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CRISTINA 'S POV
The whole race for Chief thing was excellent.
The attendings ripping each others throats out, one upping each other with the fanciest most outrageous surgeries - it was manna from heaven.
It's over now, though. Montgomery - Shepherd won it with her musical surgeries routine and her baby saving powers.
Her best friends married ex boyfriends ridiculously hot and immensely likable wife is all of their bosses now.
Her said best friend is currently lying flat on the narrow little bench in the interns locker room, preventing anyone else from sitting there and ignoring the annoyed looks she's getting.
" Mer. Snap out of it. We have rounds in twenty seconds. "
" Should I go to Boston or San Diego ?"
" What ?"
" I'm transferring . I can't stay here with McHottie in charge . Its too...awkward. "
" It's only awkward if you make it awkward. Get up, I can hear Bailey coming. "
" She's just so...nice. I can't even make myself hate her, so I end up hating myself for wanting to hate her. It's killing me. "
" I'll kill you if you don't get up off your ass." Bailey snarls, stomping into the room.
"Addison Montgomery has never been anything but nice to you since she got here, Grey. She didnt have to be , but she was . Don't let me catch you trash talking her again. Move ."
They shuffle grumbling out of the locker room, realising they haven't been given any assignments yet.
"Addison is going to shake things up a little, she thinks you all are entirely too comfortable, picking and choosing your own attendings. I always knew I liked this woman." Bailey announces cheerfully.
Addison is standing outside her office, looking like she accidentally fell out of a magazine and into the hospital in a white blouse and sleek grey pencil skirt.
" She's got - " Cristina begins.
" - legs to die for. " George finishes, his eyes running all the way up the seemingly endless legs , in heels as always .
" - to be kidding." Cristina completes her sentence, because the new Chief is holding a fishbowl with paper slips in it, which means -
" Pick an attending at random, people . You are here for a well rounded surgical education, you won't get that tagging along behind a single attending."
DEREK'S POV
EARLIER THAT MORNING
" Do I look fat ?"
" No. "
He's lying on the bed, sipping coffee and admiring the view as his wife flips frantically through her clothes, searching for something that "doesn't make her ass look ginormous ."
Which is one thing it never does, but who is he to complain if he gets an excuse to look at it.
" Addie, sweetie, it doesn't matter what you wear. You're going to be a great Chief. "
" Half my clothes are in boxes because we're supposed to be moving into the house but it still isn't done and I have nothing to wear, Derek, I can't be a naked Chief. "
" I'd like that. A lot of other people would too, I bet. "
She flings something at him and it hits him in the face. " Shut up. "
His phone buzzes. It's Callie - isn't she supposed to be on vacation? - and has to stifle a laugh when he reads it.
White blouse with the ruffle thing from her last shopping trip and that grey skirt you like because it makes her legs look great . Don't tell her I told you but I've had the outfit planned for weeks.
He gets up with a groan, reaches into her closet and pulls out two things at random.
"Wear these. "
She holds the skirt and blouse up to herself critically in the mirror." When did you learn to put together an outfit ?"
" I manage. " he says, dropping a kiss on her head as he reaches for his own clothes.
Women.
Three cups of espresso and a pep talk later they're finally out of the apartment - for the last time hopefully - and in the car. She lets him drive , sitting clench jawed and rigid the whole way to the hospital.
He parks the car, leans over and kisses her firmly on the lips. " Stop worrying. You're Addison. You save unborn lives. You can manage a bunch of emotionally immature surgeons. "
" I can ? "
" You can. " he says, trying not to laugh at the look of terror on her face.
She takes a long deep breath before she steps of the elevator on her floor, turns around for one last reassuring look from him, and marches off the elevator to cheers from the whole floor.
He watches the split second transformation from his Addie to the Addison everyone else knows , rambling, slightly awkward, confused and sweet to a cool steely professional.
Richard was right. She's the one for the job.
He changes his mind later when Meredith Grey pulls a slip with his name out of the fishbowl.
Addie looks like she swallowed a lemon, but she makes the usual quick recovery, sends them on their way.
Yang is with Hunt ( why does she look so pissed about it ?)
,O'Malley is with Dr. Altman and Karev and Stevens are still out.
He has surgeries lined up back to back all day and he doest really want to spend it in an OR with a woman who hates his guts.
