Soooo...I know you hate us for not updating in a little over a month, but to make up for it this chapter is over 3,200 words. Hopefully that makes you hate us a little less...so we hope you enjoy this chapter and maybe...if you're still reading this and you're feeling particularly generous, you might leave us a review? to either yell at us for being so late on the update, or to tell us that you liked the chapter. Either one would be fine. If you're still reading, then thank you! And to everyone who left reviews, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! They really did mean a lot to us!! You all are the best:D

Kaz and Jaz

Sunday rolled around and it was Addison and Ella's last day in the hospital. The doctors had cleared both of them to go home and Addison couldn't be more relived. Right after she gave birth on Friday, all Addison wanted to do was take her daughter home and away from the hospital.

Addison had asked Alex to stay an extra three or four days at the Brownstone with her, Mark, and Ella because she knew Mark would hardly be there and she missed her friends. All of them. So she wanted the one that was there to stick around as long as possible until he had to go back home.

She was beginning to think that moving back to New York and away from all her friends wasn't the best idea after all. It was so nice to see Alex's face and watch him talk to her little girl. She wished Callie and Miranda could have seen this. They wouldn't believe it. Addison wanted them all to see Ella too, but she knew Alex would send pictures and maybe she would take a trip to see them in a few months.

As for now, she and Alex were going to catch up and spend as much time together as they could. So Addison just suggested he stay at her place and not pay for a hotel room for a few more days. He agreed after a few attempts to back out. Alex knew Mark pretty well, which also meant that he knew Mark was probably sleeping around again and that Addison was all alone most of the time but he would never say anything to Addison. He hated for her to be lonely and adjust to having an infant in the house. Granted if anyone could do it, it would be Addison, but he still wanted to be there with her and look after her. At least for a little while.

After a few days in the hospital, Mark brought his car around front and Addison and Ella slipped into the backseat. Addison texted Alex on the way home and told him they had left the hospital and if he wanted to check out of the hotel room the next morning he was more than welcome to because his room was ready. He replied 'okay' and she couldn't contain the smile that crept across her face.

Suddenly, Ella cooed from her seat next to Addison in the backseat

"She's such a happy baby. She hasn't cried much at all."

"Really? Because that's all she does whenever I'm there. Every time I try to hold her she just starts screaming. I don't know what it is about me. Most women love me. It's a sad day when Mark Sloan's daughter doesn't even like him."

Addison looked at him through the mirror not believing anything he just said.

"Mark, she's not even a week old. She's going to scream and cry a lot until she's about 18 so you better get used to it. She'll get used to you eventually, but you have to admit that you weren't really around all that much to talk to her when she was still inside of me. Apparently she is very selective in who she likes. Alex picked her up yesterday while I was in the bathroom because she was crying and she almost immediately stopped."

At the mention of Alex' name, Mark glared at the road ahead of him. "Well that's great for Alex but this isn't his daughter we're talking about. It's ours. Yours and mine. And Alex isn't going to be here much longer so he really isn't going to be a part of her life. So she needs to be used to me, not him."

Addison met Mark's eyes through the mirror and said as evenly as she could, "Alex is a good friend of mine and he will be as much a part of her life as anyone else. If you have a problem with that then too bad because I'm not going to change my mind. So get over yourself."

"Fine. But I don't want him staying with us. He's going to have to find someplace else. He has already intruded enough. It's not like he can't afford a hotel room for another couple of days."

"No he hasn't intruded at all and he is staying in our guestroom and that's final. It's not like our house is small Mark. You probably won't see him that often anyway since you're always gone."

"What are you getting at Addison? If you have something to say then just say it."

"Whatever. Just drive and forget about it. We're almost home."

She looked down at Ella with a tears in her eyes but smiled when she saw her little girl looking back at her and almost swore she was smiling too. Babies didn't smile at three days old, but hers did. Hers was special.

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Alex had received Addison's message and after he replied he ordered some Chinese and ate his dinner alone. It was his last night at the hotel. Tomorrow he would move in with Addison and Mark until Thursday. Since he was staying that much longer, he would have to get Addison to take him around the city so he could pick up a few more items of clothing. He knew she wouldn't mind. It would give her a chance to get out of the house and show off Ella.

He sat there and flipped through the channels after he finished eating and tried to find a movie. With no such luck he picked up his phone and texted Addison, hoping she would still be awake.

'Hey. Just wanted to see how you were settling in and to say goodnight.'

'Hey you. Thank you for coming to visit. It means a lot to me. Ella is doing wonderfully. She hasn't cried since she has been home which is either very odd or a godsend. Who knows.'

'Yeah, she's special. Most babies would be screaming about now.'

