Wedding Day, Scarsdale, New York, 1:30 p.m., Seattle 10:30 a.m.

"I can't believe that Nancy invited Addie, and you didn't tell her no," said Lizzie Shepherd as she cut up cantaloupe for fruit salad.

"Lizzie, how could I have said no?" asked Kathy Shepherd as she cut up a pineapple. The two had already spent an half an hour companionably preparing food for the party.

"Kathy, you have five kids. I'm sure that you've said no a million times over the years. It's easy."

"Nancy said that she wouldn't come unless Addie came."

"Is that how she persuaded Addie to come?"

"I guess so," admitted Kathy.

"I didn't realize that Addie was such a soft touch. She always preached tough love."

"Addie knew it was important to Derek that Nancy and her family come. And Nancy made it clear that she wouldn't let her kids come if Addie didn't come with her. And Addie knew Derek would never forgive Nancy if she didn't come and didn't let her kids come. Chrissy told my kids that she was really looking forward to having all her cousins see her being a flower girl."

"Do you really think Derek wants Addie here?" asked Lizzie.

"I don't think he'll mind. They stayed friends after the divorce. Addie's remarried, and she's pregnant."

"Did she invite Derek to her wedding?"

"Not as far as I know."

"And what about Meredith? Do you think she wants Addie at her wedding?"

Kathy sighed. "I've never even had a conversation with Meredith, so how could I know? But she did do a DNA test so Nancy could have proof Chrissy was Derek's daughter when Derek said it was necessary. My guess, she'd do anything to make Chrissy happy."

"Even marry our brother?"

Kathy paused and looked at Lizzie. "What do you think?"

"I don't know. I've never seen them together. It's a bit rash to get married so soon."

"And we both know that, if Chrissy were healthy, they wouldn't be rushing to get married."

"Would they be getting married at all?"

"Well, Addie told me she thinks it's true love."

Lizzie opened the refrigerator and grabbed a couple of boxes of strawberries. She washed them and started cutting them. "Well, maybe it's good that she's coming to the wedding?"

"She's not being invited to the wedding. The wedding's in Seattle. She's just hanging out with us while we watch it on video. Besides, she's been pretty supportive of Derek. Derek told me that Addie had suggested that they freeze Chrissy's ovarian tissue so she could have children some day."

"Did they do that?" asked Lizzie.

"Meredith had already done it, even before Addie suggested it."

"That's impressive. I'm surprised Meredith knew to do that."

"She's Ellis Grey's daughter. She knows how to do medical research, I'm sure. And it's well known that chemo can harm fertility."

"But freezing ovarian tissue is pretty new, I think, so I'm impressed."

"Good to be impressed by the woman who is going to be marrying our brother today."

"Are you trying to shrink me, Kathy?"

"No. Just glad to see that we know something good about the woman who is marrying our brother today."

"It is very odd that we've never met her. Derek checked out all our husbands," commented Lizzie.

"Well, Addie has, and she likes Meredith."

"I still think it's strange she's coming to our party. I get that it won't be painful for her since she's married. Getting divorced seems to have worked out well for her. And I like Jake."

"What's weird is that she knows her new sister-in-law-to-be better than any of us. She worked with her at Seattle Grace for months. And you and I have never met her."

"Not in person. Sometimes I've seen her on Skype when the kids have been Skyping with the kids. She seems nice."

"I've also seen her while the kids were Skyping. But it's good to know that Addie likes her," said Kathy.

"Well, Nancy doesn't like her. That's the problem, Kathy, and you know it. Nancy loves Addie, but there's no reason why they can't be friends even if Addie's no longer married to Derek. I don't get why Nancy wants Addie here for the wedding. It's strange. We all attended Addie's wedding to Derek. And that wedding didn't work out so well."

"Maybe it worked out for the best. Derek is getting married to the woman he says is the love of his life, and Addie remarried. They wouldn't have met Meredith and Jake if they hadn't been married to each other first."

Before Lizzie could respond, four of her children burst into the room. "Mommy, Andy says that Aunt Addie is coming. Is that true?" asked her ten year old daughter Sonia.

"Is she still our aunt, Mommy?" asked her seven year old son Alex.

"Uncle Mark sends us presents, so he's still our uncle, but Aunt Addie doesn't send us presents any more," explained Kathy's nine year old son Bill.

"Uncle Derek sends you presents, silly, and he and Addie sent presents together when they were married. There's no reason why you should get double the presents just because they got divorced," responded Kathy.

"But Aunt Addie got us better presents, Mommy. She always bought the girls beautiful clothes. Uncle Derek just gets us books," commented Sonia.

"Books are wonderful presents, and you should be grateful for any present. And Uncle Derek always makes a generous contribution to your college fund," noted Lizzie.

"Should we call her Addie or Aunt Addie now?" asked Alex.k

"Aunt Addie," answered Kathy. "You call many of our friends aunt and uncle because it is polite for children to call grownups Aunt and Uncle when they use their first names."

"Didn't Aunt Addie divorce us when she divorced Uncle Derek?" asked Bill.

"Not necessarily. It's very nice for her to come, so you need to be nice to her while she's there."

"We all love Aunt Addie, Mom," responded Sonia.

Seattle, 1:30 p.m

"Mommy won't let me put on my dress yet, Daddy," whined Chrissy.

Derek smiled at his daughter. "Sweetheart, the wedding isn't until 5. You have three and a half hours. You want the dress to be clean when the wedding starts. You shouldn't put it on until 4:30 at the earliest."

"But I want to show you the pretty dress."

Derek smiled. "You're beautiful. I'm happy to see you in your jeans and a t-shirt."

"Daddy, you don't have good fashion sense."

"You're insulting me."

"That's what Aunt Cris says. She has great fashion sense. That's why I asked her to help choose my dress. You should have Aunt Cris help you choose your clothes today."

