Los Angeles:
Colin Shepherd Kerrigan loves the park; he enjoys the feel of the fresh air hitting his face, the smell of the dirt and grass and the flowers. He enjoys getting his tiny toes wet in a mud puddle he happens to find, much to his mother's chagrin. It's definitely safe to say that the park is his favorite place in the world. He's currently squealing with laughter as his soon to be stepfather pushes him on the swing set, his legs wildly kicking back and forth.
"Higher!" he signals with his hands to James.
To the side, Amelia Shepherd watches her son and fiancé interact with a huge smile on her face. This, this very moment, seeing Colin and James together, is better than anything she could've ever imagined. Her heart does ache from time to time, because truthfully, it should be his father Ryan out there playing with him; Ryan chooses not to come around anymore. He can't handle the fact that his son not only has downs but is deaf as well. Amelia shakes her head, willing herself to think on happier things, like today for example.
Today is the practice's annual picnic in the park, a tradition Addison started soon after the new practice was created. She has to hand it to Addie; she knew what the hell she was doing when she decided to rebuild the practice from scratch. It's bigger, better and definitely bringing in major clientele. It took some major adjusting to, the biggest challenge was adding on 9 new doctors, ranging in specialties from Orthopedics to Plastic Surgery, but this new group of doctors fits in well with the original crew-Addie, Amelia, Cooper, Charlotte, Violet, Sam, Naomi, and Pete. She wants to add Sheldon's name to the list but she can't, not anymore; he died two years ago in a car crash. Ironically, everyone thought it would be his cancer to kill him; not a wrong turn in the middle of a rainstorm.
"You're thinkin mighty hard," Charlotte King Freedman is smiley today, something that's a rare occurrence for the Blonde unless you're one of her 3 children or her husband of course.
"Thinking about Sheldon; he used to love these things," Amelia says with a sigh as Charlotte wraps an arm around her friend.
"I miss him too, but hey, he'd be so proud of you for how you're tackling Collie's diagnosis, finally setting a date for your wedding to James," She gives Amelia a playful nudge in the ribs, causing the brunette to grin back at her.
"I think he'd be proud too; I mean, I went to Seattle to see Derek for crying out loud, and, I actually like Meredith," Amelia says as both women stare out at the beautiful scenery in front of them. Hundreds of people are gathered at Griffith Park for the annual event, the doctors' families, as well as other organizations that support the practice, have gathered for the event.
"You'd better not let Montgomery hear you say that she'll get jealous," Charlotte teases.
"Addie would never get jealous of me being nice to Meredith; now if I were to suddenly move to Seattle and start calling Meredith my sister…" Both women laugh at the idea of that happening.
"I can't see ya moving to Seattle; it rains too much and besides, your family's right here," Charlotte says with a smile before running off to scold one of her daughters-Caroline to be exact.
"Caroline Grace Freedman! What have I told you about hitting other children…" Amelia chuckles to herself as she watches James carry her (their) son towards her.
"Hi, sweetie! Did you have fun on the slides?" Amelia picks Colin up and presses a kiss to his head.
"I went really high!" Colin signs back; they speak to him as though he can talk and he signs back in return.
"Hey buddy, are ya hungry?" James asks; Colin nods so James takes him from Amelia, planting a kiss on her cheek before the two of them move towards the sweet smell of barbecue and hot dogs.
Grabbing a bottle of water from a nearby cooler, Amelia makes her way up the hill to the tents reserved for the doctors and their families. However, she stops short when she notices the small crowd gathered around. Frowning, Amelia makes her way towards the group; her heart stops when she sees Addison passed out on the ground.
"Addison? What happened?" Amelia shouts, instantly leaning forward to listen for a heartbeat or a pulse.
"She's fine Amelia, she fainted," Violet explains as two of the newer doctors, Damien Sanchez and Esai Ramirez, carry Addison inside one of the tents.
"She's obviously not fine, she fainted!" Amelia shouts as Charlotte races over to see what's going on.
"What happened to Addison? When I left she said she was about to call Jake," Charlotte glances over at Addison, who's slowly coming to.
"Amelia, there's something you should know," Violet says, gently placing a hand on the young neurosurgeon's shoulder. The look in Violet's eyes causes everything to shift; something bad has happened.
"What happened?" Violet glances over at Naomi and Sam, who are standing off by a tree on what appears to be a very serious phone call.
"Amelia…there was an accident, Jake and Angela are dead," Violet tells her.
