10. Savy & Weiss part 1

Derek felt the beginnings of a headache as he strode through the halls of the hospital after his argument with the chief. He couldn't believe it. He had accepted a job offer, sold his practice and moved across the country to get away from Addison; and the chief, the same chief who had called him up months ago and asked for a favour, had offered his ex-wife a contract. The same ex-wife he had moved across the country to avoid.

It was nothing personal, Shep. She'll be good for the hospital. His former mentor's words still floated through his brain. It sure as hell felt personal. He still couldn't look at Addison without feeling bile rise in his throat at the memory of his wife and his best friend in bed together. And he was trying to start over. He had a new, smaller, home and a new job that he was quickly discovering he was made for, and he had a wonderful new woman in his life. A woman whom he loved and was pretty sure he would one day build a life with. But he was suddenly horribly apprehensive about the prospect of building towards that life with his ex-wife right there. All the time. Her presence infiltrating his every move and plan. And he knew it would be harder on Meredith. As happy as she said she was, he knew she still felt guilty.

They had found out two days before that Addison had officially moved to Seattle. Meredith and Cristina had caught her on her way up to sign her new contract. And Derek hadn't been able to get a word with the Chief until that morning. And by then there had been a lot of words. A lot of very loud, very angry, words.

Derek sighed. He hadn't been able to spend a lot of time with Meredith in the past two days; they had both been swamped with patients, but she seemed to be dealing with it okay. But every time he saw that shimmer of uncertainty in her eyes he felt his heart constrict. He had done that to her. He had lied to her and made her unsure. He did his best to reassure her every time that look reared its head, but he was terrified it would get to be too much for her and there would be nothing he could do. And he would lose her. He was determined not to let it happen, but the idea of losing her plagued his mind.

He needed more time to show her he wasn't the man he had been when they had first been together. He didn't lie and he definitely didn't keep big secrets like secret wives. Derek still couldn't quite believe what he had done. He still couldn't grasp the process that led him from being the good guy to the guy who starts a relationship and fails to tell the woman about his wife. He wasn't that guy.

He sighed again and checked his watch. Meredith was scheduled to be in surgery all morning; a reward from her resident who was impressed to hear her intern had shown up two hours prior to her shift and instead of reading up on the day's charts to get a leg up on the competition, had busied herself in the pit. So, at least some good was coming out of their relationship for her right now.

Derek didn't have anything scheduled that day, but had a few patients he needed to check on, so he made a bee line for the main nurses' station. He had just reached the stairs to take him down to the main floor when a familiar figure arguing with the nurse behind the desk caught his attention.

"Weiss?" He called out as he hurried down the stairs towards the friend he hadn't seen in months.

"Derek!" Weiss called upwards, relief evident in his voice as Derek reached the floor. "I've been looking for you."

"Good to see you," Derek greeted, extending his hand and pulling Weiss in for a 'man hug.' "What brings you to Seattle?"

Weiss sighed, and Derek immediately took note of the worry and exhaustion cloaking his friend's features. "It's Sav," he said quietly.

Derek tilted his head as worry suddenly flooded his mind. "Come on," Derek motioned for Weiss to follow him to a more private place to talk. Derek led him to a small break room and sat at the table, motioning for Weiss to follow suit. "What's going on?" He prompted.

"A month ago her mother died. Ovarian cancer."

Derek felt his heart drop at Weiss's words. "Catherine died?" He had known Weiss and Sav since college, and Catherine had been the overprotective mother that visited her daughter too much, and had practically adopted all of Sav's friends in the process. He lost count of the number of times she had taken the whole group out to dinner, or listened to them rant about their school work and love lives. "I'm sorry," he offered, knowing it wouldn't help Weiss, whose mother had left when he was very young. Catherine had been like a mother to him since long before he and Sav had tied the knot.

"And Savy... she's..." Weiss continued, visibly upset. "Well," he sighed. "You know how close they were. Now all she can think about is this breast and ovarian cancer gene."

