Elizabethan Love: Taming of the Surgeon
Lucentio: One more thing rests, that thyself executes
to make one among these wooers: if
thou ask me why, sufficeth, my reasons are both good
and weighty.
Addison stood in the lobby of the hospital. It had been a good end to the day. Mrs. Phillips was okay, Alex wasn't mad, and she was moving on, from Derek, the affair, and everything.
Truthfully, it was kind of terrifying. Nothing was the same. She liked the familiar, and now, there was no more "familiar" left.
But she told herself this was good. After all, good things only came from change. Nevertheless, she avoided Derek all day. There was no point in denying it: she didn't want to sign those divorce papers.
She had taken advantage of her marriage. She should have enjoyed it, taken better care of it.
And now it was over.
The papers were in her bag. She could feel their presence, even though she wasn't touching them directly. She just wanted to take them out, and burn them, or throw them away. She sat down on one of the chairs in the lobby, and put the bag on the chair next to her.
She needed a drink.
No. She didn't drink on good days, and this was a good day. She kept forgetting.
She waited about fifteen minutes, until Derek stepped out of the elevator, alone. She was pleasantly surprised that he was heading home early. He looked as if he might need the extra sleep. His shoulders drooped, and he hunched over in exhaustion. His eyes were barely open, and he yawned at least three times before he saw her. He nodded a greeting. "Hey."
"Hi." She took her bag off the seat.
He sat down, or rather, fell down, and slouched against the chair.
She smiled sadly, "How was your day?"
He sighed and looked at the ceiling. He didn't want to talk to her. She ruined his life.
"Come on." She nudged his shoulder. "We're friends now."
Right. They were friends now. They weren't going to be married anymore. "Fine." This was going to be hard to get used to. He rubbed his forehead. "It was terrible. I lost a patient."
"I'm sorry." She touched his hand that was on the armrest. "Did you talk to Meredith?" She didn't want to be insensitive, but she had to ask.
"No." He growled. "She ran away from me all day. Did you talk to Karev?"
So, Addison wasn't the only one avoiding Derek. "Yeah. I saw him. He was oddly okay with it." She shrugged.
Derek groaned. "Why? He was so angry. Why is he okay with it, while Meredith can't even look at me?"
"I only knew Alex for two days. I'm hoping you and Meredith have something more than that." Or else she was getting a divorce over nothing.
He buried his face in his hands. "What am I going to do?"
She patted him on the knee. "You are going to do everything in your power to get her back." It was getting easier to say things she didn't mean. "I can help you."
"You want to help me?" He lifted his head to look at her, almost smiling.
"Yeah." She tucked a curl behind her ear. "I owe you one."
"Okay." Derek wasn't going to decline her help. "We have to sign those papers."
"I have them right here." She patted the bag, her stomach turning inside out. "You want to see them?"
"No." He actually didn't think she would do it. The divorce papers were really in that bag. Living proof of their failed marriage. "We should go to Joe's."
"Why?" Like a date? Was it a date if they were pseudo-married? Or just friends?
"We can sign the papers. And drink." He said this as if it was obvious. She laughed and he smiled, "And talk." He stood up. "You can teach me some new moves."
She stood up. "Yeah. You need them."
They made their way across the street in silence. They were separate, though. Individual.
They sat down at the bar. A few interns were seated near them, but neither Addison, nor Derek really cared. She got out the papers, and he ordered the drinks. They stared at the for a while, taking a few sips of their drinks.
"Got a pen?" he asked.
"No." was her immediate response. He rolled his eyes at her, and bent down to pick up her bag, retrieving a pen out of the side pocket.
"Sorry." She smiled bashfully.
He laughed, and flipped to the first page that needed their signatures. He swallowed. Their names were there on the paper.
It was final.
"I don't really want to do this," she confessed. Her face was red, and she was breathing erratically. "I mean, I want to do this, but not really." She looked at the paper and then looked away. She couldn't get upset now. They were in a public place, with Meredith's friends sitting near them.
