Amelia and Derek looked at each other and slowly turned to Addison.
"Addie," Derek said slowly. "Amelia hasn't been in rehab for 7 years. She went to rehab, got out and finished medical school. She is now in her Fellowship year in neurosurgery here at Mt. Sinai."
Addison was thoroughly confused. What did Derek mean that was 7 years ago? She clearly remembered what happened as they rang in the new millennium.
7 years ago
"Derek, can you believe it is almost 2000!" Addison said. "This is going to be such an AMAZING year!" She said draping her arms around Derek's neck. She leaned in a kissed him. It was New Year's Eve and they were putting out the finishing touches for the party they were throwing in a couple of hours.
"I know." Derek replied wrapping her in a big hug. "The best part is you turn 30 first! You only have a few more weeks of being young! I still have a few months." he teased her.
"That just means you have to respect your elders." Addison laughed pulling away from him. He chased her up the stairs into their room.
A few hours later, their house was filled with friends who had managed to get off of work for the New Year. Everything was going great until around 11:00 when Addison got a page.
"Why am I getting paged?" she complained to Derek. "We have been off the whole week!"
"I know, Love." Derek said sympathetically. "You better call in to see what is going on."
Addison decided to use the phone in their bedroom due to the noise of the party.
"This is Addison Shepherd." she said as she called Mt. Sinai. "I was paged, but I am off and am in no condition to be working as it is New Year's Eve and I have had champaign."
"Sorry Dr. Shepherd. We wouldn't have paged you, but there is a woman in the ER who is refusing to talk to anyone but you. She is also causing a scene." the nurse said apologetically.
"Who is she?" Addison asked, running through her head patients she had seen lately who might have gone to the ER.
"Um, she won't give us her name. She appears to be around 20, has dark hair, and blue eyes. She appears to be high. Should we call the police?"
Addison was stunned. She was almost positive she knew who the woman was.
"No, don't call the police. Is Dr. Sloan working?"
"Yes, he just came out of the OR." The nurse asked confused.
"Take him to the woman. I am on my way." Addison replied hanging up the phone.
Addison went down the stairs, found Derek and told him she had to go to the hospital.
"Addie, you can't work. You've had alcohol." Derek said with concern.
"I'm ok Derek. There is a patient that really needs me." Addison replied giving him a quick kiss. "I have to go. I guess now is our Happy New Year." she said, a little sad she wouldn't be with him at midnight. With that, she rushed out the door before Derek could protest. The cab she had called was already outside waiting for her.
Soon she was rushing in to the ER, where her suspicions were confirmed.
"Addie! You came!" said the woman in bed 1 who was clearly high and intoxicated.
"Amy! What is going on?!" Addison said rushing over to her sister-in-law.
"I don't really know. The last thing I remember was celebrating the New Year with my friends, and then there were sirens, and the next thing I know there are doctors around me. But I told them I was fine. They wouldn't let me go, so I told them to page the best sister EVER!" Amelia said, slurring her words.
Addison picked up the chart near the bed and discovered that when Amelia had been brought in she had coded twice. She couldn't believe that Derek's littlest sister had almost OD'd. She also knew that Derek was going to be furious when he found out. The last time they had seen Amelia, she had stolen his car. The police found it a few days later, stripped of everything that could be sold. That was almost a year ago.
"Amy, did Mark come by here?" she asked. She knew she could trust Mark not to call Derek until they absolutely had to.
"He came by and said hi. He looks SOOOO cute in his lab coat! He got paged to surgery. So, when can I get out of here?" Amelia said trying to get the IV out of her arm.
Addison immediately went over to stop her. "Amy, you need those fluids. As soon as the IV bag is empty, we can go." she said calmly, hoping it would distract Amelia enough to buy her some time to figure out what to do.
"Ok fine." Amelia pouted. She reminded Addison of the 12 year old girl she met when Derek first took her home.
Addison went over to the nurses station. "Who brought her in?" she asked them.
"I don't really know. The EMT's said some guy called in saying he found a woman who was barely breathing. By the time the ambulance arrived at the location he told them to come to, he was gone. They found her conscious, but not for long. She coded several times in the ambulance and twice here. She has been here for about 6 hours. When she finally came around, she only wanted you. I am assuming you know who she is?"
"I do." Addison slowly. "Her name is Amelia Shepherd. She is Derek's little sister."
The nurse was stunned. "I see. Well, we need to keep her overnight, and "
"No." Addison said admittedly. "I will take her home. Both Derek and I are doctors. We can take care of her. She can't stay here."
"Ok…." the nurse said surprised. "Let me get the papers filled out. Oh also, Happy New Year."
Addison smiled at the nurse. She looked at the clock. It was 12:15.
"What a way to bring in the new millennium!" Addison thought.
