A/N: So, the next two chapters are very fluffy. The purpose is really to show time passing and set the scene for the next major plot. Think of it as the calm before the storm. I'm also trying something different with the next two chapters. I usually tell the story from Meredith or Derek's point of view, but at the end of this chapter and the next one, they will be told from other character's points of view. For example, at the end of this chapter, we'll see Meredith and Derek through the eyes of Cristina. I thought it would be interesting, and I hope you don't find it too weird. And I know these chapters don't have a whole lot plot or conflict, but I would still appreciate reviews and feedback, it let's me know that you're enjoying the story and people are still interested. Finally, thank you to those who do review, it's good to know that people actually enjoy my work. Alright, enough of my rambling, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 25

July

Meredith Grey was exhausted. She hadn't thought that taking classes over the summer would be that much different than taking classes during the school year, but apparently she had been wrong. Then again, during school, she only worked at the hospital about fifteen hours a week so she could concentrate on all of her work, but this summer was different. She had given the hospital her availability before she had spoken to the Dean at Columbia in order to take off enough time for her wedding and honeymoon, and had been completely blindsided by the Dean's offer to graduate early. Though the Human Resource Department at the hospital had been supportive of her, they really needed the help, so they could not cut her hours down by all that much. So, Meredith spent about ten hours a week at Columbia taking classes, and close to thirty working at the hospital. Then, there was all of the homework and studying Meredith had to do that was weighing down on her. She wasn't a hundred percent sure how she was going to be able to survive another seven weeks of this.

Meredith just had to finish monitoring her patients, and then she could go home. She began to plan out what she would do; it was Saturday, thank God. She finished at three, and it would take a maximum of a half an hour to get home, so she figured she could take a nap until four thirty. Then, she could do a couple hours of homework before Derek got home at seven, if he wasn't on-call that is. She didn't even know his schedule. She had been so caught up in everything going on with her that she usually forgot to ask when he would be home or when his shift started; she was always surprised when she saw him at the apartment, pleasantly surprised. However, Meredith was starting to feel like a bad wife, and was trying to figure out how to be more attentive as she passed the nurses' station on the geriatrics floor.

"Ms. Grey?" Someone called, and Meredith whipped around, not expecting to be pulled from her thoughts. It was Jeanne, one of the senior nurses. She was in her mid-fifties, with short brown hair streaked with grey. She was always very friendly to Meredith, and never treated her like a second rate employee like some of the other nurses just because she was an LNA instead a real certified nurse.

"Hi Jeanne," Meredith said, veering back towards the nurses station. "What's up?"

"You've been paged to the lobby," Jeanne said, smiling back at Meredith.

"Oh," Meredith said, surprised. "Really?" Meredith had been working at NYU Medical Center for almost two years and she had never once been paged anywhere. Granted, she wasn't important enough to deserve a page, so she was very confused as to why she would be paged, especially to the lobby of all places.

"Yes, whoever wants to speak with you will meet you in the lobby."

"Is it a 911 or emergency?" Meredith asked. "Because it's almost two thirty, and Mr. Morton needs to be checked at exactly two thirty and receive his meds or he'll complain. Can I go check on him really quick, answer the page, and then come back to finish with the patients?"

"Yes, I'm sure that will be fine," Jeanne responded. "The page wasn't emergent."

"Thanks," Meredith smiled before heading to room 2212, where Mr. Morton was expecting her. Truth be told, he was one of her favorite patients. He was seventy-six years old, which sometimes caused him to be in and out of the hospital a lot. Right before Meredith and Derek's wedding, he had fallen down the stairs, breaking both his hip and his arm, and his doctor recommended a minimum eight week stay for recovery since he had already broken his hip a couple of years beforehand. She was his nurse for the week before her wedding, but unfortunately hadn't been able to round on him since. She knocked as she entered his private room, and he smiled when he caught sight of her.

"Well Ms. Grey," he said happily. "Don't you look wonderful."

"Thank you Mr. Morton," Meredith responded. "And call me Meredith. You're looking much better yourself."