Meredith stops dead in the middle of the corridor and he nearly bumps into her, practically arching concave to avoid touching a single hair of hers . He doesn't want to push her buttons any more than he already has .
" Dr. Shepherd . This isn't going to be weird, right? I mean I don't want it to be weird. I want to be your intern and I want you to be my attending. I don't want you to be extra polite or nice to me because your wife wrecked my life, or anything, so don't. Don't be nice. "
" You don't want me to be nice to you. " he says , baffled.
" No. Or I'll feel worse. I don't want to have to like you, please don't make it easy to like you. Be horrible. "
" O - kay? "
" Good. That's good then." and she starts walking at warp speed again, never having turned around while talking to him.
Women.
ADDISON'S POV
She hates money. Hates it.
Or rather, the lack of it. The hospital has no money. No money.
No wonder Richard was laughing so hard when he handed her the ledgers this morning.
Each department needs a million a year to keep things running. But everything other than that - the flashy headlining pro-bono surgeries and tech and equipment and standard of care that makes Seattle Grace what it is, that needs more than a million a year.
This year there isn't enough.
And she has to draw up departmental budgets today, while her hands itch for a scalpel instead of a pen .
It's almost making her breathless again, she can feel the dreaded familiar tightness in her chest.
This is what you wanted.
So she takes a pill for the first time in months, and soldiers on.
She has called a meeting of all the heads of department during the lunch hour so that she can fit in a surgery after, and she drops the little orange bottle into her purse as they clamor into the room, holding food and chattering loudly.
Mark tracks her hand with his eyes, looks up at her and cocks his head. "Tough first day Chief? "
She ignores the look Derek gives him as he hands her a sandwich and kisses her rather unnecessarily on the lips.
She clears her throat " You wish. "
" All right everyone, settle down. I'm sorry for stealing your lunch hour, but I need to do a surgery today or I might go crazy and slit one of you open, so bear with me. " a ripple of laughter goes around the table.
"She's not joking." Mark deadpans, earning a kick under the table from her.
" So. Budgets. I have decided that ... the department showing the greatest patient influx, number of surgeries and marketable or headlining innovations will be getting the greatest allocation this year, and maybe next year too, at least until our cash flow stabilises , because right now we simply don't have funds to be shoring up departments that are ... lagging behind. "
The predictable debate explodes around the table, lunches forgotten as they all tell her why their department needs the money.
" It's not my fault trauma is slow, I can't exactly help it if no one is getting hurt. " Owen points out, to which she says
" That's why you're getting your standard allocation of a million dollars. What I'm talking about is the extra money, for labs, new departments and extra staff. For the stuff that makes this place as good as it is .
Each department gets their million dollars - but I have 2 million extra to distribute , so show me you can bring it in and I might give it to you. "
" Smart ." Derek admits grudgingly. " Make us work for the money Richard already promised us. "
" Richard makes a lot of promises to a lot of people . " she says archly, making Owen and Teddy snort with laughter and Derek and Mark develop a sudden interest in their food.
"So I have the financial details of each department for the last three months here in front of me , and the winners are - "
" Wait - you're considering the last three months? Not the next ? " Teddy demands.
" Yes. If I told you the one who earns the most gets the grant, you'd all slice open patients if they needed it or not. So, surprise. "
She hears Teddy mutter something that rhymes with stitch under her breath, but she lets it go .
What is her problem with me?
" The order is neonatal, plastics, cardio, general, neuro, ortho and then trauma. "
" That can't be right. " Derek announces ." I know for a fact we did over a 150 surgeries these past three months , no way we're second last. "
The rest of them are grumbling the same thing, with minor variances, mostly in the colorful adjectives they're using to describe her policy.
" You did. And 10 of them were pro -bono so there's a half million dollar loss right there. You , Mark, did 8 , Altman did 9 and Richard and Bailey did 12 . Together that's a couple million down the drain that we didn't have charities or grants to support.
And you all were also too busy doing them to mug for good deals with pharmaceutical companies , so you way overspent on drugs and equipment, you were so busy doing them that you had to pay nearly 100,000 dollars - each department - in overtime to your OR staff, and you still haven't received payment for most of them because your secretaries ran away crying and no one has been haggling with the insurance companies for you.
Clearly , none of you is going to do it yourselves, so I've already interviewed and selected secretaries for each one of you to handle these things. Any questions? "
" How is neonatal way ahead? " Teddy asks.
