Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and its characters belong to Shonda Rhimes/ABC.
A/N: I tried to update this as early as I could since my last update was late, so if you haven't read the last chapter, do that before you read this one because otherwise, it won't make sense. Also, there is an upsetting scene in this chapter, but it needed to happen. If you want to skip the last part, you will be able to because of the way I'm going to write the next chapter. It will still make sense.
Chapter Ten
The next two and a half weeks flew by for Addison and Mark. Their lunch dates became more frequent (Addison now thought of them as "dates" rather than "meetings"), but their relationship remained platonic. How Mark was able to keep this up and not do anything to make Addison uncomfortable, he had no idea, but Addison definitely appreciated it.
In addition to their lunch dates, they were beginning to talk more openly in the hospital, which of course started the Seattle Grace Rumor mill. It also earned them even more looks of disapproval from Derek, but they were somehow able to ignore all of it. Mark was also at Addison's side on days where she felt particularly sick. He had started putting pretzels and crackers in her locker in addition to ginger ale since he read that those kinds of things could help with morning sickness. His reading was going well. He had highlights and sticky notes and folded page corners throughout the first book, and every time he found something that he found particularly interesting, he told Addison about it. Usually, she already knew whatever it was, but she loved the fact that he was trying so hard.
Addison would be at twelve weeks starting the next day, and Nancy's flight was set to get in at 7:30 that evening for the prenatal check-up the following morning. Both Addison and Mark were very excited, and before they had to go on-call for the day, Mark had come up to Addison's office for a visit. He found her sitting on the couch staring distantly out the window. She was worrying.
"Did you know that the baby is like three inches long now?" he asked as he walked up to her, smiling.
Addison turned around, forced a small smile, and placed her hand over her stomach. "Yep. Pretty amazing, huh?" She sounded more distracted than amazed.
"Are you okay?" he asked, noticing her tone. He moved to sit next to her.
"I don't know. I've just been thinking," she responded. "It's just that… I don't want this to come off the wrong way, but… how have you managed to pull a complete 180 in just a few weeks?"
Mark didn't know the answer to that question himself, so he took several seconds to prepare an answer. "That didn't come off the wrong way. You have every right to ask me that. And honestly, Addison, I don't know how I've been able to do this. What's even more surprising is that ever since I got back to Seattle, this change hasn't even been difficult to keep up, especially since our talk that one day. It's been completely natural, and I haven't even had to think about it. It's so strange that I'm afraid that one day, I'm just going to fuck it up and ruin everything I've done since I got back here."
"Where did you go when you were gone, anyway?" She asked him curiously. They had never discussed anything about his absence.
"I went to New York. I thought going back there would give me some sort of peace of mind. I needed to get out of Seattle and live my old life again," he paused and looked at her, knowing from the look on her face that she knew exactly what his 'old life' involved. "I never felt so empty in my whole life. I didn't have anything there. At least when you and Derek were out here, I had my job, but last month, I just had myself, which caused me to do a lot of thinking. I thought about myself as a kid and how my dad was never there. I still resent him even though I probably haven't spent more than a collective week with the guy in my whole life. I didn't want to be the father who might as well not exist. And also I thought about you, Addie," he smiled. "You are incredible, and I don't want to lose you. I don't want to ruin anything."
"You haven't ruined anything up so far. You've been perfect. So perfect that I started worrying," she laughed nervously.
"Good because I want to stay perfect. I guess it's been possible because I know how much I have to lose. Every day now I think about how grateful I am that you have given me this chance to reconnect with you and share a child with you."
Unsure of how to respond, Addison simply took his hand in hers and lightly ran her thumb over his knuckles as a look of happiness spread across her face. She then leaned back against his chest and brought his hand to rest on her stomach for the first time, wordlessly thanking him for making things so much easier for her.
"So three inches is a pretty small human, huh?" She asked, staring up at him with a familiar look in her eyes, a look he recognized immediately.
"Yeah," he managed to breathe out before she gently pulled him down to kiss her. The kiss was intense. Neither one had any idea how they had been able to resist the other for nearly three months. When pulled back for air, Addison was completely blushing, and Mark was giving her his infamous smirk. "Well I guess we've still got it."
