Naomi had always been her best friend. And on more than one occasion, Addison had wondered why she still was.
Their friendship had started purely by chance when they ended up in the same group at medical school. On the first day of classes, back in 1989, the Gross Anatomy professor, Dr. Caldwell, had assigned each student to a lab group for academic activities like discussing clinical cases and performing dissections throughout the semester. Addison, Derek, Mark, Sam, and Naomi were been Group 3.
That same day, after the introductory lecture, the professor took the students to the university morgue for their first encounter with a real human body. Each group was assigned an anatomical donor for dissection, allowing them to explore human anatomy directly and in detail, understanding the natural variations in the body that weren't evident in textbooks. That would be their first patient, and they were to treat it as such.
"Okay, who's gonna do the honors?" Mark had asked with a mocking smile, trying to break the awkward silence that surrounded their workspace. The body, fresh from the mortuary, was covered with a white sheet, and no one dared to uncover it.
"Oh no. Not me. Don't count on me for that. No, no," Naomi had said, stepping back several inches from the table with her eyes closed. She was undoubtedly the most nervous of them all. She had never seen a real corpse, and her mind only conjured up images from the few action movies she had watched, where people had disfigured bodies, bloodied faces, and exposed organs due to traffic accidents or disasters.
"I don't understand why you enrolled in medicine if you're disgusted by a dead body," Mark had complained.
"I'm not disgusted! It's... it's just that I didn't expect this to happen today... and…"
"Okay, Derek, you do it," Mark had ordered, cutting her off.
Derek had picked up each end of the white sheet with his fingertips and very carefully uncovered the body. It was a man in his mid-forties, with brown hair, and beard, and a stocky build. His skin was extremely pale; his lips, ears, and the tip of his nose had a bluish tint.
"Oh, he looks like Mr. Mulligan," Derek's first comment upon seeing him.
"And who's that?" Sam had asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He was the math teacher Derek had in elementary school. But this guy is way fatter. He's Mr. Mulligan after one hundred and fifty burgers," Mark had mocked, trying to make his classmates laugh and ease the tension.
However, Addison, who had been silent until then, felt indignation bubbling within her. She couldn't allow anyone to disrespect someone who had made such a great sacrifice.
"I don't get what you find funny," she said, annoyed. "This person donated his body to science so that you, a moron who thinks he's a model with a lab coat poorly buttoned, could learn medicine. Instead of leaving his family with a gravestone in a cemetery for them to visit, or being cremated, he chose to end up on this table to contribute to our education. So show some respect for this man and shut the fuck up."
Derek had opened his mouth, surprised not only by her boldness in confronting his friend but also by the fierceness with which she defended the memory of a stranger.
Addison hadn't expected Mark to respond, and with her classmates' gaze on her, she took the scalpel to begin the first dissection: the thorax. During that first class, they would explore and identify the organs within the thoracic cavity, such as the heart, lungs, and major blood vessels. And she, the daughter of a neurosurgeon who had allowed her to handle surgical instruments since she was eight, certainly knew how to do it perfectly, leaving her lab partners amazed at her performance.
"You were amazing today... you know... with the scalpel and all that..." Naomi had said, approaching her after class.
"Oh, thanks, I guess…"
"You know, I'd like to be like you. And I don't just mean your talent for opening corpses; I mean, yeah, you handle the scalpel well and know how to suture, you even make it look easy, but... umm... your attitude. I like your attitude. You silenced that idiot and... I don't know. I think you're great. I'd like to be your friend beyond the Gross Anatomy group... I mean... if you want to, of course…"
"You know, I'm looking for a roommate. My parents rented a double room just for me. I mean, I didn't know they did that... umm... I found out when I arrived... I actually think that's selfish and boring and... I don't know if you already have a room, probably yes, but... umm... I heard you can apply for a change during the first few weeks and... you know... I have an available spot if you want... I'm in John Jay Hall."
"Oh, that would be great!"
"Great."
And within a week of meeting, Naomi had become not only her roommate but also her confidante. Addison found a safe place in her where she could share not just her passion for medicine and the stress of university, but also her own conflicts, fears, and doubts, knowing she would always be there to listen.
