Everyone has their marks. Distinct features that separate them from everyone else. Something that makes them unique; sets them apart. The color of their eyes or hair. The shape of their nose or mouth. The musculature of their body. In actuality, there are many things that set people apart. However, there is one thing. One mark. A mark that can take many shapes. A flower. A snowflake. The moon or the sun. It can have many hues. Be anywhere. A mark that also separates you from almost everyone. One that completely sets you apart but ties you together at the same time. A mark you share with only one person. The person you're destined to have by your side. The person to whom you can belong. The person that can belong to you. The person whose love could change it all. Your soulmate. Your other half. A kindred spirit. They share that mark with you, same shape and hue, somewhere in their body. Somewhere linking you both together, forever .

The thing about soulmates is that they're hard to find. Amongst the vast amounts of people in the world to find that one person can be an ever elusive goal. Some people are lucky and they've had them close to them forever, discovering their marks soon enough. Others never see each other at all, all they know is that they're out there, somewhere. But then there are those who've had their person there all along but have never had the chance to find out who they truly are. Thus aimlessly wandering the world being so close yet so far.


Their moment in the elevator had been… heavy. Everything she had been feeling the whole day had poured out in one big wave of pain and tears. Something she hadn't meant to have done in front of Meredith Grey. However, talking to her, letting go of everything with her, and listening to her words had left her lighter, calmer, happier. Meredith had always had something. Something that drew her in. The same 'something' that had never allowed Addison to hate her. Even with everything that had happened before. She had something. Sometimes she wondered what it was but she could never figure it out. She supposed some people just have that one thing that makes them indispensable.

The interns watching from through the glass of the double doors at the far end of the hall seemed to snap her away from her thoughts. She sent an icy glare and chuckled as they scurried off. It felt good, still having the ability to instill enough fear to clear a room.

"Here we are." Meredith chirped opening the door to the attending's lounge.

"Those interns are something."

"Trust me I know."

"Reminds me of a certain group." Addison smirked while the blonde turned to look at her.

"What?" Meredith scoffed. "Us? We weren't like that."

"No. You may have been worse."

"No way." Meredith frowned skeptically. "Were we really?"

"Need I remind you-"

"The l-vad wasn't me." Meredith defended before she was even able to continue.

"No?"

"Well… fine." Meredith rolled her eyes and she couldn't help but laugh, catching a glimpse of that young intern she had once been. "What?" The blonde attending asked with a smile.

"Nothing. Just reminiscing. Can't help it. Looking at you makes me even feel proud."

"What? I grew up to be some bright surgeon?"

"Not some, one of the brightest surgeons and I happen to have taught you a thing or two too."

"True." Meredith chuckled. "You did tell me to be great."

"I know. I left here and you were a baby doctor and I returned to an award winning surgeon and a great mother to top it off. At least from what I've heard." Addison leaned on the counter as she spoke. "And talking about kids and all. It's Zola, Bailey, and Ellis, right?"

"Yep."

"Amelia's always going on about them. If not, it's Scout."

"She's amazing with them."

"She's a great aunt."

"I bet she was awesome with… Henry?" Meredith tilted her head in question.

"That's right. He adores her."

"She talks about him. Plus I've seen pictures."

"He's a great boy. Drives me crazy sometimes but I wouldn't trade him for anything though. Want to see a more recent picture?" Addison asked excitedly.

"Yes!" Meredith replied with almost the same enthusiasm and made her way next to her.

"There he is." Addison said proudly showing her the picture on her phone.

"He's very handsome and very well dressed. Like his mother."

"Oh quiet. We had an important dinner, that's all."

"So you're gonna tell me he doesn't wear button down shirts all the time?" Meredith asked, pressing her lips together as if trying to contain her smile.

"Well, not all the time." Addison slightly rolled her eyes and the blonde started to laugh. "Whatever."

"He looks like an awesome kid."

"He really is."

"You look proud of him. I can tell you love him very much."

