For the next few days, every morning is filled with tension. George still doesn't come home for obvious reasons, Izzie casts sidelong glances at Meredith intent on hearing at least an apology from her, Meredith pretends she has a lot on her plate and has a quick breakfast to leave the kitchen, and Maddox, for her part, once again plays the impartial referee. She sips her mug of coffee in silence, glancing slyly at the two girls, and knows it's only a matter of time before a pitched battle breaks out in that very house.

"Do you want me to take you to the hospital?" Meredith asks her. With the newly healed arm, Maddox better not drive yet, so the brunette nods, finishing her breakfast. "Okay, I'm going to get my stuff and we're all set."

Meredith disappears, heading upstairs, and that's when Izzie dares to speak to her. "So you've taken her side."

"It's a ride to the hospital. I haven't sided with anyone, Iz. This isn't a war."

"Except it could be. George has left the house for her, and the first thing you do is spend the night with her and take her side. Meredith already has Cristina, and possibly Alex."

"God, Izzie, don't be like that. I'm not favoring Mer, and I'm not going to favor George. I've already talked to both of them, and they know I'm here if they need anything. We're not twelve years old, we can handle this maturely."

Izzie opens her mouth, surprised. "There's no way Meredith didn't know George was in love with her from the beginning. If she made up her mind..."

"Okay, I know you're George's best friend, but this isn't entirely her fault. George knows that Meredith isn't in love with him, she's in love with someone else, and if he hadn't been pressured to talk to her and tell her how he feels, this wouldn't have happened."

"So now it's my fault?"

Neither of them have noticed that they are raising their voices and that Meredith is waiting in the hallway, unwittingly listening to the conversation. Maddox turns her head, watching the girl shift uncomfortably as she looks at them shyly, and picks up her backpack angrily, storming out of the kitchen. "I didn't say that."

"There was no need to fight with Izzie over me. We don't need to create sides in this," Meredith says as she drives.

"Sometimes she takes things too personal. She's making this personal by rubbing it in my face that I've taken your side. I haven't taken anyone's side, we're adults and we don't have to get in her business."

Meredith whistles a little after a few seconds, a knowing smile tugging at her lips. "Wow. Since when did you become so wise? You're the baby of the house."

"Okay, first, I've always been wiser than you. Let me give you a truth today: you fix your problems by drowning yourself in booze, Izzie bakes until she has no room left on the counter, and George crawls around the hospital like a soul in pain," Meredith starts to complain, but Maddox calls her on it. "Ah, ah. I'm wiser because I fix my problems by talking to people and finding common ground."

"So you're saying you'll talk to your parents and your brother and live happily ever after because you'll find 'common ground,'" Meredith counters, giving her a sideways glance and a playful smirk on her lips.

"Low blow, Grey."

Meredith laughs heartily and parks the car. The two head to the locker room to change clothes, and Maddox is a little nervous because it's her first day on real cases in over a week. They run into Cristina and Izzie on their way to make rounds with Bailey, who has brought little Tuck, and although Cristina chats with them animatedly —especially about the fact that George now lives with them, so Cristina strongly recommends that Meredith apologize— Izzie avoids them some more.

Bailey's pager beeps, and Addison approaches them. Maddox gives her a small smile, debating whether she should greet her at work or stick to a strictly professional relationship with her inside the hospital. The woman returns the gesture, and Maddox feels a little better.

"ER needs a consult," Bailey says.

"O'Malley, Grey, why don't you go and take that?" Addison orders absently as little Tuck cries over the noise.

"They really need both of us?" George mutters with a frown, and Maddox realizes for the first time that something is up with his haircut.

"I guess you'll find out. Go!" Addison dismisses them and turns her focus back to Bailey and her son. "Are you taking him to the nursery?"

"It's full and Tucker's out of town until tomorrow," Bailey justifies herself.

"You brought your baby to work?" Chief Webber walks past her, noticing the baby's cries.

