In Which Addison Gets Hit Hard in the Face

"I'm feeling really good."

"Good."

"Good."

"First day back, it feels good," she continues on, "Big. Kind of nervous. I feel good. Do I look alright?"

"Great," Meredith and I both say in response as we exchange glances.

Who knew getting trapped in an elevator with Izzie could be so annoying? Who knew a simple ten minute car ride could feel like ten hours when you're stuck with someone who literally would not stop talking? I don't know how much more of this I can take.

Izzie has yet to stop… "I want to get on the right foot; get my ID renewed, new time card, sign some papers with legal then I'm back… really back."

"Yeah," we respond in unison once again.

The elevator dings, doors come open and Izzie smiles to herself stepping off, "This is me. Human resources… See you guys on the floor."

"Yeah," we both say as the doors close in front of us.

Meredith smirks, "I thought she would never leave."

"Oh, shush," I reprimand her, "She's excited to be back."

"Speaking of excited," she starts, "I know you're all girly and stuff…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, you're all about the big weddings and sparkly rings… and I'm, well, really the complete opposite. I wouldn't mind marrying you with just a few of our close friends…"

"Meredith," I smile, "I've already had my huge fairytale wedding. I don't need to do that again. If a small wedding is what you want then we can have a small wedding."

"You know I'd do anything for you, right?" Meredith kisses me as the door opens up on the surgical floor.

Mark Sloan is revealed standing outside the door with a smirk on his face, "My offer on the threesome still stands, you know."

"Go away, Mark," I roll my eyes.

He walks past us into the elevator, "I'm on my way somewhere important right now anyway. I will have to catch up with you lovely ladies later."

"Please take your time," I roll my eyes as the elevator doors close behind us.

Meredith kisses me softly on the lips before running off down the hall, "Late for rounds."

"Lunch?" I call out after her and I see a quick nod of her head as she disappears down the hall.

I round the corner into the surgical wing and I run into Dr. Bailey on my way to my office. I smile, "Hey, Miranda."

"Legal cleared Stephens," Richard walks up interrupting us, "Explain her parameters and make she understands."

"Stephens is being assigned to me again?"

"She's your intern."

"Well, wouldn't it be better for her to start fresh with another resident?" Bailey asks surprisingly.

The Chief must be as surprised as I am because he asks, "You don't want her?"

"I want her to succeed," she explains.

Richard clears his throat, "There's still a good deal of fallout after the Duquet M&M. There's talk. I don't need to tell you that there are doctors in this hospital who have concerns about your judgement."

"Concerns about my judgment?"

"Seriously," I say having to comment at that one.

The Chief looks from me back to Bailey, "Stephens was your mistake."

"Do you, sir, do you have concerns about my judgement?"

"Do you? You're not going to put those concerns to rest by avoiding taking responsibility for Stephens. She's your intern…" he pauses as he begins to walk away, "again."

"Miranda," I start once he's out of earshot, "everyone loves a scandal."

"So you think it's just gossip?" she asks and it scares me to see her so vulnerable, "It's not actual concern about me being a doctor?"

"Of course not. You're Dr. Bailey," I pause, "The Nazi! You're one of the best damn surgeons in here… Only second to me."

"Oh, hush," she says as George walks up wheeling in a pregnant patient.

He turns to me with a man on his tail, "Transfer from Mercy West. Noelle LeBatt. 32 weeks along, pregnant with twins. One appears to be developing more slowly than the other."

"Hi," the man greets me.

I smile politely, "Hi there."

"Greg Stanton," he offers his hand then introduces the woman in the bed, "This is my lovely fiancée. The future Mrs. Stanton. Noelle."

"Greg, I promise you, you're the only person who cares if we're married or not," she playfully rolls her eyes.

He turns back to me, "They said we had to come here because her condition could be serious. Is it serious?"

"I gotta say, you don't seem emergent enough for Mercy to send you over here in a ambulance," I check the monitors to bee sure, "You're not in labor. You're not bleeding… and your vitals are fine."

"They said I had to come here because of my thing," she motions around the bottom of her stomach.

Confused, I grab her chart and as I go through it, I see the 'thing' she was referencing. George sees it too because he yells out, "Two uteruses!?" He tries to calm himself, "Ms. LeBatt was born with two uteruses… Uh, Uteri."