Derek's breath caught as he suddenly felt he knew where the conversation was headed. "Broca," Derek added, as if keeping the conversation medical would keep him from remembering it was associated with people he cared about.

"She's scared, Derek." Weiss told him quietly. "I've never seen her like this before. She won't listen to reason. She won't even slow down enough to..." he trailed off. "She tested positive and is willing to do whatever she can to avoid ever getting cancer."

Derek hesitated before speaking. "With the positive allele, she has a fifteen percent chance of not developing cancer. There's only one way to make that one hundred percent."

Weiss nodded. "Why do you think she came to see Addy?"

"Damn..." Derek muttered.

"I just don't know what to do, Derek. This is all happening too fast. She won't listen to me. She won't listen to anyone." He paused for a moment, drawing in deep, shaky breaths before continuing quietly. "We were trying to make a baby."

Derek sighed. "I'm so sorry, Weiss."

"Will you talk to her?" Weiss questioned. "She said she was going to meet with Addy. And I know you two probably aren't on speaking terms, but will you come and talk to Sav? I need..." he trailed off as his emotions got the better of him.

Derek nodded, motioning that Weiss didn't need to continue. "Of course I will. I need to check on a few patients, but I'll track you down."

Weiss looked up and nodded, tears just lining his eyes. "Thanks."

0000

Derek was just returning his charts to the nurse's station when he felt a familiar presence beside him. He turned and smiled at his girlfriend, leaning in for a quick kiss. He pulled back and tilted his head, smiling gently at her as his fingers ran up her face to touch the fabric covering a section of her forehead. "Hello Kitty?" He asked. "I like it. Very pink. Very cheerful."

"Shut up," Meredith told him, pulling his hand away from her face. "I have a thing," she muttered.

Derek allowed his hand to be pulled away, but refused to let go of the contact. He squeezed her hand gently. "A thing?" He questioned.

Meredith sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah... a pimple thing..."

Derek couldn't help the smile that flitted across his face. His face and lips scrunched together as he tried not to laugh.

"Shut up!" She hissed at him, dragging him away from the nurses' station to a quieter hallway.

"I didn't say anything."

"But you were thinking it."

He shook his head, taking advantage of the sudden privacy to lean in for a longer kiss. He smiled into her lips as she responded. "Hi," he offered when he pulled back. He had been on call late the past night and she had been in early that morning, so they hadn't seen each other since the end of her shift the day before.

"Hi," she responded, smiling at him. Then it was her turn to tilt her as she look at him in concern. "You look stressed. Did you get in to see the Chief?"

Derek shook his head as the memory that his ex-wife was now on full time staff came rushing back. "Yeah. A lot of good it did. If I hadn't taken an oath to save lives, I could have killed Richard with my bare hands."

Meredith rolled her eyes good naturedly. "I take it the rumours are true?" She asked quietly, and Derek felt his heart constrict at the brave front she was obviously trying to put up. He'd known her three months and he could already read her pretty well; either that or she let him.

He nodded. "I'm so sorry, Meredith. She's already signed the contract. There's nothing I can do."

She shrugged, looking away from his eyes. "It's not your fault."

He squeezed her hand tightly, and used his other hand to cup her face. "Maybe not, but I feel horrible about it. It's my fault you're going through this."

Meredith wrapped her small fingers around the hand resting against her cheek and sighed as she met his gaze once again. "It's not your fault," she repeated. "And we're going through this. Not just me." She paused as she swallowed hard. "It'll be okay, right? I mean, it'll be a little awkward or whatever, but we'll get through it?"

She was dropping some of her barriers, allowing him to see her vulnerabilities; and there was no way he was going to let the opportunity pass without making her believe they had a chance. "Of course. She's just here for work. Nothing more. And she may be getting some perverse pleasure out of making our lives difficult, but she's not a bad person, Mer. She won't actively interfere."

Meredith nodded, but her eyes shifted away from his just slightly, and he could feel her tense just so. She was holding something back.

