Falling Apart, Barely Breathing
In Which Addison meets Meredith in a bar. Things spiral from there.
Chapter 54: Surprises
Few things make Mondays extremely fun, but some of them certainly help more than others.
It helps a lot, for example, when Meredith finally gets her locker repaired and discovers a final 'mystery person,' note that Addison must have written her before she had confessed and before they had been officially dating.
"Awe, that is so sweet," Meredith thinks to herself, as she holds it close to her chest. "I'll just have to make her one, also!" Meredith smiles.
She gets to work, taking some spare paper and working on the chart on her lap to make Addison a good morning card.
"Grey, are you ready for rounds?" Miranda Bailey emerges.
"Of course," says Meredith, as she tucks the card into her pocket, and opens the chart to the page that she needs.
"Hey, you've got to be focused! We ain't got no time for you to be writing love letters during work hours!" Bailey teases, and Meredith blushes profusely at being caught.
"Now I was just joking, but from the look on your face- Grey, go to the pit and find something to stitch up," Bailey says mock-exasperatedly.
"Yes, Bailey," Meredith says sheepishly, as she heads off, hearing the whole time as Dr. Bailey is muttering to herself "interns these days..."
As Meredith starts suturing patients, she's a little bit shocked when she sees the name on the chart of her next one.
"Archer Montgomery?" Meredith calls out to the waiting room.
"Over here," says the tall (but not as tall as Addison), man, who greets Meredith with a smile.
"Are you..." Meredith starts to ask if he's at all related to her Addison Montgomery, when she eventually chickens out and just asks him what brings him here in the first place.
"I'm wondering if you happen to know a neurosurgeon," Archer sighs.
"Sure..." Meredith says, as she searches for Derek's number on her pager.
Meredith isn't incredibly eager to be paging her ex-boyfriend (and her current girlfriend's ex-husband), down to the pit right now, but she supposes they've decided to be civil, and that there really is no arguing that Derek happens to be one of the best neurosurgeons in the entire country.
"You paged?" Derek asks Meredith when he finally arrives, all dressed up as he usually is, without a trace of the wilderness in his hair from their weekend out camping.
"Yeah, a patient asked for you," Meredith motions.
"Oh, hello Archer," Derek says awkwardly, as he shakes his ex-brother-in-law's hand firmly.
"Derek," says Archer. "Now, have you seen my sister?" He asks him.
Meredith watches the scene play out with intrigue, as she realizes that since they'd been married so long it's no wonder that Derek had met Addison's brother before she had.
"Oh, no I have no idea where she is, Meredith do you know?" Derek asks her, and that snaps Meredith out of her train of thought.
"She's in surgery all morning," Meredith recites easily.
"Well alright then," says Derek. "Did you want to catch up and have a drink or...?" Derek asks Archer.
"That would be great, I'd love to catch up Derek, but I'm also here with some other questions for you," Archer says seriously.
"Ask away," offers Derek.
"Well, I've been having these headaches lately..." Archer confesses, and Derek nods understandingly.
The exchange lasts for a few minutes, and Meredith stands there entranced as the pair of them seem to catch up for a while.
"So, what have you been up to with Addie since you've both moved to Seattle?" Archer finally asks Derek.
"Oh, well, she and I... Addison and I got a divorce," Derek says simply.
"You and Addison!" Archer exclaims.
"Yeah..." Derek shrugs. "Things just weren't working out, and she's really happy now," Derek says.
"Whoa, what a big change," says Archer.
"Yeah, I mean, it's a big change for me because-" Derek starts to go on, but he's interrupted by another voice exclaiming;
"Archer Montgomery, there's my man!" Calls out Mark Sloan from the hallway.
"Mark, good to see you," says Archer, smiling at seeing his friend again after a long while.
"How've you been holding up?" Mark asks him, punching Archer teasingly in the shoulder.
"Not too bad, and you?" Archer asks Mark.
"Well, I'm adjusting to the rain, and a staggering few women turning me down to be in lesbian relationships with each other, but other than that it's been a scintillating start to my Seattle plastics career," Mark smirks in his telltale guffaw.
"Women turning you down huh, who would have thought?" Archer teases.
"And to think, none of them have ever let me join them," Mark smiles.
"So do tell, who are these mysterious lesbians that you speak of?" Archer asks him.
"Well-" Mark begins to answer, before he's also interrupted.
"Hello Archer, it's been a while," offers Richard Webber as he approaches the group of them.
"Hello Dr. Webber, it has been ages," Archer smiles, recognizing Richard from when he was Derek and Addison's graduate studies mentor.
