11. Savy & Weiss part 2

"...which gives her up to an eighty-five percent chance of getting cancer," was the first thing Derek heard as he stepped around Izzy and into the conference room holding his ex-wife and two close friends.

"And a fifteen percent chance she won't," he cut in, ignoring Addison's protests as he walked around the table to greet Savy.

"What are you doing here?" His ex-wife demanded.

"Weiss asked me to come," he hissed back at her, his eyes challenging her to protest. She stayed silent and he smiled at the small victory before planting a kiss on Savy's head.

"I'm sorry, Derek," Savy told him as he sat next to her. "Cause I love you and I'm really glad to see you, but until you grow a uterus and watch your mother die from this disease... well, you don't get a vote."

Derek turned his attention back to Addison. "Did she tell you they're trying to get pregnant?" He asked, trying to monopolize any way he could. Addison's job usually involved helping people have kids, not permanently preventing them from ever getting pregnant.

"Yes."

"Well, having a hysterectomy is seriously going to throw a wrench in the process."

She rolled her eyes and glared back at him. "Derek-" She started, but was cut off by Savy and Weiss arguing, which ended in Savy ignoring her husband and demanding the surgery take place as soon as possible.

"Okay," Derek finally cut in, using his best calm doctor voice. "Let's just take a step back, take a deep breath and think about this."

"I've already thought about it, Derek. This is going to happen." Savy demanded.

Addison nodded and called Izzy into the room and ordered her to begin pre op tests.

"Derek..." Weiss prompted him to help, but when Derek tried to intervene again, Addison shut him down and was ushering Savy out of the room before Derek had a chance to do any good.

000

"Profoleptic surgery is extreme," Derek called, hours later as he finally caught up to his ex-wife again.

Addison scoffed and continued to stride across the catwalk, forcing Derek to fall into step beside her if he wanted to have any semblance of a conversation. "This has nothing to do with you. Why were you even in there? She came to me for a medical consultation. I'm her doctor, Derek. Me." She slowed down enough to point at herself.

"Those are some of our closest friends," he argued. "And it should be me asking why you're even here," he added.

"She's my patient, Derek." She repeated.

He rolled his eyes. "We've established that. I meant asking what the hell you're doing in Seattle."

She spun to a stop. "I can do whatever I want with my life, Derek. You don't get to have a say anymore. You're not my husband anymore," she hissed.

"Thank-god for that," he shot back.

She clenched her jaw and he could swear he saw tears forming before she spun around and began moving away from him.

He quickly caught up to her and reached for her arm, forcing her to stop her motion once again. She pulled her arm from his loose grip, but remained still, waiting for him to speak.

"Look. I may not have a say in your life anymore, but Weiss and Savy are still married. Weiss deserves a say. Whatever the outcome, Weiss deserves a say. And you're helping Savy to not let him have one."

She sucked in a breath as she contemplated his words. "He doesn't have the right to prevent the surgery."

"I never said that. I said he deserves a say. This is a decision they need to make together. They're married and they need to talk."

"That's rich coming from you."

He sighed as he fought to keep his temper under control. "And let me guess, your advice for her is go sleep with Steve?" He asked, referring to Weiss's best friend.

She glared at him. "Stop making this about us."

"You're the one who keeps starting it."

She sighed, ignoring his accusations. "She has up to an eighty-five percent chance of getting cancer."

"And a fifteen percent chance she won't."

"Those aren't good odds, Derek."

"There's still a chance. And waiting a few days at least won't make a difference. They need time to talk about this. It's a big decision."

"Maybe so, but it has nothing to do with you," she hissed at him, and with that she was gone, leaving him alone in the middle of the catwalk. He huffed out a breath and strode off the other direction.

000

"Shouldn't he be more excited?" George asked animatedly, shoving his head in front of Meredith's as she tried to read her chart. "Maybe he's in shock... I don't know..." He trailed off.

Meredith smiled wryly at her roommate, still on a high from his 'near death experience' that morning. She was at the nurse's station, waiting to consult with Bailey on the next step for her elderly patient whose gall bladder may need to come out. And it wasn't the first time George had bumped into her that day, ranting about his patient's lack of enthusiasm for simply being alive. Normally George's enthusiasm for anything that got him so excited was contagious, but today she just wasn't in the mood.

"I mean he survived," George said, picking up again. "That's huge! He's got to realize that things happen for a reason."

"Yeah; my boyfriend's ex-wife moved to Seattle. Reason: to torture me."

"I'm serious," George told her, appearing right beside her again.

"So am I." She shot back.

