My Favorite Mistake

*~*~*~*

Four Days After Ferry Crash

Many people would think that drowning and nearly dying would leave someone feeling as though they had a new lease on life. Would make them want to take some time to slow their life down and smell the roses. But that wasn't Nellie Gideon.

Not one bit.

"Do you have my discharge papers?" Nellie questioned Burke the moment he walked into her hospital room. It had been four days since she had woken up from her near-death experience and for those four days she had been biting at the bit. Eager for that day, the day she was clear to be discharged. The moment she had woken up that morning she hadn't wasted any time in freeing herself from her hospital gown and changing into a pair of leggings and hoodie that Derek had brought from her apartment, Callie having given him a key since he had refused to leave Seattle until he was certain his girlfriend was okay.

"Afraid not," Burke chuckled at his friend's desperateness to get out of the hospital. "I have to admit, I never thought I'd see the day where you were so eager to leave the hospital."

"Not leave the hospital. Eager to stop being the patient," she was quick to correct him. "Trust me, I'll be back in these halls in no time at all. Two days, tops."

"Well I have some good news and bad news." His words managed to peak the woman's interests. "Which do you want first?"

"Good news," she leaned back in the bed, her full attention focused on him.

"I'm getting married," he revealed as a smile spread across his lips. From the moment his now fiancee had said yes he had been eager to tell the Gideon woman that news. Even after promising to let Cristina tell Meredith before either of them told anyone else, he knew that he wanted to be the one to tell his friend. Having grown to see the younger woman as a sister in the years they'd known each other.

"Cristina said yes?" She practically squealed. Not hesitating to throw herself out of the bed to wrap the man up in a tight hug. "I'm so happy for you, Burke. I'm not even gonna cry over the fact that I owe Callie a hundred bucks now."

"A hundred bucks?" His brows furrowed at the last part. "Why do you owe Torres any money?"

"She and I made a bet our first year here," she admitted.

"What bet?" He pried.

"Remember, this was before I got to know you," she stressed. "But you seemed like such an uptight prick with a stick up his ass. So I bet her that you'd never get married. It'd just be you and your ass-stick living happily ever after together."

"Charming." Derek's voice caught his girlfriend's ears, causing her to shift her attention towards the door as he slipped into the room.

"Hey, it's why people keep me around." She flashed both men a wide grin as Derek joined her side.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Derek pressed a chaste kiss to her lips.

"Well now I feel like I might regret this," Burke cleared his throat, drawing the couple's attention back to him. "But I was hoping you might consider being my best woman when it comes time for the wedding."

"You want me to be your best woman?" Nellie couldn't help but feel shocked by the proposition. "Even after I just told you that I made a bet that you'd never find someone willing to marry you and the stick permanently stuck in your ass?"

"Call me crazy, but I do consider you to be one of my closest friends. We've known each other for years," Burke pointed out. "So what do you say?"

"Yes, of course. And I'll make sure your bachelor party is one for the books." A bittersweet smile filled her lips, her mind trailing back to the last time she'd been asked to be a best woman... How excited Denny had been. "Anyways, what about your bad news?"

"You didn't tell her yet?" Derek raised a brow at the cardio surgeon.

"I was getting to it," Burke stated the obvious before turning his attention back to the sole woman in the room. "I spoke to Webber while getting your discharge paperwork settled. Due to the trauma you faced and how long it took to recesitate you, he believes it'd be for the best if you took some time off before returning to work."

"Hence the two days," Nellie nodded.

"He was thinking more like a week," Burke corrected her. "Minimum."

"A week?" Her eyes widened at the number.

"He was wanting you to stay out for two weeks. Be thankful Shepherd and I were able to talk him down," Burke clarified for her.

"I can't take a week off. I'm a resident, Preston." Nellie tried to argue, more than ready to march up to Webber's office to argue the matter with him. "Where is he? We need to talk about--"

"How about we skip that?" Derek cut her off, giving a gentle squeeze to her shoulders.

"He's right," Burke nodded in agreement. "You need to take some time off, Nellie. Give yourself some more time to recover. Maybe use this time to take a trip."

"A trip?" Nellie's brows furrowed slightly at the suggestion.

"A trip." A grin filled Derek's lips as he pulled a plane ticket out of his pocket, handing it over to his girlfriend. "You know, I've heard that Virginia's great this time of year."

