Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Meredith inhaled sharply upon seeing Derek's wife suddenly in front of her.
"Addison!" she said in an almost to "happy to see you, no nothing is wrong, I wasn't just in an on call room discussing the sex I had with your husband and its repercussions with your husband" kind of way.
"Meredith, I actually um... I... wanted to talk to you," Addison replied looking cautiously at the closed door that the other woman had just walked out of.
Seeing her eyes on the door behind her Meredith called the other woman's attention back to herself.
"Oh really? Why?"
Addison turned her attention back to Meredith and gave her a small smile.
"Well, I would rather not talk about it here... in the hallway," Addison motioned to the public space they were standing in.
Meredith panicked Why does she need to talk to me in private... oh God. What do I say?
"Oh, well actually I have to go book an OR and pick some labs up. Maybe... uh some other time?" Meredith couldn't believe her luck. Thank God for work. She slowly started to inch towards the nurse's station on the other end of the hallway.
"Oh well, yeah. I guess." Addison agreed a little disappointed that she wouldn't be able to talk to the other woman now. She really needed to get some things straight.
"Ok then! See you later!" Meredith waved and almost ran down the hall. Addison watched her go down the hall a small frown on her face. She turned to the closed door eyeing it. Reaching up for the knob she placed her hand on it then dropped her arm and shook her head. Turning on her heal she walked down the hall in the opposite direction Meredith had gone.
Derek waited on the other side of the door holding his breath afraid that any little sound could cause Addison to walk into the room. He waited until he heard the familiar click-clack of Addison's shoes fade away down the hall before slowly opening the door. He turned the door knob and stepped out into the hallway just in time to have Bailey walk by scanning charts she held in her hand.
Seeing him step out of the on call room Bailey stopped and looked him up and down.
"Miranda," Derek acknowledged her with a smile. Bailey raised her eyebrows at him.
"All my interns better be where they are supposed to be," She remarked. Derek gave a small laugh and flashed the McDreamy smile.
"I'm sure they are. Now if you don't mind I have a few more things to do before my surgery this afternoon. Have a good day Dr. Bailey." He gave her one last smile and walked in the direction Meredith had gone.
Bailey watched his back suspiciously before walking over to the closed on call room and opening it only to find it empty. She looked back down the empty hall way and closed the door. Making a disapproving sound she continued back down the hallway and turned her attention back to the charts she had been working on.
Later that day Meredith stood in the scrub room washing her hands. She was looking into the OR watching the nurses prep her patient. She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there allowing the water to flow over her hands; lost in her thoughts on Derek, Addison, Izzie, and Finn, who she was meeting that night at Joe's. What did Addison need to talk to her about? And what did Derek think he was doing, better yet what did she think she was doing? How was Izzie holding up? Had she been by Denny's old room? And what the hell was she going to say to her boyfriend that night? Her thoughts were interrupted however when Derek came into the room and turned on the faucet next to her.
"Why does Addison want to talk to you?" he asked
"How should I know? It's not like your wife and I do lunch once a week and gab about all the latest hospital gossip then kiss each other on the cheek as we leave," Meredith replied emphasizing the words "your wife". All of this was starting to weigh down on her and she didn't know how much longer she would be able to handle it.
Derek looked at her. He looked tired and worn, sighing he dried off his and turned his attention to the room in front of him as he prepared to perform brain surgery on the man on the other side of the glass.
"Alright, let's do this and we can talk later." Was all he said reaching up and tying his cap.
Meredith looked at him, "Derek there really isn't anything more to say right now. We made a mistake and now we pay for it starting with your wife." Meredith grabbed gloves and a mask as she walked passed him and opened the doors to the OR.
Derek watched her leave the room and looked down at the sink. This had gone on long enough. It was time to end something that had died long ago.
Christina walked down the familiar hall and entered the familiar room. Burke was sitting up in his bed, his arm on a pillow and he was slowly moving his fingers.
"Hey." She whispered trying hard not to break his concentration.
Burke looked up and gave a small smile.
"I'm getting better at it. I can almost curl my hand into a fist," Christina smiled at him. Lately she had been very un-Christina like. She was almost affectionate. She made a point to come by and see him every time she was near his room, sometimes she ended up there not really remembering how she got there to begin with. I guess this is love, gross. Was all she could think sometimes. As she sat down Burke's resident came in and picked up his chart.
"How are we today Dr. Burke?" The other doctor asked.
"I'm doing better, as you can see my stats are stable and I am making progress with my hand functions."
The other doctor smiled.
"Very good. Dr. Shepard will be in soon enough to give you a once over, then talk with you about physical therapy and maybe give you an estimate on when you will be able to get out of here."
"Good." Was all Burke said in return as the other doctor nodded his head, set his chart back down at the end of the bed and walked out of the room.
