So, I've been taking my time on this...it's criminal i know but this is possibly my favourite chapter. really (yeah i'm going to go there). i thought it needed more work, but uh, you be the judge.
I don't own Grey's Anatomy, but Christmas is coming up soon (hint hint)
I MADE 200 REVIEWS...which makes me the happiest girl on the planet. and you reviewers THE BEST-est!
Ok, I get the feeling that not eveyone will be happy with this chapter. yeah. i'll appologise in advance. (but i love it, so don't tear me to shreads over it...please!) Stick with it...it gets better!
Title is pinched from a song by Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males. (i'm listening to it right now!)
thanks to rdrherrera!
i'm supossed to be studying for my bio exam tomorrow (oh dear...) oh well. (who wants to be a biologist these days anyway?) (please note: famous last words)
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Chapter twelve
Drunk on Election Night
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The fairy lights danced around the bar and the various fluorescent advertising signs cause the light to fly everywhere when it came to settle on the leftover tears in Meredith's eyes. She quickly rubbed them off and took a seat. It was a Friday night and even though it was only early (the air in the bar was still relatively clear) there were very few seats left. The television was on, with some person commentating on the election, but it just faded into the rest of the bar's background noise. Meredith fingered the peanuts that sat in and around the blue plastic tray. She sighed, and placed her head in her hands. When she removed them, Joe was standing opposite her with a freshly made cocktail sitting in front of her.
"Tequila sunrise." He said gesturing to the glass, "Tequila, because it's your favourite and sunrise because you need to cheer up."
"If only it was that easy…" Meredith said with a smile
"Well, this one's on me." Joe said, catching the eye of another thirsty depressive at the other end of the bar, "take it easy, okay?"
Meredith nodded, and watched as he walked over to another surgeon who had just gotten off work
"Addison." The Bartender gave a friendly greeting
"Scotch, Joe." Addison said, pulling her bag up onto the table and pulling out an uneaten sushi tray, "Lots of scotch."
"Coming right up." He replied laughing at her change in character, as he returned with a glass full of ice, and the bottle, pouring as high as he could
"Thanks." She replied, taking a huge gulp and pulling a face as she swallowed
"We do have lighter stuff…" Joe said, looking worriedly at the woman in front of him. But she was not looking at him or what petrol she had just consumed, but the intern who quickly looked away over the other side of the bar.
"Just great…" She said, looked back at the glass, sized it up and finished the scotch, leaving the ice almost untouched
"You know…you're supposed to let those melt a little." Joe said with a sigh, picking up the glass. It certainly wasn't happy hour.
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Some times, the best way to deal with politics is to pretend that they don't exist. To ignore the news because you know that you are just one person and you can't change anything. Or to learn everything you can, and talk loudly at parties about what you think on the latest policies or whom you'll be voting for. But life is political. And while it is just as easy to ignore your own problems, some times you have to have to have an opinion and try and ignore the opinions of others. In a democracy there are no right answers, there are just ones that are better then others. You have to do what you think is right…even if you have no idea, because that's what makes up the bigger picture.
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Derek didn't even look at Mark as he left the plastic surgeon by himself in the patient's room. He didn't know that Mark and Meredith were…Addison had said that they were only pretending. The Neurosurgeon couldn't wait to take a shower and get away from this hospital. He didn't know what Meredith expected from him, but he didn't want to negotiate with Mark.
Derek liked his showers hot. He was thankful that the block was empty so he could take all the hot water. He sighed as he put his hair under and let the water cascade down his face. All he could think of was Meredith…and Addison…and Mark. Nothing was going right. As he reached for the shampoo he suddenly noticed the change in water temperature. He moved out from under the shower and wiped the water from his eyes and caught a glimpse of Mark Sloan in the steam on the other side of the shower. First he takes his wife, then his girlfriend and now he was taking Derek's share of the hot water.
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Are pretty things just there to make you feel bad? To act as a contrast to your messed up life? To show you how you should be? How you could be? Or to drive you further into despair? Or to the drink? Or to make you so sick to your stomach that you throw that drink up?
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Meredith didn't know what it was, but the bar was filled to the brim with couples. Happy people, like that married couple from oncology, those barely-legals making out in the corner or the permanently connected breed, who were scouting for a seat.
"Hi" Sickly sweet guy said tapping Meredith on the shoulder, she turned around and was confronted by the hugging smiling couple.
"Hi…" she said, clearly uninviting
"Me and Tanya were just wondering if you wouldn't mind moving." He said
"'Cause there are all theses one seats…"
"And no two seats!" Sickly-sweet guy finished Tanya's sentence and they both giggled.