*~*~*~*

One Week Later

"I'm back bitch!" Nellie grinned from ear to ear as she made her way into the resident's locker room. Making a beeline towards her own cubby, eager for her first day back since her near-fatal drowning. No matter how much she had enjoyed her week away in Virginia with Derek and his friends, there wasn't a single part of her that hadn't been silently counting down the hours until she could return to the hospital and get a scalpel in her hand.

"Hey," Callie offered her best friend a smile. Setting her bag aside in her own cubby to pull the other woman into a hug. "How was your trip?"

"You know, I would love to go on and on about my trip and smoking hot boyfriend..." Nellie began, her eyes scanning in her friend's attire. After all, it wasn't every day that Calliope Torres could be found wearing a dress, heels, and a pearl necklace-- especially to work. "But why do you look like you're about to attend tea with the Queen?"

"It's that bad?" A frown tugged at the corners of Callie's lips as she looked down at herself.

"You still look beautiful," Nellie quickly assured her as she started to change into her scrubs. "But what's with the get up? You do know that only attendings are capable of running for Chief, right?"

"My dad's in town." Callie revealed.

"Carlos is here?" Nellie's movements seemed to come to a halt, leaving her standing there with only her scrub bottoms and bra on, her scrub top in her hands. "Please tell me that I get to see him!"

"You wanna pretend to be George? I'm sure he'd take that better than meeting my actual husband." Callie's stomach was in knots, just as it had been since she'd gotten her father's call that morning to inform her of his impromptu visit. Claiming that he was eager to meet his son-in-law.

"Come on, it won't be that bad. George is a nice guy," Nellie tried to stay positive for the other woman's sake as she pulled on her top.

"George smells like he crawled out a sewer this morning. I love the man but it's disgusting," Callie spoke bluntly. "Add that to the fact that my father's never liked any of the guys I've been with--"

"I will give you a complete play-by-play of my week off if you let me introduce him to Sloan. Oh, and I'll do your charting for a month." Nellie bargained, her mind reeling with possibilities of what Carlos Torres would do to Mark Sloan if he knew about his daughter's escapades with the plastic surgeon.

"Sloan is not allowed within a hundred feet of my father," Callie shot the idea down.

"But I ask for so little." A pout filled Nellie's lips as the pair of women set off down the hallway together. Nellie opting to wander about with her friend until she was paged to the ER. "It would make such a great addition to my Christmas card."

"You don't do Christmas cards," Callie noted.

"Maybe this would encourage me to start. I could have a picture of Derek and I on the front and on the back it can be a play-by-play of Carlos and Mark's fight." The idea was already forming in the Gideon woman's mind, "It'll make everyone happy."

"Not happening." Callie shot her down once again. However, the conversation quickly left her mind as she caught sight of Bailey leading most of her interns towards her patient's room. "Oh, wait, wait, wait. I need to talk to you."

"Why?" Izzie seemed to practically jump out of her skin at the resident's words.

"Uh, I need to prepare you guys for what you're about to see," Callie warned the group, her words instantly gaining Nellie's attention.

"You meant-- You meant 'you' like 'us,' not like 'me.' You don't-- You don't want to talk to me, you want to talk to us about a pat--about a patient." Nellie frowned slightly at Izzie's words, making a mental note to question the blonde about her jumpiness later.

"That's what I just said," Callie rolled her eyes. "Uh, this patient has a disease so rare that you'll probably never see it again-- F.O.P."

"Oh, uh, fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva?" Cristina questioned.

"Yeah. It's a congenital disease which turns muscle into bone. You become a human statue," Callie elaborated for those less familiar with the disease. "So just, uh, try to learn. Try not to stare, okay?"

"Shoulda led with this and I wouldn't have bugged you about Sloan." Nellie muttered under her breath as Callie led the way to the patient's room. As they all entered they were greeted by the sight of three men lifting a woman into the hospital bed while another woman observed.

"If you people are interns, you need to stand back." The woman observing warned the group of doctors as they made their entrance.

"Nina, please don't be rude." The stiff woman managed to get out as she was settled into the bed.

"My mother still has movement in her face and hands," the younger woman, Nina, alerted the doctors. "I would like to keep it that way, so please be careful. If you press too hard during an exam or bump into her accidentally, it causes a bone to grow where a bone shouldn't grow. So there can be no accidents."

"Okay, remember that when you're dealing with her today," Callie warned the interns.

"It's just a stomach virus or a flu. I'm sure it's nothing," the patient tried to assure them. "Nina insisted that I come in."

