Pleasant Surprises

Chapter 7

Thanks for the reviews guys…the lengthier the better. I like to know your opinion on every single detail. Last chapter I tried to transition Derek out of the picture now it's Addison's turn…let me know what you think.

Do not fret transitional period will be over and then who knows maybe Derek and Addison will be back with a vengeance! LOL…all in the name of angst.

Happy Reading!

"Addison." Mark called out to her as he saw her walking towards the maternity ward. "I got to talk to you." He stated as he grabbed her by the wrist and guided her to his office. He knew she was probably going to scream her head off but he needed to know if she knew where Derek was. He didn't recognize that he was not ecstatic to see that she had not left with Derek. It did not register in his mind that he should be feeling relief at seeing her there standing in front of him. No…apparently his goal was only to see where Derek was. His concern for Addison not a priority at the moment.

"I'm a little busy right now Mark." She said, as she stopped dead in her tracks. Who the hell did he think he was? She was not going to be pushed by him anymore. She had done that before and it had gotten her a broken heart and a failed marriage. She couldn't let herself be wrapped up in him anymore. She wouldn't. Mark had told her that he was not going to give up on her but he had to – if not there lives would be a living hell. Besides she couldn't shake the feeling that he was not that interested in salvaging what they had. Maybe he had finally realized the mistake that they had made.

"Where did Derek go?" he asked without even acknowledging that she was upset at him. At this point he didn't care. All he wanted to know was what had made Derek run for the hills. Derek has been acting weird lately. He knew that they didn't talk anymore but he was always able to read him and lately something about him was off. It had nothing to do with Addison, Meredith or even him – it had to do with how he viewed himself. He wanted to help him if he'd let him. Derek was in a bad place right now of that he was sure of – maybe it was the culmination of all these blows that made him retreat. But he had always been a fighter. What was the deal?

"What?" Addison questioned, bringing him back to the moment at hand. "What are you talking about?" Derek was gone? She couldn't even process that information. Gone where? Was he out for the day or was he gone for good? She looked at Mark expectantly. He had started talking and now he had to finish – she wanted to know. Thoughts of their conversation last night with Derek came back to her and she closed her eyes hoping -- against hope -- that he had not left because of that. Just something else to add on to the guilt that she was already feeling.

"Derek left town. Apparently he called the Chief and asked for some time off. Andrew is coming to substitute." Mark said, telling her all that he knew. That was it. That was all he knew and Addison didn't seem to know anything else. She couldn't help him. Maybe Meredith could but he had promised himself last night that he would not approach her anymore…talking to her was like opening up a can of worms. He couldn't do it. He was attracted to her and he knew how to recognize that but it went beyond attraction and that was what scared him. He wanted to get to know her. Stop it! He told himself. Focus on the issue at hand. Meredith is not someone that you can explore possibilities with!

"Did he leave for good?" She asked, as an immense sadness overtook her. She had never meant for him to leave. He had reacted so badly last night and while she knew that he was entitled to be upset this attitude of his was a bit much – especially if he left Meredith behind. She had just passed by her room and she was there – alone – watching TV. She wondered if she knew. By the look on her face she was willing to bet that she had been told or he had come to tell her personally. Derek had better not have walked out of her life without saying goodbye. She knew her husband and when he wanted to retreat, he would do so and not consider what the other person was thinking. He would have a lot of explaining to do if he were to come back to Meredith and if she were Meredith she would not let him off the hook that easily.

"No. Not for good." Mark corrected her. "Why Addison would that break your heart?" he asked sarcastically. He didn't mean it how it sounded but he couldn't help it and the funny thing was that he wasn't even jealous; he was just astonished that after they had been through so much she still seemed affected by every move that Derek made. He really had never had her heart completely and maybe that was a good thing since he had never really gave her his either. Wow – he could see that now crystal clear. It was right then and there that he realized they had tried to make things work but it had not been enough. They had ruined their individual friendships for nothing…not one of them was happy.

