Amelia was a little anxious as she opened the door to her bother's dream house. She had thought she would make it home for dinner, but she had wound up having to operate on a trauma case. A kid had a head injury from falling off a tree house, but she was going to be fine. Amelia wasn't sure what she would find. She saw Meredith sitting on the sofa, holding a bottle of tequila.

Meredith greeted her, "Hi Amelia. I put the kids to bed. There's leftover pizza in the kitchen, if you want dinner. And I hope you don't mind me drinking. I know you don't drink. But I need to drink."

"That's fine. I understand your need to drink. I'll be the designated babysitter for Zola and Bailey." Amelia went to refrigerator to grab some pizza, and she put heated it up in the microwave.

"Good. I didn't tell them their daddy was stabbed by his love struck research assistant," Meredith murmured.

"That's good. They don't need to know that." Amelia put her pizza on a plate and sat down on the sofa with Meredith.

"And the phone keeps ringing. I've been call screening. Your mom has called three times, and all your sisters have called."

"I'm guessing that you'd like me to answer the calls when they call again."

"Good guess. I don't want to talk to anyone."

Amelia's phone rang, and she answered it, noting it was Addie. "Hi," she whispered.

"Hi Amelia. Nancy emailed me the CNN story. I assume you know Derek was stabbed and it made the national news."

"Yes, I know." Amelia looked at Meredith. She was drinking another shot of tequila.

"Have you spoken with him?"

"Yes, he's going to be fine. He's coming home tomorrow."

"How's Meredith?" Amelia didn't answer. "Is she there?"

"You got it."

"Can I talk to her?"

"Seriously?"

"Sure. I like Meredith. Derek and I are both remarried, with children."

Amelia thought "But you haven't been stabbed." She decided to keep that thought to herself. "I'll ask her." She turned to Meredith, who was staring into her tequila bottle. "Addison asked if you wanted to talk to her."

"Addison wants to talk to me?"

"Sure."

"Right. We now have something in common – Derek having found a love struck younger woman."

"Do you want to talk to her?"

"Sure. Put her on speaker phone."

"Meredith said I should put you on speaker phone. Here's Addie."

"Hi Meredith. I hope you are doing okay."

"That's really kind of you. I told Derek you were really great."

"That was very nice of you."

"Yea, I may have slept with your husband at the prom, but at least I didn't stab anyone."

"Meredith, did Derek . . ."

"He said he only kissed her once. He said he immediately told her that he was married, and he ran out of the lab to the airport. He did forget his phone and his keys, so it's clear that he was acting without much thought. He's a brainless brain surgeon."

Addie laughed. "Derek is definitely brainless. But he ran back to you. That's what's important. Derek ran away from me, going to Seattle."

"And he found me."

"Derek fell in love with you. It hurt me, I'll admit, that he fell so deeply in love with you. But he's been in love with you since before I came to Seattle, and I'm sure he loves you now."

"Have you spoken to him?"

"No."

"Then how do you know?"

"I know. Just the fact he ran home to you shows that he loves you."

"But then he had to go back to NIH to finish his project. Well, at least I'm not a lunatic stalker who knifes people."

"Stalker?"

"Yes, I don't know if they mentioned it on t.v., but the woman has photos of me and our kids in her apartment. The cops are afraid she'll come after us. So Derek may have put us all in danger."

"It's not his fault, you know."

"I like blaming him."

"I know. I get that. Well, if it helps, I've been there. You can always talk to me."

"Thanks, Addison, you're really nicer to me than I deserve."

"I have a husband who loves me and a great son. It all worked out for me."

"I'm happy for you. And your husband doesn't have a love struck research assistant stabbing him."

"No, but he's a fertility doctor, and I've seen some of his patients fall for him. It's not his fault. And it's not Derek's fault this woman saw something that wasn't there."

"I'd feel better if he hadn't kissed her."

"Derek loves you, Meredith," offered Amelia. "Believe me, I've heard you reconnecting."

"I don't need to know about that, Amelia."

"Sorry Addie. I do love my brothers' wives, both of them."

"Thanks" "Thanks" said Meredith and Addie simultaneously.

"Addison, I'll always remember you telling you wanted to kick my ass when Derek was dating her. It was like you wanted me to be with Derek."

