Help is Around the Corner
Addison and Derek's trailer catches fire, and Meredith offers them a place to stay for a while.
The first thing that the crew notices when they arrive back at Meredith's house is that their dog has made it onto the rooftop.
"DOC!?" Meredith nearly screeches.
"Rr!" says Doc happily, along with the neighbor's cat.
"Did the cat teach you to get up there!?" asks Addison.
"Mow-" says the cat.
"Looks like we weren't the only ones reaching new heights," says Alex.
"No kidding-" says Izzie.
"Do you think they climbed up on our house?" asks Cristina.
"Maybe they made their way up the curtains?" suggests Burke.
"Hey, we can join them!" says Derek.
"Yeah!" says Mark.
"Oh no, you'll hurt yourselves!" says Addison.
"Nonsense, I always used to sneak into his room as a kid," says Derek.
"He did. He climbed through my window," says Mark.
Callie coughs, and says 'gay,' at the same time, quietly, and George giggles.
"Look, they're coming down now," says Meredith, as she points to the cat leading Doc over to the neighbor's house, and down their balcony, to finally meet them.
"Doc!" says Addison, as she pulls the dog up into her arms.
"Rr!" says Doc.
"Yes, you're making friends," says Meredith. "Hello, cat."
"Mow," says the cat, as she leaps up onto Meredith's head.
The cat is constantly balancing on Meredith's shoulders for a while before Meredith puts her down again, and Addison puts Doc down next to her.
"Alright well, nobody here is allergic to cats, so I guess from time to time we can bring you into the house," says Meredith, as the cat follows Doc into the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Addison goes to knock on the door for the neighbor's house to let them know this.
"Hello," says the neighbor.
"Hi," says Addison. "We have your cat, she's friends with our Dog, she just wanted to play," says Addison.
"Oh, lovely," says the neighbor. "Actually… I have a question for you. You don't have to answer right away… But we're moving overseas for work in a few weeks, and we were actually looking for a new home for her. We won't be able to have her in our new place, and we wouldn't want to move her from her friend."
"So you're interested in having us adopt her?" asks Addison, rather surprised.
"Yes," says the neighbor. "Only if you'd be up for it."
"I'll ask my girlfriend," says Addison, smiling to herself as she says 'girlfriend.'
"Thank you," says the neighbor. "I can already tell that she is well-loved over there. Her name is Milo, by the way."
"You're welcome," says Addison. "She is… I'm sure she loves you, folks, too."
The neighbor nods at her, and Addison walks back to Meredith's place.
Secretly, she'd love to adopt the neighbor's cat, but she is nervous to bring up the idea because she's not sure if Meredith would be up for it.
"Milo!" Addison smiles, and the cat recognizes her name and comes to jump onto Addison's shoulder.
"Mow-" says the cat.
"Awe, what a cute name," says Meredith, and Addison grins.
"How is she doing?" asks Addison.
"Fabulously," Meredith giggles. "Well, she's teaching Doc acrobatics, and I don't know how I feel about that, but he seems to be happy.
"He does," says Addison. "Hey, Mer… I need to talk to you about something…" says Addison nervously.
Meredith goes very pale and jumps away from Addison tensely.
"No, it's not bad-" says Addison, waving her arms in the air.
"Addie…" Meredith says in a pained voice.
"I'm not breaking up with you!" Addison blurts out.
"You're not?" says Meredith.
"No!" says Addison. "It's just… Can we talk?" says Addison.
"Sure," says Meredith. "Now that you've said it, I have to know what's going on…"
"It's not bad!" says Addison.
Meredith holds Addison's hand and brushes her thumb over Addison's hand as they walk up to their bedroom together.
"Spill-" says Meredith.
"Iwannaadoptacat-" says Addison quickly.
"Huh?" says Meredith.
"Theneighborscat-" says Addison.
"What?" says Meredith.
"The neighbor wants us to adopt her cat, and I want to-," says Addison, finally coherently. "Her name is Milo, and they're moving, and she already gets along with Doc, and I've gotten attached, and-" Addison rambles.
"That's what this is about? You want to adopt the cat?" says Meredith.
"Yes-" says Addison. "But it's your house so-" Addison gestures.
"I was so scared that something happened and you didn't want to date me anymore, or something like that-" says Meredith.
"Oh no!" says Addison. "Not at all!"
"When you said 'we have to talk,' my brain jumped to the worst-" says Meredith.
"I'm so sorry-" says Addison. "I should have phrased it better than that."
"It's okay-" says Meredith, as she rests her head onto Addison's shoulder.
"It's not- I hurt you-" says Addison.
"You didn't mean to," says Meredith, quietly.
"That doesn't make it okay-" says Addison. "I also don't want to force you to adopt Milo if you didn't want to."
"I'm considering it-" says Meredith. "I might need a week or so to think about it."
"Okay-" says Addison.
"Okay-" says Meredith.
Addison smiles and nuzzles her chin into Meredith's head.
Meredith smiles and leans up to kiss her way up Addison's jaw, up to her neck, where she knows that Addison likes it.
"Wait-" says Addison.
"Are you okay?' says Meredith.
"I don't want you just to kiss me because we're fighting," says Addison. "Or because you want to make it up to me," she adds.
"I'm not-" Meredith crosses her arms over her chest.
"Meredith…" says Addison. "This seems like it's deeper, and I don't want to cover it up with sex, or kisses."
"I want you to know that I won't leave you just because you want a cat-" says Meredith flatly.
"I already know that-" says Addison.
