A/N: Thank you so much to everyone for reading and reviewing. That means more to me than you will ever know and I appreciate it so much!
Chapter 9: Together
"He is getting married?"
"Yes!" Ava said taking a sip from the water bottle sitting on the table in front of her.
"I never imagined O'Malley as the proposing type" Addison said, gently shoving a spoon fool of salad into her mouth. It was one of those rare days when she was actually able to eat lunch standing still.
"He didn't propose, she proposed to him, in the elevator! Then he said yes!"
Addison set her salad down and threw the napkin that was sitting in her lap into it. She gently pushed the table that was in between her and Ava off to the side. Standing up, she took the stethoscope from around her neck and placed it on Ava's back. Ava flinched at the cold. "Sorry sweetheart" Addison said breathing on the chest piece and placing it back on her back. She looked a little better. The dark blue bruises had lightened to a shade of purple but it was still hard to look at. "Deep breath" she said and Ava did just that, wincing a little bit from the pressure of her broken rib.
"Have you talked to him?" Addison asked trying to get Ava's mind off of the pain.
"No, he came in here and talked to me last night but I haven't seen him since then and I was too surprised to have a real response. It's not like I don't like Dr. Torres, I do and she is nice and all it just seems very rushed".
"Well you're his best friend, you should be able to talk to him about things like that. Plus you can't complain if you haven't voiced an opinion. Just think about it before you go breaking up any marriage proposals".
"Mom!" Ava said smiling.
"I'm just saying, I saw my Best Friend's Wedding, I know how complicated these situations can get". As Addison walked away Ava grabbed an ice cube and tossed it so it fell directly down her mother's Stella McCartney blouse.
"Ava Shepherd!" she yelled setting her chart down on the end of the bed and fishing the ice out of her shirt. "How old are you again 12?" she asked laughing as she walked over the side of the bed.
"Hey, I am your child" Ava said smiling. Addison tapped Ava on the nose liked she used to when she was a little girl and gently kissed her on the forehead.
"I am going to go change for surgery but I will be back to check on you as soon as I am done". Without Ava noticing Addison gingerly reached behind her and grabbed another ice cube and dropped it down Ava's shirt.
Ava flinched and immediately reached for her chest. "Mom, I am bruised that hurts!" she said frantically trying to get it off of her skin.
"Oh Ava, I am sorry" she said grabbing a towel off of her nightstand. Before Addison could help her a smile pulled at the corners of Ava's lips.
"Gotcha" she said laughing again.
"Ava" Addison said flustered. "That is not funny in the slightest".
"I am sorry Mom I really am" Ava said without any sincerity. That's the most she had seen her mom laugh in a long time.
"I love you and I am going to change" Addison said with her lips tight together in a straight line. It was a look that said I am pretending to be really mad but I can't.
She almost walked out before Ava caught her again. She wasn't sure what it was but she felt this sudden pang in her chest. It hit her with such intensity that she almost yelled after her mother. It was like that moment when your parents drop you off at your first Kindergarten class. You don't want to be there and you have to sit through that excruciating moment of watching them walk away.
"Mom!" Ava said and Addison turned around. "Come here".
"I don't want another ice cube down my shirt".
"Seriously mom" Ava said quietly.
"What's wrong?"
Addison walked towards her and Ava held out her one good arm. "I just wanted to hug you before you went into surgery".
Addison looked at her suspiciously for a moment and then once she realized that she was being serious her demeanour quickly changed. Her suspision turned to longing. Ava hadn't hugged her much since Derek left. She leaned down and Ava wrapped her arm around her fiercely. "I love you Mom, very much".
"I love you too my girl" Addison said brushing the backs of her fingers along Ava's hairline before leaving her alone.
Ava lay there for a little while before she realized that her mother was right. She should talk to George and see what was really going on before she made any assumptions about he and Callie. She reached down and grabbed a pair of shorts and a New York rangers t-shirt out of a bag near her bed. After nearly 20 minutes she managed to finally get the shorts on with one leg in a cast and one arm and got the shirt over her head. She stood up and steadied herself for a moment. The cast still felt heavy on her leg and her arm. She grabbed a crutch from behind the door and hobbled out to the nurses' station. She waited for the woman behind the desk to get off the phone before she leaned over the counter. "Can you tell me where Dr. O'Malley is?"
