A/N Thank you to everyone who reviewed, they all made me very happy and inspired me to write this chapter in double quick time! Just like to say that my exams start again on Monday so the next chapter might take a few more days that this one to appear. :)

….

Mark doesn't like planes much, he always get this feeling that it's not quite safe – that something might go wrong the whole time. He's sitting in the middle seat, Noah near the window and Amelia the other side – Derek sits behind him and Addison is behind Noah, much to the little boy's enjoyment.

Mark leans down and retrieves a travel battleships game from his bag – having purchased the set in duty free when Addison gently inquired if he had anything for Noah to do during the flight. He places it on the table in front of him and turns to the window. God, everything looks so small, he thinks as he asks Noah if he wants to play.

"After I beat you," the young boy starts, "can I play Auntie Amy?"

At Noah's words, Mark half turns to see Amelia, on the fringes of sleep, give a little nod and say, "Of course little man. I'll be much harder to beat than your Daddy though." With her little warning in his mind Noah focuses his gaze on the tiny ships and a look of concentration comes over his face. Mark smiles at Amelia, who once again closes her eyes, and then picks up the submarine and places it on the grid.

Behind, Addison is staring out the window, watching the small towns flick by at a remarkable rate. Derek, beside her, is reading a medical journal and the red head sitting on the end is playing some tap sensitive game on her phone. Addison sighs tiredly and wonders if Derek will talk to her at all on the flight – but knowing him he'll get sucked into whatever he's reading and totally ignore the outside world until the plane lands in Seattle. Oh god, Seattle – the city where it always rains – Addison has already expressed her horror at this to all the adults travelling with them at least three times each; if Addison had her way, she and Derek would move to LA and spend all their time either working or sitting on the beach but they both have jobs in New York, lives, so why abandon it?

The woman on the end of the row is speaking but Addison has been to wrapped up in her hatred of the rain that she doesn't take it in all it – Derek sits obliviously in the middle and by the time Addison turns the redhead has already spoken twice. "Excuse me, please could you pass that magazine?" It takes Addison a moment to realise that the other woman is pointing at the stack of magazines stuffed in to the back of the chair in front of her but when she does she acts quickly, pulling the first one she can get her hands on out and then handing it past a silently chuckling Derek, to the redhead.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying any attention" Addison says as the woman takes the magazine off of her.

April Kepner opens the magazine and tries to avoid blushing at the embarrassment. God, she hadn't even wanted to go to the conference – not really – but Jackson had persuaded her. 'Some of the world's best surgeons will be there April, you have to come,' he had said, and it was true – this trip did give her the opportunity to meet some top class surgeons, to try and improve as a doctor.

The man sitting next to her shifts a little as she hears someone say "See daddy I said I would beat you." April turns to look at the pair beside her and notices the man's eyes are very blue and remembers something that Reed said to her the last time they saw each other – 'You, April Kepner, like people based on their eyes.' She laughs quietly at the memory, now six months old, and turns back to her magazine but her thoughts are still on the man's eyes and Reed's words. She hasn't seen Reed, or Charles for that matter, since there wedding back in June - that had also been the last time she'd seen Jackson, but she had phoned and texted him since - Reed too.

Sometimes she wonders what it would've been like if she'd worked with them in Seattle, what it would've been like if she hadn't been fired and forced to move to New York to get another job, different definitely but how different she's not sure. She shrugs to herself, and turns her attention to an article on natural disaster's as the pilot announces that they're three hours from landing.

…

Lexie Grey places her spoon on the plate and looks up at her boyfriend. Jackson is staring down at his empty coffee cup, and doesn't react instantly when she starts talking. "That was nice." When he finally looks up a second later he has a serious look on her face and for a heartbeat Lexie worries that something bad has happened – to Meredith or Emily or her dad maybe, he has been distracted for the whole meal. Lexie's paranoia is worsened when Jackson starts to speak.

"Lex," he says, in Lexie's worried opinion, the way you would tell a family member that someone is dead. "We've been together, what, three years?" Lexie's mind is still on all the horrible scenario's that he might've been about to inform her about and she doesn't reply for a moment.

"Eh, what – yeah, we've been together three years," What does it matter, she nearly adds, and why so serious?

"You know I love you yeah?" Oh, she thinks, this sounds like a confession. "So," he says, getting out of his seat – giving Lexie the feeling he's going to walk out on her – and stands there. Then Lexie realises what's going to happen and it scares her. Jackson Avery gets down and one knee and asks her to marry him. "Lex?" he says after she doesn't immediately reply.

"Jackson," she starts. "I… I…I"

….

