FOUR - the allies
Meredith Grey proved herself to be a surprisingly difficult woman to track down. It had been four days since their scrub room heart-to-heart, if you could even call it that, and Addison had barely seen the girl since. She only saw glimpses of honey toned hair flying around corners accompanied by the woosh of her white coat, that she now knew hid a multitude of secrets, and her signature Chuck Taylors scurrying towards the sound of a trauma call. She knew the intern was avoiding her, she wasn't stupid. She had a habit of being everywhere and nowhere all at once and it was infuriating. She had done her best to keep her frustrations in check over those four days but it was becoming increasingly more difficult to hide her true feelings and it was Callie who finally called her out.
"So what's the deal with you? Your reign of terror has been intense lately. The interns have started to call you Satan," Callie only half teases.
Addison just rolls her eyes. The interns of Seattle Grace truly did have a knack for nicknames. First the Nazi, McDreamy, 007, Evil Spawn and now Satan.
She scoffed.
"That's cute but I prefer 'ruler of all that is evil.'"
Callie rolled her eyes.
"I'll be sure to pass that on. Seriously though, what's going on with you? Is it the slutty intern thing? Because you've been acting weird ever since we had that patient together."
Addison winced at the sound of it.
"Don't call her that."
Callie was surprised by the bite in her voice and if she was being honest Addisson was too.
"Woah okay. Why the sudden change in tone, you're the one who came up with the nickname."
Callie was right though and she hated herself for it. She had been so blinded by her own problems with Derek that she hadn't realised how much she had been projecting on to Meredith. She was angry at Derek and herself and Mark but it seemed the one person truly suffering here was the only innocent party.
"Well I was wrong"
Totally and completely wrong.
"Well I never thought I'd hear you say that," Callie gasped in shock, half joking half serious.
"Trust me, it pains me deeply."
Callie analysed the woman for a moment before continuing her line of enquiry.
"So what, she gets a couple of scratches and suddenly you start empathising with her plight?"
Addison rolled her eyes, becoming increasingly more frustrated. How could nobody around her see what was so obviously happening right under their noses?
"Don't tell me you're stupid enough to believe that?"
She hadn't meant for it to come out as harshly as that but the words had left her mouth before she could stop them and Callie was already on the defensive.
"She did it to herself for God sake Callie - the cuts, they were self-inflicted."
There was a pause as she processed information.
"What, like, self-harming?"
Addison nodded grimly as she felt the pit growing in her stomach widen. She was halfway through swearing Callie to secrecy when Arizona abruptly burst their bubble. She was too wrapped up in her rambling about Karev and his numerous shortcomings to notice the obvious tension quietly simmering at the table until she finally stopped for breath.
"What? What's happened, who's dead?"
Addison's eyes begged her to stay quiet but Callie's mouth had a mind of her own. Chaos ensued.
"It's Meredith Grey"
"Callie!"
"Meredith's dead?!"
"No!"
"Well if she keeps up with this 'girl, interrupted' shit she might end up that way."
"Could you not say stuff like that?"
"Will someone please explain to me what's going on here?"
Addison and Callie swiftly locked eyes and stared each other down in an epic battle of wills. Until, Callie went wide-eyed and blurted out, "Meredith Grey, she's been hurting herself."
There was a sharp intake of breath from all three of them before Callie tried to regain a little bit of her friends' trust back.
"Sorry Addison, she's my wife and she might be able to help you. Plus, she likes Meredith. She should know too."
She paused.
"Meredith is going to need people."
Addison buried her face into her hands and sat staring at her palms as though by some chance they might hold the answer.
It was Callie who broke the silence.
"You know she's been avoiding you, right?"
Arizona nodded along.
"Yeah, the other day she saw you coming around the corner and literally used my body as a human shield."
Addison let out an exasperated sigh and closed her eyes to fight off the oncoming headache. If she hadn't been so terrified she would have found the image of the tiny intern hiding behind 'Sunshine and Rainbows Arizona Robbins' hilarious. But she was - terrified that was.
"That would explain why I feel like she's been hiding from me then."
"Well, I would say that she's handling you, knowing well," Callie laughed without humour.
"What am I supposed to do? - I can't do anything if she runs the other way as soon as she sees my face."
They desperately threw ideas at each other until it all came to a head -
"What about an intervention?"
Addison bristled at the very thought of it. She had attended two interventions already and she wasn't planning on being part of a third if she could help it. They were traumatic for everyone involved and hadn't really done anything to help in either instance.
"That's the worst idea I have ever heard."
"Ok well then how about we observe her for a while and then figure out where to go from there?"
Addison knew it wasn't the best plan of action, there was room for error and they would have to draw on all the subtlety they had, but it was the best idea they had.
She nodded reluctantly.
"We tell no one else about this ok? Not even Derek, not anyone."
"What about her friends?" asked Callie.
"Have you spoken to Yang? All she thinks about is surgery and -" she searches for the word for a moment before Arizona fills it in for her.
"-Surgery"
"Exactly"
"What about the others? She needs someone surely?"
Addison shook her head grimly.
"Anybody with eyes can see that O'Malley's desperately in love with her, they call Alex evil spawn and izzie would only end up trying to mother Meredith and I think we all know how well that would go."
"Sooo, it's down to us?" Callie deducted.
"It's down to us," Arizona nodded in agreement.
Addison looked as though she had aged ten years since the conversation had started and the couple could almost see the weight of the world resting upon her shoulders.
It was clear something had happened between the two women. Some kind of strange bond had occurred seemingly overnight and the redhead had been undeniably changed by it.
She rubbed her eyes shaking herself out of it but it didn't go unnoticed that her knuckles remained clenched in iron tight white fists when she said,
"Ok, well if any of you have her on your services let me know. I want eyes on her at all times."
She took a deep breath and started to clear up before a thought crossed her mind and she turned quickly back to her two friends.
"If you so much see a speck of blood on the intern that hasn't obviously come from a patient or if she stumbles or sways or looks like she might pass out, page me 911."
"Pass out?" Callie questioned in confusion.
Addison merely raised a knowing eyebrow at the two and Arizona's face fell instantly.
"No, really?
Arizona had worked in paediatrics long enough to know the signs of an eating disorder and it was only now that she looked back on the past few months that she could see how long Meredith had been suffering.
The Brunette, however, was none the wiser but a sad shake of the head from her wife that held the promise to fill her in later silenced her questions.
Addison almost smiled at the way they seemed to be able to communicate through eyes alone. She wondered if she could ever have something like that with Meredith before she caught herself and shook the thought from her mind.
She cleared her throat quickly,"I haven't confirmed anything yet but I have my suspicions. Just keep me in the loop, ok? She probably trusts you guys more than me at the moment."
Trust was a big word but at least she didn't seem to have a habit of running away from them.
Arizona and Callie reassured her that they would do their best to look after the intern and Addison almost teared up at the sincerity in their voices.
She didn't though. She couldn't. Instead, she let her usual confident, cold and composed mask fall back in place before turning on her heel and strutting her way back down the hospital corridor to the NICU.
Callie and Arizona watched her go and there was a second of silence before Callie turned to smirk at her wife.
"What?"
Callie sighed in exasperation.
"If I didn't know any better I would say Addison had a crush on Miss Meredith Grey, wouldn't you?"
Callie looked at her like she was crazy before realisation dawned on her face.
" .God"