The Reason Why – Part II

Down in the ER, the doors crashed open with two paramedics pushing a gurney with a young boy on it, they were followed by two frantic parents. One of the paramedics gave the run down on the boy, seven years old, unconscious since being hit in the head by a baseball. Cristina directed them to exam room two and asked the nurse, "Page Dr. Shepherd." The boy is definitely going to need a neurosurgeon. Then she noticed the mother appeared to be about six months pregnant seemed to be hyperventilating. "And better Page Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd too."

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Derek and Addison were sitting close to one and other in the cafeteria, they didn't seem to be saying anything to one and other, just sitting doing paperwork, with an occasional touch to acknowledge the person sitting next to them. Addison sat back in her chair nursing a cup of coffee, while Derek munch on an apple, both doctors didn't seem to be in the mood for any conversation.

A pager broke the silence between the two, they both looked down to see if it was their pager, Derek looked up and said, "It's me the ER." He rose leaned over and gave his wife a soft kiss on her cheek.

Just then Addison's pager burst to life, she glanced down then looked up at Derek. "ER," she said with a small smile. "Shall we ride down together?" Both Dr. Shepherds headed for the ER.

Debbie the nurse behind the admittance desk saw the Drs. Shepherd exiting the elevator. "You are both needed in Exam Room two."

"Thank you Debbie," Derek and Addison said in unison, as they headed to the room they were needed in.

Cristina looked up as the Drs. Shepherd entered the room. "We have a seven year old male, unconscious he has been out for twenty minutes."

"Thank you Dr. Yang and does he have a name?" Derek raised his eyebrows awaiting an answer.

Cristina flipped through the boy's chart. "Yes his name is Jeremy Storm, and these are his parents Robert and Molly Storm."

Derek nodded and introduced himself to Jeremy's parents, "I'm Dr. Shepherd, can you tell me what happened to your son?" Derek looked over at Addie; she had started a preliminary exam on Mrs. Storm.

Mr. Storm tried to remain calm he took a deep breath and let it out slowing then began, "We were at my son's little league game; he was pitching and was hit by a line drive. It happened so fast, he threw the ball and next thing we knew he was on the ground. I never imagined my son could get hurt so severely playing baseball, I. . ." The man started to break down.

Cristina noticed Addison's head snapped up, she was staring at Derek, she had a strange look on her face and seemed to pale. Derek and Addison's eyes locked for a beat, Cristina could see there was some silent communication between the two doctors. There was an ever so slight nod to each other and then they both slammed the door on where ever the minds had gone to. They were once again two doctors concentrating on the problems at hand.

Derek immediately brought his attention back to Mr. Storm. "Okay Mr. Storm I'm going to look your son over, but I can tell you right now he is most likely going to need surgery."

Derek stood over the small boy clad in a baseball uniform he took a small light and checked the boy's eyes, and then he checked the boy's reflexes. Derek checked the monitors and started writing notes in the boy's charts. He looked down at the boy again, and put his hand on the boy's dark curly hair.

Addison looked up and watched her husband, he had his hand on the boy's head ruffling the dark curls, for a split second she lost her composure and you could see the pain in her eyes. She immediately snapped out it, and turned her attention back to the boy's mother, Molly Storm. "Hi Mrs. Storm I'm Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd." Addison gently put her hand on Molly's arm and gave her a reassuring smile.

Molly looked up at Addison, and began to panic. "Please tell me my son is going to be alright," Molly began to sob.

"Calm down Mrs. Storm," Addison began but she was interrupted.

"Molly, please call me Molly," Molly said through her tears.

"Okay Molly you need to calm down, you aren't going to either of children any good if you don't. You're son is in the best possible hands right now." Addison glance up at Derek, and gave him a weak smile which he returned. "Just take a deep breath and slowly let it out," she said reassuringly.

Molly did as she was told, Addison smiled at her patient and gently said, "That's right, just relax we will do everything in our power to help your son."

Derek looked at both parent and took a deep breath his mind was racing, he had to keep control and not think about the past, he had to block out all memories. "Mr. and Mrs. Storm your son's condition is very serious, we will need you to sign a release form so I can operate. Aidan must get surgery immediately."

"Hold on a minute Doctor," Mr. Storm interrupted. "Who's Aidan, our son's name is Jeremy?" he asked slightly worried.

Addison flashed a look at Derek; she knew he was having the same problem as she was. "Yes Jeremy," Derek looked down at the unconscious boy with the dark curly hair. "He will need immediate surgery to stop the bleeding in his brain," he replied trying to maintain his professional demeanor.

"Okay, okay where are these forms we will sign them immediately.Please, please help out boy," Mrs. Storm sobbed. Addison gently put her hand on Molly's arm again trying to calm her.

Just then George entered the room. Derek looked up at him and asked, "George will you please escort Mr. Storm to the admittance desk, so he can sign the proper forms for both Jeremy and Mrs. Storm?"

George escorted Mr. Storm to the desk so he could sign the release forms so Derek could perform the surgery. Mr. Storm had to fill out all the insurance forms for both his son and his wife. He couldn't believe this was happening, an hour ago they were at a little league game, life was perfect and now, now it was all falling apart.

Having the release forms signed, Derek and Cristina started to wheel the boy out of the room, but Addison asked him to hold up a minute. She helped Molly up so she could say goodbye to her son.

Molly stood over her son tears running down her face, she gently brushed his cheek. "I love you baby, you are gonna be ok, you hear me baby?" Molly quietly said, "You are gonna be ok."

