"When will daddy be back?" Olive asked, lying face down on her parents' bed.

"He will be back at six, just in time for dinner," Addison replied, feeding the baby.

"How long until six?"

"A few hours."

"How many hours?"

"About three more hours."

"Can we go to the lake today?"

"Not today, Ollie," Addison said, placing Arleth on her shoulder and patting her back.

"But the fish miss me. I haven't seen them in two years."

"You saw them the other day when your grandma was here."

"But that was a long time ago. I'm starting to forget what they look like..."

"They still look the same, Ollie. They won't go anywhere, they swim there."

"When can I go back to swimming?"

"When I can better organize your sister's schedule, Olive. Why don't you ask your father..."

"What if I forget how to swim?"

"That won't happen, honey. Once your brain learns it, it memorizes it and never forgets. It's something you love to do."

"And what if my friends forget about me?"

"They love you, they won't forget you if you miss a few classes, Ollie."

"But I'm forgetting about them... Did Tammy have a red or blue swimsuit? I don't remember..."

"Oh, Arleth..."

"What's wrong with her?"

"Can you hand me that wipe?"

"Which one? This one?" Olive asked, grabbing a sheet.

"No, the small one, to clean your sister who... Ugh... you know what, it doesn't matter anymore, she just threw up on me."

Olive laughed at Addison's expression, but it didn't seem to amuse her.

"Ollie, could you watch your sister for a little while I take a quick shower?"

"Can I hold her?" she asked excitedly.

"No, she will stay in her baby carrier. You just have to watch her while I wash my hair."

"What if she cries?"

"Give her the pacifier."

"Okay."

"Thank you, honey. I won't be long."

Addison quickly changed Arleth and left her semi-reclined in the carrier. She took a towel and went to the bathroom in her room, without closing the door.

Olive felt a bit strange. It was the first time in the 15 days of her sister's life that she was left alone with her. Well, Addison was practically in the same room, but she wasn't looking at her. So they were alone.

Arleth was wide awake, staring at her sister eating colorful gummy candies.

"Do you want one?" she asked the baby in a low voice. "Mom doesn't let me eat sweets before dinner, but she won't know. What flavor do you like best? Strawberry? Or orange?"

"Is everything okay, Olive?" Addison asked from the bathroom.

"Yes!"

"Is your sister sleeping?"

"No, she's awake."

"I'm almost done, stay with her a little longer."

"Yes, Mommy... Arley, you have to stay awake until Mommy comes back."

Olive put another gummy in her mouth and Arleth looked at her curiously.

"Well, I'll give you one, but you have to eat it before Mom comes back or she'll be mad at both of us," she said as she took a green bear-shaped gummy from the pack and put it in the baby's mouth.

At first, Arleth started crying. It was a completely strange texture and taste for her, she didn't like it and wanted to spit it out, but the gummy got stuck in her throat, preventing air from flowing normally.

"Is she crying, Ollie?" Addison asked.

"Um... yes..."

"Give her the pacifier. I'm coming."

Olive saw her sister struggling to cry but no sound was coming out of her mouth. It was as if she had turned mute. So she quickly put the pacifier in her mouth. She was starting to worry because she saw the baby's face turning redder. Tears were falling from her eyes but she remained silent.

"I'm back," Addison said, returning with a towel wrapped around her head and another around her body. "How has she been?"

"Fine."

"Oh, my love, what happened?" she asked, seeing her move her arms in desperation.

As soon as she lifted her from the carrier, she noticed that her face was turning blue and she was not breathing well, as if she were choking.

"Olive, what happened?" she asked, worried.

"I'm sorry!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO?"

Olive ran out of the room, scared, and Addison started to panic. The baby was clearly choking and she didn't know why or with what. She quickly put her face down on her arm and started hitting her back.

It felt like the longest seconds of her life until the baby spits out the gummy forcefully. Then she began to cry and Addison breathed a sigh of relief. She hugged Arleth tightly and started crying with her, sitting on the floor. For a moment she thought she would lose her.

~•~

Derek was having a difficult day at the hospital. A patient had woken up in the middle of the surgery due to a faulty anesthesia supply and was threatening to sue the hospital.

"Mr. and Mrs. Wilson... we will give you an update on the surgery... " Derek began as he entered the patient's room with Bailey and Meredith.

