So here's the deal- This story was a huge hit when it was first posted like two or three years ago. I had like 18 reviews on it. But it got deleted last week because the original title was "Karma is a Bitch" and apparently you can't use that word in titles. Luckily, I had recently read over it so I remembered the story well enough to rewrite it. Hopefully this time it doesn't have as many typos as it did last time :/
And to the reviewer who claims I stole this story: I realize that someone is writing a similar story right now but that story wasn't around when I posted this a few years ago. I came up with this idea myself back then and I'm just reposting it now because it got deleted for having profanity in the title.
Addison looked up from the file she was going over to the time displayed on her computer screen. 9:05 am which meant she had been there all night and over a total of 24 hours. She put her head down on her desk with a sigh and closed her eyes for just a few minutes of rest. That's when the phone went off, causing Addison to sit up and groan.
"Dr. Addison Shepherd." she said into the phone as soon as she picked up.
"Addison?" a woman's surprised voice sounded from the other end of the line.
Addison froze for a few seconds. She hadn't spoken to her mother-in-law since long before her affair six months ago. "Mrs. Shepherd." she mumbled in surprise. She'd been calling the woman "Mom" since before she got engaged but now it felt strange to utter the word. "Hi. Is this about your annual Christmas party? Derek and I were talking about it yesterday. He was ready to buy tickets but I stopped him because we weren't sure what your plans were for the holidays.."
"No, Addison, it's not about the Christmas party. I was just trying to get in touch with my son. I asked the receptionist to transfer me over to Dr. Shepherd and I somehow ended up on the line with you."
"Oh, yeah that happens sometimes. I get calls from his patients, he gets calls from mine. The receptionists here just never seem to understand to ask a caller to specify when they ask for us." Addison informed her mother-in-law.
"That's should not be happening. It's completely unprofessional." the older woman scolded.
"You're right, it shouldn't be happening but it does and Derek and I have learned to deal with it. And patients have been very understand when these errors happen. Some of them even get a kick out of it."
"Addison, I've held my tongue long enough. Do you honestly consider yourself a Shepherd? Do you think you've earned the right to carry the name?" Carolyn asked somewhat spitefully. Her dislike for Addison standing clear.
"I uh..."
"You're a Montgomery, Addison. You're always going to be no matter how hard you try to change yourself. You're arrogant and materialistic. You inherited your father's stance on fidelity. You never fit in with our family and it's time you recognize that."
"Okay." Addison murmured, unable to say anything else.
"As for the Christmas party, Derek is welcomed home whenever he wants. But if he decides to come you should make other plans."
"Okay." she said again. "Do you want me to transfer your call?"
"No. I'll call his cell phone later." Carolyn answered. "Karma really is a bitch, isn't it, Dear?" she said before hanging up.
That night Addison walked into the trailer to find Derek seated at the dining room table patiently waiting for her. He's set the table, leaving a few tea-light candles between the plates for romantic lighting. The smile on his face made her heart start pounding.
"Hey. You're late." he greeted, getting up from his seat to peck her cheek. "I put the food in the oven so it won't get cold. I picked up chicken marsala from your favorite Italian place that I never remember the name of."
"I'm not hungry." Addison murmured. "But thanks."
"What happen? Everything okay? I could have swore I heard someone mention that you left early today, did something happen? Where have you been?"
"I had a few things to do."
"Like what?"
"I went down to family court to file a name change and I met with a lawyer about filing for divorce.."
"You what?" Derek asked, hoping that he had somehow heard her incorrectly.
"Your mother called me this morning and she made me realize that I have no place in your family. I'm not a Shepherd and I don't deserve to be your wife. So I left work early to change my name and get the ball rolling on divorce papers."
"Since when do you give a shit about what my mom thinks?" Derek asked in frustration. "This is ridiculous, Addie. You can't make these decisions by yourself. I didn't want you to change your last name and I sure as hell don't plan on a divorce."
"It's my name, Derek. I can do whatever I want. I didn't consult you when I changed it to Shepherd in the first place and you were fine with it."