"Uteruses," I correct.

George nods, "Uteruses. That's very rare."

"Get her into a room, please," I command and George nods walking off with the patient. Greg following closely behind.

As I turn back around to Miranda, Izzie runs up to us smiling, "I'm here. Hi. Hello. That paperwork took forever, but I'm here now. And can I just say how grateful I am to be back?"

"You understand there are rules to your probation," Miranda starts, "Rules to follow?"

"Oh yeah," she waves it off, "legal took me through all that stuff… The mandatory counseling, the extra lab hours… The extra work with the transplant patients."

"That's the stuff you're doing with the Chief," she corrects her, "I'm talking about what you're doing for me."

"Okay," Izzie nods, "What am I doing for you?"

"Okay, let's start with what you don't get to do," she pauses as she begins to list, "You will not interact with any patients; you will not be alone with any patients. You will be seen and not heard. No procedures. The OR is off limits. No pre-op. No post-op; no anything having to do with an op. You have no authority. You have no opinions. You have no choice in this matter. Am I understood?"

"Is there anything I can do? I just want to be useful."

"I can't use you," Miranda shakes her head, "You've got to earn back the right for any of us to trust you again. Until then, you will be shadowing a different doctor every day."

"Okay, who am I with today? Dr. Montgomery?" she looks to me and I shake my head so she turns back to Miranda, "You?"

"Dr. Bailey, you paged?" Meredith runs up to us winded.

Miranda smiles mischievously at Izzie, "Dr. Grey."

"Meredith…" Izzie trails off confused.

Miranda turns to Meredith, "You are to make sure that Stevens observes only."

"You want me to―"

"Wait Meredith?" Izzie cuts her off, "Meredith is the boss of me?"

Miranda just smirks and walks away while I force down a laugh. It would be inappropriate of me. Meredith turns to Izzie with pleading eyes, "I'm sorry about this."

"Hey, you want me to get you some coffee?" Izzie says sarcastically, "Rub your feet maybe?"

"Hey now, there's no reason to be petty," I can't help but stand up for my girl.

Meredith gets defensive, "I did not ask for this assignment."

"It's fine…" Izzie shrugs, "I'm fine with it."

"You―" I'm cut off by my pager. It's George letting me know he's settled Noelle into a room. I look back up to them, "I gotta go. Now I know my two favorite interns know how to work well together. Stevens, don't be such a wuss. Grey, don't be such a… Bailey. See you guys around. Have fun… or at least try to make the most out of this. You both may learn something."

And with that, I leave them be and make my way up to the OB floor. It only takes me a minute to get from the elevator to Noelle's room. When I walk in, I feel as though I'm interrupting something because Noelle rolls her eyes, "Oh, here we go again."

"Hi," I wave after they pause their conversation, "just need to run some tests. Carry on."

"You're either ham or eggs," Greg explains, "You gotta ask yourself in every situation, are you the pig or chicken?"

"Sir, it's just a pig or chicken," George states confused.

Greg shakes his head then tries to explain further, "Look, you got to play the ham and the eggs. You see, the chicken is involved in the meal… but the pig is committed. So the question is… are you committed? Or are you involved?"

"Ham or eggs?" George says finally getting it.

Greg smiles contently, "Ham or eggs."

I shake my head and playfully roll my eyes before looking up again, "Okay, I'm done here. O'Malley, I need you to run these labs up. Rush them."

"Gotcha," he says as I hand him the lab work.

I nod and smile, "I'll be back when we get some results."

"Okay," Noelle nods and I exit the room.

On my walk up to my office, I can't help but think of ham and eggs. It's sort of making a little hungry… I wonder what time Meredith will be free for lunch.

I make my ascend down the hall and I barely make it into my office before Callie walks in after me, "I broke up with George."

"Um, does George know that?" I giggle, "He talks about you like you're still together."

"He kicked me out. I don't understand how not returning his calls, ignoring him in the hallways, not letting him into my hotel room and sleeping with someone else results in us still being together," she says and I laugh.

Then I pause, "Wait, what? You slept someone?"

