CALLIE'S POV
She times it perfectly, snags Addison's sleeve with her finger and hauls her into the supply closet in a split second before anyone notices.
We'll, except for Debbie, who was talking to her, but Debbie will have to wait.
This is important.
" What? " Addison hisses, straightening her sleeve . " Have you lost it ? I'm not Arizona. Speaking of her , what's wrong, she wrote me the weirdest email this morning for - "
At the mention of Arizona she can't hold it in anymore, she bursts into tears, loud sloppy tears the like of which Addison Montgomery has probably never cried in her life, so she understands when the redhead looks bewildered.
" Callie? Sweetie, what happened? " she drops her armload of charts into a bin of IV kits and hugs her.
" I slept with Mark. "
She can practically hear the well oiled gears whirling in her friends head. " I..."
" - thought I was gay ? Yeah , me too. But I'm bi. Apparently. "
" Is that why you're crying? "
" No, I'm crying because I slept with Mark. "
She runs her fingers soothingly through Callie's hair " That bad ?"
" No, and that's the problem, it was amazing but I love Arizona, I love her and she...she .." she can't seem to stop hiccupping.
" You two are moving in together, what happened ? Was it a drunk thing, you were confused and he was...there ?"You know we went to Africa on vacation...it was amazing, safaris and animals and cute African babies and stuff but since we got back she was really missing it, the chance to help kids out there who really need it, and I thought she'd snap out of it, she has a fantastic job here...and me, but she sent a grant application a week after we got back and guess what ? My girlfriend won the most prestigious charitable grant to go work in Malawi and save little kids and here I am, the howling horrible jealous girlfriend who won't go with her, and she left.
Last night. She just left, wrote you an email for sick leave and left to go set things up in Malawi.
She's coming back to get her stuff, but it's over, and I slept with Mark . " she bawls , clinging to Addison and crying into her waist .
" Why do you... rattle ? " she hiccups curiously . Addie's lab coat is rattling suspiciously every time she moves.
She gives her a shake to make sure the crying and last night's mindblowing sex hasn't caused her to go loco .
" Stop shaking me. It's nothing, just a patients meds I'm taking them ." she sits down in front of Callie, tucking her knees against her chest and slipping off her shoes.
" It's just two years , Callie, if you want to wait for her you can. "
"That's the problem - I don't know if she's the one. I know I love her, but not if she's the one. I mean , look what happened when my dad met her, él se volvió loco, él quisiera que rezara lejos el gay y él ni siquiera me dejó decirle a mi madre porque ella me matará pero la amo tanto - "
" Callie. I speak French . And English. I have no idea why you're saying, but I've unfortunately been in your shoes before and let me tell you this - Mark is amazing , excellent in bed and a great way to make yourself forget that things are screwed up, but he's a human too and he's my friend and lately he's been ... sensitive.
I don't want him to get hurt in this , and hes going to.
Because you're in love with Arizona, I can see that. You two have something special and I can feel it, you'll ... work this out.
And when you do, I promise you the last thing you want is to feel guilty for losing your panties for man candy. "
Addison's pager and phone go off simultaneously and she looks at them , her face changing from sympathetic to horrified and the determined in seconds.
" Thank you. " Callie dries her face on Addie's silk shirt, then immediately starts crying again for ruining it.
" It's okay, it's okay . You get to cry today.
But I also need you to ...uh , get up and kick butt today because the OR board is jammed
and I just got wind of a MVC on the highway ten minutes out - a school bus and a SUV , so stuff it in."
" Yes , Chief." she sniffles, having found a tissue.
" That's my girl. Come on, let's go find you some broken bloody bones to fix, that always makes you feel better. "
"Wait. Did you say school bus?" she whimpers.
DEBBIE'S POV
Rude and inconsiderate, that's what they are.
Disgraceful. The chief resident pulling the Chief of Surgery and the head of Neonatal into a closet to gossip like a pair of giggling teenagers .
She was telling Dr. Montgomery - Shepherd something important but did she care ? No.
She's gossiping in a closet .
Although to be fair the woman is an excellent Chief, she hired new nurses the week after she started the job , so this minor slip can be almost forgiven.
Anyway, she was telling her that they're desperately understaffed, with Karev and Stevens still out and Addison herself neck deep in administrative bullshit, they need surgeons to deal with the incoming traumas and something has to be done with the boardful of electives.
She does not want to be the one to tell Shepherd his surgeries have been cancelled.
DEREK'S POV
He hasn't seen his wife since last night, but just as he's about to call her, he sees her stalking out of a supply closet trailed by a suspiciously red eyed Torres , yelling orders at whoever is close enough to hear.
" Clear that board, no electives today we've got multiple traumas coming in, get all this mornings patients out of pre-op and deal with the families, tell them they've been pushed for an emergency.
Someone notify the blood bank and tell them to have O negative on standby. Prep the ORs please and page all available surgical staff, I don't care if they're on call or not. Except Karev and Stevens .
And discharge all the patients you can, people, round on your most critical patients only and leave an intern or resident in charge of your floor , I want all attendings and free staff down in the pit .
It gonna be a long day, people, so buckle up. And did I forget anything? " she asks, returning to her awkward self in the last sentence .
" No. " chorus the staff lined up at the foot of the stairs, staring at her in slight awe .
" Move it , then. " Bailey snaps and everyone goes scurrying in different directions.
He heads over to her and puts an arm round her shoulders, lets her lean into him for a brief second .
" Nervous ? " he offers her a half eaten protein bar and receives an exasperated look, but she takes a bite anyway.
