chapter seven ━ camping
( season three, episode seven )

❝I just had to be sociable...❞

𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐘 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 that she could forgive easily. For so many years, she had not given Adam the time of the day to ever explain himself — though in that instance, she felt extremely justified in her feelings.

To her, it felt as though everybody she ever became friends with eventually pushed her over the edge; so far that she couldn't return.

Of course, she's acknowledged to herself that holding a grudge for so many years might not be the healthiest thing for a person to do, but that hasn't stopped her.

It had been nearly three weeks since Derek Shepherd and Abigail Thompson had spoken a single word to each other; well... more like since Abby had spoken to Derek.

Abby currently stood at the nurse's station, looking over her patient's chart before handing it off to an intern. Mark stood next to her, continuously poking her in the ribs with his pen. "Will you cut that out?" she snapped out of frustration, looking at the plastics surgeon. Mark smiled at her outburst and put the pen in his pocket. "What are you smiling about?"

"I got you to talk," he said with a shrug. "That means I did my job as your friend. See ya."

Abby narrowed her eyes and watched him go. She twiddled her pen in between her fingers before following him only for Burke's voice to stop her.

"Thompson." She looked back at him. "Glad I caught you. I know we don't know each other that well, but I was wondering if you wanted to go camping."

"'Camping'?" she repeated slowly. "Like... the sleeping outdoors, cooking around a fire, sleeping in a thin tent... camping?"

"That's the one."

She hummed to herself. "Why? Like you said, we don't know each other that well. How do I know you aren't just luring me out into the woods to axe murder me?"

"Well, then that would be breaking my oath as a doctor," he replied. "And I like my job. And I just thought that you'd like to get to know us a bit better. We leave tomorrow if you decide you want to come."

He started walking away. "Alright." He glanced back at her and she shrugged. "I have nothing better to do. What time?"

"Eight," he said. "In front of the hotel."

Abby nodded at the cardio surgeon before turning on her heel and walking toward the neuro department. "Huh..."

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"𝐖𝐄'𝐑𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐇𝐈𝐌?" 𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐘 asked the next morning. Per Burke's instructions, she was waiting outside of the hotel only to find him getting out of the car with Derek Shepherd. "You didn't mention that the camping trip was with him."

"I didn't?" Burke feigned innocence with a shrug. "Oh, my mistake. It must have slipped my mind." Abby rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "But, since we're all here... who's ready to go camping?"

Abby glanced at Derek before brushing past him to get into the car without a word. "Oh, this is gonna be fun..." he muttered.

Along the way to the campsite, they ended up collecting five more men, making Abby the only female. "Oh, this trip just keeps getting better and better..." she whispered under her breath, pulling up the hood of her sweatshirt. "I just had to be sociable..."

Once they had arrived at their destination, Abby could not have been more happy. She stayed as far away from Derek as possible, choosing to walk with Richard down the path and she glanced at him, noticing the picnic basket he was holding. "Did you need a hand with that, chief?" she asked him.

"Oh, no, I'm alright," he replied with a smile and she nodded, taking a moment to fully look at his attire. He was wearing a bucket hat and was pulling a suitcase along with him.

"Do you, uh... do you camp often, chief?"

He shook his head. "No, this is actually my first time."

"Hmm." She hummed with a nod. "I wouldn't have guessed..."

Finally arriving at their campsite, Abby looked around at the nature surrounding them. There was a lake nearby and there were a good amount of trees; it was quiet.

Maybe this trip will do me some good... she thought to herself as she set down her bag.

She dug through her belongings and pulled out her tent, starting to put it together. Within a matter of minutes, it was upright and sturdy. The same could not be said for the others... Alex was struggling to get to stay upright; Richard was eating a charcuterie board that the hotel had made for him; and Derek was shaking his head at the sight in front of him.

"You don't strike me as the camping type," he said, walking over to Abby. "You might be the only person who I don't find annoying on this trip."

"I'm honored," she said sarcastically. "Thanks."

"Abby, look, I just wanted to say—"

"Here, bug spray," she said, spraying some in his face. "Can't let the mosquitoes get you, now can we?"

Derek coughed at the sudden burst of smell as it went up his nose. He gave her a thumbs-up while walking away, coughing. She chuckled before putting it away.