"Are you okay?" She looked like she was going to be sick.
No. "I'm good. Let's just get this over with." The sooner it was over, the sooner she could cry.
"I don't want to do this either." He crossed his arms. "If I could, I would stay married to you. But I can't. We can't." He needed to be with Meredith.
She rocked on her chair. "I don't know- do you feel like we should say something? It's like a death."
Derek frowned. "I don't know- do you want to say something?"
Addison took a deep breath. She had been thinking about this for a while. This was the last chance to talk to him honestly as his wife. "I just- I really enjoyed being your family for the past eleven years...and longer." She couldn't look at him. "And I love you. And I'm sorry I screwed this up so badly. I just feel sick when I think about it. I wish I could make you happy."
"Okay." He stopped her. This wasn't a good idea: she was just making this harder. He fingered the edge of the paper, curling them, and smoothing them over.
"Oh, sorry." She mumbled. "Do you not want me to talk? I'll just shut up now." She waited for him to sign the papers.
He put the pen down.
She picked it up, and rolled it between her fingers. She set the ball of the pin down on the paper. She could feel her hand twitching with the muscle memory of her signature. She picked up the pin, and signed her name in the air.
It was nothing, she kept telling herself.
She set the pen down. He didn't pick it up. "So, Meredith? Does she like flowers?"
It was a bright and sunny day.
Well, it wasn't raining, which made it a bright and sunny for Seattle.
Derek was optimistic. He sat on a bench right outside of the hospital, a pretty bouquet of pink and yellow flowers in hand. Meredith was supposed to be arriving soon, with the rest of the interns. They had rounds.
Surely she wouldn't avoid him as much as to go all the way around the hospital to the back entrance.
No, she was just running late, he thought.
Derek was so ready. His hair was perfect, and he was wearing her favorite cologne. He had prepared a whole speech, declaring his adoring love for her. He turned around and looked at his reflection in the glass of the hospital.
Not bad. Just enouch scruffle. She wouldn't be able to resist him.
He saw Cristina drive by, with two passengers (Meredith and Izzie, he assumed). He stood up and they immediately spotted him. He stuck out like a sore thumb, as he was wearing the red shirt he wore when he first met her.
They were like a pack of wolves, ready to sink their teeth into his heart. "Meredith."
She walked straight past him.
"Meredith."
She ignored him.
"I know you're angry." Derek was starting to doubt his plan. Maybe his hair didn't look that great. "Please. Listen to me." He gave her the most apologetic look he could muster, with tears glistening in his eyes.
She sighed. "Okay." She turned to Cristina. "I'll be right up."
"Are you sure?" Cristina leaned forward.
"Yeah." Izzie whispered. "We can definitely take him. Mess him up a little." She threw a few punches in the air, and Derek stepped back, slightly frightened.
Meredith held them back. "I can handle this."
They left, shooting daggers at Derek with their eyes.
Meredith turned back to Derek. "What do you want?"
"You." His arms went around her waist and back, and she made no move to stop him, at first. "I am so sorry I didn't tell you about Addison. But we're getting a divorce. We were over months ago. It just wasn't official."
She took his hands off of her. "It needed to be official before you even looked at me."
She was right, of course. Derek couldn't say anything to counter that, so he handed her the flowers. "I got you these because they're pretty." He smiled Mc-Dreamily. "And you're pretty."
Meredith almost smiled back. She almost believed that he was doing this out of love. She took them. "If you knew me at all, you would know that I don't like to get flowers from guys." Especially ex-boyfriends. "Flowers die." She gave them back to him. "And they're pink." She hated pink.
"What's wrong with pink?" Derek laughed, to make the situation seem like less than a failure. Truthfully, this could not have gone worse for him. He should have listened to Addison. 'No pink,' she had said, 'Blue and white roses'. Blue, because they're incredibley rare, and it shows your dedication to her. White for apology and forgiveness.'
