72. Chapter 72

Meredith muttered under her breath, frustrated as she dug through the vast contents that had spent the last year taking over her locker. "Seriously. Where did this crap come from?"

"Talking to yourself, Dr. Grey?"

With a muffled yelp, Meredith jumped back, surprised at being caught talking to herself. Again. "Ouch," she muttered, rubbing the elbow she had smacked on the locker door during her surprise.

Derek stood before her, one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face.

Meredith stood glaring at her gloating boyfriend for an entire second before she dropped her sore elbow and used her good hand to smack Derek across the chest. "Stop laughing at me."

"Who says I'm laughing?"He asked, not even trying to cover his amusement with the situation.

"Fine; you're laughing on the inside. And gloating on the outside." She paused. "I don't like you."

He huffed and stepped forward, his hands reaching for her hips. "You love me. You're just upset because I caught you talking to yourself again."

Meredith couldn't help the smile that came to her lips, remembering the first time he had caught her talking to herself; right after Derek and Addison's divorce had been finalized, and she had ended her crazy run around the hospital just feet away from his office. Where he had discovered Meredith talking herself into knocking. "Shut up."

His smirk grew larger as he sidled up against her, his lips only a breath away from hers. "Why is it that you always tell me to shut up when you know I'm right?"

"I do not-" she was cut off by his lips crashing down on hers. Her hands ran up his arms to clutch to his shoulders, holding her upright as Derek pressed close, dipping her back ever so slightly.

The door opened behind her, but neither noticed until, "Ugh, McDreamy, that's the last thing I need to see after the day I've had."

Derek grumbled as he reluctantly pulled away from Meredith, standing upright, but keeping his arms firmly around her waist. "Then don't look," he shot back at Cristina.

Meredith giggled, but pressed her hands lightly against Derek's chest. He continued to grumble, but released her. "What's wrong today, Cris?"

Cristina sent her a look that said everything and nothing at the same time. "Burke is driving me crazy! I finally got rid of Marlow, and you think that would make Burke happy, but now he's barely speaking to me. I got rid of the crazy ex. I let him pick a date for the wedding. What more does he want? Seriously!"Cristina slammed her locker door and ripped open the energy bar she had pulled out. "I'm right on the edge, Meredith."

Meredith bit back a laugh as she watched her best friend take a bite of energy bar and chew angrily. "The good news is that it will be over soon... Just a couple more weeks, right?"

Cristina scoffed. "Probably just another couple weeks until a new kind of hell. See, this is why I liked being single. I can't handle this, Meredith. Burke's turning into bride-freaking-zilla," and with that, Cristina stormed out of the locker room.

Meredith giggled as she watched her best friend disappeared behind the very quickly shutting door.

Derek sidled back up to her, an arm snaking around her waist. "I think she's the one turning into bridezilla..."

"Don't tell her that, or you'll die," she warned.

He chuckled as he pulled her close and buried his nose in her hair, inhaling deeply. "Noted."

Meredith sighed and leaned against Derek's strong chest, happy for a moment of peace. "This is nice."

"Mmm," he agreed, his voice humming against her head as his hands snaked around her waist.

But their peaceful moment was shattered by a small crashing sound, followed by a series of scratches and bangs.

"What the hell..." Derek mumbled, peering over Meredith's shoulder for the source of the noise.

Meredith simply shut her eyes and burrowed her face into Derek's chest with a heavy sigh, ignoring the fact that the previous contents of her locker were now strewn across the floor.

Shuffling them to the side, Derek finally caught sight of the full damage. And then he laughed. "Where did all of that come from?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I didn't realize it was this bad until I went looking for a text book that I think I left here last August. And apparently the giant pile of crap was ordered chronologically; the oldest being on the bottom. I didn't even know I had this much crap."

"Did you find the text book?"

Meredith shrugged. "I did now." She motioned towards the text book poking out of the pile of other books, note pads, pens, assorted scrubs and other clothes, one shoe, a binder, a bottle of shampoo, energy bars, a very crushed bag of chips and a mass of other things Meredith couldn't remember leaving in her locker. "Seriously, where did this stuff come from?"

