This is a sequel to "Naked" and I guess Wyatt and Addison have indeed agreed to continue to plague me while I deal with being stuck on my Addison/Alex fic.

The day before his third date with Addison Montgomery, Wyatt Lockhart had been in the elevator at his old stomping grounds in the Oceanside Wellness building when Sam Bennett stepped in beside him.  The two men exchanged a polite nod, and then Wyatt waited to see if this elevator ride with this particular man would be as interesting as his last.  Then Sam had been warning Wyatt away from Naomi.  And he knew that the threesome--Addison, Sam and Naomi--had basically been friends their whole adult lives.  Given that Wyatt was now dating the dear female friend in that friendship triangle; it only stood to reason then that this meeting today was not by chance and that another warning was imminent.

He was willing to take it, though, whatever it was... a lecture, a warning, a threat even, because Wyatt Lockhart was having the best week of his life. 

After getting Addison to agree to a dinner in a stumbling but heartfelt confession of how he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her, the research-obsessed doctor had made himself commit to letting his defenses down.  He'd been rewarded for that with a night of laughter and teasing and easy conversation that had left him feeling a little like he'd had too much to drink.  They hadn't tried to talk about anything big, any topics likely to make them get nervous.  Instead, they'd both looked at the dinner as a chance to decide if what they hoped they'd seen in the other person was really there.

When she agreed to date number two after he'd kissed her goodnight in the Oceanside parking lot, Wyatt took it as a sign that they'd both gotten the evidence they needed.

Their second date had to be put off for two days because Addison had already agreed to do a guest-lecture at USC the following night, and Wyatt had a business meeting he couldn't get out of the day after that.  But then he'd picked her up--this time at her house--and they'd made their way downtown to a high-end Mexican restaurant which featured empanadas that melted in your mouth.  At that dinner, he'd listened to Addison's stories about the students she had met and how she remembered so well those early days when you thought becoming the doctor you dreamed of being was the hard part. 

"Part of me wanted to warn them all that the medicine is what turns out to be easy.  If the rest of my life was as easy to diagnose and assign a treatment to as a disease, I'd probably be... I don't know... different."

He watched as a bittersweet smile passed over her face before she raised her glass and took a sip of the margarita she'd been nursing for nearly an hour.

"Do you promise not to be mad if I very honestly say I'm glad that you're not different?"

The surprise in her eyes was momentary and it was followed by a display of shyness that absolutely delighted him.

"Wyatt, that was... kind of... actually very sweet."

Surprise number two of the night... a flash of bashfulness ran through him as well, but he withstood it and smiled at her.

"It's just the truth.  I am sorry for the bad things, hard things, whatever they were.  But trust me, if my opinion counts for anything, you've come through them just fine."

The goodnight that time had been on her front steps, the kiss... kisses... a little longer and more daring than the ones they'd shared the night before.  But when he felt her start to tense up, Wyatt had eased away.  He wanted her like mad, but he'd already sent her running once.  Even if that had been for their own mutual good, he wasn't about to chance doing it accidentally by pushing too hard now.

"Did you know I make an amazing baked chicken?"

Addison burst out laughing at his declaration, and Wyatt chuckled as he shrugged.

"I do.  Complete with homemade mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables.  And while I don't make the bread myself, I do buy it very well."

"I see, so your plan is to woo me with comfort food?"

"Exceptional comfort food," Wyatt countered.  "But if you'd like, you can bring dessert.  In case you want to go with something, I don't know, semi-healthy to counteract the comfort."

Oddly, he hadn't felt worried about a refusal as she stood there in the moonlight studying him.  Instead, Wyatt took the opportunity to watch her just as intently, to take in the way she played with her hair, pushing it back over the same ear three times, her eyes sparkling despite the obvious nerves.

"If we're going comfort, we may as well go all out.  Have you ever had a Blackout cupcake from Yummy?"

"I have not, but it already sounds incredible.  So bring it on, Montgomery.  I'll e-mail you my address when I get home.  Tonight, 7:00?"

