All my Christmas shopping is done, so more time to write! This'll probably be my last chapter until after Christmas, so I'll try to make it a long one. : Call it my early Christmas present to all of you. Because I love all of you SO much for your reviews. Happy Holidays!

Do I look like I've just won the lottery and boughten the rights to GA? No… I didn't think so.

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"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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'Oh fuck…'

"Addi—"

"Don't Addi me," she cut him off, "Why did you lie? Are you with Meredith?"

"No," he said truthfully.

"Lying doesn't suit you Derek."

"I'm not with her. She's in the hospital Addison," he said tersely.

Addison was silent for a moment.

'So maybe she does have some compassion.'

"That still doesn't tell me why you lied to me!" she burst out.

'Maybe not.'

"She almost died. There was no way in hellI wasn't going to come." he said tersely and hung up the phone.

Almost immediately Meredith's home phone rang. Derek grabbed it.

"Hello?"

"How did I know you would be there?" her voice came through the line with a giggle.

"Oops. You got me red handed."

"I missed you when I woke up. I thought maybe I had imagined that you had come. I even had to ask the nurse if you had really been here."

"And what did she say?" he asked as he pulled something out from underneath him. He laughed, realizing they were his boxers. His cute Dr. Seuss boxers. The ones his nieces had sent him for his birthday. He'd wondered where they'd gone.

"She said 'A very handso—Why are you laughing?"

"You wear my boxers to bed?"

She giggled again. "Oops. You got me red handed."

'She wears my cute Dr. Seuss boxers to bed?'

"So, you're in my bedroom?" she continued.

'Why did I leave her?'

"Mm hmm… It's very messy."

'Addison would never wear my cute Dr. Seuss boxers to bed.'

"Well you know I would have cleaned it, but between getting in an accident and going into a coma, I just didn't have enough time," she said sarcastically.

'Meredith would… Meredith does.'

He laughed, "I like it messy. It's very… you."

"So you're saying I'm messy?"

"Would I be lying if I said no?"

"Yes!" she laughed. "What are you doing all by yourself in that big house?"

"Actually, I was thinking I might go to the hospital to visit this beautiful woman I know."

"Oh yes? I think she might be very excited about that."

"Might she want dinner? I make a mean green eggs and ham," he said, smiling.

"She might… in fact, she does. But only if you bring the boxers. These hospital gowns are quite… open. Very uncomfortable."

He stifled a laugh at her discomfort. "Does the madam require anything else from her abode?"

"Nope. Only you."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," he said before turning the phone off. He stood up and walked down to kitchen tossing the boxers and his jacket onto the floor beside the door so he wouldn't forget either. A bowl of half eaten cereal sat on the kitchen table, next to the open box of cereal. He chuckled softly to himself as he put it away and washed the bowl out. The refrigerator proved to be full of all the ingredients he needed, and just as he cracked the eggs open and poured them into the pan, his cell phone rang again.

He looked at the display and frowned.

'Addison. Again…'

"Yes?"

"When are you coming home?"

"I'm not."

"Yes, yes you are. When can I expect you home?"

"Addi— I don't want to do this on the phone."

"Do what Derek? Tell me that you're staying in Seattle with Meredith? Go ahead. Tell me over the phone. Because no matter where or how you tell me, I won't believe you."

"What?"

"Derek, last time I came to Seattle you claimed you weren't going to leave Meredith. But whose bed do you sleep in now? Mine. So you can say you're going to stay with her all you want, because I know you'll come back. You always do."

He didn't say anything. The eggs were almost finished cooking, and he added the precooked ham and green dye.

"Shit," he muttered as he dropped the bottle into the eggs and ham.

"Shit? That's all you have to say is shit?"

"Addison, shut up. I dropped something into the eggs."

"What eggs? Are you cooking for your precious 'Oh God, I almost died, Derek save me!' girlfriend?"

"Don't say that about her."

"Has she blurted out her feelings of loneliness since you left? Has she told she's missed you, and that she loves you?"

"Addison—"

"Derek, don't. Go play with your tutti frutti almost dead girlfriend, and when you feel like coming back to reality, call me."

The line went dead and Derek shoved the phone deep in his pocket.

'Tutti frutti girlfriend? What the hell is a tutti frutti?'

He slid the green eggs and ham from the pan to a tupperware container, and grabbed the bottle of sparkling apple cider he had found in the fridge.

'Meredith is not a tutti frutti.'

He put it all in a bag, and gently set down two champagne glasses on top of it all. On his way out he put the boxers in with the food, and shrugged his jacket on.

The same nurse was at the desk when he arrived on the fifth floor.

"She's been asking about you," she said with a smile.

"I heard she didn't really believe I had come before."

The nurse blushed, hoping her patient hadn't told him what she had said about him. He grinned and walked into Meredith's room.

"I thought you were never going to come," she said.

"And leave you here waiting for me? Never." He pulled out the boxers and tossed them at her. She giggled as they landed above her head.

'That damn giggle. Gets me every time. It's so intoxicating… I want to kiss her.'

"Here are your eggs and ham, perfectly green," he said, setting them down on the bedside table.

'Want to kiss her.'

"And a bottle of sparkling cider, to substitute for champagne," he said, setting the bottle and glasses down with a flourish.

'Need to kiss her.'

She smiled and took a bite of the green eggs and ham.

"Mmm… tasty."

"They better be. I slaved over a hot stove to make them," he said, sitting down next to her on the bed.

'Have to kiss her.'

He poured out the cider and handed her a glass.

"To a fast recovery."

"I'll toast to that," she said clinking her champagne flute to his.

He took a drink, savoring the sweet bubbly taste.

'Mustn't kiss her.'

She awkwardly tried to drink it, before he stopped her. He pulled out a straw from the bag and set it in the drink.

"You think of everything," she said, taking a sip.

'Must kiss her.'

Another bite went in her mouth.

'Mustn't kiss her.'

And another.

'Must kiss her.'

And another.

'Mustn't kiss her.'

She held out the fork with a bite on it to him. He took the bite, and she slowly pulled the fork out of his mouth.

'Must kiss her…'

He took the fork and set it down on the table next to the container.

"Why'd you do that?"

"Shh…" he said, leaning down so his face was millimeters away from hers.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

And he kissed her.

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Romance at its finest. Merry Christmas everyone!