Okay, I'm nervous about this one. I don't usually do drama. Scratch that, I never do drama. I do cute, little romantic comedies. I'm so out of my league here, I'm playing a completely different game. But I kind of like it, even if it IS different.
The structure and the plot are basically taken from the Desperate Housewives episode I watched today. So thanks to them for that. Italics equal voice-over. You're intelligent enough to have figured that out by yourself.
I don't own anything.
It was supposed to be a normal day at Seattle Grace Hospital. The day was overcast, but nothing to be worried about. The doctors came off their night shifts, ready to go home to their families, their cats, their empty houses. The fresh, new doctors clocked in, ready to save lives. Patients were admitted, hoping to be cured. Patients were discharged, finally well enough to go home.
Yes, it was supposed to be a normal day. No one was supposed to get hurt.
Last Night…
Addison tears off her scrub cap and starts scrubbing her hands. No matter how hard she scrubs, she can't wash off the misery she feels right now, as much as she wants to. You'd think after years of surgery, she'd get used to losing patients every now and then, but no. She always feels miserable after a failed surgery.
"You look like hell." She looks up to see her intern staring at her intently.
"Yeah, well," she shrugs.
"You want me to talk to the dad?" he offers.
She shakes her head. "He's out of the picture. Found out she cheated on him and ran. No one's been able to reach him. She went into premature labor and now her baby's dead," Addison replies miserably, wiping a tear from her eyes.
"You off now? Want to grab a drink?" he asks.
She studies his face for a long moment. "I don't think there's anything I could use more right now," she finally answers. "I just need to change. I'll meet you in the lobby in five."
0ooo0
The bar is crowded. It hasn't been a good day for just about everyone in the hospital. Nobody pays any attention to the attending and her intern sitting at the bar.
Addison wipes her eyes, mortified that she's started to cry in public. In front of him, no less. "I don't know why this is affecting me so badly," she says. "I should be used to it by now."
"Just means you're human," he says. "If you didn't feel anything you'd be a robot. Or worse, you'd be Cristina Yang."
She finally cracks a smile, and then sniffs. "The last time I got this worked up was right after the divorced was finalized. You, I believe, were camping." There's a hint of amusement in her eyes when she says the last word.
"Yeah. Screwed that up enough." He says the last part under his breath.
"What?" Addison asks.
"I sort of told George that Torres was cheating on him."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Well," Addison says. "You made them be honest. The truth has to come out at some point. No matter how destructive it is." She sighs, obviously thinking of the divorce.
He nudges her with his elbow. "Not everybody could stay here, you know."
She smiles at him and he smiles back. They stare at each other for a moment. "I should go," she says suddenly.
"What? Why?"
She gathers her coat and purse, standing up. "Because I'm about to do something really stupid," she laughs nervously.
"Addison," he says, laying his hand on her arm. "What are you talking about?"
Impulsively, she leans in and kisses his lips. A terrible idea occurs to her. For the first time in six months, she feels a rush of what can only be described as love. She jumps back. For one second, she hesitates, as if she might kiss him again, but then regains self-control. "I should go," she says again, more urgently. Before he can respond, she's speed-walking out of the bar.
Today…
Addison and Callie fall into step as they walk down the hallway. "I kissed Alex last night. In a bar. But I was sober, so the bar setting doesn't really matter. The point is I kissed him and then I ran because I realized that I've probably been in love with him for the past three months. And now I have to face him today."
"George has turned into a sex machine. A machine of sex."
They both look at each other and make a sympathetic noise. They continue walking towards the locker room, neither one looking forward to dealing with the interns who will be in there.
As they reach the door, the man Addison recognizes as the husband of her patient from yesterday approaches them. Jeff. He's sweating and looks rather shaky. "Dr. Montgomery," he says.
"Mr. Jones," she replies. Callie pushes the door open to the locker room and goes in. Addison catches a glimpse of Alex through the door. Great. Exactly what she needs. "What can I do for you today?" She hardly gets sentence out before there's a whirl of motion and suddenly the halls are filled with shrieks and she has his arm around her throat and his gun pointed at her head. She struggles, but she knows that he's far too strong for her.
"Me and Dr. Montgomery are going to have a chat in here," he announces to the hallway, pointing at the door to the locker room. "And disturbing us just really won't end well for her."
He shoves her through the door and locks it. A glance around the room shows Meredith, Callie, and Alex to be the only ones in the room, and they're standing wide-eyed in disbelief.
