A/N: Derek is unbelievable huh? He wants her to break her date just because he decided to get a
clue. I will admit I was tempted but Addison deserves some new male companionship.

One last mini-rant and I'll leave it alone for a couple of (D,H,M,S?)- Did anyone think it was weird that this 'wonderful relationship' that Mer/Der has and he thinks
she's capable of suicide? WTF! How's that for healthy? Oh I forgot, this is Shondaland!

Yea so umm, I had tried to do the every other day thing, but kinda too much pressure...I'm forced to write more! gasp! I'll try to update
again this weekend or early next week but no promises!

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I had worked through the morning with no complications although I did see Derek in the hall various times throughout the day stealing glances at me. I wondered what he wanted but I decided to let him approach me, I was tired of being the one who had to be open and vulnerable alone. I was excited to go to lunch with Callie and Miranda to share news of my upcoming date with my friends to get their reaction.

I had just gotten my lunch when I looked up to see Derek standing in front of the empty chair at my table. I smile at him in confusion. We had never made it a practice to sit together at work; you told me that you preferred our times at home when it was just the two of us. I smile softly, "Derek, what's up?"

I stare into your eyes and I notice you're fidgeting so I ask, "Do you want to sit down?"

You exhale a relieved sigh as you dump your tray on my table and pull a book out of your pocket and hand it to me. I take the book with an uneasy smile and then giggle when I realize what it is. "Baby names? You're finally read to bite the bullet?"

I watch as an excited grin crosses your face and you nod emphatically, "We can't let our son enter this world without a name. I was going to discuss this with you at home tonight, but since you have a date, I won't get a chance."

I refuse to acknowledge the last part of that comment as I lean back and start fingering the pages, you've started something. I've been trying to convince you the importance of having our child's name picked out prior to his birth, I pause while peering at the book and said, "I know what I want our son's middle name to be."

You grin slyly at me and said, "Along as it's not Mark, I'm fine."

I gasp at you in shock; this is the first time that you refer to my time with Mark as nothing more than a joke. I shake my head and said, "I want our child's middle name to be Richard."

You nod with approval, "That would make him happy. It would also be thanks for everything he's done for us, for all three of us."

I smile that he realizes that was my thought from the beginning, and I lean forward and say, "Can I confess something to you?"

A flicker of fear crosses your face as you are afraid to hear my next sentence. I feel a little of the excitement leave me but then you cover that face with a smile and said, "What do you want to confess?"

I'm momentarily blinded by the brilliance of your smile as I reach into my purse and pull out my own big book of baby names and I have a sheet within the book which I hand to you. You take the paper with a lot of interest on your face as you start to read aloud, "Christopher Richard Shepherd."

I shrug, and wait for your opinion but you don't give me any comments only continue reading, "Derek Richard Shepherd."

I pat my stomach and explain, "Our child could be junior if you want."

I watch as you shake your head, "No my child doesn't deserve the burden of carrying this name, we have to think of a unique name."

I start drinking from my juice as I'm excited as you are about the task we are about to undertake in the middle of Seattle Grace's cafeteria. We are going to give our child a name, an identity that he will carry with him throughout the rest of his life.

I wait for you to continue reading and I notice you skip over some names and shake your head but then pause at the name of my choice, "Dominic?"

I always liked the name; I had even circled it on the page and put the meaning of the name beside it. You stop and look up at me and try out the name on your tongue, "Dominic Richard Shepherd."

I smile softly when I hear how nice the name sounds coming off of your lips and I nod in hope, maybe he would be attracted to the name as much as I was. I wait impatiently as you survey the rest of the names on the list before coming back to my favorite choice. You ponder over that name for ten minutes more and I swear you are doing this to me to pay me back for some unknown sin. "Dominic Richard Shepherd, I like it. As a matter of fact, I don't just like it; I think it should be the name."

I giggle happily because once again, we are on the same page. We had given our child a name. I try it out on my tongue, once more just to make sure that I knew what I was saying with that statement, "Dominic Richard Shepherd, I like it Derek. I really do."

You nod at me once and go back to eating as I sit in wonder that our child now had a name and he pauses and says, "Do you know what the final pushover on that name was for me? The initials."

I look at you in confusion, "Initials?"

You smile at me knowingly and said, "Dominic Richard Shepherd. His initials will be DRS."

I sigh in happiness; I hadn't even looked at it like that but the realization that we had marked our child and in essence gave him a piece of ourselves made me happy. "Dominic Richard Shepherd. His initials stand for what brought us together, it sounds so fitting."

I notice that I haven't got weepy over the realization that we had made a decision about our family together and I wasn't apprehensive, more like hoping.

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When it rolled to the end of the day, I felt the weariness of the day weighing down my shoulders as I start to worry about the date I had accepted yesterday.

I need to calm down, because this man is just a man like any other. I reach for my purse as I hear the door open and my date flashes his head in with a smile fixed on his lips, "So Dr. Montgomery, are you ready to go?"

I take a moment to watch Alan Coldstone, I memorize his face and his expressions and feel a sense of relief. I wasn't rushing into anything; it was a simple dinner date. If I didn't like him, it wouldn't go any further, if I did there were some ground rules that had to be set. I didn't know if I was ready to enter into a relationship but I do know that I can't keep pining after Derek forever. He's the father of my child but he doesn't want me, he's made that abundantly clear. If I truly for a moment believed that he asking to try again would signify that he loved me again I would have never accepted the date.

I smile at the new possibility in my life as he maneuvers me out of the hospital. We garner a lot of attention as he walks me to his car. After we get into the car, I turn to him and warn him, "What we just did is going to cause a lot of gossip at work. Be prepared for tomorrow, you will be bombarded with questions, some that may have no answers."

I laugh at his facial expression, he looks almost frightened but he shakes his head, "I was referred to the new little Italian place so are you game for Italian?"

I can feel my mouth water at the possibilities, "Italian, sounds wonderful."
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I lean back in my chair and reach for my wineglass filled with water and lemon and try to put on a sophisticated pose as I watch him finish off the last of his dessert, "Okay Dr. Coldstone, from the moment we've sat down you made it a priority to pull all of my secrets out of me and very neatly diverted all of my questions. Now I've bared my soul to you and I'm looking for a little payback, tell me your life story."

I laugh because as my words sink through his consciousness I can clearly tell I've made him uncomfortable. It doesn't bother me in the least, he had spent all evening prying my life story from me which I told him without any reservations and now I expected the same in return.

I look at his face as he starts to blush a dark red and reaches for his glass of wine, "Alan, turnabout is fair play. You know all my secrets, I want to know yours."

I watch him as he smiles and nods, "I'm not used to being the one questioned, I'm used to doing the questioning. My story is really rather uncomplicated and boring which I don't think will interest you but here it is anyway. I graduated from UCLA with my doctorate in psychology and went looking for work. I traveled around the country never staying in any one place too long. I noticed that Seattle Grace had been a lot in the news lately and so I started doing some searching….You guys have been on the internet lately for news worthy stories and I was intrigued. Some of the cases I was reading about seemed extraordinary and it looked like you guys weren't just treating the disease you were also treating the person and I was interested. I wondered whether you needed my help in treating the whole patient and so I placed a call to Richard and here I am."

I smile at his matter of fact way of telling me the facts about what motivated him to come to Seattle and say, "Thanks for telling me all of that. Now, that you've told me about your professional life, what do you say you tell me a bit about your personal one?"

A/N: Next chapter gets kinda heavy on the angst/drama so be prepared, I don't know what made me decide to write the next chapter
like I did but I did. Thoughts, please:)