"This is not a funny joke, is it? Are you kidding me?" said Addison, upset.

"Of course not."

"How could you accept the most important position of all without even consulting me first? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I knew that if I consulted you, you would say no."

"Of course, I would say no! We have a newborn baby and a five-year-old girl who depend entirely on both of us, Derek! You were supposed to take paternity leave with me to do just that, to be a parent. Do you think that because you are a man, you are exempt from it? We are in 2012!" she yelled with tears in her eyes.

"No, Addie. You know I don't think that. Let me explain, listen."

"I don't want to hear you. None of the excuses you are going to say seem valid to me. You know that I need you now more than ever, and you are leaving! You are choosing the stupid job over me again!"

"I'm not choosing and I am not leaving. I need you to understand that it was for a major reason, Richard is entering rehab."

"What?"

"He is an alcoholic, Addison. He had a relapse. The medical board fired him. And the hospital cannot be left without a chief."

"Why did you offer to take his place knowing that you have a baby?"

"I didn't offer, I reported him and they called me to take the position."

"You reported Richard? How could you do that?"

"I couldn't allow him to keep playing with people's lives in the operating room. It's negligence!"

"Richard is our friend. Could you have at least talked to him before?"

"That would have complicated things."

"Would it have complicated things for him or you?"

"Addison, in these kinds of situations, it was best to act before the life of an innocent person was at risk."

"And the board appointed you as the new chief? Why didn't they call Owen? or Mark? or Teddy?"

"They considered me the right person for the position, whether you like it or not, it's the truth. I was the best candidate. I am one of the top neurosurgeons in the country and the right person for the job. I have been preparing for this for years."

"You are selfish, that's what you are."

"I did what was best for the hospital and for Richard as well."

"You don't have to lie to me. We both know that you did it for yourself. Between surgery and love, you chose surgery. You chose ambition," she said, turning away. He tried to grab her arm, but she slipped away before he could touch her.

~•~

"Look, here comes Mom," Nancy said, approaching Addison, who had red eyes from crying.

"Is she still upset?" she asked, seeing that the baby was still crying.

"I think she's hungry, I checked her diaper and it's clean, and she won't fall asleep either."

"Okay, I'll go upstairs with her to breastfeed. And Olive?"

"She's playing with Mark in the garden. Sorry for intruding, but are you okay? Did something happen between you and Derek?"

"Everything's fine... I'll be back in a bit," she said, taking the baby in her arms and heading upstairs. Addison wasn't going to discuss that in front of his family, the Montgomerys don't air their problems in public.

Derek appeared in the living room a few minutes after Addison left. He didn't seem very happy either.

"What did you do to her?" asked Amelia, angry.

"Why do you always assume I did something to her?"

"Because you always do something to her. Why was she crying?"

"We argued."

"Why would you argue with a woman in the middle of postpartum? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"The idea wasn't for it to turn into an argument. I didn't think she'd react like that."

"'I didn't think she would react like that', blah blah blah. What did you do?"

"I reported Richard to the medical board. He got fired, and I took over as chief of surgery."

"Oh, you can't be serious, Derek."

"Why would I joke about something so important? I'm the new head of the hospital! I start tomorrow, Monday."

"You're an asshole. You always think of yourself and not your family."

"Excuse me? Are you taking Addison's side now? Why can't you be happy for me and the achievements I've made? Why am I the selfish one and not you for not valuing the success of others?"

"You know very well it wasn't the right time for you to accept that position that requires you to be at the hospital all day, every day of the week. You have a newborn baby who needs you constantly, and Addison can't do it alone."

"But I won't leave her alone."

"Derek, it's difficult for you to understand, but Addison has given up a lot for motherhood. And I'm not just talking about her leave during these weeks; I'm talking about everything in general. She has reduced her workload, delegated tasks, and given up complicated surgeries that she would have liked to do, but she knew she needed that time to care for her daughter. She didn't do it because she's incapable or unwilling, she did it for your daughter. She did it because she didn't want Olive to grow up with an absent mother due to work. And now, because of the baby, she's doing the same. While you're there feeding your ego and your résumé, she'll be at home, all day alone, taking care of your daughters. Is it fair that after putting her body through nine months of pregnancy, giving birth, and now breastfeeding, she has to stay alone, away from her surroundings just because she's the mother, because she's a woman? What are you doing?"

Derek was silent, thinking about what his sister was telling him. Perhaps accepting the position so quickly didn't give him the chance to consider this.

"Addison also wanted to be chief of surgery, and you know she also had a plan for the next ten years, but she didn't even apply because she had a little girl to take care of. Now she also would like to go to work on Monday, spend the day in the OR, see patients, and save lives. But in the next few months, the only time she'll be near a hospital is when she takes the baby for a check-up. Because what kind of mother would she be if she left the newborn baby in daycare to go to work, to do what you plan to do? The worst, right?"

"I'll talk to her and..."

"No, Derek. You screwed up. You thought of yourself above everyone else, as you always do. And I don't know what you did to Richard to take his position, but it was probably a shitty move."

~•~

"When will Sofia come home? I miss her," Olive said as her godfather swung her in the garden.

"Surely in the next few days, she was with her mothers today and couldn't come."

"Oh..."

"Are you happy with your sister? She's a baby just like Sofia!"

"Sofia is more fun, she knows how to grab things and crawl."

"Arleth will learn to do that in a few months. You have to teach her things, you're her older sister."

"Hmm… Uncle Mark?"

"Yes?"

