Disclaimer- I don't own Grey's Anatomy
Summary- The world can fall apart around them, but she said she'd spend the rest of her life with him. They're engaged. Now, there's nothing left to do but to toast to the future. MD. Post 5x19
A/N- I couldn't resist this one. I loved the proposal, too much I think but like the candle house scene and every MerDer scene in the history of Grey's Anatomy, I always wonder, what happens after? So here it is- what happens after the beautiful, beautiful proposal. Enjoy.
When you turn into the driveway and get out of the car, you're exhausted. Completely exhausted. But it's the good kind of exhausted, one that makes you want to shout from the rooftops. You're engaged. Engaged. It's always been in your agenda to marry Meredith; she's the one. But even so, the word in itself, engaged, sends you into a whole new frenzy and gives you a whole new sense of euphoria you just didn't know was possible before this.
You swear there's a skip in your step when you walk towards the house. There's something more intimate about the term fiancée than girlfriend and you simply can't wait to find Meredith, hold her and start planning the rest of your lives.
It crosses your mind briefly when you close the door, it's just her and you in the house tonight. Alex is camped out on the hospital bed with Izzie, last time you checked. You can't help but pity him. You've spent a night or two on those beds before and you know that they're simply not built for two adults. The house is uncharacteristically quiet except for a dull buzz in the living room. You guess that it's Meredith and Cristina discussing all aspects of your proposal together, dissecting all parts of it and Cristina adding in some cynical comments here and there.
Instead, you see reruns of late night comedy on the television playing softly. Meredith is asleep on the couch, clutching on tightly to a bottle of something. As you sit opposite her on the coffee table, you realize what it is. A bottle of champagne, one very similar to the one you splurged on for the success of the clinical trial.
Normally, you would wake her or even carry her upstairs to her bedroom so that she can remain sleeping. But not tonight. Tonight, you want to open up that bottle of champagne. You want to carry her upstairs for whole different reasons and make use of the fact that you're in an empty house. You want to give her your mother's ring in your pocket that you literally spent hours of your life on your hands and knees in the mud searching for. Tonight, you want to celebrate.
"Meredith," you call softly, brushing her hair away and trailing soft kisses on her face. "Mer. Wake up." Meredith blinks a couple times before her eyes lock on yours.
She smiles tiredly at you and sits up a little straighter. "Hey," she says. You both look at the bottle of champagne she's holding and when Meredith places it on the table, your eyes are drawn there. "I don't know if I got the right thing," Meredith begins quietly. "Did you know there are ten different kinds of champagne? Literally. There's stuff with blanc and rosé and double blanc and-"
"Mer," you cut off. Meredith 2.0 or Meredith 3.0 or whatever number, it doesn't even matter to you anymore, is a changed person. Even so, you expect your newly born engagement to scare her a little bit. "It's fine," you tell her. "It's perfect." She nods slowly and instantly, you know it's not just your engagement that has her thrown. "What's wrong?" you ask her.
She shrugs and you wait to for her to say nothing so you can continue to press her. Instead, Meredith sighs. "Cristina broke up with Owen. Izzie is dying and creating a baby in a Petri dish. But I'm happy, you know. And everybody else's life is falling apart."
You take her hand in yours and stroke your thumb over her smooth skin. "Meredith," you say. "You deserve to be happy. You deserve to have everything in the world. I want you to have everything. Besides," you continue "we've dealt with our share of crap already. Maybe it's our turn to be happy."
You grab the bottle on the table and slowly push the cork up. It pops loudly and before it has a chance to fly away, you catch it quickly, an old trick Mark taught a long time ago.
"Impressive," Meredith says as she takes the bottle from you. You stand to get the glasses or whatever glassware works with champagne but instead, Meredith tips the bottle to her lips and passes it to you. "Here," she says. You sit back down. "It's good."
You tilt the bottle back so that the alcohol burns down your throat. It's considerably milder than what you've been drinking lately, tequila, scotch and whiskey to name a few and you pass the bottle back. What you're both doing is less than refined and if Meredith were any other girl, passing a bottle of champagne back and forth just wouldn't suffice. But this is Meredith, the love of your life, and this, right now, this is the very essence of who you both are. To you, this is perfect.
"So," Meredith says. "Do we toast or something?"
You laugh. She looks absolutely confused as to why you find this so funny. Meredith's eyes narrow and she tilts her head in a way that makes you want to kiss the life right out of her. So you do, leaning forward and placing your hand behind her neck. You pull Meredith forward ever so slightly so that your bodies are just that much closer together.
When you break apart, you notice that Meredith is smiling. She's radiant when she smiles, you think. Her whole face lights up and in that moment, you fall a little bit more in love with her.
"You're good at this kind of thing," Meredith says, passing you the bottle. "What do we say? Here's to the rest of our lives? Here's to you?"
You take the bottle and bring it to your lips. "Here's to us," you say.
Meredith considers this and takes the bottle from you. "Here's to us," she repeats. Meredith takes a small sip.
