redamancy
(n) the act of loving the one who loves you; a love returned in full.
"God, you're sleeping with Satan?"
"Yes, I'm sleeping with satan, have you seen her? She's hot, like incredibly hot, like 'step on my throat' kind of hot."
"Jesus, you'...
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Charlie takes her to the airport, they say goodbye, and Addison cries. She promises to call her when she gets there. Charlie holds her hand and doesn't want to let go; the tears are starting to form in her eyes, she only let's go when Addison's flight gets called, and they part.
She decides to drive straight to the hospital instead of heading back home. She doesn't like to sleep alone, and she needs to be here in a few hours anyway. The early hours of the hospital are always quiet she likes it when it's like this; it's not as frantic as during the day. She heads over to Peds, her favourite part of the hospital and goes to stare at the newborn babies.
"They're adorable, aren't they."
"Yeah."
"I'm Arizona Robbins, Head of Peds" Charlie turns her head and shakes the head that is offered to her.
"Charlie Beck, intern." Charlie smiles and turns back to the babies.
"I've heard about you, Charlie Beck. A little bird tells me you might be joining me in Peds?" Arizona nudges Charlie's shoulder and she laughs.
"Ah, maybe. I'm not sure yet. I'm waiting for my intern results to decide what I want to do." Charlie smiles at Arizona; she excuses herself as her pager goes off and leaves Charlie with the babies.
*
"Beck, why are you here?" Charlie awakens suddenly, falling off the bench in the locker room. She rolls over and stares up at Doctor Bailey, who just stands over her, staring with an eyebrow raised.
She rubs her eyes and checks her watch; not the fancy one Addison got her, but a cheap batman one she got to match with her nephew. Just gone past 6 am.
"I dropped Addison at the airport last night; I can't sleep by myself, so I just came straight here." She picks herself off the floor and settles back on the bench, rubbing her face.
"Dedication, I like to see it. Just for that, you get to scrub in on my first surgery today."
"Thank you, Doctor Bailey." Bailey waves her off and leaves her in the locker room.
Her fellow interns crowd into the room just after Bailey leaves. She yawns and settles back on the bench. Alex decides it's a good idea to throw his bag onto Charlie. She lets out a groan of pain and sticks her middle finger up at him.
"So, you started planning yet?" Izzie asks as they crowd in the locker room.
"Not yet, Addie flew to LA for a consult today, so I'm just starting to scout out venues and stuff, but when she gets back, we're going to do some of the bigger stuff." She lies on the bench, her arm over her eyes, and her friends hover and move around her. "She wants to tell my mom, but once my mom gets involved...it'll be real, and my mom will critique everything, so I just want to stay in this...bubble a little longer."
Charlie gets to scrub in on Bailey's appendectomy, and of course, her friends are jealous. She just sticks her tongue out at them before scurrying away to scrub in.
*
"Come with us," Meredith says as she takes Charlie's arm. Cristina follows suit with a notepad, and they head down to their spot in the underbelly of the hospital. They settle on the beds and turn to face Charlie. "We're gonna help you start to plan this wedding."
"Guys, it's fine. I'm just gonna wait until Addie gets back."
"Nope, we are going to get a head start, so you can call your mom and tell her that you have control over this," Cristina says, opening the notebook and grabbing a pen. "So, guest list?"
They take the time to list all the people that Charlie wants at the wedding. They list friends, family friends, cousins and plus ones. Next, they make a list of possible locations, especially those that would accommodate two women getting married.
"Okay, so we have 75 people on your side. Do you have any idea how many Addison is inviting?" Meredith asks her, and Charlie just shrugs her shoulders.
"Okay, so band or DJ?"
"Urgh, I don't know. DJ? That's easier right? Because then I can tell them what songs we want? My cousin Frank, he's at college but I'm sure if I pay him 50 bucks or so, he'll do it. He has great taste in music."
"Your definition of great is 80's soft rock."
"And? What's wrong with that?"
"I'm pretty Addison would have something to say if your first dance was to 'Eye Of The Tiger'." Cristina jabs playfully at Charlie.
"You're uninvited; Meredith, cross her name off." Charlie reaches over to cross off her friend's name, but Cristina yelps and bundles on top of her.
"Guys!" She shouts, getting them to stop their play-fighting. "What about the food?"
"Mer, honestly, I appreciate the help, but we've done enough. I want to work out the finer details with Addie. So let's just leave it there. When my mom gets involved, that's when I'm gonna need serious help."
*
The day goes slow at the hospital; even though several emergencies come in, it's always slow when Charlie can't disappear for 5 minutes and spend it with Addison. She has a spare 5 minutes by herself, so she tries calling her. She doesn't answer.
When she gets home, there's a letter waiting for her. She knows what it is, the intern exam results. She holds the crisp white envelope in her hands, she wants to rip it open, wants to see whether all her hard work was worth it, but she wants to share this moment with Addison. So she places it under the key bowl, on the side table by the door and forgets about it, at least until Addison comes home.
She gets a call a little past 7 pm.
"Hey." She answers with a smile.
"Hi," Addison replies, her voice shaking. Charlie immediately picks up on it.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, baby. I promise. Just a long day at work today. How was yours? Did you get your results back yet?" Charlie glances over at the side table, the white envelope sticking out amongst the dark brown of wood.
"No, not yet," She lies. "It was okay. I met the new head of Peds. She was nice, and then Bailey let me scrub in on an appy. So overall, good day. Oh, and Mer and Cristina helped me get a start on planning the wedding, it was mainly guests for me and locations, but I said I wanted to do it with you. So please come back soon; I miss you." Charlie smiles sadly.
"I'll be back soon; in fact, I might be back tomorrow. I'm...finished with the consult here, so I'll be heading back probably tomorrow morning." Charlie grins at that.
"Happy reunions." She tells her fiancée.
"Happy reunions," Addison replies.
Charlie gets ready for bed and asks if she can say on the phone until she falls asleep, and Addison does. When Charlie wakes up, she realises that neither of them hung up on the other.