But no, he used a different logic. Girls liked pink. Meredith was a girl.
That was stupid.
He pictched the flowers in a nearby trashcan. "I'm sorry. I really thought you would like them. I tried. Can you forgive me?"
"No!" When was he going to get that in his head?
"But I love you."
Meredith could tell he meant it. Why did he have to be so cute- and dreamy? She stepped a little closer and smelled him.
All right, one moment of weakness. She grabbed his face with he rhands, and kissed him hard. She slipped her tongue into his mouth for just a moment, and then pulled away. She sighed in relief.
Derek was grinning. They weren't even in the elevator yet. (Which would have been his next move.)
Her eyes narrorwed. "Don't get too cocky. We're over. As in, never going to be in a relationship again," she spelled it out for him.
He was still grinning. "Sure." He obviously didn't believe her.
"Seriously." Now, she couldn't stop smiling. She tried her best to look angry again. "I just needed a way to bookend-" she stopped. She didn't owe him an explanation.
However, he was nodding, and making it very hard for her to be serious. Which she was.
She pointed to the door. "I'm going to go now. I expect we can have a completely...professional...relationship?" She made a face at the look he was giving her.
She left, and he laughed.
He had her.
Addison swallowed thickly.
She shut her eyes, as her mind flashed back to the ninth grade.
She opened them again, and looked out at the cafeteria before her. People were laughing and talking all around her.
She stood at the end of the cafeteria line, frozen.
There was nowhere to sit.
Oh, God. She was going to have to sit in the bathroom again. She HATED sitting in the bathroom. Her tray always fell over on her awkwardly placed knees, and she had to use toilet paper as a napkin.
She frowned, and she almost dumped her tray when she saw Callie waving at her.
She smiled in relief, and set her tray down on the table.
"Hey!"
"Sit down." Callie kicked out a chair with her foot. "What's going on?"
Addison let out a breath, and pulled her hair back in a ponytail. "I was just about to have a tiny panic attack because I didn't have anyone to sit with. Thanks for saving me."
"No problem." Callie opened her sandwich. "What were you going to do? Sit in the bathroom?"
Addison laughed, a little too much.
"You were, weren't you?" Callie couldn't believe it. "You?!"
Addison threw a napkin at her. "Shut up. So what if I was a loser in high school?"
"No way."
"Marching band."
"I don't believe it." Addison must have been like a cheerleader or something.
Addison nodded, "I carried a tuner around in my purse, instead of a cell phone."
"Wow," Callie laughed.
"I was emotionally attached to my clarinet. I named it Arthur." Addison bit down on a celery stick, as she fondly remember Arthur. "I think he's still in the attic."
"You are weird. Please tell me you don't have a favorite time signature."
"Six-eight." Addison was quick to answer.
Callie looked like she was processing the thought. She started to speak, but Addison interrupted her. "Favorite key signature? E flat minor."
Callie scratched her chin. "I totally didn't expect that."
Addison shook her head. "Nobody does." She munched on a cracker. "Were you in band in high school?"
"No..." Callie hesitated, "I was a different kind of weird."
"Oh." Addison dropped the cracker. "You weren't one of those sex-crazed emo kids, were you?"
"No!" Callie bit her lip. "How can I explain it?" She thought a bit, and then told Addison in a serious voice. "Pick a number between one and one hundred."
Addison tried to figure out what was going on. Then, a lightbulb went off in her head, and she smirked, "Forty-two."
Callie raised her eyebrows. "And why?"
"Because it's the answer to life, the universe..."
"And everything!" Callie finished for her. They high-fived. "I love you. No one ever gets that!"
"Are you kidding? I loved The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!" Addison was grinning.
They laughed for a few more minutes, and then Callie got quiet.
"What?" Addison was still giggling.
"I can't believe you're leaving." Callie pouted.
