A/N: Sorry it took so long! I hope I still have readers!
Owen was giving Leo a kiss goodbye at daycare when Teddy walked in with Allison in her arms.
"Hey, there's my girl," Owen greeted, reaching out his hands for Allison. Teddy handed her over to Owen. She knelt down next to Leo who gave her a big hug. Leo noticed the sparkling ring on her finger and began inspecting it and turning her hand to make it shimmer in the light.
"You like it, Leo?" Teddy asked. Owen put the baby down and stepped towards her and saw what they were admiring.
"Woah," Owen commented, seeing the beautiful diamond ring on her finger.
Teddy was beaming when she turned to Owen. "Tom proposed last night."
Owen pulled her into a hug and swung her around. He was thrilled for her and he could tell that she was overjoyed. "I'm so happy for you!"
"Thanks Hunt," Teddy replied, unable to stop smiling.
"And, you still want me to move in?" Owen asked.
Teddy's smile faded. "You don't want to anymore?"
"No, I do," Owen assured her. "But, you and Tom are going to be married. Are you sure you don't want the house to yourselves? I mean, most married couples don't live with other adults in their houses."
"Owen, this doesn't change anything. I still want you to move in if you are still okay with it," Teddy told him. "I know it's not traditional. I don't want traditional."
Owen nodded but didn't say anything.
"But, if you do, that's okay. Just tell me now before they start knocking down my walls," Teddy rambled. "I mean, I understand if you don't want to move in because it's a little strange and if you meet someone they might not understand the situation and I don't want to cause any problems for you-"
"Teddy, stop," Owen instructed, placing his hands on her shoulder. "I want to move in. And, if I meet someone, it will need to be someone who can understand our situation, like Tom. Otherwise, she wouldn't be the right person for me."
Teddy smiled. "Aw, are you saying that you need to find your Tom?"
"That sounds strange, but kind of, yes," Owen laughed. "I know I was skeptical of him at first."
"At first?" Teddy questioned, skeptically.
"Okay, for a while," Owen admitted. "But, he's a great guy. And, I'm really happy for the two of you."
It was a warm sunny day and Teddy and Tom had decided to take a walk with Allison in her stroller. Tom had brought up wedding planning, asking Teddy where she wanted to get married. Teddy shrugged in response.
"Church, fancy hotel, beach," Tom listed, trying to gauge her reaction to those types of places.
"Or, we could go to City Hall tomorrow and just do it," Teddy suggested, not needing their wedding to be anything too fancy.
"Wow, you are not a romantic," Tom commented.
Teddy shrugged and playfully bumped into his shoulder. "You knew that when you asked me to marry you."
"Come on," Tom urged. "Don't you want to wear a gorgeous dress or eat a deliciously expensive meal or dance with me? What about cake? You definitely want wedding cake. It's the best part."
Teddy felt a lump in her throat. Sometimes he reminded her so much of Henry. She remembered meeting Henry at the bar the night after they had gotten married and him telling her how he had always imagined having a more traditional wedding. With cake. That was the part he was most disappointed about. She wished she could go back and give him the wedding that he always wanted.
"You okay?" Tom asked, noticing that her mood went from teasing to serious.
"Yeah," she assured him. This time she would do it right. She would give Tom the wedding he wanted because he deserved it. "You're right. Let's do it. The cake and the dancing and the food and the dress. I want all of that."
Tom smiled and kissed her. Truthfully, he would have been fine with marrying her at City Hall like she suggested but he preferred it this way. From the stroller, they noticed that Allison was smiling and making happy sounds.
"I think the peanut approves of that decision," Tom told Teddy.
Teddy got home late from work because of an emergency surgery she had been pulled into. She was exhausted but hoping that Tom hadn't already put Allison to sleep so she could hold her girl and spend a minute with her before bed. Tomorrow would be Owen's night with her and Teddy felt sad that she had missed her night with Allison.
