A/N: So it's actually been four months since I've written/updated any fics and for that I am ashamed. I pretty much only have two excuses: one, I had to write my thesis paper so I can graduate college this spring (good news, I passed), and two, I've had about four months of writer's block. Yay. But anyway, I'm back! Here's chapter 6 for you all...it's a little bit longer than the previous five and I really hope you like it! Thanks so much for reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Chapter 6
"Well Alexandra, I'm not sure how much of a help I can be to you, I don't really know her that well," Addison said, feeling slightly uncomfortable seeing the stranger at her doorstep. Of course this woman was the mother of someone who Addison secretly cared for very much, but still to her she was a stranger, and Addison had no idea how she even found this address.
"Oh I think you know her better than you think," Alexandra replied in a thick accent, still staring straight into Addison's eyes. Addison could tell she was waiting to be invited in.
"Okay, um, come in," she said quickly, unlocking the front door.
Alexandra brushed past her, not even bothering to take off her jacket. "I'm worried about my daughter working here," she said curtly.
Addison waited for more, but Alexandra was silent. "And you came here to tell me this because…?"
Alexandra paused. "You are her mentor; I thought it only appropriate you know what's going on."
"What's going on?" Addison asked slowly, raising an eyebrow. Right now all she wanted was a glass of wine, and it didn't take a genius to tell that this conversation was going to warrant one.
"I'm sure you know my daughter did not grow up in this country, and her personal life has been…interesting to say the least."
This sparked Addison's attention; she didn't know anything about Alina's life outside of what she had been told during the brief conversations she'd had with the girl. "Interesting, how?"
"Alina is…unstable." Alexandra said. "I'm a doctor myself. I had such dreams for my daughter growing up, following in my footsteps as a cardiologist. I had hoped she would choose Yale for medical school over Harvard but of course if I want her to do something she goes and does the exact opposite."
Addison leaned back against the kitchen counter, crossing her arms, willing the woman to continue.
Alexandra sighed. "When she went to Harvard, she met Edward."
Addison's ears perked up, hearing this. She remembered her conversation with Alina about her ex. The same ex who had hurt her, broken her wrist, and made Addison feel more protective and angrier than she had in a long time. She took a deep breath, trying to hold that same anger back now. She wanted to hear what exactly this woman had to say about the guy – if she really did tell her own child to stay with her abuser.
"He was such a good, stable man; a lawyer, actually. He gave her everything, could have provided for her for the rest of her life…"
But he hurt her! Addison wanted to shout. Who cares how much money he has if all he did was slap her around?
Alexandra must have noticed the look on Addison's face because she immediately stopped talking and started questioning.
"Is any of this familiar to you?" she asked.
"What?" Addison asked, snapping out of it.
"Have you and my daughter had conversation about this?"
"Oh um," Addison began, trying to think of what to say, deciding whether or not she should be honest with her surprise houseguest. In the end honesty won out. "Yes we have."
This seemed to have surprised the doctor.
Addison stood up straight. "I was told he hurt her."
Alexandra dismissed the statement with a wave of her hand. "Oh that. It was just the wrist. It's not as thought it was anything serious. I told her to forget about it and move on, but like I said, that girl doesn't listen to anything I have to say anymore."
"Not anything serious?!" Addison asked, incredulous, unable to control herself. "This may not be any of my business but he broke her wrist! That is serious." Addison looked straight into the doctor's eyes. That girl was her daughter, the one person she was supposed to love more than life itself, and here this woman was dismissing the incident as if it were no big deal. That thought alone made Addison's blood boil.
Alexandra had a look about her, like nothing Addison could say would make her back down or change her mind, and like she had a million thoughts swimming around inside her head that she refused to say out loud.
Addison's eyes narrowed, and she noticed the edge of Alexandra's lip twitch slightly.
"Anyway," she continued, almost as if the only reason for bringing up Alina's ex was to get a rise out of Addison. "About a month before she jetted off to Los Angeles, Alina started looking into…something. The two of you seem as though you've forged some sort of…friendship, and I just thought you should know about it."