Bailey sighs. "Oh, yes, Chief."

"You're not gonna take him to surgery with you."

"Oh, I don't have any scheduled surgery."

"Yet," Webber nods.

Cristina and Maddox look at each other when they see Bailey start to lose patience. "Okay, I can't solve a problem until there's a problem to solve. You saying there's a problem?"

Addison rocks the baby, who is still crying a little, and takes Bailey's side. "Yes, is there a problem, Richard?"

The four women look at him, waiting for a negative answer that eventually comes. "No," Webber admits at last, which causes Maddox to stifle a laugh. "Damn babies," Maddox hears the man mutter as he walks away.

"You're evil," Maddox whispers near Addison, taking advantage of Cristina being glued to Bailey's ass to make a good case. The woman looks at her, puzzled. "George and Meredith are kind of fighting at the moment. I'm sure their highlight of the day will be spending it together."

"I didn't know that," Addison admits. "I said two random names. Besides, you deserve a really good case today. How are you feeling about coming back?"

Maddox smiles broadly. "Best feeling in the world. Oh, I'm not seeing Bailey anymore. Talk to you later?"

Addison smiles, too. "Yeah," and she waits until Maddox takes off running and disappears.

Maddox gets to the ER floor quickly, knowing she doesn't want to get unhooked from her resident again or she'll run out of good cases. Cristina helps her into the yellow gown with some disgust on her face in case she misses any cases, but does it anyway. Bailey waits for the paramedics to come out of the ambulance, and when they do, the resident knows right away that she will have to operate. So she looks at the two interns, who are swallowing hard, instantly aware of what is about to be asked of them, and then at her baby.

The brunette knows that Cristina isn't too fond of babies, and that Tuck's incessant crying will make her want to pull her hair out in clumps, so she steps forward and offers. "I can take him. I'll check the nursery from time to time to see if they're available again, and I'll let you know," Bailey's face lights up, so Maddox takes it to mean she wasn't too thrilled about Cristina being the one to watch him either. The two women sigh, relieved, as Tuck rests in Maddox's arms. "You owe me big time," she mumbles to Cristina.

"Here, take this. In a few hours he'll want to eat. Inside are diapers and other things he'll need. Be good to Maddox, will you, Tuck?" Bailey leaves a kiss on the baby's hat, who looks at Maddox curiously, and the girl can't help but give him a peck.

"Looks like it's both of us. You're lucky you're cute. Let's go inside before you catch a cold, okay?" Maddox cooes, then frowns. "Who am I talking to?"

Maddox wanders around the hospital with Tuck, who thankfully stops crying after a while missing his mother's warmth and starts babbling, encouraged by Maddox. She stops by the nursery a couple of times that morning, but there's still no room, let alone for a baby just weeks old. Maddox gives up after trying twice more, because she realizes it's a lot of work to leave them in charge of a baby, especially if it's Dr. Bailey's baby, a responsibility many aren't prepared to take on.

Maddox decides it's time to make her own rounds, even if it's with a baby in hand. She visits patients with whom she has a good relationship, patients who would welcome the presence of a baby to brighten their day, and finds herself in Denny Duquette's room. She is surprised to see Alex leave and not Izzie, who seems to be avoiding her, and she lifts one of Tuck's tiny little hands to greet the boy, who stares at her with a skeptical face and rolls his eyes. "I guess peds won't be his thing," Maddox shrugs at Tuck, who stammers again. "Hey, Denny, how's it going?"

Denny's eyes widen a little more, and the man inevitably smiles. "Hi, Doc. Haven't seen you in a while. Is that your baby?"

"Oh, yeah. How did you guess? Was it the color of his skin that gave it away? Or the fact that he's not even a month old and I'm working again?" Maddox picks up the baby, placing her face next to Tuck's, who doesn't know where to look in all this light, and Denny laughs. "Bailey's. I'm on baby duty today. No good cases for today for me."

