LABYRINTH- Daphne Thompson

trainwreck

Since she lost Noah and Veronica, Daphne has barely slept. She doesn't leave the hospital, despite Meredith and George trying to get her to come home. She rarely eats, only stealing snacks from the vending machine between checking on patients and surgeries.

'Thompson. Come here.' Addison orders one day, in an empty hallway. Daphne walks over and nods. 'Did you need something, Dr. Montgomery?' Daphne asks, putting down her chart. Addisons hand comes up to meet Daphnes chin, lifting her head. 'You look exhausted. When was the last time you slept?'

'I'm fine, Dr. Montgomery.' Daphne insists, so convincing she almost believes it herself. 'That doesn't answer my question, Thompson.' Addison runs a thumb over Daphnes cheekbone gently.

'Okay, it's been a few days. But I'm alright, I swear.' Addison frowns and shakes her head. 'No you're not. It's hard, I understand. But you need to let people in, Daph.' Daphnes heart rate picks up when Addison uses her first name, and she tries to look down, but Addisons hand stays at her chin, keeping her head in a firm grip.

'I'm sending you home.' Addison says, making Daphnes eyes widen. 'But-' Daphne begins, but Addison interrupts her. 'No buts. You're going home. You will be paged if we need you, okay? I promise.' Daphne sighs and nods, surprisingly trusting of Addison; something she doesn't do easily, and never with redheads.

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Daphne falls asleep on the couch practically the second she gets home, and only wakes up fourteen hours later, when Izzie, George, and Meredith get home. Daphne sits up and rubs her eyes. 'How was work?' Meredith sighs and shakes her head. Izzies the first one to talk. 'Train crash.' Daphne shoots up. 'What? And I wasn't paged?'

'Dr. Montgomery told everyone not to page you.' George says as he walks up the stairs.

'She did?' Daphne sighs and sinks back into the couch.

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'Daph, we have a patient.' Addison follows Daphne down a hallway when she's back at work. 'I'm on Dr. Burkes service today.' Daphne keeps walking, not turning to face Addison.

If she had turned to face Addison, she would have seen shock and hurt enter her eyes. She may have even caught the way Addisons jaw dropped slightly, and how her hands came to cross over her chest defensively.

'You switched? With who?' Addison clears her throat in an attempt to feign nonchalance. 'Karev.' Daphne answers quickly. 'Look, Daph, if this is about the train crash, I—'

'I'd rather you call me Dr. Thompson, Dr. Montgomery. And if you'll excuse me, I have to prep a patient for surgery. Goodbye.' Daphne starts walking a little faster, turning corners and making detours in an attempt to lose Addison, who tries to follow, but gives up eventually. Instead she watches Daphne walk away with a small frown on her face.

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'Excuse me, do George O'Malley and Daphne Thompson live here?' A man asks when Izzie answers the door. 'Uh, yeah. George is upstairs, third room on the left. Daphs in the kitchen.' The three men enter the house and split up, two younger boys heading upstairs and the older man walking into the kitchen. 'Daph.' The man greets with a gentle smile. 'Hi, Dad.' Daphne reciprocates the short greeting. There's a minute of silence before Daphne sees Izzies impatient smile out of the corner of her eye.

'Izzie, this is Harold O'Malley. My dad. The boys upstairs are Jerry and Ronnie.' Daphne watches as Izzie shakes Harold's hand. 'Are you all surgeons?' Harold asks. Izzie nods with a welcoming grin. 'We are. Are you going out?' She turns to Daphne, who in turn looks at Harold.

'We are. I bring the boys out every year to get a turkey for Thanksgiving. We're just here to grab Georgie, and then we'll be on our way. Uh, Daph, you're welcome to come along, if you'd like to...' Harold tries to invite Daphne every year, and she always comes up with an excuse. Izzie sees the helpless look in Daphnes eyes as she scrambles for an excuse and swoops in.

'That's really nice of you, Mr. O'Malley, but Daph said she'd teach me to cook a turkey.' Daphne shoots Izzie a grateful look before nodding at Harold. 'Right. Sorry, Dad. Next year?' Harold nods at Daphne, although there's a hint of relief in his eyes when she declines his offer.

As soon as the men leave, Izzie turns to Daphne. 'You've never gone with them?' Daphne shakes her head and tries to change the subject. 'Cristina should be here soon. Pass me the butter?' Izzie hands the butter to Daphne and continues to pry. 'Why not?'

'It felt forced. He always asked, but he never really meant it. So instead, I stayed home with Louise and helped her cook dinner.'

'Thats...Ouch. Poor guy.' Izzie says sympathetically.

'It's not like I don't like him. Harold's really sweet. But... I never told him about my mother. What she was like. I didn't want him to feel guilty.' Daphne shrugs and crosses her arms over her chest in a defensive manner. Izzie seems to notice that Daphne doesn't want to talk about it anymore, so she doesn't pry.

A couple of hours later, Daphne is sitting in the living room, trying to avoid Burke and Izzie, when she gets a phone call from George.

'George?' Daphne says into the phone.

'Dad was shot in the ass!' George shouts over a cacophony of yelling and crying.

'Oh, for gods sakes.'

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a/n — sorry it's been like two months but i finally updated!