CHAPTER 36 - the chapter starts right after the end of the previous one... Thanks again to celadeschanel for her precious help and for her ideas...and thank you readers for read and review the story! I hope you like this new chapter... let me know what you think...
Addison threw the surgical cap on the floor with a rush of adrenaline.
"You are unusually happy about this, Dr. Montgomery." A young blond intern commented, smiling.
"I missed this, you know? I missed coming in, cutting some people up, bringing babies into the world, it's an amazing feeling!" She washed her hands and finished scrubbing out. Her intern followed her.
"But, why did you leave?"
"Oh, I had a baby, William." Addison flashed her a motherly smile.
"Aw, and where is he?"
"He's with his father, Derek Shepherd, he works in the neurosurgery department…Speaking of him, better if I find him, William will be hungry" she said looking at her watch "Have a good day, Dr Smithson" she said walked away from the intern and into the neurosurgery department.
"So, has anyone seen Dr Shepherd?" Addison asked to the nurses at the division's station.
"I'm sorry Dr Montgomery we haven't seen him yet, wait maybe Edna saw him?" the young nurse told to Addison, "Edna, did you see Dr Shepherd?" she asked to her colleague
"I think he is in radiology, Dr Montgomery" the black nurse said to her
"Thank you very much, Edna" she said heading in the other division, but she couldn't stop thinking it was strange that Derek was in radiology with William, her anxiety was growing up every single minute, maybe William was sick, maybe Derek was sick, maybe he has an emergency or maybe she was just puzzling without reason. She found a nurse of the radiology's division and asked "Excuse-me, I'm searching Dr Shepherd, is he here?" she gently asked to a male nurse
"Dr. Shepherd?" he asked back "I've never known of a Dr Shepherd here at Mt Sinai"
"Nevermind" she said leaving the division.
She was frantically walking for the aisles of Mt Sinai looking for Derek and William, when she finally found a resident of the neurosurgery program "Dr Morris, Dr Morris" she said to the young doctor "Did you see Derek?"
"Oh, Dr Montgomery, nice to see you, I saw Dr Shepherd thirty minutes ago, more or less he was with 'Captain', I think this is his name…"
"Was he alone with Captain?"
"Excuse-me?"
"Was he alone or he was carrying a baby?" she asked tired and scared
"A baby?" Dr Morris asked dazed
"Dr Morris, Derek has my 20-days-old baby, where is he now?"
"I think he is in surgery… Dr Montgomery, are you fine?"
"No! I want to know where the hell are Derek and my baby!"
"Addison, calm down, Dr Morris has no fault" Dr Ellen Greene, an old friend of both Derek and Addison, said to her "Derek is operating with your father, he is in surgery now…"
"What about William? I don't care where in the hell is Derek I want my baby back…"
"Maybe he left him at the day-nursery…"
"Twenty days, Ellen. He is twenty days old. I need to find my child! I'm going in there " she said already heading to the nursery, "Sorry Dr. Montgomery, Dr Shepherd didn't leave the baby here…" Addison was almost crying she was tired of that treasure hunt to find William, suddenly she heard the scream of a baby she turned over to see Owen holding William "Oh my god, you look like an angel Owen, you have no idea how much I searched William, I was so scared..." she said reaching her hands to pick William from Owen's arms, "Derek asked me to look after William, while he was in surgery… Cristina wasn't very happy so I left the room to let her rest, I was searching for a nurse to warm the bottle, he seemed a bit hungry a while ago, but 5 minutes ago he fell asleep…"
"Thank you, thank you so much Owen, this was totally driving me crazy…" she said kissing William's tiny hands and holding him tightly.
Twenty minutes later Captain and Derek showed from the OR "Good job, Shepherd!" Captain said acknowledging Derek's surgery skill, "Thank you, Captain I have a certain experience with brain aneurysm" he said entering in the neurosurgery department, Addison was in the hall waiting for him "Do you think it was funny, Derek?"
