Author's Note: So two updates in one weekend, I'm on a roll, eh? I wanted to update at least once more before the premiere, and I actually accomplished that. As always, review and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

"That was…"

"Amazing," Addison finishes his sentence as she moves closer to him in the bed.

Their bodies are sticky with sweat. The dark flannel sheets stick to their skin. Addison nuzzles herself further under his arm as he plants a kiss on the top of her head. Addison forgot what it felt like to be held, she closes her eyes and blocks out the bleak reality of their situation—they just had sex, and in the bed that Addison and Derek shared, although Addison can't remember the last time they had actually shared the bed.

Addison positions herself in the bed so her back is pressed against Mark's abdomen and his hands are on her waist. She stares out the window into the black sky. She knows she should feel guilty. She knows that technically she's an adulteress. But in this moment she can't feel anything but fulfilled, and content, maybe the guilt would come later.

Mark nuzzles his face in her hair as he whispers in her ear. "I better get going." Mark knows that he shouldn't be her. He's fully aware of the fact that he just slept with his best friend's wife in his own bed. He realizes is only a matter of time before Addison realizes that she has made a mistake and asks him to leave. He wants to avoid that. He lets go of Addison's waist and he moves to get up from the bed.

Addison grabs his wrist turning on her side to look at him. "No."

Mark sits down on the side of the bed. "I have to go, Derek will be home soon."

"No he won't," Addison casts her eyes down to the floor.

Mark looks at her and knows that she's probably right. He gives her a small smile. "Addison a lot has happened tonight." He kisses her gently on the cheek. "I should go back home, we both need to deal with this."

"I've already dealt with this," Addison says softly sounding a little more than hurt.

Mark reaches forward and brushes her flushed cheek with his thumb. "I don't want any one to get hurt."

"I know." Addison pulls the covers up to her chin and pulls her knees to her chest.

Mark knows he should go, but he can't find the strength to get up from the bed. He's imagined Addison begging him to come back to bed a million times in his dreams, but somehow the reality doesn't quite match up with the fantasy.

He turns and looks at Addison. His smokey grey eyes meeting hers. He feels his willpower crumble inside of him as she looks at her. Mark leans across the bed and kisses her already bruised lips. Addison drops the sheet and Mark climbs further into the bed grabbing he closer to him. He pushes the sticky covers to the floor as he runs his hands up Addison's sides. He pushes away his thoughts and allows himself to get lost in what feels similar to the dream he's been having for the last fifteen years. She was his, even if only for the night.

-x-

"Dr. Grey you did very well in there tonight." Derek says as he and Meredith step in the elevator heading to the ground floor.

"Thank you, I mean it's not every day that I get to assist on two neuro cases in one day." She smiles at Derek.

"If you're willing to stay at the hospital until 3 am when you're not even on duty you end up assisting on all kinds of cases." Derek opens his phone and studies the screen.

"Well I'll have to keep that in mind, but I'm not going to lie sleep seems amazing right now."

Derek laughs and leans against the elevator's back wall. "You have no idea…"

The elevator doors open and the two doctors walk into the lobby. Derek looks down at his watch. He cannot believe that it's nearly three in the morning.

"Wait one second?" Meredith asks as she walks towards the family of the patient they just operated on.

Derek nods and smiles as he watches her walk towards them. 'She's a good person,' Derek thinks to himself as he sits down in one of the lobby chairs. He opens his phone again and calls home. He figures Addison is asleep, but figured he should at least attempt to call. The voicemail picks up and he is faced with Addison's chipper message, "You've reached the Shepherd's leave a message."

Derek's lying before he even realizes what he's doing. "Addie I think I'm going to stay at the hospital tonight. My patient needs to be monitored tonight, and I want to stick around and make sure everything is alright. I'll see you at the hospital tomorrow." Derek flips his phone shut and stands as Meredith walks towards him.

"What was that about?" Derek asks. He walks towards the main lobby doors, Meredith walks by his side.

Meredith shrugs, "Oh, nothing. I just wanted to make sure they were okay."

"Are they?" Derek raises his eyebrows at her.

"They're coping." Meredith stops as the glass doors slide open in front of them.

They step out into the cool night. "That's good to hear." The two doctors stand in the parking lot for a moment, both knowing that they need to say "goodnight," but neither ready to go, not yet.

"Dr. Grey do you like ferryboats?"

Meredith's face lights up. "Yes, Dr. Shepherd, I do"

Derek smiles back. "Good, because I like them as well."