"She was vomiting blood," Nina added as Callie moved forward to carefully examine the woman. "And going through her pain meds like they were candy. And she has new growths on her back, no doubt caused by some clumsy interns on her last hospital stay."

"Well, obviously you're having a flare-up of the F.O.P., but what really concerns me is the vomiting. So I'm gonna need a CT, see what's going on." Callie calmly explained to the mother and daughter, catching sight of the doll house on the side table. "Wow. Did you build that?"

"My mom did," Nina smiled at the toy.

"No, Nina did it," the mother corrected. "I used to do it. I'm not able to."

"It keeps her active," Nina cut in. "When she's active she has fewer flare-ups. Plus it makes her happy... and relaxed."

"Good. Okay," Callie offered the pair a final smile before heading out of the room with the others. A frown pulled at the corners of Nellie's lips as she glanced over her shoulder at the mother and daughter before Callie closed the door behind them. Something about the pair not sitting right for her.

"Hey," Nellie cleared her throat, catching her friend's attention. "You mind if I jump on this case with you?"

"Yeah, no problem," Callie nodded.

*~*~*~*

6 Days Ago

A tired smile filled Nellie's lips as she meandered down the somewhat familiar halls of Derek's apartment building. Her fingers laced with the Morgan man's while he used his free hand to pull their bags along. Having refused her offer to take her own bag when he'd parked downstairs.

"You gonna be able to make it through dinner?" Derek raised a brow at her. Watching her slow blinks as she turned her attention towards him. Almost seeming to be sleep walking at the moment.

"Just 'cause I'm tired doesn't mean I won't kick your ass," she teased. "What's the plan for dinner anyways?"

"Order in Chinese?" He suggested, recalling her preference for the food from their previous visits with one another.

"With extra crab rangoon," she added as they came to stop in front of Derek's door.

"Deal," he nodded. Taking his hand from hers, he pulled his keys out of his pocket. A comfortable silence fell over the pair as he unlocked the door and started to lead the way into the dark apartment. However, the silence and darkness didn't last long.

"Hello!" Nellie jumped slightly as the living room lights turned on to reveal the rest of the BAU gang gathered around in the room. A variety of food and drinks covered the counter and coffee table. And hanging on the wall over the television was a banner that read 'WELCOME BACK'.

"What the..." Nellie trailed off into laughter as everyone moved to greet the couple.

"Garcia's idea." JJ clued Nellie in as she pulled the doctor into a hug.

"Kinda figured that," Nellie hummed as she caught sight of the words that had been scrawled onto the bottom of the banner in black pen. The banner fully reading:

WELCOME BACK from the dead!

"We tried convincing her to wait until tomorrow, after you had a chance to settle in." Hotch offered the young Gideon woman one of his rare smiles, opting to pat her on the shoulder rather than hug her.

"You guys wanted drinks at a bar. That's not the proper way to celebrate someone returning from the dead!" Garcia glared at her friends, shoving her way towards the front to take her turn hugging their Seattle-based friend.

"Careful, baby girl." Derek warned, hearing the groan that escaped his girlfriend at the eccentric woman's tight embrace. "We already got her back once. Between that, the bombing, and the shooter I don't think she's got many lives left."

"Tactful," Nellie rolled her eyes at the comment.

"Actually--" Spencer began.

"I love you, Reid, but we just got off a plane with a crying baby and a kid that likes kicking seats sitting behind us." Nellie cut the young genius off with an apologetic smile.

"Let's eat!" Emily clapped her hands together.

No one bothered to argue with the team's newest addition as they started to make themselves plates. As food and drinks flowed throughout the apartment a sense of ease settled in the air. Nellie finding herself sitting on the couch as she watched her boyfriend, father, and friends all mill about the apartment. Everything in that moment just seeming to be so... easy.

"Sorry about the party, again." JJ broke the brunette out of her thoughts as she joined her on the couch. "We really did try to talk Garcia out of all this."

"It's okay. Really," Nellie chuckled. "It's honestly nice that she wanted to do all of this. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun."

"I could say the same thing about him," JJ nodded to where Derek was busy talking with Jason and Hotch in the kitchen.

"Really?" Nellie raised a brow, glancing towards her boyfriend as well.

"Really," JJ nodded. "Ever since the two of you started talking, he's basically had a spring in his step. And it's the first time I've known him to actually take time off of work to do something other than visit his mom."