"The doctor says I'm still going to be stuck here for a few more weeks. I don't know what I'm going to with myself; I'm bored stiff."

"Well, I may try and come visit you more if you think it'll help you from being bored," Meredith joked as she checked his vitals before handing him two white pills and a glass of water.

"I would love it if you came to visit, but only if you have time," Mr. Morton. "Look at you, you have a lovely tan. Did you go on vacation recently?"

"Yes, I went to the south of France for two weeks, right on the Mediterranean," Meredith told him. "I went for my honeymoon. We got back about three weeks ago, and I'm glad my tan hasn't faded yet; I don't see enough sunlight anymore."

"Oh you got married! That's lovely Meredith, congratulations!"

"Thank you," Meredith smiled, recalling the wedding and the honeymoon. "It was perfect, that and our trip to Europe were the best two weeks of my life."

"You look very happy," Mr. Morton noted. "Now, what does your husband do?"

"He works here actually. He's a doctor, well, a surgical fellow now."

"Did you two meet here at work?"

"Um, no," Meredith said, blushing slightly. "We actually met in a bar."

"Hey, at least it worked out for you," Mr. Morton laughed. "So, how do I look?"

"Everything look's great Mr. Morton," Meredith answered. "They say on your chart that they're going to have you start going to PT by the end of this week, so at least you'll be up and moving soon."

"Good, I'm glad. I'm sick of being stuck in this darn hospital bed."

"I'm sure you are," Meredith laughed, heading for the door. "If you'll excuse me Mr. Morton, I have to go answer a page. I'll come visit soon."

"You better!" Mr. Morton called after her retreating back.

Meredith walked quickly down the hallway and took the elevator to the lobby. She went to the front desk, and began speaking when the secretary looked up at her.

"Hi, I'm Meredith Grey. I was paged to the lobby, but I'm not sure who paged me or why."

"Hold on one second Ms. Grey," the secretary said, flipping through various notes. Finally, she seemed to find what she was looking for. "Alright, it seems that Doctor Shepherd paged you." both Meredith and the secretary turned towards the waiting room, and Meredith caught sight of Derek almost immediately.

"Oh, he's right over there in the blue shirt," the secretary said, though Meredith had already started moving away.

"Thank you," Meredith said, turning her head to look at the woman before heading towards Derek. When he caught sight of her, he stood up, grinning like an idiot.

"Hey, you paged?" Meredith said as she approached.

"Yeah, I like to say hello to my wife every forty-eight hours," Derek responded as he bent down to kiss her. "Sorry I didn't come home last night."

"You didn't?" Meredith said. "Sorry, I honestly didn't notice. I was exhausted, so I went to bed at like eight and figured you had a late shift, and I knew you said something about having an early morning today, so I wasn't surprised when you weren't at home when I woke up."

"Don't worry about it. I was supposed to get off at seven but there was a three car accident and I was in surgery with a guy for almost six hours. By the time I was done, it was one am and I needed to be back here for a craniotomy at seven, so I crashed in an on call room."

"Oh, I see," Meredith said. She felt guilty that she hadn't been spending a lot of time with Derek, and she really missed her husband. "Well, uh, are you going to come home early tonight, because we could order in and spend quality time together?"

"Yeah, I'll be there," Derek answered. "What's the rest of your day like?"

"I just have to finish checking up on patients, then I'm going to go home and take a nap and do homework until you get home. God, this is exhausting. I feel like I'm always running around."

He looked at her sympathetically, and for a moment, they allowed themselves to get lost in each other's gaze, despite the crowded lobby. However, the moment ended quickly once Meredith remembered that she still needed to check on three patients before she could go home.

"I have to go, I need to monitor three more patients," she said, smiling quickly.

"I hate that we're so busy," Derek said, walking to the elevator with her. "I'm doing paperwork for the rest of the afternoon because the chief asked me to do post op notes on a VIP patient. That's all I have to look forward to, the work of an intern.

"Derek," Meredith began, smiling seductively. "There's going to be a lot of dirty sex for you tonight, look forward to that." With that, she walked away from him. When she was about five feet away, she heard Derek moan appreciatively, and she couldn't wait for tonight.