"He's my reason to live." Addison shrugged with a sigh. "Getting him was tough but he's mine. My son." She grinned.

"I'm happy for you." Meredith said, giving her another side hug.

Addison ignored the little tickles at the pit of her stomach and leaned her head on top of Meredith's. She supposed it was weird hugging your ex-husband's widow, who also happened to be his mistress while still being married to you. She sighed, chucking the feeling to that fact.

"I'm happy for me too." She chuckled. "And I'm happy for you. I'm glad you decided to stay."

"Hmm?"

"With Covid and all. Thank you for not dying."

The blonde took a few seconds to stare at her with a questioning frown but soon smiled.

"I'm getting a weird sense of deja vu."

"A-are you now?"

"Have you said that before?"

"Once…" Addison pressed her lips together and chuckled. "A very long time ago."

"The ferry?" Meredith asked and she remained silent, giving her a small smile. Meredith leaned on her shoulder. "Thank you, Addison."

Addison smiled and again leaned her head on Meredith's. The tickling in her stomach returned instantly as she felt the blonde's warmth. It was weird. On top of the tickles she could feel her hip itching a bit, right where her mark was. That was even weirder.

"Are there still scrubs in this place?" She asked, thinking maybe the dirty scrubs were the reason.

"What?"

"To change to fresh ones."

"Oh yeah, we're pretty nasty right now aren't we?" Meredith scrunched her nose.

"Yeah." Addison chuckled and the blonde smiled brightly but seemed to get lost for a moment as she looked at her. "So?" She tilted her head.

"Over there." Meredith squeaked out pointing to a locker. "So how's the husband?" She asked while making her way to where the scrubs were.

"I think Jake is ok."

"You think?"

"I'm divorced… again." Addison chuckled.

"Why? If you don't mind me asking." Meredith said, walking back to get her own scrubs after handing her hers.

"We fell out of love. It was a bit like Derek and I." Addison began while changing her scrubs. "So before either of us got any stupid ideas we decided to end it. I've grown I guess. It's all good really we- "

She stopped in mid sentence the moment Meredith lifted her scrub top, her undershirt riding up. She made out the maroon mark shaped like a feather in the middle of the blonde's lower back. No. Addison thought, the air growing thin.

"Addison?" Meredith's voice brought her back. "Are you ok?" The blonde asked worriedly. "I'm sorry if I-"

Meredith began to move closer and was almost about to touch her when she flinched away from her touch. The blonde withdrew her hand quickly.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have." Meredith said quickly, panic invading her baby blue eyes.

"No. No, it's ok. Sorry about um yeah…" Addison stammered about not knowing what to say or do.

"Me and my stupid mouth. I'm sorry, really."

"It-it-it's ok. I'm fine. You didn't do…" She took a breath. "You didn't do anything."

"I… are you sure?"

"Yup…Mhmm. I'm gonna… I should check on my patient."

"Oh, right." Meredith said softly. "Will you umm… will you still come for dinner?" She asked even softer.

"Y-yeah, of course." Addison nodded quickly. "See you there." She added and headed towards the door, dumping the used scrubs in the bin.

"Ok."

Addison heard Meredith mutter behind her and turned to find the blonde looking sort of defeated. She wouldn't have that though so she stopped at the door.

"Meredith, I'm ok, really. You didn't do anything wrong." She managed a genuine smile and saw the blonde brighten up again.

"Ok." Meredith said a bit louder and with an excited smile.


Addison felt like running. But running would contradict what she had just told the happy blonde she'd left in the lounge. As quickly as possible she found an empty on-call room and locked the door behind her. She was unsure of what she should do. Should she just let out a few tears? Should she smile? Should she yell? Should she crawl into the bed and drown herself in her own sorrows?

Her lips quivered and soon the floodgates seemed to open. She wiped furiously against her tears but they seemed to go on forever. The hot room seemed to get smaller and smaller with every second that ticked by. She sat on the bed trying to calm her now erratic breathing but nothing was working.

