A/n: Look, a quick update! Knock on wood, but maybe I'm finally on top of keeping these updates relatively frequent? Time will tell... ;) Enjoy guys and gals.

Chapter 17

Shortly after Addison left to return to the hospital, Jack called the Chief to request the rest of the day off. He figured if he could give himself a day to get used to the fact that everyone now knew about the plane crash, it might be a bit easier to go back to work the next day rather than trying to navigate the horrible bombardment he'd faced today.

By the time late evening had rolled around, Jack had put everything back in its proper place. He was just cleaning up his supper dishes when the phone rang. He approached it warily, worried the press was going to start calling him now (it had happened before and he previously had changed his phone number more than twice as a result), but smiled when he recognized the Korean area code.

"Hello?"

"Jack, how are things?" Jin's heavily accented voice replied. His English had improved vastly over the past several months; he no longer needed Sun to translate for him.

Jack chuckled. "I should be asking you that. How is Sun? Hurley told us on Saturday you were on the way to the hospital."

"Yes, I was going to call earlier, but she had, uh… complication. Labor was very long, too." Jin's voice sounded exhausted, but there was also a note of joy in it.

"A complication? But she's alright?"

"Yes, fine, now."

"And the baby?"

"A good healthy girl!"

"Congratulations!" Jack grinned. "Have you already picked out a name?"

"Yes: Ji Yeon. It means, flower of wisdom."

"It's beautiful."

Jack talked to Jin a bit more about the birth and Sun's condition, part out of doctorly habit and concern, but more out of friendship. Though it was only mid-afternoon in Korea, Jack bid Jin goodnight, telling him to get as much as rest as possible while his wife and new baby were resting, as there wouldn't be much time for it later. Jin promised he would as soon as he made a few more phonecalls.

Addison had put off calling Naomi all day, but she knew she couldn't any longer. She wasn't looking forward to hearing the disappointment in her friend's voice when she told her she wasn't coming after all.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Addison."

"Hey! How are you? Wait, you're not calling to postpone again, are you?"

"Not exactly…"

"Because we're excited that you're going to come down here. We've already picked out your office and everything!"

Addison pressed her palm to her forehead. Her friend was not making this any easier. She figured there wasn't exactly any perfect way to say it, so she simply plunged right in.

"Nay, I'm sorry, I'm not coming after all."

Naomi paused, then asked, "Why not?"

"Because… I realized that the reasons I originally was using as reasons for why I needed to move don't really apply anymore." Addison said hesitantly, before adding quickly, "I still think it would be great – a lot of fun to work with you guys, and Oceanside seems wonderful."

"But…?" She didn't sound angry, merely a bit confused and as Addison had suspected, quite disappointed.

"But… look, Nay, this part stays between us, ok?"

"Of course. What is it?"

Addison bit her lip. This would be the first time she was admitting it out loud and even though she was certain of it, it still scared her to voice it.

"I fell in love with someone." She finally said. "And I can't leave because I need to be with him."

"Oh Addy," said Naomi, and Addison could hear the smile in her friend's voice. "Well, there will always be a spot for you should you change your mind, or if things don't work out. But I'm rooting for you."

"Thank you, Nay."

More than an hour later, Addison finally hung up and felt oddly liberated. She was a little sad that she wouldn't be working with Sam, Naomi and the others down in LA, but she knew she'd made the right decision. Even if it took forever for something much more concrete to develop between her and Jack, this was exactly where she was supposed to be. It was a feeling she hadn't had in forever and she went to bed smiling as a result.

When Addison was buying herself a coffee the next day on her way to work, her eyes caught on an open newspaper that was laying on a table nearby. With a jolt she recognized the man in a large photo on the page as Preston Burke. The picture was situated next to a headline that read: Area Surgeon Takes Prestigious Award.

She stared at the article. So Burke up and left Seattle, his job, all his friends – his fiancé – and no one had heard from him for months, because he was off winning a major medical award? Addison shook her head, wondering what became of the man she used to be good friends with. She still thought of him from time to time and had wondered why he'd severed all contact with everyone. She couldn't imagine how Cristina Yang was feeling. At least he mentioned her in the article.

On the bright side, Addison thought the news that Burke had won the Harper-Avery was sure to take some of the gossip and spotlight off of Jack.

Though the news about Preston Burke was certainly big news, it wasn't considerable enough to sway the gossip away from Jack as much as he would have liked. Chief posted the article on the main bulletin board on the surgical floor and walked around grinning for most of the day and several more following. Not only was his hospital the center of attention because of Jack, now Burke winning an award had been thrown into the mix. There were scores of press still practically camping outside the hospital's front entrance for a scoop, and though Chief had made a big show of telling them off for bothering his staff two days after they'd arrived, it was clear to everyone he was relishing the attention.

For the most part, it actually wasn't nearly as bad as Jack had been anticipating. There were a lot of the pitying or curious looks he'd expected, but a number of the staff treated him no differently, which somehow surprised him. There was a fair bit of whispering and traded glances when he would walk into a room or down a crowded hall, and many people offered him sympathy for what he had gone through and must be going through now. The odd person actually asked him outright about his experience, while his friends, after a few initial comments, moved away from the subject and didn't bother to come back to it.

When asked questions about his experience, Jack didn't shy away from answering, though he never went into much detail, and he accepted the condolences various people offered graciously. By the end of the week, the amount of press gathered outside had thinned significantly, but the remaining bunch doggedly bothered Jack every time he arrived for work though he continued to ignore them. Inside the hospital, the gossip surrounding him still was circulating rampantly, though with each passing day, the rumors and statements he had supposedly made were becoming more and more extravagant.

