Author's Note: The last chapter was short and probably not what many of you were expecting. I realize most of you were looking forward to a chapter dedicated to the family dinner Arizona coerced Alex into attending. I'll be honest, the chapter that mysteriously deleted itself was just that. Looking at the bigger picture I am rather glad it disappeared. I was able to convey Cristina's leeriness, George's silence, and Izzie's hurt in the last chapter without having to muddle through a dinner. By pushing the timeline up I was able to also give you a glimpse at the relationship Izzie has with her mother. There isn't a big age difference between them and more often then not they fight like sisters. Their biggest fight is over the identity of Izzie's father. Imagine growing up, not knowing who your father is? Can you feel the pain? The lack of identity? Izzie's problem isn't hurtful ex-boyfriends, it is not knowing who her father is. Half of her genetic make up is a mystery. The only thing she knows for sure is that her father hurt her mother deeply and she doesn't want to experience that pain. The problem with that logic is there is nothing logical about it! Her father was little more than a child himself when she was conceived and he let fear rule his thinking. What he did has never been far from his heart or mind. He lives with the regret every day. The truly amazing part is how closely connected he is to Alex. Wait. Stop. Inhale. He is NOT Alex's father, step-father, or a relative of any kind. He is kind of Alex's boss. Wait. Why am I telling you all this in the author's note? I should just let you see how it all unfolds! Back to the story…

Chapter Six

How To: Confront the past with dignity.

Peter Honeycutt the third was a pompous ass with too much time, too much money, and not enough brain cells. He was also Addison's ticket to most of Springdale's so-called social events. The dreary little town of twenty thousand had never been her cup of tea. It was home though and better to be a big fish in a small pond than a guppy in the ocean. She'd left long enough to attend Texas Tech, where she had been just another freshman with a fatherless toddler. At first she hadn't wanted to take Izzie with her. She had seen college as her shot at being a normal teen. Her mother had insisted though. Addison was Izzie's mother, not Robbie. It had all worked out for the best, she could admit that now. Having Izzie along had kept her out of trouble and focused on her education. Any time she thought about giving up she would look down at Izzie's sweet little face and be reminded that she wanted a better life for her daughter than the one she had been given. She had gotten it too. Hard work and staying focused on getting ahead had given Izzie a life that was a far cry from the one Addison had known growing up.

"Precious, they're taking our photograph, smile a little." The little hiss from Peter Honeycutt the third grated on Addison's nerves. Men like him were a necessary evil in her line of work. Investment banking was only as lucrative as the clients whose money she was investing. The trick was to find men with too much time, too much money, and not enough brain cells. They never thought ahead; until it was too late.

"I'd rather you didn't call me precious," she bit out around the too bright smile she had plastered on her face. The smile faltered a bit as Peter slid his hand from the small of her back to her backside. Typical jackass. Thinking that since he had gained her entrance into an event that meant he could take liberties. Pea brained fool. Showed what he knew. "If I were you I would move that hand."

"Good thing you're not me," he chuckled. A small gasp caught in the back of her throat as he pinched her. Of all the nerve!

Chest heaving as she sucked in a deep breath, Addison whirled around so that she faced him. "Listen closely, you pompous ass. I'm your stock broker, not your plaything of the month. Unless you want me to discontinue our professional relationship I suggest you keep your hands to yourself." Her fingers shook slightly as she smoothed out imaginary wrinkles in the form fitting lavender gown she had worn. As much as she valued Peter Honeycutt the third's account she didn't value it enough to let the man grope her.

"Aw, Addie, come on. I was just having a little fun." The sulky tone would have been irksome coming from a toddler; used by a grown man it was not only annoying but ridiculous. He was forty-seven years old. Time to grow up. He never would though. Not so long as he had a steady influx of income in the six digit bracket.

"Fun for you, annoying for me. Hands to yourself." She grabbed a flute off champagne from a passing waiter's chair and quickly downed it. Heavy drinking wasn't her usual style but the list of speakers had her on edge. One speaker in particular. Dr. Derek Shepherd. It had been nearly twenty-five years since she had spoken to him. She told him she was pregnant and he had told her he wasn't ready. She hadn't been ready either, damn it! Yet she had done the right thing…the grown up thing. While she had been giving birth he had been getting drunk at a frat party. His mother had shown up at the hospital long enough to say she was sorry for her son and that Izzie was a beautiful baby. Addison had thought that meant the woman would be taking an interest in her granddaughter and perhaps Caroline would have…if she hadn't been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It hit hard and took her fast, cutting off any ties Izzie might have had to the Shepherd family.