Addison had agreed, and the next day had begun with him full of anticipation.  Wyatt had ducked out of work quickly after morning rounds to shop and drop the groceries off at home, and though his day was otherwise filled with wall-to-wall patients and meetings, he'd found ample time to daydream about what it would be like to let this woman into his home, to see her curled up in one of his rarely used Stickley chairs, high heels kicked off.  Would she feel relaxed there, comfortable?  He hoped so.  He couldn't remember the last time a woman had been in his loft for more than a drink and some intense activity in his bedroom.  But now he was almost giddy at the prospect of it being filled with a woman's laughter, with the idea of his cooking talents finally put to more use than reheating takeout while he sat up half the night working, and well, with feeling at home in the place he lived for a change.

He'd been two hours away from shutting down his computer and stunning his assistant by leaving short of a 12-hour workday when his pager went off with a 9-1-1 from the chief of oncology.  Tina Holcomb was a 17-year-old high school senior in treatment at the local county hospital for uterine cancer that had spread to her liver.  She was on a highly aggressive chemotherapy regimen given the advanced stage of her cancer, and her depleted immune system had left the teen vulnerable to infection.  A bacteria had sent her into renal failure, and so her doctors had contacted University in the hopes that Wyatt would take her on as a patient and try to find some way to balance her chemo needs with treating her kidneys.

Long-term he would have to turn over a host of numbers to try to calculate a dose of chemo that would slow down and fight the cancer while allowing Tina's kidneys to recover, the toxicity of some of the combinations too great for her to withstand until her body had healed itself at least a little.  For tonight, Wyatt needed to get her stabilized and that was going to take some time.  Sadly, he stole a moment to pull his cell free and dial Addison, whose phone went straight to voice mail.

"I'm so sorry, Addison, but I have an emergency and I'm not sure how long I'll be at the hospital.  Is there any hope you'll let me make it up to you tomorrow?  I'll even pay for the cupcakes this time.  I'll call you later."

It quickly became clear as he studied Tina's labs a few hours later that she was showing no response to the medications--the fluid level in her body was still on the rise and her temperature had gone up.  Even though it was fast to the pull the trigger on additional treatment, the infection that had caused the renal failure in the first place was getting worse, and if it started to affect her heart, they were going to be in dire trouble.  So Wyatt reluctantly ordered dialysis to relieve the strain on her kidneys and give her more immediate relief.  He was just going over the reasons for the more aggressive attack on the problem with Tina's family when Wyatt felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket.  It stopped quickly, and he made a mental note to check his messages later.

It was nearly 10:00 by the time Tina was settled into an ICU room.  Her temperature had gone down and the dialysis had made her more comfortable, and finally the medications seemed to be working.  Though he left instructions that he be paged if she deteriorated in any way, Wyatt knew he'd done all he could for now.  As he walked back to his office, he pulled out his cell phone to leave his assistant a voice mail letting her know he was going to the hospital first thing in the morning.  That's when he saw the message icon blinking and remembered the call he'd missed earlier.

"Wyatt, it's Addison.  I've been running around like a crazy person, and I'm so sorry, but I have an emergency twin delivery, and one of them has an omphalocele defect.  I have to rush him right into surgery.  I swear, you can have any night you want for a makeup dinner, okay?  I'll call you later.  Bye."

He couldn't help but chuckle.  It was like the day had completely conspired against them, but he kind of loved that he knew she'd understand his need to cancel just as he understood hers.  The cases that dropped in their laps didn't happen by accident... they were the best at what they did, and that meant a lot of sacrifice.  For once, though, he was finally on the same page with the person he wanted in his life, and Wyatt was pleasantly surprised at how good that made him feel despite his disappointment in their lost evening.

Because he'd only picked up the groceries he needed for dinner, the realization that he hadn't eaten since noon meant that Wyatt couldn't just head home and lie down the way he wanted to, not unless he wanted to listen to his stomach rumble all night.  So home was delayed by a quick stop at the 24-hour Chinese place the med school students swore by.  He knew that it was late, but on a whim, he ordered enough for two and decided to add one more stop to his trip home.  But when he cruised through the St. Ambrose parking lot, Addison's car was gone, and so Wyatt decided to cry uncle and just head home, eat and get ready for what was surely going to be another long day.

But as it turned out, the day had one more surprise in store for him.  Addison wasn't home, exhausted and asleep already the way he'd imagined.  She was sitting in the lobby of his building with a large plastic bag beside her.

"Please tell me you got my message."

She looked at him and smiled.

"Please tell me you got mine."

He chuckled and held up his bag.

"Mine's Chinese for two.  I drove by St. Ambrose, but you weren't there."

Addison stood and lifted her bag.

