A/N: I'm sorry. I know its been forever. School was a nightmare and then when I got home and started to write I keep getting interrupted by little 'birdies' and you can't really shoot a 'birdie'. That's not very nice so I had to put up with them. Anyway here is the long awaited chapter. Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter!
"Meredith, over here." Addison waved frantically at Meredith.
Meredith spotted her and waddled over to her friend. "Hey Addie. How are you doing?"
"To be expected." Addison replied. "Would you like to come up to my room?"
"Yeah that would be great. I'm not really supposed to be on my feet and if De…sorry."
"No, its okay, really. If we're going to try and be friends, we're going to have to get along, right?"
Meredith nodded her head and got onto the elevator behind Addison.
There was an awkward silence for a moment, neither of them knowing what to say.
"So, how are you feeling?" Addison asked, breaking the silence.
"Good. A little sore, there's a lot of pressure around here." Meredith placed a hand on the lower part of her stomach.
Addison simply nodded.
Again there was silence, this time as the two women walked towards Addison's room. Once they were inside, Addison sat down on the bed and watched as Meredith stood awkwardly in the middle of the room.
"You can sit you know. I won't bite. I promise." Addison laughed.
Meredith sat next to Addison on the bed.
"So…you and Karev?" Meredith asked.
"No. We tried. It didn't work."
"Oh. I'm sorry.'
"Nah, its for the better. We work together. Its never good to mix work with pleasure."
Meredith looked at Addison and then down at the floor.
"Oh I didn't mean…"
"No, its okay. You're smart to not mix work with pleasure." Meredith smiled.
Meredith then brought a hand down to her stomach and started to rub it.
"You okay?" Addison asked.
Meredith nodded. "Do you mind if I lay down? I don't feel so great."
"Sure. What's wrong? If you don't mind me asking."
"Braxton hicks."
"Have you had them before?"
"I get them everyday. They're stronger today for some reason though."
Meredith placed her other hand on her stomach as well and winced when she was hit with another false contraction.
"Maybe we should get you to the hospital." Addison suggested.
"It's nothing, trust me. They'll go away in a few minutes."
"Okay."
After a few minutes passed, Addison looked back at Meredith who still had her hands on her stomach.
"Are they gone?" Addison asked.
Meredith slightly nodded before sitting up in bed and then walking to the bathroom.
Once Meredith was out of sight, Addison took out her cell phone and texted Derek telling him that Meredith was have strong labor pains and she would try to get her to go to the hospital.
"I'm back." Meredith announced as she sat down on the bed.
"Are you sure you're okay Meredith?" Addison asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"You don't look okay."
Just then Meredith was hit with another contraction. Her two hands returned to her stomach and tears began to form in her eyes.
"Addison, I promised him. I promised him these two would live. He was so upset about your baby and then last night he cried like I had never seen him cry before and I promised him. I told him I wouldn't let anything happen to them. I promised him and now, now they're going to be born early and…I can't let him down."
"They won't be born early if I have anything to do with it."
Meredith nodded.
"I'm going to take you to the hospital now, okay?"
"Yeah okay."
Meredith stood up, holding on to Addison for support.
"Meredith?"
"Yeah."
"I'm um…I'm kind of weak from the other day so…do you mind not holding so…"
Meredith nodded and held onto the wall for support instead.
After about ten minutes the two of them were in Addison's car and on the way to the hospital.
"So Derek…he um…he cried last night?" Addison asked.
"Yeah. He was crying in the shower. I mean I found him crying in the shower. Then I tried to get him to talk about it. When I woke up this morning he was gone already."
Addison placed a hand on her stomach.
"He's really upset?"
Meredith nodded and then winced from the pain once again.
"I…um…I didn't lose the baby, Meredith."
Meredith looked up at Addison. "What do you mean you didn't lose the baby?"
"I mean, I'm still pregnant."
"Excuse me? Do you have any idea how worked up Derek is over this?? Do you? How could you do this to him?"
"Oh, how could I do this to him? If I remember correctly you did the same exact thing."
"What I did was totally different. He didn't know that I was pregnant with his kids therefore there never were any babies. You, you have him believing that your child died. That is completely different."
When Addison didn't say anything Meredith continued.
"If you could concentrate on getting me the hospital that would be great."
The rest of the ride was silent. Neither of them talked until they got to the hospital.
"Thank you for the ride." Meredith half smiled and then proceeded to get out of the car.
"Where do you think you're going, Meredith. You can barely walk. Let me get you a wheel chair." Addison yelled from the drivers side.
"I'm fine. Thank you for the ride."
Meredith stumbled in to the hospital, sitting down on the first chair she saw. She slowly started to take deep breaths.
"Meredith. Are you okay? Addison paged me." Derek came running over to Meredith and kneeled down in front of her.