"Sure." Meredith said. Quickly grabbing her things, before she puked or ripped them limb from limb for excessive couple-ness and incorrect grammar.
"Thanks," Tanya smiled as she took her seat.
Meredith instantly regretted her decision.
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Mark hadn't spoken a word during the shower, and as they both silently collected their things from their lockers, Derek was silently praying that it stayed that way.
"Should we talk about this?" Mark asked, stopping what he was doing and turning around to face Derek
Derek just laughed, still facing into his locker. He didn't talk to Mark Sloan unless he had to.
"Well, that's great." The surgeon replied sarcastically into the silence "it's really going to help us sort this out."
Derek picked up his things and made his way to the door, but he stopped. He couldn't go without knowing. "When did you tell Meredith?" Derek asked quietly.
"I don't have to make a spectacle to get my point across." Mark replied simply "The girl doesn't like public displays of affection when she's trying to work…for some one who is head over heals in love I'd think you'd be able to notice that."
Derek, didn't reply, he just walk out. Mark sighed and reached for his jacket. Meredith told them to work it out. That's what he was going to do
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Meredith slowly placed her bag down next to Addison's and sat down with a sigh.
"Hi."
"I don't want to talk to you." Addison said curtly.
"Neither do I" Meredith replied, leaving the two women in silence.
Addison eyed the still uneaten sushi tray and was about to fetch herself some comfort food when she knocked her drink over.
"Shit!"
"Oh god…" Meredith said, her reflexes no longer quick enough for her to remove her hand in time.
"Hang on ladies!" Joe called and ran over with a cloth. But before he got there was confronted by three more orders. He was understaffed. "Here catch!"
He threw the cloth to Meredith, who missed it completely and let it fall on the bar.
Addison couldn't help but laugh, as she reached over, grabbed the cloth and clumsily wiped the bar down.
Meredith wasn't too sure how to take the laughter, but mumbled thanks as Addison finished and left the cloth over the other side of the bar.
Addison sat back down and looked over at the intern who was avoiding her gaze "Okay I lied" Addison said with a sigh "I just want to know…do you love my husband… mean my ex husband? Cause if you do…I understand, I fully understand. I just…. you know when, you have to know?"
"Well I don't…know if I want to know or if I do know" Meredith said, laughing in the awkwardness
"Right…" Addison said slowly, "And Mark?"
"Do you think I'd be here if I knew?" Meredith asked simply, resting her head in her hands.
"I'm drunk" Addison said simply to fill the silence.
"Pretty sure I'm drunker," Meredith replied simply.
"No, you win everything." Addison slurred, "Let me win this."
"This is my thing apparently…and you want to beat me in what I do best?" Meredith replied, her alcohol kicking in.
"Ya huh." Addison replied nodding her head.
"Right." Meredith replied, signalling Joe over. "Your on!"
"Ladies?" Joe asked.
"We're having a drinking competition." Meredith said, earnestly.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Joe asked, as he went to fetch the shot glasses.
"Yeah Meredith, are you sure that's a good idea?" Addison challenged "'cause I…I drink alcohol like a …like a camel!"
"Camels don't drink alcohol…" Meredith protested
"But imagine if they do?" Addison squinted off into the distance, trying to picture a drunken camel.
Meredith looked over a tried to imitate Addison, "It's not working…"
"Well, if you could see what I see, you know that…it'd be that." Addison screw up her face after she realised what she'd seen
"You're a camel." Meredith tried to comfort her
"An alcohol camel."
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Mark caught up with Derek in the deserted car park. He had to run after him. But that was okay. He couldn't just let him go. He had to sort this out. It was freezing cold and Mark was underdressed. He could see his breaths as condensation in the cold air. But the smoky wisps of heat just made it easier to see Derek.
"You know what?" Mark called out "I didn't fight for Addison, and neither did you. We're just as bad as each other. Except this time, I'm not going to let you get away with this."
"Don't try and pull this friend shit on me, Mark Sloan." Derek replied, turning around and facing him, "You lost that chance when you slept with my wife"
"Ex-wife" Mark corrected
"And don't you even dream of trying to come between Meredith and I." Derek warned, pointing his finger at Mark
"Don't pretend you're better then me." Mark said, coolly "You took your pain out on Meredith when it should have been Addison or, or even me."
"Are you saying you're guilty?"
"Of course I'm guilty, Derek!" Mark almost laughed, "I slept with your wife."
