I turned around to face the door, giving Izzie privacy to change back into her clothes.

"Okay," she said, as she settled back onto the exam table fully clothed. "Now what do you know?"

I sat down beside her. "I'm sure it's just Braxton Hicks contractions, Izzie, it's false labor."

"But I never really had the false labor pains with Doug at all," she protested, "and I trust you, but...I don't know. It's just uncomfortable."

"Iz, it's okay. You're at 34 weeks. You know that a baby born after 34 weeks will do just fine." I gave her hand a quick squeeze. "It's entirely possible the baby may come early, but that's okay. From the looks of it, you may not make it to 40 weeks. You just need to relax just a little bit for me, all right?"

"I'll try, I'm just worried. I'm a worrier."

"Do me a favor?" I asked. "One I know you won't like?"

"What's up?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Stop working. Take the rest of the time until the baby is due off?"

Izzie rolled her eyes. "I hate sitting at home, especially when George is here all the time. I'm too big and huge to do anything, I can't even really play with Doug. I just feel lousy."

I shook my head. "Go home, Izzie. Meredith and I will come over tonight and you can help with some of the final touches on wedding stuff. You won't be alone for long."

"Okay," she said, her voice filling with resignation. "But you promise you guys will come by later? George has a late surgery today, he won't be home till after dinner. I could cook," she begged.

"We could get take-out," I argued. "You should be resting. We'll bring chow."

OooooooooooooO

"Hi, beautiful," Alex whispered, putting his hands across my eyes.

"Hey," I answered, shoving aside the file I was working on. "I'm going over to Izzie's tonight with Meredith. We're going to work on some last minute wedding stuff, seating charts and stuff."

"I was coming to tell you that I was going out with Derek," he laughed, "so I guess it sort of works out."

"I guess it does," I said, turning my head as he leaned around me for a quick kiss.

He reached over me and pulled a picture off the desk. "Wow," he said. "How come I never noticed this before?"

I took the picture away and put it back down. "That's Callie and I, taken a couple weeks before she died. We were just being silly that day. I sort of wish she was here, you know? I mean, before Meredith and I became friends…she's the first person who would have been here for all the wedding stuff."

"I'm sorry, Addie."

"Me too. It's been a long time though."

Derek stuck his head into the office. "I thought I'd find you here," he said to Alex. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah!" he answered, giving me another quick peck. "I'll see you later at home, okay?"

I nodded, and started to laugh as the door opened and shut once more within seconds of Alex leaving, and Meredith appeared.

"What's so funny?" she asked, flopping into the chair in front of my desk.

"Revolving office door," I replied. "One of those you had to be there moments."

"Ah. So I ordered pizza. We just have to pick it up in fifteen minutes, and then we can go to Izzie's."

I shoved the files off of the desk into my briefcase. "Just let me get all of my stuff together, and I'll be all set. I bent down to the bottom drawer of the cabinet to get my purse out, but when I stood up, my head was swimming.

"Hey, you okay?" Meredith asked.

I steadied myself against the filing cabinet. "I'm fine. I think I just stood up too fast."

"You're bone white, Addie, are you sure? Maybe you should sit down for a second."

"I'm good," I insisted, shaking my head to clear out the fuzzy stuff. "Let's just go."

OoooooooooooooO

"Thank god you're here!" Izzie exclaimed from her position on the couch. "I'm bored to tears."

"It's only been, like, four hours, Iz. How are you going to last a couple more weeks?" Meredith threw her coat over an armchair and sat down next to Izzie.

"Tell that to my doctor," Izzie answered pointedly.

"Uh-huh," I laughed, carrying the pizza boxes into the kitchen.

Izzie followed me, reaching up into the cupboard to get some plates down. "Seriously. You have to give me something to do, Addie. I'm going to go totally nuts."

As I opened the pizza box, the black dots swarmed my vision again, and I felt myself sway slightly. I closed my eyes and gripped the edge of the counter.

Izzie grabbed my elbow, alarm flickering across her features. "Addie?" she said softly. "Are you okay?"

My legs turned to jelly, and I felt myself sinking to the ground despite Izzie's best efforts to hold me up.

"Meredith!" Izzie yelled. "Get in here, now!"

Meredith skidded into the kitchen coming to a stop on the ground in front of me. "Addie? Can you hear me?"

I struggled to focus my vision. Izzie lowered herself down to the floor next to me, holding a cool cloth on the back of my neck. My head felt really heavy and as I slumped the rest of the way to the ground, Meredith steered my head into her lap.

"Addie?" she repeated.

"I'm okay," I whispered.

Izzie wiped away the beads of sweat from my forehead, sweeping my hair back out of my eyes. "You look okay," she said sarcastically. "You're sprawled on my disgusting kitchen floor, like, two seconds from losing consciousness. You're really fine, Addie."

I pushed myself back up, propping on myself on Meredith.

"Spill," she insisted, looking directly into eyes. "Spill now, or I'm calling Alex and we're taking you to the hospital to get checked out."

I looked to Izzie for support. "Don't look at me," Izzie said. "Do what the woman says."

I sighed in exasperation. "I'm fine, guys, I promise. I just… "

"What?" Meredith asked.

"I think…I…I just, I don't want to jinx it."

Meredith narrowed her eyes at me. "No way."

"What?" Izzie asked.

"No way," Meredith repeated.

I looked away. "Yes way," I whispered. "I think…"

"You're…" Meredith started.

"Pregnant?" Izzie finished, finally catching on. "You're pregnant?"

I nodded slowly. "I think I might be. But I'm terrified of jinxing it, I didn't want to say anything."

"When did you find out?" Meredith asked. "How long have you been keeping this from me?"

"I don't know…for sure yet," I said hesitantly. "I took a home test a week ago, but it was negative. Maybe I took it too early, I don't know. I'm scared to take another one, I don't want it to say no."

"I know you want this, Addison," Meredith said gently. "I know it's scary. But you have to take the test."

"We should do it now," Izzie interjected. "I think I have an extra home test under the bathroom sink."

Meredith snorted. "You keep a pregnancy test under the bathroom sink?"

Izzie gestured to her expansive belly. "I got a two pack," she laughed.

Meredith looked at me. "You ready? You've got your two best friends here, Addie, there's no better time."

I nodded, extending a hand and letting Meredith pull me to my feet. "There's no time like the present, I guess," I surrendered, letting my best friend lead me into the bathroom.