Notes: This is a fanfiction based on characters from the TV shows, Grey’s Anatomy, and Private Practice. This rewrites parts of episodes 18×03 and 18×04 of Grey’s Anatomy where Addison comes back to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital to do the hospital’s first uterine transplant. In this version of events, Addison’s husband and son, Jake, and Henry, show up to visit. This story and chapter were originally posted on Archive of Our Own on October 28th, 2021. This is chapter five so it is necessary to read the fourth chapter before moving on. This story has been edited to include headings and images.
Happier: Chapter 5
It was later in the day now and with it approaching autumn in Seattle, it also started getting dark outside. After talking to Jo, Addison went straight to her husband, who’d just gotten out of the restrooms.
“Hey, you,” she said.
“Hey,” he said back, pulling her in for a kiss. “Now let’s go get our boy,” he said as he pulled away. Addison smiled back as Jake kept his arm around her waist as they walked toward the hospital daycare center.
Eight years together and it still made her smile every time Jake called Henry “his son” or “our son”. She just hoped that he knew she felt the same way about Angela. But she was at least comforted knowing that Angela loved being a big sister just by seeing them together every time she came home to visit.
After some small talk about the clinical trial, they finally reached the daycare center where they were surprised to see Amelia talking to a man holding a baby.
“So, are we gonna talk about the whole Minnesota thing from the other day?” Link asked her as he held baby Scout.
“I’m just gonna be traveling back and forth sometimes to help Meredith with this new job. It’ll be fine. Scout will be fine,” Amelia had been digging around her bag for something and after finding the pacifier she’d been searching for, she stuck it in Scout’s mouth.
“And you’re still not gonna tell me what this job is?” Link said, annoyed.
“I told you, I can’t,” Amelia said, defensively. “It’s all top secret and I wish I could tell you,” Amelia explained. “Believe me, if I could tell you, I would,” she added apologetically.
“Of course, you would,” Link said, defeated and annoyed.
Addison Interrupts
“Is everything okay?” Addison walked up to them and placed her hand on Amelia’s hand.
“It’s fine, he just doesn’t like that I’m helping Meredith with this new job. Or that I can’t tell him anything about it,” Link stood there watching as Amelia explained. Then, he saw Jake standing there and it was then that both men gave each other sympathetic smiles.
“Wait,” Addison said as she started putting the pieces together. “Is this Scout?” she added, excitedly.
“Yes, yes it is,” Amelia smiled as she looked back at the baby, who’d been staring at the adults as they talked. Addison cupped her hands over her face excitedly. Link gave her a slight smile and placed the baby in Addison’s arm.
“Hi, Scout!” Addison said in her baby voice. It’d been a long time since she talked to Henry in that voice and God, did she miss it.
“I’m your Auntie Addison,” Addison pulled the baby closer to snuggle him slightly and sniff his head. Baby head, how she’s missed that too.
Link Meets Jake and Addison
“And you must be Link,” Addison said as she adjusted Scout to a better position in her arms.
“Yeah, hi it’s nice to meet you,” Link gave her a slight nod to acknowledge her. He still wasn’t happy with Amelia and wasn’t really in the mood to pretend like he wasn’t. As Addison continued cooing over the baby, Amelia smiled watching them. Then, Jake finally stepped up to introduce himself.
“Hi, I’m Jake,” Jake offered his hand.
“Nice to meet you,” Link gave his hand a shake.
“Amelia used to work with us in LA,” Jake explained.
“Oh yeah, I think she mentioned she worked in LA for a while,” Link recalled. He knows she worked in LA for a while but knew next to nothing about her time there. There was a slightly awkward pause between the guys as Addison and Amelia continued to coo over baby Scout.
Jake Invites Link for Dinner
“Hey, you should join us for dinner,” Jake offered. Just from the look on Addison and Amelia’s faces, he knew he did wrong. But it was too late to backtrack now.
“Uhhhh…” Link said awkwardly. “Sure,”
“Great!” Addison said in her best WASP-y enthusiastically polite tone. “I’ll just grab Henry and we can go,” she handed Scout over to Amelia, who muttered a sarcastic “great” under her breath.