"Mmm… yes. I think we definitely do," she giggled before leaning in again for more. Suddenly, a pager went off; it was Addison's. She climbed off Mark and looked at it. "Shit. 911 on Natalie Lewis. I've got to go right now. I'll see you for lunch!"
She ran out of her office, down the hallway, and into Natalie's room where there were already a few nurses inside.
"Her blood pressure was up in the night, and this morning, it's way too high," one nurse told her.
"Natalie, I think today might be the day," Addison told the younger woman. "You held onto them a week longer than we hoped for, so you've done well. Everything is going to be fine, but the girls need to come out, okay?"
"Okay," she whispered through tears, her husband kissing her forehead. "I'm ready."
Alex entered the room amidst all the chaos. Oh damn, he thought. Not cool. "What can I do, Montgomery?"
"Run and book an OR. If they have to bump someone, do it. We need it as soon as possible," she told him.
Less than an hour later, Natalie and Greg Lewis became the proud parents of Lillianna Grace and Lindsey Kathleen. Despite being conjoined and seven weeks early, they were relatively healthy girls for their size, weighing in at a combined 8 pounds, 2 ounces. After settling Natalie in Recovery, Addison led Greg into the NICU to meet his daughters. Alex was already there with a few NICU nurses, smiling down at their incubator.
"Congratulations, man," Alex said to Greg, who was washing his hands in preparation for reaching into the incubator. "They're doing great right now."
"Here are your daughters, Greg," Addison told him happily. "You won't be able to hold them just yet. We need to monitor them for a few days first to make sure everything is in working order, but you can reach in and touch them."
He looked in on his daughters, and his heart melted immediately. "Wow. This is definitely what they call 'love at first sight,'" he laughed. He grinned proudly and reached in with both hands, taking hold of Lillianna's left foot and Lindsey's right. Addison and Alex stood next to each other watching this first meeting.
"Glad you picked neonatal, Karev?"
"Shut up, Montgomery," he said jokingly.
Addison's pager went off again. 911 incoming. "We've got an emergency case coming in. Let's go get ready to meet them. Greg, congratulations again. I'm sure we will be back up to check on you guys again before Natalie even wakes up."
The three said their goodbyes, and Addison and Alex took off to meet their incoming patient.
"What have we got?"
"Joanna Morgan, age 34, 28 weeks pregnant. She went in to see her OB earlier as a precaution because she wasn't feeling the baby move around, and she was diagnosed with Maternal Floor Infarction."
"Okay. Thank you," Addison said to the EMT. Then she turned to Joanna, "Joanna, I'm Dr. Montgomery and this is Dr. Karev. We're going to help you with this today. Your doctor told you what has to happen, right?"
"You have to deliver the baby today," the woman replied in a shaky voice as Addison and Alex rushed her into the hospital.
Before Addison could answer, Alex jumped in. "We do, but from looking at your chart, it looks like you caught this early enough that he could still be okay in there."
"Dr. Karev is right," she assured the frightened woman.
"Okay. Okay then," Joanna said through tears. "Could you have someone call my husband? He works right down the street from here, and if I could have him here for this, it would be so much easier."
"Karev, could you do that while I prep her for surgery. Then book another OR and bump someone if you have to again. As soon as you're done, just go straight to the scrub room."
When lunchtime came around, Addison was totally exhausted. Two emergency surgeries in one morning. Both cases were extreme in their own ways. Both mothers were in recovery. There were two panicked husbands. And then there were the three tiny premature infants. The Lewis girls were stable, but the Morgan boy was twelve weeks early and fighting for his life. On top of all that, Addison still had other patients to tend to. It was a good thing she had Alex to help her because was almost too much to handle. She arrived at her office and collapsed onto the couch inside. It wasn't good for her to be standing this much. She felt slightly lightheaded and dizzy, and her stomach was cramping a little. I probably just need better circulation, she thought, switching positions to lie on her left side to increase blood flow. Ugh. This is what I get for pushing myself too hard.
