Derek had once again found himself riding around town in his old truck. He'd thought of taking the sheriff car, at least pretending he had a purpose, but he knew as well as the town that there was no reason for him to be on duty at night. He was on his third trip past the neighborhood when he finally decided to turn in. It wouldn't hurt just to make sure that she was okay, right? It wasn't like he was stalking her. He was just checking to make sure she was okay. He was the Sheriff! It was his job!
In a matter of two turns, he'd passed her house to find that she wasn't home. He sighed, deciding that it was probably best that she wasn't home, therefore not being able to know about his, what some would call, stalking ride by. He had an idea of where she was at, but he was trying his best to fight the urge to do it. In a small town, when a group of adults get together on a normal basis, the tradition is eventually spoken of in public. Mostly at church when he could hear old ladies ranting on how the citizens spent their Monday nights with alcohol. It didn't take a scientist to realize who they were narrowing their eyes at.
He'd never been able to make it to their crowd, even when they were younger. He, obviously, was close to Meredith, and he had the occasional conversation with the other members of the group, but he'd never once been invited to their hang outs. Mark had been on occasion, seeing as how he was the boyfriend. He'd always been envious of him when those nights occurred.
Before he knew it, he was there, and for the life of him, he couldn't remember even turning onto their road. Not that it was hard, they did live in the same neighborhood, that consisted of only six streets total. He wasn't surprised to see Izzie standing on the porch, nor was he surprised that their was a faint sound of music filtering in from the inside along with a soft cry of Annie. The only thing that surprised him was who Izzie was standing on the porch with, and the familiar car in the driveway.
Mark. Mark was there. Mark was at the group's gathering. Again. Why was he there? Who had invited him? Had Izzie felt THAT sorry for him? Given, Mark's day hadn't been the best, but it wasn't that bad either.
By then, he had completely stopped his car a couple houses down the street to watch what happened. He knew that he should leave, that it wasn't normal to do that. It was pretty close to illegal, but yet he couldn't bring himself to shift the gear back to drive. What bothered him more than anything is that Mark hadn't told him he was going. Given, he didn't lie, because he hadn't asked him, but still.
He watched on as Mark nearly had another breakdown, and finally guilt washed over him. He was clearly just there to see Izzie. After taking a deep breath, he finally took his car out of park. He'd only taken his eyes away for a moment. A single moment and she had appeared. She was now hugging Mark. He, once again, found himself jealous of Mark and his relationship with Meredith. His fists automatically tightened around the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white by the time the embrace ended. They were still standing entirely too close for his comfort. He wanted to get out of his car right then and just punch him. Would that be so awful? Okay. So technically, she was single, and Mark's ex, but she had been the love of his life at one point. Did that not count for something? Because he was certain it should!
He knew that it didn't though. He'd let her down. They all pretty much hated him. He didn't care though. They couldn't hate him anymore than he had hated himself. He'd made the right decision, though. He couldn't imagine his life without Tommy, and he had enjoyed his time with his wife. He'd loved her too. He'd never believed it was possible to love two women at the same time, but he had. Maybe that's why he kept pushing back the time he was going to call it off. Every time he was with her, he was just so happy. Well as happy as you can be with someone that you've cheated on, and feel really guilty about. He, of course, never told Meredith that though. Mostly because every time he was with her, he'd completely forget about Cinny all together.
He shook the thoughts away long enough to see Mark walk off the porch, leaving the two women to watch sadly as he made his way to the car. He wondered vaguely if Mark was going to tell him about this. He doubted it. He doubted Mark would even talk to him the next day. He wasn't even sure Mark would talk to anyone. After Mark pulled away from the house, he watched as Meredith led Izzie back into the house, and a moment later he heard a loud laughter coming from inside.
Yes, he decided, she was, in fact, okay. With a tiny smile on his face, he drove away from the house, certain that no one knew of his momentary lapse in sanity. With no more detours to make, Derek finally went home.