"Don't worry, we're gonna take care of him."
Renee hugged Naomi as soon as they stepped down from the ambulance, it had been a long time since Renee had seen Naomi, she felt Naomi hug her tightly as Renee patted her back. Archer Montgomery, Neurologist, an author, Addison's older brother, Derek's ex-brother-in-law and the person who had made Mark taste his own medicine. Derek hugged a dishevelled Addison, who was now sporting a short haircut, she had been crying as she told them about the lunch they had gone to the day before.
"Oh, yesterday, he was fine, we went to lunch. I thought he was fine....." Addison cried as Richard wheeled Archer into the hospital. Archer had been somewhat of a constant in their lives ever since they had graduated from Med-school, he was living in New York and even though Renee had been in the UK the entire time, Derek had never failed to tell her all the stories of how Archer hated him. Brunches and dinners became usual for them after they started their internships and residencies, so it was safe to say that Archer was a good friend of Renee.
"Does he know how he got the parasite?" Derek asked them.
"He thinks he got it from eating unwashed fruit in Mexico." Naomi answered.
"He's in bradycardia," Renee said as she pointed at the monitor.
"Why is he bradycardic and hypotensive?" Richard asked.
"He's having a reaction to the fentanyl drip. Stop the fentanyl drip and push the narcan." Derek said.
"Wait. Derek, he was in status. I mean, if you take him off the drip and he's seizes up, there could be permanent brain damage."
Renee and Naomi exchanged looks, Addison was letting her emotions come in between what could be the useful decision for helping her brother but even Renee had to agree that what Derek was suggesting was dangerous and risky.
"We better hope that doesn't happen."
"Hope? That ... that's what your plan is ... is hinging on, hoping that ... that the worst doesn't happen?"
"Addie..."
"Yeah, I'm hoping he's stopped seizing, because I know if we don't reverse the drip, his heart is going to arrest. So unless you have a better idea ... push the narcan."
"He's in v-fib. Get the crash cart,"
Renee had cleared her entire day's schedule to stay with Addison, Naomi and Archer, they were family even if she didn't like Addison very much at the moment. They were standing outside Archer's room watching as Derek checked on Archer who still hadn't woken up yet, Naomi had her arm around Renee as they were joined by Mirand Bailey.
"I cleared my schedule," Bailey said
"Oh, you didn't he to do that. I'm ... I'm fine," Addison said.
"Your brother has parasites in his brain. I cleared my schedule. You cut your hair."
"Oh, yeah." Addison said as she ran her hand through her hair.
"I like it. Uh, Dr. Miranda Bailey."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Um, Miranda, Naomi. Naomi, Miranda. Naomi's our fertility, uh, specialist down at oceanside wellness and one of my oldest friends."
"It's nice to meet you, Miranda."
"So how is he?" Addison asked Derek as he exited Archer's room.
"Oh, I don't know. He's groggy, his eyes are open, but I don't think he's awake because he hasn't tried to kill me. Her brother hates me." Derek said, it was true, Archer had always underestimated and underappreciated Derek and once in a while he'd slide in some taunting comment.
"People pick sides in a divorce, Derek."
"He picked sides in the marriage. He first seized during sex with his girlfriend. I wonder why she's not here,"
"Oh, she is,"
"Naomi?" Derek and Renee turned to look at Naomi with shocked expressions.
"I'm going in there," Addison said as she and Miranda went inside.
"You and Archer?"
"When? How? Why didn't you tell me?" Renee asked.
"No. Uh, well, yeah. I mean, I don't ... I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I didn't tell you because of that, I don't know wha- we are"
"How's Sam?" Derek asked with a smile.
"Sam's good. And, uh, how's, um ... Meredith ... is that her name?"
"She's good."
"Good. Yeah. Well, look at us. We're standing here making polite conversation about your girlfriend. You two are divorced, me and sam are divorced, you and Mark are seperated and I'm with Archer, sort of. What the hell happened? I mean, you ... you wrote Addison a song, Derek," Renee averted her eyes when Naomi mentioned her and Mark.
"Can we just forget about the song? Enough about the song," Derek said already heard enough about the song that he had wrote of Addison. Derek and Addison had been very much in love but as their marriage slowly started to crumble, they realised that love wasn't enough to keep them together.
"What? You wrote her her own love song and you sang it to her at the wedding."
"It was beautiful song, sort of,"
"Mark wrote it or sam ... somebody. I don't remember who it was,"
"I do. It was written by Mark, he raved about it the next day, told me he couldn't wait for me to hear it,"
"I was drunk at the time, but I remember, and I remember thinking you guys were gonna last forever, that we were all gonna last forever."
"Yeah."
"You should call Sam. He misses you,"
"Yeah."
"'Our eyes met over the cadaver and I knew I had to have her' what was the next line?"
"Can we talk about something else?" Addison said clearly annoyed at her brother and Naomi who insisted on signing the love song Derek had wrote for her. It would have been fine if Meredith was sitting there observing Archer and his progress.
"Had his mitral valve grown too thick?"
"Is that what made our cadaver so sick?"
"The greatest love song of all time. Did you guys get to the part where Derek rhymes "gross anatomy class" with "Addison's fine ass"? 'Cause I wrote that line," Mark said as he entered Archer's room with a smile on his face.
"Everybody knows that, Mark," Renee commented as she gestured someone behind him.
"Oh, my bad."
"No, no, it's fine. I, uh ... I think it sounds like a fine song,"
"Archie, I heard you were gonna let Derek remove those little suckers from your brain," Mark said.
"Maybe," Archie said as Addison, Naomi and Renee interrupted him.
"He is,"
"I hate surgery, especially brain surgery,"
"Sucks doesn't it. What lesson does that teach you, children? Never eat unwashed fruits," Renee said with a teasing smile.
"Yeah. Being a neurologist, you probably see a lot of patients post-op who are just, you know, scrambled eggs up there ..." Mark started as Addison and Naomi gave him a look while Renee just shook her head.
"Okay, you know what, Mark? You're not helping right now. We're sitting here trying to convince him that surgery is-" Addison went to say.
"Is not an option," Everybody turned to look at Derek who entered with a serious face on his face.
"According to these scans, the single cyst that you had in your last C.T. Has now multiplied by eight, all clogging the third ventricle. There's no way I can surgically navigate through a mess like that without rupturing one," Derek said as Renee and Mark exchanged looks of distress.
"So what does that mean?" Addison asked as everybody went quiet, they knew what that'd mean, Archer wasn't going to survive without this surgery.
"You're in a room full of doctors, Addison, who are all being very quiet right now...... I'm gonna die. That's what it means,"