Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Meredith unlocked the front door and dropped her purse on the table next to the door; closing it she looked to her left into the living room where she found Alex, Izzie, and George all watching TV on the couch.
"Don't you have to meet Finn in like a half hour?" George questioned her standing up and following her down the hall and into the kitchen were both of Izzie's cakes had been picked at but the plate of cookies remained untouched.
George watched as Meredith ripped the plastic off the plate of cookies and grabbed one taking a big bite out of it. Fidgeting he said,
"Um, Christina kinda told us about Shepard," Meredith just shrugged. It was going to come out sooner or later.
"So I guess your going to break up with Finn?" George asked trying to get her to talk to him.
The truth was Meredith's mind was far from her kitchen, it was on the conversation she had just had with Addison. She hadn't lied but she hadn't told her the truth either. Was tonight the night that Addison and Derek would finally come down to the wire and confront each other? When Meredith went to work again would Addison know?
"Meredith? Hello? Are you breaking up with Finn tonight?" George persisted. Meredith brought herself back into the kitchen and just nodded at her friend.
George sighed, "Take it from a guy who has been hurt... oh no I don't mean to bring that up," George said quickly referring to his and Meredith's "romantic" past when she shot her head up and looked at him.
"...I mean, just, just listen to me. Ease him into to it you know? Don't just slap him with it. Be sweet and understanding to what he has to say to you... maybe you should give him something to soften the blow," George wondered out loud.
Meredith glanced down at the cookies, "George can you wrap these up for me? I need to change,"
George looked at her quizzically as she jogged passed him and up the stairs to change. Shrugging he reached into a drawer for the plastic wrap and wrapped them up for her leaving them on the counter and going back into the living room to watch TV.
When Meredith came down she saw the cookies on the counter and picked them up. Walking back towards the door she looked into the living room,
"Bye guys," Alex grunted and Izzie gave a small wave. She looked almost zombieish with her head on Alex's shoulder. Meredith could understand; from what Christina had told her Izzie had had a rough day.
George stood up to walk her out to her car. She would try and help Izzie when she got home, right now though she needed to take care of the Finn situation.
Once outside George looked at the plate of cookies in Meredith's hand,
"What are you doing with those?"
"Softening the blow," she replied opening her passenger door and throwing her purse in and setting the cookies on the car seat.
George just stared at his friend,
"With cookies?"
"With cookies," was the response.
"Well don't stay out too late you know? We have the funeral tomorrow morning and, um, well Izzie's gonna be a wreck and we are all gonna need to be there for her so we all need the energy," George said lowering his voice down to a whisper.
"I know, believe me I don't mean to make this a long drawn out all night ordeal we aren't Ross and Rachel."
"Yeah, no that's you and Shepard," George laughed. Meredith just looked at him.
"Hey you were the one that brought up the dysfunctional couple," was all he said.
"Goodbye George. I'll be home in a few hours," Meredith responded as she got into her car and started the engine.
"Good luck," George told her as he walked back up to the door and into the house.
Inside the house Alex wrapped his arm around Izzie trying to comfort is friend, knowing the hard day she had had.
"Alex?" Izzie called out.
"Hmm?" He responded.
"Thank you... thank you for every thing," Izzie said tilting her head up to look him in the eye.
Alex fought the urge to kiss her. Come on man, the man she loves just died and his funeral is tomorrow! Get it together! He gave her a small smile,
"Anything for a friend right?" Alex broke their gaze and turned his attention back to the TV.
Izzie looked at him after he had looked away, after a minute she snuggled in closer to his body as his arm tightened around her.
Alex rested his chin on the top of her head and tried to focus all his attention on the TV and not the over whelming feelings that he was feeling; the same feelings that had been building up for a year and a half.
Meredith walked into Joe's cautiously. Her stomach was doing flip flops; she hated breaking up with a guy, especially when that guy was as great as Finn was.
She saw Joe and gave him a small wave. He smiled and nodded towards the corner of the bar. Meredith's eyes followed the gesture where she saw Finn sitting on a stool at a table absent mindedly running his left index finger over the top of his beer glass.
Meredith made her way over to the table. When he saw her Finn stood up and gave her a smile. A smile Meredith could only compare to Derek's, a comparison in which Finn came up short. This is why this needs to end. Meredith thought behind her smile.
"Hey," he said.
"Hi," she replied.
