Author's Note: I love that you all are enjoying my story. It's looking like there's going to be about 20 chapters to this story, so it's half over. I'm going to a conference this weekend, so I probably won't post another chapter until sometime Sunday. I've got the next few chapters written and uploaded, I'm just not sure if I'll have internet access at the conference to post the next chapter. As always, enjoy & reviews are greatly appreciated.

As promised, Alex arrived at Ella's school ten minutes before she would be getting out for the afternoon. He chose to wait in his car until he saw kids start to leave the building before meeting Ella near the front of the building. A smile crept across Alex's face when he saw the first grader running towards him.

While hugging Alex, Ella stated, "I missed you. Please don't leave again."

Releasing her from the hug, taking her backpack from her, and grabbing her hand while they walked to the car, Alex answered, "I missed you, too. I promise to not leave again as long as your mom says I can keep hanging out with the two of you. We have to stop at home before the park for you to change out of your uniform."

Addison had decided to enroll Ella in one of Seattle's best private schools, which was conveniently only a few blocks from both the apartment and hospital. Had Alex not been doing errands before needing to pick up Ella, he probably would have parked at the apartment and walked, which is what Ella did with her nanny every day.

They were able to play at the park for about half an hour before it started to rain. Addison had decided she wanted chicken for dinner; Alex had been planning on picking up some fried chicken, but with the extra time due to the rain, he chose to stop at the grocery store and pick up supplies to cook for her and Ella.

"Alex, do you love my mommy?" Ella asked as he was in the middle of getting the chicken ready to put in the oven.

Perplexed by the question, Alex answered it with another question, "Why do you ask that?"

"Well, you and mommy are having a baby together, and mommy told me that people have babies when they love each other. You have to love each other since you're having a baby together."

"Oh," replied Alex, trying to come up with an answer Addison would be okay with if Ella shared the conversation with her. "I used to really hate your mom when I first met her, but pretty much everyone here did. Once I got to work with her, I began to like her; I liked her a lot. I guess you would say that I love your mom. You know who else I love?"

Ella sat on the stool for a minute before saying, "No. Who?"

"You. Why don't you find a game or book for us to read until dinner's ready? I think your mom will be home soon."

Addison walked through the door of her apartment, expecting to find a bucket of chicken on the counter, so she was quite surprised to see Alex taking a pan of shake and bake chicken out of the oven and Ella setting the table. Setting her bag next to the couch, she asked, "What's this? I thought you were picking up dinner, not making it."

"We decided to make dinner since it rained when we were at the park," stated Ella as she carried the glass of milk Alex had poured her to the table.

Alex set the chicken on the table, joining the baked potatoes and mixed veggies that were already waiting for them. "I figured you'd be expecting a bucket of chicken. I do know how to cook, you know. It's never anything fancy, but I know how to cook enough to get by. You know about my parents; I was the one who usually made sure my brother and sister got something to eat every day."

Following dinner, Ella did the worksheet she had for homework before getting ready for bed. She convinced Alex he should play a few more games with her before she actually went to bed and insisted he read her a story instead of Addison. Once Ella was asleep in her bed, Alex returned to the living room where Addison was watching a made for TV movie.

Making himself comfortable on the couch, he said, "Thanks for letting me hang out with Ella today. I think she had fun, I know I did."

"If you did all of this today as some way to show me that you'd be a good father and to let you be part of the baby's life, you didn't have to. I've seen you with those kids in the hospital; I know you'll be great with our baby," stated Addison as she turned off the television.

"I wanted to do all of this. I guess part of it was to show you that I really am a good guy, but mainly because I wanted to."

"Have you ever heard about what Callie told me when we had Jane Doe slash Ava slash Rebecca as a patient?" Addison paused long enough to notice Alex shaking his head. "Apparently Callie had noticed how close we had been getting working her case. I was talking about how Mark wanted a real relationship, but I didn't want that with him; I wanted a guy who would barbecue and play ball with his kids. We were watching you in the patient room and she was insistent that you were the type of guy who screwed around in his twenties, but then settled down and barbecued and played ball. I laughed it off because I didn't want to be another attending sleeping with an intern."

"But you were another attending sleeping with an intern. I doubt that anyone found out we slept together then, they've figured out that we ended up almost every time you've been here, though."

She quickly corrected him, "We were only together once while you were an intern. Don't tell Callie this, but I guess she was right about you."

"I won't tell," promised Alex as he moved closer to Addison on the couch, wrapped her in his arms and kissed her.