Chapter 99

Liliana's pov

"I can not believe that I actually met Obama. I met the President of the United States" I smile excitedly as Derek and I walk into his house

"Well I had to make good on my promise now didn't I" he smiles. I've been in D.C. for 2 weeks now and I'm actually starting to enjoy myself for the first time in awhile. It's been nice waking up in a different setting and just waking up to new adventures and getting to make new memories everyday. The best memory I've made definitely happened today, when Derek set up a White House tour for us and introduced me to Barack Obama.

"You are the best Derek Shepherd. Do you know that? I cannot believe you set that up" I say as we walk into the living room and sit down

"I told you I would. I always knew you were an Obama supporter, but I don't think I've ever seen you so excited" he smiles

"I met the President of the United States can you blame me. I don't think I've ever taken so many pictures in one day since my wedding day" I say

"I told you, you were going to need another photo album by the time you go back to Seattle" he says

"You weren't lying" I say. "I'll be back. I'm going to go to the room to call Jackson and tell him about my day. Hopefully, he's in a good mood" I sigh as I  stand up

"Good luck" he says

"I need it" I say before walking into the room and calling Jackson. I thought as a couple of days passed maybe Jackson would be less hostile, but that has not been the case at all. I think things have actually gotten worse between us.

"Hello" Jackson answers

"Hey you. Guess who I met today" I smirk

"Who" he asks

"Barack Obama" I say excitedly

"That's nice" he says

"That's nice? Where is your excitement. You like Obama even more then I do, you're all into political figures" I say

"Liliana" he sighs

"No Jackson. Could you at least try to be a little happy for me. That I'm actually enjoying life for the first time in a while" I sigh

"Well excuse me for not being happy that my wife is selfish and thought it was okay to run away when we hit a rough patch in life" he says angrily

"You know what Jackson that is enough! I will not let you continue to try to make me feel guilty for making the decision to try to find myself again. To try to make myself whole. I am not a bad person for that" I yell

"No, just a bad wife" he yells back

"I can not believe you! Have you ever stopped to think maybe you're a bad husband" I reply

"Liliana, please" he mumbles

"No. You're my husband. You're supposed to want to see me at my best. You're supposed to support me and be the person who cheers me on in life, but you haven't did any of that lately" I frown

"And you're my wife. You're supposed to do the same for me and stay by my side when I need you. Marriage takes two people together to work, not two people spread across the country" he argues

"No, what a marriage takes is two people who love and support each other, two people willing to make sacrifices and two people willing to keep trying no matter how hard things get, no matter how far apart they are" I say

"Sacrifices? It's easy to mention that when you're never the one sacrificing anything. It's always me. I'm always the one who has to suck things up to make sure you're okay and I can't keep doing it" he sighs

"What is that supposed to mean" I frown

"Nothing, just forget it" he says

"No, if you have something to say, say it" I say

"I'm just saying that if you get to be selfish and only think about yourself, maybe I should do the same" he says before hanging up making me sigh in frustration. I knew Jackson would be upset when I made the decision to leave town, but I never expected for him to start shutting me out the way that he has. I thought that eventually he'd realize I needed to do this and come around. I mean I'm not asking him to be happy about it, I'm just asking him to try to be understanding. I refuse to let him ruin my day after it started off so great, so I go back to the living room.

"I would ask how your conversation went, but I could here you yelling from here so I know the answer to that" Derek says joining me in the living room and handing me a glass of wine.

"Yeah, it pretty much went how every other conversation we've had recently has gone" I sigh as I take a sip of it

"Are you okay? I mean it has to be stressful. Not getting along with Jackson" he says

"It is. I knew that me leaving might cause a strain on our marriage, but I didn't think it would be this bad I mean everytime I text or call Jackson there's an argument" I sigh

"Does that make you regret leaving" he asks

"Honestly, no. I'm sorry that this isn't something that he wanted to happen, I'm sorry that he isn't happy about this, but I needed to come here. For the first time since my baby died, I wake up in the morning and I feel like I can breath, like I can just be me. I don't have to deal with everyone around me constantly looking at me like I'm going to break, I don't come home from work everyday just to walk past my baby's nursery and be reminded that he's dead. While I'm here it's like I just have a fresh start. Of course I haven't forgotten everything that's happened, I mean I couldn't even if I wanted to, but I'm not constantly reminded of it, instead I'm making memories and meeting new people who don't know anything about my past, they just see me and that is refreshing" I sigh

"I'm glad you're starting to feel happy again. It's nice seeing you with a smile on your face" he says

"Well it's all thanks to you. I really do appreciate you inviting me out here and letting me stay with you" I say

"It's no problem. I'm happy to have you here. Honestly it's more like you're doing me a favor. It gets lonely here sometimes, so it's nice to have my best friend around" he says

"Whenever you think back to when we first started working together, did you ever think we'd end up being so close" I ask

"Not at first, I always knew I would end up mentoring you when I saw your talent in the O.R. but I never thought we'd end up being like siblings to each other, mainly because you and George were already so close. What about you, did you think we'd end up being so close" he asks

"No, I mean I knew I wanted to work with you because, well you're Derek Shepherd what aspiring neurosurgeon wouldn't? But I didn't think we'd end up being this close. Mainly because I was already best friends with George like you said" I say

"And because you didn't like me at first" he smirks as he drinks his wine

"Correction. I didn't have a problem with you until I found out you and Meredith had a thing and I was worried that you would give her surgeries solely for that purpose, but once I saw you weren't going to do that I had no problem with you" I say

"Okay, that's true" he says

"Things have changed so much since I first started out in Seattle. So many people have died" I sigh

"You're right. There have been an unusual amount of bad events there" he agrees

"Yeah, but through it all we're both still standing Shepherd" I smile

"We are. We're survivors" he says

"You got that right, that's why we're best friends. You're the only person who keeps me from going crazy sometimes" I sigh as I finish my glass of wine

"You do the same for me. You know when I was younger I wondered why people went crazy, but know I wonder how we all haven't" he sighs

"I don't think I've ever agreed with you more on anything you've said" I say