In Which Addison Meets Someone Who is Different
I woke up this morning next to a fully clothed Meredith. I invited her inside last night after we went out to eat and bowling… That was Meredith's idea. I'm the absolute worst at bowling. Luckily, I had liquor to help me play better however I still lost drastically… We took a cab back to my place seeing that we both were in no condition to drive. The driver was going to take Meredith home as well but we opted to just go back to my place. I don't recall what happened after that but we're both still clothed so it couldn't have been much.
Since Meredith is still asleep, I decide to try to whip up some breakfast. I end up making coffee, toast, eggs, grits and some burnt pancakes. I grab some fruit and orange juice out of the fridge and set it on the counter. I hear shuffling coming from my room then soon after, Meredith walks out with a huge smile on her face.
"I knew I smelled breakfast," she yawns and stretches. I swear it's the most adorable sight ever.
"Don't get too excited," I reply pouring juice into two empty glasses, "I burnt the pancakes. I was going to make some turkey bacon but I didn't want to burn it too."
"So you weren't lying when you said you couldn't cook?" she jokes then kisses me on the cheek before sitting down at the counter. "Plus, I like my pancakes well done anyway," she winks at me as I sit her drink and plate down in front of her. I poured the coffee into travel mugs for later then I sit down beside her at the counter.
"I have a waffle maker," I add, "I'll use that next time. It beeps when it's ready making it impossible for me to burn."
"Your pancakes are amazing, Addison," she says to me with her mouth full. "You don't give yourself enough credit."
"Oh, stop it," I shake my head, "You don't have to tell me my food is good to spare my feelings. I know I can't cook."
"I'm serious, Addie," she smiles, "breakfast just might be your forte. If you cooked every morning, I swear I'd eat breakfast everyday."
"Well, breakfast is the most important meal of the day," I joke while shaking my head laughing at her. I honestly could see myself with this girl for the rest of my life. I just have to tell her about Derek…
"Look Mere, there's something I've been meaning to tell you," I start as her pager goes off. She runs off to get it and sees it's a 911.
"Crap, I have to go," she takes another spoonful of her food and runs into my room to grab her shoes, coat and keys. She kisses me and grabs her travel mug before she dashed out of the house. The door closes quietly behind her and I'm left to finish my breakfast alone.
After I wash the dishes, I run myself a nice hot bubble bath while I pick out what I'm going to wear today. I don't have to be into work until this afternoon so I decided to spend my morning out on the town… Really explore the city. I've been living here weeks and I've never seen a part of Seattle that wasn't on my way to-and-from the hospital. I found the perfect outfit for what I had planned for today; my Tommy Hilfiger couplet dress. It's one of my favorites because it has the look of a skirt and blouse in one. I dress it up with a pair of my black Jimmy Choo's and my Micheal Kors watch. Today is a beautiful day so I might as well look stunning while enjoying it.
When I come out of my bath, I feel refreshed. I do my hair, make up then I get dressed and make my way out to the car. I start for downtown. I want to check out the Space Needle and I guess I should find myself a best of Seattle guide.
Three hours later, I managed to go to the top of the Space Needle, take a ferry across the water, go to the wildlife park, go to the museum and to the market. It's nearly twelve-thirty and I don't have to be at work until two. I decide to grab lunch for myself and Meredith then make my way to the hospital.
After actually seeing what the city had to offer, there's a bunch of places that I now want to take Meredith. They have a theatre, a zoo and an aquarium. I could even take her to the top of the Space Needle where they have a restaurant and a bar. Seattle is nothing like New York but it's very cute and quaint.
When I pull up to the hospital, it's only one-fifteen. I take this as my chance to go find Meredith. I run into her in the hallway on my way to their locker room.
"Hey," she smiles noticing me.
"Hey, I brought you lunch," I hand her the bag as Dr. Stevens walks pasts us in the hallway. I call out to her, "Good afternoon, Dr. Stevens."
She ignores me and continues walking away. It's been three weeks since the quints… I don't think she's ever going to forgive me. I look at Meredith sadly, "Do you think she'll ever talk to me again?"
"Yeah," she says as we start walking towards the cafeteria, "she'll get over it soon enough. You were just doing your job."
"Yeah, but she doesn't see it that way," I pout.
"She will… Trust me," she smiles and brushes my hair out of my face. "You're so cute when you pout."
I frown looking down at her, "I was not pouting so you would think I'm cute… I'm pouting that I lost one of my most promising interns." We're almost to the cafeteria and I ask sarcastically, "Now who's going to fill my shoes when I retire?"
