redamancy

Charlie's Mom arrives while she's asleep, 7 hours later. She got the next flight to come and see her baby. Alex greets her in the lobby and takes her up to Charlie's room. Addison is sitting in the chair next to her, reading over Charlie's chart. Alex walks in and stops when he realises that Addison is in there.

"Oh, sorry Addison. Charlie's mom is here." She nods her head and quickly gets up, placing Charlie's chart down on the end of her bed. Addison stands awkwardly letting Charlie's mom sit in the chair by her daughter.

Charlie stirs and wakes up slowly. Her voice is groggy. "Hi." She smiles.

"Oh, Charlotte. Alex called me. You're a silly girl. Always have to be the hero." She says, gently brushing the hair away from her face. Addison begins to walk out but Charlie stops her.

"Pretty girl!" She calls. Addison stops and turns back, smiling at Charlie and her Mom. "Mom, this is 'Pretty Girl'. She's my girlfriend."

"I'm Addison." She says as she holds out a hand, for Charlie's mother to take. She ignores the hand and stands up, pulling her in for a hug.

"Call me Lisa, honey." She says taking Addison's hands in her own. "You picked a pretty one there, Charlotte," Lisa adds, winking at Addison and sitting back down in the chair.

Addison's pager bleeps and she excuses herself, pulling Alex with her, leaving Charlie and her mom to talk.

"She doesn't talk much." Lisa makes a point of saying.

"She's been worried about me. She thinks it's her fault because I was getting coffee for her and now she won't stop blaming herself." Charlies as her stomach grumbles. "I need food. There are some vending machines on the 3rd floor, can you get me some M&M's." Charlie grins widely at her Mom.

"Of course, baby. I'll be right back." She says, patting her daughter's cheek and leaving in search of the vending machines.

She passes Alex as she winds down the corridors, trying to find the vending machines.

"Oh sweetheart, could you be a dear and get M&M's for Charlotte for me." She says as she fetches a door out of her purse. She tucks it in the top pocket of his coat and pats his cheek.

"I gotta check up on a patient first, but I'll get them to her as quickly as I can." He says, taking a few steps backwards, heading to wherever his patient was staying.

"You're a good boy, Alex Karev." He grins at her and shoots her a wink.

*

"Okay, I'm going to need you to keep up with the vitamins and come and see me in a month or so, just so we can see how the baby is progressing," Addison says to a young woman who cradles her pregnant belly.

"Oh, Mrs Beck. Hi. Are you okay? How's Charlie." She smiles, taking her glasses off her nose, letting them hang on the chain around her neck.

"Oh, honey I told you to call me Lisa. She's fine, Alex is bringing her food. I wondered if you had time for a coffee?"

They go down to the cafeteria, Addison buys the coffee, a gesture of goodwill, this is her girlfriend's mom after all.

"Don't blame yourself.

"I'm sorry?"

"For my daughter's idiotic decisions, don't blame yourself. She's always been headstrong and no one can stop her once she has an idea in her head." Lisa reaches out a hand to Addison. "She cares about you; I can see it. She's been through a lot and needs someone stable, I'm hoping that you're it for her. She's been in and out of relationships her whole life but you...you, she truly cares about. Want to know why I know that." Addison nods her head and cakes a sip of her latte. "She introduced you to me, she's never done that before. I never met any of her partners, they were always just 'friends'. That means she cares what I think about you." Lisa smiles at Addison and drinks her coffee.

*

She's been in hospital for 2 weeks, and now she was allowed to leave. "You're being discharged today." Dr Webber says as she stands in the doorway.

"Yep and I cannot wait. The quicker I get out of here the quicker I can get back to work." Charlie says, pushing herself up with her good arm.

"Well, that's not exactly true." He laughs as he takes a seat on the end of her bed and clasps his hands together. "The board decided that they're going to give you another week. How you choose to spend that week is up to up to you, but you are not spending it in this hospital. Go home, see your family. You're going to need physical therapy to help with your shoulder, but we'll cross that bridge later. Take this time to think about things, about what's important." He nods his head, making sure that Charlie gets the point he's trying to make.

"Okay. Thanks, Chief. Oh, can you page Addison for me?" He nods his head and leaves her hospital room.

Charlie's enjoying her jello cup when Addison finally appears, her head peeking around the doorway.

"You okay? Chief said you wanted me." She settles on the end of Charlie's bed and waits for her to finish scoffing her lunch.

"I'm getting a week off, so I'm going back to my mom's for a bit. Did I wonder if maybe you wanted to come with me, for a weekend or something? Get out of this hospital, go on a road trip." Charlie asks her, with a toothy grin.

Addison takes off her glasses and sighs at the girl in the hospital bed. "I can't, Charlie."

"Oh, okay," Her face falls. "Don't...don't worry about it. Just forget I even said anything." She says trying to the move conversation on

"It's not that I don't want to come and see your mom, Charlie, but I can't just take a week off. I have a lot of patients here." Charlie smiles sadly and nods her head in understanding. Addison reaches out for Charlie's hand, intertwining their fingers.

*

"Mom?" She calls through the house struggling to bring her suitcase through the front door, her injured arm, strapped in a sling close to her body.

"Oh, my baby is home!" Her mom runs through the house and pulls Charlie into a hug.

She winces and pulls back slightly. "Ah mom, not so hard, please. I had a bullet in my shoulder and I have stitches. Everything hurts."

"Oh god, I'm sorry!" She pulls away and smiles at her daughter. "Is Addison with you?" Lisa questions, peering around Charlie to see if Addison is standing behind her anywhere.

"Oh, no. No, she's...um...she's back in Seattle. Lots of tiny humans to deliver." Lisa looks at her daughter, she could see there was something she wasn't telling her. "Where's Dax?" The young doctor asks, changing the subject and shrugging off her jacket that sits around her shoulders. She casually looks around for the golden retriever that would usually be bounding to her legs by now.

"Oh, He's somewhere in the house. Probably digging up my flower beds as usual. I made lasagne, your favourite. Scottie said he would try and come home and see you, but he's just so busy with Benji and work." Her mom says, heading back into the kitchen, leaving Charlie in the hallway.

They spend the next day in the city, Lisa needed to run a few errands and Charlie wanted to see what had changed since she left for Seattle. She walks ahead of her Mom, admiring the shop windows but then she stops. Her eyes catch on a shop window; rows upon rows of engagement rings. She had the real sudden urge to walk into that shop and slap down her credit card. Her Mom catches up with her and loops an arm with hers.

"Oh. Are you thinking about it?" She asks, resting her chin on her daughter's shoulder.

"I don't know. Maybe? I've put my life into perspective since the incident and I've thought a lot about the future, a lot, and honestly...all I see is her." Charlie stares at the rings, her hand in her pocket.

"Have you talked about it? With her?"

"Not really. She was married before, and it's kind of weird because I'm best friends with her ex-husband's new girlfriend." Her mom raises an eyebrow. "It's all cool, though. Everyone's very happy."

"Would getting a ring make you even happier?" She asks Charlie, arms still looped in hers. Charlie thinks for a second before walking into the shop and slapping down her credit card.