Just as she was about to speak up, George walks into my office, "The results are in."

"Thanks, O'Malley," I take the lab work from him.

He turns to Callie, "I know you're not talking to me any more, but there's something I'd like to explain. All you have to do is listen. You and me, we're like ham and eggs. I was the chicken and I just want you to know that I know I was the chicken. You put yourself out there and you were committed. I just put the eggs on the plate; not the ham 'cause you were the pig. I was involved but now I'm committed."

"Did you just call me a pig?" Callie looks at him crazily and I can't help but laugh out loud.

George tries again, "It's a metaphor."

"Calling me a pig?"

"The point is you're not the pig any more. I am the pig. Now… I am the pig," he finishes and she rolls her eyes walking out of the office.

George looks at me and I shake my head, "Give it up, George."

"But…" he stops short when I head out of my office.

He follows on my tail as I look through Noelle's lab results. Turns out, her babies aren't twins at all. They were conceived at two different times. Walking into our patient's room, I see none other than Alex Karev talking with Noelle.

"He's decided that the baby is into sports of all things."

"Well, she's daddy's little girl. See when I talk to her…" Greg trails off to bend over and talk to the little ones.

Alex agrees, "Yeah, your voice, it helps calm her down. I read a couple articles on that recently."

"Dr. Karev…" I smirk, "I didn't know you secretly missed my service."

"Right," he answers sarcastically and walks out of the room.

I turn on my heels to our patient with a smile, "Greg, Noelle, I have good news for you. According to our tests, the babies are both perfectly healthy but… they are substantially different sizes for a very unique reason. The babies have two different due dates."

"According to our calculations," George finishes, "the larger baby, your son was conceived a whole six weeks before your daughter."

"Oh God," Noelle exclaims.

Greg looks to us confused, "I don't understand. That's impossible."

"Actually our tests are extremely accurate at predicting due dates," I explain.

Greg looks from Noelle back to us, "But we broke up. Yeah, see, she got pregnant. I wanted to get married, she didn't. I gave her an ultimatum, and she left me."

"Greg, I am so sorry," Noelle pleads.

Greg looks to her now, "We were barely speaking, six weeks after the conception, let alone having sex… or at least I wasn't having sex."

"It was one night, Greg, it was one night. I didn't think this could happen," Noelle panics, "It was nothing."

"I can't believe you did this. I can't believe you didn't tell me. I can't believe this," he yells storming out.

George oohs finally understanding what happened, "He's not the father of both babies."

I roll my eyes, walking out the room and run directly into Miranda. I sigh, "I just accidentally broke the news of my patient's infidelity to her husband."

"And yet no one is questioning your competence as a surgeon," she says under her breath.

I look at her confused, "Are people giving you a hard time?"

Before she could answer, Richard walks up to us, "I need a button. I'm on my last clean shirt and I'm missing a button. Adele always handled my buttons. Adele… no. I wouldn't want to bother her with anything as trivial as a button. I don't suppose either of you would want to…"

"I have many skills; surgical skills. Your button ruptures an oesophagus, I'm your woman… otherwise…" Miranda trails off as she walks away.

Richard looks at me and I shake my head, "I'm sorry, I have two uteruses I need to deal with."

"Hey," Callie smiles at me as I round the corner of the hallway, "you busy? I could use a consult."

"Yeah, I'm free," I answer but am cut off my a page right after, "I'll be right there."

Checking the pager, I see that it's Meredith and I totally forgot we had lunch plans. I don't know if I'll have time to even take a lunch break right now. I step into an empty on-call room and call her up.

"Hello?" she answers on the other end.

I sigh, "Hey."

"You sound… are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just won't be able to make lunch right now. I have a consult but I promise to make it up to you later."

"It's okay. Cristina was hounding me about eating with her anyway… Apparently she has a bunch of news to tell me…" she trails off.

I smile softly, "Go catch up with your friend and I'll call you as soon as I get some free time."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too," we finish and hang up the phone.

I make my way downstairs to Ortho to see if Callie still needs a consult. I hope I wasn't too long. Coming out of the staircase and down the hall, I spot Mark and Callie before they notice me. It seems as though I'm intruding on something the way that Mark is looking at her. He looks like a hungry bear narrowing in on a sad puppy that is my new friend, Callie.

