The long awaited new chapter to Aftermath is here!
Aftermath
Chapter 9: End of the Innocence/Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough
Derek opened and closed his mouth, much in the way a fish would.
"Say something Derek." She commanded tersely.
"I wanted to hurt you." He blurted out finally. Her eyes widened in shock of his response.
"Don't you think you accomplished that by your actions during our marriage?" She asked quietly.
"I was mad at you. I didn't want to give up. I figured if I signed them, I was letting your win." He explained.
She wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion and disbelief. "Letting me win? What exactly did I win Derek? A trip to
court before I was 23? A divorce? Since when are those considered prizes?" She demanded incredulously.
"I loved you. I loved you so much. I felt like I was being punished. So I wanted to make you feel the same
way." He said after a long moment of silence.
"Mission accomplished Derek. Only, you accomplished 'punishing' me long before we ever filed for divorce."
She responded, leaning back in the booth, her arms crossed in front of her.
He sighed and rubbed his hands up and down his face. "So where does this leave us? What does it all mean?"
He asked from behind his hands, a sigh escaping along with his question.
She leaned forward, steepling her hands in front of her and closed her eyes. "It means that, technically we're still
married." She replied.
"I don't understand how this happened. I got remarried." He told her.
She rolled her eyes. "I'm aware of that. Basically, when I filed for our divorce, it got entered into public record,
but the paperwork was lost among the shuffle. That paperwork had my signature on it, and without record of the
signature, there is no divorce." She explained.
He crossed his arms in front of him. "I got married. Why didn't I have problems?" He challenged.
She shrugged. "Glitch in the system, someone overlooked it, who knows. They didn't even figure out anything
was wrong until you filed for divorce from Addison." She told him.
He wrinkled his brow in confusion. "That was 6 months ago. And I retracted it 3 months after that. Wait, how
long have you known about this?" He asked, sitting up.
She raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think you're in a position to be asking questions?" She questioned, an
edge creeping into her voice.
He swallowed his words. She was right. And this was one woman he really didn't want to mess with.
She took a calming breath and shifted in her seat. "Look, this is fixable. Just sign the papers, we'll re-file, be
divorced, and your marriage to Addison will be legitimate, we don't even have to tell anyone. It's that simple."
She explained, handing him a pen as she spoke.
Maybe it's not that simple…. I don't know if I can divorce this woman again. Maybe I don't want to
be married to Addison anymore. Maybe I don't want to be married period!
He attempted to calm his racing mind as he tentatively reached for the pen. God, why do I feel like this? Why
is this so hard? He tried to block it out as he took the pen. Something caught his eye. He glanced at the door
and his heart skipped a beat. Meredith. He breathed a sigh of relief.
He handed her back the pen. She looked at him, a confused expression crossed her face. He nodded in the
direction of Meredith who was looking around for them. Erica swiveled back around to face him, her eyes
shooting daggers into his.
"Not now. She doesn't need this now." Derek pleaded. She held his gaze for a moment then relented.
"Fine, but this isn't over." She told him, stuffing the papers into her purse as Meredith made her way over to the
table.
Derek smiled warmly at the younger woman and pulled a chair up for her. "Meredith, this is Erica Wakefield.
Erica, this is Meredith Grey." Derek said, making the necessary introductions.
Meredith was wringing her hands nervously, an action not lost on her older counterpart. "I don't bite." Erica
offered, a small smile playing on her lips.
Meredith exhaled the breath she didn't know she was holding. She's not Addison, Mere. Don't forget that.
She's been his ex for well over 10 years. Exhale. She just wants to talk. She chided herself as she sat down.
Erica couldn't help but notice her not-so ex-husband's expression as his new love sat down. Wow, he never
looked at me that way…. She felt a twinge of something deep down inside her, in a place she hadn't known
existed. She quickly pushed the place aside before it became dangerous.
Erica smiled encouragingly at the younger woman. "Ask the questions. I know you have them." Erica said
pointedly.
"What happened?" Meredith blurted out, the question spilling out like word vomit.
"We were very young and very passionate. We loved each other and loved what we did. To us, getting married
made sense. So we did. We did OK for awhile, but I guess, time took its toll. Or should I say lack of time?
Regardless, our priorities were different." Erica explained.
"She's being kind. What she's really saying is that I didn't make time for her. I never did. I thought that love was
enough, that she'd still be there, no matter what happened. And I was wrong. She walked out, and my world
died. A little part of me died. A part of me that I've never really gotten back." He said.
