A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews. I will try to include Archer more in the story. This one is kind of a filler chapter which takes place over a month.
The mystery about the new guy in Addison's life didn't last long. Everyone came to know that he was Addison's famous neurologist brother when he went to the hospital next day to help Derek for a case. Except Meredith most of the female staff was glad that he wasn't romantically involved with Addison. Archer managed to please few of them in his free time. Archer and Derek also managed to survive working with each other without killing the other one. After two days he went back to Europe to continue his tour and Addison and Derek went back to their routines.
One afternoon Addison was checking Cartier's latest collection in attendings' lounge. Being a loyal and valued customer she received their latest catalog every season. After a while Derek entered the lounge to take a short break after a very long and tiring surgery. But his fatigue disappeared when he saw Addison in the lounge. Due to their busy schedules they hardly got any chance to see each other in the hospital. Luckily there was no one else in the room at the moment.
"Hey." Derek called to catch her attention. She was so engrossed in the catalog that she didn't even notice Derek entering the lounge.
"Hey. How was your surgery?" A smiled crossed Addison's face when she heard Derek's voice.
"It was good but can't say anything till she wakes up. What are you reading so seriously?" Derek asked sitting beside her on the couch.
"Derek, do you love me?" Addison asked sweetly without answering Derek's question.
"Yes I do." Derek answered uncertainly, not sure about where the conversation was heading.
"How much do you love me?" Addison asked moving closer to him.
"A lot." Derek answered quickly pecking her lips.
"Then as a token of your love you could buy me these earrings from Cartier." Addison suggested innocently. She could easily buy those earrings herself as she had been doing for last few years but she liked to receive gifts.
"I buy expensive gifts only for my wife. If you want those earrings, first give me my wedding band back." Derek replied smugly.
"You can't blackmail me like that Der. You promised me that you won't pressure me." Addison pouted.
"There is no pressure honey. Take as much time as you want but no earrings till then." Derek replied with a cheeky smile. He took the catalog from her and flipped through the glossy pages. Then came back to the page which Addison was looking at and studied the earrings. "They would have looked really nice on you." Derek commented wickedly to tease her.
Addison snatched back her catalog from Derek and move away towards the other end of the couch. "FYI Derek, you are supposed to be wooing me. You continue with that cocky attitude and you will never see that wedding band again in your life."
"Naah. You love my cocky attitude. I know it turns you on." Derek shrugged moving closer to her.
A week later
Derek had to work late due to few emergencies. He finished his last surgery at 10 then post op and other things took another hour. Earlier Derek would have stayed at the hospital instead of going home, but now no matter how late it was he always went back to their hotel to sleep in the same bed with his Addie. Luckily their hotel was not far from the hospital so he reached home by 11.30. Addison was still awake looking through furniture catalogs for interiors of the house.
"Tired?" Addison asked sympathetically.
"No too much. But why are you still up?" Derek asked keeping his keys, pager and mobile on the side table.
"I wanted to show you my new earrings." Addison grinned widely.
"They are pretty. Where did you get them?" Derek asked innocently.
"When I came from work, there was a parcel for me from Cartier. Someone sent me a gift anonymously." Addison told Derek wrapping her arms around his neck.
"You seem to have a secret admirer." Derek teased her pulling her closer.
"Yeah I do. It seems he really likes me." Addison played along running her fingers through Derek's curly hair.
"He doesn't just like you lady, he is completely in love with you." Derek leaned closer to kiss her.
"I am completely in love with him too." Addison admitted before meeting his lips.
"So am I going to get anything as a token of your love?" Derek asked after they broke off from the kiss.
"Oh yes. We need to talk about that." Addison nodded.
"The thing which I have in mind doesn't involve much talking." Derek clarified sitting down on the bed.
"I have something different in my mind." Addison dismissed Derek's suggestion. "I want to gift a car to you. I wanted to surprise you by directly presenting you the key but I don't know which model is the best one. I thought it would be better if you chose the car."
"I don't need a new car. Actually I don't need anything. Everything I want is right in front of me." Derek said placing a soft kiss on Addie's growing belly. Addison was sixteen weeks pregnant now. Though she could still hide her baby bump under baggy clothes, it was clearly visible from her silk nightgown.
"I know you don't need anything. But I want to get something for you. Lately I have been making you pamper me a lot. I want to do something in return. And this isn't just for you. This gift is for you and our babies. We need a sturdy family car. I won't let my children sit in that ancient truck that you drive here in Seattle."
"Oh so is this your plot to get rid of my car?" Derek chuckled.
"Yes it is. I hate that truck. So you are getting a new car. Just tell me which one you want." Addison said decisively.
"Okay boss. I will check the latest models and let you know." Derek agreed thinking about the new BMW models.
Addison and Derek found out their babies genders in the following week. They both wished for a boy and a girl so that they could have a mini Derek and a mini Addison. But the ultrasound revealed that they were having two mini Dereks. They were nonetheless excited for having two boys. Addison could already picture Derek and their sons playing catch in their backyard. They still wanted a daughter so they decided to adopt a girl after few years.
Hiding her baby bump was getting harder day by day. The expert eyes of her department's staff already suspected something but no one dared to ask. Addison voluntarily told about her pregnancy to her fellow surgeon Dr. Wilson since she wanted her to take over her role when Addison goes on maternity leave. Dr. Wilson was a through professional so she didn't ask any personal questions about the pregnancy.