"What's with the hello kitty on your forehead?" Cristina's voice rang out before George could respond. Meredith turned her head to see her friend enter the station behind them.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Cristina shrugged and conversed quickly with George about signing her patient out to him.

"Carpe diem; seize the day," George said suddenly, causing Meredith to roll her eyes.

"I have a giant zit on my forehead and I'm beginning to look how I feel. Carpe that."

But George was obviously ignoring her. "This is the luckiest day in the world!" He exclaimed, jumping onto the desk beside her.

"Tell that to the bird," Cristina added right before she left the two of them alone.

George was uncharacteristically silent for several moments as he contemplated the meaning of Cristina's words. Meredith had to smile at his sudden empathy for the bird that had been crushed underneath George's patient when the man had fallen from the sky.

"Poor bird," George muttered suddenly. He glanced at her. "I was mad at it, cause it crapped on my bagel, but really..." He trailed off and took a breath. "It sacrificed itself for me."

Meredith couldn't help but laugh gently at George's words. "I'm sure it didn't do it on purpose." She tried to comfort him and patted him gently on the back.

"Even so... I owe my life to that bird. I'll always remember him."

Meredith rolled her eyes and smiled at her roommate. "You do that."

000

Derek was still fuming as he marched down the halls after checking on his patients an extra, likely unnecessary, time. He had simply needed an excuse to get away from the paperwork awaiting him in his office. He couldn't concentrate. He sighed in relief when he spotted familiar dirty blond hair further up the hall.

Hurrying to catch up, Derek dodged a few people and hooked his hand under Meredith's elbow, leading her into what he hoped to be an empty on call room. He was right.

"Derek." She said, obviously surprised by the fact that she was suddenly out of the hallway.

"Hey. Sorry," he said. "I just needed... I just need a moment."

"You okay?"

He shook his head. "Not really."

She tilted her head in concern and opened her arms. He smiled and wasted no time before wrapping his arms around her small frame. "That's better," he mumbled into her hair as he wrapped his arms even tighter.

"How did the meeting go?" Meredith questioned gently after several minutes of just standing there, locked in a tight embrace.

He pulled back and shook his head. "Horribly. Savy's determined to go through with the surgery. And she's got Addison's full support. Weiss is expecting me to stop her, but Addison won't even listen to me."

Meredith contemplated his words for several moments. "Do you think she should have the surgery?"

Derek was caught off guard by her question. "I, uh..." he trailed off as he thought long and hard about it. He couldn't imagine what his friend's were going through right now. His eyes caught on the woman staring sympathetically back at him and his mind forced him to wonder what his response would be if it were Meredith facing this decision. He had absolutely no idea what the right decision would be, even with his extensive medical knowledge. But he did know one thing. "I don't know. But they need support." He sighed. "God, I'm an idiot. I was standing up for Weiss cause he came to me, but that doesn't really help things, does it?" He asked, but the question was obviously rhetorical. "What they really need is for their friends to be there for them. And all Addison and I did was argue the entire time. We're not helping them." He repeated.

Meredith smiled sadly. "No, probably not."

He returned her smile. "Thank-you."

"For what?"

"For being the voice of reason. I guess I tend to get a little carried away some times."

She smirked. "Yeah, I've noticed."

He laughed and rolled his eyes at her, reaching to squeeze her hands. "So, how has your day been going?"

Her expression turned pensive. "If you had been married for sixty years and found out your wife had cancer, would you tell her?"

"What?"

She sighed. "My patient. We went in and found out she had porcine gall bladder. Her labs came back positive, but when we told her husband... well, he said he didn't want her to know. He said he didn't want her to be afraid before she died. Should I be thinking he's sweet for caring so much, or controlling for keeping it from her?"

"I don't know," he told her. "It's a tough call. But if they've been married for sixty years and he doesn't want her to be afraid... then you should probably think it's sweet."

She smiled at him before her expression turned serious again. "Would you tell your wife if you were in his situation?"

Derek took a deep breath, his blue eyes meeting her green ones. "I wouldn't want her to be afraid," was all he could come up with to say.

Meredith nodded, and before either could continue, her pager went off. "Damn," she muttered, tilting it upwards to read the message. She sighed and looked up at him. "I have to go." She turned back at the door. "In case I don't see you, I'm sorry, but I don't think I can make dinner tonight. I'll be off too late."

He stepped forward and gave her a quick kiss. "That's fine. I'll see you later."

She nodded her agreement and hurried out the door. Derek remained in the room, collapsing onto one of the beds. He needed to figure out how best to help his friends before it was too late.

