Addison was looking perplexed at herself in the mirror that morning. The true "pop" had arrived this week. Nothing compared to how it was that day. The baby had decided to start showing on its own and nothing she wore could hide it anymore. They had agreed to announce it at the hospital next week when they reached four months, but it seemed like it was going to happen a little earlier. None of her clothes were comfortable anymore, they were too tight, and she knew it was not advisable to wear them.

And Addison Forbes Montgomery would never go to work with a skirt or pants unbuttoned. So she opted for a knee-length sand-colored dress. It was made of thin fabric, and they were in the middle of summer, and the heat was starting to be worse on her. There were days when she felt like her blood was starting to boil. Damn hormones.

She touched up her makeup, tied a part of her hair with a clip, and headed to the hospital, knowing that today everyone would notice her pregnancy.

~•~

"Okay, the trailer is horrible, but in the light of day, the terrain is beautiful. Seattle is beautiful during the day, and you like the ferries..." Nancy said as she walked alongside Derek through the hospital's main hallway.

"Yes, about that..."

"Kathleen told me about the panties on the bulletin board, actually. I just wanted to hear your version in person. And see where you work. Is this why you left your practice in New York?"

"I have a job here."

"Hey, I'm also an obstetrician, and I have my job. I could happily go back home if I wanted to. But I need to know what's going on with you and the slutty intern you left your wife for. What were you thinking?"

"God, you sound more and more like mom."

"Take that back."

"Dr. Shepherd, I have a consult..." Meredith asked with Izzie behind her.

"Oh, Meredith."

"Meredith?" Nancy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Dr. Grey, Dr. Stevens, this is my sister, Nancy."

"Your sister?" Meredith said.

"Yes, that's right," Derek confirmed.

"Oh, she's one of your sisters," she laughed nervously.

"You didn't think I was his wife, did you? You already got in her way and pushed her out."

Izzie and Meredith were surprised by that completely unexpected response.

"Nancy came to visit from Connecticut, and she's already heading straight home..." he looked at her angrily.

"Well, it was nice meeting you," Meredith forced a smile and walked away with Izzie.

"What the hell are you doing?" Derek grabbed Nancy's arm.

~•~

"Mercy West transfer," George O'Malley said next to the ambulance that had just arrived. "Noelle Labatt, pregnant with twins, 32 weeks. It seems that one is developing less than the other," he said, handing Addison the medical history.

"Hey, hello," Addison said approaching the patient.

"Hi, I'm Greg Stanton. She's my fiancée, the future Mrs. Stanton, Noelle," said a man next to the woman in the wheelchair.

"Greg, only you care if we're married or not..." the girl responded in an annoyed tone.

"They said we should come because her condition could be serious... is it serious?"

"At first glance, it doesn't seem as urgent as for Mercy West to transfer you here," Addison responded as she walked alongside them. "You're not in labor, and the vital signs are stable..."

"They say I need a specialist because of my condition..."

"Your condition?" Addison looked at her confused.

"Two uteruses?!" O'Malley shouted. Addison looked at him seriously, and he handed her the patient's history. "It says here that Miss Noelle was born with two viable uteruses."

"Two uteruses..." Addison affirmed.

"That's sooo rare," George told the patient, and Addison got annoyed.

"O'Malley! Why can't you interns keep a comment to yourselves?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip causing her belly to be exposed.

"Dr. Montgomery Shepherd, you're pregnant!" George shouted. Everyone present in the emergency room turned towards her. Callie, Izzie, Owen, Teddy, Alex, Arizona, Cristina, Meredith, and Burke stared at her.

"You see? This is what I mean when I say you can't keep a comment to yourselves..."

~•~

"Well, half the hospital is talking about my pregnancy and I haven't even seen Derek today," Addison said as she approached Mark.

"At least you won't have to hide anymore with the closed robe or the chart in front of you... and now you can freely show off those new breasts life is giving you. I'd say they are almost as perfect as the ones I give my patients," he laughed.

"Very funny. Oh, is that coffee?" she asked, looking at the cup Mark had in his hands.

"Yes, black and strong, without sugar."

"Just what I need today, can I have a sip?"

"Don't pregnant women avoid consuming caffeine?"

"It's just a sip, I need it to get through this day without shooting myself. Actually, I'd like a glass of red wine, but I don't have the same flexibility with alcohol as I do with caffeine. Give it to me," she took the cup and took a sip.

"Addie!" Derek said loudly, making her turn quickly. "We have some surprises here..."

"Oh my God! Nancy!" She ran to hug her enthusiastically.

"No way! Bitch! What is this?" Nancy shouted upon seeing Addison's swollen belly.

"Oh, it's the talk of the day at the hospital," she pressed her lips together into a smile and looked at Derek, who raised his eyebrows in surprise. Her belly had indeed doubled in size since he had been with her on Saturday.

"I can't believe it! How could you keep this news to yourselves? Damn it, Addison, you're pregnant!" she shouted again with excitement and hugged her, jumping up and down.

Mark watched the whole situation uncomfortably. He felt like he shouldn't be there at that moment.

"Oh my God, congratulations," Nancy continued, her eyes welling up.

"Thank you," both parents responded in chorus with a proud smile on their faces.

"How far along are you, Addie?" Nancy asked, placing a hand on her belly.

"15 weeks today."

"You've been hiding this secret for fifteen weeks? I hate you both! Mom will go crazy when she finds out."

"About that, Nancy... you won't tell Mom anything," Derek said with a serious face again.