Addison got Amelia loaded up in to a cab and headed home.
"Amy,' Addison said as they pulled up to the house. "I need to explain to Derek what is going on before he sees you. Can you hang out in the cab for a minute?"
"No problembo!" Amelia said.
Addison took a deep breath and went in to the house. By now it was 1:00 and most of their friends had left. She tried to quietly slip through the door without anyone noticing so she find Derek and talk in private; however, a very drunk Savvy saw her.
"Addison! You made it back!" Savvy said loudly. Derek overheard and immediately walked up to Addison.
"Is everything ok!? I haven't heard from you in hours! You left without explaining. What is going on?" he said angrily.
Addison put her arm on Derek's arm. "Derek, calm down. Everything is ok. I will explain, but first, can we go in the kitchen?"
She walked through the living room into the kitchen without waiting for an answer.
"There was a patient who was causing problems and would only calm down when they agreed to page me. She was high." At that, Derek jumped up and started to pace around the island. "Derek, I need you to sit down. You need to calm down"
"Addison, don't tell me it was who I think you are going to say." Derek said as he continued to pace the kitchen.
At that moment, the kitchen door burst open. "Big brother!" Amelia said as she stumbled through the door. Derek froze in his tracks. He looked from Amelia to Addison.
"Addison, what is she doing here?!" Derek yelled.
"Derek, calm down. She almost died tonight."
Addison told Derek the story. Derek was livid but also concerned. He loved his little sister and hated to see her like this. They finally convinced Amelia to go to sleep.
The next morning Addison and Derek informed Amelia that she either had to go to rehab or they were going to report her to the cops for the stolen car.
"What do you mean Amy was in rehab 7 years ago?" Addison was confused and a little scared. Derek walked over to the bed and sat down.
"Addie, you had a brain tumor removed that seems to be affecting your memory. It is now June 2007, not January 2000. I am sure this is just a side effect of the surgery and your memory will come back shortly." Derek said soothingly.
"Ok. I am really tired." Addison said drifting off to sleep.
Derek waited until he was sure Addison was asleep before he turned to Amelia.
"This is bad Amy. She doesn't remember the last 7 years!"
"Derek, calm down. As you said, it may be temporary. Don't jump to any conclusions. Let me take her for some scans to make sure there is no bleeding, and we will go from there." Amelia said calmly, despite being worried herself.
Over the next few hours, various family and friends stopped by to see how Addison was doing. Each time Derek informed them of her condition, stable but possible memory loss. Each time he repeated it, the more scared he was that it was permanent.
That evening, Dr. Koracick stopped by to talk with Derek. "I have the post-op scans for you to review. As you can see, we got the entire tumor. There are no bleeds either. Only time will tell if the memory loss is permanent or not."
Derek reviewed the scans and agreed with Dr. Koracick. "Thank you." was all he could manage to say. Addison then began to stir again.
"Derek" she said groggily. He rushed over to her side and took her hand.
"Addie, love, I am here." he said lovingly, running a hand over her cheek.
She opened her eyes and looked up and him. He noticed she was more coherent than before.
"Babe, what do you remember?" he asked her cautiously.
"I am not really sure. I had a really weird dream that Amelia was out of rehab and was a doctor." She then began to look around the room and realized where she was.
"Wait, why am I in a hospital bed?" she asked confused. She looked up and Derek. "It, uh, wasn't a dream, was it."
"No Addie, it wasn't. You had a brain tumor removed from your left frontal lobe." He saw her stiffen, and grabbed her hand tighter.
"The good news is that it was a benign tumor, and Dr. Koracick here was able to get all of it."
Addison looked at the foot of her bed and noticed the other man for the first time.
"Hi." she said quietly. "I guess you want to check my brain function?"
"You know. Hospital rules and all. I kind of have to." Dr. Koracick joked. He proceeded to check Addison's reflex abilities and her vision. Everything checked out ok.
"What is your full name?"
"Addison Adrianne Forbes Montegomery Shepherd."
"When is your birthday?"
"April 27th, 1970."
"When did you get married?"
"February 14th, 1995"
"Who am I?"
"I don't believe you introduced yourself to me doctor."
Dr. Koracick looked at Derek and then back to Addison.
"What is today?" he asked Addison, glancing back at Derek.
"The last date I remember is January 7, 2000; however, by your reaction, I am guessing that is wrong." Addison said slowly.
"Addie, honey, it is June 17th, 2007. This is Dr. Thomas Koracick. We performed surgery with him 5 years ago to separate conjoined twins." Derek informed her.
Addison's eyes grew larger and larger the more Derek talked.
"Derek, " Dr. Koracick interrupted. "It might be better not to overwhelm her. She is still within the normal window after surgery to have temporary memory loss."
