III – Part 26

Ellie was in the ICU; with the bone marrow transplant scheduled she had undergone high doses of chemotherapy and immunosuppressive agents to destroy her immune system so she would be ready for the transplant. Ellie was now sleeping soundly, so Meredith left her daughter's side in search of Derek. She needed to find out how Richie was doing.

Meredith watched Addison standing outside Derek's office and she was talking very animatedly on her cell phone. She watched her turn and entered Derek's office. Meredith bit her lower lip and waited, she wasn't about to interrupt this discussion. Addison looked like she wanted to wring Derek's neck. After fifteen minutes Addison exited Derek's office, she still seemed upset, but at least the murderous look was gone. Meredith had to wonder if Derek was still in one piece.

She tentatively walked to Derek's office slowly opening the door and entered. Derek was on the phone with his back to the door, "Yes, just have the papers ready for me to pick up by five o'clock." Derek spun around in his chair, "Thank you." He hung up the phone and looked at his wife.

Meredith walked across the room to Derek's side and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then leaned against his desk. "Ellie is sleeping; the procedure really wore her out."

"The procedure?" Derek's eyes widened in panic, "You let them give her the chemo?"

"Of course, they had to prepare her for the transplant."

"Meredith, Richie is refusing to donate."

Meredith's eyes widened, "But he can't, he has to donate it's too late to wait for another donor."

"My daughter is going lose her only chance for survival because Addison's son is a selfish brat."

Meredith eye's snapped to her husband and before she realized what she was doing she slapped him across the face, "Oh don't you dare try blaming this situation on Richie, if anyone here has been selfish it's you!" Derek looked at his wife in shock. Their daughter's life was on the line and she was defending the person who was taking her chance of survival away. "This entire mess is your fault. You had no right to tell Ellie that Richie was her brother. And you definitely had no right to tell her that he would come live with us. That is just wrong Derek. For god's sake she is two years old."

She turned her back on him starting to walk away, she was frustrated by the mess he caused and his still blaming others for the mess. Derek rose from his seat reaching out grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her to face him, he tried to pull her to him and she gave him a knee to the groin. He let out a groan and doubled over. "You better hope to god that Richie changes his mind and goes through with the procedure! Because if he doesn't you are the one I am going to blame!"

Derek took a deep breath and tried to straighten up, "I already plan on talking to him to tonight. I am going to fix everything."

Meredith let out a hoarse laugh, "Right, you are going to fix everything. More like you are just going to make everything worse." It finally registered that Derek was talking about papers when she entered his office. "Who were on the phone with when I came in?" she asked in an accusing tone.

"An attorney, it's my guarantee that Richie will go through with the procedure."

Meredith's eyes widened, "What the hell are you going to do Derek, are you going to threaten Richie so he will go through with it?"

Derek narrowed his eyes at his wife, the anger flaring in him. He couldn't talk to her rationally, "I'm not going to discuss this with you. Why don't to you make sure our daughter is okay and I will take care of the boy." He stormed out of his office slamming the door behind him.

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Addison entered the bedroom. Sully was on the bed with Richie curled up next to him, Richie was sound a sleep. Sully gently covered Richie then carefully rose from the bed walking across the room to Addie and put his arms around her giving her a light kiss.

"How is he doing?" she whispered.

He held up a hand indicating for her to wait, and then led her out of the room across the hall to the bedroom they were using. He sat in the oversized chair and pulled her onto his lap. Once they were settled in he finally said, "He is still adamant about not donating."

Addie snuggled closer into his shoulder, "He's afraid and I can't blame him." She sighed, she still was not sure about allowing Derek to talk to Richie and she knew Sully would be upset about the idea. "Derek is coming by later tonight to talk to him. He wants a chance to try to convince Richie to go through with the procedure."

She could feel Sully stiffen, "Are you sure that is wise?"

Addie sighed again, "The only thing I'm sure about is that Derek will do anything to guarantee that his daughter gets this transplant."

"Well, there is no way I am allowing him to talk to Richie alone."

"I know," she reached up and caressed his cheek. "I already told Derek that we will both be present when he talks to Richie."

"So what do you think he wants to say?"

"I can only really see two options for him, either way he will lose Richie."

