Hi, guys! Over 200 follows! Wow! Thank you all so much for sticking with me thus far and I promise to keep it up! I know it's been forever since I last posted but please forgive me… I got a laptop for Christmas so expect hella chapters to dish out come 2017. My New Year's resolution is to write way more so hopefully I can post an update to all three of my fics every week. With that said, check out my other two fics, The Book of Addison and In Memory of Me. Please, please, please review and enjoy chapter eighteen!

In Which Addison Becomes Super

I feel partly to blame for Izzie's demise. She was supposed to be under my wing… my protégé but I drove her away with the quint situation. I can't help but wonder if I hadn't done that, that maybe she would've come to me or I would've noticed what was going on with her because she wouldn't have been avoiding me… I would've known and I could've kept her from getting to that point. Drunken me told Meredith this last night and she told me that it wasn't true… That she was there when Izzie first fell in love with Denny and even she couldn't stop her but I don't know… I still have my doubts.

Meredith starts to stir in the bed next to me so I roll over to face her. Her eyes flutter open and I smile sweetly, "Good morning."

"Good morning," she says rolling over to face me. She kisses me softly then grins widely realizing we're both still naked from last night.

Meredith first thing in the morning is the most adorable sight. I can't help but smile, "Hi."

"Hi," she smiles kissing me again.

I smirk, "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Not really."

"Do you want to get some now?"

"Not really."

I take that as an okay to lean in towards Meredith, but a loud thump interrupts then we hear George yelp from the hallway. We try to continue but another louder thump comes from the hallway which causes Meredith to get up out of the bed. She throws on a large shirt and opens her door. In the hallway, we see George wrestling with some cardboard boxes.

"Damn! Stupid! Ow!" George fumbles.

Meredith leans against the door frame, "I was having a really good morning and you ruined it."

"Sorry. These boxes…" he says dropping another, "Oh there boxes! Callie said she was bringing her stuff over and… it's all here."

"It's okay George, I don't mind."

"I don't mind either. Nah, I don't mind a bit," he says moving closer to Meredith then he whispers, "Kick her out."

"What? I can't kick her out. You were the one who told her she could move in," Meredith exclaims meanwhile I'm crying from all the laughter.

George sighs, "That she could stay for a couple of days, a couple of days! It's been over a week. Now there are boxes and she's using my computer and she's here all the time. Would you kick her out? Kick her out now."

"Hey," Callie calls out as she walks past the door in a red towel, "you guys might want to wait a little while, there's no more hot water."

"Do it," George whispers to Meredith once more before walking away.

I hear Izzie's voice next, "Hey. Can I get a ride with you guys to the hospital?"

"You're going to the hospital?" Meredith asks.

Izzie walks into the view of the door, "Yeah. I'm… I'm gonna go in. Talk to the Chief. See about coming back. Anyway, just let me know when you're leaving."

Izzie walks back into her room and Callie exclaims, "That's great, Izzie's coming back. That's great, right?"

"Mhhm," Meredith tries.

George mutters, "That's my towel."

"Oh, sorry," Callie says handing George the towel leaving her standing naked in the hallway. George takes the towel and walks off.

Callie rolls her eyes, "God, he's really moody in the mornings."

"Yeah," Meredith tries again but I can tell she's highly uncomfortable, "He's… yeah."

"Yeah," Callie says walking off and Meredith comes back in the room closing the door.

Her eyes are wide and I let out the laughter I was holding in. Once I compose myself, I ask about Izzie, "Did I hear right? Izzie is going into work today?"

"Yeah," Meredith says taking off her t-shirt and climbing back into bed, "but that doesn't mean that we have to go in today."

"Uh, no, that doesn't sound quite right," I chuckle as she climbs on top of me and kisses me softly, "but maybe we can pick up where we left off."

Callie and George rode in together and Meredith, Izzie and I left only a few minutes after. We all ended up pulling into the hospital parking lot at the same time. So we all get out and start heading in together. Meredith, in complaint that we didn't get enough time alone together this morning, made lunch reservations. Izzie looks like the world is about to end and Callie grins like a teenager in love.

She wraps her hand around George's arm, "So I was thinking, since your shift ends after mine and I don't want to have to wait around, maybe I should get a copy of the house key."

