III – Part 22
Joe's bar The Emerald City had always been the favorite hang out spot for the doctors from Seattle Grace. The interns sat in a booth in the corner where they could easily observe their superiors. In one booth sat Dr. Grey-Shepherd, Dr. Stevens and Dr. Yang. Not too far from them, sat Dr. Bailey, Dr. Torres, Dr. Sanders and Dr. Tucker's wife, who they were not officially introduced to yet.
They figured it must be ladies night out since none of their spouses seemed to be around. Dr. Grey-Shepherd's group seemed to be seriously scrutinizing Dr. Sanders' group, while Dr. Sanders' group didn't even seem to notice the other group.
Meredith was barely listening to Izzie and Cristina's conversation. Her attention instead was intent on Addison. She watched her laughing with the other women like she didn't have a care in the world. She narrowed her eyes how could she act as if nothing was wrong? In a matter of days she was going to have to tell Richie that the man he thought was his father really wasn't his father. She knew if she was in her predicament she would be a basket case. Meredith was so much in her own little world she had missed Izzie's question.
Izzie was snapping her fingers in front of her face, "Meredith!"
Meredith shook her head and snapped out of her reverie, "What?"
"So Derek is really spending the evening with Sullivan Sanders?"
She shook her head, "It's not just Sullivan. Preston, George, Alex and Dr. Tucker are there too. They are just playing poker. It's no big deal."
Cristina grinned, "Yeah, they all want to give Addison's new husband the third degree."
Izzie pursed her lips and asked, "Do you think Dr. Webber will convince Addison and Sullivan to sign a contract with Seattle Grace?"
"What?" her attention had drifted away again.
"Come on you had to hear the rumors that Dr. Webber has been trying to get them to sign a contract."
"Addison mentioned something about that, she said they weren't going to leave New York though," she relayed to them without taking her eyes off Addison. What would happen if she did move here? Derek has been acting crazy since Addison's arrival. He got even worse when he discovered she was married to someone other than Mark Sloan. How could they function if she moved back to Seattle? All Derek seemed to have on his mind these days was Addison. Meredith was finally beginning to have an inkling of how Addison must have felt while she lived in Seattle.
"You know if you keep staring at her like that you are going to burn a whole through her," Cristina teased Meredith.
"Seriously Mere take a picture," Izzie laughed.
Cristina and Izzie exchanged looks then nodded to each other and rose from their seats. Cristina took Meredith by the arm and said, "Come on lets go."
Meredith shook her head not sure what was going on. "Hey I'm not ready to go home yet," she protested.
"Who said anything about going home," Cristina grinned at her. "Since you seem so interested in what Addison is doing we are going to join her."
Meredith eyes widened and she tried to protest but they were already standing next to Addison's table. They stood for a moment waiting for the group to notice them. Their laughter finally died down when the group noticed the new comers.
Cristina spoke up first, "We figured if guys can hang out why not us."
Miranda looked like she was going to protest but Addie spoke up, "Sure join us."
Addie smiled at the other women then realized they never met Beck, "I don't believe you have met my sister-in-law, Beckett Tucker." Then she turned to Beck and gestured to each woman as she went along, "Dr. Meredith Grey-Shepherd, Dr. Isobel Stevens and Dr. Cristina Yang. Their other halves are playing poker with Sully and Tuck tonight." They all shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.
Meredith nervously looked around the table and excused herself. She didn't know what Cristina and Izzie were thinking. She needed to get away from her. She quickly made her way to the bar and ordered a tequila shot.
Addie watched the retreating woman and frowned. She had been fully aware of Meredith watching her the entire evening. Obviously Derek had not eased her fears. She sighed then excused herself. She needed to make Meredith understand she was no threat to her.
She stood quietly behind Meredith as she downed her shot. "You know that isn't going to help."
Meredith was slightly startled to hear the woman behind her. She ignored the comment and ordered another shot. Addie looked at Joe and shook her head, "Meredith I think we need to talk."
Meredith turned to Addison and scowled at her, "Just what do we need to talk about?"