Of course Derek knew that. He had given that same line to many patents' families. It as very different when it was his own wife though! What if she didn't get her memories back? How was he going to explain to her the last 7 years? Especially the last 2!
"I know." Derek responded. He turned to Addison. "It's ok sweetie. I am sure your memories will come back soon. Until then, ask me anything you want."
"Also," Dr. Koracick continued, "I see no reason why Addison has to stay in the ICU. She can be moved to a private room to continue recovery." He then turned and left the room. Leaving a stunned Addison staring after him.
Both Addison and Derek were quiet for a long time. Finally, Derek broke the silence.
"Addie, you have to say something." he pleaded with her. She looked up at him and stared in his ocean blue eyes for several more minutes.
"I guess this means we are 37 now. I look damn good for being that old!" she joked.
Derek climbed into bed with her and gently took her face in his hands. "Yes you do baby. More than you even know!" He leaned forward and kissed her gently.
A nurse came in to the room then to help move Addison to a private room out of ICU. Once they were settled, Addison turned to Derek and said, "It is so weird. How did I just forget 7 ½ years! It is like I went to sleep and I was 29 and I wake up and am 37!" she shook her head in disbelief.
"Addie, I know it is hard, but this is very likely temporary. In the meantime, ask me anything you want to know." Derek replied lovingly.
"Ok. I guess, do we have any kids?" Addison asked slowly. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. It would be awful if she had kids she couldn't remember!
"No. We never had any more kids after the miscarriage." Derek replied sadly. Both of them were quiet for awhile.
"Ok. No kids. So what, did we spend all of our time becoming kick ass surgeons?" Addison joked.
"Actually, yes. You are now a double certified neonatal surgeon and perform surgeries all over the world that only a handful of people can do." Derek replied proudly. She looked at him in complete shock.
"Wow! No wonder we have no kids! What about you? Are you the best there is?" she smiled,
"I don't want to brag, " Derek smirked. Addison laughed. She knew bragging was one thing Derek had always done. "But, I have clients come to me from all over. So yes, I too am the best!" He smiled at Addison.
She smiled back. "So, our dream came true! We both became the top of our fields and we still have a strong marriage. I guess we proved your mom wrong!"
Derek's smile slowly faded. He realized that what Addison was remembering.
Christmas 1999
"Derek, why does Addison have to do another fellowship? I thought you guys were finishing up your fellowships this year. I thought you were going to start trying to have a baby." Carolyn Shepherd asked her son in concern.
It was Christmas Eve, and everyone had gone to bed except for Derek and his mother. They were sitting around the kitchen table drinking hot chocolate.
"Mom, " Derek said impatiently. They'd had this conversation several times already. "I explained this. Addison is doing a fellowship in Cystic Fibrosis. It is completely different. It is something she is passionate about. Yes, it means she has to go to Boston for a year. Yes it will be hard not seeing her every day. And yes, it means we will not be having a baby right away. But this is something she wants to do, and I fully support her."
"You are both going to regret it. Maybe not now, but someday. You are too focused on your work." Carolyn said giving Derek the look that made him feel 5 years old again.
"Mom, I appreciate the concern. But this is between Addison and I. I would appreciate if you would stay out of it."
Derek then looked over behind his mother's head. Addison was standing in the hallway. She had heard the whole conversation and looked devastated. He knew she thought his mother didn't like her, and now she knew that his mother thought she was too focused on her career. Addison was always trying to get his mother's approval.
In the end, Addison had gone off to Boston for a year while he became an attending at Mt. Sinai. They saw each other every weekend they could, and the year had gone by fast. At the end of the year, Addison had returned to Mt. Sinai, became an attending as well, and both of the careers began to take off at lightning speed. It was a few years after that Derek had slowly begun to put work before Addison. It some ways his mom had been right, but not about the year in Boston. He had been too focused on his work. That he regretted.
"What?" Addison asked, noticing his smile faded.
"Nothing." Derek said. He wasn't ready to tell her about the last few years. He wasn't even sure how to begin to explain that.
"You need to get some rest Addie. Your body needs time to heal. I know the meds are starting to kick in. I can see you fighting sleep."
Addison knew he was right and could feel herself drifting off to sleep, but she also knew there was something he wasn't telling her. Deep down, she knew something was very wrong. But it would have to wait as she could no longer keep her eyes open.
Derek watched Addison fall asleep. Once he was sure she was asleep, he slumped back in his chair and began to cry. What was he going to do? How was he going to explain to Addison how he had put work before her, sent Mark in his place so many times? How she slept with Mark and he had a full blown affair with Meredith? Would the Addison from 7 years ago be able to forgive him? He knew he couldn't tell her. At least not until she was stronger. In order to do that, he had to make sure no one else told her. He got up from his chair and went to find the one person who knew more about what happened than anyone else. He had to talk to Mark.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!