"No," he replies quickly then tries to fix it, "I like leaving together. You don't need a key."

Callie is head over heels in love with George and it's sad to see him pushing her away… Sometimes I worry that he still has a crush on Meredith… but he has to know that it's never going to happen right? Meredith is my girlfriend.

We arrive at the hospital entrance and Izzie suddenly stops walking. Meredith turns to her concerned, "Izzie?"

"I'll see you guys in there," she says staring up at the building.

I try to some words of encouragement, "Everything's gonna be fine. Bailey is on your side. And the Chief is… He is gonna put on his angry face, but he's on your side too."

"Everybody wants you back in that building," George confirms.

Izzie nods, "I know. I know. You guys go ahead, I'll be fine. I'm just gonna take a minute, practice my speech."

"Okay," Meredith says and the rest of us walk into the hospital.

Meredith kisses me once again before we head off our separate ways. She to the locker room, I'm assuming, and me to my office. Only seconds after I put my things down, I find myself walking up to Dr. Bailey. My chest feels heavy and I just need to confess.

Miranda looks at me concerned yet angry at the same time, "Can I help you, Satan?"

"Don't call me that," I pout feeling insecure, "I really am Satan. I feel like I played a huge part in Izzie's demise… I mean, she was supposed to be under my wing and I drove her away with the quint situation…" Hence the horrible nickname, that's how I got my reputation around here… I sigh, "I can't help but wonder if I hadn't done that, that maybe she would've come to me or I would've noticed because she wouldn't have been so distant… I would've known and I could've kept her from getting to that point."

"No," Bailey shakes her head, "it's nobody's fault but mine. Stevens was my child; my intern… speaking of…"

She trails off as the rest of her interns walk up to us. Miranda looks them over once before dishing out her orders, "Morning people. Grey, we're clearing the decks. I need you writing discharge forms. Yang, you're with Doctor Shepherd. Karev, as usual, you're with Doctor Montgomery in OBGYN. O'Malley, Doctor Torres has requested you today in Ortho."

The interns disperse and I call Alex over to us, "Karev, we ready?"

"Isn't this getting old for you?"

"Nope," I shake my head, "Makes my whole day actually."

Miranda and I walk away together with Alex walking closely behind. We're about to make our way up to the NICU when my cell phone rings. It's Mark. I answer it quickly.

"Hello."

There's silence.

I repeat again, "Hello?"

"Addison…"

"What? Are you OK?" I say in rushed manner stepping off to the side of the hall.

Mark sighs, "I'm fine. Do you have a few minutes to talk?"

"No, uh, no I can't. I've got to…" I pause to think.

He cries out, "But please, Red."

" Five minutes," I say putting Mark on hold then turn to Alex, "Go find something to do in the pit."

"Personal problem…?"

"Go," I yell then Alex walks off, jumping with joy.

I walk to the nearest empty room before sighing and putting the phone backup to my ear, "What do you want Mark?"

"I want to move to Seattle."

"Mark, no."

"This isn't about you, Red. I have nothing left here."

"What about your practice?"

"I'm selling it."

"No, you're not Mark."

"Come on, Red. Derek hates me and you left… there's nothing left for me here anymore," he sighs.

I sigh too, "Mark, don't sell the practice. Stay in New York. There's nothing here in Seattle for you either."

"You're there…"

"I'm with Meredith."

"I know… but I miss working in the hospital… and Richard offered me a job."

"Mark… seriously, no."

"Addison, I am a grown man and I can move to Seattle if I want to."

"No you can't, Mark. I'm hanging up," I say pressing the end button. I have to collect myself before stepping back out into the hallway.

I'm in the X-Ray Room checking a patient's scans when Dr. Karev bursts into the room.

He stops at my side, "I got this kid in the pit. She's psycho and her foster parents are beating the crap out of her."

"Did she tell you that, or did you figure it out yourself?" I ask not moving my eyes from the scans.

I can't see it but I can tell he's shaking his head, "She's covered in bruises, she's got a ten centimeter lac' on her arm with three staples in it like from a staple gun in your garage."

"Her parents did that?"

"Well she said she did it herself. She's got this whole bit about being a superhero and how she can take the pain."

