Disclaimer: No, I don't own Grey's Anatomy or any of its characters. Nothing's changed. sigh
A/N: I realized that Christina hadn't been in the story yet, and I realized that SOMEONE had to have human contact with Derek (a.k.a. El Idioto) so here it is!
Enjoy! And thanks for the reviews! I'm so happy you like this!
Enough: Chapter 8: Realization
Meredith was sleeping in the interns' usual hang-out spot, an old, abandoned wing of the hospital, when her cell phone rang.
"Mmph? Hello?" she said sleepily.
"Meredith? Where are you?" The voice on the other end was in panic.
Meredith opened her eyes and sat up at once. This didn't sound like Christina at all, which was a bad sign. Or a good sign.
"I'm here, at the hospital, in the old wing."
"I'm coming down." Christina hung up.
5 minutes later, Christina burst into the room. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you all day! I was going to call your house, but...you know, Izzie..."
"Well, what's wrong?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Christina said, looking at Meredith. "Who died?"
"You go first."
"I stayed with Burke all night. I was comforting."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Well, are you okay? How do you feel?" Meredith knew her friend had problems with this kind of thing.
"Weird, I guess. Like I did the right thing. Weak, but good. I think I feel okay. I'm okay."
"Okay."
"Your turn."
Oh boy, Meredith thought, here we go again. But she didn't mind that much. This was Christina. Meredith could tell her almost anything.
"I slept with Derek, last night. In an empty exam room. We were at the prom and he kept on looking at me while I was dancing with Finn and he was dancing with Addison. I couldn't stand it and I left. He followed me into the room and we were talking and then...it just happened. After, I got up and I left and I couldn't find my underwear and Callie helped fix the back of my dress and I had to leave. With Finn. But Derek came and wanted me to choose between them. So I told Finn to go home before he got hurt and then I turned around to Derek and I screamed at him and I left. When I left I didn't see it but Addison came and saw the whole thing. And then today..." She paused to take a breath. Christina's eyes couldn't get any bigger. They were popping out of her head. Her jaw could not have dropped any lower.
"Today I got in the elevator with Addison and I was going to tell her because I didn't think that she'd know, but she did. And I told her that I was sorry. And she told me that she was sorry."
Meredith was wrong. Christina's eyes did get bigger. Her jaw dropped more.
"I talked to Callie too."
Christina was speechless. The large run-on sentence that had just escaped Meredith's mouth was completely understandable to her.
And they both sat there, because no words were needed. Two friends, both confused, both uncomfortable, both troubled, but both there for each other.
Shift over. Thank God, Addison thought as she changed into jeans and a purple tunic-thing she'd just bought. She grabbed her purse and turned around.
Derek.
They stood like that, frozen, for a few seconds. Addison recovered first, like she always did.
"Here," she said, quickly taking off her ring and giving it to him, "you don't know what you want. But I do." She walked out.
She was halfway down the hallway when Derek came running up to her. "You're right," he said. He grabbed her hand, opened it, and placed the ring in it. "It's yours," he said, "Do whatever you want with it."
Addison closed her hand around the ring.
"I don't think I've ever said this to you before because we always glazed over the arguments and held grudges, but I'm sorry. It means nothing, but I'm sorry."
Addison nodded, turned, and walked out of the hospital. She knew exactly what she was going to do with the ring.
As always, review and advise. I'll post more later.