Meredith giggles then shakes her head, "I promise everything will be fine and you'll be back to working with Izzie again soon."
"Yeah, yeah," I say as we stop in front of the cafeteria.
"I already told the gang I would sit with them but you're more than welcome to join us," she offers and does these puppy dog eyes that I can barely resist. I have to look away.
"Oh, no, it's okay. I was planning on eating in my office and doing some research. Plus, I have surgery at two-thirty," I smile softly at her as she pouts.
"Oh, sweetie… I'm sorry," I was about to cave in when Cristina walked over to us.
"Hey, are you coming to sit with us or are you having lunch with your lover?" she asks the two of us and we both blush.
"I'll be right in, Cristina," Meredith says and then looks to me, "Isn't there something you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Oh, it can wait until after work," I say softly.
"Okay," she lifts up on her toes to kiss me on the cheek then heads inside the cafeteria.
I make my way upstairs to my office and I make myself comfortable on the couch. I usually eat at my desk but I'm tired from running around Seattle all morning. I grab my book after sitting my lunch out on the table in front of me. I begin eating and prepping for my surgery that's in forty minutes.
It wasn't long until I got paged to the OR. I grab my lucky scrub cap and head to the surgery floor. I'm performing surgery on a baby still inside its mother's womb. We like to call this fetal surgery. The field itself is relatively new so the few surgeons that are practicing it are essentially inventing it. There's only eight people out there in the world who can perform fetal surgery on a world-class level and I, Addison Montgomery, am one of them.
I'm also one of those people who have to talk themselves up when they're nervous… Anyway, I'm scrubbing in and I see Dr. Bailey inside. I guess they couldn't find an intern who would work with me. They're upset about the baby incident with Dr. Stevens I assume. They are her friends… After I got gowned and gloved, I'm ready to start. I look at the time and I see it's exactly two-thirty. I take a breath and extend my hand out, "ten-blade."
The surgery was a breeze… Everything went exactly like it was supposed to. There weren't any mistakes or actually any room for them. I loved working with Dr. Bailey and to celebrate, the entire surgical team are going out for drinks later tonight at Joe's. I'm going to invite Meredith to come because it's not a celebration without someone you want to share it with.
I'm on my way back to my office and I'm texting Meredith about Joe's tonight when I run into the wall. I hear laughter and I look up to see Meredith waiting by my door.
"You see," she says, "that's why you don't text and walk. It's very dangerous."
"Oh, leave me alone," I say as the text finally sends and I hear her phone vibrate.
"Cute," she says following me into my office, "you were texting me when you ran into the wall."
I stare at her evilly which only makes her laugh harder. She reads the text and looks up at me, "I thought you wanted to talk tonight?"
"I did but then the surgery went so smoothly and the team wanted to celebrate," I say shrugging my shoulders. Meredith walks over to me and wraps her arms around me as she kisses me.
"Congratulations on your surgery," she smiles, "Thank you for wanting to celebrate with me. It means a lot."
"Oh, there are so many more things that I want to do with you," I say with a smirk.
"Save it for later, Dr. Montgomery," she says as she tugs on my lab coat. "Oh," she says stepping back, "I have something I need to tell you though."
"What is it?" I say sitting down at my desk. I take off my sneakers and put back on my heels.
"I wanted to tell you this before you heard it for yourself…" She shifts uneasily and it makes me nervous.
"Oh, just say it already. You're giving me anxiety."
"So… You have a nickname… People are calling you Satan… I've also heard Satan's Mistress," she says with a smirk.
I shake my head and I laugh, "This is because of the quint incident with Izzie isn't it?" I look up to see her nod and I smirk, "I save babies for God's sake. I'm not Satan."
"It's just a nickname… At least it's something hardcore… It means they respect you," she says with a smile.
"Fear and respect are not the same thing," I clarify.
"Oh, Addie, they know you're not Satan," she says sitting down on my desk, "I'm sure this will all blow over soon. I'll even talk to Izzie."
"No, you don't have to. I did this so I 'm going to have to fix things with her myself," I say. "Did you want to grab something to eat before we go out for drinks? It looks like I have some spare time."
"Sure," she shrugs, "I'm on break anyway."
"You think we have time to eat something outside of the hospital?" I ask grabbing my coat.
"I guess we'll just have to see," she says as I grab my purse and follow her out of my office.
