My Never
Chapter 32

Derek ~ Seattle Grace ~ present

"Dr. Shepherd!"

"Please tell me that's not Bailey," Derek whispered into Addison's hair, letting the delicate strands tickle his nose as he grudgingly unwound his limbs from hers while still keeping her as close to him as possible. In the two weeks since their lovemaking, they had reached an unprecedented state of closeness, but they had yet to embark on such a journey the second time.

"Sorry, honey. It's Bailey," Addison smirked, giving him a playful push out of her bed. He tried to ignore the sparks created where their skin brushed, but the more he got of Addison, the more addicted she left him in return.

"Don't look at me like I'm the only one who's been naughty," Derek chided her as she rolled over and tangled her long legs in the sheets, the picture of irresistible.

"Well, you're the only one Bailey will punish," she pointed out, pouting her full lips at him. She knew exactly what she was doing, about the feelings she was unleashing to run rampant inside him, about how hard it was for him to walk out of the room to face Bailey's wrath for an unknown wrong.

Bailey stood just outside the door, arms crossed, a predator waiting for her prey. Derek assumed a casual stance a comfortable distance away and waited for his sentencing. When she only continued to burn him with her stare nervousness blossomed inside of him. Could something be wrong with Addison? "What's going on?" he asked urgently. "Is she okay?"

"You . . . are nasty."

"Excuse me?" Derek said, taken aback and completely confused.

"I often marvel at the fact that you graduated med school," Bailey snapped. "One of God's miracles, I suppose."

"I went to Columbia," Derek reminded her, affronted.

"Standards there must be lax. I know what you did, Shepherd," she threatened.

"Did? What did I do?" Nonplussed was an understatement.

"Have you, um, done anything with Addison in this hospital, you disgrace of a human being?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Derek said shortly, not enthusiastic about divulging details of his sex life to Dr. Bailey.

"Of course it is, you moron. Do you know what you've done?"

"Caused the Apocalypse, apparently," Derek muttered.

"No!" Bailey roared, forcing Addison's labs, which were being run every week until she was discharged, into his hands. Derek scanned them quickly, alarmed, searching for an obvious abnormality, but everything seemed to be in order. In fact, by his judgment, she could be released that week. Thinking about their house, which was in essence finished, led to his pondering to their future, and that was when he spotted it.

"Oh my God."

"Now he sees it," Bailey spat. "You, Derek Shepherd, are an idiot. She's still in the hospital, damn it! What the hell were you thinking?"

"Um, well, I wasn't," Derek admitted sheepishly.

"Well, you certainly weren't thinking with your head, you were thinking with your somewhere else!" Bailey asserted. "This is certainly not an ideal situation, Dr. Shepherd!"

"What's not an ideal situation?" Derek's situation was drastically deteriorated by the arrival of a concerned Richard. Squirming uncomfortably, Derek shot alternately threatening and pleading vibes at Bailey, but she completely ignored him.

"Nothing, Chief," Derek said brightly, earning a suspicious glance from his old mentor. "Nothing is going on."

"I highly doubt that," Richard said distrustfully.

"It certainly isn't nothing, Chief," Bailey said briskly. "I ran Addison's labs last week, like we always do, and everything was fine. And then I run them this week, and what do I find?"

"What?" Richard asked, now sounding quite apprehensive.

"This idiot got her pregnant!" Bailey exploded.

"Derek, you didn't!"

"What? I'm a grown man, and I can do what I want. Stop chastising me like a child."

"Did you have to get her pregnant though, Derek?" Richard asked.

"It's not like I meant to," Derek protested, rolling his eyes.

"Ever heard of a little thing called protection?" Bailey asked.

"Alright, alright," Richard said. "Derek, I am happy for you, even if this isn't really the best time. We'll leave you to go tell Addie, okay?"

Derek nodded. He wasn't sure what exactly to say to her. He knew blood tests could detect pregnancies as little as 7-12 days after conception. But what was he supposed to say? Congratulations, honey, you're two weeks pregnant. Thanks in advance for carrying my baby for the next nine months? He didn't think so.


~ Meredith ~

"Izzie, what is your problem?" Cristina snapped at the fidgety blonde resident as she approached them, slumped exhaustedly on a gurney. "We're trying to be exhausted residents here and you're messing up our groove."

"Nothing," Izzie sang with a grin. "Nothing, nothing, nothing."