"Well you call social services?" I finally look over to him.

He nods, "They're on their way down."

"Ok, well have them speak to the parents while you run a cold pressure test on the girl," the thought just popped into my head.

"A what?"

"Ice water," I say picking up the other set of scans, "Test her response to pain. At the very least it'll keep her distracted while the parents are questioned."

Alex leaves the room and soon I follow. Next thing you know, we're walking into the pit carrying a big bucket of ice cold water. I follow Alex over to Megan and I greet her with a smile.

"Hey Superkid," Alex greets her walking into the room.

Megan looks over Alex and I then out the door, "Where are my parents?"

"They're talking to some grown-ups," Alex answered.

Megan rolls her eyes, "I'm not a moron. They're talking to a social worker."

"Megan, these bruises, these cuts all over you, this isn't normal," I start.

She shakes her head, "I get in fights a lot, okay? Cause I'm stronger than some of the other kids, so I end up defending the ones who are wimpy or small or whatever."

"You know you're scrawny, right? I mean you're not one of the big kids," Alex disagrees.

Megan shrugs, "Yeah, but I can take them in a fight."

"Alright," Alex says motioning to the bucket, "Put your hands in here."

"Why?"

"Because, we're gonna test your super powers," Alex says quickly.

She gets apprehensive, "You don't believe me? Punch me in the stomach, right here. Come on, punch me in the stomach."

"Let's just stick to the water. Put your hand in here, and I'll… I'll race you. You can race me," he pauses and Megan just stares at him.

"What? Come one. What are you afraid of… afraid of a little ice? You afraid I'm gonna beat you? Come on, on the count of three. One. Two. Three," they both plunge their hands into the cold water and he looks up at her, "Pull your hand out when it starts to hurt please."

"What are you deaf? It won't start to hurt. Just think about it, OK? Superheroes are all kids with dead parents. Like me. And they all figured out when they were around my age that they could do things nobody else could. Like me," she explains.

I take this time to run over to the coffee cart and get a little pick me up. I normally get hot cocoa but I can already tell today is going to be a long one. By the time I return, Alex and Megan still have their hands in the bucket. Megan is still talking about superheroes and Alex is in some serious but it really does not seem to phase the little girl.

"And they think it's weird that the can do all this stuff, but don't tell anybody because people would freak out like you did," she finally pauses to get a good look at Alex, "What's wrong with you?"

"Son of a…" Alex exclaims pulling his hand out of the bucket, "Ow! Ah! Take your hand out of there before it falls off!"

He pulls Megan's hand out of the bucket and she rolls her eyes, "You need to relax."

"You didn't feel anything? Nothing?"

"No. Nobody ever believes me. Like yesterday in school this kid said I was full of it. I had to let him punch me in the stomach twenty five times before he believed me. And once with a baseball bat," she finishes.

This catches my attention. I look up my seated position, "What? Karev…"

I motion towards the hallway and we both step out, "We need to run a CT on this kid's abdomen. This superhero stuff's way out of hand."

Alex runs off and at the same time, I'm paged my Meredith. I almost forgot about our lunch date… I don't even stop by my office before heading out to the lobby. It's not too cold out but it's not warm enough to be sleeveless. Thank goodness I never changed into my scrubs this morning, I'm still wearing my embroidered cluny lace Gucci dress. Yes, I wear $4,000 dresses to work… there's no way I could step out the house in anything less. Anywho, it's long sleeved and perfect for our lunch date as soon as I get out of this labcoat.

When I get outside of the hospital, I see Izzie still standing outside the hospital entrance. Meredith walks over to her before she notices me. She waves me over and I walk up to the with a smile.

"Hey Izzie," I say and although I know she hasn't moved, still I ask, "You done with the Chief?"

"Not yet," she replies.

Meredith smiles softly, "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," she says finally looking away from the building to us, "What are you guys doing?"

"Uh, we were going to grab some lunch," I shrug.

Meredith looks at her watch, "Crap, we're late for our reservations. Gotta go. You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," she just nods as Meredith and I walk out to the car.

"So, Mark called me earlier," I say playing over my food with a fork.

Meredith looks up from chewing, "And what did he want?"

"He wants to move here… I told him no," I say looking up to meet her eyes hesitantly.

