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Chapter Text

One moment, she is singing about true love’s kiss and the other she is falling from the tree, straight into a prince’s lap.

Her heart is beating out of her chest and her hands shake from the fear after the ogre's attack, as well as after crossing a big distance between the crown of the forest, right down to the path between the limbs. She looks up and her eyes widen at the sight.

“Oh, my gosh. It’s you,” She manages to say, a smile creeping up her lips.

She imagined the moment so many times throughout the years, yet something does not feel like her dreams and anticipations, but she can’t quite put her finger on it.

“Yes, it’s me,” The prince says, laughing charmingly. His hair is just a bit darker than her blonde and there is a delicate moustache above his upper lip, along with a small beard. He is fit and looks really ducally in his red attire. “And you are?”

“Meredith,” She says with one breath.

“Meredith!” He repeats, lips kept in the same grin. “We shall be married in the morning!”

She can't even understand what’s happening - that all of the dancing and singing and praying for a moment like this to come is becoming reality. She embraces her hands around his neck to not fall from the white horse they are riding. He turns them around the path, back to where the Andalasian palace must be, as he begins the song she already knows.

“You’re the fairest maid I’ve ever met, you were made…”

“To finish your duet,” She shifts closer to him, feeling every movement of the horse.

Her voice blends into his when they continue to sing together, “And in years to come we’ll reminisce-”

“-How we came to love-”

Meredith turns her head back to steal one last glance at her home and gladly sees all her woody companions and friends running after them. She watches the forest thoughtfully, through the excitement rushing in her veins, realising this might be the last time she is alone, or in her first home at all. Life is giving her a new beginning, and she hopes it will be what she always wanted.

She wants it so badly.

So stuck in her head, she almost forgets to sing her part, “-And grew and grew love-”

“Since first we knew love through true love’s kiss.”

They ride off into the shining sun which is slowly coming down, hiding behind the horizon and the sky is painted in the most lively colours there can be. She can’t wait to already see the rest of her happily ever after. 

The prince is named Finn, as she finds out later, was serious when he said they would marry the next day. Because Meredith finds herself in a big, the most gorgeous wedding gown she has ever seen. It barely fits inside the carriage, with its nettings and bows and shining sparkles and big puffed sleeves. It fits her chest and waist tightly, while it opens up and spills widely around her in a grant circle. She feels like a princess which she will become soon when they have their true love’s kiss and exchange rings.

Her hands are sweaty in the white fingerless gloves and her heart jumps up the moment she feels the carriage stopping and a servant opens the door for her.

She thanks him and smiles brightly, but barely gives him attention, seeing the palace and the church right in front of her.

Any attempts not to rush fail and Meredith begins to run through the gardens, down the stone pathway when a woman stops her midway.

The old hag and her sudden appearance stop Meredith from rambling under her breath and she tries to pass the woman by, unsuccessfully.

“What a lovely bride!” The elder woman smiles at her with her toothless black smile and Meredith nods, trying to be polite.

“That’s very kind of you, but I really…”

“No, no! Granny has a wedding gift for you, child,” She catches Meredith’s hand and her hold is a bit too strong for an old lady like her.

“Thank you - but I really should be going… You see, I’m-”

But the strange woman ignores any of her words and pulls her down the sideway, towards an open well, the water streaming from the stones above it. The heavy splashing to the bottom of the well can be heard even from distance, “Tis a wishing well, dear.”

Meredith smiles, “But all my wishes are about to come true!”

No of her words come through and Meredith gives up, comprehending the woman must be very dedicated. So, she stops trying to stop her and instead follows her right to the well, carefully placing her steps, afraid to fall. If this is a magic place, she might as well make some use of it.

As the woman keeps whispering into her ear, with two of her hands put against Meredith’s back, the blonde closes her eyes, muttering her wish, “And they both lived happily ever afte-”

Her sentence is cut off the moment she feels a push against her back and the eyes that fell shut from the fear now open and Meredith realises what’s happening.

A guttural scream echoes in the well as she just keeps on falling. She is falling, falling and falling and there appears to be no end to it. She opens her arms trying to catch something to hold herself off from hitting the bottom but her hands can’t feel anything. Everything is black and wheezing, her voice the only thing she can actually hear. She doesn’t stop screaming for her life, but the hasty finish surprises her even more.

With a swift move, she lands in a vastness that’s surrounded by shining lights. They are like stars up close, twinkling right in front of her face. She blinks several times to get used to the lightness and tries to understand.

One single licht slowly moves towards her and glues itself to her cleavage. Another one to her neck and after that, all of them seem to be running at her.

Her voice hurts by now from all the screams and yells, but the little lights - stars? - lamps? - whatever those things are, are charging at her at full speed. No matter how quick they are, she doesn’t even feel them when they land on her body. But soon, she is blinded, so she closes her eyes and mouth, so none of them gets inside her throat. She curls into a ball, in this infinitude, probably shining like a diamond.

Her body moves again, she can feel it shifting through this lack of gravitation and any kind of familiarity. She feels herself going somewhere, at light speed and then-

- Meredith finally hits something she can physically feel under the tips of her fingers. She opens her eyes to a complete darkness, no stars, no echoes here.

The only source of light she sees are several strays illuminating through small holes inside some kind of disk. She reaches for it but stops seeing her hands. They… look so different. The gloves look different, everything just became entirely unlike. The softness and bright colours turned grey and rough. As if she is more real, despite it does not make sense when she says it in her mind.

She takes a curled strand of her hair and feels it between her fingers, before dropping it, mouth left agape as she tries to make sense of it.

The world has changed.

Meredith tries to catch the light but it escapes between her fleshy fingers. She leans down to steal a glance through one of the holes, but there is only a dark sky and stars much further away than they were when the lichts surrounded her.

In a quick decision, she pushes the disk and feels it move under her hands.

The world turns around once again and she climbs up from inside, barely fitting her monstrous wedding dress through. And there she is, in a place that’s most surely not Andalasia. Way far from it.

Tall buildings surround the street, in which middle she is standing. People around, who also look so fleshy stop on the pavements on both sides of the street and stare at her. Meanwhile, Meredith is way too busy turning around and watching everything; the big moving pictures and so many lightened-up windows.

Only the noise brings her back down to Earth. She turns to see a big moving thing coming straight at her and she screams out, instantly regretting it when her voice turns hoarse. It’s a quick decision to run but then, the next one of those things, but this time smaller yet swifter halts right before her feet. Someone is yelling at her and the man from inside the machine gets out and joins the loud shouts.

She runs to where the people who watch her are and gets caught up in a crowd. They push her and comment ugly things at her, but she can’t get out of there. Soon, she is led down some stairs.

By the next twenty minutes, she cannot tell where she is and why she ended up alone on a stranded street.

“Finn?” She calls out into the night. “Finn…”

Just a moment before she was going to marry her true love and now… Where is she now?

Her energy is drained and it feels hopeless, to say at least. She walks in circles until she notices an elderly man sitting on the street next to bins of trash.

“Hello, old man,” She says, falling still in her white-now-turned-grey at-the-ends dress, right next to him. “Do you perhaps know which way I can find Andalasia? Or maybe have you seen a handsome prince around?” She sighs.

But the man stares at her, smiling ugly. She won’t tell him that, though. Instead, she says, “I love your smile.”

Suddenly his hand shoots up and he pulls the tiara from her head, her wedding tiara and starts to run.

“Hey!” Before she can even get up he is long gone. So Meredith says what she heard on the streets pointed at her already a couple of times, “Get screwed!” She stomps her foot and sighs again. Being away from home is much more difficult than she believed it would be.

For the shortest of moments, she regrets leaving her safe forest.

“We cannot do the surgery before the wife gets here!”

Addison is pinching the bridge of her nose with two of her fingers as she listens to the same fight she heard this day already six times. She looks across the room at Richard, the chief, but he appears to be as tired as she is. Besides, she should be already leaving the hospital to get Henry from his aikido lessons.

But she is stuck between Cristina Yang and Teddy Altman, who, as amazing as it sounds, are in the middle of a divorce and have the same workplace.

“We have to do the surgery tonight,” Cristina insists. “He will die if we don’t.”

“He’s been living like this for three years, he won’t die tonight!” Teddy rises her voice enough to be surely heard outside the office. “We are not allowed to operate before she signs the papers. He cannot decide for himself in this state.”

“He surely can.”

"Besides, you don't care about him, you are just a surgery junkie-"

Before either of them open their mouth, Addison raises her hands, “I’m out. My shift ended two hours ago but you got me stuck in this argument that’s- Wait for the wife.”

If looks could kill, Addison would be dead by now. However, Cristina's angry stare does not faze her.

She passes them by and waves at Richard. The door close behind her and lets out a heavy sigh. She had enough of working with those two, at least for the next seventeen years. All she can wonder about is whether it will only get worse after the divorce, or perhaps there will be some kind of miracle that will make them fucking stop.

Saying goodbye when she passes some of her friends, she literally runs out of the Seattle Grace Hospital. With some fraction of her attention, she realises she hasn’t seen Derek and remembers he is sleeping off his twenty-two-hour-long surgery.

“Shit, shit, shit,” She sing-songs on the busy streets, speeding to pick up Henry, who must be waiting for her by now.

And there he is, of course, her sweet boy. Addison can’t help but smile at the sight of him. She pulls over and he runs to the passenger door.

“Hi, sweetheart,” She leans and kisses his forehead. “How was it?”

“Hi, mom,” He pulls the seatbelts on. “I kicked ass. And you’re late.”

“Don’t say ass,” She immediately says before giving him a sorry glance. “I’m sorry. Work problems.”

“I hate the hospital for keeping you so long in,” Henry says and crosses his arms.

They have been having this conversation a lot since the divorce thing at Seattle Grace began; Addison realises she must be more careful because before, she used to have a perfect work and mom life balance. So either, she needs to tell her colleagues to get their shit together, or just start to ignore them.

The drive to the north side of Fremont takes some time, but eventually, they find themselves driving through the familiar streets. Yet Addison must have taken some wrong turn through her exhaustion and they end up on some dead-end street, dark and empty. She pulls out her phone to check the GPS and she doesn’t really listen to Henry rambling on.

“Henry!” She calls out when she raises her head and sees her son opening the door and running outside. “Henry, stop!”

“Hey! Princess!” She hears his voice and throws the phone on the seat before jumping outside the car.

And there, she finds the oddest of scenes unfolding before her eyes.

Henry is calling out to some woman that has climbed up a display. It shows a white castle and a typical fairytale view and the blonde fits there perfectly - a princess dress and curled long hair. Addison is in shock for three seconds, gaping before waking up from the trance.

“Don’t you ever do that again!” She catches Henry’s arm and tries to pull him to her.

“But, mom, look!” He points up to the princess.

“Is anybody there?” The woman asks the display and knocks on the fake door.

Addison has two guesses: one - the woman is a paid actress and she is doing her weird role, two - she is mentally ill.

And given how they are stuck in a ditch and there is no audience besides the two of them, she is leaning much more toward the second version.

She leads Henry closer to the car, afraid for him, “Stay here,” She says before approaching the lost woman, who hasn’t noticed them yet.

“Hey, lady!” Addison calls out.

She finally catches her attention.

“Oh,” The woman turns to look at her and smiles but looks desperate and disoriented. “I’ve been-”

But then, she loses her balance and begins to wave at the thin floor of the display. She yelps and stumbles back and Addison’s heart skips a beat.

“Catch her, mommy!” Henry yells.

Despite her senses telling her to move out of the way, she runs up closer, just when the stranger takes one more step back and catches herself with one hand on the building. She is screaming from fear, hanging onto her one hand and Addison has no idea what to do. So, she takes two more steps and that’s when the blonde falls right on top of her,

They stumble on the wet ground, the pompous dress covering both of the women.

Addison feels pain in her back but the woman rolls from her and stands up. With a wide smile that no person who almost has died, or even hurt themselves should have on their lips, the woman reaches her hand out to help Addison stand up, too. Her pencil skirt is torn from the left side and the matching blazer is all damp and dirty.

“Thank you so much,” The woman says and lets go of her hand only after a moment. “I am so lost. I have no one here.”

“What were you doing up there?” Addison frowns.

Henry runs up to them, almost jumping from excitement, “You’re a princess!”

The woman smiles softly but shakes her head, “I was supposed to be, but… It has been taken away from me.” Only that mention makes her appear sadder. “And I don’t know where Andalasia is, or how far away from here. I tried to ask but… nobody’s been very nice to me.”

“Yeah, well, welcome to Seattle,” Addison lets out a dark chuckle and rolls her eyes.

She stops, however, seeing “the almost-princess” earnest smile, “Thank you.”

And Addison wants to laugh again, she truly does. But instead, she is hypnotised by the woman. She stares down at her, a bit taller in her hills, and just can’t take her eyes away. Fascinated and disturbed.

“Mommy, we have to take her home!” Henry pulls on her elbow.

She should say no. She should leave this weird lost woman out here, away from the safety of her apartment and her child. But she is a doctor, and she is all about saving lives. Leaving someone like this alone is completely against what she stands for.

“Let’s help you…” Addison raises an eyebrow.

“Meredith,” The blonde instantly catches up.

“Meredith,” Addison repeats.

Something kicks inside of her stomach and she lets out a heavy breath. The smile on Meredith’s lips is one of the most beautiful she has ever seen in her life.

Chapter Text

The rain has started to pound heavily through the rest of their ride up the Fremont. As if the sky show omens it’s a night unlike any other, the storm is quickly coming over Seattle with bolts of lightning setting the sky apart and thunder reverberating. Rain is not unusual here, yet Addison feels unsettled by the weather, somehow.

By the time they get inside the building, all three of them are soaking wet. They hardly fit inside the elevator with Meredith’s dress but manage to get off on the sixth floor while she is telling them the story of how she ended up in the States of all places - what’s weird, she has no idea what the United States are when Addison mentions it.

“The old hag told me to…” She goes on when they go into the corridor.

Addison holds the elevator door for the woman, “Henry, show her the way please.”

“...To look into the well and wish for my heart’s desire. But I must’ve- I think she must have pushed me by an accident, perhaps. And then, I got very lost here,” Her mouth doesn’t shut and Addison is impressed by how quickly she speaks. “Well, that was until I fell off of the castle and you caught me up.”

Addison finds herself smiling under her breath but stops when the sense of the words gets to her.

“Is that falling a big habit of yours? Falling off of stuff?”

They reach the right door where Henry stops and Addison pushes her way through between the wide dress and the wall.

“Usually I am caught,” Meredith laughs but her tone turns a bit sadder when she mentions the prince, “I believe, though, Finn is already looking for me. And we shall be reunited and tie our love with true love’s kiss.”

Henry’s eyes are so big they look like plates as he stares at Meredith, charmed, in a daze, “True love’s kiss?” He repeats, in awe.

At the same time, Addison also repeats those words, but with sarcasm dripping down her voice.

“The most powerful thing in the world!”

Henry exclaims a ‘wow’ meanwhile Addison turns the keys in the door and says, “Right.”

Taking the handle in her hand, the realisation comes into Addison’s mind. She is about to let this crazy woman into her house and there might be a lot of consequences; there is that feeling deep in her heart that changes are to happen, impossible to delay and she is a part of her life where she doesn’t deal with those very good.

“Like I said, all I can do is let you in for a moment,” She says firmly before opening the door. “Dry off, use a phone, whatever you need. Just a moment.”

“That’s kind of you,” Meredith smiles and Addison dares to open the door.

Henry comes inside and turns to both of them just to see Meredith get stuck in the doorway, blocked by the tulle frills and the petticoat. She tries to push forward, with no success.

After a second, Addison pushes Meredith, frowning, “What’s up with this dress of yours?”

“Do you like it?”

She catches her own son smiling softly at the stranger, captivated and thrilled and she already knows he got attached. Her heart aches at him a bit, as she knows how much he loves being surrounded by adults who are kind to him. He’s been this way since Jake left the two of them alone and this damn princess already managed to make a good impression on him.

“I sew it myself,” Meredith says proudly and yelps when Addison gives one more push and she falls through the door.

She ends up on the floor, making a forward roll. Half of her dress is left in the doorway, pulled apart. Addison’s lips open when she sees Meredith collect herself graciously, all the way smiling just like a princess would do.

At the thought, Addison scoffs.

“Alright, we have a bedtime to stick to, let’s go,” She waves at Henry who unhappily disappears into one of the rooms. Then, she turns to Meredith, sighing, “I think we should get you a cab.”

In the office, it’s the first place where Addison Montgomery can finally breathe. She leans onto her desk, her head turned down as she closes her eyes and tries to rethink the whole day. She throws the blazer onto her chair and undoes three buttons of her shirt. She hasn’t slept in almost twenty hours and some part of her just wishes to ignore everything that’s happening and hide in her bed.

But she hasn’t had this kind of luxury since Henry turned three and she became a single mom. A single mom who is a surgeon and cannot afford to make mistakes.

And Meredith appears to be one of those mistakes. She is chaotic and lost and probably mentally ill and Addison has enough problems without her. But once again, she cannot just kick out a poor woman into this storm. But she also doesn’t know what to do, she needs more time to think it through.

Yet, more time is impossible because Henry storms into the office just when she kicked off her red Louboutin high heels.

“Couldn’t she sleep here, mommy?” He is still in his Aikido outfit, his hair messed up by the rain.

“No,” She shakes her head. “That’s a big and sure no.”

He moans and leaves the room with slumped shoulders.

He is out of her sight and comes back to the living room, where Meredith has sat down on their fluffy brown couch and is looking around with a curious look in her eyes.

“Are you really a princess?” Henry loves the smile she gives him at the question.

“Not yet,” She tells him, her voice becoming weary. “I will be, though. Very soon, I hope.”

And just like that, she shifts and lays down on the couch, setting two of her hands beneath her soft cheek and closing her eyes. It takes five seconds at maximum for her muscles to relax and her face loses any sight of expression. She just… finds her sleep like it’s the easiest thing in the world.

Henry stares, surprised, well-known for his mom’s sleepless nights. He has never seen her falling asleep like Meredith did, always turning from side to side and sighing when he sometimes peaks inside her bedroom.

Not really sure if it’s polite, he reaches his pointing finger and stabs it into Meredith’s shoulder.

No reaction.

He runs back through the apartment to his mom and calls out in a whisper, “I think she has fallen asleep!”

“Oh, no,” Addison gets up from her seat, closes her laptop with one move of her hand and runs out of the office.

She is ready to raise her voice just to wake this woman up, but she stops in her tracks when she storms into the living room.

Because Meredith, she… She just sleeps peacefully, with the comical gown around her and her wet, losing the curl hair falling around her face like a halo. A fucking princess in the middle of her house, who is asleep and looks like from a Disney picture Henry has in his books.

“Damn,” Addison murmurs, shaking her head. “This is unacceptable.”

“Mommy, can’t we keep her?”

She laughs at Henry’s words as if she is some kind of pet. She turns to him and crouches in front of him, “Henry, just because she has this funny dress, doesn’t mean she is a princess-”

“She is not. Not yet,” He cuts her off.

“Okay, but either way we cannot let her stay at our apartment,” She puts her hands on his soft arms and tilts her head. “This is a seriously confused woman who’s fallen into our laps. And she most probably needs professional help they are able to get her at my hospital.”

