Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Thanks for the reviews and the ideas! I really don't want to do a medical emergency so I'm definitely going in a different direction. I hope to have the next few chapters done this weekend.

The baby was screaming. Lily was crying. Kaitlyn was hiding. Addison tried to fill a pot of water to cook pasta for dinner. The phone rang. As she tried to grab it the pot of water fell on the floor. She bent down to clean it up, but it hurt. It had only been a week since her surgery.

"Let me help." Addison looked up. Mark was standing at the entrance of the kitchen.

"Help me up." He took her hands and helped her stand.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm in pain. I'm tired. Everyone's hungry and half the house is crying."

"I'll clean this up. You can go get your baby." Addison came back with Grace. Mark pretty much had the floor cleaned up.

"Thank you. What are you doing here?"

"I have the evening off. I thought I'd take my girls off of your hands for the night."

"Thank god." Mark laughed.

"So what's wrong with Lily?"

"She's mad at me because she's not the center of attention at the moment. She's supposed to be calming down and asking for dinner in a nice way."

"I'll go get her. Where's Kaitlyn?"

"Check her room. She's hiding from the chaos. I don't blame her." Mark went upstairs and Addison sat with Grace on the couch. Mark came down with the girls and overnight bags.

"Say goodnight to Addie." Lily started crying again.

"I don't want to leave Addie."

"We're just going to have a fun Daddy and girls night to give Addie a break."

"I don't want to." Addison stood up.

"Hold her." Mark took the baby. Addison got down on Lily's level. "Lily, daddy wants to have a fun night with you. He'll let you watch movies and eat dessert and maybe stay up late. Does that sound like fun?" Lily was still sniffling.

"Yes."

"Then you'll go to school tomorrow and after school you'll come back here and spend the evening with me and Grace. We can have a girls evening."

"What about Kaitlyn?"

"Kaitlyn has field hockey tomorrow so we can do something that you like to do but Kaitlyn doesn't like to do."

"But I miss you at night."

"I miss you too. We can say goodnight right now. Daddy will be there if you feel sad."

"Okay. Goodnight Addie." Addison kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight Lily." She stood back up. Kaitlyn came over.

"Goodnight." Addison kissed her cheek.

"Goodnight sweetheart." Addison took her baby back from Mark. "Thank you. If she's a mess you can bring her back."

"We'll be fine. Relax."

Mark got the girls settled in and began cooking dinner. Lily was sitting at the counter watching and coloring. The water boiled over onto the stove and made loud sizzling noises.

"Dad, that doesn't happen when Addie cooks."

"Don't worry. I have it under control."

"I don't think so." Lily looked really unsure about what he was doing.

"I think it's just about done." He stirred the pot.

"What are we having anyway?"

"Noodles."

"Plain noodles?"

"Yes."

"With cheese?"

"Yes."

"That's my favorite!"

"Good. Go tell Kaitlyn dinner is ready." Lily ran off and came back with Kaitlyn.

"We have noodles. You can have them with sauce, butter, or cheese. I have a little fruits and vegetables in the fridge." Kaitlyn didn't say anything. She just made her bowl of noodles and walked out of the kitchen. Mark followed. "Eat at the table."

"I'm eating in my room."

"No. We're eating together as a family." Kaitlyn walked into her room and slammed the door. "I bet you wouldn't have done that to Addison."

Later…Derek came home to a dark, quiet house. He opened Lily's bedroom door to check on her and panicked. He checked Kaitlyn's room and she wasn't there either. He ran into his room.

"Addison!" She jumped up.

"What? It's 10 pm."

"I know. The girls are missing."

"They are with their father."

"Oh. Why?"

"He took them to give me a break. I thought you told him to."

"Nope."

"Well he did. Grace and I were having a very nice, quiet, relaxing evening until you came home." Derek sat on the bed.

"Sorry." He kissed her.

"I'd rather you wake me up to find out where they are than assume something that's wrong."