"We completed the resection of the tumor. I managed to remove all of it from the abdominal wall," Bailey said.

"Which is a good thing. Everything went very well," Derek added.

"Really?" the patient asked in a raspy voice. "What about the part when I woke up on the operating table? How well did that part go? I smelled my flesh burning. How about that?"

Derek looked at her, concerned.

"When I was there, unable to speak and feeling my insides being cut. I couldn't move! I was awake and you had no idea!" she said with tears in her eyes, looking at Bailey.

~•~

After crying for a long time with Arleth in her arms and making sure she was okay, Addison got up from the floor and went to see what the baby had spit up. At first, she didn't know what it was but then realized it was a green gummy bear, similar to the ones Derek had brought to Olive the day before.

The images from moments ago kept playing in her head. She felt guilty, a bad mother, a bad person. What if she had taken half a minute longer in the bathroom? What would she have done if she lost her daughter? What would she have done if the baby never managed to spit out the object? How would she go on with her life after that?

She sighed and went to look for Olive, but she didn't find her at first sight. She used to hide when she did something naughty. She looked in the playroom, in her bedroom, in the living room, in the garden, and finally found her behind one of the trees outside.

"Why did you give a gummy bear to your sister?" she said angrily.

"Because she wanted it."

"Don't lie. She's a baby, babies can't eat sweets. Babies can't eat anything, I thought I had made that clear to you."

"I'm sorry."

"Olive, you almost killed your sister. Are you aware that she could have died?"

"I'm sorry," she exclaimed tearfully.

"You should have called me as soon as you saw her choking! A few more minutes and she would have died! I'm being serious. You could have killed the baby!" she shouted angrily.

"I'm sorry, Mom! It wasn't on purpose," she said between sobs.

"I don't want you to ever put anything in her mouth again, understood? Never again!"

"I won't do it again!"

"And now you're grounded."

"No, Mom!"

"You will stay in your room without television, computer, or games. And wait until your father comes home and finds out."

"Don't tell Dad! Please, Mom," she said kneeling on the floor while crying.

"I'm sorry, Olive. Go inside the house, it's late."

~•~

"Richard, it's not good for you to stay here sitting. Sign that paper and go to rehabilitation," Derek said as he entered the meeting room. They had been with the board earlier deciding what to do with Richard.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Who...? You're not my boss!" he exclaimed angrily, getting up from his chair to confront him. "You're not! You stole my office!"

"You have a problem and I'm trying to help!" he shouted, interrupting him.

"Why don't you help your wife and daughters and stay out of my life? I wouldn't fire you!"

"You fired yourself with the first drink you took."

"Get out of my sight!"

"No. You will not end your career to get back at me. I did what I had to and nothing more."

"Look me in the eyes and say it."

Derek looked at him firmly with his head held high and said in a strong voice.

"I wanted the position. I admit I wanted it. But I didn't want to end your career."

"That part is not up to you, right? You did what you had to. But this part is up to me. So leave."

"No!" Derek shouted.

"Enough!" Meredith said, entering the room. "Both of you stop! People are watching."

Derek turned around and saw that indeed the outside of the meeting room was full of residents and doctors watching the argument.

He left the room with his head down and instructed all present to return to work.

~•~

"Hey," said Mark as he entered Derek's office. He was shooting a mini basketball into a hoop.

"Hey, what do you think of the gift Hunt gave me for the promotion?"

"Hunt? I was going to give you one. The luxury version, the one that scores," said Mark as he sat in Derek's chair.

"That's my chair."

"I know. It makes me feel powerful."

"It was quite a scene in the conference room," Owen said, who was sitting in the chair across from the desk.

"You saw it?" Derek asked

"The whole hospital saw it," Mark said. "What happened? How did you dethrone the chief? And why?"

"I can't talk about it."

"Not with me either?"

"It's not my story."

"How's Arleth?" Owen asked.

"It looks like I'll be sued," Derek said, ignoring the question. "My second week and I'll be sued."

"Why?" Mark asked.

"A patient of Bailey's woke up on the operating table."

"Did you hear that Lexie slept with Karev?" Mark asked.

"And? Didn't you break up when your daughter was born? Or when you found out you had another one who's 18?"

"We were going to get back together."

"Then if you're not together, you have no right to claim her."