Sully wrapped his arms tighter around his wife nestling his cheek against the top of her head. He had asked Tuck to check on Ellie before he came home. He was surprised to find out that she had undergone the chemo treatment, there was no turning back. Richie had to donate tomorrow if Ellie was going to survive. He hated the idea of forcing him to do something he didn't want, but they might not have a choice. Addie was right thought, there really were only two choices that Derek could make and time was against him, he needed to take the path of the least resistance.

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The interns sat around a table on the hospital patio. They were all quiet for a moment contemplating the day's events.

Lucy was the first to speak up. "Dr. Grey-Shepherd told Dr. Yang that Richie is refusing to be a donor now."

"Oh my god, didn't she have the chemo today?" Riley asked the concern showing in her voice.

Lucy nodded looking grim, "Yeah, Dr. Grey-Shepherd is pretty freaked out, too."

"Well it would serve Dr. Shepherd right if Richie does refuse to go through with it. What he did was so wrong," Davis said with a bitter tone.

"That's awfully cold Davis, it's not Ellie's fault her dad is a jerk." Bill countered.

Molly pursed her lips not believing what she was hearing. "Well I don't believe for one second that the Sanders would allow Richie not to donate; they know what's at stake. I'm sure they will take the time to explain everything to Richie and convince him he still needs to go through with the donation."

The interns all nodded in agreement. Most of them had witnessed the exchange between Richie and his parents that morning. They were impressed with how the Sanders handled their son. They all knew given a little time they would be able to ease Richie's fears about going through with the procedure, as long as Dr. Shepherd didn't cause problems again.

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Sully and Beck stood side by side watching their family through the sliding glass doors. For the moment Richie had forgotten his worries and was playing soccer with Tuck, A.J. and Jax. Archer had taken charge of the grilling, since he felt neither Tuck nor Sully did a steak justice. While Addison and Madeline sat off to the side, Addie with Maddie snuggled in her arms and Madeline was holding Murphy on her lap, they seemed to be having a serious discussion. Both Sully and Beck were sure that discussion involved Derek.

"I think you should take A.J. and Jax out while Derek is here," Sully said to his sister as her watched the boys running around.

"Sully there is no way I am leaving here while that ass is in my home." She grinned at her brother giving him a sidelong glance, "I don't want to come back only to have to arrest you for battery or worse."

Sully chuckled at his sister, "I promise I won't touch the man, no matter what he says."

She raised an eyebrow at her brother, "Yeah, you probably thought that before you came to Seattle too, but you already broke his nose." She turned to her brother and gave him a hug. "No, Daddy and Madeline can take the boys out, but Tuck and I are staying put."

"Fine have it your way," he chuckled at his sister; he knew there was no use arguing with her.

"I called James Dalton and asked him come over for the meeting too," she said with the seriousness showing in her voice.

Sully nodded at Beck, "Good, because I am positive Derek has some sort of legal action in mind."

Beck slowly nodded at her brother, "I'm sure he does too."

Now that they had that settled they exited the house. Sully joined the soccer game with the boys and Beck took her daughter from Madeline settling down next to Addie. They would try to enjoy what was left of the evening until Derek showed up.

Beck sat back in her chair with her daughter snuggled in her arms; she couldn't help but wish this was how her family could spend most evenings. Derek's actions tonight would very likely dictate whether Sully and his family would ever move to Seattle permanently.

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Derek pulled into the gated community; he was surprised that Dr. Tucker lived in such a high scale area. He didn't realize ER doctors and cops made the kind of money that they could afford a living in a neighborhood like this. Of course he knew nothing about the Tuckers, except that Jackson was married to Sullivan's sister.

Derek rang the doorbell rocking on his heels as he waited for an answer. The door swung open revealing Beckett Tucker, it still surprised Derek that this petite brunette was a cop. He had heard the stories about the drug addict that held her at knife point. He had to wonder what kind of woman would choose that kind of profession and what kind of man would marry said woman.

Beck stood in the doorway blocking him from entering. With a serene smile on her face Beck looked Derek straight in the eye, "You do anything to hurt Richie again," her smile widened. "Well let's just say I can make it look like an accident." With that she graciously stepped aside allowing him to enter her home.

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I hope you enjoyed the update, please let me know what you think.