AN: Sorry it took so long for this chapter. The next one is going to be super good, I promise.

PS-Those of you sobbing along with Addison, don't worry. I sympathize with her and she's gonna end up happy.


Derek left the house blinded by the tears welling in his eyes. He could not bring himself to look at Addison against the wall, her arm outreached, beckoning for his return. He hurried outside with his suitcase and his keys. He got in the car a drove to Meredith's house. He slowed as he approached, and ducked when she opened the door for Christina, but left in a hurry. He drove back to the trailer, but changed his mind. He drove back to Meredith's, but changed his mind again and headed for the Emerald City Bar.

He entered the nearly empty bar and nodded in hello to Joe.

"Hey Dr. Sheperd. You're looking a little down…anything I can do?"

"Yes. Get me something. Something extra strong," Derek said firmly, sitting down on a stool. Joe nodded in understanding, and went to fix Derek a drink.

As Joe was busying himself with the liquor he kept hidden (only using when most needed), the door of the bar opened. Derek did not look up, even as the new customer sat down next to him. Joe gave Derek his drink.

"Callie? What can I get you?"

"Just a water, Joe, I'm going to work soon," Callie said. Derek looked up.

"Oh…uh…Dr. Torres," he said awkwardly. They had barely met in the past, but what she had seen last night changed their relationship considerably.

"Dr. Sheperd," she replied calmly. Derek grabbed his shot glass and gulped the contents down. He swore under his breath and made a terrible face. Callie stifled a giggle as Joe took the empty glass from Derek and handed Callie her water. Joe went to fill Derek's glass up again, but Derek signaled that he did not want anymore. Joe smiled at Derek's discomfort from the alcohol and turned to another customer.

"Listen," Callie started, looking pointedly at her water instead of at Derek. "I saw your car outside, so I came in. What happened last night is going to stay silent so long as I have your promise on one thing." Derek looked up at her expectantly, willing to do pretty much anything. "You have to leave Meredith Grey alone." Derek tried to interrupt, but she raised a hand to stop him. "I know you think that you and she are destined to be together, but trust me, watching you screw her up like that is impossible. You're breaking her heart, Dr. Sheperd. Everyone knows what you two have been doing. Even Addison. And I don't know how long either of those women are going to put up with it."

"Addison and I are getting a divorce," Derek said nonchalantly. "I just left her, actually."

Callie paused, taken aback. "Uh…oh. You…did." Derek nodded. "Well then." Callie wanted to leave, but couldn't. "So you're going to try to take Meredith back?" she blurted out in angry disbelief. He nodded, and motioned for Joe to get him another drink.

"You're a bigger idiot then I thought," Callie said with contempt. She got up and left as Derek swallowed yet another drink.


Meredith, George, and Christina were ready for work earlier then they needed to be. The three of them agreed to go together, thinking that tonight was going to be one of the longest they would ever have. Alex had left, finally, after Christina complained that his boxers were offensive, but had let everyone know that he planned to come back to go to work with them. When asked why, he responded very sincerely that they needed to go as a team. They waited until he left to laugh at this remark.

The three interns had reluctantly left Izzie to her baking. The table was covered with pies, cakes, and cookies. George had tried on more than one occasion to actually eat some of this delicious looking food, but Meredith had slapped his hand away. "It's hers to do with what she wants," Meredith had told him.

When Alex had arrived back at Meredith's house and they had let him in, the four of them turned to look at Izzie, who was looking through a cabinet in distress. "Do…do we have any more flour?" she asked, half her body practically inside the cabinetry.

Meredith took a deep breath. She had seen this moment coming and had prepared. "Izzie, you've used up all the flour. Why don't you just sit on the couch and put on a movie while we're at wor-I mean, while we're gone."

Izzie pulled herself out of the cabinets and sat on the floor like a child, her exhaustion catching up with her. "No…I just need to make a few more things," she began, her eyes shining. She looked up at all of them, who pretended to not just have been staring at her.

Christina took a step back and pulled them all with her. They all ducked down, forming a sort of intern-huddle.

"Okay guys, even I can tell that we can't leave her here," Christina said.

"We have to take her to the hospital with us," Meredith said. The others began to protest, but they all knew that it was the only way to keep her occupied and under surveillance.

They came out of their huddle to find Izzie crying on the floor. Silently, they all descended upon her, George and Alex picking her up by the arms and Christina and Meredith taking her hands, leading her into the car.


Addison stayed against that wall of the trailer long after Derek had walked out with his suitcase. She cried harder than she ever had before and she had trouble calming herself down. She couldn't believe it. He had actually left her. Granted, there were times where she had prayed for this moment to come. But she'd never really believed it would. She felt sick. She ran to the bathroom and threw up. Feeling only worse, she cleaned herself up and went for the phone.

" Addison?"

"Mark?" she said, between sobs. She had called him a lot in the past few weeks, whenever she felt overwhelmed by the marriage.

" Addison, what's wrong?" he asked quickly, worry in his voice. He was secretly happy to hear her voice again.

"Mark…you were right. You were so…so right."