“No!” He stomps his foot, but even this doesn’t stir Meredith awake. “You are there all the time, but that doesn’t mean you will be sending Meredith there, too!”

Addison feels hopeless and they touched a way too sore spot.

“Okay, I’m not sending her to the hospital,” Addison brushes her thumb against her son’s cheek. “But she is not staying here either.”

“Mkay,” Henry pouts.

She leans in to kiss his forehead and stands up, “Go change into pyjamas, sweetheart.”

He leaves for his room and she crosses her arms on her chest for a moment before pressing a number in the phone she brought from the office. She presses it against her ear, waiting for the line to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Hi, I need a car to N 50th Street, Fremont, please,” Addison says but she physically can’t keep her eyes away from sleeping Meredith. “Yeah… Thank you.”

“Destination, please?”

But she can’t say a word more.

Because Meredith, a future-to-be princess, a woman who has fallen from the sky, is looking like the gentlest creature to be there. Pure. Untouched by the coldness of this world. Addison doesn’t believe in bullshit like fairytales, not at all, but Meredith almost - and that’s the key word - almost, makes her want to believe

So she hangs up.

Meredith is breathing slowly and her chest rises with each inhale, then falls with each exhale. So out of place, yet Addison cannot kick her out.

Instead, she turns off the light and goes to find Henry, who is sitting on the edge of his bed.

“Come, sleep with me tonight, Henry.”

“Why?”

“Just come.”

He follows her into the bedroom and jumps on her king-sized bed. It’s the first time in weeks that she falls asleep within five minutes. She just embraces him and he nuzzles into her neck like he did when he was a baby, and that’s all it takes. Even with the fact circling her head that there is a stranger in her apartment and piles of work in Seattle Grace, and Derek coming tomorrow morning to get Henry for some bonding.

She closes her eyes and is away, simply as that.

The morning awakens her with the sound of those machines - cars, she was told - filling up the streets beneath the building, through the open windows, along with birds singing.

Meredith wonders where they live without tall trees around as she sits up and stretches her arms out. It takes several blinks to get used to the view and she gasps noticing the ultimate mess which stretches out throughout the whole apartment - the living room she is in, and the kitchen connected to it. Everywhere is trash and dirty plates and cutlery and, “This won’t do.” She shakes her head.

A bit stiff in the gown, she walks out to the balcony and calls out.

Soon, she sees pigeons flying toward her and when she turns back, there are… rats and vermin.

None of those animals reminds her of her small family from Andalasia.

“Well, it’s always nice to make new friends.”

And they begin.

“Come, my little friends as we all sing a happy little song! Merry little voices; clear and strong,” Her voice carries through the apartment and she has missed singing. It’s been barely a day but it brings her comfort, despite this strange and unfamiliar place. A city that could never be in her world.

She finds a dusting brush, as well as what must be a vacuum cleaner from her song, which she never had in the forest.

From running through the rooms, to dancing on the table and watching rats roll the plates on the kitchen counter, she speeds to the bathroom, “Trill a cheery tune in the tub as you scrub a stubborn mildew stain, pluck a hairball from the shower drain-”

The rats surround her and like a clockwork machine, they work side by side, vermin brushing the dirt in the bathtub.

“To that gay refrain of a happy working song,” She gets louder.

Meredith is good at many things but cleaning is certainly her speciality. Ever since she’s been left alone, ten when her father disappeared and thirteen when her mother did the same, she had to learn all of it herself - cooking, sewing and cleaning of course.

It stings a bit, to think about the times when she had a family - arguing and sad most of the time, but still a family. And she is going to have one soon! When Finn finds her. If he finds her.

When the bathroom is shining and every centimetre is clean as it can be, she finds herself stepping towards the balcony. When she enters it, she watches life unfold in front of her and her thoughts circle back to Prince Finn; at least, that’s what she wants to see in her head as she sings about him: “Oh, how strange a place to be, till Finn comes for me… My heart is sighing.”

Yet, in her head appears Addison’s beautiful face.

She has never seen someone so gorgeous; to the point, it almost hurts to look at them. But Addison looks like she could be a princess herself, with her red silky hair pulled into a high ponytail and her long slim legs and- She is so dazzling that Meredith smiles softly, resting against the railing.

But there is work to do, work which is surely not thought of by the woman who let her stay in her apartment, and Meredith bursts back into the living room.

The kitchen needs a bit more cleaning and while they are at it, one of the plates breaks hitting the floor.

Rats take care of it and she jumps onto the coffee table, spinning around and ending her happy working song. During it, she doesn’t notice a small silhouette leaning from behind the wall of the corridor, who has wide eyes and opened mouth in shock. She doesn’t notice them running back through the corridor, too busy with finishing touches.

Meanwhile, Henry runs into his mom’s bedroom and begins to shake her.

“Mom! Mom, you have to wake up!”

“Henry, five more minutes…” She groans and turns to the other side, curling under the bedsheets. It’s one of the very few days she doesn’t have to run to the hospital first thing in the morning and she wants to make some use of it.

But Henry is persistent and begins to hit her with a pillow, “You gotta see it!”

“What is it?”

“Come! You have to see it!”

“What? What’s wrong?” She is rolling herself from the bed, almost ending up on the floor, her legs tangling as she is still half asleep. “Are you OK, Henry?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” The boy waves a hand at her and pulls her out of the bedroom. “Look!”

They run into the living room and Addison freezes. There are dirty sick animals all over their - surprisingly clean - apartment. Her brain just delays working for five seconds and she wakes up from the surprise.

“Get out!” She screams out and begins charging at the animals.

They do not seem to be even a bit scared of her and she catches the rat by their slick tails with one hand and with the other she takes the pigeons and tries to throw them out through the windows and balcony.

“What do I do with them?” Henry calls out to her, holding one rat and a handful of vermin.

“Get them outside!” Addison almost falls into a panic. “Get them- Get rid of them!”

“Put them back?”

“No! Put them outside.”

She runs through the hallway which length goes through their whole apartment and she opens the door; the rats run out of the house, pigeons flying right after them. When she turns back she sees Henry rushing the rest of the animals, yelling at them to get out and when the last vermin crawls through the door, Addison shuts them, heavily breathing.

What an amazing morning.

And it appears it will only get more amazing when the silence between them is cut through by singing coming from the bathroom.

Addison and Henry’s eyes meet, his a bit wild and hers already exhausted and annoyed.

“Stay here,” She tells him and follows the humming.

“But, mom-”

“Stay here.”

When she is right by the door, she can clearly hear Meredith’s raspy voice and her heart skips a beat. She catches herself lingering, something inside of her wanting to keep on listening. But she knocks on the door, “Hello?”

“Come in!” Meredith sing-songs.

Addison opens the door and halts.

Meredith is naked and two pigeons hand her a towel just at the moment when Addison’s eyes fall upon her. Her skin is tanned and freckled in some places, and with no makeup on her face, she looks too delicate.

“Good morning, Addison,” She says as she steps outside the bathtub.

Addison opens her mouth and turns her face down, feeling out of place to look at the almost-naked almost-princess, “Yeah…”

“Thank you,” Meredith says to the pigeons as they help her tie the towel around her body and Addison’s eyebrows raise to her hairline, looking at the birds in her bathroom. She has pigeons in her house, which are able to help people dress up. What the hell happened here overnight? “I hope you had nice dreams.”

“I think I’m still in one,” Addison murmurs.

“This is a magical room,” She plays with her fingers, that say charming smile full of amazement on her lips as she looks up at Addison. “Where does the water come from?”

She is pointing back at the shower which is left turned on.

It takes everything in Addison not to frown again, and she loses miserably, “Uh, well,” She crosses the bathroom to turn off the water. “The water comes from the pipes.”

Meredith is busy tangling up her hair in some kind of bun, two blonde strands falling at the front of her face, “And where do the pipes get it?” She gives up and lets her hair surround her petite frame.

Addison’s brain circulates, staring at the woman, “Uh… I don’t know. From… wherever the pipes get it.” She is a damn surgeon and sacrificed at least ten years of her life to become a world-known one, gave up sleepless nights and her own mental health to get where she is and she cannot even explain the simplicity of water pipes because the blonde is the most ethereal person she’s met.

She clears her throat, hoping it clears her mind as well.

“Oh,” Meredith signs in awe. “It is magical.”

Perhaps if Addison could only hear the knocking and the front door opening, she would stop their conversation and hide Meredith, locking her up in the bathroom. But unfortunately, she does not and she begins to clean the water floor while Meredith keeps on rambling about her new friends from this city.

“Maybe they can help you?” She suggests and before Addison can disagree, Meredith literally sings out some tune and the pigeons fly right into Addison’s head.

Of course, staying in the bathroom backfires.

Addison pushed by the birds, falls into Meredith and they twirl around, just to push the door open and end up on the floor in the corridor.

Meredith is laying on top of Addison, both of her legs on Addison’s sides and she holds the towel on her chest, keeping it away from showing anything. They are in a terrible position, especially for her son to see it.

But when Addison turns her head, she sees Derek.

Fuck.

“Derek?” She calls out.

“Hello!” Meredith calls out at the same moment.

“Who is this?” Derek points at the blonde, anger already collecting in his voice.

“This is nothing,” Addison says but she is overpowered by the excitement in Meredith’s voice, who already got up, still holding the towel and rushes towards Derek.

“I’m Meredith!” She pulls out her hand to shake it with Addison’s boyfriend. “I was on my way to the castle, to get married-”

“She is married?” Derek raises his voice, ignoring the unknown woman and staring at Addison catching up to them.

“No, she’s not,” Addison pushes Meredith away, out of the way, in case the scene gets more heated. “Not yet.”

“What does that mean ‘yet’?”

Addison runs her fingers through her messed up hair, “I was just trying to help her.”

“With finding the shower?” Derek raises his eyebrows. Addison feels the situation slipping from under the control. She closes her eyes, as if in pain when Meredith speaks up again.

“The shower? It’s amazing,” She exclaims. “Truly magical, wonderful, Derek.”

But Addison stops her from approaching the man and puts her back into the place by the wall, while Derek turns on his hills and heads at the door to leave.

“Calm down,” Addison catches his elbow. “Let’s talk.”

“Talk about what, Addison?” He shakes his head and moves away from her touch. “How I never stayed the night? Because we both agreed, Henry’s here, and you have to maintain some boundaries and I thought, “I’m so lucky, she’s so gentle!” but I didn’t realise you were worried about crowd control!”

By then, Derek is fuming and he charges back at the door, finding a way around Addison, “We’ll talk later, then.”

“Don’t bet on it.”

And those are the last words he says when she storms out of the apartment, heading straight to the elevator.

“What about taking Henry to school?” She calls out after him as he stands in the hallway of the building. “Some men-bonding time?”

“So you could have some girl-bonding time?” He scoffs and presses the ground-level button, disappearing into the lift.

“He is charming,” Meredith says.

Addison shuts the door to the apartment and ignores the fact she is still in her pyjamas, running down the steps. She crosses the six floors in a record time and when she runs into the street, Derek is getting inside a cab.

“Hey!” She calls out.

He spares her one sorry glance and drives off. It’s his day off, so he won’t be even at the hospital. She won’t even catch him there and- She yells and groans, waving angrily her hands around, turning them into fists.

When she is back in her home, there is fury at the blonde, which she cannot even find. She appears to be locked in one of the rooms and Addison hits her fist on the door, “You gotta go! I don’t care if you’re waiting for Prince Charming-”

“Prince Finn!”

“Whatever,” She rolls her eyes. “You gotta go, you can’t stay here. I’m getting you out of here. Out of my and Henry’s life.”

She finally opens the door and the outfit change gets her surprised. Is today going to shock her minute after minute? She’s been awake for an hour and her life is much more messed up than ever in years.

“What is this?” Addison asks and follows Meredith running through her apartment, jumping every step and chuckling happily.

“I made it!” She leads him to the living room “Do you like it?”

The blue-white dress sways silly around Meredith’s ankles and fits her chest and waist so perfectly that some part of Addison wants to put her hands on it and feel the fabric under her fingertips. Feel the shape of her body, petite and slim.

There are enormous holes in the curtains Addison bought two weeks ago, all in the shapes of the dress and she just can’t help herself from raising her voice. Her face falls and she stares helplessly at the ruined decoration.

“Oh…” Meredith shows sadness for the first time. “You’re unhappy.”

“You made a dress out of my curtains?” Addison walks inside the door, approaching the windows.

“Oh, you are unhappy. I am so sorry,” Meredith follows her. She suddenly gets some memory from her childhood, remembering Ellis’ angry face and her father slamming the door. She has to shake herself to get back to the present.

“I’m not unhappy, I’m angry.”

“Angry?”

“Yes, it’s a shitty emotion, ever heard of it?” Addison faces her again and sees how she flinches at the swear word. “You have created a completely unnecessary problem with Derek, which now I have to resolve. See, the fact is I was just getting ready to take a very serious step forward. Asking him to move in with me, actually.”

“Oh!” She jumps up excitedly, her finger wiggling.

“Now, he’s got in his mind, that you and I…”

“Kissed?”

Meredith asks, shocked. But before Addison can continue her rant, the blonde adds, “Two women?”

At that, Addison’s eyes widen. What in the hell?

It’s the twenty-first century and they are in America, and whether it’s not a walk in the park for queer people, queer women to live, it’s a well-known thing. And yet, Meredith, she seems to be surprised by the option itself. Addison watches her face go through a series of emotions, from alarmed to amazed and she wonders if that’s the moment and place to explain to Meredith that two women, in fact, can kiss. And can do so much more.

But why her mind is running down that way?

“Yeah, two women can kiss,” Addison slows down and tells her. “Just like two men. Well, isn’t love just love?”

And that’s just the most wonderful thing to see how easily Meredith accepts that. She nods, back to her usual excitement, “Sounds wonderful.”

If everyone was this way, Addison imagines. Just accepting and tolerating what should be something completely normalised. Meredith can see it so easily, despite her acting like is not from this world.

“But, to Derek,” She says and runs up to Addison. “You should sing to him! To reassure him in your affections.”

She puts her hands on Addison’s hips for the shortest of the moment, just to spin around and press her back against her chest, “You should take him in your arms and rest your head on his shoulder. Kiss his cheek or nose!” She reaches for Addison’s hands, but the redhead has already put her hands on Meredith’s waist like that’s the most natural thing in the world. “Pour your heart out to him! Send him a letter or flowers!”

The blonde hair’s scent gets to Addison’s nostrils and she breathes in, the smell of forest and lavender flowers surrounding her. And Meredith’s dress, before her curtains, feels so much softer under her hands than it did when she was buying the material. She is so small and gentle in her arms. She almost wants to stay like this

Addison steps away to a position where she can see Meredith’s face. She just looks at her and it’s not that she can’t look away - she does not want to.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Meredith pauses and meets her gaze.

“I don’t know…” Addison’s hands miss the warmth beneath them. “It’s like you escaped a Disney movie or something.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

Addison shakes her head and then notices Henry at the door to the living room with his backpack on, as well as dressed up and ready.

“School!” She calls out passing him by and running to her bedroom. “We gotta run!”

Chapter Text

Just when they drop Henry off, Addison gets a call from the hospital. Very wary of Meredith on the passenger’s seat, she observes her while talking with the chief. She hangs up when he tells her to rush to Seattle Grace and drops the phone onto her lap. It’s difficult to explain everything to a person who acts like they don’t know what drugs and painkillers are, so she just tells the blonde they have to go to her work.

The drive doesn’t take too long and ten minutes later, they are parking in front of the hospital.

Addison rushes through the parking lot in her nine centimetres high hills but when she turns around, Meredith is standing in place, staring at the building.

“What are you looking at?” She stops, waiting for the woman.

“This place…” Meredith’s eyes are wide open and she has stopped smiling for a moment, too enchanted. “It’s enormous. And looks so monumental.”

“It’s just a building,” Addison says.

She sees Meredith is still too caught-up and she runs up to her and catches her hand, their fingers intertwining like it’s the most normal thing, “Come quickly. Quickly.”

Tightening her hold, she pulls Meredith down the pavement straight to the main entrance.

The door opens and all Addison is sneak through the hall to the elevator without anyone noticing her special guest. Only when they get inside, thankfully without anyone’s presence and she presses the third floor, she takes a look at Meredith. At her dress and hair pulled back with a white ribbon tied into a bow and she sighs.

“What do you do?” Meredith asks, her big blue eyes gazing at Addison.

“I fix people,” Addison says, counting seconds inside her head. “I help them. Mostly pregnant women and their babies, but I sometimes help in different things.”

“Oh, wow,” Meredith says. “That sounds extraordinary.”

Addison blushes. Like a damn teenager, her cheeks burn and she feels herself get hotter. She mumbles out a quiet ‘thanks’ before the elevator door opens.

She catches Meredith’s wrist and runs through the hallway just so no one can actually stop her and ask questions. Only when she sees Callie in one of the rooms, she heads straight there.

Callie turns around when she hears the door shut, with her mouth halfway open as she talks to the patient.

“Addison?”

Some part of Montgomery wants to cry from relief to finally have one of her friends here.

“Callie, I need your help,” She begins, panting after the running. She ignores Meredith walking away from her, looking around the room. “I really, really need your help.”

“They have been waiting for you for the surgery,” Callie tells her as she fixes something around the machinery.

“Perfect, for how long?”

“Do you want to know?”

Addison shakes her head and brushes her hair back into a ponytail, “I need you to handle something for me, okay?”

“Yeah,” Callie nods.

“See that girl over here?” Addison points at Meredith who is now looking through plastic bags with different liquids, drugged with medicine.

“Who is she?”

Addison cringes at her lack of information, but what she says is true, “I have no idea. I’m pretty sure she is out of town? But I don’t know, I really don’t.”

Callie stares at Meredith for a moment and then glances down at her patient, who has fallen asleep, “Okay, what do you want me to do exactly?”

“Find out where she is from, get her there and make sure she is safe. Maybe get something from the East Wing. A psychiatrist. Whatever,” Addison's pager begins to beep and she breathes out heavily. “Oh, and if Derek comes in, call me. I need to talk to him.” Addison turns to Meredith just at the moment when she sees her opening one of the bags and raising it to her mouth. “Meredith! Please, don’t drink that.” She takes it from the blonde’s hands and pulls her towards Callie.

“I have an important surgery. Callie is going to get you home,” She puts the woman in front of her friend. “Callie? This is Meredith. Meredith, this is Callie.”

Meredith smiles widely, “Why does your water taste so salty?”

Callie’s horrified face is the last thing Addison sees when she storms out of the room, straight to change into her salmon scrubs. Within five minutes, she is ready and skipping down the corridors to OR number four. On her way, she meets Teddy.

She explains to Addison that the wife has come in two hours ago and signed the surgery papers instantly. But during that time, Addison was busy throwing dirty animals out of her apartment and falling on the floor with a naked blonde on top of her. Let’s just say that the eventful morning is enough of an explanation for not hearing the calls from the chief before. She wonders what would Richard say if she told him, but for now, she focuses on the task and helping the unconscious man for who every minute is crucial.

