So sorry that it took me so long to update...again:S Ugh, I suck.
However, I really love that you all seem so excited about this story=) Makes my writer-heart beat faster;)
I know, Sam and Mer are annoying, in fact they are supposed to be annoying, they annoy me all the time!:) But I will hopefully come up with a solution soon...
What also annoys me is what's going on at PP on tv right now!:( Actually I wanted to finish this story before things go down like that and influence me too much, but now...I think this story is going to be a lot more canon than I wanted it to be...
Decide for yourself whether this is good or bad.
It just so happened that there is a lot of Nae in this chapter...but I have my reasons:)
Enjoy and review, please:)
"Morning!" Derek walked through the glassy backdoor to the patio, where Addison was sitting with a cup of coffee and an untouched bagel that looked, well, old.
"Hey, roomie!" She smiled at him and folded the newspaper so that Derek wouldn't feel unwelcome.
He laughed, sat down on one of the wooden chairs and playfully knocked with one finger against the bagel, creating a hollow sound.
"You really want to eat that?"
"Not so sure yet." She grinned.
"Excuse me for saying this, but with all the fresh stuff in your fridge I assumed that you would have changed your eating habits a little." He raised his eyebrows and she grinned even more.
"Yeah, well, just because my boyfriend is suprisingly great with food doesn't mean that I am."
In Derek's head the word boyfriend seemed to be a hundred times louder than everything else, she had just said, but he did his best not to let it show.
"I could make pancakes..."
"What?" She laughed. "No, Derek, please...just...don't."
"Hey, I'm being serious here." But he laughed with her, of course. It was too hard to resist her laugh.
"Okay, seriously. I know, I'm the one who gave your sister salmonella, but come on. We both know you would have done the same, if you had been the one cooking..." She raised one eyebrow.
"And no, even if we had trouts here, I wouldn't want to eat that for breakfast..."
He smirked and gave in.
"Alright. Let's go somewhere for breakfast then. I'm sure, you know a touristy place with a cute little viewfinder to look all over Malibu."
Now he got to her, he could see that in her eyes. What did she think, that he had forgotten all these things?
She was obviously evaluating pros and cons in her head and unintentionally biting down on her lip. Even if she said no now, this would have been enough for Derek to keep trying. Trying? What did that even mean?
"But I have to be at the practise in an hour. Is that okay with you?"
He smiled happily. "Let's go then!"
xxx
After breakfast they arrived at the practise together, because Derek wanted to talk to Amelia about their patient.
Sam was the first one to recognize it and wanted to go straight to his girlfriend, but was stopped by his ex. Standing right next to him, Naomi grabbed his arm.
"What?" He turned around wondering what she wanted, smiling and friendly as always. If someone was Mr. Niceguy around here, it was definitely him.
"Just wait a moment and take a look, Sam..." Nae was pointing her head in the direction of Addison and Derek walking towards Addie's office and obviously sharing some funny thoughts.
Sam gave Naomi a very confused look, still not getting what she was aiming at.
She sighed.
"Isn't that a familiar picture? Maybe a little too familiar?"
"I really don't know, what you are talking about, Nae..." He took a deep breath.
"Look, if this is about the kiss after Bizzy's funeral...I feel like I really gave it a chance, you know. You were the one, who didn't want to act on it..."
"Sam, just because nothing happened between us doesn't mean, that nothing will happen between the two of them...I'm just trying to tell you to be careful, alright?"
She kissed him on the cheek and walked to her office.
She felt as if she had broken his heart more than enough for a lifetime and didn't want to watch Addison do the same thing.
Of course, she had wanted to act on that kiss, that nostalgic moment when her best friend had still been in Conneticut, but things were difficult. Starting over again wasn't the smartest thought considering that she was about to move to New York to support her daughter at university. And apart from that, she didn't intend on doing the same thing she had always been judging Addie for.
xxx
As soon as she arrived at the practise Amelia peeked into Addison's office finding her brother and his ex-wife sitting on the couch, drinking coffee and laughing. A surprising picture, for sure.
"Hey!"
