Author: PeppermintPatty09

Title: What Makes a Family

Rating: T

Fandom: Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice

Pairings/Characters: Addison/Meredith, Violet/Charlotte, Arizona/Callie, Naomi/Sam, Izzy/Dell, Alex/Lexie and George/April. Past mentions of: Meredith/Derek and Addison/Mark

Genre: Romance and Family

Summary: A/U; Single moms Addison Montgomery and Meredith Grey start a friendship through their young daughters, which develops into more. This is pretty much a fluffy, romantic, family centric story with slight angst and drama.

Disclaimer: The characters of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice are proudly owned by Shonda Rhimes, production company ShondaLand, and broadcast station ABC. No copyright infringement is intended. Alyssa Harper Grey and Ella Rose Forbes Montgomery are my own.

Authors Note: If the idea of two women or men loving each other and are in a romantic relationship is against your views, please look elsewhere. All mistakes are my own.

Chapter Fifteen

A Love Is Born

The next couple of days after confessing their feelings for each other were filled with comfortable and routine moments together and with the girls. They had both agreed to go slow, and not tell Ally or Ella until later in their relationship when it became more serious. It would be fruitless if it didn't work out between them. They had also agreed that if anything happened between them, they would try to remain friends for the girls and never take the girls away from each other. But both women agreed to give it an honest chance and so far it's been perfect.

"Ya know," Meredith said, fiddling with the button on Addison's peach colored silk pajama top. "I haven't taken you on a date, yet. And the girls are gone until Sunday afternoon when mom and dad drop them off."

They were laying lazily in bed, talking about anything and nothing. Meredith was draped across Addison, snuggling up to beautiful redhead, with Addison's arm wrapped around her, holding Meredith close to her. It was Saturday, three days since they confessed their feelings for one another. The girls were out having a Grandma and Granddaughter day. Ella had started calling Susan grandma the day of Ally's party, and Susan had taken the job of spoiling her just like her other grandbabies beautifully. Addison was incredibly touched at Susan's acceptance of Ella, considering Ella doesn't really have grandparents. She could count on one hand the number of times Ella had saw her parents.

"Who said it has to be you. Why can't it be me taking you out on a date?" Addison asked, teasingly. She rolled Meredith over, covering Meredith with her body.

Meredith wrapped her arms around Addison's shoulder. "Since I mentioned it first, it should be me taking you out." Meredith stretched up and kissed Addison's exposed collarbone, sucking on it lightly. Meredith grinned when Addison let out a drawn out moan from her lips. "We can get some sushi, watch those romantic movies you like and then I'll take you out for ice cream and walk in the park."

"Meredith, as much as I appreciate it, you don't have to go through that trouble. I know how you feel about anything that has to do with anything romantic and girly."

"Shut up, and let me do this for you. I want to take you out, okay. Yes, I'm not big on the romantic restaurant and moonlight walks, but I would do it for you. I want you happy, Addison. And I know for a fact you like stuff like that."

To show her appreciation, Addison leaned down and delivered a sweet, loving kiss upon Meredith's lips. "Thank you."

"Good. I'm glad you finally see it my way."

Addison went to speak but was cut off by Meredith's lips on her. And that's how they spent the day. Kissing, caressing and talking, letting their love evolve and be born.

"So, we have two orders shrimp and vegetable tempura, four orders spicy tuna and scallop rolls, two orders eel rolls, four orders of California rolls - two without tobiko, two more orders of shrimp nigiri rolls, and steamed vegetables," Meredith listened off as she pulled out each container that held their dinner. Her mouth was already drooling at the prospect of eating the delicious.

"And don't forget the sake," Addison added, sliding up next to Meredith on the couch. "This all looks really, really good." Addison grabbed the container of wasabi, adding a little soy sauce before mixing it altogether with her chop sticks.

Meredith dipped a piece her eel roll into the wasabi and soy sauce mixture. "Have you decided on what movie you want to watch?" she asked after swallowing.

Addison nodded. She chewed her mouth full of California roll before answering, " It's a toss up between The Kids Are All Right and He's Just Not That Into You."

