A/N: Thank you so much for all of your feedback on this story so far. Here's the next chapter. I hope you like it and, as always, thanks for reading!


"Richard, do you have a minute?" Addison asked, as she knocked lightly on the chief's office door.

Richard looked up from his paperwork and smiled. "Addison…Derek…sure, come on in."

"Thanks," Derek smiled, as he and Addison sat down across from the chief.

"So, what can I do for you?" Richard asked.

"We need to talk to you," Addison started.

"Both of you? Together?" Richard asked in surprise.

Addison and Derek nodded.

"Uh, okay then."

Addison looked at Derek, who nodded encouragingly at her. "Well, the thing is," Addison began, clearing her throat, "Derek and I have found ourselves in a delicate situation. And we want to be as professional as possible, so we're coming to you first."

"Okay…" the chief trailed off, his forehead wrinkling in confusion.

Addison sighed. "I'm pregnant."

"Wait, what?" Richard exclaimed, looking between Addison and Derek. "Are you sure?"

"For all the money you're paying me, Richard, you better hope I know how to read a pregnancy test," Addison said dryly. "I'm about six weeks," she continued with a sigh. "I wasn't planning on telling people so soon but, like I said, this is a delicate situation and we need to-"

"Wait," Richard cut in. You two have been divorced for almost three months. If you're only six weeks along…that means, that means-"

"We slept together after the divorce," Derek filled in.

Richard looked from Derek to Addison and took a shaky breath. "The conference that you two attended, but never went to…that was, that was a little over six weeks ago. Is that why you missed the conference? You know what, wait, don't tell me," Richard said, waving his hands in the air. "I don't want to know."

"Richard," Addison began.

"I can't believe the hospital funded an affair… and a baby between two people who aren't even together anymore," Richard breathed, massaging his temples with his fingers. "Wait, are you two getting back…you know what, that's none of my business either."

"We're not getting back together," Addison said, doing her best to keep her voice neutral. "Derek's going to try to save things with Meredith. And Derek and I…well, we're just going to be two divorced people raising a child together. It's really not that uncommon of a thing if you think about it."

"Right," Richard sighed, covering his face with his hands. "Of course, of course. How does something like this even happen?" he demanded.

Derek turned to Addison. "I think this is your field of expertise, Dr. Shepherd," he smirked. "Why don't you explain things to him?"

"That's not what I meant, Derek," Richard said dryly.

"Sorry," Derek apologized. "But, hey, if it makes you feel any better, technically, the hospital didn't fund this baby. The hotel gave us the room free of charge."

"That does not make me feel better," Richard snapped. "This is going to have the hospital in hysterics."

"Richard," Addison cut in. "We know this situation isn't ideal, but Derek and I promise to keep things as professional as possible."

"That's right," Derek agreed. "And we know the logistics aren't exactly perfect, but we're both really happy about this."

"Well, I don't really think there's much more I can say," Richard sighed, "except, congratulations."

"Thank you," Derek and Addison smiled.

Richard shook his head in amusement, as he looked from Addison to Derek. "You know, for most of the time that I've known you two, I've been waiting for this announcement. Never in a million years was I expecting it to happen this way."

xxxxx

"Hello, Karev," Addison greeted her intern, as she walked into the NICU.

"Dr. Shepherd," Alex said, looking up from his chart. "I, uh, I wanted to ask you about Dr. Shepherd…uh, I mean, about Derek. I wanted to ask you about Derek."

Addison raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "What about Derek?" she asked slowly.

"Is he okay?"

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific than that, Karev," Addison teased, forcing a laugh.

Alex rolled his eyes. "I don't know, it's just, he was in here this morning when I came back from rounds."

"He was?" Addison asked in surprise.

Alex nodded.

"Uh, what was he…what was he doing in here?"

Alex shrugged. "He was just…looking at the babies. I mean, I know sometimes doctors go and look at the babies in the nursery when they're stressed or having a bad day…Grey and O'Malley do it all the time…but I don't think I've ever seen Shepherd do it before. And, I don't know, it didn't seem like he was stressed or having a bad day. I kind of got the feeling that he just wanted to be in here…and I kind of felt like I was intruding on something by coming in here with him. I don't know; the whole thing was just weird."

"Oh," Addison said quietly. It was all that she could get out.

Alex looked at his boss quizzically. "Are you okay, Dr. Shepherd?"

