Recovery

Part XXII

The party was in full swing and the ballroom was filled to capacity, Mark had a hard time at first finding Addie, but he finally found her across the room. She and Derek were together laughing with his sisters. He stood there stunned taking in the scene; he bowed his head and turned to leave the room.

Addie turned her head in time to see Mark leaving the room; she excused herself from Derek and his sisters and went out to find him. She was pretty sure she knew where he would be and she was right, he was sitting in the sunroom. He sat on the loveseat with his head in his hands. She stood at the entrance for a moment tilted her head and watched him for a bit before entering. She crossed the room and sat down next to him. She placed a hand on his back and said quietly, "Hey I almost thought you weren't going to show."

He didn't look up at her and said with a strained voice, "I wish I hadn't."

"It's not what you think," she said gently.

He turned to look at her, she could see he had been crying, "And what do I think?"

"Derek and I are not together Mark," she reached out and took his hand. "We finally talked and both realized that we don't belong together anymore." She took a deep breath and exhaled, "But he is still going to be a very important part of my life. He's my daughter's father so he will always be a big part of our lives. We will always be friends," she said with a shrug.

His features started to relax as he took in what she just told him, "Friends, you aren't going to remarry him?"

"I'm not going to remarry Derek," she said with a nod. "I finally can say with certainty that I am not in love with Derek," she could see a small smile appear on his face, "But that doesn't mean I'm ready to move on yet."

He sat back in the loveseat as he took in what she was saying, "I don't want to force you into another relationship Addie."

"Good," she smiled at him, "Because I'm not ready, but that doesn't mean I don't want you to be a part of my life." Then she looked more serious, "And I don't know if I will ever be ready for more then friendship with you. I just don't know where my head is at right now where you are concerned. I've been too busy the last two months trying to sort out my feelings for Derek." She smiled at him and tilted her head, "So no pressure okay?"

He sat up and squeezed her hand and nodded. "No pressure." He smiled at her then asked, "Is Derek staying until the baby is born?"

She gave him a big smile and nodded, "Yeah he is going to stay until I'm ready to go back to Seattle."

He studied her for a moment and thought about what he needed to do, "I think I should go back to Seattle."

She furrowed her brow, "Before the baby is born?"

He nodded. "I think this is something you and Derek should do alone." Then he grinned at her, "Beside Richard has been riding my ass about getting back to work."

She smiled back at him and nodded. "Yeah I think you're right," she rested her hand on her stomach feeling her daughter kick. "Thank you, it really means a lot to me that you understand."

He sat up getting ready to rise from the loveseat, "I think I'm going to head out, I need to get my things together if I'm leaving tomorrow."

Addie raised her eyebrows in surprise, and then held him in place by holding on to his hand, "You already have a flight out?"

A serious look came over his face and he gave her a short nod, "I thought there would be a chance you wouldn't want me here when Derek arrived."

She pursed her lips then leaned over and gave him a hug. "It's not that I don't want you here," she broke away and looked him in the eye and gave him a serious look. "You understand why, right?"

He smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah and don't worry I'm okay with it, I know this is best for you."

"Can you stay a little longer?" she said as he leaned into him and snuggled up to him.

He put his arms around her and rested his cheek on top of her head. "Yeah I'll stay a little longer," he closed his eyes, happy to have her in his arms for just a little while.

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It was very early in the morning on January 3rd the ringing from the telephone woke Mark up. He smiled groggily, only one person would call him at this time. "Mark its Derek." He could hear the excitement in the other man's voice that could only mean one thing, Addie finally had the baby. "It's a girl, 7lbs 8oz, 20 inches born at 3:46 a.m." Mark glanced at his alarm clock and smiled, Derek must have called him first.

"And does she have a name yet?" Mark grinned into the phone he could hear Derek and Addie arguing back and forth for a couple of minutes before Derek returned to the phone.

"Madeline Aileen Montgomery-Shepherd," Mark smiled, after both their mothers; he guessed the arguing was over which mother would get top billing.

"Congratulations Derek give Addie and Madeline both a hug and kiss for me," he grinned, he couldn't help himself.

"I will," he assured him.

"Okay I'm going to let you go, because I'm sure you have more phone calls to make," he said still grinning ear to ear about the news.

"Yeah I do, I'll see you in a few of weeks," he said then with that he hung up the phone.

That phone call happened three weeks ago, now Mark paced back and forth in front of the gate waiting for Addie, Derek and Madeline. The plane had already landed and was at the gate they were just taking their sweet time allowing the passengers to disembark. He was pretty excited they decided to come home as soon as the doctors cleared Addison and Maddie to fly. She had told him now that the baby was here, her parents' hovering was starting to get to her and she was really starting to miss her own home and her friends.

Finally he could see the doors open and almost immediately he saw them, a huge grin appeared on his face as they moved toward him. Derek had his hands full with the car seat and their carry on bags, while Addie held Maddie in her arms. He smiled down at the little girl with her red curls, she was sleeping soundly, and then he leaned over and gave Addie a kiss on her cheek and a small hug. "She beautiful," he said with a silly grin on his face. He reached out and took a couple of the carry on bags from Derek, "Do you have a lot of luggage?"

Derek's eyes widened and he laughed, "What do you think?"

Mark shook his head and laughed, "Maybe I should have brought a bigger car." Mark and Derek gave each other a quick manly embrace; they had finally managed work their way back to being friends again, which was no small feat.

"Oh stop it, it isn't that bad," Addie said shaking her head grinning at them.

Addie watched the two men before her; it was nice seeing them acting like friends again. It took a lot of doing, but Derek and Mark knew both men were going to be a significant part of Madeline's life and knew they had to get past the hurt. Before Mark had left Denver, he and Derek had a long talk clearing up their problems with one and other. They already had most of the ground work laid, thanks to Bailey kicking their asses. So it was finally time to put the past behind them. Derek and Addie had moved on, it only seemed right that Derek and Mark should move on too.

They finally loaded up the car and had Madeline securely strapped into her car seat. Addie sat in the back with the baby with Mark and Derek in the front. It was a crisp night and the roads were now clear, it had snowed the night before, so the snow still shone white on the landscape and the trees glistened. They all chatted happily about what remarkable things Maddie had accomplished in her eighteens days. None of them were expecting it when the bright lights headed for them; a car ran a red light and smashed into the driver's side door. The impact spun the car around several times before it finally came to a halt. It was eerily silent after the loud metal crunching and tearing sounds. After a moment all that could be heard were the sirens in the distance and the small cries of an infant. Bystanders quickly started gathering around the wrecks, trying to see the extent of damage between the two vehicles.

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