Author's Note : Thank you all for your reviews and your thoughts/opinions to my question asked in the previous chapter. Here is the next chapter!
The door of the NICU room was pushed open gently, allowing light from the hospital's corridors to pour into the comfortably dimmed room. Inside, Addison sat by an incubator, a finger stroking gently down the arm of the tiny infant.
Meredith slided in, closing the door behind her softly. Addison smiled, knowing that the presence of this person didn't belong to Derek but to someone else. "I didn't ask for you." she said softly, almost like a smug remark. Meredith approached her, peeking down at the sleeping infant in the incubator.
"I was late today." she admitted. "Bailey thought it'd be a good punishment if I got stuck with you for the rest of today." she said, only causing Addison to laugh.
"How is she?" Meredith asked, her eyes gesturing to the infant Addison was stroking.
"She's doing good. If she gain a few more pounds by tonight, she can be taken out of the incubator tomorrow morning. But we would need to keep her here for a day or two for observation before she can go home with her mother." Addison explained, a smile spread across her face as the infant stirred in her sleep. Meredith lean in, her blonde hair merging with Addison's red curls as she place a finger in and tickled lightly at the infant's sole. She twitched a little, causing Meredith to giggle. "She's beautiful." Meredith whispered. Addison only nodded silently.
After awhile of fondling over the baby, Addison pulled away, tying her hair up into a ponytail. "C'mon, Meredith. We have other patients to check on." she said.
"But I don't want to leave her." Meredith pouted playfully, settling down on the chair Addison was sitting on before. Addison rolled her eyes and picked up the pile of charts she left on the armchair.
"We'll come back later." she coaxed, starting to tug Meredith out of the chair. The blonde turn to her with puppy eyes.
"Promise?"
Addison laughed, nodding her head. "Alright, promise. Now let's go."
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Derek frowned as he caught the sight of Addison and Meredith walking out of the NICU together, a pile of files each of their hands. Addie didn't request for Meredith, did she? he wondered. Knowing the two women's position, Derek had doubted that Miranda Bailey would actually place Meredith under Addison. Besides, the intern that had almost always assigned to Addison was Izzie. Shaking his head, Derek headed on to the scrub room in preparation for his surgery.
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"Dr. Bailey." Derek greeted as Miranda headed into the scrub room, preparing to scrub in while he was scrubbing out.
"Dr. Shepherd." Miranda greeted back, looking at Derek oddly. It was rare that Derek would greet her with such formality.
"Did you assign Meredith to Addison?" he blurted out, pulling a couple of napkins out from the box to dry his hands. Miranda looked up at him with a frown.
"Yes, I did."
"Why?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Why not? There is alot Meredith could learn from Addison. And besides, she was late." Miranda said, pushing the button at the side of the sink with her elbow. Water poured down.
"Oh. So that was her punishment." Derek figured out. And Addie didn't request for her.
"Yes. Is there a problem, Dr. Shepherd?" Miranda's voice was professional as she rinsed the soap off her arms.
"No... not at all." Derek reassured with a smile.
"Good." Miranda simply said, then pushed open the door into the operating room.
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"We could have lunch together, today." Meredith suggested out of the blue as she and Addison returned to the NICU after all their patients have been checked. Addison looked up at her oddly.
"What?" Meredith asked. "You are always alone during lunch and I thought I could keep you company." she reasoned. Addison stood up from the chair and settled down on the couch while Meredith turned to face her.
"That's very kind of you, Meredith. But what about your friends?" she asked, not particularly believing her ears when Meredith suggested lunching with her.
"Well, I could tell them that you and I are stuck working on a case together, and I had to have lunch with you because there's no other choice." Meredith shrugged. Addison raised an eyebrow at her as she folded her arms in front of her chest, legs crossed over each other. "You just had to make me the wicked witch, don't you?"
Meredith laughed. "It's not like I have a choice. Or they'd think you've kidnapped my soul and brainwashed me or something. Besides, I want to have lunch with you, seriously."
Addison took awhile to consider it then shrugged. "Alright, sure." she agreed. Then both of them sat in silence for a moment.
"You know," Meredith started just as Addison look up at the same time, about to say something.
"We should probably find a--" Addison continued, knowing they're both thinking about the same thing. Meredith turned around to her with a nod. "...deserted area?" she asked.
"Yea." Addison agreed. "Just in case--"
"Derek see us." Meredith ended the sentence for her.
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"Hey!" Cristina greeted as she settled down on the table with Alex and Izzie. George had been eating lunch with Callie ever since the Meredith-incident. Izzie and Alex looked up to her at the same time.
"Where's Meredith?" she asked, pulling the chair in slightly as her gaze shifted back and forth between Izzie and Alex.
"Having lunch with Satan." Alex informed, shoving a french fry into his mouth.
"Seriously?" Cristina asked in disbelief.
"Yea." Izzie shrugged. "She said something about being asked to work on a case with her over lunch."
"Wow." Cristina muttered, picking up her tuna sandwich. "Bless her."
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"What have you got there?" Meredith asked as Addison entered the darkened room quickly, hoping that no one sees her. Meredith was already sitting by the table, her legs folded on the chair with her lunch box opened in front of her.
Addison pulled out the chair and placed two chocolate puddings down in front of her, settling down. Meredith raised an eyebrow. "Chocolate pudding for lunch?" she asked.
"Yea." Addison nodded. "I'm in a mood for it. Besides, I'm not exactly hungry at the moment." she explained, then push one towards Meredith. "I got one for you too. What have you got?" she asked, pulling her chair closer to the table as she started to pull open the cover of the pudding.
