Author's notes:

Hi addek nation, good Thursday morning or Wednesday evening.

I'm sharing this for distraction while I run around my week and apparently, the busier I am, the more I miss addek so this crossed my mind as a daydream considering Addison's quick visit to SGH in S3 when she says the "(...) he's back in the market." quote about Derek being single.

It's AU from there and the nurse doesn't count here.

Very, very short and chaste, you can stretch it out and this is the initial picture of their potential gravitation back to each other.

Both are known for being soft and weak for the people they loved so why not be so for each other? It makes sense to me and to y'all, I KNOW so.

Have an amazing day or night and the weekend's closer!

Happy addek dreams.

Of Broken Heels and Two Night Stays

"I'm sorry." He whispers.

It makes her look up, she takes her time, allowing what she's feeling to set in. Until her head is almost too heavy she has to rest her entire palm against her cheek, her elbow firm on the bar. Sticky marble, his hand and her heel, an impractical combo but it's keeping her up.

A lifetime expecting those words to be sincere. Not a lifetime, but almost three years at this point. The longest, most eventful and painful ones of her life.

Their lives.

Which ended in just her life and his life, apart. In singular.

He's studying her too and opens his mouth slightly to begin to speak again, but she puts her hand up. Her other hand, the one she doesn't need for support because he's got it.

"Don't." the pressure on her cheek mumbles her words. "I heard you." Then she rests her hand over his on her thigh.

"It's not like I'm asking you to remarry me. I'm just offering to take you where you can find a change of clothes."

A consult. Just three days. One flying in. One working. One flying back.

She stopped at the hospital to say hi to Richard, Bailey and Callie. That was it. It was a quick stop while they sent her missing baggage to the hotel, she figured she could kill some time since she was already there.

When she bumped into Derek, their greeting was less awkward than the last time she saw him. No recall on you didn't say goodbye, you ruined our lives, you cheated first. And she had managed to not bring up his recent single status.

Civil, like their first attempt after divorcing each other.

Then too civil, friendly even, when the airport called to let her know the luggage was not misplaced in another flight, but in fact missing.

Not the end of the world, only her favorite suitcase and her current preferred set of pajamas. But considering she's in Seattle, she's survived worse than that.

The friendly part, Derek offered to take her shopping. And if there were any other term, she'd use it, it's too easy to be true.

For a moment she thought she was confused, not hearing correctly, asked if he was trying to make a bad joke.

"It's not like I'm asking you to remarry me. I'm just offering to take you where you can find a change of clothes."

Oh, well.

Now they're here.

Too civil.

Too friendly.

The bar of her hotel and a couple - more than a couple - of bags sitting next to them with her replaced needs.

She leans back on the stool, her heel was losing balance again. "I should, I- I'm heading back" Her stutter confuses her because she's not that non-sober to... talk. But he's distracting. Is that. "To my room." She tries to sound focused.

His hand is still on her thigh. He adds pressure to it to help her stay steady. She's looking down at it, his knuckles look bolder. He's older. It adds a new wound to her heart, that she won't get to see him for the rest of their lives.

I want Seattle. And to never see you again.

She's taking her time, absorbing him, observing. Far enough from him that he can see her well too.

Her lower lip hanging more than she'd prefer. It's the numbness. Thank God for it. Thank, Jimmy -the bartender- for it.

But it's also because it's him in front of her. His words, his instinctive strong touch and his smell. His eyes on her that she felt entitled for half of her life.

Less than half.

No one's counting.

"You weren't sorry when you -" she tries to lift her head from her hand but thinks better of it when it feels like too much work "you said you felt better when you saw Mark."

He doesn't reply.

"I didn't." she says, "I felt worse." a tear rolls down gently until it reaches her jaw.

Habit. He kisses it away. A faint brush, it's almost unnoticeable.

"Addie-"

"You divorced me." tears fill up his eyes now too and he stands up to face her, he's raised his other hand to cover hers.

There's something about sensing him this much taller that softens her to forget and not hesitate.

He's fully supporting her with an arm tight around her waist, but with the way she leans the rest of her weight on the back of her heel on the stool, it cracks. The heel brakes off and she's left with a strangely angled flat.

The sound and stumble pulls them apart.

He was fast to hold her up and so was she to lean on her other side.

He laughs against her neck.

"It's not funny, I didn't buy shoes!" she tries to reason.

"We'll think of something in the morning."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She chuckles, he's too close for seriousness. "We?" And she can't help but lean in, the contours of his face as familiar as ever.

"You said you heard me." He kisses her back.

The greatest part happened upstairs, several times.

And her two days left in Seattle turned into the rest of their lives.

Together.

Back to plural.

As Addison and Derek.