Teddy checked out the construction zone quickly to see how it was coming along. The construction company that Tom had hired was good. They were working quickly and Teddy figured it would only be another couple weeks before they started moving Owen and Leo into their rooms. She couldn't wait until she no longer had to worry about missing one of her nights with Allison.
Teddy headed up the stairs to Allison's nursery. Teddy could hear Tom reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears to Allison as she walked down the hall. Teddy smiled at the sound of Tom using different voices for the Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear. Teddy stood in the doorway and saw Tom holding Allison in the rocking chair, with the storybook in front of them. However, as Teddy walked into the room, she heard a very different ending to the story than what was written in the book.
"Just then, Goldilocks woke up from Baby Bear's bed and tried to run. But, Papa Bear and Mama Bear were faster and caught her before she could escape. They cooked her up and fed her to Baby Bear since she had eaten all of Baby Bear's porridge."
"I'm pretty sure that is not the ending," Teddy commented with a smirk. Tom looked up, not realizing that Teddy had been standing there.
"Well, it's a more interesting ending," Tom defended. "We don't want her thinking that we wouldn't protect her from some intruder eating her food and sitting in her chair and sleeping in her bed."
Teddy laughed and rolled her eyes.
"And, she loves that version. The normal version always puts her to sleep," Tom added.
"Well, it is a bedtime story. It's supposed to put her to sleep," Teddy countered.
"Yeah, but she wanted to wait up for her mom," Tom explained, standing up to let Teddy sit in the rocking chair with the baby. Teddy sat and grabbed another book off the shelf next to her. Teddy read her another book and Allison fell fast asleep in her arms. Teddy just sat with her and watched her as she slept soundly, with her tiny fist wrapped around Teddy's pinky finger.
Teddy was excited that her afternoon surgery had been canceled and that it was a relatively slow day in the ER. She decided to run up to the daycare for a few minutes to visit Allison and Leo. When she walked in, she saw Leo handing a toy to Amelia who was sitting with him. It looked like she had been there for a little while already. Leo noticed Teddy before Amelia did. He dropped the toy and ran over to Teddy.
"Mama!" Leo called out as he ran over to her. Teddy picked him up and held him at her hip.
"Hi Leo," she responded, giving him a kiss. She looked at Amelia who was now standing. Teddy could tell that Amelia looked sad. She had spent months with Leo and obviously cared for him. Teddy was sure that she was upset that Leo had called her 'mama' instead of Amelia.
"I should get back to work," Amelia said, feeling uncomfortable. She knew that Teddy had been spending more time with Leo than she had but she couldn't help but feel disappointed about the fact that he considered Teddy to be his mom. Amelia knew she had opted out of being his adopted mom but she loved him.
"No, stay," Teddy insisted. "I have to get back to the ER in a few minutes. I just wanted to come say hi."
"Mama, play!" Leo begged Teddy, making Amelia's heart feel like it was cracking. She excused herself and rushed out of the room, not wanting Teddy to see how upset she was. Of course, Teddy noticed anyway and felt guilty. She didn't want Amelia to think she stole the role of Leo's mom from her. It certainly wasn't her intention. Teddy sighed and put on a smile for Leo and played with him and Allison for a few minutes before heading back to work.
"Don't be sad," Owen pleaded, as he took Allison from Teddy and saw Teddy tearing up. "Only one more week of passing her back and forth until we move in. Leo and I are already mostly packed."
"I know," Teddy agreed, with a smile. The rooms were getting their finishing touches this week and would be painted on Friday.
"What are you and Tom doing today?" Owen asked her.
"We are visiting a few wedding venues," Teddy said, with a smile. Despite her initial thoughts of getting married at City Hall, she actually found herself getting excited about planning a wedding with Tom. He was so excited about it and his enthusiasm was rubbing off on her.
"Oh yeah?" Owen asked. "Where are you looking?"
Teddy shrugged. "That's not really my forte. Tom found a bunch of places for us to check out. I'm just along for the ride."
Owen laughed. Teddy wasn't exactly the most traditional bride. He knew she'd let Tom do most of the planning since she wouldn't really care where they got married. "Good luck."