"Because it was something that tied us together, changing it back is something you should have talked to me about. I loved that we shared a name. Should I change my name to Montgomery? Because I will if I have to. I like sharing a name with you."
"I am not going to let you change your last name to Montgomery. Your mother will kill us. You are the only male Shepherd. Your responsibility is to carry on your family name. Besides, I don't know if I can give you any children...We've been together all these years and we've never had a pregnancy scare and it's not like we have had plenty of drunken unprotected nights. Something is obviously wrong with me."
"Can you stop bringing up my mother? Who cares what she thinks?" Derek exclaimed in frustration. "If she can't be supportive then she won't be involved in our lives. We are certainly not going to change anything to satisfy other people. Well, you already changed your name but other than that we are not changing anything in our lives for her. Okay?"
Addison nodded, smiling in agreement as she did.
Derek returned the smile and pulled out the chair for Addison. "Good, now take a seat. I'll get the food." he said as he went toward the oven. "As for children, yes, we have forgotten protection many times and never had a pregnancy scare but that doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was the wrong timing, you may not have been ovulating at those times, I don't know. My point is don't worry about anything until you have to."
3 years later
"Derek!" Carolyn exclaimed with excitement when she spotted her son by the nurses' station on the post-op floor. She quickly closed the distance between them and wrapped her arm around her son.
"Mom." Derek muttered, not expecting to have seen her. "What are you doing here?"
"I haven't seen you since you moved out here." Carolyn answered. "It's been almost four years, I missed you. You haven't been coming to visit, you haven't even bothered calling. I missed you. Can you blame me? I decided to come out here for myself to see what's going on."
"Shepherd!" Cristina Yang bellowed as she turned a corner, a squirmy baby in her arms. "I don't babysit. I don't care if the daycare center is closed. I did not go to medical school to babysit. She won't stop crying! And she won't tell me what she wants. All she can say is mama. it's aggravating."
"I'm not Mama..." Derek pointed out the obvious.
"You're the next best thing." Yang said flatly. "Consider yourself lucky that I didn't hand her off to the first random person I saw."
Derek took his daughter from Cristina and kissed her forehead. "Where is Aiden?"
"With Meredith. I can't do two of them." Yang answered with a glare in Derek's direction. "You better let me scrub in on your next major surgery, Shepherd..." she added before walking away.
"She's beautiful, Derek." Carolyn smiled, observing the little girl in Derek's arms. Her dark brown curls pinned back with a small, delicate pink clip, her distinctive green eyes and her fair complexion.
"Of course she is. She's my little princess." Derek replied proudly. "Her name is Adrianne."
"Adrianne?" Carolyn asked, trying to recall why that name sounded so familiar. It was Addison's middle name, something that many, many people did not know. Most thought her middle name was Forbes when in reality that was her mother's maiden name. "I vaguely remember that name..."
"It just seemed fitting." Derek said with a shrugged, leaving out the detail that it in fact was a familiar name because it's was taken from his wife's name. "And it sounds good with Shepherd."
"And you mentioned that you've got another child? Adian you said."
Just as the question was asked Derek heard the distinctive sounds of heels coming closer. He grinned as she saw his wife approaching leaned closer to her to place a kiss on his son's forehead. "Hey little guy." he said, leaning closer to kiss his head but avoiding kissing Addison in front of his mother's prying eyes.
"Mrs. Shepherd!" Addison greeted, not expecting to see her mother-in-law.
"Dr. Montgomery." Carolyn returned, mimicking the formal tone Addison had used. "What are you doing here and why do you have Derek's son?"
"Derek's son?" Addison asked, eyeing Derek with a raised brow. "If I remember correctly, I was there during the conception and I was the one who pushed all five pounds and ten ounces of him out of a very, very small hole."
"You? You're his mother." Carolyn stood back, glaring slightly at the couple. "I thought you got divorced."
"Why would you think that?" Derek asked, trying to appear as if he had no idea of the conversation his mother had with Addison years earlier.
"I told you that you don't belong in this family, I said you didn't deserve to carry our name..."
"Right, so I changed my last name from Montgomery-Shepherd back to Forbes-Montgomery." Addison answered. "I have nothing to do with your family anymore if the name was the only thing that connected me. It's my mother's maiden name and my father's family name. I represent them, not you."