August

Derek sighed heavily as he entered his building; it had been a long couple of months. Settling into his fellowship had been more tricky than he had originally anticipated, and with Meredith trying to catch up or get ahead with medical school and working so many hours at the hospital, he was starting to feel strained. He missed spending quality time with Meredith; they had been running around ever since they got back from France, and he just wanted some time to relax with her. That's why, earlier at work, an idea had popped into his head, one he hadn't been able to shake since. And now he was going to see if his plan would work.

He was rounding the corner towards the elevators when he saw a wave of blonde hair up ahead. Meredith. He could tell by the way she walked, not necessarily a strut, but her hips swayed in the most sensual way that never failed to turn him on. She must have just come downstairs to grab the mail or something, watching her as she sifted through several envelopes in front of closed elevator doors. She was about ten feet away from him, and heading into an elevator that had just opened. Derek quickened his pace, hoping to make it before the doors slid shut.

She smiled at him as he stuck his hand out to prevent the door from closing, her face a mixture of surprise and amusement.

"Do you want to go away with me this weekend?" Derek said as he moved to stand next to her, not bothering with a greeting.

"Why would I want to go away with you?" Meredith asked, half joking.

"Because of this," Derek answered, leaning towards her to draw her mouth into a kiss. He kissed her twice before pulling away.

"We just got married, and came back from our honeymoon two months ago. Recently honeymooned people have no reason to go away together," Meredith countered, making a small gesture with her hand as she looked him up and down.

"Meredith, you're not paying attention," Derek said, trying to make her understand. "I'm talking about forty-eight uninterrupted hours of this." He kissed her again, dragging her lips with his as she gave into him, and he couldn't help but hope he had her convinced.

"Where would we go?" Meredith asked when they broke apart briefly.

"Wine country," he answered, kissing her again.

"Wine country sounds like a honeymoon place. Plus it's on the other side of the country," Meredith said, studying him again with a slight smirk.

"Well, there's wine and there's country but we wouldn't have to see any of it," he kissed her again. "We could be in bed all weekend." Another kiss, Derek moaned a little, becoming frustrated that his plan may not be working.

"Oh, a weekend of sex," Meredith responded, realization crossing her features.

"Ah! Now you're paying attention," he joked, touching her cheek lightly. Meredith grinned at him, and Derek's face lost its joking manner. "But seriously Meredith, it wouldn't just be a weekend of sex. It would be a week of us doing couple things, spending quality time together. When was the last time we did that? Plus, next weekend is Labor Day, so it's a long weekend; we can fly out Friday morning, and come back Monday night."

"Well, I would have to get someone to cover for me on Saturday," Meredith said, thinking quickly. "Oh, and can we visit Cristina since she's out in there at Stanford? Not for the whole weekend because you want alone time, but maybe just one day?"

"Sure," Derek answered as they reached their floor and the elevator door slid open. "So you're in?"

Meredith stepped out of the elevator, but Derek had seemed to have forgotten that this was his destination two. Meredith turned around, smiling at him. "Forty-eight uninterrupted hours of this?" she asked, and Derek's smile grew wider. "I'm in."

With that, she continued down the hallway, leaving Derek in the elevator grinning like an idiot until he realized that he was supposed to follow after Meredith, and took off after her at a run while she laughed at him.

XXXXXX

September

"Did you talk to Cristina about Monday?" Derek asked as Meredith entered the winery and walked towards him, putting her phone back in her purse.

"Yeah," Meredith answered as Derek handed her the ticket for the vineyard tour. "We're to be at her apartment at ten on Monday morning, and she'll show us around and stuff, and then we can grab a late lunch or early dinner before heading to the airport. She said she can't spend all day with us because she has an exam coming up, and she doesn't want coupleness to make her so ill that she can't study." Meredith laughed as she finished speaking, and Derek just kissed her cheek.

"I like our 'coupleness'" Derek said, placing air quotes around Meredith's made up word.

"Oh shut up!" Meredith laughed, hitting him before turning her attention to the tour guide.

