Drowning on Dry Land by Nehebka
Chapter 1
Derek's hand hovered over the exam room doorknob after hearing someone crying. He told himself to just walk away; he had enough problems of his own to deal with. However, when he was about to walk off, he heard it again. He sighed, opened the door and peered into the room. Inside the room he found Addison.
"What's wrong?" he asked. She didn't reply so he insisted. "Something obviously happened"
"I can't... I..." Addison drew a long shuddering breath and leaned her head back against the wall, meeting his gaze.
Derek crossed the room and knelt in front of her. "If you tell me what happened maybe I can help-"
She just collapsed into his chest. She started to mumble something into it that wasn't audible to him.
"What?" He said as he stroked the back of her head.
"Alex… cheated on me" She sobbed out.
Derek looked at the floor for a long moment before he looked back up at Addison again and stood up. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It must have been so hard for you, is't it?... Not that I can't relate" said Derek.
Addison was momentarily stunned.
"Don't be petty" pleaded Addison.
"Stop being an adulterous bitch! You know what I think? I think you deserved what has happened with Karev. First you cheated on me, then on Mark-"
"What are you talking about?" she asked surprised.
"Mark told me about your bet and how you couldn't do it. He caught you sleeping with Karev"
"But he told me that-"
"Yeah. He told you that he lost the bet in order to avoid you to feel guilty. Quite selfless, is it?"
She got to her feet and closed the space between her husband and herself, until they stood toe-to-toe.
"I guess that it caught you by surprised that Karev cheated on you before you had the chance to cheated on him. After all it has been your MO"
"I'm not the only one in our marriage who cheated" she yelled. Addison could feel tears once again running down her face.
"Addie," Derek began softly, reaching a hand up to Addison's face.
Addison jerked away from him. "No," she shook her head. "Whatever you're going to say, save it. I think you have said enough". She brushed past him, opened the door and stepped through, closing the door behind her.
When she was gone, he leaned heavily against the door.
"I'm sorry" Derek whispered.
OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO
Addison immediately went to the nearest bathroom. She wanted to splash some water on her face. She stood in front of the sink and sighed. Her reflection in the mirror stared back at her. A splash of water on the face hadn't been enough. Her eyes were red.
"You look like crap"
Addison sighed as she heard the familiar voice, and turned around.
"Miranda"
"What happened?", Bailey asked
Addison snorted. "As if you didn't know… I'm sure the gossip mill has already spread the news to the farthest corners of the hospital."
Bailey held out a hand in surrender, "Yeah, I might have heard a few things about you and Karev"
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Firstly, stop crying and slapsh some more water on your face. And secondly, stay away from interns and doctors"
Addison smiled. "Miranda" shouted as she was about to leave. "If you see the chief say to him that I took the day off, I need time on my own".
Bailey nodded and left the bathroom.
OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO
"Have you seen Dr. Montgomery?" Derek asked a nurse.
"No, not since this morning"
"Can you page her?"
"Sure,"
Minutes later there was still no news of Addison.
"Thanks anyway" muttered Derek and walked off.
"Derek? What's going on?"
Derek turned to see Mark standing behind him with a questioning look on his face.
"Have you seen Addison?" asked Derek.
"No, I haven't seen her today. Why are you looking her?" asked Mark suspiciously.
"I want to appologize-"
"What have you told her?" asked Mark interrupting him.
"I said you didn't cheated on her but found out she slept with Karev" mumbled a guilty Derek not wanting to said aloud all the things he had said to her.
They remained silent for a few seconds. They spotted Bailey at the end of the hall and walked towards her. "Have anyone seen Addison?"
"She took the day off" answered Bailey looking at both men.
"Gone? Why? I mean, did she tell you why?" asked a worried Derek.
"She didn´t give me a reason" lied Bailey.
"Did she tell you where she was going?" asked Mark
"All she said was she needed some time for herself. Excuse me" said Bailey as she left.
OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO
Richard stood on the stairs nearby a nurses' station. He was about to give a meeting to many attendings and residents.
"We just received word of a mass causality incident nearby. All available level 1 trauma centers have been asked to respond. I need to send a team into the field immediately" said Richard. "Remember we're hoping for the best but preparing for the worst"
The group starts to break up and Richard starts walking off and Mark and Derek approached him.
"What happened?" asked Mark.
" I don't have details just orders" replied Richard. "Mark, Derek I need you at that scene"
"You're gonna need me here" replied Derek.
Richard shook his head. "They're reporting lots of closed head injuries and I want you to get in there and bring them back, alive".
Both men nodded and went to the ambulance to prepare their triage kits.
"What do you think is going on?" asked Mark.
"Uhm?" replied Derek who was lost in thought.
"We'll find her later", said Mark. "I'm sure she's ok, she just probably avoiding both of us".
OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO
They ambulance arrived at the place of the accident. As Mark and Derek get off the ambulance, they were in utter shock.
"Holy mother of..." mumbled Mark.
There were injured people and support personnel everywhere. There was a ferry boat on fire and the devastation was massive.
"This doesn't make sense. Ferry boats don't get in accidents", croacked Derek.
"Come on it's time to save lifes" said Mark.
Derek looked at him and nodded. Both men ran off their own separate directions.
Mark looked down off the dock and saw a woman trapped under a pylon.
"I've got somebody down here", yelled.
"Hey, that's not secure!" cried a cop as he saw Mark climbed over piles of rubble to get to the woman. "Doctor I need you to get up here!".
Mark ignored him and moved the pylon. "Oh my God!" cried Mark. "Addison what the hell..." said as he knelt beside her to check her pulse. "I need help down here, NOW!" yelled at the cop.
OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO
Mark was in the ambulance with Addison.
"Her blood pressure is really low. She's all clamped down from hypothermia and breath with difficulty", said the paramedic.
"She needs to stay on her left side. We gotta mover her on her left side. It's gonna take both of us, gotta get that BP up. On my count. One... Two..." ordered Mark. He was interrupted when Addison half conscious grabbed his arm. "It's ok Addie. We need to move you to help you get circulation, ok? One, two, three".
The paramedic checked her pulse again. "Pulse is better"
"Addie just breathe through the pain. There you go, good. I know it hurts. Come on now; keep breathing for me, ok? That's it. Keep breathing" said Mark as he stoke her hair.
OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO
The ambulance with Mark and Addison arrived at the hospital and Bailey was in the ambulance bay to get it.
"What do we got?" asked Bailey.
"Addison Montgomery, hypothermic with lots of traumas" said the paramedic.
Bailey remained astonished just few second but reacted quickly.
"Mark I need you to help me get her inside, clear a trauma bay, stat! Move it!" yelled Bailey. "Give me a new warm blanket her temps still only at 80 degrees".
Monitors started beeping.
"Charge to 300! Let's go, let's go, let's go. Clear" cried Mark.
Bailey looked at the monitor. "Back to asystole. Keep compressions going", said to Mark who was performing CPR on Addison.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5...1, 2, 3, 4, 5... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...1, 2, 3, 4, 5" said Mark.
He continued CPR with no response from Addison.
"Come on, Addy. Don't do this" croacked Mark.
The monitor beeped. "We got a heartbeat", said Bailey relieved.
NEXT CHAPTER SOON…