They ended up going out to a quaint little Italian joint that Addison used to frequent when she lived in Seattle. The restaurant was nice enough and there’d thankfully been enough distractions to fill out the conversation. But by the time they finished ordering, there was a lull in the conversation as they’d already exhausted talking about things like the weather, the nice restaurant atmosphere, and the food options.
“So, Amelia tells us you’re in ortho,” Addison started.
“Yeah,” Link said somewhat awkwardly. The night had been fine so far but now Link was starting to regret saying yes to Jake’s proposal.
“What made you want to get into ortho?” Jake asked. Over the years, Jake had adapted Addison’s WASP-y ability to make nice conversation even when no one wanted to talk. But he had to admit that it was a nice tool to have in awkward situations like this.
“I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma when I was a kid,” he started. “I mean, I got through cancer but I wanted to help kids like me,”
“What’s that?” Henry asked.
“It’s bone cancer,” Link explained. “Mine was in my femur bone, which is this bone right here,” he pointed. “Actually, they caught it pretty late but the doctors helped cure me and now I’m all better,”
Link and Henry Bond
“Cool,” Henry said. Jake and Addison shot him a look to convey that saying it was “cool” that Link had bone cancer probably wasn’t the right thing to say. But Amelia couldn’t help but chuckle a little.
“It’s okay,” Link said, laughing a little. “It is kinda cool. I mean, I was even a Make-a-Wish kid and got to watch a baseball game in New York,” he said.
“Really?” Henry’s eyes widened. Jake and Addison smiled at each other, knowing that Henry had become a big baseball fan in recent years.
“Yeah. And I found my favorite pizza place and ate there five times before going back home,” Link said, thinking back on it fondly.
“Five times?!” Henry was clearly amused with his story. And all the adults were just relieved Henry worked well as a buffer between them all.
“Yeah,” Link said laughing.
“That’s a lot of pizza,” Henry said. “Would you ever let me eat that much pizza?” he asked Jake.
“No, we definitely would not,” Addison answered for him and Jake laughed along.
Addison and Link are Left Alone
By then, the food arrived and they continued making small talk for the rest of the evening relatively easily. Henry seemed to really take a liking to Link and the rest of their conversation consisted of baseball stats and Addison’s clinical trial. Once they were done eating, they were all pleased that this dinner hadn’t been as painfully awkward as it could’ve been.
“Can I go to the bathroom before we leave?” Henry asked, looking up at his parents.
“Yeah, I think I’ll go too,” Jake said. Henry was getting bigger and his parents knew he was more than capable of going to the bathroom on his own. But Jake knew that Addison wasn’t quite ready to let him go to the bathroom on his own.
“Oh, I should go too. Scout needs a diaper change,” Amelia said, picking him up from his car seat.
“I can do it,” Link offered. Diaper changes weren’t his favorite thing (I mean, they’re not anyone’s favorite thing) but he just didn’t really want to wait with Addison alone.
“No, it’s okay, I got him,” Amelia said as she grabbed his diaper bag. Less than a minute later, she was gone and Addison and Link were alone.
“So…” Link started. “How long are you guys staying in town?”
“We go back tomorrow morning,” Addison said.
“Already?”
“Yeah,” Addison sighed. “Seattle’s great but LA’s home for me now. For all of us. Plus, Henry’s gotta get back to school on Monday,”
“Right,” Link said. Then, there was an awkward silence as they both struggled to come up with something to say. That is until Addison thought it was best to address the elephant in the room.
Addison Speaks Up
“I know things are complicated between you two,” Addison started. Link was surprised. He figured they’d stick to small talk considering they’d done it all evening.
“And while Amelia’s family, don’t think it doesn’t mean I don’t feel for you. ‘Cause I do,” Addison said with a polite smile.
“I just wish I knew why,” Link said, frustrated. If Addison was gonna open the door to talking about his and Amelia’s relationship, he figured he’d go for it. Then, Link realized that Addison might know why and looked up at her curiously. Before he could say anything, Addison could already tell what he wanted to ask.
“For the record, I don’t know why she said no,” Addison said. “But I wish I did,” she smiled at him sympathetically.
“She’s a real…enigma, isn’t she?” Link chuckled.
“I’m sure she has her reasons,” Addison said. “But whatever it is, Scout’s what matters now,”
“Yeah,” Link said sadly. “I just wish he could have more,” he added.
