(no subject)
Title- Rebirth
Rating- R
Author- Kimberly (tonysgirl02)
Summary- It's the aftermath of George's note.
Chapter 32
It had been two days since Callie had found the note sitting in the bedroom and although everyone had tried to find George, no one could track him down. She was beyond herself. She was a few weeks from having his child and he just up and left them, what kind of man was that? It wasn’t the man she knew and loved and had promised eternity too. That she did know.
She had gone to work and continued on as if nothing was wrong when everything seemed to be wrong. There wasn’t much else she could do with herself. What was she supposed to do? Sit home and cry over spilled milk? That wasn’t her style no matter how much she was hurting from all of this. She never in a million years would have thought George could do such a thing to their family.
Addison, Alex and Miranda were keeping a watchful eye on her at all times. It was as if they thought she would implode because of everything that had happened. Callie was handling it. It was what she had to do, she didn’t have a choice. She had her son to take care of when he was born. She went into the cafeteria and got herself a sandwich and a fruit cup. She spotted Addison and Miranda sitting at a table together. They seemed to be talking before Callie arrived at the table, but the conversation ceased the moment she got close enough to hear.
Callie set her tray down and pulled out her tray with a sigh before sitting down. “I have ears. I know you were talking about me before I got here, thanks,” she mumbled as she unwrapped her sandwich and took a small bit before setting it back down onto her tray.
Addison sighed softly and took a sip of her juice. “Callie, we’re just concerned about you honey. A lot has happened to you in the past week and you’re pregnant and working and none of it is easy or fair and we just don’t want to see anything bad happen to our friend,” Addison explained reaching out and placing her hand on top of Callie’s, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
Callie slowly nodded her head everyone was worried about her. If was any of them in this situation, she was sure she would worry too, but her and Baby O, they were going to be just fine because there was nothing else for her to be at this point. She couldn’t just lay down and say she couldn’t do this no matter if those were the thoughts running through her head or not. She had a baby on the way, a baby that would need to be loved and cared for and she couldn’t take her angry on her husband out on their son. “Okay,” she said softly.
“Is his room done?” Miranda questioned.
Callie slowly nodded her head, at least that was one good thing George had done in the weeks before he left. He had gotten the babies room completely set up, even though they wouldn’t be using it right away. “Yeah, George finished it last week,” she explained tot hem, hoping they wouldn’t make any comment about it. She was making enough comments to herself in her head. She could feel the tears pooling in her eyes as she thought about the way he would talk about Baby O and the way he worked so hard to make sure his room was perfect. How could he just leave all of that?
“Well, if you need any help, let me know. I’ve done this baby thing before and I know how stressful it can be. Tuck was early and I know I didn’t have everything ready,” Miranda explained. Callie didn’t need to be worried about finishing a room or anything on her own and Miranda would do whatever she could to help. She was going to smack George O’Malley when he came back around. He couldn’t stay away from the hospital, from his family, from his wife, forever. She had never pictured that boy to be coward.
“Thanks, I think things are pretty much taken care of, but if I need anything I will let you know,” Callie said as she played with her fruit. She wasn’t really hungry anymore. She wanted to go lie down in an on call room and sleep until she was needed. Her pager would go off and let her know. If she was sleeping she wouldn’t have to think about everything that was going on in her life.
They both nodded and then Miranda’s pager went off, she looked down and sighed softly. “I need to take this. I will see you two a little bit later. Callie if you need anything at all, I’m here for you,” Miranda told her as she stood up, grabbing her tray of food and taking it with her.
“Callie, you need to eat your food, not play with it.”
“Addison, I don’t need another mother. I know everyone is trying to help and I know I would be doing the same if this happened to anyone, but me, but right now, I can’t handle all of this. I’m trying to focus on having a healthy baby and I’ll just deal with the rest later. I don’t know what comes next after this. I can’t stay at Louise’s, but I can do this on my own. I thought about just moving into the house before the baby is born, but I can’t do that. I’m going to need so much help with a newborn,” she sighed.
“All you have to do is ask for the help and everyone here will be willing to help you. I know Louise doesn’t mind you staying and helping out either. She loves you and her grandson no matter how stupid her son is,” Addison said reaching across the table and holding Callie’s hand in hers, squeezing it gently. She was strong and she was going to make it through all of this. The thing was, Addison didn’t know how long it would all take. There was really nothing she could do to help Callie. What she needed to was George to come back and for him to tell Callie what an idiot he had been and how stupid he was for leaving her and their unborn son, but she couldn’t make that happen. She wasn’t magical as much as she wished she was.
