Chance Encountered

Chapter 9

Derek had finished his shift and when he had gone to see if Preston was ready to go, he was still in surgery. So Derek had left a message with one of the nurses that he would wait for Burke at Joe's.

So, that is where Derek was at the moment.

He was sitting on a bar stool at the Emerald City Bar. Derek had ordered a beer. It wasn't his usual drink but it was simple and that was what he needed tonight. A simple, carefree, stress-free night was all he needed.

Derek sighed.

It felt so nice to just relax. His muscles ached and all of his energy was spent. Derek couldn't remember the last time he had just done nothing. It had been more than a couple of weeks and he felt that was too long.

Work had been stressful as of late and then there was that other thing that had been on his mind and his heart.

Addison Montgomery.

As the name went through his head, Derek wondered to himself what her middle name was.

Was it fitting of her? Was it a traditional middle name or something exotic? Was it a family name or maybe she didn't have a middle name. Some people didn't middle names; maybe she was one of them?

And the biggest question on Derek's mind was why did he care? What was it about this one woman that had him so mesmerized?

"So doc, it's been awhile since I saw you last at least a couple of week." Joe said as he wiped down part of the counter a chair or two down from where Derek was seated.

Joe's voice ripped Derek from his inner thoughts and Derek turned his eyes upward toward the bartender he had come to know over the years.

"Yeah, I've been busy." Derek replied and he ran his fingers through his dark hair that he knew was already a little unruly.

But Derek didn't care what he looked like; he wasn't out to impress anyone tonight.

"Busy with that hot redhead you locked lips with last time you were here?" Joe asked an amused smirk upon his face.

Derek chuckled. I wish, he thought. He shook his head and looked at Joe with a small smirk.

"No, nothing like that, just busy at the hospital, you know." Derek said, taking another sip of his beer.

"I know what it is like to be busy, not the busy you mean but I am sure that the big fat paycheck you get helps you make the sacrifice of giving up your spare time." Joe said.

"The paycheck helps a little." Derek said laughing to himself at how Joe casually slipped his paycheck into the conversation.

Joe liked to tease him and Preston about their paychecks from time to time. But it was all in good fun.

"I am sure it helps a lot." Joe replied with a small smile.

Derek chuckled again, shook his head and took a long sip of his beer.

The bell rang at the door and Derek turned around to see Preston walking toward him.

Derek could tell right away that Burke's surgery must have had had a successful outcome.

Like all surgeons, Preston got that post-successful surgery high. Preston's came with a cockier than usual attitude and a little bit more of a bounce in his step.

Preston came to stand next to where he sat and slapped a hand on Derek's shoulder in greeting. He smiled at Derek who was still watching him from over his shoulder.

"Hey." Preston greeted as he sat down next to Derek.

"Hey." Derek replied, "The surgery went well?"

He asked but already knew the answer.

"Yeah, it did." He answered and sat down next to his best friend.

Joe walked over to them and looked at Preston with an expectant look in his eye. Derek and Preston usually came in together. So Joe had a pretty good idea that Preston would be ordering a beer as well.

"What can I get ya, Doc?"

"A beer, please Joe." Preston said as he shed his coat. Joe nodded his head and went about getting Preston his beer of choice.

"So are you ready to lose a game or two of pool?" Derek joked with an arrogant edge to his voice.

He and Preston were pretty even when it came to their skills at pool. But when he did win, it was fun to gloat and act as though he was the master and always beat everyone at pool.

Preston did the same thing when he won.

It was one of the reasons they had so much fun. A chance to gloat and hold something over the other's head was something neither Derek nor Preston would pass up.

"I believe it is you who will be losing Shepherd." Preston said matching Derek's arrogant tone of voice.

"We will see about that." Derek chuckled as he finished the last of his beer and set the empty bottle down on the counter.

"We will indeed, my good friend." Preston replied.

Derek swiveled his bar stool so that his entire body faced Preston.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Derek asked, "Why don't we find out, right now. You can drink your beer and play at the same time. You're good at multi-tasking, right?"

"I am good at multi-tasking and in time we will find that I will triumph." Preston said.

Derek nodded. "Good, come on. Let's go get a table and set up a game."

"Uh, we can't. We have to wait for someone."

Derek looked at Preston before turning his chair around to face the bar.

"Who?" Derek asked casually.

"Addison."

Derek slowly turned his face to look at Preston. There was no way he heard him right.

Preston wouldn't invite Addison to the bar where he had met her, would he?

Preston did not like to torment him that much? His best friend would not invite the woman that constantly plagued his thoughts to drink a few beers with them?

Not when the purpose of drinking the beers was to relax and clear his mind of all of his jumbled Addison thoughts and finally figure out how he was going to handle these intense feelings he was having for her.

No, Preston wouldn't do that.

But on the other hand, Preston hadn't known that was the purpose of going to Joes' tonight.

Yeah, it hadn't been intentional. But still, Addison was coming. So, how exactly was he going to not think about her?

"Addison Montgomery?" Derek asked cautiously, thinking that maybe there was a small chance that Addison Montgomery wasn't the Addison he had invited.

But Derek knew that chance was slim because how common was the name Addison?

"Yes, Addison Montgomery." Preston said.

"Is there a problem with her joining us?" He asked.

Derek shook his head. He wasn't going to let it show that he was freaking out on the inside. He was going to act calm and collected.

But he was not calm and he was far from collected.

He had to concentrate. Addison was coming. Addison. How was he going to handle this? Derek thought he would have time to gather his thoughts before he saw Addison outside of work again.

He had thought he would be able to get some sort of control over the feelings he was having for her, but that was obviously not happening.

"There's no problem." Derek said.

"Good because she just walked in." Preston said.

Derek followed Preston's gaze to where Addison stood.

His evening of light-banter with his best friend had just turned into an evening of making sure he didn't say or do something to make him look an idiot in front of the most gorgeous woman he had ever met in his entire life.

So, basically he was screwed.

End of Chapter 9.

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