Three hours later, the surgery is officially successful and Addison is scrubbing her hands clear, throwing out the sweaty blue gloves. There is just this certain peace of life appearing when she is in the OR. For those several hours, she was able to just turn off any thoughts about the past twelve hours which turned her life upside down.

But now, she is stepping outside, back into real life. The weight of it all falls upon her and she puts on her slowest walk down the hall to find Callie. Deep inside, she feels an upcoming headache and all she hopes is to be told that Meredith is already driving a happy bus or train to her land. Well, no. Not really. She w-nts herself to actually hope for that, and not to feel this weird disappointment at the thought of never seeing Meredith again. They haven’t even said goodbye. Henry- He will be so crushed.

Her heart drops when she sees Callie alone in the hallway, behind a counter in the middle of stacks of charts and documents, tapping something on a computer. Is it all done?

But the moment Callie looks up as she hears hills echoing from the floor, she looks thoroughly traumatized.

“She has no driver’s license. No passport. No ID. I can’t find this place she comes from,” Callie whisper-yells through the hall.

Addison approaches her quickly, “What place?”

“Andalusia?”

“Andalasia,” She fixes instantly. Then asks herself why she remembers it.

“Whatever,” Callie waves her hand. “I called every travel agent, every airline. I don’t know if it’s a country or a city. She is with the interns right now. And Mark, I think.”

“The interns?” Addison forgets to control her voice and almost shouts out, “And Mark?!”

“We couldn’t get a psychiatrist.”

“So you let her- So you let Mark near her?!” Addison feels faint at the very idea of Meredith being close to that asshole. Meredith is way too mesmerizing for Mark to let her pass by just like that.

Callie opens her mouth to fight back but suddenly she squints her eyes, staring through Addison’s soul.

“Addison Montgomery,” Callie says slowly and deliberately. “Are you speaking vagina monologues?”

Addison freezes. Then, she bursts out nervously laughing. All the while Callie stares at her like she can see through each wall of bullshit.

“I have a boyfriend, Callie.”

“Yep, I know,” Callie says.

Addison can’t remember when was the last time she felt as uncomfortable as right now. She is saved, though, the moment Callie opens her mouth - most likely to share another brilliant comment or question - and at the same time, the door behind them opens, too.

Meredith twirls around in her princess dress, followed by Izzie, Alex and George, while Mark is leading them at the very beginning. He is talking something to Meredith, but the blonde clearly stops listening to him when she sees Addison.

“How did fixing people go?” She asks, voice curious and she places her hand on Addison’s elbow, cupping it gently.

“It- It went okay,” Addison says, feeling the heavy look from Callie at their joined bodies. “The patient is all safe and sound.”

“That’s great,” Meredith says and then turns to the group behind them. “I’ve met new friends.”

Addison looks at the group and can’t help but chuckle at their faces. George is clearly into Meredith, his eyes shining at her smile, Izzie is frowning trying to understand what the hell is happening, while Alex nods with a dirty smile, probably ready to throw the jokes he is best at. But when her eyes cross with Mark’s, she gets angry. She hates him looking at Meredith like that.

“Where did you get her, Red?” Mark asks. “I think I need my own copy.”

“Mark, don’t push it,” Addison says, her voice stern. She steps in front of Meredith like she just wants to protect her pure soul. For a moment, she imagines herself like a prince Charming and then scoffs internally at herself.

But Meredith moves from behind her the moment she sees Cristina walking down the hall towards them with Teddy behind her, both of them clearly angered and not on talking terms.

“Oh my Goodness, your hair is lovely,” She steps to Cristina and takes a strand of curly hair between her fingers. “You are beautiful.”

“Thank you?” Cristina’s eyebrows furrow together and she looks at all of her colleagues. “Who is she and why is she talking to me?”

“Addison’s girlfriend,” Callie tells her while Mark says, “A hot ass lady.”

Meredith is too focused on Cristina, not even listening to the rest, “Whoever holds your heart is a lucky fellow indeed.”

“Try telling her that,” Cristina groans and moves to rest against the wall, arms crossed on her chest.

“I’m certain she already knows,” Meredith grins. Yet, she respects the distance Cristina put between them and Addison just watches the scene unfold; one part of her pushing her to take Meredith away, out of the Seattle Grace before she makes a mess, the other curious to see what will happen. Will she regret she let Meredith talk with Cristina? Most likely.

“Excuse me?” Teddy steps between the two of them, putting her hands on her hips.

“Are you her?” Meredith asks, raising her eyebrows. “You are so lucky. Just look at the way her eyes sparkle. It’s no wonder you’re in love.”

Alex whistles, clapping his hands when Cristina’s face drops. Izzie whispers something under her breath and George manages to just form a simple ‘oh no’. Addison puts a hand on her mouth while Callie laughs behind her.

She knows it’s her time to cut in and Addison finds herself rushing to Meredith and pulling her away, “Excuse me. I’m sorry,” She tells Cristina and Teddy. “Meredith? Please?”

The blonde listens to her carefully as they shift away from the group and Addison murmurs to her the pair is not together anymore.

“I- I don’t understand,” Meredith says.

“They are getting a divorce. Separating from each other.”

It’s almost unbelievable how Meredith’s eyes turn so sad. Within one second, they just lose all their joy, the little shining stars inside of them are turned off, dead. Addison can’t know what’s happening inside of her, but Meredith, hearing the word separating begins to remember more than she wanted. She remembers her father leaving, not fighting for her family. She remembers leaving their town behind when her mother decided to move away, away from people. Away from life itself.

Separation. What an incredibly saddening and heartbreaking word. And it’s even sadder to realise that even in this world, which Meredith doesn’t know but is so full of people and cars and enormous buildings, even somewhere so developed and futuristic, people still separate. That no matter if it’s Andalasia or United States, you can’t escape from the fights and losing one another.

“Separating?” She whispers to Addison, all hope in her eyes fading away. Her eyes get full of tears.

Meredith doesn’t see Addison’s compassionate face, all she sees is the back of her father walking out of the door.

“For how long?” She asks.

Addison hates to be the person to break it to her.

“Forever.”

It’s the last straw for the blonde. Tears spring from her eyes and she doesn’t even hide them.

“Is she crying?” Cristina pushes herself off the wall, her voice already getting aggressive.

“No, she is not,” Addison says.

Giving one last look at the confused group, she takes Meredith's hand - are they really gonna spend holding hands the whole time they know each other? - and she leads her back to the elevator. No one rushes after them and she doesn’t know what to say to the weeping blonde. She is mad. Mad for her day already beginning like this, mad because she knows she will have to deal with Yang and Altman later and she just- She wants her normal life back. She wants Derek to forgive her and move in with her and for Henry to have a normal life and not this.

“Why? Why did you have to make a scene?” Addison has let go of Meredith’s hand and is going through the main hall on the ground floor.

Meredith is skipping every two steps after her. “A scene?”

“Yes, a scene. These women are in real pain,” Addison is fuming. And she can’t really say why, but there is just so much fatigue inside of her.

“Of course, they are in pain,” Meredith raises her voice for the first time this way; almost - but almost in the keyword - angrily. There is just so much disappointment in each of her words. “They’re separated forever. They’re married one day and the next they’re not. What sort of awfulness is this?”

“It’s reality,” Addison barks and steps outside.

She finally stops walking a couple of meters away from the entrance and runs her fingers through her red hair. When she looks at Meredith, who is also clearly moved by their argument, she knows what she needs to do.

“I try to do the right thing, I try to get you help,” She begins. “Try to be nice, for God’s sake.”

“Well, you’ve been nice to me. Mostly.”

“Mostly? A- Nevermind. Okay. Meredith, look,” Addison tries once more to look the blonde in the eyes. “I can’t help you anymore.”

“What?” There is a pure honest surprise in her voice.

Addison opens her purse and finds her wallet, taking out some banknotes and stuffing them into Meredith’s hands, “Here’s some money. Take it. Call Finn. Have him bring his white horse and pick you up. I just… I can’t do this anymore. My work- I just can’t.”

She doesn’t expect the next thing she hears.

“Addie?” Meredith asks, helpless.

It makes Addison’s heart ache. Only Derek ever calls her that, although not in the past weeks which they mostly spent only bumping into each other in the hospital. It feels so intimate.

“Just go,” Addison shuts her eyes for the shortest of seconds, like it even hurts to see. “Please.”

Meredith nods before opening her mouth again. She clearly is trying to calm down and understand and when she speaks up again, her voice is not as shaky as it was when she called Addison that sweet name.

“I’m so sorry. You’ve been a friend to me when no one has been. And I hate I caused you trouble. So… I’ll go,” Meredith takes one step further away from Addison. “I wish you everything- Every happiness.”

And just like that, she grants her one more of her cute smiles, the one with dimples in her cheeks and her blue eyes glistening - hard to tell with what emotion - but it’s a warm look. Then, she turns around and heads down the pathway that leads to the parking lot. The dress moves behind her and only then, Addison notices only by now there are flowers in her blond curled hair.

She watches Meredith go. And has a hard time accepting that.

The mixed emotions bubble up inside of her and she just wants to call out for her and let her stay. Help her find her prince and watch them go back just where they are supposed to do.

But she has things to do. A relationship to save, a son to love and her workplace to fix all the mistakes and rescue people.

Yet, standing right in front of Seattle Grace Hospital, she is frozen into the ground and watches Meredith walk away.

Chapter Text

Meredith moves like she truly is out of this world. Her dress, her hair, her walk, how she gracefully swings her hand gesticulating. Like she actually can become a princess, despite Addison thinking she could get that title without marrying some prince.

She stares and is ready to turn around back to the hospital. Just when she feels sure, that’s when she watches Meredith turn to some older man on the bench - he looks like one of the patients, but Addison can’t swear on it. They talk and then, Meredith hands him some money. Addison sighs and forgets about coming back to the work.

Crossing the sidewalk in her hills takes ten steps.

“Meredith?” She sees how her voice surprises the blonde. “What are you doing?”

“Addison!” She grins and turns to the man. “This is John.”

“Mhm,” The older man crosses his hands on his chest.

“He saw my Finn!”

The man nods, “He was on the bus this morning. He tried to kill me,” He raises his arm and shows a stitched wound on his arm.

“Just wonderful,” Addison nods, putting her hand on the small of Meredith’s back protectively. “That’s great. Thank you.”

She pulls Meredith away from the bench and down the sidewalk to the parking lot, then heads down the street where the Emerald City Bar is placed. Before Jake left, she used to attend the place with her colleagues more often than not; afterwards, though, she couldn’t afford to leave Henry with a nanny because he already had little time to spend with his mom. She wonders if the place has changed much.

“What were you thinking? You can’t just give people money,” Addison sighs and only then realises her hand is still on Meredith.

“But you gave my money,” The blonde argues.

“That’s not the point,” Addison says.

“He was very helpful,” Meredith does not give up.

They walk through the parking lot and Addison points the further way. Meredith has a funny look in her eyes when she looks up at Addison, her eyes gleaming. Their hands and shoulders brush when they have to find their way between two cars and Addison leans down to pick up the light material of Meredith’s dress before it falls into a pool of mud. She carries it for some part of their walk on the grass and Meredith laughs at her, yet Addison holds it until they are back onto the pavement. Somehow, this silence between them, cut through only by giggles, is comfortable. Familiar, not like they met each other only yesterday.

But they still don’t know a lot about each other and Addison decides to change that.

“What’s the deal with you Prince Charming?” She asks.

“Prince Finn.”

“Whatever,” Addison knows it annoys Meredith and she smirks when the blonde takes her eyes off her. “How long have you two been together?”

“Oh,” Meredith is quiet for a moment. Then, she puts on her most radiant smile, “A day, I believe.”

“You mean it feels like a day because you’re so in love?”

“No, it’s been a day.”

Addison stops walking in the middle of the street. Meredith turns after three steps and frowns; she looks around if any cars are coming but thankfully, the coast looks clear.

“You’re shitting me,” Addison says. “A day? One day?”

“Yes,” Meredith nods, hesitating if she should pull Addison from the street. “And tomorrow will be two days.”

“You’re joking,” There is disbelief in her voice.

“I’m not!” Meredith laughs. “Come off the street, please.”

“Yeah, you are,” Addison stays unmoved.

“But, I’m not!” Meredith stomps her foot, looking like a child and then goes back to Addison and swipes her away right from a car speeding down the street. “We are in love.”

Addison looks back at the disappearing car, “You’re going to marry someone after a day because you fell in love with him?”

“Yes!” Meredith laughs again - and it is contagious, despite Addison's awareness of the ridiculosity of the scene.

Neither of them runs or stops on the street anymore, continuing their walk down the sidewalk. Addison has a hard time accepting the bullshit Meredith is trying to sell her; but what if it’s real? The ability to fall in love with someone in one day and love them so much - enough - to marry them just after this short period of time. She used to believe it takes at least a year to fall in love with someone, and that’s the way it has always been for her.

First, Jake - perhaps it didn’t take a year but at the beginning it was attraction and a crush, next it turned into an infatuation which turned into love. And it took years as well to fall out of love with him. Then, she spent some time with Mark but it turned out they were way better off as friends; he never stopped making dirty jokes about the nights they spent, but that was it. A good question was if there ever was love between them. And lastly, Derek. It was love, she knew. But to learn to trust a man again like that, it took time.

So what Meredith is talking about?

And why, in the hell, Addison internally feels like she can believe her? Like that one day is all it takes? Why her brain is trying to point out something Addison can’t see?

“I don’t understand. How can you talk about loving some guy you don’t even know?” She decides to ask.

Meredith hums quietly before answering, “Well, I know what’s in his heart.”

“Great.”

“What about you? How long have you known your Derek?” Meredith twirls her hair around her finger. 

Addison can’t help herself but pay attention to every gesture and every face the blonde does. It’s like she wants to know everything, remember it all when it ends. Because their time, surely is counted and will find its finale pretty soon - perhaps Finn will finally find his future wife and bring her back to the Andalasia land and Addison won’t ever see her again.

“Oh, soon it will be two and a half years.”

This time, however, it’s Meredith who stops in her tracks, shocked, “And he hasn’t proposed yet?!”

“Well, no,” Addison shrugs.

“No wonder why you argue like that!” Meredith exclaims.

But no matter what emotions she speaks with, there is always joy and delicacy in her. She acts like whatever could happen, in the end, there will be that goddamn happy ending.

“Excuse you?” Addison asks.

Their conversation is cut off by some man coming out of a shop with two drinks in his hands - they are bloody red and bubbly, “Hi! We are giving free drinks today,” He smiles at them, but it’s a nervous smile.

“In the middle of the day?” Addison frowns while Meredith excitedly leans in, ready to take a glass from him.

“What’s inside?” She asks, her nose scrunching when the alcohol reaches her nose.

“A surprise,” The man tells her and keeps on creepily smiling.

Addison gets a weird feeling in her chest and as she watches Meredith get the glass, an alarm goes off in her head. She takes the glass and shoves it back into the man, knowing too well what happened after taking drinks from strange men, “No, thank you,” She tells him and pushes him with her shoulder, taking Meredith with her. “We are going to a bar, I’ll buy you a drink there myself.”

The rest of their walk, they spend continuing the conversation; Addison explains her point of view - how people here, in the real world, need time, and when someone rushes into the relationship, they usually get burned. She laughs at Meredith, who does not understand or does not know what dating is and she patiently explains it. She tells about meetings in restaurants or museums or cinemas and that seems to speak to Meredith.

Despite she is amused at the whole dating idea, she keeps throwing questions at Addison - about the museum and how it feels to just let it go so slowly. In return, Addison admits that the fabulous one-day thing could probably be easier, to have one lunch and decide to throw a wedding. That perhaps happily ever afters would exist if all of the people gave up stretching their relationships out and waiting.

Their conversation stops when Addison finds out they have already passed by Joe’s Bar, too caught up in each other. They go back, while Meredith keeps investigating Addison and Derek’s relationship, outraged at Addison who tells her she doesn’t know if they will survive today, even more, a whole lifetime.

“Does he know how much you love him?” She asks, passing by Addison who opens the door for her.

“Of course, he does,” Addison scoffs.

“How?”

“What do you mean ‘how’?” The door closes behind them and Joe waves at her from the counter.

Then, she freezes the moment Meredith opens her mouth.

“How does he know you love him?”

Addison laughs and raises her hand to stop her, “No. Don’t sing.”

Within one line, she already caught people’s attention and they stare at the two of them.

“How does he know he’s yours?” Meredith goes on, without any shame.

“People looking. Stop. It’s okay,” Addison murmurs.

Meredith pouts but they both head to the counter. However, any chances for peace are crossed off when they hear a voice singing behind them from the counter of the bar. There, are four black men sitting, three of them with different kinds of drums and the fourth one is singing the same words that Meredith just sang.

Instead of ordering drinks, Meredith twirls around, smiling and Addison stares startled, “He knows the song, too?”

At the same moment, the men start to play their instruments and Meredith joins the singer in a duet, “How does he know that you really, really love him?”

“What is this song?”

The man stands up and begins to dance with Meredith, the whole place looking at them. The rest of the band stands up, too and soon everyone is moving in this weird dance and song, like it is a choreography everybody knows except for Montgomery. She watches people pull tables and chairs towards the walls, making a big circle free to move around.

Addison gives Joe one look and he side-eyes her, looking like he will either lose it or start laughing. She herself doesn’t know what to do except to follow Meredith with her eyes, amazed as well as mortified.

“It’s not enough to take the one you love for granted,” Meredith points at her with a faked angry expression and Addison can’t help but chuckle. “You must remind him or he’ll be inclined to say ‘How do I know she loves me? How do I know she’s mine?’”

The moment is like straight out of a fairytale; the clients of the bar stand up and make a circle around Meredith who is spinning around. The band shift in three different directions, keeping on playing the drums and singing as backing vocals, vocalising with her.

Meredith makes little steps towards the counter at the other end than Addison is and picks up a menu and takes a pen someone hands to her, “Well does she leave you a little note to tell you are on her mind?” She writes something down on the piece of paper and forms a paper aeroplane just to send it Addison’s way.

The redhead catches it but has no time to read it because Meredith climbs up on the barstool just to get onto the counter. She clasps a hand on her mouth, stopping the giggling at the face Joe does when Meredith begins to dance there. Then, she realises it’s her responsibility and she gestures for the blonde to get down but she is too caught up continuing her song, “Heeeey, she’ll find a new way to show you, just a little bit every day. That’s how you know, she’s your love!”

Suddenly, some man twirls a woman around just to pick her up like in Dirty Dancing and they kiss.

“See?” Meredith calls out.

“I’ve seen quite enough. C’mon,” Addison shows her to get down.

Meredith sits down and slides from the surface, just to notice a poster on the wall and point at it. It shows Seattle Grace Hospital with pink glitter writing that says Prom!

“Prom? That would be fun!”

Addison swears on the interns, probably Izzie, who just had to inform the whole neighbourhood about their private crazy hospital affairs, “Absolutely no fun.”

Before they can go down the prom road and argue about it, the band cuts through and the performance goes on, even crazier than before. Through the door burst several couples in wedding gowns and suits, following Meredith in the choreography - if there even is one. Addison blinks, hoping she will suddenly wake up, but it does not work. She pinches herself - does not work either.

