a/n: i was convinced. here's an epilogue, appropriately sappy. i like it. hope you do too.

disclaimer: as i have been telling you throughout this entire story, it's not mine

It wasn't a perfect marriage by any definition. They had different interests, different friends. They fought constantly. Doors were slammed and expletives were shouted. There were times when they questioned just why they had gotten married. Their fights were bitter and loud and always seemed like they were going to result in divorce papers being filed, but they never did. It was because they had rules. Fights at work couldn't be taken home and fights at home couldn't be taken to work. They could hang up or storm out of the house, but they had to be home at the end of the day. They weren't allowed to shut the other out. If something was bothering them, they said something. This nearly always led to another argument, but at the end of the day, it helped.

They were by no means perfect, but they were easily the most stable inter-hospital couple. Christina and Burke were married, but constantly butting heads in ways that resulted in alcohol and Christina staying at Meredith's. George and Callie were working through all their issues, but Izzie was making it rather hard because of her obvious dislike of Callie. She could honestly say she was trying to like her, but there was just something about her that bugged Izzie. Izzie was still sort of dating Alex's friend Martin, but it was nothing really exclusive. Mark was sticking to his manwhore ways and had a new girl every week. And Meredith and Derek were Meredith and Derek. They fought with far more devastating consequences than Alex and Addison's fights. In the course of a year they had broken up at least twice, but they were together as of now.

Marcie was charged with kidnapping and assault and found guilty. She faced ten to twenty years in prison and everyone was quite happy about that. Holli returned to school and to her normal life with only a couple physical scars and some mental scars, but back to her regular, energetic, happy go lucky self. She spent her free time hanging around at Seattle Grace, using her naturally sunny disposition and infectious laughter to help patients and families feel more hopeful.

Addison leaned on the nurses station, staring off into space, toying with her rings and contemplating her life in general. She and Alex were nearing their first anniversary, to her amazement and utter happiness. They should do something to celebrate. But what?

"Dr. Montgomery-Karev?" One of the nurses interrupted her thoughts.

She shook the daze off. "Yes?"

"Dr. Karev is looking for you. He's in the NICU. It's the Franklin baby. She's crashing."

"Thanks," she said before practically running away. Lizzie Franklin was premature with seriously underdeveloped lungs. She ran into the NICU ready to work only to find that her husband had everything under control. She watched from the door as he got Lizzie's vitals to stabilize.

"Keep fighting, Lizzie. You've got to keep fighting for your mommy and daddy. You're doing great," she heard Alex whisper to the infant.

"Nice job," Addison congratulated him, causing him to turn around. "Guess you didn't need me after all."

"Guess not," he replied with a smirk. "But as long as you're here…" He walked over and kissed her. Really kissed her. She allowed him to, merely because she couldn't bring herself to pull away, but she eventually found the will to pull herself away.

"Alex, there are children watching," she chided him.

"So?"

"Not in front of the babies. The babies are watching."

"The babies are watching? Wow. If that's your main concern we can go somewhere more private… an on-call room?"

It took all her will power to refuse, but she was not doing the sex in the on call room thing today. She gulped. "No. Unlike some people, I actually have work to do. Do not think giving me that face is going to get you anywhere, Alex Karev."

"What face?"

"That stupid pouty face that you give me when you want something. No. Just no."

"I am not giving you that face."

"You are giving me that face."

"I am not, if I was, I would look like this," he contradicted her, giving her the face, the one he knew melted her.

"Not funny."

"I know." He turned her around and started massaging her back. Her eyes fluttered shut and she melted back into his touch. "Come on, Addi, you know you want to," he leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"No… no. Alex, no. Stop," she whined.

"Why should I?"

"Because you're making it really, really hard for me to say no."

"Exactly," he said and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck.

She gasped. "No," she protested weakly. "No."

"There's no one around, we can easily sneak into an on call room…"

"No… Fine, just this once," she agreed because he was making her legs jelly and he was just too hard to resist and he was her husband and she was perfectly entitled to make love to her husband. "Did I mention that I hate you?"

"Not yet today."

"I hate you."

"And here I was thinking we were going to make it through a day without you saying that. And you don't mean that."

"I really, really hate you," she stated as she opened the door to an empty on-call room. As soon as the door was shut, she turned and kissed him passionately, completely negating her words.

Alex had his hand up her top and his shirt was off when the door opened. "Oh, jeez!" Izzie yelled, shielding her eyes. "Sorry! Sorry! I'm just gonna go now, okay, okay. Sorry!" she stuttered before slamming the door.

This was why Addison didn't do the on-call room sex thing. It was mortifying when you were caught. "I should go," she told Alex.

"Addie-"

"No, babies… they, um, they need saving," she protested as Alex started kissing her neck again. "Later, okay?"

She gave him another kiss, which he tried to deepen to no avail, and walked out straightening her top.

"Addie!" Holli exclaimed as she bounced up.

"Hey, Holls. What's up?"

"Where's Alex? We have something for you guys."

"We?"

"We," Holli gestured behind her, and Addison noticed that Derek, Meredith, Izzie, Christina, Burke, Callie, George, Miranda, Mark, and Richard were standing there.

Alex walked up behind her. "What's up?"

"They have something for us," Addison informed him.

Holli handed her an envelope. "We all chipped in," Meredith said.

"What is this?" Addison asked.

"Plane tickets to Greece, plus reservations for a hotel, but those aren't actually in the envelope, obviously," Holli answered. "You didn't get a honeymoon."

"You have next week off," Richard informed them. "Think of it as an anniversary present."

"Thank you!" Addison exclaimed, close to tears. She hugged Holli and Richard and Callie and then Meredith and Derek and even Mark.

She approached Miranda, who held up her hands, "Uh-uh. Don't even think about it. Do I look like a teddy bear to you? No. But I do hope you have a good time."

"Don't make me regret this, Addi," Richard warned her.

"I won't."

She looked around at the people who were so involved in her life. Her family. Alex, her husband. Richard, her father, Miranda, probably her mother, which was kind of frightening, but true. Callie was her twin sister, they were that close. George, the brother in law that annoyed her, but she accepted. Preston, her eldest brother, and Christina, her sister in law whom she was required to like. Izzie was her youngest sister, the one who needed to be taken care of, the one who she didn't care for all the time, but liked all the same. Mark, the slightly lecherous but loveable brother, and Derek, his twin, although that would make their marriage, as well as her and Mark's affair, incest, a disgusting thought, but all that aside it was true. And Meredith was… what was Meredith? Not a sister, but in the family more than just because of Derek. The cousin? Stepsister? Stepsister, Addison decided, not related by blood, but loved all the same. And Holli, her kindred soul, her daughter. These people were her family. Her big, messed up family. Looking around at them, she decided that she couldn't be happier with them.

and there you have it, the real end. how sad!

because this is the absolute last chapter of this and because i'm a nice person and i wrote you an epilogue and you love me for it, you know you want to write a review!

-Lauren