"Oh come on, spill," Cristina demanded, instantly interested in whatever gossip Izzie had unearthed.

"Please, Iz?" Meredith added. It had been a long day and although she'd rather be home in front of the fire curled up with Finn, she had to take what she could get, which right now was gossip.

Izzie hesitated, biting her lip. "I'm not really supposed to know," she admitted.

"Come on!" Cristina and Meredith protested at the same time, having clamped on to Izzie's barely contained secret and unwilling to let go.

Izzie sighed and caved. "Okay, so I was going to pick up lab results for Dr. Bailey . . ."

"Mmhmm . . ." Meredith prompted.

"And I glanced at the name, and it said Addison Montgomery. So I opened it up, since, you know, we've all been monitoring her for a while and I wanted to make sure she was okay."

"And . . ." Cristina said impatiently.

Izzie did a little nervous dance. "You guys can't tell anyone. I'm pretty sure it's a secret. I didn't even tell Dr. Bailey I'd looked at the labs."

"Izzie! Will you freaking tell us already?" Meredith finally said.

"Okay, fine. Addison is . . . pregnant!" Izzie burst forth excitedly, looking as if all her dreams had come true.

"What?" Cristina and Meredith both exclaimed at the same time. "Guess we saw the tail end of that conception," said Cristina in a disgusted tone.

"Yeah. I was so surprised and then I realized that they didn't even know yet. Dr. Bailey was just going to tell them. Isn't that the cutest thing?" Izzie squealed. But when she saw Cristina cast a worried glance at Meredith, she suddenly stopped. "Mer? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she said quickly. "Seriously. I mean, it is a little weird . . . but I'm with Finn now. Besides, I don't know if I really want kids or not."

This problem solved, Izzie went on in rapture, "Imagine another Devony!"

"Great. Vampire child #1 and vampire child #2," Cristina said sarcastically.

"Or a little boy -"

"Look, Iz, it's lovely and all, but I think Cristina and I would like to go back to being dark and twisty for now," Meredith said firmly, leaving a very disappointed Izzie in her wake.


~ Addison ~

"What was that about?" Addison inquired the second her harried looking ex-husband reentered the room. He looked quite shaken, but amidst the confusion she sensed an overwhelming joy that she could not account for.

"Scoot over," he said finally, and climbed carefully into the bed with her. She rested her head on his shoulder, and he played with her copper hair for a while. He knew she was curious, but for the moment they were both simply content with being held in each other's arms. The hand that was not massaging Addison's scalp gently slid carefully over her hip bone, settling on her stomach.

Confused, Addison twisted around, wondering what accounted for his strange behavior. He looked almost frighteningly happy, like he'd sailed away on some sea of bliss, but she doubted that anything from a lecture from Richard could have such an effect. His talks usually left them disgruntled, especially when he'd find them making out in closets in New York.

"What are you smiling about?" Addison whispered, tracing the planes of his face with a delicate finger.

He turned to face her. "Addie, I have to tell you something." She frowned, cocking her head to the side with a slight smile. A kind of fluttering invaded her belly, because Derek was as easily readable as a book to her and she could tell the news was nothing life threatening, but that only served to make her more impatient.

"What is it, Derek?" she demanded.

Derek turned jubilant indigo orbs on her, and the feelings coursing through her intensified. "Well, Addie, I'm not sure exactly how you're going to react to this . . . Really, it should be you telling me this. I also apologize for the timing, it's not that I'm not happy about this, but you're still sick and in the hospital."

She rolled her eyes edgily. "Please, Derek, just tell me already!"

He sighed. "Well, you know what we did not too long ago here . . ." She raised an eyebrow, wondering if they were thinking of the same thing, and he nodded. "Yes, that. Adds, we're having . . . we didn't exactly use any protection . . . I know this will come as a shock . . . the only reason we know this early is because of the blood test . . . but that night, one of those nights . . ." She narrowed her eyes, and then they widened in shock as she realized what he was saying. "Addie, you're pregnant."

Her hand jerked to join his on her stomach as if pulled by an invisible string to the developing mass of cells that grew underneath the membranes of her skin, morphing into a child awash with the qualities she loved best about Derek.

"Devony was right," she chuckled. "She always drew another baby in with our family, and I was eventually going to ask if you wanted to have more kids, but I didn't think it would happen now. Another baby," she crooned to her stomach as she was suddenly drenched in the maternal feelings that had also occupied her pregnancies with Evelyn and Devony.