MEANWHILE, IN ADDISON'S WORLD
Addison sighed heavily as she entered the locker-room after her last round of patients. She was having, without
a doubt, the worst shift yet. Not only had she lost 2 patients, the gossip of SGH had told her that Meredith Grey
had joined her husband and his ex-wife for dinner. Fantastic. Just freaking fantastic.
She shed her coat, pulling her phone and beeper from her pockets in the process. Her blinking cell phone
indicated a message. She knew who it was from. She hadn't answered earlier when Mark called. Her head told
her to delete the message and cut off communication with him. That would be the 'wifely' thing to do. Her heart,
well that was another matter all together. Follow your heart Addy. Listening to her inner voice, she dialed her
voicemail and listened, a tiny smile playing at her lips.
Mark wanted to see her. The very concept, the very thought, made her heart leap into her chest. And it
bothered her. She was married. She was in love with her husband. Her husband was in love with Meredith, or
maybe Erica, or hell, maybe both! She laughed in spite of herself. "How do you get yourself into these things?"
She asked herself aloud.
"Oh, to hell with it. I'm calling him." She muttered to herself as she dialed Mark's number. His voice rang out
over the line after only one ring.
"Addison." He said, his voice filled with happiness.
"So do you really want to get together?" She asked quietly.
"You know that you don't have to ask that question." He responded quickly.
She was quiet.
"Where to?" He prompted softly.
"Joe's should be fine. Derek's out to dinner with his ex-mistress and ex-wife." Addison replied, realizing how
ridiculous the words sounded.
"Erica's in town?" Mark asked, feigning surprise. He wasn't going down that route just yet. Erica would have
his head if he handled this badly. For the time being, the altercation between him and Erica had never happened
Addison sighed loudly into the phone. "Yes. Weber brought her in as the pysch consult." She replied shortly.
He registed the tone of her voice. He detected a note of jealousy. Not that she didn't have something to be
jealous about, Derek's intern was hard enough to compete with, let alone his one of a kind ex-wife. But it still
broke his heart a little. He hated that Addison still cared so much about Derek while he so carelessly stomped
on her heart.
"You need a drink Addy." He told her. Her end of the line was quiet.
She knew what it meant if she went with Mark. It was a step backwards. It was a step away from her marriage.
But, if she was taking steps, Derek was leaping. "Joe's, 10 pm." She answered and clicked off.
JOE'S – 9:45 PM
Meredith had finally achieved a sense of comfort. The conversation was easy now, questions and answers
flowing smoothly between the trio. The conversation was interrupted by the shrill ring of Derek's phone. "Excuse
me." He said as he took the call. He hung up a moment later and sighed.
Erica knew that sigh. It was a patient. He was leaving. "My patient's coming around. I need to do follow-up."
He said with a grimace. Erica nodded, not saying anything. She knew the drill. The three of them stood.
"Please stay, don't let me ruin it." He told them. The women exchanged looks and nodded simultaneously.
He hugged his ex-wife. "I appreciate you doing this." He whispered in her ear. She shivered a bit at the low tone
in his voice and she instantly chastised herself for reacting that way, for reacting at all. She nodded. "We aren't
finished with this." She told him softly, referring to their earlier situation. It was his turn to nod.
He turned to Meredith, who'd looked away from the ex-wife and ex-husband embracing. He touched her arm,
she brought her head around to meet him. He leaned forward and brushed a kiss to her cheek. "This will work
out. Don't worry." He whispered before he pulled away.
Meredith didn't doubt that for a second. What she did doubt was how it would work out.
The women sat, watching his retreating back. Erica took a long sip of her Jack and 7. "You really shouldn't
worry about me, you know." Erica told her young friend.
Meredith said nothing, just nodded.
"I mean it Meredith. I'm his past. Addison is his present, but you are definitely his future, you just have to have
faith in him, believe in him, he will figure it out, he may be slow, but he always figured it out." The older woman
told her.
Before Meredith could react, Erica spoke again. "Speaking of the present….." She muttered, her eyes focused
across the room.
Meredith turned and saw Addison Shepherd walking in with a very attractive man.
"Who's that?" Meredith whispered.
Erica smirked, unable to contain her mischievous demeanor. "Mark." Erica replied.
At that moment, all three women locked eyes. The women of Derek Shepherd were all in the same room.
SORRY FOR THE WAIT! STORY'S GOING TO MOVE FASTER SOON! PROMISE! REVIEW!