"How's my baby?" He picked up Grace.

"She's pretty good. We've been sleeping since Mark left with the girls before dinner, except of course every other hour when we need to eat."

"I'm going to get changed and then get in bed with my lovely ladies."

Later at Mark's…Kaitlyn was still locked in the girls room. Lily was up late watching movies with Mark.

"I think it's getting close to bedtime."

"I don't think so."

"It's 9:30. That's very late."

"Does Kaity have to go to bed?"

"Soon. Can you at least get ready for bed?"

"I guess." Lily answered after thinking about it. She got up and starting walking to their room. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. "Open up Kaity." Kaitlyn didn't open the door. Lily started banging on it. Mark came over.

"What's the problem?"

"Kaity locked me out."

"Kaitlyn open the door." Nothing happened. "Open this door right now." Kaitlyn turned on her music. "Open the door now or you're grounded." Kaitlyn just turned up the music.

The next afternoon…Derek came home with Lily right after school. Lily stormed into the house. Addison stopped her.

"Woah. What is wrong?" Lily was very angry.

"You said we were going to have a girls evening."

"We can."

"No we can't. Derek is here."

"We can still have a girls evening. It'll be even better because Derek can help with Grace."

"I don't want Derek to be here."

"Well Derek lives here."

"I don't want him to live here and I don't want Grace here either." Lily ran up the stairs and slammed her door. Addison started crying and Derek started walking up the stairs.

"Just let her be."

"What was that all about?"

"I think she's feeling jealous of the attention Grace gets. She used to be the center of attention always and I haven't exactly spent much time with her this week."

"You have a brand new baby who needs you. Don't feel guilty."

" I need to make time for all of them. Grace just ate. I'm going to give Lily some undivided attention." Addison walked up the stairs. She opened Lily's door.

"We need to talk."

"No." Addison sat next to Lily on the bed.

"Can you tell me why you're upset?"

"You don't want me anymore."

"Lily, that is not true."

"You sent me away with daddy."

"Daddy took you to have a special night."

"You have Grace instead."

"No we have Grace too. We have Kaitlyn, Lily, and Grace. Three girls."

"You're not my mom."

"No, but I'd like to think that I am like your mom."

"I want my mom."

"You have me, Derek, and Daddy. We all love you very much. We all want you very much. You came here to live with us because your mommy can't take care of you. She still loves you but she needs to learn some things before she can take care of you again. I think the real problem is you want some time with me. Just you and me. I know I've been spending a lot of time with Grace. That's going to keep happening because Grace is just a tiny baby right now and needs her mommy, but we are going to have lots and lots of special girl time, just us. Is that okay?" Lily nodded. "Would you rather live with Daddy?"

"No. I want to live with you. No Grace."

"That's not an option. I have tons of love and plenty of time for all of you. Grace is going to need a big sister to play with and teach her things just like Kaitlyn teaches you. When you've decided you have enough love for all of us, you can come out of your room and find me." Addison left and shut the door behind her. She had tears pouring down her face. She found Derek and Grace in the nursery. "She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you."

"She does. She thinks I don't love her now that I have Grace."

"She'll get over it. She's five. She's adjusting. We've all had a tiring week. You know she loves you. She hates to spend a night without you."

"She told me she wants her mom."

"That is not an option. She's not seeing her anytime soon, maybe not ever. Don't encourage her to bring it up again."

"I told her when she realizes she can love all of us, she can come find me."

"Is now a good time to tell you my mom and Nancy are coming to visit in three days?" Addison glared at him.

"Yes, actually, but you need to clean."

"I thought you could use some time with Nancy."

Around 8 o'clock…

"You need to put Lily to bed."

"Why me?"

"She hasn't come find me yet. I'm not giving in. She needs to go to bed."

Derek went into Lily's room.

"It's time to change into pajamas, brush your teeth, and get in bed."

"NO!"

"Right now Lily."

"I'm not doing it." Derek got firmer with her.

"You are going to get ready for bed right now."