~*~*~~
After her shift ended, Callie got into her car and headed off, just driving. She had no idea where she was going, but being on the open road gave her a feeling of freedom, it made her feel as if she didn’t have a care in the world, when all she really had was worry. She wasn’t out searching for George, she was out searching for answers on how she was going to do all of this by herself. She was pretty sure she would never figure that out. She would just have to do it and if she failed, she would have to pick herself back up and try again. Her son deserved better than that, but this was all she had to give and she would do her best.
Before she knew it, she was at the graveyard, the place where they had laid Harold to rest. She got out of her car and placed a hand over her stomach, feeling the baby kick. Something had brought her here and she wasn’t going to question it. She was just going to pay her respects. She slowly made her way over to his grave and stood before it with her head bowed.
“I don’t know if you can here me, but you always loved me, even when George didn’t,” she whispered. “I love him with all of my heart, I still do, even after what he’s pulled. He has had so much to deal with in the last year and adding a baby and a marriage to all of that was sort of my fault, but he didn’t have to marry me, he didn’t have to promise to stay with me through all of it. You could always get through to George, Mr. O’Malley. I can’t raise this baby on my own. I know that about myself. Everyone thinks I’m so strong, but my mother, she never taught me how to be a mother. Louise is a better mother to me than my own mother was. I love your wife more than I love my own mother. I know it’s sad, but it is true. I need you to bring George back to me though. It isn’t going to be easy. My anger won’t be erased, but please, if you can hear me, don’t let me bring your grandson into this world alone,” she whispered as tears began to fall from her eyes.
She was desperate. She was standing at her father-in-laws grave, begging him to help her find her husband. Callie had always thought she would be better than this, that she would never need a man in her life, because she could handle everything that the world could throw at her, but she was not ready to handle a baby on her own.
She lifted her head and smiled softly as she wiped her tears away. She was going crazy. She was talking to a headstone. She rubbed her hands over her belly, feeling the baby kick. She at least knew that he was doing well without having to worry. No matter what happened, she was going to have a healthy baby and that was something to be thankful for in light of everything else going on in her life right now.
~*~*~
Addison smiled as she saw Alex standing at the nurses station, going over one of the files. “I need to talk to you,” she said softly as she placed a hand on his shoulder. She had no idea how she was going to ask him this, but she was going to have to, because she knew Callie would never.
“Yeah, what’s going on? And no, I haven’t gotten a hold of O’Malley, I call him and leave him a voicemail every day,” Alex explained to her. He couldn’t stand the fact that George had just up and left her when she was so close to having his son. He was being a coward and when he got home, Alex was going to give him a piece of his mind, whether he wanted to hear it or not. Alex hated seeing Callie mope around the hospital when a few days before she had been so cheery.
Addison nodded her head when he mentioned getting a hold of George. Everyone had been trying to get a hold of him, but with no luck. “I need you to be there, for Callie when she has this baby. I have a feeling it is going to be sooner rather than later with all the stress she is under right now. It is okay for her to have the baby, she has hit thirty six weeks, but she is going to need a support system. I would do it, but I would have to deliver the baby, so I need someone to be there, for Callie,” she explained. She hoped Alex would accept, because she had no idea who else she would ask.
Alex swallowed the lump in his throat. He knew nothing about supporting a woman in labor. Callie had already finished her classes, so it wasn’t like he could just go to a couple with her in hopes of picking up everything he needed to know. He also knew that Callie shouldn’t have to do this alone and as her friend, he wouldn’t let her do this alone. “I’ll be there. Just page me or call me when she comes in,” Alex told her with a nod of his head. “I’m going to go do some research on this, because I am not prepared.”
“Thank you,” Addison said hugging him.
“You’re welcome. It isn’t fair that she has to go through this alone. It isn’t what she asked for,” he whispered to Addison as he held her close to him.
“No, it isn’t, but it really she doesn’t have a choice in the matter now. I’m just trying to make things as easy as possible for her when she has this baby,” Addison said puling away from him. “Go do your research and remember, we’re on baby watch, any time now, so no getting drunk, alright?”
Alex nodded his head before going into one of the small offices and typing labor into the database. He found a few articles that listed and explained different ways of coping with labor pains. He was readying every word, trying to remember everything these articles were saying.
What are you looking up?” Izzie questioned peering over his shoulder, reading the words on the page. “What are you going to do? Be the babies dad now?” she questioned sitting down on the desk behind him.
“If I have to be, I will. I probably will have to be because I’m going to kill O’Malley when he finally shows face,” Alex muttered as he continued to look at the computer screen. He wanted to make sure he knew everything he could before Callie went into labor. Addison said it could be at any time, that could mean five minutes from now or five days from now and he was not prepared at all.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” she smirked. “He’s never coming back.”
