Four Days Later, 9:45 p.m.

"Dr. Montgomery?"

"Yes."

"This is the front desk. We have Derek on the line for you."

"Put him through. Thank you. Hey sweetie!"

"Hey." I missed his voice!

"How is everything? How's your family doing?"

"Better. Sorry I haven't called it's been kind of hectic out here. My dad's awake though and his scans all look good. I'm not concerned. How's the hospital? Still in one piece without Bailey?"

"More or less. I took over with her interns though."

"Why?"

"I volunteered. The residents they found weren't making the cut with that bunch."

"Aren't you just the nicest person ever."

"I try. So when are you coming home? I'll pick you up."

"I should be home Sunday around 3, but I'll call when I'm positive." There was a pause, and Addison wasn't sure if he was still there.

"Derek?"

"God, I miss you. I miss your voice. I miss your smile. I miss waking up to your sea of red hair on my pillow. I guess I didn't realize how much the little things mattered until they were gone." Addison was touched.

"I miss you too. My hotel room is so empty alone. I think I'm just going to read some more and pass out. I have an early surgery tomorrow."

"Alright. Yeah it's almost one here I should go to. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"You better."

"Oh, and Addison, answer the door." With that, the line clicked dead, leaving a very confused Addison on one end.

"What the hell…." Addison was startled by a knocking at the door. How could he have known? Confused, she walked to the door and peaked to see who it was. It was a bellhop, and he was holding something red.

"Dr. Montgomery? These are for you. We were told to deliver them at precisely 9:55." He handed her a dozen roses.

"They're beautiful. Who sent them?"

"There's a card, but I'd guess you have an admirer." Addison placed the flowers down and opened the card. Cause they're your favorite, and you're my favorite. Missing you like crazy. Derek.

"Thank you very much. You just made my night."

"Your welcome. I also have a message for you from the front desk. Someone called for you but wasn't allowed to be put through since you weren't here. Paula said it was a 212 area code though so if you know anyone in New York you might want to give them a call. Would you like them to be put through automatically next time?" Addison's expression turned cold as soon as he said New York. There was only one person that would call her room, and not her cell phone or Derek's trailer.

"No, thank you. It's better this way. Good night." Shutting the door, Addison couldn't help but think of Mark. It was only a matter of time before he called you again. You knew this would happen. You have to be strong. You have Derek with you now, you're not alone. Glancing down at the flowers in her arms, Addison was reassured that no matter what happened, Derek would be there for her. Placing the flowers into some water, Addison moved under her covers to get some sleep. She spent the entire night tossing and turning.

Two Days Later 11:00 a.m.

Bailey's interns watched as Addison attempted to save a mother and child injured in a fire at a downtown building. It was an intense surgery, and Addison's typically calm demeanor was fading fast as she vigorously worked to save them both. The baby got out fine; it was just the mother that was the problem. For almost three hours she had been working until the mother finally stabilized around 11. Addison walked out of the O.R., took a couple of deep breaths, and returned to her calm and confident demeanor. It was the way she operated.

The group reconvened at the nurses' station after Addison cleaned up and the mother and baby were safely in their respective ICU's. They hadn't rounded yet because of the emergency. After covering everyone, Izzie, Meredith, and Addison returned to the nurses' station.

"Stevens, I want you close by the baby all day. Monitor his vitals closely. Grey, you'll be with the mother. Do the same. When she's awake, page me immediately." Addison checked her watch for the third time during rounds, obviously eager for Derek's returns. Her interns weren't stupid, and saw her preoccupation.

"Doesn't Dr. Shepherd get back today?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"You've checked your watch about four times in the last hour." Meredith announced, slightly embarrassed at talking to her attending in such away.

"Have I really? I guess I'm just nervous. I've missed him; a lot, actually. More than I ever thought I would." Addison said smiling. She smiled whenever she thought about him. What she didn't see was Derek, coming up behind her. Izzie and Meredith, noticed, but saw Derek's symbol to not say anything. They played along.

"Are you picking up this afternoon?"

"Yes, around 3. What's so funny?"

"Nothing at all. We better get to our patients." With that, both women scurried off as to not be too obvious, but turned the corner to peak back once safely out of range. Addison, shrugging it off as typical oddness, returned to her chart. Derek saw the opportunity to surprise her. Placing his stuff behind the desk, he quietly got behind her, placing both hands on her waist, and breathing softly into her neck, behind her ear and down. Addison jumped forward, surprised at who would be touching her. Spinning around, she was in awe of Derek in front of her.

