A/N: Thanks so much for all of your kind feedback! I'm really glad that people are excited about this story. I don't know how the Grey's and Private Practice writers repeatedly kill off awesome characters (Mark, Bizzy, etc.), because I hated killing off Savvy and Weiss, even though I knew it was necessary to the storyline. Anyway, I really appreciate your feedback so far. I hope you like this chapter, and I'd love to hear what you think! Thanks so much for reading!


Addison tossed and turned in the darkness of her hotel room. Once again, sleep wasn't coming easy. A lot had happened recently. She'd lost two of her very best friends; and she and her ex-husband had gained a child. Tomorrow morning, she and Derek would pick up Noah from Weiss' brother and sister-in-law's house, and they'd head back to Seattle. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Time was standing still. With a shaky hand, she reached for her phone, and dialed Derek's number. Maybe he'd be asleep; but she had a gut feeling he wouldn't.

The phone had barely rung once before he picked up. "I was just about to call you," he choked out vulnerably.

"I can't sleep," Addison confessed in a broken whisper.

"I can't either. I, uh, do you want to come to my room? Ride out the storm together."

"Yeah," Addison breathed. "I do. I'll be right over."

She quickly slipped on a hotel robe over her pajamas, and made the very short trip to Derek's room (the room next to hers).

He was sitting there in his boxer shorts and a t-shirt, a scotch in his hand, his eyes glassy and distant. "I still can't believe they're gone," he murmured to no one in particular.

"I know," Addison agreed quietly, as she poured herself a glass of scotch.

"Add…maybe you shouldn't…I mean, you haven't eaten much today." He glanced at the scotch in her hand. "I…I just don't want you to get sick from drinking on an empty stomach."

"Thanks," Addison nodded, touched and surprised that Derek cared, despite the fact that he no longer was obligated to care about her. "But I'll be fine. You know my family. Alcohol's like water to us."

Derek chuckled for what must have been the first time in days, and immediately felt guilty. It didn't feel right laughing when Savvy and Weiss couldn't anymore.

"Do you think we did the right thing taking Noah?" Addison asked after a moment. "Do you think he would have been better off with a couple that's actually married?"

"There is no one else, Addie," Derek pointed out gently. "Savvy and Weiss' parents aren't alive. Savvy was an only child, and Weiss' brother and his wife…they're way too conservative. The way they live, and the things they do…that's not how Savvy and Weiss would have wanted to raise Noah. And Weiss' sister…Savvy and Weiss didn't get along with her very well. Not to mention, she has a track record for being financially irresponsible."

"I know," Addison nodded. "I just…I want to be enough for Noah."

"I know," Derek agreed softly.

"I, uh, I never got to see her with Noah," Addison admitted guiltily, as a tear slid down her cheek. "I bet she was an amazing mother."

"Yeah," Derek choked out, as he thought about Savvy. "And you should have heard him talk about fatherhood. He always sounded so happy whenever he would talk about Noah. I'm sure he was a great dad."

"Yeah," she whispered throatily. It was all she could get out.

"Addie," Derek whispered tenderly, as he watched the tears stream down his ex-wife's face. Instinctively, he reached out to wipe away the tears that she was making no effort to brush away. She looked up at him, her tear-filled eyes meeting his misty ones, and he found himself unable to pull his hand away. He caressed her tear-stained cheek, still not breaking eye contact. And she leaned in; and so did he. And, suddenly, they were kissing. She didn't know who initiated—who kissed who first—but she knew she had no intention of being the one to stop it. Because for the briefest moment, it didn't feel as though her world was imploding.

Apparently, Derek felt the same way, because he quickly escalated things, untying her robe and pushing it off her shoulders. She responded in kind, pulling his sky-blue t-shirt over his head, while he worked on removing her navy negligee.

None of this should have been surprising. History had shown that they both turned to sex when they were upset (though she'd be the only one to admit it). So, it should have been no surprise that they'd eventually seek comfort—through sex—in each other.

"Der," Addison whispered, as he prepared to enter at her. "Grab a condom."

"What?"

"Grab a condom."

"But I thought you're on-"

"I forgot to pack it. We're already coming home with one child tomorrow. Let's not give Noah a sibling."

"Right," Derek breathed, as he fumbled for a condom. His lips reconnected with Addison's, as he kissed her deeply. And for just a moment, things were okay. For a moment, they could pretend that two of their closest friends hadn't just died. For a moment, they could pretend that they weren't in over their heads in agreeing to raise Savvy and Weiss' son together. For a moment they could shut out the rest of the world—just him and her in a dimly lit hotel room.

xxxxx

Addison rubbed her eyes tiredly as the morning sunlight filtered into her hotel room. She tried to roll over in bed to block out the bright morning sun, but quickly realized she couldn't. Derek's arms were wrapped securely around her. This wasn't her bed. This wasn't her hotel room. It was his.

