ADDISON MONTGOMERY's POINT OF VIEW:
"I want you to file the report you would have written the other day with the police. I also need a doctor's note written up where the baby is checked, excluding any information about the bruises." Meredith demands as soon as she's in my office and had shut the door the next morning. She texted me that she spoke with the chief and signed out on medical leave. She did not give me any details though. I am just relieved to see that she does not appear to have any more injuries.
"Are you in pain?" I ask her.
"I have several bruised ribs and I can't take anything for pain. How could I not be?" She asks, her voice sharp and I know she really is in pain and not just saying it to manipulate me.
"You can take Tylenol. Alternating heat and ice may help. You were right to sign out on medical leave. You do need to rest." I remind her. She gives me a look like I've betrayed her. "I can't forge documentations Meredith. Unless you are having actual pregnancy related complications, I cannot say that you are just to get you a few weeks off work." She looks shattered. "If I give you a doctor's note it needs to reflect what is written on the police report. Contradictions can look bad if you ever need this evidence in court."
"Addison..." She begs. "Please. I just… I don't even know if this is the right thing to do. He loves me. He loves our children." She places her hand on her stomach. "I need your help preserving his reputation and my own."
"And if I lose my job? If this tarnishes my reputation? I have already risked my job by not filing a report as soon as I found out about your injuries. I am a mandated reporter, that doesn't just stop with child abuse."
"I guess we'll both be out of work then or have a letter or reprimand in our files."
"Why would my refusal to exclude information and forge documentation cause you to lose your job? What caused you to change your mind in the first place? You know that the police will have to have the truth."
"I don't care if the police know the truth. Addison…I don't want the entire hospital to know the truth. I don't want the entire hospital talking about me. You know how quickly rumors spread here."
"I do."
"When the chief asked why I needed time off I lied. I told him I needed time off due to pregnancy related complications. I didn't want to admit I needed time off to recover from these bruises."
"Why not just tell the truth?" I ask her gently. "The chief cannot tell anyone your confidential health information. The truth will out eventually. Hiding something like that is too big. The truth always comes out… it just does Meredith."
"It will tarnish our reputation. It's humiliating, it's demeaning. I'll look weak." She says, listing off the reasons. I sigh and open my laptop. There is no evidence of the checkup I did. I did not write anything down or put anything in her file. I did not charge her, or her insurance. "The chief just needs a doctor's note Addison. He's not going to look at it too hard." She insists. "It's just protocol."
"There is nothing to be ashamed of Meredith. This is not your fault."
"Loving him is."
"You asked for a consult. You came in today for pregnancy related complications. I never knew about the bruises." I say quietly.
"What?" She asks, looking at me confused.
"You came in, today, for pregnancy related complications."
"You're going to help me?"
"Not if you keep asking questions…" I say and she nods, understanding. "We'll do an ultrasound and bloodwork, so it is an official appointment." She nods in agreement. She lays on the table and I do another ultrasound, just to make sure that everything really is okay. "What symptoms have you been having?" I ask her.
"Heavy cramping, backpain, and spotting." She invents.
"For how long?"
"Two days." I give her the pictures from the ultrasound and while she cleans the gel off of her stomach, I pull up her file on the computer and put this information in, as well as the information from the ultrasound.
I look over her chart again carefully. "The ultrasound looks fantastic, but since this is the second time you've had cramping and spotting, I want to place you on a modified bedrest and pelvic rest for the duration of six weeks. You can go to labs to get your bloods done." I say. I make a note in her chart that spotting was observed. We lock gazes.
"Don't make me regret this." I say quietly. I take her vitals quickly and enter them, finish charting the appointment and then print it out as well as typing her up an official doctors note and signing it. I hand her the paperwork and she look at me with such a look of pure relief.
"Thank you."
"You need to file the police report."
"I will."
"They're going to need medical documentation; they'll need pictures and documented proof."
"I know."
"You can't go back to him Meredith. I know that you love him. I know that he wasn't always this way, but you have to take this chance to stay away. Get a restraining order for yourself and the children. Take charge now, before things get worse."
A COUPLE DAYS LATER
"Thank you for taking the time to speak with us Dr. Montgomery. This shouldn't take long." The officer says. I sit quietly, watching her partner. He is drinking coffee, but it looks like the cup is empty it tilts back too easily. I look back to the female officer and nod.
"No problem, anything you need." The day I wrote Meredith the doctors note saying she had pregnancy complications was the day that she went to the police and filed a domestic violence report against Derek. We were having lunch at the hospital and going over her lab results when they came and asked for a private word with the both of us. I took them back to one of the conference rooms in the hospital. They show me a subpoena that they brought for her medical records, and another piece of paperwork saying I would be called as a witness in Meredith's defense should this go to trial. In anticipation of this happening, she had given me consent, and signed the forms so that I will be able to speak to the police in regard to her medical conditions and treatments. I am almost certain this won't go to trial. Neither Meredith nor Derek want that much publicity. She has started the process of getting a restraining order against him, but they still have to investigate the complaint, and that does take time.
"If we go past the hour, I will have to call someone to cover for me. I am already halfway through my allotted lunch time." I say, and the detective's nod.
