Well, I'm delving into the Private Practice world now, so I hope you like it:) This is set at the end of 317. Enjoy!

She knocked on the door because she didn't have a key. They weren't "there" yet. He answered with Lucas in one arm and spit-up on the other. Instantly, all the exasperation she'd been meaning to vent to him vanished and a smile lit up her face. She put her hands on her hips and gave Lucas a silly smile.

"Hey, mister! Who said you could throw up on your daddy like that?" she teased. "Huh? Who said you could do that?"

Pete smiled and kissed her temple tiredly as she shut the door behind her. "What's up?" he asked. "You sounded… on the phone, you sounded upset."

"Naomi," Addison sighed, collapsing on the couch. "Naomi found out about me and Sam."

"What was there to find out?"

"That's the point! There was nothing to find out and Naomi is acting like it's a big deal, like we were sneaking around behind her back!"

"Well, you did both have feelings for each other," Pete pointed out, and cut her off before she could interject. "Now, I know it's not the same thing, but sometimes, isn't keeping your love a secret just as bad as actually, secretly having the relationship?"

"No," Addison answered immediately. "No, it's not the same. I made the right choice in not telling Naomi about my feelings for Sam and not acting on them. There were offers. Believe me, there were offers, but I didn't take them up out of respect for Naomi. And Sam. And myself."

"Is Naomi going to see it that way?"

"Of course not," Addison answered, "because she's Naomi. She's going to think that everyone's out to get her like always and then she'll shoulder everyone else's problems and not ask for any help and eat herself into a diabetic coma and wallow in her misery until I finally get sick of us not talking and I go crawling back to her on my stomach and apologize."

She let out an exasperated huff and sank into the sofa cushions. For a moment, she wished she could disappear. She wished the couch would swallow her up. Her navy blue dress would disappear underneath the beige twill and she would lie very still until every manicured toe had disappeared.

But when she glanced over at Pete, she knew she couldn't disappear. He bounced Lucas to sleep in his arms; his eyes were tired too. He needed her now just as much as she needed him, and if they were going to try and make this work she was going to have to listen too.

"I'm sorry," she apologized with a tired smile, squeezing his hand. "Your turn. What's up?"

He shrugged. "Getting this one to bed." Pete gestured to his drowsy son who was starting to shut his eyes and develop a few spit bubbles on his tiny pink lips. "Gimme a sec."

Addison smiled, content with the picture before her. "Okay."

Pete rose slowly from the couch, so as not to wake Lucas, and took him into the room that was currently serving as the nursery. At one point it had been an office, but the old desktop computer just collected dust now, along with some ancient books on the shelf by the window.

"You think you're ready to go to bed, little buddy?" he asked his son, laying him down in the crib. "Yeah, there ya go…"

He pulled a thin blanket over Lucas' tiny body and watched his eyes flutter closed. Pete felt a relief settle over his shoulders, and it wasn't all because he'd finally gotten Lucas to sleep. Somehow, Addison's presence in the house calmed him instantly. Her confident smile, her glowing skin, her vibrant hair, the comfortable aura she carried with her, the one that made him feel like he'd know her for years.

Pete couldn't have been happier about Addison's decision to give them a try. After the history that had passed between them, he was glad that he had this chance to redeem himself, to prove to her that maybe they really could have a future together. He returned to the living room as Addison was slipping out of her heels.

"Want something to drink?" she asked, padding into the kitchen.

"I'm all right," he said, shaking his head, and settled back into the couch. He laid his head back on the cushions and shut his eyes, listening to the clinking of glasses, the pop as the cork was released from the bottle and the gentle trickle as Addison poured a glass of her favorite red wine.

She padded back and curled up on the couch next to Pete. "How's Lucas?" she asked.

"Fell right asleep."

She smiled. "Good. I'm glad."

"He falls asleep faster when you're here. He seems more relaxed."

Addison smiled. "Don't flatter me."

Pete slipped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple again. Instantly her head felt lighter, her mind felt clearer, just from that one simple gesture. She appreciated that about him. He knew the simplest ways to make her feel exactly how she wanted to feel. There was no big to-do with Pete, no grand parade. He was Pete and she was Addison, and neither of them had to be anyone else.

She let herself lean into his touch as his nose softly nudged her cheek. Quietly, his lips found hers and she molded into him trustingly. There was something so serene about the moments when his lips were on hers.

"For the record," he mumbled into her skin, "I'm more relaxed when you're here too." He stroked thoughtfully at the hem of her dress.

He wasn't usually sentimental. "Yeah?" Addison asked, looking up at him.

Pete nodded. "Yeah."

She took a few more sips of her wine; Pete took the bobby pins out of her hair and ran his fingers through it a few times. His fingers caressed her scalp, rubbing gently, but just enough.

"Bedtime?" he asked after she tried to suppress another yawn.

She winced. "Is that okay? I'm exhausted."

"Absolutely. I've got a couple shirts on the chair in the bedroom, just throw one of those on."

"Thanks," Addison mumbled against his lips, and kissed him softly before getting up to change. Pete followed her into his bedroom and shut the door behind them. He watched as she unzipped her dress and tossed it over the dresser, then slipped into one of his old t-shirts.