"I promise I will behave for the rest of the night." Again, Peter sounded more like a toddler than a man. Oh well. Not her problem. She acknowledged his so called promise and made an excuse to move on. Her plan for the night was simple. Keep moving and she could avoid contact with the prick that had abandoned not only her, but her daughter. She could have forgiven him for leaving her. Most seventeen year old seniors in high school dumped their sophomore girlfriends when they went off to college. No, what she couldn't forgive was him not taking an interest in Izzie. Sure there had been that time when Izzie was five and he'd begged to see her. Addison had stood her ground. He was not going to hurt her daughter any more than he already had.

She downed another glass of champagne as she perused the crowded ball room, her blue gaze searching. She wasn't sure who she was looking for: Izzie or Derek. Perhaps she was looking for both. A ghost of a smile tipped the corners of her lips as she spotted her daughter and Alex Karev talking with a group of unfamiliar people. It warmed her heart seeing Izzie so happy. Addison had worried that the pregnancy fiasco would do her girl in. She'd been against it from the get go. Single parenthood wasn't easy. Having Izzie announce that she intentionally planned on going down that road had been heartbreaking. Even more heartbreaking was her daughter's choice in sperm donors. George O'Malley was a sweet, loving man but he wasn't someone Izzie could marry and settle down with. The mix up had been a blessing in Addison's book. An even bigger blessing was the fact that the father was Alex Karev. Addison had met him a couple times at various social events hosted by the hospital. He'd always struck her as a home and hearth kind of guy; no matter how hard he tried to prove otherwise. Izzie was definitely a home and hearth girl, her little vlog proved that. Where her daughter had gotten all that creativity was lost on her. It was amazing the things her daughter did!

"She's beautiful."

The familiar voice wrapped itself around her like a smothering boa constrictor. Her chin raised slightly as she forced herself to turn around and face the man who had changed her life forever. He looked like a stranger. At seventeen he had been all intense blue eyes, big nose, and gangly body. She'd loved him though. Now, he was a handsome stranger who left her cold. "Don't even think about going near her," Addison bit out, her voice trembling violently as she struggled to keep her emotions in check.

"She's a grown up now. I think whether or not she has a relationship with me is up to her." The calm, rational way he spoke fueled her anger. How dare he! He acted as though he had the right to be Izzie's father. As far as she was concerned he had lost that right the moment he told her the pregnancy was her problem.

"Do you really think she's going to welcome you with open arms? You were never there! You walked out, remember? I raised her. Me. Not you. I'm her parent. Not you." She knew she sounded as much like a toddler as Peter Honeycutt the third had only minutes ago. She couldn't help it. She could see her fragile relationship with Izzie disintegrating. Izzie had never understood or appreciated the long hours Addison put in at work, trying to make their lives better. It had always been a chasm between them. Lately, they had slowly grown closer. The baby gave them something to talk about, a common link. Addison cherished their little chats. It made them feel more like a normal mother/daughter.

"We're not going to have this argument again. I let you win the last time. You won't be so lucky this go around, Addie-mine."

The old nickname was like a slap in the face: unexpected and painful. "Do not call me that, Derbear." There. Two could play that game. She crossed her arms over her chest and fought back a shiver. The last time their paths had crossed she had still been clinging to the anger, wrapping herself in it like a protective blanket. She should have pulled it out and cloaked herself again. Despite her words, despite the lingering pain, she was no longer that scared, angry girl trying to raise a child on her own. Now she was an adult, about to become a grandmother, and far too mature to give in to childish anger. The anger she felt now was more at herself. She knew the first thing he would tell Izzie was how he had tried to have a relationship when she was in kindergarten but mean, wicked mother had forbid it. What hurt the most was Izzie would probably believe him. "Go away, Derek," she whispered. "Just…go away."