Alex glared at the computer screen before spinning around in his chair and glaring at Izzie. He knew she hasn’t heard from George, he had checked her phone that morning to be sure she wasn’t lying to all of them. “Izzie, stop trying to make people think you know where he is. He’s vanished. He’s a coward. He has everything a man could want and he’s running away from it.”
“I gave my baby up for adoption when I couldn’t handle it,” Izzie said swinging her legs off the desk and running a hand through her hair. She had no idea what Alex was trying to get at. She was just hoping George would call her or something and let him know he was alright.
“You were a teenager Izzie, not a grown woman. He is a grown man, with a career and a wife and a kid on the way. Where I come from, you don’t just walk away from that when everything is going perfectly fine. You don’t run away from yours fears you confront them head on. I am not going to let that baby grow up without a dad because George is an asshole! I am not going to let one of my best friends suffer because her husband is a jerk! I am going to be there for them, because it is the right thing to do. You used to be about doing the right thing too, a long time ago! I wanna know where that Izzie went, that Izzie would be baking Callie cookies right now, in hopes they would make her feel better or something! You taught me to care about people, so no I am not going to let them suffer because your ex best friend is the biggest idiot in the world.”
~*~*~
Meredith smiled at Derek as they got out of his car. They knew Callie was alone at Louise’s, since she was on a school trip and they knew she wasn’t eating. Everyone at the hospital was trying to look out for Callie right now. Meredith had picked out some gifts for the baby as well, seeing as the shower was supposed to happen the day after George left. Needless to say, the girls had canceled it, knowing she wouldn’t want that reminder.
Derek got the food and Meredith grabbed the bags of gifts as they made their way towards the front door. Meredith rang the bell and a few seconds later, Callie appeared. “Hey guys,” she said softly opening the door and allowing them to come in. “The kitchen is that way,” she pointed out to Derek so he could set the food down
“How are you feeling?” Meredith questioned. “Where can I put these?”
“In the living room if you want,” Callie said softly as she rubbed her hands over her stomach. She was wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts. She was just trying to be comfortable. She really had no idea they were coming by. “I’m going to go get changed, please make yourself at home,” she told them as she made her way up the stairs.
Meredith nodded and placed the bags down. She went into the kitchen and smiled as Derek was making them each a plate and getting everything ready. “I’m sensing she doesn’t want company, but she can’t sit here alone all night, so maybe if we stay here for an hour or so, it’ll help her some. I wish we could find George,” he said as he moved the plates to the table.
Meredith nodded her head as she opened the fridge and got three bottles of water out, bringing them over to the table. She had tried finding George, but she had no luck. “He doesn’t want to be found,” she said quietly as she heard Callie coming back down the stairs. Now she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. “Are you ready to eat?”
“No, but the baby is,” she said softly as she tucked her hair behind her ears. This was her home so she could act however she pleased. She didn’t have to pretend here like she did at the hospital for the sake of her patients and such and she wasn’t going too, not for anyone.
“Then we should feed the baby,” Derek said with a nod of his head as he pulled Callie’s chair out for. “Do you need anything that we forgot about?” he questioned. His sisters had a lot of babies, so he was sort of experienced at this.
“No, it looks wonderful,” Callie said picking up her form and digging into her food. She wasn’t hungry, but she knew that was because of everything that was going on in her life. She still needed to eat because she was still growing a life inside of her and she had to make sure he was born healthy. Meredith and Derek sat down and began to eat their meals as well.
About halfway through the meal, Callie started to feel her stomach tightened. It happened a few times in a row and she just talked herself through them. This could not be the real thing, George wasn’t home yet. She couldn’t deliver this baby on her own. She had told Louise not to let her class down and to go on the trip with them when she insisted on staying back with Callie.
“Do you want to open your gifts?” Meredith questioned as Derek cleared their plates away.
“Sure,” she said. She didn’t want them to leave just yet, in case she needed to get to the hospital. At least if they were here she wouldn’t have to go through having this baby alone.
Meredith nodded and the girls walked into the living room, sitting down on the sofa next to each other. Meredith had picked out a few outfits, some toys for his car seat and swing, a baby monitor with a TV screen that could be placed wherever Callie wanted and a gift card to go buy whatever else she needed for the baby. “I’m sorry I wasn’t very creative. I’ve never actually bought baby things before,” she explained. When her friends from college had baby showers or even wedding showers, she usually declined.
Derek came in and sat down In the chair. “I picked out the baby monitor. I thought it was awesome. If Meredith would ever have a baby with me, I’d want that,” he said with a grin.