"Ex-wife." Derek corrected, "And now you want to sleep with Meredith?"
"Well…" the plastic surgeon looked down slightly with a slight grin on his face
"I shouldn't have asked." Derek replied judgementally, "I should just expect that from you…you'd sleep with anything that has a pulse!"
"You know what?" Mark asked, loosing the grin, "No one questions your character, but you've really hurt everyone."
"Mark you've lost your chance." Derek replied, ignoring him
"All this losing my chance stuff is bullshit." Mark said, simply taking a few steps towards Derek "If anything I have…or I deserve a better chance with Meredith then you do. You know what? I think you lost your chance when you slept with Addison. It came time for you to choose and you chose your wife over Meredith. That time came for me too. And I didn't pick Addison. I didn't try one to see if she was better then the other…I picked Meredith."
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Physically fighting is essentially a masculine idea; a woman's weapon is her mind games. She doesn't say things…she implies them. She bottles things up. She teases. She bitches behind your back. She is calculated, cunning, manipulative…all senses that are severely impaired by the consumption of alcohol.
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"I just don't get time for me…you know?" Addison moaned, resting her head in one hand and articulating everything she said with the other hand "Take this…I'm eating my lunch…now. Not at lunch, but at ten past nine with the adulteress that ruined my marriage."
Meredith spat out her drink
"Your drunk!" Addison accused with a laugh
"I'm not drunk." Meredith lied
"Do you want some?" Addison laughed, offering her sushi tray "It's quite tasty"
"Alright." Meredith agreed meekly "It being all healthy would cancel out the alcohol right?"
"Hell yes!" Addison said as she tried to consume the whole sashimi in one mouth full
"You're so drunk." Meredith replied, doing the same
"If I'm drunk…" Addison slurred reaching for a slightly smaller piece "You're a whore…a filthy adulteress whore"
"I think you're really the adulteress here…" Meredith replied casually helping herself to another piece of Addison's lunch
"Whore" Addison said
"Slut"
"Tart."
"Skank."
"…Um, hang on…" Addison said, tapping her hand quickly on the sticky bar as she thought
"Okay." Meredith said, "how about the person who can't come up with a name for the other, has to scull something!"
"Okay." Addison said, triumphantly "you're on…Slag!
"Prostitute"
"Hooker!"
"Oh, that's a good one." Addison said, while she thought "Floozy!"
"Slapper!" Meredith retorted
"Hoe!" Addison said
"Um…" Meredith "tramp"
"Okay…" Addison pondered, "how about harlot?"
"Nice…um" Meredith bit her lip "It's coming…"
"So's Christmas." Addison replied
"Oh I got it!" Meredith yelled, attracting a couple of glances, "wench!"
"Wench?"
"You know like a pirate…" Meredith tried
"Ok…um, trollop?"
"I have never heard of that!" Meredith protested
"You've never heard of trollop?" Addison asked "'cause that's what they call you behind your back." She laughed at her own joke
"Hussy." Meredith replied, slightly pissed off, taking another piece of sushi
"Ok um, have we said slut?" Addison tried hopefully
"Yes."
"Damn." The surgeon replied, tapping her hand on the table again "I'm going to get this…"
"Do I need to call Joe?" Meredith asked playfully, slowly raising her hand
"No, no no!" Addison protested, pushing her arm back down "I am going to get this!"
"I'm going to win Addison." Meredith said cockily "just admit it."
"No you will not…you…you." Addison was struggling. "You…mattress back!"
"A what?" Meredith laughed
"A mattress back." She said, before also bursting into laughter
"I don't get it…"
"You sleep with so many men you might as well have a mattress tied to your back!"
"That's awful."
"That is a winner." Addison replied, taking the second last piece of the sushi and pushing the tray in Meredith's direction
"It's hilarious." Meredith replied, taking the last piece "but it's not a winner."
"There is none left." Addison said.
"Oh, I've been holding on to one!" Meredith said triumphantly
"No…" Addison protested
"You Bitch!" Meredith said poking the attending's shoulder
"No way!" She protested "but Mattress back!"
"Sorry." Meredith replied with a laugh, waving for Joe.
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"I've been honest with you. With Addison and with Meredith. When could you say that you've been honest?" Mark argued, heatedly "You didn't even tell her that you were married!"
"She knows exactly how I feel." Derek replied, angrily
"You can't tell me that you're the better man Derek." Mark shook his head
"I tried Mark." Derek replied, "I know you've never known what it's like to be committed to one person, but you can't just get up and leave whenever someone better comes along!"
