"I still can't believe Mom lets you rent the house," Annie commented as she followed her sister into the house they'd grown up in. "It feels weird, you know? Like it's still our house, but it's not anymore."

Evelyn shrugged and shut the front door behind her. "It's still home to me. It's just…different now, I guess. It's still full of people and craziness and all of that, just different people and different craziness now."

"How many people do you have living here?" Annie asked curiously, making her way into the familiar kitchen and helping herself to a glass of milk.

"Including me, only five."

"There are seven bedrooms in this house, Ev. You could make a lot more in rent if you filled the other rooms."

Evelyn shook her head. "I know how many bedrooms there are. I rented every available room."

"Not if you've only got five people living here."

"Laura's room is still hers, and my room is still mine. Jessie rents your old room and Beth rents Aunt Molly's old room. I left Suzie and Jack's rooms alone, just in case they ever want to stay over. And the master bedroom…that one we don't touch."

Annie frowned. "Why?"

"It's Mom's room," Evelyn said with a quick shrug. "And it's…no one's touched it since it was Mom and Dad's room."

"Didn't she take anything when she moved?"

"Annie, Mom hasn't set foot in that room since the day after the shooting."

Annie stared at her sister incredulously. "Are you kidding me? So no one's been in there since March? Isn't it…I don't know, dusty?"

"I really don't think dust is at the top of Mom's list of concerns right now," Evelyn said. "In case you hadn't noticed, she's kind of falling apart at the seams."

"She seems alright to me. I mean, she looks really tired but…"

Evelyn sighed. "Annie, she looks tired because she hasn't slept more than three hours straight since Jackson died. She's a wreck, and she's barely hanging on. One of these days, she's going to break and it's not going to be pretty."

"She's grieving," Annie said defensively. "Maybe she's just doing it differently than you think she should be."

"It's not just me, sweetie," Evelyn assured her. "Why do you think Aunt Lexie and Uncle Mark moved in? Why do you think Aunt Molly's so anxious to get back here? Grandma Susan spends more time with her now than she ever has before. No one thinks she's okay, Annie, and no one wants her to be alone."

"You don't think she'd…"

"Kill herself?" Evelyn filled in knowingly. "Honestly? I'm sure she's thought about it. But no, I don't think she'd do that. She wouldn't leave Jack and Suzie alone…or us, for that matter. But that doesn't mean she's any form of okay, either."

Annie nodded. "Maybe it's a good thing I'm staying, then."

"You're what?"

"Josh and I aren't going back to Chicago with Will after New Year's."

Evelyn leaned back in her chair, feeling as though someone had punched her in the gut for a moment. "Oh my God. But I thought…I mean, you guys seemed so happy and I just…"

Annie wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at how concerned and upset her sister looked. "No, no…it's not that," she said, finally settling on laughter. "Evie, my marriage is fine. Better than fine, really, and this is just until the baby's born. It's just…I'm, like, two hundred weeks pregnant at this point. Will's in class or studying all day, and I can barely put my shoes on, let alone chase a four year old around the apartment anymore. I don't like asking for help, you know that. But in Chicago, I don't have anyone to ask even if I wanted to. I may not be willing to admit that I need help…but I do need my family."

"So can I ask what might be a stupid question?" Mark asked as he walked into the living room and sat down across from Meredith and Addison, looking awkwardly back and forth between the two as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Do you need permission?" Meredith asked.

Mark shrugged. "Just figured I'd ask. So, I thought that Annie and Evelyn were having breakfast with Derek this morning, but I just got off the phone with Laura, and she said the twins are at the house. So if the girls are at Evelyn's, and you're here," Mark looked at Addison before turning to Meredith. "And you're here…where the hell is Derek Shepherd?"

"Hopefully not murdering his sister," Addison muttered.

"What did Nancy do this time?" Mark asked.

"I'm not sure you want to know."

"It can't have been that bad all the way from New York," Meredith said.

"Yeah…see, she's not in New York," Addison said hesitantly. "All four of Derek's sisters are here, actually. And they were at breakfast this morning."

"Shit," Mark muttered.

"Is that bad?" Meredith asked in confusion.

"Nancy…well, she's missing a common sense filter in her brain. She, uh, she's great fun, really, but…but she's kind of a bitch sometimes." Mark sighed and set his mug down on the coffee table. "Look, the Shepherd sisters mean well, but they're meddlesome and overprotective to a fault. They always have been, especially when it comes to Derek."

"Nancy sort of says the first thing that comes into her head without really thinking," Addison said. "And this morning, those weren't exactly kind things about you."

"Me?" Meredith asked in surprise. "She doesn't even know me!"

"Which was exactly the point that Evelyn made to her before she stormed out," Addison said. "And then Annie went after her and told Derek not to follow her. I had to talk him down, convince him murder was not the answer, and then all of a sudden he took off. I think it's why I came here originally, because I had thought maybe he might come here."

"Have you tried calling him?" Mark asked.

Addison nodded. "It just goes straight to voicemail. I…"

Addison was cut off as the front door slammed shut and all three of them looked up to find Molly standing in the doorway, Alex just behind her with his arm draped over her shoulder and a big grin on his face.

"Guess what?" Molly asked eagerly.

"You're moving back to Seattle," Mark said knowingly.

"How did you…?" Molly stammered.

"I'm psychic," Mark said smugly.

"Well I'm not," Meredith interrupted. "Explain to me how you're moving back here? Mark, did you hire Alex and not tell me?"

Alex and Mark both shook their heads as Molly elbowed Alex in the ribs. "Tell her, babe."

"Tell me what?"

