The next morning, Mark brought Ella to the hospital to see Addison and meet her little sister. He showed her the pictures of Evelyn Alex had sent him the night before, but he still wasn't sure how she was going to react to seeing her. Granted she had just turned five when Sofia was born and had grown up a lot since then, everyone was still afraid she would react the same way. Because Sofia was so tiny, Ella wasn't allowed in the NICU to meet her, rather her incubator was placed in front of the window for her to see. Ella had been expecting to see a baby much bigger than what she did and broke down, sobbing, afraid her little sister was going to die. She had been around doctors enough to know that when someone's in the hospital and they're really sick, they might die.
Mark first took Ella to Addison's room and found her relaxing in bed, or at least attempting to relax, while Alex got some coffee. Ella climbed onto her mother's bed to give her a hug. "Is Evelyn okay, Mommy? I can't wait to see her and I promise I'm not going to cry like I did with Sofia."
"Evelyn is already better than she was last night. When I had her, she was having a little trouble breathing and she wasn't warm enough. She has a thing in her nose that's giving her a little extra air to make sure she's breathing okay and her temperature is where it should be. Arizona thinks she should be able to come home in about a week; we just need her to weigh a little more first," Addison explained to her daughter in a way that she would understand.
The hospital usually didn't allow six-year-olds in the NICU, but an exception was made for Ella, considering she would be with Addison, Alex, Mark, and Arizona. Alex led the girl across the room to the incubator that had a pink sign at the end of with Evelyn's name and the picture of a giraffe. He helped to stand on a chair next to it so she could put her hand through the opening and touch her sister's hand. "Hi, Evey. I'm Ella, I'm your big sister. You have two more big sisters, Sloan and Sofia. We don't see Sloan very much and Sofia lives with my daddy and Lexie. My daddy isn't your daddy, but I really like Alex and he's a great daddy to me. I know you're gonna be okay and come home soon because Sofia was in a box like this when she was born and she's really fun to play with now. You'll really like her. My daddy and Lexie just had a baby and his name is Bradyn. He's not your brother, but you'll probably play with him a lot."
Alex stood close to Ella since the chair she was standing on wasn't the most stable, but the other adults stood on the opposite side of the incubator, watching the interaction. "Do you mind if Ella stays with you and Lexie this week, at least until I get released?" Addison asked Mark, who was standing behind her, thinking of how much progress Sofia has made since she was in the NICU.
"Huh? Yeah, that's fine. I'm still off this week and Lexie has a few more weeks before coming back. I'm sure she won't mind having Ella over," Mark glanced at his watch. "I told Lexie I wouldn't be gone long. She wanted to run to the store without Bray, so we have to time it between feedings. Do you want me to take Ella or is she fine here for a few hours?"
Hearing the question that was asked, Ella answered for Addison and Alex. "I want to stay here. I like watching Evey."
Addison was cleared to go home the next night and Evelyn was discharged after ten days in the NICU. By the time Evelyn was two months old, Ella was off from school for spring break. Due to Evelyn arriving early, Addison was taking twelve weeks of maternity leave and Alex went back to work a month after she came home. Alex was off the Friday before Easter and Ella had only been off from school for one day and was already driving Addison crazy.
Alex finally got Evey to fall asleep after Addison fed her at lunchtime and wanted to give Addison a little break, maybe to take a much-needed nap. "Hey, Ella. What do you say to a trip to the park? We can take the baseball glove you got for your birthday; we haven't really played since things have been kind of crazy around here."
"I'll go get it!" exclaimed Ella as she ran toward her room to get the baseball glove he gave her a few weeks earlier. Minutes later, Alex was helping her to zip her sweatshirt before leading her out the door of the apartment.
Addison sat on the couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table, smiling to herself as she realized that Callie really had been right about Alex all those years earlier. He really was the guy who would settle down and play catch with his kids and she couldn't wait to see him with her girls as they grew up.
Author's Note: That's the end of this story. I really appreciate all the reviews I got on it, they made writing so much easier, knowing people were looking forward to the next chapter. I've started another story called "Dear Sofia," The style of it is different from anything I've written before, but I hope you all check it out.