"That doesn't matter... hey, is that a hickey?" Mark asked, looking at Owen.

"It's a birthmark," he quickly lied.

"It's a hickey!"

"Oh..." he laughed nervously. "Cristina and I... we are getting along."

"You look good together... not like Lexie and me. And much better than Yang and Burke."

"Yeah, I never understood them," added Derek. "They were too monosyllabic."

"You and Addison are the same."

"Excuse me? We have never been like that."

"How's the postpartum sex going?"

"Sex?" Derek said sarcastically. "We haven't had sex in months, let alone now that she hates me."

"Welcome to my club," Mark said.

"Don't you have to go through that postpartum quarantine or something?" Owen asked.

"Don't worry, we will strictly adhere to those 40 days or perhaps 40 months. Addison doesn't even want to see me."

"I saw she was very angry with you at the welcome party. Was it because of the chief position?" Mark asked.

"Addison didn't want me to take the position. She wanted me to stay with her and the girls."

"You should have stayed with her and the girls," Owen said.

"They are fine. Now I have to deal with the lawsuit. I'm worried about how this will end."

~•~

"Hi, Addie," Derek said, approaching Addison. It was already ten o'clock at night.

"Derek..." she was with the baby sleeping on her chest, cuddled.

"I know, I know it's late. I had a very complicated day today. I swear I wanted to let you know that I was coming home later but I didn't even have time to grab my phone. Hey, are you crying?"

"I needed you so much today, Derek," she said through tears.

"Why? What happened?"

"Olive gave Arleth a gummy and she choked. For a moment I thought she was dying, Der. You should have seen her! She had stopped breathing!"

"What? Why did Olive do that?"

"I don't know, she's a child. She didn't know what the consequences would be."

"Oh my God, and how is Arley now?"

"She's okay now, I managed to get her to fall asleep. But I can't get the images of what happened today out of my head. Her desperate blue face, her tears, her hands... It may seem ridiculous since I'm a doctor and I'm used to seeing much worse scenarios with babies, but it had never happened to me with my own daughter. I don't even know how I acted quickly and didn't freeze with fear. I was so terrified of losing her in my arms!" she exclaimed, crying.

"Relax, Addie... luckily it didn't get worse."

"But it could have! If I had taken a minute longer, she wouldn't be here now."

"I know, but it didn't happen. Don't punish yourself for something that didn't happen."

"And you weren't even here."

"They're going to sue the hospital. I had a very complicated day."

"Me too! I told you our daughter almost died and you keep talking about the hospital! My day was a nightmare!"

"I know. Today has not been an easy day for anyone. Let's thank God that we can finish it together and be safe from any danger."

"I knew it would be like this."

"Addie, please. Let it go."

"Does it even matter to you that your daughter could have died today?"

"Stop saying that, stop repeating that word! She didn't die and she's no longer in danger. There's no reason to keep thinking and punishing yourself for that."

"You should have been here."

"Yes."

"Yet I was alone with the two girls."

"I'm sorry about that. Things will get better."

"Why do you always say that and I don't see it happening? I don't feel like anything is getting better!"

"Don't scream, you'll wake the baby," he said as he saw Arleth starting to make small noises.

"The days go by and it still doesn't matter to you. You're unbelievable."

"Addison..."

"No, stop saying Addison. Today was very serious, it could have ended in a tragedy. Stop minimizing it just because everything turned out fine. It could have gone wrong!"

"It doesn't make sense for you to get upset, it didn't go wrong."

"I almost saw my daughter die today! Do you know what it's like to see your child close to death?" she exclaimed in tears.

"Addison... she wasn't dying."

"She was dying! I saved my own daughter's life! I never imagined that I'd have to save my daughter's life!"

"Don't cry, Addie. It's over, you did the right thing. You're a doctor, you know how to deal with choking."

"She wasn't choking, she was suffocating! What part of 'she wasn't breathing' don't you understand?!"

"Add..."

"I gave her several blows! At least five, and she wouldn't spit it out. The seconds passed and they felt like an eternity. It was hell!"

"I understand, but you need to calm down. Stop thinking about it, I told you it doesn't make sense to punish yourself for this. Everything turned out fine. They're accidents, things that happen with kids..."

"Good night, Derek," she said, turning away angrily.