Addison, Absence, Avoidance, Adultery, Alex
If Addison hadn't existed, hadn't been an adulterer they may never have met.
So Meredith figures she should be grateful for Addison. But honestly she doesn't normally think about her enough these days to get that far.
In the early days when Addison was still here and just after she left, the ghost of her still laid in their bed with them. But she has faded over the years.
All that she has left is a legacy. Of the opportunity of a chance encounter in a bar to happen at all.
And she is responsible for at least one of the three rules they base their relationship. They aren't really rules people, but after all the early angst, they knew they needed some boundaries.
From Meredith – Avoidance. There will be no avoidance. Not of the major things. And Derek is to call her on it when (not if, they are realists) when it happens.
From Derek – Absence. There will be no absences. They can yell, they can fight. But they show up, they pay attention to each other.
From Addison – Adultery. There will be on adultery. No excuses. Just No. Not ever. If the avoidance and absence rules have been broken, they will find different means to get the others attention.
So they were the rules they made when they were new (well new for the third time, after the choosing and the dying). For the most part they kept the first two. The last one was almost laughable. When would they have the time? Even if they ever had the inclination, they were mostly either working or tearing each others clothes off.
Time passes.
Attention drifts.
They are still together. If you ask them, of course they still love each other, there is no hesitation. They are busy focused. It hasn't taken 9 years this time, only a few.
Alex is having dinner with her again. Of all her intern family, he is the only still single one. He fills a gap. A friend to talk to, a companion to eat with. She isn't aware, not yet, that she fills a gap for him to. She fills the gap where his heart should be. Dinner is over, he is helping her clear up. She is relaxed, warm from the fire the food the wine, from Alex. For the first time today, no for the first time this week, she hasn't dwelt in her mind about her husband's absence. As she rinses their wine glasses under the running tap, the light flickers off her rings. He hands her the plates. As she reaches for them, for the first time she notices how close he is standing behind her. She can feel his breath on the back of her neck. The frission of it making the tiny hairs at the base of her pony tail stand on end. Alex isn't absent, Alex's attention is here now on her. She drops the plates into the water and turns. His hands are either side of her slight body, trapping her between the sink and his sold warm chest. He moans her name, low and husky "Meredith". She looks up into his eyes and see's everything a girl needs. Lust, longing, love. He reaches up and cups her chin, tilting her face to meet the angle of his hard masculine mouth bearing down, looking for home in her soft pliant lips. She places her small hands on his chest and shoves hard. For tiny, ineffectual fists they pack a push. Alex stumbles backwards. "No, Not Ever".
She is up in their bedroom, tearing her clothes off. She only stops when she is totally naked. She crosses to the closet and pulls out her good coat slipping it over her small shaking body. She tugs on the first pair of shoes she can find. Heels, perfect, how Addison like. She smiles to herself as she thinks of her husbands ex wife for the first time in months. Thanks god for Addison and her lesson.
Her heels clack loudly on the tiled floor of the hospital, her coat swishes tickling her bare calves as she walks. She doesn't knock or pause at his door, she turns the handle and strides in. Derek looks up from his paperwork. He is happy to see her, unsure why she is here. Her face is flushed her hair tousled. His stomach starts to churn, he realises in that second how much he misses her.
"Meredith, what's wrong?"
"I'm showing up, I'm done avoiding, you've finished being absent" she stares at him, daring him to feign ignorance to challenge her.
"Meredith, I'm sorry.."
"Shut up.." She strides across the room, spins his chair away from the desk and stands between his legs.
"love me, pay attention to me, screw me" she pants as she whips the belt from her coat allowing to fall to the floor.
Derek stares at his stunning, sexy, brave wife standing in front of him. He turns from her, causing her to start to shake a little again. With one strong long sweep of his forearm, he wipes everything from the top of his desk. Admits the sounds of breaking glass and flying papers her turns grab his wife and lifts her to the desk. As his lips crash down on hers and they begin the dance to ecstasy they are so good at.
No Addison, No Alex, No Absences, No Avoidance, No Adultery. No, Not Ever.
AN: Phew so I finally posted. I am not 100 happy with this yet, but if I don't start I will never get these out of my head. Would love a review or two to see what people think "please" (wiggles shoulders) "please"