The door creaked open, and Mark stepped inside. Addison started to sit up, but Mark stopped her.
"Lay back down, Add. I'll come to you," he told her, and she complied. "So I heard the Lewis twins made their entrance this morning. That must have made for a pretty stressful morning."
"You're telling me," Addison said. "They're doing well, though. Beautiful little girls, but shortly after I got them settled into the NICU, we had an emergency case come in that required an immediate C-section. The little boy was twelve weeks early, but the placenta clotted, so he had to come out. He doesn't even weigh three pounds. And then after that, I had to go back to check on the Lewises and then my other scheduled patients." She sighed and closed her eyes as Mark came and sat down next to her.
"So basically you're stressed out of your mind?"
"Basically. And now I feel lightheaded and dizzy and cramp-y and headache-y from running around all morning, and I know I should eat, but I'm just too damn tired."
Mark looked down at her sympathetically. "You could probably use some water. All of that could partially be from dehydration. It could also be from the anemia."
"It's probably from that and stress and the fact that my uterus is starting to stretch a tiny bit now."
"For the three-inch human?"
"For the three-inch human."
Mark held up his little finger and looked at it strangely. "It's like this big."
Addison laughed. "Probably." She paused and started laughing again, harder this time, because Mark was wiggling his little finger in the air, almost making it do a funny little dance. He was trying to make her laugh, and it was working. "Stop! Ow, it hurts to laugh. That looks way too funny."
"That's the point, Addie," he teased, pulling her up to a sitting position and kissing her on the top of her head.
They sat like that for a few minutes in silence, just enjoying each other's closeness until there was a knock at the door. Addison stood up to answer it, and when she did, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach.
"Shit! Ow!" she exclaimed, leaning forward and clutching her stomach. She sat back down, closed her eyes tightly, and tried to breathe. "Mark, something's wrong. It shouldn't hurt like this." The pain came again, and this time, it lasted longer. She started to cry, and Mark pulled her into his lap, rubbing her back softly.
"Addison, what hurts? Where does it hurt? Should we call someone?" he asked her as his heart started to beat rapidly out of fear.
The person who had been outside the door became impatient and decided to take it upon himself to enter. It was Derek.
"I hate to interrupt the happy couple, but I need Addison for a case right now," he said bitterly.
"We're not a couple, Derek, and she can't help you right now," Mark spat back. Derek stood there in shock.
Addison began to sob into Mark's shoulder. "Mark, put me down. Go get Bailey. Page Bailey. Just get her here now, and get him the hell out of here." She was crying hysterically.
"Okay, Addie. I'll be right back, okay? It's going to be okay," he assured her, not really believing himself. As he started to move her, though, he noticed that there was a dark spot on his scrubs. Addison was bleeding. He couldn't leave her now. "Derek, I don't care how much you fucking hate us, but I need you to haul your ass down to Bailey right now and bring her back up here as fast as you can."
Derek didn't move.
"Damnit, Derek! Just look at her!" Mark said as loudly as he could without yelling, not wanting to upset Addison any more than she already was.
Derek took one look at Addison. She was curled up with her knees against her chest, and her face was contorted in pain with tear-stains everywhere. Then he saw the spot on Mark's scrubs, and the color drained from his face. "I'll get her right now," he told his former best friend before he took off running into the hallway.
"Mark," she began, her voice trembling, "I think I'm miscarrying."
So there is something wrong with Addison. This was a difficult chapter to write, and I tried to get across as much panic as I possibly could with Addison and Mark. I wasn't sure how to write it without making it too upsetting, so if it was really upsetting, I'm sorry. Although I've never been through anything like that myself, I know a couple who has. Luckily, everything ended up okay, but I know it was an absolutely terrifying experience for them. The story is far from being over, though, so don't worry too much. Yeah. I said it. I can't keep you guys hanging with something this serious. Things will be okay, but they won't be okay. You'll see what I mean. I'll try to get the next part up by Tuesday or Wednesday night. I've already planned out the chapter, so it should come more quickly. Anyway… Thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing:) I really appreciate the feedback. You guys are awesome!