Addison made a design in her pudding with her spoon. "Oh. Well, there's actually something that I have to tell you."
Callie looked hopeful. "Yeah?"
"I'm getting a divorce."
Callie's face fell. "I'm so sorry."
Addison sighed. "That's not even the worst of it."
Callie waited patiently for her to continue.
"I'm getting a divorce...from Derek."
"Derek who?" Callie still wasn't getting it.
"Derek Shepherd."
"Shepherd? Why would you get a divorce from Shepherd? Aren't you married to that Sloan guy?"
Addison shook her head, and waited for Callie to think.
"Oh. Why would you- I don't understand." She wrinkled her forehead in confusion.
Addison looked away. She didn't want to lose her only friend in Seattle. "I don't know. It was all just a big mistake. But I guess I'm staying here now."
Callie's mouth dropped open. "You're staying?!" She squealed. "Yay! That's so exciting." She gave Addison a hug.
Addison laughed. "You're not mad at me for lying?"
"No. It's not that big of a deal." She opened her soda can. "We're friends. And you're staying!"
Addison picked up a piece of fruit with her fork. "Thanks for understanding. I really appreciate it."
"Yeah, don't worry about it." Callie was just glad she finally had someone she could talk to. "So, you and Shepherd? What's going on with that? I though he was infatuated with Grey."
"He is." Addison looked down.
"Oh. Sorry." Callie grimaced. She didn't want to make her new friend feel badly. "I just can't picture you two married."
Addison shook her milk carton. "Why do people keep saying that?" Years ago they were inseperable. People used to freak out if they weren't together.
"Because you hate each other." Callie acted as if this was obvious.
"We don't hate each other." Addison tried to convince herself. "We're just like that..."
Callie nodded. "Right."
"It doesn't matter. We're getting a divorce."
Callie sighed in exasperation. "Does Grey know?"
"We told her...and Alex...together, this morning."
"Why?"
Addison brushed the hair out of her face. "He wants to have a relationship with her. You can't build a relationship on lies." She felt like she was repeating herself over and over again.
"I guess that makes sense. How did she take it?"
Addison groaned, remembering, "Not good..."
"I can imagine." Callie laughed. "What did she do?"
"Well," Addison started, "she was upset, and Derek apologized a lot. And then she made numerous accusations against us, most of which were- true. And then she accidently hit me."
Callie spit out her food. "She what?"
"She was passionately speaking, and she gestured towards me, and her nail were very long." Addison winced, thinking about it.
"She scratched you?" Callie squinted. "Where?"
Addison ran her finger along the small line on her cheek. "Here."
"I don't see it." Callie tilted her head to get a better angle.
"It's there." Addison insisted. "She was angry that I basically lead Alex on."
Callie nodded. "That's justified."
"How?!" Addison was offended.
"You lead Alex on."
"Whatever happened between us, Alex is okay with it." Addison shrugged. "So why should Meredith be so angry?" She put her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands.
"She'll come around." Callie assured her, as she took a bite out of her apple. "Interns are just weird."
Addison smiled. "No kidding." She looked over at the other table, where George, Izzie, Meredith, and Cristina were all eating. "Do you ever get the feeling that Cristina and Meredith are lesbians?"
Meredith was feeding Cristina a cracker, and they were laughing about something that Izzie and George didn't understand.
"Sometimes." Callie acted serious, which surprised Addison. "Even Shepherd understood that they needed their 'alone' time." She leaned in closer to whisper, "Now, I've never been there when it happens, but I heard that more often they not, they sleep in the same bed."
Addison laughed. "Poor Derek." It was funny, how her thoughts almost always turned to him.
"Did you know Cristina came up with the whole 'McDreamy' nicknaming spree?" Callie smiled.
"Excuse me?" Addison had never heard this before.
"That's what they call Shepherd. They call him McDreamy. And now, whenever they talk about men, they call them by using 'Mc-' and then an adjective," Callie explained.
