I have to say I am really glad you all like Gracie so much! She's really lovable if I dare say so myself ;-) so it's always fun writing Gracie... I want Derek and Addison together like really badly but since her husband has died it won't be all that easy, but they will get closer and most definitely kiss again!
Just for the future how do you feel about sex? Not in your private life, I don't wanna know about that, but in the story? Yes or no?
Okaaay, I should be doing history, it's snowing and ugh I want it to be 6pm so I can order my Spaghetti Frutti di Mare!

Picric Drea: Thank you (: I'm glad it's still sweet and not... stupid?

Deslil: Yeah she smells like him and he smells goohoood ^^ I think I mentioned that in a chapter before, but forget all about that, he just smells good... Thanks (:

Addeklover: I'm really sorry but I have actually forgotten about for a while, I really don't know why, but then there was this person in front of me on the train and she was reading Harry Potter ff, rated M, and it was Draco and Harry... I thought it was weird...

Team McOrton: Thank you! I'm glad you like it!

Aiketi: She's awesome, I know (:

Julie: Thank you and yeah I'm pretty awesome (juuuust kidding (: )

Graceful

"So, what's going on between you and Dr. Montgomery?" Preston Burke had approached his friend from behind, now leaning against the counter at the nurse's station right next to where Derek was scribbling down something on a chart.

"We're friends." He stated, shrugging his shoulders.

"Uhuh, so why did you never kiss me in an on-call room?" Preston had to laugh at his own remark, knowing that it would not be appreciated.

Derek slammed the chart closed and gave his friend a look. "How do you know about that?" He was already annoyed that everyone knew about what had or maybe had not happened between him and Addison. Before he had thought about what would have happened if Karev hadn't walked in...

"Well, interns tell when they're attendings screw around in on-call rooms."

Derek let out a sigh, closing his eyes. "Nothing happened."

"You just kissed the woman who has been working here for about three weeks?" Preston raised his eyebrows, there was no such thing as 'just kissing' at least there wasn't with Derek. He had known him for years now and he knew that Derek needed a connection with someone, to know it would lead somewhere, so this definitely hadn't just been a kiss.

"Yeah, just a kiss, nothing more than that..." As Derek said it he already knew that he was lying to Preston and to himself. He liked Addison, more than he had liked anyone in a very long time.

"So, how much do you like her?" Of course he had caught on to the fib Derek had told him.

"A lot." Derek sighed again, he didn't know what to do anymore. He saw Preston nod and felt that he had to continue. "But I have no idea how to do this."

"Do what? You have kissed her before so you certainly know how to do that." The look on Derek's face signalized him this was not a good time to joke. "Sorry."

"Well, her husband just died... And... I really don't know."

"How does she feel about you?"

"I have no clue. Gracie says she likes me." He smiled a little. "And after all she did kiss me back, until Karev walked in..."
"So, why don't you just ask her out? I mean, the worst she could say would be no."

"Yeah but if I'd ask her out and she would say no then I would screw up the chance of any sort of friendship..."

"Just ask her out, man." Preston pushed himself off the counter and walked down the hall, leaving Derek alone with his thoughts. He knew that he should probably ask her out but he didn't know whether he should because if she happened to say no this would mess things up quite a lot.

"Hey, Dr. Shepherd." His head snapped up, looking into Meredith Grey's face.

"Hi." Derek said rather absent mindedly, she was not exactly the woman he wanted to see right now.

"Your surgery was incredible." She was still smiling. Great, Derek had known she had a crush on him but why oh why all the interns?

"Thank you." He stated simply, looking into a chart again just to keep busy.

"Would you like to have coffee some time?" Derek sighed and looked up at her. "Listen, Dr. Grey, I'm sorry but no. You seem to be quite nice but no."

"Oh... okay." She nodded and walked off as well.

xxx

"Derek said he would take me to the zoo this weekend!" Gracie was excited as she told everyone at dinner about her day.

"Oh, is he now?" Adele smiled at the little girl.

"Yes! He is reallyyyy cool! Right, mommy?" She looked up at her mother who wasn't entirely so comfortable talking about Derek. She already knew her daughter was going to say something she wouldn't enjoy Richard and Adele hearing.

"Yes, honey. He's very nice." She confirmed with a nod.