Addison quickly cleared her throat. "I, uh, I'm fine," she answered as professionally as she could. "Uh, so Derek was just looking at the babies when you came in here?"

"Yeah," Alex nodded. "I think. I mean, once I came in here, he started asking me about the babies…you know, he wanted to know their names, how long they've been in the NICU for…those types of things. But I don't know…I've never seen him like this before…I think something's wrong with him. And since you know him better than anyone, I figured I'd ask you first."

Addison shrugged. "I don't think there's anything wrong with him," she said as innocently as she could.

"I don't know," Alex disagreed. "I can't explain it…if you would have seen him, you'd understand. Something is definitely different about him."

"Maybe," Addison conceded. But she couldn't help agreeing with her intern. Something definitely was different about Derek Shepherd. And she, for one, was not about to complain about it.

xxxxx

"So, I broke the news to Meredith," Derek said, as he joined Addison by the nurses' station, later that day.

Addison looked up and met her ex-husband's eyes. "How'd it go?"

"Pretty much how I expected it to go," Derek answered. "A lot of yelling and crying and anger…all of it perfectly justified."

"I'm so sorry, Derek," Addison apologized.

"Yeah," Derek sighed. "Me too."

"So, uh, I take it things between you and Meredith are over?" Addison asked hesitantly.

Derek nodded. "They are. You know, I think I would have judged her a little if she agreed to stay with me after all this."

Addison stifled a laugh. "So, how long do you think it'll be before the rest of the hospital finds out?"

"With the way gossip spreads in this place, I'd be surprised if everyone else didn't already know," Derek chuckled.

Addison was about to respond, when a wave of nausea washed over her.

"You okay?" Derek asked Addison in concern. "You look kind of pale."

"Yeah," Addison said shakily. "It's just, uh, I…" But that was all she could get out before covering her mouth with her hand and running towards the women's bathroom, with Derek following closely behind her.

Derek watched Addison push open the door to the ladies' room. And as he helplessly stood outside, he felt like it was the morning of the medical conference all over again. But it wasn't. Because, this time, he found himself walking into the women's bathroom, doing his best to ignore the questioning stares of Karev, Yang, and O'Malley, who were standing nearby.

"Hey, Addie?" he called out softly as he made his way towards the stall that he knew she was in.

She didn't answer, but it didn't deter Derek. He lightly pushed open the unlocked door to the bathroom stall to find Addison hunched over the toilet, expelling the contents of her stomach.

Within seconds, Derek was kneeling down beside her, holding her hair back with one hand, rubbing circles on her back with the other. "Hey, it's okay," he said gently. "It's okay."

Addison turned to look at him. "Derek, what are you doing in here?"

It was a fair question. But, for some reason, Derek found himself unable to give her an answer. "I, uh," he began, swallowing hard. "I-"

But he was cut off by Addison, who had returned to being sick. And as he continued to hold her hair and rub her back, while she vomited violently into the toilet, an answer came to him. "I couldn't not be in here," he said softly. "It wouldn't feel right being anywhere else."

xxxxx

Word of Addison's pregnancy had spread like wildfire around Seattle Grace. Derek had raised a lot of eyebrows when several doctors and nurses had watched him follow Addison into the women's bathroom, and it didn't take people long to put two and two together. About a month and a half had passed since the rest of the hospital had found out that Derek and Addison were having a baby together; Addison was nearly twelve weeks along, and Derek felt like he was doing a good job taking everything in stride. Sure, things weren't perfect; if looks could kill, he'd surely be dead between all of the glares that Meredith and Mark had sent in his direction over the past month and a half. And while it hurt him to know that Mark was angry with him and that Meredith was devastated, he could handle it. But what was becoming increasing harder for him to handle was his relationship with Addison. When they were alone, things were great. Conversation was easy, and they could talk for hours about their baby and everything they needed to do to get ready for her. But, at the hospital, things were completely different. Addison had insisted upon scheduling doctor's appointments at the crack of dawn, before the interns were even in, and whenever he tried to talk to her about their baby, at the hospital, she shut down. She'd quickly change the subject or offer to talk about it later. And while these types of responses annoyed and confused him, things between him and Addison were good when they were outside of the hospital, so he didn't press the issue.

