Recovery
Part XII
It had been a week since Addie embarrassed herself with Mark. He insisted there was no need for her to be embarrassed and as the week wore on they slowly managed to get back to their comfortable friendship.
Mark and Addie stood side by side leaning on the railing looking down at the pit; they were watching Isobel Stevens. Addison gave Mark a sideways glance and wrinkled her brow, "What are you doing?" As she watched him proceed to blow a spit ball at Izzie with the straw from his soda, he missed wide left that time. He grinned back at her and she said, "Oh you are just terrible," and gave him a little shove.
He blew another spit ball at Izzie and missed again. "Damn that was so close I almost hit her that time," he smirked at Addie then started to pout as he noticed her holding her hand out to him, looking none too happy.
"You really are pathetic, now hand it over," she said sending him an un-amused look. He held the straw out to her, she immediately snatched it away. He bowed his head looking down at the intern that was his intended target and started to apologize, but then heard a distinct whooshing sound and saw Steven wipe at the back of her neck. He looked over at Addie and she was grinning back. "Seriously Mark, if you are going to try and torment Stevens you really need better aim," she giggled at him.
She successfully hit Stevens four more times before they heard a distinctive clearing of a throat behind them. "Just what do you two think you are doing?" the chief said sternly behind them, they both quickly turned and faced him, Addie still holding the straw in her hand. The chief held out his hand looking reproachful at her, and she handed it over looking guilty. "I thought you liked Stevens and wanted her on your service, have you changed your mind about her abilities as a surgeon?" the chief asked in a commanding tone.
"I do like Stevens and I believe in my heart she is going to make an amazing surgeon," Addie sincerely replied.
"Then why sic the nazi on her?" he questioned her.
"She did something amazingly stupid. I can't just let her jump back in where she left off; she needs to pay her dues a bit. Plus I want to see how she handles Miranda at her nazi worst," she smirked. "It will build character."
"Well she's under your charge but," he said raising the straw, "No more spit balls at the interns, you understand?" They both nodded. "Now get out of here. I'm sure you both have better things to do with your time."
"Yes, yes you are right," Addie stammered, and both Mark and her hurried for the elevator, they managed to squeeze in before the doors closed and both burst out laughing.
The chief shook his head at his goof ball attendings then looked down in the pit at Isobel Stevens. He then noticed she was staring up at him open mouthed and she was looking at the straw he was holding in his hand. She put her fists on her hips and gave him a dirty look and stormed off. Oh that's just great the chief thought, now Stevens thinks he was the one shooting spit balls at her. He shook his head and walked away.
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Derek knocked on Addie's door then entered, she looked up and closed her eyes shook her head slightly then looked back up at him. "What do you want Derek?" she asked impatiently. She had tried to avoid Derek, but he was making it difficult. She didn't know if she could handle him being nice to her. She didn't want him to be nice, she wanted the indifferent Derek back, because that Derek made it easy for her to move on.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner on Friday night," he could see she was going to protest so he immediately added, "Not as a date but to discuss the baby."
"Derek I'm totally fine discussing the baby with you, we really don't need to go out to dinner to do that," she said evenly.
"But dinner would be nice," he smiled back at her.
"Dinner would be nice, but I can't I already have plans," she smiled with a slight shrug.
"Plans with Mark?" she could here a hint of jealousy in his voice.
She pursed her lips and shook her head, "No, Aubrey flies in this Friday, so I'm pretty much booked for the next two weeks. I've already reworked most of my appointments so I can spend as much time as possible with her during her visit."
"Oh that's great she coming out after all. I know you both always have so much fun during her visits," he said happily.
"So what was on your mind about the baby?"
"I wanted to know if I could come along to your prenatal check ups."
She bit the inside of her cheek, she really didn't want him there but she couldn't very well refuse. Mark had already told her she should ask him to come along now that he finally was acknowledging that it was his child. She gave him a weak smile and said, "Sure." She took out a pen and note pad and wrote down the date and time for her next appointed and handed it to him.
He took the paper smiling leaned over and gave her a light kiss on the lips, "Thank you Addison."
"You're welcome. Now get out of here I have paper work to finish up if I'm going to be out of the office most of the next two weeks," she smirked at him and gave him a shooing motion.
"Okay, okay I'm going," he headed for the door and stopped. "Addie thanks again. You don't know how much it means to me that you are allowing me to come along," a big grin appeared on his face.
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Addison headed into the cafeteria and Derek ran up behind them. "Hey mind if I join you for lunch?" he asked.
Addie shrugged and said, "Sure."
Derek frowned slightly, "You mean you do mind?"
"No," Addie gave his shoulder a little push, "Have lunch with us."
"Us?" he frowned.
"Mark should be down shortly," she said with a nod.
"Oh . . . Great," he said with a forced smile. "You find us a table and I'll get you something to eat," Derek grinned.
"Okay," she said with a shrug. She walked over to a table next to where Yang, Karev, O'Malley and Grey were sitting and claimed a seat.
