Whoa, Baby!

A Grey's Anatomy fic by Gigi

Chapter 7: Red-y, Set, Stop

A/N: So yeah, you know how I said that AP Lit summer work would bite me in the ass? It did. The last three days of summer were spent panicking and working until three in the morning. And now I have homework, which I'm procrastinating yet again. Seriously, senioritis has kicked in so strong I'm kind of worried for my future.

A/N2: No, the chapter title is not a typo.

Addison walked into the atrium of the hospital to a great deal of hooting and hollering. She gasped as she saw the room had been transformed from sterile and silver to pretty and pink. A banner hung on the opposite wall that read, "Congratulations, Addison and Alex, on your (future) little girl!"

Tears sprung to the hormonal, six-months-pregnant woman's eyes when two of the nurses—peds nurses—ushered her in and sat her on a "throne," which was really just a normal swivel chair dressed in pink ribbon.

Alex walked up to her encumbered by a very large present. "I know I'm not supposed to be here," he whispered into her ear after he kissed her on the cheek, "but all the guys chipped in and bought this for you, and we all agreed I should be the one male exempt from the 'No Men Allowed,' rule."

Addison smiled and grabbed her boyfriend's face, kissing him full on the mouth. They broke apart after a second or two, when a few of the nurses decided to start catcalling. "I think your presence is mandatory, Karev," Addison decided. "After all, if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't even be having this party."

"Very true," Alex laughed. Hefting the gift, he asked, "So are you going to open your present?"

Reaching for the box like a toddler reached for candy, Addison carefully opened the pacifier-wrapping paper at the folds and placed it neatly to the side before opening the box.

Inside it was the most beautiful baby book Addison had ever seen. It was much larger than a medical textbook, if that was any indication to the size. The covers were clothed in pale pink, silver and gold satin, and a name card was nestled in the middle. The card read Adrina Rose Forbes Montgomery-Karev in flowing gold script.

The tears that had come and gone all day came back full force as Addison looked up at Alex. "This is incredible," she breathed out.

"Open it," Alex suggested, taking the box and wrapping from her and handing her some tissues.

She complied and carefully lifted the front cover. Right there in the middle of the first page, lined in pale pink lace, was a picture of Addison and Alex from almost eight months ago, before little soon-to-be-Adrina was even conceived. They were standing at the nurses' station, having one of their legendary staring contests, with her looking royally pissed off and him looking insolent as ever.

The picture made Addison smile and laugh, and when she raised her head to Alex, her eyes twinkled. "That's perfect," she chuckled.

"The first chapter is about us," Alex informed her, pulling up a chair. "Izzie and I put it together. It turns out that there are a remarkable amount of pictures of the two of us." Addison's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Yeah, surprised me, too. And there's space for more pictures, whenever we need them."

"I love it, Alex," Addison declared.

Alex took her hand and held it in his own, locking eyes with her. "And I love you," he announced.

The acoustics in the atrium of course made his statement carry, and a shocked silence descended on the baby shower. Heads popped up from the onesies that were being decorated and hands stilled reaching for mini-pink-and-white cakes.

Addison's heart stopped when those four words fell on her ears. Ever since her revelation three months ago, she had wondered if he returned her feelings, and if he did, how and when he would tell her. But she'd never expected him to declare it so openly, and she was a little uncomfortable with that.

"I..." she started. Her eyes were wide and her pallor pale. Addison wanted so much to just forget about her doubts and everything, but there was always that nagging feeling in her gut that she wished was wrong some of the time. "I want to believe you," she choked out, a small sob racking her body. "I really do."

Alex dropped her hand and stood up. "But you don't," he finished for her. She could already tell he'd sealed her off—his walls were up, and there was no way they were coming down anytime soon. He started to walk off, fighting to keep his tears contained until he was somewhere private.

"Alex, wait," she pleaded, getting up from her chair. She made as if to follow him and almost slipped in something slippery. The collective gasp from all the party guests made Alex turn around in panic. What he saw, however, was Addison staring at the floor beneath her feet in horror.

Spots of red—with a few stripes from her footprints—speckled the pristine white floor of the atrium and stained the bottom of Addison's dress. She watched, terrified, as more crimson droplets splattered on the tile.