She smiles softly at me, "I don't care."

"What?"

"I trust you. I'm confident in our relationship… plus, you said he was your best friend… You don't want to lose a best friend."

"That's what he said…" I pause putting down my fork and looking at Meredith, "Are you really okay with him coming here?"

"Yeah," she nods.

I nod too, "Okay… I guess I could call him back… Honestly, I don't think me telling him no worked anyway… he says Richard offered him a job."

"You know how Richard is… He was the best of the best," she says then grins, "Lucky me, that's how I ended up with you."

"You really do know the way to a girl's heart," I grin widely.

She shakes her head, "Nope, only yours."

After our lunch date, Meredith and I head back to the hospital. Parting ways, I go to find Dr. Bailey. I'd like to pick her brain about Megan's case. I spot Miranda at a nearby Nurses' Station but Richard beats me to her.

"Stevens was supposed to be in my office at nine thirty," he says and I automatically visualize Izzie still standing outside the hospital, "Didn't show. Did you two change your minds?"

"No, she said she was coming in. I'm sure she'll track you down," she answer and as Richard walks away she turns to me.

I muster up a smile, "Bailey, I need a consult."

"Dr. Montgomery," Alex interrupts, "Megan is ready for CT."

"I'll be right with you," Miranda answers and I turn to Alex.

I wonder where he came from but there's no time to ask questions. I just follow him up to CT. Alex is wheeling in Megan into the room and I'm waiting on the technician to give us the go ahead. I can't help but overhear the little girl's concerns.

"How much is this gonna cost my parents?"

"That's not something you need to be worrying about," Alex answers as he lifts Megan onto the scanner.

Megan shakes her head, "But this is so stupid. I'm fine."

A nurse walks in and she yells to her, "Hey! Punch me in the stomach, right here."

"Stop telling people to punch you in the stomach," Alex demands and I can't help but to chuckle a little, "You need to lie down and not move. Which of your super friends can do that?"

The technician pulls me out of my thoughts letting me know that everything is ready for us to proceed. I start up the machine from behind the computer monitors on the other side of the room.

Dr. Bailey walks in and I look over my shoulder with a smile, "Hey Miranda. Thanks for coming. Just waiting for a picture."

"You know, we haven't hung out since you were sucking down Martini's at Joe's," Dr. Bailey smirks.

I turn to her confused then suddenly I remember. I remember this was before Denny died, before Izzie cut his LVAD wire, before Preston got shot, before Miranda had her baby, before the bomb that almost killed Meredith… Derek was here… he told me that he loved me still. Miranda had just lost a longtime patient of hers and we both were out of sorts… Funny thing is, I only remember walking into Joe's and ordering a Martini.

"Uh, yeah, that was just…"

"Hmm."

"We talked about…" I trail off not really knowing what to say.

Miranda chuckles, "A lot of things."

"I remember…"

"None of them."

"Is that for the best?" I ask embarrassed.

She just nods, "I think so."

Alex walks over to our side of the room and we get back on topic. Miranda skims through the chart before she speaks up again, "So, she came in for sutures, but she's a walking accident and has got an off the charts pain threshold? I'm thinking…"

"Chronic insensitivity to pain? Yeah. I've seen it in babies. It's often diagnosed young. But if she's been bounced around in the foster care system…" I trail off as an image appears on the computer monitors.

"Dr. Montgomery, what the hell is that?" Alex points to it. It looks like blood in her abdomen which means she could be bleeding internally. I have Alex run a few more tests just so we can know for sure. I step out the room to wrap my mind around things… I can't help but wonder what I said to Miranda that night.

Looking out of the tall glass walls, my eyes land on Izzie still standing outside. I can't just let her stand there and I do nothing about it. I know Miranda says that this wasn't my fault… but, I don't know… I still at least have to try.

I make my way down the stairs, through the lobby and out of the hospital doors. Izzie is standing in the same place as she was when we saw her at lunch. I don't think she's moved from this spot since we left her this morning.

I walk over to her and I smile softly, "You've been standing out here for a while."

"For a while I stood over there," Izzie says pointing a couple of spaces to her left.

I try not to smirk, "Maybe you should sit down."

"I don't wanna sit down."