0000

"Addison," Derek called as he spotted the red head exiting a patient room on the maternity floor. She stopped and slowly turned to face him.

"What do you want, Derek?"

He sighed and glanced around. It was much quieter on this floor than the other surgical floors. "We need to call a truce," he told her.

"What?"

"We need to call a truce," he repeated. "You and I need to get it together so we can be civil so we can actually help Sav and Weiss. She came to you, so you're in support of surgery, and he came to me, so I'm not in support. But it's their decision, and it's important they discuss it before anything drastic happens, cause if she has the surgery, there's no going back. And they need to be in agreement either way. And we need to stop fighting with each other and help them."

Addison regarded him for several seconds, as if looking for any reason to doubt his words. Then she nodded. "You're right. We need to help them."

"So, we're calling a truce?"

Addison nodded. "Truce."

"Good. I talked to Savy, and she said she wants the four of us to go out to dinner tonight. Is that okay with you?"

Addison narrowed her eyes. "Will that be okay with Meredith?"

Derek chose to ignore the tone of her voice. "It'll be fine," he said quickly.

"Fine," Addison agreed.

000

Derek sighed as he shifted uncomfortably for the umpteenth time on the normally comfortable bench. Joe's wasn't busy tonight, but he found himself distracted by the other occupants of the bar anyway, anything to get his attention away from the conversation at his table. Addison sat to his left, as far down the bench as she could get, her demeanour surly and harsh towards him, but true to her word she was remaining relatively unbiased when the discussion touched on Savy's pending surgery the next day.

"Here's to taking life in your own hands," Savy was saying, holding up her glass. Derek followed suit, admiring the bravery of his friend. She was certainly holding herself together... without the support of her husband. Derek wished he could shake Weiss into realizing he needed to be there for Savy, even if he didn't agree. He at least needed to talk to her before the next morning, instead of arguing with every word. His thoughts drifted back to the conversation they had just hours ago. You'll get through this. You guys love each other, Derek had told him. But Weiss had countered with a strong rebuttal. Isn't that what you used to say about you and Addy? Derek hadn't been able to say anything convincing after that. He knew what it really felt like to be betrayed. So he had left his suffering friend sitting alone on a gurney in the hall.

"And here's to bull and here's to crap," Weiss had added after clinking his glass against his wife's. "Here's to oophectomy, hysterectomy, double bilateral massectomy. How smart am I for knowing all those words?" If the situation hadn't been so tense, Derek would have laughed at Weiss's words. He had memories of college, where he had been pre-med and Weiss had been an English major, who had forced Derek to teach him a number of medical sounding words to impress the ladies at the bar. "Here's to breast reconstruction, nipple reconstruction. Here's to losing your wife, and here's to being the ass that can't be supportive. Here's to that." He lifted his glass, drained its contents and left the table.

Derek sighed and reached across the table to squeeze Savy's hand. "It'll be okay," he told her. "He's always been a bit of an ass," he added with a small smile. "But he'll come around, he loves you."

She nodded at him, her eyes moist, but not overflowing. "Thank-you, Derek." She squeezed his hand back.

"I'll go after him," Derek spoke, releasing Savy's hand as he pushed himself out of the booth. He smiled as reassuringly as he could at Savy, and nodded quickly at Addison as he left the bar and headed across the street towards the hospital.

He found Weiss collapsed in the front waiting room as soon as he walked in the front doors. His normally happy friend was bent over, head in his hands. Derek sighed and approached quietly. "Weiss," he greeted as he stopped in front of his friend.

"Don't talk to me. Keep walking." Weiss told him, barely looking up.

Derek ignored him. "You need to get some sleep and sober up so you can be ready for Savy's surgery tomorrow."

"So, I'm supposed to hold her hand while they rip her apart? That's the definition of love?" Weiss sat further back in the seat, obviously not planning on leaving any time soon.

Derek sighed and sat down across from Weiss, determined to help his friend this time. "You can do this," he told him.

"Maybe I can't. Maybe I'm just a guy who likes to screw his wife." Derek shook his head, but Weiss continued anyway. "That's what she'll think when I'm not there."

"But you're going to be there."

Weiss laughed at him, the alcohol obviously affecting his speech as he slurred into a new argument. "This is coming from a guy who packed his bags in the middle of the night and drove three thousand miles to live in a trailer?" He asked sarcastically.

"That's not the same thing," Derek countered.

"Isn't it?"

"No. Your wife didn't cheat on you with your best friend. She didn't betray you. She's scared and in pain and needs your support."

