Addison was exhausted. She had been forced into an all night shift when her attending decided to take the night off. She was left in charge of everything that went on on the floor, every patient and everyone working below her. With her luck, it ended up being the busiest night the hospital had ever seen. There were way too many women in labor, a disturbing amount of rape victims and a few too many miscarriages. On top of all that, she had to deal with a psychotic woman who decided to place her cell phone somewhere were cell phones should not be. Exhaustion wasn't even the word to describe it.
She leaned against the counter, doing her best to not fall asleep on the chart she was working on. The next thing she felt was someone wrap their arms around her legs. She looked down to see her daughter who was squealling with delieght. She picked Ella up and held her tightly for a few seconds before putting her on the counter, only to feel another pair of arms wrap around her and a head nuzzle the back of her shoulder. She turned and grinned, letting her husband place a soft kiss over her lips.
"What's going on? Why are you guys here?" she asked, looking over her daughter carefully to make sure they weren't there for any medical purposes.
"Turns out...ever since Ella began trusting you she can't sleep without you tucking her in. She doesn't want me to do it because apparently it's not the same. She doesn't even agree to close her eyes and try to sleep unless you've read to her and tucked her in." Derek explained. "I know she's got school tomorrow and she won't be able to wake up but it's not like she'd sleep if I didn't bring her to see you."
Addison nodded, turned to give her daughter a soft kiss. "I'm sorry...it's just I'm really busy right now. I don't have time to be 'Mommy' and cuddle and all that." she told her husband regretfully. "I have a woman here who put her cell phone up her vagina, Derek...she claims it's those tiny ones called a 'Juke'...like I know what that is, but still..no matter how tiny it is, why would you wanna put it in your vagina?"
"Okay..." Derek trailed off, taking his daughter off the counter and placing her on his hip. "Mommy's a little bit stressed out and insane right now." he explained to their daughter.
Addison gave a guilty sigh and extended her arms to take her daughter. "How can I look at her cute little sleep deprived eyes and not do anything?" she asked rhetorically. "I have possession of my boss's office tonight. Let's go put you down on the couch in there and get you to sleep...it's not like you're going to be able to wake up in time for school tomorrow morning away."
A few minutes later Ella was lying on a couch in a spacious office while her mother was off in search of blankets to keep her warm. The second Addison walked into the room a huge grin grew on Ella's face. "Will you read me a story, too?" she asked sweetly, adding an adorable pout before saying. "Please."
"I can't, honey, I don't have time." Addison answered regretfully, bending over to place a kiss on her daughter's forehead. "I promise to read you two tomorrow, okay? And you can even sleep between me and Daddy but today you're gonna have to make due with this."
"Is it cause that lady has a cell phone stuck in her 'gina?" Ella asked innocently before her brows furrowed together. "What's a 'gina? Why's her cell phone there?"
Addison stared blankly at her daughter. "Believe me, honey...you don't wanna know." she replied in utter exhaustion.
There was one thing Addison was really good at, that was drowning her sorrows in alcohol. It's what she saw when growing up, it was the one thing that her family instilled in her. After a long, painfully difficult day nothing was better than a glass of anything to numb it away. Except the kind of pain that Addison was feeling wouldn't disappear with one glass or two, it would take many many glasses of anything to numb her.
If there was one thing Addison didn't do, it was shots. After med school she stopped taking shots and settled for more sophisticated drinks which she's intake sip by sip but tonight she needed shots. So she brought the shot glass to her lips and emptied the clear liquid it contained.
"You look like you've had a bad day..." she turned to see a man standing beside her, a charming smile on his face while he took the seat beside her.
"I've had a bad year." she mumbled as she signaled the bartender for another shot.
"What's your name?" He asked, watching as the her glass was filled to the rim with another shot.
Addison looked up from the glass toward the strange man, too drunk to be annoyed. "I honestly do not remember." she answered.
"Well maybe you'll remember tomorrow morning and tell me then." he suggested persuasively. "Wanna leave this place?"
"Not with you." he heard a deep voice answer in her place. Addison turned to see Derek standing behind her and a smiled appeared on her face without her even noticing it. She reached out her hand toward his, wordlessly begging for him to come closer to her so she had something to lean against.
"And who are you?"
"I'm her husband, and I can promise you that she's not leaving here with you and you sure as hell won't be seeing her tomorrow morning to get her name." Derek said surely, walking closer to the stool his wife was sitting on. "And If you don't leave I'll break that bottle of vodka my wife emptied and use it to castrate you. I'll even let you have a souvenir to remember the night by, you can keep your severed balls or the bloody shard of glass."
Addison couldn't contain her laughter as the man back away slowly, she turned to Derek with a drunken smile. "Thank you."
"So what brings you to a sleazy bar like this?" he questioned casually, pushing himself onto the stool beside her and taking the full shot glass in front of her for himself. He brought it to his lips and took a small sip.
"I wanted vodka... a lot of vodka." she answered. "I could ask the same."
"Bartender called the last person on your recent calls list to tell them you need a ride home. That was Ella. So she called me and I was out with the guys from your practice." Derek informed. "Sam dropped me off, I can drive your car back home so we don't leave it here."
"Ella doesn't want treatment. That's why I'm here...I need to drink away the memory of that conversation." she admitted. "She wants to give up and die. She wants to 'live what she has left of her life' and she doesn't care if we don't approve of her choice. And I don't know what to do, what to say to convince her that she's being stupid."
"Well, for one I wouldn't tell her that she's being stupid." Derek responded. "I think we can find more delicate ways to put that. Besides, She's a minor Addison. She's got no say in her medical decisions. It's what I decided and I am not condoning her to stop treatment so you have nothing to worry about. You don't have to try to convince her or anything. You don't need to sit here and drown your liver in booze."
"Why would you even care?" Addison asked, spinning around to face him.
"Because you're my wife." Derek explained simply. "I'll always care because I love you. I wish you'd be sober enough to remember those words tomorrow but you won't be."
Derek wasn't sure if she purposely leaned into his body or if she'd lost the ability to hold herself up but he didn't care. All he care about was the fact that their foreheads were joint and that she was in his arms. "I love you, too." Addison whispered. "If only you were sober enough to remember that tomorrow." she replied.
Derek chucked, placing a soft kiss over her vodka scented lips. "Can I tell you a secret?" he asked, going on before she had a chance to answer. "I'm not drunk."
Addison pulled away, staring at him in confusion. "Can I tell you a secret?" she asked with exaggerated arm motions pointing to herself at the mention of 'I' and him after saying 'you.' Derek watched her in amusement, never having seen her as drunk as she was at that second. "I am." she whispered loudly.
"That's not exactly a secret, babe." Derek answered as he helped her with her coat before escorting her back home where he knew she'd be safe because he's there to make sure nothing could possibly happen to her.
Later than I expected to post. Sorry about that.
Two chapters left :) And Addek is finally together in this one.
R-E-V-I-E-W...please.