"Great," her captor mumbles in her ear. "I wanted an empty room, but we can't go back out there, so this will just have to do." Then, to everybody he announces, "Okay, guys, here's how this goes; you follow my rules or she gets a bullet in the brain. First rule, no talking. Second rule, you're all going to go sit over by the wall." He nods his head towards the wall with the window. "Third rule, all cell phones, pagers, whatever need to be placed on that bench right there. Nod your heads if you understand."
All three of them nod. The barrel of the gun is starting to dig into her temple and giving her a headache. At his signal, they all place their cell phones on the bench and sit where he told them to.
"My wife won't talk to me because of you," he says. "She claims I killed our baby. Says if I hadn't left, she wouldn't have gone into labor. But she's delusional. We both know that my son's dead because of you."
She swallows. She knows if she lets him keep ranting, he'll work himself up and pull the trigger. If she doesn't, he might get angry and pull the trigger anyways. No win situation here. "Mr. Jones," she says, trying to hide the shake in her voice. "I understand your pain, but-"
The gun digs into her temple harder. She winces. "Shut. Up," he demands slowly. "My son is dead, my wife blames me, and she really should be angry at you. You're the one who deserves to pay. Not me."
"Mr. Jones, I did everything I could."
"It wasn't good enough! You could have done something else. There's always something else. Shut up!" He turns to Meredith, who is pretty much having a panic attack.
"Meredith, calm down," Callie mumbles. "Be quiet."
"Shut her up!" Jeff commands.
"Meredith, it's okay," Addison says. "You're going to be fine. People will think I did this on purpose if you aren't. Nothing's going to happen to you."
"How can you joke at a time like this?" Meredith looks incredulous, but she's not hyperventilating anymore, so at least that's good.
"Shut up!"
They all sit in silence for what seems to be a lifetime. "Just do it," she whispers finally. "You want me dead, just do it. Let them go."
"Addison, don't-" Alex says.
"Shut up!" Jeff yells.
"You don't want to do this, Jeff," Addison says quietly. "You're not a killer. Do you honestly think this is going to get Millie back?"
"Shut up!"
"If you're going to kill me, do it now. But I don't think you want to. I think you know that this isn't going to accomplish anything." Addison manages to keep her voice calm, even though she's gone numb from fear.
"Would you shut up?! If you had just done your job right, we wouldn't be in here right now. If you weren't such a failure, my son would still be alive!"
"She did everything right, you dumbass," Alex finally speaks up. "Your wife is right to blame you! You left and that's your fault."
There's a roaring in Addison's ears that blocks out all sounds as she feels the gun leave her head to shoot at Alex. It takes a knock upside the head with the butt of the gun to make her realize that she's screaming. She's too focused on the blood that is soaking into the shirt Callie has pulled off to try to help stop it.
"Shut up, you stupid bitch," Jeff says.
Meredith looks up from where she's helping Callie. "Stop it!" she exclaims. "Just stop it! Look, we need to get out of here. We need to get him to an OR or he'll die. If he doesn't bleed out, he'll die from shock. You really don't want to be a murderer."
"No one's getting out of here until Millie speaks to me."
"What if I call her?" Addison asks, trying to stare at anything but the pool of blood underneath Alex, trying not to see the pain written all over his face. "You said she still trusts me. I'll talk to her, tell her it really was my fault. Please, just… just let them get help."
"You think… you think that'll work?" Jeff asks.
"Worth a shot," Addison says, then winces at her poor choice in wording.
"No one leaves until I talk to Millie."
He allows her to get up and grab her cell phone. She dials the hospital's number and the extension to Millie's room. "Hello?" Millie asks.
Addison tries to keep the fact that she's about ready to start sobbing out of her voice. "Millie, it's Addison. Dr. Montgomery."
"Yes?"
"I'm here. With your husband."
"You can tell that bastard to go rot in hell."
"Millie, please," Addison begs, her composure finally slipping. Her first tears drop onto the bench that she's sitting on. "Please talk to him. If you don't… if you don't…"
"If I don't, what's going to happen? He going to shoot someone?" The sarcasm in her voice is evident.
"N-no, he already has. Millie, I need you to talk to him. He won't let us get help unless he talks to you. Please. Millie, if you don't do this, the- the man I love is going to die. Please."
She hears Millie take a shaky breath. "Put him on."
Addison hands the phone wordlessly to Jeff. She scrambles across the room to Alex. "Please, Alex. Don't do this," she pleads. "Stay with me."
