Chapter Twenty-Eight: Bring on the Rain

Another day has almost come and gone
I can't imagine what else could go wrong
Sometimes I'd like to hide away somewhere and lock the door
A single battle lost, but not the war
'Cause tomorrow's another day
And I'm thirsty anyway
So bring on the rain

Jo Dee Messina

"Hey, Lexie? Does it suck that you're stuck doing charts and babysitting me instead of in surgery? 'Cause I can go wait at the Nurses' Station if you want," Elena offered as she sat in the abandoned hallway with her aunt one Saturday afternoon. "Mommy's appointment shouldn't take that long."

"Chill, Lamb," Lexie laughed. "First, I'm the one who offered to look after you. And second, I owe Carpenter charts anyway. So it works out perfectly."

"Okay," Elena nodded, playing distractedly with the edge of her sleeve.

But Lexie noticed that something still wasn't quite right. "What's got you acting so weird, Lamb? I can deal with it when everyone else is acting strange, but it really freaks me out when you are."

"I just want things to be normal again, Lexie," she sighed resting her head on Lexie's shoulder.

"Did you not get the memo? There's no such thing as normal in our family, kid. As a matter of fact, as soon as you step through those hospital doors, normal ceases to exist."

Elena giggled, realizing that Lexie was absolutely right. Nothing in her life had ever quite been like the other kids she'd known. Then again, even Elena knew that she wasn't the same as any of the other children; everyone always teased that she was too old for her age, but she knew that it was true. And life within the walls of Seattle Grace Hospital was about as far from ordinary as you could possibly get.

"Okay, I need a break, and the rain outside is making me ridiculously sleepy," Lexie sighed as the rain suddenly began to patter heavily against the window. "Or maybe it's because I've been in this hospital for almost thirty-six hours. Whatever. The point is that I was going to ask if you wanted to get some hot cocoa."

The little girl nodded and remarked, "You should go for coffee, though. No offense, but you look like you need it."

Lexie just laughed as she took Elena by the hand and headed toward the cafeteria. With all the rain, it would inevitably be a busy day in the ER and the OR, but it was surprisingly quiet. Lexie, however, knew better than to state the fact aloud.

The indoor cafeteria was unusually crowded since no one was feeling up to braving the weather outdoors. While they were standing in line, however, Elena heard Lexie groan under her breath and turned to see Dr. Matt Carson approaching. He and Lexie had been on one date, and he was even more in love with her than before—and everyone knew it.

"Hi, Elena. Hey, Lexie," he said, his voice growing noticeably nervous when he mentioned her name, and it took every ounce of willpower Elena had in her not to start giggling uncontrollably.

"What do you want, Carson? 'Cause I've been in this hospital since five o'clock yesterday morning, and I've been doing charts all day. So I'm not exactly in a very chatty mood. So, what do you want?" she questioned bluntly.

"I—I can help with the charts, if you want me to," he stammered.

Lexie shrugged as she handed Elena the cup of hot cocoa. "Lamb, do you mind if Carson joins us?"

But the little girl shook her head. "I don't mind at all," she insisted, causing Lexie to glare down at her. But Elena just looked up at her and grinned, knowing exactly what was running through her aunt's mind. However, the child agreed with her stepmother that Lexie should give Matt Carson a chance, and she wanted to see her aunt happy.

"Traitor," she whispered playfully under her breath. "Okay, fine. Come on."

From across the cafeteria, unbeknownst to them, Meredith stood watching the scene in bewilderment and curiosity.

Cristina noticed her friend standing there, staring blankly at… something. "What's up?" she wondered, helping herself to half of Meredith's turkey and Swiss sandwich.

"I think Elle is trying to play Cupid."

"What do you mean?"

"You know Matt Carson, right?"

"The guy that's so in love with your sister that he can barely talk?" Cristina questioned, almost laughingly. When Meredith nodded, she confirmed, "Yeah, I know him."

"He just left with Elle and Lexie," she reported. "I wonder what that was all about, but I know my sister won't say a word."

"Uh, Mer? Hello? Lexie might not tell you, but Elle definitely will," Cristina pointed out.

Meredith grinned impishly. "I love the way your mind works, Yang."

"You nervous?" Mark wondered as they arrived at Seattle Grace for Addison's appointment with her oncologist. She was getting back more test results today, and Mark could tell that this meeting had been on her mind for days.

"No," she answered quickly, only to receive a skeptical look in reply. "Okay, yes. I'm just ready to be done with all this; I want my life back. I want to be able to be a mother to my daughter again. For the first six years of her life, I raised her almost entirely by myself, and now it takes everything I have to get in the car and drive ten minutes to pick her up from ballet. I don't like having to depend so much on other people."