“I know it’s hard right now, but you guys will figure it out,” Addison placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Not long afterward, Jake and Henry got back to them.
“Where’s Aunt Amelia?” Henry asked.
“Bathroom,” Addison answered.
Jake and Henry Come Back
“Yeah, Scout needed a diaper change,” Link added. Henry gave a slightly disgusted face and Addison made a scolding face in return. Link couldn’t help but laugh a little.
“You know you also used to wear diapers,” Jake joked as he wrapped an arm around Addison, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.
“Yeah, but I don’t anymore,” Henry insisted slightly under his breath. It was as if he were trying to prove he was a big kid to Link, who he had come to admire over the past hour.
“Don’t worry kid. We all used to wear diapers,” he said as he playfully tapped Henry’s back. “Even me,” he added, whispering. From that, Henry giggled. Then, Amelia came back with Scout in her arms looking like he was ready to go to bed. Seeing a sleepy Scout excited Addison. It’d been a while since Henry was that small and he was growing up so fast. Plus, he seemed like he was in a hurry to grow up, just like every kid at that age.
“Looks like someone’s ready for bedtime,” Addison cooed at the baby and softly stroked his hair, which had started growing more recently. As she stroked his hair, Scout cutely rested his head on Amelia’s shoulder as his eyes started to droop. At that sight, Addison let out a small “aww”.
“Yeah, he’s ready to pass out,” Amelia agreed, looking over to her son who started to fall asleep on her shoulder.
“Goodnight Scout,” Henry whispered as Amelia put him down in his car seat. Seeing how caring the kid was to the baby was endearing and made all the adults smile. Then, Addison’s pager suddenly beeped. After getting it out of her purse, she sighed.
Addison’s Pager Goes Off
“What is it?” Jake asked, peering over to see what was on her pager.
“It’s Tovah. She started seizing,” Addison said disappointed.
“Is she gonna be okay?” Henry looked up at his parents.
“I don’t know, but I’m gonna do everything I can to help her while you go back to the hotel with your dad,” Addison said as she ran her fingers through Henry’s scruffy hair.
“Awww,” Henry complained. It was getting dark outside and he knew there was probably no way his parents would let him go back to the hospital to see his mom in action but part of him always wanted to. He grew up watching his parents be doctors and it always surprised him how impressed everyone else was with his mother, the world-renowned neonatal surgeon.
“You guys gonna be okay?” Addison looked to Jake, who pulled her in closer in response.
“We’re gonna be just fine,” Jake said, giving her a sweet kiss.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow, okay?” Addison knelt down and gave their son a kiss on the forehead. Henry resisted a bit but they both knew he loved it. But kissing his forehead in front of Link embarrassed him a little. But Addison couldn’t help but love embarrassing him. She knew it wasn’t going to be long until he’d be more vocal about her embarrassing him. So she was going to take advantage of it for as long as she could. They all started walking out the doors of the restaurant when Addison stopped in her tracks.
Amelia Comes Along
“Actually,” Addison started. “Any chance you’d come back to the hospital with me?” she looked at Amelia.
“Why?” Amelia asked.
“Because my patient’s seizing and I need to figure out why,” Addison said matter-of-factly. Amelia shot Link a look.
“I can take him for the night,” Link said. “You go help her with her patient,”
“Thank you,” Addison said, placing a hand on his arm. Amelia handed over the diaper bag.
“Just call if you need anything,” Amelia said as she handed over Scout sleeping in his car seat.
“Goodnight hon,” Addison kissed Henry’s head one more time and gave Jake a sweet kiss goodbye as she and Amelia left in Amelia’s car.
Additional Notes
I tried to make this chapter longer than the rest because I realized how short my previous chapters were so hopefully this makes up for it lol. The biggest thing I wanted for this chapter was Addison finally meeting Scout as well as Link. I wrote half of this before Grey’s Anatomy 18×04 aired so Addison and Amelia will go back to the hospital to help Tovah as they did in the episode and have that heart-to-heart while waiting for Tovah’s scans. But I’m gonna add a couple more things to their conversation and I want her to do a little more at Grey Sloan Memorial before she leaves Seattle.