A/N: Okay.. so I missed Monday by a couple of minutes, but I had to re-think this chapter because I changed what I wanted to do with it about halfway through. I stole some lines from the CTV preview for this week because they were just too perfect. So I'm crediting some of the quotes in the scene with Addison, Mark, Alex, and Izzie to the Grey's writers who came up with the hilarious pickle joke.
Disclaimer: Shonda/ABC own everything, including Grey's characters, storylines, and my soul. I own nothing. And I used the pickle/sexual harassment lines from 308 because, again, they were too perfect.

Chapter Two

"Hey, uh… Dr. Montgomery!" Callie called after Addison who was walking at a fast pace down the hallway, away from the exam room she had just been in with Bailey.

"Dr. Torres," she turned around and responded. "How are you today? Sloan giving you any crap?"

"I'm doing all right, I guess. Could be better, but no, I haven't seen him all day, so that's a good thing."

"That's definitely a good thing. Luckily I haven't encountered him all day today either," the older woman laughed. Hopefully I'll continue to have that luck, she thought to herself.

"Listen, uh, I was wondering if I could take you up on that offer of going out for a drink? Like maybe once we're off tonight? I could kind of use a talk."

"Of course. I actually could kind of use one too. So… we'll just meet at Joe's later?"

"Sounds great. I will see you later.

"Yeah," Addison gave a small smile. "Later." As soon as Callie turned the corner, Addison's pager went off. 911 on one of the Williamson triplets. At least I'll have something else to think about now.

"What have we got Karev?" Addison asked as she ran through the doors of the NICU, seeing Alex running towards her.

"It's Carson. Collapsed right lung. Izzie's in there now. We've got him intubated, and he's stabilizing right now. I'm just off to…"

"You know Stevens isn't supposed to be alone with patients! Actually, I don't have time to reprimand you now, let's go."

"I need to go tell the Williamsons. I'm the intern on this case, so I thought it would be best coming from me. That's why I left her in there, okay? He was stable, and I knew you would be here in a second," he called behind him as he ran to report Carson's condition to his mother and father.

Addison stepped into the room containing the incubators of the three Williamson children, where she saw Izzie and a neonatal nurse checking vitals on Carson.

"What have we got, Stevens?" Addison inquired as she began washing her hands in preparation for contact with the baby.

"Pneumothorax. Right lung. We were right here when it happened. Alex performed a quick needle thoracocentesis to relieve pressure, and we ended up having to intubate him. He seems to be responding, though. He's stabilizing."

"Thank you, Stevens. Very nice. I can take it from here," Addison told her as she began to examine the baby.

Within a minute, Alex was back with a very concerned Mr. and Mrs. Williamson.

"Karev and Stevens, go pick up my labs for me while I talk to Mr. and Mrs. Williamson about their son's condition."

On their way back from picking up labs, Alex and Izzie ran into one of their least favorite doctors—Mark Sloan.

"Whoa. Is it Bring a Hot Blonde to Work Day? No one told me," Mark joked to Alex with his usual smirk.

"AHEMsexualharassment" Izzie coughed.

"Shut up, Sloan. You're supposed to be the superior here, remember?" Alex shot back.

"I was just saying. It's the truth. You know it. She's hot and she's blonde."

"But this is a hospital, and we WORK here, meaning we are expected to be PROFESSIONAL. But I guess since you're such a hotshot plastic surgeon, it doesn't matter, and you can make whoever you want uncomfortable."

Just as Mark was about to say something that could have had seriously bad consequences for Alex, Addison showed up to save them.

"What are you doing?" Addison asked Mark, sounding extremely annoyed, as she had just caught the last bit of the exchange.

Thinking quickly, he responded with one of his famous innuendos. "Lunch." He grinned and held up a very large, thick deli pickle in a Ziploc bag. "Want my pickle?"

"Dear GOD, Mark! Shut the hell up. Seriously." Addison whispered loudly and angrily.

Seriously, Izzie said to herself, still thinking of what Alex had just said. Apparently, he didn't completely hate her over her relationship with Denny. Apparently, he still thought enough of her to defend her.

And with that, Addison turned and went back towards the NICU, Alex and Izzie following close behind. Mark was left standing alone, no longer smiling.

