Derek was exhausted.

As he stood beside his wife outside the hospital, her hand gripping his tightly, he knew that he was going to have a long week. He hadn't been nearly as close to the deceased as Meredith had been, he had been extremely fond of George, and even though Izzie's perkiness had gotten on his nerves after extended amounts of time, she had been a good person. He was incredibly sad for what he was about to face, and he knew that Meredith was going to need him. So he was exhausted, not only in anticipation of the exhausting week ahead of him, but also from the night before. He had been more than happy to stay up all night with Meredith to comfort her and assure her that they could be happy. And Meredith had also apparently been using sex as a way to hide from reality. He'd nearly lost count of the number of times she'd wrapped her legs around his waist and begged him to make love to her, to help her forget.

"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath, squeezing his hand tighter in her own. "I'm ready. I think."

"Okay," Derek said, reassuring her hand squeeze and gently leading her through the doors he had walked thousands of times before.

They entered the lobby, and Derek was astounded at how…normal everything looked. Families were gathered in the chairs, flipping through magazines as they waited for news of their loved ones. The coffee cart was up and running, a line of tired doctors and nurses patiently waiting their turn to order a cup of energy. The hustle and bustle of the hospital was completely normal, just as it had been every other day, as if nothing had happened.

He knew it wasn't unordinary. People died in this hospital every day. Several people died here every day. But as Meredith inhaled deeply and shifted to wrap her arms around his waist, he knew that she was thinking the same thing.

It wasn't every day that two of your best friends died in the place you worked.

"I can't…" she started to whisper, but was interrupted by the sound of someone calling her name.

"Meredith!" Lexie cried as she walked towards them, Mark trailing behind her.

"Lexie," Meredith whispered.

Lexie stopped in front of them for a moment before the two sisters reached for each other to hug, probably for the first time. "Mer, I'm so sorry," Lexie whispered, and Derek stepped back, allowing the Grey sisters as much privacy as they could receive.

"Hey, Derek," Mark sighed, and Derek turned to look at the man he had considered a brother for as long as he could remember.

"Hey," Derek sighed as he leaned against the wall.

"How's big Grey holding up?"

"She's…okay," Derek sighed. "I took her to the trailer, she hasn't really dealt with anything yet."

"Lex was pretty upset," Mark nodded. "We were in this huge fight, but then she came to me, and…it all seemed so stupid now."

"Hmm," Derek sighed. "I wish I knew what I could do to help her."

"Me too," Mark sighed. "Lexie…she wasn't even really friends with them. Unless you count that whole weird thing with O'Malley. But Big Grey…she's got to be taking it hard."

"She doesn't know what to do," Derek shook his head.

Mark paused for a moment before he stated, "I heard a rumor that the two of you finally tied the knot."

Derek found himself unable to stop the smile that spread across his face at the thought of the stolen perfect moment that had been his wedding. "We did," he nodded. "It's kind of been overshadowed, but…we're happy about that."

Mark nodded as he looked at the Grey girls, still engaged in a quiet conversation a few feet away. "Lexie said she'd move in with me," he murmured.

Normally Derek would have taken that opportunity to mock his best friend, remind him that his girlfriend couldn't move in with him if he didn't have a house. But today, he didn't have the energy. And it didn't seem appropriate.

"That's great, Mark," he said.

"I just hope she didn't agree to it because she's afraid," Mark said, his eyes trained on Lexie. "She's young. Hasn't really had to deal with this."

"Susan died last year," Derek reminded him gently. "Trust me, she knows how to deal with this."

Before Mark could respond, Meredith turned back to him. "Derek," she said. "We should…Alex is refusing to leave Izzie's room. We need to help him."

Derek sighed, wondering how exactly he was supposed to convince a newly married man to move on from his wife. Alex's question from the day before flashed through his mind, and a sudden stab of pain moved through his body.

What if it was Meredith?

He reached out to grip her hand tightly, as if trying to convince himself that it hadn't been Meredith, that his wife was still alive and breathing in his arms. If it had been Meredith…he would probably have downed a couple bottles of scotch by this point.

He shuddered at the thought of life without Meredith.

"Derek," she whispered, tugging on his hand. "Are you okay?"

"As okay as I can be," he said, turning to look at Mark and Lexie. "We'll um…we'll see you two later."

"Call me if you need anything, Mer," Lexie said as she leaned into Mark's strong arms.

