A/N (09/09/15): Hello friends! As hard as it is to believe, it's been about two and a half years since I last updated one of my stories. My sincere apologies to all of my loyal readers for essentially dropping off the face of the earth, and thank you to everyone who kept reading, reviewing, and messaging me while I was lost in "real life", whatever that is!

I am working my way through this story, tweaking it slightly to take it in a direction that will better bring it to the conclusion I always intended it to reach. I'll be posting the updated versions of the existing chapters in batches until it's all caught up and we get back into new material. Most of the changes are minor in the first 15 or so chapters, but there are a few slightly more substantial changes in the later chapters of this new version. So even if you've read the story before, I encourage you to start at the beginning and work your way forward - I'll date all the updated chapters as they go up, so that it is clear what has been updated. Thank you all for your patience!

Annie leaned back against the wall and scanned the surgical board. The whiteboard and dry erase markers of her childhood memories were gone, replaced by an electronic display controlled from a monitor behind the nurses's station. New, unfamiliar names filled the spaces, interspersed with the ones she'd known her whole life - Sloan, Robbins, Torres, Grey.

"I miss the markers, personally."

Annie smiled and nodded as her aunt came up beside her and leaned against the wall. "I used to know a lot of more of these names."

"It's a teaching hospital, people are supposed to come and go," Lexie reminded her.

"I know, I know. It's just a little sad, that's all," Annie said. "Mom's going to be a while, isn't she?"

Lexie nodded. "I thought you were leaving this morning?"

"I am. I said goodbye this morning, but I just thought I'd see if I could catch her on the way to the airport," Annie said. "But I guess I missed her."

"Are you coming back for Christmas?"

Annie frowned and shook her head. "I have to talk to Will about it, but I don't think so."

"I wish you'd at least think about it. I know you have your own family now, but we're still your family too. Molly and Alex are coming up from L.A. with the boys this year, and Cristina and Owen are coming out from New York. And, well…it'll be the first Christmas since Jackson died. I don't think I need to tell you that it's not going to be easy. I think it would mean an awful lot to your mother if everyone were here for the holidays."

"I know, Aunt Lexie. And I want to come, I really do."

"But?"

Annie sighed and hesitated.

"Come on, it's me you're talking to. The cool aunt, remember?"

Annie smiled nervously and nodded. "It's really expensive, Aunt Lexie," she admitted. "We just spent all this money to go to New York, and then the last minute flight out here…it all adds up, and with Will in school and me about to go on maternity leave, things are really tight right now. I just don't think we have the money."

Lexie grinned. "Is that your only problem? I'll buy your tickets, sweetheart."

Annie shook her head immediately. "No, I can't let you do that, Aunt Lexie. I wasn't asking for your help, I just…"

"I know you weren't asking. You are far too much like your mother to ever ask for help. But I hope you'll learn the same lesson she did, and at least accept it when it's offered."

"It'll get better," Annie said, almost more to herself than to Lexie. "When the kids are older, I'll be able to work full time again, and bring in more money than I do now. And when Will's out of med school, he's going to be a surgeon, and once we get through his residency, we'll get his loans paid off and…"

"Annie," Lexie interrupted sternly. "Listen to me, and listen good. There is nothing wrong with needing a little help when you're starting out in life. You've got a husband in school, a four year old, a baby on the way…nobody will think any less of you if you're pinching pennies. Everyone needs a little help sometimes."

"Mom never did. She was a single mother of twins and she never needed anyone's help."

Lexie frowned and stared at Annie for a moment. "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"Do you know what seven weeks in the NICU costs? Or fifteen weeks? Plus surgeries?"

"Mom had insurance, she didn't have to worry about that."

"Not everything is covered by insurance, Annie. By the time your mother came back to work when you were six months old, she owed this hospital a pretty massive chunk of money. Alex and Izzie's rent – when they remembered to actually pay it – was barely covering utilities and maintenance on the house. Everything else your mom had went to diapers and formula and baby clothes. There was never enough left for payments."

"You barely even knew Mom at that point, how could you know that?"

"I wasn't there, but my mom was," Lexie said. "Annie, there were weeks that I'm pretty sure your mother wouldn't have eaten if my mom hadn't bought her groceries. She almost mortgaged the house to pay those medical bills."

"But she didn't have to do that, did she?"

"No, she didn't. She went to get the final amount so she'd know what she needed from the house, and they told her that yours and Evelyn's bills had been paid in full."

"By who?"

Lexie shrugged. "Anonymous donor, I guess."

"How much money are we talking about?"

"A little over half a million dollars."