"Addie…let me explain"
"Let you explain Derek?… I searched my 20 days old baby for half hospital, Derek… I asked you one thing, Derek, only one!" she said more tired than angry
"I know, it was stupid…and I'm sorry…"
"Stupid, Derek? Stupid is an euphemism… What the hell were you thinking? He's a baby not a pack…"
"Kitten, come on… He was in an hospital, this is a safe place, William was safe here even without Derek…" Captain said trying to calm down her daughter
"Safe place, Captain? Derek has almost been killed in what you call 'a safe place' so please stop talking…"
"I'm sorry, honey" Derek said trying to quit that conversation as soon as possible and recognizing his faults.
"You are sorry, Derek? I lost 10 years of life, I was scared like I've never been in my life, I thought that something bad has happened to you…or to the baby…and I know I was irrational thinking this, but…"
"Hey, I'm fine… William is fine too, I only made a little mistake" he said with a soft voice calming her down, 'she cares...' he thought 'it isn't only about William, she cares of me too' and he looked at her with a lovely grin.
"What?" she asked looking back at him "Why that grin in your face?"
"Nothing" he said "Lets go home! William needs to rest it has been a long day for him too" he said caressing the baby's back.
Back to the car on their way home Derek asked to Addison "Were you really scared about me?"
"What are you trying to ask me, Derek?" Addison asked him back
"At the hospital, you were only afraid for William or for me too?...Sincere, please"
"Of course for both of my guys… Derek you have been almost killed last year, you had an important surgery at the heart… You have no idea how many times I woke up in the middle of the night to see if you are fine, if you sleep…I do care for you, like I've always done, even when we weren't anymore together, you will be always my great guy, not matter what happened or will happen… like William will be always mommy's little boy…" she said turning back to see if the baby was still quiet on his car seat.
Derek stopped his Porsche in front of the brownstone, he picked up William from his car seat and with Addison came in their house "I put William to bed" Derek said to her, that nodded him while she was busy checking the mails "bills, bills, bills… there are every day bills to pay" while she was looking at the bills she noticed a different mail, that looked like a wedding invitation, she opened the envelope and read it 'Together with their families Lexie Grey & Mark Sloan invite you to share the joy as they are united in marriage Saturday the….'
"What's up?" Derek asked looking at Addison's puzzled face "Are you ok?"
"Mark is going to marry…" she answered looking back at Derek
"Are you serious?"
"Yes…look at that" she said giving him the wedding invitation, Derek read it twice "Unbelievable…he's going to marry Lexie Grey this Saturday at Oheka Castle…"
"Did he tell you anything about the marriage when you were in Seattle?"
"No nothing… Actually I didn't see him while I was in Seattle…"
"Maybe he was busy planning the wedding" Addison commented tightening his chest with her arms and admitted "it's something that I didn't expected to see, I never thought of Mark… married…"
"He didn't invite me" Derek said looking at the mail sent only to Addison
"Don't be silly, Derek, you are Mark's best friend… maybe he didn't know where to send the invitation… He knows you live with your mother, maybe he sent the invitation to her"
"He could call me…" he replied
"Maybe he just forgot" she said kissing his cheek and heading upstairs, Derek was still looking at the invitation unbelieving it when suddenly the doorbell rang, he opened the door and "Mark!" he exclaimed, "Man you're the last man I expected to see here" Mark commented, "This is my house!"
"Addison lives here, right?… I sent her the invitation at the practice in LA, but Naomi called me to tell me that she moves back here in NYC…" Mark explained coming in the house
"Yes, she lives here…with me!"
"Ahahahahahahahahahahahahah" Mark started laughing "You can't be serious, man, you can't… This is incredible you live under the same roof of Addison, your first wife…that's crazy!"
Addison was coming down the stair, when she saw her friend and exclaimed happy "Mark!... I'm so happy to see you… you look great!" she said looking at the husband to be, "Addison! It's great to see you too…" he said hugging her old friend, "Are you ready for the great day?" she asked picking the invitation and showing it to him "I can't believe at my eyes when I read it… but congratulation, Mark I'm really happy for you!"
"How is possible you live with this guy?" Mark asked looked back at Derek
"You have no ideas how many things happened this year… and Derek is one of this…" she said squeezing Derek's hand, "If you're happy with him I'm happy too…" Mark commented looking at his two old friends finally back together "Addison, I'm here to ask you something important for me, I really appreciate if you will be my 'best man'…"
"wha…what… are you really asking Addison to be your 'best man', Mark?" Derek asked a bit confused for Mark's proposal.