" Can't be. Gotta go. "
" Addie, deep breaths, calm down. This is your first real test, the way you handle a major trauma is - "
" - what will make or break their trust in me. I know, Richard called me already."
" Surgical junkie. He can't stop being here even when he's in the Bahamas. "
She groans " I wish we were in the Bahamas. "
" Me too. " he studies her face. She's entirely too pale, hectic spots of color on her cheekbones, like those dolls his mother keeps putting on mantelpieces - Dresden china, that's it.
The words ring something in his mind, but he can't quite put his finger in it and is distracted by the arrival of Mark, who immediately wishes Addison luck.
" Good luck , Adds . Don't screw up ."
"Thank you, that just makes me feel so much better. And speaking of screw, stay away from C -" she breaks off, looking intently at her pager.
" Lets go people, they're here. Time to do what we do best. " and she disappears towards the ER, leaving him with a lipstick stained protein bar and Mark.
" Who'd you screw who's name starts with C ? Don't tell me you got to Yang ." he chuckles .
" Callie. " he says, looking away .
Is he over the redhead substitution phase ?
" Jesus Mark, she's -"
" Addie's friend. I know, but -"
" I was going to say gay. "
" Not last night " Mark smirks. "Not at all."
Down in the ER it's utter pandemonium, gurneys flying and people screaming and moaning, pain meds being doled out like candy.
He sees that Addison has had the time to change into scrubs and sneakers, and thank god because it's all hands on deck - none of them will be poking their heads out of an OR till tonight.
He and Mark take the most emergent case, a with catastrophic head injuries , but who is miraculously still alive .
The rest of the day blurs into one surgery after another, seeing patients who should have died in the crash come to life under their hands .
The best moment is when Teddy, Owen and Addison throw a Hail Mary and come out on the right side, save a pregnant woman with a torn aorta held together by a paramedic.
The worst is when a little boy dies on his table after he bleeds out moments after he paged for a peds consult and she couldn't come because she was in the middle of someone else's baby.
" Robbins is out and her stupid
replacement sucks. "
Addison seethes at herself as she tears off her scrub cap, unable to stand the whine of the flatlining monitor any longer she slaps the button.
" It's not your fault. " says Teddy awkwardly before he can open his mouth.
" You're Chief and Neonatal and Peds all in one today. You're amazing, Montgomery, but you're not Superwoman. "
Addison stares at the blonde surgeon as she leaves the OR, stripping off the gloves and gown covered in the blood of the one patient who died today.
" What was that? "
" You made it . Your first real test, you made it."
" Too late for him, though. " she says softly, gesturing to the tiny body on the table. "Too late for his parents. "
Later that night they're all standing on the catwalk, weak with exhaustion, but when they see what has the interns so happy, they feel lighter on their feet.
" They're singing. " O' Malley says. " Listen."
And they are, hundreds of people in the rainy dark evening, singing and holding candles.
The relatives who have been waiting all day crowd in behind them, hold each other and cry with relief.
Addie is standing beside him, swaying slightly.
She turns around to her weary hungry staff.
" Thirty six. Thirty six patients today, and all of them survived but one. A job well done, people."
" A job well done. " he whispers , giving her a hug as the staff behind them start to giggle, nervous high pitched laughter , and slowly it spreads, infectious, until they're all but rolling on the floor, laughing like lunatics and even the relatives join in, the stress and fear of that day evaporating in their raucous laughter.
ADDISON'S POV
Today was the first pill in three months, her first since that day with the budgets.
She tried not to , but the stress of it, the sheer overwhelming responsibility of being the one in charge of all those lives, it got to her and for a vital minute when she should have been out there saving lives she huddled on the floor of a bathroom , breathless and dizzy, her chest painfully tight, craving the relief of the pills, until she finally reached for one.
She needs to be more careful; they're starting to notice.
Callie , Mark, she caught Derek examining her face today , the way he would a patient.
She doesn't have to tell anyone , she rationalises. It's the same thing, surgeons are control freaks, they don't like to admit that what's wrong is themselves.
Like Preston with his tremor, and Richard with his drinking and Miranda refusing to be mommytracked.
It'll go away, it always does , she tells herself , collapsing onto the couch after a shower spent sitting limply under the water until Derek shooed her out.
But it means she can't smooth out today with a glass of Malbec like she would have, so she settles for a cup of chamomile tea and a glass of scotch for Derek ; they're both too tired to eat, forget cook.
He ambles into the room, all bare chested wet haired McDreamyness , and she smiles at him . " Drink? "
" Please. " He exhales, sinking into the couch. " Look at you, granny, drinking tea ."
" Helps me sleep. "
" Since when do you have trouble sleeping ? You fall asleep like a rock when you touch the pillow and then you hog the covers. " he pulls her feet into his lap and massages them, his thumb kneading just that sore spot on her arches that she refuses to admit is caused by her shoe habits.
She squirms in pleasure, lets him rub away the pain. " I only hog the covers because you look so nice naked. "
He smirks " You can admire me some other time. Preferably not in the middle of the night while I'm freezing my ass off. "
" You didn't complain about the nocturnal admiring last night ." she reminds him.
" No." he agrees, tickling her feet a little.
The doorbell rings, and they look beseechingly at each other, until she swings her feet out of Derek's lap and goes to answer it.
It's one in the morning who the heck is it?
" Amy ? "
Too much? Let me know in the reviews!Also it might seem a little filler, but clearly the next will be crazy.