"I didn't mean to imply that you should just change your name, I meant that you should remove yourself from the family. That's what keeps your connected to the family."
"Well, that's not really up to you, Mom. Besides, if that's what you wanted then you really should have been more specific. It's not like Addison is a mind reader." Derek answered sarcastically in his wife's defense. "Addison and I are the only two people in this marriage meaning we're the only two people that have the authority to decide to end it. No one else's opinion counts."
"Mama!" the little girl in Derek's arms squealed, squirming in his arms to get closer to her mother and brother. In response, Aiden started giggling from his place in his mother's arms.
Derek held on to her tighter just to assure himself that she wouldn't dive right out of his arms. "Honey, please..." Derek begged her softly. "Just hang on a little more and Mommy and I will take you out for ice cream after our shift ends."
"Your son is quiet." Carolyn murmured, observing the little boy closely.
Aiden just stared at her, nuzzling his head into the crook of his mother's neck to hide from the strange woman. He was very uncomfortable around strangers and anyone who knew him knew that. "Mama, go." he whispered beneath her ear.
"Yeah, he takes a little time to warm up to new people." Derek answered.
"He's beautiful though, Derek, really. And here I was thinking you'd never have kids and now we've got someone to carry on the family's name..."
"Oh, about that, Mom..." Derek started, glancing at Addison with a mischievous look in his eye. "Addison and I decided against naming him Shepherd."
"What? But you just said part of the reason you named your daughter Adrianne is because it sounds good with Shepherd."
"Well, yeah, we named her Shepherd. She won't be carrying on the Shepherd name. She may take her husband's name when the time comes and even if she doesn't then her kids might...But Aiden, Aiden's a boy and he will carry on the name he was given. And, well, you strongly dislike Addison and we thought you wouldn't want a child she has mothered to carry on this family's name so we took your wishes into consideration there and decided it would be best to name him Montgomery."
"Montgomery? You are the only son and you gave our own only son his mother name?" Carolyn asked with disbelief. "If you were gonna pull something like that you should have given your daughter her mother's name and given your son your own name."
"Like I said, we didn't want to disappoint you." Derek answered, no longer able to contain the smirk on his face. "Karma is a bitch, right?"
"Car?" Aiden asked, perking up from his mother's shoulder. Aiden had developed an obession with with movie "Cars" and every time he heard the word he hoped it was in relation to the cartoon.
"No, honey, not 'car'. Karma. Think you can say that?" Addison asked the little boy.
Aiden doubtfully looked into his father's eyes seeking support. "Kar-ma."
"Exactly buddy." Derek exclaimed, holding his hand out to the child for a high five. "Karma is a bitch."
Adrianne carefully listened to her father say the phrase for the second time. Aiden had already said Karma, their parents wouldn't be impressed with her for the same thing so she tried to break down the harder word at the end of the sentence. "Bi-tch." she exclaimed, all eyes in the busy department moving toward her.
But Derek didn't scold her, he gave her the same support and encouragement he'd shown with Aiden, placing a soft kiss on her head. "That's right, honey, and that was a hard one. Good job."
"Did you just encourage our daughter for cursing at the tender, innocent age of 19 months?"
"Bitch!" Adrianne yelled again with more confidence and her trademark infectious smile. "Bitch!" There was no denying that that was her new favorite word. Although Addison didn't want to encourage the behavior, she couldn't help but laugh at her daughters enthusiasm.
"Derek, this whole thing is ridicul..." Carolyn spoke up only yo be interrupted by her young granddaughter.
"Bitch!" Adrianne screamed and giggled, pointing a delicate finger in the woman's direction.
"I should sue that daycare for being closed today. Here, let me take her. I should try to get them both to nap before they cause any more trouble. Addison suggested abruptly, shifting her son onto her hip to be able to carry her daughter on her other hip.
As Addison walked away Derek looked at his mother and said, "Karma really is a..."
"Bitch!" his daughter scream from down the hall.
Reviews are greatly appreciated :)
Hope you guys like it as much as everyone like it the first time it was posted.