You continue passing the bottle back and forth until it's more than halfway gone. "Here," you say, taking the black box out of your jacket pocket, opening it and giving it to Meredith. She looks between the ring and you and suddenly, you feel your heart rate begin to increase. "It was my mother's so if you don't like it, I can get you something else."
Meredith takes the ring out of the box and holds it between her fingers. "It's your mother's ring?" she asks.
You nod. "My father gave it to my mother. And when my mother came she gave it to me."
Meredith looks at the ring again. "And now you're giving it to me?"
"And now I'm giving it to you," you agree. "But you don't have to wear it if you don't want to."
"No," Meredith says quickly. "I want to. It's beautiful. I want it" You breathe out a sigh of relief and take the ring from her hand. It fits perfectly onto her ring finger and you're glad. After countless trips to Tiffany's with an old ring that you fished out of the depths of Meredith's closet that you weren't even sure was hers, you'd be more than disappointed if the new band didn't fit her perfectly.
You take Meredith's newly ringed hand in yours and run your thumb over her fingers, a gesture you're both accustomed to. Only now, there's a bump over her fourth finger and you realize that from here on out, that ring is always going to be there.
"Thank you," Meredith says softly.
You squeeze her hand. "For what?"
Meredith shrugs. "For the ring. For operating on Izzie. For being you."
You briefly consider what you're going to say. "The ring was always yours. I just needed to find the right time to give it to you. Izzie is your friend. She's a resident at the hospital and she deserves to live and to have children and to have a future. And I'm not who you think I am. You know that, you've seen it in the past week. But, you're welcome."
Meredith laughs and moves forward so that her forehead is leaning on yours. "I love you," she says. This time, Meredith is the one who presses her lips to yours. Your slow kiss soon turns into a heated shower of little kisses on her forehead, on her cheeks, on her eyelids, on her jaw line and her neck.
"I love you, too," you whisper between kisses.
When Meredith pauses, you're breathing heavily and somehow, you're lying on top of her on the couch, propped up on your hands. "Upstairs?" Meredith asks, breathing just as heavily as you are.
You consider this for a moment before shaking your head. Just like the elevator, where you've both shared countless memories, good and bad, the couch holds significance for you as well. When you had first met, you both had been so captivated, so mesmerized with each other, you hadn't even made it up to the privacy of Meredith's bedroom.
You don't have time to say anything when Meredith wraps her legs over yours possessively. "You're mine," you hear her whisper softly and had you not been so in tune with her voice, you would have missed it entirely.
You think of the million things you could say to her in this moment. "I've always been yours," you say. When you think about it, through the ex wife, the nurse, the this and the that, you realize that it's true. A hundred people could come and go but you know that the minute you saw Meredith, your heart has always and will always belong to her.
In fear of being kicked onto the floor again, you and Meredith have gone upstairs and collapsed onto bed for round two. And round three. The bottle of champagne made the trip upstairs with you and you continue passing it back and forth until it's empty.
"I want you here," Meredith says to you softly. "I know it seems like I don't want you here sometimes, but I do, Derek. I've never wanted you to leave."
It takes you a while before you realize what her comment is in reference to. "I'm sorry," you say immediately. "I didn't mean what I said."
"I know you didn't," she says softly. "I know."
You shake your head and wrap your arms around her more tightly. You don't understand, even in your drunken haze, how you've could have said something so hurtful, so targeting and so untrue to the only person who's had faith in you through all of this. "I'm sorry," you repeat again. "You didn't deserve any of that, even if I was drunk and I'm sorry."
"Derek," she says more forcefully. "I know you didn't mean it. It's already forgotten. It's done." Meredith pauses, biting her lip and your hands move to her hair. It runs through your fingers like silk and the scent of lavender when your hands weave through the strands is completely intoxicating. "Do you want to move back in? I know you're still-"
"I want to move back in," you say. "I shouldn't have moved out in the first place. It was stupid and childish of me to move out." Against your chest, you can feel Meredith smiling. "I want to be where you are, Mer. Wherever you are, I want to be with you."
Meredith turns so that she's looking at you. "So what do we do now? Do we plan a wedding or start building a house? Although for a house you need plans but you've got those, right? Or do we-"
"Mer," you cut off again. "We can do whatever you want. Whatever you feel comfortable with."
"I want this, Derek," she says suddenly. "When you told me you want kids and a house and lifetime, I wasn't ready. But I am now. I want all those things. I want them with you."
When she says this, you can't resist kissing her. You capture her lips between yours and roll so that your body is covering hers. Round four, you think. "Okay," you whisper to her. "Here's to our house, our kids, our future and our lifetime."
Meredith's arm comes slowly around your neck, pulling you down so that your lips are pressed firmly on hers. "Here's to our house, our kids, our future and our lifetime," Meredith repeats softly. "And here's to us."
A/N- I hope you liked it! This really wrote itself but I really hope it didn't ruin the wonderful proposal in Elevator Love Letter. There were a couple things I wanted to address in this, how Derek found the ring again, him apologizing for everything that he said, if he gave her the ring and I hope that came off okay. Thanks so much for reading and really. Here's to Meredith and Derek and a lifetime of happiness.