"I WANT ADDIE."

"Maybe if you get ready for bed nicely you can go say goodnight."

"I WANT ADDIE RIGHT NOW." Lily started crying. Addison was standing in the hallway and heard it all. She decided to go in the room and help Derek.

"I'll take care of this." Derek left. Addison sat on the bed.

"Come here." Lily walked over to her. Addison hugged her and held her for a few minutes. "I know you are tired and you want some attention, but you really need to listen to me and Derek. "

"I don't want to go to bed."

"It's time for bed."

"Daddy lets me stay up late."

"What time did you go to bed last night?"

"Eleven zero zero." Addison was mad.

"That's way too late. Can you please get ready for bed?" Lily put on her pajamas and brushed her teeth.

"I love you Addie." Addison smiled.

"I love you too. A lot."

"To the moon?"

"To the moon."

"I love Gracie too." Addison felt relieved. She went back to Derek.

"So?"

"She's in bed and she loves me and Gracie."

"What about me?"

"You didn't make the cut."

"Apparently not. Getting in bed?"

"I have a phone call to make."

"Who are you calling?"

"Mark."

"Hello?"

"Next time you have the girls on a school night, I'd appreciate it if you didn't keep the five year old up until 11 pm."

"I didn't."

"What time did she go to bed?"

"10:45."

"MARK! There's no difference. She's impossible to deal with today because she is so exhausted. She has a bedtime for a reason. Stick to it or you can't have them other than what is stated in the custody agreement."

"They're my kids. And if you want to know, Lily didn't go to bed because Kaitlyn was being difficult and kept us locked out of the bedroom for a few hours after not saying a word to me all night. I told her she's grounded."

"I'll deal with her."

"I don't want you to deal with her. I want her to respect me and listen to me. I'm her father. Goodnight Addison." He hung up.

"I'm not even working and I feel like I don't have enough time to control my life."

"Well I think you are doing a great job." Addison gave him a look.

"Derek. The baby screams all the time. Lily is out of control. Apparently Kaitlyn is too but I've barely seen her all week."

"You at least look beautiful trying." Addison smiled.

"Derek."

"You do." They heard the front door open and shut and Kaitlyn ran up the stairs. She came in to Addison and Derek's room.

"I'm home." Kaitlyn was in a pleasant mood, but Addison was mad.

"Sit down. We need to talk." Kaitlyn sat on the end of the bed.

"What?"

"Not what. You need to stop talking back. Your dad, Derek, and I are all your parents. You are 16. You need to respect and listen to what we say. You don't get to rule the world. You've had a little too much freedom lately are getting out of control."

"No one respects me."

"Lately you haven't been showing us you deserve respect from us. Respect is a privilege not a right. One way to show us you deserve respect from us is to respect us."

"You're not my parents."

"I expected that out of Lily, but not out of you. I may not have given birth to you, but I know that you know how much I love you and care about you. I also know that you do see us as parents. Good try but that's not ending this discussion."

"Where is this coming from?"

"Again with the talking back. I talked to your dad and he told me about last night."

"Oh."

"You cannot treat your father like you did last night. That was completely unacceptable. I don't care if you didn't want to spend time with him, you are not allowed to disrespect him. Locking the door to your room until 10:45 was not necessary."

"Well, I didn't want to go."

"Next time, the mature thing is to ask us to talk about it, not to act like a child."

"You were busy with the baby."

"I will never every be too busy with the baby to talk to you. I love you. I'm here for you whenever you need me. This is taking some adjusting for all of us, but we can do it." Kaitlyn just looked at her, she didn't say anything. "Your dad told me he grounded you. That's in effect starting now."

"But.."

"No buts. You're grounded end of story."

"For how long?"

"That's up to your dad." Kaitlyn smiled.

"Okay so like a day." Addison stayed firm.

"I don't think so." Kaitlyn got up and started to leave the room. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Kaitlyn responded to Addison but was clearly still upset.