"But I want to prove it to you-" says Meredith.
"Meredith…" says Addison. "You really think I'm going to break up with you over this? And that I'll stay just because you put out for me?"
"No!" says Meredith. "I'm used to sex after a fight. Make-up sex is good sex."
"I'm trying to get out of the habit of make-up sex-" says Addison. "Don't get me wrong, I love the sex and all, but I don't want it to be the only thing that holds us together."
"We're both so messed up-," says Meredith.
"We are-" says Addison.
"How did we get this fragile?" says Meredith.
"Too many bad relationships," says Addison.
"We're working on it," says Meredith.
"We are," says Addison.
"Can we kiss now? I just want to kiss my girlfriend," says Meredith.
"Sure," says Addison. "I do love calling you my girlfriend."
Meredith and Addison kiss for a little while, with Meredith pulling Addison on top of her because she loves to feel her lover's weight, and how she feels safe in her arms.
"Are we okay?" asks Addison.
"Yeah," says Meredith.
"I'm really glad," says Addison.
"Me too," says Meredith.
Meredith and Addison are interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in!" says Addison.
"Who is it?" asks Meredith.
"Rr!" says Doc.
"Mow!" says Milo.
"Did they just-" says Meredith.
"They know how to knock on the door!?" says Addison.
"At least they can't open it," Meredith laughs, as she hops out of bed, and lets Doc and Milo in.
Doc pops onto the bed, and Milo leaps over him, and sits on the headboard.
Addison pets Doc, and then Milo jumps down next to Meredith, and Meredith curls into them all, and the cat purrs.
"C'mon, look at that face!" Addison whispers.
"Rr!" says Doc knowingly.
"I could be convinced…" Meredith smiles and gives Addison a small peck on the cheek.
Doc and Milo seem to know that Meredith is watching them intently because they are on their very best behavior for the rest of the evening.
Milo nuzzles into Meredith's chest without clawing and keeps her company while she and Addison (read: Addison) start to cook dinner.
Doc sits politely by the dinner table without barking or begging for food, and animatedly offers some of his dog food to Milo, who is hesitant to try it, whereas Doc appreciates trying some of Milo's cat food, even if it isn't his favorite.
After dinner, the dog and the cat resume their previously occupied hangout spot on the hammock, and they rock back and forth while the rest of the crew reads, or watches TV, or plays various games of some sort.
"So how do you make these big decisions around here? Does it come to a vote, or do you just decide, or?" Addison asks Meredith.
"Well, I get the final say because it's my house… But really it's everyone's space. We can vote on it, since it's a long-term commitment, just like Doc was, but I think I'm probably the only one who needed any convincing," Meredith smiles.
"And now?" asks Addison nervously.
"And now… Let's take it to a vote," says Meredith.
There's a little bell that Meredith's mother used to use for dinner, so she rings it to get everyone's attention.
"So today we're voting to see if we want to adopt Milo, the cat," Meredith announces.
"Should we have them wait outside for this?" Addison gestures, as she sees Milo and Doc looking up at everyone with earnest eyes, attempting to be as cute as possible.
"Good idea," says Meredith.
"Rr-" says Doc.
"Mow-" says Milo.
"Alright, with that out of the way… Show of hands?"
Mark and Derek raise their hands immediately because they are smitten with Milo.
Cristina takes some convincing, along with Burke.
George is fully on board, even with Callie's slight hesitations.
Izzie and Alex say yes.
And then it was all Addison's idea, so the vote ends up being carried unanimously, and Meredith agrees with it.
"Welcome to the family, Milo," says Meredith.
"Mow!" says the cat.
"Rr!" says Doc.
"Let's let the neighbor know," says Addison, smiling.
Meredith and Addison knock on the door, and the neighbor opens it.
"We'll take her!" says Meredith, proudly.
"Thank you so much," says the neighbor.
They arrange to move over all of the cat's food and furniture, and Addison helps them work out the paperwork and the insurance.
Mark and Derek decide to take Doc and Milo for a long walk in the park, and Meredith and Addison decide to take some well-needed alone-time together.
"Are you still up for the fair tomorrow?" asks Addison between kisses.
"Yes," says Meredith, as she presses Addison against the wall.
"Great," says Addison, as she kisses Meredith's neck, and then leads her back towards the bed.
Meredith's knees catch at the edge of it, and she giggles as they both topple over onto it.
"How do you want me?" Addison whispers in Meredith's ear.
"Hmm," Meredith smirks. "Can you hold me? Reach around and hold me, and kiss me, and yes-" Meredith groans, as Addison kisses the back of her neck.
"Like that?" Addison whispers as she sucks just below Meredith's earlobe.
"Yeah, like that-" says Meredith, as she moans when Addison takes her earlobe into her mouth, and stocks on it, and nips on it, gently.
"We've been so busy I haven't been able to give you this attention," Addison whispers, as she leaves a trail of open-mouthed kisses down Meredith's neck and the back of her shoulders.
"Yes, Addie-" Meredith begs, her breaths becoming ragged.
"Hmm, do you like my teeth… Here?" asks Addison, as she nibbles into Meredith's shoulder.
"Yes- yes- oh, Addison-" Meredith begs, as she curls into Addison's touch, and her eyes flutter to the back of her head.
"I love that you like that," says Addison, as Meredith holds her hand, and squeezes it gently.
"I do," says Meredith, as she brings her other hand up, to guide Addison's lips to her own so that she can kiss her again. "I love that's involved with you kissing me."
***** END OF CHAPTER 50