2011
The practice is in deep trouble; with Violet's book coming out, they are at risk of being investigated by the medical board, which could cost them their licenses as well as the practice. Violet's license has been suspended indefinitely, leaving the rest of the group at a loss of what to do. So, they've called this meeting to decide the fate of the practice as well as their own.
"What are going to do you guys?" Naomi asks; everyone is seated at the table in the conference room, looking to someone for an answer.
"We could fight this," Pete says.
"But we risk them coming after us individually," Sam says with a sigh
"We should just cut our losses," Cooper says as Sheldon looks at him strangely.
"So we're not even going to try?"
"I have a suggestion," Everyone turns to look at Addison; it was after all now her practice, seeing as she took over a few years ago.
"Okay, go on Addie," Naomi prompts as all eyes fall on her.
"I would like for us to formally dissolve Oceanside Wellness and, open a new practice. I'll fund it all; we stick together but do things different. We hire a medical consultant to show us how to do things, but most of all we stay together as a family," Everyone takes a moment to let her suggestion sink in. In the end, they agree; Oceanside Wellness sees its last patient two weeks later before closing its doors for good.
oOoOo
"So what you're saying is, you wanna open a fancy medical practice?" A month has passed since Oceanside Wellness closed. The practice closing has given everyone a chance to be normal people for once. Everyone has taken special vacations and trips, had a chance to be regular people. Today, however, they've all gathered at Addison's house to discuss moving forward.
"It would draw in more business; look, I know I'm still relatively new here but I feel like opening a new practice and expanding it would be great. We could see even more clients plus if we hired more doctors-" Addison begins.
"Okay whoa, I thought you said 'stick together as a family', not add more people," Cooper points out as Addison sighs.
"I talked it over with the medical consultant,"
"Whom we've never met," Sam points out; he and Addison are officially over, so there's bound to be tension between the two of them.
"Well I have and we agreed that-"
"Wait, is the practice gonna be a co-op once it reopens?" Pete has a valid question, it's one on everyone's minds.
"No, it isn't," Addison sadly informs them as everyone begins to shout their outrage.
"Enough! If we turn it into a co-op using the same building, the same doctors, the same…everything, the medical board will see right through that. The only thing that'll be different is the sign! Unless you want them coming after us again and this time suspending our licenses, we have to do it differently," Addison shoots them all a hard look, one by one.
"As much as I hate to admit it, Addie's right; the medical board will see right through this, especially if we bring Violet back after her suspension," Naomi says.
"Wait, what happened to 'we stay together'?" Pete's heart attack has taken a lot out of him, but he was strong enough to come to the meeting today. Violet is still family, screw up or no screwup.
"Pete, it's okay. I understand why Addison is doing this," Violet is there also, even though the medical consultant specifically told Addison not to invite her.
"Violet, of course, I'll give you your job back once your suspension is over; you know that. What I'm saying is, if we want the practice to survive, we have to change how we do things,"
"And by change you mean?" Pete questions.
"I'll be the primary owner and each you would serve on the board of directors, owning a certain percentage of the practice,"
"So it'll still be a co-op without actually being called a co-op; smart move Montgomery," Charlotte says with a smirk.
"Exactly; we'd expand the practice, hire new doctors, maybe even open a pharmacy…"
"A pharmacy? You wanna add a pharmacy as well?" Pete tilts his head to the side.
"It would eliminate the middle man, which would mean more money for the practice," Addison says with a shrug.
"It sounds so…elitist," Pete says with a shake of his head.
"I know, but there's no turning back at this point; Oceanside Wellness is gone."
"So we're gonna have a pharmacy and what else?" Sheldon asks.
"Like I said, more doctors; it would give us more time to actually tend to patients plus, with doctors of all specialties, we bring in more clientele which means-"
"If this is new practice is gonna be all about the money then-"
"It's not! Listen, I' ran a practice back in New York and the way we were going before, we were barely scraping by. After I took over, a lot of funding for the practice came out of my pocket; loans were taken out because patients weren't paying. There were threats of foreclosure on the building a few times. Hell, half of your paychecks came out of my personal account because we were just that broke. With Naomi taking out a second mortgage on the practice it really screwed us. We never really recovered from that," Addison explains.
"So that's why you wanna bring in more doctors, to keep us from going broke again," Sam states.
"Yes,"
"Addie, if the practice was costing us money-" Naomi begins, though Addison holds up a hand to stop her.
"It's what I signed up for when I took over," She says with a shrug.
"Ya didn't have to go through it alone Montgomery," Charlotte points out.