"But you did Derek." He replied, heatedly "You left them both! You had the chance to make one of them happy; instead you made both of them miserable! You killed two birds with one stone!"
"That's a bit extreme don't you think?"
"I love her Derek." Mark said simply, the first time he had ever said it aloud, liking how it felt on his tongue
"Don't say that!" Derek spat "you don't even know what love is!"
"If you think that…" Mark replied, clearly offended "you have no idea who I am!"
"I don't need to and I don't want to." Derek replied, starting off to his car "good bye Mark."
"Well, in that case…" Mark said roguishly, "Didn't really pick you as a fighter any way Derek. I mean, you just left Addison in New York…to me. I should really be expecting you to just walk away from Meredith. You walk away when things get tough, don't you? 'Cause you know this is your last chance with Meredith, right? You just going to back away?"
"Shut up Mark." Derek replied, turning around and walking back towards him.
"That's okay." Mark replied, knowingly provoking him "it makes things a lot easier for me."
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You cannot love a thing without wanting to fight for it.
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Derek flung the first punch. He always was the first to resort to violence. Normally, Mark would make a conscious effort to avoid fighting, or let Derek hit him, so they could move on, but this time was different…there was no element of friendliness in this. This wasn't just about revenge. No one deserved anything. This was uncontrollable, raw anger, and this was going to continue past the first two punches thrown. Mark anticipated Derek and ducked, causing the neurosurgeon to stumble slightly.
Mark stood up slowly and Derek righted him self, both staring intently at the other. Was it always going to come to this? Probably.
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The lights from the hospital lit up from behind Mark, back lighting him. Derek couldn't see the detail in his face, but he didn't have to. He could see his face vividly in his mind, and it wasn't going away in a hurry. It was imprinted there. Every time he'd seen him in Seattle all he could think of was when he saw him with his sister in the pool, back when they were eighteen. Or when he walked into his house and saw him and Addison. And then Meredith.
"C'mon Derek!" Mark said as he straightened his jacket from his duck "do you really want to hit me?"
Derek didn't need to answer that question. He didn't miss this time. He immediately felt his hand tingle as it moved from his ex-best friends face to the air. And then it began to sting. He winced slightly as he opened his fist. He didn't have to worry: Mark was on the tarmac and Derek had never seen a more satisfying sight.
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"I'm sorry." Meredith said, drunkenly, putting her hand on Addison's shoulder
"No, I'm sorry." Addison slurred, "I really shouldn't have taken Derek off you."
"No, we shouldn't have been dating in the first place." Meredith replied in the same fashion
"And I probably shouldn't have tried the…Mark thing." She continued
"They want me too choose!" Meredith moaned, fiddling with the umbrella in her fourth tequila sunrise
"I dodged a bullet." Addison said, to no one in particular
"Who would you choose?" Meredith asked, turning to her new bar friend
"None of them." Addison replied with a drunken confidence "I, am an independent woman!"
"Really?" Meredith asked, drunkenly admiring Addison's confidence
"No…" Addison replied, her demeanour instantly changing
"No?"
"I'd take either of them!" she moaned, "what am I going to do?"
"I don't know…" Meredith replied, blankly
"Make your mind up about something!" Addison snapped, wrapping her fingers roughly around the scotch glass and finishing it off.
"I guess I'm just clinging to the past…" Meredith said quietly to fill their silence
"No, I'm divorced." Addison replied, "I am clinging to the past!"
"He really hurt me." Meredith said quietly, Addison just smiled in agreement, "I don't know if I could go through that again."
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He could feel the prickle of the tarmac on his face and a throbbing pain over his cheek. Mark groaned and brought his hand up to his cheek. Blood. He knew Derek was waiting for him to get up, but he wasn't going to fight on his terms. This was most probably Derek's first real fight. Mark Sloan fought on his terms…He waited for Derek to come to him.
"Mark?" Derek asked, walking over to the body on the ground. He bent over and immediately regretted it. Mark always played the dummy, when they played around as kids. He deserved the punch that connected with his chin leaving the sickening thud of fist to face hanging in the air and landed one surgeon beside the other.
Mark was about to get up to continue on Derek when he heard the sound of a car starting up. They both knew not to draw attention to them selves. The car rounded the cornered, and momentarily let it's headlights settle on the two surgeons. Both squinted with the sudden light, hoping that the driver didn't want to interfere. They didn't, but they lingered a little longer then usual. Allowing Derek to get a good look at Mark's face, which now had a substantial amount of blood flowing down his cheek. But before long the car rumbled past, leaving the two in a cloud of car exhaust.