Meredith thought about it. "We could always watch one now, and then watch the other when we come back with our ice cream."

"All right, let's watch He's Just Not That Into You,"

Meredith went over and put the Blu Ray disc into the player, starting it. For the next two hours Addison and Meredith ate and watched the move - that Meredith surprising liked. It wasn't overly romantic and had it's funny parts. It was a movie she could watch again. Especially if it meant she could cuddle up to Addison like this. Meredith smiled down at the said woman that was little spoon. It was a weird position for them, considering that Addison was taller than the two, but Meredith loved holding Addison.

"Here, try this," Meredith told Addison holding up her homemade waffle cone with a scoop of Honey Lavender ice cream from Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream.

Addison reached over, taking a healthy lick, scooping some up with her tongue. "Mmm…that is good. Kinda makes me jealous that I got Salted Caramel."

Meredith laughed. They were outside of Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream shop, eating their sweet, creamy treat in the cold November night. They had to wait in line for an hour to get their ice cream, but it was worth the wait. As she took the finally bite of her waffle cone, Meredith felt a chill sweep through her body and she stepped closer to Addison, snuggling into Addison's Burberry trench coat. She sighed contently when the warmth and scent of Addison enveloped her. Addison took one more one more bite of her waffle cone before she wrapped her arms fully around Meredith.

Addison looked at the time, seeing it was close to eleven at night. "Come on, let's head home. It's starting to rain." Addison looked up at the sky. She could see the light drizzle of rain being illuminated by the moonlight.

Meredith didn't move but Addison could feel her body vibrate with chuckles. "It's Seattle; it's always raining." Meredith sighed, tightening her hold. "You feel good. So warm. Soft. You also smell so good."

Addison ducked her head, bathing her face into perfumed hair. As she breathed in Meredith's scent, she felt her felt her heart expand and tighten. She suddenly had this overwhelming urge to tell Meredith that she loved her - was in love with her. But she couldn't. Not yet, anyway. So instead she steered them towards her car, promising Meredith on the way there that they could cuddle in bed with the fireplace going and their last movie. Meredith seemed to have perked up at the idea, and started to pull Addison to the car.

They had arrived home thirty minutes later, and immediately went to the kitchen where they started on making hot chocolate to warm up the chill that had seeped into the bones. As the milk was warming, they went and changed into their nightwear and set up the movie. While Meredith got the bed ready for them, Addison went back downstairs to make their hot chocolate. On the way back into Meredith's room, Addison turned off the lights and double check the doors.

When she made it to the room, she found Meredith already in bed, resting against the headboard, talking softly into the phone. Addison set the warm mugs onto the nightstand, chastely kissed Meredith and then got into bed herself.

"So they had a good time?...I'm glad…I hope you didn't spoil them too much, mom…Just because you're their grandma doesn't mean you can get them whatever you want…" Meredith wrapped her arm around Addison. Addison smiled shyly at Meredith, snuggling close. "Well…I'm surprised they were able to go to sleep with all the sugar you fed them…Okay. Love you too, mom. Tell daddy I love him…All right, see you tomorrow afternoon…Night, mom."

"The girls have a nice time with Susan?" Addison question. She leant over Meredith's body to grab her mug.

"Yeah." Meredith grabbed her own mug. She laughed. "They started their day with a lunch of pizza, breadsticks and soda." Meredith rolled her eyes. She didn't like the girls to have too much soda but her mom didn't have any of it. Saying that she's been drinking the stuff since she was a kid and was still around, with all her teeth and at perfect health. "After lunch they head over to the Bug Safari; where the spent about an hour there. After looking at bugs and such, they went to the Aquarium for Ella and finally ended their kids day at Gamework. After that they had dinner of burger, fries, and shakes. Tomorrow she's taking them shopping."

Addison laughed. "Sounds like they had a great time." Addison expression that was once pure joy turned somber. "You don't know what this mean to me, and Ella that your mom treats her so well. Spoiling her like a grandma suppose to. My mom's not really the grandma type."

