Chapter 2

Opposites Attract

Another one for our George and Addie fans since they are lovebirds now too before I get serious and go back to writing the new story for a while. Just how did these two seemingly polar opposites meet and hit it off so well? Set just a week after the explosion at Bridgewater left Jamie confined in the hospital for longer than he or anyone else liked.


"Eddie, please… pretty please… please with sugar on top… Eddie, for the love of God! Please go talk to the doctors and tell them I can go home today!" a thoroughly bored and unrepentant Jamison Reagan pleaded with his girlfriend as he sat pouting and confined to a hospital bed for yet another day nearly a week after a sabotaged propane tank explosion at the Bridgewater construction site had left him trapped under a large support beam in the basement of the building and immersed in freezing cold water for nearly an hour. The resultant hypothermia and trauma had left him in cardiac arrest and subject to CPR and multiple rounds of defibrillation for nearly forty minutes once he had been pulled out from under the rubble before the doctors at St. Victor's Hospital had been able to warm him sufficiently for his heart to restart in a regular rhythm. While he had made sufficient progress in healing from a number of painful, deep bone contusions left by the heavy debris, his multiple cracked and bruised ribs were still impacting his lung function and his cardiologist was not yet wholly satisfied that it was safe to release him.

"I'm sorry, babe," she grimaced as she prepared to break the bad news to him once more. "Dr. Abrams said something was still a little high on one of your cardiac markers from this morning's blood draw, and Dr. Holden refuses to sign off on you because you still can't blow hard enough into that spirometer or whatever that thingie with the little balls in it is called… she's worried that could lead back to pneumonia, so that's a definite no-go, dear," she revealed. "No one will send you home over the weekend either, so you're looking at Monday now, minimum."

"Crap," came the muffled defeated reply as he took a pillow and jammed it down hard over his face in utter frustration.

"Better watch yourself or the nurses will have psyche down here for you in a minute," Eddie chided. "I think some of them would use almost any excuse to get you kicked off their floor. No one likes you anymore since you've stopped using the morphine pump and knocking yourself out for most of the day. You've turned into a real royal pain in the… Addison!" she exclaimed as Jamie's onetime romantic interest and current respiratory therapist knocked lightly at the doorway and entered the room, armed and ready for his afternoon session.

"JAMIE REAGAN!" Addie exclaimed as she quickly walked across the floor to the bed and yanked the pillow off his face. "NOW YOU STOP THAT RIGHT NOW! How are we supposed to get an accurate reading for your arterial blood gases if you're suffocating yourself under a pillow before we draw them?!"

"And that is my cue to leave," Eddie offered with pursed lips and raised eyebrows as she tried to hold in the laughter. "You're in good hands now and I've got to go home and get ready for my swing shift today," she explained as she walked over and gave a glowering Jamie a kiss on the cheek. "Your dad said he would bring Kaylin and Pop by tonight when he's home from work and Erin thought she would be able to get here earlier. Play nice with the good doctors and therapists, will ya? or I'm afraid I might come back and find out one of them pumped you full of happy juice again. I'll see you tomorrow, lambchop."

"Love you too, Edit Janko," he managed with a sigh. "Be safe out there."

"Always," she affirmed with a smile before she left. "You're the major troublemaker in the family now anyway."

"Ha, ha," he offered while still looking petulant with his arms crossed as she walked out before reluctantly turning his attention to Addison. "Please tell me we're going to do something more interesting than blow bubbles or suck on a tube to make little balls bounce up and down."

"Well that depends," she answered as she began to set her equipment up on his tray. "Are you able to push that little ball up over the line consistently yet or not?"

"No."

"Well, then… got your answer, don'tcha silly? C'mon Jamie, I know it's no fun but you're not a quitter. You made it back from a point that most people don't, and you've got a gorgeous little angel and a pretty special tough-as-nails girlfriend who want you come home. You're not gonna get there unless you put in the work… just like you did when we took those rappelling lessons last summer."

"Ugh, don't remind me about that," he griped as he tried his very best to take in a deep breath and launch that effing little blue ball straight out of the plastic tube, but failed miserably. "Did'ja ever find somebody to con into jumping off those cliffs at Mohonk," he gasped as he tried to catch his breath once more while every single bone and muscle in his entire ribcage woke up and took painful notice as several small spasms left him reeling back against the bed.

