CHAPTER TWENTY
Addison Montgomery rushed from the terminal to baggage claim where she waited irritably for her bags to go by. "She'll be okay," Pete Wilder told her, taking her hand in his.
"She's not going to be okay anytime soon," Addison growled, "she just lost a child. You don't just get over that." Pete nodded, knowing it was not the time to get into a fight with his pseudo-almost girlfriend. Addison sighed. "I'm sorry, Pete, I don't mean to take this out on you. It's just . . . it's stress. This is a stressful situation and I don't know how to act. I don't know what to do."
"Just be there for her," Pete said. "Everything will be fine in time. Okay, no worries." Pete grabbed their bags and went to go find a rental car. Addison was quickly becoming a wreck. He figured that should at least be at the hospital before she crashed.
Almost an hour later, they finally reached the hospital. Alex Karev met them in the lobby with a copy of Emma's chart. "Dr. Montgomery," he greeted her. She smiled back at him and accepted the chart. "She's upstairs," Karev said and walked off. Addison and Pete followed him. Some of the nurses stopped her as they went by, just to say hello. Addison greeted them distractedly and continued to follow Karev, Pete's hand at the small of her back.
"Addison," Mark and Derek said at the same time, standing in front of the nearby nurse's station.
"Hey," she said. "Um, Pete, this is Dr. Mark Sloan and Dr. Derek Shepard. Mark, Derek, this is Dr. Pete Wilder."
"Plastics," Mark said, sticking out his hand.
"Neuro," Derek said, copying Mark.
"Uh, Alternative," Pete said, smiling.
"Oh," the both of them said.
"Knock it off," Addison said, "where's Emma? Is Talon with her?"
"We aren't sure where Talon is," Derek said, "but Emma's in this room over here." Derek walked over; Addison followed him. They both heard crying. "She must have just started crying," Derek said, pushing the door open further and walking in. Addison followed him and shut the door behind her.
Mark stared at Pete, who stared back in turn. Mark had a good six inches in height over the Alternative Medicine Quack. "So, you and Addison," Mark said, sticking his hands in his pocket.
"Yes," Pete said, raising an eyebrow at the plastic surgeon. "And you and. . ."
"Yes," Mark said, "at one point. Listen, I don't want you getting the wrong idea, but Addison deserves someone great. Don't. . ."
"You don't have to worry about me," Pete said. "By the way, while we're in town, keep your. . ."
"Gotcha," Mark said, raising his hands in mock surrender, "I better go check on some things while Emma's distracted." Pete just nodded and watched the man leave. Addison hadn't told him all about her past, but enough to know what to expect from these people while they were in Seattle.
"Pete," Addison said, peeking out Emma's room, "she wants to see you. Come on." Pete smiled at her and went into the young girl's room.
"Derek, why don't you check on Salvador for me," Emma said, when Pete walked in. "Let him know what happened. I'll try to see him later on."
"You aren't supposed to be out of bed," he reminded her, standing up. "I'll go check on him and get some other things done. Page me if you need anything."
"Of course," she said as he kissed the top of her head. "And call Adele and check on Maddison. Oh, and tell Erica that Sumner in 3899 needs his medication soon. I reduced the dosage . . ."
"Stop," Derek said, chuckling, "we'll take care of it." He waved to everyone as he left.
"So, who threatened you first, Pete," Emma said, smiling, although her eyes were puffy from her recent crying jag.
"What," Addison asked.
"One of them threatened you," Emma said, smiling. "Derek was in here pretty fast so I bet it was Mark. What did he say?"
"Just that Addison is great and that I shouldn't screw with her," Pete said, leaning back in his chair. "How are you feeling? I brought some of my remedies for pain if you need them."
"They have me on good old morphine," Emma said, "I'm good for now." They chatted for a little while. "Addie, I think I'm going to go back to New York for a while."
"What? Why?"
"I don't know. Nigel isn't there anymore. I think I just need some time to heal – mentally – from today. I just . . . I think I'm going to go back to New York for a while. I'm going to call Travers later. I don't want to go back to work right away, if at all, Heaven knows I don't need to. I think I might do some more research for a while and I did that best with Travers. Plus, I think Talon misses New York, too. He's there now. He can just stay there and Maddison and I can go back. I'll come back to Seattle eventually. . .but I need time."
"I get it," Addison said, taking Emma's hand in hers. "If you need anything, you call me. I will fly across the country for whatever it is."
"That's sweet, Addison, but I know better," Emma said, her eyes twinkling. Addison smiled guiltily as they both glanced at Pete.
"What," he asked, confused.
"Nothing," both of them said and then they started to giggle.
GAGAGA
Derek had stopped in on Salvador Carmarthen who requested a transfer back to New York so he could go back to his retirement community. "Emma will miss you, I'm sure," Derek said.
"That girl has more things to worry about than me," Sal said, crossing his arms over his chest. "My granddaughter, Rosaline, had a new baby this morning, a boy that she named after me. I want to be there for him like I've been there for Maddison."
"You make an excellent Great-Grandfather," Derek said smiling affably. "Maddison has been very blessed to have you around."
"Of course she has," Salvador grumbled. "Fool." Derek chuckled and smiled some more, promising to take care of the paperwork and make the phone calls. Derek ran into Mark coming out of Salvador's room.
