Last Chances, chapter 15
Next chapter! :) This one is kinda sorta short, so I thought I'd post it today and then have another update either tomorrow or Sunday because I'm pretty far ahead and I really don't feel like working on the 20 page paper that needs to be written, LOL.
Summary...Derek and Addison come home. There's a flashback, too. :)
After three days in the Hamptons, Derek and Addison were on their way back to Seattle. Addison’s sabbatical had turned out to be a long weekend and she found herself actually excited about going back to Seattle-the only thing she wasn’t thrilled about was their flight was leaving at five that morning. She hadn’t even bothered to put on make-up and Derek was still wearing his flannel pajama bottoms. Being that they were flying out of JFK, they were instructed to arrive at the airport two hours early, despite that no one was at the airport at three in the morning-and now, Addison was dozing in the terminal, slipping in and out of consciousness.
Slowly, her eyes fluttered open, as a group of giggly teenagers passed her. She looked beside her and Derek wasn’t there. She looked around and figured that he’d probably gone to the bathroom and shut her eyes once more.
She jumped slightly, as a flight attendant announced a boarding call for a flight to Myrtle Beach and the group of giggly girls passed her once again. This time, she spotted Derek walking towards her with two cups of Starbucks coffee in hand. He saw her looking up at him and grinned. She sat up and yawned.
“Good morning, Dr. Montgomery.”
She grinned back at him, “Good morning, Dr. Shepherd.”
He sat down beside her and handed her a cup, “Its decaf.”
She shook her head, “I guess I’ll have to get used to that.”
He nodded, “Yes, you will.”
She peered over the top of her coffee cup at his. “Thank you.”
Derek reached over and slid his arms around her shoulders and yawned. “I figured we could both use a little pick-me-up.”
She laughed, “Oh, well, you’ll get a pick-me-up, but,” she held up her coffee cup, “I don’t know about me.”
Derek nodded towards his coffee, “Mine’s decaf, too.”
Addison raised her eyebrows at him. “I know my reason for drinking decaf, but what’s yours?”
“I figure if you have to give up certain things, I will too-you know, to make it a little easier on you.”
A surprised and touched smile crossed her lips. “That’s really sweet.”
He shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. “You know, I’ve been thinking…”
“Uh-oh,” Addison teased.
“You checked out of the hotel.”
“I did.”
“So, you no longer have a place to stay.”
Addison looked down at the top of her coffee and grinned, “I guess you’re right-I don’t really have anywhere to call home at the moment.”
Derek shifted in his seat, “So, I was thinking that maybe, if you wanted to…you could stay with me-you know, move back in?” He glanced over at her and smiled nervously.
Addison bit down on her bottom lip. “You want me to move back into the trailer?”
He shrugged, “Well, it seems logical-we’re together again and having a baby together and like you just said-you don’t have anywhere to call home.”
She shrugged her shoulders, “I was just planning on re-checking in at the Archway. The only reason I didn’t keep my room was because I didn’t expect things to sort out as easily as they did-I thought I needed more time.”
He looked down, feeling somewhat dejected. “Oh, well, it was just a suggestion.”
She looked over at him and nudged his ribcage with her elbow. “I think I like your idea better, though,” she told him with a grin.
“Yeah?”
She nodded and a crooked grin spread across her lips. “Yeah,” she told him.
“We will now start boarding American Airlines flight 752, non-stop service from New York City to Seattle, Washington,” the flight attendant said over the loud speaker.
Derek and Addison both stood up and Derek reached for her carry-on. Together they looked out the massive windows at the planes taking off into the distance and the sun rising behind the Statue of Liberty and somehow, it seemed symbolic that they were leaving New York City for Seattle together, as if somehow signifying the decision to start a whole new life together.
Addison took a deep breath and then took Derek’s hand in hers and squeezed it. He looked over at her and smiled broadly. “Let’s go home,” she told him.
Derek was quiet the whole way to the trailer. He didn’t say anything during the twenty minute drive to the ferry lift, nor did he say anything in the half an hour they spent on the ferry. Initially, Addison had tried to strike up conversation. But after a few references to the train wreck the night before, Derek had turned to her and asked her to stop. He told her that he just didn’t feel like talking, but what he really meant was that he just didn’t feel like talking to her. She hung her head and looked down at the water, pressing her eyes shut to keep her tears from spilling over and letting him see how she was hurting.
