Addison spent the next two weeks doing her best to avoid her ex-husband and his wife. Much to Alex's relief, she also started taking it a bit easier in those two weeks, performing only the most difficult surgeries that no one else could do and passing the rest along to Adams and Nicole Williams, the neonatologist that had been hired to fill in during her maternity leave.
On February sixth, Addison and Alex had a TTTS surgery scheduled. "Going out with a bang, huh?" Alex asked as they scrubbed in.
"Not necessarily. I still have four days left," Addison countered before entering the OR, though the odds of such a rare surgery popping up in that short timeframe was unlikely.
"Wanna bet? I don't think you'll make it til Tuesday. I don't think you'll even make it through the weekend," Alex teased.
"Oh, yes I will. You hear me, baby girl? You're staying in there until the tenth. Got it?"
The surgery went smoothly and was a complete success. Towards the end Alex noticed Addison tense up and take a few deep breaths several times, but she seemed okay so he left her alone. When they were scrubbing out, though, she suddenly gasped and clutched the edge of the sink. "You're having contractions! I told you the baby was coming before Tuesday!"
"Yeah, you win this one," Addison admitted. "You okay talking to the family on your own?"
"Yeah. You want me to take you to OB first?"
"Nah, go update the family. I'll be fine. It's early yet, I'm not in any rush. I'll meet you up there."
Alex made it to the door before Addison moaned loudly and mumbled something about her water breaking. He turned around too late to catch her as she fell to the floor, and realized in horror that the liquid gushing down her legs wasn't amniotic fluid. "Somebody get me a gurney, and page Doctor Adams!" he yelled before rushing to her side. "Addison! Come on, stay with me. Open your eyes, Addison. Hang in there." Her lashes fluttered briefly, but that was as close as she came to regaining consciousness before she was lifted onto a gurney and whisked away.
Adams arrived, quickly evaluated Addison, and within minutes they were scrubbing in for an emergency c section. "Be ready, Karev. I'm still not getting a heartbeat on the baby," she warned as she started the incision. In the blink of an eye, Adams passed the limp, silent infant to Alex; he was doing CPR when Nicole arrived. After five terrifying minutes they finally got a heartbeat. Leslie was still working on Addison, and the last thing Alex heard before rushing Ella to the NICU was Leslie calling for more blood. He felt torn between leaving and staying, but knew Addison would want him with Ella.
Up in the NICU Ella's heart continued beating but she had yet to breathe on her own and remained unconscious. "Karev, call CT, get her in as soon as possi- shit. She's seizing!"
"Dammit! Come on, Ella," Alex muttered as he pushed the anti-seizure meds, and breathed a sigh of relief a few minutes later when the convulsions stopped.
"Okay, tell CT we're coming NOW. And page neuro."
Within minutes they were in radiology. Derek arrived just as they got the baby in the machine. "Okay, what do we have?" he asked as he sat down and glanced at the chart in front of him; what he saw caused his heart rate to pick up considerably. "Baby girl...Montgomery? Not Addison's, right?"
Alex nodded grimly. "It is. Addison had a placental abruption. Couldn't find a heartbeat before surgery and it took five minutes to resuscitate her after delivery. Low muscle tone, not breathing on her own, photosensitivity, and had a seizure...we're thinking it's a brain bleed."
"Okay, let's see what we have." Derek frowned as the images started coming up on the screen
"Damn. She has a ruptured aneurysm. We have to get her into surgery."
"Surgery? She's not even an hour old! Don't you want to try-"
"No time. There's too much bleeding and swelling. Book an OR. Does Addison know what's going on?"
"No. She started hemorrhaging, Adams had to do a c section. Probably still in the OR."
"Okay, well, book an OR, get her prepped, then you're scrubbing in."
Alex was on his way to scrub in when Callie flew down the hall. "I just heard about Addison. How's the baby?"
He shook his head. "She has a brain bleed. Shepherd's taking her into surgery, it's bad. How's Addison?"
"Still in surgery. Adams couldn't stop the bleeding so she's doing a hysterectomy."
"Fuck. What else could go wrong?"
"You really want to ask that?"
"You're right. Let me know when she's out, okay?"
"Of course. Good luck."
Half an hour into surgery Ella coded; Alex was sweating bullets by the time she went back into a normal rhythm after three rounds with the defibrillator.
"Okay, baby, no more of that," Derek ordered as he got back to work.
"Ella."
"What?"
"Her name is Ella. Well, not officially, but Addison was planning on naming her Eleanora Jane. Ella for short."
"Well, okay then, Ella. No more funny business."
