A/N: I hope you all have enjoyed the holidays!! And I hope that you'll like this chapter. Again, thanks for reviewing.

4.

Addison finds an empty table in the cafeteria and puts down her trey on the table. She didn't see anyone she normally talks to so instead of having lunch with someone she'd rather not talk to she decided it'd be nicer to sit alone. Had it been a couple of weeks ago she'd never eaten alone, afraid that the other doctors would think of her as the snotty doctor from New York who didn't want to socialize with them. But now, she only had a week left at Seattle Grace so she couldn't care less of what they thought of her.

"Is this seat taken?"

Addison looks up from the paper she's reading and sees Mark. She hasn't talked to him in a while. When they do, all they seem to do is fight so when she sees him in the hallways she turns the other way most of the times. But now it really doesn't matter. She keeps the fact that she's leaving in a week in the back of her head all the time which makes her so much more tolerant.

"Go ahead." She makes a gesture with her hand for him to sit down.

"So, is the rumor true?" Mark asks and leans closer to her over the table.

She looks confused at him. "I'm going to need you to specify what rumor you're referring too. God knows there are too many circulating in this place."

"The rumor about you leaving." Mark looks sadly at her.

She knows she shouldn't feel guilty or that she has any obligations to Mark but something about the way he looks at her makes her feel nostalgic and remember how good friends she and Derek actually were with Mark back on the East Coast before everything went downhill. Despite everything that's happened between them during the past years, he still is one of her oldest friends.

She puts her hand over his on the table. "I'm sorry, Mark. I should have told you earlier but I've been so busy the last couple of days; arranging with the trip back and trying to find a decent apartment by just looking at pictures on the internet."

"I'm not coming after you this time." At first Addison isn't quite sure what he's meaning but then she sees the twinkle in his eyes and that he starts to smirk. "I'm just saying. Seattle's starting to grow on me."

Both of them laugh for a short moment but then they turn serious again.

Addison smiles softly at him. "Thank you."

"How did Derek take it?"

Addison sighs and a wrinkle appear on her forehead. "That's the thing. I thought he'd be happy but I don't know. There was something off with him when I told him. It was really weird actually."

"He still loves you, Addie," Mark says matter-of-factly.

Addison shakes her head and closes her eyes for a short moment. "You shouldn't say things like that, Mark."

"Okay," he says quietly. "Gosh, how did we end up in this mess?"

Addison shrugs and smiles sadly at him. Her smile quickly fades away when she sees that Derek and Meredith are entering the cafeteria. Mark turns around to see what she's looking at.

"Are you going to talk to him again?"

"I don't know. Part of me wants to say goodbye but part of me just wants to move on. I need to start over and the sooner the better."

"Are you sure about this? Do you really think running away will solve your problems?"

"I'm not running away."

Mark raises her eyebrows at her. He's known her long enough to know when she's telling a lie.

Addison sighs. "Listen, the real reason why I'm leaving isn't important. What is important is that I've made my choice and I'm going to stand by it."

She looks over at the table that Derek shares with Meredith. For a moment her eyes catches Derek but she quickly looks away.

- - -

"So this is where all of you go after a hard day's work?" Richard asks as he sits down in a booth.

"Yup, Joe's the place to be."

Derek looks around the bar and is glad to see that none of Meredith's friends are there. When Richard asked him to have a beer with him yesterday he couldn't have said yes any faster. The last days with Meredith had been good and most of the times he'd been able to push away the thought of Addison leaving but he still needed space. Meredith hadn't given him any space at all lately, though. She was clingy and insecure but Derek knew it was his fault so he didn't say anything. He told himself that things would get better.

"So, tell me about the plan," Derek says, drinking his beer.

The reason Richard gave when he asked Derek to have a beer with him was because he wanted to let him in on this great new plan he had to win Adele back.

Richard looks bummed. "I don't have a plan, Derek. I was hoping you could help me."

Derek raises his eyebrows and can't help laughing a little. "You want me to give you advice on how to fix your marriage? Seriously?"

Richard shrugs.

"I've just gotten divorced. I don't think I'm the one you need for this."

"How are you taking it?" Richard asks with a serious tone on his voice.

He doesn't have to be more specific. Derek knew already when the chief asked him to come along to Joe's that Addison's moving would come up.

Derek looks sad and plays with the coaster on the table. "What can I say? It's chaos in my head and has been for a while now."

"That's what I thought."