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𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐘 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐀 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 beside the lake, letting the soft breeze blowing through her brown hair as she stared up at the mountains in the distance.

"Hey."

She looked over at the voice and saw Derek walking toward her. She turned back to the mountain and rested her chin on her knees.

"My dad always wanted to visit the mountains," she said quietly as Derek sat next to her. "He loved camping. My mother and Adam didn't like it, but... I did. It was our thing, just the two of us." She smiled softly at the memories. "Every summer, we—we would pack up the pickup truck and... just drive. Drive until we find somewhere new to camp. Even when he got sick... he never missed a summer camping trip. And then... he did. And I haven't gone camping since I was sixteen. Suddenly I was... I was raising three kids on my own with a mother who was always high and a dead dad."

"Abby, I—" Derek let out a breath and shrugged. "Frankly, saying sorry isn't good enough." She glanced at him. "What I did was... a complete violation of your privacy. You asked me to stop and I didn't... and I am so, so sorry for not stopping."

Abby nodded, looking out at the lake. "I wasn't upset that you read the article," she said and he looked at her. "It's on the internet, it's bound to appear every once in a while. I am upset that you searched for it, but I wasn't mad that you read it. I've read that article. I read it when it was first published. And I hate it as much now as I did back then. They left out so many parts to the story that should've been told." She looked back at him. "You caught me on a bad day. That's all... I might still be a little mad for a while. Just promise me you won't keep digging things up about my past..."

"I promise. Is there really nothing anyone can do to help your sister?" he asked gently, careful not to pry even more.

Abby shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek. "No," she said quietly. "No, I think... Nobody can make her memories come back. And there's no guarantee that anything would work. As much I wished there was..." She cleared her throat. "You chose quite an interesting group of people to go camping with," she said, changing the subject.

Derek followed her gaze which landed on the group of campers on the other end of the lake, all talking so loudly that they were scaring the fish. He let out a groan. "Well, in my defense, I thought it was only going to be me and Burke."

"Oh, so they're not your first choice in camping partners?"

"Have you seen them?" he questioned in response and she pressed her lips together to prevent a smile from surfacing. "Webber brought a picnic basket and a suitcase."

She let out a small chuckle and shrugged. "Come on," she said, standing up. "You look like you could use a pick-me-up."

Derek followed her back to the campsite in confusion and watched as she started digging in her bag, eventually pulling a small silver flask. "You brought whiskey?" he asked in amusement.

"Bourbon, actually," she replied, taking a sip. She offered it to the man in front of her who took it with a chuckle as she began digging through her bag once more.

"You surprise me more and more every day, Thompson."

She stood upright and looked at him with her eyebrows raised. "Is that a good thing?" she asked.

He shrugged. "It's whatever you want it to be mean." She nodded to herself before looking down at the notebook in her hand and holding it to him. He looked down at it in confusion. "What's this?"

"My sister's medical file," she replied and he looked up at her. "You... You know how we're not supposed to work on family members or those really close to us because they cloud our judgment?" Derek nodded. "Well, it's a good rule. I have read every single word of Anabel's file that I could read it from memory. And I don't have a lot of faith that anything will come from me asking this, but the least I can do is give my sister a fighting chance. So... I'm asking if there's anything you can do for my baby sister."

"Abby—"

"I'm not going to be upset if you tell me there's nothing you can do," she said, clearing her throat. "Because I don't think you will. But my sister..." She shrugged. "She deserves one last fighting chance. Please?"

Derek looked down at the notebook before nodding. "Okay. I'll try."

"That's all I ask... Thank you."

Richard walked over to the two neurosurgeons. "Oh, good, you're both here."

"Something wrong?" Abby asked.

He shook his head. "No, we're just gonna allow O'Malley and Karev to get their aggression out." Abby furrowed her brows as Richard waved over the two interns and glanced at Derek who shook his head with an eye roll before sitting on a rock.

"I think I'm starting to regret coming on this camping trip..."

"Yeah, you're not alone," Derek mumbled. Abby stood behind him, leaning against a tree with her arms crossed. Richard, meanwhile, stood in between the two interns.