She sat back and closed her eyes relaxing while she waited for Derek to return with their food. Derek returned after a few minutes with her lunch, a turkey sandwich, an orange, a cup of butterscotch pudding and a carton of milk. Addie looked down at her lunch bit her lower lip and said, "Thanks," with a small smile.
Mark walked up and looked down at her tray, picked up the orange and called over to Karev, "Heads up," and threw the orange at Karev who easily caught it. Karev shrugged looking at the orange and started to peel it. "I'll be right back," he said with a smile.
Derek was oblivious to Mark's actions; he was too busy checking his blackberry and obviously didn't know that Addie was staying away from oranges for the duration of her pregnancy.
Mark arrived back at the table with his lunch and a couple of items for Addie. He reached over took her butterscotch pudding and replaced it with a chocolate one. Then placed a banana and a glass of ice on her tray she gave him a small smile mouthing the words thanks. Derek didn't notice this exchange of food either he was still too busy checking his blackberry to see what the rest of his day's schedule was like.
Derek put his blackberry away and smiled at both Mark and Addie and said to Mark, "So did Addie tell you?"
Addie opened her carton of milk and poured it over the glass of ice and looked up at Derek, "No I didn't tell him, I've been busy this afternoon."
"Tell me what?"
"She is going to let me go to her prenatal check ups," he said with a smile.
"That's great," he smiled back at Derek. "I told her she should ask you to go, I'm glad she finally did."
Addison was about to respond, but then she noticed Izzie walk up to the table of interns, she dropped her lunch tray on the table and plopped down in the seat closest to her. "Oh my god you will not believe what happened to me today."
All the interns looked at her expectantly, not even wanting to garner a guess at what tortuous event the nazi had put her through today. She waited a beat and figured they were not going to try and guess. "The chief was shooting spit balls at me!" she said with exasperation. All the interns' mouths fell open in shock.
Hearing this Addie spit out her milk and looked over at Mark. From the look on his face she could tell he caught what she said too, their eyes widened and they both burst out into laughter. Derek had a confused look on his face and said "What?"
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Miranda and Addison leaned against the nurse's station and watched Izzie hurrying from room to room. Her latest group of patients was a group of boy scouts who were unfortunate enough to have been served a bad batch of beef stew. She had dozen boy scouts and two scout leaders all suffering from a mild case of food poisoning.
"So what's this rumor I hear going around about the chief shooting spit balls at Stevens?" she gave the tall redhead a sideways glance.
"Yeah," Addie said trying to look innocent and keep a straight face. "I heard that rumor too, pretty shocking."
"Uh huh," she agreed. "Pretty shocking, the funny thing about it, I happened to see two attendings that sure looked like they were pelting my intern with spit balls. Of course the male attending had pretty crappy aim and almost hit me."
Addie blushed at being found out, "Are you going to tell her?"
"And ruin the fun?" she laughed. "Everyone is bugging the chief telling him how horribly he is treating Stevens. First by putting me in charge of torturing her, then by pelting her with spit balls," she laughed again. "So, just how much longer to do you plan on torturing said intern?" she inquired.
"Well I have to say this much for her, she's a real trooper" Addie said as she looked on.
"Uh huh, covered in vomit and I hate to think what else and not one complaint from her," Miranda looked over to Addie and said, "Do you think she's had enough down here?"
Addie grinned at Miranda and nodded. "Yeah, I think we can let her know she can report to me first thing tomorrow morning," she smiled back at the blonde intern and nodded.
"Good," she said with a nod. "You know I love having my suck ups, but she was taking all the fun out of it."
Addie gave her a puzzled look, "How so?"
"Because she refused to complain!" Miranda shook her head in exasperation, "She just took it, what's the fun in that?"
"Right," Addie chucked. "There's no fun in punishing someone who isn't going to bitch about it," she smirked. "Well I'm glad to finally take her off you hands, timing is perfect. I wanted Stevens back up to speed on my cases before my niece arrives at the end of the week."
"So do you want to tell her or should I?" she said as she watched Stevens leave the last of her sickly boy scouts.
"I'll tell her," Addie said with a smile.
"Stevens!" Izzie blew a blonde lock of hair from in front of her eye and looked over to Dr. Bailey. "Do you have a minute?"
Izzie nodded and hurried over to Dr. Bailey and Dr. Montgomery's side. "Stevens, Dr. Montgomery would like to have a word with you." Izzie was still wearing a gown covered in vomit, in her haste to see what Dr. Bailey wanted she forgot to remove it.
The smell was definitely starting to get to Addie, but she pushed on. "Stevens, Dr. Bailey has told me you have done exemplary work here," she started to pale. "And she feels you are ready to get back in the game," she swallowed and closed her eyes for a moment then went on, "So I decided starting tomorrow you will start working on my service." Izzie eyes lit up and she started to bounce. "So, eight a.m. sharp don't be late."
Izzie reached out and pulled Addie into a hug. "Thank you, thank you." Oh boy that was a mistake since she still smelled like a barf bag and Addie was barely managing to hold down her lunch as it was. Struggling to extricate herself from the embrace Addie's eyes widened as she lost her lunch down Izzie's back. Izzie's eyes widened in surprise and stepped back away from Addie. "Oh my god, I am so sorry," she looked at Addie who gave her a weak smile then took off down the hall. Izzie looked open mouthed at Dr. Bailey and quickly said, "I'll get that cleaned right up."
