A/N: Had this idea today while at work and just had to write it. first ever greys fic... wish me luck. i'm hoping for at least weekly updates with this, depending on how busy I get
Summary: Addison Montgomery knows who she is. She knows what she's capable of. She doesn't need anyone else. She's always prided herself on that, or at least on her ability to convince herself of its truth.
Moving to Oregon to join the RDM Smokejumpers crew was supposed to be a fresh start. Her hotshot career had set her up well. She had her pick of any base in the country, and Redmond was one of the most renowned. It was a distraction, a fresh, clean slate, away from the drama of her marriage.
After suffering a severe injury on an assignment, though, she ends up stuck in a hospital between the one person she was trying to escape, and the one who will soon force her to see herself clearly.
Addison Montgomery x Meredith Grey
It was hot. That was all Addison could feel. Desperate, clinging heat licking at every part of her body. Someone grabbed her arm and yanked her backwards, and the heat became less suffocating, but a sharp pain shot from her shoulder to her fingertips.
“Addison!” Mark yelled, still dragging her backwards through the ash and dirt. Everything hurt. Her shoulder, her face, most of all though her leg. It felt warm and wet and like she was being stabbed repeatedly.
As Mark let go of her, she brought a shaky hand up to wipe the soot from her face, looking down at her right thigh. There was a charred branch sticking clean through it. Looking at it only made it hurt more, and she felt dizzy, so she laid back on the ground.
“What the hell happened?” She mumbled. Mark was on his radio, calling for an evac. He knelt down next to her, brushing ash off of her coat.
“Don’t worry about that right now. Try and stay awake, yeah? We’ve got people coming for you.” He pulled her helmet off, wiping the sweat off her face with the back of his glove. “It’s gonna be okay, Addie. We’ve got people coming.”
“Jesus Christ." She sighed. The pain was starting to become too much. She could feel herself slipping.
She woke up in a hospital bed, stiff and hooked up to god knows what. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the light. Everything was stark white, clean and sanitized. It reminded her a little too much of home.
“Addison.”
She turned her head at the unfamiliar voice. A woman was standing beside her, in scrubs and a white lab coat. The nametag on her breast pocket read Dr. Grey.
“What?” Her voice was hoarse and rough, no doubt from smoke inhalation. The doctor put her hand up, indicating for Addison not to speak.
“You should rest your voice. You inhaled a lot of smoke. Do you remember what happened? There was an accident on your assignment. They had to lifelight you.”
Addison just groaned, nodding and closing her eyes. She was so tired, even though she knew she had probably been sleeping for hours.
“You lost a lot of blood, and you suffered some minor burning on your left side. Your right leg was impaled by a branch, but luckily we were able to remove it without losing any critical function. You won’t be able to walk on it for a few months though, so, naturally, you’ll be out off work until you fully heal.” Dr. Grey set her chart down on the end of the hospital bed, her eyes quickly scanning over the monitors before looking back to Addison. “How are you feeling?”
Addison kept her eyes closed, wiggling her fingers. “Fine. I guess. Is the rest of the crew okay?”
The doctor nodded. “Your friend, Mark—he called for help, he jumped right after you. He came, the rest stayed. They’re all fine though, you just seemed to have a little bad luck.”
Addison laughed, looking up at the doctor. “Hell of a stroke, huh?”
Dr. Grey just nodded, noting down Addison’s vitals and walking towards the door. “A nurse will be back to check on you soon.”
After the doctor had left, Addison took her moment of wake alone time to study all the wires connected to her. There was an IV in her right arm, a few other monitors she didn’t recognize. She glanced over at the monitor beside the bed. The only thing she could name was the subtle beeping of her heart rate monitor. Her leg was wrapped in thick bandage, and there was wrapping on her left arm as well, presumably for the burns. She couldn't move her left arm or right leg. Overall she felt pretty stiff and heavy.
A few minutes of silence passed before there was a knock at the doorway. Mark.
Addison attempted to sit up and failed, so she settled for lying back while he came to sit beside the hospital bed.
“How are you?” He asked immediately. He still had his fire pants on, it didn’t seem like he had left the hospital at all since they’d arrived. Which reminded her that she had no idea how long ago that was.
“Im fine. Tired. Kind of hurting everywhere. How long have we been here?”