"Thanks," Meredith said as she led Derek towards the elevators.

He pushed the button and leaned against the wall, waiting for the doors to slide open. As he looked at Meredith, however, her wide, terrified eyes told him something was wrong. "What is it?" he asked.

"We got engaged in this elevator," she whispered.

"We did," Derek said with a small smile. "Best moment of my life. Until our wedding."

"Can we take the stairs?" Meredith asked. "I don't…we love elevators. And I can't be there, thinking about engagements and amazing elevator sex, and…I just can't."

"Okay," he said, moving her towards the stairs. "Let's go."

They moved silently up the stairs, ignoring the stares of various nurses and doctors. The sudden appearance of the rings on their fingers obviously hadn't gone unnoticed, and that combined with the deaths of two their closest friends put them in the spotlight for the Seattle Grace Gossip show.

As they moved closer to what had been Izzie's room, Meredith head her best friend's voice, demanding and stubborn as usual.

"It doesn't matter, he can't stay in that room forever."

"He needs time to grieve," Owen's voice replied, calmer but just as stubborn.

"I'm not saying he can't grieve," Christina argued. "But he's not even grieving. He's stuck in time."

"Christina," Owen's voice dropped in volume, and Meredith could only hear soft murmurs that could not be translated into actual words.

As soon as Christina looked over to see Meredith and Derek, she turned from Owen and moved towards them. "Mer," she said. "We have to do something. It's…well, it's you me and Alex now."

Meredith nodded mutely, turning to Derek.

"Go ahead," he whispered, releasing her hand. "I'll wait here."

Meredith stared at him for a moment before she surprised him by standing on her tip toes to wrap her arms tightly around his neck, burying her face in his neck. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too," he whispered, squeezing her back tightly.

Meredith pulled back, following Christina into the room that Alex had blockaded himself in. He nodded to Owen, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Meredith sit down beside the bed, gently pulling the covers back over Alex and say something to him. Christina settled herself beside Meredith, uncharacteristically reaching out to take Alex's hand.

"Meredith looks like she's holding up well," Owen observed.

"As well as can be expected," Derek sighed. "Christina's…being nice."

"She's growing," Owen nodded. "She's not exactly good with emotions, I'm not sure how she's going to handle this."

"She looks like she's doing okay," Derek nodded.

"Derek," Meredith's soft voice called him out from the doorway, and he turned to look at her.

"Yeah?" he asked, stepping forward to take her hand.

"Alex…he needs to shower, get out of these clothes," she said softly. "Do you have a change of clothes in your office?"

"Yes," Derek said. "I'll go get them. Do you want to come?"

Meredith bit her lower lip as she glanced back into the room, obviously torn between helping Alex and staying with her husband.

"Go with him," Owen nodded, stepping towards the door. "I'll stay with them."

"Thank you," Meredith sighed as she laced her fingers through Derek, resting her head on his shoulder. They walked in silence for a moment before she whispered, "He doesn't want to leave her bed because it smells like her."

Derek squeezed her hand, unable to think of anything to say to comfort her.

"I don't know what to do, Derek," she whispered, tears filling her eyes. "I don't know how to handle it."

"I know," he sighed, stopping to wrap an arm around her.

"I'm supposed to convince him to leave her room," she whispered. "To go where? Back to our house, where Izzie's stuff is still everywhere? I can't even do that, so how am I supposed to make him do it?"

"You can't," Derek shook his head. "You got him out of bed. He has to do the rest."

"I got him out of bed," she nodded. "Just like I got Izzie off the bathroom floor."

"Hmm?" Derek frowned, obviously not getting her metaphor.

"After prom," Meredith whispered, her face automatically heating at the thought of that night. "Izzie refused to get off the bathroom floor all day, she was so upset over Denny."

"Oh," Derek nodded. They hadn't been together at that point, and she'd never really thought to tell him when they had finally figured things out.

"So I just leave him alone?" Meredith asked.

"You help with what you can," Derek nodded. "But there's a lot of this that he has to himself."

"Meredith," a voice said from behind them. "Dr. Shepherd."

"Dr. Bailey," Meredith breathed as she turned to look at her chief resident. "How are you?"

"About the same as the rest of you," Bailey sighed. "Mrs. O'Malley is here, she has some questions."

"Oh," Derek said, his hand tightening around Meredith's. He had been in charge of George's surgery, he would be the attending for the family to talk to if there were questions. "Mer, I have to…"

"Not for you," Bailey said. "For Meredith."