In the first few months, they did everything together. They took the same classes, shared the same study and lab groups. They had lunch together at restaurants in New York. They studied every afternoon in the university library. They gorged on chocolate cake before exams and afterward as well, to celebrate when they passed. They had long conversations where both confessed things they had never told anyone before. Because if she had to be honest, Addison had never had a true friend with whom she could open up in that way.
One night, during one of many chats and confessions, Naomi had told her that she really liked Sam, not expecting that at that same moment Addison, nervous, would confess that she was also feeling something for Derek.
In fact, Naomi hadn't needed her friend to tell her to know it. Just by seeing the glances and giggles they exchanged during classes and study sessions, she could tell they were ridiculously in love, but too cowardly to admit it. Just like her with Sam.
"You know what, to hell with it, we need to tell them," Addison had said that same night, after a few glasses of wine.
"What do you mean?" Naomi had laughed.
"Sam and Derek. You know... the semester won't last forever and... not everything in life is about the lab group. We have to tell them. We need to make a challenge."
"A challenge?"
"We have to tell them that we like them. Umm... you know, get a date that's not just about studying."
"Are you crazy?"
"The one who doesn't fulfill her part of the challenge will be obligated to do all the house chores for the rest of the semester, including cleaning the bathroom. What do you say, do you accept the challenge?" she had asked, bringing her wine glass closer to Naomi's.
"Okay…"
Addison had been the first to complete the challenge. The following Monday, after the Gross Anatomy class, while she and Derek were washing up after spending time with Mr. Mulligan's intestines, she had unexpectedly kissed him in the most romantic context possible for a medical student: under the morgue's sink. Derek had initially been surprised by his colleague's behavior, but he had immediately reciprocated.
"What was that?" he had asked as soon as their lips parted, his breathing still heavy.
"I think you like me..." she had replied, taking a paper towel to dry her wet hands.
"You think I like you?" Derek had raised an eyebrow, laughing.
"Uh-huh."
"Wouldn't it be the other way around? That you like me?"
"It's like saying stroke or cerebral vascular accident. Same thing, different names."
"Is that your way of telling me that you like me?"
"Isn't that your way of inviting me out?"
Addison and Derek had their first date that same Monday after class, which left Naomi with no choice but to fulfill her part of the challenge. And she did it... several weeks later, perhaps in a much more timid way than Addison. But she did it, after all. The challenge had gone very well.
However, not everything was perfect during that time. Over time, Addison and Naomi began to clash. They were two people who had completely different upbringings, so their ideologies, beliefs, and ways of seeing life were also different.
Naomi had grown up in a family deeply devoted to Catholicism. Religion was not only a part of her life but her moral foundation. She believed that every action taken in earthly life would be judged under God's critical gaze, being rewarded or punished on the way to eternal life. There wasn't a single Sunday when she didn't go to church, and every night before sleeping, she would kneel by her bed and pray a Rosary or light candles next to her holy cards and saint figurines on her desk.
She had a strong sense of what she considered morally right and wrong, guided by the commandments and Catholic doctrine. For her, premarital sex was seen as a serious sin that would lead her away from her path toward holiness, so she hadn't even attempted to do it with Sam, even though he insisted. Her family had taught her the values of chastity, purity, and self-control. Sexual intimacy was to be reserved exclusively for marriage as a sacred union between a man and a woman.
And Addison... well, she didn't even know how to pray. Her family hardly cared about the church's teachings. Visits to mass were rare, limited only to Christmas and funerals, where the religious experience was reduced to a simple ritual. In fact, they didn't even believe in God, which is why she often couldn't understand why her friend was so strict and rooted in her beliefs.
The arguments between them began subtly when they started dating Sam and Derek, respectively. When they sat down to chat about their dreams and aspirations with their partners, the differences emerged strongly. Addison, just days after officially starting her relationship with Derek, began to have sexual relations with him, but her friend did not. In fact, she judged her for it.
Naomi sometimes raised her voice defending her stance on chastity, and Addison, with a mix of astonishment and frustration, replied that pleasure and intimacy were natural parts of a couple's life. To Naomi, those words sounded irreverent and dangerous; for Addison, it was the expression of freedom she longed to live fully as a woman and was not willing to give up.
"Are you sure you wanna get married? You're only 22!" Addison had said the day she heard about her friend's engagement. They were only in their second year of medical school when Sam proposed to Naomi.
