Addison

I really didn't want to pick up and leave like this. It's just, I'm a runner. When things get bad I always run… but this time is different. It isn't just me… It's me, Henry, Parker, Peggy and Everett. I should be making better decisions now that I'm a mother, but it appears I'm just same old Addison. I picked up my whole life and hopped on a plane because things went bad… I mean, I would've driven but four fussy kids isn't that fun of a ride. At least on the short flight over, I can get Henry to read a book and the twins to play their handhelds. I can keep little Everett quiet by just bouncing him every so often. Plus, I'm hoping he'll just fall back asleep. We're at the airport now just waiting on our flight to be called. Everett is asleep in his stroller while Henry is helping the twins play their handheld games.

I smile over at my eldest son, "Hey, little man. May you stay here and be in charge while I walk over to the counter?"

He nods and smiles at me, "Yeah."

"Great," I smile walking just a few feet over to the man at the counter.

He smiles, "Hello, may I help you?"

"Hi, yeah, I was just wondering what time was boarding?" I ask glancing back over to the kids.

He looks down at what looks like his schedule, "I'm actually about to start boarding right now."

"Oh, wow, I have nice timing. Thanks," I smile walking away.

He calls behind me, "No problem."

I walk back over to the kids to gather them up as they start boarding First-Class. We make our way onto the plane and I have Everett's stroller taken to be stored with my luggage. We sit across from each other; the twins occupying two seats and Henry, Everett and I occupy the other two. It's only a two and a half hour flight and the girls already found something to watch on tv. The stewardess comes by and the kids order just about everything on the menu. By the time we land, Henry is deep into his book and the rest of them are asleep.

It's easy to wake up the twins but it wasn't easy getting off the plane without losing them, so we wait until it's mostly emptied to get off. We walk over to baggage claim and we're there for about ten minutes before I collect my suitcase, Henry's and the twins' matching pink ones. We all make our way to the pick up/drop off location where I find Meredith Grey standing outside what appears to be her SUV. I didn't realize when I spoke to Amelia earlier, that Meredith would be the one to pick us up. I still don't know how I feel about her… But I can't hate her… I mean, the reason I did hate her is gone now… Derek's gone… I don't really want to think about that right now, so I shake it off and wave back to her once she sees us.

"Hey," I say as we approach the vehicle, "thanks so much for picking us up. I hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience."

"No problem at all," she says helping to get the luggage into the back while I get the kids into the car, "I'm just glad you're here. Amelia's been a wreck with the whole wedding thing."

"Oh, of course," I say shaking my head… I'm grateful that she has three car seats because I didn't even think to bring them with me. I still can't believe I just picked up and left like that, "I'm surprised she even made it this far with her track record. She isn't really the commitment type… I mean, James proposed to her and she fled to Seattle."

Meredith laughs along as I get the twins locked in and secured. I look towards Henry, who's buckled himself into his seat. He's acts so grown and put together yet he's only five… He acts like more of an adult than me… It's kinda funny… But I guess he is the man of the house now after what happened… I still can't talk about it, let alone think about it so I try to brush the thoughts off. Glady, Meredith interrupts my thought process as I climb into the passenger side and we take off.

"So," she pauses, "how long are y'all going to be in town?"

"Oh," this catches me off-guard. Everyone thinks we're just in town for the wedding… That's what we were initially coming to Seattle for but a lot has changed in this past week… "well, I'm not sure anymore… You know, after the whole Callie and Arizona thing… Callie's been calling me crying every night and sending me ten-page long emails when I'm not available to answer so… We may stay a little longer than what we initially planned."

"Yeah," she smiles softly, "and I see you've made a huge addition to your family. I think the last time you visited it was only you and Henry, and he was a baby. They're all so beautiful."

"Thank you," I smile proudly glancing back at the kids. Everett is still asleep, Henry's still reading and the girls are on their handhelds, "I'm surprised they aren't yelling at the top of their lungs by now but then I have to remember they just woke up."

"Sounds like my kids… I have three now and they're all at home jumping off the walls by now I presume," she laughs.

I smile, "Oh, I'm sure these guys will love that. Give them the chance, Parker and Peggy will trap you into a tea party where they'll force you to let them dress you and do your makeup and talk your head off over a three hour long cup of cold tea… when they barely know how to talk."

"Sounds like Zola," she chuckles, "I think our kids will get along just fine. How old are the girls?"

"They'll be three in November," I say already missing the two of them as babies. It was hard since there were two of them but Jake and I handled it really well. God, I miss him. I wish I could talk about it but I can't. I still can't.

She nods, "And how are those terrible twos coming along?"