"Damn straight you will," Miranda said with a nod.
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It had been a long week, but having Stevens back on her service helped things run a little more smoothly. She was finishing up the last of her paperwork before taking off for the rest of the day. Her niece was flying in today, she smiled thinking about her. She had lightened her schedule for the next two weeks, so she could spend as much time with her as possible during her visit. She had asked Mark if he wanted to go to the airport with her to pick Aubrey. Mark didn't have any nieces or nephews of his own and had always considered Aubrey like a niece. Addie had always gotten the impression her niece always liked Mark better then Derek, she was never sure why but the two just seemed to have clicked from the first day they met.
Izzie was giving Addie a final run down on her patients before she had to leave. "Okay, I'll have the labs run on Mrs. Harris and schedule the ultrasound for Mrs. Martin," Izzie smiled at Dr. Montgomery. She had been back to work for two weeks now, for more then a week of her time back she was at Dr. Bailey's beckon call, she was taken aback at first at the amount of scut work Dr. Bailey had given her do, but it was worth it. She would have spent a month happily doing it, but there was no way she was going to let her superiors know that. "The Peterson boy is finally off his vent. So I'll run more labs on him, and keep a closer watch to make sure his oxygen levels are maintained. I think that is about all for now."
Addie smiled at her young intern, she was very happy with the young woman's progress, she took the hazing Miranda and she had handed out without a single complaint. They were hard on her for almost two weeks straight, but it didn't break her she seemed to actually enjoy what they dished out. She even took the constant ribbing from her friends in stride; while they were working real cases she was doing their scut work. "Excellent Stevens, you seem to have everything covered. As you know I am on a limited schedule for the next two weeks. Dr. Williams will be covering most of my cases, except for emergencies. Have you talked to Dr. Williams already?" Izzie nodded "Very good, then if you don't have any other questions," she looked at her watch, Mark should be up to picked her up any minute.
"No questions, just," she smiled, "Have fun with your niece."
"Thanks," she grinned. She noticed Mark heading down the hall toward her, she caught his eye, and he smiled and waved. Just as he moved to her side, her pager went off she looked down nine-one-one. She reached over and picked up the phone and called to find out what the page was about. She closed her eyes as she listened, she would not be able to go with to pick up her niece.
She hung the phone up and turned to Mark, "It's an emergency I have to stay, a woman in her mid thirties is being brought in she is in her thirty-first week and in labor."
"Say no more," Mark said, "I'll pick Aubrey up, so you don't need to worry about her. Just give me a call when things calm down," he smiled at her gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and headed to the elevator.
Addie turned and looked at Izzie, who had been listening to her exchange with Mark; she nodded at the young blonde and said, "Are you ready?" Izzie nodded. "Okay let's go," they both headed to the emergency room to wait on their patient's arrival.
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Mark waited at the gate looking over the exiting passengers for Aubrey. A smile broke across his face when he saw her heading out of the exit doors. Tall, very thin, out of control red hair and when she noticed him waiting a big grin grew on her face showing the braces she cried about getting last summer. "Uncle Mark!" she squealed and she ran toward him and jumped into his arms, he spun her around after he caught her.
"Hi squirt," he grinned at her, "How was the flight?"
"Horrible, I got stuck sitting next to some dumb boy who fell asleep and started to drool on me," she grimaced. She looked around and noticed her aunt was no where in sight, "Where's Aunt Addie?"
"She had an emergency, so she sent me to get you. You don't mind do you?"
"It's cool," she smiled up at him.
"Come on lets go find your bags."
Fifteen minutes later they had her bags in hand and were heading to his car.
"So Aunt Addie sent you to pick me up, does that mean that you and she are, you know?" Aubrey grinned at Mark wiggling her eyebrows.
Mark gave her a little shove. "No we are just friends," he said with a firm nod.
"Whatever you say," she said not believing him.
"Aubrey really we are just friends." He sighed, "I was hoping for more, but. . ."
"But then she ended up pregnant with Derek's kid?"
He nodded.
"That kind of sucks for you, I guess that puts a little cramp in the romance." She thought for a moment, "Do you think Derek and Aunt Addie will get back together?"
Mark thought for a moment, "Honestly?" she nodded. "That is a very distinct possibility," she gave him a tight smile and nodded.
The both settled in the car and started to head for her aunt's new house. She sat back in her seat and looked out the window and thought about her aunt, she never really quite understood her aunt and Derek's relationship. Derek and Aunt Addie were always so serious. Yeah she knew she loved him, she could always see that in the way she would smile when she talked about him, but try as she may she could never really remember them laughing together. She could only remember that he was always upsetting her in one way or another. She was different when she was with Uncle Mark; they were always kidding and joking with each other. It never seemed to take any effort for them to have fun together. All she knew was when she grew up she wanted to be with someone who made her laugh, not cry. But what does a thirteen year old know anyways?
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I hope you enjoyed this installment, please let me know what you think.