A/N Alright, here it is, chapter 3. As usual…I don't own anything. And as usual…I love Derek Shepherd. Mmm. I'm so pumped for the finale tomorrow!

C H A P T E R T H R E E

The rest of the day was more or less fine. Addison spent the day working with Dr. Isobel Stevens – who went by 'Izzie' – a very talented, yet sometimes overly emotionally involved intern on the T.T.T.S. case. It had been twelve hours since Addison had seen Derek and although she was quite certain he was avoiding her, she decided to not let it disrupt her work. But when 8pm rolled around and Addison's work day was over, she was not only exhausted but thinking of Derek once again.

She knew he was still there. She heard one of the residents say they were off to ask his opinion about a case. She knew he was still there but would be leaving soon. So after an overly long internal debate with herself, Addison plopped her near-lifeless body on the uncomfortable maroon chair in the front lobby and stared longingly into the hospital waiting for Derek.

She knew it looked desperate. She knew it looked pathetic. But Addison, although trying her best to look cool and nonchalant, was past the point of playing the role of the innocent wife only in Seattle for work. She knew he could see right though that lie. He could always read her better than anyone else. Of course he could. He was her Derek.

Addison closed her eyes tightly, shaking the circling thoughts from her head. Her mind needed to be clear when she saw Derek. She couldn't be thinking about how desperate she felt or she would come off as so when she talked to him. She was Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, world renowned neonatal surgeon and damn it, she needed to start acting like it again. That was the Addison that Derek fell in love with, the sometimes overly confident, always had a clever remark, never let anything get to her Addison Shepherd. And Addison was determined to be that woman again, beginning as soon as she spotted Derek walking down the hallway towards the Seattle Grace Hospital exit.

"Derek!" Addison called after him, her red haired curls bouncing up and down as she walked quickly towards him.

He turned around long enough to hold her gaze and then turned back towards the door to leave.

Addison grabbed his arm. "Derek, wait."

"I did," Derek said coldly and shrugged off Addison's grip on his shoulder. "I waited for us to be 'Derek and Addison' again when things got bad in New York. I waited for you to start telling me you loved me again. And I waited for you to stop messing around with my best friend. I'm tired of waiting, Addison."

Addison's stomach dropped at the mention of the horrible separation instigating incident in New York, but she tried to push it aside. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely. Her voice was soft. "I'm so sorry, Derek, you know that. I never meant to hurt you."

"And just what exactly were you trying to do when you were sleeping with Mark?"

"We got successful, you and me," Addison explained. "We got busy and we got lazy. We didn't even bother to fight anymore, Derek. Mark was there and I missed you and now I'm sorry. I'm more sorry than you could possibly imagine, but at least I'm talking to you about it."

"You're a sink with an open drain, Addie," Derek said simply and walked out of the hospital leaving Addison puzzled and, if it was possible, even more exhausted than before.

So Addison followed Derek out the sliding doors, not to exchange more pleading words with him, but only to catch a ferryboat back to her hotel to sleep off the most possibly longest day of her life.

The next morning, Addison woke up surprisingly refreshed and ready to go. It was the dawn of a new day and Addison's mind was made up. Today would be a Derek-free day. She would use today to focus on her patient and dedicate all of her energy only on that. For today, at least. Tomorrow was another day.

However, when she reached Seattle Grace Hospital, Addison immediately saw Derek and couldn't help but let her eyes wander towards him as she walked towards the elevator. Not watching where she was walking, she crashed into another body, causing her Styrophome cup of coffee to go flying and the other woman's papers from her hands to spill across the floor.

"Oh!" Addison exclaimed exasperatedly. "I'm so sorry!"

Addison instantly dropped to the floor to help the woman pick up her scattered papers. Her coffee, though also on the floor, had thankfully missed the woman's papers and only covered the empty tiled floor.

"It's my bad," the other woman apologized to Addison and also bent down to scoop up the papers. "I was totally focused on reading this chart and wasn't even looking where I was going." She laughed and held out her hand for Addison to shake. "Callie Torres, Orthopedics."

Addison stood up, handed Callie her papers and welcomed the handshake. "Addison Shepherd, Obstetrics."

"Shepherd," Callie repeated, looking a little confused. "Any relation to the other Shepherd?"

Addison's eyes shifted to the right. "He's my husband," Addison said dully, pretending to have no interest in the fact.

Callie raised her eyebrows and looked away. "Okay," she said slowly and drew out the second syllable of the word. "Touchy subject. So, what are you doing at Seattle Grace? Do you work here now or something?"

"I'm helping Richard with a case," Addison casually told Callie. Her eyes subtly drifted to the elevator doors, which had closed by then with Derek behind them. She shook it off and turned her attention back to Callie. "I'm only here for a few days."

"Then you're going back to New York?" Callie asked as the two stood in front of the elevator, waiting to board.

"Then I'm going back to New York," Addison told her with a nod, trying to sound sure of herself. "So, you know Derek?"

Callie shrugged. The two stepped on to the empty elevator and watched the doors slide close in front of them. "Not really. You hear things around this hospital, though. More than you want to usually." Callie laughed and Addison joined in. "Ah, but no seriously. Actually, I didn't know he was married."

Addison laughed uncomfortably and looked up. "I'm not surprised. I actually wouldn't be surprised if no one knew."

"Sounds complicated," Callie said sympathetically and the elevator doors slid back open to Callie's floor. "Well, look, I know you don't know me very well, but if you ever wanna talk or anything…I'm around."

Addison smiled happily. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

And although it wasn't Derek that made her smile, Addison was grateful that something finally did.