"Hold on one second" she said smiling as she got up and walked away. That was one benefit of being the daughter of two surgeons, the nurses were always nice.
The next few moments went by quickly. She was standing there one moment and the next moment she felt a pair of hands fall on her shoulder. Her heart started beating, her throat closed up and her first reaction was to hit the ground. She turned around too quickly though and knocked her head on the nurses station before she hit the floor. Her chest tightened and it left her gasping for air.
"Ava" her dad said quickly. "Can I get an oxygen tank over here!" he yelled to the nurses standing behind seconds someone was next him with exactally what he had asked for. "Ava what happened?" he asked placing the oxygen mask over her nose and mouth and shining a light into her eyes.
"Dad I am fine" she said trying to shove the flashlight out of her face, though she wasn't. "You just scared me that's all".
Derek looked at her for a moment. "Scared you? Terrified is more like it. You're white as a ghost" he said. At this point people started to gather around interested in what else could possible have happened to the Shepherd's injured daughter
"Come on" Derek said picking her up off the ground and carrying her into her room. He gently set her down on the bed and took the mask from the nurse behind him and returned it to Ava.
"Take a deep breath and tell me what happened" he said pulling a chair up and sitting in front of her.
"I don't know" she said reaching behind her head where she was sure she would find a big lump. "I just felt your hands come down on my shoulder…." she began to say as she reached behind her and ran her fingers over the lump on the back of her head. She knew that was going to leave a bump where she hit the counter but she didn't expect to pull her hand away and find it covered in blood.
"Oh crap" she said exasperated because the minute her father saw red he was up and behind her.
It took a moment a moment of searching and the she heard him sigh. "It looks like you split your scalp open when you hit the nurses station" he said relieved. "It's just a small cut though, let me go grab a suture kit and I'll take care of it".
She watched her Dad walk away and took a deep breath in order to get herself together. What the hell had just happened? It was her own father that came up behind her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. She couldn't understand what had caused her to freak out so quickly.
Before she could even finish that last though Derek was back, "What were you even doing up anyway? You're supposed to stay put until the bruising lightens up some."
"I know but I have been in this bed for days. I am going stir crazy."
"Okay deep breath and a little prick" he said and she could feel a small pinch as he stuck a numbing needle into the back of her head. Before he could get a stitch in Owen Hunt came bursting through her door.
" we have motorcycle accident down in the pit that needs a neuro exam ASAP".
"I am kind of busy right now" he said looking up at him and then back down at Ava.
"It's really important you go look him over. You can go ahead and I will take care of her" Owen said stepping beside Derek. He seemed hesitant to step back but eventually did. Ava didn't seem to have suffered a concussion and a motercylce accident was a big deal in comparison to a few stiches.
"Please be careful " Derek said looking at him with appraising eyes. "Ava I will be right back".
Ava nodded with the oxygen mask still pressed to her face and watched her father walk out. She turned around and saw Owen with the needle in his hand, ready to stitch her up.
"What happened?" he asked, she felt a little pressure on her scalp as he put in the first stitch.
"Well I am sure the whole hospital knows how I got here" she said.
Owen laughed. "You can't keep anything a secret in this place. One doctor knows and then an OR full or nurses know and then all the other nurses know. It's like wildfire".
"I just kind of got startled back there and hit my head. I guess I just wig too easily" she said, her voice softening. She usually wasn't scared of anything but the sudden movement of someones hands on her should just shocked the hell out of her, it was embarassing.
"Did you know I was a soldier in Iraq before I came here?" he asked, sliding in the second stitch.
"No I didn't know that" she said, being careful to stay perfectly still.
"Yeah, I saw a lot of crazy things out there. Friends getting shot, people getting blown into pieces, things I didn't even think I could see in my worst nightmares".
"That makes being attacked in an alley seems like shrimp stuff" she said smiling.