"Had enough?" Derek asked, flicking the blood off his hand
"Always the quitter." Mark replied, pushing Derek. He wanted him to be more angry and less rational.
"I don't quit Mark." Derek said firmly
"You quit your Marriage. You quit Meredith for Addison." Mark said mischievously, "Then you quit your marriage again…you've got to forgive me for thinking that you might be tempted."
"You sad bastard." Derek replied heatedly, standing up
"Derek…" Mark said, standing up again, "you're just going to hurt her again, and I can't have that"
"The only person I'm going to hurt is you!" He replied and lunged for Mark.
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Addison was going to live in the future. She was going to move on! Take control of her life. She was really starting to feel the effects of her fifth scotch and could think of no better time. She was about to go and have the song changed when she turned around and spotted just who the young man sitting next to her was.
"Karev?" Addison asked slightly shocked, before dissolving into drunken titters
"Dr Shepard?" He never though she'd be one for the heavy drinking
"It's Dr Montgomery, actually…and since I am royally intoxicated," she dipped her drink in Joe's direction who gave her an amused nod of acknowledgement "Let's try Addison, shall we?"
"Okay then." He replied, talking a swig from his fourth beer for the night
"Well, then Alex…and I am going to call you Alex" Addison slurred, "don't you think it's unfair that all your slutty intern friends are screwing attendings?"
"I think she can hear you." He replied, pointing to Meredith with the neck of his beer bottle
"You're not still with that Dr Stevens?" She asked, not even hearing the last statement.
"Well…"
"I should never had left her with that quint…" the Attending turned around to Meredith, who just nodded, it seemed alcohol was taking it's effects, she was lying down on the bar with a slightly pained expression
"Any way where were we…" Addison asked, returning to Alex "they all think they can do what ever they want. Screw this person, break up this marriage, and expect to scrub in on any surgery…"
"The advantages of having breasts." Alex said, sulkily
"Well, not all the attendings at Seattle Grace are into breasts…" Addison replied blatantly, resting her hand on his arm
"Well it seems like the…oh." It suddenly hit Alex. He was usually a little quicker but he was so used to Dr Shepard being completely off limits. He chuckled slightly and took another swig of his beer.
"So, I'll take it that you and Dr Stevens..." The attending asked with a newfound smugness
"We're, um." He couldn't believe his luck, "never really dating to begin with"
Addison just gave a wonderfully drunk titter and ran a finger drunkenly down the intern's arm "So, my hotel's over…what seems like the other side of the planet. What do you say to…something here?"
"I can meet you in there if you like." Alex said motioning to the bathroom door
"Oh, I don't do subtle." Addison replied, pulling Alex off his stool. He followed obediently, sculling the remnants of his beer and leaving the bottle down at the far end of the bar.
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Mark had a firm grasp of Derek's collar. He had to, cause the hand that was pressed against his cheek was trying to have a go at his cut side, and Mark wasn't going to let that happen. They were a mess of grunts. And anger. Derek could smell Marks cologne. He had never changed it. Still the same smell…the same smell that stayed in his bed sheets for days and the smell that filled the lift when Meredith got on. He hated that smell. Derek reached out and grabbed Mark's shirt, trying to hold him still enough to get at him. But all he got was the sound of the tiny threads breaking and a quick blow to his shoulder. Mark could feel the cold air suddenly hit his skin through the tear as he stepped back.
They were panting at the same time, with the same taste of blood in their mouth. They were now bathed in the light of the hospital entrance. Having moved significantly in their tousles. They were beginning to attract an audience on the other side of the glass but Derek didn't care, and Mark had just received a fist to the stomach.
Derek let him double over, winded. While he caught his own breath. The people inside seem satisfied that they had stoped, and began to return to what they were doing. Mark hadn't and lunged for Derek.
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It was his shoulder that first connected with the pain of glass, except he kept going. He felt the glass give way and the hard surface was instantly replaced by nothing and a stinging sensation that went down his arm. He could hear the crunch of glass on the tiles as he landed and could feel what it was like to be part of a human-glass-floor sandwich. He lay on the still for a moment before rolling on to his back. He slowly turned his head to look over at the other guy lying on the floor. Little pieces of safety glass lay everywhere, dusted over the floor like little nasty raindrops. Derek moved…it was alright. A crowd was gathering around them. There was yelling, but neither could be bothered working out what was being said.
