Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy
Teaser: McDreamy, McSteamy… meet McJuicy
Notes: I'm glad ya'all are liking it so far! Makes me happy to know I'm loved! XD Here's chapter two, out early. It's just easy for me to post these babies 'cause they're so short. Consider yourself very, very lucky. Alright, here's some angsting on Derek and Addison's parts. They strike me as people who angst. A lot.
/Chapter Two: McDreamy/
The flu is sweeping Seattle and it sinks its sharp claws into Derek Shepard.
So he is miserable and sniffling when his wife, Addison, walks into the door, keys slapping against her palm. There is a whistle in her voice as she calls out a greeting to her bedridden husband.
He tries not to resent her for standing in front of the bed, chipper and fresh, as is her nature.
That doesn't mean, in some form or another, that he doesn't.
"How are you?"
"Sick," he answers, rolling away. Her voice has never annoyed him so much before. It drills itself into his head.
Almost absently he waits for the cerebral matter to soak his pillow, surprised when it doesn't happen.
"Mmm…" Addison strips away her heels, tossing them onto the floor. Normally, the disorder would have bothered her. But she has resigned herself to the fact that trailers are never meant to be in complete order.
For a minute they stand—well, Addison stands—in taunt silence. Addison hates silence. She wishes Derek would yell. Hastily, nearly panicking, she grasps for something to fill the void.
"So, McJuicy was at the hospital today. First time I met him."
"Mc… who…?" Derek grumbles, meeting Addison's eyes. He is the only Mc-person he knows of. And he's McDreamy, for whatever reason.
He's claimed not to care for the name, but in reality it's quite flattering. Even if he will never admit it.
"Juicy," Addison supplies. "The vet for Doc. Apparently, he likes Meredith's doe-eyed look as much as you did. He's been in the hospital on and off for a week."
He is not jealous. Even as his fingers clench briefly, that is what Derek tells himself as he forces his wary to sit up on the bed. His eyes are suspiciously bland and casual as he meets his wife's eyes.
Or at least, he tells himself they are. "And he met you because…?"
"He was looking for Meredith. He assumed I'm one of the girls," Addison says lightly, careful not to notice that look in Derek's eyes. It's too painful. She's become the master of overlooking the emotions in people's eyes.
She thinks of it as a survival skill. If you don't know it's there, than it doesn't exist.
"But you're not. One of the girls. You're an attending."
"I know. That's why I only heard about McJuicy in passing," Addison admits, turning her back on him and heading into the kitchen. "Izzie and Christina were oozing over him. Well, Izzie was. Christina never oozes, I'm under the impression. She just gets sarcastic. Anyway, bets are on about him and Meredith."
"Oh?"
That syllable says everything. One simple oh speaks volumes to her. Addison sighs, dipping her hands under the faucet for no other reason than the fact that she needs them to do something.
"So far, Meredith's still doing the knitting thing."
Okay. Derek shifts himself back down on the bed, trying not to give a sigh of relief.
Knitting was good. Knitting meant no sex. No sex meant no sleepless night wondering what asshole was warming her bed. No wondering what asshole was warming her bed meant no guilt.
No guilt was good.
"Thing is, no one thinks that's gonna last thing. Not even Meredith." Addison is pushing, and she knows it. She almost wants Derek to explode, at least then her fear will have some tangibility and she will not feel so stupid. She hates being stupid.
"Really?"
Has her husband become the king of loaded one words?
"Yeah. Meredith finds a way to place herself at the front desk at the exact same time everyday. She smiles a lot now. And her knitting is… lax…"
"Lax," he repeats and rolls onto his stomach, resisting the urge to rub his face. Lax? In her knitting? What the hell does the mean?
"Yes. Lax." She pads softly back into the small bedroom, eyeing her husband as he deflates himself in the mattress. For a fleeting moment, she bites her lip. But the imagine of a vulnerable Addison Forbes Montgomery Shepard never stays long. "Derek?"
"Yeah?" his muffled voice sounds from underneath his pillow.
"Do you want something to eat? Soup? I could make you some soup."
He lifts his head and looks at her. Again, he resists the urge to resent her. He's not sure why, either. Why he resents. Sometimes he just resents everything. Then he realizes how childish that idea is and forces it from his mind.
