Be Be Your Love: You Do It To Yourself - Ch. 5
The tennis playing friends are back. Geoffrey and Meredith are getting a tad impatient with their heel-dragging significant others and take rather different approaches to dealing with it. It’s a little tense but generally light hearted.
I hope you enjoy.
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Derek paced slowly down the hospital corridor. He paused and opened yet another on-call room door, slowly, and without letting his eyes settle on anything lest he see something he didn’t want to. But all he saw was Addison curled up on one of the upper bunks.
Silently he crossed the floor and rested his forearm on the bunk. Softly he ran the pad of his thumb over her features, smoothing over her eyebrows -- raised quizzically even in sleep -- and across her cheekbones and lips.
Her eyes sprang open as his index finger tapped against the bridge of her nose.
“What?” she demanded.
She was so wide awake it left no doubt in Derek’s mind that she had never been asleep. “I’m sorry,” he sad simply. He rested both his arms on the bed and looked at her sheepishly, “I was a jackass.”
She blinked slowly and sat up, crossing her legs beneath her.
“I shouldn’t have said anything to your boyfriend. I’m sorry. I’ll never talk to him again.”
Addison smiled but didn’t look up.
“Addison,” he looked up at her, his eyes imploring her to except his apology.
“Help me down,” Addison reached out her arms and settled them on his shoulders and he rested his hands firmly on her waist and eased her off the bunk. They stood close together for a moment and she slid her hands down to rest on his chest, and stared at the plaid of his shirt, “Fiancé,” she looked him in the eye, “He’s my fiancé, Derek. I’m going to marry him. But when you say things like that it makes it harder for all of us. Okay?”
He nodded, “Okay.”
“Alright,” she looked away, acutely aware that they were breaking their ‘no touching in the hospital’ rule. She stepped away. “We’re suppose to meet Joanie and Rob for tennis in an hour. I’ll meet you there?”
He nodded and dropped his hands away from her waist, “I’ll take you to lunch.”
She smiled, “Okay,” she kissed him lightly on the cheek, “I’ll see you later.”
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“Who is this?” Meredith held up a picture and Derek squinted to look at it.
“That’s Addison’s stepmother,” Derek replied dully, he was sick of this game, “I don’t really know her that well.”
“And this?”
“My Uncle. Robert. My Mom’s brother. He’s dead. That’s Kathleen’s rehearsal dinner, I didn’t know Addison then, thats why she’s not there. Robert walked Kathleen down the aisle.” Derek provided as much detail as he could think of knowing that Meredith would just ask if he didn’t.
“You had a dog?”
Derek glanced at the picture, then reached out to take it from her, “No. We got her for Anna for her birthday right after her brother was born. She was a little jealous of him. Addison would have kept the puppy if I’d let her, but we didn’t have time for it.” Derek smiled at the picture of Addison and the puppy, it was one of his favorites, “She’s always wanted a dog.”
Meredith watched him carefully, “Why didn’t you have kids? Really.”
Derek sighed, “I wanted to. Addison wanted to wait until her practice settled down, which I knew would never happen, but it was her uterus so she got the deciding vote.”
“Did you fight about it?”
“Yeah. We did.”
“What else did you fight about?”
Derek sighed again. He’d noticed a few calls to his former sister-in-law and felt she was to blame for the Seattle Inquisition that showed to signs of ending. “I don’t know Meredith. We didn’t fight that much. In retrospect that might have been part of the problem.”
“Do you still want kids?”
“Of course,” he replied quickly, staring at her in surprise.
She smiled for the first time all morning, “Me too.”
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Addison stormed down the hall her cheeks flaming. She had just changed into her tennis dress when her pager went off. The zipper that broke when she was frantically trying to get out of the dress meant that she was still wearing it and was getting some unnerving looks from the staff.
“Well, well.” Mark came up behind her and tugged at one of the pigtail braids she had put in her hair, “Addy-Sue.”
“Shut up, Mark,” she ripped the chart from the outstretched hand of the nurse, “I was going to play tennis and I got a 911 page. I don’t want to hear any…. page Dr. Shepherd. I should have done neuro too, save me a consult.”
“I’m right here.”
Addison turned to see Derek and Meredith standing a few feet behind her.
Derek smiled, “Addy-Sue.”
“I don’t understand,” Meredith said, looking between the two expectantly.
“He is implying that I am some sort of back country bumpkin because of my hair. And because they are jerks and are just jealous because Derek Christopher is boring and Marcus Xavier Thaddeus is ridiculous and not nearly as classy as Addison Suzanne Forbes Montgomery.”