"Here to visit your sister are you? Well, that's certainly nice of you. She's in surgery for the moment, but I'm sure Meredith could help you find her after that if you wanted. Say, would you like to get a coffee to catch up later on?" Richard offers.
"That sounds great," Archer says. "Hey, how are things going with yourself and Adele these days?" Archer asks forwardly.
"Not bad, same old," Richard shrugs.
"Well, say hi for me," says Archer, and Richard says that he will.
"Now, who is Meredith that you're all speaking of?" Archer asks Mark and Derek once Richard has left again.
"Oh, hi, my name is Meredith Grey," Meredith finally wills herself to offer a handshake to Addison's brother.
"Good to meet you, Archer Montgomery. I'm Addison's sister, and I'm a neurologist," offers Archer.
"Neat," says Meredith, as she asks him about neurology because she's a bit shy to blurt out that she's dating his sister just yet.
Meredith doesn't have to think about it very long though, because the next thing she knows in bursts her girlfriend.
"Oh there you are, Meredith, I've been looking all over for you," Addison says happily, without taking mind of her surroundings.
Addison stalks right on over to Meredith, and sweeps the blonde right off of her feet in a quick kiss before she deposits her back on the floor again, and Meredith giggles as she holds onto her girlfriend.
"Umm, Addie-" Meredith tries to warn her, before Addison is greeted with a wolf-whistle from none other than her dear brother.
"Damn Addison, when Derek said you were happy after your divorce, and Mark said he was getting shut down by the lesbians, I never imagined it would be you who would be doing all of the scoring!" Archer says in brotherly approval.
"Archer-" Addison blushes profusely as she faces him for the first time since she and Meredith had started dating.
"Hey, I'm all for it," says Archer, smirking at Meredith burying her face into Addison's lab coat.
"Oh, I never saw you there, ah, well yeah, this is Meredith Grey, and she's my girlfriend," Addison motions, and unburries Meredith's head from her white coat.
"Hi..." Meredith says nervously, as if they hadn't already met mere minutes ago.
"Archer Montgomery, and you must the woman who's been screwing my sister," Archer holds out his hand again, and Meredith blinks at the similarities between the two siblings, and of course, Derek recognizes this also, and he just bursts out laughing.
"Well isn't this a family reunion!" Mark says happily, as he stands up and pulls them all together for one big group hug.
"Mark!" Addison teases.
"Gahh-" Derek giggles.
"You're squishing me!" Meredith squeals.
"It's good to see you all again, and it's good to meet you, Meredith," offers Archer, as they finally detach themselves.
"See, I told you she's awesome," Mark smiles at Archer.
"Hey! You were talking about me!?" Meredith protests.
"What can I say, you're the good gossip," says Mark.
"You knew!?" Says Addison.
"Well, only when he just showed up here," says Derek.
"Ohhh," Addison groans.
"Sorry sis, your faces were just too priceless," says Archer.
"You're the worst," Addison says to her brother.
"Back at you," Archer smiles, and with that, they all head to lunch together.
Over their ham and cheese croissants, with Richard bringing over coffee in the middle of it, Addison offers Archer the abridged version of how they'd gotten together, and, for her and Derek and Meredith's sake, she drops the whole part about Meredith having cheated with Derek accidentally before she'd ever met her.
"Wow, that's a neat story," says Archer, as he appreciates their romantic love story.
"Yeah, it was a bit confusing, but we got through it," offers Meredith, as she explains only briefly about the hidden messages.
"So speaking of hidden purposes, I do have another reason to be here," says Archer, as he takes a deep breath.
"What, you're not just here to taunt me?" Says Addison.
"No, I think I might have a brain tumor," says Archer, and the room goes dead silent.
They order Archer some scans, and as they wait for them to come out, Addison and Meredith sit together in Addison's office, as Meredith rubs Addison's back soothingly.
"Hey, I'm here for you, no matter what, okay?" Meredith offers her girlfriend.
"Thanks, Sugar," says Addison.
"No problem Spice," offers Meredith.
"I didn't know he was sick," Addison says guiltily.
"Hey, neither did he but he caught it early," says Meredith. "It's good that he didn't hide it and wait," she says optimistically.
"True," says Addison. "So very true..."
They snuggle a little on Addison's couch, and Meredith wraps her arms all around Addison and gives her tender little kisses up and down her shoulders.
"Do you want to go out to dinner with my family this evening with me?" Addison asks her.
"Of course," says Meredith, as she stays by Addison's side until they find out the news.
It's all good, thankfully. Archer appears, according to Derek, to only have one cyst growing in his brain that hasn't had much chance to grow yet.
"Good thing you didn't wait, because these could have easily multiplied seven or eight times in the next few years," offers Derek.