"Except mine."

"Of course," Maddox smiles. "How are you feeling?"

"A little tired, but I'm there. Dr. Burke didn't have very good news for me earlier."

Maddox looks at his chart and raises her eyebrows to take the tension out of it. "It's not necessarily bad either. Dr. Burke knows what he's doing. And with any luck, you'll have a heart waiting for you. My job today is to make my patients happy with a little baby presence in their lives. Do you want to hold him while I check your IV?"

"Can I do that?" Denny smiles, a little incredulously. Maddox shrugs, setting him down in Denny's arms gingerly. "Here we go. Well, I won't tell Dr. Bailey that you're so anxious to get rid of him."

"Yeah, you better not, because there's no way Bailey's going to believe me over you," Maddox smiles, checking to make sure there's enough fluid in Denny's IV.

"Hey, what's going on here?" a voice behind her alerts Maddox, who turns around to see Izzie smiling a bit skeptically.

The brunette notes Denny's change of track to whatever time it is and then takes little Tuck from the man's arms. "I was just leaving. I figured Denny could use cheering up, couldn't he, Tuck? Yes, he could," Maddox cooed, and the baby makes a giggling noise. "Tell Bailey what you just saw and I'll deny it until the day I die."

"Maddox, wait," Izzie calls her down the hall. "Thank you for seeing Denny. He's been a little down since last time and I'm sure your visit has cheered him up. And I'm sorry about this morning. I was already stressed, and with George leaving..... I don't know, I feel like you and Meredith are a team, and I'm on another. It's stupid, I know, but I can't help it."

"Hey, that's not true. We're all a team. George is in, too. He just needs time, but everything will be fine. I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean to make you feel like you were the cause of this. We're on edge these days, but we'll work it out, okay? I have to go now. I feel like Santa with this baby in my arms. Say goodbye to Izzie!"

"Okay, you're adorable, I'm sure you know that because I won't be the first person to say it, but you made me do something I swore I'd never do. You made me change your damn diapers. God, if only Bailey knew I said that in front of her baby. Scratch that, taking care of you should mean a raise. Let's go see your mommy, okay? I'm tired of nurses hitting on me because I look good with babies. I should be thanking you. Okay, we're even: I cleaned up your mess and you help me flirt."

"Who are you talking to?" George asks with a frown, but lets out an exclamation of understanding when Maddox turns around and sees the baby in her arms. "Still no luck at the nursery?"

"Yeah, no. I'm starting to think this is an experiment and Bailey wants to see how long I go without blowing up. Why are you in such a hurry?"

George stammers. "I was having lunch with Cristina and Izzie but Meredith showed up, so I disappeared. I actually had lunch with Dr. Torres. You know her, right?"

"Oh, yeah, Callie. She's super nice and pretty. Are you two friends now?"

"She gave me her number the day I left Meredith's house. We're kind of dating. In the process. Starting, actually."

Maddox smiles broadly. "Congratulations, Georgie. I didn't know you liked her."

"Time for me to give myself a chance with other women, I guess."

The girl pats him on the shoulder, encouraging him. "You're right. Go have fun with Callie, I'm sure she's interested in you too. But here's what we're not going to do: don't use Callie to forget about Mer, okay? Be with her if you're sure. You'll only hurt each other if you start a relationship with her with your mind elsewhere."

George smiles, "Uh, okay, yeah. You know a lot for someone who's not in a relationship."

Maddox shakes Tuck's little hand, who babbles again. "Tell Georgie that's called having emotional responsibility, something men often lack. But don't worry, Tuck, I'm sure your mother will teach you how to treat women. Now say goodbye to George, it's your lunch time," Maddox's voice goes from sweet to serious, so George blinks. "I'm serious, George. Tell her the truth or I'll break another man's face. Yes, I will, won't I, Tuck?"

