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Chapter 6 –Awake

"I'm trying real hard not to shake. I'm biting my tongue, but I'm feeling alive and with every breathe that I take, I feel like I've won. You're my key to survival. And if it's a hero you want,
I can save you. Just stay here. Your whispers are priceless. Your breath, it is dear. So please stay near. Will you stay awake for me? I don't wanna miss anything. I will share the air I breathe,
I'll give you my heart on a string, I just don't wanna miss anything. Say my name. I just want to hear you. Say my name. So I know it's true. You're changing me. You showed me how to live.
So just say. So just say:

That you'll stay awake for me."

SecondHand Serenade – Awake

Addison put her suitcase on the overhead compartment and sat down slowly on the chair of the airplane. Pressing the soft fabric of her trench coat against her skin, she closed her eyes and felt the cold from the airplane being replaced by a heat that took over her mind and body. She ran her tongue through her lips and inhaled deeply. She could still fell Derek's sweet taste, and it made her muscles writhe in pleasure. "Passengers of flight AA2387" When the flight attendant's sweet voice hit her ears, her mind went back in time. "Attention…"

FLASHBACK

"Attention, Addie!" Naomi's hands touched Addison's face gently, carefully not to smudge her perfect make-up, looking deeply into her tear-filled eyes. "Out there, waiting for you, is the love of your life. You have one chance to make it perfect, and it is right now."

Addison looked around. Her vision was blurry from the tears, her artificially-curled hair fell to her face and her veil created a layer of white fog before her eyes. She was standing outside of a medieval cathedral, the long tall panel of stained glass made her shiver. She could hear the gentle noise that took over the church. She tried to calm herself down, but she felt her nerves surfacing, bursting from her skin. Derek's face came to her mind, but it was far away, surrounded by judging, elitist faces, looking at her with piercing eyes. Naomi spoke again, breaking her psychological coma.

"Are you ready to do this?" But, Addison couldn't speak. Her voice was locked inside her trachea. She wanted to speak, but, it was way too hard. "Addison, say something!" Naomi asked, already knowing what she was gonna say.

"Derek." Addison smiled, apologetically. Everybody knew. The only word that made its way out of her lips when she was speechless.

"I'll take that as a yes." Naomi said, pushing Sam aside and entwining her arm around his. Sam looked back. "It's gonna be great, Addie." He whispered. She knew it would.

Thirty seconds after they took their first step, Addison knew it was her time to walk down that aisle. Her eyes wouldn't move away from her white lacy shoes and her long legs shivered. She looked up, and all of a sudden, every muscle in her face eased.

Derek Christopher Shepherd stood in the end of that aisle, looking at her with a comforting, loving smile. She could see the blue lights that left his eyes. Mind-blowing. Earth-shattering. His rented tux hugged his body almost perfectly and every inch of his black hair was styled with millimetric perfection. Her eyes examined every cell of his body. It was like the tears evaporated magically and the whole world disappeared.

While she was walking in slow steps down the aisle, she could hear voices behind the noise of her heels against the floor.

"Who made that dress?"

"Is she blushing?"

"I hear she didn't want to spend her trust fund on this wedding."

If this were any other day, Addison would curse at the skies and regret deeply being a member of the American elite. But, today, only today, there was only one face in her mind, only one name in her dreams and only one word she dared to speak.

"Derek." She mouthed, again, involuntarily. Her steps were getting closer to him now and she could feel his radiating heat warming up her body. She looked at her mother's face. She had a proud smile. Derek was the only man she ever liked. "He's a brain surgeon" she used to say "he's a fine man."

Addison got right beside Derek and her entire body was taken by an unexpected numbness.

"You look beautiful" He whispered. And Addison couldn't remember the rest of the ceremony.

Three hours later

Addison had never seen Mark so drunk. He almost broke a glass of champagne when hitting it against Sam's.

"Sing your song, Derek!" He screamed. Addison heard Derek's laugh loudly into her ear, but, she knew he wasn't drunk. He was blissful. His arm was wrapped around Addison's shoulder and her head was resting on his chest, eyes closed, heart pounding. They were in the living room of their brownstone, ditching the wedding party, which was supposed to last all night.

Sam brought five bottles of champagne from the party, and it was already enough to make half the people drunk. The other five bottles on Addison's fridge were enough for the other half.