He leans in close to her, "You look like you could use a little cheering up."

"Not from you," she answers shortly.

He does that infamous Mark Sloan smirk, "If I recall I was pretty good at cheering you up. One… two… yep, three cheerful times."

"Dirty. It was not cheerful, it was dirty. And like I said, no," she says finally looking up to him.

When Mark looks up and sees me, he looks nervous and walks away. I pretend I didn't hear anything and I just smile walking up to her, ""Sorry I took so long…"

"Oh, no," she shakes her head, "It's fine. I just finished setting her arm."

"My patient went into premature labor," I explain as I follow her down the hall towards her patient's room, "The baby is fine though. A full recovery is expected."

"Oh, that's great. My patient just had some concerns about her baby," she smiles leading me into the patient's room, "Jamie Carr. She slipped and fell in the shower this morning."

"Dr. Montgomery," I introduce myself to Jamie and her husband, "I'm the attending neonatal surgeon."

"I'm Ted," the husband introduces himself and his wife again, "This is Jamie."

"I can't see my own feet," she says as she awkwardly laughs then lifts up her wrist, "I did this."

"Nasty break," I reply looking from her arm to her chart where I can see the scans and the fact that she isn't on any pain medicine. I question Callie, "She doesn't have any meds for the pain?"

"She refused," she says and I'm surprised, "She's toughing it out."

"Oh, don't tough it out," I shake my head smiling, "Just say yes."

"But the baby… I know Dr. Torres said it was alright, but I'll suffer. Is he okay? He was kicking like crazy, but…" she trails off.

I make my way over to the fetal monitor, "It's possible that he's just sleeping."

"See…" he tries to calm her, "our son sleeps. He's sleeping, Jamie."

"Do I need a cast?"

"Definitely," I hear Callie say in the background as panic starts to rise in my chest. The baby isn't sleeping, "We'll put your arm in this fancy sling and use gravity to help align the bones."

"Will you excuse me?" I interject abruptly, "I just need to…" I excuse myself from the room before tears start to fill in my eyes. I run into the nearest empty room. Unfortunately, that place is a restroom and I run into the stall locking it behind me.

This is the first time since Bizzy and Susan deaths… that I experienced a loss and now, I can't stop crying. I thought I was over the random pools of tears at all times of a day but now I realize I was just holding it all in waiting for that one thing to push me over the edge. This is it.

I hear the doors to the restroom open and Callie's voice a few seconds later, "You okay?"

"I'm okay," I answer wiping away my tears and regaining my voice, "I'm fine. I'm good."

"Don't make me climb over the stall. I'll do it but I'll be pissed 'cause I don't know you that well," she responds and I open the door to the stall. I try to laugh to hide my pain but I can't. She looks me in the eyes shaking her head, "You're not okay."

"I don't know why," I shrug, "There's no reason that this should affect me this much. I'm used to this I am but…"

"Used to what?"

"That woman, yesterday, she's just as healthy as can be and today, her baby's dead," I say as in finally sinks in for the both of us. Fresh tears fill up in my eyes as Callie slides down the stall and sits with me.

We sit there in a comfortable silence for awhile until I can finally get myself under control. All I think about is Bizzy and how she'd be rolling over in her grave right now if she knew I was crying in a bathroom stall. 'Forbes Montgomery's do not cry in public. Tears are reserved for home; preferably in the privacy of your own bedroom.' That's what she would say. That thought gave me the push I needed to finally get up off the floor.

I stop at the mirror to fix my face before I let Callie lead me back to Jamie's room. We stop outside the door and stare at them from outside the window. I sigh, "They are a happy couple. Look at them. They love each other. They should have everything. Happy people should have… happy things happen to them. I have to tell them…"

"Wait," Callie stops me right before I push open the door, "The moment you tell them they won't be happy any more. Give them a few more minutes. Let them be happy a few more minutes."

We decide to let Callie do her thing first. She gets Jamie set up in a cast and I can tell by the look on her face, let alone her words, how much pain she's in, "Oh, please tell me it's going to stop hurting soon."

"You're almost done."