We stop at the locker room so she could grab her coat then we made our way to the lobby and out the door. There's a couple of restaurants on the street but nothing that I really want so I let Meredith choose. Never let Meredith choose… especially if you're a health nut. Meredith cares nothing about healthy eating which is funny seeing that she's a doctor. We end up at a burger shack that's basically like in the parking lot next door to the hospital.
The one good thing about this shack is their vegan chili. I'm not a vegan… nowhere near but this chili is so damn good. I get them with chips and a salad. Of course, Meredith ordered a burger however, I did end up persuading her to get a turkey burger. It's a lot healthier.
We're about halfway through our meal when we both get paged. Meredith to the ER and I to a consult. Seeing that she got an emergency page, Meredith left money for the meal and ran off to the hospital while I got the food into to-go boxes. Luckily we're so close that she'd actually make it to the ER in good time or the patient could've died before she made it there.
I arrive to the patient's room I've been paged to and I see one of Bailey's interns. I smile and greet him as I enter the room, "Dr. O'Malley."
He nods and moves to introduce me to the patient and hands me her chart, "Hi. Um, Mr. and Mrs. Singleton, Rebecca, this is Dr. Montgomery."
"You don't think it's cancer, do you?" the mom immediately asks me. "Bex is too young for cancer, right?"
"Mrs. Singleton, I'm just getting up to speed. I'm sorry," I say to her then look to my intern, "Dr. O'Malley?"
"Rebecca's been admitted for-," he gets cut off.
"Could you stop calling me that?" the patient says.
"She prefers Bex," the dad chimes in referring to the teen, "not Rebecca."
Dr. O'Malley nods and continues, "Bex has been admitted for an ultrasound guided biopsy on an enlargement of a pelvic lymph node."
"Okay," I say closing the chart. "Bex, you mind if I check it out?"
"Okay, I'll just, um…" Mr. Singleton says pointing to the door then walking out the room. I'm mentally laughing to myself. Wierdo dad.
"It's a minor procedure, Bex, but we'll give you a local anesthetic to manage the pain." I say while I feel on her stomach trying to determine what's going on.
Dr. O'Malley notices that the girl is in pain and tries to distract her with questions, "What are you drawing?"
"Just a dumb comic," she replies.
I look down at what she's drawing and it looks amazing, "You're very talented"
"It's big, I know. It just appeared one day," the mom adds.
"I'll perform a biopsy tonight, and Dr. O'Malley will have to take some blood so he can run some tests and then we can start to get you some answers, okay?" I say to Bex and then to her mother, "Mrs. Singleton, there's no need to panic. I'll keep you posted every step of the way."
"Thank you," she says to me as I walk out of the room.
Half an hour later, Dr. O'Malley finds me by the Nurse's Station.
"Here are the labs for Bex Singleton," he says putting the results down on the counter in front of me.
"Anything?"
"Yeah, her hormone levels- estrogen, progesterone- are sky high," he says.
"Huh, that's- you did a history, right?" I question him, "Any mention of birth control pills?"
"No, but her parents were right there," he responds.
I close the chart and hand it back to him, "Talk to her again."
"But she hasn't hit puberty yet. Isn't it weird she'd be having sex?"
"The way these days are, Dr. O'Malley, it's not that unusual," I answer simply. "Talk to the patient," I say walking away. I look at the time and I see I have a couple of hours before I'm supposed to be at Joe's. I'm going to try to sneak in some more food so I head to my office. The moment I sit down my phone starts to ring… I look at it to see that it's Derek.
"Wow," I say to myself… I've been here for two months and he is just now calling. I'm so not answering his call.
Thirty minutes later I'm in the back in the patient's room doing the biopsy on Bex. I think her parents went to grab something to eat. I sent them away because their nerves were not only freaking themselves out but freaking out my patient too.
"You see that, Dr. O'Malley?"
He walks over to get a better view, "It looks like the tumor is compressing an ovary."
"Yeah, that's why I biopsied both ovaries."
"Is that bad?" Bex asks.
"It's really just a precaution, Bex." I finish and get up, "Want to apply pressure, Dr. O'Malley?"
"Mm-hmm," he answers taking over.
"I'm going to get this up to path," I say putting the biopsied tissue into containers and heading out, "You mind doing the dressings?"
"Sure," he answers.
"All right, Bex. We'll get you the results just as soon as possible," I leave out of the room.
After hearing back from pathology, I page Dr. O'Malley upstairs. He walks in a few minutes later, "You paged me?