So, she is stuck in this nightmarish Disney story, huh?

And Meredith, out of nowhere, runs to her and sits her down on one of the chairs, then falls on her lap.

Addison’s heart skips a beat when the blonde brushes a red strand of hair behind her ear and she feels so light on top of her, like she weighs nothing, even in this princessy dress. She is flustered to the point of embarrassment.

“Well does she take you on dancing just so she can hold you close?” Meredith sings straight into her ear.

But what’s surprising, Addison doesn’t mind.

“I don’t dance,” She says, trying to focus and fight off all this. She is rational. She is a surgeon. She is a grown-up woman.

“Dedicate a song with words meant just for you?” Meredith cannot be disheartened, she has to give her that.

“I don’t sing,” Addison murmurs, clenching her teeth.

“She’ll find her way to tell you with the little thing she’ll do, that’s how you know she’s your love!”

Meredith presses a quick kiss to her cheekbone, so fast that Addison wonders if that happened in her head. Because Meredith stands up and runs back to her circle of dancers and singers and- everything. The show goes on, whether or not Meredith just kissed her. Cheek, but still. Are they friends now?

The room is loud and there are too many people for Addison to even process the happenings. She is thankful to hear her phone ringing in her purse and she quickly exits the bar, leaving Meredith to have her fun. She hopes they would get drinks and then somehow find that asshole of a prince - she can’t really say why she already dislikes him, she just does. If he really wanted to find Meredith, he would do it quicker. Addison firmly believes she would be a better prince, given she found Mer barely an hour since she appeared in Seattle. And- wait, Mer? Since when she is calling her that?

She picks up her phone just to hear from Callie that Derek came to work, despite his free day and is following the Chief like a kicked puppy, making faces at everyone who tries to talk to him. Addison sighs, resting against the wall.

“Hi!”

She turns to see Meredith jumping from the door.

“Sorry, gotta go,” Addison tells Callie. “I’ll come soon to talk to him.”

“Wait, are you still with your girlfriend?”

“Bye, Callie,” She hangs up.

“I have an idea,” Meredith smiles. “How to make it up for Derek.”

Then she proceeds to explain her perfect idea of sending an invitation for prom and a bouquet of red roses. When Addison asks how will they execute it, Meredith begins to hum that one melody of hers and she speaks to fucking pigeons. They disappear for five more minutes as Addison dwells on her life choices and come back with the bouquet that’s cut in a heart shape.

Meredith calls someone from the bar and she comes back with a white paper where she makes Addison write down the invitation.

“Take these flowers to Seattle Grace to Derek Shephard, please,” She tells them.

“Are you crazy?” Addison laughs. “ They’re birds. They don’t know where and who it is!”

“That’s how you know she loves you!”

“God, no,” She groans. “Are we back to singing?”

Meredith nods and pushes her back inside the bar.

Chapter Text

“These are exquisite, where do you find live doves in Seattle?”

They are on the first floor, Derek is in his scrubs, ready for the surgery he’ll have in half an hour and he holds the bouquet in a heart shape in one hand and the other he places on Addison’s waist. A wide smile graces his face as he stares at his girlfriend with lights in his eyes.

“Oh, it’s a long story,” She waves her hand, shifting a step closer to him.

It’s been a long time since the last time they were close like that in public, intertwined in each other and forgetting that people stare.

“We’re attending the prom?” He asks her, his thumb moving against the material of her fancy blouse.

“We don’t have,” Addison instantly says. “If you-”

“Are you kidding me?” Derek laughs. “I’ve been asking you to since Richard allowed it to happen. We are definitely going.”

She laughs, feeling butterflies in her stomach when he leans into her to kiss her. But they don’t tingle as they used to - it’s more of a hit, which makes her uncomfortable. She ignores it, kissing his familiar lips which she can remember the shape of day and night. Yet, her heart drops as she closes her eyes and all she can see is blonde hair and slender shoulders, despite her hands resting on Derek’s hard chest, steady and homely.

Meredith watches them from across the corridor, her back leaning against the wall. She smiles because love, love itself makes her world turn, but if she saw herself in the mirror, she would instantly recognise the smile planted on her lips as a melancholy one. She hates these smiles because they reminded her of Ellis, and any memory of her mother brought not needed shivers down her spine.

“Okay, what’s up with you and Red?”

Swiftly, Meredith turns her head.

Mark is standing right by her side with a chart in his hands and a white coat on. He looks the same way she’s been gazing at, with one eyebrow raised. She shakes her head when their eyes meet.

“Red?”

Mark chuckles, “Addison. I meant, Addison.”

“Oh,” She realises. “Addie.”

Now, Mark’s eyebrows raise up almost to his hairline.

He knows gay longing when he sees one. He never would believe, though, to see a real-life princess falling for Addison Montgomery. Yet here he is, witnessing history.

Patiently, he waits for the blonde to answer while they watch Addison and Derek fly high, acting almost like horny teenagers, ready to run off to an on-call room. The silence is tense and he expects some anger at what they are seeing.

It surprises him, the softness of her voice and attitude.

“She caught me before I hit the ground. She is trying to help me, despite I make her life so much more troubled,” Meredith speaks and sighs.

“Red is like that,” Mark nods. “She helps people. She is a helper, born at heart and you deserve her help, princess.”

She laughs at his words as if he said something foolish and she stabs him gently with her elbow in the ribs, as if they are old friends, “I am not a princess yet.” He watches her nose scrunch and he wonders if it’s from all the amusement or because of how Derek kisses Addison’s neck quickly before walking away, after getting paged.

“Yeah, her prince hasn’t arrived yet,” Callie joins them.

Meredith nods, “He has not…”

Her eyes are stuck on Addison, who now stands alone, resting against the desk and playing with the jewellery on her fingers. Two nurses sitting by the desks look at her, but she is tangled in her mind too deeply to notice any of it. Meredith has this needy feeling to approach her but she doesn’t want to interfere in a moment so calm. Ever since she has fallen from the castle and got adopted by Addie and Henry, she has stressed out her saviour. So, seeing Addison so at peace, the last thing she wants is to take the calmness away.

“You two already befriended each other?” Mark turns first to Callie on his right and then to Meredith on his left.

“Sure thing we have,” Callie puts her hands on her hips, a smirk growing.

Meredith sighs theatrically - and she does not even realise it.

Mark and Callie look at each other.

“Girlfriends,” She mouths to him.

He nods eagerly, “Literally.”

They stay quiet, all three of them watching Addison - all three of them with different thoughts in their minds. When Meredith speaks up, both of them are rooting to hear what they want to hear.

“I just wish…” Meredith has a kicked-puppy look in her eyes. “For Finn to be here. To have what Addison and Derek have.”

“Oh, for fuc-” Callie opens her mouth but Mark shushes her, just to tell Meredith, “Sure, blondie.”

And that’s the first time they see Meredith glare at someone. She turns to both of them as if she can read their minds and sends them a stormy look. Just like nothing happened, she watches them for a couple more seconds before heading back to Addison.

Just when she is two steps away, Addison gets pulled from her mind and her whole face lights up when she sees Meredith in front of her. Mark sees her hand wince towards the blonde as if reaching to hold her hand is the most natural thing for her, like they don’t know each other for less than twenty-four hours, like it’s not all absurd - and he just knows he is not seeing things. But what he is aware of, too, is the fact if he ever speaks up to one of his best friends about it, Addison will deny it until it kills her.

It’s not his kind of thing to let go, but this time, they need to figure it out on their own. Before Derek moves into Addison’s apartment and before Meredith’s prince finds her.

He looks at Callie one last time, before shrugging and leaving back the hallway where he came from.

Soft instrumental music is playing in the background, echoing through the venue; quiet conversations cut through each other, words mixing together and the noise carrying the aura of community, yet intimacy as well. The place is lightened up with medieval-like candles in lanterns, and waitresses swiftly move between the tables, making sure the busy place is well-taken care of.

Someone switches the music and a French melody resounds in the restaurant. Meredith sways her shoulders to the notes, humming underneath her breath. The place almost reminds her of that tavern they had in the town close to her forest.

“Here, watch this,” Addison says, bringing her attention. She reaches for the salt shaker and screws open the metallic top part of it. “I’m gonna put it in my hand like that-” She hides it in her right hand just to reach behind Meredith’s head with her left and pull out the part from Mer’s ear. “Ta-da!”

Meredith squeals excitedly and clasps her hands, “Do it again! Show me!”

The note of delight in her voice makes Addison give in.

“All right, last time,” She hides the part of the salt shaker again and once again pulls it from behind Meredith, making the woman burst out laughing once again.

“You’re a witch,” She sighs as Addison puts the shaker back together again.

They laugh together, their voices joined one by one and Addison feels her stomach muscles twitch to the point it hurts. The ease of the situation puts this freedom over her and she wishes she could spend many more evenings with Meredith like this. This restaurant is one of her favourite places with pizza and she’s been multiple times here, perhaps so many it’s hard to count, but she’s never had fun like this. She’s loved every second with Henry here, Derek sometimes, too, but tonight… It feels different. Like something has fundamentally changed but she does not know what yet.

She is pulled out of her thoughts when she watches Meredith’s face turn into that curious expression, the one she makes when she is hesitating about something, almost a smirk on her innocent lips.

“What?”

“This is a very nice place…” Meredith starts, already having a hard time hiding her smile.

“Yeah,” Addison nods.

“And we’re eating dinner?” She points at their plates.

“Yes.”

“This is a date.”

“Yes,” Addison says the first thing that comes into her mind (and heart), grinning widely before she realises her words. The smile drops from her face, almost panicked and she shakes her head, “No! No! No, no. We’re just… We’re friends. Besides people don’t usually bring their children on dates.”

Meredith’s smile grows marginally smaller but her attention is already caught by Addison’s last sentence. Her eyes lead down the way to a table in the corner of the room where Henry is sitting, next to one of the restaurant’s workers, an older lady, as they fold napkins together. Addison’s gaze falls the same way and they watch her son chatting and smiling, as the lady shows him how to fold them properly.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Meredith says. “Henry is a lovely boy. He’s very kind and sweet.”

“Yeah,” Addison feels herself getting softer. “He is great. My whole world.” Her eyes turn to Meredith once again and she manages to catch a glimpse of sadness rolling over her beautiful face. “What?”

“Does he miss him terribly?” She asks quietly.

Addison frowns, “Who?”

“His father.”

“Um…” She hasn’t spoken about Jake to anyone in such a long time, the topic almost feels rusty. The last time was confessing to Derek what really went down after their relationship got serious, so it’s been over a year. “Well…”

“What?’ Meredith now gives up her attention completely to her.

“It’s hard for Henry to talk about it. I try to, I am always open to talking about those feelings… It’s a sore wound.”

“Oh. I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“No, no,” Addison instantly says. “It’s okay for me. It’s just… I don’t remember too much of how it went down. It’s like I denied all the memories with him, of the last months he’s been with us.”

“Because it was so tough…?”

“Not at first,” There is a bittersweet smile on her lips.

“You were in love,” Meredith inclines, her elbows on the table as she puts her chin on her folded fist.

“Yeah,” Addison looks her in the eyes. “That was the problem.”

She realises these words will taunt Meredith, the biggest devotee of love and she is surprisingly glad to see the familiar shocked expression on the blonde’s face. She laughs and bites her teeth into her bottom lip, shaking with each chuckle.

“How could that be a problem?”

The conversation has turned darker pretty soon when Addison knows what her answer is gonna be.

“Because love… That lovey-dovey perfect version that you talk about rarely happens. And if it does, then it’s even rarer for it to last for a lifetime. Nothing so pure lasts in this world. It’s like a fantasy and eventually, you have to wake up and… you’re here, in the real world.” The admission said out loud hurts more than it did as a thought inside the mind.

“What made you wake up?” Meredith asks.

“Well… he left.”

“I am so sorry, Addie,” Meredith places her hand on top of Addison’s. It’s warm and soft and Addison moves them so their fingers can intertwine. “For you and for Henry.”

“Thank you,” Her thumb moves over the delicate palm. “It’s okay now. I’m a big girl, I can handle it. It’s him I worry about. I know he is shy and doesn’t have many friends. I just want him to be strong, you know?”

Meredith nods.

“I want him to be able to face the cruelty of the world, that’s why I’m not big on fairytales, “Addison brushes back a strand of her hair, that she let down from a high ponytail earlier in the restroom. “I’m scared to let him believe in the whole ‘dreams come true’ ideas, so I don’t let him down.”

“But dreams do come true!” Meredith quickly shoots back. “And something wonderful can happen.”

At that, Addison takes her hand away, “I forgot who I was talking to.”

But it doesn’t discourage Meredith who smiles at her brightly, “Well, I hope you don’t forget.”

Later, Addison can’t really pinpoint the moment the whole scene escalated. But when it did, it happened quickly and wildly.

They are eating the shared pizza when a man, Addison swears she saw before - where and how? she has no clue - appears behind their backs with a red drink. An apple scent surrounds them when he leans down between the two of them and puts the glass before Meredith. It’s a supposed present, a drink ordered by someone else just for her. Meredith’s eyes shine up but Addison really has trust issues with men, a small exception for Derek and yes, embarrassingly, Mark and there have been too many stories at the hospital about drinks from unknown sources and abused women who got drugged. She is ready to stop Meredith from drinking it, but she is forestalled by… a flying rat.

It shoots through the restaurant right at their table, throwing the drink from the surface and making the glass shatter in million pieces on the floor. Her bad gut feeling is gone the moment the liquid spills all over, away from Meredith’s pink lips. She yells as the man throws himself at the table, trying to catch the rat while Addison and Meredith stand up, their chairs falling on the floor.

The rat is jumping around and Meredith leans over and picks it up, only for Addison to realise it’s a chipmunk. She watches it dance and squeal on Meredith’s hands as the blonde speaks to it - Addison has to blink several times to make sure she is not seeing things.

“Finn is here?!” Meredith exclaims and the animal nods at her.

But it’s out of her hands within the next second as the strange man catches it in his hands. The chipmunk? Squirrel? Finds it way out of his hands and disappears, while people around the restaurant are screaming, putting the whole place into a high panic mode.

The noise and chaos scare Henry and he runs straight to Addison, who picks him up in her arms, bringing him close as if he was a baby, not a seven-year-old boy. Yet, he instantly sticks to her like glue, staring at the scene unfolding. The mess thrives as the man is rushing after the animal, furiously turning to every side, hoping to catch it. To keep her safe, Addison pulls Meredith into her and puts a hand around her slim waist, feeling her shake underneath her touch.

“Are you okay?” She asks but Meredith is staring helplessly around. But the flying rat or whatever is gone.

“Pip would never hurt me!” Meredith says and silence falls over them.

That is until Henry speaks up quietly, “The pizza’s breathing!”

The man turns to the table and throws himself towards the pizza. He grabs it and with hatred written all over his face, he throws it to the small fireplace put in the corner of the room, right behind his back. It rolls through the air and ends up in flames, right with the chipmunk.

Addison opens her mouth, shocked by the quick events and Meredith turns from the fireplace to her, with tears in her eyes.

“Are you hurt? Are you okay?” She asks her but Meredith closes her eyes in pain and she hides her face in Addison’s crook of her neck.

“Oh, mommy,” Henry whispers, his eyes shining and he takes the same position as Meredith. And Addison just stands there, holding them, hoping to bring any comfort she can give while she processes what has just happened.

So, of course, they don’t see Pip jumping from the fireplace at the last moment and falling inside an empty bottle, safe and sound.

The night is cold and it’s raining, of course, it is, when they leave the restaurant. Some interviewer catches Meredith, obviously interested in the choice of her outfit and begins asking, the camera set on the blonde.

“Tell us, how does it feel knowing that dangerous animal is most likely still alive?” The woman is Addison’s age and puts the microphone right under Meredith’s mouth.

“Wonderful!” She calls out, ignoring the raindrops ruining her curled hair and soaking through the flowers braided into the locks. “Pip is my very best friend…”

Addison, still with Henry in her arms, catches Meredith and makes an uncomfortable face at the camera before pulling her away, “Meredith, how about we go home?”

She knows too well that if any of her friends see her on the TV screen in this position, she will have no life for the next three weeks.

The interviewer frowns at her, “I wasn’t finished-”

But the redhead completely ignores her and heads down the street where her apartment is, hand holding Meredith; Henry’s legs are tangled around her middle and she just hopes to get home as soon as possible. The rain keeps on getting stronger and stronger.

Meredith forgets about the interview just when they reach the right block and perhaps, if she only stayed a moment longer, she would let Finn find her. But instead, she follows Addison inside, not having the slightest idea that on the other side of the screen, Finn was watching her through the TV, ready to begin his search once again.

Chapter Text

“We had a lot of excitement tonight,” Meredith sighs, a soft smile curved on her lips. “Were you scared earlier?”

She is sitting on the pink bedsheets in a pattern of green flowers and leaves, resting on her hand on the other side of Henry’s legs. The boy is resting against the white headboard of his bed, covered almost up to his chin, his eyes open wildly after the emotions of the passing day.

His room is painted and decorated in pastel colours, making it present as a delicate and calm space; exactly adequate for rest.

“A little bit,” Henry admits. “Do you think Pip will be okay?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about him,” Meredith says. “He is very brave.”

Right when she begins her story about Little Red Riding Hood chasing a poor wolf around her grandmother’s house with an axe, Addison quietly stops in the doorway and watches the two of them on the bed. She smiles hearing about a chipmunk saving the day and her heart melts seeing Henry so involved in the fairytale.

“And if Pip hadn’t been walking by to help, I don’t know what would’ve happened,” Meredith finishes up.

Henry frowns, “I don’t really remember that version.”

“Well, that’s because Red tells it a little differently,” Meredith whispers as if it’s a secret and Henry chuckles.

Addison can’t help but scoff quietly, enough for them not to notice her. The scene in front of her just does something to her heart; to see Henry trust another adult like that - doesn’t matter this adult isn't like those from the real world - but the very act of her son actually feeling so comfortable around someone else brings pure joy to Addison. She’s spent months trying to show Henry not everyone is like his father, trying to explain not everyone leaves. That there are people who stay.

It almost feels like a curse, that the person he learned to trust now, will probably leave, too. Because Meredith, she can’t, she wouldn’t stay here, right? Even if Finn doesn’t come. Well, Addison knows he won’t come because it’s just unbelievable. The whole story, all of this disarray.

“Goodnight, Meredith,” Henry smiles; it’s a cute smile, given he is missing two teeth at the front. “Thank you for the nice story.”

“Goodnight Henry.”

Then, he leans over and kisses Meredith’s cheek, in the same exact manner he always does with his mom. Addison can’t look at this domesticity and steps away before either of them notice her.

One way or another, their first fight had to happen, Addison admits. But she hasn’t really planned when she walks inside the living room after her hot shower, warm under her yellow bathrobe.

On the couch, Meredith sits in a set of pyjamas Addison borrowed her - an old Yale sweatshirt which she’s started using for sleep years before adopting Henry and a pair of blue checked trousers that are way too long for Meredith and she had to cuff the legs. She has her feet curled up under her bum and is reading a book stolen from the house collection in Addison’s office.