Derek was still regarding the pile of stuff with narrowed eyes, his gaze flickering back to her locker once in a while. "Do you have a trick locker or something? Because there's no way that was all in there."

"Shut up and help me get it back in," she muttered, crouching down and beginning to shove all of the miscellaneous items back towards her locker.

"It's like the island of lost stuff," Derek commented as he crouched down to help her.

Meredith paused, glancing at him. "The what?"

"The island of lost stuff," he repeated, "Like the island of lost toys."

She shook her head. "What the hell are you talking about? It's a locker, not an island, and...seriously, why are you looking at me like that?"

Derek smiled. "Remind me of this in December. There's a movie you obviously have to watch."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

When they finally had everything haphazardly shoved back into her locker, Meredith quickly grabbed her purse and slammed the door. "There. No problem."

"Except that you forgot your text book," he pointed out.

"I just needed to find it," she explained. "I don't actually have to read it yet. Cristina's got a schedule for studying, but the whole wedding thing has got her a little distracted."

"You don't need her. You can study with me."

Meredith rolled her eyes again. "Great help that would be. We'd never get anything done."

"We'd get plenty done," he countered. "I'd be a great study buddy."

She raised an eyebrow, "Let me guess; a naked study buddy?"

"Exactly. It's the best kind of studying."

"Funny; cause it doesn't seem very useful."

"Oh, it's very useful," he murmured, shuffling close. "I hear it's excellent for relieving stress."

Meredith hooked her thumbs through his belt loops and tilted her head as she stared up at him. "Tell you what; I'll get some actual studying done with my friends, and you can be on call for all the stress relief you want."

"Hmm," he hummed, dipping his head the crook of her neck, "Excellent idea." He pressed two kisses against her neck and two against her clavicle before giving the same treatment to the other side.

"Derek," Meredith found herself prompting. "We're at work."

"So?"

"In the locker room."

He grumbled and reluctantly pulled his lips from her skin. "I love you."

Her heart practically melted in her chest at his gentle tone. "I love you too. But what's the matter with you today?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're all..." She floundered with her hands as she struggled to come up with a suitable word. "Mushy."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm mushy?"

She nodded. "You're all mushy and touchy-feely and crap. At work. In front of Cristina!"

"Hey, she walked in-"

"And you told her to stop looking. And you still didn't let go of me."

"Fine, I'll keep my hands to myself," he feigned hurt.

She huffed and grabbed his wrists, returning his warm hands to her own hips. "Seriously, Derek, what's going on?"

He shrugged. "I'm just happy."

"Just happy?"

"Okay; very, very happy. It hasn't been an easy couple months, but I feel like we're at the end of it. And I've figured out some stuff. And I love you." He offered a warm smile and shrugged, "Why shouldn't I be happy?"

She smiled, finding his enthusiasm suddenly contagious when he was looking at her like that. "I'm happy too."

He smiled and kissed her softly. "Let's get you some food so we can go home and get a start on the stress relieving activities..."

Meredith laughed, but happily took his hand and allowed herself to be led towards the elevators. "Where are we going for food?"

Derek shrugged. "I thought we could pick something up at Joe's and go home."

"Leaving more time for stress relief?"

"Exactly." He sent her a smile, but something in his eyes seemed...different.

They came to a stop at the elevators, and Derek jabbed repeatedly at the down arrow.

Meredith furrowed her brow, trying to figure out what had changed in the past thirty seconds, but before she could begin to think of an explanation, a pager echoed between them.

"Shit!" Derek cursed, reaching for his waistband. He sighed heavily. "They need me to do a consult in the ER. Just great..."

"It's okay," Meredith offered. It wasn't like this was all that unusual. They were surgeons; it was part of the job.

"No, it's not. Seriously. I would like to meet the man who invented pagers and give him a piece of my mind."

