"So how did the game compare to the Yankees?" Preston asked once he and Addison had been seated, they had chosen to get dinner after the game instead of just going back home.
"Full disclosure, I was never a big fan of baseball, Derek, Mark and the whole Shepherd clan love it, but I was just happy going to the opera. When you are the sole voice of dissent at thanksgiving you kinda end up doing what everyone wants, it is nice not having twenty other people trying to explain the game to me."
"You hate baseball, then why did you say yes." Preston wondered, it was so rare for surgeons to get days off so why Addison would use hers to go to a baseball game when she hated it was beyond him.
"Because you are probably one of the few people who asked me to hang out after work" Addison admitted, "and because you look like you want someone to hang out with."
"I do?"
"Yes, you do. You went to Stevens for thanksgiving and helped her cook a turkey, invited Grey over to your apartment, helped O'Malley practices his sutures. What I listen to hospital gossip when it's not about me." Addison confessed, "My point is you've been looking for a friend someone to hang out with, and so have I, I need a friend."
"So you want to be friends."
Addison nodded, "I want to be friends, plus baseball isn't so bad."
"I like the opera as well, we can go see a show together."
"Good" Addison smiled, Burke may be a bit of a stickler for rules, but he was good company
"Great. So how are things going between you and Shepherd."
"We are working on it. What about you and Yang how's that going?"
"Everything is okay, she wants to spend the weekend at the hospital getting in as many surgeries as she can."
Addison snorted because she could believe it.
Of course, Yang would give up a day with her boyfriend to do more surgeries, "She reminds me of Derek you know surgeries being the be-all and end-all of all things in their life; hopefully she learns to prioritise better."
"Really," Preston asked, intrigued.
"Derek once spent a full week in the hospital doing back to back surgeries and consults just because I booked a holiday to the Bahamas."
"That is something Christina would do." Preston freely admitted
x.x.x.x
Christina found herself lounging on the Ortho ward waiting for her attending to show his face, she was promised a surgery, interesting surgeries but instead, all she had seen was a broken leg which was later placed into a cast then an arm out of the socket which she popped back in.
No surgeries, no interesting cases and she was using her eighty-hour limit on the most boring man alive while Burke got to enjoy beer, sunshine and baseball.
"I am so glad that I will be out of the plastic next week, all Sloan does is flirt and send me to get coffee for him. So where is Dr Chang?" Izzie asked looking around not seeing the man anywhere, she hadn't really seen him all week.
"He is around somewhere; coughing up dust the man is such a bore I don't know how he's the head of Ortho. I can't wait to move onto Neuro."
"Really? I thought you hated Shepherd."
"Trust me, you will be glad to move on after a week in Ortho…. So do you really hate Meredith or are you just working through somethings."
"Look I get that Meredith is your 'person' and that you have to defend her, but you didn't walk into that room with us Shepherd was crying. How would you feel in Burke started dating a porter and you have to work with her."
"It's not the same thing, Meredith never knew about Addison."
"The first time." Izzie corrected, "Meredith didn't know about Addison the first time, but she knows now, and she was kissing him a week ago. She has been complaining that Addison stole her McDreamy away do you realised how messed up that is?" Izzie questioned shifting from one foot to the other, "Addison is married to Derek if anything Meredith is the thief." Izzie stated bitterly.
"Okay, what is going on with you?" Yang asked this was a lot bigger than Meredith kissing McDreamy.
"Nothing." Izzie denied, "I'm fine, I am just wondering how you can stand here defending her when she keeps making the same mistake."
"Izzie-"
"I've got to go Sloan told me to get a coffee for him." With that poor attempt of a lie, Izzie made her way off the ward.
x.x.x.x
"There you go Abigail, spa weekend bought and paid for, and you can choose one weekend to have off next month."
"What are you doing?" Preston asked, watching Addison hand over an envelope to one of the nurses.
"Giving my top nurse a gift to thank her for her hard work." Addison replied back after finishing her interaction with Abi, "You might want to try that."
"But why?"
"They've just come back from striking because of the way they are treated for one, and for another it makes the nurses on my ward the happiest in the entire hospital."
"That because you are bribing them, you do know they get paid for being here." Preston pointed out, he'd caught a glimpse of the spa Addison had chosen as a gift, and it was one of the high-end ones. Preston himself had looked into booking a couple massage for Christina and himself, but of course, it hadn't worked out.
"Attitude like that is why none of your nurses wants to any overtime on your ward," Addison stated, behind psych and a few others, cardiac was one of the worst department in the hospital when it came to nurses coverage.
"Sloan!" Burke called out waving Mark over, "Did you know Shepherd is giving out spa packages to the nurses?"
"Yeah, she stole the idea from me, I've been giving my nurses-"
"A case of STD?" Addison slipped in cheerfully.
"I've slept with you."
"Don't remind me," Addison grumbled stealing the strawberry yoghurt off of Mark's tray as retaliation, plus Mark didn't even like strawberry.