"Yes. I wanna do things the right way. I want to do what's right."
"But Nai, you wouldn't be doing anything wrong."
"In God's eyes, yes, Addison. Our relationship with Sam is serious and... I don't want to sin."
"Oh, come on. Do you really think it's a sin? Who would you be hurting? It's just sex with your partner; it's not like you're prostituting yourself."
"It's not just sex. Sex is something sacred that shouldn't be done just because. A woman who respects herself knows how to wait."
"Oh, so from your point of view, I don't respect myself."
"Well... you could have waited a bit. I'm just saying..."
"I've been with Derek for over a year!"
"I'm not just talking about Derek. I mean... you know, the incident in your dad's backseat when you were 16... or the idiot who tore your dress in college, or the one who made you dip a foot in a public toilet, or the one who..."
"Okay, I got it. No need to go over my entire sexual history."
"I'm just saying that if you had waited, you probably wouldn't have gone through those... humiliating situations. And maybe I wouldn't have had the annoyance of finding you and Derek naked on the rug..."
"Oh, come on. It was just once, and it was because I thought you were going to the movies with Sam. We haven't done it here again. I respect you."
"Okay, whatever. By the end of the semester, I'll leave the room for you so you can bring him whenever you want. I'm getting married and moving in with Sam. I'm not asking for your opinion or permission. All I wanna know is... would you like to be my maid of honor?"
Addison had pressed her lips into a small smile while nodding her head.
"Of course."
Sam and Naomi's wedding had been in April 1991. During the summer break of that same year, Addison decided to leave her room in the university dormitory and move to an apartment nearby, where she lived alone until she married Derek in 1994.
Addison and Naomi stopped spending time together during the last years of med school, but the same clashes they had years ago resurfaced in residency.
One day, Dr. Vivian Carlsmith, the head of the obstetrics and gynecology department at New York Presbyterian Hospital, had prepared a special class for her residents about the different medical techniques for performing abortions, but Naomi had completely refused to learn how to do them.
Abortion was a sin for her. It was morally unacceptable to interrupt a life at any stage of pregnancy and under any circumstances.
"No, I won't do this," Naomi had said, abruptly getting up from her seat, "you are supposed to teach us to save lives, not to end them! Do you want to teach us to kill babies?"
"They're not babies, they're a bunch of clustered cells," Mark had said, rolling his eyes.
"That's not true. From the moment of conception, an embryo has a soul, a purpose given by God. Who are we to decide that this life doesn't deserve to exist?"
"Dr. Bennett," Vivian had said in a firm yet calm voice, "I understand and respect your beliefs, but a doctor like you needs to know how to act in such emergencies. When the mother's life is at risk, a surgeon must ensure the well-being of..."
"Well-being?" Naomi had replied, stepping forward, "How can ending the life of an innocent human being be considered well-being?"
"Nai..." Addison had murmured, embarrassed.
Vivian had crossed her arms, but her face remained calm. "And what about the life of the mother? There are situations where a pregnancy could kill her. Doesn't her life count?"
"Of course, it counts, but I never think the solution is to end another life. There are ways to protect both. Moreover, most abortions are not performed due to medical emergencies, but for reasons that are completely avoidable. A baby shouldn't have to pay the consequences of its mother's irresponsibility."
"Oh, yeah. Because it's always the woman's fault," Addison had said ironically.
"I'm just saying that if you were irresponsible enough to spread your legs without protection, you have to take responsibility for the consequences."
"Sure, because an unplanned pregnancy is always about spreading your legs. Because contraceptive methods never fail."
"I'm sorry, I don't care, Addison. If you had sex, you accepted that it was a possibility."
"Dr. Bennett," Vivian had interrupted, "you know that not all women have the resources, support, or circumstances to continue with a pregnancy. Some are girls. Some have suffered horrible abuses."
"I know, and it breaks my heart. But I believe our job as a society is to help them, provide alternatives, encourage adoption, not offer solutions that only bring more pain. You can't erase one trauma with another trauma. And as doctors, we cannot support that."
Vivian had taken a long pause, evaluating how to approach the argument.
"You are brave to stand by your convictions, Naomi. But let me pose something to you: imagine you're in the ER and you have a patient with an ectopic pregnancy. If you don't intervene, she will die. What would you do then?"