The day only got worse for Addison. The woman with the two uteruses whom she had operated on only a week before went into premature labor again, this time with her baby girl. Although the Cesarean went well, the baby was very early. At less than thirty weeks, the little girl had just about a fifty percent chance of survival. Seeing an infant so premature was even more upsetting than usual to Addison now that she was carrying a child of her own.

Later on that day, little Carson Williamson flatlined without warning. Handing his tiny, fragile body over to his devastated parents for the last time was so much harder than it should have been for her as an experienced doctor. After she did this, Addison left the couple to begin their grieving process and headed to an on-call room to lie down.

Luckily, the first room she walked into was empty. She sat down on the lower bunk and stretched her arms, shoulders, and neck. She was exhausted. Everything ached, and she still felt sick.

"Ugh," she groaned as she lay down and curled up against the wall. She lay still for a few minutes with her eyes closed, thinking about yet another day of upsetting events. Just as she was beginning to feel sad and alone enough to cry, she remembered that there was another person with her in the room. She rolled over onto her back and began to rub soft circles on her flat stomach.

"Hi, Baby," Addison spoke with a smile in a soft voice she had never heard herself use before, which made her smile even wider. "I know you can't hear me right now, but I'm going to talk to you anyway because just knowing that you are here makes Mommy feel better. I love you so much already. I know it may not have felt like that at first, but I promise that I am so excited about you now. You know, sweetie, the last few days have been really hard on me, and today has left me worrying about you." She paused and laughed, knowing that this was the first of thousands of worries she would have as a mother. "You are doing just fine now, but I'm just hoping that you stay in there as long as you can so you can grow and be really healthy for when you come out. If you could do that, things will be just perfect, okay? Okay. Now we are going to take a nap until Mommy has to scrub in at 4:30."

Within minutes, Addison fell asleep, feeling much better after her first conversation with her child.

The surgery at 4:30 came and went better and more quickly than expected. Before Addison knew it, she was done for the day and walking through the doors at Joe's.

"Dr. Torres," Addison greeted Callie cheerfully.

"Callie's fine. If we're drinking together now, I think we can cut the formalities," Callie responded with a smile while motioning for Addison to sit down on the barstool next to her.

"Sounds good to me," she laughed.

"What can I get for you ladies tonight?" Joe asked them.

"I just want some straight Tequila, Joe. It's been a weird few days," Callie told him.

"And I'll just take some ginger ale. You've got that, right?" Addison asked.

"Sure do," Joe said to her. "I'll get those right out."

Callie was giving Addison a look.

"So… Ginger Ale?"

"Ginger Ale," she responded, trying not to act like it meant anything out of the ordinary. Except this made it all the more obvious.

And Callie knew.

"I don't mean to pry, but… are you…?"

Addison looks down at the glass that Joe has just put in front of her. She lifts her right hand to start drumming her fingers on the glass in nervousness. Finally, she gives a small nod and then decides it's okay to look up.

"Yeah. You're only the second person I've told. Just you and Bailey know. Mark doesn't even know, and it's his kid," she says before laughing nervously. "I don't know how I'm going to tell him or when I'm going to tell him. I just know that I have to tell him."

Callie gave Addison an understanding look.

"I can keep your secret, don't worry. And if you need anything, I'm here. We single girls have to stick together."

"You have no idea how much that means, Callie. Ever since I came to Seattle, I have just felt so alone here. It's like everyone hates me."

"I know what you mean. I'm the only woman in Ortho. It's such a boy's club. I get no respect, much less friendship. Then with George, even when I had him, I always felt second to Meredith Grey and Izzie Stevens.

"Ah. Second to Meredith Grey. There's something else we can bond over." The two women laughed and continued to carry out their conversation for another three hours.

"I'll see you at work, Addison. We seriously need to do this again."

"We definitely do. Thank you so much for the talk. I feel a whole lot more sane now."

As Addison drove home that night, she could not help but smile. Although she had woken up miserable and had a mostly miserable day at work, everything had ended up well. She and her baby were healthy, and she had made a new friend in a city in which she had been alone for so long.

Okay.. that's all for now. Thanks so much for the reviews on the first chapter. I haven't done a chapter story before, so it was really cool to see some of you are actually going to continue to read it. :)