“Oh.”
Addison smiled at Meredith, “Can you go start ordering labs and see when we can get her in for scans.”
“Sure,” Meredith smiled back and disappeared down the hall.
Addison turned back to Derek, “Why are you still here?”
“They cancelled,” he replied simply, “Rob called but he was in a rush. I was going to call you but you were already on your way back.”
Addison nodded and continued reading through the chart, “This is not 911-page worthy,” she groaned, “Pregnant with a sleep disorder. Ridiculous. I rushed back here in this for this-- in this.” She spat.
“I think you look cute.”
She ignored him, staring intently at the chart, “We have a situation. A big ugly situation.”
“We? or we?”
“Both,” Addison looked at him grimly, “The patient is Joanie Fischer.”
“Well,” Derek reached for the phone, “Meredith is off the case.”
“These are the tennis-pals you’ve been lying too? You guys,” Mark chuckled, “Are in trouble.”
“Shut up Mark.” Addison sighed and locked eyes with Derek, “What do we do?”
“Do you think,” Derek mused, “That Joanie will let a fisherman operate on her brain?”
“Well, she has an OB that is trained in absolutely nothing else overseeing her case so…”
“I think the real question is is she going to let a tennis-pro oversee the care of her fetus,” Mark grinned as he eyed her bare legs.
“Ugh,” Addison groaned, “I’m going to change,” she spotted Alex walking towards them, “I need your help.”
“Trouble with your backhand?”
“Zipper. Ass.” She shot a look at Derek, “Get Meredith out.”
Ten minutes later she came back to see Meredith just departing.
“Okay,” Meredith smiled, “Well, I’ll be upstairs if you need me then.” She kissed Derek on the cheek, “Bye Babe.”
Addison watched as Meredith walked away, “Babe?”
“You’ve called me babe.”
“And you hate it. Especially when other people are around.”
“Maybe I don’t mind when she does it.”
“Is she allowed to call you sweetie pie too?”
Derek glared at her and rested his hand on the door to 2310, “You know this is the first time we have had to confess.”
“Better them then my fiancé.”
Derek pushed the door open and Addison walked past him into the room.
“Addison?” Joanie looked up in surprise, “What are you… Derek?”
Derek closed the door carefully behind him and stood next to Addison.
“Joanie. Rob,” Addison began, squaring her shoulders, “We have a confession to make.” She took a deep breath, “My name is Addison Montgomery. You’re here for a consult with me. I’m a Neonatal specialist.”
“She’s the best,” Derek interjected.
Addison smiled at him, “And Derek isn’t a fisherman --although he’d like to be-- he’s actually the Head of Neurology here. He’ll be running all your tests and performing any procedures you might need.”
Joanie and Rob stared at them, jaws slack.
“And we aren’t married,” Addison confessed, taking a seat by the bed, “We’re divorced, actually. We are so sorry we lied to you. We really like you guys.”
“I…” Joanie looked to her husband,” I don’t know what to say.”
“We know that we are… “ Derek took a seat beside Addison and rested his elbows on his knees, “The thing is, people here, they don’t know… that we play tennis,” he finished lamely.
Addison gave him a look, “We get that you probably don’t want to… be our friends anymore, and we get that, but we really are the best surgeons in the city. So don’t let the fact that we lied to you affect your treatment.”
Joanie glanced at her husband then back at Addison and Derek, “That’s not really a huge lie,” she said finally, abet uncertainly, “Just jobs, I guess. And the married thing, I guess, is a technicality. You were married, now your just… rekindling? It’s romantic.”
Derek cleared his throat, “Actually. The doctor that was just in here, Dr. Grey? We’re… she’s my… we’re together.”
“And I’m engaged,” Addison held up her hand to show her ring, “He’s a doctor with a couple sports teams.” She sighed, “I know we are horrible people.”
“You’re cheating,” Rob said simply, clarifying.
“Yes,” Addison confirmed, wincing as she did so.
“But only with each other.”
Addison glared at Derek, “That doesn’t matter.”
“I think it does,” he muttered back, “I wouldn’t cheat with just anyone.”
Addison rolled her eyes and turned back to their friends who were engaged in an intense silent conversation.
“You’re the best?” Joanie asked.
“The very best,” Addison nodded.
“Okay then.”
“Really?” Addison smiled. She stood and walked closer to the bed grinning gratefully.
“They’re really separate matters,” Joanie looked up at her husband who nodded in agreement, “And it’s not like we can be picky, you’re our only friends in Seattle.”