Annie nodded. "Uncle Mark."

"How did you…?"

"He's the only person Mom knew back then who would have had anywhere near that much money. I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yes."

"Does Mom know?"

"She's never mentioned it to me." Lexie hesitated for a moment. "But then again, I don't know if she knows that Mark told me. Your mother's smart, Annie, and she's had twenty-two years to think about it. I'd be shocked if she hadn't figured it out at some point."

"But why would he do that? He wasn't even my godfather yet."

"I think he's always felt a little bit responsible for your mother's situation back then."

"Why?"

Lexie hesitated, realizing she'd probably said more than she should. "It's a long story – one that's probably best saved for another time. Besides, my point isn't about why he helped your mother. My point is that even your mother needed a lot of help when she was getting started."

"Yeah, but…"

"No buts. There is no shame in accepting a little help, Annie. You'll understand that someday. And in the meantime, you can consider the plane tickets a Christmas present from Mark and I. Okay?"

Annie smiled. "Yeah, okay."

"So should I assume from that look on your face that it didn't go so well this morning?"

Derek looked up from his desk and shrugged as Addison walked into his office and took a seat on the couch on the opposite side of the room.

"Could have gone worse, I guess."

"He didn't give you another black eye this time."

Derek offered up a wry smile. "Well, that's something."

"So what happens now?" Addison asked anxiously. "Is he going to tell them about you?"

"I don't think so." Derek sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Honestly, Addie, I'm starting to think that maybe Mark's right – maybe I don't have any right to be barging into their lives like this."

Addison stared at him incredulously. "Are you kidding me? You're their father, Derek."

"In name only." Derek shook his head. "For twenty-two years, they didn't even know my name. Now all of a sudden I'm just going to show up and expect them to welcome me with open arms?"

"Derek…"

"I don't know anything about them, Addison. I don't know what they're interested in, what they studied in school…I don't even know their middle names."

"You can learn…" Addison began, stopping at the sound of movement at the door.

"Cristina and Miranda."

Addison and Derek both stared in surprise at their unexpected visitor.

"What the…?" Derek muttered.

"Annette Cristina and Evelyn Miranda." Mark sighed, pausing for a moment before continuing. "Meredith's got this weird thing about naming her kids after people. She says it gives them roots, or some BS like that. For some reason she never did name one after me, though. Anyway, the girls' first names are after two of the OB nurses Meredith bonded with on bed rest, and their middle names are after their godmothers."

"I thought you'd be halfway to Seattle by now," Derek said in confusion.

Mark shrugged and leaned against the door frame, ignoring Derek's question. "Annie didn't go to college, she married young and moved to Chicago so her husband could go to school. She works part-time for a real estate agency. Evelyn went to the University of Washington, majored in biology. We all thought she'd go straight to med school, but she's working as a firefighter right now and seems to really like it, so who knows where she'll end up. Annie's favorite color is red, Evie's is yellow - and she wouldn't touch pink with a ten foot pole. Annie loves anything by Jane Austen, and Evelyn's got a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo she's read so many times that the cover fell off. Don't ask me about their favorite bands, all I know is that they're loud. And they both look like you."

"They do?" Derek asked eagerly.

Mark nodded. "As you saw, Annie takes after Meredith a little bit more, although she's got your eyes and your curly hair. Evelyn, though…it probably would have been better if she had come to see you instead of Annie, because you never could have denied that relationship. I've known her since she was a baby, and there are still days that I do a double take. You could put her up next to a picture of Amelia at that age, and you'd never be able to tell the difference."

"She…she looks like Amy?"

Mark nodded and grinned. "If I remember your sister right, Amelia's going to die when she sees a picture, it's…" Mark stopped at the sharp look he got from Addison and noticed Derek had paled considerably. "What did I say?"

Addison sighed and shook her head sadly. "Mark, Amelia died seven years ago."

"Shit," Mark muttered. "Derek, I'm sorry, man, I had no idea. I'm so sorry. What happened?"

"Overdose," Addison said quietly, shooting Mark a look that she hoped told him to drop it.

"Why are you still here, Mark?" Derek asked, eager to divert the subject. "Why are you telling me all of these things?"

Mark sighed and looked over at Derek. "Because this isn't what she wanted," he said. "Meredith never wanted those girls to grow up without you. The only reason I didn't fly out here and drag your ass back to Seattle twenty-two years ago was that I thought you already knew about them. I'm not saying that I think you coming back into their lives now is a great idea, and I can guarantee you it won't be easy if it's what you want to do, but it was never supposed to be like this in the first place."