Hey, guys!
I apologize for the long wait; real life has gotten a bit hectic lately. Did you enjoy the last update? I know it was sad, but I felt like Henry's POV was important. This next chapter we'll be jumping between LA and Seattle and we're gonna get more of Derek and Amelia's POVs. There will be background Addison but mostly we're gonna focus on the Shepherd's this chapter.
Enjoy,
Xx
Seattle:
Derek lies in bed that night snuggled up next to his wife and children but couldn't seem to fall asleep. His mind is still reeling from the events of the day; his patient died and then he'd found out that Addison's husband had died. That's the thing that bothers him the most, Addison's husband being dead. He carefully untangled himself from Bailey and Zola's arms and legs. He presses a kiss to their foreheads as well as Meredith's before heading downstairs.
It's still a bit strange to be back in Meredith's childhood house, even if it's only temporary. Everyone else has gone home or to their respective places for the night. He makes his way into the kitchen and reaches for a beer before taking a seat at the nearby dining room table. He closes his eyes as his mind continues to drift back to Addison. He can't stop thinking about her and what she must be going through. He reaches for his cell phone and dials her number. He's surprised but not so surprised when Amelia picks up.
"Derek, hey," He can tell that his sister has been trying to deal with the grief in her own way.
"Amy, how ya holding up?" Amelia sighs heavily on the other end of the phone.
"I just keep thinking back to when dad died and…Henry's so little," Derek's heart clenches at the sound of his sister's choked sob.
"Not much younger than you were,"
"I just…Jake was like my family; he was there for me when nobody else was,"
"Don't say that Amy,"
"No, I mean, I know Addison was here for me but, Jake being there for me didn't include him possibly flying you and mom out on a plane to come kick my ass," Derek chuckles; she's got him there.
"No, it didn't but now that Jake's…you've still got me, and Mark. You've still got two big brothers left,"
"Thanks, Derek,"
"How's Addie holding up?"
"Addison is…ridiculously drunk right now," Amelia drawls as Derek frowns.
"She's drunk?"
"It's her way of dealing; Naomi's upstairs with her now. She almost lost it after having to tell Henry that his father was dead,"
"How'd he take it?"
"He's angry; called Addison a liar, said she didn't love him…"
"That's gotta hurt,"
"I think it hurts her even more that Angela's dead too,"
"Angela?" Derek frowns.
"Jake's daughter; you met her at the wedding, remember?"
Los Angeles-2013
"Okay , so I have to warn you ; Jake's got a 19-year-old daughter," Addison mutters into Derek's ear as they leave the terminal.
"So you're a step mom now?" Derek teases as Addison rolls her eyes at him.
"Do not judge me, Derek Shepherd, don't you dare judge me." Derek chuckles and shakes his head.
"I'm not judging, honest,"
"Yes, you are! You're wearing your 'I'm totally judging you Addison' face!" Derek laughs at his ex-wife as they round a corner where Callie is waiting with Mark, Sofia, Henry, Jake, and presumably his daughter.
"Derek, nice to finally meet you man," Jake isn't what he was expecting his ex-wife's soon to be husband to look like.
"Nice to meet you too; you're lucky, Addie's a wonderful woman," Derek said with a smile as Jake glanced over at Addison.
"You don't have to tell me," Jake is taller than Derek, though he looks like they could be the same age. Addison seems to be absolutely smitten with him, which is good; she deserves some good things in her life after all she's been through.
"I'm sure you know who this handsome fella is," Henry is now perched on Addison's hip as she points at Derek.
"Derek, this is Henry; Henry honey, this is mama's good friend Derek, can you say hi?" Derek gives Henry a grin and a wave.
"How ya doin Henry, your mommy told me so much about you," Henry gives Derek a little wave before burying his head into his mother's chest.
"He's usually not this shy around people," Addison says, running a hand through Henry's curls.
"Give him some time, he'll warm up to you; I'm their other kid, Angela," the young woman walks up to him and extends a hand. She looks like Jake but then she doesn't.
"Jake's my stepdad; waltz his way into my life when I was about 5. It's fine, I could tell you were looking for resemblances between us," Angela says.
"She's very straight forward and observant," Addison says with a laugh.
"I noticed; have you considered a career in medicine?" Derek teases as Angela laughs; she's got a nice laugh.
"Nah, my dad's been oh so subtly throwing hints at me that I should go pre-med, but I'm an English major,"
"I always liked English in school,"
"Liar; you liked our English teacher because she had great-"
"Mark, children in the vicinity," Addison scolds as Derek shakes his head.