Mark shrugged, taking a bite of the granola bar he had pulled out of his pocket. “Twenty-four hours at least.”
Addison nodded, looking back at the ceiling. “Nice.” She grumbled. “So what happened?”
Mark paused for a moment, staring blankly at the wall, before responding. “Yeah, uhm… things were fine. You know, they found a spot, you were ready to go. You always are. It looked like your chute wouldn’t open, or you just opened it way too late, but that doesn’t seem like something you’d do. The wind was really bad, you went flying. Hit a tree, got your leg stabbed through, and then fell sixty feet into the flames. It took us a while to find you, you’re lucky you’re alive, honestly.” He sighed, sitting back. “You feel alright though?”
She nodded again. “I’m fine, seriously. Barely felt it.” She looked over at him, smiling. “Don’t remember any of it, though. I must have hit my head pretty hard.”
Mark nodded, not being able to help his laugh. “Yeah, you have a concussion. They told me that much. Actually, speaking of, guess who the head of neuro is.”
Addison’s eyes widened. She shook her head. “No- no way, you can’t be serious-”
“Addie?”
She groaned, looking towards the doorway and meeting the eyes of none other than Derek Shepherd. She hadn’t seen him in months, not since he’d run off to Seattle to do God knows what. Addison had left her hotshotting position to move to Oregon. She needed a change of scenery anyway. Besides, it had been a perfect time to switch. When their fight had happened she’d been on a break, only home for a few months before she was set to go back to Illinois. It was easy to make the switch, and she easily had her pick of any smokejumping base in the country. She had earned herself quite the reputation in the last few years—namely due to her willingness to go to any end to do her job, which usually got her heavily injured. Somehow she kept going, though.
“You can’t be serious! I can’t believe this.” She threw her one good hand up. “Go away. I don’t want you here. Why are you here!”
“I’m your doctor,” Derek said without looking at her, stepping into the room as he looked over her chart. “One of your doctors. You met Meredith?”
“Who, the blonde? Yes.” She rolled her eyes, looking over at Mark, who was trying to seem completely engrossed in his phone. She couldn’t blame him. Things between him and Derek hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing either, especially not after she and him both left together.
“She’s a very good doctor. You're in good hands.” He took a pen out of his pocket, clicking on the small light on the end and shining it into her eyes. She squinted, and he gave her a glaring look until she opened them again. “Your concussion symptoms seem to have subsided. I’d like you to take it easy for a while still, though.” He glanced down at her leg. “Not that you have much of a choice, anyway.”
“Thanks,” she bit. “Anything else?”
He shook his head, leaving without another word. As soon as he was out of earshot, Addison let out a loud, exaggerated groan.
“God, I can’t stand him! Can you?”
“Addie-”
“Seriously. I can’t believe him. Taking my case when I know damn well there are other-”
“Addison-”
“What!”
Mark sighed. “Can you blame him? I mean…”
She glared at him. “Oh, so now this is my fault?” She laid back, letting out a scoff. “Unbelievable. Yes, obviously I can blame him. He’s a prick.”
Mark nodded, standing up. “I’m gonna go. I need to check back in with everyone else, lots of people to talk to. This was a pretty bad fall, Addison.”
Addison brushed him off, looking to the wall. “I’ve had worse, Mark. Seriously.”
He didn’t say anything, silently leaving the room. Once again, she was alone with the beeping of the monitors. She hated being alone. She hated it more than anything. It was the reason she had joined her first hotshot crew. When you’re standing face to face with a wildfire, it’s pretty hard to focus on how alone you feel.
The hours phased in and out. She flicked through every channel the shitty hospital TV had to offer. She counted every speck on the ceiling. She timed each stretch between nurses coming to check on her. She was miserable. She hated this. She hated being still.
“Your vitals have been great.” Finally, a familiar voice. The blonde doctor from before. Meredith, Addison recalled.
“You know my husband.” Addison glared at her. The doctor looked up from her chart, eyebrow raised.
“Okay?”
“Derek Shepherd,” Addison continued. “He’s my husband. You know him?”
Meredith’s eyes widened. Her grip on her chart tightened. “I-... yeah. Yeah, I do. Sorry, would you excuse me for a second?” In an instant, she was gone again.
Great. She’d managed to scare off the only source of entertainment she had.
She went back to counting the specks on the ceiling. Maybe her counting was off last time.