Rob cleared his throat, “We can’t tell you how to live your lives.”
Addison and Derek exchanged looks. It wasn’t acceptance, but it was close.
Addison look a step forward and took Joanie’s hand,. “I can’t believe that you didn’t tell me you’re pregnant.”
“We all have our secrets.”
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“Hey.”
“Hi. What are you doing here?” Callie asked. Closing her chart she turned to Geoffrey and gave him her full attention.
“I came to apologize to Addison,” he smiled weakly, “I may have picked a bit of a fight with her last night and she spent the night here.
“Good move. What are you fighting about?”
“The wedding,” he sighed, “Has she said anything to you? Any plans or… has she asked you to be a bridesmaid yet?”
Callie shrugged and gave him a confused look, “Me and Addison aren’t really as close anymore.”
“She didn’t ask you to be a bridesmaid?”
“No. I assumed that she was just having her sister.”
“Adrienne?”
“Ya. I thought she’d be doing all the girly wedding-y things with her.”
“Maybe.”
“I also thought you were getting married like a year ago, so what do I know.”
“Why? Did she say something then?”
“This was before she lost the baby Geoff. I think that changed things.”
“Not for me.”
Callie smiled sympathetically, “Maybe she just needs a push.”
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“It wasn’t a problem until I got pregnant,” Joanie explained, “I always attributed it to my lifestyle, I thought it was my artistic soul. Why sleep when I could be playing music or creating something? But with the baby, I knew I needed more then just an hour or 2 of sleep at a time. But I couldn’t, and I’m so exhausted all the time and I just can’t sleep no matter what I try.”
Rob continued, “We thought it was psychological but after a month of things getting worse the psychologist suggested that we come here,”
Addison nodded, “Well Derek seems to think it’s your brain stem, he’s talking to some specialists in Boston; but he’s confident that that’s where the problem is, and that he can fix it.”
Rob squeezed his wife’s hand.
“What I’m concerned with is the effects that your sleeplessness has had on your baby. He’s small, but active -- which is good. But organs like his heart and lungs aren’t as developed as they should be. But thats okay,” Addison continued when she saw the panic on their faces, “I’m going to start you on some medication that will help with lung development and we are going to monitor his heart rate carefully. You are 23 weeks along, so we don’t want to deliver him yet, but the surgery is invasive so there are some risks.”
Joanie nodded, “But we don’t have a choice do we.”
“There’s always a choice,” Addison assured her, “But Derek and I are the best. And we’d like to keep our friends,” she smiled, “So you better believe we are going to beat this. We are the most stubborn and determined people you will ever meet.”
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“Addison.”
Addison stopped short as she stepped out of Joanie’s room, Derek was still inside talking to them. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to apologize,” he explained as he stepped closer and took her hand, “I shouldn’t have implied that you don’t want to get married.”
“I do.”
“I know,” he smiled, “That’s why I am apologizing.”
“I’m sorry I got mad and left,” Addison looked down at her hand that was engulfed in his.
“I’m sorry I made you leave.” He smiled at her, touching her chin and tilting her face up to look at him, “I’ll never do it again.”
She laughed softly under her breath, smiling as he kissed her, and stepping away when she heard the door opening behind her.
“Derek,” Geoffrey spoke first, “I want to apologize for what I said to you last night. It was uncalled for.”
Derek stood stunned for a moment. He glanced at Addison, her eyes were wide with surprise, but she stared at him expectantly when he hesitated.
“Ya,” Derek held out his hand, “Me too.”
Geoffrey shook his hand, smiling warmly, still holding on to Addison, “I was going to ask Addison out to lunch, care to join us?”
“I can’t today,” Addison cut in, “This patient…”
“And I have plans with Meredith.”
“Well, another time then.”
“Absolutely,” Derek replied with false enthusiasm. Shooting Addison a look as she was pulled away, he rolled his eyes as she shrugged apologetically. Joining Addison and her fiancé for lunch was the last thing he ever wanted to do.
“Why did you ask Derek to lunch with us?”
“I though it would be nice.”
“I don’t want to have lunch with my ex-husband and his girlfriend.”
“You’ve had lunch with him before.”
“Not on a double date.”
“One-on-one is better?”
Addison paused, “Have you ever had sex in a hospital?”
Geoffrey’s eyes lit up, “No.”
“Do you want too?”
Geoffrey nodded silently.
She grinned and squeezed his hand, her eyes darting around. She pulled him into the closest empty room and closed the lockless door.