"Okay so, I had other reasons for liking English, but I did write Addison a pretty great song when we got married,"
"Yeah, I've heard about that song; it sounded like it was the worst song ever. Did you really rhyme 'gross anatomy class' with 'Addison's fine ass'?" Angela tilts her head to the side to stare at him in a judging manner.
"I didn't write that line, Mark did," Angela glances over at the plastic surgeon and rolls her eyes.
"I shouldn't be surprised at all should I?" Angela says as everybody laughs.
"Mark has slept with all of Derek's sisters,"
"He also slept with my ex-wife," Derek jokes; it's nice that after all these years they can joke about the affair. Apparently Jake knows about it as well because he laughs along with them.
"Tell me, how the hell are you two still friends after he slept with all…doesn't he have 4 sisters?" Angela turns around to ask Addison.
"That's right,"
"Wait, you slept with Amelia too!?"
"It was a onetime thing with Amy," Mark says in his defense.
"Still…is there anyone he hasn't slept with?"
"He hasn't slept with anyone at the practice," Addison says with a smile.
"Well that's promising," Angela says as they leave the airport and head back to Jake and Addison's place.
oOo
"I remember Angela, I didn't know she-"
"Yeah, she had two kids; a three-year-old and an infant," Derek sighs heavily.
"Does Addie know what happened?"
"She's being vague about it; Jake went down to Brazil to visit Angela and her kids. From Sam got out of coast guard, Jake and Angela were out white water rafting, but they rode into a serious current. Angela was thrown overboard; she died instantly, cracked skull. Jake died from mostly blunt force trauma and internal injuries," Derek shook his head and took another swig of his beer; damn this was bad.
"Does Addie know all of this?"
"Sam told her and she screamed at him, told him to get the fuck out, said he was a pathetic piece of shit. She was, she was worse than I was when I was on drugs,"
"She's grieving Amy,"
"No, I've seen Addison when she's grieving; the way she reacted when Sam told her was just…she was a bitch to him, Derek."
"Like I said-"
"Sam said she wasn't even that mean to him when Bizzy died,"
"Addison didn't love Bizzy, not the way she loved Jake."
"How do you-"
"We talked a few days ago, before…all of this happened,"
Seattle 2 Days Ago
Derek is furious as he drives, his mind is swimming; he can't seem to get his thoughts together. He and Meredith have just had another fight, it's all they seem to do as of late. You would think that the plane crash would've brought them closer together. Instead, it seems to have driven them further apart. He was no longer the man that Meredith had fallen in love with; that man died when Derek got shot. Time has changed him, and it hasn't been for the better.
Somedays, he wishes that stupid plane crash had never happened, because it ruined his life. His career hasn't been the same and they all lost so much. Lexie died, Mark almost died; Arizona lost her leg, cheated on Callie and moved to Malawi. Even people who weren't in the plane crash had suffered. Richard was nearly electrocuted to death, Adele died, Richard had a stroke and had to stop practicing medicine altogether. Everything seemed to be turned upside down and he couldn't figure out why. Derek absently picked up his phone and dialed an all too familiar number.
"Derek, this is a surprise, what's up?" Addison's voice seemed to float through the phone as she spoke.
"I need to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me,"
"Okay…"
"Before you slept with Mark, did you ever think about leaving me?" There's a long pause on the line that makes Derek think Addison has hung up on him.
"Addie, are you still there?"
"I'm here,"
"Did you hear me, I asked you-"
"I, I know what you asked me, Derek, I just…where the hell is this coming from?" Addison sighed.
"I just…I don't know if Meredith and I are gonna make it,"
"And you're calling me to ask me if I ever-"
"I didn't mean to upset you, Addison, I just, I wanted to know if you thought about it."
"I did,"
"What made you change your mind?" He can almost feel Addison's smile on the other end of the phone when she responds,
"Because I loved you too much…and for what it's worth, I loved you even when I cheated with Mark. I was hurt Derek, you were never home and when you were all we did was fight or you ignored me and-"
"Is that why in the last few years you were so adamant about not having children?" He knows that he's prodding but, he has to know.
"Derek, we weren't ready to be parents, not back then. Listen, you and I happened in another lifetime. We've both moved on, we have great new spouses, wonderful kids…if you love Meredith, you'll actually stop and listen to what she's saying,"
"So you're saying I didn't listen to you?"
"I'm saying you didn't listen and, I didn't try because after so long I got tired of fighting. You're a smart man Derek, don't let history repeat itself with Meredith. The heartbreak will be so much worse this time because there are two great little kids involved. Talk to Meredith, try and understand-"
"I'm not the same anymore Addie; that man, the one Meredith fell in love with, he died a long time ago," He frowns when he hears his ex-wife chuckling on the other end of the phone.
