Notes: This is a fanfiction based on characters from the TV show, Private Practice. This fanfiction looks at Jake and Addison’s story (as well as the other doctors at Seaside Wellness Group) after Private Practice ends. They’re married now and take care of baby Henry together. This story and chapter were originally posted on Archive of Our Own on October 26th, 2021. This has been edited to include headings and images.
Begin Again: Chapter 1
“Honey, he’s doing it again!” Jake yelled out as Addison got out of the shower. Addison rushed over to find Jake holding onto Henry, who was barely standing on his own.
“I missed it again?!” Jake kept insisting that Henry took his first steps almost a month ago now but since then, he’d only taken a few steps here and there. And Addison missed it every single time.
“You’ll see it eventually,” Jake strains a bit as he picks Henry up from the ground.
“Am I a terrible mother?” Addison asked, still holding onto her towel as her wet hair dripped.
“No, of course, you aren’t,” Jake said, putting Henry down on the bed. Immediately, Henry started crawling around on the bed.
“Look, he will walk again,” Jake put his arms around her waist and tried to get Addison to look him in the eyes. But Addison was distracted watching Henry crawl around on their bed.
“I’ve missed it, what? Three times now?” Addison felt crazy. She knew it wasn’t her fault but it didn’t feel great knowing that her son started walking and she missed it every single time. Even if it was only a few steps. Jake sighed, giving up on trying to get her to look at him. He turned around and picked up the boy again.
“You’ll walk for Mama one day, right?” Jake looked at the sweet boy’s face. Henry just smiled back and babbled some baby gibberish. At the sound of that, Addison couldn’t help but smile at him.
Henry Walks for Addison
“Next time, you better make sure I’m around before you get up and walk again,” Addison looked straight into his eyes. Henry’s eyes widened as if he understood what she was saying and that made Addison melt all over his cute face. With that, she kissed him on the nose, which made Henry let out the sweetest little laugh.
“Ugh, I can’t be mad when you’re this cute!” Frustrated, Addison turned around and ran her free hand through her wet hair. Seeing his wife so frustrated, Jake had an idea.
“Alright little man, let’s do this again,” Jake put Henry on the ground where he immediately fell onto his butt.
“Come on, Henry. Do it for Mama,” Jake said, lifting him back on his feet.
“Honey, it’s okay,” Addison chuckled at her husband’s determination. “I get it. He’ll walk again and I will catch it eventually,” Addison wafted her hand at Jake’s shoulder playfully. With that, Jake finally let Henry sit on the floor.
“I’m sorry, honey,” Jake said, apologetically. “I know how much you want this,” he said as he pulled her in after a quick peck on the cheek.
As Jake held his wife’s waist in a short embrace, Addison closed her eyes briefly. How lucky was she to have a guy like Jake? When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see that Henry picked himself up and was now on his feet, smiling back at her. At this sight, she audibly gasped.
A Proud Mama
“Henry!” Addison said as Jake let go and turned around. “Can you come to Mama?” she got onto her knees and reached her arm out. Henry looked back at her and smiled and walked the few steps it took to get to her. Once he reached her arms, he started losing his balance a bit and Addison picked him up, squealing.
“You did it!” Addison held Henry close, in part because of how happy she was to see her baby boy walk. But also in part to keep her towel from falling. Jake, noticing the towel starting to slip, caught the edge of the towel and held it up for her. Addison kissed Henry’s forehead multiple times in the way Henry loved and she heard him laugh as she held him close.
“I told you you’d see it eventually,” Jake said. Addison’s smile widened and both leaned in for a short but sweet kiss. Afterward, they looked at their baby as he continued babbling nonsense.
Back at the Office
“So, Henry’s walking now?” Naomi asked after Addison recounted the whole story. After talking, Sam and Naomi decided it was time for Naomi and Betsey to come back to live in California. As much as they wanted to be closer to Maya and Olivia, it was time to let their daughter grow up on her own. And everyone at the practice couldn’t be happier about it, especially Addison because it meant she got her best friend back.
“Kind of,” Addison said, excitedly. “It’s only a few steps at a time but I finally saw it,”
“It’s still something,” Naomi said. Talking about Henry’s first big milestone made her remember seeing Maya take her first steps. But unlike Henry, Maya just kept walking like she’d been doing it the whole time. Like walking was nothing new to her.