"You never have, Addie."

She sighed. Her childhood hadn't been at all like the one she hoped she was giving her daughter. Her mother left when she was three-years-old, and her father was distant and cold. Derek's family had been her first true experience of what a family was supposed to be like, but after so many years of depending only on herself, it was still a difficult habit to break. "One of the first lessons I learned in my life is that you can't expect everyone to do everything for you. If you want something done, the only way you can guarantee it is if you do it yourself."

"It's okay to ask for help sometimes. You don't have to do it all alone. Some people actually want to help," he assured her with a warm smile.

"I know," she nodded. "And I'm very thankful. But you do have to admit that I'm getting better at the whole 'trying to do everything on my own' thing."

"Yes, you are. I'm very proud," he teased, and she punched his arm playfully. However, the laughter was only momentary, and her worried expression returned too soon. " It'll be okay, Addie. You're going to get through this, and we're going to start a new chapter in all of our lives."

She forced a smile, hoping desperately that he was right. "Moment of truth," she said as they arrived at Dr. Green's office. After a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped inside.

"Dr. Montgomery, Dr. Sloan. Please, have a seat," he offered after shaking their hands in welcome.

His tone, however, caught Addison's attention; she knew that tone because she had used it more than once in her medical career. And the way he hesitated… it wasn't the way you acted when you had good news to share.

"Addison, I'm so sorry," he finally brought himself to say.

However, Addison couldn't help but start to sob into Mark's shoulder while he did his best to console her despite his own growing fear.

"There is a new experimental treatment, and I'm almost confident that we can get you into the study if you'd like to go that route," Dr. Green offered, but his voice sounded faraway and dreamlike.

Instead, Addison's thoughts drifted to Elena. Her little girl very well might have to grow up without her after all. It was a cruel reality, but it was their new reality.

"Hey, Mommy! How'd your appointment go?" Elena asked cheerfully as Addison and Mark found her with Derek standing in front of the OR board.

Addison cupped her hand to Elena's cheek and managed to smile. The little girl was, no doubt, asking Derek a million questions about the board upon which her very own name would someday be. "Oh, you know how it is. Just long and boring," Addison answered nonchalantly.

Derek and Mark smiled and shook hands, exchanging a greeting as though the past years of conflict hadn't ever existed. In fact, Derek even went so far as to start telling Mark about the land he had bought when he first moved to Seattle.

"It's amazing, man. And the fishing? It's great," Derek told him while Mark listened intently.

"So, are you planning to do anything with it?" he wondered, but Derek shrugged.

"Nothing as of now; if one of the kids decides to stick around Seattle, I'll give it to one of them. Hayden loves to go fishing there, so he and I get out there and spend the day every so often. You should come with us next time," he offered, and Mark graciously accepted.

Meanwhile, Addison watched them and couldn't help but think about the old days when they were all such good friends. Maybe things could be like that again someday; maybe she would be around for it. "Sweetie, I need to talk to your dad alone for a minute, so why don't you and Mark go on ahead, and I'll catch up?" she suggested to Elena once Derek and Mark had finished their conversation.

"Is everything all right, Mommy?"

"You don't need to worry about a thing, Sweetheart," she said, surprising herself at how cheery she sounded.

"Okay," she nodded and turned to hug Derek tightly. "Bye, Daddy. I love you." With that, she and Mark started for the elevator.

"So, what's this big secret that you have to tell me? Did he propose? Well, let's see the ring," Derek wondered laughingly. However, Addison shook her head and a somber look overcame her face. "Addison, what's wrong?" he asked, a part of him not really wanting to know for fear that it would be what they had all dreaded to hear.

"Derek, it's… it's back. The cancer is back."

At her news, he suddenly felt numb and walked over to the stairs, forced to sit down for fear that his legs would give out. As she sat down beside him, they remained for a moment in complete silence. "Addison, I…" he started, soon realizing that there was nothing to say that could possibly make any of this better or easier.

"It's okay. You don't have to say anything," she assured him. "I just thought you should know."

"When are you going to tell Elle? I can be there if you need me to be," he offered, although seeing his daughter's heart break once more would be almost unbearable.

"I don't want to tell her until after the twins' party next week. She deserves at least one more happy, fun memory before she has to know," she answered, the shock of the news still very apparent in her voice."

"Is there something I can do?"

She stood to leave and whispered, "Take good care of my baby for me."

Someone recently sent me a message asking about the correct pronunciation of Aida. I personally pronounce it Aid-ah, not Ay-ee-dah. Of course, you can pronounce it whichever way you'd like, but I just wanted to clarify.