"Waaahhh!" Caleb's wail filled the room as it came over the baby monitor.

"Addie, isn't there something we can do for him? He cries constantly," Mark was aggravated at being woken up for the third time in one night.

"I'm sorry, but you know as well as I do that there isn't much you can do for a baby with colic."

"Just...go make him be quiet."

"Mark! I've been up with our son all night long. It's your turn to take care of him for a while."

"I have a surgery scheduled in...two hours! Addison, I haven't slept in two days. Please go take care of him!"

"I haven't slept in three months!"

"But you're on maternity leave. You can sleep later."

"Oh, no, I can't. I don't get to sleep. I have to clean up the house, do laundry, cook you dinner, and take care of Caleb."

"So nap when he naps."

"When do you think I clean and do laundry?"

"I don't know," he turned over and switched off the baby monitor.

The sudden silence was deafening. Mark gave me a nasty look before turning over and covering his head with a pillow. I turned my back to him as well and lay for a few minutes fighting tears. Finally, I got up to go check on Caleb. When I looked into the crib, Caleb's legs were doubled up; he was in pain. I picked him up and lay down on the floor on my back with his tummy on mine. I'd found this to be the only way to make him comfortable when he was feeling bad. He kicked and cried for a few more minutes before finally settling down.

"Your Uncle Derek is coming to visit you today, Caleb Andrew. He might bring you a present. I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

My baby snuggled on my chest, his thumb in his mouth. Neither Mark or myself could get him to take the pacifier, but he took to his thumb on his own. It was a habit I knew Derek had as a child, and I was reluctant to mention this to Mark. I hadn't taken a pacifier or sucked my thumb as an infant, and Mark wouldn't go anywhere without "George", as he called his pacifier. Telling Mark would only lead to another fight. We'd had plenty since the birth of Caleb Andrew. Everyone at the hospital had immediately recognized him as being Derek's child, much to Mark's annoyance. Though Caleb was legally his, I sometimes wondered if Mark didn't feel like his real father. There were obvious things about Caleb that make him very different from Mark or myself, such as the way he favored his left hand. And the colic. Derek and two of his sisters were colicky babies. I could tell that Mark felt frustrated by the fact that he could only pretend to be Caleb's birth father. It was the times that he'd become exceptionally grumpy over little things, such as the crying.

When Caleb finished nursing a while later, I put him back into his crib and went to find Mark. All I found was a note on his pillow saying that he would probably be spending the night at the hospital. I sighed, hurt and frustrated by his attitude. At times, he was so amazing: doing little things to help me out like putting away his shoes or surprising the two of us with presents.

"I guess it's just you and me for a little bit, Peanut. We need to get the house all cleaned up before Uncle Derek gets here, so why don't you take a nice long nap?" I suggested with a hint of pleading.

My son's response was to let loose with another wail. He was still screaming when Derek arrived a few hours later. Needless to say, I didn't get anything done that morning. The bell rang, but I was in the middle of changing Caleb's clothes in addition to his diaper. He'd spit up all over his outfit.

"Addison?" Derek's voice in the house surprised me.

"Derek? How did you get in here?"

"I never gave back my key. Here," he worked the key from its ring. "Now, where is my so...nephew...or whatever?"

"We're calling you 'Uncle Derek'. Follow the screams."

"Colic?" he asked, handing me a cozy blue blanket, a tiny pair of shoes, and several different toys and stuffed animals.

"Yup."

"I'm sorry, Addie. I was hoping he wouldn't inherit that little family trait."

"Yeah, well," I shrugged.

When Derek had been shown into the nursery, I took advantage of the situation and jumped into the shower. Emerging thirty minutes later feeling somewhat better, I found Derek and Caleb on the floor in the nursery. Caleb was sleeping soundly across Derek's chest, and Derek was reading a magazine. He glanced up when I wandered in with a comb, hair wet and tangled and wearing a bathrobe.

"Take your time. We're fine here."

"Are you sure?"

"Addie, spend some time on you. Get dressed, polish your nails, and do your hair. Then, open your present."

"You already gave me Caleb's gifts."

"I brought you a present, too. It's in the hall."

"You didn't have to..."

"You gave birth to my son. You deserve a few presents."

I thanked him and went back into my room. I took my time in the bathroom: blow drying my hair, polishing my nails, and putting on make-up for about the third time in three months. After deciding on an outfit, black pants with a purple and white printed shirt, I went into the hall. Sure enough, there were two packages next to Derek's shoes. One was wrapped in pink paper and the other, smaller one in yellow. I opened each package carefully, trying to avoid tearing ribbons or paper. The bigger package was actually a basket containing an assortment of my favorite things. My favorite gourmet coffee, a nice pink sweater, and most of my favorite products from Crabtree and Evelyn. When I removed the yellow paper, I found a box from Tiffany's. Inside was a beautiful platinum bracelet studded with princess cut diamonds. I gasped. Derek had spent way too much money on my gift.

"Before you say anything," he was suddenly behind me, and I jumped, "I want you to have it. I'm sure you're an amazing mother, and you deserve it."

"Thank-you," I looked down at my feet, blushing.

"Would you and Mark like to have a night out? I'll watch Caleb for a while."

"I...umm...He's staying at the hospital tonight."

"You're not letting him get away with that, are you?"

"Yeah. I guess," now I was close to tears.

"Addie? What happened?"

"He gets tired of Caleb's crying, but he should be almost over the colic by now. I think he's also frustrated because he's not really Caleb's daddy. He loves him, I know, but he gets so angry with me sometimes."

"Talk to him, Addie. You need to tell him how you're feeling."