She felt him begin to shift, and figured she was more than happy to task him with the unpleasant job of leading the discussion about what had happened last night, and how they were supposed to move forward.

"Hey," he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

"Hey."

"It's too early for you to be thinking this hard," Derek said tiredly.

"What?"

"I can hear your mind going a mile a minute…and it's too early for that."

"Except it isn't," Addison countered. "We have to pick up Noah in a couple of hours…and we need to talk about what happened." So much for letting him lead.

"You mean last night?"

"Yeah. Derek, look, last night-"

"Needed to happen," Derek filled in easily.

"What?" Addison asked in surprise. "Derek, last night didn't need to happen."

"Okay, fine," Derek conceded. "But I'm not sorry it happened. Last night was the first time in days where it didn't feel like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. Last night was the first time I've gotten sleep in god knows how long. I needed a release…and I think you did too."

Addison nodded mutely. Everything Derek was saying made sense, and he was right—last night had been exactly what she'd needed—but she still couldn't quiet the nagging feeling that they'd done something wrong.

"This can't happen again, Derek."

"It won't."

"Okay. Because if the lawyers and the adoption people found out…they might take Noah from us. It's one thing to do something like this if it's just us. But we have a child to think about, now. What we do affects him."

"Nobody's going to find out, Addison," Derek promised. "How we choose to grieve is our business. That being said, I think Savvy and Weiss would have approved of what we did last night."

Addison fought back a chuckle at that. Nobody could ever deny the fact that Savvy and Weiss had healthy libidos. "Hey, remember that one summer when we shared a house in Cape Cod with them?" she asked her ex-husband.

"Yeah," Derek laughed heartily. "Weiss had just made partner at his law firm, and those two…they really knew how to celebrate. I think everyone within a ten mile radius of our house heard them celebrating."

"And then we were the ones stuck dealing with all the noise complaints that they racked up," Addison added with a chuckle.

"Right. See, Addison," Derek rationalized, "Savvy and Weiss definitely would have approved of what we did last night." He looked up towards the sky and smiled. "Last night was for you, guys."

"Derek," Addison scolded, smacking her ex-husband's arm. "That seems a little callous, don't you think?"

Derek shrugged. "Maybe. But then again, it's Savvy and Weiss we're talking about, not Mother Teresa and the Pope."

"I guess your right. I just…I still can't believe they're gone," Addison said, growing serious again.

"I know," Derek agreed sadly. "I keep hoping that it's all just a bad dream, but…"

"I know. Me too. Anyway," she sighed, "we should probably get ready. Our flight leaves in six hours, and we've still got to pick up Noah."

xxxxx

"He's right in here," Weiss' brother said, as he led Addison and Derek through his house into the living room, where Noah was nestled in a baby swing.

"Hi Noah," Addison cooed, taking the little boy out of the swing and holding him close. "Do you remember me? I'm…" She swallowed thickly, unsure of how to introduce herself. Was she Addison? Or was she Mom? Or was she Aunt Addie?

"Hi Noah," Derek cut in quickly, sensing his ex-wife's predicament. He brushed his index finger across Noah's little cheek. "We're going to take very good care of you," he promised.

"That's right," Addison agreed quietly. She took in Noah's little knit Fendi sweater and designer jeans. The outfit screamed Savvy so loudly Addison could barely breathe.

"So," Weiss' brother cut in, "he should be all set to go. He's been bathed and fed…and you two packed some suitcases for him yesterday, right?"

Addison nodded. Yesterday, she and Derek had gone to Savvy and Weiss' house to pack up Noah's things. The house still smelled of Savvy's expensive perfume. There were still cartons of Chinese take-out in the refrigerator. It was almost too much for her to handle. All around the house were signs of people who had been happily living their lives…people who should still be living their lives.

"He's a good sleeper," Weiss' brother continued, ripping Addison from her thoughts. "But it seems like he's kind of a picky eater. He's only recently been introduced to solid foods. Just…give us a call if you run into any problems. Though you two probably know as much as we do about these types of things."

Addison nodded, as she clutched Noah to her chest tighter. It was astounding to her how much she already loved the little boy in her arms…how every fiber of her being wanted to protect him.

"Thanks for everything," Derek said genuinely, shaking Weiss' brother's hand.