"Mediterranean.  I never had time to go get the cupcakes."

"Did you get hummus?" he asked, and she laughed.

"I did."

"Your bag wins.  Come on."

A few minutes later, the Chinese was in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch, and Addison and Wyatt were lounging in his living room eating out of to-go containers full of hummus, feta turnovers and grilled chicken with lavash.  He couldn't help but smile as he realized that Addison had kicked off her heels and was sitting in one of his rarely used Stickley chairs, feet curled under her, looking totally relaxed and comfortable.

She listened intently as he told her about Tina and the worry he felt over how fragile she'd become from the treatment received before him.  Wyatt returned the sympathetic ear as Addison told him about Scott, the tiny infant whose insides she'd had to piece back together.  When her eyes fell to her lap at the end of the story, he recognized the same sadness he'd seen in her when he'd taken all his hopes and used Claudia Jenkins as cover to return to Oceanside and see if Addison would given him a second chance.

"The other baby was okay, though?"

Addison muttered an "mm-hmm" and kept her eyes down.  He'd been resolved to leave whatever caused that shift in her mood be on that day at Oceanside because it wasn't time to ask then, but now he leaned over the edge of the sofa and placed his hand atop hers where it rested on the arm of her chair.

"What?"

"It's nothing."

"It's something," he insisted, "and I may not be able to do much more than listen, but I can do that."

"I, uh... I have moments.  That's all it is.  I... I work with babies and their mothers and sometimes it's a reminder of the things I don't have, things I probably won't ever have, and so I have a moment."

"Hey, one divorce doesn't mean the game's over.  At least I hope not."

Wyatt wasn't expecting the tears that threatened at the edges of her eyelids, nor was he prepared for how heartbroken she sounded when she finally spoke again.

"There's not much of a chance I'll ever have a baby of my own.  Almost no chance, in fact, which isn't something I usually tell... anyone.   And some days, that's just... "

She didn't finish the thought, but Wyatt understood just the same.

"I have those moments, too.  When I'm treating a patient and their spouse is there, and you see that bond that some people have.  My wife and I never had anything close to that, and I look at my life since then... I'm not sure I've done much to give myself a chance at ever finding it."

Her hand turned over beneath his and Wyatt sighed as Addison' laced their fingers together.

"See? I told you... if we were as good at life as we were at the medicine..."

They laughed, and then they talked some more, and finally Wyatt stood and pulled Addison up with him.

"Come with me.

"Wyatt, I was actually thinking of letting you try to seduce me tonight, because, well, even though we've only been dating for a week, it's not like I just met you or anything, and you are an excellent kisser.  But I'm way too tired to be seduced right now."

"I may actually be too worn out to try," he teased as he led her into his room.  "But it's late, and you're wiped out, and I can mind my manners long enough for you to get some sleep."

He gestured toward the bed and Addison pulled her blouse free from her skirt and then laid back against the pillows, putting up no protest.  Wyatt kicked off his shoes, pulled off his tie and loosened his shirt.

"Wow, tie off, shirt all untucked... You're really letting it all hang out, huh?"

"Want me to start calling you Monty again?"

She threw a pillow at him, and Wyatt tossed it back into the open spot beside her before he hopped onto the bed.

"I can be casual, you know?  And you're a fine one to talk.  Do you own a pair of shoes that costs less than $500?"

"Scrubs don't count as 'casual,' and I do.   I own a lot of casual clothes... jeans, t-shirts..."

"And they all probably have labels like Ralph Lauren and Gucci in them."

She gave him a sideways look and then she turned on her side with her back to him.  Not quite ready to lose this particular match of back and forth, Wyatt curled onto his side and leaned forward, his lips just above her ear.

"I'll prove it.  Our delayed home-cooked meal will feature casual, tie-less apparel.  We'll probably both still be too busy tomorrow, so what do you say we just surrender the rest of the week and plan it for Saturday?  But... now you have to come early and keep me company while I cook."

She rolled back slightly so she could see him and lifted her right eyebrow.

"While you cook in these mythical casual clothes you claim to own?"

"Yep, and I'll ply you with wine and carbs and we'll eat your cupcakes and see if maybe we want to revisit that seduction scenario you've obviously been thinking about."

"Like you haven't," she teased, and he knew by how wide and triumphant her smile grew that his face had given away just how much he'd been thinking about it.