"I don't want to cause another fight."

"Call him right now and see if he'll meet you for dinner."

Leaving me with my mouth hanging open in protest, Derek went back into the nursery. I decided to take his advice and call Mark. The phone rang twice before he picked it up.

"Addie? How are you and Caleb?"

"We're fine. How's your day going?"

"I'm having a really crappy day. One of my patients died on the table. Best we can figure out, she had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia. Plus, the chief is on everyone's case today," he paused momentarily, "And I can't stop thinking about you. I'm so sorry that I was mean to you this morning. It's not your fault that Caleb's tummy hurts and that he cries. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

Am I talking to Mark Sloan? Who are you? Where did you put my fiance?

"Mark? What...why...?" I was very confused.

"Katie called me out on my crap today. You would have been proud. I yelled at her friend, and she asked me how you tolerated 'such an ass'. I realized that I didn't know how or why you'd tolerated me lately. So, I'm sorry."

"Thank-you, for apologizing. I love you, but we do need to talk about some things. How about going out to dinner tonight?"

"We can't leave Caleb."

"Derek's here, remember."

"Oh. Right. So...you think he'd baby-sit?"

"Yeah. He offered."

"Okay. I'll leave here about six and come get you."

"Be thinking about what you want to eat. I love you."

"Love you, too. Bye, Baby. Give Caleb a kiss for me."

GAGA

Addison has been so forgiving, and I've been such a loser. The baby has been much harder on her than it has been on me. The next time she asks me to help her, I'm going to do it no matter what I have going on. I'm not going to make her want to leave me again. I hung up my cell phone feeling better than I had all day long and made a pact to treat Addison the way she deserves to be treated. After several rounds of discussion with lawyers about the dead patient, I was finally ready to go and meet Addie. The family decided against holding the hospital and myself liable, pending autopsy results. The distraught mother and father had no idea that their 21 year old daughter was having implants. My children will know better than to pull tricks like that on me, having surgery without telling anyone. Sheesh. I left the hospital at approximately twenty minutes until five, knowing that Addison would be happy to see me home earlier than expected. The first thing I noticed when I got home was the unusual quiet in the house.

"Ads?" I called into the silence. "Addie?"

Shhh!" came the whispered response a moment later. "Caleb is being quiet. Don't scare him."

"How? Where is he?"

"Derek is holding him in the nursery."

"Oh," I felt slightly annoyed, but then I noticed how beautiful Addison looked.

Her brilliant red hair was shining, and she was wearing make-up for only the second or third time since Caleb made his appearance into the world. Not to mention her black dress. She knows that's my favorite dress. God, she looks amazing. I couldn't tear my eyes from her retreating form as she headed back into the bedroom to find some shoes. Against my better judgement, I peaked into the nursery to check on Caleb...and Derek. Derek was sitting in the floor, leaning against the wall, with Caleb sprawled across his lap. The little guy was sucking happily on a pacifier and staring at Derek's watch.

"Hello," said Derek, looking up from the book he was reading.

"Hi," I cleared my throat nervously. "Will you...uh...be okay with him?"

"We'll be fine. You two have fun. Lighten up, I'm not going to steal him."

"Yeah. Okay. Thanks." I backed out of the nursery as quickly as possible.

"Come on, Mark. I just fed him so at best we have three hours before he starts to get upset," Addison went into the nursery to kiss Caleb then pulled me toward the door.

"I don't know, Addie. He's still so small. Why don't we just take him?"

"Mark! He'll be fine. Derek is really great with him."

"Okay," I was hesitant to agree.

"Let's go!" she tugged on my arm again.

I'd made reservations at the Rainbow Room because it's one of Addison's favorite places. When I told her, her entire face lit up in a smile I hadn't seen in a long time. Dinner was delicious as always, and I apologized to Addison again before she could say anything. We discussed the last few months, and she told me how she'd been feeling lately. Then, I told her about the agreement I'd made with myself.

"Addie, from now on, when I'm being an ass, please tell me that I'm hurting your feelings. Sometimes I don't realize what I'm saying is that hurtful."

"I know. I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I just didn't want us to argue in front of Caleb."

"I love you, Addie. I can't wait to marry you."

"As soon as I'm back to my normal size."

"But you look great now," I said truthfully as I'd been noticing how breast feeding affected her body. Wow.

Not too much later, we finished our dinner and went for a walk through a little park near the house. Arm in arm, we strolled around the park. Addison's delicate fingers fit perfectly in my hand, something I often took for granted. She shivered slightly, so I gave her my jacket. Suddenly, she stopped in front of a playground. She looked from the playground back to me with a cute expression on her face.

"What do you want to do?" I asked, knowing the answer already.

"Teeter-totter," she replied with a smile.

"Tonight has been great," I said a while later on the walk home, "I'm sorry I haven't taken you out in so long."

"It's okay. I probably wouldn't have wanted to go until now anyway. As it is, I miss Caleb a whole lot."

"Let's go..." I began to say before she grabbed me and started kissing me.

We were still mostly intertwined when we went into the house. Derek came into the hall and nearly choked when he saw us. He headed back into the nursery, muttering that Caleb had been fine. Taking advantage of the quiet house and the help, I pulled Addison into the bedroom. At first, she didn't want me to see her after baby body and blushed as I unzipped her dress. I was afraid it might hurt her after giving birth, but she said it didn't. We soon fell asleep, Addison laying across my chest. She didn't move when Derek brought in Caleb, so I put a little space between us for the baby. All night we slept, foreheads and legs touching with Caleb in between us. He never made a sound.