You Save Me

9

Derek smiled softly as his cab pulled up to the sidewalk in front of his brownstone. He'd had a successful surgery in Seattle, and enjoyed catching up with Richard the day before. His patient had recovered from the procedure flawlessly, and Derek had quickly turned his care over to the attending neurosurgeons at the hospital before catching the next plane home to New York.

He hadn't told Addison that he was coming home. She'd been so upset when she'd realized that he wasn't going to be able to go to the cocktail party with her, and he thought it would be nice to surprise her. She was probably already getting ready to go. Mark had volunteered to go with her, but she would be thrilled to know that he would be able to go with her.

Seattle had been completely amazing. It had been so long since he'd left the city that he'd forgotten what it was like to have a city that wasn't completely claustrophobic. Seattle was surrounded by so much nature, and he had wished multiple times that he had had more time in the city to enjoy the fishing and the ferryboats that were constantly running in the harbor. Meredith had been fascinated by the ferryboats. They'd had dinner that first night, after he'd examined his patient and she'd had her interview. She'd thought that it had went well, so he'd taken her out for dinner to celebrate her success before her early morning flight back to Seattle the next morning. He'd only wished that she had had more time to spend with him in the city, but he dismissed that desire as he unlocked the front door.

The light was on upstairs when he let himself into the hallway, and he slowly made his way up the stairs, hoping to stay quiet enough to surprise her. But as he reached the top of the stairs, he heard her moan loudly, followed by a gasp from a very male voice, and his heart stopped in his chest. She was sleeping with someone. In his house, in his bed.

He stood still for a moment, wondering whether he should confront her or leave and come back later. He finally decided to leave, and come back later to confront her. But as he turned to walk back down the stairs, his eyes caught on a very familiar jacket. A very male jacket. The jacket that he had bought Mark for his birthday last year.

And suddenly he felt sick to his stomach. It was Mark. Addison wasn't cheating on him with some random stranger, she was sleeping with his best friend, his brother. And what was almost worse was the fact that Mark sounded more than willing to comply with all of the requests Addison was screaming.

Before he knew what was actually happening, he was pushing the door to his bedroom open and trying to swallow the nausea in his throat as he saw Mark lying on top of Addison, their bodies tangled together with the sheets. Neither of them seemed to notice him for a moment before Addison moved her head to the side, Mark's lips trailing along her neck. And when she opened her eyes, they were glazed over for a moment before they seemed to focus on him, their eyes meeting for a moment that felt like an eternity before she pushed Mark off of her, wrapping the sheet around her body.

"Derek," she gasped, and Mark looked up to meet his eyes as well, his chest still heaving as he reached for the sheet to cover himself up, looking down at the sheets.

"Get the hell out of here," he said, his gaze meeting Mark's evenly as he ignored Addison's presence for a moment.

"Derek, look, I..." Mark trailed off as he met Derek's gaze, then nodded carefully. "I'll go," he said.

Derek frowned as he crossed his arms over his chest, not taking his eyes off of the naked couple in his bed. They both shifted uncomfortably for a moment before he cleared his throat, catching Mark's gaze again. Mark sighed as he shifted out of bed, reaching for his boxers and pants. "Derek," he said, standing to meet his eyes. "Look, I...."

"Get. Out."

The two simple words were filled with more anger than Derek could ever remember having in his life, and he knew that it was enough for Mark to surrender. "I'll go."