Addison's Secret

Epilogue

Addison walked into the kitchen, or what could be considered a kitchen, given the size of the trailer. Strips of bacon sizzled and popped on the stovetop. She was glad the smell of the bacon overwhelmed the smell of the eggs Derek was scrambling.

The smell of eggs would send her running for a trashcan, she just knew it.

She placed her hand atop the swell of her belly. It was a considerable size at 27 weeks. She was thankful she wasn't waddling yet.

"Good morning," Derek greeted with a kiss. "Sleep okay?"

"I'm sleeping less and less with this little lima bean growing in me," she sighed. "Well, I guess 'lima bean' is a bit of an understatement now."

They decided to call their baby 'lima bean' because they still hadn't decided on a name. Nor the gender. They seemed to discover a new name they liked every day and they opted for a surprise regarding the gender.

"How about Chloe?" Derek asked.

Addison pursed her lips as she considered the name. "Add it to the list."

"You know that list isn't getting any shorter," Derek stated.

She smirked as she slipped her reading glasses on, the red frame complimenting her red lips. "You're the one that keeps making suggestions, Dear."

She heard him hum a response as she flipped her phone over to check her messages.

"I missed a call from the land developer. Did he ever send you those blueprints?"

"Not yet, but I'm supposed to see him in a few days. Remind me to get those," Derek responded.

Addison nodded absentmindedly. The house plans were coming together slowly, but surely.

She caught the ever-growing pile of mail out of the corner of her eye and sighed. It was exhausting thumbing through all the ads disguised as important mail from the actual important mail. Although everything was exhausting these days. She found herself actually looking forward to maternity leave.

She picked up the pile with two hands and sifted through a few pieces of junk mail before discovering a letter from her attorney and a handwritten letter.

She recognized the handwriting immediately.

Without thinking, she stuffed the letter into the pocket of her robe. Whether it was meant for her, Derek, or both, she wasn't sure. But one thing was for certain, she didn't want to start their day off on that note.

"Anything worth looking at?" Derek asked as he turned around, both hands occupied with plates of food. Bacon, fruit and scrambled eggs, the ladder substituted with toast for Addison, were piled high.

"Are you feeding an army, or perhaps a small village?" Addison asked bemused.

"You know as well as I do, you're eating for two," Derek explained.

"So, then what's your excuse?" She asked playfully.

While Derek thought of a comeback, she slid the letter from her attorney over to him.

He quickly gave up, his attention falling on the piece of mail in front of him.

"It's about the hearing, I'm sure," Addison said before taking a bite of bacon.

Derek tore open the envelope and unfolded the weighted paper. His eyes danced over the printed words. "They're postponing the date given our circumstances."

Addison rolled her eyes. "That's ridiculous. And sexist if you ask me."

"It's not sexist if it's that close to your due date, Addie. That's a lot of stress to take on that late in the pregnancy."

She stopped herself from rolling her eyes again. If anyone knew the toll of stress on pregnancy it was her. She had to remind herself of her many patients who overexerted themselves and the various negative outcomes they had experienced.

"Fine, but only because it is a lot of stress without the help of wine."

"I'll take it," Derek said victoriously through a mouthful of eggs.

Addison scooted back her chair and used the table to push herself upright to her feet.

"Where are you going?" Derek asked.

"I just need to use the bathroom," Addison said as she retreated. It wasn't a complete lie. The lima bean was heavy on her bladder. She swore, for every one glass of water she drank, she peed three times.

As soon as the door was shut, she took the letter out of her robe pocket. The handwriting was undeniably Mark's. It was more like chicken scratch than anything. Like most doctors, she supposed.

And there it was, her name scrawled out in horrible chicken scratch.

She carefully tore the envelope open and was momentarily confused when the piece of paper was just a torn page of old research notes, but when she turned it over, she found a message addressed to her, and her alone. It read:

Dear Red,

I hear you're very pregnant. I hope it's an easy pregnancy and that you and Derek welcome a beautiful baby boy or girl into the world. I didn't have a chance to talk to you that day at the hospital. I was busy keeping Derek out of jail. And I haven't been able to bring myself to talk to you since, but I wanted to let you know that I'm happy for you, even if things didn't turn out as I'd hoped. I'm moving to L.A. for a fresh start. Believe it or not I'll be next door to Naomi and Sam. If anything should happen, you'll know where to find me. I lov Take care.

-Mark

Addison let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

That was it then. Mark would move to L.A. and create a new life without her and Derek in it. She could finally let him go. This was good. She was certain it was good. So then why did she surprise herself when a tear landed perfectly on the 'I lov' part of the letter, distorting it until it was no longer legible?

She hurriedly wiped her tears. No, this was good. This was a way forward for all of them. It was just that goodbyes were hard. Or it was hormones. Those damn pregnancy hormones.

There was a knock on the door.

"Everything okay?" Derek called from the other side.

"Yes," Addison answered. "Be out in a minute!"

She waited until she heard shuffling from Derek's slippers as he walked away before she ripped the letter into a hundred tiny pieces and dropped them in the toilet bowl.

She said a silent goodbye before flushing them and watched until she was certain they were gone. She rushed over to the sink and splashed cold water on her face before rejoining Derek in the kitchen.

"Are you sure you're okay? You look flushed," Derek noted as he scraped the remaining food on his plate into the trashcan.

"I was just feeling a little ill. Probably the grease."

"The lima bean has a thing for grease."

"Yeah, well Mom doesn't."

Derek leaned against the counter and grinned at her.

"What?" Addison asked.

"'Mom.' Sounds weird. But a good weird."

Addison smirked and strutted over to him as best as her pregnant belly would allow, eliciting a laugh from Derek.

"I love you so much," she whispered before snaking her hands up his neck and into his hair, before landing her lips on his.

When she finally pulled back, Derek was quick to close the distance again.

"I'm loving these pregnancy hormones."

"Remember that in a few weeks," Addison quipped.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer so that her body was leaning against his and her head was resting in the crook of his shoulder.

"I love you too," he said quietly. 

XXX

A/N: Let me know what you thought of the story. I have some ideas for future stories, should I have any readers interested. Again, thank you for reading :)