Summary: Audrey learns more about what happened after she went missing from her parents while the SGMW residents gossip about Alex giving his phone number to a younger woman.
"So, how long until he can get the tube off?" Audrey asked as she sat in front of the incubator where her new baby brother slept.
"A few days. Probably not any more than three, by my guess," Addison replied as she filled out some charts, smiling while watching Audrey stare at the baby in the incubator.
"So, the tube…it's helping him breathe?" Audrey asked.
"Exactly," Addison confirmed.
"Why can't he breathe on his own already?" Audrey asked, finally looking back at Addison standing behind her.
"Well, he was born a little premature, so his lungs are just a little underdeveloped," Addison explained, walking up to stand beside her as Audrey went back to watching the baby breathe.
"But not all premature babies make it?" Audrey asked, almost as if it was a statement more than a question.
"No, not all of them, but I have a pretty good track record, if I do say so myself," Addison replied, smiling.
"Is it hard? Doing this job and watching babies…not make it?" Audrey asked, curious.
"Sometimes," Addison said.
"Then why do you keep doing it?" Audrey asked.
"Because…the best part of my job, or at least my favorite part of the job, is watching these babies go home. You're right; they don't always make it, but I am good at what I do, and I'd say more often than not, the babies I work on do make it. Watching them go home and imagining the kind of life they're gonna have is what makes it worth it," Addison replied.
"What about…after you lost me? Did it make it harder?" Audrey asked hesitantly.
She could see how good of a doctor her mother was and how the other doctors respected her. Addison didn't even work here anymore, nor did she know the newer class of residents, as Lexie described them, yet they all respected her and seemed to want to be on her service whenever she came to work at this hospital.
"Sometimes," Addison said honestly, waiting a beat before explaining herself further as she sat beside her daughter.
"I used to, um, stay in the NICU overnight, and watch the premies sleep through the night. After a few months of just…hoping for good news, I stayed in the NICU instead of sleeping at home. It was easier than crying into my pillow; it gave me something to do. Something about watching other people's babies and making sure they would be okay was oddly…comforting," Addison gave her a small smile as her eyes watered. Audrey looked straight into her eyes before her mother turned away, and it was like looking into her own. No wonder people thought they looked like twins, she thought.
"After it'd gone on long enough, Mark pulled me out in the middle of the night. Your dad was probably in the ER doing something, anything he could to stay busy. The NICU…it kept me distracted sometimes, but other than the machines, it's quiet. In the ER, you're so busy, you don't even have time to think about anything other than whatever patient you're working on at the moment," Addison explained.
"But…Mark got you out of the NICU, not…Derek?" Audrey asked. She thought about referring to Derek as her dad, but she just wasn't quite there yet.
"Yeah. Nothing ever happened before your dad and I got divorced, but there was something there. There kind of always has been, but it was always Derek and Addison back then," Addison said, referring to her and Derek in the third person the way their friends used to.
"Losing you was the hardest thing we've ever been through and in the end, we just…couldn't make it through. That's not to say that it's your fault; it's anything but your fault. I hope you know that," Addison said, making sure her daughter didn't feel guilty because of how her kidnapping had destroyed her parents' marriage. It wasn't that simple. It never had been.
"Yeah…I know. It's just…hard not to feel…I don't know, guilty," Audrey admitted.
"Well, you're not. It's not your fault, Audrey. I need you to know that. You were a baby," Addison insisted. Audrey nodded, taking her at her word.
"Honestly, the more I've thought about our marriage, the more I think we wouldn't have worked out anyway. It's not that I didn't love him or that he didn't love me; we loved each other so so much, but we were also just so…young. Not to say young love can never last because it can, but we had all these dreams about how we wanted our lives to turn out, and…there's a difference between what we wanted and reality," Addison said. They gave it another minute to sink in as they sat there in silence, the only sound being the machines keeping the premature babies alive in the NICU.
"So…are you happy? Now, I mean," Audrey asked.