"Not to mention the stupid smile he gets when you text or call," Emily added as she joined in on the conversation. "I know I haven't been around for long, but it's almost sickeningly sweet. It's obvious that he's head over heels for you."

"Well it's reassuring to know that it's not all one-sided," Nellie hummed.

"Oh, trust us, it's not." JJ assured her.

*~*~*~*

"Mrs. Rogerson, according to your CT, you have severe internal bleeding." Callie alerted the woman after getting the scans back, having called Burke in to assist on the case as well. "It was probably caused by your anti-inflammatory medication."

"Does that require surgery?" Nina questioned automatically. "Because she can't have any--"

"Obviously any surgical procedure could cause more bone growth or do more damage than good," Callie cut the younger woman off. "That's why Dr. Burke's here."

"What we can do is insert a line into your groin and then float a catheter up and embolize the area," Burke offered his preferred plan for the woman.

"That's minimally invasive?" Nina checked.

"As minimally invasive as possible," Burke assured her before turning his attention back to her mother. "But with your condition, even this is risky."

"I'm forty-one years old. Most F.O.P patients don't live to forty-five. I'm down to the use of my face and hands. Pretty soon I won't have anything," the woman spoke bluntly. Not bothering to try and hide any of the bitterness she felt towards her disease. "So what would happen... if I refuse the surgery?"

"You will bleed to death," Nellie was the first to speak up, not at all surprised by the patient's question. "Most likely within a day, maybe two."

"Is that painful?" Mrs. Rogerson pressed.

"Mom, stop, okay?" Nina shook her head.

"Nina, please. Let me think," she scolded her daughter.

"The reason you've gotten this far-- our treatment plan works," Nina argued, refusing to give up on her mother. "It will work."

*~*~*~*

"So..." Nellie drew out the word as she plopped herself down beside Derek at a table in one of the break rooms. The man tiredly raised his gaze to look away from the computer in front of him, bags under his eyes.

"Don't you have something better to be doing?" Derek raised a brow at the young woman.

"Callie's having lunch with George and her dad and Burke's in a meeting right now, so nope!" Nellie shook her head before taking a bite of the salad she'd bought from the cafeteria. Her dark eyes drifted towards the stack of papers beside the computer in front of him. "That your presentation for the board?"

"No coffee," Webber's words stopped Derek before he could answer her question, causing both of them to glance towards the older man.

"Oh, yeah," Derek ran a hand down his face.

"One more thing for Marlowe to tweak." Webber muttered sourly, clearly not a fan of the outside candidate in the running for his job. "Please tell me you're not coming up with a ten-year plan for this hospital."

"You can come up with all the plans you want, but in the end, it just..." Derek trailed off, giving a small shake of his head. "It doesn't make one bit of difference. Things happen. People just--"

"Drown?" Nellie offered, earning unimpressed looks from both of the men.

"Not funny, but yeah," Derek admitted. "You know, when I pulled her out of the water, it was... she was like ice. She can swim. She's... she gave up. I close my eyes for a moment, it's like she's back in the water. I'm up, and I just listen to her breathe, you know? Just... in case she stops. So I can come up with plans for the hospital, but... but if they ask me where I'm gonna be in ten years..."

"Derek-- my Derek-- he's the same way." Nellie's voice was soft as she spoke, her words instantly peaking the Shepherd man's interest. "He woke me up every night I was in Virginia, panicked that my waking up was some sorta dream. He even dragged me to the rec center there to make me work on my swimming. It's natural that you're scared right now, Derek, but it's gonna be okay. You've just gotta remember that it will all be okay."

*~*~*~*

"You still look like shit." Nellie spoke bluntly when she came across George standing at the nurse's station later that afternoon. His skin still just as pale as it had been that morning thanks to his excessive drinking the night before. "On the plus side, you don't smell as terrible."

"Thanks," George spoke dryly. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Was just curious how your lunch went," Nellie shrugged. "So, did Carlos make you cry?"

"What? No!" George frowned at the question.

"Oh," a pout filled her lips at the news. However, at the sight of a familiar balding man stepping out of the elevator down the hall, a smirk quickly took over her lips. "Maybe it's not too late."

"What are you talking about?" George questioned.

"George." The O'Malley man spun around at the sound of Carlos Torres' voice.

