He was a neurosurgeon, one of the the best. She was just starting off. He had been married with children before his wife left him before one day he received divorce papers in the mail. They had been alone ever since.
It had been two weeks since Addison had arrived in Seattle.
Surprisingly she wasn't as bad as they had thought she would be. She knew she had no rights to the kids so she didn't bother.
She had crossed a few lines with Lillian when she spoke to her in daycare without permission and fed her misleading information.
But aside from that she kept her distance from them.
He hadn't told Violet that her mother was in town nor had he told Michael and Madeleine.
He wanted to tell Madeleine since she was old enough to hear it but she had taken Addison's leaving the hardest.
the kids had moved on with their lives and didn't want to set them back.
Derek hadn't spoken much about it to Meredith or anyone other than Mark because he was the only one who had been there when it all happened.
He had known Mark since they were kids and since they were kids. He knew him before Addison he was there when Madeleine, Michael, and Violet were born and he was there when Lillian was born.
"Derek, do you want me to do that?" Meredith asked, breaking him out of his trance.
"What?" He asked. "You've been holding that knife against the carrot for five minutes. Are you okay?" She asked taking the knife out of his hand and started cutting the carrots.
"Yeah- it's just... do you think we should tell the kids Addisons back in town?" He asked.
"Madeleine is fourteen now, she's in high school, I think she'd be able to handle it and so is Michael, and Violet doesn't even remember her," she said crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the counter.
"They'd probably be upset if they would if she was here so maybe you should. They don't have to see her or talk to her, just know in case they run into her at the hospital. It'd be better to hear it from you," she said.
"You think so?" He asked. "Yeah, they'd be fine," she said.
"How do we tell them?" He said. "Just tell them at the table, bring it up casually and don't make it a big deal. They probably won't care," she said.
"She's been gone for almost four years, it's weird that she'd come out of nowhere," he said.
"She probably didn't think anything of it, from what I've heard she's only done things that benefited her. She'll take what she needs and then she'll leave. She didn't come here to piss you off, she didn't come here to check in on your life, she didn't come here for the kids," she said.
"So we just for her to leave?" He said. "Yes, you shouldn't let it get to you so much," she said.
"So what am I supposed to do?" He said. "Pretend like it doesn't bother you, carry on with your life. If she's not important to you then it shouldn't bother you so much," she said.
"You're making a bigger deal out of it than it really is. I'm sure she was horrible but it was four years ago. You're married, you had another child, get over it," she said.
"You're right... things have changed, things are different," he said.
"Mm-Hmm, are you going to help or not?" She said. "Yes, yes, of course," he said standing straight and helping her with the rest of dinner.
Once dinner was cooked and the table was set Derek let the kids know while Meredith went to get Lillian from her bedroom where she was taking a nap.
When she walked into the room she saw Lillian was already awake sitting up in her bed.
"Hey, are you hungry? Dinners ready," she said.
"I have to potty," she said crawling out of bed. "Do you need help?" She asked.
"No," she said and into the bathroom that was connected to her bedroom.
Lillian left the bathroom door open and Meredith waited until she was done. She made sure she had washed her hands before they went back into the kitchen.
Meredith helped Lillian up onto her booster seat that was on a regular chair.
"Did she go to the bathroom alone?" Derek asked her.
"Yeah, I think she's fully potty trained," she said.
"Should we tell her that she's getting vaccinated soon?" He asked.
"No, she hates needles, we should have done this months ago. Don't mention it to her or Michale because he will tease her about it," she said.
"Yeah well, what are big brothers for?" He said.
"Maybe, at least she has Violet, she'll be a good role model for her," she said.
"Oh, Why not you?" He said. "They're closer in age, there's going to be a day where she'll hate me, she'll need someone in that time," she said.
"Well she'll always have me," he said. "No, she's going to hate you more than me, you're worse than I am," she smiled.
"I'm not that bad," he said. "You found out Madeleine liked a boy at school the other day and you gave her a whole talk on how mean teenage boys can be and destroyed her crush," she said.
"She's fourteen she doesn't need to be thinking about boys. I just want her to focus on school right now, high school is when it matters most," he said.
"And you were only focusing on school when you were her age?" She said.
"No, but that doesn't mean I want her to do the same things I did. She's a girl, it'll be harder for her, everything is harder for girls," he said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked slightly offended.
"It means women have it harder than men do," he said.
"And you think I don't know that, I have to work twice as hard as you did in your residency to earn the respect you were handed. I know how being a woman goes, if anyone should be speaking on this subject with Madeleine it's me, not you.. and then you wonder why she doesn't tell you anything, you overreact. You have three daughters and might have another one day, you're going to have to get better at this," she said walking away.
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If this is bad I'm sorry idk what to write anymore so I'm just trying to come up with stuff 😭
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