Hey Patsy! No, I haven't forgotten. I actually finished off this chapter exrra-quick for you - it's really motivating when I know someone is waiting to read my writing. Hope you - and everyone else - enjoy this.
"For the love of God, Addison."
"I said I'd stay here." she says flatly from somewhere behind the door. "I never said I wanted to spend the night in that room."
"You love that room." he cajoles, placing his palm against the door. He can hear the slight rustle of fabric, like she's rocking the baby. "You said it was the best part of the house. It's why you made us buy this house."
"I did like the room." she replies, footsteps moving away from the door. "Before you screwed your resident in it."
"Language, Addison." he snaps before he can stop himself.
"She's three days old." she retorts. "And asleep. And you did. Screw your resident in it. And you're not even denying it."
Well. No point lying. Meredith's lurid pink sweater lying on the bedroom floor was enough for Addison to realise what had happened. And then she locked herself in the nursery.
"No, Addie." he says patiently. "I'm not going to lie to you. What happened with Meredith was-"
"The final straw?"
"No," he winces. "I- I wasn't thinking."
"Clearly."
"You'd just told me you were carrying another man's child," he reminds her. "I thought-"
"That you could go ahead and trash our vows?"
"I thought you already had!"
"Well, I only said that because you were so miserable," she says, her voice hitching. "And so was I. We dragged ourselves out here to start over and fix our marriage, Derek, but we ended it worse...you wouldn't even look at me anymore."
"Addie-"
"Go away," she half-sobs.
"Addison?" No way. Addison doesn't cry. Not like this. She sat on the edge of their bed, next to his best friend, and told him with impenetrable calm, dry-eyed, that she loved Mark.
"Damn it." she whispers.
"I'm coming in." he decides; it's easy to find the set of keys in a drawer and let himself into the darkened nursery.
She's in the glider, Grace napping in her arms. She's trying valiantly to wipe away the tears coursing diwn her face, but it's hard without hands.
"I'm sorry." he says, reaching for his daughter.
"I'm hormonal." she mutters, reaching for a tissue. No sleeves for Addison.
"Let me help." he says gently, lowering Grace into the bassinet. "She's both of ours, Addie. Wherever we go from here, she'll always need both of us."
"Shit." he mutters, snappin on a pair of gloves. "Which one of you incompetent morons left her alone?"
"I...was monitoring her." splutters the small one, with the glasses. Billy. No. Bailey.
"Get your eyes checked again." he snaps. Cruel. Addison would kill him for it, but she isn't here. She's at home, with Derek and their baby. He's here, saving junkie girl again.
"I ruined a good shirt getting that crazy girl to the hospital," he curses, trying not to let the fumbling fingers tying his gown annoy him. "What sort of backwater is this anyway?"
"We're a level one trauma center." Bailey says indignantly.
"Who let you in?" he taunts, shoving past the diminutive resident into the OR.
..
He's watching Yang thread the catheter deftly, seeming not to need him at all. But she's just a resident. He needs backup.
"Who paged Cardio?" he demands.
"I did." Bailey replies. "They said they'd be here, but it's three am-"
"Do they have something better to he doing?" he snaps. "The head. Torres, right? You bet she'll hear about this tomorrow."
"Dr. Sloan." Bailey says, drawing herself up. "With all due respect, no one expected this girl to throw a clot in the middle of the night. We couldn't have predicted it. She shouldn't have. But she did. And you were here, and now you're fixing her, and you'd be doing a better job of it if you'd stop whining about how Cardio isn't here."
There's a beat of silence, and then he breaks it by laughing out loud.
"Bailey, you're almost a vertebrate now
..
"What?" she says briskly,striding inti the OR. There's a tall, burly man standing opposite her, and from where she's standing, his eyes are shadowed.
"Owen? Who has the kids? And what are you even doing here?"
"I'm not Owen." the man peers up at her. "And I don't have kids. Yours or mine. Although I could change that, if you wanted."
"Who are you?" she asks, stepping up to the table. Bailey looks at her furtively above her mask, then away.
"Mark Sloan, your new head of Plastics." he say casually, tossing the last hemostat into a basin. "Close up, pretty boy."
Avery fairly dances over to the table, beaming behind his mask.
"Are you insane?" she demands. "You're not a cardiac surgeon. You could have-"
"Waited for you to get off your ass?" he drawls, raising an eyebrow. "Torres. I can do an embolectomy."
"No you can't!"
"Just did." he grins insouciantly.
"How dare-"
"Are you always this uptight?" he snaps, the grin fading. "I saved her damn life. For the second time today. And for your information, I'm double-board certified in plastic and ENT. And I had help."
He jerks a thumb towards...Yang. She didn't even notice the slight woman standing there; she can feel those dark eyes in her back now.
"She's good" she accepts.
"Bit creepy?" Sloan shudders.
"Very creepy." she sighs.
"You don't look like a Cardio girl." he observes, turning on the tap to scrub out.
"No?"
"I'd peg you for...Ortho. Maybe general." he says, drying off.
