He followed her out of their patient's room, ignoring his interns' stares. "Addison, wait." To his delight, she slowed down and he took three long steps, finally catching up beside her. "You've been avoiding me."

She looked up from her file in surprise. "Avoiding you?" She turned to him quizzically. Why would she be avoiding him? He was the last thing on her mind that day. And the previous day too, now that she was thinking about it. "Why would I be—?"

She seemed genuinely confused, so he cut her off. "Anyway. I was thinking we should have lunch today," he told her. "And talk."

Talk? And he wants to have lunch with her, out of all people. "Derek, what are you smoking?" They turned around a corner, to the left wing.

"That was subtle." She was never subtle. He suddenly recalled that time in Columbia, when she blatantly rejected the cocky second year student who'd asked her out on a date, right in front of his friends, and the entire café. Mark's face had almost melted off from laughing so hard. He had almost felt sorry for the poor bastard.

"Stop. Whatever it is you want to talk about," Addison said, stopping in front of the elevators. She was not having lunch with him; she refused to fuel the fire that was Seattle Grace's gossip and she refused to subject herself to the hospital staff's judgmental stares. She had enough going on right now without adding her ex-husband to the mix. "You can say it now."

"It might be better if we talk about it over a meal… like a friendly, non-romantic lunch."

"I already have plans for lunch," she said quickly. She didn't. Mark wasn't talking to her since yesterday, in Leila's room. What does the man want from her anyway? Did he want her to gravel? For her to beg for forgiveness? Food? Sex? He still hasn't told her how long he was going to stay mad at her for. For all she knew, he could be revenge-screwing a nurse right now. She was swaying off topic.

"Oh."

"Yeah, sorry." She didn't already have plans, but she couldmake plans. She'll have lunch with Leila today, Addison decided. A quiet, comfortable lunch with the girl who has finally accepted that she was her daughter. That was better than Derek any day. "So what did you want to talk to me about?" The elevators dinged and the doors sprang open for the both of them to step inside.

"How come you never told me about… you know, when we were married, how come you never mentioned anything?" He said in a low voice, moving closer to her.

About what? About Mark? Or Leila? Assuming he meant both, she replied, her hushed tone matching his. "It was in the past. It had nothing to do with our marriage."

"It was an important part of your past and had everything to do with our marriage. The father of your child being my best friend had everything to do with our marriage," he whispered, growing agitated. Isn't there a better time and place for them to do this? People were starting to stare.

She immediately got out on the next floor with Derek right behind her, even though it wasn't where she'd intended to go. Finding an empty patient room, she pushed the door open and went inside, spinning around as Derek locked the door. "Nobody knew," she said lamely.

"We were in love! We didn't have secrets," he shook his head. "Well at least I didn't."

"I couldn't find the right time to tell you." The right time? There was no right time.

"Oh I don't know, maybe before we got married?" He exclaimed, then recollected himself before speaking again, his voice more level this time. "Or after. When we talked about having children."

She was quiet, but in her mind were million thoughts, surging, debating whether she should tell him about her nightmares, her IUD, and how he was never there for her. If he had been as in love with her like he was insisting, he would've known, she thought, but ultimately decided against saying that; nothing good would come out of it anyway.

"You said you wanted children," he accused. He wanted her to say something, that she had lied about that, that the reason he hadn't known wasn't because he hadn't been paying attention. He wanted her say anything so that he could finally understand everything and stop feeling guilty.

"I did. I did want kids." More than anything. Addison had wanted a baby with Derek, but a part of her couldn't bear the thought of giving birth again, and coupled with the guilt and self-loathing mentality she'd had at the time—she didn't think she deserved to have another child. It was like wanting what you can't, realistically achieve and just complete mindfuckery that even she can't figure out. So how does she explain all of this to him?

It wasn't the answer he'd wanted to hear. "But you never said you'd already had one."

"No."

"Why not?" He demanded, taking a step closer to her as she sat down on the empty bed.

"Because you wanted kids," she finally said.

"So did you."

"Yes, but I couldn't. I couldn't have another child. I wasn't ready."

"Why didn't you just tell me that?"

Why, why, why. Enough with the whys, she wanted to yell at him, even though she knew he had a right to know. She sighed. "What, and kill our marriage faster?" He looked baffled and she looked at him like he was stupid. "You wanted a child. I couldn't give you that. If I'd told you, and told you why, you would have left me faster than I can say intrauterine device." Okay, she wasn't supposed to mention that.