"Very happy. More so now that you're here and alive," Addison said, smiling as she moved some hair out of her daughter's hair.
"It took me a long time to move on. Not just because of you, but Derek and I had been together since we were 22. We still had our entire lives in front of us, and we were excited for…all of it. I just think…life happened," Addison said.
"But that isn't something you need to worry yourself about," Addison said, smiling before they went back to watching the baby sleep in the incubator.
Meanwhile, the residents were starting the day off in the locker rooms, chatting as they got dressed in their light blue scrubs before getting to work.
"Are you sure?" Stephanie asked.
"Yes! He was giving her his number," Leah insisted.
"She seems a little young, doesn't she?" Levi asked.
"Who cares about age?" Shane asked nonchalantly.
"Of course you'd say that," Leah said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Shane asked.
"It means we can all see you sucking up to Dr. Yang," Stephanie scoffed. Shane rolled his eyes as everyone continued getting ready.
"Maybe it was for a different reason," Heather suggested after a minute.
"It's Alex Karev," Leah said pointedly.
"What about Alex?" Jo asked as she walked into the locker room.
"You're late," Stephanie pointed out.
"I had to get my car jumped this morning," Jo said as she rushed over to her locker to get changed.
"You mean your house?" Leah asked jokingly, garnering a laugh between her colleagues.
"I don't live in my car anymore," Jo replied, insulted.
"Oh, really? We didn't notice it without you reminding us about it all the time," Stephanie mocked jokingly.
"Shut up," Jo said as she got dressed in her scrubs.
"What were you saying about Alex, anyway?" Jo asked.
"Murphy saw him giving Dr. Montgomery's daughter his number," Shane informed her.
"What?" Jo asked, surprised.
"He's Alex Karev. What were you expecting?" Stephanie asked before they all filed out of the locker room to get to work.
Jo sighed before following her colleagues to get their assignments for the day. Whatever Alex did was his business, but it didn't mean she wasn't bummed about hearing him flirt with other girls when they were…well, they technically weren't anything, but she still felt like there was something there between them. Maybe she was just kidding herself, she thought.
After running some tests on William and checking in periodically, it became closer to lunchtime. With Derek visiting Meredith and William in between working, Addison grabbed Audrey for lunch. It was now Monday, so Jake, Angela, and Henry had left to go home to Los Angeles earlier that morning. It would just be Addison and Audrey this time.
Addison planned on going back after William could breathe on his own and be discharged. It would only be a few days and Addison knew it'd be hard on her son, but she promised to call at dinnertime and again when Jake tucked him into bed. Angela also offered to stay overnight when Addison couldn't be there, which helped ease her mind. While Addison and Audrey walked, Addison saw Dr. Miranda Bailey walking down the hall, talking to a young boy.
"Remember…," Miranda started.
"I know. Homework first, then TV," Tuck replied, interrupting his mother. She gave her son a look before shaking her head as they kept walking through the halls.
"Miranda!" Addison smiled, greeting her.
"Addison, it's good to see you. Tuck, this is Dr. Addison Montgomery. Addison, this is my son, Tuck," Miranda said, introducing the two.
"Oh, my God. This is Tuck?" Addison gasped, smiling widely.
"Yup," Miranda said proudly.
"Wow, he's so big now," Addison remarked. Tuck looked over at his mother, confused. Was he supposed to know this woman?
"She, uh, she delivered you, Tuck," Miranda said upon seeing the confusion on her son's face. He smiled back.
"Wow," Audrey commented quietly.
"Miranda, this is my daughter, Audrey," Addison said, stepping back so Miranda could get a better look.
"Is this the kid that…the guy took and…?" Miranda started muttering in an attempt to be sneaky.
"Yes," Addison confirmed.
"Wow. So, you're really her," Miranda said, getting a better look at Audrey. Everyone was right; she really did look like the spitting image of her mother.
"Yup. That's me," Audrey smiled awkwardly.