"We've all been through our own personal hells over the last few years; why add more pain by saying the practice was failing?" Addison clears her throat and continues explaining the process, allowing everyone to have input.
oOoOo
"So we're looking at hiring close to 10 new doctors," Sheldon says going over the lists of specialties.
"That's a lot of doctors," Pete says looking at the list.
"It is but, when you take into account the high demand for Plastic Surgery, Physical Therapy, ENT, you're looking at a huge client intake," Addison explains.
"Which would mean more money for the practice," Pete says with a sigh as Addison shoots him a look.
"Listen, I know you're trying to go by the book here but, this is hard for some of us. Cooper, Violet, Sam, Naomi and I have been here since the beginning. The rest of you are newbies so you're gonna have to excuse us if we're not so gung-ho about this new practice,"
"If you think you can run a practice exactly the way we did before then go ahead, Pete. Go right ahead! I should've let you see how the bills were piling up or how many patients we lost because of a lack of ethics. Think about half of the things we did that we knew were ethically wrong; if the medical board went after us for Violet's book, just imagine what they would've found if they'd kept digging. We wouldn't be looking at suspended licenses; we'd be looking at jail time. I don't know about any of you, but I don't wanna go to jail and I don't wanna lose my license because I love what I do. I wanna do it right, I wanna do it right and I wanna make money and I wanna see my patients happy. If you can't handle that then-" Addison takes a deep breath before walking into her kitchen to grab a glass of water.
"She's got a point; before Addison took over the practice was crawling in moral and ethical dilemmas," Sheldon points out.
"Montgomery's right; we have to do this the right way," Charlotte agrees.
"Change is a good thing, right? I mean, Addison did keep us with a job and a roof over our heads while she ran the practice. I won't be so bad; I mean, I did some digging into her old practice and it was top of the line," Cooper says.
"He's right; Addie's got a sharp business mind. I know this is gonna be hard for some of us but, we've gotta move forward," Sam says just as Addison returns to the living room.
"So, have you started looking at potential new doctors yet?" Naomi asks; she'd already made the decision to leave the practice prior to them closing it down, but she wants to see this through seeing as she'll still own a certain percentage of it.
"No, I think it should be a group effort; we can hire an agency to handle applications and then we interview them ourselves," Naomi nods her head; the plan makes good sense, let's hope that the follow through is just as good.
oOoOo
"So we're looking at a new lady doctor…ooh, he's a guy; name's Jake Reilly," Cooper said looking over the man's resume.
Things were slowly starting to progress with the practice; the construction work had begun last week. The third floor would serve as the main lobby (they decided to forego having a pharmacy) with the fourth-floor housing the doctor's offices while the fifth floor would be the actual practice, complete with larger exam rooms, an MRI and X-Ray room as well as a birthing and outpatient surgical suite . Addison had a raging migraine and it wasn't even 10 am yet; she massaged her temples before taking a sip of her water. Taking a sip of her water was the worst mistake she could have ever made because standing in front of her, was none other than pineapple guy, aka Jake Reilly.
"Dr. Reilly, why don't you have a seat; I'm Dr. Sam Bennett, this is Dr. Cooper Freedman and-"
"Addison Montgomery," Jake reached forward to shake Addison's hand as Cooper and Sam stared at her strangely.
"You didn't tell me you knew Dr. Reilly Addison," Cooper said.
"Jake's just fine and we don't exactly know each other; we happen to frequent the same grocery store. We sometimes stop and chat over pineapples," Jake said with a smirk as Sam looked between the pair suspiciously.
"Uh yeah, we do that sometimes, chat in grocery stores. Let's get this interview over with, shall we?"
oOoOo
"So, I hear you happen to know our potential new employee," Amelia said as she leaned against one of the counters in the break room later that afternoon.
"Ugh, not you too," Addison groaned as she opened the refrigerator.
"Oh come on Addie! Cooper said you looked surprised as hell to see him plus, he said you two had some serious eye sex going on," Amelia raised an eyebrow, refusing to let up on the issue.
"Alright, fine! Do you remember a couple of months ago when I went on that blind date?" Amelia closed her eyes, trying to recall.
"Wait, was that the date with the guy you met in the grocery store?!" Amelia's eyes widened with excitement.
"The very one," Addison muttered.
"You said all you did was kiss him! Amelia hissed.
"That was it…but he also propositioned me to go to Fiji and have sex with him for a week,"
"Wait, that new doctor-"
"Jake, his name is Jake Reilly," Addison reminded her.
"Whatever, that hunky doctor is Fiji guy!? Go Addison! Why the hell didn't you go!?" Amelia reached across the island to smack her former sister-in-law on the arm.
