Addison woke up somewhat sad that morning. It was a completely cloudy and cold Friday, typical of Seattle's winter; but it was also her last work day before maternity leave. The leave that Derek had insisted tirelessly for her to take, and Sophia had not left her with another option.

As she finished getting ready in front of the mirror, she thought about that. She knew it was the best decision, she couldn't stand being on her feet for so long, the baby weighed 5,500 pounds and her waist was suffering the most. It would be a lie to say that it didn't bother her to work like this.

"Don't be like that... you'll close your eyes and the next thing you know you'll have our baby in your arms. It's almost over, my love."

"I would have liked to keep working until 37 weeks..."

"Addie, come on, we've talked about this. Your job requires too much physical effort. You are eight months pregnant. You can't bend down, or be on your feet for so long, much less hold your patients. You know it's not a matter of desire but of health. You're not in a condition to be a good doctor in that state. You can't run, you can't make too much effort. It's not advisable."

"I know, don't keep saying it as if I didn't know. I live it every day, flesh and bone."

"It's just a few weeks, Arizona will handle your departments very well."

"I know, I don't doubt that. It's just that... I would like to always be there... my patients need me."

"Your daughter needs you more. It's time to put her as a priority."

"She will always be my priority. You don't have to remind me. Move, you're blocking the light," she said, trying to outline her eyes.

"You're still beautiful even when you're angry, you know? That wrinkle that forms between your brows is adorable."

"Are you calling me old?"

"No..."

"Because you're the one turning 40 next month. I still belong to the thirty club for a year more."

"I still feel young. I'm a fetus."

"A forty-year-old fetus. It's time to cut the umbilical cord with your mother, huh?"

"I don't like you sometimes," she laughed.

"You love me."

"Maybe..."

"You love me, admit it."

"I love you and you look beautiful with that baby bump and that grumpy face."

"I'm a ball with legs."

"Beautiful," he kissed her cheek.

~•~

"Last day, huh," Bailey smiled as she approached. They were in the hospital cafeteria.

"Oh, don't remind me. I might just burst into tears right here."

"Hey, I know how it feels... in fact, it was you who sent me home in a wheelchair," she raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry... it was for your and Tuck's health," she took a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Well, same goes. It's for your and Olive's health."

"Willa."

"Will she be named Willa?"

"Hmm... apparently."

"What happened to Olive?"

"Her father doesn't like it."

"Oh..."

"Men always have it easy. They just 'plant the seed', then it's us who have to host it for nine damn months inside. We have to go through hundreds of hormonal and physical changes, our belly grows twelve inches overnight and we have to get used to our new dimensions in a relatively short time. I don't recognize myself, I feel giant, disproportionate. I can't see my feet! I can't tell if I'm properly shaved or if my nails are well-painted!"

Bailey laughed, she knew that feeling.

"They don't have to go through this. The baby doesn't press on their organs which keeps them from sleeping. They don't have to get up 15 times to pee at night. Their breasts don't hurt all the time, their skin doesn't stretch, they don't gain weight, they don't have heartburn, or nausea, or suffer those heat flushes that make you want to scratch your skin off. Their ankles don't swell, they don't get cramps, and they don't have contractions. They continue with their lives as usual, they get up, go to work, continue to be successful, and look good. They don't have to go on paternity leave before the baby is born because it doesn't affect them in any way... while for me, oh, I can't enter the operating room, it would be unprofessional of me if I went into labor right at that moment. It's ridiculous! It's unfair!"

"It is."

"Then I'll have to endure as my body tears in half with pain for hours to deliver her through my vagina, in the best case scenario of course, because I could always end up with the misfortune of ending up with an emergency C-section. And as if that wasn't enough, then I have to breastfeed her for months. Or years, ha."

"Nature is unfair. We live in a patriarchal world by nature. But you have to see the positive side, we can create life and..."

"And on top of that, I have to settle for the name he wants because he doesn't like the one I want?"

Addison didn't seem to listen, she was too upset about her issue.

"You don't like Willa?"

"I do like it!"

"Then?"

"I like it, but not for this baby. If I had another daughter, maybe I would name her that. But not for her. I can't explain it. It's a strange feeling but I already know it, Miranda. I know she sleeps in the mornings after kicking me all night, I know she likes me to eat chocolate or olives after dinner. I know she sucks her thumb pretty often because that's how she appears in the ultrasounds. I know she gets hiccups in the afternoons or when I'm bathing. I know she likes to hear my voice, that classical music relaxes her. I also know she recognizes her dad, she moves with his caresses... I haven't seen her yet and I already know her. And something inside me tells me she has to be named Olive."

"Then explain that to Shepherd. Don't remain dissatisfied."

"Were you okay with Tucker being named after your husband? Derek wanted that too and it sickened me. Do they love themselves so much that they give their baby the same name?"

"I don't know... I suppose so. Now I can't imagine calling him anything other than that. You get used to it, that's just what happens."

"Or you settle..."

"Listen, I have a pregnant patient with an abdominal obstruction," she said as her pager began to ring, "I have to go in to do an intestinal resection."

