A new Addek story; not sure if it will fly, but I'm putting it out anyway.
Tell me if you like it and want me to keep going!
Set sometime in season eight, after 8.02,because I never really believed that social worker would have returning Zola to an unstable home where there was absolutely no communication, especially after what Addison goes through on PP with her social worker.
But then again,Shonda's always had it out for Addison.
I'm not revealing any pairings yet,though I promise it will be interesting.
Anyway,enjoy!
The noise, that's what gets to him sometimes.
It's weird,seeing as he was born and raised in blue-collar Brooklyn, but it does, the inane hospital chatter, the bleep of monitors,car horns, music, rain - always the rain, here- on the windows.
Maybe that's when his life fell apart ,he chose the quietude of this land, chose to wrap himself in woods and lake and forget the rest of the world. It's always quiet there.
Here, in Meredith's house- well,there's just him there right now. For now. It's usually not that way; he's only half-teasing when he calls it a frat house.
It was just them for a while, the beginnings of a family.
But that- well,that fell apart too, and now it's slowly reverting, strays scurrying in and out.
Maybe he's only capable of going ten years in one place. One relationship. Seven ,here. Maybe he's getting old,losing his grip.
But it's quiet,tonight. Just the creaks of an old house settling, the occasional flurry of footsteps over floorboards overhead, the tap of branches against the window.
It's quiet,and when it's quiet, he thinks.
About the renewed Alzheimers trial,the elusive target protein that's so close he can taste success but evades him at each turn.
The baby who might have been theirs,but wasn't.
The state of his marriage.
" Derek?"
"Not now,Meredith."
He can't do it right now. He can't look at her.
Let's do it. Let's adopt this baby.
"It's not me," she snaps."Liz is on the phone."
Liz?
"What do you want me to tell her?"
"Give me the phone." he sighs."
Only so many phone calls can be ignored before it warrants the descent of a sister .Or two.
"Hey Liz."
"How soon can you get here?"
"I'm bu-"
"I always are. It's - its Mom, Derek, How soon can you be here?"
"I'll come."
..
"You don't have to." he's throwing clothes haphazardly into a suitcase, mind racing.
"I know, but I want to."she says patiently.
The longest she's spent with his a collective ten minutes with Nancy-
"I know you didn't think I was the wife, seeing as you already ran her off."
- and a meagre hour with his mother.
"She sees things in shades of need a little of that."
"I want to." she says quietly.
"I'm leaving in ten minutes." he says shortly,tossing the few unwrapped presents he's bought into the suitcase.
..
"I hate coach."he mumbles, legs burning and back aching from the small feet hammering into his seat.
He looks over the back into merry dark eyes.
"Hey there. What's your name?"
A shy grin, a little head ducking into a shoulder.
"Sorry." His mother apologises; she's young, the same dark eyes as her son.
"He's just excited."she whispers.
"It's okay."
"This is why I hate kids."Meredith mutters,snuggling back into him.
..
It's different here now, the floors are still the same but none of the faces are familiar.
Well, not none.
A few curious eyes follow them as they head for the surgical waiting room, the backdrop to his earliest triumphs and failures.
"Derek!"
"Nance. How is she?"
"Better. But-" she's white, shaking her head.
"Long time,little brother."Liz says tonelessly.
He ignores it; now is not the time.
"Lizzie."
"Don't."
"I'm-"
"Save it, Derek, I'll deal with you later."
They sit in silence,Meredith on his right,his sisters on his left, clutching their husband's hands, hands that pat his back and murmur hello like they just met last Sunday.
"Is there anything I can get y-" Meredith begins.
"No." Liz says, harsh.
"Okay." she settles back down.
"Where's Kate?" she tries again.
For the love of god...
"Kath." Nancy says almost absentmindedly.
"Right ."
There's a stiff pause, and Liz exchanges glances with Nancy.
"Tibet."
"What?"
"In a monastery, finding her inner god-knows-what." Nancy says, mouth pursed, and suddenly they're all laughing.
"What happened to shrinking people?" he gasps, tears running down his face.
"She's a faith healer now," Liz howls." She believes in spiritual balance to heal the soul."
"Mom's face." Nancy gasps,clutching his arm.
"She asked if it includes a spa."Liz giggles,hysterical.
"I think it's nice."Meredith says tentatively,and the laughter stops.