Naomi hesitated, but not for long.
"That's not an abortion. It's a case where the goal is not to destroy a life but to save the mother. There's a big difference between an indirect procedure and an intentional one."
"And what if your patient has a life-incompatible diagnosis, like anencephaly? Would you still insist that she continue with the pregnancy?"
"Yes," she had answered without hesitation, "every life has a purpose, even if it's brief. Who are we to decide how much time is enough? I know families who have found comfort in the time they spent with their babies, even if it was only for a few hours. Every baby deserves to live."
The classroom had fallen completely silent. Naomi realized that all eyes were on her, but she didn't care.
"Okay, doctors, we don't have all day," Vivian had said, trying to carry on with the class as if nothing had happened, "the first procedure we will learn today is dilation and curettage. It's important to know that there are different types of D and C, and..."
"I won't become a murderer!" Naomi had yelled. "I won't be an accomplice to the murder of an innocent soul!"
Naomi had left the room with tears in her eyes, outraged, and Addison had followed her. She wasn't surprised by her friend's reaction; she already knew how Naomi thought, but she didn't expect her to yell at one of her mentors like that.
"What's wrong?" Addison had asked her, following her to one of the on-call rooms.
"Nothing. It's just that I can't stand the kind of... indoctrination that Carlsmith wants to impose. This lack of respect for life, this lack of empathy, and..."
"Okay, I get it. But what's going on? The truth."
"I'm pregnant," Naomi had said, looking down, unable to hold back her tears.
"Oh, crap. Okay... well... calm down. It's okay. You know you have the right to choose and..." Addison had said almost immediately, her voice trembling with nerves. For her, who had prioritized the development of her professional career, a pregnancy in that context was synonymous with tragedy.
"No, I don't." Naomi had replied, annoyed. While the pregnancy hadn't been planned, the idea of not having the baby wasn't an option for her.
"Nai, I know your stance on this, but... just think about it. Okay? This isn't like med school. We're in our first year of residency now, we survived the internship, they're just now letting us participate more in surgery, we have more responsibilities, we have more complex patients to attend to, sometimes shifts last longer than 48 hours, we don't sleep, we eat what we can and when we can. Do you really wanna do all this with a newborn? I mean, those things never sleep and cry all the time. Don't you at least wanna consider it?"
"No, Addison. We've talked about this with Sam and we've concluded that the best thing for me is to leave the surgery residency."
"What? What are you talking about?!"
"You said it yourself, you can't do a residency and have a newborn at the same time. I have to give something up, and I choose to give up surgery."
"Okay, but you don't have to quit it. You can postpone it, you can take a year or maybe two, or however long you need. You can leave the baby in daycare, or you can hire a nanny, or ask your mother to care for them. We can talk to Vivian or Richard, and he will understand that..."
"No, you're not getting it. My dream isn't to be a surgeon. I'm not passionate about the OR like you or Sam are."
"Nai... but you've come this far..."
"I want to be a mom, Addison. Yes, maybe it wasn't in my immediate plans, but for some reason, it happened now. And... I want it. I want to be one of those mothers who are always present in their children's lives. I wanna take them to school, help them with their homework. I wanna cook for them, I wanna play with them, I wanna read them bedtime stories and know for sure that I can spend the night with them. I want to be present, I don't want them to grow up with nannies; I... want to be a mom. And I would like you to support me."
Addison had been silent for a few seconds, looking at her intently.
"Okay... if that's your wish, then... okay," she had replied with tears in her eyes.
It had hurt her friend's decision. For the first time in five years, they would take completely separate paths, and while that had started years ago when Naomi moved in with Sam, now the separation would be definitive. They wouldn't see each other all the time at the hospital, nor would they share long study sessions or night shifts anymore. They were no longer pursuing the same goal; they no longer had the same aspirations. Yes, it pained Addison, and it took her a while to understand it; but as a good friend, she had genuinely felt happy for Naomi. Of course, she had.
"Damn. You're going to be a mom, Nai!" she had exclaimed after a moment of processing the news.
"I am." Naomi had smiled before being squeezed tightly into her excited friend's arms.
"I can't believe I'm gonna be an aunt! You're gonna make me an aunt!"
