CHAPTER 6

Thanks again for all the feedback. I hope you're all still enjoying this and since the previous chapter was a bit more for the Addex fans, this one is for the Addek fans...

I own nothing.

Adele Webber looks up when there's a knock on the door, her face breaking out in a grin. She looks at Derek and Richard slyly.

"That would be Addison."

Derek stands up, tugging at his shirt nervously.

"Should I…"
"You stay here, darling. I'll get it."

Derek sits down again, taking a rather large gulp of his Scotch, his eyes fixated on the door where Addison would appear any second now. He gasps softly when she appears in the door, looking simply breathtaking in a figure fitting green dress, ending just above her knees, her red locks falling around her shoulders in loose curls. He stands up, unable to take his eyes off her.

"Addie…"

Her eyes widen in surprise when she sees him, a frown appearing between her brows.

"Derek?"

"Hi."

"What… what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for dinner."

She looks at Richard tiredly and he smiles sheepishly.

"Would you like a glass of wine?"

She nods, holding her hand out, quickly tossing down the wine before holding it out to Richard again. Richard simply nods before turning to pour some more and Derek turns to Addison.

"You shouldn't drink that fast, Addie."

"You shouldn't talk to me, Derek. If I want to get through tonight, I really need to be drunk. Completely drunk."

"Addison… we can talk."

"What would you want to talk about?"

He moves closer to her, resting his hand against her cheek.

"Us."

She steps away quickly, his familiar scent intoxicating her, making her head spin and she closes her eyes, feeling herself trembling under his touch.

"Derek…"

"Come on, Addison. You know that… deep down, there's still something between us."

"Yeah, Derek. Deep down, but Derek… I'm not willing to take that chance again. Not with you."
"Addison, I made a mistake. We both made mistakes."

"Yeah. And those mistakes can't be retracted."

"We can work through them."

"Can we?"

Derek sighs, resting his forehead against Addison's.

"Yes. We can. I know that."

"I don't."

"Listen to your heart, Addie. If there's still any space for me in it… then you owe it to me and to yourself to give us another chance."

"I'm scared, Derek. I don't want to get hurt again."

"I won't hurt you again, Addison, I promise."

"You made that promise once before, didn't you?"

She pulls away from him, her eyes shining with tears.

"Derek, I need a new start, a new life."

"With Karev?"

"If Alex… happens to be someone I can share my life with then yes."

"He's an intern, Addison!"

"It's been done before."

He jerks his head back as though she slapped him, hurt evident in his eyes.

"Addie…"

"Can you blame me, Derek?"

"I guess not."

They are spared further strained conversation when Adele coughs lightly, noting that dinner is served. Derek looks at Addison longingly, wanting nothing more than to put his arms around her waist and walk to the table with her.

But he doesn't.

For the first time in a long time, he really thinks about what Addison would want. And he keeps his distance.

To Addison's surprise, the dinner turns out to be quite enjoyable with Derek being the perfect gentleman. She catches him sneaking longing glances at her every now and again, but at least he didn't say anything. Instead they all made useless small-talk. About the weather. About patients. About Adele's magnificent soufflé recipe. Not once did they mention marital problems, love or interns. It felt like old times, when they were still residents, having dinner with their mentor and his wife. And it scared her a bit – the thought of how easy it was to forget everything that's happened and just be with him, enjoy his presence…

He walks her to her car at the end of the night, suddenly spinning her around, his lips meeting hers, pressing her back to the car as soon as they reach it and Addison can't do anything but kiss him back, her arms snaking around his neck. And it was wrong, so wrong…

But it was Derek… and he was her Derek again and he was holding her and kissing her like he loved her again and she wanted to keep on feeling like this forever…

Derek pulls away from her after a few minutes, resting his forehead against hers, panting slightly.

"Addie… Spend the night with me."

"Excuse me?"

She looks at him, anger at his forward request starting to boil in her, but he shakes his head.

"I don't… I don't mean sex or anything. I just… want to hold you tonight."

"Derek… I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because… we're getting a divorce. And there's Alex and…"

He presses his finger to her lips, his eyes begging.

"It was a good night, Addie."

"It was."
"Let it just be us tonight."

"I can't."

"Come on, it's not like you and Karev will ever be serious."

"What?"

She looks at him angrily and he steps even closer to her, capturing her lips and letting his arms encircle her waist.

"He's another Mark, Addie. You don't want someone like that. You deserve so much better."
She pulls away from him, frowning slightly.

"I hope you don't mean yourself."

Derek shakes his head sadly, resting his hand against her cheek.

"No. I wish I did, but… you… the truth is, I'm not good enough for you. I never was."

"Derek…"

Damn, he was good at playing pathetic. He'd always been good at that and even though she knew it was manipulative and pathetic… she somehow always found herself falling for it. And before she really knows what she's doing, she's stepping forward and her arms are snaking around his neck and she is kissing him. And then they're pulling away and he's looking at her like he's always looked at her and she gets into his car silently, all the while knowing that she'd regret it later…