Derek turned to Meredith, "Maybe it'd be better if you left."
Meredith shook her head, looking between Derek and Addison. "I'm not going anywhere until someone tells me what's going on."
Derek sighed, "I told you, she's sleeping with Karev."
"I'm not sleeping with him!" Addison insisted.
"You still haven't told me why you care," Meredith said. "And I'm not leaving until you do."
"What do you mean you're not sleeping with him?" Derek turned to Addison, ignoring Meredith's request for an explanation.
Addison rolled her eyes. "Not that it's any of your business, but no. I'm not. I've kissed him a few times. In supply closets. That's it. But it I wanted to sleep with Alex, I would. And you have absolutely no say in the matter, understand?"
"I understand that you're doing this to piss me off. Let me guess, I'm sleeping with an intern, so you have to be with one too?"
"Derek!" Meredith and Addison exclaimed simultaneously.
"Sleeping with an intern? Is that all I am now? The intern you're sleeping with?" Meredith asked, anger and hurt both evident on her face.
Derek ran a hand through his hair. "No. Meredith, of course not. I didn't mean it like that. I just..."
"You just what?" Meredith interrupted. "You're just too obsessed with your the wife you've left to have concern for the me, the woman you claim to love."
"Meredith," Derek began, but Meredith was already halfway down the hallway.
"Go to hell, Derek."
"Meredith!" He called again, but she didn't even turn around.
"Wow, Derek. That was really nicely handled."
"Addison, please."
Addison shook her head sadly, "You've got to stop this Derek. It's insane. You do realize that right, I mean, you realize that you've completely lost it."
Derek refused to look her in the eyes.
"Derek."
Finally he met her eyes, and nodded, "Yeah, I know that. But I can't help it. I think of you being with him, and it just drives me insane."
Addison sighed and rubbed her temples. "I could understand this if it were Mark. But it's not. Yes, I did sleep with Mark after I found out about you and Meredith at the prom. But I stopped things with him. I realized I couldn't be with him. Not when he was such a factor in the end of our marriage, and especially not when all three of us are in Seattle. But Doctor Karev isn't Mark."
Anger once again flashed in Derek's eyes, "But he is. Don't you see that? He's exactly like Mark was when he was younger. Do you remember him when we were interns? Cocky, brash, oversexed, fighting authority? That's exactly how Karev is now. And Mark only got worse over the years."
"He was your best friend, Derek. You must have seen something good in him."
"Yeah, and then he went and slept with my wife."
"Derek..."
"No!" Derek practically shouted. "He's going to hurt you. Karev is going to hurt you. Because he's just like Mark. And that's what guys like him do. They hurt people. They only care about themselves, and they hurt people."
Addison looked at Derek, tears gleaming in her eyes. "You hurt me. You hurt me more than anyone ever has, Derek. And I'm not just talking about leaving me for Meredith. We loved each other more fiercely than I've ever loved anyone Derek. But we both hurt each other so much."
"What happened to us, Addy?" Derek asked softly.
Addison bit her lip, "I don't know, Derek. We grew apart. And I guess we started hurting each other because we just wanted to feel something. And you were gone more and more. And Mark was there. And he told me that he loved me. I wanted so badly to feel loved." Addison was crying, right in the middle of the hallway, she had tears streaming down her face. "I think some stupid part of me wanted to get caught. Because it'd force us to confront our problems. A one-night stand would force us to try to fix things."
Derek nodded, tears threatening to spill from his own eyes, "And instead of doing that, I just ran away."
"I can't really blame you for that."
"Yes, you can. You wouldn't have run. You would have tried to fix things.'
Addison was about to say that Derek wouldn't have had the affair in the first place, but prom night had proved that might not be entirely true.
Derek let out a long sigh, "It's still hard to believe that this is really over. That we're really over."
Addison nodded, "Yeah. We meet with the lawyers next week."
"Yeah."
There was an awkward silence for a moment.
"Derek, you've moved on with Meredith. And eventually I'm going to be moving on too. This thing with Karev may not be a relationship. I don't think he even particularly likes me as a person. But eventually, I'll be with someone. And I have to know that you aren't going to freak out like this. It isn't fair to me and it isn't fair to Meredith. Hell, it isn't even fair to yourself."
Derek nodded, looking at the floor, "I know that."
"You're going to stop this, right?"
Again, Derek nodded.
"Okay." Addison was about to turn around and leave, when Derek looked up at her again.
He reached out a hand, and gently wiped the tears from her cheek. "I just don't want to see you get hurt. Is that such a bad thing?"
"No," Addison said softly. "No, it's not. But yelling at me, and practically calling me a whore is not the best way to keep me from getting hurt."
Derek chuckled sadly, "No, I guess it's not."
"Anyway, you shouldn't have to worry about Karev much longer."
"Why's that."
A small smile crossed Addison's lips, "Because I'm going to kill him for telling you about our thing and causing all this trouble to begin with.'
"Good."
Addison's pager went off, and she glanced at it.
"I have to go. But you're going to be okay, right? We're going to be okay?"
"We are," Derek said with a smile.
"Good. Now go fix things with Meredith, she seemed pretty upset."
Derek stared at her; surprised at her concern for the woman he had left her for. "You're a pretty incredible woman; you do know that right?"
Addison grinned. "Yes. Yes, I do." With that, she turned around and started down the hallway.
Derek looked around for a moment, then headed off in the direction Meredith had gone earlier. He had no idea where she'd have gone. He was walking by one of the lounges when he heard a voice he recognized as Doctor Steven's coming from inside. Figuring there was a good chance Meredith was with her, he was about to open the door. Then he heard a male voice and paused. It was Karev, he was sure of it. He stood the side, listening.
"What?"
"It means you don't hate her. It means it's not just making out in closets. Derek hurt her, so you hurt him. And I'm guessing when you took off from the cafeteria it was to go after her again. Because I told you I had seen her crying again."
"I don't like her Izzie. I don't feel anything for her. It's just a fling."
"Sure it is."
"I'm serious, Izzie. I don't have feelings for her, alright?"
"Alex, it's not a bad thing if you like her."
"Just leave it alone Izzie."
Alex slammed the door open so fast, that it almost hit Derek. Luckily it also meant that Alex didn't see him standing there.
As he watched Alex stalk away, anger filled him once again. Despite his claims to the contrary-or perhaps because of them-Derek could tell that Alex actually was interested in starting a relationship with Addison. Of course, with men like Mark and Alex, those feeling never lasted wrong, Derek knew. And that would leave Addison hurt. Again. He couldn't let that happen.
He'd find Meredith. He'd make apologize and try to make things right. But after that? He was going to make damned sure that Alex Karev stayed the hell away from his wife.