Realization dawned on him and Derek gaped. He didn't even feel angry anymore. "You had an IUD implanted without telling me?" And all that time, he'd thought they were trying for a baby. Wow. Okay. Wow. He sat down in a chair opposite her, defeated.

"I had nightmares of childbirth, Derek," Addison said quietly. "After you'd brought up kids, I'd started having nightmares. I would stay awake thinking, and wake up in the morning screaming." But you were never there.

And he had never known. How could he have never known? They'd slept in the same bed every night… Derek wracked his mind, trying to come up with possible explanations, and it showed on his face. The room was silent, until she spoke.

"You would leave the house before I wake up."


"Derek cornered me this morning," she said between bites of her salad.

Leila looked at the redhead, befuddled. Who? They had been quietly eating their own lunches together and she had been almost halfway through with hers when her mother suddenly spoke.

"Dr. Shepherd," Addison clarified, and took a sip of water.

She wouldn't ever forget his handsome face. "Oh the cute one, with curly dark hair?" The girl asked nonchalantly. Derek, Leila thought gleefully. Doctor Handsome.

"Yeah," Addison nodded. Casually, she said, "Did I tell you that he was my husband?"

Leila almost spat out her potatoes, but she covered her mouth, eyes frantically searching for a napkin, and started to choke on them instead.


"Have you seen your mother today?" Mark greeted, barging into Leila's room. The nurse changing her wound dressing looked up in surprise. "Oh!" He stood awkwardly in the doorway until she finished and left the room.

Leila raised her eyebrows. "Have you seen my mother today?" She asked him back, hiding a smile as he went over to the exact chair said mother had been sitting on that afternoon and shot her an irritated look. It was late; most of the hospital staff save for a few lucky souls on nightshift had already gone home.

"Not since this morning," he replied gruffly. When she suggested we go get coffee and I walked away. "And you didn't answer my question."

"She told me you were still angry at her."

So she has been to see Leila.

"Keep it up, make her pay," the younger brunette continued cheerfully.

"Why?" Mark was taken aback. Isn't the point of children is that they're supposed to make their parents get back together or something? He thought he saw it in a movie once.

Leila pursed her lips. "Because unlike you, I can't walk away. And unlike you, I'm a forgiving kind of person. Which sucks, because she doesn't deserve forgiveness. Not yet, anyway."

He was a forgiving kind of person as well. She'd probably gotten that from him, he wanted to say. It had been hard, rejecting Addison today. "So she told you?"

"What, that you'd turned her down today?" She asked, her face turning wry. "Yes. Among other things," she muttered under her breath. Her handsome Dr. Derek Shepherd. Was there anyone in this hospital that Addison hasn't slept with yet?

"Okay, spill," he teased.

"Did you know that I thought Derek Shepherd was cute?"

Mark snorted, then tried to cover it up. Putting on a straight face, he cocked his head sideways, as if trying to think. "He's too old for you," he said finally. Among other things.

"Yeah, that, and the fact that he's my ex…" she crinkled her nose. "My ex-stepfather."

"Your mother told you that?" He was fully laughing now. He didn't ask if Addison had told her the entire truth about the marriage and what his part was in breaking it up for good.

"Yes," she grimaced. "I almost died. Death by potato. God, imagine the headlines."

Mark furrowed his eyebrows.

"Don't ask," Leila said flatly. "She said he approached her, wanting to talk."

Now that piqued his interest. He looked at her expectantly.

"Daddy wants to know, doesn't he?" Leila goaded as he rolled his eyes. "Ask her yourself," she declared. "You can stay mad, Mark, but you can't stay silent."


"Your mother is the most unbelievable, insufferable…God help her if she wasn't your mother—"

What? Leila sat up, dazedly. Someone had switched on the lights. It was morning. Oh God. Mark. He was yelling, his fists clenching on a crumpled brown paper bag. He was sweating like he'd just run a marathon, his face was red—if they were in a cartoon, he would have steam coming out of his ears, and the imaginary thermometer on top of his head would be exploding glass, and mercury all over all her room—and upon closer inspection, he had spilled coffee down his shirt, effectively staining the entire front of it.

"She slept with an intern! My lackey, bottom of the surgical food chain—" Seeing Leila's puzzled look, he cried out, exasperated. "The guy getting my coffee!"

