𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄 ━ derek shepherd

012. ━ drowning

season three // episodes fifteen, sixteen and seventeen
[ drowning ]

"𝐌𝐎𝐌, 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐃𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 this!" Abby exclaimed once the twins and Adam were out of earshot. "Do you know how it looks to them when their mother comes home high on pills after abandoning them for the entire day?"

"Sweetie, calm down," Carol Thompson said with a slur, waving her hand aimlessly at her daughter. "Nothing bad happened to me. Now, where are my babies? I want to see them."

"No." Abby stood in front of the stairs. "No. You will not see them until you are sobered up. I don't need Ana to see you like this. She loves you too much to have her vision of you destroyed."

Carol frowned, stumbling slightly into the wall. "I'm their mother," she contradicted. "I will see them if I damn well please. And you can't stop me."

"I can," Abby said, forcefully. "And I will. You may not care about the fact that your actions affect your children, but I do. So listen to me very closely, Mom, you are not yourself. So go to bed, sleep it off, and we'll talk in the morning."

"Listen here, missy," Carol said, her words becoming more and more incoherent. "I am the adult in this family which means I will do whatever I want whenever I want. And I want to see my children."

Abby scoffed. "But they don't want to see you."

"Oh, shut up!" Abby brought a hand up to her cheek where a red mark was starting to form. "You don't get to tell me what to do! You aren't an adult. Let me see my children!"

"I am an adult," she said, stepping dangerously close to her mother. "I turned eighteen yesterday. You would've known that if you had been home. So if you don't clean up your act, then I'll have no choice but to go to the authorities and show them how unfit of a mother you are. And the twins and Adam will go to me. Don't make me make that choice."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Yeah?" She narrowed her eyes. "Try me."

Abby's arm fell from the nurse's station and she looked up, seeing if anyone had noticed. She let out a breath and closed her chart, rubbing her eyes.

"Hey, there's my favorite birthday girl!" She looked over and saw Mark walking toward her. "Happy Birthday, Abs!" He held out a flat cupcake and as she took it, he smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I sat on it."

She chuckled lightly. "Thanks." She looked down at the cupcake and played with the wrapper silently.

Mark pressed his lips together. "So, how's Adam?" he asked carefully.

Abby looked up and shrugged. "Fine."

"Just fine?"

She nodded, blinking rapidly. "He decided to go to the rehab facility," she whispered, looking up at him. "He said he went to visit Ana. And... she only remembered him until the accident and I guess that was the wake-up call he needed. He wanted to be the brother she remembered him to be. Who I want him to be."