"So he's staying with his mother?" Cristina Yang asks, looking across at Meredith, her knees drawn up to her chest. "Ah, that's cute,"

"It's not cute," Meredith says, "It's actually quite sad," Her words cause Cristina to laugh, so Meredith turns her attention the other occupant of the room. Alex sits opposite them, a beer held in his hand.

"He's going to move out, yeah, and live somewhere else?" he asks in response to the conversation. Meredith nods and Alex continues, "Then it's not sad, nah – if he planned on living with his mom for the rest of his live then that would be sad." He looks like he's going to say something else but Cristina interjects.

"See Mere, he agrees – it's cute."

"No," Alex as the doorbell rings, "That is not what I said." Meredith moves from next to Cristina as she moves towards the door. Upon opening it she sees her daughter and Owen standing on the porch.

"Hey," Owen starts. "You said to come back later," He hands Emily over as Meredith goes to one side to let him in.

"Yeah, I know. Alex is here so he'll probably help," she says, gesturing with one hand in the vague direction of the living room. "Hey little girl," she says to Emily as Owen disappears into the lounge. Meredith follows a few moments later.

When she re-enters the room Alex is already on his feet and both men quickly disappear upstairs to start moving the boxes. Meredith puts Emily on the floor near a pile of play bricks and sits down next to her.

"How is my tiny little god daughter?" Cristina asks as they hear the boys come down the stairs.

"Mere," They hear Alex call. "could you get the door?" Meredith stands up and moves towards the hall. She opens the door and searches the area for anything to prop it open with. Owen and Alex put the boxes in the car as Meredith notices it has started to rain.

"Mere," she hears Cristina call from the other room. "You've got a text from Lexie. Apparently Jackson's proposed," As Alex comes back in Meredith smiles, happy for a sister.

"I so called that," he says as he starts to climb the stairs again.

"What?" Owen asks, coming to stand next to Meredith.

"Lexie and Jackson getting engaged," Alex replies, appearing at the top of the stairs. Before Owen can say anything to this, however, Cristina speaks again.

"Oh, they're not engaged, Alex – Lexie walked out on him."

….

Arizona looks round Joe's, her eyes falling on the two doctors sitting at the bar. She makes her way over to them and takes a seat next to Richard Webber.

"Hello, Dr Robbins," he says and then orders her a drink – she tries to reject it but a voice pipes up from beside the former chief of surgery.

"I've tried to stop him buying me drinks for the best part of half an hour – it doesn't work." Callie Torres points at the glass of tequila in front of her and laughs. Arizona laughs too and then takes a sip of the drink Joe has just placed in front of her.

"Thanks, Richard," she says as she puts in back down on the bar.

"Heard you were doing a seminar tomorrow," Callie states. "Burke's asked all the heads to do one – me, you, Bailey. You're doing one, aren't you ,Webber?" At the orthopaedic doctor's words, Richard looks up from his whiskey but takes another sip before speaking.

"Yes, it's the pitfalls of using opioids in the treatment of gall stones," Arizona can see that Callie is trying not to laugh and she starts to chuckle too – must be the tequila, she thinks.

Behind them, a group of residents enter the bar – Arizona recognises all of them but can only think of a few of their names; Wilson, Edwards and Leah – and that's it. Arizona tries to behind Richard but Leah spots her and smiles. Arizona takes a long gulp of the tequila and wonders why she ever thought sleeping with her resident would be a good idea.

Richard, in between taking sips of his drink, starts to ask Callie how she's holding up.

"Well," Callie starts, before drinking all of the tequila in her glass and ordering another. "Today is the anniversary of George's death so I'm not doing so good,"

"How's George Jr?" Richard asks before looking round and seeing if he's in the bar.

"Louise is looking after him," she says. "That's George's mom," Callie adds for Arizona's benefit, even though Arizona knows full well who 'Louise' is – she thinks everyone in the hospital must know about Callie and Louise O'Malley. This is on account of Callie's son, her little boy, who had born six months after his father was hit by a bus and died –something like doesn't get forgotten quickly. No it had lived on in gossip, rumours. Like the rumour that George sr had cheated on Callie with Alex Karev's cancer stricken wife and she had still got back with him – love, that's what they call it isn't it? Arizona knew for a fact that Alex and Izzie hadn't even been together when the incident had occurred so she doubted the validity of that particular rumour, but still – she knew there was some truth behind it.

Arizona drinks up her tequila and slips of the stool, wishing the others a good night and disappears from the bar into the cool night.

….

The plane lands in Seattle at the same time Lexie Grey reaches her sister's house, tears tracking down her face. She tells her sister, over and over, that life isn't fair.

"Oh," Meredith says, "who ever told you it was?"

….

A/N Thanks for reading. Please review if you have the time. :)