A/n: here you go. I have nothing to say
Disclaimer: if I owned these characters or shows I wouldn't be broke
"You left her?" I asked him.
"Yes," he said looking down and the ground, " I didn't know."
"Derek what happened?" I asked.
"You tell me what happens to you and I'll tell you what happened to our marriage," he countered.
"Alright, After I got shot I left New York, and entered witness protection the first place I ended up was in Wisconsin went by the name Emily. it was okay, i was okay being Emily but about two years in to being Emily I finally settled down and I got a call from Manhattan that they had found the guy who shot me. They were able to bring him up on charges for shooting me. But well they couldn't do that because I'm not dead so, they brought me out of protection and back to Manhattan so that I could testify to being alive but also being shot. But that wasn't the end because the cartel was still up and running. So it was back in the witness protection only this time I became Julie and I ended up here In Seattle. I got a job here working as a tour guide with the space needle and that's how I met James, I was new in town, no family no friends no anyone. I was perfect victim I barely had enough money to scrape by and I had no social ties. I was so lost in trying to keep up the charade that I was Julie that I lost Alex, and Julie was weak, she fell for his apologies even though it had only been a week," I was detaching myself from Julie and I knew it, "She didn't know who to go to for help and it only got worse from there. When he realized that she would reach out for help, he had her quit her job, she became completely reliant on him. After that it just went downhill, he wouldn't let me leave the house, if one little thing was out of place, I paid for it," I forced myself to be detached when I said the last, " It got the the point that every night when he came home I hoped he would rape me because it meant I'd live another day."
"Alex, I'm sorry," was all he said, and I was grateful for that because i knew that if I had seen pity or sympathy on his face or in his words I would have broken. I was strong, I was a rockstar in court, I couldn't stay in Alex's head if people looked at me as anything other than the way they looked at Alex.
"Your turn to tell painful stories," I said, he looked at me then for a long moment, I didn't flinch under his gaze, i didn't look away, and for that alone I was proud of myself.
"Short version is I didn't know, I came home and found Addison, my wife, naked in bed with Mark, who was supposed to be my best friend, I tried to throw her out and when she wouldn't leave, I did. I got in my car and drove from New York to Seattle, I didn't even give notice I just left. I knew the chief of surgery out here and I called in a debt. He hired me on the spot, I bought a trailer out in the wilderness, I met a girl," I scowled at him for that, "I didn't mean to," He held his hands up in the I surrender pose, "About six months after I left she came out for a surgery and found me. She didn't tell me about what had happened to you, hell she kept up the charade that she had slept with Mark, she asked me to take her back, Mark followed her out here, I thought they were still sleeping together, I told her to get out of my life. She moved to LA, we see each other every once and a while but not often, Mark died last year in a plane crash, he died and I realized that I hadn't truly forgiven him for sleeping with her, not until less than a day before he died, when we were out in the wilderness and had no idea what to do. We were waiting for a rescue that came too late," I could see that he was telling me more than he'd told anyone to I just listened. Truth be told I'd seen the reports on the news of a plane crash involving a hospital, but I'd been so isolated that I hadn't really cared about other people's problems, but now, now I cared because the people that had been hurt were people that I cared about. I hadn't known Mark well, not as well as I'd know Derek and Addison, but I had know him and finding out he was dead still affected me.
"I'm sorry too," It was all I could say to him, in a matter of just a few minutes our roles were reversed and i had no idea what to say. I was saved by a woman with blond hair standing in the doorway.
"Where did Addie go?" she asked.
"To make a phone call," I said, she nodded her thanks and left, but that tiny interruption was enough for the mood to have lightened.
"Who was that?" I asked, I was kind of jealous of her but I didn't know why, maybe because she was in Addison's life now and she was whole and undamaged, and right now I was a worthless emotional wreck.
"Charlotte, she came up from LA her and my sister Amelia the one that got all crazy, she's straightened out though, she's clean. They came up with Addison, I assume she asked them to but I am not sure, it's been a long time since I knew what was going on in her life," he said, regret laced his voice.
"Let's talk about some happier things, like the fact that I thought I heard someone say you had a wife, if it isn't Addie than who is she?" I asked, i knew i was intruding on his life but, I wanted to know and he was Derek.
"Her name is Meredith Grey, she's amazing she's also a doctor here so you may just get to meet her if your nice," he begun, I was happy that we could have the friendly banter that we'd always had even if he and Addison had not worked out, he had helped me threw so many college problems, he'd even let me crash in his couch my senior year when my roommate threatened to kill me for being a lesbian. He was Derek, not my Derek but, Addison's Derek, he hasn't hated me like everyone else Addie had dated. Hell we'd even had some threesomes, we weren't a manage troi, but we were close.
"So you're happy with her?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"Derek, can you get the kids tonight? I'm headed into sugery and won't be out for at least eight hours, Callie got called in on some major trauma and she won't let me ask Arizona cause they are still not talking," a woman with sandy blonde hair said in the doorway.