"As I was saying the nurses on my ward gets a voucher to the hair salon."
"And the Neuro nurses get one for the nail salon" Derek slid in dropping a kiss on Addison's head before taking the last seat at the lunch table available, which unfortunately was also next to Mark.
Derek had seen Addison having lunch with Burke and was about to make his way out the door when he heard Burke calling Mark over.
It wasn't like he was in competition with Mark or that he was even threatened by him having lunch with Addison, especially in the middle of the hospital, where everything the two of them would do will be repeated, directed and reported for analysis by the entire hospital.
Derek wasn't jealous or threatened; he just didn't want people talking about Addison, he was helping her out. It was what any good decent, non-jealous husband would do.
"Seriously, you all do this?" Preston asked wondering why any of them would spend the time or money doing this year-round, there was such a thing as Christmas bonuses.
"Yeah, we did it in New York, I don't see why we can't in Seattle." Derek supplied placing the extra banana he grabbed for later onto Addison's tray, if he didn't keep 'sneaking' fruit into her meal, she would never have any.
"That was all private practices with ten nurses top, this is a hospital with over eighty of them how are you guys even affording this?" Burke asked he knew being a surgeon paid well but not enough to be handing out top-end spa days as if they were tic-tac.
"Well, I only do it for the nurses on my ward, and it's only going to the top-performing nurse of the month. Either the nurses choose who they want it to go to, or I just pick someone." Addison said, taking a bite of her chicken burger, she was trying not to draw attention to the fact that Derek and Mark were both sat at a table just eating lunch.
She was also pretending not to see or hear how the noise in the cafeteria dropped several octaves the moment Derek sat down, as much as she hated to Addison silently had to thank Bizzy for all her lessons in controlling her facial expression.
Addison noted Preston look of surprised as both men just sat and ate lunch, she gently shook her head stopping Preston from saying something, this was a very precarious situation, and one word could have Derek storming off or could lead to a fight.
"Am I the only one who doesn't do this?" Preston asked instead of questioning Derek about his seat choice.
"More like we are the only three doctors who do, plus we can afford it." Derek contributed.
"That is true." Addison smiled, she had been waiting for a chance to bring this up, and Derek had finally given her an opening. Moreover, it would give Derek and Mark something to bicker about like they always did, "It really doesn't hurt to be the highest-paid head of department at this hospital."
"No." Mark denied his mouth hanging open.
From year to year, each one of their practices always made different earnings, but for the last two years, Mark's had been the top earner out of the three of them. He couldn't believe he lost the spot… to babies of all people.
"There's no way you earn more than me," Derek argued.
"I earn at least ten percent more than any of you." Addison bragged, taking a sip of water. She wanted to double-check so had sneaked a look at both of their pay-check when they hadn't been paying attention.
"How? Richard can't-"
"Oh, it wasn't Richard, do you even know how much people in my field earn."
"Plastic is a multi-billion dollar industry." Mark defended.
"So is Neuro." Derek countered
"And Cardiac, I deal with people's heart, living beating heart.." Preston chimed in.
"Screw the heart, I am talking about the brain, people need their brains to live, to do anything," Derek said dismissively, "the brain controls the heart. If you are brain dead you are dead, if your heart stops working you can get a new one"
"I deal with their faces. Do you know how much money people spend to look better?"
As the men kept bickering about which one of their jobs was more important, Addison just sat back, enjoying the moment feeling smug.
As right as they were about how important their jobs were, nothing tugged at the heartstrings more than vulnerable children.
"Sorry to just leave in the middle of this fascinating conversation but Richard is letting me scrub in on one of his surgeries… but just a thought if I'm the highest-paid person at this table who's second?" Addison smiled, dropping a quick kiss on Derek's lip before making her escape.
That should keep Mark and Derek arguing about pay-checks instead of the fact that Mark slept with her, although she did feel bad for doing this to Burke as well.
If they were back in New York Addison would have to plan an activity for both Derek and Mark as a way to 'compensate' for her earning, but they weren't in New York they were in Seattle.
She wasn't even sure if she could do something for Mark now, maybe send him a gift card to… It was best to leave things alone, one happy lunch didn't mean everything was fixed.
x.x.x.x
"Did you know Shepherd is the highest-paid department head at the hospital" Preston walked into the bedroom to ask angrily flossing his teeth.
"Who Derek? He is head of neurology so I guess that makes sense."
"No, Addison, she's the highest-paid."
"Did Webber tell you this?"
"She did, at lunch."
"Then how do you know she's not lying."
"Because she's not, I confronted Richard about it, and he just gave me some excuse about not disclosing personal information," Burke grumbled walking back into the bathroom to dispose of the dental floss in the bin. "Oh and her interview yesterday got someone to donate three-quarters of a million pounds to the hospital which is practically a million dollars."
"And you are pissed about this?" Yang questioned not understanding why Burke was in a mood over a donation to the hospital.
"It's been less than twenty-four hours since her interview, and someone has already set up a Go fund me page for the Quints, it already has twenty-thousand dollars in there. In less than twenty-four hours." Preston repeated in case she hadn't heard the first time.