The boy helps her sling the little boy's backpack over her shoulder and waves her off with a smile. Maddox looks at him for a few moments before she goes to a break room, because George is the nicest man she's ever met in her whole life and she hates it when he feels sad, so she hopes that there really are good things between Callie and him and that life will give him everything he deserves. Then she looks at Tuck and smiles —Bailey knows about George's goodness too, not for nothing his son's name is William George.

The baby starts crying within minutes, just as Bailey warns her that morning. She enters the room and closes the door, aware that she will disturb the medical staff if Tuck doesn't shut up. She finds the bottle among the dozens of diapers and bibs to change him in case he vomits, and props the baby up in her arms, trying to get him to suck on the bottle, but there seems to be no way.

"Come on, Tuck, you have to eat or your mommy will get really mad at me, and I'm not going to like that. I can't remember the last time Bailey got mad at me, but I honestly don't want to relive it," Maddox sighs in relief when she sees Tuck open his mouth and eyes, as if her voice is calming him down. "You want me to talk to you? Okay. I know you're not even a month old, but if your mommy knew I was telling you this stuff she'd kill me right away, so please don't remember this five years from now," Tuck murmurs against the bottle as if giving his approval for her to talk, and Maddox smiles, tilting the bottle back a little at a time. "I think Izzie has a thing for Denny. You've met him, hugged him for a while and made his day. I know if I ask her she'll deny it, but she'll look away and smile, because that's what she does when she's nervous and lying. And I don't think Alex likes that, you know? They have something, or had something, I don't know, but he's clearly jealous. Alex is a little grumpy at first, but when you get to know him he's funny and kind. Oh, and speaking of Alex, he gave George and Olivia syphilis, and George got very angry. George would never hit anyone, so imagine how angry he must have been to hit Alex. We are a very special and unique group of friends, but I think you'll like us when you grow up," Tuck reneges on the bottle, so Maddox understands that he doesn't want to eat anymore. "Okay, now you have to burp. Just burp, don't throw up, okay?"

The girl gets up and rocks him on her chest until Tuck is done with his task. It doesn't take him long to fall asleep, his face resting on Maddox's shoulder, and Maddox decides it's best to lay him down to make him more comfortable. The little guy seeks body warmth, so Maddox pulls him close against herself, sighing, wearily.

"Sleeping through your shift?" Maddox opens her eyes, alarmed, and the first thing she does is touch around to feel that little Tuck is still there, beside her. "Don't worry, he's still sound asleep."

"You scared me," Maddox mutters, rubbing her eyes, but immediately opens them when she sees Bailey standing in front of her with her arms crossed. "I'm sorry, Dr. Bailey. I must have dozed off while watching him sleep."

"Was he fed?"

"Yes."

"Did you change his diapers?"

"Yes, that too."

"Well, the nurses on the surgical floor have been talking about how cute my baby is, so I guess he's been having fun visiting with people," Bailey picks Tuck up and rocks him in her arms. "Go home, Maddox. You did a good job today. Thanks for the help."

"Of course, Dr. Bailey," Maddox mumbles. "I'm on call tonight. Can I still go home or...?"

"Go before I change my mind," Bailey rolls her eyes. "I want you here tomorrow at six o'clock sharp."

"Yes, ma'am. Uh, have a good night," Maddox is still trying to regain consciousness when she leaves the room, leaving Bailey to pick up Tuck's things, and bumps into someone, causing papers to fall to the floor, scattered. "Sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Dr. Easton," Addison laughs. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Apparently, I finished my shift early. I fell asleep with Tuck and Bailey rewards me with an early night at home. How about you?" Maddox stops to see that Addison is already wearing her street clothes. "You're looking classy, are you going somewhere with McDreamy?"

Addison arches an eyebrow. "Derek's taking care of a post-op. I'm going home, open a bottle of wine and then read a good book while I hope Doc doesn't shit on my shoes."

Maddox snorts but then laughs, and Addison finds it sweet. "I'd offer to dogsit, but I'm sick of babysitting today. No more babysitting until a real case, please."

