A/N: Agh. I had three pages and my idiot self deleted them all when I made space on my computer. So take two on this chapter.

Thanks for the reviews, they keep me going! Also, did anyone see the pilot of Glee on Fox? I loved it, and am so excited for fall now.

Disclaimer: The show's Shonda's and she can have it as far as I'm concerned. The title of this chapter is from the song "Last Night" by Carolina Liar.

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"Derek."

"Can I come in?"

Meredith looked at him. "Why?"

"Just to talk."

Meredith snorted. "No."

"Please?" Derek looked at her, with those warm blue eyes of his, and Meredith almost caved. She knew what he wanted. For a second, the let her mind linger to the thought of sharing a bed with Derek, to the secret, meaningless, whispered words.

"No."

"But you just thought about it. I saw you think about it."

"And I said 'no'. I am so happy with Finn and I don't want to mess that up. You're supposed to be with Addison. You love her. I know it. Everyone knows it, Derek."

"She betrayed my trust this weekend in ways that can never be remedied."

"Cut the crap, Derek."

"No one has to know. No one has to know about tonight."

"I'll know. I'll know and it's not fair to Finn. Finn, who, by the way, will be here in ten minutes. He'd know."

Derek looked so rejected. He sighed. "Fine. You're right. One day, I'll thank you." He turned around and started down the walk.

"Derek, wait!" Meredith ran down the walk. She kissed him on the cheek and pushed back his hair. "You didn't ever love me, Derek. And now, it's better this way. It's better you're back with someone you love, and have loved." And then she left, walking back inside, the weight of Derek truly gone. Closure.

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Mark chose the prime moment to grab Addison in the hallway. She was making rounds, and after she finished with Mrs. Terri Werst, Mark grabbed her arm and led her into an on-call room before she could protest.
"Stop being selfish."

Addison looked shocked. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Derek flies out here every weekend to see you. He's given up so much for you. I've seen pictures of Meredith, she was gorgeous. And yet, you
ruin everything. You ruin everything and just let him leave."

"Are you saying I shouldn't have told him?"

"No. I'm saying you shouldn't have let him leave."

"I was the one who left."

"So you're a quitter. You just left? Maybe he wanted to talk."

"I had to go. I was breaking down, falling apart."

"Oh, and Derek's never seen you fall apart."

"Mark, you don't understand and you can't! It was much more complicated than just letting him see me fall apart."

"Addie, just stop. You screwed up. Admit it."

"How? How did I screw up?"

"First off, you slept with me, that was your first mistake. And then you let him walk away. You didn't follow him. You have to go out to Seattle. You have to. You have to go and explain and show that you care. Not just that Derek cares."

Addison was fuming. "You slept with me!"

"Yes, Addison, sex requires two people. You asked me to take you to bed, though. I wouldn't have otherwise, and you know that. No matter how much I was enamored by you, no matter how long I was at your house, it had to be you."

Addison bit her lip. "God damn you. Just go."

"Go to Seattle. Derek still loves you. He's just angry. Go out and explain, apologize, tell him everything."

Addison said nothing and Mark left the room. She slunk down onto the ground, knowing how right Mark was.

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"She had an abortion." It was Thursday morning, and Derek had been summoned to Richard's office.

Richard sighed. "I know."

"You know?"

"Whose shoulder was she crying on the day after you divorced? Certainly not yours."

"I just...I couldn't look at her. She had been pregnant with Mark's child. Mark. The guy she slept with who wasn't me. She was pregnant with his baby."

"Derek, she told you. Do you know how much courage that took her? You would've never known. Ever. She chose to tell you, doesn't that tell you something?"

"It told me that she was sleeping with Mark. It tells me that she got pregnant with him after just a few weeks but in all of our fourteen years she never had so much as a scare."

"Derek..."

"I'd like to take back my original hours."

Richard sighed, looking at Derek. "Fine."

"Thank you."

"You're sure?"

"I'm absolutely sure."

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Addison sat in a Greek restaurant in Greenwich Village, one of her favorites. She was enjoying her dessert of baklava and the good, strong coffee. She was eating alone and she felt the sympathetic glances of passers-by, obviously thinking she had been stood up. She wanted to stand up and tell them that it wasn't like that, that she had come here alone, voluntarily. She could've called Savvy if she wanted company. At one point, six weeks ago, she would've called Derek, but they were done. He hadn't come back, and she hadn't gone to talk to him.

"Addison Shepherd?"

Addison looked up. A man of about forty was looking at her.

"Oh my God, it is you. I haven't seen you in forever. Where have you been?"

Addison had no idea who this man was. "Um, around, you know, work and such."

"Where's Derek?"