"Nope," she answered with a particular emphasis on the 'p' as she made a little notation on his chart before looking at him with added concern. "Sit up and let me listen to your chest," she ordered. "You're actually doing worse than you were this morning. Deep breaths."

"Yeah, right," he huffed as he did his best. "It hurts, Ad…"

"Okay, well you've just bought yourself an express ticket to an all-expenses paid chest x-ray, slugger," she admitted worriedly as she flipped her stethoscope back around her neck and considered if it was prudent or not to give Eddie a call and have her turn around and come back here. Addie wasn't looking to panic anyone, but her gut was telling her that something was off and given Jamie's history, that could be anything from a little congestion from a cold to the start of pneumonia or at the worst a pulmonary embolism, or blood clot in the lung.

"Addie… I can't... can't… breathe!..." Jamie stuttered suddenly as he fell back against the pillow and closed his eyes while struggling for air. Addison immediately reached for the oxygen mask and hit the call button on the wall to summon help just as Eddie walked back around the corner holding the latest issue of his favorite hot rod magazine.

"I nearly got all the way to the lobby before I realized I forgot to give you your… JAMIE!" she cried as she looked up and rushed over to the bed just as multiple nurses barged in. "What's… what's happening? What's wrong with him?" she demanded as one of them pulled her away.

"Eddie, I need you to go wait outside," Addie ordered as she adjusted the oxygen flow to the mask. "Page Dr. Holden and get a portable chest in here," she advised as her focus was entirely on her patient who was rasping quite loudly now.

"No, please wait!" Eddie begged as she was forced through the door and further from the room. "I need to stay! Please what's happening?"

"Someone will come get you just as soon as we know, hon," Cheryl, one of Jamie's regular nurses on the ward advised her as she continued to push her down the hall to the waiting room while Eddie could see Dr. Holden and her intern rushing down the hall from the opposite direction and entering the room.

"Please, no!" Eddie cried as she found herself turned around the corner and shoved almost directly into the arms of George Mahoy, Jamie's rookie partner who had also been targeted in the explosion, but had managed to make it out of the collapsed basement with just a few scratches after playing a pivotal role in the rescue. Despite that, Eddie still held a bit of a grudge against the young man as he had rather forcibly removed her from Jamie's side just before the beam was lifted off of him, and now here he was again wrapping his arms around her and keeping her from where she wanted to be. "Let go of me, George!" she ordered as she tried unsuccessfully to twist away.

"Hey, hey… c'mon," he tried to smooth over as worry etched his face. George's own claustrophobia had left him frozen in a panic attack in that basement before the charges had been detonated by a dirty fellow sergeant, and he remained guilt-laden over the fact that it was his inaction to move when Jamie ordered him to come out that had forced his partner to follow him into the trap and left his training officer fighting for his life after the explosion. "Tell me what's going on! What's happening to the Sarge?!"

"I don't know!" she exclaimed as she shrugged him off while he remained strategically placed in the hall between her and Jamie's room to block her. "He was fine! And then I left and came back in a few minutes and he couldn't breathe! I need to go see him!" she insisted as she tried to push past once more.

George had come there today to reveal an important truth to his TO, and he was nervous as it was… this was just making everything worse and he felt his own anxiety level ratcheting up, but he forced himself to hold it together. Jamie had been one of the few superiors ever to give him a chance and show faith in him, and his partner would expect him to have his back and take care of Eddie now, so that's what he did. "No!" he said as he stepped in front of her once more. "We have to give them room to work... they're gonna take good care of him. You'll just be in the way. I'll stay here with you until they come let us know, okay? Please Eddie, sit down and let's wait. He's gonna be fine… he has to be after all this," the young man trailed off as he was finally able to get her reluctantly to follow him to a row of chairs. Mercifully it was only twenty minutes or so before Addison came out to find them with an update.

"He's fine," she assured. "I know that was scary but we think it was only an acute bronchospasm… it's a constriction of the muscle walls of the lungs, kinda like what happens in asthma. It's common in cases like this. We've given him some inhalation treatments and a relaxant which will make him feel loopy for a while. The x-ray was clean so there's no sign of pneumonia and his breath sounds are clearing up. It's a good thing we kept him here a little while longer. Dr. Holden will prescribe some medication for him to take for the next couple of weeks that should prevent this from happening again, okay? I'm so sorry, Eddie!" she empathized. "I know that was rough! You can go back in and see him now."