With their date planned and with his role as gentleman already in play for the night, Wyatt sat up and started to stand, but Addison quickly put her hand on his arm.

"You don't... you can sleep here.  I trust you."

"I can sleep on the couch," he countered, though now that she'd made it a possibility, all he really wanted was to wake up in the morning with her curled against him.

"We're grown-ups.  Besides, we have an agreed upon seduction delay due to exhaustion.  Stay.  Sleep."

Her voice was heavy, slightly slurred from how tired she was and from the wine they'd had with dinner, and after offering him the comfortable spot beside her for a second time, Addison eased down and let her eyes close.  Wyatt laid down on his side facing her and drifted off to sleep more content the he could remember being in years.

The next morning, before they both rushed off their respective critical patients, Wyatt woke up with Addison's cheek pressed against his chest, his arm around her waist.  He stayed still for a few moments to just enjoy the peace of it, the sensation of being so close to someone, and he realized how much of that had nothing to do with the proximity of her amazing body to his.

All too soon, though, it was back to work for both of them, and Wyatt was pleased to see that Tina's fever was almost normal and though she was still weak, she already seemed stronger, more energetic than the day before.  But he knew for sure he had a fighter on his hands when she made him promise not take it easy on her for too long because she wanted to "kick the cancer's ass."  Wyatt agreed and vowed to do everything he could to help the teen do just that.

On the way back to his office, a beep from his cell phone caught his attention.  A text message from Addison waited on the screen.

"Does last night count as a date?"

He laughed and wrote back, "I'm gonna say no.  Third date is Saturday."

A few minutes later, she wrote back.

"Saturday, third date, no ties.  Got it."

The idea to buy her flowers came as he was eating his reheated Chinese food while working chemical compound combinations for Tina.  When he called the shop downstairs, the woman on the phone asked him what kind of flowers he wanted to order.  It was a reasonable question, but Wyatt realized he had no idea what the right thing was to send.

"The woman I'm sending them to, she's... she's the type of woman who makes you think maybe you might get a second chance to be happy, to be with someone who challenges you and wants to take care of you all at the same time.  Does that make any sense?"

He'd decided to drop off his gift in person the next morning, but he found Addison's office empty.  So he set the fern down on her desk with a card cradled in the middle of the leaves.  He'd spent half an hour writing it out, explaining what the florist had told him, that the fern represented "magic, fascination, confidence and shelter," all things that made him think of the redhead who had his head spinning.

"She had a c-section first thing," Naomi said as she stopped in the doorway.  "Had to go straight to the hospital."

"Figures.  That's been our luck the last few days.  I'll just leave this here."

"What's the card say?"

Wyatt walked past Addison's curious best friend, but she stayed in hot pursuit as he headed for the elevator.

"You might as well tell me.  She's going to anyway."

"Well, that's her right.  It's her card."

Naomi gave him a look he imagined her daughter got frequently, and then she moved on through the lobby.  A few moments later, the elevator bell rang, Wyatt stepped inside, and then just before the doors closed, Sam Bennett jumped in beside him.

The two men exchanged a polite nod, and then Wyatt waited to see if this elevator ride with this particular man would be as interesting as his last.  Then Sam had been warning Wyatt away from Naomi.  It only stood to reason then that this meeting today was not by chance and that another warning was imminent.

He was willing to take it, though, whatever it was... a lecture, a warning, a threat even, because Wyatt Lockhart was having the best week of his life.

"She's happy."

Wyatt glanced over at Sam, unsure he'd heard him correctly.

"I'm sorry?"

"She's happy... Addison.  The happiest I've seen her since she moved here.  And she needs that.  She deserves that.  So whatever you're doing, just... don't screw it up."

It was a warning, but one Wyatt gladly accepted.

He was writing a report when his assistant walked in later that afternoon with a gift-wrapped box that had a card taped to the top.

"I named the fern Monty.

And while half of the motivation for this gift will be obvious, the other half is because... well... I may have accidentally stolen yours."

The box held two shirts.  One was a soft cotton t-shirt in navy blue.  The other was a blue and white striped button-up shirt that looked just like the one he'd worn last night as they'd held each other in their sleep.

She had taken a piece of him home, which amazed him.  But it was nothing compared to the reality of what she'd left behind, and Wyatt decided it was time to let himself hope that maybe he'd finally opened the door to that happy ending he'd thought would never come.