OoOoOoO

Excitement trickled from an unknown source deep within Izzie's soul and slowly spread throughout the rest of her. Whatever reservations she'd had about accepting the invitation seemed to have melted away. Addison had gone from mother to fairy godmother, insisting on a new cocktail dress that hid the small bump forming but didn't make it obvious that she was pregnant, as well as a new hairstyle. She'd let her mother talk her into cutting her long, dark blonde hair into a fun just above the shoulder bob that gave more life to her natural waves. At first she had been hesitant but once the hairdresser had worked his magic she had loved the easier to maintain style. It would come in handy once the baby was born. A wash and go 'do that she could still fix when the occasion called for it.

"…had no idea Alex was even seeing someone!"

The unexpected exclamation caught Izzie off guard. She had been prepared for a lot of assumptions about why she was with Alex but people assuming she was his girlfriend hadn't occurred to her. "Oh, we're not…"

"Izzie and I have a complicated relationship. We're working through those complications though."

A nearby woman with strawberry blonde hair coughed and leaned over to whisper something in the ear of a dark haired woman that had been shooting daggers with her eyes all night. "I didn't realize cheating was a complication," the brunette snipped, her voice so low they almost didn't hear her. Izzie shifted nervously from one foot to the other. This was not a scene she wanted to be involved in. Clearly this woman had had a relationship with this woman. At least a physical one.

"If you have something to say Rebecca, why don't you just say it." The annoyance in Alex's voice surprised Izzie. If their roles had been reversed, if she was the one with a spurned lover biting at the chomp to cause a scene, she would backed down. Not Alex. He seemed hell bent to drag it all out into the open.

"Fine. I will." The shorter woman stepped closer, her hazel eyes scanning over Izzie's taller, slimmer form. "I think it's horrible that you supposedly have this girlfriend…a girlfriend none of us knew about…and yet you still slept with me. Did he tell you that?" It took Izzie a moment to realize the question had been directed toward her.

"He told me," she said slowly. Alex had told her. In a sense. He'd told her that he'd made a lot of mistakes, slept with women he shouldn't have, and some of those women would be at the fundraiser. This Rebecca was one of them.

"He told you?"

The concept of honesty seemed lost on the not quite pretty, but not quite plain woman before her. It was a bit sad how bewildered the woman seemed. She had clearly wanted Alex to end up hurt. Which meant she'd had her feelings hurt. Oh boy. Izzie would have to tread carefully. She'd been where the woman before her was. It wasn't a fun place, to care about a man who didn't care about you. Granted, in Izzie's case the man was her father and not some one night stand. "He told me," she reaffirmed, wanting to make it known that she and Alex did talk. For whatever reason he wanted people to believe they were in a relationship. It was a risky move, especially since he had clearly been an "unfaithful boyfriend." "He said you were nice but he regretted using you." Anything else she said from then on would be tricky. Mixing the truth with little half-lies was always a delicate matter.

"Around the time I slept with you, we found out Izzie was pregnant. I panicked." The sincerity in Alex's voice warmed Izzie's heart. He was keeping things as truthful as possible. It meant he was as concerned about what people thought as she was. "I'm sorry that you ended up hurt but that's a part of my life I'm trying to put behind me. So, if you don't mind, Izzie and I are going to dance."

He didn't wait to see if Rebecca had more to say, he simply held out his hand and smiled his dimpled smile. It was impossible not to smile back. With the exception of their encounter with Rebecca, the evening had been wonderful. He'd introduced her to several colleagues, not as some woman having his baby but as his girlfriend. It was a lie, of course, but for the night she could pretend they were a real couple. It was a nice fantasy. One even easier to delve into as he swung her into his arms and pulled her close. Their bodies melded together perfectly, as though they had been designed one for the other. Perhaps they had been. Perhaps Erica Hahn had been an instrument used by fate to bring them together. Or perhaps you're a sappy romantic that needs a reality check, she silently teased herself.

The reality check came far too soon for her taste. It came in the form of her mother's raised voice. "Is that your mother arguing with Dr. Shepherd?" Alex's voice whispered against her ear. Another time she would have enjoyed the little thrill that raced down her spine. She couldn't this time though. Not with her usually calm mother yelling at a handsome dark haired man with the bluest eyes Izzie had ever seen.