“Are you going to carry it for nine months?” Meredith teased.
“If I could I would, but I can’t.”
“I think I need to go to the hospital…” Callie whispered placing both her hands on her stomach. There was no denying it now as the water trickled down her legs. She was having this baby whether George was here or not.
~*~*~
On the drive over, Meredith sat in the backseat, holding Callie’s hand and instructing her to breathe through the contractions. Derek called George over and over again, but it went straight to voicemail. Callie didn’t have to say she wanted him here or needed him here, he could see it in the tears. They weren’t tears from pain, they were tears from the thought of having to bring a baby into the world alone. He had heard Addison speak of those types of tears. “Callie, we’ll be there soon. Can I call Louise for you?”
She nodded her head and Meredith handed him Callie’s cell phone. It was easier than Callie trying to remember the number off the top of her head. “You need to call Addison too, she’s delivering the baby,” Meredith said softly, trying to stay as calm as possible for Callie’s sake.
“Will do,” he told her as he scrolled through the numbers, trying to find Louise’s number. He did and pressed send. It went straight to her voicemail. He explained to her what was going on and that they were taking Callie to the hospital before he called Addison and told her it was time. She agreed to meet them there.
Callie just sat there, stunned. She was going to go through this alone. Louise wasn’t going to be there, George wasn’t going to be there. She would be doing this alone. “I want George,” she whispered as the tears began to fall harder and they pulled up in front of the hospital.
“I know you do and Derek tried calling him,” Meredith explained to her.
“I’m going to go get a wheel chair and then we’ll bring you upstairs,” he told Callie before getting out of the car and going to get her a wheel chair. She was crying and in pain, it would be easier to push her upstairs instead of letting her walk.
He came back two minutes later and Meredith and Derek helped her out of the backseat and into the wheel chair. Meredith made sure they had the bags and all their phones before they went upstairs. Callie began crying harder in the elevator.
“I want George,” she told them as the doors opened on Labor and Delivery. She spotted the Chief standing at the nurses station, waiting on them. “I want George!” she screamed as the tears pooled down her cheeks. She was going to have a baby. She was going to have George’s baby. He knew all their breathing exercises. He was the one who was going to hold her hand. He had been there for her when she took three different tests.
“Callie, we tried getting him, but he’s just not answering,” Meredith explained gently. “But you can hold Derek’s hand and we won’t leave you alone,” she promised.
“Take her into the last room down the hall. Addison will be here shortly,” Richard instructed. Addison had called him and asked him to make sure to get Callie into a room and on a monitor right away. She would take over when she got there.
“I don’t want Derek! I want George!” Callie yelled as the tears poured down her face. She knew she needed to get her act together and do better with handling this for her son, but right now, that was impossible.
~*~*~
George sighed as he sat in his hotel room, his cell phone in hand, everyone had left him messages, including the Chief. He was too scared to do this and no one wanted to respect his wishes. Maybe all he needed was some time away, to get his thoughts in order, but he was sure it was more than that. This had all hit him at once and he realized that he could no longer breathe in his life and that was not a feeling that he was comfortable with.
He went over to the mini fridge in his hotel room and pulled out another beer, cracking it open. The only time he had left his hotel room was to go to the McDonald’s across the street from ten double cheeseburgers and to the gas station right next to it for a case of beer. Maybe when the burgers and the beers were gone things would seem more clear to him, but until that time he was just going to watch bad movies on TV and not worry.
The thing was though, he was worried. He had no way of knowing if Callie and Baby O were okay. They were the two people he cared most about in this world. He figured if the baby had been born or something bad had happened to either of them, they would have left him a voicemail about it, in hopes that the news would bring him home. The only person he wanted a message from, was Callie and she hadn’t even bother to call him. To be honest, he couldn’t blame her. He probably wouldn’t call himself either after what he had pulled. He didn’t deserve her.
He sat down on his bed and set the beer on the night stand. He relaxed back against the pillows and placed his hands behind his head. He could feel his eyes getting heavy. He had been watching movies all day and he was going to continue to do so. He was probably going to rot here. He slowly drifted off to sleep and was awoken by his phone ringing, he had forgotten to shut it off. He got up and went to the table, flipping it opened. He saw that it was The Chief. He swallowed hard and flipped his phone open. “Hello?”
“O’Malley! You’re wife is in labor! I expect to see you here if you still want to work for me!” he threatened. It wasn’t the proper thing to do, but he could dismiss George for just leaving. He couldn’t bear to see Callie begging for George as they wheeled her up to labor and delivery. Hw knew he shouldn’t be involved in his doctors personally lives, but watching that woman beg for her husband killed him inside.