"When our son's 15 and he's yelling you've never done anything for him, you can guilt him with the wrist," Ted jokes and it pushes me over the edge. I can't sit on this much longer.

Luckily, Callie finishes right after and gives me the nod of approval. I clear my throat, "Ted, Jamie, I need to talk to you… about the baby."

"Dr. Montgomery…" the husband trails off.

Tears already spring up in Jamie's eyes, "You have to say it. I won't believe it unless you say it. You have to SAY it."

"I'm so sorry. It seems as though the baby died during the fall…" I trail off as both parents burst into tears.

When Ted finally comes to, he looks up to me, "What happens now?"

"We will have to induce Jamie's labor and deliver him," I explain, "but we don't have to do it right away… If you guys need some more time…"

"No, just… just do it," Jamie caves.

I go ahead and insert the gel to get her labor started and I step out of the room before the tears could reach me again. Callie walks out behind me and takes me into a much needed hug. I sigh, "Sorry, it's just… this is the first patient I lost since―"

"It's okay," she cuts me off, "You don't have to explain. I know this is going to be tough but I'll be there every step of the way if you need."

"Thanks, Callie," I take a deep breath as my pager goes off. It's a 911 page about Noelle, "I'll be right back."

"No problem."

"Thanks… again," she smiles and I turn back around heading towards Noelle's room. I walk in on high alert, "What's going on?"

"She's hyperventilating," George says as Noelle paces across the room, "And the baby's had some bradycardia."

"Noelle," I instruct calmly as I look at the monitors, "I need you to get back into bed."

"Is Greg out there? Did he leave?" she asks, "Like really leave?"

"Noelle, take deep breaths," George tries.

Noelle just panics, "I always give him such a hard time about everything. I mean, he likes weddings, I hate them. He loves kids, they scare me to death."

"Have you had any cramping, any contractions," I ask, "anything at all?"

"I can't do this without him. We'll get past this right. I mean, we'll get past this," she says, my words flying right over her head until she clenches her stomach, "Ah!"

"All right, Noelle," I run over to her side and walk her back to the bed, "I need you to get into bed."

"What's happening?" she asks as I roll her over to her side.

She's gone into premature labor on one of the babies. I'll need to get her out now. I look to Noelle, "Stay on your left side. I need slow deep breaths."

I motion George towards the door and speak quietly not to alert Noelle anymore than she already is, "Get an OR booked. I'll call in a prep team and met you up there. We have to get this baby out now."

"Okay," he nods running towards the phone and I walk out the room signaling a prep team.

Soon after, Greg, Noelle's fiance, walks up to me concerned, "Dr. Montgomery? Can you tell me what's going on in there?"

"You left…" I sigh trying not to show my frustration, "she thinks you left!"

"Look, this is all hard to digest. My little girl…" he pauses, "she isn't even my little girl anymore."

"Noelle is in there freaking out because she thinks you left."

"Just tell me if she is okay…" he pleads, "please."

"She's gone into premature labor," I cave, "I… am about to do an emergency c-section to stop labor on the other."

"So you're delivering one of the babies right now? Today?"

"In just a few minutes."

"The boy or the girl?" he asks.

I sigh then remembering something he said, I look him in the eyes and say shortly, "Ham or eggs?"

"Okay, I've completed the incision. I'm going to ask you to move the top uterus to the side so I can reach the one underneath," I instruct.

George nods shakingly, "Okay."

"I don't want to alarm you or make you nervous in any way, 'cause you seem like a decent person, O'Malley," I pause looking at him nervously, "but I've got about 120 seconds to get baby 1 out of uterus 1 while you're holding uterus 2. And if you so much as hiccup you could rupture uterus 2 and kill this woman's child. Just try and be careful okay?"

"Okay."

"Wow," the nurse smiles as I hand her their baby boy, "Look at that."

"Amazing, huh?" I smile then I get started again, "Ready to perforate uterus 2."

"Wait, Dr. Montgomery, my baby's moving," George panics, "It's really moving, I can't hold it."

"I need you to hold her still if I'm going to do the c-section."

"I know. I'm trying. What should I do? It's really moving."

"I need you to keep her still George."

"You're sending her into distress," the nurse calls out as the monitors go off, "You have to get that baby to stop moving."