"Can you remove it?" Archer asks him.
"Absolutely," says Derek confidently, and he schedules the surgery for the next afternoon.
They all therefore do get to have supper together, and because Archer is the one with the illness, they let him pick out wherever he wants to go.
"Mexican!" Archer smiles.
"Of course," Addison groans.
"What, it's so good," says Archer.
"You always pick the same thing," says Addison affectionately.
"Hey, at least we don't have to bike there this time," offers Archer.
"True," offers Addison.
"I did carry you home that one time you fell off your bicycle," says Archer.
"You're never going to live that one down, are you?" Says Addison.
"Never," says Archer.
"Alright, we'll get you some tacos then."
The restaurant is an all-you-can-eat buffet, because it's Archer's favorite, and he and Mark are engaged in a heavily competitive taco-eating contest that Mark finally lets Archer win so he doesn't go overboard before surgery.
"We'll have a rematch once you've gotten rid of your brain worms," says Mark.
"You're on," says Archer.
"You know, you and your brother are similar in some ways... And so dissimilar in others," says Meredith, as she watches them interact with each other.
"It's true," offers Derek, because he and Mark had come along for old time's sake.
"Yeah," says Meredith, and she realizes she's very happy the two of them can talk about this calmly at this point.
There's been eons of water under the... Thing or whatever... And now that she and Addison are happy, Derek seems to be letting go of any misgivings he'd ever had about either of them.
"So, do we get to have a toast or what?" Says Archer.
"To Derek finding your tumor!" Addison offers.
"Hey, I get no credit here?" Mark says.
"You're not the neurosurgeon," Derek teases.
"Story of my life," Mark just grumbles.
"Hey, I'll call you pal if I ever need a skin-lift," says Archer.
"Deal," says Mark.
"I'm glad you came," says Addison.
"Me too, sis," says Archer, and he even offers her and Meredith an ice-cream to share, to celebrate them.
"Do you need a place to stay here, or...?" Addison says tentatively.
"Well, if you're offering," says Archer.
"He has to stay at the hospital," Derek laughs.
"Oh right," says Archer.
"Well, after that though, if you're around for a little we could find you someplace," says Meredith. "I mean, Addison and I have two places between us, so you could probably stay in one of them, if that's okay with Addison?" Meredith offers.
"Of course," says Addison. "We'll figure something out," she adds.
"Hey, he could crash at my hotel room and we could have a mad bachelor pad," offers Mark.
"Hey, not too much exertion after surgery!" Says Derek.
"Just some good old tv," says Mark.
"Alright then," says Derek, and Archer smiles at being so welcomed into this now expanded Seattle family.
After they drive Archer back to the hospital, and he is admitted, Meredith asks Addison where she'd like to stay for the night.
"Could we stay in the hospital? I don't want to go too far just in case," says Addison.
"Yeah, do you want me to stay with you?" Meredith offers.
"Could you?" Says Addison.
"Of course," says Meredith, as she runs off to fetch a few extra things from her locker.
Addison heads off to her office, and she finally decides that she'd like a drink of gin after this long day, so she pulls her keys from her pocket, and unlocks the drawer in her office.
And she's moved to tears when she finds Meredith's mixtape, dated from just before they'd started officially seeing each other, inside of it.
"Oh, Sugar," Addison smiles, as she pulls it out and starts playing it.
Addison is reminded of all of their happy memories eating junk food, and hanging out, and she's so glad that Meredith had been already thinking about her.
She smiles when she sees the 'secret admirer,' signature, and she basks in the sound as she waits for her girlfriend to return to her.
Things may be dark and scary sometimes, but Addison and Meredith are so glad that they can weather the storms together, and when Meredith tucks her in at night, Addison confesses to having found the CD today, and about how happy it made her.
"I found your little gift in my locker today, too," says Meredith, as she snuggles into her girlfriend's side.
"Cool," says Addison, smiling at the blonde as she starts nodding off.
"Sleep, it's okay to rest," says Meredith, as she kisses Addison once more before they go to sleep.
"Okay," says Addison, as she squeezes her girlfriend's hand, and wraps it around herself.
"Life is so full of surprises," Meredith murmurs as she rubs Addison's back to help her fall asleep that night.
"Mm, it is, and you're like, the best ever," says Addison, before she falls asleep for real this time.
"As are you," Meredith says as she tucks her head into Addison's.
And by the time they wake up (because Richard and Bailey have been kind to them and have been letting them sleep through this), they are delighted to have already received a message that Archer's surgery had gone on without a hitch and that they could visit him later that day if they wanted.
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***** END OF CHAPTER 54