Rating- R
Author- Kimberly (tonysgirl02)
Summary- It's the aftermath of George's note.
Chapter 32
It had been two days since Callie had found the note sitting in the bedroom and although everyone had tried to find George, no one could track him down. She was beyond herself. She was a few weeks from having his child and he just up and left them, what kind of man was that? It wasn’t the man she knew and loved and had promised eternity too. That she did know.
She had gone to work and continued on as if nothing was wrong when everything seemed to be wrong. There wasn’t much else she could do with herself. What was she supposed to do? Sit home and cry over spilled milk? That wasn’t her style no matter how much she was hurting from all of this. She never in a million years would have thought George could do such a thing to their family.
Addison, Alex and Miranda were keeping a watchful eye on her at all times. It was as if they thought she would implode because of everything that had happened. Callie was handling it. It was what she had to do, she didn’t have a choice. She had her son to take care of when he was born. She went into the cafeteria and got herself a sandwich and a fruit cup. She spotted Addison and Miranda sitting at a table together. They seemed to be talking before Callie arrived at the table, but the conversation ceased the moment she got close enough to hear.
Callie set her tray down and pulled out her tray with a sigh before sitting down. “I have ears. I know you were talking about me before I got here, thanks,” she mumbled as she unwrapped her sandwich and took a small bit before setting it back down onto her tray.
Addison sighed softly and took a sip of her juice. “Callie, we’re just concerned about you honey. A lot has happened to you in the past week and you’re pregnant and working and none of it is easy or fair and we just don’t want to see anything bad happen to our friend,” Addison explained reaching out and placing her hand on top of Callie’s, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
Callie slowly nodded her head everyone was worried about her. If was any of them in this situation, she was sure she would worry too, but her and Baby O, they were going to be just fine because there was nothing else for her to be at this point. She couldn’t just lay down and say she couldn’t do this no matter if those were the thoughts running through her head or not. She had a baby on the way, a baby that would need to be loved and cared for and she couldn’t take her angry on her husband out on their son. “Okay,” she said softly.
“Is his room done?” Miranda questioned.
Callie slowly nodded her head, at least that was one good thing George had done in the weeks before he left. He had gotten the babies room completely set up, even though they wouldn’t be using it right away. “Yeah, George finished it last week,” she explained tot hem, hoping they wouldn’t make any comment about it. She was making enough comments to herself in her head. She could feel the tears pooling in her eyes as she thought about the way he would talk about Baby O and the way he worked so hard to make sure his room was perfect. How could he just leave all of that?
“Well, if you need any help, let me know. I’ve done this baby thing before and I know how stressful it can be. Tuck was early and I know I didn’t have everything ready,” Miranda explained. Callie didn’t need to be worried about finishing a room or anything on her own and Miranda would do whatever she could to help. She was going to smack George O’Malley when he came back around. He couldn’t stay away from the hospital, from his family, from his wife, forever. She had never pictured that boy to be coward.
“Thanks, I think things are pretty much taken care of, but if I need anything I will let you know,” Callie said as she played with her fruit. She wasn’t really hungry anymore. She wanted to go lie down in an on call room and sleep until she was needed. Her pager would go off and let her know. If she was sleeping she wouldn’t have to think about everything that was going on in her life.
They both nodded and then Miranda’s pager went off, she looked down and sighed softly. “I need to take this. I will see you two a little bit later. Callie if you need anything at all, I’m here for you,” Miranda told her as she stood up, grabbing her tray of food and taking it with her.
“Callie, you need to eat your food, not play with it.”
“Addison, I don’t need another mother. I know everyone is trying to help and I know I would be doing the same if this happened to anyone, but me, but right now, I can’t handle all of this. I’m trying to focus on having a healthy baby and I’ll just deal with the rest later. I don’t know what comes next after this. I can’t stay at Louise’s, but I can do this on my own. I thought about just moving into the house before the baby is born, but I can’t do that. I’m going to need so much help with a newborn,” she sighed.
“All you have to do is ask for the help and everyone here will be willing to help you. I know Louise doesn’t mind you staying and helping out either. She loves you and her grandson no matter how stupid her son is,” Addison said reaching across the table and holding Callie’s hand in hers, squeezing it gently. She was strong and she was going to make it through all of this. The thing was, Addison didn’t know how long it would all take. There was really nothing she could do to help Callie. What she needed to was George to come back and for him to tell Callie what an idiot he had been and how stupid he was for leaving her and their unborn son, but she couldn’t make that happen. She wasn’t magical as much as she wished she was.