Derek laughed. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I have a beautiful suit that's perfect for the wedding." He realized she was bored with the wedding preparations, so he decided on a distraction. "How about we watch Finding Nemo?"

"Sure. That would be lots of fun."

"Would you like some fruit for a snack?"

"Yes."

"How about an apple from Washington State?"

"Yum. I love apples. Mommy was going to take me apple picking this year. Can we go next year?"

"Sure, sweetheart," Derek responded with a smile. "I used to go apple picking with my sisters. We had lots of fun."

"But you didn't live in Washington, Daddy."

"New York state has great apples, too."

"Washington apples are the best, Daddy."

"You're right." Derek laughed. He enjoyed seeing his daughter argue for her home state.

Back Bay Station, Boston, 6:00 p.m., Seattle 3:00 p.m.

Mark patiently waited in the train station. He was glad that he had brought a book to read while he waited for the train; it was running a few minutes late, which was pretty typical for the MBTA. He was enjoying the book, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Then he heard a shout.

"Uncle Mark, Uncle Mark," yelled a young girl with big blue eyes and long black hair. She was wearing jeans and R.I.S.D. sweatshirt.

"Janie, I'm so glad you could come."

"I was thrilled you invited me, Uncle Mark. It will be fun watching Uncle Derek's wedding with you, Danny, and Mike. And it was such an easy train ride to Boston. The train is walking distance from my dorm."

"And it's walking distance to my apartment, so let's get going. Danny and Mike know the way, so they'll find their way. They thought they'd get there around 7."

"There are very few trains from Providence to Boston on Sunday. I hope I'm not too early."

"You couldn't be too early. I'm so happy to see you. It's been a long time."

"More than four years. But you haven't changed, Uncle Mark, not at all."

"I'm living in Boston, not New York."

"That's not much of a change."

"And I may be moving to Seattle."

"Really? Why?"

"My fiancee's family is in Seattle. And I got a great offer to be the head of the plastics department at the best hospital in the state, Seattle Grace."

"What about Uncle Derek?"

"He's there, too. That's a plus."

"I'm glad you're friends again."

"Me, too." Mark smiled. "And you've grown quite a bit in four years." She must have been thirteen or fourteen the last time he saw her at some Shepherd get together. She had always been beautiful, but now she looked like a woman, which Mark found very unsettling. He remembered visiting Lizzie when Janie was born. He had been thinking of her as a little girl, but she was all grown up.

"Now I'm a college student."

"All grown up."

"Not really. I can't drink yet."

"Well, I'll come to Providence and take you out to the best restaurant in the city for your 21st birthday, and you can have champagne."

"I'd rather have a beer."

"Okay, a beer."

"That will be fun!"

Seattle, 3:30 p.m.

"I can't believe I volunteered to do the video," whined Alex.

"I'm sure you'll do a great job," commented Derek.

"I'll be in big trouble if I blow it."

"If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. All I care about is that I marry Meredith."

"That's really sweet, but we're going to have more than thirty people watching on video, and I don't want to disappoint them."

"But you've only met Mark once."

"We have colleagues at Seattle Grace who are watching too, with Adele Webber."

"Just do your best, and don't worry about it."

"Maybe I should record that. Why don't you say that again?" asked Alex as he pointed his webcam at Derek.

"All I want is to marry Meredith. Just do your best. If the video doesn't work, it doesn't matter to me."

Alex played the video back.

"That's great, Alex," praised Derek.

"Good."

Scarsdale, New York, 7:15 p.m., Seattle 4:15 p.m.

Jake looked at his wife. She had been sitting in the car for fifteen minutes, staring straight ahead. "You know we have arrived, Addie."

Addie smiled. "I know that. I'm mustering the courage to go in."

"You have me. Why do you need anything else?"

Addie laughed. "I guess the concept of being an ex-aunt is throwing me. I've seen Kathy and Nancy recently, and I'm sure seeing Lizzie and Amy will be fine. But I don't know about all the kids. There are fifteen kids altogether although maybe only twelve or thirteen tonight. I know the twins are in Boston with Mark."

"It's awkward, I know. We can turn around and go home, if you want."

"No, I promised Nancy I would come."

"If she's any kind of friend, she'll realize it was ridiculous to expect you to come."

"Nancy's idea of friendship is spending hours shopping for shoes together. But she'll also sub for me if I need someone to take my on-call assignments. And she's spent hours reviewing my medical articles. But when it comes to Derek, she has no judgment. She's five years older than we are, and she's always been overprotective of him."

"We can wait out here all day if you want."

Jake and Addison sat companionably in the car for a few minutes. Then they heard knocking on the window. They turned to the window and saw Nancy Shepherd knocking. Addie opened the window.

"Addie, come on in. You've been waiting long enough."

Seattle, 4:45 p.m.

"I'm going to start the webcam now so people can call in for the wedding," announced Alex. "Anyone on the line?"

"Mark Sloan, here with Danny and Mike, Derek's nephews, in Boston."

"Molly Grey, here in Bahrain with my daughter Laura. My husband is on duty now."

"It's pretty late," commented Alex.

"Well, Laura insisted. I just woke her up to participate. I figured her Aunt Meredith being married was worth waking up for."

"That's great, Molly. Lexie Grey here, with my parents, Thatcher and Susan Grey."

"Lexie, you should say your most important role: Mark Sloan's fiancée," chided Mark.

"Mark's fiancée is Lexie Grey, Meredith's sister? Seriously?" asked Amy Shepherd.

"Yes, Amy, I'm getting married," said Mark with a smile. "Derek and I are marrying sisters. What were the odds?"

"Really, not a surprise, Mark," commented Carolyn Shepherd. "The two of you did everything together when you were boys."