"It's just as devastating" he said, putting in one more stich before clipping the thread. "When you're attacked or see things you don't want to it's not like making good memories when you go hang out with your friends or go to a family dinner. The bad memories are the ones that stick with you for a long time and its okay to let yourself work through them. That's the only way you can get past them" he said gathering up the trash from the suture kit. "It's perfectly normal" he added looking at Ava to make sure she understood and she did. This was something she was going to have to work through with hereself before she could get any better,
"I better get back down into the pit. Watch yourself kid".
"Dr. Hunt" Ava said before he walked out the door. He turned to look at her. "Thanks" and she meant it.
"No problem" he said smiling and walking out.
Other than the emergency room, Seattle Grace was so quiet at night. The surgical floor settled down for the evening and patients went to bed despite worrying about illness or tomorrows operation. Derek finished up his final surgery of the day and passed his chart on to the only nurse sitting at the main station.
"Are you ready to go ?" he heard someone say from behind him.
"Almost " he said forcing a smile towards Merideth and quickly turning back to the nurse. "I will meet you downstairs".
"Are you alright?" she asked with a concern look.
"I am fine, just tired. Let me finish up this paper work and I will be right there." Meredith not quite satisfied with his answer, nodded her head and headed towards the elevator.
About that time he saw Addison walking down the hallway. There was no denying how beautiful Addison was and in the begginning of their marriage he took pride in the fact that she looked so well put together all of the time. The idea of it all wore off too quickly though for Derek. She would spend an hour getting ready in the morning putting makeup on and he found it exhausting to wait for her to pick out the perfect dress for the day. It was as if she was trying too hard to be perfect and Derek saw it as weakness rather than strength.
Tonight though, she was more beautiful that he had ever seen her. The short black shorts she wore fell loosely off of her thin frame. Her face was devoid of any make up, or a mask as he usually referred to it. Her hair was tied up into a bun, though pieces had fallen loose and red strands hung flowingly around her face. The grey Yale sweatshirt made her look warm and inviting and her glasses fell slightly off her nose as she glanced over the crossword puzzle in her hand while she walked.
"Addison" he said letting the words flow out of his mouth. She stopped abruptly in the hallway before almost passing him.
"Hey" she said smiling a tired smile.
'What are you doing back here? I thought you were off tonight?"
"I am" she said pulling the glasses off and placing them on top of her head. "It's just with Ava's episode earlier today I just would feel better if I spent the night here with her." Addison looked down almost nervously at her feet and then back up at Derek. "She is twenty three but still my little baby" Addison said smiling as if she was suddenly reminded of some sweet child hood memory.
"Do you want me to get you a cot or something?" he asked.
"No that's alright. I got one of the interns to set me one up earlier. We will be just fine".
A sudden pain flashed across his face because he realized that it was true. She would be just fine. She and Ava would be fine together. He was no longer a necessity in their lives anymore.
"Derek you look tired. You should go and get some sleep. You can go back to the trailer if you want where it's quiet. I know you've been staying with Meredith but surely she wouldn't mind one night. Especially if she knows I am not there" Addison said looking away when she spoke those last words. She looked back at Derek and there it was. That look….the Derek Shepherd swoony look. His eyes had gone soft and his lips slightly curled at the edges. He was looking deep into Addison's eyes as if he thought there was some sort of secret he could unlock there.
"I miss us. I miss that trailer if you can believe it" Derek said breaking the ice slightly.
I miss you and I in that trailer together Addison almost muttered but her mind caught herself before she did. This wasn't the place or the time.
"It's still your home" she said placing her glasses back onto her face. " You can always go back". With that Addison walked into Ava's room and shut the door.
Derek took in a deep breath. He wasn't sure what she meant by that. His heart secretly wished that it was an open invitation from him to come back whenever he wished though his mind warned him that it was merely a wrong choice of words. That she was merely trying to make him feel comfortable going to spend the night there. In any case, he was more than happy to catch some rest there that evening. He only wished he could share the evening with his two favorite girls. For now, he would have to come up with a reason as to why he wasn't going home with Merideth.