Disclaimer: I own nothing, particularly anything related to Grey's Anatomy or Alexander's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
A/N: This is my first attempt at an actual chapter story. I haven't done much of a read through at all, and I could even be writing myself into a corner, but I wanted to post this before I chickened out. Feedback would be welcome (and would probably motivate me to update sooner). For those of you that are serious shippers, I honestly haven't decided who is ending up with whom, but I do intend a happy ending for as many characters as the story will allow. (What can I say, sometimes it just ends up writing itself.) For those of you that reviewed my previous Grey's Anatomy one-shot, thank you very much. It was wonderful to know that there are like-minded viewers out there! I do plan on doing something else using the plotline of that story, but it is on the backburner for now. Okay, now, on with the story:
"How was your flight?"
"Delayed an hour, but otherwise not bad."
"Oh, I'm sorry Derek, but at least you made it."
"Yeah. Really not a bad flight delay considering Seattle weather."
"That's true. I remember Christmas break, my junior year of college, when I actually came home for once, we were delayed in Seattle for seven hours, and then, once we got in the air, a blizzard moved over Burlington, so our flight was redirected to Washington, DC. I ended up just giving up on the flying concept and renting a car. It was disastrous."
Derek chuckled at the memory.
"I miss you already," Meredith blurted after a slight pause.
"Yeah. Me too," Derek responded. "But I should only be out here a couple of days, and we'll be back in the trailer before you know it."
"We'd better," Meredith replied.
"Ha," Derek laughed. "Well, I should go. I want to check into my hotel before heading over to the hospital."
"Okay."
"Okay. Bye, Meredith"
"Bye, Derek."
"I'll talk to you tonight."
"Okay."
Derek hung up the phone and sighed. He was not ready to be back in New York.
x x x x x
"Addison."
Head down, eyes straight ahead, Addison continued her brisk pace down the hallway.
"Addie, wait." She heard him jogging behind her; she moved faster. "Addison!" His hand was on her arm, and he had spun her around to face him.
She jerked her arm from his grasp. "Not now, Mark. Not here," and she began walking away again.
Before she knew it, he had pulled her into an on-call room, occupied by five exhausted-looking interns. One well-executed glare by the feared Dr. Mark Sloan, however, had them scurrying to the door.
She sighed. "Great, Mark, just what I need in my life right now. More gossip."
"Addison . . . ."
"What, Mark?" she yelled. "What do you want from me?"
Before she could even finish her tirade, his arm was around her waist, his other hand in her hair, and his mouth was eating her words. She responded before she could help it—mostly out of habit and shock—but then shoved him away, hard against the wall.
"You can get that from anyone, Mark. And from what I've been hearing, you do." Giving him one last look, of what exactly Mark could not be sure, she left the room.
x x x x x
"So," Izzie sidled up to Meredith in the locker room, "Where was McDreamy this morning? I had his muesli all ready, but I never saw him."
"He had to go to New York for a consult for a couple of days. He'll be back on Friday."
"Does that mean you'll actually join us for drinks tonight?" Christina asked.
"Come on. I hardly ever miss drinks with you guys." Incredulous scoffs were heard around the room.
"Right. My mistake," Christina countered. "How many times have you come to Joe's with us since you and McDreamy started sleeping over?"
Meredith opened her mouth to reply, but then shut it, knowing that the answer was zero, but refusing to give Christina the satisfaction of saying it out loud. She settled for "Oh whatever. I'm going tonight, so leave me alone."
Christina smirked victoriously until she looked for the clock and leapt to her feet, realizing that they were late for Bailey.
x x x x x
"Thanks for coming, Derek." Dr. Wester shook Derek's hand warmly.
"It's the least I could do, Brian," Derek responded, marveling at how little had actually changed in his former boss's office. "After all, you did let me leave New York without suing me for breach of contract."
Brian laughed, "Don't kid yourself, Derek, I would have sued you in a heartbeat if you hadn't found someone to replace you, and been so pathetic. Mostly, it was because you were so pathetic."
The two laughed, easily slipping back into the comfortable camaraderie that had marked the seven years of their working relationship. It hadn't been easy for Derek to decide to quit, and it had been even harder for him to break the news to Brian, and now he was remembering why.
"In all seriousness, though," Brian said. "I really do appreciate you coming. I know that New York isn't exactly on your list of top ten vacation spots right now, but I really wanted you here. I needed the best."
"It's not a problem, Brian," Derek said, not wanting to linger on his reasons for not wanting to be in New York City. "Now, on the phone you mentioned that you needed me to replace the shunt in a patient with hydrocephalus, but that there were some special circumstances . . . ."
"Yes, well," Brian shifted uncomfortably. "It's my niece. You placed the original shunt two years ago when she was born, but she started having seizures earlier this week, so we did a CT and confirmed that she has outgrown the current shunt and needs a new one."