Sam and Naomi Remember Maya’s First Steps
“Oh my god, Sam, come here!” Naomi yelled out.
“What? What is it? Is she hurt?” Sam panicked. Naomi had always been such a natural at parenthood but Sam was still, admittedly, getting the hang of it. And it was clear he was the one always worried he was going to screw up one way or another.
“No,” Naomi laughed. It was sweet how much Sam cared and worried about Maya. It really was. But sometimes, it was a bit much. But she’d found that laughing at his constant worry helped calm him down. Sam walked in to find Maya not only standing but she was walking around.
“Maya! You’re walking!” he said as if informing her that she was, indeed, walking.
“I don’t even think she realizes that she’s doing anything differently,” Naomi said as they both laughed watching their baby girl continue to walk around the living room, babbling.
“Now if he could keep walking more than just three or four steps…” Addison added as she poured her green juice.
“He will,” Naomi put her hand on Addison’s arm to reassure her.
Sam and Naomi’s Ultrasound
“Alright, we ready?” Sam said clasping his hands together as he walked into the kitchen. Naomi and Sam had an appointment with Addison today to take a look at the baby. In the excitement over Henry’s first steps, she almost forgot.
“Mmm, yes. Ready whenever you guys are,” Addison said, finishing off her juice. As they all walked over to the exam room, the nurses walked out and Addison knew that that meant everything was ready for their appointment.
As Naomi propped herself up on the chair, Addison wheeled over the ultrasound machine and started shaking the gel.
“Alright, let’s see what we’ve got here, shall we?” Addison squeezed the gel over Naomi’s bare belly and waited for the image to appear on the ultrasound. After a minute, the picture started registering.
“There it is,” Addison said, looking closely at the ultrasound. Sam and Naomi looked at each other, smiling. This was it, their baby. After another minute of Addison analyzing the screen, she finally looked back at Naomi and Sam.
“Well, everything looks good so far,” Addison started. “Now, we are at the 20-week mark so…” she trailed off, knowing that Sam and Naomi knew what she was asking.
“Yes, we want to know the gender,” Naomi said back. Although, Naomi felt like she had a good idea about the baby’s gender. A girl, she thought.
“Okay,” Addison said, turning the ultrasound machine towards them now. At first, she started pointing toward the baby’s parts that they could see so far. To all of their delight and relief, everything was normal.
“There’s our baby,” Sam said in awe.
They’re Having a Boy
“There he is,” Addison added. Both Sam and Naomi were shocked. Naomi had told Sam weeks ago that she thought they were having a girl. Knowing that women were usually right when it came to this kind of stuff, Sam also assumed they were having a girl.
“We’re having a boy?” Sam’s voice cracked ever so slightly. Having another baby at this age wasn’t exactly how he thought his life was going to turn out, but knowing he was finally having a boy did make him excited. He started picturing taking their son to basketball practices and teaching him about girls.
“Yes, yes you are,” Addison smiled back at them.
“Wow, a boy,” Naomi said, excited but surprised.
“You didn’t think you were having a boy, did you?” Addison picked up on Naomi’s disbelief.
“No, I thought it was a girl,” Naomi insisted, laughing.
“Well, women are usually pretty good at knowing but you and I both know that there are times when women are wrong too,” Addison added.
“Wow,” Naomi said again. “A boy,” she looked up at Sam, who was smiling back at her. Seeing the two of them happy and together again warmed Addison’s heart. Even though there was a time when she thought it’d be her and Sam, she knew she made the right decision choosing Jake. All of Sam’s refusal to fully commit to Addison, as well as all the other women he dated other than Naomi, led to this. But she did have to admit, at least to herself, that it did sting a little how committed he was to Naomi considering he couldn’t commit to her. But it gave her comfort knowing that everything was the way it was supposed to be now.
Back in the Kitchen
“Do we want to hear the heartbeat?” Addison asked. Sam and Naomi’s beaming smiles back told her it was an obvious yes. After adjusting the machine, the sound of a steady heartbeat started playing from the speakers.
“Strong and steady,” Addison said, smiling.
“So…how was the baby?” Violet caught Addison later in the kitchen as she was pulling her lunch out of the fridge. She, as well as everyone else in the office, knew they were finding out the gender today.