"It's not," Nancy snaps."I miss her."
Liz leaps to her feet with agility betraying her age."Guys."
"Shepherd?" a nurse is calling out, searching the waiting room,and they follow her into a more private area where a bleary eyed surgeon is already waiting for them, twisting a cap in his fingers like he's done so many times. The name on his tag says Forster.
"Your mother should be fine-"
He feels suddenly weak with relief - or maybe the guilt,leaving his chest - but either way he can barely hear anything the doctor says next over the rush of blood in his ears.
She's fine.
"-able to rod it, she should regain a fair degree of mobility with intensive physical therapy..."
He sags against the wall as the team of doctors leave, and it doesn't escape Nancy's notice.
"If he's this wiped just hearing about Mom, maybe we should wait ."
For what?
"For what?" Meredith voices his thoughts.
"You'll see." Nancy says uncomfortably,avoiding her sister's gaze. "Liz, you know we have to wait til she gets here anyway,what difference will it make?"
"What if it were you, Nance, and your-" she breaks off abruptly,staring at Meredith.
"Are you two going to stop with the crazy and tell me what's going on?" he demands.
"No." Nancy says at the same time Liz says yes,and they settle for glaring in opposite directions.
"Well,they won't be letting too many people into the ICU to see her tonight,and there's school in the morning,so-" Jeff says hesitantly,laying a hand on Nancy's shoulder, and she nods.
And then it's just them left in the corridor, him and Nancy and Liz and Meredith, silence settling heavy as he tries to reconcile the shrunken face beyond the window with the image of his mother he carries in his head - strong,bright,full of life.
He hasn't seen her in four years,and he suddenly feels each lost minute tugging at his heart.
"What were you talking about earlier? About telling me something?" he prompts,hoping for a distraction.
"We're waiting." Liz says wearily. "Not that I think we should but we are."
"For what?" he asks,not entirely sure he wants to know.
"Oh, Addison,thank god."
She looks exactly the same.
This is his first thought as he sees her walking towards them.
"How is she."
"Addie,sit, calm down."
"Nancy, how is she?"
Bit of an overreaction considering she isn't even your mother in law anymore is his second.
"She's fine,out of surgery, Mackler said she's going to be just fine." Liz says,soothing, holding her by the arms.
Mackler?
"I need to see her, please."she says,her voice breathy,the way he knows it gets when she's desperately fighting tears.
"She's still under, it'll be a while."
"Thank you." she whispers,swiping almost angrily at the offending moisture on her cheeks."For being here when I couldn't."
"Don't you dare blame yourself for this."Nancy says,eyeing him sideways." It's not your fault,it could have happened anywhere, to anyone."
"God,Nancy, can you imagine if...if something had happened,and I wasn't here-" she breaks off, staring at him in dawning horror.
"It didn't." Nancy is murmuring into her crimson waves, but she doesn't seem to have heard.
"Why is he here?"
"Why are you here?" he asks; not maliciously. Just curiously.
"Did you -" she turns to look at Liz, who throws her hands up in surrender.
"I'm sorry, Addie, so so sorry, I know you didn't want to do it this way, but -"
"Liz." her voice cracks with betrayal.
"I'm sorry. But think, Addie,of it was the other way round, wouldn't you want to know?"
I doubt she gives a damn about Bizzy, not like this, anyway.
It's puzzling; Addison always loved his mother,even if the feeling hadn't been reciprocated in equal measure.
To see her react this way,to what as far as he knows is a fractured femur and a possible concussion, is a bit unrealistic and frankly,annoying, because she has no relation to his mother anymore. No right, to react this way.
"I would, Liz, I would, but you could have asked me, or-" she cuts , drawing a hand across her mouth,eyes darting.
This is too much.
"Why would she ask you before she called me? I mean-"
"Derek,now is not the time." Nancy intercedes; he wonders if anyone is going to able to complete a sentence tonight.
"Where?" Addison asks.
"720."
And she' ,the familiar click of heels on linoleum, a faint waft of familiar perfume left in her wake.
His mother is in 426.
As far as he remembers, seventh floor here is- Peds.
And it all fades away, their voices, the hum of the fluorescent lighting, the sigh of the air conditioning, the click of Addison's heels as she strides away, just the rush of blood in his ears and the almost-painful throb of his heart in his chest.
So?
Please review!