Title: One Hell Of A Racket

Authors: Sara And Lizzie

Rating: T for language, mild sex

Disclaimer: we don't own grey's anatomy, or any anatomies but our own at that.

Summary: Sequel to Sound And Fury. Mark and Addison come back to Seattle, and chaos ensues. Forget the internship- there's sex, lies, jealousy and procreation to deal with it.

Author's Note: We couldn't let go of Sound, so we decided to write a sequel. Review.

Wow. Apparently, you guys liked that last chapter. :) And we're glad you did. Thanks for all the love. Seriously, it inflated our already over sized egos, but we appreciate it. Thanks to all the reviewers.

We actually had a request in reviews for our new holiday fic, "The Spirit Of The Season" to update this, and who are we to deny our readers? So here goes.

Reviews, please?

"Taste the saline, rolling down your cheek bone, tell me that you're alone." -Something Corporate

Derek was still standing there, in the hallway. He stared at Meredith's back as she walked further and further down the corridor. She turned back before she and Mark rounded the corner, and looked at him. Right in the eye. He fought the urge to look down, ashamed, because she didn't deserve his cowardice on top of everything else.

The look she gave him shook him down to the very core. He could have dropped down on the ground from everything in that look. Hurt, horror, and the most poignant glance of pain he had ever seen from another human being.

He felt sick to his stomach. Waves of pain induced nausea rolled over him. He couldn't just stand there. His legs started pumping before his brain could produce something to say, some bit of eloquence from his churning mind that could make this right.

"Meredith!" he called rounding the corner.

Damn it. She had made it around the corner. She had thrown him that one last look and she had walked right around that corner. And then she had slid down against the wall and let the tears come.

She hadn't wanted him to see her cry. She didn't want him to see the outcome of her fears realized in front of her. She didn't want this. She had expected him to stand there, numbly and blankly, not be overcome with action and come running after her.

But she should have expected that. Because he was Derek, and that's what he did. She looked up at him, standing over her. She looked up through her wet, tear heavy eye lashes and it broke his heart. He dropped to his knees in front of her, sinking to her level.

"Meredith, please." He whispered. "Just listen to me."

She shook her head. "One promise, Derek. It was all I asked for, and you couldn't keep it." She whispered back. He opened his mouth, but she just dropped her head to her knees and let the tears fall.

She wanted to look up at him, forgive him. Let him put his strong arms around her and whisper all the right apologies. After all, it was just a kiss. It probably meant nothing. Probably. But she didn't know for sure. She couldn't know for sure. So she kept her body curled up and withdrawn.

Derek felt a hand pulling him up from his kneeling position. He turned into the stormy face of Mark. "Know when to quit, Derek." Mark muttered. "Meredith, I got a key from George." He said, speaking to Derek's girlfriend like he wasn't even there. "You ready to go?"

Meredith wordlessly got up, and followed Mark to the elevators. This time she didn't turn around and look back at him, but he could hear her crying.

Mark unlocked the door to Meredith's house and accepted the responsibility of turning on the lights. Meredith sat down on the couch and stared blankly in front of her. Mark reached for her purse, pulled out her cell phone, and scrolled through the numbers.

Cristina was eyeing Burke over the kitchen counter. Eyeing him in that way. He was washing a dinner plate, but God, was it hot. The ringing of the house phone broke the fantasy playing out in her mind's eye.

Burke scooped it up before she could shake the image of him naked from her mind.

"Hello?" he asked. He frowned. "Dr. Sloan." He said. There was a pause, and Burke's eyebrows lifted far onto his forehead. "Yes, Dr. Yang is right here."

He gave her the cordless receiver and didn't make any effort at all not to look like he was eavesdropping. Cristina listened as Mark told her the short version of the story. A Derek and Addison kiss interrupted.

"I'm on my way." Cristina told him. She hung up the phone and looked at Burke. She could tell him she had a thing to do. But she really didn't want him to think she was sleeping with Sloan. She could tell him she had a Meredith thing. Or she could actually tell him what was going on.

She looked at him, regarding his inquisitive eyes for a long time, and decided maybe it didn't have to be a big secret. Maybe he wouldn't think it was silly. Maybe he would want to know, want to be involved, and want to help.