“Hey, Mer,” She says and the blonde instantly looks up from her read. “That was a nice story about your chipmunk friend and all.”

“Yes,” There is that lovely grin on her face once again.

Addison hates to break it to her, to turn the conversation right around, “I know what it’s like when someone disappoints you. It’s tempting to see things the way you wish instead of how they are.”

Simply in two sentences, she manages to wash the smile off Meredith’s face. Perhaps not completely, but it loses the intensity, the way it shone through the room, if not the whole apartment. But Meredith is not one to give up easily.

“I don’t wish that he’s coming, Addison. He is.”

“Right. Because the chipmunk told you,” Addison doesn’t understand why she can’t let it go, why it makes her so uncomfortable to even think about Meredith’s prince taking her away, back to their magical land.

“Yes, Pip actually said that…”

“You know what? I have no idea if you’re joking or being ironic because chipmunks most certainly don’t talk.”

“Well, not here they don’t,” Meredith straightens her back, feeling attacked and losing all attention to the book. She looks so disappointed, staring at Addison who moves towards her.

“So in lieu of taking advice from a forest rodent, I just wanted to say that, uh…” She crosses the distance and takes place on the coffee table right in front of Meredith. “... if it did work out and you decided to stay in Seattle, I’d like to help.”

Some dark and twisty part of Addison wishes for Meredith to start a new life here, and the same part of the blonde has the smallest of temptations to actually do it.

Instead, she says, “That’s very kind of you, Addie. But Finn is coming for me.”

Addison runs her hand through her dripping hair and looks down for a moment. There is no coming through to Meredith, and she is way too caught up in her annoyance to notice Meredith’s clear displeasure.

Because Meredith has run out of patience that she’s been holding on to for a full day, each time Addison tried to trip her. Because she has no more energy to prove to others that her prince is coming and that she will have a wonderful happily ever after with him and that she will come back to Andalasia and that-

“But what if he isn’t?” Addison asks.

Their eyes cross and there is fury in Meredith’s.

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because I deal with stories like that daily. I saw so many relationships that have issues at the beginning… it won’t get any better.”

So many negative, meaningless words. Meredith wants to scream but she keeps calm as much as she can, “He is coming.”

“Meredith, he is not,” Addison sighs as if she is the one who is tired of all those empty words; as if she is not the one sending them into the universe without a second thought of what it does to another person. “No. I don’t think so.”

“Yes!”

“No.”

“No?” Meredith squints her eyes with venom and slowly raises from her seat, the book forgotten, falling onto the floor. “Is that the only word you know? No?!”

“No!” Addison follows her, standing up, so she still towers over the blonde.

“Oh, yeah?” Meredith defiantly says, raising an eyebrow. “No?”

They begin to yell at each other, repeating the same word over and over again. It unleashes some invisible blockade inside of Meredith, making her go unhinged, walls crumbling. She pushes Addison, as gently as she can, as they move to the middle of the room.

“Every word out of your mouth is ‘no’!” She screams as loud as she is able to, with little space between the two of them. “It makes me so… sometimes you make me so…”

Addison’s chest is heaving with anger as she stares down at Meredith, who seems to be in a depth of rage and acrimony. Her eyes shine with something Montgomery has never seen before, and her bottom lip quivering like she is going to fall apart right there and then, at any moment now.

“Make you what?” She barks.

“You make me so angry!” It’s an exasperated shout.

Instantly, Addison is right to fight back; she’s never been one to escape confrontation. Before she can do so, Meredith crumbles. Within one moment, she is there, cheeks and neck in red splashes of anger, and the second, her eyes become glassy and a broken sob escapes her parted lips. She begins to hit Addison’s shoulders with tight fists but does no real damage.

Addison catches her wrists and brings them to her chest, repeating her name softly, over and over again but nothing comes through. Meredith’s tears stream down her face, leaving salty marks all over her cheeks and dripping from her chin.

Just when her knees become wobbly and she appears to be shaking desperately, Addison catches her. She thinks it’s a habit by now, to always catch Meredith, no matter what connects them and what divides them. She holds her tightly when they both end up on the floor; still holding her wrists, Addison pulls Meredith’s head to her chest and simply embraces her, as close as possible.

“I am so angry,” Meredith says between hiccups of cries. “So angry. Leave me be. Leave me alone”

“I won’t, Mer,” Addison murmurs.

“Leave! Me!” Meredith tries to get out of her hug, unsuccessfully.

“I am not leaving you.”

Those are words that Meredith has waited her whole life to hear; no one ever swore to her this. It doesn’t matter it only was said in this particular situation, that the charm of it all will pass once she is calm and found by Finn. She still bathes in them, like it’s the lightest of sunrays that grace her face in the morning; like it’s the moonlight during the full moon and she can’t sleep because of the white light creeping through the curtains. It took twenty-six years to hear them.

“Everybody does,” She sobs. “So you might as well.”

“Meredith…”

Addison hasn’t expected to end her night with the blonde almost-princess on her lap, crying her heart out into the fabric of her bathrobe, but there she is. Some part of her begins to regret speaking all those rough words - which are real - but appear to be too strong for Meredith.

“Don’t you dare take this away from me,” She speaks up once her voice halts to shake and tears stop flowing. “Finn is coming because he is not like my parents. I know he is coming.”

“Okay,” Addison rocks the two of them in this tangle of legs and hands. “Okay. It’s okay, Meredith.”

“They left me,” Meredith says quietly. “Dad left first, then my mother stopped caring. And I was left alone.”

“It’s okay now,” Addison whispers.

“Finn is coming,” Meredith murmurs.

And Addison is not a monster. She has feelings and emotions, so she only nods, hoping once Meredith realises the truth, it won’t break her, the way the very idea of it made her fall apart to pieces, shatter all over.

She helps her back onto the couch, with an exhausted stare and red eyes, swollen lids and bottom lip bit to the way it turned violently red. She picks up the book that turns out to be some enormous guide around Seattle that Addison didn’t even know she owns. She brings two blankets for Meredith and covers her up before turning off the light.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, she awakens with a racing heart. She runs first to Henry’s bedroom and then to the living room, but both her son and Meredith are peacefully asleep. There is still anxiety, at the back of Addison’s mind, that this tomorrow will turn even more hectic than yesterday was. And with that consciousness, it takes another hour to fall back asleep.

Chapter Text

The morning is quiet and when the alarm goes off, Addison buries her face in the pillow, hoping it will stop the time and she can stay longer without being late for work. But there are obligations and responsibilities that cannot be escaped, so she rolls herself off the bed and puts on the bathrobe on her short nightgown.

In the hallway, she begins to head down to the kitchen. She takes three steps back, though, and takes a peek into Henry’s room. His white carpet with small pink elements has cuts in the shape of a dress and Addison chuckles under her breath; there is no of that irritation she had last morning. Now, she is curious to see Meredith in her new project. A smile soft graces her lips.

By the kitchen, the first thing she sees is Meredith walking out of there to the dining table with a coffee pot in her hands. She pours some of the drink into Addison’s favourite cup, while Henry is seated, busy filling up his mouth with Corn Flakes.

“Good morning,” Addison greets them.

“Good morning, mommy,” Henry says after he swallows the milk.

Meredith looks at her, eyes frantic and bright and Addison sees a change in them, as well as in Meredith’s smile when she says, “Morning.”

Her smile is different. Shy. Unsure. Hesitating. Just as her eyes. For a moment, they just stare at each other and Addison wishes she could go inside her mind and see what has shifted there. It’s like last night put this tension between them, not a negative one, at least Addison hopes not.

Meanwhile, Meredith’s heart shakes and breaks as she realises. When her eyes fall on Addison’s lips, she knows. She knows. She just knows.

But Addison does not notice her gaze dropping and takes her seat at the top of the table, “Made breakfast. Great,” She smiles ready to eat and takes a small sip of her black coffee. She can feel the one spoonful of sugar; the best way to have coffee.

As all three of them sit down and begin to eat, a loud knocking resounds through the apartment.

“I’ll get it!” Henry says and jumps from the chair.

“Thank you,” Addison smiles at him. Then, her eyes fall on the dress. It’s shorter than yesterday’s one, off-shoulders, showing Meredith’s delicate collarbone. It fits her waist with the rolled material and then the bottom is layered in a way that makes it flared. “That’s a nice dress.”

“Thank you,” Meredith says.

Addison notices the shyness once again and opens her mouth to ask but then-

“It is I! Prince Finn of Andalasia came to rescue my lovely bride, the fair Meredith!”

And Addison’s jaw drops.

Meredith’s eyes turn as big as plates and she opens her mouth, panicking, “He’s here.” She whispers in disbelief.

“A-apparently,” Addison falters.

Both of them stand up at the same time, while Meredith keeps on rambling under her breath. She moves to the door and sees the back of Finn’s head as he reluctantly walks through the apartment. But something stops her and she doesn’t call out to him. Instead, she turns around to Addison.

“How do I look?” She asks quietly.

“Slightly stunned,” Addison tells her, feeling the same way.

Meredith shakes her head unpleased and impatient, before taking one more step towards her and pressing on her words, “No,” She sighs. “I mean, how do I look?”

“You look…” Addison stares at her, realizing this must be one of their last moments together, and all she can see is true beauty. She has never seen someone this gorgeous. “... perfect.”

Then, they just look at each other, frozen at this moment.

“Meredith!”

She turns on her hills and sees Finn standing across her in the living room, in his red-golden garments, the cape connected to it and a sword by his hip. He gasps when he sees her face and she smiles, feeling the rich satisfaction that he truly is here. She runs straight at him and he picks her up.

“Finn!” She yelps when he begins to twirl her in the air.

Their joined peals of laughter mix together like a duet song, Meredith’s giggles and his amazed chuckles. Addison watches it and knows her smile would wear off if it wasn’t for the happiness in Meredith’s voice. Because how could she ever sulk about anything that makes the blonde happy? She just- She could not.

But then, they begin to hit some things in the room and Addison rushes quickly, trying to stop them.

“Could you be careful?” Addison picks up Henry’s toys that fell off the coffee table and the couch.

Finn suddenly puts Meredith down on the floor and turns around, “You!”

“What?” Addison frowns at him.

Out of nowhere, he pulls out his sword and aims it at Addison, “You’re the witch who’s been holding my Meredith captive!”

“Let’s all just calm down,” She says and circles around the armchair, hoping to get out of the prince’s reach - unsuccessfully because he is as quick as her.

“No!” Meredith calls out but is scared to step closer in case Finn will start swinging his weapon.

“Any last words?” He asks when Addison is put against the wall with nowhere to run and he puts the sword close to her neck.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me,” Addison groans.

That seems to surprise Finn and make him halt for a minute, “Strange words.” Then, he moves the sword to swing it back at Addison.

But Meredith jumps right in front of her, opening her arms to protect Addison from any harm, “No! No, stop! These are my friends!” She yells at Finn.

“Oh.”

Henry runs up to them and hides behind Meredith, snuggling close to his mum; he is wide-eyed and scared. Meredith takes one of his small hands in hers and runs her thumb calmingly over the palm. Her own heartbeat is racing, but Finn hides his sword.

“This is Henry,” She shows at the boy. “And Addie,” She points at the taller woman behind her. “And this is Finn,” She nods at the prince.

Before any handshakes or actual greetings can be exchanged, the man begins to sing. Addison shouldn’t be surprised by this point, but here she is, in her own apartment, watching as some dude starts a ballad, looking like a Disney character.

“I’ve been dreaming of a true love’s kiss-”

“He sings, too…” She murmurs.

“And a miss I have begun to miss… pure and sweet waiting to complete my love song!” Finn steps away and opens his hands, gesturing to each word and staring at Meredith.

Addison is proud of her son when he scoffs, clearly amused as well as confused.

“Yes, somewhere there’s a maid I’ve never met, who was meant to…” Now his stare turns expectant while Meredith stays silent, not joining him.

Finn approaches her and takes her hands, pulling her away from Addison, repeating the last line of the song once again. Yet, Meredith is quiet, her eyes absent despite they are set straight on him. She stands there but is most surely not present in the moment. And it hurts to even look, at least from Addison’s side because Meredith has been craving this moment for so long and there she is, behind some wall, unable to find the joy she hoped for.

“What’s wrong?” She finally wakes up and asks Finn, noticing his depressed expression.

“You’re not singing,” He whispers to her.

“Oh,” She realises. “I’m not. Sorry. I was thinking.”

“Thinking?” A frown greets his face.

She nods, “Before we leave, there’s one thing I would love to do.”

Addison watches in awe as Finn kneels in front of Meredith, heartfully pressing her knuckles to his lips and kissing them, “Name it, my love, and it is done.”

The way he stares at her, like she is the sun, moon and stars herself, like she created the universe on her own and Addison understands; God, how she truly understands. Some part of her exists like this - with the need to kneel in front of Meredith and give her everything she wants; Finn is what she wants, so Addison has to let her go and let them leave.

“I wanna go on a date,” Meredith tells him.

“A date!” He excitedly says before the frown is back on his face. “What’s a date?”

Meredith has a troubled expression and she looks at Addison for guidance; the redhead nods and smiles encouragingly.

“Well…” She steals one more glance at Addison. “... we go out to dinner. And we talk about ourselves. Our likes, dislikes, hobbies, interests, what we want and what we have. A date.”

Addison feels pride, watching her say out loud what she wants.

Half an hour later, all of them are dressed and ready for work, school or either rolling around Seattle for no bigger purposes. In her high hills and tight pencil skirt, Addison feels like in armour, which she most definitely needs - she hates endings. And this is one, for sure, because her heart shakes and her stomach hurts; no matter how chaotic the beginnings are, she prefers much more than quiet tranquil endings.

“And remember that you guys can come and visit Andalasia anytime,” Meredith tells them, while Finn waist respectfully a couple of meters away.

“Sure,” Addison smiles but it’s a hurt smile. “And if you ever come to town, we should all get together for a dinner.”

Remembering their time at the restaurant yesterday, Meredith’s eyes fill with tears - they make a kaleidoscope when she squints her eyes, “That would be lovely.”

“We’ll see each other soon,” Addison says; the question is whether she is talking herself into believing it or it’s only Meredith it’s aimed at. “It’s not like we’re talking about, you know, forever.”

“And ever,” Meredith finishes.

They make a good duet, even if only one of them likes to sing.

“So, uh,” Addison glances at Finn. “Good luck on your date.”

“Oh, yes,” Meredith smiles at her prince, then looks with pain in her eyes at Addison. “And you with Derek.”

Both of them nod, taking up as much of the left time as there is.

A quiet sniff makes Meredith turn and crouch in front of Henry. His eyes are red and his lips are pressed into a thin line, eyebrows turned down in disappointment.

“And you,” She says softly. “It was so nice spending time with you,” She pulls him into a hug and his hands embrace her tightly, not ready to let go. “I’ll never forget you. You know that, yeah?”

She leans back to look at his face and wipes away one treacherous tear.

Finn puts a hand on her shoulder, telling her silently it’s time to go. Meredith stands up and gives Henry one more smile before looking at Addison. So many things are left unsaid, but sometimes it is just better this way; to stay quiet despite your heart screaming. They will meet again, both of them know it but even then, things won’t be the same. Meredith will be finally a princess and Derek will probably be living with Addison.

“Thank you for taking care of my bride,” Finn says and nods with a smile at them.

Addison nods, too and grants Meredith one more look, hoping that she knows what it means.

Meredith tangles her hand with Finn’s and they begin to walk away, down the street where the restaurant is placed. It’s the second time that she watches Meredith go, but this time it must stick.

Even when they are almost at the corner of the street, Meredith keeps looking back and waving at Addison and Henry. But eventually, she disappears from their sight.

“I’m going to really miss her, mommy,” Henry murmurs, sniffing and hiding his tears.

“Me too, sweetheart,” Addison pulls him close and brushes his dark curly hair. “Me too.”

Late to work after dropping Henry off at school and forgetting to drive to her final destination, head full of Meredith, Addison rushes through the entrance realising she has fifteen minutes to her surgery. She is practically running on her heels to the elevator and she presses the button furiously as if it ever managed to get the machinery working faster.

“Red!”

She turns her face to her best friend - are they still that? However, she puts on a fake smile at Mark and presses the button once again.

“Where is your princess at?”

Right at the open wound.

“You have the best timing, Mark,” Addison sighs and finally steps inside the elevator. “Finn found her.”

“Who?” He frowns, lost for a moment.

The door close and Addison has the biggest of urges to choose the lowest of buttons and stop the elevator for a moment. She is having a very hard time accepting that within two days she manages to grow attached to someone and watch them go so soon. She is only a bit romantic - at least, that's what she says to everyone, and she always didn’t quite believe in the movies and love stories that happened so quickly - and it’s clearly not like this is a love story, because she has a boyfriend she loves very much so - but since the beginning of time, it’s always been ridiculous for her. Up until now because she misses Meredith, even here at work.

In another lifetime, she guesses. Perhaps they would even work together, huh? It’s not as crazy as it is to think about it; Meredith getting a degree and coming here to be an intern. She has that something in her, that pure good in her heart that not all surgeons have, and Addison is a firm believer it would be perfect for the blonde. To save lives.

“Her prince,” Addison says quietly. “He came and took her away, back home.”

She walks out on the third floor, hills echoing on the white floor.

Mark grabs her by her elbow, making her spin towards him, “Are you kidding me?”

He looks weirdly angry and she thought they were past all the anger and angst of past affairs. But it’s not that hurtful anger, more disbelief written all over his face.

“I am not,” She frees herself from his hold. “And I really don’t wanna talk about it. Okay?”

They have a silent staring match until he gives in and nods. But even then, he follows her down to her office where she wants to change into scrubs and flat shoes. She makes him wait outside and he obediently does.

When she is back outside, he has a smirk on his face, his mood fixed.

“You’re going to get a hell of a surprise,” He laughs. “Who is scrubbing in for the OR with you?”

“I’m taking Yang,” She says, checking the time on her watch. “I guess Teddy is coming too,” She rolls her eyes, realising. “Well, that will be interesting, who I will kick out first.”

“You’ll have the surprise of your life,” He tells her as a goodbye when she heads down the corridor and he stays behind.

Addison takes one more look at him and tries to clear her head, the way she always does before walking into surgery. Hardly, but she manages to even forget about Mark’s words and Meredith’s departure and the image of her in Finn’s arms as he spun her around. The OR is that kind of place - no matter the tension and the stress she has never let take over her, even in the worst scenarios - that means freedom.

However, it is taken from her pretty quickly when she walks into the room and sees Cristina next to Teddy and they look rightfully at peace with each other.

She stands next to Altman and washes her hands, giving them weird glances until Teddy gives in.

“The divorce is off,” She says and chuckles at the way Addison’s eyes widen. “It’s… Thanks to your friend. That blonde girl.”

“What…?”

It’s easy for Teddy to fall for the easiest of questions.

“I was just thinking about what that girl said about Cristina’s eyes sparkling. I mean, it’s the first thing I noticed when we met,” She glances at Cristina who seems unfazed and doesn’t even acknowledge the conversation. “It’s true.”

Addison manages to smile. The magic of Meredith, huh?

“Her eyes really do sparkle,” Teddy stabs her elbow into Cristina’s side; it makes the other woman smile which she tries to cover up.

