Venice, Italy 2018 – March
"Enjoying yourself?" I ask Mer, coming up behind her on the balcony and slipping my arms around her slender waist.
"More than you know." She tells me, spinning around to face me.
"I love you." I tell her, lightly kissing her. It has been a little more than a year since I met my children and Meredith became part of my life again. It's been eleven months since Meredith woke up from her two-month coma and never looked back. We decided that night to talk it all out, and then let it go. And from that moment on, we have. I don't think I've ever been happier, and I don't think she has either. I love her and the girls so much. Just when I think I can't love them anymore, we start another day and I find a hundred new reasons to love them even more. It was a month ago, on Valentine's Day, that my girls turned eleven. It was the same day I gave Mer her Valentine's Day present, a week in Venice, just us.
"Go get dressed," I tell her, dropping a kiss on her forehead. "There's somewhere I want to take you."
"I can't go like this?" she asks innocently, gesturing to the sheet she has wrapped around her.
"Well," I say to her, "I wouldn't mind…but everyone else on the street might have something to say about it. And I'd be insanely jealous."
"Jealous, huh?" She says, leaning into me.
"Crazy jealous," I respond, sliding my hands inside the sheet and running them on her bare skin.
"Good." She says, looking up at me, eyes shinning. "Ok, shower time." She tells me, wiggling out from between the railing and me.
"Ugh…you're evil." I say to her, flashing a smile.
"I'll make up for it later." She tells me, giving me her infamous smirk before turning and heading into the bathroom.
I take a deep breath and walk over to my suitcase, knowing it's safe now, she'll be a while getting ready. I pull a small box out of the suitcase and open it. I've had the ring for two months now, and looking at it still takes my breath away. I look at it again now, platinum, one center stone, flanked by two heart shaped diamonds, the exact ring she designed years ago on the Internet, major points to Izzie for filling me in on that one. It's small, but it's perfectly Meredith. Anything bigger would have been more than she would have wanted.
I slip on my suit jacket and drop the ring box into my pocket and sit on the bed. I glance out the window, noticing we'll be right on time. I leave a note on the bed asking her to meet me in the lobby and leave to put my plan into action.
Nervously, more nervous than I ever thought I'd be, I take the elevator down to the lobby and pick up the rose I left with the concierge earlier. Then I sit and wait.
Ten minutes later, all the planning and all the nerves and all the sneaking become totally worth it as Meredith walks down the stairs to meet me. One look at her and I can't move, I can barely breathe. She took my breath away the night she came down the hospital stairs after prom and walked away with Finn, and eleven years later, she still takes my breath away walking towards me in the hotel.
I'm so transfixed by her that I don't notice the other heads in the hotel turning as she walks towards me. God, she's gorgeous, clad in a full-length evening gown, black, with a low V-neck, and a slit up the back. She let her hair hang loosely, which I noticed she does more often now that I've told her I love running my hands through it. It framed her face and flowed freely down her back. This is a memory I will hang onto for a long time.
"Ms. Grey," I say to her, handing her the rose. She smiles at me, I smile back, take her arm and lead her out the door. For a few minutes, we walk in silence, enjoying each other's company and the time we have alone.
"Where are we going?" She asks, breaking the silence.
"Just relax," I tell her. She just looks at me, eyes sparkling. God I love her. God I hope she says yes. I continue escorting her down the road to the stone path by the river.
"You look beautiful tonight," I tell her, pulling her in for a kiss.
"Thank you." She replies, kissing me again. "You don't look so bad yourself."
"Come on," I say, placing a hand in the small of her back, leading her a little further down to where I have a bottle of wine waiting. A few more steps, and we arrive in front of the wine and glasses I had set up earlier. I nod my head in thanks to the vendor I had keeping an eye on it for me.
"Derek, what the…" she asks, voice trailing off.
"Look this way," I say to her, while turning her to face the river and the gondolas, shining in the golden evening sun. "I couldn't find ferryboats in Venice, so gondolas will have to suffice." I say to her.