"You are such an asshole Mark." Addison said as she turned on her heel and walked away from him but thought better of it. She turned back to him and walked towards him: "I can't believe that I fell in love with you. For your information I told Derek last night that we were not a one-night stand; that I lived with you and he was devastated. And before you go assuming that it was because we betrayed him and then I went seeking him after our relationship doomed…no…he was upset that he took me back and lost his opportunity with Meredith!" she spat. "See it has nothing to do with us as a couple Mark…and everything to do with the way we ruined his life and his future with Meredith."

"You know what." Mark said. "I might be an asshole but let me tell you something Addie…stop feeling guilty!" he admonished, with his voice higher than normal. He looked around the hall and saw that they were alone and continued: "I am sick and fucking tired of seeing you beat yourself up for something that we all had blame in. Derek wants to blame you and he wants to blame me as if he were blameless and he wasn't Adie. He wasn't a good husband to you and if there is anyone that should take the blame between the three of us well let's just say that fingers are definitely pointed at the wrong person. I was the one that pushed you, don't forget that; I was the one that suggested we try to see if we could comfort each other. It was me all right? You need to move on from this it's-all-my-fault-routine because not only is it getting old it's not who you are. Since when do you bow before Derek and let him tell you this is all your doing. Addie you need to get some perspective. This is not your fault. Until you accept that you will never be able to move on from this and heal."

Addison looked at him speechless. "Wow." She said, and smiled at him for the first time in a long time. "Mark, I don't know what to say." She said, as her hand went to his forearm. "Thank you for saying that. Thank you for finally opening up to what you really are feeling instead of coddling me and trying to make me feel better. Everyone does that and what I need sometimes is not to be comforted but to be told how things are and what I'm doing wrong. So thank you."

"It was time." He stated. "You have to let it go Addie. If not it will consume you and annihilate you."

"It has been consuming me, hasn't it?" She asked, as she sat down in a visitor chair. "No one could have told me what you just did and have me be speechless. Basically you told me to grow up and mature and stop whining but in a Mark-so-to-speak kind of way. Only you Mark. Only you."

Mark sat next to her. "We both did this Addie. We fucked up but we are all adults and we all have to learn from our mistakes right? Hey I made a mistake cheating on you when I should have tried to make things work with you, right? I mean we never talked about it. You just came to Seattle and didn't even give me the chance to explain which now I realize there is no explanation that would be good enough but I still wanted to explain and that's why I came all those months ago. All I can say is I'm sorry Addie. I really am..." He stated, feeling a huge weight life off of his shoulders.

"Why did you do it Mark? Is it really because you can't be with one woman?" Addison questioned. "You came back a couple of months ago professing your undying love to me and now I just don't feel it…before I did, now I don't."

"I did love you Addie – with all my heart or as much as my heart allowed me to. I just don't know what happened. I don't know if I just can't move on from the guilt or if I just don't have it in me to love as unconditionally as I have had the fortune to be loved by some women, including yourself." Mark said honestly.

"Or maybe the right girl hasn't come along." She stated. "I wasn't the one Mark. We caused major chaos finding that out but now we know. I love you and you love me but it's not enough; not even the love we felt for each other was enough to get us through a rough patch so what does that mean?"

"I couldn't accept that you and I had not worked out because then our ultimate demise was for nothing." Mark stated. "And I guess it means that we were wrong about how strong our feelings were and how much they would be able to withstand."

"It wasn't for nothing." Addison commented. "We had a beautiful couple of months – we lived in a fantasy world but now reality has sunk in and we have to accept the repercussions of our fantasy world because we acted it out and people got hurt in the process."

"Do you still want Derek?" Mark questioned, knowing that in her heart she would always want to come back to him…it was just not possible anymore.

"I can't have Derek. I don't think we can get past you or Meredith." Addison stated. "I finally learned to accept that."