"Ham and cheese sandwiches." she said, pulling out one and handling it to Addison. "And I've got one for you, too." she smiled. Addison looked up at her questioningly, knowing that obviously, the lunch was packed from home and prepared for only one person. Meredith grabbed Addison's hand and placed the sandwich onto her palm.
"Eat." she instructed. "Chocolate pudding only is obviously not enough for anyone."
Addison grinned as she took a bite into the sandwich, leaving the chocolate pudding on the table as dessert. "You know," she said between her bites, picking at the soft, white bread. "When you said 'deserted area', I thought you were referring to our secret meeting place." she said.
Meredith cocked an eyebrow at her. "Oh, so you do admit that that is our secret meeting place"
Addison simply shrugged. "Well calling it 'the corridor with empty gurneys and a vending machine' would be too long." she explained, sharing a laugh with Meredith.
"That place's a little too bright." Meredith said. "It's deserted, but bright. We wouldn't have anytime to scramble away if someone were to walk in on us." she explained, remembering that Derek and Preston had both walked in on them previously. "And you didn't bring any files with you?" she pointed out, recalling that she told Addison she was to inform her friends that she'll be working on a case with her over lunch. Meredith had expected Addison to bring in charts, or files, just in case any of them came looking for Meredith.
"It's dark in here, Meredith. It's not exactly a good lighting condition for anyone to read in. And besides, if we turn on the lights, anyone outside will actually have a better chance of seeing us having lunch together, including Derek. If the lights are switched off, people kinda get the idea that no one's in the room, you know." she reasoned.
"Hmm... I thought I should be the one pointing out the whole 'lights on and lights off' thing." Meredith narrowed her eyes at her.
"Well, what can I say? Great minds think alike." Addison laughed.
And it's like the pagers were a curse to them, one started beeping. Addison place the half-eaten sandwich on top of the pudding cap and pulled her pager out in front of her, squinting under the absence of light. "It's Derek." she said, mildly surprised.
"Are you going to answer that?" Meredith looked up at her expectantly. "I don't know." Addison admitted. "Should I? I mean, he doesn't usually page me without needing a consult, you know." she explained, putting the pager back into her lab coat pocket.
"Hmm..." Meredith started.
"Oh my god." Addison exclaimed softly, her eyes widening.
"What?" Meredith turned to where Addison was looking at.
"Derek." Addison announced. "I think he's coming! Do something!" she panicked. Meredith unfold her legs and leaped off the chair, starting towards the exit of the room. Addison shook her head frantically. "No, he'll see you!" she said. Meredith rushed back.
"Hide!" Addison hissed, her eyes fixed on Derek as the man whirled his head back and forth, looking for something, or someone--probably for Addison herself.
Meredith's eyes landed on the coffee table that thankfully, was covered with a table cloth that flows all the way down to the ground. She started over there, preparing to take cover when Addison shrieked.
"The lunchbox!" she cried, Meredith turned back and grabbed it. "Pudding!" Addison reminded her, picking up the pudding and tossed it to Meredith's outstretched hands. She caught it and slided under the coffee table as Derek turned into the room they were in with a smile, spotting Addison.
Knowing that their gaze had met, Addison's lips curled up into a smile as Derek pushed open the door into the room. She hooked her leg to the chair Meredith was on and pulled it under the table.
"Hey." he greeted her, walking around the table to give her a kiss on her forehead. "I've been looking everywhere for you." he said. "I paged you."
"I know." she said, leaning forward to give Derek a peck on his lips. "I was about to go looking for you." she half-lied. She was only thinking if she should answer his page. Derek pulled out the chair beside her and sat down, his eyes drifting down to the half-eaten sandwich slice, then to the chocolate pudding on the table.
"Tell me you're eating more than just that." he said. He always had a problem with the Addison's eating habits because they aren't deemed as a normal, healthy diet by a doctor. And to Derek, you are suppose to have proper meals during mealtimes--a plate of spaghetti, a hamburger, something more than just a slice of sandwich with pudding, or salad. But Addison knew her own body well, and she always insisted that it was enough for her to grow, pointing out now and then that she was almost as tall as Derek from time to time.
"I am." Addison lied, taking another bite into the sandwich. Like since when did he actually start caring? she thought. It wasn't that she minded though.
Liar. Meredith thought under the coffee table at Addison's answer, trying not to chuckle. She bit into her own sandwich and crossed her legs in her hiding place, leaning against the wall behind her as she listens on the conversation.
"So, why were you looking for me?" Addison asked.
"The contractor for our house is coming this Sunday to look at the land that we are going to build our house on." Derek explained, reaching out for the chocolate pudding and opening it, snapping open the plastic spoon provided on top of the cover.
A house? They're building a house? What's going to happen to the trailer? Meredith thought. It wasn't like she was intentionally eavesdropping. It's hard not to when she was in the same room as the Shepherds.
"He was going to come tomorrow but I told him I wasn't able to make it." Derek said. "Because I wanted to show you the land where I thought of having the house before making the final decision." he grinned. Addison looked to him with a raised eyebrow.
"What are you doing here in the dark anyway?" he asked, digging into the pudding.
"I needed a private enough place to think..about something." she covered up. "And you do realise that you're stealing my lunch, right?" she teased, hoping that it'll divert the topic, then opening her mouth as Derek directed the spoonful of pudding towards her.
"Yea, I do. And now I'm giving it back to you." he said, laughing as Addison chomped down on the pudding. Licking the syrup off her lips, Addison tore out a piece of sandwich and fed it to Derek. While a smile hung on her face as she did so, her mind was whirling.
At the same time that she still love her husband deeply, Addison found herself slowly becoming attracted to Meredith.
Author's Note : I don't know about you guys but I love the lunch scene myself. LOL. I hope you all like it!
-Jessica