Author's Note: Sorry I took longer this time to update this fic, but my classes started and I don't have the time to write this anymore. So, I also must say that the next chapter will be the last. At least for now. Maybe if I get any more interesting ideas and if I have the time, I'll write more as bonus chapters.

Anyway, that said, I wouldn't end this story without one more Maddison chapter, so here it is.

New York, 1994

"What's wrong?", Addison asks when the car suddenly stops.

"The car died", Sam responds, furrowing his brow. He tries to restart the car a couple of times but nothing happens. "It's the battery", Sam declares, frustrated.

"What?", Addison asks, almost desperately. "I was supposed to be there half an hour ago! I can't not attend my own wedding!"

"It's okay", Naomi tries to calm her down. "There's a phone booth right there, we'll just call the hotel so we can talk to Mark and he'll pick us up."

Addison exhales. "Okay."

"Hey", Mark says on the phone. "Where are you?"

"Sam's car died", Addison explains. "We need you."

"Wait, why me? Can't you just call Derek?"

"He can't see me before the wedding, Mark", Addison replies, impatient.

"Since when do you believe in these stuff?", he teases, laughing.

"I don't", she states, defensive. "Shut up. It's just... it would take all the fun away from the big moment, you know? Mark, I'm in the middle of the street wearing a wedding dress, can you please?"

"I was kidding", he laughs again. "I'm on my way."

Naomi and Sam are waiting outside of the car and Addison joins them. Few minutes pass before she suddenly feels scared.

"What am I doing?", she asks herself, her voice sounding more like a whisper.

"What do you mean?", Naomi inquires.

"What am I doing?", Addison repeats, louder.

Sam frowns. "You're... getting married."

"Exactly", she says, trying not to panic.

"Are you having second thoughts?", Naomi asks, worried.

"I'm... I don't know", Addison responds, confused. "What if the car dying was a sign? That I shouldn't get married?"

"Do you even believe in these things?"

"I don't know! It's just... Dammit. I mean... Derek and I have been together for six years. And we've been engaged for almost a year and throughout this year I've been so sure. Why is this happening now?", she questions, sounding more frustrated than scared now.

"It's a big step, Addie", Naomi tries to soothe her. "It's okay to be scared, it's normal."

"Were you scared when you married Sam?"

"Of course."

"You're lying."

"I'm lying", Naomi admits.

Addison sighs and gets in the car.

When Mark arrives, she's still in the backseat, and Naomi is standing near the open door, still trying to say something to convince her.

"What's happening?", he asks.

"She's not sure if she wants to get married anymore", Sam explains.

"What?", Mark comes closer to the car. "What do you mean you're not sure?", he inquires her. She doesn't respond, so he continues. "Look, I've put up with you and Derek for six years. And it was hard at the beginning because I missed my single best friend. I missed doing single guys stuff. But then I started to feel happy for you two, because I saw how happy you two were together. And I rooted for the two of you to go back together when you guys broke up twice. And I was happy when you two decided to get married. So now you better get married, or I'll be really pissed. You two are Derek-and-Addison! Come on."

Addison seems less unsure now.

"Think of all the reasons why you decided to marry him", he suggests.

"Okay", Addison agrees, and it turns out to be an actually helpful exercise. Her doubts slowly go away.

She looks at him again and she doesn't have to say a word before he knows her doubts are gone.

"Alright", she breathes, relieved. "Let's get me married."

Mark smiles. "You know, if you really wanted to run away, I could have driven you anywhere; but I've known you for six years and if there's one thing I know about you is that you take risks. You're not the kind of person who runs when things get scary."

New York, 2005

She knows she's being selfish, but she does it again, the same thing she does every time Derek is not available: she calls Mark.

She knows it's not fair to use him to cover holes and dismiss him the next day. But she tells herself he's Mark Sloan. If someone can be unattached, that's him. Even if he claimed to love her, he had slept with someone when they were together, so she doesn't know how much of it she believes in. And it's been a while. Maybe he doesn't have feelings for her anymore.

"I knew you'd miss me", he gives her that smug smile, standing at the door of her hotel room.

She rolls her eyes. "I'm getting a divorce, show some sensibility."

"Right", he says in a serious tone. "Sorry."

As usual, they don't have to talk. She doesn't want to talk about Derek, the divorce, her own misery, anything. She just wants to forget all of it for a while, and Mark has that effect on her. Even when Derek shows up at her hotel room too, saying that their marriage is over and that he feels terrible because it was all his fault, only to see Mark coming out of the shower, wearing nothing more than a towel, which makes Addison swear mentallly, because she didn't want to admit her weakness and her own fault in this situation. In the end, it's hard to know whose fault was it.

Mark spends the night there, but now she needs him to go back to New York. She can't handle more than sex with him. She's still mad at him, for cheating on her, and at herself, for falling in love with him and for thinking they could have a real thing. She doesn't deserve to go through that again.

So he goes back home, and she thinks everything will be fine, until he comes back a few days later, announcing he has moved to Seattle.

And no matter how much she tries to avoid him, she can't honor her own "we're just coworkers" rule.

"At least now you don't have to feel guilty anymore", he jokes, after the divorce, trying to make her feel better.

"Shut up", she says in the same tone she's used to say those two words to him all those years, the tone that said you're so immature, but you still make me laugh and I like you. The tone that said I want to hate you, but I can't.

He smirks, getting out of the bed. "I should go now."

"No", she says before thinking. She doesn't know how that escaped from her mouth. Maybe she's lonely. Or maybe, no matter how much she denies it, she still loves him. "It's okay", she reassures him. "Stay. Just for tonight."

He knows he shouldn't go. It's not fair to him. She shouldn't get to use him like that. But he doesn't care. If he gets hurt, fine. At least he gets to see her. He gets to be with her, one more time.

"I knew you'd miss me", he jokes, his weird habit of laughing and joking to hide his pain.

"I'm getting a divorce, show some sensibility", she says with a bitter sarcasm that makes him realize she's trying to hide her own pain too.

"Right. Sorry."

But what is he sorry for? He's sorry she's hurting, for sure. He's not sure if he's sorry that she and Derek are getting a divorce. He does feel a little bit bad for the end of Derek-and-Addison, but he can't help feeling a selfish happiness above everything else.

And that happiness brings him hope encourages him to move to Seattle. Not only because of Addison, though she was a big part of his decision, but also to make things right with Derek. He wanted a new story, where the three of them could be happy again in a different scenario, with different characters and different relationships, adjusting what was wrong before in their old story. He had to try. He had to fight for a happy ending.

And when Addison finally asks him to stay, he thinks maybe that happy ending is close and maybe they'll get there.

Note: I wanted to leave things open between Maddison, since I'm not writing an AU. It can still fit into canon, so it seemed like the right way to do it.