I know it's taken me forever to update this. My original version of this chapter was so much longer and it never seemed like it wanted to end, so I had to rethink it.

III – Part 21

The usually pristine apartment was now a mess; empty beer bottle littered the table along with chips and dip. Surprisingly Preston didn't mind that his apartment was now in chaos. He wanted a chance to get to know the new ER attending and Addison's new husband. The Guys' Night Out was a once a month ritual of playing poker that usually included Derek Shepherd, George O'Malley and Alex Karev. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea inviting the men to their monthly game since Sullivan had an altercation with Derek. Derek still sported a pair of black eyes from said altercation. He knew Richard was going all out trying to get Addison and Sullivan to sign on at Seattle Grace. That would never happen if the Sanders and Shepherds couldn't stand being in the same room. He hoped the night would help clear the air between the two men, but Preston wasn't sure if they would ever be on speaking terms since Derek had spent most of the evening on his balcony.

"So Tuck your wife is really a cop?" Alex asked.

Tuck nodded, "She a Detective for the Seattle Police Department."

"She's scary," George said with his eyes wide. "You should have seen her this morning," George cringed remembering the sound of cracking bones. "Callie told me it was one of the worst wrist breaks she had ever seen."

"I'll be sure to tell her you said that," Tuck grinned at George.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Preston asked curiously.

Tuck was taken aback by that question, "Why would it bother me?"

"Because it's dangerous, don't you worry she is going to get hurt?" Preston asked with a shrug.

Tuck chuckled, "I would have to be pretty stupid to marry her if I couldn't deal with her being a cop. Besides she is a great detective."

"And she would kick your ass is you worried about her," Sully grinned at his brother-in-law.

"How many people has she shot?" Alex asked ever since he found out Tuck's wife was a cop he wanted to know.

Tuck looked at Sully and shook his head. "Why do they always want to know that?"

Sully shrugged, "I don't know they always want to know how many people she shot, how many people she has killed and how many times she has been shot."

"I know and it really pisses her off when they ask," Tuck said a little annoyed.

"So how many people has she shot?" Alex asked with raised eyebrows.

Tuck rolled his eyes again and shook his head. "Okay she has shot ten people, she has killed five people, three of which she shot, two by other means."

"Seriously?" George asked nervously. He definitely didn't want to get on Beckett Tucker's bad side.

He nodded.

"And how many times has she been shot?" Alex asked with morbid curiosity.

Tuck became more serious, "Twice. Once was full on in the chest, thank god for Kevlar. She had an asshole rookie partner who rushed in on a bust without calling for back up and the suspect caught her off guard. The shot knocked her on her ass, but she took him out before she passed out. She saved the asshole rookie's life and he tried to make it look like it was her fault. She told him she wouldn't tell anyone it was his fault if he resigned and never worked in law enforcement again."

"And the other time?" Alex asked still intrigued by the whole topic.

"She was partnered with a different stupid rookie. He was trying to disarm the suspect and tripped. The suspect's gun went off grazing her on the ass."

Sully let out a rich laughter, "I remember her being pretty pissed off. And if I remember correctly she was brought into your ER and you were stupid enough to tease her about the wound."

"Oh god, don't remind me the only thing that kept her from kicking my ass was that I was smart enough to restrain her before I said anything."

"You restrained your wife?" George said in shock.

"That was before they were married," Sully grinned. "Tuck always knew how to push Beck's buttons and piss her off."

"I can't even begin to count how many times she left him hand cuffed to something, because he said or did something stupid and pissed her off. As a matter of fact the first time Addie met Tuck was one of those times. He spent the entire evening hand cuffed to the booth." The men all laughed.

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Derek stood out on the balcony leaning on the railing. He could hear the laughter from inside. Sullivan and Jackson seemed to easily fit in with the group. How ironic it had taken Derek months for Preston to allow him to even call him by his first, Preston and Sullivan were immediately on a first name basis. And as for George and Alex it took years for them to stop hating him, sometimes he wasn't quite sure if they ever did stop hating him. His grumblings were interrupted.

"I wanted to thank you Derek," Sullivan said from behind him as he leaned against the door jam.

Stunned Derek turned to the man shrugging, "You're welcome, and what are you thanking me for?"

Sully walked on to the balcony handing one of the beers he was holding to Derek then leaned on the railing next to him. "Well for starters, letting us wait to tell Richie you're his father."

Derek gave him a curt nod, "It seemed like the right thing to do."

Sully took a moment before continuing, "I also wanted to thank you for letting Addie know it was about you and her when Richie was conceived."

"She told you?" Derek raised his eyebrows in surprise. He couldn't believe he was hearing this.

"We tell each other everything, we have no secrets."

"Let me get this straight, you are thanking me for thinking of Addie when we had sex?" He actually was thanking him for thinking of his wife during sex? He shook his head. He didn't think he would ever want Meredith to share her past sexual exploits with him.

