Help is Around the Corner
Addison and Derek's trailer catches fire, and Meredith offers them a place to stay for a while.
"Run!" Addison yells when she sees the smoke.
"Passports, Addie. We need passports!" Derek says, as he grabs them, before he exits the trailer.
"You went back for passports!?" Addison scolds her husband, as she takes in the wreckage that is (was) their home in Seattle.
"Well, we have them now, be grateful," says Derek, as he passes her hers'.
"What are we going to do?" says Addison.
"There's insurance," says Derek.
"In the meantime?" says Addison.
"We could stay at the hospital," Derek shrugs.
"We're always at the hospital," says Addison.
"Where else are we gonna go?" says Derek.
"I don't know," says Addison.
They get a cab to the hospital, and they scavenge around for spare blankets, and commandeer an on-call room.
Addison tries to talk Derek into a hotel, but he won't have it, so they end up spending the night there on twin bunk beds, wearing scrubs day and night, and having their meals in the cafeteria.
"I'm getting a hotel. I can't stand it Derek, not another night here," Addison says in the hallway.
"We'll be fine. Plus we're always here if they page us," says Derek.
"We're not interns anymore Derek. We can go home," Addison protests.
"I do miss home," Derek sighs, but he doesn't offer a solution.
"Are you okay?" Meredith asks them cautiously, as she overhears them arguing.
"We're fine," says Derek. "This hospital is fine," he gestures.
"We're fine Meredith, but this is not fine, Derek. It's not normal to ive in a hospital. It wasn't normal to live in a trailer either, but at least that was somewhere. And right now we're homeless, and we're crashing at our workplace," says Addison.
"Wait, why are you homeless?" says Meredith.
"The trailer had a fire," says Derek.
"The whole thing burned down," says Addison.
"We've been here for a week," says Derek.
"Don't tell Richard," says Addison.
"Come stay at my place," Meredith offers. "There's always space at my house. I have roommates, what's two more," she shrugs.
"Oh Meredith, we couldn't..." says Addison.
"It's okay Meredith. We have the hospital," says Derek.
"Now that I know you're living here, I can't un-know it. And Dr. Webber might ask me, and then I might crack. And then he'll know, and then he might get mad at you," Meredith rambles.
"So don't tell him," says Derek.
"I'm terrible at keeping secrets," Meredith says.
"Please don't tell him," says Addison.
"Come stay with me. It won't be any trouble," says Meredith. "And I think I still have your Museli."
Meredith insists until Addison and Derek finally crack, Addison under the promise of a warm shower, and Derek under the promise of getting his cereal back.
"Alright. Carpool leaves at eight," says Meredith.
"Okay..." says Derek.
"Thanks, Meredith," says Addison.
"Oh, and I have a dog," Meredith deadpans.
"I love dogs," says Derek.
"I know that," says Meredith.
"I also love dogs," says Addison.
"Excellent."
Well, this was going to be interesting.
"So I have an update on the house, and before you say anything, it's my house," says Meredith to Izzie and George, and Alex and Cristina happen to be there.
"Addison and Derek wil be staying with us for a little while," says Meredith. "Their trailer burned down, and they've been living here at the hospital, and it's getting absurd so they'll be staying with us," Meredith announces.
"Wait, both of them?" says George.
"Wouldn't they find a hotel?" says Izzie.
"They can't live in a hotel forever," says Meredith.
"And they can live in our house forever?" says George.
"Not forever, just for a few days while their insurance comes through," says Meredith.
"And will they both be staying in your room or...?" Izzie asks her.
"We'll figure all that out this evening," says Meredith.
"Dude, she's going to have a Shepherd-sandwich," says Alex.
"Talk about threesome potential," says Cristina.
"I heard that!" says Meredith, as she scoffs at both of them.
Five to eight rolls around, and Cristina and George and Izzie are waiting in the lobby, and then Meredith and Derek and Addison join them.
"How are we all supposed to fit in one car?" says George.
"I took my motorcycle," says Cristina.
"Okay, so we're all just going in Meredith's car?" says Izzie.
"Shotgun," says Alex, while the others just glare at him.
Alex sits in the driver's seat, while Derek sits in the back seat, and Izzie sits in the other back seat, and Addison is shoved into the middle back seat.
"No fighting. Not in the house, not in the car, got it?" says Meredith.
They all say yes reluctantly.
Meredith orders a pizza or six for them all, and they sit in the kitchen on various chairs, and stools, and surfaces so they all have space, and they chit chat until it's later, and Cristina goes home to Burke's place, and Alex goes off to wherever he lives.
"Okay, so where are we staying exactly," Addison asks nervously.
"Well, there's the couch in the living room, and I have an air mattress in my room," says Meredith.
"I'll take the couch," Derek says eagerly.
Addison gives him a strange look, surprised her husband isn't leaping at the chance to sleep next to his ex-girlfriend, but then Meredith says "I snore, he hates it," and that's when Addison understands him.
"Guess I'll take the air mattress, says Addison.
"You can have my bed. You're the guest. I'll take the air mattress," Meredith offers out of kindness to Addison.
Addison is touched, and she doesn't argue, because she could really use a good night's sleep after all of the nights in the hospital.
Izzie and George both flee to their respective rooms, shutting their doors, and putting in headphones to block out any suspicious noises they anticipate hearing throughout the night.
"Okay, so here's the air mattress, and here's the pump," says Meredith, as she unfolds the air mattress, and plugs the pump in.
She pumps it up, and it rises, and then it starts deflating again.
Then she tries again, and it deflates again.
"There might be a hole in it," says Addison.
"Perfect," Meredith says frustratedly.
"Here, you can take the bed," Addison offers.
