Help is Around the Corner
Addison and Derek's trailer catches fire, and Meredith offers them a place to stay for a while.
For the first few moments of being in the closet, it's awkward.
"Let me know if I'm stepping on you," says Addison.
"No you're not-" says Meredith.
"Okay-" says Addison.
"Wanna snuggle?" says Meredith.
"Okay-" says Addison, as she feels Meredith crawl into her lap, and Addison nuzzles Meredith's head with the tip of her chin.
Addison sighs contentedly, relaxed that this is all familiar to them. Cuddling. Being close. Feeling Meredith's breath on her neck. Feeling Meredith wrap her arms around her neck.
Why does it feel different now though? More… Intimate…
It's as though the heat had been turned up in here, and in the dark confines of the closet, Addison feels her heart start to beat a little bit faster.
She wonders if Meredith can hear it, the thumping of her heart as Meredith shifts her hips just a little so that she's closer, and it feels really really really good.
Addison is lost in thought as Meredith opens her eyes and stares up at her.
Their gazes lock, and Addison can't read Meredith's expression as her pupils dilate, and her eyes open wide, and then Addison notices that Meredith's eyes are darkening, and Addison gulps.
"Addison-" says Meredith in a low and raspy voice.
"Meredith-" says Addison, her voice deepening an octave without her even trying to.
Addison shifts her hands over Meredith's waist, and starts moving them up and down, and Meredith purrs.
She purrs under Addison's touch, and it does unspeakable things to Addison's body.
She's blushing, and she's grateful for the darkness right now, because she can tell that her whole body is flushed, and she's starting to sweat just a little bit.
Meredith is feeling equally disarmed, as she watches Addison's wavy red hair drapes her shoulders, and her lips, her red, red lips puff out just a little bit, and Meredith can see the conflict in Addison's posture; the lust and desire mixed with the care, and compassion.
Addison cares about her, and she cares about Addison, and that's what makes this experience all the more intense.
Meredith has wanted people before. She's lusted over them, slept with many… But few people have ever made her care, and no one has ever made her feel as deeply as she currently does for Addison.
Meredith moves her own hands up to touch Addison's face, and she presses her palms against the redhead's cheeks. They're warm, and glowing, and Addison is all warm, and glowing.
Addison's breathing accelerates, along with her heart rate, and she can hear Meredith breathing more quickly, too.
When Meredith brushes her thumb over Addison's jaw, Addison's breath catches, and she lets out a little gasp, and Meredith finds it incredibly sexy.
In all of Meredith's dreams (not that she's dreamed about Addison… Multiple times… Okay, so perhaps she has…), Addison has never felt this soft, and this pliant. This living and breathing and beautiful figure who can make Meredith feel totally safe, and totally off-kilter all at once (in a good way!).
It's dizzying, and mesmerizing, and Meredith is so captivated by the way that Addison is still stroking up her sides, and moving her hands to her back, the feeling of her pajama top rippling under Addison's fingers heightened by Addison's movements.
It's the touch, and the sounds, and the smell, too, Meredith realizes.
Addison smells delicious, she always does, and it's amplified tenfold in this tight space.
She smells comforting, and clean, and exquisite, and it's intoxicating, and it's making Meredith start to completely lose her mind.
She hopes and prays that Addison feels the way she feels about her, that she wants her as more than just her friend, her roommate, her bed-mate, and her companion.
If Addison doesn't want her like that, she's not sure what she'll do, because all she wants to do is to lean in and kiss Addison, to take her smooth lips into her own.
To feel her warmth, and to feel the way they would feel with their eyes closed, and their noses brushing, and their breaths intermingling.
Meredith just wants to surge forward and capture Addison's lips, and take them into her own, and suck on them, and feel how Addison reacts to her, and-
"Meredith-" Addison repeats in a completely ragged and breathless voice.
"Addison-" Meredith practically moans, as she feels Addison start to lean in.
Addison's hands grip tighter on Meredith's back, and Meredith resists the urge to growl as Addison does this.
Meredith does let out a deep growl when Addison pulls her fully onto her lap, and tugs her so close that the tips of their noses are touching.
The tension is so strong, the pull feels as though it's magnetic- no, practically gravitational because of how strong it is.
Addison hears the low rumble in Meredith's throat as she tilts her head to the side, and Meredith's fingertips grace her neck, and they're both moving infinitely closer, and yet they're still so far away.
And it's centimeters, and then millimeters, and then their lips are so close that they can feel the heat radiating off of them, and it's all they've been wanting and longing for for the past… It feels like eternity.
Their eyes close, and a soft sigh escapes them, as they push foreword, and-
"KNOCK KNOCK!" says the chipper and slightly drunk voice of Cristina Yang.
"What!?" Meredith groans, as she jumps back from Addison as if she's been caught doing something she isn't supposed to be doing.
"Huh-" says Addison in a foggy and confused voice when Cristina yanks open the closet door.
"You're time's up," says Cristina flatly.
"Oh-" says Meredith, her eyes flickering to Addison's and then back again.
"Already!?" says Addison, as Meredith's eyes widen, and a triumphant smirk graces Cristina's face.
"Yes, already, now get up," says Cristina. "I think it's your turn anyway."
"Give me a second to come out, would you?" says Meredith, as Addison helps her up.
"Yeah, seriously. It's not easy coming out of the closet," Addison, as she fixes her shirt from where it got crumpled.
"We know, you've been trapped inside of it for your entire lifetimes," says Cristina.
Addison and Meredith each quirk and eyebrow at her, and are about to say that it's been exactly seven minutes since Cristina had left them, but Cristina interrupts their simultanous thought processes by yelling:
"Now let's paaaaaartyyyy!" as she drags them back over to the table while the rest of the household takes in their mussed-up hair, and swollen lips, and dazed and confused expressions, and probably jumps to some mental conclusion about what had just happened between them.
"Alrighty then, Meredith, truth or dare?" says Cristina, as if absolutely nothing had happened.
"Umm-" says Meredith. "I think I might need another drink first," she says, as she settles back onto Addison's lap at the kitchen table, as if they hadn't been sitting that way in the closet for the previous seven minutes.
"Drink after you answer your question," says Cristina.
"Alright fine, truth-" says Meredith.
"Was it heavenly?" says Mark with a grin.
Meredith considers this for a moment, and she looks into Addison's beaming eyes.
And although they hadn't had the chance to fully consummate their desires for each other, they had certainly connected on a deep and sensual and almost spiritual level, and any time spent alone with the redhead was a gift, so yes, she decides, it was totally heavenly.
"Yeah…" says Meredith dreamily, as she wraps her arms around Addison's neck.
"Mm-" Addison hums, as she squeezes Meredith tightly, and Meredith giggles.
"Okay then, it's your turn now," says Cristina, as she hands Meredith the drink she'd been asking about earlier.
And then life continues just as it had been, only the two of them could feel that it was definitely totally, and completely different now.
***** END OF CHAPTER 31