"Oh my god!"

"Sorry, did I scare you?"

"Yes!" She responded, slapping him on the arm. "Come here. I missed you so much." They hugged, and all it took was one breath of her to push him over the edge. He pulled back and smiled at her.

"Come here." Taking her by the hand, he pulled her into the empty on-call room. He locked the door behind him. "Thought we could be alone for a little. I've missed you, too." Addison immediately moved closer to Derek, who was still next to the door. Immediately moving his hands to her sides, he turned so that she was against the door, and kissed her passionately.

"Smooth move, Dr. Shepherd."

"I try." He went back to kissing her, pushing her hard into the door behind them. "God, I feel like its been forever since I've seen you." He said, pulling back.

"I know. Why didn't you tell me you were coming back early? I would have picked you up."

"Where's the fun in that?" Kissing him again quickly on the lips, Addison took him by the hand and sat him down so they could catch up.

"How are you family? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, they calmed down. Took forever but enough reassuring and they're not bad."

"Good, I'm glad." Before anymore could be said, Derek and Addison returned to kissing. "I really did miss you." With that, she moved to push his sport jacket off his shoulders and run her hands up and through his hair. "It was a lonely couple of nights, and mornings. You're incredibly fun to wake up to, you know that?"

"Am I? Well thank you, your not too bad yourself. I actually wanted to talk to you about that. Well, "us" really." Before he could continue, Addison's pager went off.

"Damn, it's my smoke inhalation case from this morning. I need to go. What did you want to talk about?"

"Tonight; how about a romantic dinner? Some place fancy? We can talk then. Get to your patient. I'm going to go back to the trailer and get settled. I'll be back to check on some stuff later."

"Sounds good. Page me, and maybe we can finish our hello." Winking slyly, she unlocked the door and walked out.

4:00 p.m.

"Derek! Good to see you."

"Hello Richard." The men shook hands.

"How is everything? Are you ok? How's your dad?"

"He's doing well. We all are."

"You seem preoccupied."

"It's nothing. Just looking for Addi."

"You haven't seen her yet?"

"I have, I'm just…I have something to ask her. And I'm nervous. It's nothing really. I'm sure you have patients, and the board to run."

"Derek, I always have time for you. What's up? More relationship advice?"

"Sort of." He smiled. "I want to ask Addi to move in with me."

"Really? That's great, Derek. I'm happy for you both. I just think it may be a little soon, don't you? I mean she is fresh off her relationship with Mark."

"I know. And I wouldn't have thought of it if not for my dad's accident. We spent, what, a week apart. It was our first week apart since we started, and I realized I was miserable without seeing her everyday. Now that we are together, I want to spend all my time with her. I want to wake up next to her everyday. I know it's insane because our relationship is so new, but in some ways we have been together the entire time. Everything is so perfect right now, and I want to keep it that way."

"Well then. That's hard to argue with. I say go with what your hearts' telling you. It was like that with me and Adele, and we turned out alright."

"Thanks Richard."

"How are you going to ask?"

"I was going to bring it up at dinner tonight. We are going to the new French place; it's supposed to be nice."

"Good luck. Tell me how it goes."

"I will."

6:00 p.m.

"You're a hard girl to track down!"

"Hey sweetie. I'm sorry I know I said we'd get coffee but I'm just swamped."

"Don't worry about it. I made 8:30 reservations at that French place you wanted to try."

"Really? That's amazing. It's so hard to get into, though."

"Well I haven't seen you in a week so it's worth it. A friend of mine from undergrad is the manager and got us in. Will you be ready?"

"For fine food and you? I'll find time. And there is something you want to talk to me about right?"

"Yes. But it can wait. Get back to your patients. I'll meet you in the scrub room at 8?"

"I don't have anything to wear with me."

"Check your office." With that, Derek sauntered off. Addison followed, but gave up and headed towards her office. Inside, she found a dress and a note. I had Stevens run to Lord and Taylor and find you something because I know most of your fancy things are still in New York. Hope you like it. –D. Opening the box, she found a stunning dark green dress. It took her breath away. She heard a knock at the door.

"Dr. Montgomery? I see you found the dress."

"Izzie, it's amazing. How did you know my size?"

"Derek and I eye-balled it. I hope it fits."

"I'm sure it will. Thank you, Stevens."

"No problem. What's the occasion?"

"I don't know, and I don't care."