"No," Mark said slowly, wishing he could reach out to comfort her. But unfortunately he was in New York and she was still in Seattle. " Addison, he didn't."

"He left me…for…that intern." She stopped crying now, thinking about Meredith and Derek together. She felt a headache approaching, probably from all the crying. She tried to stop.

" Addison…" he said, not knowing what else to say.

"I just…" she began, her voice shaking. She took a breath and composed herself. "I did so much for him. To convince him that I was sorry. For sleeping with you. I really tried really hard to ignore everything between them. Those looks they had every time their paths crossed. Those awkward moments whenever I found them together. I mean every single time I saw them, they were together. And they got so quiet when I came. He was always with her." She said all this as if it was unbelievable, but Mark knew very well what Derek and Meredith did. His short trip to Seattle told him volumes.

"Addison," Mark interrupted, feeling upset just because she was, "you can't blame yourself. You tried very hard to make the marriage work. It's his fault. He's to blame. He didn't try-"

"Don't you get it?" she asked, a little hysterical. "He didn't try because he didn't care!" She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I wonder if he ever loved me," she said quietly.

"He never loved you like I did," Mark said, so quiet she almost didn't hear him. "Like I still do." No one said anything for a while.

"Mark, I…" Her instinct told her to tell him to stop, that she was married. But then she realized that she was not married. Something changed inside her at that moment. She didn't have to try and please Derek anymore. She didn't have to ignore her feelings for Mark. She didn't have to work at Seattle Grace. She didn't have to live in this crappy trailer. Addison almost smiled.

"I think I need to leave Seattle. Can I stay with you?" she asked quickly.

Mark was surprised. "Are you sure you want to leave?"

"Mmhmm," she said, glancing with disgust at the walls of the trailer bathroom.

"Okay. When will you get here?"

"As soon as I can," she said, already packing.


George sat with Izzie in the backseat of Meredith's car. Christina and Alex took their own cars and followed. Seeing that Izzie was completely out of it, staring out the window, George asked, "What are we going to do with her? She's probably not allowed within a mile of the hospital."

"We'll have to sneak her in. And take turns watching her."

"Like you did with the dog?"

"Like I did with the dog."

"I'm not a dog," Izzie said vaguely.

They arrived at the hospital soon after. Christina and Alex hurried to Mere's car before Izzie got out. The interns formed a human wall as Izzie walked behind them. As they approached the doors they changed formation, forming a circle around Izzie. Christina finally pushed Izzie's head down, as she was much taller than any of them and was very easily seen.

Meredith scanned the lobby for any signs of Derek. She dreaded seeing him today, knowing what he was going to tell her. Deep down, she knew he would pick Addison, just like before. Her heart also fell at the prospect of calling Finn, which she remembered that she hadn't done yet.

But Derek was not in the lobby. No one of importance was, which made it easy for them to sneak to the lockers in their tight arrangement. Anyone who saw them was suspicious, but they were having too much fun to care. Izzie tried to break the formation to leave the hospital once or twice but someone always stopped her. When they got to the locker room, George took watch as the others got their scrubs on (AN: similar to getting one's groove on). All except Izzie, whose arms reached for her locker out of habit. Her hands fell when she couldn't find the lock.

"They already took my lock," she remarked.

Meredith came over to Izzie and spoke to her while she changed. "Listen, Izzie. I know it's hard to be back in the hospital but we couldn't leave you at home. Someone is always going to be with you, except for right now because we have to report to Bailey and we're late. You're going to have to wait in that closet upstairs-"

"The one everyone has sex in," Izzie confirmed.

Meredith faltered. "Uh…yeah, I guess…anyway, are you going to be okay?"

"Please don't ask me that."

The door suddenly banged open, and they made a mad dash to stand in front of Izzie.

"There you are! The Chief needs to see all of you – now! And when he's finished with you, if there's anything left, I need to see you. Get moving!" Bailey noticed their nervous stance, stepped forward, and pulled George out of formation. She saw nothing behind them.

"What, are you playing Red Rover? What are you four year olds all doin' still standing here? Get out!"

"Yes sir…ma'am…sir." George sputtered. He hurried out, followed by Christina and Alex. Bailey gave Meredith an impatient look.

"I know, go to the Chief's! I'll be right there!" Meredith insisted. Bailey sighed and left. Meredith quickly opened the locker, which she had stuffed Izzie in. Izzie fell out. "Those lockers are really small and pokey," Izzie said as she got up.

"Izzie, you're going to have to stay here until I can come back. I have the first shift of watching you. Can you go into a bathroom stall or something, in case anyone comes in?"

Izzie nodded slowly, and obediently headed for a stall.

"I'll try to hurry back," Meredith called out before leaving the locker room.

Izzie stopped walking towards a stall and instead chose a bench, which she lay down on to sleep.

When Izzie had fallen asleep, the door opened once again, this time hesitantly. Izzie did not wake up when Callie called, "Hello? George? Are you-"

Callie stepped inside the locker room and considered Izzie. Why did she have to keep everyone's secrets?