"You're so beautiful." The words tumbled out of his mouth, unbidden. But she smiled softly, tiredly, and her eyes said thank you. "Really, you do."

The mellow gray of the shirt against her fiery red hair; a simple contrast, but one that enthralled him nonetheless. She was simply breathtaking.

"If you think flattery will get you sex, you are correct," Addison chuckled, pecking him as she climbed into bed. "But not tonight. Tonight I feel…" She trailed off, and when she found her voice again, she spoke as if from a dream, somewhere far away. "I feel exhausted. And old. And tired and sort of cheap and… so thankful that you're here and so sick of fighting with people and arguing and--"

Pete cut her off before she could get upset. "Hey. Naomi will come around. She didn't disown her married, pregnant teenage daughter. She's not gonna disown you, and she's known you longer."

Addison grimaced. "That makes me feel so much better."

"I try."

Pete flicked off the bedside lamp and settled in beside her, wrapping an arm around her middle and pulling her into him. He breathed her in, the smell of her hair, the fading scent of her perfume. She wasn't Violet, but she was Addison. She was wholly and truly Addison. Herself. She was someone Pete could love.

He began rubbing her shoulder softly, affectionately, and she groaned into her pillow. "Ugh, don't even start about how tense I am…" she muttered.

"Do you even know how many knots you've got here?" he teased, rubbing a little harder.

"Ow!" Addison snapped. "And yes, I do know. I've been using all my free time to get professional massages," she intoned sarcastically. "Come on, Pete, I'm tired, just let me sleep."

"Five minutes, and you'll have the best sleep of your life," Pete assured her.

"No."

"Yes."

She sighed. "Five minutes?"

"Only five," Pete promised, flashing her a charming smile.

"Okay," Addison agreed with a smirk, and turned to lay on her stomach. Pete shifted onto his knees, placing one on either side of her body. "And if you think you're getting sex after this…" Addison mumbled, her voice muffled by the pillow.

"Five minutes," he repeated, and began massaging her back in wide, soothing circles.

"Ow," Addison whined.

"It doesn't hurt."

"Yes it does. Ow!"

"Oh, here we go, there it is, you feel that?" Pete asked. "You feel that big knot?"

"Yeah, it hurts like a mother--"

"I'm gonna pop it, you ready?"

"Pop it?" Addison tried to turn around to look at Pete in alarm but she couldn't.

"Yeah, it'll only take a second, it'll hurt a little bit--"

"That means it'll hurt a lot!"

"You'll feel so much better when I do, you ready?"

"No!"

"Ready?"

Addison felt a sharp pressure on her shoulder blade, she was about to cry out, and then there was a shift. She felt the knot move up, up, over her shoulder… and it was gone.

"Better?" Pete asked.

She moved her shoulder around and there was so much more room, so much less tenseness. "Yeah…"

"Let me get the other one."

"There's another--"

"Here we go…"

The same thing happened to the other shoulder and suddenly Addison felt weightless. She could have fallen asleep right then.

"Feel better?" Pete asked, rolling back next to her.

"Yeah…" Addison said, turning to him and smiling. "I guess your crazy alternative medicine comes in handy every now and then."

"Massages aren't alternative," he began.

She shushed him with a quick kiss. "Okay, you said five minutes. Time's up, I'm going to sleep now."

"Fine," he conceded, and snuggled back up to her with his face buried in her hair.

Addison had to admit, she felt more relaxed, looser. Her body was at ease. But her mind was still wandering. Things seemed so great. They really seemed to be working out. But she had learned not to trust happiness. Her inner cynic warned her that this was too good to be true.

"Pete?" she asked quietly. The darkness seemed to swallow her voice until she could barely hear herself in the silence of the bedroom.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think… are we… is this the right thing to do?"

She heard him shift around and she turned to look at him. "Are you having second thoughts?"

"No, no," she assured him. "Just… thoughts. I mean, do you think this is going to last?"

Pete looked up at the ceiling. "I don't know, but I think we've got a damn good chance. That's why I want to make this work for as long as we can."

"As long as we can," Addison repeated, sounding more confident than she felt.

Pete glanced over at her. "Are you all right?"

Addison sighed. "Yeah, just… tired. Long day."

"Okay."

Silence fell, an uncomfortable, messy silence, and after it became unbearable Addison huffed and decided she might as well get it over with. "Did you think you and Violet had a chance?"

It took him by surprise. "What?"

"Did you feel the same way about you and Violet? Did you think you two--"

"Addison, what are you doing?"

She couldn't describe it. "I don't know," she floundered. "I just… I don't know. I guess I want to make sure that you're happy. That you're not… settling."

"Hey," Pete said softly, taking her chin in his hand. "Look at me. I am not settling. I think we could really have a future together, you and me."

Addison smiled. "And Lucas," she reminded him.

"I think it'll work, Addison. You're something else. You're beautiful, and smart, and when I'm with you… things make sense. I feel like my life finally has some direction."

"Yeah?" she asked, her smile growing.

"Yeah."

"Okay."

They settled back in and fell quiet. The house was silent around them, almost eerie. What felt like a lifetime later, Pete was still awake, mulling over a question that just wouldn't go away.

"Addison?" he whispered into the never-ending darkness. "Do you think we're going to last?"

There was no answer. She was asleep.