"But she didn't even ask me! She decided everything one day before I got home from work. I walked in the front door and she told me flat out that she was flying out here to see Addy and that she had already booked the plane tickets. Isn't this something we're supposed to decide together?"

Derek nodded. "Yeah, in a perfect world, but this is not a perfect world, Weiss. This is a world where people who are supposed to love you can do horrible, irreversible things to you in the blink of an eye."

"Exactly..."

"No. You don't get it, Weiss. Savy loves you. She loves you and she's terrified of getting cancer and dying young because all she wants is to spend as much time as possible with you. Don't you get it? You found the right girl the first time. You two love each other and you'll get through this. You can't give up because it's hard right now."

Weiss regarded him for several moments before speaking, his expression suddenly more sober than Derek had seen in the past two hours. Then he sighed and nodded. "Wow, Derek, Addy did a real number on you, didn't she?"

Derek laughed at his words. "Yeah, I guess she did."

Weiss sighed. "It's not that I want her to die..."

Derek nodded. "I know."

"I just..."

"You want her to not have the gene mutation."

Weiss nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right," Derek said, causing Weiss to laugh. "She can't give that to you, Weiss. She can't make it so that she doesn't have the allele."

"I know."

"And she's doing the only thing that guarantees she won't get sick."

"Yeah. She is." Weiss whispered, his eyes suddenly filling with tears. "God, Derek, I don't want her to go through this. I wish I could save her from this."

Derek offered a supportive smile. "You don't want her to be scared," he whispered, his thoughts jumping back to his conversation with Meredith that afternoon.

Weiss looked up and nodded. "Yeah."

"Did you want me to drive you to the hotel?"

Weiss shook his head. "No."

"Weiss..." Derek started, but his friend surprised him.

"No, I'm not leaving her alone tonight. I'll stay here."

Derek smiled at him. "Good for you." He stood up and was glad when Weiss followed suit. "Do you want to wait here, or go back to Joe's?"

Weiss stepped towards the doors. "Back to Joe's. It's only ten, and knowing Savy right now, she'll probably stay and drink right until midnight." He joked, knowing her cut off for any intake was midnight to prepare for her early morning surgery.

"Good point." Derek responded, slapping Weiss on the back as he stepped up beside him and the two old friends walked in comfortable silence back to the bar.

Weiss's steps sped up as they reached the door and it was all Derek could do to keep up as Weiss hurried through the bar. Upon reaching their table, Weiss slid in beside Savy and didn't hesitate before he pulled his wife tightly into his arms. "I'm so sorry, Sav," he said, tears glistening in his eyes. "I was an ass, please forgive me."

Savy was clutching to her husband like he was her lifeline. "It's okay. Weiss. You're here now."

"I am," Weiss agreed, nodding emphatically. "And I'm not going anywhere. I love you so much." He pressed his lips against Savy's forehead.

"I love you too," she spoke against his shoulder, where her tear stained face was buried.

Derek stood awkwardly to the side of the booth, his eyes shifting towards the stunned expression on his ex-wife's face. He briefly met her eyes, and a sudden understanding passed through them as they watched their friends struggle together. Weiss and Savy were going through hell, but they loved each other enough to be together right now. They felt each other's pain. They were going to be okay. Derek and Addison had never had that. Derek had never experienced that. He had never felt that close to anyone, but as his thoughts drifted away from his friends and his ex-wife and towards Meredith, he was suddenly determined they would be like that one day. They would be this close. They would feel each other's pain.

Weiss and Savy pulled back from their tight embrace, but remained close, Weiss's arm wrapped securely around her waist. Savy smiled gently at Derek as she wiped her hand across her face to clear away her tears. "Thank-you, Derek."

Derek shrugged. "My pleasure," he said with a sudden smirk on his face. "I've always been the voice of reason with Weiss."

Weiss scoffed as Savy and Derek laughed together. Even Addison cracked a smile at this.

"So," Derek spoke up. "Did you guys want to continue our dinner thing, or do you want to spend some time alone?"

"Dinner thing?" Weiss asked, a smile now on his face. "Nice grammar, man."

Derek rolled his eyes, effectively avoiding Addison's sudden glare from across the table. It was no secret to either of them that his words were Meredith's influence. "Whatever, man. You were the English major, not me."

Weiss shrugged. "That's still no excuse for bad grammar. Seattle has changed you."

"Yes, it has," Derek agreed, unable to hide the smile that spread across his face.

Addison scoffed, and spoke up. "Did you guys want some privacy then?"

After a brief look to each other, the couple nodded.

