A/N- Glad to see you all liked the cliffhanger! Well, maybe you didn't like it, but you were intrigued, weren't you? Hope you like this chapter! REVIEW please!

-Kait

She stepped through the doorway and hung up her coat. She didn't care that most of the partygoers had stopped partying and stared at her. She just kept walking. She kept walking until someone jumped in her way. Someone small. Someone blonde. Someone who looked an awful lot like me.

"Auntie Addison!"

"Did she just say what I think she said?" I asked Alex.

"Holy shit. Yeah, she did. The she-Shepherd's her aunt? How is this even remotely possible?" Alex questioned.

"Well, Dr. Karev, it's quite possible, actually," Addison said as she bent down to give Hannah a big hug and a kiss on her forehead. "Hey, baby doll! How's my favorite niece?"

"I'm good, Auntie Addison. Where's Uncle Derek?"

"He's, uh, he's at the hospital," Addison said, staring at the ground.

"Oh, okay," she said, running back to finish her conversation with George.

Addison stood up and walked over to me. "Dr. Stevens, may I have a word with you alone?" she asked. I stood up and walked into the kitchen with her.

We walked in and found the refrigerator door open and Cristina's butt sticking out. She was rummaging through the fridge, still trying to find something with alcohol.

"Cris, can you give us a minute, please?" I asked her.

"No. Not until I find bee—oh!" she said when she saw Addison. "Sorry. Sure, I'll be out of your way," she said, shutting the door and walking back towards the party. She turned around and mouthed "What's she doing here?" to me. I rolled my eyes and focused my attention on Addison.

"So, Dr. Stevens, I see that Hannah's your daughter."

"And I see she's your niece. Would you mind explaining this to me? I'm really confused."

"Her adoptive mother, Jayden Montgomery Davis, was my sister."

"Oh. Oh. I'm so sorry."

She looked down again. "Thanks."

"So…now what?"

"Now what what?"

"Now what do I do?"

"What do you mean 'What do I do?' You raise her! She's your daughter, for God's sake."

"I know that, but you obviously know her better than I do. What's she like? What was her mother like? I just…I need more information before I can do this. Today…today was perfect. She was great. She was well behaved and really seemed to like me. And now you show up and I'm scared that I'll mess up and…and…" By now I had sunk to the floor and I was crying. Addison bent down and tried to help.

"Izzie, listen to me. You can do this. Just because I'm here doesn't mean she's going to hate you. Will it make things easier? Maybe. Will it make things worse? Maybe. Izzie…not everyone goes through life knowing all the answers. Not everyone knows everything they need to know. No one's perfect, especially me. And just because I'm her aunt doesn't mean I'm here to make things better. I want to be a part of her life, but only if you let me. Hell, I even want Derek to be part of her life, as much as I hate him right now. But only if you let him. It's up to you now, Izzie. You call the shots. Trust me, you'll figure it out."

"Yeah, but what if I don't?"

"You will."

"How can you say that? You just told me that no one goes through life with all the answers. So how can you be so sure that I can do this?"

"You just need to trust me. And trust yourself. If you don't, this isn't going to get any easier. For the both of you."

"Do you trust yourself?"

"Excuse me?"

"Do you trust yourself? I mean, put yourself in my shoes. You have Derek to help you. I have no one. Well, that's not true. I have Meredith and George, but how long do I really have them for? When our internship and residency is over, how long will I really have them for? You'll have Derek, but I'll be home alone without anyone to help me."

"That's not true and you know it."

"Excuse me?"

"No, Izzie. You won't be alone. You'll have everyone from the hospital on your side. You see all those people in your living room? They'll be the ones to help you. They'll be there. If this were me, I'd have no one. I'd be divorced, without a husband, and Derek would be off screwing Meredith somewhere because, you know what? They belong together. Shocker, isn't it?" By now, she's sitting on the kitchen floor with me and crying.

"They belong together and everyone knows it. Everyone knows that Derek loves Meredith except Derek and Meredith. But everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that Derek doesn't love me. He doesn't love me. He despises me. And he hates Mark. He hates his best friend, his brother, and it's all because of me. So, in the end, Derek would be here with Meredith, and mostly everyone in that room would be on Derek and Meredith's side. So you see? If this were me, I'd be alone in this."

I kept quiet for a few moments. "Thank you."

"Yeah, for what?"

"For making me feel better."

"How could I have possibly made you feel better by talking about my miserable life?" she asked as she dabbed her eyes with a tissue.

"Well, you did just that. You told me about your miserable life and made me realize that you're a lot worse off than I am."

She laughed. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"No, sorry. But you're laughing, so should I be taking it as a good sign?"

"Yeah. I'm going to be okay. Just give me a moment."

"Okay." I stood up and put my hand out for her, pulling her up as well. I gave her a hug. "Addison?"

"Yeah?"

"I want you to be part of her life. Derek, too. That is, if you want him to be. I know things are kind of…difficult between you two right now, so I'm leaving it up to you."

She smiled. "Thank you. But I want him to be a part of her life. She's his Peanut."

"Peanut?"

"Peanut. He called her that since she was so small when she was little."

"I guess I missed a lot, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did. But I wouldn't object to helping you gain a little perspective on what you missed. Why don't I bring over some photo albums of her tomorrow? Say, around 8 tomorrow night?"

I smiled. "Yeah, that'd be great, Addison. Thank you."

"No problem, Izzie." She checked her appearance in her compact. "Ready to go face the music?"

"No, but I have to at some point."

She gave me a quick hug once more and we were on our way into the living room, side by side, ready to face our peers.

A/N- Loved it? Hated it? REVIEW PLEASE!