Chapter 1
Derek's Voice Over:
"Life is never a bed of roses", the saying goes. It's true. Life is hard. You have to fight for the things you love, the things you want in life. To get them, you need to go through bumpy roads. Like the saying goes, "Life is never a bed of roses."
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"Morning," Derek
rolled over to Addison and wrap his arms around her. She turned
around, giving him a smile, her eyes still closed. Derek buried his
nose into her red hair and gave it a loving sniff. "You smell good,
still." He whispered, leaning in to give her a peck on her lips.
Addison let out a soft moan, turning her back to Derek and snuggled
against the pillow under her head. Derek pulled her closer to him,
her back leaning against his chest. "C'mon Addy, time to wake
up." He said, shaking her slightly.
"Hmm… What time is it?"
she mumbled, a free hand reaching out for the clock on the bedside.
"Seven thirty in the morning." He said with a smile, giving her body a soft squeeze before sliding out of bed. "I've walked Doc, made breakfast for the both of us, showered, gotten dressed and you're still in bed."
Addison flipped around,
rubbing her eyes with the back of the hands and thrust them outwards
with annoyance. "C'mon Derek, let me sleep!" she complained.
"Doc's going to finish your breakfast if you don't hurry."
Derek tried again.
"He can have it if he
wants to." She said drowsily, covering a pillow over her face.
Derek sighed. "Addy, it's getting late. I don't want to be
late."
"Fine." She grumbled, finally getting out of bed.
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Derek's Voice Over:
At the same time, life throws you into a series of events that always manage to catch you by surprise, sometimes good, sometimes bad.
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The Shepherds walked out from their locker room with a cup of coffee in each of their hands, heading towards the main counter of the hospital where a crowd seemed to be gathering there. Stopping at the back of the crowd, Addison took a sip of her coffee, careful not to spill it or even let out a surprise yelp as Derek slip his arms around her waist. Her eyes shifted sideways and gave him an evil glare, but her husband only smiled back in return.
"Alright, now that all of you are here, there is something very important I would like to say." Richard started. "First of all, good morning." He greeted his staff and gotten a series of 'good mornings' back. "As I believe all of you have already known, Seattle Grace Hospital has been awarded as the best hospital in the city by the Mayor. And because of that, new policy adjustments are going to be made. Residents, assign your interns with their rounds and I'll meet you, with the attendings, in the meeting room in twenty minutes." Richard paused, his eyes shifted to the group of interns that gathered in one corner. "And all of you, make sure you don't kill anyone while we're away."
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"There will be no surgeries today, as of yet. And I hope so too—for the sake of our patients in Seattle Grace. It is going to be a long meeting for us this morning so make sure that none of you cause any trouble or you'll be answering to the chief." Bailey warned, pointing a finger at each of her four interns. "Is that understood?" she asked, but the four of them just stared at her, looking half asleep. "Is that understood!" This time, they answered with a half-hearted 'yes'. "Look alive, people! I don't want patients dying because you're sleeping on your job. Yang has the day off. Grey, pit. Karev and Stevens, rounds. O'Malley, labs."
Groggily, the four interns started out of their locker room. "I said move!" Bailey yelled. Then as though a new battery has been inserted, they rushed off to their destinations.
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Derek's Voice Over:
And sometimes in life, you are made to choose. Two paths set in front of you, two very different paths which you know you would love to take. But however, you are only allowed to choose one. Then after your choice, you start to have doubts of if you have taken the right path.
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Meredith shoved her
hands into the pockets of her lab coat and yawned, not even bothering
to cover her widened mouth with a hand. However, George stuck out his
hand and covered it for her. Meredith slapped it away and gave him a
glare.
"What? It's not wrong to yawn. But at least try to
look nice doing it."
Not far from the both of them, Derek and Addison walked by, still holding their cups of coffee, deep in conversation on their way to the meeting room. Catching a glimpse of Meredith's blonde hair, Derek looked up briefly, staring after her for a second. But after that short, brief second, his attention was drawn back to his wife's voice, already responding to her comments.
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"It's a good day, Addison. We're awarded the best hospital in the city. Why the grouchy face?" Preston teased, spinning around in the arm chair he's in as the Shepherds walked into the meeting room. Addison settled her coffee on the table and slumped into the chair next to Preston while Derek settled gently down onto the chair beside his wife.
"Blame Derek." She mumbled.
"Aah." Preston
raised an eyebrow in return, a cheeky smile starting to spread across
his face. Addison caught it and rolled her eyes. "It's not what
you think, Preston. He woke me up this morning—before I wanted to."
Preston shook his head with a laugh. "I didn't say anything."
Just then, Richard walked into the room, a cheery grin on his face as
his eyes scanned through the staff that was seated by the table.
"Well, we'll celebrate later. First, we need to discuss and
decide on the policy adjustments instructed by the Mayor." He said,
taking the empty seat a distance away from the staff.
"Better
make it quick, Richard. We don't want any interns killing our
patients." Addison said flatly, her drawing another sip of her
coffee. Richard threw Addison a weird stare, his eyes shifted to
Derek and Preston.
"Blame Derek." Preston said with a smile. Addison looked up and glared at Preston before turning to the chief. But before she could open her mouth to explain, Richard held out a hand, containing a chuckle. "I understand, Addy." Then before Addison could start, Richard diverted his gaze to the rest of the staff. "Let's get started with the meeting."
Ten minutes later, the
door swung open, an intern walked right in, his eyes shifting back
and forth as he looked on to the crowd that turned to him. There was
a moment of silence.
"Do you need something, Dr. Malone?"
Richard asked.
"Oh Martin." The intern's resident called out with a sigh. Martin's chest heaved up and down as he locked the door behind him. There was an audible click, Addison's head jerk up as she exchanged a worried glance with her husband.
"Martin…?" Richard started, slowly getting up from his chair. His sixth sense had told him that there was something wrong.
"The best hospital in the city." He started, shaking his head with a chuckle.
"Are you kidding me!" He continued, lifting his eyes up to the chief. Richard stood up, starting slowly towards him, his hands placed in front of him in hope to calm the intern down. "Don't!" Martin yelled, his eyes flashing with anger.
"Because of you, because of ALL of you, I have syphilis. I have syphilis! What kind of hospital conducts checkups only to give a wrong diagnose? I went for the checkup, I stood in that long line, and after testing people over and over again, you can make a mistake for not finding out that I have syphilis!"
The staff exchanged amused glances with one another, but Martin continued.
"None of you, none of you here are fit to be doctors! None! What if you did the same thing to a patient? What if you thought a patient is fine but he is not? It could kill him! No…" he shook his head. Then, his resident stood up, starting to make his way towards Martin.
"Stop right there!"
Martin yelled, whipping out a gun from underneath his lab coat. He
swung it left and right, aiming at each staff as he pressed his body
against the door.
"Nobody is leaving this room unless I say
so."
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Derek's Voice Over:
And sometimes, you never realize how much you want something until you are on the verge of losing it. Wait, no. I was wrong. Life isn't hard. Life's complicated.