"How many weeks is the fetus?"

"35."

"Oh, it's almost like mine... it's almost full-term. Is there any way to postpone this a few more days?"

"It can't wait two more weeks, I need to go in urgently."

"Okay... do you need me to deliver the baby?"

"I know it will be safe in your hands, so yes. Could you?"

"Alright," she took the last sip of chocolate and stood up, "you just made my last day more interesting."

~•~

"Addie!" Richard hurried over to her. She was getting ready to go into the operating room.

"Hi, Richard, listen, this is the last operation I'll do for months. I'll finish here and then go home, I promise. Bailey asked me to accompany her and..."

"I didn't come to tell you that, I came to say goodbye to you..."

"Hey, don't say that. It sounds like I'm leaving forever."

"Well, it's the last time I'll see you pregnant, so I wanted to wish you all the best. You know how much I care for you and your family. And how happy I am that at the end of this story, you and Derek made it through together."

"Richard, don't make me cry," she said with a choked voice and teary eyes.

"I love you like a daughter, I've known you since you graduated from college, you were one of my favorite residents in my entire career, and I'm proud to see you at this new stage that is beginning. I do not doubt that you will be an extraordinary mother, this baby is lucky to have you."

"Oh, I'm the lucky one here... thank you, Richard. I'll miss you these weeks," she hugged him tightly, unable to hold back the tears.

"Go, I won't take up more of your time for your last surgery of the year."

"Will you come to meet her as soon as she's born?"

"Of course, is there any doubt about that?"

"Thank you, Richard."

"Take care, Addie. All the best for your delivery."

~•~

"The baby is fine..." Addison said next to the incubator, "For 35 weeks, he has a good weight, his lungs finished developing thanks to the steroids previously applied. He will be three days in the neonatal unit to prevent any kind of unexpected issue, but upon checking on him, I can confirm that he's doing very well."

"Thank you, Addison," Bailey smiled. The mother was still recovering from the surgery.

"You're welcome... I can't help but look at him and think of my baby, he currently looks just like this little one..."

"Let's hope she gains a little more weight, right?"

"Oh, yes. I need her to give me that time. I still don't have everything prepared. I was going to spend these remaining weeks getting everything I need. I don't know when it happened, it feels like yesterday when I was crying with the pregnancy test in hand and now I'm a month away from meeting her."

"This stage goes by so quickly. Not to mention the first few months. Take advantage of every detail, because before you know it, she'll be starting daycare..."

"I forgot to ask you, how did Tuck do in daycare?"

"Well, apparently fine. I got a call from the school saying that he had bitten another child who tried to steal his cookie."

"Oh..." she laughed.

"I have a little 2-year-old cannibal at home, how about that?"

"It must not have been on purpose."

"Trust me, it was. This is a way of expressing his discontent with me. The terrible twos are not a myth. Get ready for what's to come. Newborns are the easy part of all this..."

"I can't wait..."

"Take care, Addison. We'll see each other in a few weeks, I hope you don't get the idea to give birth in another hospital other than this one."

"I spoke with my OB, she has no problem doing it here. So... unless she's born in a taxi... I think everyone here will meet her."

"The number of women who don't make it to the hospital to give birth is concerning. I hope it doesn't happen to you."

"It won't... in the worst case, it will be at my house. She has the advantage of having an obstetrician mother and a surgeon father, right?" she laughed.

"Don't even joke about that."

"Take care, Miranda. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in case I don't see you before."

"Congratulations, Addison."

~•~

"Tough day?" Derek asked as he approached Addison. She was standing erasing her name from the board. She had talked to Arizona earlier to pass on her scheduled cesarean sections for the next week. The other operations would be performed by a neonatal gynecologist and surgeon who would arrive next Monday.

"Der, I didn't see you all day," she smiled to see him arrive.

"I was caught up with a tumor the size of a tennis ball. We just finished."

"Oh, everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. Amelia was in the surgery too. She's good."

"We already know she's good, she's a Shepherd."

"You think it's something that runs in the blood?"

"I don't know, look at your four sisters, all doctors... something must happen with the Shepherds. They grow like weeds."

"Willa will be like that too then, she has our blood..."

"Oh, about that..."

"I know, there's no need to say it. She will be what she wants to be, and we will love her just the way she is, regardless of whether she chooses the path of medicine or circus juggling."

"Really?" he smiled with tight lips.

"Of course, Addie. Ready to go home?"

"Why does this feel like a goodbye?"

"It's not a goodbye. It's a break. A slightly longer vacation than usual. You know... don't cry, Addie."

"It's just that everyone here has been so caring to me, I'm going to miss them so much. In these two years, they have become like a family to me and..."

"Half of the hospital lives in the same building," Derek laughed. "You won't miss them."

Addison laughed through tears. In a way, the ones she spoke to the most did live in the building.

"Let's go home, okay? On the way, we can stop for that pineapple pizza you like so much," he joked.

"I may be pregnant, but I don't have such bad taste."

"I love you."

"I love you more."