"Mr. Carmarthen is being transferred back to New York," Derek said, passing the chart to a nurse.
"What for?"
"Has a new great-grandson he wants to meet," Derek said. "I can't believe Emma never told anyone else about him. The hospital probably thinks she's crazy fussing over the old man."
"Yeah, well, she couldn't save Riggs, so she'll save his grandfather until she can't," Mark said. "He's Riggs' mother's father, right?"
"Yeah," Derek said. "Man, Emma's going to be upset."
"She'll be okay, she has us," Mark said. "What are you doing about Meredith?"
"What about her?"
"You can't keep moping around here like you have been," Mark said. "Make a decision and stick with it." Derek nodded. It really was coming down to this. If he let Meredith go he would have to leave Seattle Grace, he wouldn't be able to handle seeing her everyday like that and not being able to talk to her . . . touch her. He sighed. "Good man," Mark said, clapping his friend's shoulder, "I have a certain blonde doctor to go have hot on-call room sex with."
"To much information, Mark," Derek said. "Get out of here." He shook his head as Mark walked off. "Addison," Derek said, surprised, seeing his ex-wife walk up to him. "How is she doing?"
"She'll be okay," Addison said. "Listen, before I go visit Callie, I wanted to give you a heads up. Emma is planning on going back to New York in a little while. I don't think it's a permanent move, but she needs to get away."
Derek nodded. "That makes sense, I guess," he said, "I'll talk to her about it later." Addison nodded and walked off hand-in-hand with Pete. Derek found Meredith in a computer lab, researching something in the computer archives. "Hey," he said from the doorway.
"Hey," Meredith said, glancing at him.
"I have something to say, Meredith, and I want you to let me say it without interruptions," he said. He waited for Meredith to nod before continuing. "I love you. I know that I tell you that all the time, but I mean it. I love you more than I've loved anyone – ever. But I can't do this anymore. I can't stand in the same room with you and not touch you – not kiss you. I can't stay here and not be with you. It's like you're holding my heart and my lungs and you aren't letting either one work. I can't breath. I can't breath when I'm not with you. I can't breath when I'm with you, but for a totally different reason," he stopped and smiled at her, which she returned. "I want to be your knight in shining whatever and I want you to be my damsel under stress. We can do it, I know we can." He sat down beside her. "But," he continued, "I can't do this anymore. I can't. I'm not abandoning you, but I think we need some time apart if we aren't going to be together. I know this is probably the stupidest idea I've ever had, but I can't stand it. I can't. If you aren't ready to be in a committed relationship with me, I'll go back to New York with my sister for a while. It'll give you time to think, time to process, time to decide. You're it for me, Meredith Grey, but I can't stand here and not breathe. I can't."
He sat there, looking at Meredith. He watched as emotions flitted across her face, leaving as soon as they became evident.
"I'm still working on my issues," Meredith said, quietly. "I. . .I don't like the idea of you being the whole way across the country, but I can't work on them and be with you. I need to do this so I'm absolutely sure. I have to. . ."
"So, I'm going to New York then," Derek said quietly, looking at the floor.
"It's your choice, but I suppose so," Meredith said equally quiet and irritated.
"Alright, I'll go talk to Richard," Derek said, standing up with a sigh.
"You're really going to do it," Meredith asked, panicking slightly. Derek stared at her. "You have to leave until I'm ready," she questioned, standing up. "That is the biggest bunch of bullshit I've ever heard! I can't believe you're actually going to leave!"
"It's not forever," Derek said, "just for now. I'll be back. I promise I'll be back. I'll call you, text you, email you. I'm not abandoning you, Meredith; I'm not. I just need some room to breath because I can't breathe you it." He took a step towards her, pulling her flush to him. "If I can't breathe you in, I can't breathe," he said, his voice shaking. "I have to find a way to breathe until you're ready." Meredith nodded, numbly. He really was going. But he promised to come back . . . he promised.
Derek stepped back with difficulty and left the room without a word.
Meredith stood in the computer lab – alone . . .a feeling began creeping up on her . . .a feeling like she couldn't breathe . . .
GAGAGA"Let me guess," Richard Webber said when Derek walked into his office, "you want to go to New York for a little while with Lil' Shep and Torres."
"Callie," Derek questioned, sitting down on one of the chairs.
"Yes, she's apparently going with your sister to New York. They're calling it vacation," Richard said, irritated. "Now you want to go, too, don't you?" Derek nodded. "Hell," Richard said. "Sloan isn't going, is he?"
"I don't think so," Derek said. "I think Stevens would put up quite a fight if he suggested it right now."
Richard nodded. "Good." He sighed. "Look, you're going to find this out soon enough, but Talon was hit by a taxi. Last I talked to Travers, they weren't sure if he was going to make it. I just wanted to let you know. Travers gave me strict instructions to make sure that Emma didn't find out until we know one way or another."
"When did that happen," Derek asked, shocked.
"About the time Emma was brought up from the clinic," Richard answered, trailing off. "Just don't tell her and I'll approve all of this 'vacation time' for you three," he said sarcastically.
"I'm going to check on Emma," Derek said, distracted by the news of Callie and Talon.
Author's Note:
Alright, so this is actually the next to last chapter. There's one more to go. I hope you guys have all come to love Emma as much as I have. Don't worry though, there's a sequel in the works. I'll post the last chapter tomorrow.
Megan