"Wow. I'm sorry, I'm just…amazed," Miranda said, excusing herself for her shocked reaction.
"Yeah, I know. I look just like her," Audrey chuckled.
"No. I mean, you do, but I just mean…you're alive! It's…it's incredible," Miranda said.
"It really is, isn't it?" Addison smiled.
"Well, I'll let you two go. Addison, I hope this means we'll get to see you more often," Miranda said.
"You will," Addison confirmed, chuckling.
"Maybe I can get you to scrub into a surgery with me one of these days," Miranda smirked. Addison chuckled and nodded before they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.
Later that day, Jo saw Alex talking to Arizona about whatever medical case they were working on that day, so she hid behind the wall around the corner to listen. After hearing about how Alex asked out a 20-year-old, Jo had been avoiding him all day. They weren't together, but she thought they could be. There was something between them, they just hadn't…done anything about it yet. Maybe she was being crazy, but she just didn't want to deal with it right now.
"Are you okay?" Audrey asked upon seeing her stand against the wall.
"Yeah. Did…did you need help with something?" Jo asked, going back into doctor mode as she straightened her posture. This girl was in plain clothes, which to Jo meant that she must've been a family or friend of a patient.
"No, I'm just…waiting for my mom. Dr. Webber pulled her for a consult or something," Audrey said, using the same language Richard had used earlier.
"Oh, does she work here?" Jo asked, curious. She didn't recognize this girl, and she'd worked at SGMW long enough to feel like she knew everyone.
"No, um, she used to, apparently," Audrey replied.
"I'm sorry. What's her name?" Jo asked.
"Addison Montgomery," Audrey said simply.
"Your…your mother is…Dr. Addison Montgomery? The Addison Montgomery?" Jo asked.
"Yeah. You…you know her?" Audrey asked awkwardly.
"You mean have I ever been graced by her presence? No. She's a legend," Jo replied. Audrey smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to respond.
"Wait, I don't remember her having a daughter. I thought she had a son," Jo commented.
She'd read up on Addison Montgomery and her publicized journals about her work in neonatal medicine, maternal-fetal medicine, obstetrics, and gynecology. Only recently had Dr. Montgomery referenced how she'd adopted a baby boy, which inspired her to get more into the fertility space.
"Wait, you're the kidnapped girl," Leah commented, coming up from behind Audrey, startling her slightly.
"Leah, don't say that," Heather said.
"Why not? It's true," Leah pointed out.
"Because it's rude. That's why," Stephanie said.
"What kidnapped girl?" Jo asked hesitantly.
"You have got to keep up with the gossip around here," Leah said.
"Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Montgomery had a baby a long time ago and someone took her from daycare only for her to show up here, alive, and being raised by her kidnappers," Leah explained.
"Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Montgomery were married?" Stephanie asked. They'd only seen him with Dr. Grey.
"Yeah. They got divorced years ago," Jo informed her. She may not have met Dr. Montgomery yet either, but she knew the history just from sparsely following her career over the years.
"So, you're really their kid," Stephanie remarked as Audrey had stood there for a while now, quiet as she listened in.
"Yeah. Apparently, DNA doesn't lie," Audrey said, giving them a small smile and repeating what Mark had said that day he'd brought them all together.
"Wow. How do you feel?" Stephanie asked.
"Fine…I mean, it's not every day you find out the people you thought were your parents actually kidnapped you as a baby," Audrey said jokingly.
"You're funny. I like you," Stephanie commented.
"What are we even doing back here, anyway?" Leah asked, realizing they were just standing behind a wall rather than hanging around the nurse's station like they normally would.
"You guys are the ones who showed up," Jo said, trying to change the subject.
They all looked at Jo, knowing she was hiding something. Leah peaked from behind the wall to where the nurse's station was and saw Alex talking to Arizona while looking through some paperwork. They were clearly working on a patient together. It didn't take long for the girls to realize why they were hiding behind this wall.
"Oh, so we're hiding now?" Stephanie asked, chuckling.
