"Hello." she sniffed. "Can I please talk to Derek?"

"Addison? Is that you? Why do you want to talk to Shepherd?" he couldn't call her Dr. Montgomery outside of the hospital.

"Alex." she answered weakly. "I need to talk to him and I got Callie to give me the number of the house, so please, it's pretty important..."

"Are you crying?"

"No, Alex."

"Did you cry then?"

"Karev!" she exclaimed loud.

"Fine. Shepherd! Phone for you!" he yelled. "It's Dr. Montgomery."

"Addison?"

"Derek." she burst out crying non-stop, her loud sobs tearing her heart apart.

"Addie, what happened?"

"She, she slapped, me." she said, and it was like with those words she was slapping him.

It took him less than ten seconds, after the shocking revelation, to understand who she was talking about.

"That heartless bitch... what is she doing in LA?"

"Susan..."

"Who?"

"Her assistant Susan, they're lesbian and in love, didn't Mark tell you about it?"

"No. No, he didn't." he unconsciously clenched his fist.

"Well, Susan has ovarian cancer."

"And why is that fucking woman slapping you?"

"Someone slapped Addison?"

"Karev, go away. Mind your own business."

"Be nice, Derek." she mumbled.

"Why? Ha! You and Karev slept together!"

"Could we go back to the original subject?"

"Yes." as he remembered her words – not only the ones of a minute earlier, but also all the stories about her childhood – his triumphant smile faded and a mixture of sadness and anger invested him.

"I'm sorry Addie." he said sincerely.

"I just can't save her, Derek. I really can't." she told him. "There's no way."

"It's okay. Don't worry."

"It's not okay." she paused for a few seconds. "Derek, I feel like I'm an horrible person."

"Oh, Addison." the man sighed. "You are not. Listen to me, okay? Trust me. You're not."

She sniffed. "I did a bunch of awful things in my life."

"It doesn't matter, honey. To anyone. Only the good things matter."

"Shepherd, don't call her honey." she heard the intern – resident – snarl.

A small smile made its appearance on her lips and she rolled her eyes.

"Der, tell him it doesn't have to concern him."

"Uh, yes. Karev, it doesn't have to concern you. Addison says so and I agree."

Alex smirked, shrugged and finally left the room, allowing Derek to talk alone with Addison.

"Hey. He left." he told her.

"Derek... why does my mother... always... have to do this...?"

"Because... because she doesn't understand what a wonderful person you are. You don't deserve it."

Sniff. "Thank you."

"Do you believe it?"

"... Yes. Yes, I do. I'm Addison Adrianne Forbes-Montgomery, a world renowned surgeon. I save lives."

"Really? One hundred per cent?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Bye."

"Bye?"

"I feel better now." now that the tears had stopped falling she felt stupid for calling him of all people and she was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Dinner's ready, I have to go." Derek broke the awkward silence when he heard Meredith's voice.

"Yep, you go. Bye Derek, and thanks."

"You're welcome, Addie. Call anytime. Oh, and Addison? Call Karev, he obviously misses you." he smirked and winked, even though she clearly couldn't see him.

Addison sighed. "Yeah, Derek. Sure. It's not I'm his girlfriend."

A/N: Alex. I could not leave out Alex.