A half smile appeared on Sully's face. "You think I'm crazy," he said with a chuckle.

Derek shrugged thinking exactly that, "Well that thought did cross my mind." He chuckled, "I just can't ever imagine thanking a guy for thinking about my wife while he had sex with her. I guess I'm just possessive like that."

"You were married for almost twelve years. I have no problem with the fact that Addie and you have a past." He turned to him looking more serious. "You don't understand how devastated she was thinking when Richie was conceived you were thinking about Meredith and wishing you were with her instead." He gave him another half smile, "Of course that made it easy for me to hate you."

"You know our failed marriage wasn't only my fault," he said in an aggravated tone. He was tired of being made out to be the bad guy in the failure of his marriage to Addison.

"I never said it was," he assured him. "I'm fully aware what went on in your marriage."

Derek scoffed at the idea that Addison would volunteer such information to her husband. "I'm sure there is plenty that went on that you know nothing about. Mark. . ."

"There is no need to bring Mark into this. I'm fully aware she had an affair with him," he said with irritation. "You know I'm trying real hard to like you for Richie's sake and you are really making it difficult."

Derek narrowed his eyes at the other man thinking about what he told him. It really confused him by how easily he accepted Addie's past. "So how long after you married Addie did she tell you she was pregnant?"

Sully's deep laughter resonated through the night. "Derek she told me she was pregnant the night we met. I already told you we have no secrets."

Derek was taken aback. He didn't understand how a man could knowingly start a relationship with a woman who was carrying another man's child.

Sully could see this shocked the other man. "It never mattered to me. I fell in love with Addie from almost the moment I set eyes on her. By the time she told me she pregnant it made no difference. I wanted her to be a permanent part of my life and that meant accepting the child she was carrying. I thank god everyday that Addie and I were lucky enough to find each other and we were smart enough to act on our feelings."

"Meredith mentioned you have other children."

His smile widened, "Two more our son A.J. is three and our daughter Madeline just turned three months."

"That surprises me. I always thought Addie only wanted one child. You must be a very persuasive man."

Sully's rich laughter filled the air again. "Did you and Addie ever talk?"

Derek frowned bewildered by the other man's question. "Of course we talked."

Sully shook his head at the other man, he knew better. "Addie always wanted a large family. She made it very clear to me from the start that she wanted more than one child. She hated growing up an only child."

"Wow I can't believe I never knew that," he said stunned.

Sully shrugged at the other man, "Family has always been important to Addie."

"It really means a lot to me that Addie never kept Richie from my family."

"Addie loves your family there is no way on earth she would have kept Richie from them. Even though she's not officially part of the family anymore she still thinks of them as her family."

"My family always loved Addie. My divorcing her could never change how they feel about her. Hell, if they had to choose between us, I bet quite a few if not all of them would choose to keep Addie and get rid of me," he said with a soft chuckle.

"We both know that's not true. I should thank you for that too, for not making them choose."

"I never would have asked them to choose. I know no matter what my relationship with Addie is my family will always consider her family." He thought about his relationship with his family and their relationship with Addie and how over the years they tried to talk about her. "You probably wonder why I was such an ass and never asked about her."

"Honestly?" He clenched his jaw then looked at the other man, "I always figured Addie was right, you really didn't care what became of her."

"She was wrong," he looked up at him apprehensively. "I was afraid to find out. Afraid she moved on and was happy, and then I would be jealous. I was even more afraid she didn't move on and then the guilt would eat away at me. So it was easier not to know." He watched the man standing next to him, the man his ex-wife had fallen in love with. How could he be such an ass to not be happy for her? She had moved on with her life and from everything he had seen of Addie's new relationship, she had found her perfect match.

Derek turned his gaze to the night skyline thinking about how jealous he was when he first saw Addison and Sullivan together. What kind of man was he that he couldn't be happy that she was able to rebuild her life? How could he not be happy for her? The last thing she had told him was to be happy. So how could he not want the same thing for her?

Finally he tentatively asked, "She's happy isn't she?"

Sully smiled nodding, "Very happy."

"Good, I want her to be happy." He smiled to himself when he realized he really meant what he said.

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Preston, George, Alex and Tuck's attention was caught by the resounding laughter of two men. They looked up to see Sully and Derek coming off the balcony. Both men were laughing. Preston breathed a sigh of relief, maybe there was hope after all that Addie and Sully could work at Seattle Grace. This was a very big step forward.

Preston rose from his seat smiling, "Now that Tuck has cleaned us all out I vote we go to Joe's and join our better halves. Tuck can buy us all round." All the men nodded in agreement.

Tuck laughed at the men and conceded, "Fine, fine I'll spend my hard earned cash and buy you all a round."

Then men all laughed as they headed for the door.

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I hope you enjoyed this update. Please review and let me know what you think.