"What is she doing?" Izzie stepped out of Alex's embrace and started toward her mother, a sense of dread knotting in her stomach. She shouldn't interfere. She should just continue to enjoy her dance with Alex. Why ruin a lovely evening by meddling in affairs that were not her concern. Her mother was her concern though. As she drew near she heard her mother ask the man to go away. "Mom, what's going on?"

A look of horror glossed over her mother's face. Addison shook her head and blinked. It was then Izzie noticed the tears gathering in her mother's blue eyes. She very seldom seen Addison cry. "What did say to her?" She turned the question on the stranger hovering near.

"I think you and I should go somewhere more private and talk," suggested the man…Dr. Shepherd Alex had called him. Alex's new boss, if the rumors circulating the room were to be believed. Izzie didn't care who he was. He'd obviously upset her mother, something that was almost impossible to do.

Shaking her head, Izzie wrapped her arms around her waist, her gaze fixated on the man in front of her. He looked so familiar, as though she should know him. A ghost of a memory from when she was five tickled at the just below the surface of her thoughts. The man before her was there, arguing with her mother. Something to do with her. Something about it being his right to…To what? Slowly it all fully surfaced. His right to see his daughter. Addison had screamed at him to get out. To just go away. Nausea rolled through her stomach as she shook her head. She wasn't thinking clearly. Her mother wouldn't keep her father from her. Would she?

"Izzie, there are things we need to discuss that are best suited to a more private setting." Dr. Shepherd's insistence made it all more palpable.

"We don't have anything to talk about." If the conversation didn't occur then her mother wasn't a spiteful bitch who had kept her daughter's father away. If the conversation didn't occur Izzie wouldn't have to hear whatever excuses Dr. Shepherd had for not fighting for his rights as a father. If the conversation didn't occur…she would never know the truth. She didn't want to know the truth. Not right now. Not when so much of her world had already been flipped upside down.

Addison edged closer, her familiar perfume almost choking Izzie as she tried to wrap an arm around her daughter's trembling shoulders. "Sweetie, I think Derek's right. I think we should go somewhere and…"

"And what? Have a happy family reunion? Where you explain why you kept my father out of my life? Or maybe we can laugh over the way Daddy dearest here only tried one time to see me. Sorry but I'm not sure I'm really in the mood for that much joy."

Her mother nodded her head and murmured something about the two of them talking at home. Shit. Shit! How could she forget? She was temporarily living with her mother. Now what? She couldn't turn to George. She was still to angry at him. All her other friends were either married with families of their own or single and partying it up. Any way she looked at it, there was no room in their lives for a single, pregnant woman with a messed up life. Tears burned her eyes as she tried to untangle herself from Addison's embrace. What was she going to do? She couldn't go home. She wasn't strong enough to deal with the mess her parents had dumped on her.

"Are you okay?" Arizona's soft voice was a soothing balm. Shaking her head, Izzie fell into the other woman's arms. How had her life gotten this complicated? What had she done to deserve so much crap thrown at her? Not all crap, a quiet voice reminded. The baby was a blessing. Meeting Arizona and Callie was a blessing. Having Alex in her life was…more than a mere blessing. It was bigger than that. It was…she didn't know what but she knew that there had to be a reason the mix up occurred, something other than a spiteful ex-girlfriend. There had to be something bigger at work. She wouldn't feel so strongly attached if there wasn't. She loved them. All three of them. Arizona and Callie were like sisters. Wonderful, amazing sisters that defended her and told her everything would be okay, even when it didn't seem like it. Alex was a light at the end of the tunnel. She was too afraid to examine how she felt beyond that.

"Iz." Alex's warm embrace blanketed her trembling form. "Whatever's wrong, we'll fix it, okay?"

"I can't go back," she whimpered, burying her face in his neck. She wanted to lose herself in the daydream. To imagine they were a couple. Not just pretend but for real. The pain wouldn't allow it. Her whole body hurt. Every fiber of her being had been shaken.

"You don't have to," he promised, his skilled surgeon hands gently stroking wisps of her hair off her tear dampened cheek. "You can stay with me until you get through whatever it is." She closed her eyes and tried to allow herself to believe that what he said was true, that everything would be okay.