Two weeks later Addison and Derek were enjoying a quiet evening at the trailer. The construction work was speedily progressing. Derek was checking the bills given by the contractor. Addison was reading something on her laptop.
"We need to have separate lives." Addison said looking up from her laptop.
"Huh?" Derek looked at her with confusion.
"This article says that couples who don't have any common circle tend to keep their charm alive more than couples who are involved in every part of each other's lives. Couples who don't have any personal or separate life tend to feel suffocated with each other after a while. No matter how much you love each other, you should have some part of your life which doesn't involve your spouse. Everyone needs own space."
"Why are you reading such stupid articles Addie? We are doing well. We don't need Dr. Phil's advice." Derek shrugged.
"Derek! We royally screwed our marriage and almost got divorced. This is our last chance and I want us to work this time. There was certainly something wrong with our marriage which led us to adultery. I am just trying to figure out what went wrong with us. I found some really useful articles on the internet." Addison explained seriously.
"Derek this point about having common circles perfectly applies to us. Until Seattle we didn't have anything personal. We attended the same med school, we went to the same hospital for internship and residency and we chose to work at the same hospital as attendings. Your friends became mine, mine friends became yours. Your best friend was my best friend. Your family was my family. We were part of every single aspect of each other's lives. May be that is why we started drifting apart. May be you needed some space so you became so distant. If we separate our lives a bit we can maintain the charm in our relationship. May be I can work at some different hospital, you can make new friends which I won't befriend, I will try to stop poking my nose into your work, we can designate few lone…"
"Shuuush. Take a breath first." Derek cut Addison's rambling. He picked her laptop from her lap and kept that away. He then took her hands in his own and started consoling her. "Addie, I know you really want us to work out this time. I also know that you are terrified by the thought of us messing up again. I feel that way too. But honey these stupid articles are not going to help us in any way. You don't have to believe everything that is there on the internet. Don't you remember how frustrating it is when your patients contradict your opinion based on some crap they read on some blog on the internet? Addie we both have our personal shrinks who are more qualified to advise us than some random blogger on the internet. So please stop searching for 10 steps for happier marriage and things like that."
"But I thought what that article said made sense. We didn't give any space to each other and then you fell in love with someone with whom you had nothing in common. Are you sure I am not suffocating you?" Addison asked softly without looking at him. Though she didn't say it out loud, lately she was overanalyzing her relationship with Derek and comparing their relationship with his and Meredith's. Though Derek had changed and was making efforts to be an ideal partner that wasn't sufficient for her. She still needed to find out what made Derek so indifferent towards her so that the same issue could be avoided in future.
"No you are not suffocating me at all. I love that we share each and every aspect of our lives. I want you to be involved in everything in my life. This is how my parents' relationship was. We Shepherds don't like to keep anything personal. My sisters can be annoyingly nosy at times but I prefer our relationship this way than just sending Christmas cards once a year. We are a family and because we share everything, our bond is strong. So you are not going to get any personal space from me. Not even in your dreams." Derek concluded his speech with an eskimo kiss.
"I don't need any space from you. I just thought you might want some." Addison confessed sheepishly.
"No. Not at all." Derek insisted. "I have a confession to make. You know what made me realize that I might still have feelings for you?"
Addison looked at him questioningly and urged him to continue.
"When I saw you with Pete for the first time at Naomi's place I felt jealous. You seemed very comfortable with him and I didn't like it. Then we went to the practice and everyone over there already knew you. You looked like you belonged there. You fit perfectly in that life and I felt like an outsider. By end of the day I was jealous of not just Pete but Violet, Cooper, Dell and even that elevator lady. They were your friends and I didn't even know any of them. I didn't like that you had a piece of life in which I wasn't involved. That was when I pledged to win you back." Derek confessed his feelings about their first LA trip.
"Oh. I had no idea you felt that way. Is that why you were so nasty towards everyone else in LA?" Addison was amused by Derek's revelation.
"Yeah. I warmed up to them in our second visit but I hated them all the first time. I was possessive about you. I felt that they were stealing my best friend from me." Derek admitted.
"I like it when you are little possessive." Addison smiled.
"I also don't like when you call Naomi, Sam or Mark as your best friend. You can call them your better friends but I want to be your only best friend." Addison giggled at Derek's childlike complaint.
"You know what, in one of the articles I also read that when you are married to your best friend your friendship kills your marriage. Sometimes friendship overtakes romance and you tend to treat your partner just like your other friends." Addison shared her googled knowledge casually.
"Are we back to the crazy internet articles?" Derek chucked. "I think our relationship is perfect blend of friendship and romance. I really hope it stays this way. And you don't need to worry about treating each other like any other friend because the things which we did to each other last night aren't the things we do to any other friends." Derek assured her mischievously. The thought that Addison had done some of those things with his best friend didn't even cross his mind.
"Good so our friendship or our common circles are not a problem for us." Addison concluded with a sigh of relief.
"No they aren't. The only problem we had was lack of communication which we don't have anymore. We both are openly talking about everything. We don't hesitate to say what we like and what we don't. I am more attentive and you have left the land of passive agressia. You are open in demanding whatever you want. We fight at least two to three times a day. So we are just perfect. You may return my wedding band right now." Derek suggested flashing a charming smile.
"Just three more months honey and then I and your wedding band will be all yours." Addison assured him.