Against All Odds

13. Let's Start Making it Right

"Where the hell are you?" Meredith muttered as she looked around the trailer. Only sign of him was two beer cans sitting on the table. She had tried calling him numerous times, just to get his voicemail. She had left messages just to get no reply. She had sent texts, still no reply. She had asked around the hospital as to his whereabouts and finally Richard had told her that he had asked for some time off and that he was going somewhere to think. He had also approved her request for time off and told them to work on their relationship and that he was sorry for his involvement, also saying he hadn't meant any harm. Meredith graciously accepted his apology because it was not his fault they were not strong enough to deal with Addison's presence, it was theirs.

Somewhere along the way their relationship had become docile. They had stopped trying because to them it seems effortless. Wake up, kiss, have breakfast, spend time with Michael, work, eat dinner, spend time with Michael, talk about Michael, have sex, go to bed, repeat. And while that was okay, they didn't leave time for themselves. They had stopped going on dates, stopped talking about anything other than work and their son. They had stopped therapy. They had stopped being a couple and were just parents.

Now it was time to work on them. Their moms had Michael and work was taken care of, but she needed to find Derek.

She walked onto the deck and sighed. It was dark, it was cold and forty acres was a lot of land. She looked towards the lake and remembered the first time he had brought her out here.

"Do you ever use this lake?" She asked.

"Yes...I fish."

"No shit? Really?" She asked, astounded.

"Yes, really...why?"

Meredith bit back a laugh.

"You just don't seem really fishermany to me...that's all."

"Fishermany?"

"It's a word." She defended.

"Where is it a word?" He asked.

"In the Meredith Cronicles...it exists...just leave it at that." She grumbled.

"Oh so in the dark recesses in your mind, the work fishermany exists...got it."

She smiled now, thinking of their banter, back when they knew nothing about each other.

She turned away from the lake and peered into the darkness to her left towards the cliff. They had discussed building a house overlooking it, but that too had been put aside as they lived their busy lives. She blinked and looked closer, focusing on a dark figure huddled in the clearing.

Derek.

She walked towards him but stopped just short of reaching him. He looked miserable. His eyes were bloodshot, either from crying or the beer. He looked haggard, as if he hadn't slept in a week. He looked defeated.

"You just going to stand there staring at me all night or are you going to say something?" He asked, his tone cold. It took her back to the way it was when they had first started this. It sent shivers down her spine. She ignored that though. She was never one to back down from a fight and she wasn't going to start now.

"I am going to say something. A lot of somethings actually."

"Why? Why now? Why not yesterday, when you told me you didn't trust me? Or the day before that, when you told me you were worried I would want my satanic ex back? Or the day before that, when...we were happy." He looked at me, his eyes full of agony. "Three days. Three days is all it took to make us fall apart." He turned his gaze to the ground.