Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy

A/N: Over 300 hits in the first 24 hours…I'm impressed! I'm not so sure what I think about this chapter. I liked chapter one better, but I set up a plot in chapter one that I felt I had to continue in chapter two. Chapter three is going to be back in Seattle with all of the interns, Mark, Bailey, and the rest of the people on Grey's who we all know and love. I'm starting to think of pairings/relationship/plot, but if there is anything in particular you want to hear about, just say so and I'll consider it. It just kills me to see Addison so sad all of the time, so I'm thinking of something to make her happier…perhaps…well, you'll see. And, if you could please review, I would be very happy.

A Civil Relationship

Addie rolled over and glanced at the clock, which read eight o'clock. "Eight o'clock?" Addison exclaimed, and jumped out of bed—she was already supposed to be at work in less than half an hour. Addison cursed herself for forgetting to set the alarm, and got ready as fast as she possibly could. By the time she was at the hospital, she was a good thirty minutes late, not to mention apprehensive. She hadn't seen anybody in the hospital since she had cheated on Derek with Mark, and was generally considered to be the most interesting topic of discussion. "Luckily for me, I'm too late to think about my life then," Addison grumbled, and to some extent it was true.

She had scarcely entered the hospital, when she saw the chief. "Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd," he said formally.

"It's just Montgomery now," she said, blushing. This was not the first thing she had wanted to tell the chief, Daniel, though Addison was not sure if they were on first name terms any more. They had been before she had left him abruptly to join Derek out in Seattle, but he had made it very clear to her from his phone messages and emails that he was less than thrilled by her behavior and, unless she decided she wanted to come back to New York, would remain distant.

"Dr. Montgomery," he said slowly. "Yes, well you're needed with the quintuplets. Two of them will definitely need surgery. The other three are stable for now, but you can never know with babies that premature when they are going to take a turn for the worse."

"Show me the way," Addison said with a smile. Here, she was in her element—her personal life might be in shambles, but she was still good at her job, and more importantly, she enjoyed it. It seemed to be one of the few things in her life that remained relatively stable, and lately that had become something she really appreciated.

A careful examination of the quintuplets showed that, as the chief had told her, three of the twins were stable, one needed minor surgery, and one needed more major surgery. The surgery would be difficult, but Addison had done it before, and she was able to sincerely assure the mother that the chances for the survival of her daughters were quite great. With nothing left to do until surgery in the afternoon, Addison wandered around the hospital, bitterly remembering both the good and the bad. Though the nurses, surgeons, and other hospital workers all looked at her in surprise and immediately turned to discuss her to her friends, Addison pretended not to notice.

Addison felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around to see Derek. "What are you doing here?" Addison asked, sighing loudly.

"Inviting you to a wedding shower?" Derek responded, and he looked genuinely confused. "I don't know…ask Nancy. Rather, ask Kathleen…Nancy claims not to know what I'm talking about, and it was Kathleen who told me to invite you."

"Derek, what are you talking about?" Addison said impatiently. "I'm here on business, and honestly, I see enough of you in Seattle—I don't need to see you here too."

"Trust me, I feel the exact same way," Derek said wryly. Addison felt a pang of hurt, but checked herself quickly before her emotions could get out of hand. The last thing she needed was to break down and cry in the middle of the hospital. Besides, she reasoned, she and Derek were divorced, and normally divorced people don't want to voluntarily spend hours of their time, especially on vacation, with the person they are divorced from. That Derek minded her presence more than she minded his was to be expected—after all, he was in another relationship.

"Derek, I'm not in the mood for this. Just tell me what's going on."

"Basically, you're invited to Kathleen's baby shower. Actually it was more of a demand than an invitation, and they've already made arrangements for you."

"Derek, I can't go," Addison said, but it came out as more of a plea than a statement. She bit her lip, not liking how pathetic and whiney she had just sounded.

"Addison, you're going," Derek said, his temper rising. "I don't know how you do it—you cheat on me, and our friends hug you and tell you its okay. We get divorced, and still my family wants you around! Especially Nancy—Nancy, Addison! She'd rather have you around than me, her brother. Are you sleeping with her too?" he half shouted.

Everybody near by turned to look at them, and Addison struggled to keep her composure. "Good bye, Derek," she said with apparent calmness, but eyes betrayed her, showing anger, sadness, betrayal, self-loathing. She turned away, and walked the opposite direction from Derek, her only goal to get as far away from him as she possibly could. A hand grabbed her, and pulled her around.

"That was uncalled for," Derek apologized. "We were getting along so well in Seattle…it must be New York that's causing us to act like this."

"You to act like this," Addison snapped. "I'll go to Kathleen's baby shower, just leave me alone." She turned around again, and walked away. She hadn't gotten very far away when an in intern ran up to her.

"Doctor Montgomery? One of the quintuplets is crashing—the one that needs the most extensive surgery. We need to go into surgery immediately," the intern panted.

"Shit," Addison cursed. "She was doing better earlier. Get an OR, and then scrub in, Doctor…" Addison paused, unsure of the intern's name.

"Anderson."

"Doctor Anderson," she repeated.