"Just ignore it," Callie advised at lunch. "There's no point getting uptight about it, because then someone invents a reason why you're upset and before you know it the whole hospital thinks you're going to beat Izzie Stevens up in the cafeteria."

Addison rubbed her friend's shoulder consolingly while Mark laughed loudly.

"I embrace the gossip," he said, leaning back in his chair and linking his fingers behind his head. "It builds reputation without even trying."

Addison rolled her eyes. "You just love that some intern started spreading around that you and Hahn are sleeping together."

"Are you?" Jack asked curiously, unable to stop himself.

Mark snorted. "I wish. That woman continues to refuse to go out with me. I can't figure out why."

"Maybe she just doesn't like you," Addison suggested. "Did that ever cross your little mind?"

"How could she not like me?" Mark questioned and glared when everyone else at the table began laughing. "Fine. I'll just have to make her like me."

"You can't make her like you," said Callie, shaking her head. "Maybe she'll get so fed up, she'll finally say yes. Maybe."

"Well, thanks for the vote of confidence." Mark frowned.

Callie smiled. "Anytime."

Jack had to head off into a minor spinal repair surgery, so he bid everyone goodbye and took his tray to the garbage. As he was heading to OR 1, he fell into step several feet behind a few junior residents he recognized and quickly realized they were talking about him.

"What about McOceanic?" asked Izzie Stevens.

"It sounds weird." Meredith Grey shook her head.

"Mc-Plane-Crash?" Cristina Yang tried.

"Cristina! That's horrible!" Izzie rounded on her friend. " We cannot call him that!"

"Simmer down, Barbie, it was a suggestion."

"We're not calling him that."

"What about McSurvivor?" George O'Malley piped up. "You know, 'cause he survived…?"

All three women shook their heads.

"It's not right. Why can't we find a name that's right?" Izzie huffed. "It's been months and we still can't think of a good Mc-name. McDreamy and McSteamy were so easy."

"That's because they are McDreamy and McSteamy." Meredith said. "Jack is…"

"Mc… Awesome?"

"George," Cristina snapped. "Stop talking. You suck at this."

They rounded the corner and Jack carried on past them, chuckling to himself. Addison had told him that Derek and Mark had been nick-named McDreamy and McSteamy, and he had always wondered if a nick-name had been chosen for him too. With another a shake of his head, he entered the scrub room for OR 1 and began washing his hands.

It wasn't really a decision he specifically made, but in the middle of surgery, as his hands were busy and a few nurses were quietly and idly chatting off to the side, Jack cleared his throat loudly and began speaking.

"Everyone here knows, or has heard, I should say, what happened to me last September," said Jack in a ringing voice. The room suddenly seemed quieter than usual and the interns observing the procedure exchanged wide-eyed glances. "I've heard a lot of rumors circulating through this hospital the past several days, and I feel that I need to clear up a few things."

As he spoke, he wondered if this was what Addison had meant when she had told him he needed to face his baggage. He probably didn't really need to explain to the whole OR that yes, he was in a place crash and yes, once upon a time he'd been involved with Kate Austen who was now on the run. At the same time, Jack felt like he needed to. He needed them to know the truth (or the part available to the public, anyways).

Jack concluded his speech by stating he hadn't seen or heard from Kate in a long time, that he was doing much better, he hoped this would not affect his job any more than it already had, and thank you for listening. It took quite some time before the usual, quiet chatting started back up again, but by the time Jack closed up, surgery complete, things in the OR had returned to normal.

In the scrub room afterwards, he reflected that his little speech was either going to greatly fan the flames of gossip or cause them to die out faster (because once rumors were proven true or false, it seemed the level of interest people had in them disappeared rapidly).

As he was washing his hands, Izzie Stevens, who had been assisting Jack in surgery, joined him.

"I think that was incredibly brave," she said, smiling wide at him. "I'm sure it took a lot of courage to tell everyone your story like that. I can't imagine doing it myself."

"Thanks," Jack returned her smile and dried off his hands. "Maybe you guys should call me McBrave."

The smile dropped off Izzie's features and she stopped scrubbing her hands, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"I think it has a better ring than McOceanic."

Jack exited the scrub room smirking as Izzie sputtered and attempted to apologize. He chuckled all the way back to the next nurses' station where he stopped to fill out some patient charts.

"Well, it's official." Callie collapsed with a huff in the nearest arm chair in the break room, where Addison was sipping some much needed coffee and going over several charts.

"What's official?" she asked without looking up.

"I suck at life." Callie covered her face with her hands and groaned.

Addison lifted her gaze to her friend's now, concerned. "What happened?"

"Bailey is the new Chief Resident." She mumbled through her fingers.

"Aw, Callie, I'm sorry," Addison said consolingly. "You hated all the organizing and scheduling, though – I thought you'd be happy?"

Her friend dropped her hands to the arms of the chair with a thud. "Because now the Chief thinks I am completely incompetent. I had Bailey helping me, and the more she helped, the more I let her do, until she was basically doing it all. Obviously the Chief noticed – especially because I was doing way more surgeries all of the sudden. So he told me off and then announced Bailey was taking over in my place."

"Well, while how it happened isn't great, it's probably for the best, right?" Addison said reassuringly. "Besides, I doubt the Chief thinks your incompetent – he just knows now that paperwork isn't your forte."

Callie sighed. "I guess. Maybe I'd feel better about it if everything else in my life wasn't sucking so hard too."

Addison gave her friend a sympathetic look. "Things will get better."

Callie's pager went off and she moaned in protest before hopping up to hurry out. Before she did, Addison promised they would do a girls' night soon, where they could drink too much wine, eat chocolate and watch chick-flicks 'till too early in the morning. Callie laughed, thanked Addison and hastened on her way while Addison returned her attention the charts before her.

A/n: As usual, thank you to all readers and reviewers!