She gave a smile small as she hopped up onto a stool. Finn looked at the plate in her hand.
"Oh! These are for you," Meredith handed the plate to him.
Finn laughed, "Wow. Cookies. Thanks."
Meredith gave him a small smile as an uncomfortable silence fell over the table. The silence was broken however when Finn began to speak,
"Mere, I kinda wanted to talk to you about the other night at the hospital..."
Meredith suddenly cut him off.
"Yeah me too, that's why I asked you to meet me here tonight. Look Finn, you are one of the most fabulous men I have ever had the privilege of knowing and you are the epitome of Prince Charming but the thing is you aren't my prince charming..." Finn tried to stop her.
"... no listen to me. Like I was saying, you are absolutely wonderful but its like I told you, I am scary and damaged and we thought we could work past that, but the thing is... the thing is that it isn't fair. It isn't fair to you. You see Finn; I'm scary and damaged because of one man. One man that I just can't seem to get over. I'm... I'm in love with Derek Shepard." Meredith paused as tears came to her eyes.
"I don't think that I will ever be able to get over him. It isn't fair to keep leading you on like this, pretending that we have a future when in reality we can never have a future." Meredith let out a breath of air she didn't know she was holding in.
Finn looked at her and gave her a sad smile,
"Meredith, after my wife died I never thought I would be able to see other women again, but then I met you and you proved me wrong. Thank you. Thank you for helping me see that I can move on and possibly love again. I'm sad that we won't be able to work out but let me give you one word of advice: don't let Shepard tear you up like this, allow yourself to move on. If the guy is doing this to you he doesn't deserve you, he really doesn't deserve you."
And with that Finn got up and threw money down on the table to pay for his drink, picked up the plate of cookies and gave Meredith a small kiss on the cheek.
"I'm keeping the plate." He said as he walked passed her and out of the bar.
Meredith watched him leave knowing that it was the best for both of them.
After her talk with Meredith, Addison had gone back into the hospital. She wasn't quite ready to go "home" whatever that was and face Derek and deal with the inevitable.
Standing at the nurse's station going over some charts she didn't even notice another person come and stand next to her.
"Now how come you are still here and not home?" Mark Sloan asked her.
Addison sighed, "I thought you went back home," was all she said as she continued to read the chart.
"He is still in love with her you know that Addie?" Mark asked.
Addison took a deep breath.
"What is it that you want Mark?" She asked in return.
"Come on Addison we both know what I want. I want you to come home with me. There is nothing for you here. Derek is in love with someone else and you are too." Mark replied in a hushed whisper.
Addison raised her eyebrows,
"Oh I am, am I?"
"Yes. With me and I love you. Come home Addie." He said getting closer to her and gently placing a stray hair behind her ear.
Addison looked up at him. It was true she did love him and she missed New York, it was her home unlike Seattle.
Mark turned her towards himself. The hospital was eerily quiet and no one seemed to be around. Leaning down he kissed her. A kiss full of passion, she felt stupid thinking it but she felt weak in the knees.
"I miss you Addie," was all he said when he broke the kiss and rested his forehead on her own. Addison looked into his eyes and blinked back her tears, before she knew it however she had cupped his cheek and was kissing him back.
Christina quietly closed Burke's or (Preston's... whatever) door and walked towards the elevator. Turning to walk down the hall she saw two people standing at the nurse station. Quickly realizing who it was she ran into the nearest room and watched out of the glass window as Addison Montgomery- Shepard kissed Mark Sloan.
"Holly shit." She whispered as she covered her mouth in surprise. Still watching Christina saw Addison break away from Mark and hurriedly run away down the opposite hall. Mark stood there for a few minutes a small smile on his face as he turned and went to the elevators.
Once he was in and the doors had shut Christina walked out of the room and towards the desk. Checking the hall where Addison had disappeared she ran over to the elevator pushing the button several times with impatience. Finally the doors opened and she stepped in. As the doors closed her only thought was I can't wait to tell Meredith.
A/N: Ok so this was a quicker update right? Just for that I'm going to have to wait a few days to update; not just because I can or because I'm a mean person or anything like that but I will be out of town until Wednesday again soooo I won't be able to update until Wednesday afternoon/evening or Thursday so sorry about the delays I didn't mean to plan all of my trips so close together! Thanks again for all the support you guys are really great!
-Loti
