TITLE: Slamming Doors
AUTHOR: Pilla Jeffrey
CATEGORY: Missing Scene/Epilogue, Thoughts, Drama, Angst
PAIRING: Richard/Adele, Ellis/Richard, Ellis/Thatcher
SPOILERS: Up until "Wishin' and Hopin'"
RATING: PG-13
CONTENT WARNINGS: sexual references
SUMMARY: Adele knew the whole time. And now she's had enough.
STATUS: Work In Progress
ARCHIVE: anywhere else, ask.
DISCLAIMER: Since I own Grey's Anatomy, you all saw that episode with McSteamy and Alex wrestling in pudding, right? Obviously, I kid and do not own.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I think, perhaps without a doubt, that the mirroring of the Ellis/Thatcher/Richard/Adele love rectangle with the Meredith/Finn/Derek/Addison one is the most compelling relationship aspect of Grey's Anatomy. I think the focus too often by the fans is with Meredith and Derek and Ellis and Richard, but I admire Adele. I admire her courage to stay with her man and then leave him. In the same way that people wanted to hate Addison but ended up loving her, Adele mirrors that. Her story needs to be told.

P.S. I'm trying hard to get years and ages and colleges and such correct, but if I slip up, tell me so I can fix it.

Chapter One: The End and the Beginning

When Adele Webber found out that her husband was cheating on her, she was wrapped in his arms while they were watching Cheers. It was her favorite show; he dealt with it as a doting husband should. He had his first night off in weeks and had promised to spend it with her. Just the two of them. Adele and Richard. Richard and Adele.

Just as Sam was about to make a sassy comment to Norm, the phone rang. Richard got up to answer. Adele sat up and turned the volume down, listening intently. No. Not tonight. He was free tonight. Seattle Grace wasn't about to take him again.

"Now? But—Ellis, I—now? I can't—Yes. I know. It's not—You—Yes. I'll be there. I'm coming."

Adele's heart constricted, her lip quivering slightly in anger. How dare they need him now. Fifteen hour shifts every day. For weeks. Their marriage had barely survived medical school. This internship, three months in, was little better.

He'd promised. He'd promised it get better. That the hours would get more flexible. But now, instead of studying for hours—something she could usually pry him away from for an hour or two of time in the bedroom—he was several miles away at a hospital saving lives. Leaving her alone.

Sometimes she laughed it off. "You're never around. Maybe I should find someone else for company."

To which he always responded, "I'm doing my best. And don't you dare."

Richard entered the room. "That was the hospital. There's been an accident."

Adele got up and wrapped her arms around Richard. "But tonight's your night off," she whispered into his ear, holding him tighter.

"I've got to go." He unhooked her hands from around his neck and started toward the door, grabbing his coat and bag.

"You know, I have half a mind to call up Steven tonight for some fun," she shouted after him, joking.

Silence. The sound of a bag being zippered and the door being slammed shut.

It was then, in the silence, that she knew that he was no longer hers.

Sometimes Adele missed Chicago. She grew up there, went to college there. It was while she was attending DePaul University when Tiffany, her sorority sister, brought her to a party for med students at Northwestern. The moment she entered, she saw him. Tall, handsome, with dark hair and smooth skin. His eyes were warm, but commanding. Adele melted. This was love at first sight.

If she had been in her right mind, she would have approached him easily. Adele always got her man. She got her way. And suddenly, without any preparation, she was reduced to a trembling, weak mess.

Tiffany noticed Adele's sudden hesitation in movement and immediately sensed what was going on. Quickly, efficiently, she got them two drinks and worked their way next to Richard and the gaggle of half-inebriated future surgeons around him. Suddenly, she pushed Adele into him, her drink sloshing all over his pants.

Adele felt her face flush as a trying smile crossed her lips. She was going to kill Tiffany. Delta Sigma Theta rules or not.

Quickly, though, Adele recovered from her shock. "Oh my God, I am so sorry." She picked up a napkin. "I can clean that for you. Dry-clean it even." A real smile this time.

He took her napkin. "Honest mistake. It's fine."

She extended her hand. "I'm Adele Burton."

His lips twitched at the edges and he took her hand. "Richard Webber."

It was that smile that glittered in his eyes and tickled his lips that caused her to accept his proposal of marriage a year later. It was that smile that caused her to give up Chicago. It caused her to give up her home, her life. And she had never regretted it. Never. Not until he left her with nothing but old memories and the slam of a door.

Like, dislike? Hungry for some more Adele/Richard/Ellis action? Review and tell me!