"Yeah, we're having a baby," he whispered, his voice imbued with sheer amazement and the early flutterings of fatherly love.

"Maybe it'll be a boy this time," Addison said, kissing him gently on the lips. "I love our girls, both our girls, but it would be fun to have a boy too."

"I'm betting that Dev is going to want a sister," Derek laughed.

"Maybe, but she does get along rather well with Tuck. I think she'd like a brother too. Think of all the trouble they'll get into."

"We can always have more kids later," Derek pointed out impishly, and Addison pictured them with a parade of precocious, beautiful babies. "Whichever she doesn't get from this pregnancy, she'll get from the next. How does that sound?"

"How many times are you planning on knocking me up, Derek?" she smirked.

"At least once more, Ms. Montgomery. Although preferably lots more."

"Well, we'll see if you'll be singing the same tune when it's your hand I'm almost breaking in labor," she warned. "Or you I'm yelling at when I get fat. Or you cooking the weird food I'm going to crave. You should have seen some of the things I ate when I was pregnant with Dev."

"I should have been there," he said, and she knew guilt was suffusing him because she felt the sudden clench of his fists under her shoulders. It still made him hate himself when he spoke of how he'd treated her, and she knew that remorse was a difficult emotion to dislodge, but she also wanted more than anything to move on. Her fingers found the back of his hand and he unclenched his fist as she assured him wordlessly that all was forgiven.

"You should have been there. But we both should or shouldn't have done a lot of things, Derek. We need to let it go now. We've talked about it, we've forgiven each other, and we've learned from our mistakes. Now it's time to let go," she told him.

He sighed, as if banishing the persistent regrets of their past before rolling over to brush his lips over her neck amorously. "Der," she said, remembering a certain promise before they passed the point of no return.

"Mmm," he groaned, moving to the hollow at the base of her throat.

"Derek!" Addison said, a little louder. "You promised Dev you'd pick her up from the daycare at one thirty. Guess what time it is?"

Derek left and returned with a wiggling Devony poking over one shoulder. Her daughter waved happily before running to the electronic keyboard Carolyn had sent for her birthday. The device played various Disney tunes, but Devony opted for a song of her own creation and pounded the notes loudly. This gave Addison a jarring headache and filched any opportunities of rest in order to grow the child inside of her. "Der?" she asked weakly. "I'm really tired."

Derek nodded and loped over to their daughter, resting a palm on the top of her shiny ebony curls. "Dev, honey? I love your music, but Mommy needs some rest now. Can you play with some other toys?"

Devony glanced around with a smile but pretended not to have heard him as she pounded the keyboard even more furiously. Addison was worried that she would break it, but then again, if she did, she might actually get a few minutes of sleep.

"Devony," Derek said more sternly.

"Devie, are you being naughty?" Addison asked, and she thought she heard a soft, mischievous giggle.

"Mommy needs some rest now," Derek said.

"No, Daddy," Devony cried over the noise she was making. "I don't want to stop!"

"Mommy needs to sleep now, Dev, and Daddy needs you to listen to me."

"Why?" the little girl whined, scrambling over to them. "Mommy has been sweeping forever!"

Derek raised an eyebrow at Addison, who nodded. Devony had endured a move across the country in the presence of strangers, numerous hospital trips and basically having her short life turned completely upside down. And while explaining why that was to her daughter would fall to her someday, Addison hoped to delay it for as long as possible. Still, she wanted to relate to Devony what she could.

Derek swung the squealing child up by her armpits and planted her on the bed between them, restraining her squirming body gently. Devony harrumphed and rolled onto her back, utterly bored, while Addison lifted the hospital gown over her hips to expose her stomach.

"Devony," Addison said, marveling at how minute her daughter's hand looked against the home of her tiny sibling, "Mommy and Daddy have something to tell you."

"I know, I know, be quiet 'cause Mommy needs to sleepie," Devony mumbled.

"Yes, we need to be quiet, because you know what? Mommy is growing a teeny baby inside her stomach," Derek informed his daughter, letting her share their wonder.

"A baby?" Devony asked, as if she'd never heard of such a thing before. "How did it get there, Daddy? Did she swallow it?"

"No, baby, she didn't swallow it," Derek chuckled. "It's in her uterus."