"Do my parents not love me anymore?"

"Why would you say that, Ols? They love you."

"Mom didn't care about the sign I made and Dad didn't want to try the chocolate cake I made with Grandma."

"It's because they were busy, there were a lot of people at home."

"I think they're mad at me..."

"Why would they be mad at you?"

"Because they looked mad and went to fight in the kitchen."

"That's adult stuff. They would never be mad at you, you're an angel."

"I'm not, yesterday I almost set my dad's trailer on fire."

"What?" he asked laughing.

"It's true."

"You almost set the trailer on fire? How is that?"

"It was an accident. Aunt Amy put out the fire. But they can't find out or they'll kill me. Or maybe they already found out and that's why they're mad..."

Mark tried to hold back his laughter. It wasn't funny at all, but he found it amusing that his niece had done that to Derek. She was very much like Amelia in many ways.

"Hey, don't feel bad about it. These things happen. The important thing is that you're safe, and the trailer wasn't ruined. Right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, see? Everything's fine. Did you see how pretty your sister looked today? Your mom told me you helped her pick out her outfit."

"I didn't help her."

"How come?"

"I just put the clothes in the bag."

"Oh... anyway, she looked very pretty, don't you think?"

"Yes," she said slowly, almost in a whisper.

"Did you know I have a gift for you?"

"Really?" she said, looking at him with lit-up eyes again.

"Yes, and it's in the trunk of my car. You'll have to come with me to see what it is. Shall we go?"

"Yes!"

~•~

"Addie... can we talk?" asked Derek, gently opening the door to their room. She was sitting, propped up against the bed's headboard, nursing the baby.

The mini party had ended a few hours ago, Derek's sisters and mother were already asleep in their respective rooms, as was Olive. She had fallen asleep hugging the large teddy bear that her godfather had given her.

"What do you want, Derek? There's nothing left to talk about. It's done," she said.

"I know I was wrong to make this decision without consulting you first... but I want you to listen to me. This isn't how you think. I'm not going to leave you alone."

"You already left me alone... Oh, baby," she complained.

"We can make this work, without giving up anything."

"You already gave up, Derek. You were supposed to spend at least two months at home to be with the baby, and now you're leaving. You won't be around and at night, when it gets tough, you'll want to sleep. Because you'll be exhausted from running a whole hospital during the day. Or are you going to tell me that you'll have the energy to take care of a crying baby in the early hours of the morning?"

"Addie..."

"Of course not, I'll be the one staying up late. I'll be the one feeding her, changing her, putting her back to sleep. Because you have to rest. Because you have important things to do and I'm just a mom."

"We can make this work, it doesn't have to be a heavy burden for you. Addison, we've dreamed of this for years."

"You've dreamed of this, Derek. I dreamed of seeing our family happy and... now I can't even feed the baby!" she exclaimed, crying.

"Honey…" he said, sitting next to her. He felt guiltier than ever.

"You said we could handle two children! You said you would always be there!"

"But we can handle two children, Addie. Stop acting like life has ended here. It's the beginning of a new stage!"

"The new stage was Arleth's birth, but in just three days, it has become a second priority. It's not your priority anymore."

"The girls will always be my priority! Why don't you understand?"

"Why can't you understand me?! Is it so hard to understand that it's not the time to be a chief? If you wanted that position so much, if you wanted to fulfill that dream so much, we wouldn't have had a second baby!"

"Don't say that, Addison."

"You know I didn't want more babies, you know Olive was enough for me. But she started insisting on a little sibling, you started insisting on a little sibling for Olive, and here's Olive's little sister! She doesn't even want to see her, and you're already seeing how to spend less time at home."

"I don't regret having Arleth."

"Of course, you don't, you won't even know how her upbringing will be."

"Addison, can you stop for a minute? You're acting as if I hate the baby! Or worse, as if you hate her! I thought you were happy with her birth."

"And I am!"

"Then stop talking as if you regret having her. Because you know you don't. We wanted her, we looked for her, we waited for her all this time, and she arrived. She was our Christmas gift."

"I know."

"Then don't say it would have been better not to have her."

"It's just that... I didn't want it to be like this," she said, sobbing.

"Stop acting as if an irreparable tragedy had occurred. I promise we can handle this, we just need to get used to it."

"We haven't even gotten used to being parents of two, and you want me to get used to your absence?"

"I'm not dead."

"No, it's worse. You're choosing to leave."

"I won't go anywhere, Addison. I'll stay as long as I can with you and the baby."

"The little time you'll have left."

"Why can't you trust me? Why can't you have a little faith in what I'm saying?"

"Because I've had a baby already and I know how it is. It seems you forgot how tough it gets and how little you sleep."

"Arleth sleeps well at night."

"Arleth is only three days old, newborns sleep up to twenty hours a day but that will change in a month. Olive didn't sleep even three hours in a row!"

"She doesn't have to be like Olive."

"All babies are like that, not just Olive. All babies cry, complain, stay up at night, get dirty, demand food, vomit on you, or scream in your face until you're deaf in one ear, or... Ouch!"

"I know, and we can handle it."

"How?! You are leaving me alone!"

"This conversation isn't going anywhere. I think it's best to continue later. And I'm telling you for the last time, if nursing is so painful for you, switch to formula."

"Breast milk has many more benefits for the baby! I don't want to deprive her of that just because it hurts me!"

"I know hundreds of babies who have been raised on formula and they're fine. Arleth will be fine."

"Screw you, Derek."

"Goodnight, Addison. I love you too."