"Tell Callie that one of us is going to have to talk to Arizona because I have a patient I need to keep an eye on overnight," Derek said.
"If I'm that patient so help me god Derek go home to your family," I said, the woman in the doorway looked at me with confused eyes.
"Alex you need to be monitored Addie would kill me if I left you in the hands of interns," he said.
"Well I'm saying go home I'll be ok, I'm sure I can live go another night, Derek go home your family needs your more than I do" I said.
"Alex, I decide weather you need to be monitored overnight, by a professional not you," he begun.
"And I can draft an AMA in my sleep Derek go home, if you don't I will leave this hospital and then you won't have a patient to watch so you'll go home," I told him.
"What if Derek watches over you and I can get these kids you speak of, Meredith, as soon as you or Callie get out of surgery they'll be at home and put to bed. When someone gets home I'll come back here," Addison said from the doorway.
"Addie, you don't have to do that," Derek said.
"Derek you take care of Alex I'll take care of your kids," Addison said.
"Or you could stay here with me, and he could go home, Addie, you can take care of me I know you are just as good of a doctor as he is," I said.
"Fine but I'm bringing Amelia in to check on you every hour," she informed me.
"Ok see problem solved derek go spend time with your kids," I said, he stood up and walked out the door.
"Thanks Derek," the blonde said before running off.
"Really?" I asked him.
"She's not that bad," he started.
"I did say she was, but I never thought I'd see the day that you had kids Derek, I mean I knew you liked them but I never thought I'd see the day that youd havr time between patients and she doesn't look like she has any more time than you do," I justified.
"Hi, my name's Callie I'm here to check on the bones I fixed last night," a woman said walking into my room, she was pretty Latina with long black hair.
"I'm Alex," I told her wincing as I tried to sit up, she scowled at me.
"You really should quit trying to sit up, at least for the next few days," she told me, Derek laughed beside me, he'd prided me he go pick up his kids as soon as Callie and Owen had done one last check on me, so here they were checking me over as though their lives depended on it.
"I'll stop sitting up when Derek goes and gets his kids," I sniped shooting a look at Derek.
"I thought Mer was getting them," Callie said, I realized that this was the Callie, Meredith had mentioned and that I was probably her emergency as well.
"She's on her way into surgery, so tonight it'll me me," Derek said.
"Can you get Sofia while you're at it?" Callie asked.
"Yeah but you need to talk to Arizona about Sofia since she is legally just as much of a parent as you are, and Callie, she is a good mother," he said, I perked up at the word legally because if there was one thing I understood it was the law.
"No, Derek I don't want to have to see her let alone talk to her," Callie whined.
"Callie what are you going to do if she divides she wants to go to court over it?" Derek asked, I was liking this conversation more and more, and definitely more than talking about my injuries.
"I'm the biological mother I'll win," Callie begun.
"I wouldn't count on that," I said.
"Why not," she asked tuning in me in frustration.
"We'll ever since the Grayson case in California, family court is trying to era on the side of the parent that will spend more time with the kid," I explained. Grayson had been an awful case, after a messy two year divorce a mother was awarded full custody of the six year old. Since she was never home she left the girl in the care of her new husbands fifteen year old son, most of the time. The stepbrother and his friends had gang raped and murdered the girl. Her father had sued family court saying that if he had gotten custody she would still be alive.
"She's not home anymore than I am," Callie quipped.
"why don't you bring her down here and I will mediate the discussion of custody," I offered.
"You're a lawyer?" She asked.
"Yeah," I told her.
"She's the best prosecutor New York has seen in years," Derek said.
"Derek stop I wasn't that good," I blushed.
"Yeah you were Alex, I heard the cases you tried, you were amazing," he said.
"Can we focus on the custody arraignment and quit with the compliments?" I asked.
"Yeah," Derek said, "I'll page Arizona."
"Hi, I'm doctor Robbins, what can I do for..." The woman that walked in looked at me in confusion.
"Why don't you sit down," I begun the. Turned to the other man, doctor Hunt, "are you part of this whole kids custody thing?" I asked him.
"No, but I'm you doctor," he begun.
"Then get out, and close the door," I said leaving no room for him to argue. He left.
"Everyone sit down, if I have to stay in this forsaken bed the least you all can do is sit down," I said in the most authoritative voice I could muster. Everyone sat dr. Robbins took longer to sit than Derek and Callie but, she sat.
"Ok, first someone please explain what kids belong to who, how they are related, and what happened," I begun.
"Callie how dare you, this is none of her business!" The blonde snapped.
"Hey, I'm choosing to mediate this as a favor to Derek so you are both going to sit down and we are going to talk about this so start talking," I informed them both.
"We'll what do you want to know?" Callie asked.
"We'll let's start with the kid or kids what are their names, how old are they? Who are the fathers?" I begun.
"One kid her name is Sofia, she's two years old," Callie begun, "Her father is a man that I slept with while Arizona and I were broken up."
