Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd were endgame on Grey’s Anatomy, but that doesn’t mean Grey’s fans don’t love a little Addison Montgomery action. Patrick Dempsey, 52, who played Derek on Grey’s Anatomy for 11 seasons, got fans swooning on Instagram when he left a cute comment on his former onscreen wife, Kate Walsh‘s pretty pic. “Looking radiant my lady,” Patrick commented on a February 3 pic showing Kate looking just that — positively radiant. The photo of the erstwhile Dr. Montgomery shows her wearing a burgundy, satin blouse and rocking new, strawberry blonde locks. We were so used to seeing her rock dark red hair on Grey’s and 13 Reasons Why, so this was a big (and gorgeous) change. See the pic below!
She responded to Patrick’s sweet comment, writing, “kitty, I LAVA u.” How adorable is it that they still have pet names for each other after all this time? Kate left Grey’s during the third season, in 2007, though she appeared on the show several times up until the eighth season, in 2012. Fans went nuts when they noticed the comment. “Ooooh Meredith will be mad 😂 hi @ellenpompeo,” one commenter joked, tagging Ellen Pompeo, 50, the actress who has played Meredith for 16 seasons. “Come onnnnn McDreamy @patrickdempsey don’t do us MerDer fans like that,” another fan joked. “it didn’t work out the first time, and the second time, lol. Might as well not try a 3rd. 😂. Slightly triggered.”
Derek and Addison’s love story wasn’t exactly a fairytale, but their onscreen chemistry had people obsessed. During the first season of Grey’s, Meredith started her passionate relationship with the famed neurologist (aka McDreamy), only to find out something shocking: Derek was married. He technically wasn’t having an affair, though. Derek had moved to Seattle after finding out that his wife, Addison, was sleeping with his best friend, Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane). Meredith promptly dumped Derek, and he rekindled things with Addison, who moved to Seattle. So did Sloan, but that’s a whole different story.
Addison wound up moving to Los Angeles when she and Derek divorced, and Kate got her own spinoff, Private Practice, which ran from 2007 to 2013. Derek, you know, died in a horrifying car crash in season 11. While we won’t see them reunite on Grey’s, it’s nice to know we have these little reunions to look forward to offscreen!