Title: Perfectly Dysfunctional
Author: TeamMaddison
Summery: After loosing custody of their daughter to her abusive husband during their messy divorce Addison must fight to get her life back together so she can regain custody, and possibly save her daughters life.
Authors Note: AU : Addison and Derek have a daughter together named Brooke who is now 4 years old.
Chapter 1: A Cry For Help
"Emergency custody of the minor child Brooke Shepherd will be awarded to the father Derek Shepherd effective immediately." The judge ordered, and then she looked at Addison who sat weeping openly next to her attorney. "Mrs. Montgomery it is obvious that you love your daughter very much. Get your life together. Get help. Go to a program. You can get your daughter back. This is not the end."
Those words lingered in her head. They haunted her sleep. It had been a week since the judge had made her ruling and there were no words to describe the emotional heartache she was in. She didn't know how to live without her oldest child.
Perfectly Dysfunctional. That's what she calls her life. She sits numbly on the couch as she watched her perfect little 1 year old twins toddle around and play. The TV is on. Some children's program she couldn't be bothered to remember the name of. The sounds of the TV and her toddlers shrieks and laughter washed over her. She was in a daze. It felt like she was under water. It felt like she was drowning and looking down on her life from above. Her daughter couldn't be gone. She couldn't be with him. Who in their right mind would grant custody of a small child to someone who abused his wife and terrorized their child for years? Evidence right? Her phone was ringing and it brings her momentarily from her trance.
"What do you want?" She snaps, but the pain she is feeling is evident in her voice.
"I just want to know that you are ok… Brooke is very upset that you chose the twins over her." His voice is cruel and mocking.
"For fucks sake Derek don't bring our 4 year old into this. You know that is NOT how all of this happened!" She closed her eyes and the events leading up to the Divorce and custody battle flashed before her eyes as if they were happening all over again. The daily abuse she hid for so many years. The depression that came along with it. The drinking. The cutting. The constant working. The affair. The divorce. The new marriage to Mark. The hospitalization. The twins birth. The sudden file for Emergency custody just as she is finally beginning to get everything back on track and get her life back in order.
"Oh you know that is exactly how this happened." He responded cruelly. She could hear their daughter crying for her in the background.
"Derek just let me talk to her. Please. Let me talk to Brooke."
"Why would I pay you that kindness?"
"Derek Please?" She begged. To her surprise the tiny sweet cracking voice of her oldest daughter came over the line.
"Mommy?" She asked. Addison could hear that she was still crying. "Mommy I want to come home! Please just let me come home!" She pleaded into the phone.
"Brooke? Calm down sweetie." Addison said trying as hard as she could to keep her voice steady and not to let her daughter know that she was on the verge of tears herself. She tried to talk as fast as she could. Derek has been known to snatch the phone away in the past. "Baby I love you. You have to stay strong. I will do whatever it takes to get you back. I promise." She hears a struggle, and her daughter shriek "Mommy no mommy don't go!" as Derek pulls the phone away from her and Addison hears his chilling voice come over the line.
"We'll see about that Addie." He snarled before the line went dead.