"Well have fun."

"Thanks.

8:00 p.m.

Addison finished writing out overnight notes for her patients with her interns when Derek found her.

"So who's on tonight?"

"I am."

"Alright, Grey. Here's a list of medicines for the baby. Keep a close eye on her and call me with any problems, I don't care what time."

"Okay. By the way, you look amazing." Addison blushed, but knew she did and smiled.

"Thanks. Alright, the rest of you, go home. I'll see you tomorrow." The interns walked off, gossiping as usual.

"Damn, she is McHot."

"Chill, Karev. She's not a piece of meat."

"Shut up, O'Malley. Did you not see her? I'd die to be Shepherd right now."

"Well your not. Someone like her wouldn't look at you like that in a million years. Deal." Yang chimed in, witty and bitter as usual.

"Bite me." With that, they all dispersed to change for the night.

8:02 p.m.

Addison returned to the locker room to touch up her make-up before Derek arrived. She heard the door open, but didn't look up to see who could be there. She continued working, and saw through the mirror that the person wasn't moving from the shadow by the door.

"Hello?" No response, yet.

"Hey Addison. Long time, no see." The gruff voice was one she recognized immediately, and it sent a chill up her spine.

"Mark?"

"You look beautiful. You always did clean up well. You going somewhere?"

"Why do you care? You didn't before."

"Ouch. That's cold Addi."

"Yeah, well, what can I say?"

"You going with him?"

"Derek? Again, none of your business. Mark, we are over. We've been over for a long time, long before we separated."

"Was that a yes?"

"Fine, ignore me. You're good at that. Yes, I'm going with Derek. And I'm late, so if you'll excuse me." As Addison reached for the door, Mark grabbed her forcibly by the arm and pulled her back. "What the hell are you doing? Don't touch me. You lost that right a long time ago."

"We aren't done. We need to talk. I want to give us another try. I couldn't sign before we talked."

"So now, because it's good for you, we're going to be a couple again? Please. You have no idea what it was like to be alone, to be ignored. I'm happy now."

"With Derek. It was always about Derek. You loved him from the start." Addison didn't respond, just looked straight at him. He was right, but that didn't need to be said.

"Mark, I don't know what to say. I have to go. Do you want to have coffee or something tomorrow?"

"Don't put me off. We're talking now. He can wait."

"Unlike you, I don't abandon people. Now if you'll excuse me." Before Addison could react, Mark was in front of her face, coming towards her. He had that look, passion and anger, in his eyes. "Mark, calm down."

"No Addison. I refuse to let him steal you from me. We are married. We belong together."

"Mark, you're hurting me." His hand was back on her arm.

"Really? Am I?" Addison prayed for Derek to come early and find her. He was getting angrier and angrier, and finally, through the door, she saw him at the nurses' station. Derek, please come in here now! He was talking to the nurse, and thankfully she pointed at the scrub room.

"Addison?"

"Derek, thank god."

"Mark."

"Derek, long time no see my man."

"Get away from her, now!" He loosened his grip, but Addison didn't move away.

"It's alright. I really came to see you anyway. My best friend. What a guy?"

"Addison, are you ok?"

"Hey! We are talking. Us. Best friends." Derek ignored him.

"Addi?" She nodded, her eyes reassuring him. He turned back to Mark. "What do you want, Mark?"

"My wife back, for starters."

"Look Mark, a lot's changed over the past few months."

"Don't care. We are still married, and you're trying to take her. You've been trying for six years now. I'm not stupid. I saw how you looked at her."

"Mark, I don't know what to say. There is a reason I came out here. I needed to get away from you guys. I couldn't handle my feelings for her anymore, so I left. I tried to be the bigger person and give you guys a chance to work. And what do you do? Take someone as special as her and treat her like crap. That was your mistake. You had your chance. It's my turn."

"You son of a bitch! Pretending to be my best friend all those years. You just wanted my girl."

"She's not property you ass. She's a person. And I treat her like one. We have a reservation to get to. Addison you ready?"

"Yes." Addison refused to be scared of him. Derek was there for her, and always would be. She began to move towards him, but Mark got in her way.

"Don't move."

"Don't speak to her like that. And don't you dare touch her."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Leave." Derek moved towards Addison, taking her hand as they went to walk out. They reached the door and walked out together into the hallway. Mark followed.

"Oh that's just great." He was yelling now. "My best friend and my wife, shacking up and leaving me to wallow alone." They stopped and turned to him.

