Here's the epilogue – I can't believe this story is finished! I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you so much to everyone for reading! I hope you like this final chapter and, as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!
Best of Me
Epilogue
5 years later:
"Happy birthday, sweetie!" Addison exclaimed, tightly hugging the little girl in her arms.
"Thanks, Aunt Addie!" Zola laughed. "Mommy said that you came all the way from California for my party. That's really far."
"Well, no distance could keep me from coming to my niece's sixth birthday." Addison smiled.
"And we really do appreciate it," Meredith grinned, entering the kitchen and joining the conversation. "Thanks again for coming, Addison. It really means a lot to us."
"Please," Addison said dismissively, "you guys are our family. We wouldn't miss this for the world. I just wanted to see if you needed any help in the kitchen or anything."
"Nope," Meredith replied. "I don't cook, so we had the party catered. Derek's gonna grill later, but I think we're good for now."
"Good," Addison smiled, breathing a sigh of relief. "I don't cook either. I was just trying to be polite. Should we head back outside then?"
"Yes!" Zola sang dancing ahead of them. "Follow me!"
"I swear, Mer," Addison started, as they made their way outside, "Zola just keeps getting cuter and cuter. And William," she said, gesturing towards the three-year-old boy, who was standing next to Derek, "he looks more and more like Derek every time I see him."
"He does, doesn't he?" Meredith asked proudly. "It's really nice to have you back, Addie…even if it's just for the week."
"Now there's a sentence I bet you thought you'd never say," Addison joked. Over the past couple of years, Addison and Meredith had become close friends. They had bonded over their fertility problems and, now, they spoke on the phone at least once or twice a week, which, of course, made Derek very nervous.
"What are we laughing at?" Addison asked as she and Meredith joined Callie, Arizona, and Lexi around the table on the deck, which overlooked Meredith and Derek's beautiful backyard.
"The men in our lives," Callie supplied.
Addison turned her attention to where the other women were looking and laughed as she watched Sophia and Zola hand Mark pink and gold pom-poms. "Do a cheer for us, Daddy," Sophia laughed.
"I bet you never you never saw that side of your fiancé before, huh, Lexi?" Arizona teased.
As the women continued to gossip and joke with each other, Addison returned her attention to the backyard, and smiled as she watched Derek play badminton with William. Her smile grew even wider as she watched Alex gently toss a softball into their three and a half year old daughter's bright pink baseball mitt. Following Addison's gaze, Callie laughed, "That's the first one she's caught all day. You're lucky Piper's adorable, Addie, because you certainly aren't raising a world-class softball player there." Then, growing serious, she added, "But it looks like I was right about Karev – he's a barbeque and catch kind of guy after all."
Addison smiled at her friend's words, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from her husband and daughter. "Yeah," she said softly, "I guess he is."
"Hey, Karev, maybe you should try a different sport," Mark joked, as he and Alex made their way onto the deck, carrying Sophia and Piper with Derek, Zola, and William trailing behind them.
"Funny," Alex shot back. Then turning his attention to Addison, he smirked, "I blame you."
"Me?" Addison asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Alex smiled, putting his daughter down and giving his wife a kiss on the cheek. "How am I supposed to teach Piper to throw and catch properly when she's too worried about chipping a nail?"
"Apparently, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree," Mark chuckled.
Piper climbed onto Addison's lap, and showed her mother her pale pink fingernails. "Still looks good, right Mommy?" she asked, widening her chocolate brown eyes, which always reminded Addison so much of Alex's.
Addison ran her fingers through her daughter's red hair and smiled, "Still looks good, sweetie."
"Oh, Karev, you're in trouble," Mark smirked. "That one's gonna be a heartbreaker."
"You're telling me," Alex said dryly. "She's already got Lucas wrapped around her little finger. But I told her no dating until after med. school, right Piper?"
"Right," the little girl agreed.
"I think that's a good rule for all of you," Callie said to Sophia, who was sitting on her lap, and Zola, who was climbing onto Derek's lap.
"And, as for you, Little Shep," Mark said, pulling William onto his lap, "you and I will have a nice long chat about dating a little later, sound good? I'll teach you everything I know."
"Don't even think about it!" Derek and Addison exclaimed together.
"Hey, who wants some Powerade?" Meredith asked quickly, diffusing the situation before Mark could respond.
"Me!" the children exclaimed together.
Pouring the Powerade, Meredith smiled, "Would you like a glass, Alex? I remember you used to drink this stuff all the time back when you lived in Seattle."
Alex smiled, "Sure. Thanks, Mer. You know, it's been so long since I've drank Powerade, I hope I still like it."
"You drink Powerade all the time, Daddy," Piper corrected him.
"That's true," Alex conceded, as he prepared himself for the teasing he knew he was about to endure, "but I, uh, I drink Powerade Zero now."
Mark and Derek roared with laughter. "Man, Karev, you're going soft. Clearly, living with two women is turning you into a chick," Mark teased.
Alex laughed good-naturedly, "You guys can't really talk. I mean, Derek, you spend more money on hair products than your wife does and, as for you Pom-poms," he said turning his attention to Mark, "you're just as bad as I am."
Derek and Mark were silent for a moment, before Derek burst out laughing, "I can't believe Alex Karev drinks Powerade Zero. You're never living this one down."
"Hey," Alex protested, "don't knock it till you try it. It really does taste the same as regular Powerade. I might even like it better," he winked at Addison. "Plus," he continued, "I live in on beach and, unlike Seattle, it doesn't rain three hundred fifty days a year there, so I've got to be in fighting form all the time."
