A/N: I don't recall when or where it was, but I saw someone complaining that no one ever writes stories where Addison has a troubled teenage son. And so the idea of this story was born. Trigger warnings will apply in later chapter.
Most of the story is already written so count on regular updates.
Derek looked down at his buzzing cellphone and saw the name of his son's school displayed on the screen. He rolled his eyes, tired for receiving the same call every week. "Your son skipped class." There was only so many times he could explain that he could not control a thirteen year old boy's whereabouts from a different location, nor could be leave patients to jump on call about the same thing multiple times per week. As the images of the MRI loaded on the computer screen in front of him, the call was left forgotten. Forgotten until he ran into his wife an hour later.
"You ignored a call from our son's school?" she accused, not even bothering with pleasantries as they stood side by side looking over post op charts in the ICU.
"I was busy. I have patients to see, work to do."
Addison gave him an annoyed look. Fourteen years into marriage and she had long given up trying to hide her annoyance with him on most days. "Oh, do you? Not me, I just walk around her in a lab coat to make a fashion statement."
He glanced down at her heels, then the skin tight pencil skirt and the white silky blouse that showed just enough cleavage to keep it tasteful. The lab coat over it and the black stethoscope around her neck definitely felt like it could easily be a fashion statement. "Have you looked in the mirror? You're a walking fashion statement."
"And what statement would that be?" she questioned curiously.
"It's a power move," he told her plainly, assuming she would know that by now. "It's intimidating to others and you know it. You're already tall, you wear heels and put on a white coat and suddenly everyone knows exactly how important you are."
She narrowed her eyes as she looked at her husband, "I didn't think I'd have to tell you this, Derek, but I'm important no matter what I'm wearing. And since when does this bother you? There was a time where you said you found this to be sexy. That's part of why I do it so often."
"Yeah, there was a time that I did find it sexy. Now I think it's a little much. We know you're important, we don't need the clothes to announce it every time you walk into a room. Interns hear the heels clicking on the floor and start panicking."
She rolled her eyes dismissively. "If they weren't doing something wrong then they'd have no reason to panic," she replied. They couldn't have an amicable conversation to save their lives, she realized. "I was talking to you about our son. They caught him trying to jump the fence during the first half of recess again."
"Yeah, we get the same call three times every week. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that they need to make sure he's escorted to that class. I'm not paying them 33k a year so that I can be the one to manage my child while he's in their care."
"What? He's your child, you're always supposed to be involved. He doesn't become someone else's responsibility while he's at school. We can't sit back and expect the school to parent our child."
Derek shook his head in disagreement, "When it's a private school that costs more than my first three years of college combined, we can."
Is there anything they agreed on these days, she wondered to herself.
"Addie, can we talk about this at home? We're at work and I'm incredibly busy today."
"We could, but that would require you to come home every once in a while."
"Oh, now we're off the Christopher/school problem and we've moved on to complaining that I'm never home," he said with a chuckle. "Our only two topics of conversation."
"Well, Derek, I'm just telling you that you are so consumed between your private practice, this place, and Beth Israel that you are quite literally never home anymore. Do you even remember the last time you saw the kids awake?"
"I saw them two days ago."
"Avery was already asleep."
"She's four, she goes to bed before the sunset sometimes so that doesn't count."
"She's five," Addison corrected. "Her birthday was two months ago. Perhaps you'd remember if you had bothered to show up to the birthday party."
"I had surgery during the party. I was there for dinner that night, I still saw her on her birthday. Don't make it sound like I ignored her on her birthday." He was called in unexpectedly, forcing him to miss the party. He could have turned the case away, but did not want to risk someone's life over a birthday party. When he got home, he mustered up enough enthusiasm to take his daughter for dinner. A few waiters sang to her at the end of the meal and he knew it made her feel special.
"No, you didn't, but being there for dinner is not the same as being at your child's birthday party."
Derek rolled his eyes, "Your expectations make no sense sometimes, Addison. She was happy with the dinner. The only person annoyed with me that day was you," he told her tiredly.
Addison was about to respond when her pager went off. She reached into the pocket of her lab coat and glanced at the message. "It's the ER, I've gotta go."
"Your father didn't answer his phone," the Vice Principal told him. "But your mother did."
"She did?"
"Yes, she said she has a busy schedule today but we have a call scheduled tomorrow to talk about your behavior."
"My behavior." He repeated.
"This is your second suspension. One more and you get expelled."
"Expelled?" He repeated again, this time feeling like his heart could pound out of his chest.
"Yes. We cannot condone your behavior. You try to jump that fence almost every day now. Where are you even trying to go? What's the point? You know you're going to get caught, why do you still do it?"
Chris stared at the man quietly.
"Mr. Shepherd?" The man asked, expecting an answer.
"I don't know," Chris lied. The truth was not something he could ever admit to anyone. No one could understand. "Are you sure you have to have that call with my mother? She's a surgeon, a neonatal surgeon. She operates on tiny, sick babies. We don't want to pull her away from sick babies over this, do we?"
"We do," the man replied firmly. He held out a slip of paper for Christopher to take. "Have your parents sign that. It's the note letting them know you'll be in suspension through the rest of the week."
"So I don't have to be at school?" He knew they answered, he had already been suspended last month for the same reason. His father had been ballistic at first, but either stopped caring or forgot because he never brought it up after initially learning of the occurrence. On the other hand, his mother remained very much bothered by the suspension. She kept him in her office the entire two days and constantly asked what was going on with him, appearing stressed, concerned, and very overwhelmed. He had expected anger from her but she didn't seem like she had enough energy in her to be angry. He hoped this time around wouldn't be much different.