"I didn't think he'd be happy with Rose. He was never serious about Rose. And I guess I felt better about our divorce if he wound up with you. Anyway, he loved you. He told me that he was upset that he failed you. That you expected greatness from him."

"I got greatness. The President picked him to be chief of the brain-mapping project. Too bad it was in the wrong Washington."

"I'm sure Derek will have enough work here," said Amelia. "As Head of Neurosurgery, I'll make sure he's busy."

"Yes, keep him busy. That way he won't have time for love struck interns. Did I ever tell you about how April had a crush on him?"

"Well, April loves Jackson, so you have nothing to worry about," said Amelia.

"I've got to go. Henry's crying. Take care, Meredith."

"Thanks. Maybe Amelia will invite you to visit, and we'll finally meet Henry and Jake."

"Maybe. I'd like to meet Zola and Bailey as well."

"And you've already met Sofia."

"Yes," Addie said softly. "Mark loved her so much."

"We all miss Mark, Derek especially," said Meredith.

"Me, too," said Amelia.

Meredith gave Amelia a look. Amelia was abashed; she realized that Meredith was thinking that Amelia had slept with Mark.

"I know he loved Lexie," said Amelia. Amelia had never thought that Mark was the one for her; she had just thought it would be fun to have sex with Mark, given his reputation as a man-whore. Her older sisters had raved about him as a lover, and she learned they were right. But she knew that Mark's heart wasn't hers.

"Yes, he did," said Addie. "But I found Jake, who is perfect for me. Anyway, Henry needs me. So take care, and call me, Meredith, if you want to complain about Derek. I'm happy to commiserate with you."

After Addie hung up, Meredith looked at Amelia and said, "That was weird. Talking to Derek's ex-wife about Derek, when we cheated on her."

"Derek was the cheater, not you. You weren't married. And Addie doesn't hold a grudge. She likes you."

"Well, I don't like Rene Collier."

Amelia looked puzzled.

"The love struck research assistant who stabbed your brother."

"You're nothing like her."

"You don't know. I was pretty love struck with your brother when I first dated him."

"You're not the kind of person who would stab someone unless they were attacking you or threatening someone else."

"Glad you think that . . . "

The house phone rang, interrupting them. Amelia answered it, "Hi Mom, Derek's fine. He'll be home tomorrow. Meredith's okay. The kids are great."

"Good to hear your voice. What have you told the kids?"

"Of course we didn't tell them anything."

"It might be hard for you, you weren't much older when Dad died."

"But I was there and Dad died. Zola was here, 3,000 miles from the incident. And Derek is fine. All is well. Anyway, I've got to go."

"I guess Meredith probably doesn't want to talk now."

"You've got it. I'll give her your regards. Love you." Amelia hung up after her mother responded. "That was Mom. She sends her regards."

"I would like to go into a cave and hide. Millions of people now know my husband's research assistant stabbed him." Meredith devoured another shot of tequila.

"I think you've probably had enough liquor. How about we have ice cream sundaes? That way I can eat with you."

"Sure. Eating would be good. I hope we have strawberry ice cream."

"I'm sure we do."

The phone rang again. Amelia checked caller-id. "It's Cristina Yang."

"Please give me the phone." Amelia handed her the phone, and Meredith answered,

"Hi Cristina. It's the crack of dawn in Switzerland."

"Yes. I get up early sometimes. And I learned McDreamy was stabbed on CNN.

"Not so McDreamy."

"The story on CNN just says his research assistant stabbed him. What did he do?"

"He kissed her," Meredith murmured, helping herself to yet another shot of tequila.

"Just a kiss."

"That's what he says. Should I trust him?"

"He doesn't lie."

"Did you forget that he forgot to mention he was married when he tried to get me to out with me after we met?"

"No. That wasn't a lie. He just didn't tell you the whole truth."

"That's comforting."

"Sarcasm is not your strength. Leave it to me. Anything I can do to help?"

"No. Amelia's going to make me an ice cream sundae. I've been drinking tequila. I'm going to stop now though. I'm going to go to work tomorrow."

"Okay. I have some vacation coming, so maybe I should come and visit or you can come here."

"See you would be great. Take care."

"Good-bye."

Meredith looked at Amelia. "Okay, I'll get started on the sundaes now that you're done with the call."

"Good. I'm really looking forward to the sundae."