"What's so funny?"
"Derek, you're significantly older than Meredith,"
"Yeah, so?"
"That makes a big difference; you two have always wanted different things and it's taken you guys a while to get on the same page."
"Are you and Jake-"
"On the same page? We weren't at first; I thought I wanted a family with Sam but, Jake waited for me to get my shit together and stop being an idiot. Meredith is waiting on you to get it together but, she's not gonna wait forever Derek,"
"When did you get to be so wise about Meredith?" Derek teases; it does him good to hear his ex-wife laughing.
"I'm not a Meredith Grey expert, but I am a Derek Shepherd expert. Just because we've been divorced for eleven years doesn't erase the fact that I have almost 20 years of being your lover, your wife, and your friend," Derek goes silent for a moment, thinking back to all the years they'd spent together. Aside from Mark, Addison is perhaps the person who knows him best.
"So, Derek Shepherd expert, what do I do?"
"Stay with Meredith, and for god sakes go get some help!" Derek frowns when she mentions him getting help.
"What-"
"You need to talk to a therapist; in the last 6 years you've been shot and almost killed in a plane crash. We're not even gonna talk about our marriage and your father's death," She's got a point there.
"Okay, so maybe I do need help, then what?"
"You can't save your marriage to Meredith unless you're willing to fix yourself and running off to Washington D.C. won't help,"
"Who told you?"
"Bailey…and Callie and Mark told me last week; he's threatening to call in the Calvary, aka your mother," Derek groans at the idea of his mother coming to Seattle to visit.
"Alright, alright, you guys win,"
"It's not about us winning Der, it's about you not being a divorced 50-year-old single dad," Derek laughs a little.
"I could always-"
"If you even think about getting married a third time I will personally come to Seattle and kick your ass," Addison jokingly warns as the two laugh a little longer before falling into a comfortable silence.
"Do you think Jake is the one, Addie?"
"Yes," she says without hesitation.
"Wow, you sound so sure of yourself,"
"That's because I am; the only way Jake and I don't make it is if some unforeseen tragedy happens…"
"I didn't know you two talked,"
"Yeah, I called her about Meredith."
"You called your ex-wife to talk about problems you're having with your wife?"
"Addison and I have that kind of relationship," Amelia hums in response, though her voice is muffled by the sound of another voice that's barely audible. Almost immediately he can tell that the person on the other line is no longer Amelia.
"Derek…"
"Addison," His heart clenches at the sound of her choked sob.
"Jake's dead,"
"I know; Addie I'm so sorry…"
"Why did this happen, Derek? Jake's such a good swimmer and so is Angela and-" He can hear her breath hitching as she tries to talk through her sobs.
"Addison, calm down okay? I know its hard and I know it hurts but just take a deep breath Addie, just breathe." The line goes silent for a few moments in which he assumes that Amelia and Naomi are trying to help her stay calm.
"Addison?"
"I'm here…Derek, I know this is crazy but, can you just…Derek, I need you." It's impulsive but he finds himself uttering the exact two words he knows she needs to hear, just as Meredith walks into the kitchen.
"I'll be there,"
Chapter 11 to follow…
To all you MerDer lovers, stay calm; I'm not breaking them up. I think the Derek/Addison friendship is lovely and beautiful and I'm definitely going to explore it in this fic. Plus, I feel like Derek would be one of the first people Addison would call in times of crisis. The next chapter will have more of Addison's POV after she tells Henry. We'll also delve into Mark and Callie's POV with a minor snippet of Izzie and Alex. I know how much my soul sister Darley1101 loves Izzie and Alex, but it'll probably be a background story for a few chapters, at least until we jump to the present. I wanna estimate and say we've got about maybe 5 chapters before we experience a tiny time jump. Also, we probably won't see Jake or Angela's POV until towards the end of the story. I'm saving their POVs and exactly what happened to them for very special reasons. I can't make any promises in terms of how long this story will be or how long you'll have to wait in between updates. I'm a college senior with a lot going on right now. I'm taking 17 semester hours, I'm doing a 270-hour internship over the course of this school years, I'm applying to Graduate schools, I'm a nanny, I serve as an Editor-in-Chief for The Odyssey, a national online news website for millennials. I'm also working on a very super special secret project…well, it's not a secret but it's something I can't share with you guys just yet. Also, if you've got me listed as a favorite author, you'll notice that some of the stories you may have been following are gone. I took them down to revamp them. I'm going to repost them, don't worry; they'll be better thought out.
This author's note got long, as usual, but I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'll try and work on the next chapter as soon as possible.
Take Care everyone!
Xx