"Yeah, you do that," Meredith mumbled, still studying Derek's reaction with interest. There had been talk of naked study relief, but being paged shouldn't have upset him that much. It wasn't like they'd never been interrupted or delayed before.

He sighed heavily and leaned in to kiss her. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she insisted. "I'll head over to Joe's. Text me if it's going to be fast. I can order, so we can get to the stress relief sooner rather than later."

His smile finally returned – a little too brightly – and he nodded his agreement as he turned and hurried for the stairs.

Meredith shook her head as the elevator door opened before her and she stepped in. "And he thinks I need the stress relief," she muttered, before, "Crap. I really have to stop talking to myself."

**

"Hey, how's my favourite customer?"

"Oh, Joe, I'm sure you say that to all of us."

Joe leaned across the bar towards her as she took a seat on her favourite stool. "But I only mean it with you."

She laughed. "You probably say that too."

"Okay; you caught me. But you're definitely top ten."

"Thanks...I think."

"So, where's you man?"

"He got paged. I told him I'd wait here. I thought there'd be someone here I know." She waved a hand at all the unfamiliar hospital workers.

"What about me?"

"You don't count."

"Ouch."

She giggled. "So not the way I meant it. You have other people to talk to. Plus; sitting alone at the bar talking to only the bar tender is a little lame."

"It didn't stop you the first time you came in here."

She nodded. "That is true. But I've changed."

"So, no tequila?"

"Nah," she said after a short debate. "Just bring me something mixed for now. I may have to drive myself home."

"Coming right up." He quickly set to work, and within seconds was setting a glass down in front of her.

"Put it on my tab," an unfamiliar voice came from beside her.

Meredith glanced to her left to meet the eyes of an overly coiffed man she had never met. "I have my own tab, thanks," she mumbled, turning to face forward again, scowling when Joe's attention was called to the other side of the bar.

"Ah, an independent woman; I'm intrigued. Can I buy your next one for you?"

"No."

"How about the one after that?"

"What makes you think there's going to be one after that?" She asked, turning to face him again. His short blond hair was jelled upwards despite its length, and he may have been attractive had he not been wearing a black shirt with an upturned collar under an open leather jacket.

He smirked, far too cocky and arrogant; in a way that made Mark look modest. "I'm just assuming eventually the drinks will be at my place."

"Who do you think you are?" She countered. "Just...go away."

"Ah, come on, honey-"

"Seriously. Go away. There will be no drinks with you. Not now. Not ever. And where do you think you are; some sort of alien trafficking movie with Will Smith?"

The man's solid outer show of an ego floundered slightly before he huffed and left.

"Impressive," Joe spoke up, returning to her side of the bar. "I was going to come and rescue you, but you seem fine on your own."

"You should put an 'imbeciles not allowed' sign outside the door, Joe."

"I'll keep that in mind. Although, there are easier ways to keep away unwanted...imbeciles."

"How's that?"

Joe reached for her left hand. "When's that McDreamy of yours going to seal the deal?"

She giggled. "Seal the deal?"

"It's an expression."

"It's stupid."

"And you're avoiding the question."

Meredith sighed. "How do you know that?"

Joe shrugged. "I'm a bar tender. It's like having a degree in clinical psychology."

She laughed and took a sip of her drink. "Good point."

"So..." He prompted.

"Fine; we talked about it."

He smiled. "How much talking?"

"He's...we're...he's going to ask soon," she admitted, unable to hide her smile.

"How soon?"

She shrugged. "He keeps making stupid jokes about sky writing and crap, which, seriously, I'll kill him. But soon; I hope." She pursed her lips as a thought hit her. "He was remarkable angry when he got paged, though, so I wonder if he had something planned tonight..."

"You're remarkably calm," Joe noted, "for someone who's going to be engaged soon."

"I was freaking out last week," she assured. "He almost asked a few weeks ago, right after my accident, but it was bad timing and he was scared to lose me, so we decided to wait. And then nothing happened and we went out to dinner and I thought he might ask, but then he didn't and old Meredith butted in and convinced me he didn't want us...me." She shook her head. "And I spilled to Cristina, who went to Derek, who came to me and promised he still loves me and still wants to marry me."