They pulled up to the trailed and Derek got out of the Range Rover. Addison stared at the tin box in front of her, estimating that it was probably the size of their living room at the Brownstone. Derek just went inside. He didn’t turn back and he didn’t offer her any help. She was on her own and left to fend for herself-not knowing that that would be the recurring theme throughout the rest of their marriage.
Slowly, Addison got out of the vehicle and walked up the muddy path to the trailer. She stepped inside and looked around in amazement-the trailer appeared to be even smaller looking on the inside than it appeared to be on the outside-if that was even possible. She looked from one end to the other, taking it all in. She could see absolutely every “room”; there were no walls and the only door led to what she assumed was the bathroom.
“There’s extra closet space above the bed and underneath the bed there are some drawers. I’m only using a few-the rest are yours.” His voice was indifferent and flat; he really didn’t care where she put her clothes.
She nodded, “Its small…”
He looked at her. “It’s practical. Everything I need is right at my finger tips. It’s practical.”
She shrugged her shoulders, “I guess you could look at it like that.” She looked around, “I’m just saying…it’s small.”
Derek didn’t say anything in response and he offered her no assistance. He just watched her with disdainful eyes, watching her move around the small space with almost disgust. She hated the way she felt in his eyes.
Finally, Addison couldn’t stand it anymore. “You know, you have to talk to me eventually if we’re going to work this out.”
“I’m tired, Addison.”
She shook her head, “You’ve hardly said a word to me all day.”
“I don’t feel like talking.”
“You haven’t felt like talking since I got here-since I came to Seattle-you’ve hardly spoken to me, unless it was some snide remark or because you were forced to in therapy-which, by the way, was a huge joke.”
“Maybe I just don’t want to talk to you.”
Addison gave a loud and frustrated sigh. “Derek, just talk to me. Yell if you want to. Call me names, whatever you need to do; just get the anger out so that we can move on, so that we can move past it.” He didn’t respond. “To make this work, you’re going to have to actually talk to me.” He didn’t reply, instead, he rubbed his thumb and forefinger across his brow. She shook her head, “You’re being petty, Derek.”
He stood up and walked to the door. It was only a mere five or six steps. “Unlike you, I take the vows we took seriously. That’s why I took you back-the vows mean something. But just because I did that and just because I told you that I want to work things out, it doesn’t mean that it’s just going to happen overnight. It’s going to take me a long time to not look at you and see something other than an adulterous bitch and it’s going to take me even longer to forgive what you did.” He opened the door.
“Where are you going?”
“For a walk.”
“Derek…” The door slammed behind him.
Derek and Addison finally arrived hours later at the trailer, jetlagged and exhausted.
“Welcome home,” Derek said as he unlocked the door.
They stepped inside and dropped down their bags. Both walked back towards the bedroom and fell back onto the bed. Addison looked over at Derek and sighed, “I have never been so glad that this trailer is so small-only fourteen steps to the bedroom from the door.”
Derek grinned, “Like I told you-this place is practical-I have everything at my fingertips.” He rolled onto his side and dragged his finger tips from her hip to her knee and then back again. “Including you.”
She smiled softly. “So, you’re sure you want to take this next step?”
Derek laughed lightly. “Considering that we’re having a baby together, I think we skipped a few steps.” Addison laughed, too. “And in comparison-this one seems like a tiny, baby step-no pun intended, of course.”
Addison shook her head and smiled. “You know, this place is actually pretty big in comparison to the hotel room I was living in.”
Derek grinned, “I never thought this day would come.” She shook her head, not following. “You’ve said two positive things about this trailer only minutes apart.” He pressed his palm against her forehead, “Are you feeling okay?”
Addison just laughed. She pushed his hand away and rolled on top of him, kissing him softly on the lips.
Derek hardly had time to react because no sooner than Addison kissed him a pager sounded. She rolled off of him and they both walked over to where they had dropped their bags, both rummaging to find the beeping pager.
“Aha! It’s mine,” Derek said, as he pulled it from his duffle bag. “It’s the hospital.”
He reached for his cell phone and Addison’s pager began beeping, too. “The hospital,” she said with a sigh. “It’s the Chief, actually.”
Derek laughed. This shouldn’t have surprised him. “Welcome home.”
Previous chapters can be found in descending order here