As if Ella had been listening, the rest of the surgery went smoothly and both men sighed in relief as she was taken to recovery. "Good job, Karev. You go with her, I'll go talk to Addison if she's awake." Callie had come in about two hours earlier to let them know Addison was out of surgery. Naturally Alex wanted to see Addison, but he wasn't about to start a fight with his superior so he followed his orders and went to the NICU after scrubbing out.
oooooooo
Derek found a full room when he got to the maternity ward. Callie was sitting next to the bed, holding Addison's hand, with Bailey next to her. Mark was seated on the bed holding her other hand, and Richard was leaning against the wall. They all looked at him with worried eyes when he entered, but before he could update them on Ella's condition their attention was drawn back to Addison when she let out a weak moan.
Callie jumped up. "Addison? Oh, thank God."
Meanwhile Mark gingerly brushed her hair out of her face, careful not to touch her right temple where he'd sutured the laceration she got when she hit her head on the sink; clearly any hard feelings he'd had towards her about the baby were gone now that her life was on the line. "Come on, Red. Open your eyes," he encouraged, his voice was gentle. "You can do it." It took considerable effort but after a few minutes of fluttering lashes her eyes opened and he smiled at her. "Hi there. Welcome back."
"Mark?" Her voice was raspy from being intubated, and she was clearly confused as she looked around at her friends' faces. Slowly, like a habit, one hand made its way to her belly, and suddenly something clicked in her head. "My baby?"
Everyone looked to Derek, who motioned for Mark to move and took his place. "Addie, she's okay. She had some bleeding in her brain, and I had to operate, but she's okay now." It's not true, really, and he felt guilty for omitting much of the story, but her eyes were heavy-lidded and unfocused, her head falling listlessly to one side; he would fill in the details eventually, but she was clearly in no condition for the panic that sort of news would evoke. "She's alright."
"Really?"
"Really. Karev is with her right now." He still had no clue they were a couple, but hoped it comforted her to know the baby wasn't alone.
Apparently it did. She nodded and managed a small smile before closing her eyes. He kissed her forehead and squeezed her hand. "Get some rest. I'll keep you updated."
Callie followed Derek out of the room. "What the hell was that? She's not...she's not okay, is she? Why would you lie to her?"
"Callie, look at her! You really think me saying 'your baby was without oxygen for over five minutes, had a massive ruptured aneurysm, coded on the table, and has so much swelling in her brain that I couldn't put the skull cap back on' is a good idea right now? She'll freak out, which wouldn't do anyone any good especially since she probably won't remember any of it later anyways. So yeah, I lied to her. Let her sleep, and I'll tell her the rest in the morning once the anesthesia and sedatives wear off."
Callie took his words into consideration and decided he was right. "Fine. So, how is she, really? Alex said it was bad."
He sighed. "Let's just say I don't plan on leaving the hospital any time soon."
She pulled him into a hug. "Take good care of her."
ooooooo
Alex was glad he followed Derek's orders, because Ella crashed again about forty-five minutes later; this time, though, he only had to shock her once to get her back. "You gotta stop this, kid. You're giving me gray hairs," he said softly as he pulled up a stool and stroked her cheek. "Listen, Ella, I know it's scary out here, all noisy and bright, and you probably feel like crap right now, but you gotta hang in there. I know you need your mom, but you know what? She needs you, too. She needs you, and she's not gonna be okay without you, so you gotta fight. That's a lot of responsibility for a kid, and it's not really fair for me to put it on you, but don't worry. I'll be right here fighting with you until she can come see you, okay? So don't give up. Your mom, she...she's the best. She's amazing. She loves you so much, and she's worth fighting for so just hang in there."
"Little pep talk there, Karev?" Alex nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Derek's voice behind him. He'd been so focused on the baby that he hadn't noticed the neurosurgeon come in.
"Yeah, well, she crashed again a few minutes ago, so a little pep talk can't hurt, right? How's Addison?"
"Just woke up, but she's pretty out of it. Adams expects her to pull through."
"Thank God. Man, I never saw anyone bleed out as fast as she did. I honestly wasn't sure she was gonna make it."
Derek nodded slowly. "Addie's tough. Always has been. Let's just hope Ella fights like her mom. You can take off, if you want. I'm not going anywhere tonight."
"You sure? I can stay…"
"That's okay, I got this. But, um, if you see Addison...I didn't tell her everything. She's still so groggy that she won't remember anything so there's no point freaking her out now. She knows the baby-"
"Ella."
"She knows Ella had surgery, and that She's stable. I'll fill in the rest in the morning."
"Okay. Just, um, just let me know if anything changes, alright?"
"You got it. Now go home and get some sleep because tomorrow, Ella's all yours."
And there you have it. Drama. Dark and twisty. Some of you saw it coming, maybe some of you didn't. It's been planned from the start and I almost chickened out because you guys were so excited about Ella but I didn't...please don't tar and feather me. The next two chapters are pretty much done, and they're a little lighter. I might get one - or both - up later tonight so stay tuned!