"Seattle."

The man laughed. Addison wouldn't deny he was attractive, but she still couldn't figure out who he is. "That dog. Leaving his wife alone at a Greek restaurant on a Friday night."

Addison still didn't say anything.

"You have no idea who I am." He stated it as fact. "I'm John Nowak. I've lost some weight."

"John! I'm so sorry." Derek and John had been roommates freshman year at Columbia, and the two had kept in contact since. John was a financial adviser on Wall Street and had virtually nothing in common with Derek anymore, but they had still gotten together a few times a year.

He finally sat down at the table. "It's okay. A lot of people don't recognize me."

"You look great."

He smiled. "Thanks. It wasn't easy, but when Mary and I got divorced last year I didn't want to just be the pudge anymore, you know?"

"You and Mary divorced? I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," he said, waving his hand to add to the effect. "It was fairly mutual. She said that she was only forty and already in a rut with me and she didn't like it. I was feeling the same way."

"Still."

"Don't worry about it, really. It wasn't a hard divorce."

"That's good."

"So," he said, "you look great. How've you been?"

"I could be a lot better, truthfully."

"Derek's not in Seattle for a business trip, is he?"

"How'd you know?"

"Your wedding rings are gone, Addison. You always wear those things. I noticed it the second I sat down."

"We got divorced about eight months ago."

John covered Addison's hand with his. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up old news."

"It's not really old news. We were...dating again, for the past few months. But now that's over and he's back in Seattle and I am fine. I am fine."
Addison said it aloud to try to convince herself.

"You're not fine," he said simply. "You're not fine. I don't know what happened, but I have a feeling the divorce was less than mutual and you probably both wish you could take back whatever."

"But see, here's the thing. I don't. I slept with Mark a year and a half ago. I was just sick of being numb. And so I don't regret it. It's terrible not to regret it, but I don't. Otherwise we'd still be married and I would probably still be here eating alone because he never had time for me. He'd run into the hospital in a split-second but if I called he was always busy. Mark became my husband, and the line between us blurred and the next thing I knew I was kissing him."

"Oh, Addison. I'm sorry."

"And then he goes to Seattle and runs and sleeps with an intern who can't be more than 25 and I come out and bring divorce papers but he doesn't sign and we try again and I'm so happy until he sleeps with this intern again at prom, we divorce on our anniversary, and that's it." Addison was on the verge of tears now, wiping her eyes with the napkin.

"Do you want to go somewhere else?"

Addison nodded quickly, paid her check, and took John's arm as he led her outside into the cold February air. She didn't know what she was doing, what she was getting herself into, but she wasn't going to sit around just hoping Derek would forgive her and come back. She wasn't getting any younger, that was for sure. They wandered around before realizing there was nowhere they wanted to go.

"I have a pot of coffee and cookies at my apartment."

Addison looked at him. He was, perhaps not as bluntly, asking her to have sex. And if not sex than he was asking for a lot of things that wouldn't necessarily be sex, but were pretty close. "Yes."

He smiled. "I'll get a cab."

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"So are you visiting us this weekend or not?"

Derek froze. "Hi, Nancy."

"Listen, I'm at Mom's. She wants to know."

"No, not this weekend."

"Spending it all with Addison?"

"Something like that."

Nancy noticed the change in his tone. "What's going on, Derek?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit." And then, covering the phone, a "Sorry, Mom."

"It's true."

"Again, no."

"I have work this weekend, then I'm flying out early tomorrow morning to New York."

"Bring Addison here tomorrow night."

"No, we have reservations at a restaurant."

"Then Sunday."

"I have to go back early."

Nancy sighed. "Come next week for sure."

"We'll have to see."

"You will come because we haven't seen you two in ages. Since Christmas. And it's now...February 25."

"Fine."

"Good. Mom says she loves you. Give Addison a hug for us."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Derek had at least bought himself a week of time to figure out how to tell his family about Addison's abortion and why they'd ended it, which made him happy enough. How he was going to tell them when he had to, though, that was a different story.

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"Did you become a chef after you got divorced too?"

John laughed. "I had to start cooking for myself, if that's what you mean."

"These are delicious. Maybe divorce isn't so bad. My great American novel will get written."

He laughed. "Thanks."

"So tell me, am I the first woman you've brought back to this apartment with cookies, or the twentieth?"

"Forty-second."

Addison laughed when he cracked a smile. "That's good. Makes me feel good about myself."

He sat down on the couch next to Addison. "Actually, you're the first woman I've wanted to bring here. The first woman since Mary that I haven't been set up with. The first woman I've wanted to get to know. Divorce was easy enough, but it's still been hard. Mary was the only woman for so long, and now it's just hard to get back out there."

