ADDISON'S POV

"There will be rules."

"Rules." a tilt of the head, confusion in his eyes.

"You heard me. Rules."

They are sitting cross legged on the bed in the trailer facing each other because really its the only place to sit; the couch is covered in laundry no one has done in a week and there are no chairs except the ones the deck but it's pouring outside.

It's always raining here.

She'd given up and let him drive her home from Joe's in her car and left his at the hospital ; her car was full of her things and anyway she was secretly a little bit too drunk to drive in the rain.

But she'll be damned if she's just going to let him McDreamy her , so there will be rules.

"What kind of rules ,then?"

"We-elll...for starters , we can...move out of this trailer!" she secretly thinks this might be a bit much but she's willing to push it. After all , it's his turn to try.

"Okay."

This shocks her into silence for a minute and she can tell by the annoying little smirk on his face that he knows she was expecting resistance.

" And no nights at the hospital. Not unless absolutely necessary. We are grown ups , we are attendings with a horde of interns and residents and we have the right to go home at night. " she says firmly.

" Okay. "

Damn. Maybe he's really in it this time."

Anddd...um, uh, no bringing up Mark. And Meredith. What's done is done,we are going to move on and ,uh, be mature and adult about this...thing, whatever it is."

"Okay." He says simply, eyes warm.

Almost like before. Her demanding and pushy, always the leader, him compliant and indulgent.

"Is that it,then?" He says , voice full of laughter.

"No , wait! There's, uh, ... no sex."

"What?"

"No .Sex. Not until we're...normal .Or as normal as possible, anyway. No drunk or apologetic or regretful sex. We're too old for that , Derek."

"We are not too old for sex." He says , looking mildly horrified.

She fixes him with a stare not too different from Miranda Bailey, and he relents.

"Okay. I guess."

" And you can't talk to Meredith. Not at work ,not outside it."

"No."

" Excuse me?"

"No, Addison. We work together, she is my intern. And I'm. ...just not ready for that yet. I can't just cut her out."

" You said you were going to try , Derek. Trying does not involve the mistress."

I am going to try, I just can't cut her out , not yet."

"And you expect me to believe you're ready for this , that you're really going to try to fix us? Really, Derek?"

Always the same, false promises and half hearted vows.

"I can't ."

We're at an impasse ,then , aren't we ?" she says.

" Not really...those were your rules. Now here are mine , and you can veto one of mine like vetoed one of yours." he says , leaning back into the pillows and grinning.

"You have rules too?"

"Of course I do , Addie, I have to hold my ground or you'd run all over me in those godforsaken pointy shoes wouldn't you?"

A year ago this would have been a jest, a little domestic joke just for the two of them, but now it feels like more of a jab , bitter and jaded.

"All right, then."

" All right. So we'll move out of the trailer - but we're not buying a house -

"A tent ,then, Derek , is that it because I don't see where you could possibly drag. me that's worse than this trailer -

- and we'll rent, until the house is done. I bought this land to build a house on Addie, not to park a trailer on.And also you have to try to stop interrupting me."

"A house .:

"Yes."

" Can I -

"Yes you can decorate it. The inside though, not the outside , I don't want a big fuck - you Montgomery mansion. "

Almost like before, completing each others sentences and reading each others minds.

" - okay then. And no knocking the Montgomery houses."

"Really ,Addie, the Connecticut estate? You said yourself it's a mausoleum with money."

"I didn't design it. Bizzy did."

"Touche. "

"Anything else?"

"Of course." He smirked. " The sex...that rule can't be the deal breaker because you know we won't hold out that long."

She smirks back ," All right. "

"And no Mark."

A long pause, staring at him hoping he's not serious.

"Addie? "

"He's your best friend, Derek ."

"Was ."

"No."

"Why ,Addie? He's the reason our marriage ended, why would you want him of all people to be here in our faces when we're trying to fix what he helped us break?"

" Not because I want him , Derek, because you've known him longer than you've known me. You're giving me another chance,he deserves one too. What the two of you have is special and you can't just throw away 39 years of friendship over one night of mistakes,Derek."

" He crossed the line , Addie, I can't bear to look at him."

"He crossed the country, Derek , to get us back. You know your family and us ,we're all he's ever had. So I'm vetoing this rule."

She neglects to mention that the main reason Mark sold up and moved cross country was to gether back. But a lie by omission isn't really a lie ,she reasons; and its not like she isn't hiding much worse,a Yankees onesie and a date circled in red on the calendar, the moment of joy she had always wanted come too late,with the wrong man.And what she had done with it.

"Fine."

"Good."

" So are your rules done yet?"

He crinkles his brow " I get to shower first. You always use up all the hot water and I end up freezing."

"I do not."

I'll leave you some water, don't worry. I'm not a water hogger. "

"Derek I do nothog the water." she says indignantly, swinging a pillow at him.

"Hey!" he grabs one and hits her back with it and then they're tumbling back onto the creaky mattress, tangled limbs and breathless laughter and then his hands are in her hair and she kisses him, hungrily, desire flooding her veins like it hasn't since New York because Mark was different, Mark was lust, but Derek is passion, Derek knows her body like no one else , the spots that make her go weak kneed and leave her tingling and she knows him too , she can play his body like an instrument. He kisses her back,pressing her into the mattress and his hands are everywhere, damp clothes are coming off and she flips them over with a practiced maneuver and straddles him,kisses a blazing trail down his chest savoring the deepened ragged sound of his breathing, a small part of her glowing with satisfaction that she can still do this to him.

He flips her back over, hovering above her,kissing her neck and nuzzling her ear, breathing in the scent of her hair, and then he pushes into her , a small groan escaping his lips and she finally feels home again,glorying in the familiarity of the sensation rocking through her body. He sets a comforting pace and she moans,arching up to meet him, needing to reclaim every inch of him for herself, until she feels herself contracting around him, pulling him ever deeper and they both climax in a trembling sated gasping heap against each other.

They lie there for a while ,breathing deeply, his arm flung over her waist and her hair splayed over his chest.

Almost like before ,except before they wouldn't just stop at once.

" I told you we wouldn't hold out that long." she can almost feel him smirking into her hair.

" Shut up."

"I can think of something that'll shut me up..."

"Derek...ah. Stop. Okay , no no no don't stop."

Just like before.

Addek! In a way . Getting there.Please review ,it means a lot.