"Derek, it's…it's beautiful…" she gasped. I pulled the ring out and dropped down on one knee before she turned back around to face me. Once she did, there was a second gasp. I looked up and my eyes met grey ones, full of unshed tears.
I begin, just as the sun began its descent over the Venetian Canals, illuminating the sky and the water with magnificent colors, "Mer, will you marry me?" I ask, short, sweet, and simple. Because she already knows, she already knows I love her more than life itself and that I'd do anything for her.
"I love you." She says, joining me on the ground and throwing her arms around me. "I love you," she says again, kissing me.
"Is that a yes?" I ask her.
"God, that's a yes." She replies.
I take the ring out of the box and slide it on her finger, thrilled that it's the perfect fit.
"Is that…?" She starts to ask.
"Yes, it is," I tell her, "designed to your exact specifications. You should have seen the look on the jeweler's face when I asked him to make it."
"How did you…Izzie." She finishes, answering her own question.
"Yes, I had help." I tell her, kissing her again. As I pull back, I realize she's crying. "Mer?" I ask, running a hand through her hair and down her face, "What's wrong?"
"I…I thought this day would never come. Years ago, after prom, I used to dream about this day. And…and now it's here. And it's perfect. You're perfect. It's just all so surreal."
"It is." I say, agreeing with her. "Come here," I say to her, sitting down and settling her between my legs, so her back is resting against my chest. "Meredith Grey-Shepherd, your day is finally here, you get to ride off into the sunset and get the white picket fences you deserve."
"I…I think I want to be Meredith Shepherd." She says.
"Fair enough." I say to her, "Meredith Shepherd it is. Wine Dr. Shepherd?" I ask her.
"Why yes, Dr. Shepherd." She answers with a smile.
We sit, me holding her in my lap, for hours, just watching the gondolas and drinking wine. Occasionally talking, but generally just enjoying the moment and each other's company.
"I can't wait for you to be my wife," I tell her, kissing the back of her neck.
"I can't wait to be your wife," she replies, turning her head so our lips meet. As we kiss, my hands start to wander up and down her body.
"We…we should get back if we're going to continue this."
"If," she asks?
"Ok. Let me re-phrase, we should get back so we can continue this." I tell her, standing up, then reaching down to help her up.
My hand finds the small of her back and I lead her to the hotel. As we walk, I catch glimpses of her face in the streetlights, and she is absolutely glowing.
"I love you Mer." I tell her, pulling her close as we enter the elevator.
"This thing needs to move faster," she said, spinning around in my arms so we're face to face. One look at her, and I can't resist any longer, I drop my lips on to hers and kiss her in an elevator for the third time.
We're both so lost in the moment that we don't hear the elevator ding, alerting us that we've reached our floor. The sound of a man clearing his throat clues us in. I guide her out as we both turn beat red and share a laugh, not knowing when the third person had entered the elevator.
I slide the key in the door and open it, letting her walk past me into the room. Three steps in, she turns back toward me, mouth open.
"Just like I told you, flower petals and bubble bath and candles, because you are perfection." I watch in awe as she takes in the candle lit room, with flower petals trailing from the door to the bed and into the bathroom, where a bubble bath awaits her. She turns back to me and is in my arms before I know it and we're kissing. Nice and slow and perfect. I run my hands up the bare skin of her back and arms and feel her knees buckling. I catch her and hold her against me before carrying her to the bed. I set her down and silently began undressing her. Once she was down to her panties, little black panties, I undressed myself and climbed in next to her.
I kissed her again and as I did, I felt her hands dip below my waistband. I paused and took a deep breath in. It wasn't long before she had my boxers off and was straddling me. With one hand I pulled her down so our lips could meet while the other slid off her panties. I flipped her, so I was on top and I looked into her eyes. "I love you Meredith," I said, before slipping inside of her.
When it was done, we laid there, wrapped up in each other. My arm wrapped around her as she lay against my chest, my right hand tracing circles in her hair and on her face, her right hand holding my left. We lay there until we fell asleep, tangled in bed sheets and limbs and love, accepting the past, enjoying the present, and embracing the future, together.
"I love you Mer, and I can't wait to marry you." I say to her sleeping form before nodding off myself.