Alex grinned. "You're looking at Seattle Presbyterian's new Chief of Surgery."

Meredith gasped. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Meredith laughed as she jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Congratulations, Alex. You realize this means you're working for Bailey again?"

Alex nodded. "Right back where I started…only with a much bigger paycheck."

"And conveniently enough, the house across the street is for sale," Molly pointed out as Meredith stepped away from Alex and hugged her.

"So you can keep an eye on me too?" Meredith asked skeptically.

Molly rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No. So I can be near both my sisters again. I've been a thousand miles away for over five years, Meredith. I missed you."

Meredith sighed, obviously still not quite believe her sister's rationale, before opening her mouth to respond and getting interrupted by Alex clearing his throat.

"So, uh, Bailey apparently made one other hire today."

"Oh?" Mark asked curiously.

"Yeah," Alex said hesitantly. "She, uh, called me about fifteen minutes ago. Seems she's hired me a neurosurgery attending."

Meredith frowned and turned to Mark. "I swear to God, if you let Lexie leave me…"

Mark threw up his hands innocently. "Meredith, Lex turned down Chief of Surgery three weeks ago. Why would she leave for a lesser job?"

"It's not Lexie," Alex assured her.

"Then who?"

Alex sighed and took a deep breath. "Derek Shepherd."

Evelyn hummed softly to herself as she bent over to put the two empty cereal bowls into the dishwasher.

"Babe, there's a pregnant woman upstairs in our room."

Evelyn smiled as she closed the dishwasher and turned to face Matt. "In typical Annie fashion, she spilled milk down her front, so she's looking for a shirt to change into. I don't think she's likely to find anything big enough in our closet, but I didn't think she'd appreciate me pointing that out."

"So what happened to breakfast with Derek?"

Evelyn shrugged. "What makes you think something happened?"

"C'mon, Ev…don't play dumb here. Clearly something happened if you and your sister are here, eating cold cereal, instead of at the Archfield eating overpriced French toast that isn't even half as good as mine."

Evelyn shook her head and laughed. "You are so full of yourself."

"But I'm right."

"You do make damn good French toast," Evelyn conceded.

"I make damn good everything," Matt said, leaning over to kiss her quickly. "But you're changing the subject. What happened to your breakfast?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Matt sighed. "Evie…"

"Not now, Matt. I can't talk about it right now."

"Why not?"

"Because this morning, for the first time in years, I had a conversation with my sister and no one yelled. We had breakfast, and there was no fighting. I know it's not perfect, and I know we're going to have more fights and more yelling, but not this morning. I'm not going to ruin this morning by talking about Derek Shepherd and his bitchy sisters. Later, okay?"

Matt nodded and brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "Okay. Later."

"Thank you." Evelyn smiled and pushed herself up onto her tip-toes to kiss his cheek. "I'm going to go see if my sister found anything that fits yet. I certainly wouldn't object if you whipped up some pancakes or something while I'm up there."

"Some days I think you only love me for my cooking."

Evelyn laughed and shook her head as she trotted up the stairs toward her bedroom. Pushing the door open, she frowned when she didn't see her sister. Stepping back out into the hall, her frown deepened when she spotted the light on in the master bedroom.

She couldn't explain what she felt like she was violating as she slowly made her way down the hall and stopped in front of the door. Her mother didn't live there anymore, hadn't lived in that room for months before she'd left. Still, it had remained off limits in her mind. It was the one place in the house she wouldn't let her roommates go - the one place she wouldn't let herself go. Taking deep breath, she pushed open the door and stepped inside, immediately spotting her sister standing on the opposite side of the room, staring at the photographs that lined the wall.

"Annie?" she said quietly, not wanting to startle her. "What are you doing in here?"

"I, uh…I couldn't find anything to fit me," Annie stammered nervously, not taking her eyes off the picture she'd been examining. "I thought…maybe Mom still had a maternity shirt in her closet."

"Did she?"

Annie nodded and held up the black shirt in her hand.

"Are you going to put it on?"

Annie nodded again. "I just…I saw the pictures and I…look at this one, Ev."

Evelyn sighed and looked at the picture her sister was pointing to, smiling slightly when she realized what it was. She and Annie were standing side by side, Meredith and Jackson on either side of them, with Suzie and Jack standing in the front.

"Your wedding picture."

"I didn't think they'd have it up."

"Why wouldn't they?"

Annie shrugged. "I don't know…I guess because things got so bad right after that."

"It was still a special day for them, no matter what happened later," Evelyn pointed out. "Besides, it's a really nice picture of the whole family."

"It's the last one."

"The last one what?"

Annie sighed and ran her finger over the dusty glass. "The last picture of all five of us. Will and I left town the next week, and when I stopped speaking to Mom, I kind of cut Jackson out too."

"I know," Evelyn said gently, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"He used to call me once a month," Annie said, her voice shaking. "He used to leave these long messages, just talking about the most mundane things…Suzie's soccer games or some test Jack was taking at school or a surgery he'd done. And at the very end, he'd tell me that he and Mom loved me and they missed me and he'd ask me to call. I almost did once or twice…I just always assumed that when the time came, if I ever made up with Mom, he'd be there. I never thought…"

"No one could have predicted what happened," Evelyn said. "He knew you loved him."

"Did he?"

"Of course he did," Evelyn assured her.

"I really like Derek," Annie said, her voice now cracking as she unsuccessfully fought back tears. "I feel a connection there, and I want to build that relationship. I just…I…I miss Jackson…I miss our dad…"

Evelyn bit her lip and closed her eyes as she wrapped her arms around Annie and the two sisters held each other and cried.