"No, you should sleep," says Meredith.
"Then we'll share," says Addison.
"Ha!" Meredith bursts into laughter.
"What?" says Addison.
"We don't share, that's the whole problem!" Meredith giggles.
"Okay, so historically we've been bad at sharing, but we can try sharing... This..." says Addison.
"Okay," says Meredith.
"Okay," says Addison.
"I'll get a patch for it tomorrow," says Meredith, as she crawls into her bed beside Addison gratefully.
"Sure," says Addison, as she rolls over.
There's a foot of space between them, and they go to sleep.
Meredith falls asleep to the sound of Addison's heartbeat, and the warmth of the other woman, and then Addison falls asleep later, actually soothed by the sounds of Meredith's snoring.
When they wake up in the morning, Addison's head is curled into the crook of Meredith's neck, and Meredith's arm is thrown over Addison's waist.
They're so cozy, and they don't want to move.
Meredith's warm breath caresses Addison's neck. Her fingers are tangled in Addison's hair. Their legs are twinned together, and they're all wrapped in blankets.
Addison sighs contentedly as Meredith shifts closer to her, yawning as she burrows under the blankets.
They stay that way until Derek knocks on the door, telling them that they're going to be late for work if they don't hurry.
He looks at them all snuggled together, furrows his brow for a second, shrugs, and then walks away again.
"They're still asleep," says Derek, as he walks down the stairs to the kitchen.
"Both of them?" says Izzie.
"Together, in fact," says Derek, still mystified.
"Together-together!?" George chokes a bit on his Cheerios.
"Yes," says Derek. "They're both in Meredith's bed, asleep. Together," says Derek, as he brushes past Izzie for his leftover Museli.
"Are they... Naked?" Izzie dares ask him.
"Well, I didn't exactly pull the blankets back and check," Derek chuckles.
"Do you think they were naked," says George.
"Hah- Addison and Meredith? Not at all," Derek continues chuckling. "I'm just surprised that they're friends that's all," he says, as he reaches for the milk.
"Well, I guess they don't have a whole lot in common," says Izzie. "Besides... You," she giggles.
"Yes, me," Derek laughs.
"And the dog," says George, as he reaches down to pat Doc. "You share the dog now too," he gestures.
"And the dog," says Derek.
Meredith and Addison finally wake up when Addison's alarm goes off, which is significantly later than Meredith's alarm which she must have forgotten to set last night.
"Morning," Meredith grumbles, when Addison wakes her up.
"Morning," says Addison, as she sighs before she detangles herself from Meredith.
"Do we have to get up?" says Meredith.
"We have work," says Addison.
"I just want to sleep," says Meredith, rolling over, but with Addison gone, it's less cozy.
"I know," Addison says. "Me too, but we have to work."
"Did I wake you up last night?" says Meredith.
"No, did I wake you up?" Addison asks Meredith.
"No," says Meredith. "Sometimes I snore, I just wondered..." Meredith says guiltily.
"I found it relaxing," says Addison, and Meredith relaxes.
"Alright," says Meredith, as they head down for breakfast.
Meredith gives Addison something to wear until they get to the hospital, and when they get to the foot of the stairs, Doc is jumping at their feet.
"I'm glad you like dogs," says Addison.
"He's gorgeous," says Addison, petting Doc.
"Well, rise and shine," says Derek, looking up from his cereal.
"Good morning," says Izzie, handing each of them a mug of coffee.
"Morning," says George, burrowing his head in his cereal again.
"George is wondering if you two had sex last night, that's why he's being weird," Izzie teases.
"I said you weren't," says Derek.
"Ha-" says Meredith.
"We weren't," says Addison.
"We were sleeping," says Meredith.
"I didn't actually ask that," says George, blushing.
"I'm surprised you made it that long," says Derek.
"Yeah, when Derek used to sleep over he used to set an alarm, and sleep outside," says Izzie.
"Hey!" says Meredith.
"I didn't do that," says Addison.
"I know you didn't," says Meredith. "You're my new favorite bed-mate," she grins, because it's true, and also to annoy Derek.
"Fantastic," Derek deadpans.
"Alright, carpool time," says Meredith.
"Carpool time," says Izzie.
"Shotgun," says George.
"Oh c'mon, you had it yesterday," Izzie teases.
They all pile into Meredith's car, and head into the hospital for another exciting day of surgery.
They work the entire afternoon, and Meredith doesn't have time to buy a patch for the air mattress.
"It's fine, we can share. We're getting better at this sharing thing, aren't we," Addison smiles.
"We are," Meredith smiles back.
"Ten bucks says they become lesbians together," Cristina whispers.
"Oh, you're on," says Alex.
"I heard that," says Meredith.
"Are you coming for this carpool or what?" says George.
"Shogun!" says Izzie.
They all pile into Meredith's car, except for Cristina who takes her motorcycle, and this time they order chicken wings for takeout, and Izzie makes them a salad.
"So how's life in the house," says Cristina.
"It's like a frat house," says Derek.
"Be grateful Derek," Addison play-slaps him.
"Were they loud last night-" Alex whispers to George.
"They weren't having sex, Alex," says George.
"That's like, free porn," says Alex.
"Oh, get a life," Izzie scoffs.
"What, you're not into some girl-on-girl," says Alex. "I'd be down for that."
"Can we not talk about this over dinner?" says Derek.
"What, are you feeling your manliness threatened, McDreamy?" Cristina teases.
"Yes, are you worried about your wife falling for your ex-girlfriend," Addison also teases.
"Yes, she was in my bed all night long. I might keep her," Meredith exaggerates, wrapping her arms around Addison.
"As I said, lesbians," says Cristina.
They all burst out laughing.
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***** FIN