On a rainy February morning in 1995, Naomi had arrived at the emergency room with intense contractions. Addison, who had been rotating through obstetrics and gynecology for a few months, had delivered and welcomed little Maya, who had given her the title of godmother for the first time.
"Just so you know, if Sam and I die in a tragic accident or from a horrible illness, you and Derek will have to take care of her, right?" Naomi had said during one of the countless times Addison had visited the baby at her apartment. She and Derek had taken their role as godparents very seriously, and whenever they had free time, they would pamper the little girl.
"Yes, in fact, every time I see her in this dress, I start thinking of a thousand discreet ways to kill you so I can keep her. What do you say, Maymay, should we kill your mommy?" she had joked, lifting the baby into her arms and making her laugh.
"Or you could give me a cousin to play with, Aunt Addie..." Naomi had said in a baby voice. On several occasions, she had mentioned to her friend how fun it would be if they had kids together and raised them side by side, since being an only child, Addison was the closest thing to a sister she had.
"Oh no, no. I have to admit that this girl's smile isn't very contraceptive, but that won't be happening for the next five or six years."
"Well, you never know God's plans..."
"We're using double protection."
"Double?"
"Derek knows that I know a thousand discreet ways to kill him if he dares to get me pregnant."
Sometime later, when Maya was already four years old and had gained a bit more independence, Naomi returned to the hospital. Being a full-time mom had been as wonderful as it was exhausting, and despite loving her daughter fiercely, she needed to return to being a doctor. This time, after experiencing it firsthand, she decided to specialize in OB/GYN, to pursue a subspecialty in reproductive endocrinology and infertility in the future.
By that time, Sam, who was finishing his fifth year of residency, had suddenly abandoned cardiovascular surgery without telling his wife the true reason.
"What happened yesterday? What went wrong in the surgery?" Naomi had asked Addison, who was the only one in the gallery that day. She and Derek had been dining at a restaurant, waiting for their partners who never arrived.
"He... he lost the patient," Addison had replied. Well, technically, Sam had decided to let the patient die. The patient was a pedophile, with multiple allegations of abusing children, and at that moment, when his heart stopped in the OR, Sam didn't allow them to attempt resuscitation with electric shocks. He chose to perform cardiac compressions that he knew would be completely ineffective until the man died. He had let him die on purpose.
"But what happened? How did he die? What made him resign?"
"I-I don't know," but she did know. In a way, she was complicit in that, but telling the truth would harm her friend.
A week after that incident, Sam and Naomi decided to move to Los Angeles and start their own private practice, Oceanside Wellness Group, leaving Addison and Derek completely surprised by the decision. In the new city, Sam worked as an attending internist, completely forgetting about cardio surgery, while Naomi practiced as an obstetrician-gynecologist, all the while finishing her specialization in endocrinology and fertility.
In the first few months, they spoke almost daily through phone calls or emails. Naomi used to send photos of Maya almost every week, so her godmother could see how quickly she was growing; while Addison shared how stressful it was to be an attending in two departments while doing a specialization in genetics at the same time. Right after finishing her residency, Addison got a fellowship at Columbia University, and for two years, she deeply researched cases of spina bifida in fetuses and newborn babies.
They shared almost everything, as they always had. But over time, the whirlwind of life, physical distance, and time zone differences caused them to simply stop doing so.
The long nights on duty between the operating room and the delivery room left Addison exhausted, causing her to occasionally forget to respond to her friend's messages. And Naomi, despite life on the West Coast seeming less hectic than in New York, often found herself caught up in practice issues and maternal responsibilities, forgetting to send updates via email.
Calls became more infrequent, and emails turned shorter, encapsulating their emotions in cold professional language. Sometimes, after bathing and putting Maya to bed, Naomi would sigh, remembering the call she never made, while on the East Coast, Addison would sink into a deep sleep after a long day.
Over the years, they stopped talking and sharing details about their lives to the point where one day Naomi hadn't told her that Sam had asked for a divorce; just as Addison hadn't said that she had divorced Derek almost at the same time, after living almost two unbearable years in Seattle.
After that tragic moment and some failed romantic attempts, Addison had made the most important decision of her life: she wanted to be a mother. And she wanted to be one now.
She had waited too long. She was 39 years old and knew her biological clock wouldn't wait for her forever. She didn't have the time or the desire to meet a man who could be the father of that baby. Because, obviously, that had been one of the problems that arose. She needed a man, and none of the candidates in Seattle seemed right for her baby.
