Thanks so much for the reviews! I had some trouble getting this chapter the way I wanted it, but in the end I decided to post and move onto the next one :) The next few chapters will hopefully involve some family members and more of the PP doctors. Enjoy! x

Consumed by darkness.

It was a pretty day. The skies we're clear, the sun was shining and the traffic was steady. The sunshine burst through the windows, lighting up the offices and warming the already friendly environment. The new coffee girl was almost as bright as the beaming sun; her personality needed no words as it was obvious she was super bubbly. Her pigtails and excessive use of the word 'like' suggested that she was not long out of high school. The young girl was more importantly smart. She had left free coffee and cookies for the staff, setting herself up nicely to be the new favourite coffee girl. The way to these Doctors hearts was indeed through coffee and cookies!

Unfortunately Amelia was the only exception to this bright and cheery day. Her drapes we're drawn, blocking the sparkly sunlight and setting the scene for the bad dream that had been playing out over the past few weeks. She dared not to venture outside the walls of her office; instead her co-workers took turns walking past her door, checking that she hadn't been consumed by the darkness that her office exuded. She was running on auto pilot and the gear that she was stuck in didn't allow her to let anyone else in. She had no interest in free coffee and even less interest in the perky new girl. The girl was smart though, she would give her that. She stayed away from Amelia. Too bad her co-workers didn't share the same smarts.

As a surgeon it was a given that Amelia liked to cut. She had always been fairly vocal about her kick ass cutting skills; there was no doubt that it was her passion and she was beyond good at it. Her passion thankfully extended to her patients, although at times her opinions clouded the judgement of her empathy. Never the less her patients best interests were her main interest. She made decisions with her head and executed them with her heart, at least the old Amelia did. As she sat in her office listening to the clock tick, it was eerily obvious that she was no longer the surgeon she used to be and that terrified her. Her job and the work she did was the only ounce of normal that she was defensively holding onto.

Her silence was out of character; Amelia barely blamed her co-workers for their curiosity, unfortunately she failed to understand their concern. As much as she fought the emotional roller coaster she was stuck on it was beginning to consumer her. She was losing control. Caught in a day dream, the flash of her famous smile made an appearance. A tiny baby was smiling at his mother. He had 10 little fingers and 10 little toes and big green eyes that sparkled every time anyone passed by him. Those big baby eyes were his weapon and he knew how to use them. One look and you were sucked in. Amelia was sucked in, just for a moment she was pulled out from the big black hole that had become her life. Each time the moments lasted longer and each time she fell back into the black hole a little harder than the time before. Addison was lucky; Henry had beautiful green eyes that sparkled. She couldn't help but wonder if she would ever know what colour eyes her baby would have.

Amelia pulled herself together and put on her game face as she entered the foyer in search of her next distraction, her patient. She was thankful to have avoided a face to face confrontation with Addie. She knew Addison would have been pleasant and Henry would have smiled at her, which was hard enough from a far. But Amelia's defensive side was well and truly in overdrive, she knew her sharp tongue wouldn't have held back. She held her head up high and greeted the young woman in front of her. The sweet, chatty patient had managed to fill Amelia in on her entire life from age 2-present, before they had even made it to her office. At this point Amelia had stopped even pretending to care. She only barely managed to deliver the happy outcome to the bright young girl, partly due to the patients constant chatting. Amelia could tell that this was glass half full kind of girl and she secretly wanted to pull her hair or inflict some kind of petty pain, anything to shut her up. The long walk to the elevator was strangely comforting for Amelia, the consultation was finally over. As she attempted to execute her exit the chatty patient reached out to hug the ready to run Amelia. Her first instinct was to pull away however she settled with a small parting conversation, which was relatively painless. As she offered a finale farewell, smiling as she turned please that she has dodged another bullet, it hit her! Those big green eyes and his mother. Amelia's forced smiled quickly faded and she immediately looked for a way out of the awkward situation she had hoped she'd already avoided. As she backed away and ran to the safety of her office Addison handed her smiling infant to an unimpressed Charlotte and followed Amelia.

Amelia was about as prepared for a fight as she was to see Addison standing at her office door. Nobody understood her feelings; she didn't even understand them herself. Amelia had made quite an effort to avoid Addison and up until now she had impressed even herself with her ability to do so. She knew Addison wouldn't leave without a conversation and Amelia was about 2 seconds away from breaking down. She buried her head in her hands, hoping that Addison would magically disappear. Unfortunately Amelia was a surgeon not a magician and Addison was still standing there. A fight ensured, because Amelia wasn't ready to let Addison in.

Addison took a deep breath as she attempted to execute her opening sentence.

'Look, I know you don't want to talk to me right now but..'

Amelia cut her off immediately.

'You're right, so just leave!'

It was clear to Addison that Amelia wasn't going to make this easy for her, but that wasn't going to stop her.

'Amy! I love you, just hear me out and I'll leave okay. I'm worried about you, everybody is. You need a plan, let me help you..'

Amelia wasn't about to hug and make up, the more Addison spoke the angrier she was getting.

'Don't you dare come in here telling me what I need! What I need is for you to leave me the hell alone. Do you hear me? Get out!'

Amelia started to sob, her tears broke Addison's heart but they weren't going to scare her away.

'I understand that you're upset, you have every right to be…'

Amelia stiffened, composing herself.

"NO! You don't understand. You have no idea! My life has turned into a horror show and all I can do is stand back and watch it all play out. My baby has no future! Do you understand that? I'm supposed to be this kick ass surgeon and there isn't a thing I can do to change that.. '

Addison's heart sunk, as much as Amelia fought it, Addie could see the fear in her eyes as she spoke.

'Amelia I am so, SO sorry, I.. '

Amelia couldn't take Addison's puppy dog eyes. They we're almost as piercing as that perfect baby boy of hers.

'NO! Don't, don't do that. Don't look at me with those eyes! I don't need you're pity or your concern. Every time I look at you I see that healthy baby boy and he smiles and you smile and all of that joy makes me want to SCREAM! I just want to rip that child from your arms and claw your eyes out. I am SO angry at you.. and jealous of you, this dream of a life that you finally have. And I wish, I so wish that I could be happy for you, but I can't because I am completely consumed by hate. I hate you Addison and I don't have room for all of that on top of all of the anger and bitterness that is burying me every single day, I have no room for that..'

Amelia was no longer holding herself together. Her feelings were bursting to come out and her anger was taking over and Addison was in the wrong place at exactly the right time.

'..I have no idea how I'm going to make it through this. But I know that I can't do it with you around. So I need you to stay the hell away from me! Just go away.. pleaseee, LEAVEEEE..'

Amelia broke down. She had no control of herself. Addison stood with her pity eyes completely unprepared as Amelia broke.

'Get out!..'

Addison had no words. Amelia was screaming at her and by now the rest of the office could hear the vulnerability in Amelia's voice. Amelia had been through a lot in her short life and Addison had seen her at her worst, but this was bigger than any wayward teenager drama from the past. Amelia wasn't a teenager anymore and she wasn't high. Still Addison reacted the same as she had all those years ago; she pulled Amelia close to her heart and held her tight. As she fought back Addison held her tighter until she finally gave up.

'It's okay, I've got you. Shhh'

Addison assured the crying doctor as she wept. Amelia's walls were crashing down and even if it was only temporary, for the first time in a while she felt safe.