"It's really too bad you're such a good doctor, Karev," Callie smirked, "because otherwise you would have made a great spokesperson for Powerade Zero."
"Hmm…maybe I'll just have a beer instead," Alex grumbled.
"Or I can make you a cosmopolitan," Lexi offered, fighting back laughter. "We might even be able to put a little umbrella in your drink for you."
Looking at Addison, Alex warned, "Not a word about this conversation to Cooper. If this gets out, he and Sam will have me talking about my feelings and wearing pastel-colored shirts in no time."
"Hey, I think lavender might be your color," Mark teased. "What do you think, Piper…do you think your dad would look good in a purple shirt?"
"Hmm…" the little girl said thoughtfully, "maybe." Then, giving them all what could only be termed an Addison eyebrow raise, she amended, "He might look like a girl, though."
Alex laughed, "See, it looks like we'll have to leave the purple shirt wearing to someone else. Now, come on, Rowdy, let's get away from these clowns and work on your throw again."
"Rowdy?" Meredith asked, as Alex and Piper walked away.
"Rowdy Piper," Addison supplied. "He was a pro-wrestler."
"Wait, how'd you know that, Addie?" Derek asked in confusion. "You know nothing about wrestling."
"My knowledge of wrestling ends there," Addison confessed. "And I only know that because it was a huge selling point for Alex when we were discussing names."
"So, wait, let me get this straight," Mark clarified, "Addison Forbes Montgomery-Karev named her daughter after a wrestler? This is just too good for words."
"No," Addison corrected him, "I was the one who suggested the name Piper to begin with. I had no idea that there was a wrestler with that name so, while I can't speak for Alex on the matter, I definitely did not name my daughter after some rowdy wrestler."
"And we're back," Derek laughed.
xxxxx
"So, we'll see you guys tomorrow, at the hospital?" Meredith asked, as she led Addison and Alex to the door.
"Definitely," Alex responded, adjusting his sleeping daughter in his arms.
"Richard would kill us if he knew that we were in town and didn't stop by to say hello," Addison joined in. "Plus, we want to see Bailey."
"You want to see Bailey," Alex corrected her. "I'm pretty sure that Bailey still thinks that I fathered some random woman's child. I still can't thank you enough for starting that rumor, Mer."
"Oh, quiet, Alex," Meredith laughed. "Besides it's your own fault. If you hadn't been so awkward and sketchy in the first place, the rumor never would have gotten started. And now that Bailey knows about Addison and Piper, I think she knows that the rumor isn't true."
Alex shot her a skeptical look.
"Okay," Meredith revised, "maybe she's eight-five percent convinced. Anyway, thanks again for coming, guys. See you tomorrow."
"Thanks for having us, Meredith," Addison smiled. "See you tomorrow."
As they made their way back to their hotel, Addison looked over at Alex from the passenger's seat of their car and smiled, "You know, I think Mark's right."
Not taking his eyes off the road, Alex smirked, "Unlikely, but let's hear it."
"You'd look hot in lavender."
Alex chuckled, "Mark Sloan knows nothing." Then with a grin, he added, "How would I look in nothing."
"Mmm…you look good in nothing," Addison responded appreciatively. "I think you look a lot hotter in nothing than you would in lavender."
"You look hot in nothing too. How about we find an on-call room, tomorrow, when we go to hospital and look hot in nothing together."
"Hmm…very tempting…but also very unprofessional…I'll think about it."
Alex smiled, "I'll take that as a yes." Then, glancing at his sleeping daughter, Alex gathered the courage to ask Addison a question that had been on his mind for a while now. "So, remember a few years ago when you really wanted a baby."
"Of course," Addison smiled, as she looked back at Piper through the rearview mirror.
"How would you feel about another one?"
"You want another baby?"
"Yeah," Alex breathed. "Piper would be a great big sister and kids need family."
"Uh, well," Addison stammered.
"I mean, you have a good relationship with Archer and I do the best that I can with my siblings. And look at Zola and William, and you know that we're going to win that bet we made with Meredith and Derek…Mark is definitely getting Lexi pregnant on their honeymoon, so Sophia will have a sibling before long. And I just thought that another baby might be nice."
"Piper would love a sibling," Addison admitted, the corners of her mouth turning upward. "I don't know, though; they say that lightening never strikes the same place twice."
"I was thinking that maybe we could adopt. I mean if you're up for more fertility treatments and stuff, I'm behind you one-hundred percent, but a part of me also thinks that it might be nice to give a kid, who otherwise might not have a shot a chance to have a nice life and a loving family."
"Seriously, what happened to that pain in the ass intern, who got me a lawsuit and argued with me over everything?"
"We still argue over everything," Alex smirked. "So, are we gonna argue over the baby issue again, like last time, or can we just skip ahead to the sex?"
"I like the idea of adopting," Addison said, a small smile forming on her face. "It feels right.
"I think so too," Alex agreed as he parked the car in the hotel parking lot.
"So, what does this mean?" Addison whispered, as Alex turned the car off.
Alex unbuckled his seatbelt and moved closer to Addison. Tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear and taking her hands in his own, he murmured, "This means we're going to be parents again, this means Piper's going to be a big sister, this means…" but he was cut off by Addison's lips against his.
"I love you," Alex breathed, when they broke apart, "so much."
"I love you so much too," Addison returned, getting lost in Alex's eyes. "There is no one in the world I'd rather have a family with."
Getting out of the car, and unbuckling his sleeping daughter from her car seat, Alex gave Addison a soft smile. "You know," he smirked, "we really should have hot on-call room sex tomorrow…just to seal the deal."
xxxxx