"But you're not anxious as to when?"

She shrugged. "I am. I love him, and I want to get married and whatever, but it's not like if he proposed today that we'd get married tomorrow, so I can wait a bit. It's not going to change anything right away."

"That's very Zen of you, but having a ring would at least serve to keep the so called imbeciles away."

"True." She took a sip of her drink. "Joe, do you think I'm a ring wearing kind of girl?"

"What kind of girl isn't?"

She shrugged. "That's what I'm trying to decide."

With a glance to ensure there were no anxious customers vying for his attention, Joe leaned over the bar. "What are the pros and cons?"

"I haven't really made a list... I just don't really know if I'm an engagement ring wearing person."

"Well, I think most other women would tell you if a man like that asks you to marry him, you wear his ring."

She laughed. "I have two female friends, Joe. One would tell me to absolutely wear it all the time, and the other would tell me to never even put it on. That's fifty-fifty."

He waved a hand. "It's not about what they think. It's about what you think."

"Sometimes I like the idea of it," she admitted. Despite her upbringing and previous mindset, she had found herself imaging things in the last few weeks; things that included rings and names and forevers. "But what if I lose it? And it's so impractical at the hospital; all I do all day is put gloves on and pull gloves off. And people still talk about us."

"It's not like they're not going to know you're engaged," Joe pointed out. "Not wearing the ring may get you just as much attention."

"Good point. I guess that's a con for both sides."

"You don't have to wear it all the time," he pointed out. "You could wear it when you wanted."

"You think?"

He nodded. "It's not like a tattoo. You're not stuck with it on forever."

"I guess I'll have to think about it."

He nodded and excused himself to serve the customers at the other end of the bar again.

Meredith sighed and sipped her drink.

"So, is this a good place to hang out?"

She turned to her right and rolled her eyes at the familiar form beside her, decked out in jeans and a sweater with a white shirt poking out unevenly from underneath. "I thought you were going to text me?"

"How could I text you if I've just met you?"

"Joe really needs to get that sign," she mumbled to herself.

"What sign?"

"Never mind. How was your consult?"

"Clear."

"Good."

He nodded. "So, you never answered my question..."

"What question?"

"Is this a good place to hang out?"

"Not as good a place as home, where we can go now and relieve stress."

Derek raised an eyebrow. "My, my, Dr. Grey, here we've just met and already you're inviting me home."

"If we just met, how do you know my name?" She retorted.

He paused, lips parted, struggling for a response. "Lucky guess."

"You're an idiot."

"You still haven't answered my question."

She sighed. "Yes, it's a great place to hang out. Joe over there is practically my therapist, and almost a year ago, I met my boyfriend here."

"Really? Is he dreamy?"

"Who, Joe?"

Derek huffed. "The boyfriend."

"Meh," she shrugged.

This time Derek grumbled. "I'm sure he has his moments."

"He does; few and far between, but they're there."

"Can you just pretend to love me a little?" He begged, sticking out his lower lip ever so slightly.

"I don't have to pretend," she reassured, leaning in the kiss him, unable to resist the lip.

"This really is a good place to hang out," he whispered when she pulled away.

"It is."

"Doc," Joe greeted, placing a scotch down in front of Derek.

"Thanks, Joe."

Meredith moved her stool closer so she could lean against Derek.

He smiled and wrapped an arm around her. "At least you're not ignoring me this time," he said, referring to their first meeting.

She giggled. "That was a long time ago. And I had made a pact with myself to go home alone."

Derek hugged her tighter for a moment with the arm wrapped around her waist. "We should make a pact with each other; to never go home alone."

Meredith's heart skipped a beat at his words. It was something mushy that he would say at any time, but now, knowing what was coming...knowing it could come as soon as tonight... "Derek?"

"I mean, excluding times when it can't be helped. Sometimes being a surgeon sucks, but whenever possible, we should definitely make a pact to never go home alone."

Meredith sat upright and turned to meet his eyes. "Okay."