"I'm sorry. Do you think him and Meredith can get past you?" Mark questioned, interested in knowing her thoughts on that issue. For some reason it was extremely important for him to know what her thoughts were.

Addison didn't want to answer that question so instead she stated: "Hey…" as a smile came to her face. "What about you?"

"Oh no baby. Meredith and Derek's demise is all about you." He said, bumping her shoulder. "I had nothing to do with that." He finalized, laughing slightly.

"Maybe I should warn Meredith about you." She said, as she got up from the chair and laughed like she hadn't in days. "Mark I'm really glad we had this talk. Now that we understand each other are you sticking around or are you heading back to New York?"

"I'm staying." He said and for the life of him didn't understand why he had told her that. "I want to see how it goes here." She did not realize how true her last comment to him was: Warn Meredith about me. Hmmm…

"You know that you and I can only be friends…if that." Addison pointed out, completely oblivious to how close she had hit it on the nail with Mark and his thoughts on Meredith but he wasn't going to confess anything to her – so instead he replied: "I know. I still need to stay here and see if there is any way that I can at least try to mend things with Derek and with you. Addie we used to be so close and I miss that…I miss my best friend." Mark confessed to her. He had already confessed it to himself.

"I know. I just don't know if Derek can get past this and forgive you and me in the process."

"We'll never know if I don't try right?" Mark said as he got up as well, inched close to Addison and kissed her cheek. "Take care of yourself Addie." With that said he walked away from her life – well as the man in her life -- without once looking back.

GA…GA…GA…GA…

Meredith walked slowly down the hall to hospital locker room. She was sick and tired of staying in bed and she needed to walk at least in small amounts – besides it wasn't like she had major surgery – she had her appendix removed. She was a little sore and in a little bit of pain but other than that she was fine. Well in the physical sense she was fine – the emotional side well that was another story.

She still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that Derek had left town. It didn't matter that the Chief had told her that he would call her – he didn't even have the decency to say goodbye to her. After everything they had been through he just decided to leave town and not tell her where he was going or when he was coming back. How insensitive! A couple of hours ago she had been numbed by pain but now anger was starting to settle in and the anger was multiplying by the second.

"Hey Cristina…" Meredith called out when she saw her change scrubs. "Anything new?" she asked as she walked towards her. "How's Burke?"

Cristina looked at her attached to her IV and smiled. "You have got to be the worst patient ever." She commented. "Just because you work here doesn't give you the right to walk the halls and invade the locker room if you're not working." She stated and then continued: "Burke is doing better." She said. "I just wish that his therapy would be over and they could go back to being the same 'ole Burke."

Cristina scrunched her brow in concern when she saw Meredith sit down on the bench as tears fell down her face. "He left." She stated. "McDreamy left town and didn't even say goodbye." She finalized as she let out a loud groan and angrily wiped the tears from her face. "I don't care anymore." She said, strongly. "He can go wherever he wants and not come back if he so chooses too. I don't care."

Cristina sat next to her and wrapped her arm around her shoulder. "Meredith…you care and you care a lot." She stated as she let Meredith rest her head on her shoulder. It seemed that her best friend could never cut a break. She had broken up with the vet and finally decided she wanted to give it another go with Derek and he leaves her…again. He was such an idiot!

They were so immersed in their conversation that neither one noticed the door opened and Mark walk through it. He saw Meredith and Cristina hugging each other and while he knew that he should go and give them privacy he stood there rooted to the ground. They hadn't heard him come in so he slipped unnoticed to his locker and sat on the floor quietly. He hoped that no one else would come in and see him because if that was the case he would have a lot of explanations to dish out and quite honestly there would be no explanation but the sole fact that he wanted to know where Derek was – and most importantly how Meredith was doing. If he didn't admit that to himself he would be a coward. He was concerned about her and he wanted to know if she was okay.