"Well for starters why I seem to make you feel threatened."
Meredith glanced at Joe. She really didn't want to have this conversation, but it seemed she didn't have a choice. Meredith shook her head in frustration. "Fine, but can we go somewhere else and have this conversation?"
Addison glanced around then nodded. Meredith quickly rose from the barstool leading the way out of the bar with Addison following closely behind.
The women at the table watched them exit the bar. "So exactly what is Meredith's problem with Addison?" Beckett asked rather innocently.
Cristina and Izzie exchanged glances then Izzie spoke up, "She's afraid Addison is back to take her husband away."
Beck's eyes widened then she laughed, "Come on lets be serious, what's the real reason?"
The women shrugged at each other again, "That's the reason."
Beck looked at them perplexed, "Seriously? Why is she letting herself get so upset over something that will never happen? She can't really believe that Addie would leave Sully for Derek." Beck laughed at the absurdity of the idea. Both women nodded. She shook her head not believing such nonsense. "Well hopefully Addie can set her straight."
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Addison and Meredith sat side by side on a bench outside Seattle Grace. The silence stretched on between the two women. Addie finally broke the silence and asked quietly, "Why do you feel so threatened by me?"
Meredith looked straight ahead narrowing her eyes, "You know he's jealous."
"He's not really jealous he's just in shock."
"No," she shook her head at the redhead. "He can't stand the fact that you are married, it is eating him up. He wants you back."
"Well even if that were true there is no way on earth that is going to happen." She reached over and placed her hand reassuringly on Meredith's shoulder. "Meredith I am madly in love with my husband and I have an amazing marriage. There is no way on earth I would throw that away."
Meredith tried to protest, but what could she say to that? She knew her fears were irrational. She had seen Addison and Sullivan together. She knew they had children of their own. Addison was one hundred percent right. She was not the threat to her marriage.
Addie looked over at the other woman tilting her head. She could see the turmoil on her face. "You just need to give him time to absorb everything that has happened. He received quite a few shocks this week. Lets face it finding out he has a son is one hell of a shock. Then you top that off with finding out that I am not only married but I got married two days after the divorce." She watched Meredith's shocked reaction to that bit of information and laughed. "I can see why he had it in his head that Sully and I were together before I asked him for a divorce. Of course he is wrong but that doesn't change the fact that he is nursing a bruised ego."
"You seriously got married two days after your divorce was final and you really only met Sully after you signed the divorce papers?" Addison nodded. "It's just so hard to wrap my mind around that. I know you still loved Derek even though you asked him for the divorce. I knew you never really wanted it. How did you go from being devastated from the divorce to being ready to start a life with another man?" Meredith just shook her head at the other woman not comprehending.
"Let's just say being held at gunpoint gives a person perspective. After that I really saw for the first time how Derek and you were together. I could see by the way he looked at you, how much he loved you. That moment allowed me to let go and move on. Of course I never in my wildest dreams thought I would find my soul mate and the real love of my life that night," she laughed at the blonde's disbelieving look.
"He really is your soul mate and the love of your life." Meredith smiled for the first time as she watched Addison's eyes light up when she talked about her husband.
"Yeah he is," she said smiling at Meredith. "Do me one favor?"
"What's that?"
"Talk to Derek, tell him how you feel."
"But what if he doesn't want to talk and doesn't want to listen to how I feel?"
"He will, trust me," she assured her with a knowing nod. "You know that look I saw in his eyes five years ago?" Meredith nodded at her unsure of herself. "He still looks at you that way."
"Addie?" The tears were starting to shine in her eyes. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Addie smiled at Meredith then put her arm around her shoulder. "What do you say we go back inside I'm sure our friends are wondering what happened to us."
Beck felt like she was a suspect being grilled for a crime she didn't commit. Miranda had abandoned her saying she had to get home to the kids since she left Tucker home alone with them. Addie was still MIA with Meredith and now the interns had converged on the group and were barraging her with questions. Normally she would have told them all to fuck off. But they were her husband's co-workers, and she did disarm a man in front of them. Their questions were to be expected.