"Looking into what?" Addison asked slowly, raising an eyebrow.
"Alina's father and I adopted her when she was six months old, and brought her back with us to Russia. She has no memory of her birth parents, or any idea of who they are…I would like to keep it that way. And part of the reason I liked Edward so much was because he wanted to keep it that way too."
"So…I take it that's what she was looking into before she left?"
"Yes."
"And you want me to do what about this…? Addison asked.
"I would like you to make sure she looks no further," Alexandra said, pursing her lips.
Addison tried to hold back her surprise, still unsure why this woman felt this was any of her business. "Alexandra, your daughter is a grown woman and given what you've told me she seems like she's gonna do what she wants no matter what anyone says to her. I'm sorry, but like I said before I don't see how I can be of any use to you here."
The woman took a step toward Addison with a look in her eye that made the redhead slightly uneasy.
"Oh I think you do, Dr. Montgomery."
With that, Alexandra grabbed her jacket and was out the door, leaving Addison barely able to breathe, knuckles turning white from her grip on the counter.
She wracked her brain for an explanation. Apparently she could do something about it if Alina decided to find out who her birth parents are.
Yes, Addison had had a child before that was supposedly put up for adoption, but what did that have to do with Alina? Nothing. She had no idea where her baby was.
Suddenly, Addison heard her phone ring and jumped, still trying to catch her breath.
"Hello?" she breathed into the line, fumbling to keep the device close to her ear.
"Addison." The quiet voice of her ex-boyfriend Sam Bennett replied back to her.
Normally having her ex call her – especially after she had just spent an entire evening missing him and getting embarrassingly drunk in front of her colleague – would send Addison's mind for another loop, but this time she was actually glad someone had called and distracted her.
"Sam," she breathed. "What's going on?"
"Sorry I called," Sam said, leaning against his kitchen counter.
He had sounded frantic on the phone – something about his sister whom everyone believed to be dead showing up in an LA prison, and now as of this evening he had officially taken her in. To Addison it was the kind of situation she felt she should be there for, if not as his girlfriend then at least as his friend. They had been friends years before their relationship even started, after all.
Plus there was a small part of Addison's brain that still – no matter how much Jake tried to convince her otherwise, or how much Jake made her swoon – had feelings for Sam.
"No, no I'm glad you called," Addison said, standing across from him. "I'm sorry I don't have any words of wisdom, I…"
"Yeah," Sam sighed.
She took in the sight of his face. He looked so helpless, so…she couldn't even find the right word for it. In a way he looked how she felt. Surprised, powerless…and even a little sad.
"Gosh, you look so sad. You look like a little boy," Addison observed, somewhat awkwardly.
"It's twenty years, Addison," Sam said. "Just picked up and left. No goodbye, no…she was just gone."
"I know," Addison nodded. "I mean, I don't know. I know what you told me-"
"No call, no letter…I thought she was dead."
Addison sighed. "But it's good news right? That she's not – that she's back now…"
Addison was cut off, noticing a short, stoic looking woman walking down the hall toward the kitchen. It didn't take Sam's mentioning for her to figure out that this was Corinne.
Sam suddenly stood up straighter, looking nervous.
"Corinne," he said, facing her. "Can I get you something?"
Corinne turned toward her brother, staring down at the floor. "Thirsty," she muttered.
Addison felt nervous, having no real idea of what to say to this woman. This woman who was obviously so heavily medicated she couldn't even tell what day it was. Here was Sam's sister – the same sister who left him and his mother all those years ago, who she (and Naomi and Derek and Mark) had heard about when they were all students in med. school.
She took a deep breath. "Hi, Corinne…um, I'm…Sam's neighbor," Addison said, gesturing toward Sam. "And we work together also. I'm Addison."
Corinne just stared, and Addison felt her palms start to sweat. She could only imagine how Corinne must be feeling, or not feeling for that matter, thanks to the drugs.