Ten hours later, Addison walked into her brownstone. The baby had passed away—her heart had stopped almost instantly after surgery began, and, despite Addison's best efforts, was not to be brought back. Informing the mother had been tough, especially since she had to simultaneously talk about the risks of the other baby's surgery. Luckily, that surgery had been successful, and the baby was stabilized and recovering nicely. Her work done, Addison had bid goodbye to Daniel, and left the hospital.

Driving in her car, the one she had left in New York, the one that was technically half Derek's, Addison felt fearful. She had never expected to have to meet Derek's family so soon, and, though she'd never admit it, she felt terribly insecure. She had spent half of her week spent in New York trying to find some excuse to not show up to Kathleen's baby shower, and the other half waiting to be reunited with the people who she had called "family" for so many years.

When she pulled into a parking lot, Addison stepped out of the car and made her way towards Kathleen's house. She wished that Kathleen had decided to have the baby shower at any place other than her house. Addison rang the bell, and waited for the door to open.

When the door did open, Addison saw Kathleen. "Addison," Kathleen said, and stared at her, as if trying to figure out where exactly Addison had gone wrong, and why. "It's a pleasure to have you. You're a bit early—would you like something to drink?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Addison responded, and she and Kathleen stood there in awkward silence. The silence was broken by the shrieking sound of children.

"Aunt Addie! Aunt Addie!" Katie and Jon shrieked as they ran up to her to hug her. Addison hugged them back, grateful that somebody still wanted her around. Tears came to Addison's eyes, and she wiped them quickly before anybody could see. She wondered how much of what had happened the children knew. She suspected that Katie, at age fifteen, knew at least part of the story while her ten year old brother, Jon, knew not much of it.

"You have to see my new room—it's been completely redecorated!" Katie exclaimed, and she took Addison's hand and pulled it in the direction of the stairs. "Please?"

"And then you can play cars with me," Jon informed her, his face lit up by the prospect of a playmate.

"Kids, don't pester Aunt Addison. She just drove up here from New York," Kathleen said dutifully, as if it was some speech she had rehearsed. Addison remembered that Kathleen had always been more serious than her siblings.

"It's fine. I don't mind, really," Addison told Kathleen. "Lead the way!" she told Katie.

Katie proudly showed Addison her room, and then when Addison was leaving to play cars with Jon, Katie spontaneously hugged her. "Aunt Addie?" she whispered. "I forgive you, and I love you. We all love you…just Mom needs a bit more time to show it." Addison hugged Katie tighter. Sometimes children can tell you what you need to hear most, Addison realized.

Addison spent the baby shower in the back of the room, occasionally socializing with adults or her nieces and nephews, most often just sitting there, and staring into space. When everybody had left, and Kathleen was cleaning up in the kitchen, Derek came up to Addison. "I'm glad you could come," he told her.

"Do you mean it?" Addison questioned tiredly. She was worn out, even though her reception had been much easier than she had expected.

"I do," he said a smile. "Do you want to drive me home? I was going to stay here for the night and drive back with Nancy tomorrow morning, but I need to get away. Don't get me wrong—I love my family—but all of the questions are too much just right now."

"I understand," she said simply, "And you can take the car back into New York, but you're going to have to drive at least half of it."

"Fine by me," he said cheerily. Many explanations later, they both got into the car. Addison sat in the front passenger seat, and was asleep within minutes; even when it was Addison's turn to drive, Derek didn't wake her up. When they arrived in the city, Derek shook her until she woke up.

Her eyes half closed, Addison moved her head to look at Derek. "Where are we?" she questioned. "Is it my turn to drive?" She opened her eyes more, and looked past Derek and out the window to see the brownstone. "Derek, you didn't have to drive all of the way here," she said, her voice groggy. She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, as did Derek. It was only after she had said goodbye to Derek that she realized that she had forgotten to remind Derek to take Nancy's keys. Addison restrained herself from picking up her phone and calling Derek—she was aware that if she called Derek, she would do something stupid like invite him to stay at her house.

Though she hated to admit it, she still loved Derek. She had tried everything possible to get over him. She had slept with Mark, she had taken pains to become on more friendly terms with her colleagues, and she had looked at houses so that she could stop living in a hotel. Looking at houses had been a big step—it would be the first house she had ever bought without Derek. She had even forgiven Meredith for taking part in ruining her marriage with Derek. She had come to the realization that her relationship with Derek was over, yet try as she might to get over Derek, she couldn't. Even when she had been having sex with Mark, which was in itself a pleasurable experience, she had been comparing him to Derek. Perhaps if she just tried harder to get over Derek it would work, and if not, there must be some truth to the saying that time helps heal all wounds.

Addison couldn't help but think that her life was in shambles. She had always been in control, as long as she could remember. She had done well in school, and worked hard to become a successful surgeon. She had been happily married to the man that she thought she would be with forever, and remained on good terms with her friends even when she became swamped in work. Everything had been fine, until it wasn't, and now she couldn't figure out how to make it fine again.

"Oh God, I need a drink," Addison exclaimed suddenly, but thought better of it. Painful as it might be to admit, Addison had found that recently when she drank too much, she did stupid things and turned into some sort of emotional wreck. Though she didn't think she had enough liquor in the house to get drunk off of, Addison decided that perhaps sleep would be a better option. She made her way up to her bed, set her alarm and lay in bed for hours, unable to get to sleep.