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Chapter 8

After her collapse, Addison became the sole focus of Bailey's afternoon. She ran a few tests and set up an IV to hydrate and replenish Addison's electrolytes, but found nothing to be physically wrong with her superior. Bailey could not even attempt to make a diagnosis until her "patient" regained consciousness.

Fortunately, within a reasonable amount of time, the redhead slowly opened her eyes. "Did I miss my surgery?" she asked, her voice relatively hoarse.

Bailey could not help but smile. "You never quit, do you?"

"What's going on?" Addison took a moment to assess her surroundings before processing the she was actually in a hospital bed. "No, no, no..." she started getting up. "Not now. I have too much to do, there's no way-" she rose from the bed.

"Addison, you need to lay back down…" she noticed the redhead resisting. "You have an IV in, you know."

Addison looked at her left arm and rolled her eyes.

"Do you remember what happened before?" Bailey rarely used such a motherly tone, especially not with someone she worked with. But she figured that Addison probably wouldn't remember most of their conversation anyway.

"No." she responded dryly.

"You passed out in the middle of the hallway, that's what happened. Lucky I was there or you could have had someone like O'Malley trying to revive you."

Addison appreciated Bailey's attempt to make light of the situation, but couldn't bring herself to smile. "I passed out?" she asked.

"Yeah, but here's the thing. There's nothing wrong with you."

"Good." She seemed less than thrilled.

"But I think you know more than I do." Bailey prodded, "and you're not going anywhere until you tell me why I had to waste an hour sitting here waiting for you to wake up."

"There's nothing wrong with me."

"Well then as your doctor I'm not letting you check out."

"You can't just keep me here. We have real patients you know."

"I'm well aware of how this hospital works, and as far as I'm concerned you are a real patient. I'll be running a few more blood tests and possibly setting up an MRI for later this afternoon…" Bailey did not actually plan on wasting her time with anymore tests, she just wanted Addison to fess up.

"Fine. You want to know what's wrong? I'll tell you. I'm exhausted, Miranda. Absolutely exhausted. I haven't slept for more than two hours in months." she sighed, "Satisfied?"

Out of instinct, Bailey instantly started asking her to describe the different symptoms she had been experiencing.

"It isn't chronic fatigue syndrome or anything like that so please don't start diagnosing me. I know myself better than you do and I know I'm not sick. I just can't…I can't sleep anymore."

As soon as Derek heard the news of his wife, he darted through the hospital in desperate search for Bailey. Unfortunately, just as with any other patient, he simply had to wait until she had finished examining Addison.

"Dr. Shepherd." She approached Derek, who had been pacing around the waiting room.

"Where is she, what's wrong with her, how-" millions of thoughts were racing through his mind. If anything had happened to Addison he would never be able to forgive himself given the fact that his last words were those of anger.

"For the love of God, she's going to be fine. Sit down." she ordered. "Your wife, emphasis on the word wife, is suffering from exhaustion."

"What? How do you know that? You can't just diagnose exhaustion."

"I know because she told me." She sounded a bit frustrated.

"So she's overtired…?"

"No, Dr. Shepherd she is not just overtired. She is exhausted. The woman hasn't slept in months. How the hell you share a bed with her and don't even notice that she doesn't sleep is beyond me… but she has exhausted herself to the point where her body won't function anymore…to the point where she needs to be hospitalized."

Derek was instantly overcome by a sense of guilt. "Can I see her?"

"Yes, but we had to sedate her because she was still too anxious to fall asleep on her own."

"You already sedated her?"

"Relax. I administered a mild sedative. I just needed to calm her nerves, not knock her out. She should still be conscious."

"Thank you." Derek instantly rose from his seat, placing his hand on Bailey's right shoulder. "Seriously, thank you."

Derek slowly entered his wife's room. He could not tell at first glance if she was awake or not. Regardless, he approached her bedside and gently brushed two fingers across the side of her face.

Addison opened her eyes in response. "Hey…" she spoke softly.

"Hey. You gave me quite a scare today." He was not laying guilt on her, just saying how he felt for a change.

"Yeah, I just…I'm so tired, Derek."

"I know." he paused "Just close your eyes and get some rest."

"I'm sorry about before. You can walk with Meredith if you want to…"

"Shh, we don't need to talk about this now. Just close your eyes, Addie. Get some sleep." He lightly kissed her forehead, allowing his wife to finally get the rest she had so desperately needed.