With extreme difficulty, he manages to say, "So you love me."
"That's not important right now," she replies. "We can talk about it later. When you're better."
His laugh is ghastly and it makes her cry harder. "Just so you know," he says, releasing more air than voice. "I love you too."
"Millie says she'll take me back if I let you all go," Jeff announces, unlocking the door. Addison looks up and she's never wanted someone dead so much in her life.
"Go get the OR ready," Callie orders Meredith. Meredith bolts out the door.
"I don't believe her," Jeff replies. "I think she's lying so your boyfriend can get help."
Addison closes her eyes, but she jumps at the bang. When she opens her eyes, Jeff is lying on the ground, a pool of blood spilling from the same temple he held the gun on her.
She returns her attention to Alex. Callie is attempting to keep him as comfortable and stable as possible, but she can see him slipping into unconsciousness. "Please, Alex. Please, don't do this. Stay with me. Please. Please." Her pleas morph into unintelligible sobs and he succumbs to the oblivion.
Three Days Later…
"You sure you want to do this?" Callie asks.
Addison looks at herself in the mirror. Her skin looks especially pale because of her entirely black outfit and the matching circles under her eyes. She looks like a breeze would break her. "No."
"No one would blame you for staying home. Nobody would even expect you to be there."
"I have to. Closure, or something."
"You look cold. You should put a coat on."
"I don't need you hold my hand all the way through this," Addison responds. "This is something I'm going to have to live with for the rest of my life. I need to get used to it."
"Put your damn coat on," Callie replies, picking up the item and holding it out so Addison can just shove her arms into the sleeves.
"You're babying me," Addison warns.
"Yeah, well, after everything you've been through, you deserve to be babied. Especially today. You ready?"
Addison swallows. "As much as I'll ever be. Let's go."
0ooo0
Addison approaches Millie. "Hey. How are you holding up?" she asks.
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" Millie replies. "After all, my husband did take you hostage."
"That doesn't make your part any easier," Addison points out.
"I'm doing okay," Millie says. "What about you?"
"I'm doing as well as I can, I think," Addison replies.
"If there's anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to ask."
"Why don't we make that mutual, okay?"
The two women hug, bound by their shared tragedy.
0ooo0
Addison approaches the hospital slowly. The place that once felt like home, albeit a completely dysfunctional one, now towers over her ominously. Although she initially hesitates, once she starts walking, she walks quickly to the elevators. When she reaches the door of one of the hospital rooms, she puts on something that vaguely resembles a smile. "Hey, how are you?" she asks, crossing the room.
"I'm okay. But I just got a dose of pain meds an hour ago," Alex answers.
"That's probably it then," she smiles, climbing onto the bed to lie beside him. She picks up his hand and starts tracing it. "So I went to his funeral."
"You did? Why the hell would you do that?" he asks.
"I had to. Can you imagine being Millie? I can't start to understand the pain and guilt she must be feeling. I had to do it for her, at the very least. Besides, I had to do some thinking."
"So you decided to do your thinking at a funeral?"
"I don't hate him. I hate what he did to you and I hate what he put me through, but I don't hate him. I needed to figure that out."
They sit in silence for awhile. Finally, Addison asks, "Have I mentioned how glad I am that you're not dead?"
"Only a couple hundred times."
"Then have I mentioned how much I love you?"
"Only a couple thousand. But I don't mind hearing again."
"I love you, Alex Karev. Don't ever get yourself shot again, or so help me God, I will kill you myself."
He laughs and she kisses him. In that second, they are the picture of happiness.
It was supposed to be a normal day at Seattle Grace Hospital. The day was overcast, but nothing to be worried about. The doctors came off their night shifts, ready to go home to their families, their cats, their empty houses. The fresh, new doctors clocked in, ready to save lives. Patients were admitted, hoping to be cured. Patients were discharged, finally well enough to go home.
Yes, it was supposed to be a normal day. No one was supposed to get hurt. But people were hurt. People lived and people died. People found other people to be exactly what they needed.
No, it definitely wasn't the normal day it was supposed to be.
I would be a liar if I said I didn't want any reviews.
Just, fyi, Millie is one of my really good friends (see, this is why you want to be friends with me! I write you into stories with dead babies and crazy husbands!). Merry Christmas.
Sorry if this isn't the cheery Christmas story that should have been written. I'm not exactly cheery. Besides, nothing brings people together like a Christmas hostage situation! Not that there was any Christmas in this story at all. But you get my drift.
-Juli-