Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, bummer.

A/N: I've never written fan-fiction for Grey's Anatomy, but I love it to death. Please don't eat me or anything, thanks. This takes place in the middle of Season three. ADDEK!

-----

Addison Montgomery had learned not to be an optimist. Five years ago she was unstoppable, the world was perfect for her. She was glamourous, she appeared on covers of Medical digest magazines and had the perfect marriage. How she missed her relationship with Derek. She had never thought of herself as a bad person, a cheater, and she had NEVER imagined herself as divorced.

To top it off, it was a bad day. Addison walked down the hall of Seattle Grace hospital, barely being able to keep her balance on her black Gucci heels. She sometimes wondered if she was an ice-queen, but usually shrugged off the thought. Her head had been throbbing on and off all week, and she hadn't been able to stomach much in the way of food. Her equilibrium was offset and she had been exhausted.

She assumed it was the flu, or stress. It hadn't been a good few months. From the discovery of Meredith Grey's panties hanging on the bulletin board, or the realization that her husband really didn't want her back into his arms, Addison groaned. She knew nothing was seriously wrong, she just assumed her body was trying to make excuses for the inner turmoil being fought with in her head.

"Seriously Addison," she thought out loud, "Get a grip." Looking sideways, she noticed Meredith Grey looking through her charts.

"I was assigned to you today," Meredith smiled awkwardly, pretending she hadn't heard Addison talking to herself.

"Umm, okay, can you go check on my patients in rooms 209 and 211?" Addison asked icily, conveying no emotion, "Then you can scrub in with me, I'm just doing a complicated C-section." Meredith nodded, walking off towards the rooms, charts already in hand.

Addison sighed, knowing it was going to be a long day. Her head hurt worse than it had the day before and her stomach was churning as if she was swaying on a boat, which is how she actually felt. Ignoring the pain, Addison Montgomery continued walking down the hall.

"Hi," Addison walked into her next patient's room where Meredith was carefully readjusting the IV line, "I'm Doctor Montgomery." The patient was a young lady with blond hair who couldn't have been much older than twenty or so.

"Can you tell me what is wrong with me?" Meredith looked at Addison, slowly making eye-contact. Addison nodded in her direction, suggesting that she was supposed to announce the problem.

"While we know that you have not reached full-term, your baby needs to come out now. Your son has an underdeveloped heart problem which cannot be corrected in the womb. We will perform a C-section and then put your newborn son straight onto the operating table where Dr. Burke, our cardio-surgeon, will perform an operation," Meredith simplified the confusing medical terms for the patient.

"Will my baby...will my baby live?" she asked quietly, it was Addison's turn to take over.

"Only time will tell, but without the operation your baby will certainly die," Addison smiled sadly, reading the form, "I plan to perform the C-section this afternoon, if I can get your consent."

"Anything," the patient frowned, "To possibly save my baby." Addison motioned Meredith out of the room, into the hall.

"Do the pre-op procedures, I have a few patients to check on but then we will be good to go for the operation," Addison told her, shifting side to side awkwardly. Meredith half-smiled but noticed something off about the doctor.

"Are you alright Addison?" Meredith asked, genuinely concerned, "You look a little green." Addison's stomach was still swirling inside of her.

"I'm fine, just feeling a little off..." she trailed off. Man did she need a bathroom, quickly, "See you soon." Addison hurried towards the nearest bathroom, shoved open the door, and threw up the contents in her stomach into the toilet. She was surprised to hear Meredith Grey coming behind her. She threw up again, wiping her mouth and exiting the stall.

"Are you really okay?" Meredith asked. She had to admit, she felt somewhat awkward asking Addison Montgomery if she was okay. She knew how much mental healing she had, due to the actions of Meredith.

"Please don't tell Derek," she said somewhat bitterly, "Or the chief for that matter, everyone gets a little stomach flu once in awhile." Addison looked at Meredith, wanting to thank her for her concern, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

------

"Scapel," Addison motioned towards Meredith. She didn't feel better, she actually felt significantly worse. Sighing, she took the knife out of the young intern's hand and made the appropriate slice. She was dizzy and she knew that she shouldn't be performing an operation, but Addison didn't want to attract anymore attention to herself. Continuing the surgery, Addison safely removed the baby and began suturing the patient.

As Burke began operating on the baby, Addison turned her head backwards to watch, feeling a wave of pain hit her in the head, causing an onset of nausea. She was so dizzy. Addison stumbled backwards, holding her hands to her head. Suddenly, without any previous warning, Addison began to fall forwards, fainting. Meredith leapt across the room, catching the attending before she hit the ground.

"Addison!" Meredith cried out, slowly setting her on the ground.

"I can't...I can't..." Addison moaned soft, "It hurts."

"What hurts?" Meredith asked concerned, "Someone get me a gurney!" At the sound of the commotion, Preston Burke turned around only to see his co-worker nearly passed out next to Meredith Grey.

"What in the hell is going on over there!?" Burke asked, keeping his focus on the baby.

"Addison fainted," Meredith told him, continuing to hold on to the attending that hated her with a passion.

Addison, without thinking, placed her head on Meredith's shoulder, waiting for the gurney.

"Its okay," Meredith awkwardly comforted the attending, "You're fine."

"Someone finish suturing the patient..." Addison managed to croak. A nurse scurried over to the patient.

"Are you okay?" Burke asked, still working on his patient. Addison nodded,

"I'm...okay." Meredith looked at the attending laying in her lap, "Put our differences aside, I'm here."

Addison thought to herself about the differences. Derek Shepard plagued her mind. She still had trouble thinking about him without feeling tears prick her eyes. She hadn't been enough for him, she hadn't been faithful to him. She frowned.

"Do you think you can stand up?" Meredith asked.

"I've got her," the male orderly announced, slowly lifting her off the ground, "Where do you want me to take her?"

"I paged Dr. Webber," Meredith explained, "Take her to an examination room - he wants to run some tests." Addison groaned as another flash of pain flew threw her body. Meredith grabbed Addison's hand and gave it a squeeze,

"I'm sure everything will be okay."

Addison laughed to herself, she couldn't really remember what okay meant at all, nothing was okay.

-----

A/N: That was really just a prologue, thanks for reading! The first chapter will be up soon but I just wanted to introduce the plot. I think whats coming is fairly obvious but thats okay.