Deliberately, he turns his head back to his pillow. "No. I don't have much of an appetite." Which is lie. He's always hungry, starving.
Just not for food.
She turns away again, keeping her head high and her shoulders straight. She grabs a soda, doesn't take the alcohol like she is tempted to. She doesn't scream like she is tempted to. Doesn't cry like she is tempted to. Doesn't accuse.
It won't do any good, even if it will give her momentary release. She is too strong a person for that.
But sometimes, it sucks being a strong person.
They have secrets, she tells herself. And they keep them.
Hers is that she spent their year apart with Mark Sloane. Meredith's McSteamy. Spent it with him in guilty pleasure and declining happiness.
His is that his love for Meredith Grey still burns bright and true his chest. Burns with a hot, white intensity. She's no idiot, she knows that. She sees that.
Only thing is, it's supposed to be a secret. She isn't supposed to know.
And she almost hates him for knowing.
But she doesn't. If she did hate Derek, she wouldn't be with him, accepting his jealousy over the relationship another woman is growing.
Meredith is lucky, Addison thinks for the first time. There is always another Mc-something-or-other waiting for her. All Addison has is McDreamy.
A McDreamy who desperately craves someone else.
She slides into bed, trying not to disturb the cocoon of depression and frustration and self-disgust he has created. She stares at the ceiling for a long, silent moment.
Then she says, "Goodnight, Derek."
There is a shift of the covers as Derek answers, "'Night, Addison."
Even as his breathing is deep, she stays awake, staring out into the nothingness. The black void stretches out before her like a coil of ribbons. With a jolt she realizes that the nothing has become her life.
In the beginning Addison felt sorry for Meredith Grey. After all, she hadn't known her Doctor McDreamy had a Mrs. McDreamy. She had been a wide-eyed intern, needing the connection with Derek as much as Derek needed it with her.
If anyone was to get hurt in the desperate, and bitter, love triangle Addison would have pointed to Meredith. And for so long it seemed that the assumption was correct. Meredith walked around the hospital like a ghost, like a girl whose first boyfriend had dumped her. She hadn't been able to move on. Meredith had only been able to look back and cling, trying desperately to find some way to fix the broken puzzle her life had been.
Addison had felt sorry for her.
Now it looked like Meredith might be the one better off. The one who managed to survive.
That McJuicy looked more than willing to pick up the pieces that Meredith Grey had become, sharp shards and all.
It was ironic, Addison thinks.
Stiffly, softly, she turns onto her side and sleeps.
notes: there, see? Angst. Addison and Derek angst. Because they do it so well. Though seriously? Whether or not Derek and Meredith get back together, I don't think Addison and Derek are going to last to the third season. There's just too much in the way for them. The marriage is doomed to fail. I also think that Derek needs some time to be single. He should give that a try.
ReviewsHeather0210: Finn is adorable, isn't it? Chris O'Donnell makes me a fangirl. I dun why either. Maybe it's the Robin thing.
Luv24+Alias: at the beginning I wasn't too sure if anyway was ready for a Finn/Meredith relationship (I didn't think I was) but now…
Greyaddict: McJuicy was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw him. Yum, McJuicy.
nicola: I don't mind Addison so much. But, yeah, sometimes she annoys me. God, if I cheated I wouldn't have the gull to go back to my husband.
specialfrog: I miss season-one!Meredith, don't you? Now she's all think: 'where's my McLife?' When I saw Finn I was struck with the thought that maybe she was chasing after the wrong McMan.
DORKY GiiiRL: I had so much fun writing the Izzie/Meredith/McJuicy scene. It just reminds me of something normal women would do. Ogle a hot guy's ass.
ilajkajas2215: I just really want Finn to be a fun-loving guy. Derek was a pretty fun-loving guy too, but with all the undertones of a 'my-life-miserable' guy. I just want Finn to happy and awesome!
FuzzyPenguins: XD I am, see? I had so much fun writing this that I had to update immediately. That and it's short. Real short.
Lizzie9: yeah, chapter one was funny. Two bad the other two aren't. Eh.
Chaosti: I'm glad. I always worry about keeping people in character. It's important to me.
sketchysteph04: flirting is cute, when done the right way. Finn's awesome like that.
Jessabelle87: why thank you. I do try, you know.
papaslittleci: continued to the eXtreme. And by eXtreme I mean with the most angst possible.