"You know what? They're actually not that terrible… I expected trouble seeing that they are twins but they're honestly pretty great kids," I smiled to myself. We've raised four pretty awesome kids together so far, we were just getting started… I don't understand how one week could change my whole world but it did... It really did.

Meredith chuckles, "Oh I realized that. By now, my kids would have the backseats looking a pigsty with toys, food and trash… Just after ten minutes."

"Just wait until they get used to you," I say with a giggle as we pull up into Meredith's old house.
I thought she and Derek moved into the 'Dream house' or whatever they called it. I decide not to ask. We're not that close anyway. She helps with the luggage as I start getting the kids unbuckled. A few seconds later, Amelia bursts out of the house running towards the car.

"My babies are here!" she screams as she scoops up each one of my kids one-by-one, squeezing them until they're begging for air… not literally but might as well be. She picks up Everett last walking into the house as the rest of them follow her in, "I've missed you all so much!"

I laugh to myself as I help Meredith haul the luggage into the house. I decide to leave the luggage near the door since I have a hotel room that I'm supposed to be checking into later but I'm immediately stopped by Meredith.

"What are you doing?" she asks me.

I give a startled reply, "I was just… we have reservations at the Four Seasons."

"Nonsense, there's plenty of room here for all of you," she says.

I shake my head, "No, it's fine. You really don't have to."

"You said you might be here awhile… I know the kids would hate it if they had to come home to a hotel room every night," she says and I guess she's right.

I shrug giving in, "Fine."

"Great," she says hauling the luggage up the stairs and I follow with my bags, "I have this bedroom for you and this one right across the hall for the kids."

"Thank you, Meredith, you really didn't have to do all of this," I say gratefully as we enter to put my things down.

She just brushed me off, "You won't be thanking me once you've met Maggie, my sister. She's so clingy and caring and always trying to help. It's annoying. And she sleeps… in the room right next to yours."

"Wait, you have another sister?" I question as we step back out into the hall.

She nods, "Yeah, shock to me too; Ellis and Richard's love child." She pauses as I gasp and she laughs as if she was waiting for my reaction, "She wouldn't be that bad if she wasn't so annoyingly caring."

"Oh, she can't be that bad," I laugh.

She smirks, "Just wait until you meet her. She's on the way home from the hospital now."

"So, she's a doctor too?" I ask as we now make our way back downstairs to the rest of the family.

She nods, "Yeah, Cardiothoracic surgeon. She's actually department head."

"Addie," I hear my name called and I turn towards the voice belonging to none other than Amelia, then she asks, "Where's Jake?"

My heart literally drops to my feet, I catch myself on the railing from almost missing a step. I knew he would come up in conversation just not this soon and I don't want to ruin her wedding with my problems so I decide to lie. I'll tell her after the wedding, "He, uh, he couldn't make it this time. You know, work… Everybody's trying to have a baby right now for some reason."

"Oh, okay," she turns back to Everett who she has in her arms. He has the biggest smile plastered on his face… one I've only seen when he's truly elated and that happens often when he's with his godmother, Amelia.

Luckily, no one asks a follow up question and I just follow Meredith into the playroom where I find the rest of the kids building Lego houses. It's an adorable sight but there sure are a lot of kids. Meredith's eldest turns around catching our gaze and smiles waving.

I wave back, "Hey Zola."

I guess my comment got the rest of the kids attention because they're all staring at me. Her son jumps up and down waving at me too. He looks just like Meredith. He runs over giving me a hug, "Oh my, you must be little Bailey." I look to Meredith, "Derek sent me pictures of him when he was little but gosh, he's gotten so big."

"Yeah, he's four now. Can you believe it? His birthday actually just passed. If y'all would've made it here just a few days earlier, you would've been invited to a dinosaur party," she giggles as her little girl wobbles over to her. I'm amazed at how much she looks like Derek.

Surprisingly, she reaches for me. I pick her up with a huge grin, "Hello, cutie. I don't think we've met before."

"That's Ellis," Meredith says and I look up to see a content smile on her face.

I smile back, "She's beautiful, Meredith."

"Thanks," she smiles softly.

It's silent for a moment until we hear keys at the door and a younger woman walks in ranting, "I make terrible choices. I leave things behind and just let the bridges burn. I did it with Ethan. I did it with Dean," she pauses as Meredith and I both walk into the living room with baby Ellis's hand attached to my hair. I'm assuming this is Meredith's sister as she continues, "Oh, my God. I did it with my entire life. One day, I chose to learn a little bit about my birth mother. Cut to, I live in her house with her daughter, and I work with the kind stranger who fathered me, and I left behind an entire life and family that no longer exists. My parents are divorced. My childhood home is sold. My mother is in Hawaii making soups now… I—I have no home. It's like I-I flew to this planet on an exploratory mission, and the earth blew up behind me and I can't go back. And now I'm here with you aliens. Except I'm the alien, and I'm all alone, and I have nothing, and no one wants me."