~*~*~~
After her shift ended, Callie got into her car and headed off, just driving. She had no idea where she was going, but being on the open road gave her a feeling of freedom, it made her feel as if she didn’t have a care in the world, when all she really had was worry. She wasn’t out searching for George, she was out searching for answers on how she was going to do all of this by herself. She was pretty sure she would never figure that out. She would just have to do it and if she failed, she would have to pick herself back up and try again. Her son deserved better than that, but this was all she had to give and she would do her best.
Before she knew it, she was at the graveyard, the place where they had laid Harold to rest. She got out of her car and placed a hand over her stomach, feeling the baby kick. Something had brought her here and she wasn’t going to question it. She was just going to pay her respects. She slowly made her way over to his grave and stood before it with her head bowed.
“I don’t know if you can here me, but you always loved me, even when George didn’t,” she whispered. “I love him with all of my heart, I still do, even after what he’s pulled. He has had so much to deal with in the last year and adding a baby and a marriage to all of that was sort of my fault, but he didn’t have to marry me, he didn’t have to promise to stay with me through all of it. You could always get through to George, Mr. O’Malley. I can’t raise this baby on my own. I know that about myself. Everyone thinks I’m so strong, but my mother, she never taught me how to be a mother. Louise is a better mother to me than my own mother was. I love your wife more than I love my own mother. I know it’s sad, but it is true. I need you to bring George back to me though. It isn’t going to be easy. My anger won’t be erased, but please, if you can hear me, don’t let me bring your grandson into this world alone,” she whispered as tears began to fall from her eyes.
She was desperate. She was standing at her father-in-laws grave, begging him to help her find her husband. Callie had always thought she would be better than this, that she would never need a man in her life, because she could handle everything that the world could throw at her, but she was not ready to handle a baby on her own.
She lifted her head and smiled softly as she wiped her tears away. She was going crazy. She was talking to a headstone. She rubbed her hands over her belly, feeling the baby kick. She at least knew that he was doing well without having to worry. No matter what happened, she was going to have a healthy baby and that was something to be thankful for in light of everything else going on in her life right now.
~*~*~
Addison smiled as she saw Alex standing at the nurses station, going over one of the files. “I need to talk to you,” she said softly as she placed a hand on his shoulder. She had no idea how she was going to ask him this, but she was going to have to, because she knew Callie would never.
“Yeah, what’s going on? And no, I haven’t gotten a hold of O’Malley, I call him and leave him a voicemail every day,” Alex explained to her. He couldn’t stand the fact that George had just up and left her when she was so close to having his son. He was being a coward and when he got home, Alex was going to give him a piece of his mind, whether he wanted to hear it or not. Alex hated seeing Callie mope around the hospital when a few days before she had been so cheery.
Addison nodded her head when he mentioned getting a hold of George. Everyone had been trying to get a hold of him, but with no luck. “I need you to be there, for Callie when she has this baby. I have a feeling it is going to be sooner rather than later with all the stress she is under right now. It is okay for her to have the baby, she has hit thirty six weeks, but she is going to need a support system. I would do it, but I would have to deliver the baby, so I need someone to be there, for Callie,” she explained. She hoped Alex would accept, because she had no idea who else she would ask.
Alex swallowed the lump in his throat. He knew nothing about supporting a woman in labor. Callie had already finished her classes, so it wasn’t like he could just go to a couple with her in hopes of picking up everything he needed to know. He also knew that Callie shouldn’t have to do this alone and as her friend, he wouldn’t let her do this alone. “I’ll be there. Just page me or call me when she comes in,” Alex told her with a nod of his head. “I’m going to go do some research on this, because I am not prepared.”
“Thank you,” Addison said hugging him.
“You’re welcome. It isn’t fair that she has to go through this alone. It isn’t what she asked for,” he whispered to Addison as he held her close to him.
“No, it isn’t, but it really she doesn’t have a choice in the matter now. I’m just trying to make things as easy as possible for her when she has this baby,” Addison said puling away from him. “Go do your research and remember, we’re on baby watch, any time now, so no getting drunk, alright?”
Alex nodded his head before going into one of the small offices and typing labor into the database. He found a few articles that listed and explained different ways of coping with labor pains. He was readying every word, trying to remember everything these articles were saying.
What are you looking up?” Izzie questioned peering over his shoulder, reading the words on the page. “What are you going to do? Be the babies dad now?” she questioned sitting down on the desk behind him.
“If I have to be, I will. I probably will have to be because I’m going to kill O’Malley when he finally shows face,” Alex muttered as he continued to look at the computer screen. He wanted to make sure he knew everything he could before Callie went into labor. Addison said it could be at any time, that could mean five minutes from now or five days from now and he was not prepared at all.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” she smirked. “He’s never coming back.”