"Here's your water, Corinne," Sam said, handing her a plastic bottle. She took it without another word. "Here are your meds." Sam handed her a couple of different pills. "You want to take this for me?"
Corinne took the pills and Sam looked back at Addison, saying nothing but everything at the same time. Addison felt bad for him, she really did, and she was worried about him. The hard part though was separating that worry from the love she had, or maybe even still has, for him.
How much should she actually care about Sam's long lost sister suddenly showing up? She knew right away that Jake would tell her to back off – that this was Sam's issue and since they had broken up it wasn't something Addison should be helping him to deal with. Addison heard that voice in her head, and try as she might she couldn't just shut it out. But she also couldn't shut out the voice that told her to be there for Sam, to help him, and – as much as she hated to admit it – use this as an excuse to avoid her own problems. To avoid the fact that a stranger had just come into her home and told her all these things about Alina, a young doctor now working at her hospital whom she had admittedly felt a strong connection to. And this woman had seemed to think Addison had some sort of hold on her. It was a lot to figure out.
"I'm not so sure," Sam said.
Addison looked at him quizzically. "Not so sure…?"
Sam let out a deep breath. "That this is good news."
Tonight was the first time in a long time that Alina had actually felt overjoyed at the sound of her pager going off. Her parents had been staying with her for less than 48 hours and already she wanted to ship her mother off to Siberia.
From the way she was rude to Addison – one of her mentors for crying out loud – to the unrelenting criticism she was still giving Alina for moving to LA, the woman was beyond exhausting. So far she had gotten lucky with regard to her ex-fiancé, but Alina was still counting the minutes until her mother brought up that topic.
Naturally her father wasn't pleased when she had to run off to the hospital so late at night during their visit, but Alina was so glad to get away from her mother that she hardly felt bad at all. With a quick kiss on the cheek and a promise to see him soon, she was off driving to work as fast as the speed limit would allow.
Tonight the patient was a baby, Alina's least favorite to treat. Not that she didn't love babies, she did, but it was always hard seeing them in pain, or watching them be sliced open in surgery. She didn't know how Addison managed it. Then again, the woman didn't have children, so maybe it was easier for her to compartmentalize her life. Either way, Alina hated it.
This baby's name was Eli, and he was barely two weeks old. The girl who had brought him in didn't look a day over twenty, which gave Alina's heart another little tug. Her own birth mother hadn't even been twenty when she was born. She wondered, did her teenage mother give birth to her in a hospital? Did she get to see her in the nursery, with all the other newborns?
Denise, the girl who had brought the baby into the ER, was Eli's older sister. Their mother was a drug addict, and left both of her children, for all Denise knew, to go score again.
Alina listened to the conversation between the young woman, Dr. Wilder, and Dr. Freedman while monitoring little Eli's x-ray scan. She felt so bad; here were these two innocent kids stuck with a mother who didn't deserve them. Then again, Alina felt this way more often than not; sure, her mother could be awful, judgmental, and disapproving, but at least she was there. That was more than a lot of other kids could say.
Her adoptive mother chose her; her birth mother gave her away.
The next morning Alina was back at it, standing in baby Eli's room with a stethoscope, listening to his heartbeat. His scans had come out last night – Dr. Freedman had concluded it was neonatal abstinence syndrome – but they were waiting for Dr. Freedman to get a second opinion before coming to a real conclusion as to what to do with him.
Alina glanced upward toward the still-to-be-reviewed scans, her forehead creasing with worry. She ran the back of her index finger along the baby's soft cheek gently, wishing she could take his pain away. No she didn't have any children of her own, but that didn't stop her heart from aching whenever she saw a little one in pain.
Suddenly, the door to Eli's room opened. It was Dr. Freedman.
"Morning," Alina said, glancing up at him.
Dr. Freedman sighed. "Morning. How'd the little guy do last night?"