"Did you put it there?" Devony asked suspiciously.

Derek paused, clearly unsure how to field that tricky little question, so Addison stepped in. "It's hard to explain, Dev, but in just a few months you'll be able to hold the baby."

"I thought the baby was in your tummy."

"It is right now. Mommy's tummy is going to get very big soon, so the baby has enough room."

"You're going to get fat, Mommy?" Devony asked.

"No, not fat," Derek corrected. "That's going to be the baby inside of her."

"Oh!" Devony gasped, as if her father had just explained the inner workings of the world. She leaned over Addison's stomach curiously, and then, with extreme tenderness, laid her head on it, as if her tiny sibling could talk to her. Unfortunately, at that moment, Addison felt her stomach give off a hungry growl, and Devony leaped back, alarmed.

"The baby growled at me!" she shrieked.

"No, I'm just hungry," Addison corrected, but Devony still narrowed her eyes at her stomach suspiciously.

At that moment there was a knock on the door, which opened to reveal Richard and Burke. Devony skipped over to them happily and lost no time in informing them that, "Mommy has a baby in her utopia!"

"Uterus," Addison corrected from the bed.

"That's what I said," Devony argued.

"That's what we came in here to talk to you about," Richard admitted hesitantly. "I know you want to leave, Addie, but I think it's best if you stay a few more days, just so we can monitor you and make sure your body can support this baby."

Her stomach plummeted as she wondered if their celebration was premature. After being dragged by her nails through hell, she was actually surprised they'd been able to conceive, and now if something happened to their unborn child because of her lack of foresight …

"It's nothing to stress yourself out over," Burke said in his deep, calm voice. "It's just imperative that we get your body as healthy as possible before releasing you."

Before anyone had the chance to say any more, the door burst open again, this time revealing Mark and Callie, their faces full of congratulations. "Unca Mark, Mommy's having a baby and it's in her utility!" Devony screamed, running to hug her faux-uncle.

"Uterus," Derek, Addison, Burke, and the Chief corrected at the same time. Callie squealed something about not caring where the baby was, which inspired some dirty remarks from Mark, but she only slapped him and proceeded to pat Addison's stomach vigorously.

At that moment, there was a scuffle at the door and Meredith, Izzie, Cristina, and George fell through, their flushed faces stating clearly that they'd been eavesdropping.

"There's a baby in Mommy's ultrasound," Devony stated without preamble.

Addison put her head in her hands. "No, Dev, that's what you look at a baby with."

"Well, it's clear she's not gonna be an OB," Mark said with a wicked smirk. "How do you feel about plastics, Dev?"

"My Barbies have plastic boobies," the little girl affirmed nonchalantly.

"They're not the only ones," Mark told her seriously.

"Ooo-kay," Derek said. "Addie, we'll let you get some rest. Uterus girl, I'll get you a cookie. Various other people in this room, disperse."


~ Derek ~

Derek spoke quickly into his cell phone, trying to verbally solve a problem with the plumbing of their new house. Sighing, he cast a look over at Devony, who was actively seeking out trouble, and then groaned in frustration. "No, no, I can't wait that long. My wife … isn't there anyone else who could …? Okay. Alright. I don't care how expensive it is!" he stated for what felt like the millionth time.

He realized a minute later that Devony had left his sight, but as he turned, anticipating disaster, the world moved in slowly, like in a horror movie. His daughter was approaching a man possessing the configuration of a sumo wrestler, smiling benignly. "Congwatulaswons, mister," she said loudly.

"What?" the man turned, towering over Devony, his voice bewildered. Derek swore, understanding what was about to happen three seconds before it did, but he didn't get to his daughter in time to prevent her next words.

"Your baby is bigger than Mommy's," Devony continued to Derek's absolute mortification. "And squishier too," she giggled, poking his rotund belly.

Derek grabbed Devony's hand quickly, towing her away from the furious and humiliated man. "Devony, that man is not having a baby," he explained quickly. "Men can't have babies."

Devony was completely nonplussed. "But Daddy, you said a big tummy meant there was a baby inside."

"Not all the time, sweetie. And never for boys."

"I don't understand Daddy," she sniffed. "How do babies get here? Nobody told me, except Unca Mark said something 'bout naughty storks."


Um, there are two chapters left, and one is epilogue. Well, I might do two epilogues if you are good and review ...