"Yes, why? Is it a problem for you?"
"No, no…It's just… nothing" Derek said
"Thank you, Mark…It's an honour for me to be your 'best man'… I always knew Lexie was the right one" she said remembering that night in LA when he told her he was still in love with the girl.
"Scotch, Mark?" Derek asked to his friend
"Yes, man… Double scotch…"
"Single-malt" Derek finished the sentence for him "So when you guys decided to marry?"
"Derek I didn't know where to sent you the invitation, of course you, your mother and your sisters are my guests… To answer your question, we decided to marry only two months ago… We are going to have a baby, but this isn't the reason why we are going to marry, I love Lexie, I really do, she's the one I want near my side… She is the one I want build to my future, she will be the mother of my kids and she will be my family…" Mark said happy, "I'm really happy for you Mark, I really am… you deserve all these things, you are a bit screwed up… so am I… but you're a great guy, I wish all the best for you…" Addison said hugging Mark, so he whispered on her ear "I'm sorry red, I wasn't the right guy for you!"
"It's ok, Mark… I found my 'stability' now, even if I didn't follow the traditional way"
"Why did you decide to marry here in NYC?" Derek asked
"and you ask me this? Look at this city, it's beautiful… and my family lives here and Molly, Lexie's sister lives in Albany…" Mark explained
"Are you planning to move back here?" Derek asked
"Maybe… Never say never, and after all I'm a plastic surgeon NYC is definitely a better place to practice medicine rather than Seattle"
"It would be great!" Addison said happily thinking at the idea to have another dear friend in NYC "So did you already buy the bands?" then she asked
"Not yet… We have still a couple of things to plan"
"So don't buy the wedding bands, it would be my present… after all I'm the 'best man'" she asserted smiling, Mark looked at his watch "Gosh, I'm terribly late…it 12:30 am, Lexie is waiting
for me to lunch with her sister and her husband… I have to go, guys… I'm so happy to see the 2 of you back together" then before leaving the house he said to Derek "Man, take care of her!"
"I do… And you take care of little Grey!" Derek said smiling him back "At Saturday Mark!"
Later in the afternoon Cartier Jewellery - 828 Madison Avenue, NYC
"What about this model?" Addison asked to Derek showing him the gold ring in her finger
"Umh… no…" he said looking again at the band
"Why not? It's very close to the band we had…"
"And this is one of the reason why I don't want buy this model for Mark…"
"So what about this other model?" she asked again "Come on you could be more collaborative Derek", Derek stopped to do funny faces to William and looked at the band, not really paying attention "It's big…" he said
"Well Mark has big hands so I think this band in his finger will look fine"
"My hands are better" he said looked at his precious hands "The hands of a neurosurgeon who operates on brains, not the hands of someone that pumps up boops… and after all I refuse to buy 2000 $ bands for a couple that is going to divorce in less than 9 months"
"Derek be positive!"
"Addie, it's Mark we're talking about, I can't be positive"
"I'm positive this story with Lexie will last"
"...ah ah, and why are you so sure about that?"
"Because in LA, I asked him a second chance and he said he was still in love with Lexie...at first I thought it was the 'Grey's malediction' that hit me again..."
"You and your addison centric's world"
"I'm sure Mark loves Lexie… What about you, do you have a soft spot for that girl, Derek?"
"Don't be jealous Addie... but yes, she's a nice girl, even if sometimes a bit childish... I only hope Mark doesn't hurt her, she doesn't deserve that…"
"No one deserves to be hurt by the people that say to love you…"
"You did it, Addison"
"I know and I regret it every day… What I'm trying to say is that I don't want hurt you again, at least not on purpose…"
"Me neither, Addie!" he assured her, then looking again at the bands on the counter he suggested "What about this model?"
"It's classic… and different from ours, I like it…" she said
"Speaking of bands… Where's yours?"
"In the bay of Seattle, under the sea… with my engagement ring…" she told him remembering the day she threw them.
Dear Maddison fans don't hate me for pairing Mark with Lexie, after all she's a good girl (IMO...better than her sister...)! Review review review!