"Shut up," Jo said, pushing herself from leaning on the wall and walking toward the nurse's station to prove she wasn't hiding.
"Admit it. You were hiding," Leah added as the rest of them followed her.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jo brushed it off as she worked on her pre-op notes for Dr. Sloan, who she was working with today.
"Even Heather knows," Stephanie pointed out.
Heather shrugged and tried to give her an encouraging smile. She did know, but she was at least trying to be nice about it. Especially since Alex Karev was just across the nurse's station away and could probably hear them from here.
"Know what?" Audrey asked, whispering in an attempt to be respectful of whatever it was Jo was hiding from.
"Jo has a thing for Dr. Karev," Stephanie whispered back. Audrey nodded and looked up to see Alex, looking up from his paperwork and smiling back.
"Hey, kid," Alex said as he walked up to them, with Arizona not far behind.
"Hi, Alex," Audrey said politely. Arizona looked at Alex to introduce her to the girl.
"Oh, right. Robbins, Audrey. Audrey, Dr. Arizona Robbins," Alex said upon seeing Arizona beside him.
"Audrey, nice to meet you," Arizona smiled brightly.
"She's Derek and Addison's kid," Alex added.
"Oh…right. Audrey…," Arizona said, making it clear that it clicked in her mind.
"So, you know who I am?" Audrey asked.
"Yeah, I'm…I'm friends with your dad. And your mom, I guess," Arizona replied. She didn't know Addison well, but she'd delivered her daughter, and she was close with her wife, so she felt like they were friends.
"Of course you are," Audrey commented.
"They have a lot of friends here," Alex chuckled.
"Hey," Addison said from behind Alex and Arizona, smiling as they turned around to see her.
"I see you've met Audrey," Addison said, directing her comment more towards the residents standing around and Arizona.
"We did. She seems great," Arizona said.
"She is great," Addison said as Audrey smiled back.
"Dr. Montgomery?" Jo started nervously. Addison turned curiously.
"Dr. Jo Wilson. I've read your neonatal studies on liquid ventilation. Did you really test it on a 27-week-old preemie?" Jo asked.
"I did. But I don't recommend it. I'm just lucky it worked that time," Addison replied.
"Of course," Jo nodded, making it clear she understood her.
"Suck up," Alex snickered, earning an eye roll from both Addison and Arizona.
"Anyway, Richard's dragging me into an emergency, so is it okay if you stay with your dad and Meredith for a while?" Addison asked.
"Yeah. That's fine," Audrey said. She knew Zola would likely be hanging around, so maybe she'd have some coloring books to fill out.
"I got her," Alex offered.
"Thanks, Karev. I'll check in with you later?" Addison asked, directing her question toward Audrey. She nodded back before Addison left them at the nurse's station.
Meanwhile, the other residents were teasingly pushing Jo towards Alex. To get them to leave her alone, Jo went over to Alex and ended up walking with him and Audrey over to Meredith's room. She knew they meant well. Mostly. They knew she liked him and they also knew that if she didn't do anything about it, she'd keep bothering them about it.
"You need something, Wilson?" Alex asked.
"No, just…killing time," Jo said, feeling stupid that she couldn't come up with a better excuse.
Alex knew Jo wanted something from him and wasn't just following them for nothing, but he let it go for now. He figured Audrey had been through enough that week; he could deal with Jo after dropping her off with Derek and Meredith.
"Hey," Alex said, knocking on Meredith's room door. She looked up from her bed and smiled while Zola looked up from her coloring book and did the same.
"Addison had to head into surgery. Where's Derek?" Alex asked.
"Bathroom. Or stealing a surgery from Amelia. I don't know anymore," Meredith said, half-jokingly.
"You don't know where he is?" Alex asked, chuckling as he and Audrey entered the room. Jo, however, decided to hang back and stand outside in the hallway instead.
"He was here all last night and most of today, but I told him he could go back to work or something," Meredith said.
"Tired of him already?" Alex joked.