"We should probably get up." Mark said, slowly turning his head again to Derek
"I think we're making a bit a scene." Derek agreed, rolling his head around to catch Mark's eyes. But neither did anything.
"Another hour and there'll be scar tissue" the plastic surgeon said simply
"Right then." Derek replied returning to look at the ceiling as they both still lay on the ground.
"We're in trouble aren't we?"
"Probably." Derek agreed
"And I'm pretty sure there're witnesses." Mark said, sitting up to look at all the people who were starting to gather, but were still trying to keep their distance. He winced as he looked down at his bruised hand, but chuckled as he looked over at Derek and the gash in his chin.
"What?" Derek asked, still looking at the ceiling
"C'mon." Mark replied, standing up and offering his other hand.
Derek took it to help him self up. They quietly brushed themselves off, leaving a shower of the safety glass on the floor and walked gingerly to the ER. Not talking, but walking together, for the first time in over a year.
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Sometimes things have to break to be fixed.
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Joe sighed as he saw Meredith collapsed on the Bar. He thought that the girl could hold a little more booze then that…especially when he only put in half the tequila into her cocktails…
"Meredith?" He asked, wondering where Addison was, "Meredith?"
There was no response, this wasn't great for business and the bar wasn't getting any emptier.
"Meredith?" he asked again, this time gently shaking her arm. There was still no response. "Meredith honey?" He said and shook the intern a little harder, only to have her fall off the bar stool on to the floor.
"Shit!" Joe swore, as he ran around the other side, and scanned his bar for hospital staff, and spotted the black nurse in the corner. "A little help?"
Meredith was lying on the ground, still unconscious. "Jesus Joe!" Nurse Tyler, as he reached down to check the intern's pulse, "You're supposed to watch how much they drink!"
"I was," He replied, worriedly "The drinks that I was mixing were virtually non alcoholic!"
The nurse's face shifted from one of blame to concern as he finished taking the intern's pulse
"Is she alright?" Joe asked tentatively
"Grab a chair!" the nurse ordered, picking Meredith up and sitting her down on the chair Joe brought over. He gently lent the intern forward.
"Dr Grey?" the nurse asked, bobbing down to her level
The intern moaned as the blood rushed back to her head.
"What's wrong Dr Grey?" the nurse asked,
"Ab…abdominal pain." She replied hazily "why's it so cold?"
"But she's sweating?" Joe asked, confused.
"Bit of help here!" came a call from the toilet door. Alex came out from the ladies carrying Addison in his arms. Joe shared a judgemental glance with Nurse Tyler before quickly fetching a chair.
"She's got it too?" Alex asked the nurse as he placed Addison in the same position "Nausea? Abdominal pain? Weakness?"
"Sweats and chills." The nurse confirmed
"We gotta get them to the hospital Joe." Alex said hurriedly
"It's not the alcohol?" The bartender asked as he ran for the phone
"Don't know what it is." The Doctor replied with a sigh. The night had such potential.
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Miranda Bailey entered the pit, with three of her remaining interns trailing behind her. "Okay, I need two of you on sutures the other can come with me for some diagnosis work downstairs."
"Oh!" Cristina put her hand up quickly, "I love diagnosing things!"
"People, Yang." The resident corrected, moodily as she reached behind the nurses' desk for the two charts, "Stevens, O'Malley, I think that your patients are in there" she pointed to the only drawn curtain in the room.
"Where?" George asked, clueless, it had been a long day
"O'Malley!" the resident sighed, and pushed the two folders into the intern's unsuspecting arms and marched over to the curtain, "if you want to be a successful doctor you've got to…"
But she stopped as she opened the curtain. Her two bosses were sitting silently beside each other, covered in blood and bruises. The resident raised her eyebrows
"Here I am trying to teach my intern's how to act responsibly…I take it that you two 'fell over'?" she asked, sarcastically.
"That's rather accurate actually," Derek commented with a wry smile
"Interns." Mark exclaimed, "I'll need some gauze, my needle holder, and some double zero…"
"Don't you do anything." Dr Bailey interrupted, holding out her hand as warning to her interns, and left it there as she turned to the two attendings "These are my interns. You are my patient. Last time I left you with one of my interns I had to give her the night off. Now I am understaffed!"
"Okay." Mark said slowly, unaffected by Bailey "I'm pretty sure that I may have the credentials to help you out there."
"He's not going to suture his own face again, is he?" Cristina whispered to Izzie
"Sucks to be down with the diagnostic team…" Izzie sighed happily
Dr Bailey was about to fire again when her pager went off. "Ambulance is here," she replied, blankly "Yang come with me."
