I know, I know I left off last time with an evil cliffhanger, but I finally updated.

Recovery

Part XXIII

The residents stood in front of the doors for the emergency room, they had incoming from a two car crash four adults and one minor were incoming. It had already been determined Izzie would take the infant.

The medics entered the ER with the infant first; Izzie hurried them into curtain three the two week old infant had been involved in a car crash. She quickly assessed her condition. By all accounts she was perfectly fine, she would order tests to make certain, but she smiled with relief the child didn't have a mark on her. Thank god for child safety seats she thought to herself, "Do we have a name, and where are the parents?"

The medic looked up at her and said, "No names and the adults in the car should be arriving shortly by ambulance."

"Do we know their condition?" she asked as she looked down at the tiny girl and gentle caressed her cheek.

"As far as I know they were all unconscious," the medic informed her.

She gave the medic a small nod as she looked sadly down at her small patient. A sad smile appeared on her face and she whispered, "Let's hope your mommy and daddy are okay."

Cristina, Meredith, George and Alex waited at the emergency room doors for the next incoming, the door crashed open revealing the man on the gurney was none other then Derek. Meredith rushed to his side, and looked to the medic to get his stats. Alex, George and Cristina stood back in shock, knowing it was only a matter of time before Addison and Mark would be coming through those doors.

Derek was now conscious and struggling to sit up, he looked up at Meredith, who was holding him down and he barely managed to get out with a whisper, "I need to know how they are."

She nodded down at him as she guided him to a curtain one, "Don't worry Derek we will find out how they are. We need to make sure you are okay first."

The three remaining interns looked to one and another deciding who would take Addison and who would take Mark, the doors opened again revealing a very distraught Addison on the gurney demanding to be brought to her daughter. George smiled with relief; she had to be okay if she had enough energy to be making demands. He quickly moved to her side, getting her stats from the medics then wheeling to her the curtain her daughter was already in.

Izzie could hear the commotion outside her curtain, the parents must have arrived. George poked his head in and she looked up at him then she asked, "Was that the parents?"

George nodded. "Your patient's mom is insisting on seeing her daughter," she smiled at him with relief.

"Bring her in," she said as she watched George wheeled the gurney into the curtain. Her eyes widened at the sight of Addison. "Addison," she exclaimed, she saw the tears in her eyes then she looked toward the baby then she looked back. "She fine Addison," she said with a nod. "She not injured, I promise."

Relief spread over Addie as George wheeled her next to her daughter so she could see for herself that her daughter was fine. She tried to sit up, but grimaced in pain. George shook his head and said gently. "Hold on Addison I think we need a couple of x-rays," she laid back on the gurney trying to control her emotions she was so relieved Maddie was okay.

But what about Mark and Derek, she didn't come to until she was in the ambulance so she had no clue how they were. She closed her eyes trying not to think the worst then heard Derek's voice. A rush of relief filled her as she realized he had to be okay she opened her eyes and watched him moving toward her. He was immediately by her side and stroked her hair. "Thank god you are both okay, I don't know what I would have done if something happened to either one of you."

He attempt to reach out and to touch Madeline with his other hand, but grimaced in pain. George shook his head then said, "Another one who needs x-rays."

Meredith entered the curtain at this time. "Derek I need to finish your exam and you need to go to x-ray," she said in frustration.

He looked up at her pleading in his eyes. "Can't you do that here?" he looked over to his daughter then back to Addie.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Fine," she said giving up.

Madeline started to cry and Addie tried to get up again and inhaled sharply. Derek furrowed his brow and helped her into a sitting potion.

George looked at them and shook his head in frustration, "Y . . . you shouldn't be trying to move around. You should both be getting checked out to make sure what your injuries are," he frowned at them hold his hands up. "Just stop now please." They both ignored George. Addie inhaled deeply and slowly let out her breath, she paused a moment then stood. Derek helped her to their daughter's side. They both reached out to calm her down, which she did almost immediately upon their touch.