"It's not like he was doing anything here anyway other than watching me sleep," Meredith joked back.
"How romantic," Alex commented sarcastically.
"Whatcha got there?" Audrey asked as she pulled up the other chair to sit beside Zola.
"A butterfly!" Zola smiled, showing off the picture in her coloring book.
"Zozo, can you share and give Audrey a picture to color?" Meredith asked.
"Okay," Zola agreed easily, before showing Audrey the other pages of the book.
"Hmm…ooh, a duck," Audrey said as Zola flipped through the book.
"Here, I got it," Audrey offered when Zola handed her the book, ripping the page out so it wouldn't ruin the picture.
"Alright, I'll leave you guys to it. I'll tell Derek you're here if I see him," Alex said, before leaving the room.
Instead of heading back towards the OR board, Alex took Jo aside into an on-call room to get her to talk.
"What are you doing?" Jo asked as he dragged her into the room.
"What's goin' on with you?" Alex asked.
"Nothing," Jo brushed it off, pretending to act unbothered and innocent.
"Don't do that," Alex said.
"Fine. I thought we were…I don't know, I mean we're…we're not together or anything, but I thought…I thought you liked me," Jo started.
"Who said I didn't?" Alex asked.
"You wouldn't ask for some 20-year-old girl's phone number if you did. I know we're not actually together or anything, but I just thought…I don't know, it's stupid. Forget I said anything," Jo rambled.
"Do you mean Angela?" Alex asked, chuckling.
"It's not funny!" Jo whined.
"Angela is Addison's daughter. Her other daughter. With everything that happened with Audrey, I wanted to make sure they got back to the hotel okay. I got paged to the E.R. when we got back from dinner, so I couldn't stay with them until Addison got there. So, I gave her my number," Alex explained, still chuckling over how ridiculous this misunderstanding was.
"Oh," Jo muttered before they both broke into laughter.
After a minute, their laughter died down into awkward silence as they stood in the on-call room, looking at each other. After taking another breath, Alex leaned in and kissed her as Jo wrapped her arms around his shoulders, deepening the kiss. Before they could get any further, Alex's pager beeped.
"I gotta go," Alex said as Jo nodded, watching him leave the room.
A while later in the day, Amelia walked into Meredith's room and found her asleep with Zola lying beside her and Audrey sitting in the corner, reading a book.
"Hey, kid," Amelia said quietly. Audrey smiled back.
"I thought you were with Addie today," Amelia added, sitting in the chair beside her.
"She had a surgery," Audrey said.
"Are you reading Dr. Seuss?" Amelia chuckled as she got a better look at the book in her hand: The Lorax.
"It was either that or The Very Hungry Caterpillar," Audrey replied, chuckling back.
"Derek should be here soon. Maybe he'll take you out somewhere," Amelia said, cleaning up the scattered coloring books and pages on the table.
"You could've at least done some coloring," Amelia added.
"I did. Those are mine," Audrey said, pointing out the loose pages on the table.
"Oh, is that why they're not all purple like Zola's?" Amelia giggled, sorting through Audrey's pages. She paused at the page of the ducks in a pond and smiled.
"You used to love seeing the ducks at the park," Amelia commented.
"Really?" Audrey asked, curious. She used to love going to Sleepy Hollow Park to hang out after school and study with her friends as they shared snacks amongst themselves in a makeshift picnic as the ducks waddled past.
"Yeah. It used to be Addie's favorite thing to do. Taking you to the park, I mean. Derek would bring some bread so you could feed them. He'd rip it into little pieces for you because otherwise, you'd throw a whole slice out at them," Amelia recounted, making the two of them giggle.
"Sometimes, he'd just give you the whole slice to make Addison laugh," Amelia added, making Audrey smile bigger.
Amelia kept sifting through the coloring pages and books, putting them away in Zola's backpack as Audrey went back to reading The Lorax until a few minutes later when Derek showed up.
"I thought she was with Addison today," Derek whispered.