"It should get easier," Addison breathed, leaning ever-closer to him.

"Hopefully," he said. And in the next second he kissed Addison.

She felt her pulse race, she felt her stomach drop and rise again. She kissed back, the first man she'd kissed in almost a year. The first man since she'd kissed Derek. Derek. She pulled back.

"Are you okay?"

Addison shook her head. "No. Sorry. I have to go." She stood up.

"Was it something I did?"

Addison shook her head again. "No, you were...fantastic. And if I wasn't so selfish and stubborn and if I could get over Derek I would've loved to have...tonight...with you. Honestly. That was a great kiss. But it's a great kiss you should have with someone else, someone who's not still hung up on their ex-husband. God, I just can't get over him. I thought I could. But I can't. I'm so sorry."

"We could still have...tonight," he said hopefully. "Just sit back down and we'll pick up right where we left off."

"We couldn't without incredible guilt on my part. That's not fair to you, me, or Derek."

He sighed. "If you get over him, will you call me first?"

Addison smiled. "Only if you'll pick up."

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"Well don't you look lonely."

Derek smiled at the pretty brunette who had sat next to him. "Why would you think that?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said teasingly. "Perhaps because you're the only one sitting alone in this whole bar."

Derek looked around. "I guess I am. Except now you're sitting next to me."

"I'm Zoey."

"Derek."

"So why are you here, all alone?"

"I just wanted a drink."

Zoey leaned in closely to him. "Is that the only thing you wanted?"

Derek felt his muscles tense and his skin burn where she touched his face. God, she smelled like some exotic island, and her hands were so soft. And, Derek thought as he reasoned with himself, she wasn't Meredith. This wasn't as vengeful. This wasn't harming anyone.

"Because I'm here."

Derek nodded and she left, going back to sit with her friends. She winked at him and Derek couldn't help but wonder if she had been in a bet or something, but she kept smiling at him and none of her friends were laughing hysterically, just small smiles to each other like they had been watching this grow over the night. He sat at the bar for three hours and her friends emptied out a few at a time and suddenly it was just her, just Zoey, and she was coming back by him.

"Come on," she whispered in his ear. "Just tonight. You're looking for the same thing I am. You don't want anything more than right now, than
sex. That's all you want, and it's all I want, and it's rare that two people just want sex."

Derek leaned over and kissed her softly, threading his fingers through her hair. She kissed back, pulling him close, until his feet were touching the floor and then they were both standing off their stools. She was gentle in her kiss. Derek was trying not to need to breathe, it would remind him of things he didn't want to be reminded of. Like Addison. He pulled back.

Zoey looked up at him. "Whoever she is, push her out of your mind. For the next twelve hours. I'm not looking for commitment of any kind. Just push her out."

That sounded like good enough advice to Derek, and he did just that as he turned to kiss her again.

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Derek woke up entangled in bedsheets. He looked over at Zoey, sleeping. She was naked, and he had taken all the sheets from her, and somehow that felt wrong. It was morning now, he shouldn't see her naked anymore. He slipped out of bed, covering her with the sheets. He rubbed his head as he remembered last night. It had been wonderful. She was beautiful and had given Derek everything he wanted. But the only thing it had confirmed to him is how much he wanted to be with Addison. How much he wished it was her he was waking up to and not Zoey.

"Good morning," she said, sitting up. "Let me just get dressed and I'll be out of your way. Thanks for everything last night."

She was every married man's dream, that was for sure. Derek would've loved to have someone like her in the later years of his marriage, someone who would give him the romance and more importantly, sex, without trying to weasel her way into his life.
She hesitated, maybe hoping Derek would stop her, but only for the briefest of seconds and she quickly dressed. She kissed Derek once more on the lips before darting out of the trailer. He didn't regret Zoey. She was necessary. She had proved to him that he really did love Addison, that he should forgive her. He hadn't talked to her in six weeks, but he had thought about her every day. Without Zoey, he still would've been angry and stubborn. He still wouldn't have forgiven Addison.

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The earliest flight to Seattle had a layover in Chicago for four hours. However, even that delay would still get her there quicker than the nonstop flight that night at ten. Addison took it, even though she hated layovers and sitting in airports from towns she didn't know. She had to do it. She had to go there, because now he was running and now she had to chase him.

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Derek went to Richard first, asked him for time off, and then booked the first flight he could to Hartford, Connecticut. If he was going to do this, he was finally, finally going to do it right.

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A/N: So, don't hate me, because this is all going to work out. I promise. You might already be able to see it, but I finally made it work. So don't hate Zoey or John.

Reviews are always appreciated!