"Right." Derek said, remembering the case. It had been one of his and Addie's greatest collaborations. Brian's sister, Sarah, had had a very difficult pregnancy, and Addison ended up having to perform an emergency C-section six weeks before the due date. Then, in addition to all the other complications arising from a premature delivery, the two of them noticed a build-up of fluid in the baby's brain. Due to skillful work on the part of both the Dr. Shepherds, as well as the providence of God, Annie, Sarah's daughter, had not only survived the surgery inserting the shunt into her brain, but had also been developing normally since then, a miracle in and of itself.
Derek knew now though, as much as he had hoped to avoid seeing Addison during these couple days in New York, that it was not going to happen. There was no way that he could perform surgery on Annie and not see Addison.
"The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow?" Derek asked.
"At one," Brian affirmed.
"Well, take me to her," Derek may not want to see his wife, but he was not going to let that affect his responsibility to his patient.
x x x x x
"Yang, O'Malley, Grey," Bailey called out the interns' names. "You'll be covering the pit."
"All three of us?" Christina questioned.
"I know you aren't questioning my judgment," Bailey leveled an intimidating look at the intern, "but, yes, all three of you. Four of the local high schools had their proms last night, so the floor is going to be flooded with 'morning after' injuries."
"Karev," she continued, "labs." Alex rolled his eyes, which Bailey chose to ignore as she continued, "and, Stevens, you'll be running the code team."
"Me, run the code team?" Izzie reacted. "But, I became a doctor to help people, not to watch them die."
"Yes, you." Bailey responded. "You get too attached to your patients, and sometimes part of being a doctor is letting the patient go. Now, I'm sick of all this back-talk. Stop standing there and go be doctors." And with that command and a wave of her hand, the interns disbursed.
x x x x x
"Here we are, room 814," Brian motioned toward the door for Derek.
Derek took a deep breathe, "Good air in, bad air out," he thought, and he pushed the door open.
"That's what it was," he heard Addison reading, "because after school my mom took us all to the dentist and Dr. Fields found a cavity just in me. Come back next week and I'll fix it, said Dr. Fields." She hadn't even looked up, her attention was so fixed on Annie.
"Next week, I said, I'm going to . . . ." and she paused allowing Annie to finish the familiar phrase.
"Australia!" Annie cheered.
Addison laughed, "That's right, Annie, Australia."
Derek couldn't help smiling at the lovely picture the two made. When she looked up to turn the page, however, and caught his gaze, his smile dissolved in the wake of the panicked feeling that sparked in his chest.
"Hi," she said, looking shocked.
"Hi."
"Well, Derek, Addison, Miss Annie," Brian beamed at his niece, "I need to check on the OR board." And with that, Dr, Wester fled the room.
"So, I'm guessing he didn't tell you that I was coming." Derek ventured, trying to appear normal in front of the two year old.
"No, no he didn't." Addison replied, struggling for the same objective. "I should have assumed, though. I guess I just didn't think about it."
"There have been a lot of other things to think about," Derek stated quietly.
"Yes, there have," she responded in a low voice.
"More Australia! More Australia!" Annie chanted, clapping her hands together clumsily.
Addison smiled down at her. "We'll finish our story, Ann, but first, I want you to meet someone." She gestured to Derek to come closer to the bed where she and Annie were situated. "Annie, this is Dr. Shepherd. You met him once before, but you were just a little baby, so you probably don't remember, but he is the one that is going to be taking care of you tomorrow."
Derek gently shook the little girl's hand. "Nice to see you again, Annie. How are you feeling today?"
"My head hurts. Are you going to fix it?" she asked in that completely honest way that only comes from small children.
"I'm going to do my very best," Derek promised her.
"Now, Australia?" Annie asked Addison hopefully.
"Now Australia," Addison replied, laughing. "But first, give me one minute to talk to Doctor Shepherd, okay?"
"No. Australia now!" Annie demanded.
"Just a moment, honey. Here, hold the book for me for one moment while I talk to Doctor Shepherd," she placated the girl. "I'll be right back."
The two stepped into the hall, shutting the door behind them.
"You couldn't have told me you were coming?" she asked.
"I didn't want to bother you."
"Right," she arched an eyebrow at him. She didn't know why she was surprised. If he didn't avoid confrontation like the Black Plague, then maybe the two of them would still be happily married and living together.
"Look, I'm just here for three days, Addison. I'll do the surgery tomorrow and fly out the following day." He looked at his wife, but her guarded expression was not giving away any hint as to her emotions. "Don't worry," he continued, "I'm not here to interrupt whatever you have going on with Mark; I'm just here to do my job, and then I'm gone."
"Derek," she started to protest, but he cut her off.
"But I will be dropping by the brownstone. I forgot some things there. Is tonight okay?"
"Fine, Derek," Addison replied in irritation at his refusal to engage her in any kind of meaningful conversation. "Whatever."
As he walked away, she turned back to Annie's room mumbling, "Tomorrow, I'm moving to Australia."