It would've only been a month. But then came November and NaNoWriMo and that was another month. So here I am.

Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy belongs to ABC and Shonda Rhimes. The title for this chapter is from the song 'Until You Got Love' by Jon McLaughlin.

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"It's just coffee, Savvy."

"Just coffee? Just coffee?"

"I promise."

"You know as well as I do what 'just coffee' can turn into." Savvy took a bite of her sandwich.

"I know. But it's Derek."

Savvy raised an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, you were just 'out on a coffee date' with Derek six months after you started dating when I walked in on you both in bed."

"I know what I'm doing."

"Just don't do anything stupid."

"I can't believe we're even having this discussion. I'm almost forty. I know how to handle a man."

"Keep him tame, Addie."

Addison laughed. She took a spoonful of soup and smiled. "Listen, I have to go. I have a few appointments. I'll talk to you Sunday night."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't."

"Wide range, Savvy. Wide range."

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Derek, as much as he hated it, visited his mother on Friday night. He loved his mother, of course, but he really wanted to see Addison. They had plans for tomorrow. Derek knew that. It didn't matter. He wanted to see her right now. Addison had been all he'd been able to think about all week. He'd sworn he'd seen her around the hospital four times. Even if it was impossible.

"Derek. How nice of you to visit."

Derek stepped inside and brushed the light snow off of his feet. "I didn't know a storm was in order for New Jersey."

"It's not supposed to be here. Hopefully it's just this light. If there's more than this I won't be ready for it." She peered out the window hopefully and shut the door. "So you're going outside with Addison tomorrow?"

"How do you know?"

"Please, Derek. I have my ways." Mrs. Shepherd bustled around the kitchen. "Do you want coffee? Tea? Milk?"

"Milk sounds good."

She poured Derek a glass of milk. She set out some bread and got herself a cup of coffee. "So talk to me about Addison."

It could've been fourteen years ago. When he had first started dating Addison. When he had first gotten serious about settling down. "What do you want to know that you don't?"

"How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Get her to trust you again? I don't think, if your father had ever done something like that, I would've trusted him again."

"Well then" Derek said, smiling as he took a sip of the milk, "I'm glad I married Addison and not you."

Mrs. Shepherd laughed. "But seriously. Derek, what you did…what did you do? Why does she love you still?"

"Addison's an amazing person. That's all I can offer."

"I guess it is. It has to be her ability to forgive."

"Although, I had to forgive a lot too."

"You did. I'm not undermining that. I'm just saying. You were scum."

"Mother!"

"Truth hurts." She took another sip of her coffee. "You know, Nancy and Kathleen are practically bursting with pride. They wanted to know if Addison was coming for the holidays."

"I have coffee planned. We're taking this one day at a time."

"I understand."

"But I hope."

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Addison applied a shade of lipstick, but then took it off. It made her look like a hooker. Like she wanted Derek to kiss her. Which she did…eventually. Not now. If he kissed her today then they would move too fast. She put on another, lighter shade, and puckered her lips in the mirror as her buzzer rang. She went over to it and okayed the caller, a Derek Shepherd, the man at the front desk. A Derek Shepherd? How about the Derek Shepherd? She heard his footsteps and made a final swish at her eyes with the mascara wand before setting it down and opening the door.

"Derek."

"Addie. You look beautiful." Derek wasn't lying. She had on jeans and a colorful, silky shirt. And heels. Always heels.

"You don't look so bad yourself."

"Are you ready?"

Addison grabbed her purse. "Yeah. I'm good."

"Okay then."

Making small talk was something they were both good at. They hailed a cab easily, both of them native enough to the city to know the special whistle and finger motion.

"Ninety-ninth and Park, please." Derek knew where to go. It was like he'd never left. The cabbie was driving to a coffee shop Addison frequented, and one that Derek had frequented just a few years ago.

The cab took less than five minutes. They would've walked, Addison supposed, but it had recently rained and it was gloomy. Derek paid the cabbie and helped Addison out. "You don't mind coming here, do you?"

Addison shook her head. "Do you?"

"No. I just wanted to make sure."

"That's very considerate of you."

"I'm a considerate guy."

Addison smiled and found a table. A table was far better than those awkward chairs, or worse, the couches that had always reminded her of Friends. She waited for Derek. He said he could cover hers.