"Right…" Cristina replied, still slightly disappointed
"I'm warning you." The resident looked piercingly from one surgeon to the other, "you mess up and I'll show you what it's like to really fall."
Derek tried to laugh but the gash in his chin was making it difficult.
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"Are you going to do your own sutures?" Derek asked
"And trust these kids?" Mark replied, "I have a very pretty face Derek and I'm not into gambling."
"You just want to show off your party trick." The brain surgeon accused
"You're just jealous that you can't remove your own tumour." Mark replied simply, as Izzie and George returned with the supplies that Dr Sloan had ordered
"Okay." The Surgeon ordered "Dr O'Malley, no offence but you're not touching my face, Dr Stevens, once you've given me my shot I'll take it from there. Then I'll talk you through Derek's."
"Mark?" Derek was confused
"You know Derek, normally I would. But it would completely defeat the point of doing it in the first place."
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"My teeth!" Meredith cried, as they loaded her onto the bed "are they falling out?"
"Dr Grey?" The resident called out over her cries "what's wrong?"
"My teeth!"
"Your teeth?" the resident moved over to the side of the bed and grabbed the squirming girls head, and felt around her jaw, "that's psychological…what other symptoms do we have?"
"Nausea, weakness, sweating, chills and abdominal pain!" the nurse called out, "same with the other one!"
"What other one?" Dr Bailey replied, as she examined her intern's abdomen
"My teeth!" Addison screamed, as her gurney was wheeled in next to Meredith's
"Oh great…" Cristina looked from one moaning women to the other.
"Dr Yang?" Dr Bailey, looked over to her shocked intern
"Yes…" she replied numbly
"You know how they're presenting." The resident said as calmly as she could, "what would you do?"
"Oh, right." She replied, snapping back into textbook mode "I'd get blood tests, then treat the symptoms."
Just then, Meredith leant over the bed and began to throw up on the floor. "She's dehydrated," Dr Bailey called out, frustrated "get her hooked up to some fluids people…she was drinking!"
"I could really go some of that." Addison called out from her bed, her hand on her forehead, "I'm freezing, Miranda. Feel my head!"
"Addison," the surgeon said obediently checking the patient's forehead "you're running a temperature…"
"I know you think it's irresponsible for us to get so blindly drunk…. that we're hospitalised, but we were eating too Miranda!" the neonatal surgeon slurred as she watched her drinking buddy throw up the contents of her stomach
"Obviously not enough." The resident commented dryly, as she drew some of Addison's blood
"Sushi's never filling." Addison replied, "so expensive and so pretty, but never really that satisfying."
"You were eating raw fish?" Cristina asked
"Food poisoning," Dr Bailey confirmed,
"I didn't think that it got this bad in adults?" Cristina was confused
"Coupled with dehydration from alcohol" Bailey explained, "It can be aggravated. I think we may have caught it in time to do GI decontamination with activated charcoal."
"Can't we use ipecac?"
"Dr Yang. Who is the resident on this case?"
"You are, it's just that…"
"We can't have them dehydrating any more." The resident silenced the intern "we don't have much time, and we'll probably need some help, go and get Dr Stevens. Don't give me that face! They messed up their own pretty faces, they can put them back to together again."
0
Mark was sitting over the other side of the empty ER, doing his own sutures into the mirror in the nurses' station, explaining the stiches to Izzie. George was preparing Dr Shepard
"Were you fighting over her?" He asked, quietly
"Dr O'Malley…"
"I was going to go out, and see her." The intern revealed softly, "and I was going to tell her that I loved her. But um…I can't make her happy. Every time I try to do something all I do is make it worse, or make her more upset. I'm just doing it for me. I can see that he makes her happy…I mean it's crazy, cause I want to kill him every time I see him, but he does. And I'm just holding her back. I'm never going to make her happy. And even if she did pick me, I'd always know he'd be better then me…and I think that I care enough, to let her have what's good for her, you know?"
"Alright!" Mark called, as he walked over to Derek, having just finished his own sutures, tiny black lines crisscrossed through the gash on his cheek "Dr Stevens is ready to start."
"No she's not." Christina interjected, coming into the ward, out of breath "Izzie, you gotta come now."
"But, I was…" Izzie protested
"Dr Yang," Mark tried to negotiate "Dr Stevens is in the middle of helping me."
"Get George to do it." The intern replied, shakily "Izzie this is important!"