Alex glared at the computer screen before spinning around in his chair and glaring at Izzie. He knew she hasn’t heard from George, he had checked her phone that morning to be sure she wasn’t lying to all of them. “Izzie, stop trying to make people think you know where he is. He’s vanished. He’s a coward. He has everything a man could want and he’s running away from it.”
“I gave my baby up for adoption when I couldn’t handle it,” Izzie said swinging her legs off the desk and running a hand through her hair. She had no idea what Alex was trying to get at. She was just hoping George would call her or something and let him know he was alright.
“You were a teenager Izzie, not a grown woman. He is a grown man, with a career and a wife and a kid on the way. Where I come from, you don’t just walk away from that when everything is going perfectly fine. You don’t run away from yours fears you confront them head on. I am not going to let that baby grow up without a dad because George is an asshole! I am not going to let one of my best friends suffer because her husband is a jerk! I am going to be there for them, because it is the right thing to do. You used to be about doing the right thing too, a long time ago! I wanna know where that Izzie went, that Izzie would be baking Callie cookies right now, in hopes they would make her feel better or something! You taught me to care about people, so no I am not going to let them suffer because your ex best friend is the biggest idiot in the world.”
~*~*~
Meredith smiled at Derek as they got out of his car. They knew Callie was alone at Louise’s, since she was on a school trip and they knew she wasn’t eating. Everyone at the hospital was trying to look out for Callie right now. Meredith had picked out some gifts for the baby as well, seeing as the shower was supposed to happen the day after George left. Needless to say, the girls had canceled it, knowing she wouldn’t want that reminder.
Derek got the food and Meredith grabbed the bags of gifts as they made their way towards the front door. Meredith rang the bell and a few seconds later, Callie appeared. “Hey guys,” she said softly opening the door and allowing them to come in. “The kitchen is that way,” she pointed out to Derek so he could set the food down
“How are you feeling?” Meredith questioned. “Where can I put these?”
“In the living room if you want,” Callie said softly as she rubbed her hands over her stomach. She was wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts. She was just trying to be comfortable. She really had no idea they were coming by. “I’m going to go get changed, please make yourself at home,” she told them as she made her way up the stairs.
Meredith nodded and placed the bags down. She went into the kitchen and smiled as Derek was making them each a plate and getting everything ready. “I’m sensing she doesn’t want company, but she can’t sit here alone all night, so maybe if we stay here for an hour or so, it’ll help her some. I wish we could find George,” he said as he moved the plates to the table.
Meredith nodded her head as she opened the fridge and got three bottles of water out, bringing them over to the table. She had tried finding George, but she had no luck. “He doesn’t want to be found,” she said quietly as she heard Callie coming back down the stairs. Now she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. “Are you ready to eat?”
“No, but the baby is,” she said softly as she tucked her hair behind her ears. This was her home so she could act however she pleased. She didn’t have to pretend here like she did at the hospital for the sake of her patients and such and she wasn’t going too, not for anyone.
“Then we should feed the baby,” Derek said with a nod of his head as he pulled Callie’s chair out for. “Do you need anything that we forgot about?” he questioned. His sisters had a lot of babies, so he was sort of experienced at this.
“No, it looks wonderful,” Callie said picking up her form and digging into her food. She wasn’t hungry, but she knew that was because of everything that was going on in her life. She still needed to eat because she was still growing a life inside of her and she had to make sure he was born healthy. Meredith and Derek sat down and began to eat their meals as well.
About halfway through the meal, Callie started to feel her stomach tightened. It happened a few times in a row and she just talked herself through them. This could not be the real thing, George wasn’t home yet. She couldn’t deliver this baby on her own. She had told Louise not to let her class down and to go on the trip with them when she insisted on staying back with Callie.
“Do you want to open your gifts?” Meredith questioned as Derek cleared their plates away.
“Sure,” she said. She didn’t want them to leave just yet, in case she needed to get to the hospital. At least if they were here she wouldn’t have to go through having this baby alone.
Meredith nodded and the girls walked into the living room, sitting down on the sofa next to each other. Meredith had picked out a few outfits, some toys for his car seat and swing, a baby monitor with a TV screen that could be placed wherever Callie wanted and a gift card to go buy whatever else she needed for the baby. “I’m sorry I wasn’t very creative. I’ve never actually bought baby things before,” she explained. When her friends from college had baby showers or even wedding showers, she usually declined.
Derek came in and sat down In the chair. “I picked out the baby monitor. I thought it was awesome. If Meredith would ever have a baby with me, I’d want that,” he said with a grin.