Meredith kissed Addison's forehead. "It's no problem for my mom. She loves Ella. She doesn't do it because she feels bad, she does it because she loves Ella. I love Ella. I would do anything for that kid."

Addison reached up, kissing Meredith soundly, clutching tightly at her waist. "I know," She breathed. "I feel the same way about Ally."

"Good," Meredith nodded. She put their mugs back on her night table and reached for the remote to start the movie. It was about twenty minutes into the film, when the son and his mom's are discussing sex and gay porn, Addison opened her mouth to speak.

"Can I ask you something?"

Meredith peered at Addison. "Of course. You know you can ask me anything?"

"Why do you call Susan "mom" and not your actual mom, Ellis Grey?"

Meredith sighed. She muted the television. "My dad and Ellis divorced when I was four, and they went to court over me. From what my dad told me it was long and gruesome, but back then no matter how unfit the mother was to her children, they were rewarded to her. Especially in my case where I was a little girl. As you know Ellis won. For two years I was shuttled back and forth. By this time Ellis' career was starting to take off, she was making a name for herself and spending less and less time because of that. I remember one time I didn't see her for almost two weeks."

Addison kissed Meredith's head, giving her girlfriend comfort. She had a feeling this wasn't going to be one happy story but sad and extremely hard for the blonde.

"Until one day, she forgot to pick me up from school," Meredith continued her tale. "I was there for two hours before anyone noticed. They tried to get a hold of my mom - no such luck. Finally, they called my dad from work. He had to cancel two classes but he didn't care, I needed him. Within fifteen minutes my daddy arrived, and Ellis' showed up not long after that. The next day my dad took Ellis' to court; this time he won full custody. I never saw Ellis again until I was twenty-five."

Meredith smiled sadly. "When I was nine my dad introduced me to Susan. She came into my life and turned my life upside down, I'll tell you," Meredith and Addison laughed. "She was everything I wanted in a mom. She was kind, caring, loving, strict when needed to be and never treated me like a nuisance or mistake like Ellis did at times. She loved me like I was her own. It wasn't long before I started calling her mommy. I was her daughter and she was my mom. I'm very grateful for her."

"Anyways," Meredith shifted a little to seek more of Addison's warmth. "When I was twenty-five in my third year at Medical school and living with some roommates, she showed up out of the blue wanting to talk to me - I agreed. To this day I don't know why I did it. I don't regret, or anything, but I just greeted her with open arms. Maybe it's because I forgiven her and I had the family I always wanted. For five years we built up our relationship. At thirty, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I was devastated. Though I didn't think of her as a mother, I did love and care for her as a close friend. We were just starting to build our relationship, and getting to where we were close like mom and daughter. It was hard. The battle was long and hard. I had to admit her into a nursing home, and was there until she showed up at Presbyterian because she had a cardiac episode. We talked a night, closure, you know. The night she died, she whispered she was proud of me and loved me. Ally is actually named after Ellis'. Her awards anyways," Meredith laughed. "Ellis was proud of her awards."

Addison kissed Meredith. "I'm glad you were able to have that time with your mom. She ever meet Ally?"

"Yeah," Meredith grinned. "She held her and looked into Ally's eyes and said to her, 'You, Alyssa Harper Grey, are going to do wonders. You are extraordinary.' I haven't even thought of Ally's middle name at the time. We had just agreed on Alyssa. Derek liked it and I did, too. So we named her Alyssa Harper Grey. Ellis died six months later."

Seeing the tears fall from Meredith stormy blue eyes, Addison pulled Meredith into her arms. She rubbed soothing circles on her girlfriend's back until she heard Meredith's breath even out and soft breaths were tickling her neck.

"I love you, Meredith Grey," Addison whispered to the sleeping blonde before sleep claimed her, too.

TBC

A/N: Sorry for the late, late update. School started for me again, and it's been hectic to say the least. I had to drop two classes because the darn school made a mistake, putting me in a very below average math class. I guess that's college for ya. But now since I'm all settled and ahead of my work, I'll be able to take time to write more. Good stuff coming soon. Also, thanks for the reviews. They're very kind. Love them all.