"How do I do that?"

"Talk O'Malley," a familiar voice says from behind me. When he moves towards the table, I get a better image of who it is.

"Alex…" George hisses.

I reprimand while still trying to work, "Dr. Karev move away from the table."

"Talk to it," he ignores me, "to the baby to calm it down."

"Karev."

"Talk about what?" George panics.

Alex continues talking, "October 30, 1974, it's the fight known as Rumble in the Jungle. World heavyweight champ George Foreman is pitted against Muhammad Ali. It's his first fight in 3 1/2 years out of the ring."

"It's working," George comments and I decide to let Karev at it.

He continues, "Foreman is his favorite to win. He's younger, stronger."

"Scalpel."

"But he's not prepared for what Ali later called the rope-a-dope. It all starts in the second round. He comes out swinging. Ali's backed up against the ropes."

The surgery was a success… no thanks to Dr. O'Malley but I guess I can't be that hard on him… He just wasn't ready. I am impressed by Dr. Karev though. Well, I guess I shouldn't be because he was my intern. I feel like a played a really big role in how he turned out and I was right, he would miss my service. I'm sure he's grown tired of fetching Mark's coffees and dry-cleaning. However, that's what he wanted. Therefore that's what he received.

I checked in with Callie to see how Jamie's labor is progressing and finding out that she's only 6 centimeters dilated, I make my way to Noelle's room. She's just coming out of anesthesia.

"What happened? Did everything go okay? Are my babies okay?" she wakes up alarmed.

I smile sweetly, "The surgery went very well. You have a healthy baby boy. And the labor stopped on our little girl. She's going to be just fine."

"And Greg? Has Greg come back yet?"

"No, Noelle. I'm sorry. Greg isn't here," I explain as she passes back out. I turn to George, "I want an update every half hour."

"What happened?" Noelle ask waking up again, "My babies?"

"Are just fine, Noelle," I finish, "You're just coming out of anesthesia."

"Is Greg back yet?"

"I'm sorry, Noelle, he's not here," I say as she slips away again. I turn back to George, "And be sure to alert me to any fetal distress."

"What happened?"

"Your babies are fine Noelle, everything is okay."

"Is Greg back yet?"

"I'm right here," Greg says walking into the room.

Noelle smiles wife and it makes my heart melt a little, "Hi."

"Hi. I saw our son. He's amazing. But how's our little girl?" He smiles sitting down next to her.

Feeling accomplished, I'm finally able to leave Noelle confident that she'll have a full recovery; in her romantic life and medical. Walking out of the room, I'm paged by Callie letting me know Jamie's fully dilated. I really don't want to do this but I'm so grateful to Callie. She has been my rock today. I can't believe I completely lost it in the stall today. I'm pretty embarrassed by myself. Luckily, my outburst hasn't made it around the hospital yet.

I make my way down to Jamie's room and Callie's already inside. It seems as though she's gotten started already. I grab some clean gloves and I take over for her. I nod my head, "Good, push Jamie." She sighs giving up. I try to cheer her on, "I need you to push one more time. Jamie. Ted. One more time, push." I clear the head and I do the rest myself, "We got it." I hand Jamie the dead baby and Callie gives me a supportive pat on the shoulder.

We excuse ourselves to give them some alone time and find ourselves sitting on the ground outside their room, pressed up against the wall. I can't help but bring up what I heard earlier, "So, you're sleeping with Sloan?"

"Was."

"Me too; was," I correct myself. "Which is just a hailstorm of self loathing and misery."

"Yeah."

"You want to get a drink or something?"

"Yeah."

"I am officially off the clock. I'll go get changed and meet you at Joe's?"

"It's a plan."

Hi, I'm sorry I've been so AWOL. I had a nasty fall and injured my right wrist and one of my fingers on my left hand so you could tell how difficult it has been to write let alone type it all up. Thank you all for your patience. I think I'm going to end this story after the next chapter, which will be intern exams, then start up a part two. Next chapter will also focus a lot on the Callison friendship and their drunken escapades. I promise you will see a lot more of Mark and mushy Meddison in the chapters to come. Until then, don't forget to check out my other stories and stay awesome!

Happy readings,

Kae :)