The tour lasted about an hour, and at the end, the vineyard offered various wine samples for the visitors to try. Derek slowly savored one while Meredith drank her first glass of red wine very quickly, soon reaching for a second.

"Meredith," Derek half-groaned. "You shouldn't have drunk that so quickly."

"Why not?" Meredith snapped, now halfway done with her second glass of wine. "It's free, I'm just trying to get my money's worth."

"I understand that," Derek responded, trying to stifle a laugh at Meredith's logic. "But we still have three more vineyards to see on today's tour, and you can't drink this much wine at each one. I don't think the other people on out tour or the family that owns the vineyard will appreciate it if I have to carry you out of it."

"Derek I'll be fine," Meredith rolled her eyes and reached for a third glass, this one rosé. "Oh, this one is delicious; we should buy a bottle of this!"

Derek shook his head as he grabbed one of the bottle behind the sample plate and made his way towards the register, not seeing Meredith grab a fourth glass of wine.

XXXXXX

"I had a grrreeat time today!" Meredith exclaimed as she stumbled into their hotel, Derek holding on to her waist to support her.

"I'm sure you did," Derek said, trying to steer her to the elevator, which was proving surprisingly difficult considering how tiny she was.

"I made it through all of the tours and I'm not even drunk," Meredith said, swinging her arms in a gesture that was supposed to emphasize her point, but actually made her look more drunk.

"Actually," Derek began gently. "We didn't make it to the last tour. We were supposed to go to one at four, and we missed it." It was actually four-thirty in the afternoon, and Derek was a little annoyed that they missed this tour; it was one that he had really wanted to go on. They allowed you to take the trail on horseback if you paid an extra fee, and he had been really looking forward to surprising Meredith with it. However, she seemed to have had more wine than he realized, which consequently led to Meredith and Derek taking a taxi back to the hotel rather than joining the rest of their tour bus to the next stop. Derek was at least grateful that he had purchases a special package, so they could go to that particular winery on their own tomorrow, if Meredith wasn't too hung over.

"I'm sorry, are you mad at me or something?" Meredith asked, looking up at Derek and pouting. Derek could never stay mad at Meredith when she pouted, and any bitterness that he felt bled away as the elevator opened onto their floor and they walked towards their room.

"No Mer, I'm not mad," Derek assured her. "We'll go tomorrow if you feel up to it okay?"

"Why wouldn't I feel up to it?" Meredith asked as he slid his key car and opened the door, looking very confused. "I told you, I'm feeling great, are you expecting me to get sick?"

"No Meredith," Derek stuttered, trying to figure out the right thing to say. "It's just… it's just that you've had a lot to drink."

"What! I have not!" Meredith insisted, slapping his chest. "I am perfectly fine. And sober. Fine and sober." She continued muttering to herself as she wandered into the bathroom, and Derek couldn't help but laugh at her. He tried to think of what to do tonight; he had planned on taking Meredith out to dinner, but Meredith's new found gluttony for wine now made her too much of a risk to take out in public for the remainder of the evening. He supposed that they could get room service, maybe open up one of the bottles of wine he and Meredith had bought on their tours, though she really didn't need anymore.

The bathroom door opened, and Derek looked up, his eyes widening as he took Meredith in. Apparently, she had decided that clothes were overrated, and was now standing in front of him in nothing more than her bra and underwear. She wore a seductive smile, and slowly moved towards him. He stood to catch her in case she fell, and she pressed her body against his, grabbing his face and pulling it down to meet her lips. They kissed deeply for a few minutes, Meredith's tongue darting in and out of his mouth, causing a low moan from deep within him. Her hands left his face, and he thought nothing of it until Derek felt his shirt fall over his shoulders and become trapped on his arms, which were extended to grip Meredith's waist. She must have unbuttoned his shirt, and was now working on his pants, Derek realized as they broke apart for air.

"You know," Meredith whispered, panting a little, her lips millimeters away from his. "Alcohol has a tendency to make me kind of horny."