"McDreamy? That's so embarrassing!" Addison looked incredulous. "Oh, I am so going to make fun of him for that. What do they call George?" She winked. "McCutie? McPuppydogface?"
Callie didn't smile back.
"Oh-no." Addison set her milk carton down on the table. "What happened?"
"He just ended it!" Callie chewed on a carrot angrily.
"Do you have any idea why?"
"Meredith!" George shouted from across the bar. He waved, and she waved back. She was sitting next to Cristina.
He clumsily climbed into the seat next to her. "How are you?" He smiled.
She glared at him.
"Okay..." He tried again. "You look- beautiful- today."
"George!" Meredith was halfway drunk, and she was getting annoyed. "Stop trying to make me feel better! It's not working!"
George took the tequila away from her. "That's enough." He pushed it away from her. "So I heard about Shepherd. You guys broke up?"
"Yep." Meredith giggled. "I betcha never thought that would happen. I betcha thought we were gonna be together forever."
"No." George stepped behind her, and took out her ponytail. He pulled her hair back up, so it wasn't hanging in her face. "You were too good for him anyway."
"Thanks Georgie." She tapped him on the nose.
"I'm not seeing Callie anymore!" He announced.
"Ohhhh." Meredith seemed close to crying. "That's so sad. I'm sorry."
"No." He turned her chair so she was facing him. "It's a good thing. I kind of like someone else."
Meredith grinned. "You do? That's great! Who is it?"
George blushed and looked down. "I probably shouldn't tell you."
Meredith started to bounce up and down in her chair. "Tell me. Tell me. Tell me Tell me..."
He grabbed her hands. "No. Shhh."
"Tell me. Tell me. Tell me..."
"Okay!" George let go of her. "I'll tell you as soon as I ask you a question, okay?"
"Okay!" Meredith kept bouncing, but he held her down.
He smiled. "I was wondering if...well, I would be honored if..."
"Just spit it out!" Cristina lifted her head from the bar, and then plunked it back down, seemingly asleep.
Meredith waved her away. "She's just bitter when she has scotch."
"I wanna take you out on a date." He spit it out.
Meredith laughed, and then covered her mouth. "Oh."
"Do you want to do that?" George suddenly felt rejected.
Meredith wasn't so sure. She assumed that she and Derek would just get back together after everything blew over. But that wasn't going to happen. She needed to have some sort of independence. "Sure."
"Really?" George asked hesitantly.
"I would love to go on a date with you."
Meredith didn't notice, but Addison was sitting at the other end of the bar.
Addison had been drinking the same beer for the past two hours. She would only take sips when she was parched. She glanced at Alex, a few seats down, and he was on his fifth.
Should she talk to him?
No, that was a bad idea. He looked stressed anyway.
She watched Meredith too. Meredith had gone through at least five shots in the past thirty minutes.
Addison couldn't blame Meredith if she got drunk, and slept with inappropriate men. That's almost what it took to get over Derek.
As Addison tried to calculate exactly how many drinks it would take for her to sleep with an inappropriate man, Alex scooted over, across the seats, to the stool next to her. "Hey, goregous." His voice was husky, and he had an unfinished beer in his hand.
"Hi." She fanned his breath. "You need a mint." She reached into her purse, and popped one into his mouth, without warning.
He bit down on it, and made a crunching sound. He leaned forward, and began to suck on her neck. She pushed him away. "Alex. You said you weren't going to do that."
"Right." He rubbed his eyes. "Sorry. I missed you today."
She tilted her head. It was really nice to hear things like that once in a while. God knows Derek never expressed his appreciation. "That's nice. Thank you."
"You know what I'm really good at?" He randomly changed the subject.
"What?"
"Distance." He held his hands out far apart to demonstrate, and almost hit her. "I don't get too involved with patients. I don't care."
"Now, see. That's the difference between us." She pushed his hands down. "I have trouble sometimes with that."