Addie looked from George to Meredith the worry showing on her face, "Have they brought Mark in yet?"

"No," Meredith said with a shake of her head. "Alex and Cristina are still waiting on the next ambulance."

Addie bit her lower lip and closed her eyes trying not to think about his condition. Derek edged closer to her and kissed her lightly on the side of her head. He could feel her trembling next to him, and knew just how worried she was about Mark. He was worried too, but if he was seriously injured they would have gotten him to the hospital before them, right?

Alex and Cristina breathed a sigh of relief when the doors to the emergency room opened again, but that relief was short lived when they noticed the man on the stretcher was not Mark, but some man obviously drunk who was handcuffed to the gurney with a police escort. The man was raging about being mistreated, but the police didn't want to hear any of it. Alex looked from the medics to the cops, "When is the next ambulance due? There was one more adult in the other car, right?"

The police officers looked at each other then to the doctor, "There won't be any other transports."

Alex and Cristina exchanged looks, that can't be right Mark was still out there, "Did they transport the last victim to another hospital?"

The first officer narrowed his eyes. "I'm sorry Dr." he read his name tag, "Karev, there was no one else to transport."

Alex shook his head in frustration, they all knew Mark picked Derek and Addison up from the airport, and the initial report had said four adults. "They reported four adults for transport we only received three."

The police officers exchanged looks again and the first officer pursed his lips the gruffly said, "The forth adult was DOA; he was taken by the coroner."

Alex felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He looked down at the drunk before him and reached for him, he threw a fist back to punch him but his arm was grabbed one of the police officers. They held Alex back and said, "Get this guy out of here and examined so he can be released to our custody."

Cristina and the medics quickly wheeled the drunk to an open curtain.

Alex was still being restrained by the police and one said, "The man is going to jail; there is no need for you to go to jail too." He narrowed his eyes at the young doctor, "I take you knew the victim?" Alex lowered his head and nodded, the officers released him from their grip. "I'm sorry," the officer went on, "But you attacking that man isn't going to help anyone, you understand?"

Alex nodded again then he asked in a hoarse voice, "Are you sure Dr. Sloan is dead?"

The older officer reached up and clapped his hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "I'm sorry son, but Dr. Sloan was killed upon impact there was nothing anyone could do for him."

"Do Dr. Montgomery and Dr. Shepherd know yet?" he asked uneasily.

The officer shook his head and said, "No, they were still unconscious when they were transported from the scene. Would you like us to inform them?"

He shook his head, he didn't want them finding out from cops. He could feel the back of his eyes burn, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "No, I will tell them," he turned from them and walked to the curtain he knew both Addison and Derek were in.

He stopped in front of the curtain trying to compose himself. Come on you wimp, he thought to himself, get it together. He entered and looked directly at Addison. "I'm sorry," he said after entering. He had everyone's attention, his mouth went dry he didn't know if he could go on. He only looked at Addison and he could see her expression change as she watched him, she could see the trouble he was having continuing. He could see her shaking her head and mouthing the word no, "I'm so sorry Addie, but Mark didn't make it."

He watched her as the news sunk in. She took a step back shaking her head whispering, "No," over and over until she slowly crumpled to the ground sobbing. George and Derek were quickly at her side and they lifted her back to the gurney. Derek sat on the gurney next to her allowing her to sob into his shoulder; he just held her tight to him gently stroking her hair. The rest stood by stunned not sure how to react to what Alex had just told them.

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Derek ended up having a broken collar bone, two cracked ribs and a mild concussion. He was released from the hospital immediately at his instance. Addison also had a broken collar bone and suffered a mild concussion, but they kept her at the hospital since they wanted to keep Maddie in over night for observation.