"That's not a reward, Mr. Shepherd. This stays in your file and goes in college recommendations. Surely you care about your college admittance."
Christopher's eyes widened, "It does?" He asked, he generally aimed to be suspended, if anything just to give himself a break from school, but he didn't realize it could stay with him for years to come. He did care about his college admittance. Since he was old enough to understand, he dreamed of following in his mother's footsteps to become a neonatologist. He had also excelled in school, he had even skipped a grade, but now he couldn't even focus on getting through a math test.
"Have your parents sign that. You'll return it tomorrow morning, get your assignments and go back home."
"Mr. Fields, you don't understand, I can't get suspended again. My mom took it okay last time but I'm pretty sure she'll disown me this time."
"You should have thought of that before you tried to jump the fence two minutes into recess."
She got home late from work that day. As she kicked off her heels, she noticed Mark's leather jacket thrown off the banister of the staircase. She got herself a glass of wine and went upstairs, following the sound of Mark's voice to her daughter's pink room. She could hear Mark reading a bedtime story, doing his best to do voices for each of the characters in the book. She couldn't help but smile as she poked her head into the room.
"Am I too late for bedtime?" she asked, entering her daughter's room with a smile to hide her guilt.
"Mommy!" the five year old jumped out of bed and ran straight into Addison's arms.
Addison managed to set her wine glass down and catch her and lift her into her arms for a tight hug. "Hi sweetheart. I missed you today." Avery had generally been an easy going child, up until a few weeks ago when she became suddenly very attached to her mother. Often throwing tantrums when Addison was away longer than Avery would approve of.
"I missed you too. You weren't home today."
"I know, I ran a little late because an emergency came up."
"Uncle Mark had to come because Cindy had to go home."
"I see that," she smiled at Mark. "Thank you for coming over. Have you been here long?"
"No, Cindy had a test tomorrow so she wanted some time to study. She called Derek to see when he would be home but he was busy so he asked if I could come stay with the kids for a little while. He was called to a trauma case at Beth Israel."
"Right, cuz one hospital full of cases isn't enough, he had to take on a second one," she muttered disapprovingly.
Addison lowered her daughter back into bed. "Honey, let's let Uncle Mark get home and I will finish the book for you, okay?"
"No, it's okay. You just got home. Go change, eat something, the kids are fine. Chris is finished with his homework. He said he was just going to take a long shower before bed. And Avery is going to sleep as soon as we're done with this book, she promised."
Addison nodded, turning to leave Mark to finish up the book. She changed out of her work clothes and was about to go downstairs when she heard footsteps in her son's room. She stopped at the door, knocked and then turned the knob, "Christopher?" she said softly only to hear her thirteen year old son yell from the en suite bathroom.
"You can't just walk in! I just got out of the shower! You can't just walk into my room whenever you feel like it!"
"I can, actually, seeing as it's my house," Addison replied, saying words she thought she'd never say. When did she become that parent? "But I did knock, you must have not heard it and I didn't see anything, so just relax. You're not even in the same room." She took another step into the room. "I just wanted to check on you. I got a call from your school and I'm worried about you."
"I'm fine! Get out!"
She sighed, closing the door behind her to go downstairs and heat something up for herself. By the time Mark came downstairs, she was in Derek's sweats on the couch with a Haagen Daz bar in her hand and wine on the table in front of her.
"Did you eat?" he asked.
"I'm eating now," she responded with a smirk.
"Wine and ice cream is not dinner, Addie."
"When my kids are not watching it can be," she told him with a smile as she bit into the ice cream bar. "Besides, I tried to reheat leftover chicken from yesterday's dinner and I forgot about it while reading emails and burned it so this is my only choice."
"Want me to make you something?"
"No, it's okay."
He reached forward to wipe chocolate from the corner of her mouth. "Addie, you should tell him how you feel."
"I've tried, it sounds stupid to him. I sound needy and desperate when I tell him how I feel. He thinks that a logical person would understand that when he's not at home, he's saving a life and every life is priceless for a family. And I do get that, I just can't help but think of my own family. It's just not fair to any of us. Not me, not you, not the kids."
"Hey, don't worry about me. I don't mind being here. I love spending time with the kids. They're the only kids I tolerate."
"You do?" she asked doubtfully.
"Yeah, they're great. We always have fun together," he replied.
Addison sat up a bit straighter, looking at Mark to ask the question that had been on her mind for days. "Hey, is it just me or has Christopher changed lately?"
Getting up from the couch, Mark looked down toward her, "Chris? I haven't noticed anything. He's just growing up, trying to be more independent. I don't think it's anything to worry about."
"You think that's all it is?'
"Yeah, what does Derek think?" Mark asked. "You have discussed this with Derek right?"
She nodded, she had discussed it with her husband. He never had an answer for her. "He doesn't know what it is. We just both know that something is going on but we can't quite pinpoint what it is."
"I think he's just growing up and testing his boundaries. He seems fine to me," Mark replied with a shrug. "Hey, is there more wine where that came from?"
"Yeah, the bottle is on the counter. You know where the glasses are."
One glass became two, two became three and reruns on the couch quickly became much more. Right up until Derek walked in and it all came crumbling down.
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