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Chapter 9

Derek stayed by his wife for as long as his beeper would allow. He was still a working surgeon, however, and had plenty of patients relying on him. Addison would understand, and she would likely be out for the rest of the day and through the night. Nonetheless, he felt obligated to stay by her side.

"Is she okay?" Derek instantly recognized Meredith's voice.

"She will be." He responded, not wanting to give away too many details. He knew that rumors would soon be spreading through the hospital.

"Good…that's good…" it was obvious that Meredith felt awkward. "I'm sorry about all of this, Derek."

"It's not your fault."

"Oh, it is."

"I said it isn't your fault, Meredith." His voice was stern. "It's mine."

"Well I just wanted to let you know that I'm done. Really. You don't owe me any favors, and you don't need to pity me. Do I like that you chose Addison over me? Of course not. But I don't hate you for it…"

"Thank you." He was in no mood for this.

"But…" she began, "If you are choosing her over me, at least make it worth it."

"Excuse me?"

"If you're going to be with her, then be with her. I can't keep on wondering whether or not you're going to come running back because things don't go well with your wife. Be her husband, or don't be with her at all." Meredith was pretty serious at this point.

"Meredith…she's my wife."

"I know." She smiled. Not a genuine smile, it was a bit more pitiful than that.

Derek retreated back to Addison's room not long after his conversation with Meredith. As soon as he walked in he actually saw his wife for the first time. She seemed to be sleeping so peacefully, but he knew how much was going on underneath the surface. It was more than she could handle and had slowly been tearing her apart…something he would have noticed if he had bothered taking the time to look.

"Why don't you go home and get some rest?" Dr. Bailey entered.

"I need to stay with her."

"She's not waking up for a while, and you have a craniotomy scheduled for tomorrow morning. I know because I'm doing it with you."

"I've done that surgery a million times…"

"I don't really care. Go home. We don't need two Shepherds on leave because they decided not to sleep anymore."

Derek shrugged. "Okay. Will you be here for a while?"

"On call all night….but this is nothing serious, you know that."

"I know. Thanks." He basically avoided any conversation and headed out of the room.

Chapter 10

The following morning, Derek went into work an half hour early so that he could spend a bit of time with his wife. She was still asleep, which he figured was a good sign. He eventually went on to perform the craniotomy he had scheduled, and everything went well. His patient survived and would likely go on to lead a relatively normal life.

However, just a few minutes out of surgery and Derek was instantly confronted by George. "Uh, Dr. Shepherd. There's a bit of a situation going on with um Ad- with your wife."

"You've seen her…?" Derek was surprised, knowing that George would not typically be one to visit Addison.

"Bailey had me checking up on her. I won't tell anyone, but um, just come with me." George basically pulled his superior over and brought him to Addison's room. "She's all yours."

Derek, who was now extremely confused, walked into his wife's hospital room. But when he looked over at her bed, she wasn't there…. He instantly noticed her standing by the bathroom and putting her earrings back on.

"You removed your own IV?" For some reason, this was the first thought that came into Derek's mind.

Addison turned around, surprised to see her husband. "I am a doctor, you know. Removing an IV isn't all that complex."

Derek wondered where the sensitive, 'I'm just so tired', woman from yesterday had disappeared to. "Addie, what are you doing."

"I'm going to work, Derek. I just needed to catch up on a little bit of sleep and now I feel fine. I'm going back to work."

"You don't recover in one night, you know that just as well as I do…" he tried to be patient with her.

"I don't need to recover. I'm not sick."

"Stop being so stubborn. The chief isn't going to let you work today anyway."

"I am NOT on medical leave, Derek! I said I'm fine! I'm not sick, I'm FINE."

"You're far from 'fine'. Get back in bed."

If there was one thing that Addison would not tolerate, it was taking orders from her husband. "So what, you care all of a sudden? Because I'm 'sick' suddenly I'm important? You could care less about me when I was healthy. In fact, you didn't notice me at all."

"Where is this coming from?"

"I gave up EVERYTHING for you, Derek. Everything. Why? Because I thought you were all I needed to be happy." She walked away from her husband. "But you never even gave me the time of day. Never said I love you. Not even once."

"Addison…"

"So no, Derek. You can't just come in here and tell me how I'm feeling and what I can and cannot do."

Derek took a long breath. "Alright. Listen up because I'm only going to say ths once. You can scream in my face all you want. I know I deserve it. But what I also know is that we can't solve anything until you get better. And I say 'better' because you honestly couldn't be doing much worse than you are right now. You are not okay." Derek finally lost his temper. "I mean, how can you even say that! You passed out in the middle of the hospital!" he took a moment to catch his breath, "do you realize that could have happened in the OR? Or in the delivery room? There could have been serious consequences. You are not okay, Addison, and you will get back in bed." and with that, he stormed out of her room. He didn't care if she hated him, he just wanted her to get better. He needed her to get better.