But, the newlyweds hadn't seen a sip of alcohol yet. They had spent the whole night just sitting there, hugging, inebriated by each other's presence.

"There's no song!" Derek screamed.

"Which song?" Addison asked.

"There's no song." Derek answered, pulling her head closer to his and pressing his lips against hers.

"Yeah, there's a song!" Naomi screamed. "Don't you remember, Derek? We wrote it on the day you decided to propose, remember?"

"I wanna hear the song." Addison whispered into Derek's ear.

"Alright, fine. But, you'll regret this!" Derek stood up, laughing, and picked up a guitar from the floor. His fingers moved the strings swiftly, making surprisingly sweet chords emanate.

"Our eyes met over the cadaver," he started singing, in the sweetest voice Addison had ever heard. Her eyes started filling up with tears. "And I knew I had to have her." Her mind wandered to her first day of Med School. Derek couldn't have described it better. "And I tell you today, that's when she took my heart away!" Derek himself was teary. This brought so many memories back, and yet, reminded him of the endless future awaiting.

"Do my verse! Do my verse!" Mark screamed.

"And in that gross anatomy class, I could only think of Addison's fine ass!" Addison laughed and let a few tears fall. She walked towards Derek and sat right in front of him. She watched closely as his fingers moved the strings, beautifully. Her friends' drunken laughs were now silent to her. "Had his mitral valve gotten too thick? Was that what made the cadaver so sick?" She could only hear the strumming sound of Derek's guitar and the deep sound of his voice. Derek continued. "I asked her name, you see, and she answered to me…"

All of a sudden, breaking her trance, everybody in the room burst into a chorus. "Addison Montgomery! He met her in the summer she was cutting up a very dead body!" Addison looked down in laughter and didn't even notice when Derek's guitar – and everyone's frantic laugh – stopped. Derek touched her face, pulling it up. Their gazes met.

"And in her eyes I saw my life. I knew that she would be my wife. " The shades of blue in Derek's eyes were mixed together in a shapeless manner by the tears building up. Addison smiled, emotional, letting her eyes close. She felt his touch on her fragile skin and all her nerves swam up to her epidermis. He leaned in, closer to her ears, and whispered: "And she would breathe the life back into me." Addison felt the tears falling from her eyelids involuntarily. She rested his fingers on top of his and felt his wedding ring. "From every day until eternity." Addison looked into Derek's eyes. Was she sleeping for the last 5 years? Because life with Derek was a dream. Sam completed the song, in his deep, pitch-perfect voice: "Or until I'd be as dead at that body!"

Addison pulled Derek's head and kissed him fiercely. He threw the guitar away and hugged her waist, until she was sitting down on his lap. He ran his hands through her now messy hair, and she could barely keep her body up straight. The feel of their lips rubbing together was different that night. It felt better, safer.

"Everybody, I think it's time for their wedding night!" Naomi started laughing hysterically. Derek immediately stood up and got them all jammed together in one single cab. When he got back inside, Addison was standing in the middle of the room, in her wedding dress, but, no veil or shoes.

"From every day until eternity?" She asked, smiling. Derek ran towards her, grabbed her waist and lifted her until they were both the same height.

"I love you." He said.

"I love you." She said.

And they let themselves fall on the floor, letting their love linger on for the rest of the night.

Three hours later

It was six in the morning already and neither of them had slept one bit. Their naked bodies were wrapped together and sprawled on the living room carpet. Addison's eyes were closing slowly.

"Don't." Derek whispered, kissing her forehead.

"What?" She asked, already feeling half-asleep.

"Don't fall asleep. Stay awake. Let's cherish this moment before it's over." Addison opened up her eyes widely and stared at him. "Stay awake because I'm not tired, and I can't stand a minute without you. Not today. And I wanna look at you and know that you're looking back at me. I wanna know that you feel it too. Right here." He rested his hand on her chest. "So, please, stay awake."

END OF FLASHBACK

Ironically, Addison felt her eyelids getting heavy and closing together in one single blow. She took a deep breath and felt her mind shutting down, leaving the real world out and sinking into the most beautiful dream.

YES, I TOOK THE LIBERTY OF FINISHING DEREK'S SONG. MARK'S VERSE JUST COULDN'T BE LEFT BEHIND HEHE.