"Surgery," Amelia answered simply. It was assumed it was Richard who roped her into it. Derek nodded before gently pulling up a chair to sit next to her.
"Sorry, you had to sit here all day," Derek said.
"It's fine," Audrey brushed it off.
"Look. Audrey colored some ducks," Amelia said when there was a lull in the conversation, holding up the colored picture of the ducks. Derek smiled.
Zola stirred in her sleep before waking up, sitting up in Meredith's bed. Amelia stopped Derek from getting up before picking up Zola and placing her on her lap before sitting back down.
"Can I ask you something?" Audrey asked, curious.
"Anything," Derek replied.
"What was it like for you after I went missing?" Audrey asked, still hesitant. She'd heard her mom's side of the story, now she wanted to hear his.
"Hard. I…I didn't wanna go home. Addie didn't either sometimes, and I don't blame her. I'd take any and every neurosurgery they had available and just slept in the on-call room when they told me I'd hit my limit of working hours that week," Derek started.
Derek was so busy trying to figure out how to word his feelings delicately that he didn't notice Meredith waking up from her nap and sitting up to listen. She'd never heard him talk about the kidnapping before. He told her about it almost a year into their relationship, and even then, he made it clear he didn't want to talk about it. Meredith couldn't judge him for that. Not when she had plenty of childhood trauma that she didn't want to talk about either.
"Things got bad for us a year after you disappeared. I wasn't a good husband or even a good friend…so much so that even Keller, our chief of surgery, ordered me to go home, so I did. I walked upstairs and into our bedroom and I found Mark and Addison in our bed. They weren't…they were just sleeping, but it was like I went from sad to angry. I woke them up and kicked Mark out. I know I shouldn't have, and I know nothing happened, but I just…that's when I knew we were broken," Derek recounted.
"I'm sorry," Audrey said quietly, still feeling guilty.
"Don't be. It's not…it's not your fault. It never has been," Derek insisted, rubbing his hand on her shoulder before pulling her in for a hug.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Audrey," Derek said, soothing the teenager.
"You were a baby; there's nothing you could've done differently that would change what happened," Derek added as he held his daughter in his arms.
That night, Meredith told Derek to take the girls home with him so they could sleep in a proper bed while Amelia stayed with Addison in her hotel room. The next morning, Amelia went back to the hospital with Addison, checking on baby William. By three in the afternoon the next day, Meredith could go home, which she couldn't be more excited about. She, however, was less than thrilled about being pushed in a wheelchair, but Derek insisted.
While Derek, Meredith, Audrey, and Zola walked the halls after leaving her hospital room, they wanted to see the baby one more time before going home. On the way, they bumped into Mark and Lexie, so they decided to join them as they walked. When they got to the NICU, however, they saw Addison, Amelia, Alex, and two nurses surrounding William's incubator.
"Derek," Meredith started, wanting to stand up from her wheelchair. Derek motioned to stop her as he walked closer to the NICU.
"Addison," Derek started, trying to get his ex-wife's attention as he stood outside the NICU.
"Addison!" Derek said again, making his voice louder as he knocked on the glass when she didn't answer him.
A/N: Chapter title inspired by the song, Innocent by Taylor Swift. I'm sorry I'm leaving you on another cliffhanger, but I promise you won't have to wait long for the next chapter since I'm trying to post on a consistent schedule (we'll see how long that lasts, but for now I'm posting one a week). Thank you all again for following along and the very nice comments/reviews you've been leaving me so far. It's very much appreciated. Until next time!
References include Addison's line about watching a baby come home Grey's Anatomy 3x11, Bailey's mumbling about Audrey's kidnapping is a small reference to how she did the same thing when she guest-starred on Private Practice 3x03, except she was referring to Violet and Lucas's birth, and the last reference is to Private Practice 2x01 when Addison performed liquid ventilation on Molly Madison's (AKA Kathleen Shepherd in a future Greys episode) premie baby (after she broke her own water with a knitting needle).
