Forever and Always

11

6 months later

"Mom." Addison turned to face her daughter. "Lilly, what's wrong." There were tears in her eyes, Lilly walked over to her mother and Addison enveloped her in a hug. "Taylor ditched me." She said into her mothers chest. "Oh honey I'm sorry." Addison rested her chin on her daughters head. Taylor was Lilly's first real friend and it broke Addisons heart to see her daughter upset like this. Derek came into the room and he immediately noticed Lilly crying. "What's wrong? Who do I have to kill?" He asked walking over to his wife and daughter. Lilly laughed, "nobody." She said breaking from her mothers arms and going into her fathers. He picked her up and locked eyes with Addison and she mouthed, Taylor. He put his hand on his daughters hair. Lilly had been having some trouble making new friends because she had just moved into a new school. But Taylor was the only one who stuck with her until she met other girls and ditched Lilly for them. Eliza on the other hand seemed to have to many friends. They treated Lilly like their own sister but it was different, they where all older, she wanted friends her age. Every weekend she had a sleepover, birthday party or just was hanging out with friends. She was going to middle school next year and that scared the crap out of Derek and Addison.

"She's not worth spoiling your day." Addison said rubbing Lilly's back. She sniffled and wiped her tears, Derek put her down and she turned to face her mother. Addison wiped her daughters tears and rubbed her cheek with her thumb. "Allez, je crois savoir quelque chose qui va te remonter le moral. Des films d'amour avec des garçons mignons?" Addison asked her daughter. Only Lilly and Addison spoke French so they liked to speak French when they where talking about things they didn't want Eliza or Derek to know. Lilly nodded her head and followed Addison downstairs to the couch.

They chose Titanic, Addison was obsessed with Leonardo DiCaprio and Lilly even thought he was cute . Lilly had fallen asleep in Addisons arms, Derek came down the stairs and smiled at the sight of his daughter and wife curled up on the couch together. He came and sat down next to them, "do you want me to bring her to bed?" He asked. She snapped her head away from the tv screen and looked down at her daughter, she ran her fingers through her long hair. "That would be perfect, thank you." She said. She planted a kiss on her daughters head and released her arms allowing Derek to pick her up and bring her upstairs. Even though she was 7 she was still small, 49 pounds underweight. The doctors told the worried parents that it was nothing to be concerned about but to keep a close eye on her. So that's exactly what they did, they where super protective of her. She was still the baby of the family.

The girls where hanging out at the hospital for the afternoon. Eliza went to go find Callie to tell her the latest drama while Lilly was just wondering around. She bumped into a tall pair of legs, "hey watc-." He started but once he saw who it was he softened "uncle mark!!" She exclaimed. "Hey princess." He said picking her up. Derek had learned to forgive and slowly Addison did too, and even slower Eliza did. Lilly had never known about the cheating, they thought it would be best. "What are you up too?" He asked. "Mom and dad are working and I lost my teddy bear." She said putting her head down. "Oh well you can hang with me." He said cheering her up. "Ok!!" She said. "Come on I have something cool to show you." He said setting her down. She held his hand and they walked into a patients room. Lilly was only 3'11 so she couldn't see so Mark lifted her up. "Woah." She said. The patient laying in the bed had scaled skin, looking like a mermaid. "What's wrong with his skin?" Lilly asked. "He has Ichthyosis." Mark said. "What's Ith-iyo-is?" Lilly asked, Mark laughed at the girls attempted pronunciation of the word. "It's a disease where your skin turns to scales like this, this is a pretty severe case." He said. "Oh" she said. Someone in the door way cleared their throat. "Mommy." Their was Addison with her daughters stuffed teddy bear in her arms. Lilly wriggled out of Marks arms. Lilly hadn't seen Addison since this morning, 12 hours ago, so she was thrilled to see her mother again. "Hi darling." She said embracing her daughter. She lifted her daughter up into her arms. "Mark what did I tell you about showing her this kind of stuff." She said scolding the man. "But momma it's cool." Lilly said pouting. Addison looked down at her daughter, "come on your father and sister are waiting for us." She said. Lilly also hadn't seen her father since the morning but she had to say goodbye before she left. So she wriggled out of Addisons arms , teddy bear in hand, and ran over to mark and gave him a huge hug. He lifted her up off the ground and into his arms, "bye uncle mark." She said into his scrub top, "bye Bean." He said. He put her down and she walked to her mother and accepted her hand. Mark followed them out and watched them get into the elevator. Lilly gave him a wave and he smiled and waved back as the elevator doors closed.