"For what it's worth, you and Tuck have been very popular today at the hospital. You guys look good with the babies. They seem to like you, I mean."

"Yeah, I got some phone numbers. I'll buy Tuck some candy when he can eat it," Maddox smiles, showing Addison three papers with numbers on them.

The woman clears her throat, forcing a smile. She doesn't quite understand why, but she feels protective of Maddox. "Are you thinking of calling someone?"

"Not interested," Maddox shrugs. "Welcome to the busy life of an intern. I'd be up for a good time, but I don't want to get syphilis, so I'm not sleeping with anyone in this hospital."

Addison laughs but raises her eyebrows. "I don't think I want to ask about that. Hey, are you going home? I can take you home. Derek's still in for a few hours and there's no need for you to take the bus alone at night."

"Are you sure? Mer's house isn't on your way home."

"Come on, it's no bother. Besides, I'll have more company this way. Get in the car."

"Yes, ma'am," Maddox whistles, smiling. Addison's car is big and roomy, and still smells new, so Maddox sighs. "Is it okay for me to be this friendly to you at work, or should I keep my professionalism and stuck-up vocabulary?"

"Please speak like someone who hasn't spent eight years in college and medical school."

"I actually only spent six. I did two years of Biology combined into one. I drowned that year in books and coffee and no sleep just so I wouldn't think about my mother's possible death," Maddox nods, and Addison doesn't know what to say, so she lets her continue. "And I skipped my second year of med school. I'd already learned everything in that year, so I took the exams and passed."

"You're pretty smart, then."

"I don't like to brag, but that's basically what my mom has done since I was accepted into college, so now it's not bragging, it's just stating the facts. I could pass those tests in my sleep. It's like it's all been in my brain since I was born and I don't even know how I learned everything I know. I just do," Maddox's cell phone rings, and when she sees the number she doesn't know whether to cheer or roll her eyes. "Speak of the devil. Hold on. Hi, mamá. Sí, estoy de camino a casa. No, no estoy hablando por teléfono mientras conduzco. No, mamá, no estoy enfadada. Ya te lo dije. Solo quiero que a la próxima me digas la verdad y así sabré qué voy a ver. Mamá, por favor. Bueno, tengo que colgar porque estoy hablando español y quien conduce no está entendiendo nada. No, mamá, no es un chico. ¡Voy a colgar ya! Buenas noches,"** Maddox snorts, putting the cell phone away once and for all and sending an apologetic look to Addison. "I'm sorry. My mother can be very... smothering."

"Don't even mention it. I didn't know you spoke Spanish."

"Yes, my father is American and my mother is Cuban, so my brother and I grew up with both languages."

Addison smiles at her, turning her attention away from the road for a moment. "So you're the big deal. Hey, can I ask you something before you go?"

"Shoot."

"Do you know who Catherine Deneuve is?"

Maddox thinks for a while, but immediately claps her hands together. "Yes, I think I do! French actress, right? Beautiful woman."

The redhead smiles to herself, flattered, though she can't find a reason for the blush on her cheeks. "A patient... Well, a patient's husband told me I looked like her. She's a blonde, though," Addison shakes her hand, downplaying it.

"So? Yes, I can see the resemblance," Maddox smiles. "Don't drink too much wine tonight, okay? Thanks for bringing me home. See you tomorrow, Addison."

Addison nods, pursing her lips into a smile, and stares until Maddox walks inside the house. Addison knows she has a problem when her heart skips a beat when Maddox calls her by her name.

**I'm on my way home. No, I'm not talking on the phone while driving. No, mom, I'm not mad. I already told you that. I just wish next time you'd tell me the truth so I know what I'm going to see. Mom, please. Well, I have to hang up because I'm speaking Spanish and my driver home is not understanding anything. No, mom, it's not a boy. I'm hanging up now! Good night.