"Can't doctor O'Malley…"
"No, he can't." Cristina said firmly, grabbing Izzie's wrist "It has to be Izzie."
"What's so important that she has to go now?" George asked, hurt
"Nothing…nothing you'd be interested in." Cristina lied and dragged the uncooperative blonde intern out of the room.
"Well, I'm interested." Mark replied, looking between the two others remaining, both of whom were avoiding his gaze for different reasons. "Okay, well O'Malley, grab me my needle holders."
"I though you weren't…"
"I want to see what's going on." The plastic surgeon replied, sitting down and surveying Derek's face, "I'm not going to wait for you to finish on my friends face when I could do it easily and see what circus is in town downstairs. Comprehende?"
The intern scuttled away, feeling completely useless, leaving the plastic surgeon who was completely oblivious, immersed in his job and his…friend who was deliberating over on of the biggest choices he had ever had to make.
0
There was a small gathering of interns, doctors and nurses outside one room, and both doctors knew instantly knew that this was the interesting case. They were expecting mass mutilation or the plague, or something more exciting then the whispers of food poisoning that they overheard from the nurses in the corridor.
Mark and Derek reached the crowd just in time to see Dr Bailey close the shutters on the room, and come outside
"Are you seeing these patients?" She asked the crowd angrily "you in charge? You want to run my labs? Clean up the vomit? Or write my reports? Scram or I'll get you working in here!"
There were several disdainful mutters but the crowd quickly dispersed. Well, all except Mark and Derek, who both had tiny identical black lines cascading down cheeks and chins
"Oh no." Bailey said, roughly, standing in front of the door "you are not coming in here."
"See, now you have me intrigued." Mark said charmingly "what are you hiding?"
"Go away Dr Sloan." The resident called up to the attending
"Do you hear this?" Mark turned around to Derek, who was still slightly absent
"Dr Bailey, her fever's gone down…" a nurse poked her head out the door. Leaving a large enough crack for the plastic surgeon to spot Addison Montgomery connected to several tubes lying on a hospital bed. It didn't take the plastic surgeon any time to get past the ruffled resident
"Addison?" Mark barged into the room "what's going on? And why weren't we told?" he angrily demanded
"Dr Sloan," the Resident, "they need to rest."
"They?" the Doctor inquired, before looking over to the second bed, where another body lay dormant
"We were drinking…" Addison replied, slightly sedated, sloppily flinging a hand in the direction of the sleeping girl in the bed beside her "and then we…"
But she didn't get a chance to finish as Mark had already moved onto the other bed.
"Meredith?" He asked, grasping the intern's hand as she slowly woke from her sleep
Derek stood in the doorway and looked between the two women in his life and sighed. Mark was busy, quickly examining the intern and her chart, seeming to think that the hospital's staffs were completely incompetent
"They're stable now." The resident said, still annoyed at the surgeons complete disrespect for her authority, "we'll just keep them overnight for observation. Dr Karev said he'd stay, but I suppose…"
Mark turned and looked at Addison's guest who was sitting rather sheepishly next to her bed. The dirty mistress took one look at the intern and knew exactly what was going on
"Dude." Mark pointed to Alex, who has miss-buttoned his shirt.
"Shit…" Alex whispered, embarrassedly, trying to fix himself up as quickly as possible, Addison tried covering her eyes to pretend it wasn't happening. But Mark just laughed.
"Nice moves Karev."
"My banana bag hasn't kicked in yet," Addison moaned, "I don't like being high and drunk with all of…you in here."
"I think you have the better end of the deal," Derek said, looking from bed to bed, obviously uncomfortable with the love pentagon that had emerged so suddenly.
"What happened?" Meredith asked slowly, sitting up.
"You got food poisoning with complications due to alcohol consumption…" Mark said, returning to Meredith's bed
"I know that." Meredith said, looking from doctor to doctor "I'm talking about your faces."
0
You show people what you're willing to fight for when you fight your friends. They may not have entirely been you friends to begin with, but friendship is a hard thing to loose…and love is a hard thing not to fight for.
0
So...
you still there? awesome.
Okay, i have two questions:
a) Alex and Addison - is it on? or is it just too strange? or do we like it that way?
and
b) This fic could possibly finish within two chapters, really. Do you want more? (i have plans...) or somthing different? (still have plans...and not pissy plans that will be easily foiled by a guy with great hair dressed in a tux. i'm talking big plans)
Please review! pretty pretty pretty please? i will love you forever. (thats a promise)
(on second thoughts, plans could easily be forgotten by presence of said man with great hair, tux, etc.)