Derek and Addie looked up, expectant.
"Don't you have any patients...?" Amelia raised one eyebrow at Addison, teasing because in fact she loved to see her with her brother like that.
"It turns out that my patient is still busy talking to Violet..." Addie shrugged.
"How's our patient?" Derek asked his sister, not quite sure what he wanted to hear.
If the patient was stable enough for the second surgery he would finally have something to do again. Yet it would also mean that he wouldn't be needed around here much longer and keeping this in mind he had mixed feelings about the whole thing.
"He is ready and I have booked the OR for tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"
Derek caught himslef glancing at Addison, as if waiting for her approval or for a reason why this was too soon, but all she did was looking very intensely into her mug.
What did he expect?
He took a deep breath. "Sure."
"Alright then. See you later!" Amelia smiled and headed to the kitchen, only to turn around and peek into Addie's office once again.
"Your patient is ready."
"Oh, alright. Thanks Amelia..."
Derek stood up and soflty nugded his shoulder against Addie's.
"See you later. And be nice to your patients!"
She grinned and rolled her eyes.
"I'm always nice to my patients..."
"Oh really? What about the guy who wanted that his wife..."
"Okay, just go!" Addison laughed and pushed him out of her office, closing the door behind him. She could see him grinning through the glass and shook her head.
"Besides, the wife was my patient, not the stupid guy..." She murmured to herself.
xxx
"Look, I know, I am your friend and you probably don't want me to say things like this, but...Sam and Addison seem to be really good for each other."
Violet turned her head away from Addison's office to carefully gaze at Naomi next to her.
Their next patients came later, so they had observed Addison with hers. A little creepy, yes, but honestly, whenever people didn't work and were bored they mostly watched the others in this practise.
Nae looked back and raised her eyebrows in the Nae-way, that made people feel guilty immediately, whether there was a reason for it or not.
"I-I don't know, it's just...look at her. She seems so...different...in a positive way."
Naomi swallowed and cuckled bitterly, which really disturbed Violet and she was shortly considering to run away as fast as she could.
"No, Vi, it's okay. I'm glad you can see that, too." Violet stared at her friend, simply confused and not knowing whether it was good or bad what just happened here.
Naomi continued very seriously, looking at Addie through the glass walls of her office again.
"It's just that it's not Sam, who does that to her."
"It...it's not?" Now Violet was entirely perplexed, looking back and forth between Addison working in her office and Nae staring at her.
"No, believe me, it's not."
Naomi cleared her throat and left for the kitchen where Cooper, Charlotte and Sheldon had just arrived.
Violet watched her go, gazed back at Addison and sighed. Why was it, that she always felt as if she didn't have a clue on anything that went on in this practise?
xxx
"Addison?"
Naomi rushed into her friend's office as soon as her last patient for the day had left and shut the door very loudly behind her.
Addison looked up from her desk wondering in what mood Nae was lately. She didn't bother to say anything. The way that woman was looking at her right now told her, that she wouldn't let her speak anyway.
"What the hell is going on with you?"
"What? Nae, I don..."
Nae interrupted her right there.
"You're falling for your ex-husband!"
"I'm not. I'm falling for your ex-husband."
Addison smiled carefully, to see if Naomi was able to laugh about that and to just let the topic go.
She was not.
"Addison, seriously. I swear, if you gonna do that to Sam, we will be over, once and for all."
"Do what exactly?"
Naomi laughed sarcastically.
"Oh, come on! It's you we are talking about..."
Addison's face turned cold and Naomi could see that she had gone too far.
"Get out."
"I'm sorry Addie, but..." Her voice was softer now.
"Sam might not see what's happening here, but I do. Do you think, I don't know what it's like? I have a daughter with Sam and..."
"Just get out, okay?" Addie's voice was pretty much emotionless and Nae finally sighed and did as she was told.
When Nae had disappeared on the floor, Addison leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath.
They couldn't go on like this, even if Derek was probably leaving within the next 48 hours. She stood up, grabbed a few files, her bag and her keys and left for Sam's house.