He did, however, press the issue when he overheard Addison telling Callie about how she was going house hunting and, after a couple of minutes of arguing, he managed to convince Addison to let him go along with her to look at houses. Addison couldn't understand why this was so important to him and, truth be told, he didn't quite know either, but he wanted to be there. He wanted to feel like he was playing a part in helping to choose his baby's first house – even though he knew that, at the end of the day, Addison's opinion was the only one that mattered.

"This is nice," Derek approved, as he and Addison walked into one of the houses that she was considering buying.

Addison shook her head. "It's not right."

"Addison, you said that about the last three houses we looked at," Derek sighed. "And I liked all of them."

"Then maybe you should buy one of them," Addison shot back.

"I have a home," Derek answered.

"You have a trailer," Addison said smugly.

"I have a home," Derek repeated. "Besides, this is supposed to be about you finding a house, not me. So, what's wrong with this one?"

"It's not right," Addison said.

"Yeah, I got that," Derek muttered.

"Derek," Addison scolded, "I told you a thousand times that you didn't need to come house hunting with me."

"And I told you a thousand times that I wanted to be here for this," Derek reminded her.

"Fine," Addison sighed. "But you know better than anyone how picky I am…so you can't get frustrated with me."

"Fine," Derek agreed. "So, uh, how do you know when a house is right anyway? I mean, besides the trailer, I guess the last place I owned was the brownstone. And I remember when we looked at it, it felt right…but I can't remember what about it felt right."

Addison gave Derek a warm smile. "That's exactly it. When something's right, it just feels…right."

"And this house isn't right?" Derek asked.

Addison shook her head. "No."

"Then what do you say we move onto the next house on your list?"

"Okay," Addison agreed.

Fifteen minutes later, Derek and Addison were walking into a large Victorian house.

"Wow," Derek gasped. He watched as Addison carefully assessed the living room, and then moved into the kitchen. "What do you think?" he asked.

"I like it," Addison smiled. "What do you think?"

"I love it."

"I'm gonna go look upstairs," Addison said. "Do you want to come?"

"Uh, I think I'm just gonna stay here a little longer," Derek answered. "I'll meet you upstairs in a few minutes."

"Okay," Addison nodded, as she began to make her way up the stairs.

Derek couldn't help smiling. The house was perfect – understated, but elegant, and so completely Addison. He could just picture his life in this house. He could just picture the mantelpiece covered with photographs of his and Addison's baby. He could just picture the house during Christmas time – he could see the Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, and he could just see his, Addison's, and their baby's Christmas stockings hanging over the electric fireplace. But as he made his way upstairs to join Addison, those thought were replaced by another thought. This wouldn't be his house. He wouldn't have any say in deciding which pictures were put on the mantelpiece. He wouldn't have a say in where they put the Christmas tree. And he wouldn't have a stocking over the fireplace.

Addison turned when she heard Derek's footsteps behind her. "Have you looked around up here?" she asked.

"No, not yet," Derek answered, still trying to push his thoughts from before out of his mind.

"You should," Addison smiled. "I think, I think I like this room for the nursery. What do you think?"

Derek swallowed hard. "It's perfect," he said softly. "Baby Shep is gonna love it."

"Baby Shep?" Addison asked, raising an eyebrow.

Derek grinned. "Do you like it?"

"I-"

"Come on, Addie; it's the perfect nickname. I mean, I still think we're having a girl, but if we're not, it'll make us pretty terrible parents if we continuously refer to our baby as 'she,' only to find out that it's a boy. Baby Shep works for a boy or a girl."

"I don't know," Addison said warily.

"You'll warm up to it," Derek insisted. "Besides, we need to come up with something…because I don't like the idea of calling our baby 'it' or 'the baby.' And other unisex nicknames, like Peanut…well, we're not really those types of people. And I mean I guess McBaby is always an option, but-"

"McBaby is not an option," Addison interrupted.

"Yeah, I had a feeling you'd be against it," Derek laughed. "But I really do think Baby Shep is perfect."

"What about my last name?" Addison asked. "You know I want our child to have my name too."

"I thought about that," Derek admitted. "But Baby Montgomery Shepherd is a mouthful. And besides, you kept my last name, so I still think Baby Shep works."

"Baby Shep," Addison said, testing the name out. "I'll think about it."

"Good," Derek smiled. "So, what do you think of the house?"

Addison smiled widely. "I think this one's the one. It just, it feels…it feels…"

"Right," Derek said softly.

"Yeah," Addison whispered, meeting Derek's eyes. "This feels right."