Is Forever Enough?

Chapter 28

"Mark, I've been looking for you!" Derek nearly yelled down the hall as he raced past the board trying to catch his friend. He wasn't an easy guy to find that morning, and Derek was getting frustrated, knowing Meredith would probably stop speaking to him if he didn't talk to Mark.

Mark stopped before reaching his office and smirked at Derek. "Ah...I knew it, after all these years you're admitting...you're in love with me." Derek laughed, a loud happy sound that made Mark's secretary turn to stare at them.

The door was pushed open and Derek nearly flung himself into the office ready to get the conversation over with. He wasn't even sure how to approach the subject...Mark really wasn't one to listen to advice...obviously.

"I was actually looking for you." Mark replied, not even looking at Derek, but instead focusing his attention on his computer screen. "Oh, that's funny...I wanted to talk to you...about.." "Fucking Boston won!" Mark interrupted, slamming his fist down on his desk. "The Yankees we robbed this year, Derek." Mark was now fully into the sports news website and Derek looked at him incredulously.

"Um...don't you have a hospital to run...or like...patients to see?" Derek asked, slightly annoyed, but not surprised at Mark's lack of interest in anything other than sports. "Ah, not really, that's the good part of being chief...you don't have to give a rat's ass about patients anymore...and the hospital sort of runs itself nowadays." Mark's reply was serious, and Derek just stared at him, wondering what weird episode of the twilight zone had allowed Mark to steal his job from him.

"I should have been chief.." Derek mumbled under his breath, but Mark caught it and finally looked over at him. "Yes, you should have, but you wanted a family...blah.."

"I should have been chief, but I'm glad it wasn't me, I'd rather be out there saving lives...something you plastic surgeons would know nothing about...it's family by the way, I need to talk to you about." Mark looked at Derek confused, wondering why he was all the sudden being so moody.

"Wow Derek, somethings really got you in a little mood today now doesn't it? Could it be 5'7...pretty eyed, and answer to the name grey?"

"Shepherd." Derek snapped and Mark sat defeated. An awkward silence passed between them, neither knowing how it had really gotten there. Derek himself wasn't even sure. He had no reason to snap at Mark...except for the fact that he was hurting Addison...and in turn making Meredith upset...with for the most part was destroying his sex life.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about family too, sort of." Mark broke the silence, not sure how to articulate what he wanted to say. Derek and him always got into this awkward important conversations. Neither of them were experts at communication...so he wondered how they functioned at all.

Derek arched his brow in confusion. He leaned back in his chair expecting to hear about some crazy story his sisters had emailed to him. He was the first to admit he didn't speak to his family as much as Mark did. After marrying Meredith and having Ava, he tried to be the good brother, son, and uncle, but he felt so different from them. They were living in the old life he once loved, they still really didn't except the not so new Seattle Derek.

"It's a funny story really..." Mark started, hoping to relieve some of the tension that he new his news would bring on. "I've heard that one before.." Derek mocked feeling like he was reliving his talk with Mark about seeing Meredith naked just a few weeks before then.

"I signed off on a transfer from Boston General for a 3rd year resident. I didn't really pay attention to the name...she had good credentials..so I just signed." Derek twiddled his thumbs already bored with Mark's story. It clearly had nothing to do with his family.

"So what..is it some girl you slept with back in New York, if so...you better tell Addison ASAP." Mark shook his head. "No, not at all...just...let me finish." He motioned trying his best to get through it without seeming like an idiot.

"She started today, I met her early this morning...and it's funny, the first interesting fact she told me was that her father used to be married to none other than the infamous Ellis Grey. "

Derek stared at Mark for what seemed like forever trying his best to come to terms with what it meant. "So you mean to tell me...that you signed off on a transfer that let Meredith's sister...who she's never met before work here...a sister who is the daughter of a man who hasn't spoken a word to her since he came in here and assaulted her in front of the whole hospital...are you insane?!"

Derek wasn't angry, but speaking in almost angry Derek tones. He was almost there, his forehead creased and his fists clinched, but he wasn't yet to yelling mode. "I told you Derek, I didn't know who she was when I signed it, you know those things are just pieces of paper...it didn't say 'Meredith's secret half sister' in big bold letters."

Mark spun around in his chair to face the window, now really feeling like watching Derek freak out at him for no reason. "You don't think the name Grey would have given it away? and she's not a secret, she's just not talked about."

Mark spun back around, letting his feet hit the edge of the desk with a loud thump. "Right Derek, because Grey isn't a common name or anything, how the hell was I supposed to know, you don't get to be mad at me, at least I thought to tell you in advance, so you could warn your wife."

Derek hadn't thought of this...and he relaxed, trying not to freak out, before suddenly leaping out of his chair. "This is horrible. Tell me, what else can go wrong this year?" He almost yelled, not at Mark, but Mark still cringed.

"A lot actually, if you really stop to think..." "Shut up." Derek interrupted, Mark closed his mouth. "What specialty will she be working with?" Derek was eager to know, so he could do damage control as soon as possible.

"General Surgery I believe." Derek huffed, like a child ready to throw a tantrum. "Wonderful." He remarked. "Just wonderful. They could have met already, lord knows if this woman is even going to be nice to her...Meredith could be off hysterical in some closet by now.."

Mark tried not to laugh at Derek's need to jump to conclusions. "Um...not to burst your bubble, but I'm pretty sure you'd have been paged by now, and I'm pretty sure my head would be on a chopping block so you need to take a breath."

And he did. Derek breathed...but not because he wanted to. "Right...well when she freaks out in a blind rage I'm sending her to you to kill...because I've had enough death threats from my wife this year." Derek was annoyed, and getting too caught up in his own concerns. Meredith was strong, she could handle a sister...she would be fine...he just had to warn her first.

Derek nodded a goodbye to Mark and made a mad dash for the door. "Hey, what did you want to talk to me about?" Mark asked trying to get his attention. "Nevermind." Derek mumbled before practically running out of the room. "We need to stop with these office encounters.." Mark said, to the empty room...before checking ESPN.com once again.