"I don't condone fighting," he began. "I don't like fighting. I think it is pointless and foolish." Abby tilted her head in agreement. "But you two idiots seem determined to beat the hell out of each other. So if you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it by my rules."

"Rules?" George repeated with a frown.

"Yes, O'Malley, rules," Richard confirmed. "To help you protect your hands so you don't do irreparable damages to them..."

"Why is it men feel it's necessary to fight to get their aggression out?" Abby asked Derek and Burke while Richard explained the rules. "I mean, whenever I got into an argument with my friends, we just drank a hell of a lot of bourbon, cried, then started laughing about the argument."

Derek shook his head, his gaze settling once more on the fight about to begin. "This is ridiculous. Karev is gonna kill him."

"Now, hold on a minute." Derek looked back at Abby who tilted her head at him. "What makes you say Karev is gonna win?"

"You think O'Malley can win?"

She shrugged and moved to sit down next to him. "I always root for the underdogs. There was this one day when Anabel was seven. Adam stole her popsicle and she gave him a black eye."

"But there's the catch," Derek pointed out. "They can't do anything physical."

Abby smirked. "Neither did Ana." Derek furrowed his brow, trying to figure out how that could have happened when the brunette beside him clicked her tongue. "You want to bet on it?" she asked him. "Say... I don't know... fifty bucks to the winner. If O'Malley wins, you owe me fifty bucks."

"And if Karev wins, you owe me." Abby nodded and Derek shrugged. "You're on. I'm about to get fifty bucks richer."

"Don't get ahead of yourself there, tiger," Abby said, turning to watch the 'fight'. "Beat his ass, O'Malley!" Derek looked at her and she shrugged. "What? You never said I couldn't be a cheerleader, too."

He shook his head as the two interns continued their 'fight'. "This is pathetic," he said. "They look like toddlers trying to figure out how to hurt the other."

"I think it's funny," Abby contradicted with a laugh. "Men are idiots..."

"George is defending his honor," Burke told them. "Karev said, uh, Sloan slept with Torres."

Derek looked down at Burke. "He what?"

"Would you like to change your allegiance now?" she asked with a smirk.

Joe and Walter came out from the other direction and stopped to watch the fight. Burke mimicked the moves of the interns while Abby chuckled.

"Oh, watch—"

Abby turned, having heard Derek's voice, just as Walter hit his head on a rock. Within seconds, both she and Derek were on their feet. "Keep your fifty bucks..."

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𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃, 𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐘 walked out to the lake and saw Derek throwing his fishing line into the water. She moved closer and sat down on a rock behind him.

"So..." Derek looked over when he heard her voice and his blue eyes met her hazel ones. "What's the real reason you came out to the woods? A spontaneous camping trip?"

He sighed as he reeled in his fishing line. "Mark Sloan used to be one of my best friends," he said, still looking at his rod. "We used to do everything together. He was my brother, he... he was my best man at my wedding." He scoffed and shook his head. "Then I find him in bed with my wife. And he keeps bugging me. And he won't stop."

Abby shrugged. "Maybe he's trying to apologize."

"Mark? Apologizing?" Derek shook his head. "That seems unlikely."

"And how do you know that?" she asked, tilting her head. "You've been avoiding him for almost a year, right? And you haven't exactly given him a chance to explain what happened." She fluttered her lips. "But, hey, I'm the girl who still hasn't forgiven her brother for the past ten years, so... maybe you shouldn't take my advice."

"Ten years?"

"Story for another time," she said, patting him on the shoulder. "But right now... I think this camping trip is all but over."

"This has been the worst camping trip of my life."

"I don't know..." Abby shrugged, pulling her hair off her neck. "It's certainly the most eventful one I've ever been on. But if you ever need a camping buddy, you know where to find me. Maybe time... don't invite anybody else."

"Maybe next time there won't be any injuries..."

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━ author's note:

I think I've chosen to make Abby much more selective in who she forgives. She has trust in Derek that he'll respect her boundaries (which he does; he just has to apologize for other things later)

But with Adam... it's a much bigger issue than just googling her name. And I think I made her too forgiving in the original story that it just didn't make sense. Adam has to prove to her that he's going to be better. And in order for her to believe it, she has to see it.

So... no more chances, Adam.

And this, I actually mean it...