"So how many people have you shot?"
She tried to sidestep the question but they were instant. She sighed then answered, "Ten."
"Really?"
"Oh my god you shot ten people?"
"Have you ever been shot?"
She nodded again then looked uncomfortably to the door hoping Addie would finish her talk with Meredith already.
"Seriously?
How many times?"
She gritted her teeth and answered, "Twice but they had shitty aim."
"Have you ever killed anyone?"
Again she tried to sidestep the question to no avail. She gave them a curt nod in the affirmative, hoping that would be enough information.
"Seriously?"
"How many?"
Beck sighed again. It never failed when people found out she was a cop they would always give her the third degree on how many people she shot, killed or how many times she had been shot. They never seemed to understand it was the part of her job and she hated talking about it.
Beck's attention was once again drawn to sound of the bell ringing as the door opened again. She hoped it Addie was coming back so she could rescue her from the group of doctors she was being forced to spend time with. A smile of relief appeared on her face when she saw the group of men enter. She quickly made eye contact with her husband sending out a silent SOS. He gave her a sympathetic smile and was quickly by her side.
The interns all cheerfully greeted Tuck as he sat down next to his wife putting his arm around her, he was quickly becoming one of their favorite attendings. He leaned over giving her a kiss then whispered an apology in her ear.
Once Tuck was settled in the intern's interrogation began again. "Come on Beckett tell us how many people you have killed?"
So it wasn't the boring medical talk his wife needed rescuing from, it was the typical crass how many people have you shot how many people have you killed she was dealing with. Tuck narrowed his eyes at the interns then said in an intimidating tone, "That's a pretty rude question."
Their eyes widened at Dr. Tucker's response. They never thought about their questions being rude. They were surprised to see the easy going doctor acting so angry. The man didn't even blink an eye when his wife was being held at knifepoint but now he was acting very protective.
"We didn't mean to be rude," Molly meekly answered.
"Did Beck ask you how many patients you killed?"
Their eyes widened even more at that question. They were horrified by the idea of someone asking them that. It never crossed their mind that a cop would equate killing someone in the line of duty to a doctor accidentally killing a patient. Now they all really felt ashamed to have been harassing Beckett.
He gave them a short nod, "I didn't think so."
He rose from the table smiled down at Beck reached for her hand pulling her up to him and led her to the dance floor. He held her close as they danced and she smiled up at him mouthing the words thank you. He gave her a kiss on the forehead then snuggled closer while they danced.
Sully watched Tuck and his sister out on the dance floor then shook his head at the group at the table. "You were bugging Beck about how many people she has shot and killed?"
The interns had the good grace to look embarrassed and they nodded.
Sully shook his head at the group. "She really hates that."
"Yeah we realize it now, Dr. Tucker set us straight," Riley said.
The men all seated themselves around the table. Izzie and Cristina exchanged looks when Derek and Sully sat next to each other. Derek leaned over and whispered something to Sully both men burst out into laughter. Cristina caught Preston's eye giving him a puzzled look, he just shrugged and smiled.
Derek glanced around the table then asked, "Where's Meredith and Addison?"
Izzie bit her lower lip then answered, "They left about a half an hour ago."
"Are they planning on coming back?"
"I sure hope so. I think they just went somewhere to talk."
Just then the bell on the door rang again, Meredith and Addison walked in. Addie had her arm around Meredith's shoulder and both women were laughing.
A wide smile appeared on Sully's face as he watched his wife head to the table. He rose held out his hand to Addie then led her to the dance floor.
Derek stood grinning at Meredith and asked, "Would you like to dance?" She smiled and nodded and he led her to the dance floor.
Preston, George and Alex all took the other men's lead and asked Cristina, Callie and Izzie to dance.
The interns all sat around the table with silly grins on their faces as they watched their superiors on the dance floor. It seemed that all the animosity had disappeared. They all looked so happy and truly seemed to be enjoying themselves. They could only hope that these happy feelings would continue and extend themselves to the hospital making their lives easier at work.
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I hope you enjoyed the update, please review and let me know what you think.