Okay I know I promised I'd try and update faster, but I lied. I'm sorrrrry :-. Blame it on the Christmas shopping.
STILL don't own anything.
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"I love you."
She looked at him and smiled.
"I love you too Derek."
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"I wish I could kiss you," he murmured, running his fingers through her hair again.
"Patience is a virtue Derek. Didn't they ever teach you that at school?"
"Mmm… I must have missed that day," he mumbled, moving closer to her.
She smiled as he settled on kissing her hand.
"There, that'll have to do," he whispered.
"Do until when?"
"Until it's safe to kiss you without sending you into convulsions."
A giggle escaped through her smile. She closed her eyes, and felt the warmth of his lips spread through her body as he kissed her hand again. It was then she knew. She was going to be okay. She was going to live.
Derek smiled as he watched her drift off, kissing her hand softer and softer until she finally fell asleep. He stood up and walked to the door. He took one more glance at her as he turned the handle, and walked out, closing the door quietly behind him.
"How'd it go?" the nurse asked tentatively.
He looked up, startled to hear the nurse's voice.
"Fine. It went…fine," he said, not mentioning the fact that she had woken up. She was asleep again, and he didn't want anyone to wake her until he got back.
He walked out of the hospital and into the bright sunshine of a new day. Almost on autopilot, he walked the familiar path to her house, reminiscing over times he'd had with her before Addi had showed up.
'It's not the chase.'
'What?'
'You and me. It is not the thrill of the chase. It's not the game. It's... It's your tiny, ineffectual fists. And your hair.'
'My hair?'
'It smells good.'
Her hair. Even drenched in blood it was beautiful. She was beautiful. He looked up and stared straight at her house. He could picture her out on the porch, dancing away to her own music with a bottle of tequila.
'So, you blew me off for a bottle of tequila. Tequila's no good for you -- doesn't call, doesn't write. It's not nearly as much fun to wake up to.'
'Take me for a ride, Derek.'
Oh God how he wished he could. He wished he could pick her up and take her out of all her pain. Take her to his car and drive away from everything. From the hospital, from Addi, and from her misery.
'It's my fault. It's my fault she's in all this misery. I shouldn't have left.'
He pulled the spare key he'd kept for all these years from its worn place in his leather wallet, and unlocked her door. A wave of memories overcame him as he walked through the door.
'If only it hadn't taken me three years to figure that out.'
The door shut behind him as he gave it a little push with his foot. He remembered how many times they had come through that door, entangled in one another, gasping for breath between hot and heavy kisses.
Her house seemed like it had been frozen in time. A coffee mug was haphazardly shoved on the entryway table, her pale lipstick having stained the rim. He smiled, picturing her rushing to get to work that morning, taking one last gulp of the piping hot coffee before running out the door. The faint sounds of a TV still left on echoed throughout the empty house. He walked upstairs and into her bedroom, stepping over a pile of laundry. The bed was unmade, and her clothes were strewn across the room. He laid down on her bed, picking up a pillow and smelling it, smelling her.
His cell phone rang, and he absentmindedly picked it up.
"Shepherd," he said automatically.
"And I half expected it to be Meredith who picked up the phone."
"Why are you calling Addi?"
"The better question would be, what are you doing in Seattle?"
"I already told you. I'm doing a neuro consult for Richard."
"Oh it that so? Then why is it that Richard called here to ask your advice on a case? And why is it that he was calling from Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles?"
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Finally some problems in the perfect sappiness of the story. You like?