You Save Me

7

"Addison, are you ready to go?" Derek shouted up the stairs, looking down at his watch.

"Almost!" she yelled back.

"You know Mom's not going to be happy if we're late for church," he sighed.

"I know," she rolled her eyes as she made her way down the stairs. "But Mark's not even here yet."

"Oh," Derek breathed. "Mark's not coming."

"What?" Addison frowned, her head snapping up to meet his from where she was digging around in her bag.

"He called while you were in the shower," Derek sighed. "Said the girl he was seeing just dumped him. He isn't in the mood to handle the family."

"Oh," Addison nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Did you know he was seeing anyone?" Derek asked. "And really...who breaks up with someone two days before Christmas?"

"I don't know," Addison whispered.

"You okay?" he asked, taking in her injured expression.

"Yeah," she said, looking up with a smile and reaching to squeeze his hand. "Just... worried about him."

"He's a big boy," Derek shrugged, reaching for his bag. "Let's go."

They silently made their way to the sidewalk, where he'd parked the car they rarely used, unless they were going out of the city. He tossed the bags into the trunk and Addison slid into the passenger seat, her heart pounding.

She'd felt extreme feelings of guilt after Derek had come home from his day shopping with Meredith. And although she'd spent the majority of that day in bed with Mark, she still couldn't find the words to tell her husband what was happening between the two of them.

So she'd ended it. The night before, when Derek had been stuck in surgery Mark had come over with flowers and a bottle of wine. But she'd told him that they couldn't see each other anymore, that if she was really going to try to work things out with her husband, she couldn't be sleeping with his best friend.

But she hadn't expected him to look so hurt or not spend Christmas with the family that had become his own over the years. Now she wasn't even sure what to do or how to deal with her own feelings of loss.

She hadn't been expecting to feel so...dead inside. She was married, she was married to a wonderful man and he didn't deserve to be lied to. He had done everything she'd asked him to in order to make their marriage work, and this was what she had to do in order to make herself happy with Derek.

"Alright," he smiled as he pulled the car onto the busy New York street. "Let's do this."

Addison smiled as she rested her head against the back of her seat, looking at him carefully. He was a really good man, and she wasn't sure how things had gotten so bad between them. But now they were working on things. She'd broken things off with Mark, and he was spending less time with Meredith, respecting her wishes. So things would get better. As soon as she could get Mark Sloan out of her mind.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" she asked softly.

"Who, Mark?" Derek frowned. "You know...I really don't know. In all the time I've known him, he's never dated only one girl. And now I didn't even know that he was dating anyone, but I've never heard him that torn up. I think he was really dedicated to the relationship."

"Oh," Addison nodded slowly. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. What a woman was supposed to do when her husband's best friend was depressed...she had no idea how to act normally, because this wasn't normal. Mark was depressed because she had broken up with him, and now he wasn't even comfortable spending Christmas with his family.