"Meredith and Mark saw Derek kissing Addison." She blurted out. He didn't say anything, but his expression coaxed her to continue. "And Mer already has this hug inferiority complex when it comes to Addison, so she's being Meredith and freaking out."

Burke nodded slowly. "But it was just a kiss? That's all she knows?"

"Yeah. But…" She trailed off. Burke leaned further over the counter.

"But what?"

Cristina sighed. She was in a relationship. She had promised herself to start acting like it. And no time but the present, right? "Ellis Grey has cancer. She's dying. Derek wants Meredith to move in with him, but now isn't the best time to ask her to give up her mom's house. So Derek said something along the lines of Addison moved to Seattle for me."

Burke nodded. "Which stimulated Grey's insecurity."

Cristina shook her head empathetically. "Yes, exactly! And Shepherd promised Meredith she wouldn't have to worry about him and Addison."

Burke's eyes flickered with understanding. "The one promise she needed him to keep. You should go. Meredith needs you."

Cristina smiled at him, slowly. "Do you, maybe, want to come?" she asked. "I mean, Mark is dealing with Addison kissing Derek, too. You could maybe, help?"

Burke looked at her for a very long time, feeling like a large weight had been lifted from him. "I'll come. I'll help."

Addison was sitting on a chair in her ex husband's office with one hand on her forehead. She dropped her head into her hands and massaged her temples. Derek was sitting at his desk chair, spinning it around and around.

"Derek, stop it." She snapped.

He caught himself on his desk and looked at her. "She was crying." He said. "Crying."

He got up and shook his head. "I'll drive you home. We can't just sit here all night."

Addison nodded and got up, and wordlessly followed him to the car.

Cristina walked into Meredith's house and stopped in the doorway. She was sitting on the couch, legs drawn to her chest, with tears running down her face. "Oh Meredith." She said, walking over and sitting next to her.

Burke followed her and sat on the other side of her. Meredith wiped her nose with a tissue and looked at Cristina. "Do you think, do you think he's sleeping with her?"

Cristina shook her head. "I'm sure he's not."

"I'm not sure. I should be sure. But he promised."

Miranda Bailey frowned. They were late. They were never late. Yang was never less than early. But today, they were all late. Clearly, something was wrong.

Bailey stormed into the locker room, and took in the bags under Meredith's red rimmed eyes. Her other four interns were sitting around her protectively. She stormed back out of the locker room and cornered the former Shepherds as they pretended to ignore each other while filling cups of coffee.

"Shepherd." She called. "What the hell did you do to my intern?"

Derek looked up at her, his face twisted into guilt. Addison's eyes hit the floor immediately. Mark walked up behind Bailey. "You'll want to rephrase that Dr. Bailey. What did they do to your intern?"

Addison looked up at him, tears in her eyes. Bailey looked back and forth between Derek and Addison and shook her head. "I expected better of both of you." She said.

The locker room door swung open, and Meredith strode out, followed by her entourage of loyal friends. She looked at Derek and Addison, standing side by side facing Bailey, and shook her head.

"Meredith." He said. She stopped walking at the pain in his voice. "Mer, listen to me. I swear to you it was just that one kiss. Nothing else. Can't you just forget it?"

She whirled around. "What if it was me? What if you found me kissing Mark? You're wondering was it just that one kiss? Or is that one kiss all you caught me doing?" She stared at him.

"You wouldn't be able to believe me, trust me. Because I would have already promised you that one kiss would never happen and that promise would be broken. So how would you feel Derek, if you had to wonder, obsess, over whether or not it was just that one kiss?"

He expected her to stalk away, but her eyes bored into his, demanding an answer. "I'd be sick." He told her honestly. "It would make me sick."

"And would you believe me? That I only broke my promise just that once?"

"I don't know." He said.

"Right. And neither do I." She glared at him and Addison, and then looked at Mark. "You've got a case for me?"

He nodded, and they walked away.

Check out our other fics:

Forever And Day. Crumpled Up Promises. The Best Laid Plans. A Tale Of Two Cities. The Spirit Of The Season.

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