Derek is quiet for a while before he realizes that Richard is waiting for him say something. Derek looks pleadingly at Richard who immediately understands that he's not ready to talk about it yet and that he probably hasn't figured out himself yet what he thinks of everything.

Richard clears his throat. "So, about Adele. You can't come up with any good ideas?"

Derek smiles slightly. "What do you think she would like you to do?"

Richard sighs in frustration but then he shakes his head and smiles to himself as if he's remembering something funny.

"You know what's weird with Adele?" Derek shakes his head. "The Adele everyone knows is always so well put together with the clothes, the hair and the jewelry. A person who sees her for the first time would probably take her as a woman who expects her husband to give her expensive presents all the time and that she wouldn't settle for anything simple." Richard is quiet for a few seconds and Derek looks expectantly at him. "You know, those people couldn't be more wrong. On one of her anniversaries I took her to the most expensive and fanciest restaurants in Manhattan but she wasn't that thrilled about it, to be honest. Then the next year I decided to try something different. I organized a picnic in Central Park and I made our sandwiches and the rest of the food from scratch."

Derek smirks. "You cooked?"

Richard shrugs. "I didn't say that it tasted that well. But the point is that Adele didn't care. She still thinks of that anniversary as the best one."

"Then that's what you have to do!" Richard looks confused at Derek. "You ask Adele to meet you in some park and trick her into thinking you only want to take a walk and talk to her. But instead of that…"

"…I've organized a picnic for her again," Richard fills in and smiles widely.

Derek nods and smiles as well, happy to see Richard look more excited than in years. "Exactly."

They are quiet for a while. Richard has a stupid smile on his lips and Derek knows that he's thinking about 'The great plan' they just came up with. Derek's thoughts wander off in a not so happy direction, though.

"You know, the way you described Adele reminded me so much about Addison," Derek says quietly after a while.

Richard's smile quickly fades away as he understands that Derek is ready to talk to him now.

"She's the same. She thinks it's so important to keep up her appearance in public but when it's just the two of us… She doesn't care. She wears sweats, no make-up, no jewelry and she just is Addison. It's at those times when she's the most comfortable and at most ease. And the most beautiful and loveable," he says quietly. "She could never look and act that way around anyone else than me, though." He snorts and drinks up what's left in his glass. "Now if that isn't true love I don't know what is," he adds bitterly.

Richard looks at him with sad eyes. It's weird to hear Derek talk like this, especially when he knows that he isn't even drunk yet. "Adele always used to tell me how much you and Addison reminded her of us."

When he sees the way Derek looks at him he almost regrets saying that, but only almost. He's always been honest with Derek and that isn't going to stop now. If there's a slight possibility that Derek regrets letting Addison go, it's better that he figures it out now than later in life, no matter what the outcome and the aftermath will be.

"I want her back, Richard," Derek admits quietly. "Despite everything that has happened between me and Addison, with the infidelity and everything in between, when I signed the divorce papers I knew that a part of me would always love her."

Again, Derek gets quiet for a moment. Richard can tell by just looking at him how confused Derek really is. The war of emotions that's going on in his head at the moment is probably bigger than any other he's been through yet.

Derek sighs and nods slowly as if he's finally made up his mind. "But I'm starting to realize that I am still in love with her," he adds after a brief moment.

"Are you sure about it this time? Isn't it just because she's leaving?"

Derek shrugs. "Honestly, I don't know. I thought I loved Meredith but I'm not so sure anymore. It wouldn't make any sense when all I'm thinking about is Addie. I can't imagine living here without her; the thought of not being able to see her everyday. The thought of being a continent away from her scares me more than I've ever been scared of anything before."

"The last time you picked her instead of Meredith it didn't turn out that well, though. What do you think would be different this time?"

Richard knows that he's sounding like an interrogator but he doesn't want to see them go back down that road again. He's tired of standing by the sideline and see them hurt each other. But if this is something that Derek is actually prepared to fight for he'll give him is full support.

"This isn't about picking, Richard. "Derek sounds slightly offended. He looks down and swallows to force back the lump in his throat. "This is about belonging. When I'm not with Addison a part of me is missing. I belong with her and she belongs with me." He looks up and straight into Richard's eyes. "We belong together. I can't function without her."

Richard nods slowly. He understands exactly what Derek is meaning. And for the first time he gets what Adele meant when she used to say that Addison and Derek were like them, only younger.

"Okay, then," Richard says after a minute. "Now what are you going to do to make her realize that?"

- TBC -