“Now,” she said quietly, stepping away from him, “There are rules for this,” she whispered seductively as she dragged her hands up her legs, hiking up her skirt and smoothly tugging off her panties. “We have to be quick,” she reached out for him and pulled him closer until his body was pressing her against the door. “We have to be quiet,” she unbuckled his pants and pushed them down to pool at his ankles. She dragged her nails up his legs, then tugged down his boxers and ran her nails over his ass, “And,” she warned as he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him, “You have to make me scream.”
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“Hey.”
“Hi,” Joanie said slowly, closing her tabloid magazine.
“Addison said if I had time to kill I should come talk to you,” Sydney explained, “You’re the tennis friend right?”
“Yes,” Joanie replied, sizing Sydney up.
“I know about them,” Sydney replied easily as she slouched in her chair, “Probably why she sent me. Safer.”
“Probably,” Joanie said slowly.
“She’s a good doctor though. She delivered my twins.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. She’s a horrible girlfriend and an awful wife. But she’s a good doctor,” Sydney eyed Joanie knowingly, “You’re curious aren’t you.”
“I’m dying to know,” Joanie sat up and crossed her legs under her, “What is going on? They are married, they aren’t married, they are sleeping together? They’re hot shot surgeons, he has a beautiful girlfriend and I saw her fiancé outside the room earlier and I wanted to lick him--”
“In a nutshell? She slept with my husband. I don’t blame her. He’s very bitable.”
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“Big wedding or small wedding?”
Derek turned towards Meredith, and gave her an amused yet exasperated look, “Are we still talking about me and Addison?”
“Yes.”
“It was just family. Which turned out to be way more people then we anticipated.”
“Where did you go on your honeymoon?”
“We wanted to go to Paris, but we only had a four day weekend so we went to Quebec. It was very cold.”
“Where did you live?”
“We had an apartment close to campus. When my grandmother died we moved into the little house for a few years and then we moved to the City.”
“I’m glad we already have a house and we won’t have to move around.”
“Me too.” Derek smiled, “Actually, you wanted to know what we fought about? Moving. We had a lot of fights about living accommodations and decorating and furniture placement.”
“We don’t fight about that at all.”
“No, we don’t.”
“What about us? Big wedding or small?”
Derek cocked his head to the side, “Medium sized. No one getting left out, but not a bunch of people we don’t know.”
Meredith’s smile grew. “Honeymoon?”
“Hawaii?” Derek suggested, “Somewhere warm.” He grinned, “Somewhere you can wear a bikini.”
“You make it sound like we’ll be leaving the room,” she leaned closer, ”We won’t.”
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“Hey Cal,” Geoffrey spoke into his phone, “I have a quick question.”
“Sure,” Callie shrugged her shoulders at Alex in apology.
“What time of year do you think Addison wants to get married? I want to narrow it down for her.”
“I don’t know. Addison seems like a summer wedding person to me, I guess.”
Alex shook his head.
“Or spring?”
Alex nodded.
“Spring.”
“And would she want all her sisters in the wedding party? Or just Adrienne?”
“Probably just Adrienne.”
“What is he doing?” Alex murmured.
“I think he’s planning his wedding.”
“Without Addison?”
“He’s just getting things started.”
“She’s going to kill him.”
“Not my problem.”
“Who are you with?” Geoffrey asked, still on the phone.
“Alex,” Callie replied, “We’re just having lunch.”
“Where?”
“Nina’s.”
“The date place?”
“It’s not…”
“It is,” Geoff exclaimed, “I’ve taken Addison there. It’s the place you go when you are going public to the hospital.”
“It is not.”
Geoff was silent.
“Fine, it is.”
“You’re dating Alex.”
Callie was silent a long moment. “Yeah.”
Geoff took this in, “Well that’s great.”
“Yeah.”
“We should all do something together sometime.”
“Ya, that would be fun.”
“Okay. I’ll let you go then.”
“Okay.”
“She’s a redhead. And Adrienne is a redhead… so green bridesmaids dresses and stuff?”
“Green? Ya. Sounds good.”
“I’ll see you later.”
“Ya. Bye.”
Alex reached over and stole one of her breadsticks. “That wasn’t awkward or anything.”
“No,” Callie said quietly, distracted, “Not at all.”
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“I don’t know if this is ridiculous or romantic.”
“Romantically ridiculous or ridiculously romantic,” Sydney nodded, “It’s one or the other.”
“I never knew he had a daughter,” Joanie crossed her arms around her stomach.
