Chapter 10, it's time for Addie to find out about them...

Chapter 10: Secrets and Ideas

Mark walked into his hotel room and greeted Addison tiredly. She was sitting on their bed, holding a cup of coffee, curled up towards the headboard waiting for him.

"Sorry I'm so late."

"S'okay, what took so long though?" Just as Mark was about to answer, the door between the adjourning room burst open and revealed Derek.

"I think I figured it out Mark, but I'm not sure." He didn't seem to notice Addison who looked confused. "I want to – to make it up to them I guess, but I don't know how. Hell, I don't even know what their names are." Mark sighed and walked over to his suitcase. He leaned down and searching through it picked up a few pictures that were wallet sized.

"These are their school pictures from this year. First one is Zack, then Jake, and then Katie. This is from Richard's retirement party. This is the three of them after Katie's transplant, and this is from when they went on Vacation to Disney World over the summer." Derek looked at them in fascination. He hadn't seemed to hear the word 'transplant' as he stared at their faces, not the backgrounds. Addison had gotten off the bed and was now watching them confused.

"Someone want to tell me what's going on?" Derek looked at her in surprise.

"Mark didn't tell you?" He turned to look at Mark who shrugged.

"I wasn't supposed to. I kept my word."

"Wasn't supposed to what?"

"I have children. Three actually." Derek took the pictures from Mark and waved them in the air. "They're thirteen. Triplets. Oh, but it gets better, they're Meredith's."

"Meredith? As in Meredith Grey?"

"Yep. The one's we saw today. That's gotta be ironic in some way. Not really sure how though. I have not one, but three children of Meredith's Grey's, ex-love of my life."

"Ex-love?" Addison asked raising an eyebrow.

"I don't love her anymore. She betrayed me." Derek was trying to sound convincing, but it wasn't working on his best friend and ex-wife. They knew about the countless hours he had spent, lost in thought over her.

"You just keep telling yourself that Derek. Maybe, eventually it will come true, but it doesn't matter, she's in love with you too. At least, she used to be." Mark shook his head. "But really? That's beside the point right now, because you have to get your children's approval before you start even thinking about talking to her."

Derek snorted. "So all of a sudden, I come back to Seattle, and sweep my children and their mother off their feet? Right, and then we can get married and live happily ever after." Mark sighed.

"That's not what I meant. You just five minutes ago came barging in here and told me you want to get to know your children. Well, to do that you have to see them again first."

"But they hate me." Derek protested weakly.

Mark rolled his eyes. "And once again with the hating. They're teenagers Derek; they're supposed to hate you."

"They don't hate Meredith."

"They did. Right now they don't though. Get used to it Derek. I can help you but only so much. I think its bedtime. Now out."

Mark pushed Derek back into his room gently taking the pictures from him and closing the door. He turned to Addison who strode over to him. For a minute he feared that she would slap him, and he would deserve it he knew.

"Why?" Mark winced at the heartbreak in her eyes.

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Mark sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Addie, - it's kind of hard to understand, but I'll try. When I first ran into Meredith at the hospital the triplets were five. I was walking, and Katie ran into me." He let out a small laugh. "Literally. And then she asked who I was. Meredith couldn't tell her that she didn't know me. I became 'Uncle Mark', and promised to come over for dinner that night. We talked and she was – she was just so – broken."

Mark winced at the memory of Meredith eyes wide and full of tears. "She begged me not to tell Derek about the three of them, she couldn't stand for him to come and then leave. Said it would break their hearts. So I didn't. For the past eight years I have not breathed a word to a single soul outside of Seattle about the three of them. I wanted to tell you Addie, I really did, but – well, I just, I couldn't do that to them."

Addison stopped him before he could continue. "Well, now that I know about them, can I meet them?"

Mark looked at her in surprise. "You want to meet them?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" She asked dryly.

"It's just that when you were in Seattle, you and Meredith didn't exactly get along." Mark was struggling to find the right words.

"You mean I hated her because Derek was in love with her? I'm over that."

"Oh" Mark stuttered "that's good. I don't really see why you couldn't meet them, but that's not really up to me."

"So, who gets to decide if I can meet them?"

"Meredith, usually she knows what's going on, but really it's their decision. They try not to stress Katie out to much; she gets sick of them treating her like glass, even if the stress is bad, so we could do what I usually do."

"Which is?"

"Show up at the house uninvited and con them into giving me free food."

"Yep, that sounds like you. But, why do they only try not to stress out Katie?" Mark looked startled and then he realized that she must've forgotten about the speech at the funeral and the picture he had shown Derek of after the transplant.

"Katie had leukemia. They found it when she was seven, and tried chemo. It went into remission, and came back when she was eleven. Then it went into remission again. It came back about a year ago a few months before their thirteenth birthday. They tested Zach and Jake's bone marrow. Jake's was a match. She had the surgery, and just went into remission about eight months ago, but everyone still treats her with caution. She gets sick of it." Mark shrugged and tried to brush away the images of a sick Katie from his mind. "We can go tomorrow, they don't have school, and Mer probably won't be working."

"Okay." Addison nodded face startled, then she froze. "That one time you came back to New York, you had shaved your head. You told me it was because a patient of yours won a bet."

"It was for Katie, when she was eleven. We all did it. Jake, Zach, Will, Jimmy, Burke, Richard, George, Alex. Katie refused to let the girls cut their hair, but they all cut their hair short." Mark kissed her. "Now m'dear, I think it's time for bed."

So? Addison and the kids? I know there wasn't a lot of Richard stuff in this chapter, but there will be some next time...

Review! You know you want to.