Izzie O' Malley was sitting in her car in the hospital parking lot, staring at the massive glass paneled front doors, when Addison pulled up beside her. Addison got out of her own car and walked around to the driver's side window. When she bent down she could see Izzie white knuckling the steering wheel at ten and two. Addison waved slightly, but Izzie gave no indication that she had seen the movement. Lowering herself even more, she tapped gently on the glass.
Izzie started, and then pulled her keys out of the ignition and opened the door. "Hey, Addison," she said, reaching behind her seat to pull out her bag.
"Hey," Addison answered, eyeing her up and down carefully to check for signs of external damage.
"He didn't hurt me," she whispered. "Just lots of yelling. It's getting sort of old."
Addison draped an arm around her friend's shoulders as they walked into the building. "What is it this time?"
Izzie shook her head slightly, pushing the up button on the elevator. "Just stuff with Doug. Nothing major…I'm just sorry that Doug had to hear it."
"Hi, beautiful," they heard as the elevator doors open.
Addison stepped into the arms of her husband as Izzie hit the button for the third floor. "Hi," she replied. "You on your way out?"
"Yeah. But I'll ride back up with you. Hey, Iz."
"Hey, Alex," she answered, leaning on the railing on the rear wall and staring into the corner.
Addison leaned into her husband and let his arms wrap around her waist for the short ride up. When the doors dinged open, she gave him a quick hug goodbye. "I'll see you tonight when you come back, okay?"
"Okay," Alex answered as the doors shut.
Addison and Izzie walked together down the hall to the attending offices. Slinging her bag over the opposite shoulder, Izzie said, "I'll hook up with you and Mer at lunch, okay?"
Addison nodded, but Izzie was already disappearing down the hall. Opening the door to her office, she turned on the lights and threw her bag behind the desk. Addion hooked her pager onto her belt as she pulled her lab coat on.
"Dr. Montgomery. I need a consult."
Rolling her eyes, Addison looked up as she adjusted my coat. "Geese, Olivia, I've been here five minutes."
Olivia laughed, leaning against the doorframe. "If even. I was watching for you."
"Uh-huh," Addison teased, kicking off her driving shoes and switching them out for more comfortable patient rounding shoes.
"I have a pregnant patient in the pit who was the victim of a car accident. She's present with mild bleeding and some abdominal pain, and we need someone from OB to come down and check her out."
"No one but the best, huh?"
"Of course," Olivia answered as she shut her office door.
"I'll be down in a minute," Addison said. "I'm going to over to check the OR board, and then I'll head your way."
"Thank you, Dr. Montgomery."
OoooooooooooooO
Meredith dropped into the chair behind the main desk on the psych ward, dragging a chart over the counter and into her lap. "How's my patient?" she asked the nurse sitting next to her.
"Quiet," the nurse answered. "I haven't really seen her as much of a talking type." After a brief pause, the nurse added, "Weird to see you up here, off the surgical floor."
Shrugging slightly, Meredith flipped through the pages in the chart. "She may or may not desire plastic surgery in the future…and…I don't know. I just have a special interest in this one."
The nurse raised her hands in surrender. "You don't have to explain yourself to me. I was just curious."
"I'll be stopping into her room shortly. Have her parents been back at all?"
The nurse shook her head without looking away from her computer monitor.
"Okay," Meredith said. "Thanks for your help."
She walked down the hall and slipped into the patient's room. "Good morning, Jodi."
The teenager was rolled over on her side, staring out the window. She had drawn the blankets tightly around her, blotting out the existence of her hospital gown. Walking across the room, Meredith cracked open the blinds slightly and pulled a chair up to the side of the bed.
"Hi, Jodi. I'm Dr. Grey. How are you feeling?" she asked.
Jodi held up her wrist without making any other movement. "How do you think?" she replied, drawing her arm back up to her chest.
"Have you seen your parents?"
"They won't be here if they don't have to be," she answered.
"Do you want to tell me why you did what you did?" Meredith asked gently.
She shook her head vehemently. "You'll laugh."
"Try me. I'm a terrific listener."
Twisting her neck so that her cheek was directly on her shoulder and she could look directly into my eyes, she said, "My boyfriend broke up with me, okay?" A single tear trickled down her cheek as she whispered, "Are you happy now?"
Meredith handed her a kleenex off of the table beside the bed. "Happy that you're talking? Yes. Happy that you're hurting? No."
Pulling herself up slightly in the bed, she said, "We went out to a movie, and as we were driving home, he pulled over to the side of the road. He parked the car, and he told me that it just wasn't working out; that he didn't want to see me anymore."
"I'm sorry," Meredith answered, knowing that it was sometimes better to say the simplest thing.
"He said that it wasn't me, it was totally him. But no matter what he says, I mean…He broke up with me. What's wrong with me that made him break up with me? I don't know how…I got it in my head that…I thought that I could cut the bad parts out of me, the parts that made everything not work."
Meredith sat silent, letting the young girl mull over her words before continuing.
"His home life isn't good…His mom's okay, but his dad is a total jerk, and I know that. But my parents are bad too. I know that he's sad. But I thought that I was good enough, that I could love him enough to fix it. I thought I was enough to heal everything that was broken." She held up her wrist and added, "Now he left me and I'm the one who's broken."
"You aren't broken," Meredith said, "not completely. You're talking about it, you're getting help, and that means that you're on the road to being fixed."
"I wish my mom was here," Jodi stated out of the blue.
"I'm sure that she's sorry she can't be."
"No," Jodi shook her head, "she's not. My father isn't either. They work a lot. When they are home, they pretty much ignore me. I think I'm a disappointment to them."
"Now I'm sure that's not true. Tell me about yourself." Meredith attempted to guide the conversation on a more positive track, suddenly feeling out of place without a psych degree.
Jodi played with the bandage around her wrist. "I don't know," she stammered. "What do you want to know?"
Meredith shrugged. "What do you want to tell?"
"I'm learning how to drive. My boyfriend was teaching me, because my parents didn't have the time. I'm in the Honor Society at school. I stay after a lot doing drama stuff. I was one of the leads in the last play we did." She chewed on her lower lip for a second before she added, "And I like to sing. Sometimes I write stuff too."
"Cool. Those are awesome things."
"Uh-huh," Jodi countered with a raised eyebrow.
"Those are awesome things," Meredith repeated. "I don't know how anyone could look at those things and call you a disappointment."
Jodi smiled slightly. "I don't know. I was just saying…"
"It's okay to still like yourself even though the relationship is over," Meredith said, trying not to let herself reflect back on her own failed marriage. "Sometimes, relationships just end. It doesn't have to be his fault or your fault. It can be nobody's fault, and that's okay."
Jodi's gaze drifted back towards the window.
"I know that you don't see that now, but it's the truth. And it will take some time, but we'll get you turned back around in the right direction. You'll see."
Meredith opened her chart and made a couple of notations before getting to her feet and shoving it back under her arm. "I have some other patients to see back on the surgical floor, but if you need anything, the nurses know how to get a hold of me. Otherwise, I will be back a little later."
"Okay," she answered quietly. Meredith had turned around and was almost out the door when Jodi whispered, "I know that it doesn't have to be anybody's fault…but I loved Doug, and I gave him everything…I don't know how to get that back."
Turning back around, Meredith said, "We'll help you get that back. That's what doctors are for."
Jodi turned around on the bed and drew the blanket tighter around her body as Meredith went out into the hall.
"It's going to be a long day," Meredith mumbled to herself, setting the chart down at the nurse's station. "It's going to be a really long day."