Mark, after living with her for two months in New York and cheating on her with a nurse while she was pregnant, had shown her that he wasn't ready to be a father. He wasn't ready for a serious commitment with her. And Alex… he was an ass. He was a cruel, twelve-year-old immature boy who wasn't even really interested in her. Much less in fatherhood. That's why Addison had decided to seek an anonymous sperm donor.
With this resolution in mind, she had sought out the only resource that could help her realize her wish: Naomi, the most recognized fertility expert on the West Coast and her best friend. She had an impeccable reputation for her humane and empathetic approach to her patients. The possibility of being surrounded by the direct support of someone she trusted deeply was comforting in this uncertain journey. After all, who could take care of her emotional and physical well-being better than a close friend?
Addison had taken a leave of absence from work, rented a red convertible, and driven for the first time to Los Angeles to finally meet the famous private practice of her friends, where she would undergo fertility treatment. However, once again, things hadn't gone as she expected. After undergoing routine tests to check her ovarian reserve, Naomi had given her the saddest news of all: she had no fertile potential and couldn't get pregnant.
Addison's world had collapsed at that very moment. She was alone, recently divorced, and now, infertile. All her dreams had crumbled in a matter of months, and there was nothing she could do to reclaim them.
However, her friend had been there, by her side, holding her tightly while she cried, sharing a glass of red wine and chocolate cake in her bed, as they used to do in medical school.
"You know I have an opening for you here..." Naomi had told her the night before Addison was set to return.
"I don't know, Nai. I have a good position in Seattle, even better than the one I had in New York."
"Is it worth being there for the job? Is it worth seeing Derek walk down the halls with a resident? You have to prioritize your mental peace, Addison. You need to leave that place. Seattle has nothing more to offer you; you need a change."
"I promise I'll think about it…"
And she did. A month after that pivotal trip, Addison had submitted her resignation to Richard. And after saying goodbye to him, she did the same with Mark, Callie, Miranda, and—though she wished she had never had to do it—Derek. He was the last one she spoke to before leaving the city.
"Los Angeles?" Derek had said, raising his eyebrows in surprise as he wiped his hands with a paper towel. They were in the scrub room, finishing what would be Addison's last official surgery in Seattle.
"Naomi and Sam have a private practice there."
"Yeah, I know. It's just that... Addison Montgomery and Los Angeles aren't words that go hand in hand."
"Derek Shepherd and the trailer in the woods, are? Or would you prefer Derek Shepherd and the Seattle Grace daycare?"
Derek had laughed, shaking his head.
"At least Los Angeles sounds better than Addison Montgomery and the Archfield Hotel..." she had murmured, finishing washing her hands. For the last eight months after her divorce, she hadn't even had the energy to look for an apartment or a house to rent. Because perhaps, very unconsciously, she knew she was in a transient city.
"I think... I'm gonna miss you," Derek had admitted after a few minutes of silence.
"Oh, come on. You don't have to lie," Addison had rolled her eyes.
"I'm not lying. I'm gonna miss you, you know... I've had to put up with you in my life for seventeen years. It's going to be weird living without a nuisance in high heels chasing me down the halls."
Addison had smiled faintly. Even when he tried to be funny, it hurt her deep down; and just for that, she knew she was making the right decision in leaving.
"Take care, Addie. Good luck in LA."
"Take care, Derek."
And then a bittersweet goodbye hug, she had headed to the airport with a spark of hope in her eyes. Change was coming, the change she needed in her life. Something much better was on the horizon... Because not only would she have a more relaxed job and a calmer life, but she would also be close to her best friend again. What could go wrong?
Well... everything.
From the moment Addison set foot in that city, her friendship with Naomi began to decline for various reasons.
At first, they had several confrontations because Naomi hated that Addison questioned her authority and interfered with the administrative matters of her own practice. Naomi had made significant financial decisions without consulting anyone, which jeopardized the economic continuity of the practice. When Addison discovered this, Naomi had asked her to keep it a secret so as not to worry the others, especially Sam. However, Addison had told him anyway.
Naomi's anger over that betrayal was so great that she didn't speak to either Addison or Sam for several days, until they found a solution: Violet, Cooper, Pete, and Dell voted for Addison to take the reins of the practice.
