So, i decided to have the reunion done in two parts because if i didn't the chapter would be ridiculously long. Here's part one. the second part is more important so i really want to focus on that and make it perfect. I love this story so much and i am so proud of it. i can't thank you guys enough for all the wonderful support and positive feedback! the reviews just brighten my day!
"Grey, are you sure it's her?" As soon as Meredith had recognized the long lost girl's eyes, she had announced to the OR who she was. To her, there was no doubt that this was Derek and Addison's daughter, the young girl the entire hospital had truly missed. She just knew. Owen, hoping that she right, was unsure about to handle this situation. The Shepherds had to be kept away from this OR, that he knew. It would do no good to get their hopes up only to be wrong.
"I'm positive. Dr. Hunt, those are Addison's eyes. But, to be a hundred percent sure, Amelia told me she had a birthmark on her left wrist, right on her pulse point. Maggie, could you check?"
The cardiothoracic surgeon, who had been standing by the patient's side during the revelation, hurried to flip over the girl's wrist. There, right on her pulse point was a small heart shaped birthmark. It was Tessa. At Maggie's nod, Meredith turned back to Owen.
"What do we do?"
The trauma surgeon did what he did best and took charge. "Pierce, let's get working on her. We need her to be alive for the big reunion with her family. Grey, go tell Bailey about our situation. Then, get someone to watch the doors. We really don't need Derek or Addison finding out about her right now. Go!"Meredith ran into OR 3 where Dr. Bailey was already elbow deep in the other girl's abdomen.
"Doing alright, Dr. Bailey?" The surgeon didn't even look up at the sound of her old intern's voice.
"Grey, I know you did not just ask me if I am alright doing a simple bowel repair. What do you really want?"
Meredith closed the distance between her and Bailey and leaned down to whisper in her ear. Over her surgical mask, Bailey's eye widened at the news. Her hands ran over her patient's organs, checking for anymore damage.
"You better be sure about this, Grey. How bad is she?"
"Six stab wounds to the chest and abdomen, but Hunt and Pierce have her right now. Are you using Wilson?"
The young resident had been standing patiently in the background, ready to help. At the sound of her name she perked up. Bailey told Grey that she would be just fine with April and to keep her updated. Jo followed Meredith out of the OR eagerly.
"What do you need me to do?"
Grey spun around outside the scrub room of Tessa's OR. "I'm afraid it's not terribly exciting, but I need you stand out here and make sure that none of the Shepherds see in this OR. I'm not going to tell you why because it's none of your business, but do not let Derek, Addison, or Amelia anywhere near this OR. Got it?"
Jo nodded with a frown, severely disappointed that she wouldn't be operating today. She did as she was told and stood guard outside of the OR, watching for the Shepherds. Which, in her opinion, was pointless. She had checked the surgery board minutes before being called into Bailey's OR and the only surgery that a Shepherd would be performing was scheduled for three o'clock, five hours from now.
Just as the two hour mark of her guard duty passed at 1, Jo slumped against the wall, bored out her mind. She was considering going in and telling Dr. Grey that she was done with just standing there when Addison suddenly appeared. The young woman scrambled to her feet, caught by surprise.
"Dr. Shepherd! What are you doing here?"
The red head quirked an eyebrow at Jo. "I'm avoiding paper work. Wanted to see if anyone needed any assistance."
Addison tried to step around the resident only to have Jo slip back in her way. "I think they have it covered in there. Maybe try another OR." Jo said with a nervous smile.
Folding her arms across her chest, Addison stared at Jo with her piercing green eyes. "Dr. Wilson, is there a reason you are not letting in this OR?"
Under her superiors' hard gaze, Jo cracked. "I'm not supposed to let you in!"
"Under who's orders?"