"Mr. Torres," George cleared his throat at the sight of his father-in-law. For a moment Carlos just stood there, his gaze focused on the shaggy haired man standing before him, his mind going over everything he'd heard of about the man from his daughter as well as their encounter at lunch.

"You want to take care of her in your own way. Hmm?" Carlos recalled George's denial of his money at lunch. "I understand that. I respect it. But you have to understand, she's my only little girl, George. And you need to promise me that you will love her and protect her, because the minute that you hurt her..."

"And that goes with me too," Nellie chimed in as she caught sight of Callie coming down the stairs behind Carlos, giving the Torres man a small nod of warning.

"You understand?" Carlos questioned, earning a nod from George in return. "Good. Then I'll tell Callie's mother she can plan the party."

"What pa-- What?" Callie frowned at the mention of a party.

"Your wedding party," Carlos clued his daughter in.

"Oh, Dad, come on," Callie groaned.

"Oh, no, please, mija. For my sanity, mija, just let her plan the party." Carlos insisted.

"Come on, Callie. Be nice to your dad," Nellie grinned from ear to ear at her friend. Not missing the silent promise of revenge playing in the other woman's eyes.

"All right, all right. Okay," Callie gave in.

"All right. I have a plane to catch," Carlos pressed a kiss to the side of his daughter's head before turning his attention to the other woman. A kind smile filled his features and he stepped forward to hug her, pressing a kiss to her forehead as well. "I expect to see you at the party with that man of yours."

"What-- How..." Nellie's brows furrowed together before spotting the smirk filling Callie's lips.

"I want to meet him," Carlos insisted.

"You really don't need to worry about that. My father knows him and my godfather--" Nellie started to shake her head.

"I want to meet him." Carlos repeated himself, leaving no room for questions.

*~*~*~*

3 Days Ago

The soft chatter from the television filled Derek's bedroom. The only other noise in the whole apartment being the sink running as Derek brushed his teeth while Nellie sat on the bed, running a brush through her hair-- still wet from her shower.

"So is swimming gonna be a regular thing now?" Nellie questioned as she set her hairbrush aside on the night stand on her side of the bed.

"What? You not having fun with it?" Derek teased as he made his way back out of the bathroom, clad in just a pair of sweatpants.

"Is someone who nearly drowned a week ago enjoying being forced to swim for two hours a day for the last three days?" Sarcasm dripped from her words as she raised an unimpressed brow at her boyfriend. "What do you think?"

"I think..." He trailed off for a moment as he joined her on the bed, their faces only inches apart. His eyes scanned over her features, as if trying to memorize every little detail. His lips nearly ghosting hers when he spoke again, "You're becoming a better swimmer."

"Oh, really?" She shoved him backwards. As she did so he took the opportunity to grab ahold of her wrist, pulling her backwards with him so her body rested on top of his. A gentle smile filled her lips as she rested her chin on his chest while he brought a hand up to push her wet locks back from her face. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

"We were in Idaho when your friend, George, called. I was getting ready to question someone when I saw you-- him-- calling. I figured it was just you wanting to say hi so I didn't pick up." His fingers toyed with her hair as he spoke, finding himself going back to a week earlier. "Then Garcia called... She was stumbling over her words, talking about getting the first plane tickets out of Idaho. None of us understood what she was talking about and then she said it. Said that George had called her. Said that you had been in an accident."

In that moment Nellie didn't know what to say. Ever since she had woken up in the hospital she had been trying to push away the experience and make her drowning a thing of the past. Not allowing herself to focus on it nor focus on what her loved ones might've felt during it all. Not how Burke had felt working on her. Never thanking George for calling Garcia. And never facing the fear her friends-- her family-- had felt at the possibility of her never waking back up. So, yes, she found herself at a loss as she laid there, listening to her boyfriend share what he had felt at the time.

"It felt like someone had punched me in the gut, knocked all of the air outta me. My only thought was about getting to Seattle and seeing you. I needed to see you... one last time if you weren't gonna make it." His voice shook slightly as he acknowledged the fact that there had been a good chance that they wouldn't have this anymore. That it had almost come to him losing the woman in his arms. "It was quiet on the plane, flying out there. JJ tried offering some optimism, tried to assure Gideon and I that you'd be okay. But I was so scared to get my hopes up after--"

"After your dad," she finished for him.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I love you, Nel."

"I love you, too," she pressed a soft kiss to his chest. "And I'm sorry you had to go through that-- that all of you did. But I came back. I'm always gonna come back, I promise."