"Maybe you should sit down anyway."

"Dr. Montgomery…"

"Izzie, seriously…"

"I hate the bride thing," she starts, "I hate the pictures in the magazines of the girl with the veil and the flowers that she's sniffing… like it never occurred to her to stick her nose in there until there was a camera pointed at her… I hate the idea of bridesmaids, and the colors, and the 'does this bustle make my ass look bigger or smaller?' I hate the whole thing. And I never wanted to be that girl. That girl is stupid… and shallow… Why the hell are that girl's thoughts running through my head?"

"Izzie…" I trial off putting a hand on her shoulder. I can't even begin to imagine a loss like that.

"I'm going to do it, Addison. I'm going to walk through those doors. I just need to make sure that when I'm standing in front of the chief of surgery I am not thinking about my wedding dress. And that's gonna take another minute."

As I'm about to say more, I get paged away. It's Megan… and if I'm right then I need to go immediately. I nod to Izzie and I give her a quick hug before I take off back into the hospital.

"Megan's bleeding internally."

"What?" Mr. Clover looks over to me confused.

Miranda answers this time, "It appears there's some severe trauma to her abdomen."

"You're trying to ask us if we hit her. We've said ten times in ten different ways…"

"Social services cleared you and I'm sorry that we suggested you were mistreating her but she's hurt pretty badly so we're gonna need to operate," I say cutting him off.

Mrs. Clover bursts into tears, "Oh my God…"

"Megan may have a chromosomal condition that causes her to not feel any pain when she's injured. It would explain why she gets hurt so often," I explain.

Dr. Bailey adds, "We need to do some genetic testing before we can be sure, but let's assume she'll need to be monitored very closely from now on."

"We got OR Three," Alex says walking into the room.

Mrs. Clover looks from Alex back to me, "So surgery is the only option?"

"I think it is," I nod, "I know you've been put through the wringer already today, but I need to ask you to trust me on this one."

"Where is she? Where's Megan?" Alex says. We all look over to the wheelchair where Megan was sitting and it's empty.

Dr. Bailey runs into the hallway, "O'Malley! We've lost supergirl and she's bleeding into her abdomen. Start looking in corners!"

"Hey Grey! I lost a kid. Help me look for her before she bleeds out in one of our bathrooms," Alex shouts to Meredith as we all make our way into the halls. Some type of way, I ended up being stuck with George…

"Megan!" I call out.

Meanwhile George just rants, "It's not easy. If you think you're a superhero, you're not gonna let someone come at you with a knife. There's no way to tell what it can do to your powers. I mean, you take away Green Lantern's ring, Hal Jordan is still a hero but it creates a crisis of confidence when…"

"Come on Megan!" I yell over the sound of his voice.

That doesn't stop him, "…you've worked hard to hone your strengths. Look at, uh, Batman. Robin just marches into the Batcave and he says, you know, "Here I am. I'm gonna live here too. Give me some tights and I'm taking your towel." I mean Batman, he fought for his powers, you know? He honed his strength…"

"O'Malley, please stop this," I basically beg.

Thankfully an angry Callie walks over screaming, "O'Malley!"

"Good luck with that…" I say looking in a couple of rooms in our vicinity.

I can still hear Callie screaming at him, "I arranged for you to see an incredibly cool surgery and you talk my patient out of it?"

"No, I didn't."

"You asked me what I thought. You didn't like what I said so you went behind my back!" she pauses, "Jasper's gone. He cancelled the surgery!"

"I expressed an opinion. I suggested that, you know, not everything has to go at warp speed. It is all warp speed with you! It is all…You know, your ankle hurts, let's cut it off!"

"You intimidated my patient. You got a problem, you bring it to me."

"I'm not ready for us to move in together!"

"And if you weren't a toddler, if you could use your words, then maybe you could have said that the first four times I asked you. And then I would have said 'Oh that's funny, me neither. I'm looking for a place. I'll be out in a week.'" she finishes dryly.

George looks at her confused, "Really? Because remember you…"

"George, save it. I'll be out in an hour," she says walking away. He's really done it this time.

I don't want to stick around for what comes next. I've had enough George for one day so I continue on my search for Megan alone… That is until I literally run into Meredith.