“Teddy…” She says and gives her a dark look. “I don’t believe fate or any of that bullshit.”

“But I do,” Teddy cuts in. “And I’m not letting her go.”

It’s hard to believe, after so many months of fighting and giving each other the hardest of times, to just fix it within one day. Seems impossible.

“But you guys had problems…” It’s not her place really, but from the other side, they’ve pulled her in the middle of so many arguments, she does feel like she can say it.

“Everybody has problems,” Cristina says, shrugging and stepping into the OR.

Teddy is staring at her through the window, with the softest of smiles. Addison stays for a minute longer, alone there and watching as they look so in love, even standing on both sides of the patient. Then, she realises they need to get to work if they want to clear out the schedule for the night, even if it’s only two hours - but the prom and show must go on and Addison can’t just stand there, thinking, without doing her job.

The surgery turns out to be successful and Addison should feel the satisfaction, that her purpose is still there, the happiness of another life repaired. Yet, when she leaves the room, her shoulders are slouched and probably has a pout on her face. The tiredness overcomes her within one moment, like it’s a tsunami wave and she hasn’t noticed soon enough to flee from it.

So, the last thing she wants is to bump into one of her friends when she heads down to her office.

But Callie finds her halfway, just when Addison believed she would sneak her way with no interruptions.

“Addison!” She calls out but Addison doesn’t stop her walk.

“Callie.”

“May I ask you one thing?” She follows her, just one step behind.

“Do I even have a choice?” Addison glances back. “Fine.”

“Is what Mark told me true?”

Oh, and there it is. It’s interesting when the two of them become such best friends forever to talk about Addison behind her back. Her life must be fascinating, then, to gossip about it; the pessimistic thoughts just crawl inside her mind like insects and she breaths out deeply before answering, hoping it will kick some of the negative energy out.

“Yeah,” There is no point in lying.

“One more question,” Callie says.

They stop in front of Addison’s office and she has that weird sense of admitting the truth will happen now and she is done running away from it. It doesn’t mean she will have to admit it to anyone else, it won’t mean anything about her relationship with Derek will change. Because they are going to the prom tonight - and dear God, she does not have a dress - and she loves him and they are Derek and Addison, always have been.

“Do you speak vagina monologues now?” Callie’s stare makes Addison feel like her soul is bare and anyone can see it.

It’s the longest thirty seconds of her life before she answers.

“I do. Happy?” She says and shuts the door of the office behind her before Callie can say anything else.

Chapter Text

The docks are a busier place than Meredith expected them to be, after listening to Addison’s stories about them - and she told a lot of them, given Derek’s obsession - yet, she is not disappointed. They are walking slowly by the ferries, sweet snacks in her and Finn’s hands.

When she looks back at Finn, as he stands and stares at the horizon and the surrounding water with his cheeks puffed as he swallows.

“How do you like your doughnut?” She asks, smiling. The wind messes with her hair and she brushes the strands back with sticky fingers.

She has chosen a Chocolate Rainbow one for him and for herself Pink Rainbow from that Top Pot place they have passed by on their way through the city. Quietly, she wonders what type of those Addison would pick, and what Henry likes the most; they must have eaten them a lot of times since they are delicious.

“Nut?” He looks at her alarmed. “There are nuts in there? I have an allergy-”

“No- No,” Meredith can’t help but chuckle. “They just call it doughnuts in here.”

That calms Finn down and he smiles at her with this cheeky smile of his, which she used to find more endearing in Andalasia, “It’s quite excellent. I like the colourful dots.”

“Sprinkles,” Meredith says. “Good.”

He catches up with her and they continue their walk down the wooden desks. It’s a bit windy and chilly with her arms bare and she smiles when he pulls down his cape and feels it around her shoulders and neck. A sweet gesture that makes her feel… almost as she should be feeling. The same amazement she carried with her when she fell from the tree on his horse. It’s like if she only tries and focuses enough, she can go back there and lose all that has been messing with her mind.

“Well that has been a splendid date,” Finn announces after five minutes of loose silence between them, their fingers meeting and parting from time to time. “Shall we go?”

It makes Meredith stop dead in her tracks, confusion written all over her face, “Go where?”

“Back to Andalasia, of course. To get married. To live happily ever after, forever and ever.”

“Oh.”

She takes one more look at him before furiously fast finding an explanation, anything, if she can only stay in Seattle longer. One more day. One more hour. One more…

“Well, we don’t have to go right away…”

“So how long do these dates usually last?”

She twirls her hair on her finger and puts on her sweetest smile, “Well, they can go as long as you want really. They can just keep going and going, just so long as you keep thinking about activities that you can do.” And she is mostly positive she is just making things up; Addison never said about the length of those dates… so it’s not a lie if she is not sure what she is saying, right?

“Activities, hm?” Finn pulls her hand so they can keep walking.

Choking calls of seagulls resound in the sky and soft waves hit the ferry on their left, people call out from the deck to some man standing a couple of meters away. Life goes on and Meredith has grown to love within the counted days she’s spent here; Seattle just holds something in her heart and she can’t find the strength to leave back home.

“We could go to the museum, or to the theatre?” But her eyes open widely when she realises. “There is… this prom!”

“Prom?”

“It’s this kind of a ball.”

“A ball?”

“Yes!” She literally jumps from excitement. “There’s dancing and music. You like that!”

“Well, I suppose,” Finn shrugs.

“Oh, wonderful,” She smiles, finally with true feelings. “We should go then.”

Meredith fastens her pace, ready to run back to the city to get ready for the prom, she practically runs. Before she can, though, Finn catches her elbow and pulls her back to him, a serious expression on his face.

“Meredith?” He is clearly alarmed.

“Yes?”

She is truly willing to listen to him, only if it means she gets to visit Seattle Grace Hospital.

“And then we come to Andalasia?” He raises an eyebrow with hope in his voice.

“Of course,” Her joy grows smaller. “The moment it’s over.”

Meredith has just bought herself more time. And when they head back, he seems fulfilled while she can’t focus on the good with the vision of jumping back to her fairytale land that she’s become so distant to.

It’s the littlest chance of luck for the door to be left open, but it is.

So, Meredith steps into the familiar apartment, wondering if she just broke in. There is silence inside, but she remembers Henry was out of school at this hour yesterday, so she just crosses her fingers and hopes for the best.

The widest smile of all sets on her lips when she peeks inside Henry’s bedroom and sees him playing with cars on the cut carpet. He hears movement behind his back and turns around instantly, gaping when he sees her.

“Meredith! You’re back! You’re back!” He calls out and stands up, rushing straight into her.

She opens her arms and crouches, almost losing her balance when his small body hits hers; she puts her arms around him, “Oh, Henry!” She laughs, joining him and only when he moves back and they face each other, she speaks up. “Henry, I need your help. I’m going to the prom and I’m not sure what to do or what I should wear. I don’t even know where to find a fairy godmother at this late hour.”

Henry keeps up with her rambling better than most of the adults and his cheeky smile makes his eyes gleam, “You’re lucky. Mom always takes me with her to any appointment or shopping. Plus I have something better than a fairy godmother.”

He takes her hand and leads her to Addison’s bedroom. He opens the enormous wardrobe that’s across the king-sized bed and opens the underwear drawer. He keeps digging through the clothes until he pulls out a silver credit card.

“Mommy says it’s only for emergencies. This is definitely an emergency.”

On their way to Addison’s favourite street to do big shopping, Henry explains to Meredith what a credit card exactly is and she is in awe of the whole system; she says she could use one of those herself to get money and he laughs at her, thinking she is joking. Somewhere along their easygoing conversation, Meredith comes to the realisation that Addison must not have any of the things she needs for the night and decides they might as well pick things for her, too. Henry must know what she likes, so together they must make it work.

And of course, they do.

Starting out in a perfume shop, Henry points out which is his mom’s favourite choice and after, they spend twenty minutes trying out different kinds for Meredith. She finally picks out one with lavender and the very nice saleswoman packs it all up in pink bags. Next to their stops is a store full of dresses for special occasions - not the cheapest, but Meredith doesn’t pay attention to that, while Henry chooses to ignore the prices hoping it’s for the best and that the silver credit card won’t disappear from the drawer after tonight.

Meredith tries on at least ten dresses, all in her style and nothing really sticks. Only when she is browsing through the hangers, her eyes set on a black simple dress. Back in Andalasia, she has never seen anyone wear this, but the thing is… Her soul is not really an Andalasian one after the past days. And this seems like the right dress for what she is feeling.

It’s really simple when she puts it on - exposing her arms but covering her shoulders, with a deep cut right til her sternum and with an elastic on the waist to pull the fabric closer to the body. At the bottom of it, there are little shining diamonds that only are visible when the sunrays shine through the windows and reach her. Henry clasps his hands and nods with a smile, and just like that she has chosen.

The dress for Addison, she finds instantly. She doesn’t even have to check the size and measurements, because it’s just perfect.

Half an hour later, they have also bought jewellery - a golden set for Addison and a silver one for Meredith, two pairs of black high hills and purses.

Henry leads her around the block until they arrive at a hairstyle salon connected to a spa. After having her hair washed and conditioned with oils and masks, Meredith is sitting with a towel on her head and a blue bathrobe, her feet up to dry off the pink nail polish, as well hands lying on the hand rests on the armchair. Henry is also drying his pedicure and manicure, clearly in his element.

“When you go out, you don’t wanna wear too much makeup ‘cause otherwise boys get the wrong idea,” He instructs her. “And you know how they are.” He rolls his eyes as if he is not a boy himself.

When she raises an eyebrow, he continues.

“They’re only after one thing.”

“What’s that?” Meredith leans into him, lowering her voice.

“I don’t know,” He shrugs. “Mom sometimes talks things like this to herself when she gets ready or to aunt Callie when they are on the phone. And none of them wants to tell me.”

“Oh,” She suddenly gets an idea what it might be but decides not to comment on it.

She wiggles her toes and listens to the music playing in the background, slow and peaceful. The salon is one of her favourite places in Seattle so far; except for the hospital, of course, and the bar across it.

“I like it here with you.”

She sees Henry looking at her with those beautiful dark eyes and her heart melts, “Oh, me too, Henry. me too.” She would take his soft hand in hers if only not for their nails.

A big part of her life she wished for siblings, for someone close, but it never really got to her mind that having a child would also be heart-warming. She would never, after what happened with her parents, but Henry, she loves him. And if only he didn’t have such an amazing mother, Meredith worries she could make an attempt on kidnapping him. She chuckles quietly at her busy mind.

“I wish you could be my mom,” He says, quietly too.

“But you have a wonderful mom!”

“I know, I know,” Henry nods. “But you could be my other mom. A stepmom.”

“I worry I wouldn’t be the best of mothers, even a step one,” She tells him.

“Why?”

“My mother wasn’t the best and it must run in the family, I believe,” Meredith hates to let him down with her answer and she expects disappointment to cross his expressive face.

But he is nowhere close to disappointment, there is only a smile on his lips, “What your parents did doesn’t have to define who you are.”

His words shoot right through her soul and she looks away so he doesn’t see the tears in her eyes. It takes a couple of deep breaths to be able to face him again and respond.

“You are way too smart for your age, Henry,” Meredith says. “But I guess with such a mother, it wouldn’t be any other way. Besides, soon you’ll have a second parent, Henry. A stepdad. And Derek seems to be an amazing person.”

“Yeah…”

“I’m sure he will be lovely, I mean it. He cares about you and your mom a lot,” Finally, there is a bit of hope in Henry’s eyes while she tries to reassure him.

“You think so?” His eyes shine.

And Meredith was, is and always be the one to encourage others to believe in a better tomorrow; for amazing things to happen and the fairytales to go on. No matter how hard the ground you might hit, it is always worth soaring through the sky. She saw the brutality of this world and it is much more wicked than Andalasia, but there is still magic here. Perhaps Addison is hesitant to let Henry believe it and Meredith shouldn’t go against her ways of nurturing, but once a dreamer, always a dreamer and Henry looks like he could be one, too.

“I know, so, Henry,” She grins at him. “And I think it’s time to do my hair and makeup.”

Back home after Meredith leaves the present for his mom, Henry stays in the living room, singing along to the radio playing in the kitchen and trying on clothes Meredith bought for him, too. He stays in a blue shirt with white buttons and white trousers, something mom would never choose for him. But it feels nice, to change things a bit.

“I’m home, sweetheart!”

It’s quarter past five, much earlier than Addison usually comes home but it appears that the prom must be starting soon.

He walks to the corridor to greet her and when she kicks off her shoes and hugs him, only then does she realise the change in his appearance.

“Wha- Where did you get these clothes?”

“It’s a secret, go see to your bedroom,” Henry pushes her towards the room.

Addison leans down to him once again and begins to sniff his neck, which makes him burst out in giggles, “Are you wearing cologne?” There is pure confusion on her face.

It makes him giggle again but he gives no answer, so Addison finally gives in and walks to her bedroom.

She stops one step in when she turns on the lights and sees a red long dress laid out on the bedsheets, right beside two black jewellery boxes and pair of hills. For a moment, she just stares but then dares to come closer and touch the silky material.

Everything becomes clear when she notices a small handwritten note laying beneath the neckline of the dress. She picks it up and opens it, her heart skipping a beat when she reads it - a smile grows on her lips and she holds back one single tear that is trying to escape her eye.

I realised you aren’t prepared, so this time I ̶g̶o̶t̶ catch you.
Love,
Meredith

Chapter Text

Addison is dancing in Derek’s arms, close, her face snuggled against his cheek; it scratches her just a bit and she smiles into the familiar sensation - even the day he shaves, it manages to still be sensed.

They are surrounded by silver and black, stylish yet somehow lively - balloons, shiny streamers and confetti. The dancefloor is put on the first floor and a pathway from the front entrance right at the staircase for the floor they are on is marked by one red thread of serpentines, showing where to lead all the guests. Music resounds in the hospital and for the first time, she doesn’t feel like she is at work while at her workplace; all the patients are stable and safe and even if something happened, they are just a couple of meters away to save them.

“Do you mind if I take over?”

At that, Addison leans back and sees Richard standing by them, his hand stretched out.

“No, of course not,” Derek smiles and nods. “I’ll be right there,” He points at the long table with snacks and drinks, where Mark is standing, then places a quick kiss on her lips.

She smiles at him and watches him go away when Richard catches her hands and begins to dance with her.

“You decided to come?” He asks and catches her attention.

“Derek really wanted to attend… and I guess we won’t ever have another prom at the hospital, huh? One occasion for a thing like this,” Addison breaks a smile; she knows it’s hard for Richard, given the whole party is thrown for his sick niece.

But of course, he is Richard and he tries to make most of the things, so he spins her around, making her burst out laughing.

He’s always been like a father to her and she remembers the times when she used to attend the Emerald Bar, when he used to attend, too. They always loved to dance together, whether it was a bigger meeting of the staff at the bar or just a night where the right songs were played. She’s been spaced out through the last days while he needed support for what was happening in his family.

“Sorry I haven’t been present here lately,” Addison tells him.

He shakes his head, “You have your own life, Addison. Your own problems. And I’m the chief.”

Before she can argue, she glances above his shoulder and audibly gasps.

It makes Richard stop dancing, too and he turns back to see what she is staring at.

And her eyes… they are set on Meredith climbing up the stairs, one hand in Finn’s hand and the other holding up her black dress not to trip over the flowing fabric. The familiar blue eyes look up and she sees Addison instantly; like there is nothing else to look at, only the redhead.

She finally reaches the first floor and Finn takes the black-golden cape from her shoulders and points somewhere to the side, walking away from it. But Meredith doesn’t even react to it, only standing speechless, with the gentlest of smiles on her face staring at Addison.

Addison can’t tear her eyes away. Not when Meredith is here, not in Andalasia yet. She is here. She hasn’t left, not without one more hurrah. One more goodbye.

Time stops.

That is until Derek approaches her, digging his way through all the dancing pairs around Addison.

“What is she doing here?” He asks her, voice strained with anger and confusion.

Finn manages to get back and he follows Meredith, who is heading straight at the pair.

“I have no idea,” Addison murmurs and keeps smiling when Meredith gets closer and closer. Only when she is within earshot, she speaks up again. “I’m a little surprised to see you here.” She tells the blonde.

“I’m the one who is surprised,” Meredith chuckles. “You said you couldn’t dance.”

“I said I didn’t,” She underlines the last word. “Not that I couldn’t.”

Despite they are talking, Addison just can’t believe that Meredith has come back to her. Maybe only for this evening, for one last night, but she has come back. Alive and not in fairytale book font. As they stare at each other, quietly, ignoring the whole wide world, Finn clears his throat. They exchange awkward greetings but it’s all somewhere fading in the background because nothing compares to the sapphire and jade eyes meeting - they have whole conversations with each second of the colour mixing together through the deep looks.

Meredith never minded Finn’s antics but when he says, “And this beautiful lady is Meredith, the love of my life,” All she wants him to do to close his mouth and not speak, not when Addison looks at her with such ache in her eyes when she hears the last words.

“My heart’s true desire,” He adds.

“Wow,” Derek breathes out, eyebrows raised in respect.

“Is something wrong?” Finn asks him.

“Just the way you said that. So straightforward. Not a hint of irony. It’s very…” He strays off. “Romantic.”

Finn grants him a smile, “Well, thank you.”

Before their conversation can go even worse direction, the music is turned off and the speakers make an unpleasant sound when someone hits the microphone in an attempt to check if it’s working. The four of them turn around and Addison curses in her mind, seeing Mark standing with the microphone and a smirk on his lips - that face can only bode bad news.

“Well, a special time of the night has come!” He brings the attention of all guests to him and nods happily. “I’d like to ask each gentleman to invite another gentleman, and each lady to ask another lady to dance…” His voice quietens and Callie comes to the rescue.

She takes the device from his hand and clears her voice, way too loudly, “to dance the King and Queen’s Waltz. Which might be a little problematic in same-sex pairs…”

Mark once again pushes her slightly and leans over to the microphone, “But everything is possible at this prom!”

Then, he steps from the DJ’s table and turns off the microphone, sending straight to Addison a dirty happy look, wiggling his eyebrows. Of course, she knows what’s going on in that empty head of his. Some part wants to just kiss him for this present, and the other to strangle him so interns would have fun reviving him back to life.

The song that begins to play is a slow piano, sounding magical.

The four of them stand awkwardly, staring at each other until Finn finally braves in.

He turns to Derek, “May I have the pleasure?” He reaches out his hand.

Seeing more and more couples joining the dancefloor, Derek nods despite the shock on his face, unprepared for this order of events. Addison thinks if she looks at her boyfriend’s dumbfounded expression for one more second, she will pee from laughter.

“Please,” She lets both men go, nodding. “Go ahead.”

They disappear between the dancing pairs and Addison, as well as Meredith, watch them go.

Only when they stay alone, Addison turns to Meredith. Both of them know what’s coming and it’s more than any of them dreamed to happen; to be finally in each other’s arms without any pretending or anxiety - because they can dance together, they can have this one dance thanks to Mark’s shenanigans.

“Shall we?” Addison chooses to be the one who will be leading, it feels fitting.

Meredith takes her hand without any hesitation.

