Is Forever Enough?

Chapter 63

"You're a real piece of work Mark!" Derek proclaimed as he threw the plastic tube that contained Mark's house plans onto the cafeteria table. Sitting down, Derek watched as they rolled off the table and onto the tile floor with a hallow thud.
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"Hey, watch out. Addison will shoot me if anything happens to those." Replied Mark before he reached down for the container and dusted it off like it was a precious heirloom. Derek let out a disgruntled moan and moved his chair as far away from Mark as he could.

"Something should happen to those plans...they're awful."

"You don't like them?" Mark scoffed.

"No I really don't. I never should have agreed to this." Mark looked at Derek in confusion. His friend wasn't in the greatest of moods and he didn't understand why.

"Meredith liked it..."

"No, she was probably just too nice to tell you she hated it." Derek dug into his yogurt still grumbling under his breath.

"It's just a house. I don't see what the big deal is."

"It's a monstrosity! It's going to look ridiculous next to mine." Mark smirked, amused by Derek's mood.

"She picked out the style yell at her. I wasn't about to argue. LA brainwashed her."

"She was only there for two months!"

"Well, she likes that style."

"It looks like a Hollywood whorehouse."

"I kind of like the sound of that..." Mark waggled his eyebrows and Derek just groaned and wiped a finger over his eyebrows. He was developing a major headache. Working with Addison to get the babies' room done was harder than he thought it would be. Though, he should have remembered how hard agreeing on things were when they were married. Mark looked at him slightly concerned. "What's the real issue here?"

Derek looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "The real issue?"

"Yeah, obviously something else has got you all worked up. Oh wait...I know what it is..." Mark flashed him an evil smile and Derek glared at him again.

"It's nothing else. I'm just annoyed that you and Addison feel the need to build Caesar's cheesy palace on my land."

"Actually, it's our land now.."

"Whatever." Derek grumbled.

"You're not getting any." Stated Mark as if it were a fact causing Derek's eyes to widen.

"Excuse me?"

"Meredith's on bed rest...that means no sex. Don't worry man I completely understand."

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh I think I do. I think you're about to explode without sex...and you're just now realizing you've got what...two months to go? Plus the allotted 6 weeks post the birth...man you're in deep. You forget what it's like now that Ava's older...but trust me with Peyton I'm pretty sure it was closer to 8 weeks until I got any." Derek sighed and blew out a puff of air not liking where the conversation was headed.

"Only you would care about things like that Mark." Derek defended, but a small part of him knew Mark was right. His bad mood wasn't driven by the lack of sex. But, the mix of stress over Meredith, the babies, and lack of any physical contact was driving him crazy. He wouldn't even mind if he just got to lay in his own bed with his wife. He would take that privacy and comfort over sex any day.

"Ah see...I can tell you agree with me. It's ok man...you don't have to say it out loud." Derek just rolled his eyes as Mark laughed and they sat in silence until Mark brought up another topic. "So tell me what did it take you to ask Addison for help?"

"She told you about that?" Derek asked with widened eyes. He didn't want any more people to know than necessary to decrease the chances of Meredith finding out.

"Told me? It's all she's talked about for days. If I see one more baby nursery book I'm going to scream. Between that and planning our house it's all she's talked about."

"Oh I can imagine."

"I know you and Addison made up and all...but I'm rather surprised you asked her."

"Who else would I ask? I couldn't decorate a room if my life depended on it." Mark watched as Derek's gaze drifted to the center of the room where Alex and Izzie had walked into the cafeteria. Derek's eyes darkened and he glared at them both willing the floor to give out under their feet.

"Are they still not talking to you guys?" Turning back towards Mark, Derek cast one last angry glance towards the couple before answering his friend.

"They know better than to talk to me. As far as I'm concerned whatever friendship I had with them is over." Mark took in Derek's icy tone with ease knowing behind it there was actual pain.

"I don't blame you. There was no reason for him to go off on Meredith like that." With a sigh Derek's features softened and he looked at his friend with a somber expression.

"Personally, I don't care if I ever have to see them again. But, it's Meredith that's taking it hard."

"She told you that?"

"No." He almost chuckled with the irony in Mark question. "She'd never admit that to me. But, she started here with them. She lived with them. They were close and something stupid like George O'Malley has changed all that. You know Izzie hasn't even been up to visit her? Not once."

"Who knew Izzie Stephens could be so spiteful?" Derek let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Yeah...well up until this Meredith and I were thinking of making them godparents. I haven't brought it up to her yet, but I can almost guarantee that won't be happening now. I can tell it's hurting her and there's not a damn thing I can do about it."

"Yes! Does that mean I may qualify? I've been on my best behavior lately...." Mark leered to Derek and he had to chuckle at Mark's persistence. Though the two were well on their way to patching things up by the time Ava was born, making Mark godfather didn't seem to fit. Instead they had chosen Preston and Cristina knowing that were more than capable of the job.

"I don't know Mark. Last time I gave you such an important job you slept with my wife."

"That was one time!" Derek arched an eye brow.

"Ok...maybe it was more than once, but..."

"I don't want to know this." Derek interrupted and held up his hand to silence Mark.

"We made you Peyton's godfather." Mark taunted like a 5 year old.

"Who else would have been it?"

"That's true. Addison was pushing for it anyway. Clearly I'm not one with God. I didn't think she needed one at all, but her mother would have lost her mind."

"Oh I know. Though I'm sure she wasn't too pleased that her ex-son-in-law was named Godfather."

"Well I'm always looking for a reason to piss her off. I'd make a great Godfather you know." He told him and Derek looked at him realizing he was being serious. Noticing Derek's surprised expression Mark replied. "Why does that surprise you?"

"I don't know you just never seemed to take an interest in these type of things."

"Well, I'd prefer if you having twin boys so I could teach them the Mark Sloan way of things...but I guess I can teach the girls the opposite so they know what to look out for."

"You're so sweet Mark. Meredith will love that. Really." Derek teased and Mark's smirk fell as his pager went off. Watching his friend leave, Derek tried not to look over at Izzie and Alex again. His mood had slightly improved, but he knew he'd do something he'd regret if he went anywhere near them.