"Me?" Meredith asked. "But I didn't…I was there, but I held his hand. I didn't cut, I wasn't even really aware of what was going on in the OR."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that," Bailey said. "She's downstairs in a conference room."

"Okay," Meredith nodded. "But I told Alex I'd help him."

"I'll take care of Alex," Derek said, kissing the top of Meredith's head. "Go talk to Mrs. O'Malley."

Meredith nodded, squeezing his hand one more time before she followed Bailey towards the stairs.

Derek leaned against the wall for a moment, taking a deep breath to gain strength for the rest of the day. He wasn't sure how to do this but he had to figure it out. For Meredith, he had to figure it out.

XXXXX

"Derek?" Meredith's voice said softly as she poked her head into his office an hour later.

"Hey," he sighed. "How are you?"

"I talked to George's mom," she said as she came into the room, not hesitating to plop herself into his lap and wrap her arms around his neck. "She's so upset."

"Understandably so," Derek nodded.

"How's Alex?" Meredith whispered.

"Christina and Owen took him home," he sighed. "Apparently that's what he wanted."

"Oh," Meredith said, reaching out to fist his shirt in her hands. "That's good."

"It is," he nodded.

"I saw Lexie," Meredith whispered. "She said that I need family right now."

"You need whatever you need," Derek sighed. "Don't let her tell you what you need."

"I'm not," Meredith shook her head. "She's my sister, Derek."

"I know."

"So we should do something," Meredith said. "I'm her big sister, aren't I supposed to comfort her or something?"

"You're supposed to comfort each other," Derek nodded. "That's what sisters are there for."

As if on cue, the door pushed open again and Mark entered, Lexie clutching his hand tightly. "We thought you two might want some company," Mark said.

"We can leave if you want," Lexie whispered. "But…we're family. Right?"

Derek looked to Meredith, waiting for her to decide. "Yeah," she said, not moving off of Derek's lap. "We're family."

"A very weird family," Mark said, attempting a joke as he collapsed onto the couch opposite the door, Lexie following suit.

"No one ever thought we would end up with sisters," Derek said as he ran a hand over Meredith's hair.

"I'd be surprised if people actually expected Mark to end up with anyone," Meredith giggled slightly.

"Hey," Mark frowned. "You better be nice to me. I'm the godfather of your future children."

"Says who?"

"Derek."

"Derek didn't consult me about this," Meredith teased, turning to raise her eyebrows at him.

"We made a pact in high school," Derek shrugged. "Way before I knew you."

"Still," Meredith shrugged. "Aren't you supposed to consult the mother of your children before you make these kinds of decisions?"

Derek felt his heart swell as she referred to herself as the mother of his children. "Well, it's a moot point," he shrugged.

"Why?" Meredith asked.

"Considering the fact that we don't have children…we don't need to worry about this right now," Derek nodded.

"You just don't want to admit you're wrong," Meredith giggled.

"I'm not sure why I put up with you," Derek sighed.

"You love me," Meredith reminded him.

"Right," Derek nodded.

"The day after the wedding and you already need a reminder," Mark smirked. "Way to go, Shep."

"I don't need a reminder," Derek shook his head, smiling up at Meredith. "I just like getting them."

"That's so cute," Lexie said as she reached for Mark's hand.

"Don't get any ideas," Mark rolled his eyes. "I'm a man. Unlike Shep here."

"I'm more of a man than you are," Derek nodded firmly.

"Says who?"

"Me."

"Doesn't count."

"And Mer."

Meredith smiled as she leaned into him. "He's right," she nodded. "He's definitely all man."

"Things I don't need to know," Mark winced.

Derek sighed as he leaned his chin against her shoulder a hand running over her back. They were hiding again. Shut in his office with his best friend and her sister, they were definitely hiding from the world again. There was a definite sadness in the air. Lexie's eyes were still wide with disbelief, Mark's usually cocky personality was deflated, and his wife's newly happy personality was overshadowed by a cloud of sadness. They were all grieving, but it was okay that they were hiding for a little while.

"We should…do something," Lexie said suddenly. "I know it's a really bad day and completely inappropriate, but we should go to Joe's or dinner. Honor them."

"We can do that," Mark nodded, turning to look at the couple behind the desk. "What do you think? You two in?"

Derek smiled as he looked at Meredith for a moment before nodding. "Yeah," he said. "We're in.