As Molly was talking to her son Addison and Derek locked eyes, she gave a slight nod to Derek as if telling him, she knew he help this boy. He returned the nod letting her know he was going to do everything in his power to make sure this boy survived. He was not going to let this family fall apart. They looked down at the dark curly haired boy, then locked eyes again and gave each other an encouraging smile. Addison reached up and touched his cheek and whispered in his ear, "I know you can do this, you're the best babe and things will be different for this boy."She gently kissed his cheek. He nodded again. Derek and Cristina wheeled the boy out of the room and headed to the OR.

Meredith joined Derek and Cristina in the elevator. She looked over at Derek he seemed in another world. "Derek. . .," she broke into his thoughts.

"Meredith this is going to be a very long and difficult procedure, both Cristina and you will need to be on the ball here, no mistakes," he said sternly.

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Addison helped Molly back to the bed; she could see the anxiety on woman's face. Addison smiled down at the woman. "Try not to worry so much Aidan. . .," Addison stopped herself. For a brief moment a look of pain crossed her face, but she quickly regained her composure. "I mean Jeremy is in the best of hands," she smiled gently at her. "My husband is the best neurosurgeon in the country and he will do everything in his power to help your son."

Dr. Stevens, Dr. O'Malley and Mr. Storm walked in the exam room. Addison looked up as they entered. "Mr. Storm we going to monitor your wife and I've also set up an IV with something that will help her relax. We want to try to keep her stress levels down in this difficult situation," she explained with her cool practiced professional tone.

Mr. Storm nodded at Addison and gave her a weak smile. He walked over to his wife's side and knelt down beside then took her hand in his, he was trying so hard to keep thing under control.

Addison gave the couple a reassuring smile, "Okay I'm going to leave you here, try and remain calm Molly. Just remember Jeremy is in good hands." Addison reached down and gave Molly's arm a little squeeze. "I know it's going to be difficult, but try to get some rest. It's going to be a long operation and the better rested you are when Ai. . . Jeremy gets out of surgery, the better for you all. He's going need you at full strength when he comes out." Addison looked at Mr. Storm and back to Molly then said with a small nod, "I have to do rounds now so, if you need anything or have any questions please have me paged." With that Addison turned and left the room. Izzie watched the retreating doctor, there was something up with Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd, with both Drs. Shepherd. This case really seemed to be affecting them. They both really seemed to have a hard time keeping their emotions in check.

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Izzie walked into the locker room, she had seen Addison rush in there a few minutes before. "Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd?" Izzie saw that she startled her and noticed that her superior seemed to have tears in her eyes.

Addison quickly wiped the tears away and tried to compose herself then asked with the strain slightly showing in her voice, "Yes Dr. Stevens do you need something?" Izzie stood there looking down biting her bottom lip then back up, but just couldn't seem to get anything out. "Spit it out Stevens what do you need?" Addison said more sharply then she meant to.

"I just wanted to let you know that the labs are back on Mrs. Storm," Izzie managed to finally get out. Izzie handed the files to Addison and gave her a weak smile.

Addison opened the file and started looking them over. Izzie stood there observing Addison.She wondered why this case seemed to have affected her so strongly. Addison looked up at Izzie in a quizzical manner. "Is there something else you needed Dr. Stevens?" she asked her tone remaining cold.

Izzie shook her head and replied nervously. "No Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd that's all."

Addison nodded at the young intern and said with a little more warmth, "Thank you Dr. Stevens I'll be up to check on Mrs. Storm shortly."

Izzie nodded then she quickly turned and left the room. Addison looked after the retreating intern, and then went back to Mrs. Storm's chart. It looked like Molly was going to be fine for now. All the tests came back normal, her blood pressure was still a bit elevated, but that was to be expected. Addison just hoped Derek would be able to help the Storm boy, because if he couldn't Addison didn't want to think what would happen if he couldn't save him. She put the file down and dropped her head in her hands, and whispered a small prayer, "Please, please let him be okay."

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Derek worked a quickly as he possibly could to get the bleeding under control, he couldn't let this boy die he had to make sure this boy pulled through this surgery. Meredith looked at Derek; she had never seen him so intense before. Yes he was always brilliant in surgery, but something was different here.

"Suction!" Derek yelled demanding their immediate attention.

"Blood pressure dropping," Christina said in a steady no nonsense voice. Derek really appreciated her detachment right now, since it was all he could do to keep his emotions under control.

Derek continued his work. "Damn it Aidan!" Derek blinked and whispered under his breath. "Hang in there Jeremy just hang in there buddy," he pleaded with the boy.

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Addison smiled at the woman in the bed in front of her, she was hooked up to monitors and had an IV attached to her left arm. "Hey there, how are you doing?" Addison asked quietly giving Molly a sympathetic smile.

"Scared to death," Molly tried desperately to keep her emotions in check, she needed to be strong for both her children. "I can't imagine my life with out my boy, he is everything to us," her voice wavered with fear.

Addison sat next to Molly and took her hand. "Hey," she said gently. "Of course you are scared to death any mother would be." She said reassuringly to the woman, "Just remember he has the best neurosurgeon in the country working on him." Addison gave her a supportive smile and squeezed her hand. "I asked Dr. Stevens to get an update on Aidan's. . . I mean Jeremy's progress."

Molly looked at Dr. Montgomery Shepard.She noticed a pained look on the doctor's face when she first said the wrong name for her son. Her husband had made the same mistake with their son's name.

Addison looked around the room curiously, "Where's Mr. Storm at?"

Molly gave her a weak smile, "I made him go up to the waiting area, so he could get updated on Jeremy." She inhaled deeply then slowly exhaled, "His pacing was making me nervous."

Addison gave her a knowing smile then gave her hand another reassuring squeeze. "I asked Dr. Stevens to give us updates on how Jeremy is doing."

Just then Dr. Stevens entered the room, Molly and Addison looked up at her with anticipation.

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