Derek smiled at that. "I do have some very fond memories of drunk Meredith," Derek mused as she kissed him again, biting his lower lip.

"Take me for a ride Derek," she said in a soft voice, her hands once again straying to his belt to take his pants off.

"Gladly," Derek responded, kicking his pants off and pulling her onto the bed with him.

XXXXXX

Cristina's Point of View

They were going to make her sick. She should be used to this by now; all of the cuddling, and touching and kissing and "I love yous," but apparently she wasn't. Or maybe, because she wasn't around them all of the time anymore, her tolerance had been lowered, and now she didn't have enough strength to deal with it in small amounts. But, when she really thought about it, deep down, Cristina was glad that they came. She really missed Meredith, missed her person, and had wanted to see her. Even if that did mean that McDreamy had to come to, then she would deal.

Despite what everyone may say, Cristina didn't hate Derek. He just wasn't her type. He was very romantic and corny and cheesy, and Cristina was the exact opposite. He seemed much more like Izzie's type of guy, which may explain why Izzie and Derek got along so well while Derek and Cristina seemed to still be only sort of friends, despite the fact that they had known each other for five years, and were both very close to Meredith. Meredith had always been similar to Cristina when it came to being romantic, but for some reason, she claimed that Derek wasn't as cheesy as he may seem, and Meredith had fallen very much in love with him. Derek made Meredith very happy, and Cristina could see that, so she often overlooked all of the romantic and corny things Derek did in order to support Meredith and found that, if you got through all of that, she liked Derek Shepherd as a person.

Except right now the two of them were making her sick.

She was sitting across from them in a booth at a local restaurant for lunch, and everything had gone fine all morning, but halfway through lunch, Derek had placed his arm around Meredith's shoulder, which caused Meredith to scoot closer to him, and eventually lean up against him, basically sitting in his lap. Derek's head rested against Meredith's forehead, and his fingers absentmindedly pulled through her hair. Now they kept giving each other secret "I love you" looks, and Derek kept kissing Meredith's head, making Cristina want to throw a fork or a knife at the two of them.

"So, what time is your flight again?" Cristina asked, trying to pull Meredith and Derek into a conversation that actually involved words.

"Um, seven," Meredith answered, turning to look back at Derek, a dopey grin spreading across her lips. Derek smiled back just as dopey, and made Cristina want to scream.

"Yeah, well it's three thirty, we should think about leaving soon so you can get to the airport in enough time," she said pointedly, and Meredith and Derek turned to face her again.

"Good idea," Derek said, pushing his chair back and standing up. "I'm going to use the bathroom, I'll be right back."

Meredith smiled at him and nodded as he turned towards the back of the restaurant. Cristina waited until Derek was far enough away before turning back to Meredith.

"I hate married happy you," Cristina snapped, and Meredith's eyes widened in shock.

"What do you mean?" Meredith asked, not understanding.

"Oh please, I've been watching the eye sex between you two for the past hour, and it makes me want to mcvomit. Can't you tone it down a little when I'm around?"

"Sorry Cristina," Meredith said, sounding genuine. "Derek and I just haven't spent a lot of time together this summer with our schedules, and we're still on a forty-eight uninterrupted hours high. We didn't mean to gross you out or make you feel awkward."

"Whatever," Cristina answered.

"So, how's Doctor Marlow?"

"He's fine," Cristina answered, admittedly a little embarrassed that she was sleeping with her professor, her much older professor. "The research is going well, and I'm helping him write a journal article on piggy back transplant surgeries."

"That's still so weird that you're sleeping with him," Meredith grimaced as she spoke. "He's your teacher."

"Well, what do you think it's going to be like in two years when you start your internship?" Cristina shot back. "Derek is not only going to be your teacher, he'll also be one of your bosses. How do you think your other interns will handle that?"

"I'm not going to worry about that," Meredith shook her head smiling. "Who cares what my future fellow interns think? Derek and I will have been married for two years, and together for seven, so they really can't say anything. That's what I'm telling myself anyway, the power of positive thinking and all that."

Cristina gave her person a small smile, but shook her head. "Like I said, I hate married, happy you."