As if on cue, Ella started wailing and Addison smirked and rolled her eyes. She got up and brought her phone with her so she could talk to Alex while she fed her daughter. Mark was sleeping so these moments alone with her daughter were something she treasured. Mother, daughter bonding time.

'You have magical powers.'

'So I've been told.'

'Oh don't get so full of yourself. Ella just started screaming from her bassinet because she was hungry. So thank you.'

'Eh, you're welcome;)'

'You know you can be such an ass sometimes.'

'Yeah well it's a well-balanced relationship.'

'Oh really? And why is that?'

'Because you can be a bitch sometimes too.'

Addison's eyes got wide at this. She wasn't expecting him to be so blunt, although she should have been. It is Alex after all. Ella reached up and hit Addison's cell phone which made Addison laugh.

'Ella doesn't approve of you calling her mother names...'

'Ask her that again when she turns 16...'

'Oh God I don't even want to think about that yet. She was only born three days ago.'

'Haha. Soon enough...'

'So are you all right with staying here through the next weekend?'

'Yeah it's fine. I get to take off work and spend time with two beautiful ladies:)'

'Aww you're too kind. Well I better go and get some sleep. See you tomorrow!'

'K. I'll be there around noon. Goodnight Addison. Goodnight Ella:)'

'She said goodnight. And so do I:) Sleep well.'

'You too. Bye.'

'Bye.'

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The next day, Alex gathered all his belongings and checked out of the hotel, got into a cab, and gave the driver the address of Addison and Mark's home. Twelve blocks and twenty minutes later, Alex stepped out of the cab, paid the driver, and walked up the front steps of the massive entrance. His hand hesitated for a minute before ringing the bell. Addison and Ella greeted him at the door and welcomed him inside.

"Hey there! Come on in. I was just about to put Ella down for a nap and then I'll show you around."

"Yeah okay. No problem. Bye Ella." Alex said waving goodbye to the infant. Addison smiled down at her little girl before walking her to her nursery. A few minutes later, Addison came back downstairs to show Alex around the house.

"So this is obviously the living room, and over there is the kitchen." She said as she pointed through a brown door.

"And down here we have a guestroom with a full bath. The bigger one is upstairs but I figured I would let you choose."

Alex nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders as they made their way upstairs. Addison pointed to the double doors in front of them. "This is the master bedroom. You won't be staying there."

Alex laughed at her lame little joke and thought if only. The next room on the tour was Ella's nursery, which Addison said he could see later because she didn't want to wake the baby. The room next to that was the other guestroom. This one was significantly bigger with Mahogany wood dressers and bed. The floors were all hardwood throughout the house, but this room had a large carpeted rug under the bed and stretched over about 3/4 of the room. It had a flat screen television and his own seating area near the large bay window. There was a door next to the entertainment center that held a joint bathroom between his room and Ella's. He thought it was good that it was there in case he heard Ella crying at night and didn't want to wake Addison or Mark.

"I'm in this one. I like it. Did you decorate this by yourself?"

"Yeah, I had a lot of free time on my hands when we moved back so I put a lot of my pent up stress into redecorating the entire home. I'm glad you like it."

"Yeah it looks good."

"Well I'll leave you to unpack your things and then I was just going to make some dinner. Care to join me? Mark is working late so it'll be just the two of us. Which I have a feeling is going to happen a lot this week."

Alex raised his eyebrows at this little quip but Addison was quick to shoot him down.

"You are such a guy. I just had a baby and all you can think about is sex. Ugh."

"Hey. I never said I wasn't a guy but for the record, I wasn't thinking about sex."

"Oh...well what were you thinking about?"

"Why Mark is coming home so late all the time."

"Wow I didn't think you would be so blunt. Oh wait, who am I kidding. You're Alex. It's your thing."

"My thing?"

"Yeah you know, like Meredith's is sleeping with inappropriate men and Izzie's was falling for patients? Your thing is being a blunt ass. But it suits you so I guess it's a good thing. You're honest. I like that."

Addison stood in the doorway staring at him for a minute before snapping out of it saying, "Well I, um, better go get started on dinner. We're having spaghetti. See you in a little while." She waved goodbye a little nervously as she walked down the hallway smacking her forehead.

"Oh God, what was I thinking inviting him here? All those feelings I thought were gone are coming back. Stupid Addison. Really, really stupid." She thought aloud as she walked down the stairs.

Alex was left in the room by himself thinking over what Addison had said and realizing that she hadn't really answered the question. He knew that she knew about Mark. Especially now that she was a mom. She may be a hot mom, but she's still a mom and somehow, in Mark's eyes, that makes her a little less attractive. Alex quickly decided that over the next four days, he was going to make 'mommy Addison' look and feel like 'surgeon Addison' again because he liked her more when she was confident and in control.

