Author's note: Another short chapter... This didn't come out as good as I imagined but I hope you all like it lol

New York, 1988

"Don't worry, they'll love you", Derek reassures her before they enter his house.

The first person they see is his mother. "Oh there you are. So you're the girl my son has been talking about", Carolyn Shepherd greets her with a curious look.

"Yeah", Addison smiles.

Three of his sisters are in the room, and they all welcome her. She tries to memorize their names – Kate is the one with glasses, Liz is the one with very dark hair and Nancy is the one with short hair.

"Where's Amy?", Derek asks.

"Probably in her room, I'm going to call her", Carolyn says. "You all can sit at the table, lunch is ready".

They sit and wait for Carolyn and Amy to join them. A few minutes later, Addison sees a teenager with heavy eyeliner carrying a book in her hands.

"She's Amelia", Derek tells Addison, "but we call her Amy".

Amelia studies Addison for a few seconds and then looks at Derek. "Another prom queen?"

Liz coughs. "Filter".

Amelia shrugs and then joins them at the table and continues to read her book.

"Amy", Carolyn scolds. "Now is not the time".

Amelia rolls her eyes and closes the book.

"What were you reading?", Addison tries, gently.

"Just a bunch of poetry", Amelia responds.

"Oh. I have a lot of poetry books at home. I could bring them to you if you want", Addison smiles. "I mean, if you promise not to read them during meals".

"You like poetry?", Amelia narrows her eyes, a little surprised.

"Yes."

Amelia turns at Derek. "I like this one", she points at Addison. "We should keep her". That makes them all laugh a little.

Addison finds out that Carolyn Shepherd's food is delicious. They talk about the unavoidable stuff: if she already has a specialty in mind, how is her own family like. And for one day in her life Addison thinks she knows what is like to have a warm and loud family.

"Mom doesn't like her", Nancy updated him the next day. "Says she's rich and privileged and probably spoiled, and Liz agrees with her. Kate and I think she's nice; she's polite, funny, smart. Oh and Amelia adores her".

Now it was his turn to meet her family. He didn't know what to expect; "They're not exactly nice people", she had warned him.

While they're all having dinner he realizes what she meant. Her parents are cold, he notices, even if sometimes they pretend they aren't by talking about futile things that sound rehearsed. He also notices that both Addison and Archer call them "Bizzy and Captain" instead of "mom and dad", which he thinks is bizarre.

At some point, the conversation focuses on him.

"So, Derek have you chosen a specialty yet?", The Captain asks.

"All I know for now is that I want to be a surgeon".

"Well that's a good start. I'm glad to hear that. When Addison told me she wanted to be a surgeon too, I was very happy about it".

"Yeah", Archer says with a sarcastic smile. "Because since we're both terrible sailors one of us shouldn't be a complete disappointment to you".

Addison glares at him.

The atmosphere at the table is tense now, and it doesn't make things better when Bizzy subtly asks Derek how wealthy is his family and Addison reprimands her, horrified. No matter how many times Derek gently squeezes her hand beneath the table, she's still upset during the rest of the dinner. He wonders how did she manage to grow up sane in that house, or even how did she become the person she is now, but he's glad that she did.

New York, 2005

When Addison married Derek she thought that was her chance to finally have a decent family. A family with no being cold and distant, no cheating, no lies, no pretending to be a happy little perfect family on the outside by talking about futile things.

All of that sounds like a cruel joke now.