He then heard her: "I don't want to care. He left Cristina. Just like that – up and left and didn't even say goodbye. Who does that? Not someone that claims to love you." Meredith pointed out. "I mean if Burke did that to you would you want to ever see him again?" she questioned then she brushed her tears away. "I'm sorry Cristina you were telling me about Burke and his therapy and you wanting him to be fine already – then I just lost it. Please tell me…"

Cristina waved her hand. "Burke will be fine and we'll talk about that later. In regard to Derek, sometimes people can't deal with a situation and they run from it. You know I've done it. You've done it. Mere…everyone has done it a time or two in their life. Maybe this was Derek's turn." She finalized. "And hey he'll be back. He wouldn't leave you here."

Mark closed his eyes and laid his head against his locker. What was Cristina talking about? Did she have no feelings? Meredith needed to be comforted – she didn't need logical explanations. She didn't want them right now. Even if Cristina was right, she could wait a day or two and then tell her. Right now what Meredith needed was just someone to listen to her complain and to let her vent over the man who apparently broke her heart again. What was Derek's problem? He had this wonderful woman in Meredith – and he was finally able to be with her -- and he walks away. Just like that. Not only was Meredith confused so was he.

"Derek's turn for what Cristina?" Meredith questioned. Seriously! She needed her best friend to be there for her not to try and make her see that Derek might need space. Seriously! What did he need space for? "You know even though I tried not to, I still waited for him. All this time he tried to work things out with Addison. I still went on loving him like some love-sick puppy who would beg for any of his affections and then when he finally got the balls to leave his wife he goes into this whole I'm-not-good-for-you-I'm-walking-away-from-you-for-your-own-good crap. Cristina I don't need this. I need him and he's far away and I'm in pain because of this damn surgery and because he doesn't want me -- because if he did -- he would stay here with me."

Cristina looked at her and finally shut up. Okay she was out of her element here. Meredith needed her to be comforting but she didn't do comforting – damn Izzie this was her arena but right now she had her own issues. "Maybe I should take you back to your hospital bed Mere." Cristina said, saying the only thing that came to her mind.

"No." Meredith stated. She was okay with the fact the Cristina wasn't going to tell her what she wanted to hear. That was one of the things that she loved about Cristina – there was no beating around the bush with her and while she might not appreciate it this time she did every other time. "You can go though. I can get back on my own. I'm just going to check my locker. I think I might have a granola bar in it. I'm sick of hospital food."

"Mere…" Cristina said trying to explain why she couldn't be more supportive and why she felt she was out of her league.

"Don't worry about it." Meredith said as she picked up her hand. "I understand. You don't do the supportive friend thing. You're a good friend nonetheless. Maybe if we had tequila with us we could finally let go and cry..." Meredith said, as she chuckled. "Give me a day or two and we'll be at Joe's."

Cristina smiled. "Well maybe we can have tequila in a couple of days when you're at home and in the comfort of your own home. I'll see you later Mere. If you need me page me." She said, as she turned abruptly and headed out the door without looking back – failing to see Mark on the floor.

Meredith saw her leave and sighed out loud. She didn't move from her spot on the bench and put her head in her hands. She needed time to think. She didn't even know what she was going to do anymore. One thing was for sure: Derek had left and it seemed that he was unconcerned for her feelings. Tears started to form in her eyes as the realization hit her. Derek definitely was going through a hard time but him leaving – just like that – was not acceptable behavior.

Mark remained sitting on the floor. He could do one of two things: wait her out and let her leave and hope that she wouldn't see him there or reach out to her. It was weird but he didn't have to see her at this moment to know that she was crying and that her she felt alone and abandoned.

He did the only thing that he could do: "Meredith." He called out and her heard gasp loudly.

GA…GA…GA…GA…

Okay so I'm evil for leaving it at this point but hey guys at least you know that in the next chapter you finally get some Mark/Mer, huh?

I'll update soon but please don't forget to review this chapter and let me know what you guys think.

Thanks!