About ten minutes later, Alex walked downstairs with the smell of spaghetti and garlic bread leading the way. He walked into the kitchen and found her standing next to the stove, humming a song that, as he got closer, he could make it out to be Bon Jovi. He laughed quietly to himself, not picturing her as a woman who listened to Rock, but it pleasantly surprised him. She jumped when she heard him laugh and turned around quickly forgetting someone else was in the house.

"Sorry, I'm used to being alone at dinnertime. It's weird to have someone else here."

"That's sad."

"Yeah well, it is what it is. You heard me singing didn't you."

"Um, I may or may not have heard you singing."

"Oh God. I was terrible wasn't I? I'm a horrible singer. I just do it when I'm alone, which once again proves the point that I honestly forgot you were here."

"Addison, you weren't terrible and you need to just relax." Alex said as he took the ladle gently from her hand and started stirring the sauce.

"Why don't you go pour us a glass of wine and sit down. Let me do something for you considering you just pushed a child through..."

"Okay. Okay I'll go pour the wine. But I can only have one glass due to my option to breastfeed Ella. So no pushing alcohol on me mister. An no more talk about me pushing anything through anywhere. It brings back painful memories that I don't want to have again anytime soon."

"Oh don't worry. You can do all the pushing." Addison whirled around at this comment and smacked his arm with the dish towel in her hand, causing him to laugh. She gave him a playful glare before popping the cork on the bottle and pouring them each a glass of red wine.

They enjoyed an easy conversation over dinner and Addison readily agreed to show him around New York and take him shopping for some new clothes. He smiled inwardly at her reaction and thought it was great to see her like this again. Alex couldn't believe it had been so long since they last worked together.

He helped himself to another glass of wine while Addison went to check on Ella. When she came back, he was sitting on the couch watching a movie.

"Care if I join you?"

"No. It's your house."

Addison noticed a change in his demeanor but chose to leave it alone. That is until he spoke again.

"Do you remember our last surgery?"

"Yes I do. Very well actually. It was a routine C-Section that we conducted flawlessly I might add. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just remember an Addison that was so full of life and exuberance and now it just seems to be sucked out of you. Like you couldn't care less if you ever walked into another O.R. again. That isn't the Addison I know. That isn't the woman who taught me everything I know and made me a better person for it. So what happened to you? Why the change? Where is 'Addison the surgeon'?"

Addison looked at him for a minute before tilting her head down and looked at her hands nervously. She had noticed herself changing over the past few months, but she had been the only one to see it. Mark, Naomi, Sam, none of them saw that her passion for surgery and being a good doctor was slowly declining. It made her think that it was just a subtle change until now. She looked back up at Alex and thought for a second before answering him.

"I became a mom Alex. Things are different now. I have a child to worry about and put before myself. I can't be performing surgeries at all hours of the night with an infant and I refuse to let her be taken care of by a nanny. That was the worst and best thing my mother and father could have ever done for me. I'm still the same person, Alex. I'm just not as adamant as I used to be. You knew me pre-mommy stage. This is me post-mommy. I just can't do it anymore. The all night on-calls and the 80 hour weeks. Not with Ella. Not anymore. Maybe after a little while but for right now I'm going to lay low and spend time with my daughter."

She gave him the biggest bullshit answer she could possibly come up with on the spot and for now he seemed to buy it, but she knew it was only a matter of time before he saw past her blue eyes and really looked at what was wrong. Mark was gone all the time and she knew that she was going to raise this baby on her own. It was only a matter of time before he came to her to tell her he was leaving her. She was just toughening up her skin to prepare herself for it.

Alex looked at her and shook his head. She looked so defeated. The Addison he knew would have never backed down from a fight so easily. Something was off and he was determined to find out what it was, but for right now he just opened his arms and let her curl up into him. Before long she had fallen asleep. Luckily she had brought the baby monitor down with her after checking on Ella so Alex could keep an ear out for a tiny cry.

He picked up Addison and the monitor and took them both upstairs. Placing Addison in her bed, he gently tucked her in and made his way across the hall to his room. He cracked both doors to Ella's nursery so he and her mother could hear her cry. Then he placed the monitor next to his bed and went to sleep.

Every three hours, as if on cue, Ella would begin to cry and Alex got up to feed her. He wanted to let Addison have as much sleep as possible over the next four days. The next morning when Addison woke up, she heard crying and scrambled to get out of bed and go to her daughter, but when she got there, Alex was already feeding her and Addison just stood in the doorway, smiling at the two of them and thinking to herself what a huge mistake she had made by leaving Seattle and how much she was going to miss what little piece she had of it when it was gone.

So there it is. We hope you enjoyed it! Let us know what you think:) And hopefully from now on, updates will be coming a little more regularly...Thanks for reading guys!!