"We'd better start then."
"That would be for the best." I agree.
"How do you know the Shepherd family?"
"I was married to Derek. After the divorce we both got remarried. We remained close friends throughout the years. We live close together. We work at the same hospital. I am their children's God Mother."
"Why did Dr. Grey come to your brownstone the night in question?" The officer asks me. I give her a look and she give me the specific date, and time. The night she found me wasted. The night she told me about the abuse she had suffered at Derek's hands.
"I took the day off work. She said she had come by to check on me as friends do. How does this pertain to her medical care?" I ask. When Meredith told me she had spoken to the police I made sure that everything in her medical file reflected our version of events as she requested. The pregnancy complications, the proper dates. I did not list the injuries to her ribs, just the pregnancy related parts of the check up, and bloodwork.
"We are trying to establish a timeline of events. Dr. Shepherd says he wasn't even home the night in question and has no idea how she was injured. CCTV saw her walk from her brownstone to yours. You left around an hour later and took a cab to the hospital. Hospital security cameras show you both entering your office Dr. Montgomery."
"This is illegal surveillance. Why are you following her every move and not his? She is the victim here."
"I am NOT a victim." Meredith says, forcefully.
"No. Meredith I'm sorry. I know you're not a victim. I only meant that…"
"You were with her the night she was assaulted." The officer presses.
"We've been best friends for over a decade of our lives. We spend a lot of time together. I didn't know anything about an assault at that time." I say this smoothly, but I wish she would have just allowed me to tell the truth. Would it really matter that much if the hospital finds out? They will eventually anyway.
"How did she seem that night?" The male detective asks. "Was she upset, behaving in a way she normally wouldn't?" I look over to Meredith and sigh.
"She…" I try to specifically remember. "She was worried, afraid."
"Is that uncommon for her?"
"Yes."
"Addison!" Meredith protests, like she is afraid I will say the wrong thing.
"There is no shame in being afraid Meredith." I try soothing her. "You thought you were losing your baby. That is a perfectly reasonable emotion to feel when under those circumstances."
"Do you know what caused the pregnancy complications? You put Dr. Grey-Shepherd on bedrest."
"Yes. Extreme stress. When she came to my home she was cramping and bleeding slightly heavier than spotting. When she told me what was going on we went to the hospital. This isn't the first time this has happened. If you look through her medical files for the date in question you'll see that she was seen for a possible miscarriage. She loves her children. I'd be concerned if she wasn't afraid."
"So, you went to the hospital."
"We did." I say, trying to remain calm.
"Is that common?"
"Is what common?"
"You going to the hospital in the middle of the night with your patient for pregnancy related complications?"
"I might be her doctor, but I am also her best friend. She is the mother of my God Children. That's so much deeper, more complex, than the standard relationship between me and a typical patient."
"So, you made a special exception?"
"She's family. For family you do what you can, you do what you have to do. I'm sure that you'd do the same thing."
"During the time at your home, or the time at the hospital did you observe any bruising on Mrs. Grey-Shepherd?"
"I didn't."
"You did an ultrasound at the hospital though."
"Yes, standard protocol in cases like these."
"What were the results of that ultrasound?"
"They were unremarkable. The baby is healthy and growing on pace. There was nothing to indicate why she was bleeding."
"And you didn't see any bruising?"
"I already said no. Her top was covering the areas that I now know are injured."
"Did she disclose her injuries that night?"
"No, she didn't."
"When did you discover the nature of her injuries."
"The next morning. She asked if the children could stay with me a while, so she could rest."
"Because you put her on pregnancy restrictions."
"Yes."
"Is it common for her to ask you to take her children?"
"It's not uncommon. She adopted my daughter. We co parent the children."
"Why did you not file an official report that day?"
"She told me she was going to the police, and obviously she did, or you'd not be here."
"Have you since seen her injuries?"
"Yes."
"Did she disclose how the injuries were obtained?"
"She said that he lunged at their youngest child and shook her. Meredith got in the way to stop him and he hit her, causing her to fall."
"That's a big hit."
"All I know is what I was told. I wasn't there."
"Their youngest child, the child you gave birth to?"
"I do not see how that is relevant. Meredith and Derek have raised her since she was a newborn. They are her parents. They officially adopted her."
"Oakley's arm is broken. The baby-sitter said that Oakley mentioned her arm hurting when Derek dropped her off that morning."
"I have nothing to do with that. I wasn't with her until she was brought into the emergency room."
"Did she disclose anything to you?"
"No." I say, shaking my head. "She said she fell off the trampoline. Her story matched the sitters story."
"Do you really believe that?"
"I had no reason not to. Trampoline accidents happen all the time." My pager goes off and I look at it. 911 in the pit. "I'm sorry, it's an emergency. I have to go deal with this." I say, I give them my business card. "If you need anything else please don't hesitate to call or stop by or wait around. The surgery should only take a few hours." Thank God for being a woman with multiple specialties who is needed, all, the time. When the officer asked about Oakley I had looked over to Meredith. She had this look on her face, realization, sorrow, and knowledge.