"See you had an affair, so why is mine so different, we've both screwed up but Callie, I want to fix this," The blonde cut in.
"What's different? I slept with Mark after you left me, you cheated while we were still together, when I was doing everything I could to take care of you! You have no idea how guilty I've felt for what I did but Arizona if I hadn't you could have died. I stood my the medicine as much as I didn't want to, I did everything I could to save your leg, but you would have died," Callie started to yell.
"Stop!" I cut in, "There will be no yelling in here, also I did not agree to mediate you two's breakup only the custody of the child," I said, "so let's focus on Sofia, she needs something stable, so lets start with what both of your schedule look like? also what are your living arrangements like?" It was all i could think of at the time.
"Well We both have pretty busy schedules but, I have Meredith and Derek to get Sofia she has no one," Callie said.
"Hey leave me out of this, I'm only here to make sure that Alex has all the necessary information and that nothing is left out," Derek said.
"That's not fair Callie you can't use this hospital as your support system if I can't and that puts us back on even ground," Arizona snapped.
"I'm not using the hospital I'm using my roommates," Callie quipped.
"Stop talking to each other," I cut in, "talk to me I'm the mediator and I get the feeling that if you keep talking to each other nothing will get done, so tell me if I'm wrong but you both work here at the hospital, Callie lives with Derek and his wife Meredith and their kids, Arizona you live alone," I summed up.
"Yes," They both said.
"Callie is the biological parent," I asked.
"Yes" They both said.
"OK and you two have split up and are currently fighting over Sofia," I added.
"Yes" The both said.
" What about other possessions?" I asked.
"Well right now I live in our old apartment but it's in Callie's name so I may be leaving soon so she can move back. As for everything else we didn't have many mutual possessions acquired after we got together so they went back to their original owners," Arizona said looking down. I thought she might cry but she held it together.
"Arizona stay in the apartment it's already fitted for your leg you should just stay there," Callie said.
"OK so the main point of content is Sofia, you are going to end up in some sort of split custody no matter what but why don't for now we get both of you work schedules for the next few weeks and we'll go from there," I begun.
"Well I work today I came in at six am I get off at at six pm tomorrow, and then I come back to at six am…" Arizona started. I held up a hand.
"How about I pull up a calendar and each of you fill it out in a different color than what i'm going to do is I'm going to devise a schedule that you both can agree on," I said.
"I grabbed the Ipad that had my chart on it and exited the app. I then pulled up the calendar app and handed it to Arizona.
"How are we going to find a schedule that everyone likes?" Derek spoke up from the corner of the room.
"Well first of all, any time that one of them is off work and the other is not the person off work has Sofia, next I'm going to take any time that they are both off, which I get the feeling won't be much, and we're going to divide that time equally," I said.
"But.." Callie begun.
"No that's final, you are both amazing women to be both loving parents and doctors but if you two won't talk to each other someone needs to make sure that Sofia is getting the maximum time with both of you. I assume that since the father isn't here he doesn't want any part of this."
"Mark is dead," Callie said, it was only at the look that passed between the three of them that I realized that Sofia's father wasn't just a guy named Mark it was Derek and Addie's Mark.
"I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything," I said.
"Alex, it's ok you didn't know and you didn't bring down that plane," Derek said.
"I'm still sorry, that has nothing to do with the matter at hand," I explained.
"Actually it does it has everything to do with it, if that plane hadn't gone down we'd still be in our happily ever after," Arizona said.
"The hell we would, Arizona you cheated on me, that's not the fault of a god damn plane that's your fault, you made that choice," Callie snapped.
"Really Callie, really you cut off my leg, and I know you were trying to save me but you made that cut and then you spent so long trying to make up for it that you have to have questioned your judgement. Callie I didn't want to be cared for like some kid, I wanted you to look at me like I was whole again, you haven't looked at me like I was a human being since the crash and so yeah, I went out because I wanted to know if it was just you or if everyone would always look at me like I am somehow less of a person because my wife cut my leg off," Arizona snapped.
"So what you went off and slept with another woman? Is that what your saying?" Callie hissed.
"Yeah Callie I fucked up, I made a mistake, im sorry Callie, I don't know how else to say it, would it make a difference if I got down on my knee and begged!" Arizona yelled back. I would have intervened but the last part shocked me into scilence. There was more to this than it had first appeared. I was beginning to regret getting I tkt his without all the necessary information. Callie moved across the room, grabbing Arizona's hair and pulling her hear back.
"Stop!" I screamed, I didn't know if I was in Alex's head or if I was back in Julie's. everything was happening too fast. Callie froze she was standing behind Arizona, Arizona's head was pulled back, she was looking up at Callie with a look that said she didn't care what Callie did to her.
"Alex it's ok," Derek said calmly, I saw the moment when Callie realized what was wrong, se let go so fast you would have thought Arizona's hair was on fire.
"I'm sorry," Callie said, "I wasn't thinking."
"It's ok, i overreacted, she trusts you not to hurt her," I replied.