"And a mocha for the redhead."

Addison laughed. "I can't resist them."

"And I've never figured out how you stay so thin when all you drink is this and Coke."

"Magic," Addison winked. "I suppose you got some twenty-five-word-long order?"

"Running doesn't make all of us magically thin. Some of us have to eat healthily."

"That's unfortunate. Run more."

"If only."

"Next weekend," Addison said, "bring your running shoes. We're going to go on a quick jog through Central Park."

"Define quick jog."

"I'm thinking four or five miles."

"Only you, Addie, and a marathon runner, would think that four or five miles is a quick jog."

"It is quick. If we do seven minute miles, it's only 35 minutes. Half an hour."

"Except we won't be doing seven minute miles." But secretly, Derek was thrilled. She had already spoken about the future. A very vague, very interesting future, but that was okay.

"Oh, so you like six minute miles? That puts us at half an hour exactly." She grinned.

"I'm never going to figure you out. Why do you like running so much?"

"I didn't until freshmen year of college, swear. And I was so scared about the freshman fifteen that I just started running. I'd eat a box of macaroni and I'd be scared so I'd run. And then I thinned out, and so I kept running."

"You lost weight?"

"Oh, yes. It was glorious. All through high school I was always pinching at my stomach or my thighs and then suddenly I was losing it. And I've been so scared it's happening again that I've kept running."

Derek looked her up and down. "Addie, it's definitely not happening."

Addison blushed. "Anyway. How's Seattle?"

"Rainy. But good. Richard's doing well. Bailey's the same old Nazi. Alex and Izzie have gotten more…involved. Yang and Burke are dating still. Callie's doing well, she told me to say hello. George and Callie are so happy together."

"What about Meredith?"

"She's dating Finn. I don't see her much." He was trying to be as vague as possible.

"She works with you, Derek; I'd expect you to see her."

"Addie, my focus has been the weekend. I just get though the week now. Haven't you realized that yet?"

"I'm just not used to it, is all."

"I hope you get used to it."

"Me too."

The rest of the coffee 'date' went quickly. They avoided all work-related topics after that, and all romantic topics, which basically left them with entertainment, religion, and politics. They didn't disagree or agree on religion, and they disagreed so much on politics, so they were stuck talking about television shows.

"Law and Order."

Addison made a face. "How can you stand it?"

"How can you stand to watch Desperate Housewives? It's so ridiculous."

"Law and Order is ridiculous too."

"How?"

"It just is. I mean no trial is that action-packed."

"True, but no ones life is that action-packed either."

"Truce. Friends?"

"Too classic."

Addison had started watching Friends when it was in its second season and had gotten Derek hooked too. They had watched it all the way until its final episode, and Addison had collected all of them on DVD. "Too classic?"

"Our fallback, Addie."

"Well, we don't agree on any new shows, we have to rely on the fallback."

Addison smiled, biting the bottom of her lip like she sometimes did.

"Do you want to take a walk?"

"To where?"

"Anywhere."

Addison nodded and pulled on her coat, fastening the buttons. She stepped outside in the November wind, straightening up the collar a little bit more. She fell in step with Derek, marveling at how he could keep a conversation going. They talked about the places they walked past. Nothing, and then everything, was different.

And suddenly, without realizing it, they had both ended up in front of their old brownstone.

"I made," Derek said slowly, "so many mistakes here."

"I made just as many."

They moved on. They couldn't afford to spend too much time at one place, too much time in one area. They had already done that, and it hadn't been good for them.

****

"So I'll be back next week," Derek said. "And I'll have running shoes, okay?"

Addison nodded and laughed. "You'd best be ready. You're going to want to die."

"I'll sue you."

Addison smiled. She hesitated at her door, and so did Derek. She thought that he was going to kiss her. She thought he was going to hold her face and kiss her. But he hugged her instead. Quickly. He hovered close to her after.

"You're going to be making the first move, Addie."

Addison smiled.

"I'll see you next week, okay? Don't miss me too much."

"Right back at you.

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A/N: Going to write more, but I'm exhausted from writing anything. But here's some cutsey moments to keep you tided over until I get the gumption to write again. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, and any and all holidays I'm forgetting.