Jo bit her bottom lip nervously, unsure about what she was allowed to say. "Dr. Grey said to not let you or the other Dr. Shepherds in here. I don't why, but she was super serious. I'm sure she'll explain everything to you as soon as she's out, but for now-"
Addison walked away before Jo could finish her explanation. Why would Meredith Grey order an excellent resident to just stand outside an OR to keep her and her family out? Who was she to keep Addison Montgomery-Shepherd out of an OR? Richard would know.
The red head arrived at the chief's office, guns blazing. "Why is Meredith Grey ordering me to be kept out of an operating room?"
Richard looked up from the mountains of paper work covering his desk with a blank look on his face. Of course he knew why Meredith had the OR blocked. He had been notified as soon as Hunt had cut her open, but Addison didn't need to know that yet. Richard had been hoping that the Shepherds would be occupied until the girl was safely out of surgery, thinking that would the delicate situation a bit easier to handle, but of course not. Nothing was ever easy is this hospital. Perhaps playing dumb would be a safe option.
"What?"
Addison sighed as she moved to stand in front of his desk, hands on her hips. "I just had Jo Wilson physically block me from going into an OR. Do you know why?"
Richard simply shrugged his shoulders. "Meredith must have her reasons, but she did not share them with me. I'm sure she'll tell you as soon as she gets out of surgery." He turned his attention pack to his paperwork as Addison stared at him, not accepting his casual explanation.
"Or you could stop being vague and tell me what's going on."
Richard looked up again, eyes narrowed. "Addie, I don't know what to tell you. If she doesn't want you in the OR, she doesn't want you in the OR. There's nothing I can do about it. Just be patient and wait until you can speak to Meredith."
Addison huffed and turned around to leave Richard's office just as Meredith Grey herself ran in.
"Chief, she's out of surgery and we're waiting for her to wake up in the ICU. She's not critical, but I thought it would be best-"
Meredith cut herself off as she realized that Addison was still there. She shot the chief a nervous glance, as if asking to continue. Richard stood up, and gestured to the door.
"Addison, do you mind waiting outside for a moment while I speak to Dr. Grey?"
She wanted to say yes she would mind, but nodded and stepped outside of her friend's office and closed the door behind her. She pressed her ear against the door, attempting to hear the conversation. Addison could hear their voices, but couldn't clearly distinguish their words. She sighed and leaned against the wall, impatient. After ten minutes of waiting for the door to open, the fiery red head was sorely tempted to barge right back in when she noticed her husband coming towards her.
"Derek? What are you doing here?" Her husband shrugged before pecking her cheek.
"I got an emergency page from Richard to meet him in his office. Why are you here?"
Addison opened her mouth to reply when the door finally opened. Richard gave them each a heavy look before moving to let them in.
"Why don't you two have a seat so we can talk."
Meredith was leaning against the front of the chief's desk, nervously playing with her scrub cap.
Derek looked from Meredith to Richard suspiciously. "Richard, what's going on?"
The chief sighed before speaking. "At approximately 10:53 this morning, the helicopter dropped off two young girls found in Lake Easton State Park. one had multiple stab wounds, and the other had only one. Dr. Bailey took the girl with the single stab wound and Dr. Hunt took the multiple."
He paused, watching their faces to see if they had caught on. Derek still looked puzzled as to why this would effect him, but Addison knew.
She cleared her throat before speaking. "Which one was my daughter?" Derek's head whipped around to face her, eyes wide. His eyes flew back to Richard and he got to his feet.
"Tessa's here? Why weren't we told sooner!? Where is she!?"
Addison reached out and grabbed his arm, and gently pulled him back down beside her. "Derek, let's listen to what Richard has to say before we freak out." Honestly, she was terrified that the chief was going to tell her that her daughter was dead. And she would do anything to delay the delivery of that news.
Richard nodded at her and continued to speak. "Just as Dr. Hunt was scrubbing in, his patient crashed. Dr. Grey performed CPR, and managed to get her heart started again. Dr. Grey thought she recognized her and checked her for any identifying features. On her left wrist was a small, heart shaped birth mark. Does that sound familiar to either one of you?"