Pulling up her shirt and lowering her pants a tiny bit she saw the same mark she had just seen poking out on her hip. Meredith Grey. Meredith Grey was her soulmate. After all this time she had found her soulmate and it wasn't all pretty and nice, it just hurt.

It hurt because they had been so close. She had had her there all this time and yet she hadn't known. She knew something drew them together and yet it didn't occur to her that the reason was the fact that they were soulmates.

Destiny was mean and cruel. She had already learned that but still she asked herself why. It was absolutely absurd. Her and Meredith? She laughed through her tears. The irony of everything hitting her. Her and Meredith. Meredith and her.

"I don't hate you.", "Thank you for not dying. Thank you for staying. God Meredith.", "If Thatcher touches her again, I swear I'll end him.", "Richard she needs you. Please be there.", "Goodbye Grey. Be good, ok? Be great."

Memories flooded her brain, playing like a movie would. The morphine high. The ferry. Thatcher's outburst. The intern's exam. Her last words before leaving Seattle. Everything played over and over. All instances together with the blonde. The times she had found herself missing her. Everything hit her like a train as she recalled the sting on her hip especially when Meredith had been in danger. And the last thing was the fact that Derek had known.

He had known. He had seen her mark, he knew her mark. He used to trace it saying that it didn't matter that hers was a feather because his was a bird. That their love would bind them, not their marks and look, they were related too. He had known . After their divorce he had even said he'd hoped she'd find her soulmate.

Addison felt like punching the wall, punching something. The bastard knew and she probably shouldn't feel anger towards the dead but… why? Why had he stayed silent? Why hadn't he told her? Meredith had been right there. The one person in the world she couldn't bring herself to hate. With her pretty baby blue eyes. Her dark yet kind self. Her sweet smile and squeaky laugh…

She knew why. She knew because, who in their right mind would give up someone like Meredith? She wouldn't have. But then she shouldn't have had to. They were soulmates for god's sake. They were bound to belong to each other and she wouldn't have minded it at all. It was Meredith.

They could've been together. They could've been happy. Maybe then but… what about now? Weren't they passed that? Should she even try? Should this even be bothering her this much? Hurt her this much? Wasn't it too late?

Her tears were gradually beginning to slow down. In a moment like this she wasn't sure being alone was such a good thing but here she had no one. She wished for Mark or Callie but they were both gone. One dead, which still made her mad. Why did he up and die and leave her? She shook her head at her own idiotic thoughts. Then Callie was gone to the other side of the country. She should come back. She chuckled. Ok, learning Meredith was her soulmate was driving her mad.

Taking a deep breath she stood and made her way to the small mirror by the door. She found wipes in one of the drawers on the small bedside table and cleared her face of the dried tear tracks. She needed to go. She couldn't keep wallowing. She had a patient plus she had to get ready to go to Meredith's. She released a sigh, her head falling back.

Going to Meredith's was bound to be quite the ordeal. She shook her head pushing all the thoughts away, along with her mark. Better to not even think about it. That would keep her sane the rest of the night. With one last look in the mirror and after a nod, she unlocked the door and headed towards recovery to check on her patient.


Seeing Amelia again made her so happy. She had missed her. Her sister. The only one she had. She had been grateful to Derek for her at least though at the moment she so wished she had the man in front of her. Just one punch that was it. Maybe. Again she pushed the thoughts away and focused on the smiling blue eyes in front of her.

"So where do you want to go to dinner?"

"Actually, your place. Meredith invited me over."

"She did?"

"Mhmm."

"Is that weird?"

"Why would it be weird?" Addison asked and suddenly the mark came back to mind.

"No reason. Though I heard you guys had a threesome one time."

"I heard it was a foursome." She replied with a laugh, regaining her wits. Tonight would be something that was for sure.

Onto the next one we go. Heyo Potatoes. Also thanks mntgmrygry_wtty for the awesome cover. ツ