"I've been having contractions for the past hour or so." Meredith spoke softly. "I'm sorry. I know I promised you, but…I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Everything is going to be okay. Addison is parking the car and then she is going to try and stop you're contractions, okay? We want to keep those babies in there as long as possible."
"Not Addison. Anyone but Addison, please Derek."
"Meredith, Addison is the best. We need her for this, okay?"
"No. Please no." Meredith started to cry.
Just then Addison approached Derek and Meredith.
"Hi." Addison said.
"Hey." Derek responded.
Once again, an awkward silence filled the air. Addison was staring into Derek's eyes, thinking about what Meredith had said earlier that day.
"Excuse me but I would really like to be pregnant at the end of the day so if you could stop looking at my boyfriend in that way I would really appreciate it."
"I'm still married to him." Addison said, still not breaking her eye contact with Derek.
"I know but right now you are my doctor and you have to keep my twins inside of me."
"Right, right. Sorry."
Addison began to wheel Meredith into an open examine room while Derek walked right along side of her.
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A few hours later, Meredith's contractions had stopped and she was hooked up to all sorts of machines. She couldn't remember falling asleep but when she woke up Derek and Addison were sitting on two chairs talking.
"Hey." Addison said.
Addison stood up and walked over to Meredith's bed to check her monitors.
"The contractions are gone." Meredith spoke.
"Yeah, we were able to stop them but you're going to have to stay in the hospital until you give birth. I want to keep an eye on you."
"Thank you Doctor Shepherd."
"Addison, Meredith, Addison."
Meredith nodded her head and looked over at Derek. He gave her a slight smile before walking out of the room.
"Did you tell him?" Meredith asked.
"No, not yet."
"What's wrong with him then?"
"I don't know. Maybe he's stressed."
"But he didn't even talk to me."
Addison shrugged her shoulders and then closed Meredith's file.
"I'll be in later to check on you."
"I thought you were on vacation."
"I'm officially back."
"Ok, I'll see you around."
When Addison closed the door, Derek walked in.
"Hey." Derek said sweetly.
"Hey."
"Addison's still pregnant." Derek blurted. "The baby will mostly like be retarded."
"She told you?"
"No. I over heard Karev and Stevens talking. Why, did she tell you?"
"On the way here."
"What were you doing with her anyway?" Derek wondered.
"We were trying to be friends. I don't think it worked."
Derek laughed and sat down on the bed with Meredith. "This makes things a whole lot more complicated now."
Meredith nodded.
"I can't just forget about her and our child."
"I know."
"But I can't forget about the twins either."
Meredith frowned when he didn't mention her name. "You have a big decision to make."
"I don't know what to do."
Meredith shrugged her shoulders. "You can be a father to all three babies but you can only be a lover to one woman. It's your decision."
"I know."
After a few minutes of neither of them speaking, Meredith turned her head to face Derek.
"I can't believe you even have to think about this."
Derek didn't say anything. "It's not that easy Mer."
"Bull Crap. It's me or her."
"Meredith…"
"The last time I did this I broke down in tears. I gave you a whole big speech about picking and choosing. Not this time Derek, not this time. All I have to say is it's either her or me."
When Derek didn't say anything Meredith looked away.
"I'm kind of tired. I want to be left alone." Meredith stated coldly.
Derek nodded and walked out of the room.
Later that day as Derek was walking down the hall, he ran into Addison. She didn't look at him as she walked, but he eyed her cautiously. Finally he grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty room.
"Are you still pregnant, Addison?" Derek simply stated.
"No." Addison replied.
"Yes you are. Don't lie to me Addison."
Addison looked away.
"I knew it. So you are still pregnant?"
"She told you?"
"No, I heard it from two other little birdies."
"Derek, you don't have to do be nice about this."
"Why would you lie to me like that?"
"I didn't no what to do Derek. I thought it would solve all our problems."
"Yeah, until our daughter is born."
"Derek. There's a pretty high chance that she will be born with brain damage."
"I know but I will be here for you. For you and her. For both of you. I promise."
"What about Meredith?" Addison asked.
"I'll be there for her and the twins as well."
"How Derek? How will this work?"
"I'll find a way to make it work, okay?"
Addison nodded.
"I'm going to go check on Meredith. I'll talk to you later okay?" Derek asked.
"Yeah, okay."
A few minutes later, Derek walked into Meredith's hospital room.
"What do you want Derek?"
"I wanted to tell you that I'm choosing you but I need to be there for Addie as well. I can't just leave her and the baby. I cant do that."
"I get that Derek. I'll be there for her as well. All I needed to hear you say was that you'd be there for me."
Meredith looked up and brought Derek's face down to her own and kissed him.
A/N: What did you guys think? I've been working on this for almost five hours because I kept getting interrupted. Thanks for reading and please review!