"Are you crazy? You're about to have your first baby and you don't want to tell the family?"

"It's not that we don't want to tell them. It's just that we haven't figured out how yet, and it wasn't in our plans for you to show up in my trailer this morning."

"Oh, you've seen the trailer?" Addison said.

"It's awful, how could you withstand being in that tin can for so long?"

Both of them laughed, but Derek didn't seem amused.

~•~

"Addie, I need details. How long have you known?" Nancy asked, sitting in the chair next to her in the hospital cafeteria.

"Hmm... I found out at around 3 or 4 weeks along."

"God, that's a long time. Why are you keeping it a secret?"

"We're not keeping it a secret, it's just that we haven't found a way to announce it yet, and... well, we were protecting ourselves from the family. I don't think Mom will be very happy with me after what I did to her son."

"Oh, Mom will be so happy. I can assure you she won't even remember Mark. Besides, Mark is Mark. Who hasn't been with him?"

"Oh, Nancy, you too?"

"It was many years ago, at a summer camp... it doesn't matter. Mark is just a phase, a necessary fact in a woman's life. The end."

"I suppose..." she stirred her hot chocolate, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"

"Oh, no. We still don't know," she lied. It was easier to say that than to tell her about their decision.

"When is your next ultrasound?"

"At 18 weeks."

"Do you have an OB here? Do you want me to be your OB?"

"I'd like that. I've been thinking about changing my OB."

"You'll have to come to New York in the final weeks, I imagine you'll want the baby to be born there."

"Actually... the baby will be born here."

"How? Here in Seattle? Addison, no one in the family has been born in Seattle. All the Shepherds are from New York."

"I know, but... we live here now. I guess it will be the first Montgomery Shepherd to be born on the West Coast..."

"Oh no. Are you going to separate it from the family? And its grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins? Will we never get to know it? Do we have to travel in January?"

Addison was starting to get nervous. She hated Derek for leaving her alone with the tough questions.

"I... we haven't talked about that yet..."

Addison's pager started to beep. It was Noelle. She quickly got up from her chair.

"I have a case of a pregnant woman with two uteruses, both fertilized by different fathers at different times," Addison said. Maybe that would catch Nancy's attention and make her stop asking about her life.

"Oh, functional uteruses? You have to let me be part of that surgery. What are you planning to do?"

"The baby at 32 weeks has bradycardia, so I will perform an emergency C-section."

"Can I come in?"

"Of course."

~•~

"Derek, what's going on with you?" Nancy asked as she stirred her coffee. They were in a café at the Seattle airport.

"Why do you say that?"

"Your wife's pregnant and you're living in separate houses. Why are you allowing her to be alone in a hotel?"

"She chose to stay in the hotel..."

"Oh, of course. Because it's so much better to be in a reheated piece of tin."

"I messed up with her, Nancy. I've already told you. It's not that easy to go back to how things were, not after how we hurt each other. She asked for space, and I'm respecting that. I wanna do everything right for when the baby comes."

"Derek, it's not 'when the baby comes' that you have to do things right. It's before. There's a reason pregnancies last so many months so that parents start adapting to the idea and plan together. Are you aware of what it implies to carry a human being inside you? It's exhausting. You're tired, hungry, hot, scared, and anxious all the time. Every day you wake up with a different symptom, and it's like that throughout the whole process. Because the first months are not the only ones that drain you. The last ones wreak havoc on your waist and back. Your breasts hurt. You feel huge. The baby kicks every damn organ in your body. And don't even get me started on the damn hormones that mess with your psyche. I'm telling you this because I've been through it five times, and if it weren't for John's help, I probably wouldn't have been able to finish even half of the first one."

"Nancy, I know. It's exhausting, painful, and stressful, I know that."

"Of course, you don't know. You'll never know. You're a man. Even if you read a thousand books about pregnancies, you'll never be able to experience what it's like to live through it. That's why you have to stop being a selfish jerk and try to make her happy."

"Addison is happy..."

"Oh really? Is she happy being alone most of the time in a hotel and the other half working at the same hospital as the slutty intern who ruined her marriage?"

"Nancy..."

"Derek, stop wasting time and start taking action. Don't wait for her to call you to be there. They need you, both her and the baby. It's time to leave all your fears behind and fight for what you want. Let her know that you truly regret what happened with Meredith. Let her know that you love her and choose her. Show her, so that she never doubts it again in her life. Pregnancy goes by quickly, before you know it, the baby will be here. After that, in the blink of an eye, they will be taking their first steps, saying their first word, or putting on their uniform to start first grade. Life goes by that fast. I tell you from experience, it feels like it was just yesterday that Lucas, my youngest, was born, and now he's 9 years old and saying he wants to be a neurosurgeon like Uncle Derek.

They both laughed as they remembered little Lucas.

"I won't tell Mom or the girls anything, but promise me that this conversation won't be in vain. Promise me that you'll fight for your family and stop running away. Damn it, Derek. You're going to be a dad."

"I'm going to be a dad," he repeated with a smile on his face.

"I don't doubt that you can be the best father of all. But it's time to be the best husband too... My flight leaves in half an hour, I should already be entering the boarding area but... promise me that you'll come by the house at some point. How about Thanksgiving or Christmas? The kids miss you, don't distance yourself from your family, Derek."

"I can't promise to come for the holidays because Addison is due in January, but we'll do our best to come before then."

"Alright, I choose to believe that you will. Take care, Derek."

"Take care, Nancy. Thank you for the visit."