"It's different." She dealt with tiny babies. It was easy to love tiny, cute babies. It was harder to care about botox-ed housewives who just wanted a boob job so their cradle-robbing husbands would pay attention to them every once in a while. "Today, I operated on a kid, whose father abused his mother."
"That's terrible." She could see how much it affected him. "Was he okay?"
"Yeah, but he still had to go home. He didn't want to go, but I told him he should."
"Why did you say that?"
He took a swig of his beer. "Because if he doesn't know his dad, he's going to regret it for the rest of his life."
"I suppose that's true." Addison stared off into space.
"I know it is." Alex's hands clenched around the bottle. "But he still has to suffer through watching his mother hurt, and scream, and beg, and I don't know if it was the right thing to tell him."
She patted him on the arm. "I'm sure you did fine."
"But I got involved!" He drained the last of his beer. "I gave up the only ideal that I had."
"You helped someone!" She defended.
"No, I didn't. I just made everything worse." Alex passed the beer bottle between his hands. "My dad used to do that, you know?"
"He used to?"
"Hit my mom." He stared down the long neck of the bottle.
"Alex." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, as far as she could. "I'm sorry."
He nodded. "I know you are. But the whole thing- it was just so screwed up. It seemed like there was no right choice to make."
"But you turned out so great. And now it's all over. You're fine." She rubbed her nose into his shoulder. He didn't deserve what had happened to him.
"I used to defend my father. Defend him. How could I do that? How could I hold him to such a high standard?"
"It's okay, Alex." She rested her head on his arm.
Alex stopped, and looked at her. He paused, and then stood up. "Come with me."
She followed him. "Where are we going?"
"Just, come." He lead her to the hallway with the bathroom, and the made a sharp right. It was a small hallway with a closet or something. He took her hands, and pressed her up against the wall.
"Oh." She knew what he wanted. She let him kiss her for a few minutes, and then pressed down on his shoulders. "Alex. That's enough. You don't want to do this, remember?"
He pressed harder into her, and it became very clear exactly how much he wanted to do this.
"I lied," she reminded him. "I'm married." She dug her wedding ring into his arm for special effect.
He shook his head, and began unbuttoning the button on her shirt. She grabbed his hands. He looked up at her. "Please, Addison." He looked like he was about to cry.
She sighed, and released his hands, so he could continue. She didn't want to do this, but she didn't want to stop him either. She felt a little like she was cheating on Derek again.
But she was getting a divorce. She wasn't doing anything wrong.
She let out a breath, as Alex's stubble found her chest.
Her eyes started to well up when his hands grabbed at her sides. "I can't. Stop."
"You already said-"
"But I can't!" She began to slide down the wall.
"You just need to relax. It'll feel good. I promise." His hands lightly touched her skirt.
"Don't," she whined.
"Shhh..." He whispered against her neck. "It's all right." He ran his hands up her thighs.
She buried her eyes into his shoulder, and then looked up.
Damn it.
Derek was staring at her, angrily. His fists clenched at his sides.
But he didn't move.
"Alex," she said, loud enough for both of them to hear. "Stop."
"No," he said, audibly.
Derek's face turned expressionless. His fists relaxed.
Addison's eyes pleaded with Derek to do something. She wanted him to take action. She wanted him to fight for her. But he just stood there.
And he left.
"Derek!" She yelled.
A/N: I know, you all hate me now, don't you.
To all the Addex fans: He will be redeemed.
To all the Addek fans: He will be redeemed.
To all the Mer/Der fans: He will be redeemed.
I also think that Meredith and George deserve a better chance than what they had, but obviously, this pairing is not going to last very long in this story.
Next chapter: Meredith/George awkward!date. A lot of things are resolved. The interns plan a party!!
Review!! Because of the crazy pairing situation we have going on here. Brownie points to whoever knows the question to life, the universe and everything.
Thanks for reading!!