I clear my throat feeling like the odd one out… Luckily Meredith speaks up, "You got us. We want you."

"I can't have sex with you," she sobs and I stifle a laugh.

Meredith shakes her head agreeing, "No…"

"You're a cylon," she whimpers, "This is 'Galactica'."

"I really do like her. She makes me not the crazy sister," Amelia jokes as the woman makes her way upstairs.

Meredith jokes, "How much do you think they're paying her?"

"So…" I begin to question.

Meredith answers already knowing what I'm going to ask, "Yeah, that was Maggie."

"And she's Chief of Cardio?" I ask.

Amelia answers this time, "Yeah, we're the 'Lady Chief Trifecta'."

"You guys have a band name?" I joke as Maggie comes back down the stairs changed into something comfortable.

She finally notices me and blushes, "I'm so sorry. I didn't even see you there. I'm Maggie. You must be Addison. It's nice to finally be able to put a face to the name. You're legendary here in the halls of Grey-Sloan and, just about everywhere else."

"Thanks," I chuckled to myself, "It's nice to meet you too, Maggie."

"So, how long are you in town for?" she asks as Baby Ellis reaches for her.

I hand her over while prying her hands out of my hair. I shrug, "Oh, I don't know. A couple of weeks?"

"You don't have any patients to get back to?" Amelia asks without moving her eyes from Everett while making kissy faces at him, "I mean, you are Addison Montgomery."

"Amy…" I use her hated nickname against her.

She rolls her eyes, "Oh, stop it."

"We should definitely go out for lunch. Get some girl time before Amelia is married off and moving out of the house," Maggie hints towards Amelia.

She shrugs, "I'll just be down the street guys. You act like you won't see me every day."

"Maybe going out to eat won't be such a bad idea," Meredith concludes and I just nod.

I didn't order anything on the plane and knowing my kids, they can always eat. It takes us about thirty minutes to get into the cars and another thirty minutes to get settled into the restaurant. We decide to get it to-go so we could eat outside at the park across the street since it was a beautiful day, which is rare in Seattle, and it gives the older kids a chance to play while we played catch up.

Apparently a lot has changed in Seattle since the last time I was here… It was Mark's funeral… and Owen Hunt was Chief. Now, it's Miranda Bailey. Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken this long to name her Chief. Derek and Meredith had just gotten custody of Zola, now she's six and Derek's gone... Callie and Arizona were still a thing and Sofia was only a year old, now they're divorced and Arizona just won custody of the now six year old. Cristina was still here and working under Teddy Altman but now they're both gone and Maggie is here in their place. Meredith's new sister is a huge change already… I can't believe Richard had a child and didn't tell me. He must not have known… Oh and he's remarried now… To an Avery. And apparently, her child works at Grey-Sloan too. And now five out of nine department heads are women and Amelia keeps hinting about me staying and making it six.

The crazy thing is, I kind of am considering staying… I love L.A. I loved L.A. I loved the weather, the view, the beach, the practice, the hospital, my friends who I now consider family… I loved it. I was going to stay and raise my family there until five days ago… I kissed Jake goodbye not knowing it would be our last time… He was making a house call for one of his patients… He barely made it out of the car when he was shot down... killed... all because someone wanted to steal his car… He was gone. Just like that… I had to tell the children that their father wasn't coming home and I don't think they fully understand just yet… Getting on that plane to Seattle was our first time leaving the house since then and honestly, I don't think I can go back. I can't go back to the place I finally built a foundation, just to see it crumble beneath me. I need to be here… Familiar ground with people who know me… who will help keep me grounded when I start to lose it cause I don't think it's fully hit me yet either. Every man that I've ever loved, is dead now. All in the course of four years… What does this mean? I swear if there is a god then he hates me... I really don't understand.

When I get stuck in my depression, I remember that I have four little ones to stay strong and live for. I honestly don't think I would still be here if it weren't for my kids. Henry has been my rock; my support system since Mark passed… Maybe that's why he's such a little old man? I think to myself as I scan the playground, finding both of mine and Meredith's children playing except Henry, who's sitting on the stairs reading. I walk over to my little guy leaving Everett safe in the hands of his godmother and I sit beside him on the bench.

He looks up at me closing his book and leaning over into my side as he speaks up, "I miss Daddy."

"I miss him too," I say almost in tears as I take my little boy into my lap, "I miss him too."