"Yeah," I say still looking under the microscope. "Have a look at this. It's Bex's biopsy."
I move away from the microscope and let George step up to have a look.
"Biopsied ovary?" he asks.
"Not exactly," I answer. "Arrange a meeting with Bex's parents. Oh and find out who the on-call psychiatrist is and if they're available to join us."
George looks up at me worried, "Does she have cancer?"
"No, it's not an ovary," I pause, "it's a testis."
"A testis?" he says looking back into the microscope. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm sure."
He looks back into the microscope amazed, "Bex is a hermaphrodite?"
"Yes."
A few minutes later, George, Raj, the psych guy, and I are sitting at a table with Mrs. Singleton sitting across from us while Mr. Singleton is pacing around the room.
Mr. Singleton finally speaks up, "Let me get this straight. You're telling me that our daughter, my daughter, you're telling me my daughter might actually be a boy?"
"That, how is that possible?," the wife asks as Mr. Singleton sits down next to her. "I don't understand. I don't understand how-"
Mr. Singleton interrupts her, "Shouldn't this have been detected somehow?"
"Externally, Bex has female genitalia," I explain the best way I can. "She looks like a girl, but internally she has both female and male sex organs."
Mrs. Singleton asks clearly upset, "So what now? What are we supposed to do? I don't understand."
"Ok, the best news is that the lymph node tumor is benign. So physically Bex is going to be just fine but emotionally," I pause and look at Raj, "psychologically I strongly recommend therapy."
"She's already in therapy," the husband announces.
"I'm talking about therapy for all of you," I clarify. "This is not going to be easy for Bex to hear and it's, it's not going to be easy adjustment for you to make."
"My god. My poor girl," the wife exclaims.
"A big adjustment? What kind of adjustment?" the husband questions.
"Many inter-sex people begin to identify very strongly with one sex and it's not necessarily the sex they've been raised," the psychiatrists explains.
Mrs. Singleton says adamantly, "She's, she's a girl. She looks like a girl; she has always been a girl."
"It at least helps explain why she feels so different," George chimes in and the parents just stare at him.
"The point is," Raj speaks up again, "that biologically and emotionally speaking, she has a choice to make."
A few minutes after our meeting, I was paged to Bex's room. I run into George walking down the hallway to, I'm assuming, Bex's room as well. We meet Bex's parents standing outside of her door.
Mr. Singleton starts, "Ah excuse me, ah uh Mary and I were talking. Ah and ah we think Bex should stay-"
Mrs. Singleton interrupts, "She can't handle something like this. You saw the scars."
George looks amazed, "You're not going to tell her?" Mr. and Mrs. Singleton both shake their heads and he continues on, "But this could help her. You can't not tell her who she is."
"Dr. O'Malley," I stop him then say to the parents, "Uh we'll go ahead and proceed with scheduled surgery to remove the tumor and then you can talk to your daughter in your own time."
Mrs. Singleton speaks up, "Actually, we were thinking…" She pauses then gestures for her husband to continue.
"We thought since you're already going to be in there ... Uh we know fixed isn't the right word but-," he adds before he's interrupted by the wife.
"We were thinking that with the hormonal confusion, it might be easier on her to remove whatever boy parts she has."
"Keep her more of a girl," the husband states. George looks horrified and I'm baffled that they even have the nerve to ask me something like that.
"Just to be clear," I pause, "you're asking me to perform sexual reassignment surgery on your daughter?"
Mr. and Mrs. Singleton both answer, "Yes."
"Without her knowing?" George asks astounded.
"Well all she's said all her life is that she wants to be normal," the husband says. "She doesn't feel normal."
"Why can't we just put an end to her agony?" the wife adds.
"First of all removing her male sexual organs may not do that, in fact it could do just the opposite," I start.
"But her hormones-," Mrs. Singleton tries to counter but Dr. O'Malley cuts her off.
"Can be controlled with an oral medication," he says.
Mr. Singleton chimes in, "We just want the best for Bex."
"To do surgery and alter her body permanently is... well I just would never to do that on someone who isn't aware of the procedure and you're going to be hard-pressed to find a surgeon who will," I say walking away. I'm so done with this conversation.
"Bex will learn the truth someday," I hear my intern say. "How do you want her to find out?... Excuse me." He walks away.
The surgical team is about to come take Bex to surgery so I go to her room to make sure no one has anymore questions before I proceed. When I arrive at the room, I see her parents walking in and Dr. O'Malley already inside.
