TWO WEEKS LATER
NURSE DEBBIE
She wonders if they even realise she can hear them talking.
The doctors, that is.
The amount of information you can pick up just sitting at the nursing station and minding your own business is amazing.
In just the last two weeks she's heard enough to write a fairly decent Lifetime movie.
For one, Yang and Burke are engaged.(quasi - engaged anyway, there's no ring in sight .)
Torres and O ' Malley have gotten married in Vegas. (Callie O 'Malley jokes abound.)
Adele has left the Chief. (finally.)
Grey is dating the pretty vet from the prom.
Stevens has gone wall-eyed crazy and is on probation .
Karev shoots her glances behind her back, botches every attempt to talk to her and is generally a swaggering idiot these days.
Bailey is her usual self.
The Shepherds are stuck in some weird married limbo, like they can't hold on and can't quite let go. (The bickering is really quite amusing. )
Here they come now, coffees in hand and... oh , already a spectacular start to the morning, they're arguing and gesturing about something .
Look down, look down , don't let them see you.
"I'm not signing ."
"What do you mean,not signing ? He's giving you a brand-new state of the art NICU, your own service , Chief of Neonatal and a salary that is frankly ridiculous, so please explain what you mean by not signing, because I was under the impression that we agreed not two days ago that we are staying in Seattle.
"He promised me Chief , Derek ,and now he's pretending not to hear me when I bring it up, so no, I'm not signing."
"He promised you Chief ? "
"Why do you sound surprised ? "
"He promised me Chief too !"
" You never said anything to me about it ! "
" Settle down,children. Chief is mine ."
"Et tu, Burke?"
" Addison, Addison, it was always mine. Richard and I have an...agreement."
" Preston , Richard and I have an agreement, so the both of you can just -
"Hey, don't count me out." ; cocky and gravelly.
"Mark?" ; disbelieving and horrified .
" Dr .Sloan , welcome back." ; condescending and confident.
" Mark." ; resigned and resentful .
You don't even need to look up to know which is which.
This is going to be good.
MARK'S POV
It was worth dragging himself to this rain drenched hellhole just to see the look on Derek's face . Well , almost. He wonders where the lusty intern is.
Burke looks annoyed to see him.Good.He looks all right, even though he heard back in New York that he'd nearly got his arm shot off. Apparently he's engaged to that frigid little robot, what's her name...Yang. Yes , that's it , Yang , the one who wouldn't look at him. They suit each other.
And Addie. She looks better than the pale miserable Addison he left behind in Seattle last time and he knows with painful certainty that things have changed with her and Derek ; they aren't radiating icy indifference anymore and actually seem to be having a fairly civil conversation.
Too late, Sloan . Again.
"You work here?" He can't take his eyes off the long white coat Mark's wearing and the SGH id card on his pocket.
Ah , Derek. Always did have a gift for stating the obvious.
"I do now. Richard thinks that a revamped Plastics department would be just the thing to go with his shiny new Neonatal and Maternal-Fetal wing - congratulations on that, by the way, Addie, - and he wants the best , so here I am."
ADDISON'S POV
He drags her into an on -call room, a proprietary none-too-gentle hand clamped around her arm.
"What is he doing here , Addison? "
"How do I know? "
"You called him !"
"I called him weeks ago and he didn't even pick up, I didn't even leave a message so don't blame me.
And anyway, you promised you'd give him a chance; remember the rules, Derek."
"I said I'd give him a chance; I didn't know he was going to haul his ass over here and take up a job that means hhe's going to be in my face all the time!"
"Rules,Derek." and she walks out on her four inch heels, leaving him to stew.
She finds Mark lounging against a wall not ten feet away, drawling orders at O'Malley , who looks none too pleased to be there.
"Mark. Stop stealing interns that aren't yours. O'Malley , go down to the pit and make yourself useful. Oh, and send me Stevens." she sends him scurrying away; he was actually her intern today and Stevens was supposed to be in the pit on probation but she needs Stevens for what she has planned today , so she's making the executive decision of swapping them.
Bailey won't be happy, but she'll cross that bridge when she comes to it.
"Addison Shepherd , as I live and breathe."
"Mark , why are you here."
"Nice to see you too Addie. Yeah , I missed you too , sooo much "
"Mark, why are you here ?"
He pouts " Because you aren't there. "
" Mark would you just not be ...glib, for once and tell me why you're really here."
"Plastics brings in twice the revenue and publicity that Neuro does."
They're never going to outgrow this , are they.
"And Neonatal and Maternal-Fetal brings in more than that because of all the cute little babies , Mark , so if you're here for some sort of surgical pissing match then I've already won. So spill."
" Come on , Adds didn't you miss me at all ?"
"No." she says flatly.
Oh but she did; Derek might be the love of her life but she loves Mark too, in a sick twisted needy way because for years he was all she had , he was the one to pick up the ball that Derek dropped and he was the one left to clean up the messes the two of them made.
He was the one the one to give her what she had wanted for years but she hated him for it ; he was the one to unwittingly snap her out of the fugue she'd sunk into after Derek left and send her scurrying to Seattle -for that she loved him.
"Aw, Addie. Richard made me an offer I couldn't refuse. " he's being truthful now,the teasing light gone from his eyes.
More seriously , quieter ; "And after the two of you left New York I didn't really have anything or anyone left to tie me down there , so I sold my practice, sublet my apartment and came here."
He looks at her with his eyes pleading and earnest " I can't lose my only two best friends in the world , Addie. Please don't shut me out. "
" Mark , I ...Derek and I are trying to , well, trying to work things out , and I want you here Mark really I do , you were always my friend, before...everything, and Derek...I made him swear he'd give you a chance so try real hard not to screw this one up , okay , don't screw this up for me. "
"Yeah .I'll try."
She smiles at him - more than anything she's actually glad to see him but she'll be damned if she can figure out why - and then before she can say anything else and ruin everything her pager goes off.
Saved by the bell.
I gotta go..." she spins around , thoughts of the tiny life that needed saving upstairs crowding Derek and Mark and love and lust right out of her mind.
"Hey Red. "
She spins back around, dragged back through the years to med school at the sound of his old nickname for her.
Hey Red, be careful Red, that's amazing I'm so happy for you two Red , and then finally in a church choked with the scent of lilies and anticipation, are you sure Red, so soft she barely hears it above the organ as it starts to play somewhere beneath their feet. She was in a rush then , too.
"Yeah, Mark?"
"I'm ...here .For you. If you...you know, if you need me to be . l'll be here."
Oh, Mark.
Her face creases into a smile "Thank you." and it is more heartfelt than he will ever know.
She turns around and runs in the opposite direction, not trusting herself to walk.
Short, I know. Sorry.
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