"Mommy really likes him and he likes her too!" And there it was, now all eyes at the table were turned to Addison, who shifted in her seat. She didn't even know how her daughter knew about her feelings for Derek, she wasn't even so sure about those herself so how could a six year old know?

"Like I said, he's very nice."

"But you like like him!" Gracie gave her mother a look. How could she not just say it? It was so obvious, duhhh!

"Grace Elizabeth Montgomery, that is enough out of you." Addison scolded rather calmly but her eyes betrayed her voice and her daughter noticed this, nodding her head. Usually she would have said something, Addison knew that, but she knew her mother was ticked off right now.

Nothing else was spoken, except for a little small talk, the weather and things at the hospital. No one had brought up Derek again but Addison had the bad feeling that this wasn't over yet.

"So, McDreamy, huh?" Adele said rather matter off factly as she and Addison cleaned up the kitchen.

"Adele..." Addison sighed, she really didn't feel like talking about this, she also felt bad because she hadn't thought about Christopher while she had been kissing Derek, not once. And she could hardly bear the thought of that.

"Come on, Addison, there's nothing wrong about you feeling this way. You're not..." She stopped right there, saying 'dead' would not have been the best thing right now. Nevertheless did Addison tense up a little, she knew what Adele would have said.

"I know. But it just feels... I don't even know." She closed her eyes, how had her life become so messed up? "Five years ago I couldn't have been happier, I was married to the love of my life, we had great jobs and a wonderful daughter. And then it all just fell apart." Tears were welling up in her eyes, she was so messed up she didn't want to do this to any other person, it was bad enough her and Gracie had to deal with this mess.

"Sweetheart" Adele put her hand on Addison's shoulder, "Things will get better, I promise. Maybe you shouldn't focus on the past anymore. I know that's probably a terrible thing to say right now but you need to move on with your life."

"I didn't think about Christopher." Addison simply stated, opening her eyes to look at Adele again, who seemed to be rather confused. "When I kissed Derek." She then added.

"You kissed?" Adele's eyes were wide in slight shock. Liking Derek was one thing but kissing him was a whole new one.

"Yeah..."

"So he was the guy you spent the night with when you went out?" Now it all seemed to make sense, but Addison hadn't said anything about sex...

"Yes, well kind of... I mean..." She sighed again, rubbing her temples. "Nothing happened, he just kissed me, or maybe I just kissed him..."

"Do you like him?" Adele tilted her head to the side, looking into Addison's eyes.

"I do... A lot actually... But isn't it terrible of me to feel this way?"

"No, it's absolutely normal, really. I know that you miss Christopher and he will always be a part of you and your life but it's time to move on. He wouldn't have liked you to end up old and bitter."

"Thanks Adele... Also thank you for calling me old and bitter." Addison smiled, she really appreciated this.

Xxx

Addison had left rather early in the morning so she hadn't had the chance to say good morning to her daughter who was staying with Adele today.

"I'm glad you and aunt Adele are having a good time." She smiled, on the phone with her daughter. "I love you too, honey. I'll see you tonight, bye." It was now Addison noticed Derek, who was standing next to her, giving her a smile.

"Hey." She smiled back at him.

"Hi. So, how was dinner last night?"

"It was..." Addison wasn't sure whether she should tell him or not. "alright, I guess."

"It was alright you guess?" He chuckled, his hand softly rubbing her back.

"Yeah, it was alright." She rested her head on his shoulder, thinking there was no way she could feel more comfortable around anyone else. "How was your night?"

"It was... Alright I guess." He imitated her earlier statement, smiling at their close proximity.

"Ha ha, very funny." She smiled nonetheless.

"I know... No, my night was okay, surgery went well, an intern asked me out..." Derek looked at her, waiting for a reaction.

"Oh..." Was all she said. Someone had asked him out? What had he said? Oh hopefully he said no!

"I said no."

"Why are you telling me that?" Addison lifted her head, looking into his eyes. She knew that she had wanted to know his answer, but why would he tell her that without her asking?

Derek sighed and looked at her as well, was he pushing her? "I... Never mind, I thought we were just talking." He shrugged his shoulders, swallowing. Yes, sometimes he could be pretty scared...

"Right..." Addison opened her mouth to say something but closed it again.

"What?" Without thinking about it he tugged a strand of her hair that had fallen out of her bun behind her ear.