"I know you told me last night." Meredith replies with laughter in her voice.

"Well, I know a place that overlooking the water. We could stop and get some horrible fast food, coffee and, well, watch the sun rise, and of course the ferryboats."

Meredith looks at him hesitantly.

Derek continues, "You know at this point it'll be pointless to go home, go to bed, only to have to get up in a few hours."

Meredith ignores the voice in her head that's telling her this isn't a good idea. "Okay, that sounds like fun."

"Meredith, I'm a fun machine." Derek declares as he leads her to his car.

-x-

"I cannot believe they didn't kick you out of the program," Meredith exclaims as she takes a sip of her now cold coffee.

"What can I say, I'm kinda bad ass."

Meredith rolls her eyes. "I'm sure that's exactly what you told Dr. Webber."

"Pretty much." Derek looks out onto the water and watches the fishing boats getting ready to go out for their morning catch.

"Have you always been so confident, and self-assured." Meredith asks nudging him with her shoulder as she pours her coffee out on the grass.

"Always." Meredith looks up at him. "Can I tell you a secret?" Meredith nods. "Most of the time I don't know what the hell is going on. I mean in the OR I know exactly what comes next, but other than that I'm completely just guessing."

"I feel that way a lot, but I attribute it to the fact that I'm an intern, and I'm not supposed to have a clue."

"I thought that once I finished my residency I would feel like I finally have a grasp on things, you know, life, but I don't."

"Do you think we ever get to the point where we're done, well, growing up?"

Derek shakes his head. "Nah, we're not supposed to have it all figured out, and if we did, things would be damned boring."

Meredith leans back on her hands. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

They stop talking, and pretend to focus on the bay. Meredith wants to ask him more questions about his life. She wants to know exactly what about his life he's trying to figure out. She wants to ask him why he's out here with her instead of home with his wife. She settles on saying nothing. If he wanted to tell her he would.

"So why Seattle?" Derek asks breaking Meredith's concentration.

"What?"

"Why'd you come to Seattle?"

"When I started applying to programs my mother was just getting sick, so I wanted to be close to her. She passed away before I finished applying but I don't know, I guess, I wanted to study at the same place she got her beginnings. I also wanted to get off the east coast. I just figured if it worked for her…"

"It would work for you."

Meredith sits there expecting him to offer her his condolences, or say something nice about her mother, but he didn't. He gives her a weak smile and goes back to looking at the water.

Figuring it was her turn to start the conversation, Meredith speaks up, "So you and Mark have known each other for a long time." Meredith feels foolish bringing this up, but she couldn't think of anything else that they could talk about.

"Yeah, since college, why?" Derek turns to face her.

"Nothing, I'm was just wondering."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Because I mean he is available, and I mean it wouldn't be the end of the world if you were interested in him."

Meredith laughs and shakes her head. "He's a good guy, but I could never see him as anything but a friend."

Derek shrugs and subconsciously he feels relieved. "He is a good guy, loyal, he was my freshman roommate at Columbia."

"Oh dear, I could imagine the number of girls in various states of undress, and sobriety that came in and out of your guy's room."

"It was quite the shit show." They both laugh and look at one another. They settle into a comfortable silence neither of them feeling the need to continue their conversation. The sun would be up soon.

'He's married and your boss,' Meredith reminds herself.

'You're married and you're her boss,' Derek reminds himself.

-x-

"Hey," Addison says to her husband as she takes a long sip of coffee out her mug. "Long night?"

Derek rubs his eyes as he reaches for her coffee mug. "Oh yeah, I didn't even get the chance to grab a few hours of sleep in the on-call room. How was your night?"

"Oh it was uneventful. I came home and got caught up on my reading, and went to bed pretty early."

Derek doesn't respond for a few moments unable to focus on what Addison is saying partly because of his lack of sleep, partly because he can't muster up the energy to pretend to care. "Hm," is all is says in response, and hands Addison back her mug.

"Busy day?" Addison asks as she pushes the elevator button.

"Kinda, you?"

"Yeah." They step into the elevator. Addison begins to talk again. "I'm going to go out with Mark tonight, you want to come?" Addison asks, already knowing his answer.

"No, you have a good time." The elevator doors open and Derek steps out. "Have a good day, Addie."

"You too," Addison says as the doors close between them. She closes her eyes and rests against the elevator wall, unable to get last night out of her head. She composes herself and steps out of the elevator ready to start her day, already looking forward to her night.