"Not bad," Alina said. "His vitals are alright, and I gave him a small sedative to keep him relaxed during the night."
"Good, good," Dr. Freedman said. "Have you by chance seen Add-Dr. Montgomery this morning?"
"Oh, Addison?" Alina chuckled. He didn't know they were on a first-name basis. "No I haven't. I'm guessing she's the second opinion we're waiting for?"
"That she is," Dr. Freedman said, taking out his pager. "I'll page her."
"Alright. You know to tell you the truth I'm actually kind of grateful to this little guy," Alina said.
"Oh and why's that?" Dr. Freedman asked, joining her at the other side of his bed.
"Saved me from having to play hostess to the family last night. All night."
Dr. Freedman laughed. "I definitely feel you on that one. Last time my parents visited, my mother spent the entire time telling me my fiancée wasn't the right woman for me…to her face."
Alina had to giggle. "Oh man. Not that I've ever been married myself but my mother isn't exactly shy either when it comes to me seeing someone. It's exhausting is what it is. Did you end up marrying her anyway?"
Dr. Freedman didn't answer right away, as he stares down at the little baby they're treating. "Who?" he asked, snapping out of it.
"Your fiancée. Judging by the ring on your finger I'm assuming your mother didn't exactly succeed in talking you out of it?"
"Oh! Oh yeah we still got married. You know Char-I mean Dr. King?"
"Dr. King is your wife?!" Alina asked, surprised.
"The one and only," Dr. Freedman smiled.
"Huh…remind me never to get on your bad side," Alina joked.
Dr. Freedman smiled. "Well then it's a good thing I don't have much of one."
Just then Alina heard the door open again. It was Addison.
"Hi," she said, sounding a bit frazzled. "You got the scans?"
"Um, here," Alina said, handing them to her.
Not even a half hour later Addison had assessed the results and the two women were headed toward the x-ray viewing room, Dr. Freedman – or "Cooper," as he said she could call him from now on – not far behind.
"You were right," Addison said, walking into the x-ray viewing room. "Baby Eli has neonatal abstinence syndrome."
"We should start a methadone taper," Cooper responded quickly.
"Unfortunately, there's more," Addison replied, and Alina felt her chest clench again. "He's also got a congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation; it needs to be removed immediately or his lungs are gonna be compromised."
Basically little Eli had an abnormal piece of lung tissue that needed to be removed. He would have to undergo surgery…but he wasn't strong enough for that, was he?
Alina's brow furrowed some more. "You can't do surgery, right? He's too weak."
"Well, waiting carries its own risks," Addison said. "I mean, any little virus or a cold, he could become oxygen deprived."
"So who makes this call?" Cooper asked.
"I don't know," Addison sighed. "Is there a father in the picture?"
"No, just the baby's sister – Denise."
"How old is she?"
"Nineteen."
"And she also went through hell with the mother," Alina interjected. "But she's trying to do right by her brother."
Addison glanced at her briefly, giving Alina a strange feeling. "She's a little young. You think she's qualified to make that kind of decision?"
"She doesn't have to," came a voice from the doorway. It was Dr. Wilder, and behind him stood a sickly looking woman in her late thirties. "This is Eli's mother, Melissa."
Alina sighed. This case just became a lot more complicated.
Even after her latest case had ended, Addison was still at a loss. She was at a loss of what to do about Sam, and Jake for that matter; Jake was the kind of guy who Addison could really see herself loving one day. He was so kind, funny, intelligent, and a real gentleman. But Sam was…Sam. They had been in a relationship. Addison had thought she loved him. But he didn't love her in the way she needed to be loved – she wanted a baby, and he wasn't going to be there for her.
Her mind told her that that should be a deal-breaker, but what was her heart telling her?
To top all of that off, she just spent an entire day working with Alina. Alina, whose mother had come over to Addison's house and told her all of these things…and what was Addison to do with that? She assumed Alexandra didn't want Alina to know she was over at Addison's house, but should Addison really keep something like that from her?