"Derek, I like you, I really do..." She started, her hand flying up to cover her mouth as soon as she had said it out loud. But then she saw him smile at her and her heart melted a little.

"Good, I like you too." Addison felt butterflies in her stomach when he pulled her a little closer. "What are you doing tonight?" Yes, Derek Shepherd was dying to go out on a date with her and he had just come a little closer. It was as if he was climbing a mountain and could see the top now.

"Nothing, my daughter ditched me to go to the movies with Richard. I knew she wouldn't find me cool anymore at some point but six is too early if you ask me." Derek chuckled. "She loves you, you know that. But I was actually wondering whether you would like to have dinner with me or something?"

"I would love to." Addison's heart fluttered a little every time he smiled at her.

"How about six?"

"Six would be lovely, are you picking me up?"

"Of course I'm picking you up."

"And they say chivalry is dead." She raised her eyebrows at him, his tone had amused her quite a bit.

"Well, they haven't met me then."

xxx

Derek was walking along the pale hospital halls, hoping he didn't have another surgery scheduled before lunch when he saw a little girl trip and fall on the floor. He rushed over to her to help her up and then saw it was Gracie.

"Thank you." She smiled at him after he had gotten her off the floor and checked if she was alright.

"You know, for being named Grace, you're not very graceful." He chuckled when she tripped again but didn't fall.

"And you don't have enough sheep around for being named Shepherd." She replied, a smile on her face since she knew that her comeback had been pretty good.

"Touché." Derek laughed. "Are you looking for your mom?"

"Well... Kind of, aunt Adele and I are playing hide and seek."

"Oh, okay. You want to get something to eat?"

"Well duh! Of course I want to eat something." She smiled at him while they walked towards the cafeteria once again. "So, did you ask my mommy out?"

"Wha-" Derek looked at her, rather confused.

"She likes you, you like her. And then you're supposed to ask her out and then you kiss her on the third date..." Gracie noticed the look on his face. "I watch Melrose Place and 90210 with mommy."

"Your mother watches that?" He was a little surprised.

"Yeah, she says it's compensating her job." Grace shrugged her shoulders, she had no clue what compensating even meant, but if her mother had said it it had to make sense.

"Okay, that sounds reasonable." He nodded his head, still surprised at how smart she seemed to be.

"Grace! There you are!" They turned around and saw Adele standing there, a relieved expression on her face.

"She didn't know you were playing hide and seek, did she?" Derek asked the little girl quietly so Adele wouldn't hear him.

"Not so much..." She looked at the ground before turning to Adele. "Derek and I were just going to get something to eat and then he wanted to ask mommy out."

Adele looked at Derek, her eyebrows raised.

"No one said anything about that." Derek stated, he had already asked Addison out but that was private and not something he felt like sharing right now.

"Let's go, Gracie, Derek has to work."

"It's fine, we can have lunch if you want to?" He looked at Gracie, who was now nodding her head in response. "Alright then, how about we find your mom and see if she wants to join us?"

"Awesome!" Adele shook her head at the little girl and her excitement. "How about we go get something to eat while Derek looks for her? He knows this place better than we do." She offered and Grace took her hand before they went to grab something halfway decent to eat in the hospital cafeteria.

"Have you seen Dr. Montgomery?" Derek asked a couple of interns who then pointed over towards the on-call rooms where he headed next.

"Addison?" He asked again, after already trying three other rooms. Again he didn't get a response but then he saw her sleeping in the bed close to the wall. "Addison?" He whispered, kneeling next to her bed, feeling bad about waking her up when she looked so peaceful.

"Hmm?" She slowly opened her eyes and smiled when she saw him. "Please don't tell me I have a surgery or something."

"No." He chuckled at her. "But your daughter and Adele sent me to see whether you want to have lunch with us." She raised her eyebrows at the 'us'. "Yes, I said us." He laughed, getting how it had sounded. "But I'm invited to lunch too, you know."

"Hmhm, she really does like you." Addison sat up in bed, stretching before she smoothed her hair down. She tried to fix her rumpled clothes and her hair before he stopped her. "You look good, don't worry."

"Thank you." Addison smiled at him before she got up, walking towards the door. "Are you coming?" She turned her head to look at him.

"Right behind you."

Alrighty! Did anyone like?
Earlier question, sex, yes or no (STORY!) and drunk Addison? Yes, no? Any suggestions are totally welcome!