"Oh, thank God!" Eddie sighed in relief as she got shakily to her feet and George was quick to step in and steady her.

"Why don't you just let me walk you down there," he offered as he grabbed Eddie's arm and looked up and caught Addison's beautiful crystal blue eyes. Prior to this, George had always been present in his uniform when he had stopped in for a visit, and Addison had avowed that cops were off limits now given the pure grief that her older sister Angela had suffered over Joe when he had been killed and her reaction to Addie dating Jamie. This was the first time though that she was seeing George in his street clothes and she couldn't help but be attracted to his youthful if not handsome features. Still there was that whole cop thing, she remembered as she dissuaded herself from looking further.

For his part, George had also found Addie alluring, but there was that whole former-girlfriend-of-his-partner-slash-boss thing going on and he was quite shy about approaching anyone of the opposite sex in that manner. Not to mention the fact that he had been witness to the tribulations Jamie had gone through with Addison's adventurous side and he rightly assumed that she was probably too much woman for him anyway. Pushing those thoughts aside, the three quickly made their way back down the hall to Jamie's room where they found him awake and sitting up a bit, but resting quietly back against the bed with a fogging plastic mask still over his face as a single nurse was left in the room adjusting things and keeping a close eye on the monitors.

"I can take it from here, Cheryl," Addie offered as they entered. "Dr. Holden wanted me to stay down here for a bit until he's settled." It was soon evident though that she hadn't been kidding about the medicine loosening Jamie up a bit.

"George, m'man!" he enthused although his voice was a little muffled by the mask. "Whatcha doin' there with my girl?…" he slurred. "Can't have 'er, she's with me," he mumbled. "Did'ja come by to say hi to me, bud?" he inquired. "He's a great guy, isn't he? Best damn partner… ever..."

"Oh, brother… high is the right word," Eddie sighed, overwhelmingly relieved but finding the need to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud now at his current state. Someone had indeed obviously pumped him full of happy juice. What a run of emotions this whole week has offered, she thought as she parked herself in the chair next to the bed once more and allowed herself to relax even as she pulled out her phone to text Renzulli to let him know what was going on and bang out sick before informing the rest of the Reagan clan to beware of what happened before their planned visits.

"About that, sir," George had finally screwed up the courage to confront his TO about something and he wasn't going to let a little heavy inebriation on Jamie's part get in the way. "Commissioner Reagan, um, well your dad… he offered me a position in CompStat at 1PP after I helped him with the numbers in the Denison case and I've accepted. My transfer's effective Monday," he grimaced as he waited for the reaction.

"You're leaving me?" Jamie gasped after a long pause for that to catch up in his brain. "Oh, no… George... after all that hard work…" he trailed off and closed his eyes. No one else in the room was quite sure if he was awake or had drifted off until suddenly he popped back up. "S'okay, kid, I gotta tell ya sucked on the street anyway... I didn't want to fire y'er ass... like kicking somebody's… something... what Danny said… Run with the numbers, George, you're good… run with them."

"Thank you, sir. I think," the young man answered, relieved to have that off his chest but not entirely confident his sergeant was going to remember this conversation at any point in the future.

"Congratulations, George!" Eddie offered sincerely with a smile. "You did such a great job on the corruption case and that's the perfect job for you! You'll love working at 1PP!"

"He's s'not… s'not…" Jamie was obviously struggling with his speech and comprehension and yet still amusing himself along the way, "...s'not a real cop anymore... ADDIE!" he exclaimed as another mind-blowing thought occurred to him and he opened his eyes wide and looked at her. "George is s'not a cop now! You could go out with him and Angie won't care!" he revealed with unfettered excitement now as it felt like he was onto something big. "George is such a GREAT GUY, you'll LOVE him," he added. "He's not scared of heights either… I asked 'im for ya! George!" he exclaimed as he shifted his focus and his eyes blinked heavily with the effort. "List'n man, all ya gotta do is jump off some cliffs, easy peasy! She's a great girl, I'm tellin' ya… just hated... the damn... cliffs…" he trailed off as it was apparent now that he had exhausted his efforts and a good deep sleep was claiming him, mercifully.