“Are you going to carry it for nine months?” Meredith teased.
“If I could I would, but I can’t.”
“I think I need to go to the hospital…” Callie whispered placing both her hands on her stomach. There was no denying it now as the water trickled down her legs. She was having this baby whether George was here or not.
~*~*~
On the drive over, Meredith sat in the backseat, holding Callie’s hand and instructing her to breathe through the contractions. Derek called George over and over again, but it went straight to voicemail. Callie didn’t have to say she wanted him here or needed him here, he could see it in the tears. They weren’t tears from pain, they were tears from the thought of having to bring a baby into the world alone. He had heard Addison speak of those types of tears. “Callie, we’ll be there soon. Can I call Louise for you?”
She nodded her head and Meredith handed him Callie’s cell phone. It was easier than Callie trying to remember the number off the top of her head. “You need to call Addison too, she’s delivering the baby,” Meredith said softly, trying to stay as calm as possible for Callie’s sake.
“Will do,” he told her as he scrolled through the numbers, trying to find Louise’s number. He did and pressed send. It went straight to her voicemail. He explained to her what was going on and that they were taking Callie to the hospital before he called Addison and told her it was time. She agreed to meet them there.
Callie just sat there, stunned. She was going to go through this alone. Louise wasn’t going to be there, George wasn’t going to be there. She would be doing this alone. “I want George,” she whispered as the tears began to fall harder and they pulled up in front of the hospital.
“I know you do and Derek tried calling him,” Meredith explained to her.
“I’m going to go get a wheel chair and then we’ll bring you upstairs,” he told Callie before getting out of the car and going to get her a wheel chair. She was crying and in pain, it would be easier to push her upstairs instead of letting her walk.
He came back two minutes later and Meredith and Derek helped her out of the backseat and into the wheel chair. Meredith made sure they had the bags and all their phones before they went upstairs. Callie began crying harder in the elevator.
“I want George,” she told them as the doors opened on Labor and Delivery. She spotted the Chief standing at the nurses station, waiting on them. “I want George!” she screamed as the tears pooled down her cheeks. She was going to have a baby. She was going to have George’s baby. He knew all their breathing exercises. He was the one who was going to hold her hand. He had been there for her when she took three different tests.
“Callie, we tried getting him, but he’s just not answering,” Meredith explained gently. “But you can hold Derek’s hand and we won’t leave you alone,” she promised.
“Take her into the last room down the hall. Addison will be here shortly,” Richard instructed. Addison had called him and asked him to make sure to get Callie into a room and on a monitor right away. She would take over when she got there.
“I don’t want Derek! I want George!” Callie yelled as the tears poured down her face. She knew she needed to get her act together and do better with handling this for her son, but right now, that was impossible.
~*~*~
George sighed as he sat in his hotel room, his cell phone in hand, everyone had left him messages, including the Chief. He was too scared to do this and no one wanted to respect his wishes. Maybe all he needed was some time away, to get his thoughts in order, but he was sure it was more than that. This had all hit him at once and he realized that he could no longer breathe in his life and that was not a feeling that he was comfortable with.
He went over to the mini fridge in his hotel room and pulled out another beer, cracking it open. The only time he had left his hotel room was to go to the McDonald’s across the street from ten double cheeseburgers and to the gas station right next to it for a case of beer. Maybe when the burgers and the beers were gone things would seem more clear to him, but until that time he was just going to watch bad movies on TV and not worry.
The thing was though, he was worried. He had no way of knowing if Callie and Baby O were okay. They were the two people he cared most about in this world. He figured if the baby had been born or something bad had happened to either of them, they would have left him a voicemail about it, in hopes that the news would bring him home. The only person he wanted a message from, was Callie and she hadn’t even bother to call him. To be honest, he couldn’t blame her. He probably wouldn’t call himself either after what he had pulled. He didn’t deserve her.
He sat down on his bed and set the beer on the night stand. He relaxed back against the pillows and placed his hands behind his head. He could feel his eyes getting heavy. He had been watching movies all day and he was going to continue to do so. He was probably going to rot here. He slowly drifted off to sleep and was awoken by his phone ringing, he had forgotten to shut it off. He got up and went to the table, flipping it opened. He saw that it was The Chief. He swallowed hard and flipped his phone open. “Hello?”
“O’Malley! You’re wife is in labor! I expect to see you here if you still want to work for me!” he threatened. It wasn’t the proper thing to do, but he could dismiss George for just leaving. He couldn’t bear to see Callie begging for George as they wheeled her up to labor and delivery. Hw knew he shouldn’t be involved in his doctors personally lives, but watching that woman beg for her husband killed him inside.