Holding Meredith’s hand up on the height of her arms and one hand folded behind, like a man would do, Addison leads her through the dancefloor right in the centre of it, where seems to be just enough space for the two of them. They stop and turn to face each other, hands breaking apart. Addison raises her left one and Meredith gently joins her with her right. The other she settles on Addison’s shoulder and despite she has never seen two women dance together before, surely not in Andalasia, it feels more right than anything she has ever done with a man. It feels like it’s perfect, like all of her body, all of her pieces found a perfect match within Addison.

When their eyes meet, intimately and honestly like never before, she knows. This time even more sure than in the evening.

Meredith knows she loves Addison. Is in love with her and loves her.

One, two, three more seconds and they make the first steps, moving like an old well-oiled machine. It’s so natural, how they dance, not missing a beat or any step. Addison wonders if Meredith has even ever heard about waltz, if they have that dance in her land, and despite it’s most probably a no, Meredith is a natural. She does it without trying, following Addison who leads them.

They step away from each other after several rounds and without any hand touching, pass each other by to the music. Then, Addison reaches for Meredith and slowly spins her twice. They stare at their joined hands when Meredith steps closer with her back to Addison’s front. She tilts her head so that at least from the corner of her eyes, she can still watch Addison.

So caught up in each other, in being in their own world, where no one else can break through, they don’t even see Derek and Finn who are watching their every step while dancing together. Not a chance for them to even think about either of the men, not when they are so close. Not when they are holding all they have ever wanted from life. Not when their soulmate is finally next to them, the closest they can get without hurting other people.

All the other dancing pairs make a circle around Addison and Meredith, who don’t even notice how much space they have left around them.

Addison twirls Meredith and the woman steps away, spinning on her own while Addison follows her slowly, ready to catch her any moment if she gets dizzy. They come back to each other instantly and Meredith can swear that her heartbreak can be heard worlds away when Addison begins to sing for her. Her realistic, against-dreams, and enemy of singing and dancing Addison sings for her. That is the breaking point for Meredith.

“Now you’re beside me and look how far we’ve come,” Addison’s voice is gentle and she doesn’t even blink, staring at Meredith. Meredith whose eyes drop to her dark red lips. “So far, we are, so close.”

Even then, in the midst of this storm of feelings inside of her, Meredith is well aware this voice will haunt her till her last day. She will hear Addison singing to her until she dies. It almost brings tears to her eyes, so she steps close and by putting her hand on her shoulder blade, she pulls Addison in and hides her face in the crook of her neck. They stay like this, slowly dancing as she burrows her face for a moment way too short.

But then, the music drops and the singer quietens down for the piano to have the main role.

They let go of all their inhibitions, ignore there is whole crowd around them and just let themselves be. Their dance is full of spinning and wide smiles and just being here in the moment, present and breathing in each second. Who knows how long that can last?

Because Addison remembers how the real world is. How the reality is looking for them, and it is not looking good. So she holds on, twirling Meredith and making her smile. They lose eye contact only when the blonde is twirled and back to Addison. But otherwise, there are only two of them.

There is confetti falling around them, silver and shiny and Meredith chuckles when Addison picks her up for a moment, body pressed to the body.

Pure magic in between them. One that will never be faked or repeated again.

When she puts Meredith down, someone puts a hand on Addison’s shoulder and just like that, the moment is gone.

“Mind if I cut in?” Derek asks, hiding discontent on his face.

It’s the worse moment because the singer comes back with brutal words that match the reality; fit what’s happening when Meredith nods and lets go of Addison.

Oh, how could I face the faceless days

If I should lose you now

They echo in Meredith’s head as she takes Finn’s hand and lets him lead her to the stairs. She wants to bawl and curl up in a ball, but doesn’t have the luxury of it. Instead, she settles on biting her bottom lip and digging her nails into her palm, making marks in the shape of crescent moons in her skin.

“You’re sad,” Finn notices as they stop right at the first step down.

“Oh, no,” Meredith brings on the saddest smile she has ever put on. “I’m fine.”

He does not seem convinced but he only nods, “I’ll get my cape.” He tells her and off he goes, disappearing into some corridor on her right.

When she looks through the crowd, there is a perfect gap between people to see Addison in Derek’s arms, who leans into her and presses a kiss on her lips. She kisses him back and it feels like there are kilometres between what just happened and what Meredith is seeing now. She wonders if she kissed Addison there, a minute before on the dancefloor, how would the consequences look; some part of her begins to regret she will never find out.

How many times they are going to be put through the tragedy and torture of saying goodbye to each other?

Chapter Text

“Child.”

The voice that suddenly appears next to her, straight into her ear makes Meredith shiver. She jumps in place and turns around to see an ugly face, old and wrinkled, with pure evil in the hooded eyes.

Her heart drops, realising that she knows the old hag standing in front of her.

“You,” She breathes out. “It was you who sent me here!”

But it’s like none of her words or the threat in her tone seems to faze the old woman. It’s more the opposite - there is only complete contentment to see Meredith tremble and her chest rise and fall rapidly, “I’m so glad to see you,” She says, her voice scratchy. “I was very worried. What a terrible accident that brought you to this terrible place with so much sadness and so much pain-”

The hag turns her face from Meredith and gazes at the dancefloor. Meredith follows with her stare and it hurts to the very core to watch Addison with Derek. They watch them for way too long, enough to mess with Meredith’s mind and make her miss the redhead, almost killing her with an ache for the woman.

“Ah, yes,” The whisper inside her ear feels like a devil sitting on her shoulder, trying to talk her into the bad and the worst. “To never be with the one you love. Doomed to be with another for eternity, oh…”

A single tear runs down her cheek when Addison laughs in her partner’s arms.

“But it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Meredith turns her face immediately, her eyes growing in hope at the old hag’s words. She stares silently, wishing to hear more. To find a way.

“Oh, no, no, no,” She wipes away the tears that now run down Meredith’s blushy cheeks. “I can stop the hurt,” The woman smiles with her crooked teeth at the blonde, nodding encouragingly. “I can make those bad memories disappear.”

It’s so tempting.

To forget the past three days, wake up once again in the magical forest, falling on Finn’s lap. To be in her wedding gown, so beautiful, now ruined by Seattle’s weather and adventures, to run to the church and have her true love’s kiss. To start again, not remembering how it feels to be dancing and singing in Joe’s Bar, how exciting it was to hear about fixing people from Addison, how homely and normal it was to cross the streets with Henry, taking care of him as if he was her child. Most importantly, to never remember how her heart wanted to burst out of her chest each time her eyes fell on Addison; the presence of her, elegance and with so much finesse. Her wide smile and perfect teeth, the depth of her green gleaming stare, that always managed to say so much more than her words did. Her ideal body, the curve of her hips and waist, her long legs and flawless walk in those high hills. Everything that makes Addison Montgomery herself. The bad, the good, the best and the worst of the worst. All of her. Every flawed and every flawless part.

She is all Meredith has ever wanted. And is all she can never have.

The old hag won the moment she even appeared. So, without more questions, Meredith nods. It’s either a life in peace without remembering someone like Addison exists, the loveliest creature to ever walk on Earth or a life wasted, ruined for her.

“Just one bite, my love,” The hag pulls out a bloody red apple and shows it right in front of Meredith’s face. “And all this will go away.” She brushes her hair back as if she cares about Meredith’s pain.

Addison is the last thing Meredith wants to see before she makes the next move. So, she raises on her toes, trying to search through the dancing couples. And finally, she sees Addison next to her friends, Callie and Mark, silent as they discuss something.

The apple appears right in front of her face, covering the view.

“Your life here, the people that you met. You won’t remember anything. Just sweet dreams. And happy endings.”

The colour of the fruit reminds her of the scarlet of Montgomery’s lips.

“But you must hurry. You must hurry,” The hag pulls her wrist to catch her attention. “The magic will not work unless you take a bite before the clock strikes twelve. Hurry now. Hurry.”

Meredith closes her eyes and takes one last breath of courage. She ignores the sick happiness all over the hag’s face as she takes the apple into her hands. She counts to three and just when a new song starts to play she bites into the fruit. There is not even enough time for her to feel the taste because everything fades to black… There is nothing on the other side.

Narissa leans down after Meredith drops to the floor and throws her over her shoulder, quickly rushing down the stairs, as much as it is possible in the form she has taken over for the moment. It’s a chance for no one to pay attention to her or notice her and only when they pass through the waiting hall and reach the exit door, she puts the light body back onto the floor.

She needs her real body now, not being able to carry on like that any much longer. With a murmured spell, green and purple smoke covers her and she is back to her normal body. She looks down upon her black attire and makes sure everything is fine.

Only then, does she look back at Meredith laying in front of the exit and leans down to pick up the girl once again.

Ready to walk out of the building, dragging the body behind her, Narissa freezes hearing a voice behind her, with rushed footsteps.

“Mother?!”

She turns with a startled smile at her stepson, “Finn?”

The first thing he sees is the cursed girl, obviously. His eyes turn big and alarmed.

“Oh, her?” Narissa chuckles, keeping the casual tone. “I was taking her for a little fresh air, darling. I think she is just fine-” But her words aren’t heard because Finn takes Meredith in her arms, standing up with her unconscious. “Just leave her be. Slap her, give her some water. Whatever.”

No words can calm the prince down as he heads to the staircase, “Somebody help me, please!” His voice cuts through all the noise - conversations and music. The second mentioned is instantly turned down and the first people that run down the stairs are Addison and Derek.

Someone from the ground floor brings a stretcher and more people start to assemble around the three of them.

“You’re overreacting,” Narissa says; anger bubbles up inside of her but she has not lost everything yet. There is still a big chance at her victory and she is most certainly not letting go of it.

Addison pushes her way through people and gasps, seeing Finn laying Meredith down on the stretcher, “Oh no,” are the only words she manages to speak out loud.

Narissa comes closer for everyone to hear her, “Really go back to your party. She is fine.”

No one listens to her.

Finn crouches on Meredith’s right side, holding her hand, which is gradually getting colder and colder, between his warm ones while Addison takes her place on the left, pressing her palm against the blonde’s forehead which is unnaturally cold as well. She hears Derek, Mark and Richard carrying on a heavy discussion about what to do and where to take Meredith but Addison knows. Despite all the bullshit and hard time she has given all the fairytale stories, involving curses and witches, dragons and evil stepmoms, she just knows no medicine will help here.

“She fainted-”

“No, she didn’t.”

Everyone turns at another person walking inside the hospital; Addison recognises the man instantly. Short and round, in clothes as ridiculous as everyone who has come from Andalasia to Seattle, and there is pure disgust written all over his face. And shame. It’s hard to tell if he is more disgusted by himself or by the woman standing a meter away from him.

“Go back to the car,” Narissa hisses.

“I will not,” He states and then looks at the crowd of hospital staff and surgeons. “She poisoned her.”

Everything clicks in Addison’s head. He must have worked for the evil- This is Finn’s stepmother. The one who disguised as the old hag and transported Meredith, took her away from her happy ever after, her joyous ending; and now she has taken it away from her once again, this time deadly.

Finn turns around with hatred heating in his eyes.

“You did this?” He raises his voice.

The man doesn’t even let the witch answer, “She poisoned her!”

“He’s lying-” Narissa tries to fight back.

“Silence!” Finn’s voice is shaking with anger; Addison has seen the man before angry when he thought she was the one to kidnap his princess but otherwise, there has been always an aura of peace around him. But she is not surprised by how off-balance he is, because she feels the same seeing Meredith hurt. “You lying, murderous wretch.” He spits out every single word. “When we return home, all of Andalasia shall know of your treachery. Your days as queen will be over!”

“Take my crown?” Narissa fakes a smile and calmness. “Don’t you think that’s a bit melodramatic, dear?”

Finn stands up.

“You’ll be removed from the throne forever, Narissa. I will see to it.”

Addison would really burst out laughing seeing the queen Narissa whisper foreign words that sound like a spell, thinking it’s a part of some show. But she is holding dying Meredith by her cold body and there is not a chance even a humourless chuckle would escape her lips. She looks down at the blonde for a second and she is still breathing, yet her skin becomes pale and her lips turn blue.

“That’s enough from you, you viper,” The strange man says and charges at Narissa, taking the sword she has into his hands and putting the weapon against her neck, holding her hands behind her back.

“We have to help her!” Finn says instantly when the danger is being held back at the moment.

He kneels by Meredith and Addison takes her hands away, feeling out of place.

“What do we do?” She asks, looking up at the man.

Someone tries to pull her away and she turns to see Mark, “We need to take her to the elevator, transport her and run tests. We have to operate, Red.”

She shakes his hands off her and three men start to talk over her, trying to get to Meredith, thinking they have any knowledge of what they are supposed to do. But they don’t. Not with this case and she tries to push them away, but Derek, Mark and Richard don’t seem to care.

“Stop!” Addison screams out, making them freeze. “Stop! You- you won’t help here-”

“Addie, we can save her-” Derek reaches out for her but she moves out of his reach, moving the stretcher out of his reach.

“No, you can’t! Not you, not any of you!”

They look at her like she lost her mind, all of her friends and coworkers and colleagues, they all look at her like went off the deep end. However, it’s not the time to care about it, so she turns to the three people who understand what’s happening, all three of them not from her world.

“What do we do?” Her gaze settles on the short man.

“There’s no way of helping her. She is done for,” He says.

But Addison stops when her eyes settle on the pair of lips she’s been thinking about kissing for the past three days almost every minute of the day.

“True love’s kiss,” She says.

“What?” Finn looks up at her, eyes suddenly gaining hope.

“It’s the most powerful thing in the world!” Her voice gets louder and she smiles.

“Addison, just let us-” She feels Derek’s hand on her elbow.

Shaking it off, she moves back from the stretcher and Finn quickly goes around it, to be on the side that’s Meredith facing. He crouches in the same place Addison has been just a minute before. He takes a deep breath, whispering, “I knew that.”

Addison looks back in search of Callie and the woman catches her gaze and instantly moves through the crowd, standing by her side. Their fingers intertwine and Callie squizzes her sweaty hand; that’s what she needs right now. Not all-knowing men, not rational actions but a friend to stand by her as she watches Meredith come back to life.

It’s the most unsettling thing she has ever seen. Meredith, who is such a full-of-life person, dancing and singing and cleaning and cooking and- Her blonde hair that falls like dominoes without even trying and how her eyes still manage to sparkle, even after all the hurt she witnessed in her childhood. Her love for the world and fascination for the people around her.

Nothing has terrified her like this, to see her lifeless, breathing slowing down with each passing second. She would give up the world to hear another song of hers one more.

Her fingers dig into Callie’s palm when Finn leans down over the stretcher and carefully kisses Meredith’s pasty lips.

He moves back and Addison in sending silent prayers to every god that has ever existed in the history of the world.

Nothing happens.

He tries again. And again. And again. Each of them becomes desperate.

“A kiss to save her?” Cristina is the first to say anything. “That’s absurd! We are doctors. There is a whole group of doctors here and-”

“Yang, shut up!” Addison snaps at her; she has never before snapped at any of the interns, but the first time must have come anyway.

Finn kisses Meredith one last time.

“It’s not working!”

The four of them look up at the clock hanging over the entrance and Addison’s heart might as well give out the moment she sees one minute until midnight. They are running out of time.

“You will never save her now. When the clock strikes twelve… she’ll be dead.”

Chapter Text

Dead silence.

No one moves and no one speaks after Narissa’s words get through.

But then, Finn turns back and stares straight at Addison, “Unless…”

“Unless?”

She repeats and understands seconds after the word is out of her mouth. She gapes and tries to speak once, twice, three times, but forming words suddenly becomes heavy and difficult.

“It’s not possible. It couldn’t be me,” Addison says and looks around, panicked.

Finn is not letting go. He stands up, Meredith’s hand dropping onto the stretcher and leans to Addison.

“Don’t you see?”

“I–’ve only known her for a few days,” She stutters and looks panicked at Derek.

Her feelings, they were supposed to stay secret; she was going to wait them out until they were gone, and then she would have Derek move in with her and become a stepfather to Henry and- There is a perfect story that she has planned out.

“Kiss her, Addison,” Derek tells her and nods towards the blonde. “It’s okay. Kiss her.”

It moves her to the bone, his agreement; no matter the hardships and the arguments they’ve had, even back when they knew each other during their studies and parted for the next ten years just to reunite accidentally in Seattle, and all the love they created between them. She never pictured him as a guy who would agree to let her go just like that, but there he is, smiling and in pain. But he makes this big sacrifice and nods one more time. She gives him the smallest of smiles, still terrified when she looks at Meredith.

She moves closer and kneels by the stretcher. Her hand touches Meredith’s cheek, no familiar rosiness on it.

She knows then. Perhaps too late to realise, but she knows she loves Meredith - has loved her for such a short time it feels like a supercut but her heart burns bright for the blonde. She wants her forever and ever with her.

“Please,” Addison whispers. “Don’t leave me.”

Trying to be as gentle as possible, she slides her hand under Meredith’s neck and picks her up just a little. She closes her eyes before she leans down and presses her red lips to the pale ones at the very same moment when the clock strikes twelve.

Addison moves back and delicately puts Meredith back on the stretcher. But she stays still, even her chest stopped moving and for a moment, Addison wonders if she just killed the blonde by believing in the impossible and not getting her real help from her colleagues. She wonders if-

But then Meredith gasps, taking the first deep breath and her eyelashes flutter when she opens her blue eyes. And the first thing she sees is Addison’s astonished expression that turns soft when their eyes meet and Meredith speaks up.

“I knew it was you.”

Addison doesn’t even have time to answer because Meredith pulls her down, setting her hand on the nape of her neck and kissing her lips, hard, with all of what she feels in her heart. But it’s a short kiss, and full of relief, Addison takes Meredith in her arms, hiding her nose in the blonde hair and embracing her. Chest to chest, she breathes in the jasmine scent and smiles, a tear of awe dropping down on Meredith’s shoulder.

Cheering and clasping surround them; Mark whistles and everyone just gives into the moment. There is Callie’s laughter behind her and the moment might be one of the best in Addison’s life. She can feel under the touch of her fingertips that Meredith turns warm all at once and she cries, like a fool, knowing there is no way she is letting go of the almost-princess ever again. Maybe she won’t become a princess if she stays with Addison, but she can become everything else.

Yet, it is not given to them to stay in the bubble of happiness.

“No!” Narissa shouts and manages to take over the sword, pushing Nathaniel away.

Instantly, Addison takes Meredith from the stretcher and protectively puts her behind her, stepping in front of Narissa and keeping a hand back so Meredith doesn’t get any ideas. She won’t let her close to the witch, not a chance.

The sword is pointed straight at Addison but she doesn’t even tremble at the threat. Nothing scares her more than losing her son or Meredith.

“The most powerful thing in the world?” Narissa begins to slowly step around the stretcher and make everyone step back. “Ha! I don’t think so. You have no idea who you’re dealing with, “Each of her words sounds like hisses. “You want a show? I’ll give you a show!”

And then, she heads straight at the crowd which steps on two sides, making a pathway for her right in the middle. The black dress flutters behind her as her stilettos echo on the hospital floor and she wields her sword looking straight out of a movie. She stops walking and spins with the weapon, creating a circle of space for her, while she is enclosed from each side. There is no way for her to escape and Addison fears what it means for them, since she looks so confident without a pathway to escape.

