She was hardly like Addison, but she had the same look that hinted stubbornness. Addison waited for someone to react, she wasn't going to back down & walk away, & besides she was here for Richard. If he needed her for longer than was originally intended, she wouldn't hesitate to stay, but she would give Derek the chance to choose between her & Meredith.
Meredith couldn't stand the tension in the area. She didn't want to leave but knew Addison wouldn't. She blinked back the tears which were forming in her eyes & turned to walk away.
"Meredith?" Derek called after her.
"No, Derek," Meredith turned back to face him. "Just leave it. I can't come between the two of you, no matter how badly I want to."
She turned back, walking away & out of the hospital. She wanted Derek to run after her, to stop her, to prove that he felt the same about her as she did about him.
But he didn't, he couldn't. Addison watched him closely expecting him to follow her, but he surprised her.
Turning back to her, he said: "What do you want, Addison?"
"I'm not here for you. Richard called me. I'm here for him & the possibility of my own clinic. I didn't even know you were here until Richard told me yesterday," she smiled slightly. "You told him we were over. That was a lie, Derek, we're still married. & we will work this out, I'm sure of it."
"Whatever you want to believe," Derek shrugged.
Addison stared at him for a moment, wondering where the man she married had gone. He had changed so much, but she knew she only had herself to blame for that.
"You've really changed," she smiled again.
"Don't try to make this nice, because it isn't going to work. Yes, I have changed. I'm better than I was when we were together," Addison flinched slightly when he referred to them in the past tense. Derek had so much he wanted to say, he didn't know where to begin. "Why so long? Why didn't you follow me before. You must have known where I was."
"Yeah, I did know. It only took me a couple of days to remember how much you liked the idea of Seattle. But that wasn't it, really. I didn't want to start a new place with us hating each other, always fighting. I wasn't ready to give up, Derek, & even after three months I'm not. But you deserve the truth. Is there anywhere we can go to talk?"
"You want to talk?" Derek asked. She nodded & he spoke again: "We could go to Joe's. But there will probably be people from the hospital there, you okay with that?"
She nodded, "Yeah, I'd like to meet some of your friends."
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Emerald City Bar was reasonably quiet when they arrived. Derek was sure he'd see people from the hospital soon, but he'd deal with that if & when it happened.
Addison looked around, taking in her surroundings. The room was bigger than she expected, & she knew they could easily hide if there was someone who needed to be avoided. There was about ten tables dotted around the room, about half of which with people at them. There were three people at the bar, all of which lost in thought.
"You can go sit down, I'll get you a drink," Derek said, motioning towards a spare table.
Addison nodded & they went their separate ways. She sat down & continued scanning the room. She saw Derek take a seat at the bar & decided to give him time to reflect on the evening's events. She knew it'd been hard on him.
She turned to face the door as it opened & three people walked in. Addison guessed they were in their mid-twenties & they all looked tired, probably from a long day at work. They were lost in a conversation. Her eyes moved round to look back at Derek who was also watching the three people walk across the room. He caught her eye & gestured for her to join him. She raised her eyebrows & walked over to sit on the stool next to him.
"They," he said, pointing at the three people, "are interns at the hospital. I'll warn you now, they're friends on Meredith's, which means she'll probably be here soon. Just thought you should know," Derek avoided Addison's eyes.
She waited a moment, choosing her words carefully.
"Derek," she paused. "Derek," she touched his arm & he looked at her. "We both know we're going to see her around so we may as well get used to it."
"I'm sorry Addie."
"For what? I'm the one who wrecked our marriage in the first place, I realise Meredith was revenge for what I did. I don't really blame you. We both messed up, we both made mistakes, & now we're both going to work hard & fix them. We can do it, Derek, it's us. We made it through a lot, & we're good together, you & I both know that," she smiled at him.
"Yeah, I shouldn't have spent so much time at work, but you should have told me how you felt," Derek agreed, also smiling.
She leant in & kissed his cheek, feeling the familiarity of his skin against hers.
He glanced quickly at the interns, but more of them seemed to notice. None of them had even noticed Derek was there. He smiled at Addison again. Even after all they'd been through, he still believed it could work. He still hated what she'd done, but he also hated how he hadn't paid her enough attention. Now, he just wanted the truth.
He opened his mouth to ask what had really happened, but was silenced by an intern.
"Hey, Dr.Shepherd," he turned to the interns & smiled weakly.
They walked over to him, greeted him, blissfully unaware of who Addison was.
"Hi," he said, unsure of how to continue. He looked at Addison who was eager to be introduced. "This is Dr.-" he paused when the intern shook his head. "This is Alex, this is George & this is Izzie."
"Hey," Addison smiled, fitting the names with faces. Alex had short hair, he was cute, she thought to herself. Izzie had blonde hair falling around her shoulders, & George looked shy.
"This is-" Derek began.
"Derek," Addison stopped him. He looked at her & followed her gaze to the door where Meredith stood.
She had her head down & was walking towards them. As she approached, she looked at the interns, still not noticing Derek & Addison.
"You okay, Mer?" George asked.
She shook her head.
Addison watched Derek closely. "We should go," she whispered in his ear. He nodded & stood up.
Meredith turned to look at him, then, & her face turned from sadness to shock. When she saw Addison, she turned away again.
"Meredith-" Derek began.
"No, you're sorry, I get that. It's fine," she moved to the side, next to Izzie. She looked at Addison & sighed. "I'm sorry too."
Alex & Izzie looked at each other confused. "What's going on?" Alex asked.
"This is Dr.Shepherd's wife," Meredith said.
All three interns looked at her, shocked, & then to Derek & Addison. They all sat in silence for a while, taking in the news.
"I'm sorry Mer," Izzie said, not knowing how else to break the awkward silence. She looked at Alex & George, who looked as shocked as she felt.
No one said anything else for a while, all watching each other closely. Addison expected one of them to make a snide comment, but they seemed more shocked than angry. She bit her lip & stood up. All five pairs of eyes watched her as she smiled 'goodbye' & walked away. Derek then stood & looked at Meredith. She shook her head.
"I have to go," he followed Addison & Meredith realized he had made his choice.
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A/N: Okay, thanks for reading. Ummm, please review!! I know I keep saying it but I won't carry on this Fic if nobody reviews!! Anyway, next chapter will be up soon.
Oh yeah, Izzie & Alex never happened in this story! I never liked them, so they're just friends. Addison & Alex will happen sooner than in the show too, YAY!!