Teddy gave her daughter a kiss goodbye and did the same for Leo who was standing at her feet and pulling on the edge of the skirt of her dress. She then went back to the car where Tom was waiting for her.
"Ready?" Tom asked. Teddy smiled and nodded. He drove them to the first wedding venue on the list which was one of the nicest hotels in Seattle with a beautiful event room with a crystal chandelier.
"What did you think?" Tom asked as they got back into the car after meeting with the wedding coordinator at the hotel.
"It's nice," Teddy told him, indifferently.
"You don't like it," Tom said, gauging her reaction.
"No, I do," Teddy tried to assure him.
"Okay, but you don't love it," Tom corrected. "Moving on."
The next place they went was a beachfront wedding venue. Tom was hopeful that Teddy would love this one. She enjoyed going to the beach and there was a beautiful wooden archway overlooking the water that gave off a more relaxed feel than the fancy ballroom.
"Thoughts?" Tom asked.
"All I could imagine was Leo playing in the sand and getting it all over himself and then crying because he's uncomfortable."
"Alright, no sand," Tom said, adding it to his mental list of what Teddy doesn't like. "Besides the sand, how was it? Too relaxed?"
"Too big," Teddy told him. "That reception room fit over two hundred people. It would look empty with just a few people."
"Okay, so you want a small wedding?" Tom asked. "I would have thought you'd want to invite people from the hospital."
"Like who? I don't exactly have a lot of friends at the hospital."
"Alright. So who is on your guest list?" Tom inquired.
"Owen, the kids, Evelyn, Megan, Nathan, Farouk," Teddy said. "Oh, and maybe Arizona and her family but they live in New York so they probably won't come. But, we have a video chat date this weekend so I'll ask. Who do you want to invite?"
Tom thought for a minute. It sounded sad but really there was nobody in particular he needed to invite. No family. Teddy was his best friend. The only other person he could think of was Amelia. "Amelia."
Teddy looked at him confused. "Amelia Shepherd? Why?"
"She's my friend," Tom responded.
"Okay. But, I don't think she's going to want to come to our wedding. She hates me."
"No, she doesn't."
"She definitely blames me for breaking up her and Owen," Teddy reminded him. "And, now she hates me because Leo calls me 'mom'."
"She doesn't blame you," Tom insisted. "She blames Owen. He's the one who hurt her. Not you. He's the reason she chose not to adopt Leo. So, if she hates anyone for Leo calling you 'mom' it would be Owen."
"What exactly did Owen do?" Teddy asked. She knew that Amelia had decided not to adopt Leo but assumed it was just because she and Owen weren't together anymore.
"You don't know?" Tom asked. "Owen told her it was her fault that they were breaking up. That she sabotaged the relationship because she's incapable of love."
"Wow," Teddy sighed. Teddy couldn't help but think back to Germany. You're scared. You always have been. Deep down you're terrified to be happy. Sure, you're fine to marry the dead guy but when love, real love, is staring you in the face you run. It's what you do, it's what you've always done. It's the reason you can't make a real relationship work. You'd rather burn it all to the ground than risk being hurt.
"You don't sound particularly surprised," Tom commented.
"Owen, kind of gave me the same speech in Germany," Teddy admitted. "He told me that I torch relationships because I'm afraid of being happy."
"You wouldn't be looking at wedding venues with me right now if that were true."
"I know," Teddy agreed. "But, I spent a while thinking that was true. I guess I just feel bad for Amelia."
Knowing how much she had overanalyzed Owen's words to her after their fight, she could only imagine that Amelia was doing the same. She wanted to talk to Owen and make sure he apologized to Amelia. Amelia deserved it after everything Owen had put her through. Teddy thought about this for the entire drive to the next venue. But, as they pulled up to a beautiful, luxurious lodge along a river, Teddy was no longer thinking about Owen or Amelia.
"This place is beautiful," Teddy said.