"Yeah, of course," Weiss' brother nodded.

Derek turned to his ex-wife. "You ready?"

In all honesty, she wasn't ready. Going back to Seattle would mean trying to move on. And she wasn't ready to move on from losing Savvy and Weiss. Going back to Seattle would mean that she and Derek would no longer be the unbreakable team they'd been the past few days. And she wasn't ready for them to go back to being the bitter, divorced couple that they would inevitably be in Seattle. She wasn't ready to see him staring at Meredith longingly with that love-sick grin on his face. And she wasn't ready for her nosey coworkers to weigh in and give their unsolicited opinions about her and Derek's current situation.

"Addie…?" Derek trailed off, when his wife met his first question with silence. "You ready?"

She wasn't ready. Not even a little bit. But she didn't have much choice in the matter. "Yeah," she said, sighing heavily. "Let's go."

xxxxx

"We need to come up with some type of schedule," Addison told her ex-husband, as they waited in the airport terminal for their flight to be announced. "I was thinking I could take him for four days, and you could take him for three."

"Or you could take him for three, and I could take him for four," Derek countered.

"Okay. That works too," Addison agreed. "So, I could take him Monday through Wednesday…or Thursday. And you-"

"Would get Friday, Saturday, and Sunday," Derek concluded, looking at Addison pointedly. "Are you trying to see to it that I never date again?"

"I'd be more than happy to take Noah on the weekends," Addison shot back icily. "I didn't realize that dating was a priority right now."

"I, uh…" Derek stammered, uncomfortably. He hadn't meant for it to come out that way; and knowing Addison, she'd probably crucify him for the comment.

At the same time, however, his comment also raised a harrowing reality that he'd have to face—Meredith. They weren't together, but he had been hopeful that they'd eventually find their way back to one another. He knew she wasn't ready for kids; and yet, he had agreed to be Noah's legal guardian without so much as giving her and her reaction a passing thought. Now, he wondered if maybe he shouldn't have acted so impulsively, and taken Matthew up on his offer to think it over for a few days before making a final decision.

"You know, it might actually be better if we scheduled our time with Noah around our work schedules," Derek rationalized.

Addison shrugged impassively. "Yeah, great," she said sarcastically. "So, it looks like I'm going to end up being a single parent after all."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Derek asked, anger building in his voice.

"It means that once again you're putting work first," Addison explained coolly. "I just hope you're better at honoring your commitment to Savvy and Weiss than you were at honoring your commitment to me."

"Yeah, because you're one to talk about honoring a commitment," Derek shot back furiously. "Don't you dare give me a lecture on commitment, Addison! You cheated. You cheated on me with my best friend."

"And I hate to point out the obvious, Derek, but you cheated as well. You-"

But she was cut off by the sound of Noah crying hysterically in her arms.

"Nice work," Derek muttered sarcastically.

"Shut up." Addison sighed heavily, as she simultaneously tried to tune Derek out and soothe Noah. If this was a glimpse of what Seattle was going to be like, they'd be lucky if they survived a day together.

The sound of their flight being announced ripped Addison from her thoughts; and by the time they had boarded the plane, Noah had settled down. Addison and Derek, however, were still livid with each other.

They'd been flying for nearly an hour. Noah had fallen asleep on Addison, and was now resting peacefully; and as Derek took in that scene, he couldn't help the warm feeling in his chest.

Overcome by a rush of emotion that he couldn't quite pinpoint, he found his anger with Addison dissipating. And before he had time to think about what he was doing, he was breaking the silent treatment they'd been giving each other—extending the metaphorical olive branch.

"I can't believe Savvy agreed to Atticus as a middle name," he said quietly, meeting his ex-wife's eyes and offering her a soft, apologetic smile.

A slight smile played on Addison's face as she too felt her anger begin to slip away. "Yeah. She knew Weiss liked it. And she thought it was kind of cute…and meaningful. I like it. But for them, I think it came down to making compromises. She sighed heavily and met her ex-husband's eyes. "Look, Derek, about before…I shouldn't have said-"

"No, forget about it. I was out of line too."

Addison swallowed thickly. "Still…I'm sorry."

"I am too."

Addison searched her ex-husband's eyes, expecting to find the indifference she'd grown so accustomed to seeing from him. But it was nowhere to be seen. All she saw in his eyes was sincerity.

"So, uh, are we okay?" Addison asked hesitantly, after a moment. She slid her hand onto the armrest that separated her seat from Derek's, offering a truce of sorts.

"Yeah," Derek said softly, placing his hand over hers, and squeezing her hand reassuringly. "We're okay."