In fact, that solution had also upset Naomi, and she decided to work with the competition, the practice on the fourth floor. She was jealous and resentful of her friend. She hated that Addison always monopolized attention and control over everything: Addison was the one who made the important decisions in the OR because she was the double-boarded surgeon, and everything was done according to her wishes. Addison criticized Naomi's medical judgment and offered opinions about her patients—patients Naomi had been attending to long before Addison arrived—while also intervening in the administration of her practice, questioning her beliefs and positions, and even getting involved in her relationship with Archer.
Archer had been a point of contention in their arguments, not because Addison minded that her friend was dating her brother, but because, despite knowing he was a man-whore, incapable of respecting a woman or a relationship, Naomi got involved with him and even got angry with Addison when she tried to warn her about it.
Another issue was Maya. Naomi was extremely annoyed that Addison was her daughter's trusted person instead of her. She couldn't understand it and couldn't stand it. Why was Addison, a woman who didn't even have kids and had never truly cared about motherhood or being present in Maya's life beyond silly gifts and sporadic phone calls, the person Maya turned to for such intimate confessions as her first time, her relationship with Dink, or even her pregnancy? Why did she find out about her own daughter's pregnancy through Addison?
However, the main issue of all was Sam. Naomi had never been able to forgive her for such a betrayal. Addison, her friend who in medical school had challenged her to confess her love to Sam and had witnessed every stage of their relationship, including dating, marriage, the birth of their daughter, and divorce... was now dating him? Out of all the men in the world... did it have to be Sam?
Naomi had traveled to Africa for the past two months to carry out medical projects with the William White Foundation hoping to make a difference in the neediest communities, but perhaps the real reason for her departure was that she couldn't stand seeing her ex-husband with her... ex-best friend?
Could she still call her best friend after all?
From the look of displeasure on Naomi's face at that moment in her office, Addison could tell she was not at all happy with the news that had slipped out of her mouth just moments earlier.
"Okay... I'll leave you alone to talk. I have a rehearsal dinner to plan..." Amelia said in an uncomfortable tone, sensing the tension that had quickly built in the room.
In reality, Addison wished her sister-in-law would stay and not leave her alone with Naomi, but she nodded and watched her leave.
"I didn't know you were back..." was the first thing Addison said, looking down, avoiding eye contact with her friend. She knew she would cry and needed to stay strong.
"Does Sam know?" Naomi asked bluntly.
Addison shook her head, still not looking at her. Her hands nervously toyed with the fabric of her dress.
"Of course, he doesn't..." she answered herself in a trembling voice.
Naomi still struggled to accept their relationship; she was clearly not ready to land in Los Angeles and accidentally heard that her friend was pregnant.
"Uhm... was it... was it planned? I mean... did Sam... did he want it?" she asked fearfully, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of Addison.
"It's not Sam's..." she murmured, with a lump in her throat that barely allowed air to pass.
"What?" Naomi exclaimed incredulously. She didn't know if she had misheard or if her friend really had said that.
"The baby isn't Sam's" Addison repeated, this time with a sigh that turned into a lament.
Naomi let out a sarcastic laugh that quickly made Addison's eyes well up. She felt a mix of fear, shame, and anguish having to admit it out loud.
"You really never change, do you? Never. You're still a compulsive cheater" she said, getting up from the chair to pace a couple of steps across the room.
Addison pressed her lips together and wiped away the first tear that slid down her cheek.
"Who's the father?"
Addison didn't respond.
"Who did you spread your legs for this time without even having the decency to use a condom? Whose man was it?"
Addison raised her head with the little dignity she felt at that moment and looked Naomi straight in the eyes, now the tears were flowing with anger.
"Why do you always have to ruin absolutely everything? It wasn't enough that you ruined your own marriage; you had to go around ruining other people's relationships with your obsession with other people's men?"
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Addison shouted, standing up from her chair in fury at such an accusation.
"First with Noah, your patient's husband who was having a high-risk pregnancy. Then with Pete, knowing he was in a complicated situation with Violet and Lucas. Then with Sam, my ex-husband, who only interested you because he was once mine. What's your problem?"
Addison let out a nervous laugh. She felt as if her face suddenly burned in a mix of anger and disbelief.