"Wait until you see the view," Tom replied. They went inside and Teddy was blown away. The lodge had a reception room that overlooked the river and there was a balcony where the ceremony would be that had the backdrop of the waterfall. Teddy hadn't expected to want to get married in such an elegant place but now that she had seen it she wanted it. Teddy and Tom agreed that this was where they wanted to get married.
Teddy sat in bed with a big glass of wine in one hand while she logged into her computer on the other. She smiled as she received an incoming video call from Arizona.
"Teddy!" Arizona exclaimed as she saw Teddy's face appear on her screen.
"Hey!" Teddy greeted. When Teddy came back to Seattle for Megan's return, she and Arizona had agreed that they needed to get back in touch on a more regular basis. They had been doing a good job of sticking to their plan until Teddy had discovered she was pregnant. At first, Teddy would not call Arizona because she was afraid that she would tell Owen about the pregnancy. Teddy desperately didn't want him to know. She didn't want him to contact her. She never wanted to see him again. She had meant to get in touch once she found out that Arizona had moved to New York. But, Arizona was busy running her own medical center for women and their babies. They were both understandably busy and would text to ask how everything was going, but neither went too in depth. Finally, they had found a time to sit down and talk.
"You look amazing! How's the little one?" Arizona asked, having heard about Teddy's pregnancy via text.
Teddy smiled. "She's the greatest!"
Arizona listened to Teddy ramble on and on about Allison. Then, Teddy listened to Arizona talk about how Sophia was doing. She also mentioned that she and Callie were back together and trying to make things work. Teddy was thrilled for them. At one point, Teddy brushed a strand of hair away from her face with her left hand, which gave Arizona a view of her engagement ring. Arizona stopped talking about Callie instantly.
"Oh my God!" Arizona squealed. "Owen proposed?"
"Oh," Teddy said, moving her ring into focus for Arizona. She smiled. "Actually, Owen and I aren't together. I met Tom at the hospital after moving here and we just clicked."
"Wait, Tom?" Arizona asked. Her face scrunched up in disgust. "As in, Tom Koracick from Hopkins?"
"Um, yeah," Teddy confirmed.
"Why?" Arizona asked, her face still holding a look of disgust and confusion.
Teddy's smile faded as she realized that her friend wasn't excited for her.
"Sorry, it's just, I knew Koracick," Arizona told Teddy. "He's not exactly husband material."
"I don't think you knew him very well then," Teddy said, defending Tom.
"Maybe not," Arizona admitted. "But, he slept with April when she was going through some pretty hard stuff. He slept with my partner, Nicole Hermann, after she went blind. He slept with Amelia after taking out her brain tumor. He seems to gravitate towards women who are in a vulnerable place."
"That's not what happened," Teddy countered. "Tom told me about the women he's slept with. Amelia was not vulnerable after getting her tumor out. She was actually thinking clearly for the first time in years. And, Nicole Hermann pursued Tom for sex, not the other way around. And, he was trying to help April through her God complex because he thought he could relate. But, all she wanted was sex."
"Okay," Arizona said, feeling bad for judging him so quickly. "I'm sorry. I jumped to conclusions. Tell me more about him."
Teddy told her more about their relationship and how he treated her so well. By the end of their conversation Arizona changed her mind about what she thought of Tom.
"Well, I guess I'll have to come up and meet him soon," Arizona suggested. "And, meet Allison, of course."
"You should come for the wedding," Teddy told her.
"I will but I want to come before then too!" Arizona said. "It's been way too long. And, traveling with a newborn all the way to New York would be a lot of work. Oh, we can go dress shopping!"
Teddy smiled and agreed that it would be great to see her sooner than the wedding. They made plans for Arizona to come visit. She also texted Megan and asked if she would come up to go dress shopping with them. Megan immediately answered with a string of exclamation points followed by pictures of dresses for Teddy to look at to see what she liked. Teddy was excited that she would get to see her friends soon.
A/N: I hope you liked it. I felt like there wasn't enough Allison in this chapter but there will be more. Babies only do so much. How is the pace? What do you want to see? Fluff, drama,...? Let me know you're suggestions by reviewing!
