A/N: I was wrong, and I admit it. I deluded myself into thinking that I can write two stories at once without slowing myself down too much, and I was clearly insane to think that. I've been writing a lot lately, but it has taken me forever to get this chapter posted. Sorry about that! I must say, however, that I'm incredibly grateful for the feedback on my stories. Reviews are my brain candy, and they definitely help keep me focused on the task at hand so that my mind doesn't wander over to other projects. I'll finish this story. I promise. The end is in sight for me, and I'm entering the home stretch. But reviews? Highly motivating…

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When Derek found himself checking out of the hotel, it took all of his restraint to turn in the key without insisting they stay another day. Maybe another week, even. The time spent alone with Meredith in their own rejuvenating oasis had gone far too quickly, and he wanted more time to keep her post-proposal perma-grin all to himself. He wasn't quite ready to go back to his mom's house and deal with the question that had been on his mind since he received word of his mother's passing.

What happens now?

The valet pulled their car around for them and loaded their luggage neatly into the trunk. Meredith basked in the sunshine on a wooden bench as she waited for Derek to finish checking out, and he couldn't help but smile when he saw her gaze return to the ring on her finger not once or twice, but six different times during her wait. He couldn't remember ever seeing her so happy for so long, and he wished that he could bottle that up somehow and preserve it forever.

"Are you ready to go?" he finally forced himself to ask when he realized he was completely out of excuses to procrastinate.

She looked up at him, shielding her eyes with her ring-adorned hand. "Yeah, we're all set?" she asked.

He nodded and helped her back to her feet.

"This place was awesome," she gushed. "Thank you so much for bringing us here."

"Absolutely," Derek said. We should stay… He hesitated, letting his hand linger on the curve of her hip as he faced her. Their car doors were open on both sides, and the car was already running, guarded by the valet who seemed ready to send them on their way. But Derek's feet felt like they were encased by cement, and he was unable to move.

Meredith's large aquamarine eyes blinked slowly as she studied him. She raised her hands to his chest, fanning her fingers across the navy blue cashmere sweater. Her mouth opened slightly, as if she was preparing to say something, but she stopped. Her gaze shifted to the waiting car, and her expression fell. "We should probably go," she murmured. She dropped her hands to her sides and stepped away, leaving him feeling ten degrees colder than he had been only a second ago.

"Meredith…" he started.

She turned to face him, expecting the sentence to be completed.

"This place…We'll be back here again someday. I promise," he finished.

The corners of her mouth quirked upwards as she nodded. "I'd really like that."

"Me too," he sighed. He took her hand and led her to the car, carefully closing her door once she was settled inside. He tipped the valet a little extra for waiting for them and positioned himself in the driver's seat. He pulled out his sunglasses and adjusted the mirrors and seat slightly, not that he thought they were necessarily positioned any different from when they arrived. It was just another tactic in his long arsenal of ways to delay the inevitable.

"Do you have everything?" he asked once his mental checklist seemed complete.

"Yeah," Meredith answered. She was staring at him again as a puzzled expression washed over her otherwise ecstatic face, but she still didn't say anything.

Derek reluctantly put the car into drive and pulled away from the historic inn, driving at nowhere near the same pace he did on his way there. He tapped his thumbs casually against the steering wheel, trying to match the rhythm of the song on the radio, while Meredith kicked off her shoes and folded her legs beneath her.

"So, how is this going to work exactly…getting back to your family's place?" she asked. Her lithe fingers toyed with her ring as if she needed constant confirmation that it was actually there.

"Well, typically the way this works is that I drive for two hours, you sing slightly off-key along with the radio between bits of conversation, and then we arrive," he smirked. He knew that wasn't what she was asking him, but he couldn't resist the temptation of being a smart ass. He wanted to hear her giggle.

Meredith smacked his arm playfully, freeing some laughter of his own in the process. "That's not what I'm asking, Derek. The engagement…how do you want to tell people?"