"Stoned ex-girlfriend matchmaking," Eddie muttered under her breath. "What's next?"

"And he's out," Addie laughed as she noted the monitors and was satisfied with all the readings. "He's probably going to stay that way for quite a few hours now; the nurses will be happy to keep an eye on him from the desk. It'll be the first break he's given them all day. Eddie, if you'd like to go home I can pop in and check on him throughout the rest of the afternoon and let you know how he's doing. I'm working a double so I'll be here until late."

"That would be great, Addie. Thanks." Eddie acknowledged as she gathered herself and reconsidered her scheduled tour. "I've missed so much time off work this past week it's eating into my vacation days and we're supposed to take a trip to California between the holidays. He'll be okay for that, right? This adoption stuff is supposed to be settled next week, and he wants to take Kaylin out to visit his friend Spencer."

"No, that should be fine, this was only a minor setback," Addison assured. "We've adjusted his meds and if everything looks okay over the weekend he should still be out of here Monday."

"Okay, good," Eddie breathed in relief. "The last thing he needs is any more stress worrying about that trip," she revealed, unaware that Ms. Adams was filing a protest with the court at that very moment over Kaylin's near-finalized adoption that would have the entire Reagan family on a razor's edge for the next three weeks. "Tell him I'll be here tomorrow and don't hesitate to call me with anything, please!"

"I promise!" Addie vowed as she watched Eddie hurry from the room while she continued to make some notes at the keyboard. She was surprised when she glanced back up and saw that Jamie's now ex-partner was still standing next to his bed looking white as a sheet. "George! Hey, George… you alright? Something wrong?" she asked.

"He's really gonna be okay, right?" the young man asked in a near whisper.

"Yeah, he's really going to be okay," she assured. "He just had a lot of heavy bruising and cracked ribs so it's been hard for him to take deep breaths or cough to clear out any congestion. He'll get past it though, it'll just take a little time… is there something else?" she wondered as she studied him for a moment. "Listen, don't take what he just said there seriously… we gave him some pretty strong stuff. He hardly had a clue we were even here."

"He's right though, you know," George admitted as he chewed his lip furiously. "I'm a coward and I did suck at patrol, and he almost got killed because of it. He saved my life, the only guy that ever gave me half a chance… and I just lied to him because I was afraid to tell him the truth."

"George what are you talking about?" Addie questioned. "You're not working at 1PP now?"

"No, I am," he revealed with a heavy sigh. "I just didn't tell him that the Commissioner only offered me that job after I told him I was quitting. After what Sarge did for me… I just quit and I was too chicken to tell him."

"Oh," Addie replied softly while she thought about it for a moment. "Are you going to be good at your new position?" she asked.

"Well, yeah… I mean I think so. Stuff like that just comes naturally to me."

"And Jamie knows that, right?"

George could only nod at that point.

"Well then that's what he would hope for you. I know him… he only ever wants people to do their best. If he kept you under his wing all this time and trusted you to get involved in things like this corruption scandal it's because he had faith that's what you'd shine at. Just take that ball and run with it, like he told you… more or less," she laughed. "I think he was really trying there, but don't quote me on it." She paused for a second as she considered one of the other gems Jamie had managed to impart in his inebriated state… maybe it was time she listened too.

"Hey, George. You got a few minutes? It's my break time, and I was on my way down to the cafeteria for some coffee. Want to join me? We'll let sleeping beauty lie here and rest. I could always use another buddy to talk to," she added with a smile and tempting flash of those crystal blue eyes.

"Sure," he offered, his angst forgotten as he was instantly smitten. "Not quite sure I'm ready to jump off a cliff though," he laughed.

"Oh, I've got plenty of time to change your mind," she offered as they walked out of the room together. "Have you ever tried skydiving?"

"Don't fall for it, George… heh, fall for it… not a coward... you're a good guy," Jamie mumbled in his sleep with a little snicker before the soft darkness claimed him for the rest of the evening.


Sorry, I know I promised a one-shot with Rick and his beer, but I thought the story behind George and Addie getting together was worth being told and that would have happened first so I'll try to go forward in order and then maybe reshuffle the chapters to align the Valentine's Day story where it belongs later. Next up by request will be a multi-shot on how Ms. Adams met her end.