"Who is the father?!" Naomi insisted, getting even closer to her in anger.
"It's Derek!" Addison exclaimed, putting her hands up to push her friend away.
"Derek? When were you with D...? Oh. Right. In Connecticut. When Sam stayed here saving someone's life..."
"You mean when my mother died? Does that ring a bell? When you slept with my brother and my boyfriend almost at the same time while I was burying Bizzy?"
"How...?"
"I know you and Sam had sex while I was in Connecticut. Do you think he didn't tell me? I'm done with your double standard, Naomi. I'm fed up!" she shouted even louder. The words scraped through her throat with fury.
Naomi pressed her lips together with some shame. She and Sam had agreed never to tell Addison what happened that night. Why had he told her?
"I know I made a mistake, but what about you? Don't you have any self-reflection," Addison continued. "You fill your mouth with church nonsense and loving your neighbor, and then you sleep with my boyfriend after telling me you would support me through my mother's death! After I caught you 'helping' my brother with his grief in his bed!"
"Don't pretend you ever cared about your mother, Addison. You never cared about your family. Never."
"You have no right to say that."
"I do. Because I've heard you speak poorly of them for twenty years. I've seen you avoid special occasions; I've seen how you never spent a Christmas with them or a birthday, how you never went to visit them again, and the scandal you made when they came to see you. Don't pretend you care! A person who's grieving their mother's death isn't riding her ex-husband's dick!"
"Okay, just get out of my office."
"Bizzy died in February..." Naomi continued, diverting her gaze to Addison's belly. "You're almost three months pregnant? What do you plan to do? Hide it from Sam until it's obvious enough?"
"It's not your problem."
"Of course it is. Sam is part of my family, he's the father of my daughter, and... he doesn't deserve this. Derek doesn't deserve this either. God, that poor baby doesn't deserve such an irresponsible mother like you!"
Addison took a deep breath. She didn't feel good at all, and she didn't want to keep arguing. She knew that in her condition, she shouldn't be subjected to that kind of stress, but she also didn't want to stay silent.
"Just as irresponsible as you? Just as terrible as you?"
"Excuse me?" Naomi furrowed her brow.
"I've listened to you for years give sermons about abortion, about how life begins at conception, about how every baby has a mission and all that crap, yet the moment you found out your daughter was pregnant, the first thing you thought about was abortion. You forgot about God, you forgot about the life to be born, about everything. You showed that you never cared. Because if you had, why would you force your fifteen-year-old daughter to have an abortion?"
"Okay, enough. This was over a year ago."
"You forced her, Naomi! You dragged her to my office and practically made me perform an abortion on her. And when she refused, when she chose to do what you instilled in her all her life, you got angry with her! You got angry with me for letting her decide about her own body. You got angry with Sam for supporting her. You disappeared! You didn't take care of her, you didn't accompany her throughout the whole pregnancy. She was just a child, and you left her alone. You blamed her for something that, in part, was your and Sam's negligence. Because despite being a gynecologist, you preferred to stick to your Catholic convictions and not talk about important issues like sex education with your daughter, who had already given you signs that she had started her sexual life, and you ignored them.
"Can you stop talking about my daughter? She has nothing to do with..."
"No! Because every time she had a doubt or was scared about something with the baby, do you know who she turned to? Me! Or Sam. Or her boyfriend's mother. Because you abandoned her. You abandoned your daughter, Naomi. You weren't there throughout her pregnancy; you almost didn't go to her wedding. You showed up only when she was dying, when you put her life and Olivia's in my hands.
"I-..."
"And I don't know what kind of mother I will be for this baby. I don't know how Derek will react; I don't know if he will want it or not. I don't know what parental relationship I'll have with him, I don't know how we'll make this work living in two different cities. I don't know if I will be a single mother. I don't know anything. Is it irresponsible on my part? Maybe. But I can assure you that I would never, ever, leave my child the way you did with Maya. So, I don't want to hear you anymore. I can't stand your double standards. You criticize everything I do, but what about you? Have you never questioned your role as a mother?"
Naomi didn't respond.
"And regarding Sam, I'm sorry to tell you that he is my partner. Like it or not, he is. So I ask you please to keep this secret until I decide to share it with him."
"I'm not going to be an accomplice to your lies. Either you tell him, or I will."