"Ow! Hey, I didn't go because one, the practice was going under and two, I was still hung up on Sam," Addison said with a roll of her eyes.
"Ya could've been hung up on something else," Amelia muttered.
"Really? You haven't learned how to filter yet?!" Addison groaned.
"It's a process Addie, but seriously, what about the eye sex Cooper said-"
"We were not having eye sex; Jake also happens to be my fertility specialist," Addison said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, ohhh; yeah, all kinds of awkward,"
"Exactly,"
"Wait if he's your fertility specialist, why's he trying to work here?" Amelia wondered.
"Now see, I have no idea," Addison said with a shake of her head.
oOo
"Hey, you got a minute?" Amelia pokes her head into Jake's office one evening before heading out.
"Sure, what's up?" Jake has been working at the practice for a few months now and it's pretty clear to everyone that he's got a crush on Addison.
"Why don't you just ask Addison out?" Amelia has always been a ballsy woman, unafraid to say what she feels.
"Excuse me?" Jake seems taken back by her question; he's even more surprised when she saunters into his office and takes a seat at his desk.
"You heard me, why haven't you asked Addison out yet? Don't give me that look; everyone knows you two have the hots for each other. Ask her out already!" Jake simply chuckles at Amelia, finds her frustration to be adorable. She's protective of Addison.
"Addison's not over Sam," Jake says simply as Amelia rolls her eyes.
"She's totally over Sam! They've been broken up for months now!" Amelia is exasperated; why can't these two just get it together?
"Just because she's not sleeping with Sam doesn't mean she's over him yet. I don't wanna be second best and right now if I were to get involved with her, I'd just be a rebound," Amelia studies Jake and comes to find out that she likes him, she really, really likes him.
"I think you should give it a try; ask her out," Amelia says with a smile before leaving his office.
oOoOo
"What? No? No, Jake's not, Jake can't be…"Amelia's eyes widen in shock at Violet's words.
"Jake and Angela were white water rafting earlier today and the waves got out of control, Addison tried to call Jake but…" Violet's voice is soft, comforting as everyone else stands there in shock.
"Wait, Violet, are you sayin…" Charlotte's eyes are just as wide as Amelia's; no one can believe it. It's not until Addison lets out a gut-wrenching scream of Jake's name, followed by an even more heartbreaking sob that everyone believes it's true. Sam walks over to the group, a look of anguish on his face and a heavy sigh on his lips; Naomi is in the tent with Addison, holding her close as she sobs.
"I need to be with her, Jake was my family," Amelia has tears in her as she rushes towards Addison.
"Amelia," Charlotte's hand is gentle on her shoulder, though Amelia wrenches away.
"No! Don't Charlotte; Addison is my sister and Jake is my brother, I need to be with her right now," Charlotte's touch is a bit more firm this time.
"Amelia, Addison's gonna need somebody to look after Henry; you're his godmomma, she wouldn't want anybody else with him but you," Charlotte stares into Amelia's eyes, hoping that she gets it. Henry doesn't know, it'll be hard for him to understand what's going on.
"I get it, but please, at least let me see her?" There's a look of desperation in the young Neurosurgeon's eyes.
Jake had been there for her when no one else had been. He was there for her when she got pregnant; he's been there through all of Colin's complications. He'd even been the one who taught him sign language. Charlotte doesn't say much after that, just lets her go; she watches with a heartbreaking sigh as the two women hold each other close and mourn the loss of a great man.
Seattle:
Derek sat in the rocking chair with both of his children and stroked their hair. He couldn't believe it; Jake was dead. He shuddered at the thought of leaving his own children behind; Henry wasn't that much younger than Zola. He looked up when he saw Meredith standing in the doorway of the bedroom.
"I'm sorry," He said, and he was; nothing that they had been arguing about mattered anymore.
"I'm sorry too," Meredith said as she walked across the room, taking a seat on the floor beside her husband and children.
"I can't believe it; Addie worked so hard to be happy and then…why her? Why Addison? Why Jake?" Derek asked to no one in particular.
"I get what that's like; we didn't have kids then but-"
"You're thinking about the shooting, aren't you?" Meredith nodded as she absently took Bailey's hand into her own and stroked it.
"Derek, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you; we have to-"
"I'm not taking the job in DC Mere, not anymore, not after this," Derek told her.
"And if this hadn't happened? If Addison hadn't lost her husband?" Meredith wanted to know.
"I still wouldn't have taken it; it wasn't worth it, not to me. Sure, it would've been a great opportunity, but my family is here. My life is here, my career, everything I love is right here with me right now," Derek said.