Addison quickly stood up, making sure not to look at Derek as she did so, and bid her friends goodnight. "I'll see you tomorrow then. I'll be in around seven."

"Thanks, Addy," Savy spoke.

Addison nodded and turned away from the table, striding towards the exit.

Derek shook his head gently as he watched her leave.

"You should just forgive her, Derek. She's sorry for what she did," Savy spoke gently as he turned back towards the table.

Derek offered her a small smile and shook his head. "I know she's sorry, but it wasn't working for a long time. Things are better this way."

Savy regarded him closely before nodding. "Okay. Will I see you tomorrow?"

Derek nodded. "I'll stop by to see you before surgery." He nodded to the two of them. "Goodnight then."

They chimed in their goodnights and Derek turned to leave, only stopping at the bar quickly to tell Joe to put everything on his tab. He made his way back across the street, pulling his cell out and speed dialling Meredith's cell. She picked up after three rings.

"Hey," her voice filtered through the phone line.

"Hey," he responded.

"Is your dinner thing over?"

Derek couldn't help the smile that came to his face at her words, confirming her influence over his grammar. "Yeah," he told her. "I'm just leaving Joe's. Have you left yet?" He had run into her before she went into surgery earlier, and she had been fine with him cancelling their dinner plans for that evening. She hadn't expected to be out in time anyway.

"I just got home actually," she responded. "Still sitting in the driveway."

Derek chuckled. "Good timing then. Did you want me to pick something up on my way?"

"You inviting yourself over?" Her tired voice joked.

"Only if I'm wanted," he shot back.

She laughed. "You're always wanted here, Derek."

He smiled at her words. "Okay. Are you hungry?"

She paused for a moment. "No, that's okay. I'm not hungry, just exhausted."

Derek nodded. "Me too."

"Are you coming over now?"

"I'm just walking back from Joe's now. I'm almost at my car."

"I'll see you in like ten minutes then?"

Derek smiled. "Absolutely."

000

Derek pulled into Meredith's driveway ten minutes later, parking his car behind her old jeep. He grabbed his bag out of his backseat and made his way up her familiar front walk. He hesitated briefly at the front door before knocking. It wasn't often he showed up without her, and he wasn't comfortable trying the doorknob and letting himself into the house, even though he knew she had probably left it unlocked for him.

There was some activity in the house and he was only left on the porch for a minute or two before the door swung open, revealing his girlfriend, already changed into her pyjamas.

She smiled at him as she stepped back, motioning for him to come in the door.

"How are your friends?"

He sighed, dropping his bag as she swung the door shut behind him and turned to face her. He opened his arms and smile when she stepped into them. "I think they're going to be okay," he said, hugging her tight.

"That's good."

"Yeah," he whispered into her hair. "It's very good."

Meredith pulled back and regarded him, her head tilted just so. "Are you okay?"

He smiled warmly at her, his fingers threading through hers. "You know what? I am. I really think I am." Now.

The extra meaning in his words weren't lost on her as she blushed slightly, and discreetly averted her eyes. He leaned in to kiss her forehead, knowing it was far too soon to be pushing this discussion any further. But it was okay. He could wait as long as she needed. Because he was in this. And he loved her. And they were doing this together.

He reached a hand out to her chin and gently forced her eyes back up to his as he smiled downward at her. She met his eyes evenly and smiled back, confirming his thoughts. Just because she couldn't talk about it yet, didn't mean she didn't feel it. He leaned in and placed a loving kiss on her lips. "Let's get some sleep," he whispered when he pulled away.

She smiled and nodded, and allowed him to take her hand and lead her upstairs.

That night Derek fell asleep with a new sense of confidence in life and love. If you love someone enough, it doesn't matter what comes your way. Because you can conquer anything if you work together. It was a new thought for Derek, but as he breathed in the peaceful woman in his arms, he knew it could happen to him. One day he would know what that feels like.

AN: Okay, I'm getting better at updating faster, but I'm way behind with answering reviews. I will get to it soon! Life isn't nearly as crappy as it was, but is still hectic. Just to address a few things quickly here: I'm glad everyone is willing to tolerate Addison, I did think it important to have her in the story. Derek will be able to show Meredith she means more this way too. And I know it may be somewhat awkward to read with many of the events from Season 2, but I set out to write the second season as if he had picked Mer the first time, so I want to incorporate as many things of importance as I can. I wanted to write Weiss and Savy because it was important for Derek to interact with his old friends and Addy and maybe get some perspective on what went wrong. Anyway, thanks for reading.