"Your bitch," she nodded, bewildered, trying to digest the information. Her mother had sex with someone. Okay. She rubbed her eyes.

"Yes! My bitch!" He shouted and continued ranting. "She slept with my bitch... Minutes, only minutes, after I'd told her that the bet was off."

Bet? "What be—"

"The goddamn celibacy bet. But that's not the point." Mark flung the paper bag onto the bed. It landed in his daughter's lap.

She grabbed the bag and peered inside. Cinnamon rolls. "And what's the point?" Leila asked calmly, sticking her hands inside the bag.

"Addison, your—your mother is the damn point. Your mother is such a—such a—and her standards! She doesn't have any standards... If she did she wouldn't sleep with the guy getting my coffee and dry cleaning!"

"Oh for crying out loud, Mark, you sleep with anything with breasts and a pulse and you basically broke up with me. We were broken up," Addison shrieked, bursting into the room. How dare he go their daughter about this?

"I never said that! I said we would take it slow," he objected. "End the bet. Take it slow," he slowly drew out the words. "Not give you the green light to go ahead and fuck the intern!" He snarled.

Leila's eyes flickered between the two as she chewed on the sugary pastry.

"You said you didn't know what we were, you didn't even give me an answer when I asked you how long you were going to be mad at me for," Addison protested. "You ignored me for two days straight—"

"You know what?" He bellowed. "You're messed up. You were supposed to be trying to make it up to me, not jump on the nearest penis available!"

"Woah, this is getting way out of hand," Leila interjected.

"Make it up to you, really, Mark? I apologized! You took away your hand! I offered you coffee, lunch and dinner. You didn't return any of my calls, avoid me in hallways…"

"So you sleep with the intern! Are you trying to get a one up on Derek or something?"

"Really, Mark. You're going to bring Derek into this?"

"Two days. Two days, Addison. It took you two days to run off to another guy."

"Was he hot?" Leila asked innocently. "The intern. Mark's bitch. Was he worth all this crap?" She went back to her roll when both adults turned to glare at her.

"And an intern, no less," Mark continued.

"You know what?" Addison turned to Leila, throwing up her hands. "Yes, yes he was hot. And he doesn't ignore me when I talk to him!"

"You didn't talk to him, you had sex with him! In an on-call room, in your workplace," Mark turned to Leila. "This is not acceptable behavior, you hear me? When you grow up, you will not have sex with random men in your workplace!"

Leila quirked her eyebrows, but nodded.

"He's not a random man I just met, his name's Alex and he's my—"

"Intern, yeah, who gives a fuck?" Mark cut her off.

"Are you angry that she slept with a downgrade, or because she slept with another man?" Leila asked. She fished around inside the paper bag for a tissue. Finding none, she wiped her fingers on the bed sheets instead, before looking up seriously at the two people standing in front of her. One looked ready to throttle the other, the other glaring so intensely that if eyes were daggers, there would be one less person in the room.

"He's just angry that he's finally had a taste of his own medicine," Addison said spitefully. "You sleep with—no, you cheat on everyone with everyone, Mark. God forbid—"

"Hah! I haven't had sex in sixty freakin' days. You, on the other hand…" he scoffed. "An intern. Really."

"Answer my question," Leila insisted.

"What?" Addison asked, incredulous.

"I wasn't talking to you," Leila told her, ignoring how her mother pursed her lips at that.

"Fine. I'm pissed because I made it through sixty days without sex, proving that I love her enough to wait. I'm pissed that she kept my daughter from me and then sleeps with another man after the goddamn sixty days!" Mark shouted. "Which was a stupid idea, by the way. Celibacy equals love? Fuck, that's retarded."

"But you made it through," the daughter said. "You waited. And you're upset that she didn't."

"Yes!" What did this girl want from him? Looking at Addison, who was being unusually quiet, he realized. Oh.

Leila broke the silence. "So… are you two going to kiss and make up now?"

"No!" Mark yelled, before Addison could answer, and walked out the door.

Addison pushed Leila's feet away and sat down on the bed with a sigh. She looked at anything but her daughter.

The younger girl nudged Addison with her foot, something she probably wouldn't be able to do, had the woman actually raised her. The woman turned. She had a bizarre look on her face. Leila stared right back. "I guess Mommy's sleeping in the doghouse tonight, then?"


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