New York, 1988

"Okay, what's going on with you and Derek?", Naomi asks her on their way to the ladies bathroom.

"What are you talking about?"

Naomi rolls her eyes. "I observe things. You two got that face"

"What face?"

"The 'we've seen each other naked' face"

"Fine", Addison gives in. "We went out on a date. A couple of dates."

"How many?", Naomi raises an eyebrow.

"Five."

"Oh, wow. When were you going to tell me?"

"I don't know, I guess I needed to know if this is going anywhere first."

"That's the kind of thing you tell your girl friends, you know? So they can give you their opinion. I mean, we are friends, right? It's not like we've been talking and sitting next to each other at class every day for a month now or anything", she says, fake hurt.

"I'm sorry, Nai!" Maybe she was right though. "Fine, I'm asking you now. What's your opinion?"

Naomi shrugs. "Well, I think he's a decent guy. A very nice guy. You should give it a try."

"You never mentioned your father", Addison points out when they are inside of his car, after their sixth date. It is dark and a little bit cold for a summer night.

"What?"

"On our first date. You said you have four sisters and your mother is a nurse. You never said anything about your father. I didn't ask then because I thought it wouldn't be polite. I thought you were going to say something eventually, but you didn't, and I keep wondering why."

"Well, uh...", he inhales deeply. "He died."

"Oh. I'm so sorry", she blushes, probably regretting asking. "We don't have to talk about this now if you don't want to."

"It's okay, it was a long time ago", he inhales again, the memories coming back to him. "He owned a store. My little sister Amelia and I didn't have school that day, so he brought us to the store. We were playing in the back when two guys came in. I heard them yelling at him. They wanted his watch. The next thing I heard was a shot", he sighs. "He was a good man, you know. He was honest and he loved our family more than anything. That's part of the reason I decided I wanted to be a surgeon. I want to be a good man too, I want to save lives".

"I'm sorry", she repeats. She doesn't say anything else for a while, until she shakes her head, a bitter expression on her face. "The universe just sucks, you know? I mean, your father was a good man and he loved his family. He wanted to be with his family, but he couldn't. My father's got the chance to be with our family, to be a good father, but he's an ass and I'm not sure exactly what our family means to him".

"Why do you say that?"

She sighs. "He's a cheater. First time I caught him cheating on my mother, I was eight. I never told anyone. I was scared of telling anyone. And I guess my father knew that. He knew I would keep my mouth shut, because since then he's never really bothered hiding it from me anymore. I kept lying to my mother for him. When I was ten he brought me to his office and asked me to wait outside while he was having sex with his secretary, but he told me to tell my mother he had brought me to eat ice cream with him. To be honest I've lost count on how many women I caught him with. So, you know. He's an ass".

When she says that, Derek notices she suddenly looks so different from a confident supermodel and so much more like a hurt little girl that it scares him a little, because he realizes that's a part of her life that she doesn't usually share. It's a thing that makes her vulnerable, and from what he's noticed so far, she doesn't seem like someone who allows herself to be vulnerable around anyone.

"Anyway", she continues. "You are a good man, Derek. You're honest, and sweet, and kind, and funny, and I don't think you would ever try to hurt anyone on purpose. And that comes from someone with severe trust issues, so that's saying something." She gives him a half smile, which he returns.

They keep in silence for a few minutes until he speaks again. "So, do you trust me?"

"Yeah, I think so", she laughs.

"Because, you know, we just reached the point of telling each other our tragic back stories, and you know what that means, right?"

She frowns.

"It means we're good friends, and it also means we're ready. To be a couple, I mean", he continues.

"Oh." She smiles, and it makes her look so beautiful in the moonlight. "Yeah. Okay. We're a couple."

"Good", he smiles back.

New York, 2004

"Thought you said you were coming home two hours ago", Addison says, putting the dishes in the sink.

"Surgery took longer than I expected, sorry."

"Richard Webber just called."

"Oh. What did he want?"

"He offered us a job in Seattle."

"What did you say?"

"I said we were not interested", she shrugs.

"Wait, you gave an answer right away? You didn't think about talking to me first?"

She frowns. "I didn't think I had to. We have a life here. And you love your job here, Derek. You love it more than you love me."

He rolls his eyes. "Don't start."

"Right, maybe you don't love your job that much, maybe you just use it to avoid me."

"I told you, surgery took longer than I expected", he raises his voice. "Complications happen, you know that."

"It's not just that", she says, exasperated, "it's the extra shifts, it's you not taking a freaking day off, it's you never being home anymore."

He doesn't respond. Suddenly it hits her. She knows that behavior very well: never being home, giving work excuses…

"Derek", she begins carefully, "I need you to be honest with me."

"Okay", he shrugs.

"Is it really just work?

"What the hell do you mean?"

"Are you cheating on me?", her voice is low but firm.

"What? Are you seriously asking me that?", he is definitely angry now.

"It happens in a lot of families".

"Is that what this is about? You projecting your childhood traumas onto me? Not everything is about you, Addison. I have patients who need me, I have a career I need to focus on now. You know how important this is to me."

"Right", she runs her hands through her face. "Right, I'm sorry."

She asks herself if she's becoming paranoid. "You're right, I know how important your career is to you. My career is really important to me too. But I just… Our marriage is falling apart, Derek, and sometimes I think I'm the only one who's still trying to hold it together."

"It's not falling apart", he reassures her. "We're just going through a hard time". But he doesn't look so sure about that.