“It’s a very healthy baby…” she held out on her friend for a bit. “Boy” she added, smiling.
“A boy!” Violet said, excitedly. “Wow, first Lucas, then Henry, and now baby Bennett. We’re just gonna have a bunch of baby boys around here,”
“Uhhhh are we forgetting about the Cooplets?” Cooper said as he walked into the kitchen. “All girls, remember?”
“Of course, we remember,” Addison rolled her eyes at him. “I delivered them, remember?”
“Yes, and we’re grateful,” Cooper bowed with his hands clasped mockingly. “I’m just saying, we have enough girls to make up for baby boy Bennett”
“How are the girls anyway?” Addison asked as she stuffed a forkful of salad into her mouth.
“Better now that I’m back at the office,” Cooper reaches over and grabs a banana out of the fruit bowl.
“Yeah, the new daycare looks great, by the way,” Addison said as she swallowed her lunch. After seeing Cooper struggle as a full-time stay-at-home dad, Violet suggested they turn Pete’s old office into a daycare center for the kids. And considering the fact that they didn’t need to hire someone new now with the foundation money, Addison agreed it was a good idea. Plus, that way she could pop in to visit with Henry whenever she wanted.
Charlotte Comes in
“See? It was a good idea,” Violet says to no one in particular. Everyone smiled knowing that no one opposed the idea. In fact, everyone was on board with it. Addison and Violet had even reduced the number of hours they hired their respective nannies for. Now the only time they needed their nannies was when they had to pull night shifts at St. Ambrose. Then, Charlotte walks into the kitchen and gives Cooper a quick peck on the cheek.
“Hey,” she starts as she makes her way to the fridge. “I heard Henry’s walkin’ now,”
Cooper and Violet both look over at Addison with their mouths agape in surprise and she smiles back at them.
“Yes, yes he did. And I finally saw it happen,” Addison says proudly.
“I told you it’d happen eventually,” Jake cuts in and makes his way over to Addison. When he gets there, he wraps his arm around her waist and kisses her on the cheek to which she smiles bigger. But afterward, she gives him a look that shows that she’s begrudgingly saying he was right this time.
“I hope this means you guys will finally go on your honeymoon now,” Charlotte added. Jake and Addison gave each other a look. After they got married, they went straight back to work, even though Jake tried to convince Addison to take a week or two off for their honeymoon. But given that Henry was still under one, she didn’t want to miss any big milestones. A month after their wedding, Henry said his first word: “Mama”. It was a big excitement but she still wanted to see him walk. Then came a conversation between the newlyweds about their honeymoon, or if they would ever have one.
Jake and Addison’s Deal
Jake insisted it’d be good for them to have some alone time together and suggested they finally take that trip to Fiji. While a trip to Fiji sounded like a dream, Addison kept insisting that she didn’t want to miss too much of their son’s firsts. So they made an agreement: after Henry started talking and walking, they’d go on their honeymoon. Now that Henry was walking, it was now time for Addison to make good on their deal. After Charlotte’s remark, all the doctors looked at the couple to see how they’d respond. Jake raised an eyebrow at Addison and she gave him a wide grin and chuckled slightly.
“I guess it’s time for me to keep up my end of the bargain,” Addison joked, knowing that Jake knew she meant it when she agreed to go on their honeymoon after Henry started walking.
“What bargain?” Sam asked as he and Naomi came into the kitchen. With their arrival, the rest of the group smiled to show their excitement for their healthy baby boy.
“They are going on their honeymoon,” Violet said. “Finally,” Cooper added. Sam, by now, had made his way to the fridge to grab his and Naomi’s lunch.
“Wait, so Henry’s..?” Unlike everyone else, he hadn’t heard about Henry’s first steps yet.
“…is walking, yes,” Naomi finished the sentence for him.
“What? Congratulations!” Sam said, placing his empty hand behind Addison’s back just in acknowledgment.
“Thank you,” Addison and Jake said back in unison.
Additional Notes
I added Henry walking into the chapter because we never got to see it happen in the show. Also, it was inspired by the scene in Private Practice 6×01 between Addison and Charlotte when she tells her that Jake said Henry took his first few steps but she doesn’t believe him. Plus, we never know if Jake and Addison ever went on their honeymoon so if they didn’t, I figured this would be a good reason as to why they haven’t.
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