"Oh, hey, sorry," I say dusting off my dress out of habit.

Meredith gives me a quick kiss, "Hey, I'm off. Just helping you guys find the kid. Did you want me to wait for you?"

"No, you can go ahead. I'll ride home with Karev."

"What?" I say looking over to Meredith after she didn't respond.

I watch as her mouth twists up in this wide grin then she whispers, "You said home…"

"No, I didn't," I say shrugging it off.

She pulls on my arm, "Yes, you did! You really did!"

"And so what if I said it?"

"This is what," she says moving in to kiss me.

I spot something moving underneath a gurney when our lips come apart. I go to look under it and there she is. There's Megan. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding as I motioned Meredith to go get a wheelchair.

"We've got half the hospital looking for you. Your powers of invisibility are well intact. Come on, get up," I say lifting Megan to her feet.

She crosses her arms, "Nobody's cutting me open."

"Hey! It's surgery, we do it all the time. In fact, it's all we do."

"You can't keep telling my foster parents I'm defective. They can't afford surgery, it's too expensive," she says with the saddest look on her face.

Now I know why she ran… she probably thinks they'll send her away, "They can handle it."

"They'll send me back," she says as Meredith walks over to us with a wheelchair and I lift Megan into her seat.

Meredith shakes her head, "That's stupid. They've got their own personal superhero. Nobody sends back a superhero."

"I thought you guys said I didn't have superpowers."

"Yeah, well you don't, but take away Green Lantern's ring, the guy's still a hero. Right?" I say silently thanking George for his little rant.

Megan's surgery was a success. She is lying in her room now recovering from surgery with her parents standing over her. I don't think they've left her bedside since we took her up. She's a good kid… Maybe not a superhero but a really good kid. I mean, I get it… Everybody wants a life without pain. What does it get you though? Megan needs to be on a poster somewhere to remind people pain's there for a reason.

I can't help but think of this while staring down at Izzie through the glass windows. I turn around back to Megan's room and I see Alex watching her and her family through the window. He turns around towards me and I almost thought for a second there that I saw him smile.

"Megan's stable. I ordered a Repute H and H in two hours," he says handing me her chart.

I nod turning back towards the hospital entrance. Alex stands by my side and I see that he notices Izzie too. I sigh, "She's been out there all day…"

By the time Alex and I grab our things and meet up in the lobby, Izzie is still standing in front of the doors. We walk outside then Alex walks over to her and puts a coat around her shoulders… She tries to refuse but he doesn't let her.

"Iz…"

"I'll do it," she cuts him off.

He shakes his head, "Izzie…"

"I can do it, Alex. I know I can."

"Does it hurt?" he says softly after a short pause.

Izzie nods, "Yeah."

"Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere."

"Maybe it hurts for a reason. Come on, let's go," Alex leads Izzie back towards the car.

We ride back to the house together in silence. Once we get inside, Alex goes up to his room and I head straight towards the kitchen. I bought Meredith a half a gallon of strawberry ice cream yesterday and we never got to eat it. I figured today would be as good of a day as any… By the time I get up the stairs, Izzie is already at Meredith's doorway.

"I didn't go in today."

"Maybe tomorrow," Meredith says before Izzie disappears into Mer's room.

Before I could make it up to the door, George beats me there. I hear Meredith's voice call out, "Hey George."

"Callie moved out, which is a relief," he says unconvincingly, "Oh, I'm so relieved."

"I brought ice cream," I say entering the room pass George.

I go on to sit behind Meredith to spoon her while also passing her a spoon and the tub of ice cream. Izzie motions for George to come sit with us and he gets himself comfortable on the other side of Izzie. I didn't think four grown people could fit in this one bed but obviously, it can be done. Meredith takes a couple of spoonfuls of ice cream before feeding me some and passing it to Izzie.

Izzie takes a spoonful into her mouth, "It's strawberry."

"My favorite," Meredith responds and then kisses me.

George takes a bite, "It's good."

"You left spit on the spoon," Izzie says when he hands the tub and spoon back to her.

He shakes his head, "No I didn't."

"You did a little," Izzie admits then George grabs the spoon and shoves it back into his mouth. He makes the most childish face trying to taunt us and it just makes us all laugh.

That's one way to end the night.