He pecked her lips. "Okay." He smiled and took a sip of his scotch.

Her heart was pounding against her chest, but she wasn't sure if there was reason for it. The bar was filling up behind them, but she felt like it was just her and Derek in a bubble. It would be fitting, though, for him to do it here. They had met here.

Derek cocked his head as he regarded her with a tender smile. "So, did it work?"

"Did what work?"

"Did you love me once you got to know me?"

"I think I loved you before that."

"Back when I was just a guy in a bar?"

"Maybe."

"I loved you when you were just a girl in a bar."

"And now?"

He shrugged his shoulders, leaning in to whisper into her ear. "I'll always love you, but you're not just a girl in a bar anymore."

She played nervously with the rough fabric over his thigh. Her heart was still pounding and her throat was dry. "No."

He tightened his lips and shook his head ever so slightly, and gave her that look that made her feel loved and attractive and wanted all at the same time. "You're everything now, Meredith. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Tears welled in her eyes, but didn't fall. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you too, Derek."

Derek smiled and turned towards her so that they were knee to knee, facing each other. He pulled a small purple box from his pocket and Meredith felt her heart skip a beat. It opened with a tiny creak that sounded hugely loud to Meredith's over stimulated senses. He placed it on the counter beside them, the ring facing her, but all she could see through her increasingly wet eyes was purple and sparkles and light.

"Derek," she whispered.

He brushed a single stray tear from her cheek before taking her hands and tilting his head to the side. "I love you, Meredith Grey. Will you marry me?"

She nodded three times before words finally found their way to her throat. "Yes," she whispered, for only him to hear. And then his lips were against hers and his arms were around her, and her hands were clutching the soft material of his shirt.

"I love you. I love you. I love you," he repeated between kisses.

"I love you too, Derek," she finally managed to reciprocate when the kissing stopped and she wrapped her arms around his neck in the warmest hug she could ever remember. "God, I love you."

"I love you," he said again, nuzzling against her neck. "You said yes."

"Did you really think I wouldn't after everything?"

He pulled back far enough to offer her a smirk. "Well, the sky writing pilot was really disappointed when I told him it wasn't going to happen..."

"Shut up about the freaking sky writing," she whispered, though she couldn't stop smiling.

He kissed her one last time before reaching for the box beside them. "You're sure?" He asked, taking her left hand in his.

She took a deep breath and wiped her free hand across her damp face. "I've never been surer of anything."

"Me either," he whispered as he slipped the delicate ring onto her fingers.

"Wow," Meredith murmured, straightening her fingers as she tried to focus on the new addition to her ring finger through her still damp eyes. She could feel something there, but the ring wasn't nearly as heavy or...present as she had expected. It was simply...there. She closed her hand into a fist and ran her right hand over it. "Wow," she said again. "This is kind of...wow."

"Yeah..." He practically breathed. "Kind of like a high."

She smiled at him and nodded. "Exactly. Better than surgery."

He kissed her. "Good to know."

Meredith closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against Derek's as she breathed in the scent of her future husband. "Derek?"

"Mmm?" He murmured, his arms around her, holding her close.

"This moment...right now...I..."

"You what?"

"I think this is the best moment of my entire life."

"Oh, Mer," he practically breathed. "Me too."

She exhaled raggedly as tears welled suddenly in her eyes. "This really is forever, isn't it? You really do want me."

"Forever," he confirmed, pecking her lips. "I want you. And I love you."

Meredith cocked her head and smiled, ignoring the tears that were making tracks down her cheeks. "I love you too." She took a deep breath and smiled as Derek wiped his thumbs across her cheeks. "Come on," she found herself saying as she stood and held out her hand, "Take me home."

He took her hand with a smile, entwining their fingers. "Every night; forever," he whispered.

They got half-way to the door before Meredith couldn't wait another moment. She came to an abrupt stop and spun around, catching Derek by surprise. And then, regardless of how busy it was around them, she pressed her lips against his and lost herself in the reminder of their past and the promise of their future.

Together.