"Hey Bex," I smile at her.
Bex sits up and looks at her parents, "Mom. Dad. This is really freaking me out."
Mrs. Singleton starts, "Oh, no, everything is going to be fine, Bex."
"It's ok sweetie," her father adds.
"I'm having surgery to remove a tumor that's compressing my ovary, right George?" she asks but Dr. O'Malley stays silent.
"Dr. O'Malley," I say when I notice him about to answer. This isn't our place. I give him a slight shake of my head for him to stay quiet.
"George?" Bex asks again. George looks sick and remains silent. Bex tries again, "George?"
George caves and turns to look at me, "What am I just supposed to lie to her?"
"Ok, that's enough. Dr. O'Malley, please leave the room," I excuse him. George puts down the chart and starts heading out.
"No wait!" Bex stops him. "Tell me what's wrong with me. What is wrong with me?"
George just looks at the parents who give each other glances. Mr. Singleton starts up, "Bex…" he pauses looking to his wife for approval. She nods and he continues, "we learned that your tumor... it's not compressing an ovary."
"Then where is it?" Bex asks.
"It's on a testis," the mother finally says.
Bex looks confused, "Like a testicle?" Everyone is silent as she looks around the room, "I have testicles?"
I decide to speak up seeing that no one else would, "Yes one. Bex, this is a tremendous amount of information for you-"
Bex interrupts me half listening to what I said, "And I've had it my whole life?... Oh my god. Does this mean...does this mean I could be a boy?" I give George a disapproving look as do both the parents but I don't even think Bex noticed. She just whispers to herself, "Yes."
We all step into the hallway outside of Bex's room and it's clear that the parents are upset even before Mrs. Singleton starts yelling, "You engineered that conversation! You forced our hand."
"Well you were lying to her," George says simply.
"We were protecting her," her father clarifies.
"She's a 14-year old girl," the wife adds.
"Well maybe, maybe not," George corrects as both parents give him appalled looks.
His words send Mrs. Singleton off, "This isn't your life! This isn't your child! 14 years! 14 years we have raised a daughter, in one afternoon you expect us to what?! What is Bex is supposed to do? How is she supposed to go home and tell the other kids? What? You had no right!"
I move to interrupt the yelling but George gets there first by saying, "No, I know I'm off the case, right?"
He walks away while Mr. Singleton tries to calm his wife down. I decide to go ahead and take Bex up to surgery. I didn't become a surgeon for the drama.
After the surgery, I came back to Bex's room to check on her and I find her with Dr. O'Malley. She sitting up by herself and looks fairly happy. I see they're talking so I decide to watch on from the Nurse's Station.
"Heard my parents weren't too happy with you," I overhear Bex say.
George answers simply, "Nope."
Bex smiles, "Thanks for telling me... for making them tell me."
George nods then adds, "You know um there are people that you can talk to. I can if you'd like-"
"I know…" Bex interrupts. "George, do I have to be a boy now?"
"No. No."
"But I can if I want to," Bex states more than questions.
"Yeah you can, if you want," George says.
Bex thinks for a second before she speaks up again, "Hey, could you, would you bring me some scissors?"
Dr. O'Malley nods and goes to retrieve some scissors and a mirror. Bex is sitting in her bed holding a mirror and looking in it while George cuts her long hair off. I see Mr. and Mrs. Singleton walking down the hall. They enter the room and George stops upon seeing them. Mrs. Singleton walks in and holds out her hand to George. He hands her the pair of scissors and heads out as Mrs. Singleton continues cutting Bex's hair. George and I both watch from the doorway.
"You did well, Dr. O'Malley," I comment then Meredith walks up to me.
"You ready to go?" she asks me and I nod. We make our way downstairs to the lobby. I'm helping Meredith fix her coat. As we turn to leave, I see my soon to be ex-husband standing there at the enter way and my eyes grow wide. This seriously can't be happening… Not tonight.
I never got the chance to explain everything to Meredith and now everything we have could be ruined. I turn to her and I look at her sadly, "Meredith, I am so sorry."
Derek walks over to the two of us and says simply, "Addison."
"Derek, what are you doing here?" I question.
"Well, you'd know if you'd bothered to return any one of my phone calls." He then turns to Meredith, "Hi. I'm Derek Shepherd."
He holds out his hand for her to shake and she takes it still looking confused. That is until he adds this next part, "And you must be the woman who's been screwing my wife."