He sighed gently and nodded upwards, smiling as he tried to put her at ease before the walls came back up and he was effectively shut out for the time being. "What?" He asked softly.

She took a long breath, obviously contemplating her next words. "So, I don't have anything to worry about?" She finally asked, her voice quiet and vulnerable.

Derek felt his heart constrict more than before as he stared into the wide eyes of the woman he loved. He shook his head and squeezed her hand again. "Absolutely not," he said firmly. "I'm in love with you, Meredith. Addison and I weren't happy for years. I love you," he repeated. "She's only here for work and we're going to make this work," he told her, hoping his words had more effect on her than they were currently having on himself. As much as he wanted to believe that Addison would never actively interfere, he was constantly reminded that he had never believed she could cheat on him. And that belief had been shattered the day he came home to find her naked, lying underneath Mark in their bed, screaming his best friend's name. The woman had done enough damage to him, why couldn't she just bow out of his life and finally let him be happy?

"Okay," Meredith answered, pulling him from his thoughts. Her voice was not certain, but more confident than before.

"I am sorry," he repeated.

"I know." She nodded her head. "But it will be okay. We'll be okay."

Derek smiled, knowing she was trying to convince herself as she spoke the words, but grateful for them. "We'll be great," he added, and was rewarded when she smiled.

"Cause we did the cliff jumping thing," she whispered.

"Yeah. We did," he said, a warm smile coming to his lips at the memory of her taking his hand, her nimble fingers wrapping tightly around his larger ones. Then he was pulling her into his arms, unable to have her so far away from him any longer. She fell easily into the embrace, her arms wrapping tightly around him as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"You're still tense," she spoke after several moments.

He pulled back, offering her what he hoped to be a comforting smile. "Yeah, one of my friends from New York showed up this morning. He and his wife are here to see Addison."

Meredith narrowed her eyes slightly. "Is everything okay?"

Derek shook his head. "Not really. Her mother died recently. Cancer. Savy tested positive for Broca."

Meredith nodded. "Okay, but that doesn't mean she's going to get cancer..."

Derek nodded. "I know, and Weiss knows, but apparently Sav won't accept that. Her mother just died... and if I remember correctly her cousin is sick. She wants more than anything not to die the way her mom did."

Meredith took a breath. "And she's here to see Addison..."

Derek nodded, knowing Meredith had caught on. "Yeah. Yeah, she is."

"I'm sorry, Derek." She offered, obviously not knowing what else to say.

"Thanks," Derek told her, glancing quickly at his watch. "Look, Savy's meeting with Addy, and Weiss asked me to sit in..." He trailed off, suddenly realizing what sitting in on a meeting with Addison may mean to Meredith.

"Okay," Meredith responded.

"Are you sure?"

Meredith nodded. "Yeah. You need to be there for your friends. You can't not be there just because Addison scares me. This is where the whole separation of personal and professional lives thing is required."

Derek smiled gently at her words. "Okay. Thank-you for being okay." He leaned in for a quick kiss. "You have nothing to worry about," he told her again as he pulled back.

"I know," she said nodding. Then she rolled her eyes at his look. "Okay, I don't know. But I will soon. I'm getting to know."

Derek felt a rush of gratitude at just how hard she was trying. "Good," he said quietly. "I'm glad you're getting to know. Cause it's the truth."

"Okay."

"Okay." He sighed. "I should go."

She nodded. "Yeah, me too. Bailey said I could scrub in with her again this afternoon, so I better not piss her off."

Derek had to laugh at her words. "Nope. You wouldn't want that."

"So, I'll catch up with you later?"

He nodded. "Maybe we could have dinner, if you're off on time?"

Her eyes flicked upwards as she thought for a moment. "I'm on pretty late, but may be off in time for a quick bite."

He smirked. "Or we could skip dinner and go straight for dessert..." He raised an eyebrow.

She laughed in full at his antics and his heart swelled at the sound. "We'll see," she told him and shook her head playfully before she turned and headed down the hall.