Sitting in the locker room dressed back in her work attire, Addison leaned forward, massaging her temples. She let out a deep breath, keeping her eyes closed until she could feel a presence enter the room.
"What?" she snapped, looking up. Immediately she regretted it. "Oh…"
It was Alina, just the person she had been thinking about.
"Whoa," Alina said, eyes wide and holding her hands up in defense. "Just coming in to change out of the scrubs."
"Sorry," Addison apologized. "I just…"
"Long day?" Alina asked.
"Long days," Addison corrected. "Just a lot on my mind."
Alina opened her locker before pulling off her scrub top, standing just in her pants and white tank top. "Anything I can do to help?"
Addison was so touched she felt her heart swell, and the feeling just confused her even more. "No, not really, I…"
Now was the moment. If she was going to bring up Alina's mother, now was the time.
"Your mother came to see me last night."
Well that didn't take much convincing.
Alina froze in the middle of buttoning up her blouse. "She did what?"
"She uh, came over to my house."
"Oh God…" Alina groaned, covering her face with her hands. Immediately Addison felt bad for telling her. "Why on earth would she do that? She doesn't even know you! I swear to God one day I'm going to kill that woman…"
"No, no it's fine," Addison continued.
"I'm really sorry she bothered you," Alina said, looking extremely sincere. Addison noticed her forehead crease and that only made her feel worse.
"Really, Alina, it's okay. She just…had a few things to say to me."
"Like…?" Alina asked, zipping up her jeans.
Addison's heart was racing in her chest. "Well…she talked to me about you. She…told me you had started looking for your birth parents."
Alina looked confused. "And what does that have to do with you?"
"I have no idea," Addison admitted.
"Did you…excuse me if this is too personal, but did you give a baby up for adoption?" Alina asked meekly.
Addison sighed, standing up, grateful for the height (and confidence) her high-heeled shoes now gave her. "I did. But it was a long time ago, and I don't even know if she's still alive, let alone where she lives. I didn't even live in LA when that happened, I was in Connecticut, and I…I wasn't even a real adult yet."
"So naturally out of all the women she met here you were the one my mother picked out to terrorize about my past," Alina concluded, shutting her locker and grabbing her bag, hooking it on her shoulder. "I was adopted out of New York City anyway. An orphanage run by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, and from what I hear they're pretty tight-lipped when it comes to giving out information about their kids. Look, I'm really sorry she bothered you. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."
Addison wanted to protest, to tell her that it really was fine, if only to smooth the worried creases out of her forehead. But before she could Alina was already halfway out the door.
"I'll see you later, Addison," she said with a small smile and a nod. Then she was gone, leaving Addison, once again, alone with her thoughts.
That is, until another young doctor walked past the opened door, stumbling to a stop. This time it was Amelia.
"Oh! Addie, I'm glad I caught you!" she said with a smile. "I have some good news and I think you'll be surprised-"
Addison cut her off, her mind racing. She loved her little sister-in-law, she really did, but now was not the time. "I'm sorry Amelia but I really can't talk right now…"
"Don't worry this will only take a second," Amelia said, hurrying to catch up with Addison once she walked past her. "So you know Mason's mom, Erica?"
Addison knew. She knew she had an incurable form of brain cancer, at least.
"Well I think I've finally found a way to help her. Now I just need Derek…"
Oh God. The last thing Addison needed to hear about right now was her ex-husband.
"…so do you think you can help me out with that?" Amelia finished, looking at Addison timidly.
"What?" Addison asked, hardly paying attention anymore. Now, she only had one thing on her mind, and it involved an airport. "I'm sorry Amelia I really can't. I really have to go."
"And just where are you off to in such a hurry?!" Amelia demanded. "Please don't tell me you're blowing me off for a hot date with some new guy?"
"Amelia this is hardly a date," Addison told her, coming to a halt and facing her. "I have to go to New York."
Thanks again for reading! Reviews are most welcome :)