Clutching her stomach as if trying to protect her daughter, Addison called for a wheelchair.

And then the pain started.

8D

Someone was rubbing some sort of jelly on her belly. She had a jelly belly. She didn't like having a jelly belly—jelly bellies felt weird.

No, wait, something else was rubbing on her jelly belly now. Now that she was concentrating on her jelly belly, she realized just how cold her jelly belly was!

Addison's eyes fluttered open to reveal three things of note: first, a morphine drip; second, Alex Karev; and third, Alex was giving her a sonogram.

"Stop touching my jelly belly," she muttered, her voice taking on a slightly higher pitch.

Alex's head whipped from the sonogram machine to Addison's face, relief written all over his own. Putting down the wand, he leaned forward and kissed her hard on the lips. "Thank God you're awake."

"Yeah, you woke me up by touching my jelly belly," Addison grumbled into the kiss. "So what's going on? Why were you even touching my jelly belly in the first place?"

Alex smiled softly and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "You're so high right now," he cooed.

Whacking his hand out from her face, she held it in a death grip until he would do as she wanted. "Why were you touching my jelly belly?"

The smile faltered a little, and Alex's voice became serious. "We got into a fight at your baby shower, and when you got up to chase after me, you almost slipped in your own blood. Then you yelled for a wheelchair and passed out." Addison's eyes grew wider and wider with every passing word, and she started hyperventilating to the point where Alex had to force the oxygen mask onto her face and tell her to breathe. "The baby is fine. I just checked the sonogram, and there's a strong heartbeat." Addison's breathing slowly returned back to normal. The fact that one of her hands was still crushing his was lost on both of them. "But I can't figure out what caused it all in the first place."

"Let me see the sonogram," Addison demanded from beneath her oxygen mask.

"You sure? I'll have to touch your jelly belly again," Alex teased.

Addison glared at him. "Just let me see the damn thing." She released her hold on his hand and allowed him a few seconds to work the feeling back into his fingers. "Hurry up, already!" she urged.

"Alright, alright," Alex shot back, returning the wand to her "jelly belly." He was going to give her so much crap about that when she was sober again. If she still wanted him. Alex's smile faltered again at that thought. "Here you go," he said. He turned the screen so Addison could see it easily.

After peering at it for a few seconds, Addison leaned back in her hospital bed. "Oh, thank God," she breathed, closing her eyes in relief.

"What? What is it?"

"It's placenta previa," Addison answered. "The placenta is attached a little lower on the uterine wall than usual, and that can cause bleeding and sometimes abdominal pain." She actually sounded completely sober when she told him.

"But the baby's going to be okay?" Addison smiled, because for all the times Alex has told her he wasn't father material, he sounded just like a nervous dad.

"She should be fine as long as I'm careful for the next few months," Addison assured. "I guess this means only surgeries less than six hours at a time, and no sex." She bit her lip. "Damn it, I had an amazing surgery scheduled."

Alex's mouth dropped open. Here was Addison Forbes Montgomery, stoned out of her mind, who is faced with no sex for three months and limited surgeries—and she was more upset about the surgeries!

The insecure, love-stricken teenager inside him wanted to shake her by the shoulders and demand to know what she meant by "I want to believe you," but he knew that wasn't appropriate. Besides, he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that. So he just faked a smile and wiped off the gel from her stomach.

Addison pouted. "I don't have a jelly belly anymore."

A chuckle escaped from Alex's lips. "You do know you're not going to remember any of this once the drugs wear off, right?" Addison waved his comment off and adjusted her pillow. Her eyes began to droop, and her body lost some of its tension. "Go to sleep," he told her, kissing her forehead. "I'll be here when you wake up."

A few minutes later, Alex had cleaned up after the sonogram and settled into the chair in the private hospital room when he heard Addison murmur something that made his heart stop.

"I love you, too."

A/N: If I wanted to be really mean, I could totally end it there, but I won't. I enjoyed writing this chapter way too much, because it was really difficult at first. But when I got into the groove, it was so much fun. So what do you think of High Addison? More or less entertaining than Impulsive Addison? I think High Addison kicks High Meredith's ass, but that's just my own highly biased opinion. What's yours? REVIEW.