Derek knew Addie would be released tomorrow, so he asked Alex and George to go with him to retrieve their luggage from the car so she wouldn't have to deal with it. Derek took a deep breath as he unlocked the door to Addison's home. He had never been inside before. He furrowed his brow as he thought about her accusation all those months ago. She considered this her home and she was right, he never once stepped foot inside. He didn't think once about what she wanted, he only thought about himself.

He slowly opened the door and entered her home. He walked from room to room taking in where Addison had considered home. He smiled as he entered the great room. The floor to ceiling windows and great view reminded him of the sunroom at her family's home. He always knew that was her favorite room, he imagined her sitting in the large over stuff chair in the corner reading. Then he imagined her sitting there with their daughter and a smile grew on his face. His thoughts were interrupted by George. "Where do you want us to put these?" he asked indicating the bags he was carrying.

Derek looked up the stairs. "I guess her bedroom," he smiled. "I'm not sure which bags are hers and which are Maddie's. We can figure it out up there."

George and Alex carried the luggage upstairs to the master bedroom. When Derek entered the master bedroom, the first thing he noticed was the furniture was new. That brought a sad smile to his face. Addie had furnished the rest of the house with their belonging from New York, but this room had all new furniture. It seemed neither one wanted the memories it would bring back.

He carefully opened each bag then indicated which room it belonged in. Alex and George took the bags belonging to Maddie into the nursery, while Derek unpacked Addie's bags. He looked around the room as he unpacked. It was surprised at how easy it was for him to put her belongings away. The furniture might have changed, but Addie didn't change how she did things. He quickly put her belongings away.

When he finished putting her things away, he walked across the room to the windows. She had an amazing view from this room as well, he could understand how she had fallen in love with this house and had made it her home. He really needed to apologize to her for being such an insensitive ass.

He left the room to check on Alex and George's progress, he hoped they were finished because he wanted to get back to the hospital so he could check on Addie and Maddie. He knew in his head they were both fine that they were only staying over night as a precaution, but he needed to see them regardless.

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Derek entered Addie's hospital room. "Hey," he said as he walked over to sit next to her on the bed. He reached out to take her hand, "How are you doing?"

Addie sat propped up in bed, she was still pale and he could tell she had been crying. "Mmm," she said with a slight shake of her head a sad smile played on her face as the tears threatened to fall again. "I don't even know how to begin to answer that question."

He looked at her seriously. "Addie I know how special Mark was to you," he could feel the back of his eyes burn. He was shocked to realize how much he was going to miss him too, even after everything they had been through. They had finally worked out their problems.

Addie turned her head and swiped away the tears, "He was so patient with me and I never was able to figure out what I wanted from him." The tears started to flow freely down her face. "He should have picked someone else to love, someone who would have loved him back no questions."

"Addie," Derek said his tone laced with concern, he reached out and gently squeezed her arm. "You of all people should know we can't always control who we love." He titled his head and his look softened then he continued, "Even if you weren't ready to admit it, everyone could see you were in love with Mark too. Maybe you didn't tell him, but I think he knew too."

She wrapped her arms tightly around her knees and whispered, "I'm going to miss him."

Derek leaned over wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on top of her then said, "I know." Then he whispered in her ear, "I promise I'm going to help you through this. I'm not going anywhere."

She pulled back from him and looked him seriously in the eye. "Derek I don't want you to put your life on hold because of me." She furrowed her brow, "Just because I lost Mark doesn't mean things have changed between us." Then she said seriously, "Promise me you won't put your life on hold, you need to promise me that."

He gave her a sad smile and shook his head. "Addie we are friends," he reached out and tweaked her nose. "I know it's nothing more then that. I just want you to know I'll be here to support you and Maddie." Then he grinned at her, "I promise you and Maddie won't interfere with me moving on with my life."

"Thank you," she sighed with relief. "I don't think I could take it if I screwed up anymore people's lives right now."

He pulled her tight against him and whispered. "Hey." He kissed the side of her head, "You haven't screwed up anyone's life."

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I hope you enjoyed the update, please review and let me know what you think.