"Are you trying to tell me you want to switch to obstetrics?" Christina joked closing her medical encyclopaedia and switching off the bedside lamp.
"I'm saying that we should all earn the same amount as head of departments."
"Wait," Yang couldn't believe it, "Last week when you found out that you are earned more than the head of psych you were happy, but you have a problem with Shepherd earning more than you."
"I don't have a problem, I've been here longer."
"Dr Wilson has been at the hospital for twenty years; way longer than you and you were still happy to earn more than her."
"What are you saying?" Preston questioned wondering where Christina was going with her statement.
"You had no problem earning more than another head of department so you shouldn't have a problem with someone earning more than you." Christina explained getting distracted and forgetting to ask about the fact that Shepherd and Sloan had lunch together.
She didn't want to accuse Preston of being sexist but the whole conversation had a whiff of it; it was okay for him to earn more than a female head of departmetn who'd been at the hospital longer than he had but not okay for another female to earn more than him.
x.x.x.x
Derek walked into the elevator feeling tired, he and sixteen others had just pulled off a twelve-hour surgery slowly and carefully reconstructing someone's spinal cord.
Derek was so tired that he could not be bothered to make small talk; even with Meredith.
Three glorious days where he didn't have to see or smell the hospital in any way shape or form, he might even go hiking.
"You are getting along with her," Meredith stated as the elevator door closed, they were the only two in it so she could talk freely without anyone overhearing and gossiping about it. "What does it mean?"
"It means I am getting along with her."
"But you kissed me."
"I know" Derek sighed, leaving the sentence just as it was he knew what he did, why he did it.
"You chose her, but you kissed me."
"I KNOW!" Derek snapped, staring at the elevator light as it went down a floor, he didn't need a reminder of what he's been doing. "It's complicated, getting along with her isn't the hard part."
"Then what is?"
Derek reached over, pulling the stop button causing the elevator to stop in between floors, there wasn't enough time to finish this conversation in just one ride even if it was the world's slowest elevator. "Meredith… I chose her." Derek sighed instead, swiftly avoiding the question.
"I know that. I knew that." She amended because as much as she tried to say the kiss didn't mean anything, it meant something, "But then you had to go kiss me. You complicated things for me by kissing me, and now I'm trying to uncomplicate them."
"How? By asking me questions."
"By figuring out why you did it. Why would you kiss me?"
"You know why." Because I can't let go of you.
"No, I don't" Meredith denied. "I don't know because you chose her, but you kept coming back to me, it's not really choosing her; it's just…"
"Meredith."
"You don't get to do that! You don't get to act like this is hard for you is not. It's hard for me, people are talking about me again, the nurses and the porters and the lunch ladies. I am being talked about because of you."
"Because I kissed you."
"Yes, be-"
"And you kissed me." Derek pointed out, turning to look at her "You kissed me back, it wasn't just me on those walks, you came as well, and you kissed me back."
"You are the one whose married."
"And you knew that. You knew it, and you still came, you still kissed me as well." Derek repeated because it was necessary, she needed to realise that she had kissed him as well, she wanted him just as much he wanted her.
"I shouldn't have."
"You don't mean that." Derek replied, he could see it in her eyes.
"I do. I shouldn't have kissed you. I became the mistress, I made myself a mistress, and that's on me."
Derek was about to say he didn't regret the kiss, his lips were already open.
The sentences already forming on his tongue but he remembered the look on Addison's face, the heartbroken look when she was talking about Derek kissing Meredith.
Then a flash of from that morning, of Addison wrestling her shoes from Doc, the image was enough to still Derek's tongue, it was enough to give him pause.
Addison was trying, and Derek wanted to try as well, they were 'getting along' it's been a couple of days with no arguments or fighting between them.
Derek sighed taking a step back, he hadn't even realised how close they gotten during their talk, close enough to touch her if he wanted to.
"I am sorry for kissing you…. This is your last week as my intern we can just get through it and avoid each other."
It left a bitter taste in his mouth doing this to Meredith it really did, but Addison was here she was trying and so would he.
Rule one; no seeing the exes or putting yourself in situations you know your spouse wouldn't like.
Derek reached over to stop button just as Meredith's hand touched the button, it ended up with their fingers intertwined over the button neither of them moving just staring at their hands.
Five seconds, Derek kept his hands there for five seconds before moving away.
"I'm not married, but even I know that marriage shouldn't be this hard," Meredith whispered before pressing the button so they would start moving again.
They rode the rest of the way down in complete silence with Derek back pressed against the back of the elevator while Meredith stood right by the door.
"You are right. You are not married, I am." Derek called out as Meredith began walking away.
He wasn't even sure why he did it, maybe as a reminder to her or to himself.
Writer's thoughts
Derek has passed the first test, he took a step back and he remembered that he was married but does this really mean anything.
Either way it is a step in the right direction for Team Addek.
Comments and reviews are appreciated.
