Two Sided Romance

Sometimes people do desperate things to get someone's attention. There are two sides to every story.

- Addison Montgomery Shepherd

Prologue

Sleep: a natural periodic state of rest for the mind and body. A relatively simple and natural process for most, but for Addison Montgomery Shepherd, sleep had become a foreign concept. This wasn't just because of the ridiculous hours which come with working as one of the top doctors in one of the top hospitals. No, Addison had actually developed a mild case of insomnia. But for someone so overworked and exhausted, she viewed herself as a medical marvel.

Throughout the day, Addison focused all her time and energy on her patients. Whether she was bringing new lives into the world, or desperately trying to save others, the redhead had very few moments to herself. It seemed as if the only time she had to concentrate on her own life was during the night. Addison, of course, knew the importance of sleep and tried to get at least a few hours in every night. But as soon as she closed her eyes it seemed as if hundreds of thoughts instantly swarmed her mind. It was actually quite frightening, and so she would keep her eyes open in order to slow down her own thoughts, her only satisfaction being that she got to watch her husband sleep. Addison Montgomery Shepherd, "the best of the best" by day, had become the "exhausted romantic" by nightfall.

Chapter 1

The time was exactly 5:14 a.m., as Addison grumbled and slowly opened her tired eyes. She always woke up exactly one minute before her alarm went off. Never earlier, never later. She actually didn't know why she even set an alarm considering she had never heard it ring. Addison had only been asleep for about two hours, but had become accustomed to working effectively with little to no sleep.

She sat up, rubbing her eyes and assessing her surroundings. Of course nothing had changed over the course of a couple hours, but every morning she woke up hoping that something would be different. Even just the smallest detail that most wouldn't even notice. She just wanted something to change. Unfortunately everything appeared to have stayed the same once again.

The redhead turned to her left, gently nudging her sleeping husband. "Derek…" she whispered. "Come on, we have to get up." No response. She sighed, raising her voice slightly, "Derek…"

"Mm…five more minutes" he mumbled.

Addison rolled her eyes, leaning in close to Derek. "Okay, I'm only going to say this once so listen closely okay?"

"Mmhmm…"

"CODE BLUE." she shouted.

Derek instantly rose out of bed "What? Who…where…wh-" he was quite disoriented. Addison smiled, deriving pleasure from the confusion she just caused.

"Good morning." she chimed in.

Derek squinted. "You're a terrible person, you know that right?"

"I've heard rumors."

The two slowly emerged out of bed, heading to the makeshift kitchen of their makeshift home. Addison put up a cup of coffee, noticing Derek heading toward the door. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"…I'm taking the dog out like I do every morning." Derek replied, somewhat annoyed. "Is there a problem?"

"No, just everyday it seems like you're disappearing for longer and longer." She was not accusing him, just stating the facts.

Derek turned around to face his wife. "What are you trying to say, exactly?" He did not enjoy being accused of anything, and he refused to take it from his wife.

"Nothing" she shrugged, "it's just when you take the dog out at night you're only gone for a few minutes and I-"

"So you think I use the dog as an excuse to go meet up with my girlfriends at 5:30 in the morning?" The frustration in his tone was on the rise.

"I never said that, Derek."

"You didn't have to."

Addison rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, okay? Is that what you want to hear? I'm sorry. I don't want to fight with you…." her voice softened. "We were doing good."

But Derek did not even respond, nor did he bother looking her way. He took what he claimed as his McDog out of his McTrailer and did in fact go on to have his morning walk with his favorite McIntern.

Chapter 2

Addison managed to get ready and eat a light breakfast within a half hour. She made sure to be out of the trailer and on her way to work by the time Derek returned from his morning walk. She knew that nothing would be resolved between her and her husband until at least the mid afternoon, so she wanted to try and keep her mind as clear as possible for the time being.

The redhead had a difficult day ahead of her. Helen Boyd, her most recent patient, had a very complicated surgery scheduled for that morning. She had developed a serious complication in the end of the first trimester of her pregnancy which posed a risk to both mother and child if left untreated. Regardless, Addison had one of the strongest records for this specific surgery, which was precisely why the couple chose Seattle Grace.

"Good morning, Mrs. Boyd." Addison entered her patient's room, flipping carelessly through her chart.

"Morning." the patient answered back, her anxiety obvious.

Addison glanced up. "In about ten minutes I'll be taking you down to the pre-op and we'll get you started."

"Okay."

"Do you have any questions, concerns, anything before we go in?"

"Dr. Shepherd…" she paused "Is my baby….is he going to die?" Helen Boyd's words were soft, but serious.

"We're going to do everything we can to prevent that. I have a very strong record with this surgery, but I can't guarantee anything." she replied softly.

Mrs. Boyd simply nodded, as a few tears trickled down her left cheek.

"Your baby's going to be fine, Mrs. Boyd." she reassured, contradicting her previous statement. "He'll be fine."

About a half hour later Addison and a few other surgeons, including Izzie Stevens, began to operate. Everything was going relatively smoothly until the surgery began getting more complex. It was at this point that Addison found it harder and harder to focus. She knew what she was doing, but just had a hard time keeping her mind straight. She was not caught up with Derek or anyone else, she was just overtired. Addison had been experiencing difficulty focusing over the past month or so, but it had rarely effected the outcome on any of her surgeries or various procedures.

An hour and twenty minutes into the surgery, everything started going downhill. The surgeons did everything in their power to keep both mother and child alive, but could only save one. Fortunately, the one who survived the surgery was Helen Boyd. Although she had performed an extremely complicated surgery, Addison still felt as if she could have saved the child had she gotten more sleep.