"I'm a Cardio girl." she sniffs. "Hey. My husband has the kids, so what say we go get a drink. On me, to apologise for biting your head off."
"At three in the morning?"
"Milkshakes?"
"Sure." he smiles. Wow. Hot.
"Wait." he frowns. "I have no shirt."
"Huh?"
"Junkie girl," he explains. "I nearky ran her over in the road, got blood all over me carrying her in here. And there's no way I'm going out in public dressed in scrubs like some kind of...intern."
"Damn." she sighs. "Rain check?"
"Definitely."
"Hey!" she yells at his retreating back. "Sloan? Are you that Sloan? Manhattan Sloan? Addison's...lover?"
"You could put it that way." he snorts. "She wouldn't agree."
.
Huh. Addison and Derek Shepherd aren't McPerfect after all. Who would've known.
Not that she blames Addison at all. That Sloan is eyewateringly hot. And Derek is so...gloomy.
Except that she's very, very sure that Grace is Derek's child. Those eyes.
Speaking of children, she should probably check in on hers. She left Owen snoring in their bed, Garret sprawled across her side. Tess and Will were mercifully in their own beds, but are now probably piled next to their father too.
She wonders how Owen managed to fall into an instrument tray - the man's a war surgeon, you'd think he had better coordination.
That reminds her. Garret left his bear in daycare, and Owen picked it up and forgot it in his locker. Men. She'll just go get it.
She keys in the combination, screwing up her nose at the rank smell. Gym lockers have smelled beer. The bear is at the back, perched on a sloppy stack of files. She reaches for it, dislodging a post-it stuck to the metal wall. It flutters out and to the floor, and she bends.
Frowns. She'd know that writing anywhere. The spiky, jerky letters, oen pressed so hard they're indented into the paper. She sees it every day, in all her patient's charts. Yang.
It just says Dr. Wyatt, and a phone number. A date, tomorrow's.
"Not now!" she yells, pulling her pillow over her head.
"Come on, Mer!" Maggie says excitedly. "It'll be fun!" Right A sleepover. 're ten. Pulling teeth would fun.
"I have rounds at six." she grouses, clamping the pillow tighter. She just wants to be left alone.
Her mother hasn't shown her face yet, and her father - Richard - is down the hall, presumably snoring. She can hear Maggie padding away.
Her father Thatcher is dead. He died, and she didn't even know it. She's half him, she has his nose and his chin and of his ordinariness, which her mother regularly accuses her of, but she didn't feel anything when he died.
She only found out when her half-sister showed up half dead. Her sister she didn't know anything about, either.
She didn't know her fiancé was screwing her best friend.
How clueless is she? How much has she missed, how many details have eluded her?
Not anymore. Ellis can keep her wool; she's pulled it over her eyes long enough. Meredith is about to take charge.
.
Maybe not. She realises just how dumb this is. She remembered the address well enough from her dash of shame earlier that week, and now she's standing here shivering and reconsidering.
They're busy with the baby, she reasons. Addison doesn't need her husband's drunken mistakes on her doorstep.
Like, drunken in more ways than one. The tequila Cristina bought her is... let's just say it's stronger than she's used to.
But she's doing it. She's going to tell Derek it will never, ever, ever happen again. He's her boss. Her boss's boss.
Her boss's boss's husband.
His marriage is over.
But he has a kid, she reminds herself.
But he said he didn't regret what happened.
But he's married.
"Meredith?" he asks, confused. Shit.
"The neighbors said there was someone at the door." he says, stepping outside and closing it behind him. "What are you doing here?"
She can hear shrill screaming behind him, and he shrugs apologetically. "We're both exhausted."
"I..." she shuffles awkwardly. He's a father and a husband. She's officially a homewrecker. Might as well get this iver with.
"Are you drunk?" he frowns. "What the hell?"
"My father is dead." she explains.
"Richard?" Derek splutters. "What happened? Okay, I'll tell Addie - no, she'll want to come too,"
"No." she says quickly. "My...biological one. Thatcher. Thatcher Grey? He died. So, I just wanted to say, I'm done playingy mother's fool. I'm not gking to be small anymore. I'm going to take charge. Oh god. Alex says that."
"Weber?" Addison asks, shaking her head. Her hair is loose and unstyled, her face bare, but she's even prettier this way. She's also holding a screaming baby.
"Come here." Derek says tenderly, cradling the bundled up baby. "What's the matter?"
"The matter is that your mistress is here," Addison says curtly.
"I was just leaving." she says hastily, turning around, blinded by the headlights pulling up the drive.
Dr. Sloan?
"Well, this is awkward." Dr. Sloan grins, bouncing back on his heels.
I'm enjoying writing all this weird shit.Let me know if you are too!
Reviews really really motivate me, especially if you leave little suggestions about what you would like to see.
Also, remember it's MerDer endgame. It isn't fun if there's no struggle. Please don't start roasting me or the story. It'll happen.
So please, review, review, REVIEW!