Addison took a deep breath. She couldn't believe it. Her daughter was in the hospital. Tessa was home. "Richard, take me to my daughter now."
Derek turned towards his wife with a smile. His baby girl was back. He pulled her against him tightly, tears pricking his eyes. Addison moved to the door, Meredith, Richard, and Derek trailing closely behind her. She tried her best not to take off in a dead sprint to get to the ICU, but walked calmly (yet quickly) to the other end of the hospital. Meredith matched her pace and began to speak.
"I'm sorry for not letting you in the OR, but I didn't think you should've seen her like that. And, I wasn't a hundred percent sure until I remembered Amelia mentioning the birth mark. I-"
Addison cut her off outside the doors to the ICU wing by hugging Meredith tightly. "Thank you."
Meredith smiled as the older woman pulled back and eagerly entered the ICU. The general surgeon took the lead, directing the excited parents towards their daughter's bedside. Addison and Derek stood at the foot of Tessa's bed holding hands. They had heard their chief say she had been repeatedly stabbed but they hadn't pictured this much damage done to the rest of her body. Derek's voice was barely above a whisper when he spoke.
"What happened to her?"
Their daughter looked nothing like they remembered. Her features that matched Addison's so closely were swollen and black and blue, distorting them. Her arms, exposed from the elbow down, were littered with cuts and scrapes and her narrow fingers dirty and battered. Her collarbones were painfully sharp from where they poked out from her gown. Someone had beaten their sweet, wonderful daughter to a pulp.
Meredith stood closest to her side, chart in her hand.
"It seems Tessa was severely beaten. There also older, less visible injuries that suggest abuse. There are multiple lacerations all over her body, and all at different stages of healing. X-rays show she also has a couple of broken ribs. The most serious injury she has are the stab wounds. Her bowel was nicked, as well as her right lung. It collapsed during surgery, but Dr. Pierce was able to correct it. Her sats were strong, so we removed her from the ventilator. I also repaired the small nick in bowel with no complications. The wounds were shallow, but she lost a lot of blood. She's stable, so now we're just waiting for her to wake up."
Addison dropped Derek's hand to move closer to her daughter. Her shaky hand brushed against Tessa's bruised cheek and a sob escaped her. She hadn't touched her daughter in four months. She suddenly had a strong urge to pull her daughter's limp body into a hug and never let her go, but for now, she settled on just holding her pale hand. Meredith's words were now background noise; Addison's complete focus was on her daughter who lay broken in front of her. A chair somehow found its way beneath her and she sat now with Tessa's hand against her lips. The anxious mother kept repeating I love you into her unconscious' child's hand. Derek sat on the other side of the bed, gently stroking his daughter's pale arm. Footsteps came pounding into Tessa's room, and Amelia's raspy voice spoke from the foot of the bed.
"It's- it's really her? This is really my niece?"
Derek spoke, and Addison could hear the smile in his voice without looking up. "It's really her. Amy, Tessa's home."
The dark-haired woman sat gently on the bed by her niece's feet. The tears were already falling down her cheeks. "It's so, so good to see you, sweet girl. Wake up so we can hug you to death and never let you go."
Addison lowered her daughter's hand from her face but didn't let go. She turned around in her chair to see Meredith and the chief still standing there.
"Dr. Grey, could you do my family a favor? Could you make sure that the news that Tessa is back isn't spread all over the hospital? I'm sure everyone will want to see her, but I really don't want her overwhelmed today."
The younger doctor nodded and ushered the chief out of the room, and slid the glass door closed softly. Addison turned back towards her daughter and she felt her heartbeat speed up. Tessa's eyelids were starting to flutter, a sign she was waking up. Addison and Derek leaned forward, both eager to see their child's beautiful eyes that they had missed so much. It took a little time, but Tessa finally opened her eyes fully, blinking slowly. Her green orbs moved around the room gradually, taking in her surroundings. When they focused on her mother's tearful gaze, they widened in shock.
"Mom?"