AN: This chapter is super long, hope you enjoy it!
Looking around the room and seeing that most of Ella's stuff was in its place, Addison suggested, "I think all this hard work deserves a trip to the park after lunch. What do you say, Ella-Beth?" using her nickname for her daughter.
The idea of the park caused Ella to squeal in delight as she continued to unpack the box on the floor, but at a much faster pace as Addison walked into the kitchen, looking for some coffee, only to be followed by Amelia, who stopped her from reaching for the coffee pot.
"You can't have coffee. Did you forget that you're pregnant?"
"No, I didn't forget. One cup of coffee won't hurt the baby. I'm taking Ella to the park later, you can join us if you want, but Alex is going to be there and we have a lot of talking that I'd rather you not listen to. You can play with Ella if you go, or you can go to the hospital to try to talk to your brother."
"Alex, the douche bag who constantly hits on anyone with a vagina? He's the father?" exclaimed Amelia.
"Yes. He's not as bad as he seems once you get past that outer shell. Please, keep it down. You and him are the only two who know I'm pregnant and I'm not ready to tell everyone yet. Once Ella knows, there's no chance of keeping it a secret."
After a simple lunch consisting of sandwiches, chips, and fruit snacks eaten off paper plates, it was time to meet Alex at the park down the block from the hospital. Ever since Addison suggested a trip to the park, Ella asked every little while if it was time for lunch yet. Amelia decided to skip the park trip, promising Ella they would go to the park together before she flew back to LA the next week.
As they approached the park, Ella let go of Addison's hand and took off running toward the swing set. They were there earlier than Alex, so Addison decided to enjoy the time with her daughter who had been really good about the move since her meltdown over it on the way home from the airport a few weeks earlier.
Pushing her on the swing, Addison decided to let Ella know what was going to happen, "One of my friends from the hospital is on his way here right now."
"Is it Uncle Derek? I haven't seen him yet and I didn't see him when I was visiting Daddy before we moved," she asked.
"No, it's not Uncle Derek. Maybe we can go see him at the hospital later. Do you know Alex? He works with Arizona a lot. He lives with Meredith and Derek," Addison was trying to help her realize who Alex was and that she liked him.
Continuing to swing for a few more moments before answering Addison, Ella finally spoke, "I think I know Alex. I'll probably know him more once I see him, right?"
"Exactly. Once he gets here, he and I have some stuff we need to talk about. Will you be okay playing by yourself for a little while? We'll just be on the bench over there. If you get bored playing, let us know. We don't mind if you interrupt us, but just this one time. It's not going to be every time we're talking that I give you permission to interrupt us."
Right at that moment, Alex walked up to the swing set and sat on the swing next to Ella. "Hi, Ella. I haven't seen you in a while; you sure have grown up lately."
"I'm six-years-old. I start first grade soon. Are you Alex?"
"Yes, I am. Is it okay if I talk to your mom for awhile? If you let me talk to her now, I'll play on the monkey bars with you."
Walking away from the swing set, Alex waited for Addison to take a seat on the bench before sitting next to her. Sitting quietly for a few minutes while shuffling the dirt with his toe, Alex didn't know what to say.
"You were the one who called me asking if we could talk. We can't just sit here, watching Ella play. So you know, I gave her permission to interrupt us if she needs to since I figured this was probably how it was going to go," Addison informed Alex.
It took Alex another minute before finally speaking, "When you told me you were pregnant, the only thing I could think of, was 'please don't let Mark or Derek beat me up when they find out about this.' Did I ever tell you about the time Rebecca came back after you left for LA?"
"Rebecca, like Ava, Rebecca came back? I haven't heard this story," Addison said, turning to face Alex.
"She came back and we slept together in an on-call room. She went home to her husband and daughter, only to return a month later on Halloween, saying she was pregnant with my baby. Izzie did the exam and she wasn't pregnant. I tried to explain it to her, but it only worsened her depression and PTSD. Eventually, she cut her wrists in the kitchen of Meredith's house and I had to commit her to the psych ward after calling her husband. I haven't heard from her since and that was almost five years ago."
"I won't go crazy on you and I really am pregnant. Were you excited about the baby?"
Glancing at Ella as she went down the slide, Alex answered, "I don't know that I was really excited about it, but I was willing to take responsibility for it. Even then, I didn't want to leave someone on their own with my kid. How is this going to work between us? Are you going to let me take care of the baby on my own or am I just going to be the cool uncle?"
Sighing, Addison started, "You will not be the cool uncle unless you want to. Don't tell Mark that I said this, but I've basically raised Ella on my own up until now and I think she's turned out just fine. I left for LA because I didn't really want to have a baby with him, but I did. By moving, I wouldn't be forced to really let him be a parent. Now that she's older, it wasn't such scary idea for me. That and the fact that Lexie is there helps."
"So the idea of having a baby with me and actually letting me help raise it doesn't freak you out?"
It took Addison a minute to answer. She was distracted by Ella, who was calling for her to watch her go across the monkey bars. "Since I've had a few hours to let it sink in that I'm pregnant again, it doesn't freak me out as much as I thought it would. I actually considered aborting Ella, almost immediately after finding out I was pregnant, but I haven't had that thought with this baby. I'm also not just getting out of a very screwed up marriage and the father isn't my husband's best friend. I just need to know one thing, Alex."
Tilting his head as he looked at her, he asked, "What's that?"
"By being a part of this baby's life, you're probably going to be a big part of my life, especially right after he or she is born. By being in my life, you're also a part of Ella's. Are you okay with that?"
"I know we have a lot to discuss in the next eight months, but between now and then, I'm hoping you'll let me be around you and Ella enough so that it's not weird for me to be around for her after the baby is born. Give her a chance to get to know me, give you a chance to get to know me."