Because I did all these things I just told you you didn't ." she says smugly.
She tries not to be, but GI Jane is getting on her nerves.
" Any questions? " she repeats, basking in Teddy's silence.
" Where did you learn all this ?" Derek asks, looking bewildered.
" Trust fund brat. " Mark stage whispers, earning a swat in the head from her.
If he keeps this up she'll have beat him black and blue by the end of the meeting.
" I ran both our practices in New York, honey. Three, if you count his " - she jabs a pen at Mark " - because he was too busy sleeping with his staff to worry about things like that.
And you, frankly, would never remember to collect payment because you were too busy cutting. Insurance companies loved you, you never asked for the hundreds of thousands of dollars you were due unless I stepped in and did it for you .
So that's where I learned this. And if there are no further questions, I am leaving to go get blood on my hands before I commit homicide.
Meeting adjourned. "
Derek chases after her in the hall , hands her her uneaten sandwich.
" Thanks. I never realised you were single handedly running two and a half practices - I always thought I had it easy because I was doing everything right, not because you were carrying my deadweight. "
" You're welcome. Dinner as a thank you is perfectly acceptable, if you were wondering ."
" Deal. You and me, tonight, I'll cook. That pasta thing you like. And I'll even throw in dessert. " he winks at the last word, and steers her towards the OR floor.
" Go save lives. "
" I love you. " she whispers almost involuntarily, because she can't remember the last time things between them were so smooth, so easy.
" Love you too. " he says in her ear, breath tickling her neck and making her squirm the slightest bit.
And then he leaves, so she takes the moment alone to collapse onto a gurney and catch her breath.
This is what you wanted.
DEREK'S POV
He stops at the grocery store before he goes home, picks up the stuff he'll need.
Neither he or Addison are the type who cook - Addie especially - but this is one thing he makes well, so it's her favorite.
He hasn't made it in so long, because at first it was a passive aggressive way of getting back at her, then because it hurt too much to make it without her there, and then because it wasn't something he could share with Meredith, it was too personal.
I'm turning into an old lady, romanticising food. This isn't Lady and the Tramp.
He calls his mother for the recipe - he can remember complex surgeries but not this - and regrets it when she cross examines him and tries to guilt him into bringing Addie and coming to visit.
He manages to extricate himself half an hour later and is almost done when Addie trudges through the door .
" I'm home. " she mumbles into the couch cushions.
He pours her a glass of wine, feeling domesticated, and lifts her chin with two fingers to hold it under her nose.
He's always teased her about being a minor wino, but she actually holds her alcohol better than anyone else he knows - her blood is probably equal parts wine and coffee.
So he's surprised when she shakes her head and drops back on the cushions .
"No wine? Not after your first day as Chief ?"
" I shouldn't. "
" Huh ? - oh . Oh my god . Addison, I told you to stop the drugs . You're taking them behind my back ? Stop. Before you go blind or stroke out or something. "
" I'm not. Stop fussing. "
" Then why ? Are you pr - " his heart nearly falls out of his chest.
" No . I'm the most infertile woman on earth apparently. I'm not drinking because. ... my ass looks fat . "
" Not this again ." he groans, but the guilty shift of her face is familiar to him- subtle, but not to him, he knows her too well - " No. its something else. "
" I don't want to, okay? I don't need a hangover or something tomorrow on top of everything else. " she says, slightly on edge.
Addie. You don't get hangovers. You wake up sparkling and cheerful while everyone else is hunches over the toilet wishing they were dead.But she's had a stressful day, so he lets it slide.
They eat dinner, she chatters happily about the house and the color of everything from the curtains to the inside of the kitchen cabinets, roses or something lower maintenance, asks him if he wants to cobble or gravel the driveway, his surgeries tomorrow, her surgeries, bitches a little about Teddy, tells him that Nancy sent her some sort of handbag she'd been dying to have as congratulations, while he replies appropriately, but she looks exhausted and he can't stop thinking.
She's eating though, that's a good sign because it takes a majorly disastrous event for Addison to lose her appetite. This means that whatever it is, it isn't apocalyptic.
If he asks her again now he's risking having to sleep on the couch, so he puts it down to the stress of her first day and offers the one thing he's sure will perk her up.
" Dessert? " he asks, looking into her eyes and running one foot up her leg under the table.
"Yes please. " she grins, dropping her fork immediately.
So predictable, he thinks happily.
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