Help is Around the Corner
Addison and Derek's trailer catches fire, and Meredith offers them a place to stay for a while.
"Come snuggle, Addie-" Meredith whines from the bed.
"Rr!" says Doc.
"I'm on my way," says Addison, as she crawls into bed next to them.
"Closer-" says Meredith.
"Rr!" says Doc.
Addison is deliberately snuggling in a way that makes it easier for her to escape later and get herself a midnight snack, but neither of them are having it.
"Addisonnnnn-" Meredith groans, and wraps both arms around the redhead. Doc squishes himself onto her pillow, and Addison sighs.
"Rr!" says Doc.
"What?" Addison groans.
"You're not cuddling right, you're being weird. Do you not want to cuddle me to sleep?" Meredith asks her with puppy-dog eyes.
And then Doc looks at her with actual puppy-dog eyes.
"Of course I want to cuddle you to sleep, my little Tiger," says Addison, as she settles in finally, and wraps her arms around Meredith.
"Thank you," Meredith finally sighs contentedly and nuzzles into Addison's neck.
"Rr..." says Doc, as he closes his eyes.
Addison finds it pretty adorable how Meredith can take charge so much but once it's time for bed, she's a snuggle-bug.
Meredith starts to snore lightly as she falls asleep, and Doc starts to snore too, in dog-snoring. Addison feels calm but also restless.
She still wants her midnight snack. And also some sleep because she's been waking up for the past few days. And she's anxious because she's hiding this nacho-thing.
Addison also knows that the early stages of sleep are the deepest, so if she's going to get some chips, she has to go now.
Addison tries her best to extricate all of her limbs from both Meredith and Doc, as she slides and stretches as she needs to. She's almost out when she hears Doc's breathing become uneven.
"Shh-" says Addison.
"Rr..." Doc growls, unimpressed again.
"Shh-" says Addison. "I'll be back in a minute. Keep her company."
"Rr..." Doc shakes his head at her, but he stays where he is.
"Thank you," says Addison, as she tiptoes down the stairs.
Addison makes her way to the kitchen to try to find the nacho-flavored-nacho-chips, but they're not in their usual place, so she searches high and low for them before she eventually finds them on the top shelf.
Addison gets a stool, and tries to slide them out of their hiding place but then the pots and pans all come crashing down to the floor around her.
"Eek!" Addison gasps.
"Rr!?" Doc grunts from upstairs.
And that's when Meredith comes running, with Doc following closely behind her.
"Addison!?" says Meredith.
"Meredith, I-" Addison says softly.
"What the hell!?" says Meredith.
"I got umm... Hungry?" says Addison sheepishly.
"Rr..." Doc groans theatrically.
"I set those up because I genuinely thought Doc was getting into them, and I wanted to make sure he was alright. But Doc's been in bed the whole time. Have you been stealing the chips!?" says Meredith.
"Yes..." Addison nods.
"Oh Addie-" Meredith sighs, and gives her a hug. "And you didn't think you could come to me?"
"I was embarrassed..." says Addison. "I made such a big deal out of not liking them, I didn't want to be wrong."
"So you let Doc take the fall for it!?" says Meredith.
"Rr..." says Doc.
"I may or may not have been bribing him with steak to help me..." admits Addison.
"Rr!" says Doc.
"Sorry Doc," Addison mouths at him.
"Well, I'm glad that you're both okay," Meredith sighs. "And I guess some good did come out of that vet's appointment. But I'm still mad about the lying. I thought we were doing good, I thought I could trust you. I didn't know that you couldn't trust me-" says Meredith.
"I do, I can, I just..." says Addison.
"Addie, is this some sort of deeper issue? Are you struggling?" asks Meredith softly.
"What? No, Meredith, this isn't that, it was just the chips. They're so delicious, and I couldn't help myself, and once I tried them..." Addison rambles.
"Okay," says Meredith. "I'm still a little worried, but I'm glad you told me," says Meredith.
"Rr-" says Doc.
"So you're not angry?" says Addison.
"Well I mean, I've woken up a few times and you haven't been in bed. So my mind sprung to the worst possible scenario, that you were hurt, or that you were cheating on me... And now it appears that you've been having an affair with my nacho-flavored-nacho-chips," Meredith chuckles.
"I didn't know you were waking up," says Addison.
"I sleep better when you're there with me," says Meredith.
"Awe," says Addison.
"Rr-" says Doc.
"So are you going to share the chips with us now?" asks Meredith.
"Haven't I been?" asks Addison.
"We only buy so many per week, and we each have a few," says Meredith.
"Okay," says Addison.
"It's for special occasions, and two in the morning isn't one of those," says Meredith.
"Okay," says Addison.
"And no more blaming Doc," says Meredith.
"Rr!" says Doc.
"Alright," says Addison, petting Doc.
"So are we going to have some chips and then go to bed?" asks Meredith.
"You're still letting me have some?" asks Addison.
"Special occasion. But just this once, okay?" says Meredith.
"Okay," says Addison.
"Rr!" says Doc.
"Alright, we'll get you a treat too," says Meredith.
The three of them have a snack before Meredith has them settled back into bed again.
Doc falls asleep, and Meredith and Addison sit for a while.
"Did you really think I was having an affair?" asks Addison softly.
"No," says Meredith. "But I knew something was up with you. I'm not saying that just because you had an affair before that you were having one now. I just felt insecure that aybe I wasn't giving you everything that you needed," says Meredith.
"Oh, no baby, you give me everything-" says Addison.
"Thanks," says Meredith quietly.
"You always give me attention, you care about me so much, and you satisfy me all of the time-" says Addison.
"Yeah?" says Meredith.
"Yeah," says Addison. "I'm glad you found out about the chips. I felt kinda grimy about it, they're just so good-" says Addison.
"Why do you think we ration them?" Meredith giggles.
"Good idea," says Addison.
"I want you to be able to come to me with your problems, and your secrets," says Meredith.
"Okay," says Addison. "You too."
"Okay," says Meredith.
"Do you think Doc will forgive me?" asks Addison.
"I'm pretty sure he already has, and that the steak might have had something to do with it," says Meredith.
"Possibly," says Addison.
"In the future though, I think we ought to give it to him together. From both of us," says Meredith.
"Absolutely," says Addison.
"I'm proud of you. For coming clean," says Meredith.
"Thanks," says Addison. "Okay I have a confession to make," says Addison.
"Another one?" Meredith groans.
"Okay so it's not the affair part, or the chips part really, I just have a thing for doing things that I shouldn't-" says Addison.
"Okay?" says Meredith.
"So... Maybe we could play with that somehow?" asks Addison.
"I can think of a few ideas..." Meredith grins. "Sleep now though, Kitten. We'll talk about that in the morning."
"Mm, goodnight," says Meredith.
"Goodnight," says Addison. And this time she cuddles into Meredith completely, and Doc shuffles over to lie on her pillow. And she doesn't budge an inch until morning.
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***** END OF CHAPTER 46