"Mark, you're making a fool of yourself."

"Just tell me one thing, Shep."

"What?"

"Were you in love with her the whole time?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I need to know." Derek paused, and just stared at him. Switching his gaze between Addison and Mark, he realized he had to be honest.

"Mark, I knew you and Addison had a chance to work. You were with her first, so I kept my mouth shut. But yes, I have loved Addison since the day I met her. She's hard not to love." He smiled at her as he said the last part. She was visibly touched, as was everyone in the hallway who was watching, including Meredith. Before Derek could react, Mark lunged at him. They both went barreling backwards towards Addison's feet. Mark pulled back and punched Derek square in the jaw. Addison attempted to step in and help Derek, but Mark's arm pushed her back and she fell towards Meredith, who helped to steady her.

Derek was able to get enough leverage to push off Mark, and he was going to make him pay for hitting Addison.

"How dare you touch her, you bastard!" With all the adrenaline in his body, Derek punched Mark in the face. Before anymore went on, a few of the male doctors caught watching stepped in to separate the men. Richard came down at news of the fight, and caught them being pulled apart.

"What the hell is going on? Sloan? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Hello, Richard. Long time, no see."

"Shut up. You three, conference room, now!" Richard stormed off leading the way. Mark was escorted by the other doctors, and Addison went to Derek's side.

"Derek. Oh my god, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Addi. Are you ok? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I'm more concerned about you. Let me look at your face."

"We should really go talk to Richard before he gets madder."

"Fine. But I'm examining you after. Grey, could you grab us an ice pack please." Meredith jumped at the sound of her name.

"Of course." Going around the corner, she found one in a med kit. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Addison punched it to release the coldness as they began to walk up.

"Nice punch."

"Yeah well I'm pissed off."

8:45 p.m.

The three of them sat around the table, avoiding each other's gaze. Richard was pacing, and clearly pissed off.

"Someone better start talking before I lose it." Addison cleared her throat and began.

"I was getting ready for dinner when someone walked in to the locker room. It was Mark. He wanted to talk to me. I tried to avoid him and walk out when he pulled me back. He was getting madder and madder when Derek finally came in. We walked in to the hallway, but he just followed us. He started yelling about nothing and then lunged at Derek. They started to fight and some residents broke it up."

"You know, you'd think I was working with three med-students, not three world-class surgeons. Are you joking me with this Sloan? Showing up at a hospital and punching people out? You were the same hot-shot back in New York during your internship. Good to know nothing's changed."

"Why am I the bad guy here? I'm the one who lost their wife and best friend. He's the asshole."

"Don't do that. Don't blame me for your mistakes."

"Shut up, Derek. You're the reason…"

"Both of you shut up. Addison, could you leave the room please? And don't even try and fight me on this one."

"Fine. Be good; all of you." Addison walked out, closing the door behind her. Richard watched her go safely, and turned his attention back to the boys. His smile faded, and he was visibly angry.

"People punching people out on my surgical floor! How old are you two?"

"Richard…."

"Derek, don't. I don't want excuses."

"But, you need to understand…"

"You heard the man, shut it." Mark said, gaze unmoving. Richard was unimpressed.

"Derek, why don't you let give us a minute; have Addison examine your face." Derek knew not to argue, just got up and left. Richard moved towards Mark, who was still sitting down.

"Problem Richard?"

"Now listen up Sloan. You were a pompous, egotistical ass then and you're a pompous, egotistical ass now. Only with Derek to keep you in line, it didn't bother me as much. Listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once. You were never good enough for Addison. She is a special person. I think of her as family. She deserves the best, and from what I can see, Derek is the one who can do that for her. Derek, he's family too. I watch them together and know they are meant to be. Come near this hospital, or them, again, and I swear to god…"

"You threatening me, Richard?"

"No, just a friendly warning. I'm not going to take crap from you anymore. Leave them alone. You can see yourself out." With that, Richard walked out of the room, leaving a rather stunned Mark behind.

Okay the next chapter will pick up right after this, I just like the idea of Richard standing up for Derek and Addison a lot and wanted to leave it here. Like always, kindly review. I want to thank all of you who review when you read because it really helps! And thank all ADDEK writers because you guys inspire my story and make me want to write more! Any ideas I have stem from the positive stuff I get from you guys. I'll update ASAP! Thanks  P.S.-- McSteamy came in this one! Should he come back? Cause I have a theory—let me know what you think!