“Back up and get ready for the main event tonight!” She announces.

Before anyone could say or do anything, from Narissa’s chest bursts pure fire and she stands in flames. They reach higher than it’s possible for a human to be burning and everyone runs as far as possible from her.

Addison stays, unmoved, covering Meredith with her body. Finn and Nathaniel, who started to run towards Narissa, now stop, the heat of the flames reaching them and warming up their face to the point it’s hard to even open their eyes.

In horror, all of them watch how Narissa’s silhouette grows bigger and bigger, soon reaching the first floor and then the second. Breaking walls and floors, she destroys everything she touches before the flames disappear and all that’s left there… is a dragon.

“All this nauseating talk of ‘the true love’s kiss’, it really does bring out the worst in me,” And the dragon apparently can fucking talk.

Its scales are black but they mirror in blue and violet and shine in the white light of hospital lamps. It gets on its four limbs and moves towards Addison and Meredith, getting too close for comfort.

“Stay back,” Addison murmurs to Meredith. They walk backwards until Meredith hits the wall.

“If I’m going to need some sort of story when I go back, hmm…” It has all the manners and gestures of Narissa and Addison just has to admit it’s the same person in another form. “What if a giant vicious beast showed up and killed everyone? And poor, defenceless Queen Narissa, she just couldn’t save them. Let’s begin with the girl who started it all, shall we?” She points her large claw at Meredith and cockily raises an eyebrow.

“Over my dead body,” Addison says firmly.

“Alright, I’m flexible,” Narissa shrugs and catches Addison in her enormous paw.

Her terrified screams echo through the hospital and her heels drop to the floor when she gets spun around in the air. The dragon roars as she moves towards the ceiling and bursts through the glass onto the rooftop; just before she disappears, Narissa glances down at Meredith, smirking, “Come on, Meredith. I don’t want you to miss the ending.”

Roaring, she disappears behind the enormous hole in the plaster of the roof.

It doesn’t even take two seconds for Meredith to rush in the opposite direction than where the crowd is running. She passes everyone heading to the exit, bruising her shoulders from hitting others and she stops only when she reaches the sword that Narissa dropped when she transformed into the beast.

Picking it up, she shakes her hills off, bare feet stepping onto the cold and wet ground. Two steps up the stairs, she hears someone calling out for her.

“Blondie!” Mark is standing at the bottom of the stairs, the last one who stayed. “Where the hell are you going?”

“I don’t have the time, Mark,” She quickly says. “How do I get onto the rooftop?”

He looks like he wants to stop her but he resigns at the last minute and instead instructs her to go to the third floor and then go straight until the first corridor will lead to the left.

“Then, there will a heavy door at the end of the hallway but it is open,” He tells her. “You will walk out on the helipad.”

She is not sure what it means, but she doesn’t waste any moment more and begins to run, jumping every two steps. Her feet are slippery but she keeps up, heart beating so loudly it overlaps the terrifying storm that has begun; the rain is pouring inside the building through the destroyed walls and ceiling. The sky lights up from time to time with powerful firebolts. By the time she reaches the third floor, the storm has approached their location way too close.

Meredith does not have time to think about it, about any risks because her biggest one is to lose Addison. The screams she hears when she is running that last straight line to the door makes her stomach drop.

Don’t let it be too late. Don’t let it be too late.

With one strong and sure push, she opens the door and walks up five more steps.

She has arrived at the final battle and she can barely see through the wall of rain - her hair and dress get soaked in the first seconds she stands on the rooftop and tries to focus her eyes on the dragon.

Narissa hasn’t noticed her yet and it gives her some of an advantage.

“You’re crazy!” Addison's voice is high-pitched to the point it sounds itchy.

“No,” Narissa curls her tail around one of the antennas and puts her hand up in the air to look at Addison as she speaks. “Spiteful, vindictive, very large. But never crazy.”

Meredith jumps from the helipad onto another part of the rooftop and crouches from the power of her fall. She picks herself up swiftly and charges with the sword straight at Narissa’s ankle. It goes smoothly between two of the shiny scales and makes the dragon hiss with pain, frantically moving her foot. Meredith takes her sword out at the last moment, before Narissa can snatch it from her.

“Meredith!” Addison calls out to her, panicked, frightened to the bone.

“I’m here!” Meredith yells.

“Oh, this is a twist on our story,” Narissa sneers. “It’s the brave little princess coming to the rescue for her bride!”

It’s easy for Narissa to sleekly let go of one of the antennas and move across the rooftop to another, bigger one - only to make it harder for Meredith.

But the blonde hasn’t come so far only to fear hardships, so she runs right after the dragon and begins to climb up on the higher part, pulling herself up and up. It’s hard and the pools of rain make her slippery and she almost falls when her fingers cannot find anything to catch on. Thunder hits loudly and ruthlessly right after lightning crosses the skyline five seconds earlier.

The storm is much closer and it is clearly not stopping, either not changing its pathway. It is heading straight to the Seattle Grace Hospital. Meredith has only a moment to watch another lightning before she focuses and manages to roll over the ground to miss a piece of glass that’s sent her way by the dragon’s talon.

Without glancing down, she can see from the corner of her eye that everyone has gathered far away in the parking lot. What she can’t see is the exception for Finn and Derek, who are standing right by the entrance, trying to see anything.

“Narissa!” Meredith screams out when she is close enough. Raindrops get inside her mouth and she swallows them, continuing, “I’m not going to let you take her!”

“We’re coming to the end of our story now. Are you at the edge of your seat, princess? Just dying to know how it ends?” Narissa’s dragon face looks smug, especially surrounded by the chaos created by her power and the nature accompanying her.

It takes one fast move of her tail to surround Meredith and give her one firm push towards the edge of the rooftop. With no way to escape, Meredith stands there, panting and fuming. Her face changes when she hears a familiar squeaking and right by her feet, she watches a small chipmunk run through the rooftop, unseen by Narissa.

“Pip,” She murmurs, feeling the change in the mood.

There is a new player on the board. And despite its small form, it can make the biggest of changes.

As Narissa climbs up the biggest antenna, it bends, more and more, but she is too caught up in her final act to notice. She just gets higher, cackling, “How about this” ‘And they all lived happily ever after!’ Well, at least I did!”

Right at the top, it’s a miracle the antenna doesn’t break - it looks like it will only take one more gram for it to crack. And Pip is enough for it to be done.

The small animal jumps on one of her claws and Meredith watches in awe as Narissa roars out, feeling the antenna giving out beneath her. Her back straightens up as she is thrown into the air, the antenna swinging. And exactly the moment she is the highest in the air, the storm reaches them.

Lightning, the biggest of them all, shoots through the sky straight into the dragon. It is set on fire instantly and Narissa drops Addison from her hand as she tumbles down the rooftop and flies down, covered in flames that this time eat her alive, every piece of her, to the very last claw. People scream when she hits the ground and scatters into millions of little blue lichts and covers the whole pavement in front of the hospital. The men standing by the entrance jump back in the nick of time.

Narissa is dead.

However, Meredith cannot stop to gloat about it because Addison is in the air and she is going to die if she hits the ground as hard as she is going to. So, she takes the sword and prays quietly as she sets the weapon through the air right at the woman.l

It goes through Addison’s red dress, parting it for two but also making her hang in the air. She reacts quickly and catches the sword’s grip, as the weapon gets stuck in the wall of the rooftop. But her hands are sweaty and her fingers tremble while she tries to hold on.

“Addie! Hold on!” Meredith shouts and does the fastest run of her life just to get under Addison.

She jumps, at loss for other ideas and ends up on the slick glass and shattered part of the rooftop that’s right above the entrance. In unison, Addison’s hands give out and she begins to fall.

They catch up with each other because she doesn’t hit the surface as she lands - instead she ends up right in Meredith’s lap and because of the impact of her fall, it pushes them down the rooftop. Both of them are screaming their lungs out, they embrace each other and hold onto dear life, deafening each other because of the decibels their voices reach. Meredith shuts her eyes, heart in her throat and Addison does the opposite - stares, waiting for the worst; to watch how they shatter onto the ground.

But suddenly, they stop moving, grinding to a halt.

Right by the edge of the rooftop. Right on the left side of the hole that Narissa made in the roof. They just… stop. Safe and sound. Not having the slightest idea how they will get down, however, they stop. They make it through.

Panting, Meredith opens her eyes and has to blink to understand.

Sirens are wailing somewhere, getting closer as police and firefighters speed through the city.

That’s not important, at all.

Meredith turns to look at Addison, whose legs are still thrown over her lap and she smiles. In the violent torrent, in the thunder resounding around them and in the heartbeat echoing in her ears, she smiles like it’s the best moment in her damn life.

“Is this a habit of yours? Falling off of stuff?” She says, grinning like a fool.

She can feel how rain is running down her face and making her hair glue to her head. She must be a mess but she has never felt more glorious.

“Only when you’re around to catch me,” Addison smiles at her widely.

At the same time, Meredith leans in, like Addison and their lips meet halfway. She puts her hand on Addison’s wet with rain cheek and pulls her in while Addison puts her hands on Meredith’s waist, clinging to the damp material of her black dress. Almost dead from the horror and cold, they have never felt more alive.

Meredith parts her lips, letting Addison in, trying to come even closer, not having enough. This kiss is far away from a farewell one. It is quite the opposite. They hold onto each other with all the strength they have left; it’s a passionate and full-of-hope kiss. Promising an ending. A happy one, indeed.

Maybe even a beginning.

Chapter Text

The first and foremost crucial task is to make sure all of the patients are safe, well and alive.

A group of surgeons and nurses burst into the hospital the moment the police lets them and Derek is heading upstairs until he notices two pairs of heels lying carelessly in the middle of the hall. He stops walking as people pass him by and he crouches by the shoes. Only then, everything catches up to him - he realises Addison is gone, never meant to stay with him.

And he wants to grieve. Wants to feel miserable, wants to give in the comfort of being rancorous. But the second pair of heels gives him a reason to smile, despite it all.

He has always known Addison wasn’t like him. Well perhaps it’s better to put it differently - she has been always like him. At least, he thinks so because when prince Finn crouches in front of him, he starts to think he’s had his own secrets like Addison.

Because Addison has always loved women; he just knew. But he let her stay with him because they did and still do love each other. Probably not like partners love each other, but like family loves each other.

“Why so sad, handsome gentleman?” Finn looks at him.

Derek dares to look up and smiles bitterly.

“Both of them forgot their shoes,” He nods down and chuckles. “Very fairytale much like.”

“Good both of us still have our shoes on,” Finn smiles and raises his eyebrows.

Five minutes later they are running hand in hand from the hospital straight to the centre of Seattle, passers-by giving them weird looks. Derek supposes it’s the most idiotic thing he has ever done, run in a tuxedo with a literal prince intertwining their fingers and jump in the middle of the street when Finn points out an open drain as the way to his land.

“Ready?” He asks Derek when they take place on both sides of it.

“Ready,” Derek nods.

When Finn reaches out his hands, he takes them and jumps into the hole. He hears Finn is right behind him.

The following morning, Derek is at the altar, standing in one of the most exquisite churches he has ever seen. And right across him is standing no one else but Finn. They are in the middle of their vows when a phone he has completely forgotten about begins to ring. The song echoes from the high white walls when he pulls it out from the pocket of his black trousers.

It’s Mark calling and he steps back for a moment, picking it up.

“Derek, where the hell are you?” His best friend snaps at him.

“I’m in Andalasia,” Derek says and can’t help but crack a smile.

“Where? What the fu-”

“Ask Addie,” He tells and hangs up.

Seeing a bunch of unanswered messages, he decides to hell with it and throws the phone onto the floor. It smashes to pieces, but he couldn’t care less, not when he says ‘yes’ to a complete stranger that turns out to be everything he ever needed.

He gasps when Finn catches him and turns him in his arm, making him lean back and they have their first, true love’s kiss.

With pride, Meredith carries the title of the most promising medical student at the Prima Medical Institute.

The past three months she has been studying were the most exhausting ones, but she has never felt more fulfilled. Every performance she perfects, every assignment she manages to get one-hundred percent right, all her achievements - it brings a smile to her face, no matter how many nights she stays up studying, no matter how many days she needs to wake up so early, she is even up before Addison. It just feels right to learn everything she needs so she can cure people.

The very imagination of being able to help others the way the love of her life does, to join her in the hospital where they had their first kiss... So much motivation is inside of her and she just wants to get better, better and better.

Sometimes she forgets to sleep, Henry catches her in the kitchen where she slouches over the kitchen island with a textbook, marking all over the sentences and has to physically bring her to the bedroom. He tends to curl up between his mom and Meredith just to make sure the blonde doesn’t wander off to cram the whole night.

“Miss Grey?”

Meredith stops in the middle of the corridor and turns around, her blue dress in white and violet flowers twirling at the bottom with her movement.

It has taken some time for her to learn to react to the last name but she finally accepts it as her name and is proud of it. It may have originated during one of the drinking games at the Emerald City Bar and doesn’t have much meaning, but it is hers.

She is not a bride-to-be or an almost-princess.

She is Meredith Grey, a medical student, raising Addison Montgomery’s son and aspiring to be so much more.

“Yes?” She waits for the unknown man to catch up to her.

“Are you the author of the latest article in the Institute’s magazine?”

“Sure I am,” She nods as they begin to walk down the corridor in the direction of her next lecture.

“Can I ask you some questions?”

When she happily agrees and they dive into the conversation about her several works she’s managed to write with Addison’s tiny bit of help, there is just so much pride. She wonders what would her old friends from the forest would say seeing her like this - still being herself, sewing all of her dresses and skirts, curling her hair into a variety of hairstyles, yet putting on the white coat during the technical classes.

“I can’t believe we were so right about you,” Callie says.

She’s been repeating it almost every day, Mark by her side, taunting and making fun of Addison.

“Okay, I get it,” Addison says and passes them by, leaving her office. “I’ve heard that enough times for the past five months. You were right. Not only do I speak vagina monologues, but I also like them. So if you want to get traumatized, I can explain to you in detail what I did last night with Meredith.”

“Ew, please, don’t,” Callie groans.

“Please, do,” Mark voices.

Addison turns to him, showing one of her fingers before she hears coughing in front of her.

Turning to the front, she smiles bemusedly at Richard Webber standing right in front of the main board of the hospital.

“Morning,” She says. “Sloan really wants to find himself some work,” She leaves her friends with the chef and hums a song under her breath. She gets funny looks from other surgeons but she ignores them. It’s impossible to get some of the songs Meredith sings while cleaning or showering out of her head.

It’s hard to get the blonde out of her head in general.

She walks into one of the on-call rooms in the hope to get changed for the upcoming surgery, since the two dumbasses she calls her best friends didn’t let her do that in peace in her office. But she wants to burn her eyes the moment she walks in and sees too much nudity of Teddy Altman and Cristina Yang.

“Oh my God,” She shuts the door and walks backwards, wanting to hit her head against the wall.

Two minutes later, the pair emerges from the room, Cristina not saying a word but also not meeting Addison’s eyes, while Teddy stays for a moment for small talk.

“When will Meredith visit us?” She asks eagerly, acting like Montgomery hasn’t just seen her naked butt.

Addison smiles, knowing how much the blonde is liked around the hospital - besides Teddy has a soft spot for her because she was the one to save her marriage.

“Not soon,” Addison sighs. “Her studies are killing her. But she is coming to Joe’s on Friday night.”

“We will be there!” Teddy calls out, already heading down the corridor.

Despite her being the openly warm one, Addison does realise that Cristina has taken a liking to Meredith, too. Every time they meet up at the bar, they both order tequila and talk by the counter for half of the night; and Addison is not easily fooled, even by the cold acts Yang carries around the hospital.

But when she gets a message from Henry, while she is heading to OR, that Meredith has picked him up and they are taking a cab to the hospital, that thought is filling up her mind throughout the whole surgery.

It’s a slow evening, ones that don’t happen very often. But these are the ones during which the rain outside is not violent like the storm that has forever changed their fates. Meredith opens the balcony to let in the lovely smell of wet soil and the calming sound of raindrops falling, curling in the corner of the sofa, the Yale sweatshirt on with a pair of sleeping shorts.

When the knocking resounds, Henry is the first one to jump from the other end of the couch, forgetting about his fairytale book, “I’ll get it!”

But Meredith is way too curious about who is visiting them at such an hour without any previous announcements.

“Auntie Amelia!”

She sees a brunette her height in the doorway leaning down to hug Henry.

“Henry!” She pulls him into a tight embrace. “It’s been ages.”

He is practically jumping around but Amelia’s eyes look up to meet the sight of Meredith standing by the entrance to the living room, she gapes. Her stare is pointed at the sweatshirt, having a hard time connecting the dots.

“Who are you?” She asks slowly.

At that moment, Addison bursts through the door to the bathroom, with a towel around her body, “I forgot my pyja-”

When she sees Meredith’s confused stare she turns where her eyes are set and opens her mouth, seeing Amelia.

“Amelia?”

“Addison?”

“W-what are you doing here?” She holds the towel up to her chest.

“Apparently my ass of a brother decided not to answer any of my calls or texts for six months, so I’ve come here because, how I find out, his apartment doesn’t belong to him anymore,” She says with one breath. “Who is that chic?”

“I am the love of her life,” Meredith crosses her arms on her chest and all Addison wants to do is facepalm.

“What?” It’s almost a screech that comes out from Amelia’s throat.

“Okay, can we calm down?” Addison nods at Henry to close the front door. “I’m going to dress up, Meredith will make us some tea and we will talk. Okay?”

Everyone nods and the only person who hasn’t lost their spirits is Henry, pulling Amelia by her hand towards the dining table, already chattering about something that happened at school. Addison has to take three deep breaths before bracing herself for the conversation that’s upcoming.

It’s not a common occurrence to explain to the sister of your ex-boyfriend that he ran away to a fairytale land through a hole in the ground to marry a prince. But Addison is really used to much weirder stuff by now.

After a year since the day Meredith Grey has accidentally fallen into Seattle, she, as well as Addison, right with Henry can admit that Sunday mornings are the best ones. Their ultimate favourites.

Meredith is blasting on full volume Ever Ever After from the tape player in Henry’s pastel bedroom and the three of them are dancing. Addison is in her sweats she only wears on Sundays and her face is without an ounce of makeup, not a care in the world. Meredith has her hair tied on top of her head in a messy bun that Addison taught her how to do and all of them are spinning around.

Henry can’t stop giggling and Meredith tickles him on his side, making him jump away and bursts out laughing.

“C’mon!” Addison joins them in laughter and runs out of the room, followed first by her son and then by Meredith.

All three of them have their arms spread out as if they’re flying and they speed through the corridor straight to the living room.

It’s a moment of pure joy, the youthful happiness that surrounds this little family of theirs.

They stop in the middle, right in front of the balcony and just dance with the silliest moves they can think of. Addison picks up Henry in her arms and twirls around with him and opens her free hand to Meredith. The blonde joins them instantly, putting an arm around Henry and holding on to Addison as they spin together, love and feeling of belonging following them wherever they go.

And so they lived happily ever after.