"I should be released today if you ask me." Burke was getting bored and not being able to control his hand fully was slowly driving him insane. He needed to get out and do something.
"Come on Burke, they know better than you. Don't push it, and no one asked you," was Christina's reply.
"Christina! I'm a doctor too, I know just as much as they do," Burke felt like he was being treated like a child. He sincerely disliked being a patient.
"Burke, calm down. You will be out of here as soon as it is possible." Christina was just happy that he was slowly gaining his motor skills back. Burke sat up straighter and looked at her.
"Tell me something Christina, why is it that you call me by my last name? We have been seriously dating now for almost a year or close to it and you still call me by my last name as if I'm an acquaintance." Christina looked taken aback. She had really never thought about it before.
"I don't know. Preston sounds weird to me." She replied. Burke looked at her and a small smile crossed his lips.
"That is my name you know."
"I know... its just weird calling you Preston," Christina said suddenly insecure.
"Well try it out for a while and it won't sound so weird," was Burke's response. Christina looked at him as if he was insane and just nodded. Burke gave a laugh.
"Come here," he whispered. Christina smiled and stepped closer, bending down she gave him a kiss.
"Yeah, we will be alright." Was all she said as she kissed him again.
Izzie had been busy all day doing this that and another thing. She was so busy and engrossed in a patients chart that she didn't even realize what hall she was in until it was too late. Looking up she found herself in front of Denny's old room.
"Oh God." Was all she could whisper as she felt the tears well up and start to fall. Slowly walking into the doorway she allowed the images to take over as she pictured her and Denny happy, playing scrabble, his proposal, and then his dead body. Her body suddenly became too heavy to hold up and she slumped against the door frame and the sobs racked her body.
Suddenly there were two hands grabbing her and turning her around. Through her tears Izzie could make out Bailey's face. Looking down into her mentor's face she started to cry harder and wrapped her arms around the other woman and placed her head on her shoulder needing comfort from somebody.
Bailey was taken by surprise and wrapped her arms around her intern knowing the pain she was feeling.
"Izzie, Izzie, look at me." Bailey said quietly. Izzie's tears slowed down and her sobs quieted.
"You can not do this to yourself. You can not be affected like this you will never be able to get anything done. Now listen to me, I know, believe me I know that this is difficult for you but, no listen to me," Bailey commanded as Izzie's tears started to fall again.
"You will get through it. I promise. It will always hurt a little but I promise you will get through it. You understand me?" Bailey asked. Izzie slowly nodded.
"Ok then. Go to the bathroom and clean your face up and get back to work." Bailey commanded pointing towards the restroom. Izzie straightened up and walked into the restroom. Bailey sighed and looked into the empty hospital room shaking her head. Reaching towards the door she pulled it closed and walked away.
Meredith couldn't have been more exhausted if she tried. All of the other's shifts had ended two hours before hers so she walked out to her car alone. Reaching in her purse to get her keys she suddenly stopped when she heard her name called. Cringing she slowly turned around to see Addison picking up her pace trying to catch up with her.
Putting on a smile Meredith acknowledged her. "Hi Addison,"
Addison smiled. "I was wondering if you had a few minutes." Meredith looked down at her watch it was seven and she wasn't meeting Finn until 8:30 so unfortunately she did have time.
"Sure." Was her hesitant reply. Addison looked around the parking lot and lowered her voice.
"You and Derek are good friends, and I think that you and I have come a long way considering our circumstances," Meredith nodded as the other woman continued.
"Any way... um... well I'm just going to spit it out; Derek has been acting very unusual lately... I mean more unusual than normal and I was um... well I was wondering if you knew anything about it?" Meredith knew what Addison meant. Are you sleeping with him again? Was what she really wanted to ask.
"Oh, Addison, wow, I really, really think that this is better discussed with Derek than with me," Meredith replied.
Addison let out a frustrated sigh. "The thing is, is that he won't talk to me, he barley ever talks to me anymore,"
"Make him listen Addison. You'd be surprised. He will talk to you, keep trying," was all Meredith could say to the other woman. Both were confused and tired and completely in the dark with what to do, Meredith felt her pain. Addison nodded.
"Have a good night Meredith," was all she said as gave a small smile and walked away. Meredith stood there for a few more minutes before she climbed into her car and headed come to change and then confront Finn.
A/N: Wow. I'm so sorry it took so long! I was on a trip with friends for most of this past week and then my laptop crashed and I lost all of my stuff including the new chapter of this so I had to go the old fashion way and write it on paper! Hahaha Any way I am still working on seven but it won't take me nearly as long to update as it did this time. Thanks for sticking in there with me! I hope everyone has a great rest of their weekend!
-Loti