Sydney nodded, “I think things would be different if she hadn’t died. Meredith took it hard, understandably; but Derek, I think, found it difficult to take care of her and deal with his own grief. He made the decision to take the baby off the life support machines -- I think that a big reason why they are together now is that Addison was there for that and she was supportive despite the fact that he left her for Meredith-- again.”
“She seems to smart for that.”
“I think she’s in love with him,” Sydney replied simply, propping her feet up on the end of the bed, “And I don’t think that Derek wanted to leave her the second time. I think he felt he had too.”
“They acted married.”
“I think part of them still is,” Sydney touched her growling stomach, “I need to eat. But I’ll come back later. I think we should be friends.”
Joanie smiled, her first genuine smile since she was admitted to the hospital, “I’d like that.”
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“Your boyfriend,” Alex cornered Addison as she stepped of the elevator, “Is planning your wedding.”
“He’s what?”
“Planning your wedding. I was at lunch with Callie and he was calling asking what you’d want.”
Addison turned and stared disbelievingly at her friend.
“So I hope you want a spring wedding with green dresses for your bridesmaids -- who are Adrienne, Callie and Ali by the way.”
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“I have a question for you.”
Mark continued up the stairs not breaking pace to allow Meredith to keep up, “I heard you were playing the question game today.”
“It’s about Addison.”
“I assumed.”
“How did she get him to marry her to fast?”
“She didn’t put out.”
Meredith stopped short, “Really?”
“It’s Addison,” Mark scoffed, “I think they skipped their first date in favor of staying in bed. Dating was a formality for them so they had stories to tell their parents and future grandkids. I woke up one morning and Addison was there wearing his clothes. Suddenly they were engaged, 10 minutes later they got married.”
“But how?”
Mark chuckled, “Men are simple beings Meredith. Their desires are not complex.”
“She did not… he did not marry her because she is good in bed.”
Mark shrugged and smirked to himself.
“He did not. She’s not… what is she doing that would make him do that?”
Mark shook his head and walked away.
“Did she have tricks? What did she do?”
Mark simply smiled and kept walking.
“I’m not seducing him into marrying me!” she called after him, “I’m not that kind of girl. I’m not Addison.”
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“You’re planning our wedding without me?” Addison spat into her phone.
“I’m just gathering ideas.”
“You’ve picked a time, a colour scheme and my bridesmaids. Should I look for a dress or are you handling that too?”
“You are welcome to pick your own dress, so long as you do it in this millennia.”
“I hope you enjoyed sleeping alone last night.”
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Derek trudged slowly up the stairs, dropping his jacket over the banister. His mind was already on the warm shower and cool sheets that waited for him. He could hear soft music playing and silently he prayed that Meredith was not currently in the bathtub, delaying his shower, and using all the hot water.
He stepped through the open bedroom door and paused.
“Damn it,” Meredith muttered, “Damn it damn it damn it.”
Derek stuffed his hands in his pockets and sauntered over to the bed were Meredith was kneeling wiping at something on the comforter, “What’s going on?”
Meredith jumped in surprise, spinning around to face him. Her face relaxed as she recognized him and she crawled towards him on her knees, her eyes disappointed. She sighed and buried her face in the crook of his neck.
He chuckled, “What’s going on?”
She sighed again -- heavily -- and pulled away, “I was trying to surprise you,” she unconsciously adjusted the bra strap of her powder blue lingerie set and turned back to bed, “But then I knocked one of the candles onto the bed and got wax on everything.”
“It will come out,” he assured her.
“I’m just going to replace everything.”
Derek wrapped his arms around her bare waist and kissed her shoulder, “You could have set the bed on fire.”
“That was my plan,” she teased, “This just isn’t how I was planning on doing it.”
“How were you planning on doing it?”
She grinned coyly and wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him. She kissed him slowly, pecking at his lips softly and nudging his lips apart until he complied. “Why don’t you lay back and I’ll show you.”
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It’s so close to over I can taste it. It tastes sweet.
So I’m at my parents house so you guys should write me tons of awesome and hilarious comments and reviews cause I am going to be soooooo bored. And also anything that you guys want to see happen now would be the time to inspire me. I mean I kinda have this thing mapped out, but I’m open to suggestions. Nothing is set in stone until I literally post it. As I’m writing this note there is a chance that the whole plot of this chapter could change. Or if you just want to see people take a trip to the zoo -- I might be able to do that. Okay, maybe not the zoo, that would be too random for words…
Anyway, the next chapter brings family, jealousy, bonding, more people finding out about Addek, maybe some other fun stuff. I think it will be good.
Review or I’ll shun you :P.