Meredith stood, gently taking Bailey from Derek's arms as he looked at her strangely.
"Let's go to bed, it's been a long day; the kids can sleep with us tonight," She said.
Derek smiled at her as he eased Zola onto his shoulder and carried her to their bedroom. Once the children were settled, he carefully wrapped his arms around his wife, breathing her in.
"I love you, Meredith,"
"I love you too Derek,"
oOoOo
The pitter patter of Sofia's feet followed by her incessant early morning chatter is the first thing to wake Mark up the next morning. He rolls out of bed, shirtless as usual, and strides into the living room. He picks up his daughter, presses a kiss to her head before leaning over to kiss Callie, in a non-romantic way of course. He notices the tension in her shoulders and the look in her eyes; she's been wearing it since yesterday, not long after Sofia's performance.
"You gonna tell me what's going on Torres? You look like you lost your best friend," He says with a chuckle.
Callie's lips pause just before reaching her coffee mug; she stares at him, hard. She doesn't want to do this, to put him in such a terrible mood that it could destroy the progress he's managed to make in the last 5 years. She sighs heavily, placing her mug down onto the counter before calling Sofia over to her.
"Torres, is everything okay?" Mark tilts his head to the side; if she had to call Sofia over then whatever she's been hiding has got to be pretty big news. He watches as she settles their little girl onto the counter top; she instinctively reaches out to grab his hand as well.
"I have something to tell you both, something bad," There's a nervousness in Callie's voice that Mark instantly picks up on.
"Did you forget to bring home cookies again?" Sofia asks, causing Callie to chuckle.
"No sweetie, I wish it were something that simple but, it's not. Guys…something happened yesterday and, it's really bad," Callie says; she's stalling, Mark notices, she's trying to find the right words to say.
"What happened Mami?"
"Sweetie, Uncle Jake, and Angela were in a really bad accident and…they died," Callie bites her lip; she's looking at Mark trying to gauge his reaction more than Sofia's.
"They died? But how Mami?" Sofia's almost 6, so the concept of death is still quite new to her.
"Honey, do you remember when your goldfish died?" Sofia nods, though her eyes grow wide as saucers.
"So we're gonna flush Uncle Jake and Angie down the toilet!?" Callie sighs; okay, so maybe the goldfish wasn't the best analogy.
"No, no, no honey! We're not gonna flush them down the toilet; I don't even think we can fit them down a toilet. Do you remember how sad you were when your goldfish died? Well, that's how Aunt Addie and Henry feel right now. They're sad that Uncle Jake and Angela died," Callie goes on to further explain things to Sofia, but Mark's not there right now; he zoned out when she said that Jake had died.
He knows that she's been watching him, trying to gauge his reaction but he doesn't have one. It's too much of a shock for him right now. He immediately grabs his phone and checks his notifications; there was a group text from the chief, confirming that Jake had indeed died yesterday. He checks his Facebook(yes he has a Facebook and yes, he and Addison are friends) notifications and sure enough, Addison's wall is flooded with condolences from people everywhere. It still doesn't seem like it's true so instead, he calls her. It takes a moment before a broken voice picks up the phone; it's definitely Addison.
"Red, I'm so sorry," Mark murmurs into the phone.
"Mark…" The sound of Addison's voice haunts him; he's never heard her sound so broken in his life. There's a commotion on the other end of the phone before he hears Amelia pick up.
"Amy, how's she-"
"She's devastated, we all are; no one saw this coming," His heart breaks into a million pieces when he hears little Henry ask 'what's wrong with mommy?'
"Go, take care of her, take care of em both," He tells Amelia.
"I will; I'll call you when, when the arrangements have been made?" There's a tremble in Amelia's voice when she says this part; he knows how much she's gotta be hurting.
"Hey, Amy?"
"Yeah, Mark?" Her voice is like a little squeak this time.
"Take, you take care of yourself, you hear? I love you, kid," He can almost feel the smile she gives him through the other end of the phone.
"I love you too Mark, be safe; bye," With that, they end their phone call.
"How is she?" Callie had moved to sit next to him at some point; he lets out a long sigh, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck.
"I've never heard her sound like that before; she could barely get any words out. All she could say was my name and it even that sounded like it took a lot out of her. This is so fucked up Torres," Mark leans forward, resting his head on his thighs as Callie rubs his back.
"I know Mark but, she'll get through it; Addie's strong. She'll get through it, and so will we," she tells him.
"I sure hope so,"
Chapter 5 to follow…