"I'm assuming that shouting from the rooftops isn't an option?" he teased. In some ways, he wasn't joking. He wanted to buy a full page ad in the New York Times, string an announcement behind a blimp at the Super Bowl, and broadcast the news on network television. Even that wouldn't express the depth of his current excitement.

"Not really what I had in mind, no," she laughed. Her eyes were sparkling like blue and green fireworks as she spoke, and he had to keep reminding himself to keep his eyes on the road as he drove.

"To be honest, I suspect they already know," Derek confessed. "Mark knows – well, he knows that I was going to ask again. I'm assuming he filled everyone else in."

Meredith sighed pensively and nodded.

He hoped she wasn't too disappointed about that prospect. He hadn't even considered the possibility that she would have wanted to be there to announce it.

"Is that why you went fishing yesterday morning – to tell Mark?" Meredith probed.

"No, I went fishing to catch something to make you for breakfast. Talking to Mark was just a happy side benefit," he explained half-heartedly.

Meredith snorted, and then quickly raised her hands to her mouth, slightly embarrassed by the sound she just made in her attempt to laugh at him.

Derek grinned at her failed cover-up. "What's so funny?"

"Since we're engaged, now, I feel like I need to tell you something," she giggled.

Derek did his best to feign seriousness as he waited for her to continue.

"You really shouldn't feel like you need to do me any favors with the whole fishing thing. Like…ever," she admitted. She shrugged her shoulders up by her ears like a cowering puppy waiting to be punished.

"I thought you liked my fish," he pouted. It was a lie. He knew that she merely tolerated the fish and would never crave it like he did, but he wanted to extract some sort of concession from her.

"I love that you enjoy fishing. I love seeing you get all decked out in your dorky fishing vest and hat with all your little catchy things..."

"The lures?"

"Yeah, the lures. But the whole fresh fish for breakfast? Not really my thing. Dinner maybe, but definitely not for breakfast," Meredith confessed.

"Hmmph," Derek grumbled. He could see Meredith's body slumping slightly in self doubt. He couldn't continue this game much longer. "Well, do you want to know what I think of all this?" he started seriously.

Meredith turned to face him, her lower lip pinned down by her teeth as she waited for him to go on.

"I think 'no fish for you!'" he teased in a strong New York accent that had her immediately spilling with laughter.

"Thank god," she burbled back between breaths.

What started out as a wisp of a smile soon spread across Derek's lips and reached the corners of his eyes. He had missed her sprite-like fits of laughter and the light-heartedness that had become a more regular feature of their relationship after settling in together. Returning to that, even in isolated moments, made him feel much more confident about his decision to ignore her initial objections and propose anyway. It hadn't been an easy decision. He spent much of the night wondering if his desire to propose was motivated out of losing his mom, and while he couldn't be sure about the driving force urging him to whisk Meredith away, he knew that it was the right decision.

"So what other deep, dark secrets are you going to spill now that we're engaged?" Derek prompted as they settled back into the comfort of the drive.

"None that I know of. I wasn't exactly trying to initiate a game of Truth or Dare," Meredith snickered.

Derek's eyebrows lifted above the rims of his silver sunglasses. "Truth or Dare? We do have a couple hours to kill, you know."

Meredith shifted in her seat, suddenly seeming slightly uncomfortable. "Something tells me the dare aspect could be dangerous in a moving vehicle," she countered.

"So we'll do the truth part now, and save any dares for tonight," Derek quickly shot back. He knew as he suggested it that he was initiating a risky conversation. This would either be the most brilliant idea ever since she was a captive audience on the two hour car ride, or it was the stupidest idea to cross his mind. Why should he push when she was already giving so much?

Meredith's eyes narrowed, making it seem as if she was actually considering the prospect. "This sounds like a terrible idea. If you want to know something, just ask me. Let's not turn it into a game," she eventually concluded.

Derek sighed, exuding more disappointment than he expected to feel. She was probably right. A game like that would probably only bring trouble.

A few minutes passed in silence. Meredith reached down into her bag and pulled out her cell phone, twirling it around in her hand pensively.

"Have you talked to Cristina recently?" Derek prompted, sensing that was who she was thinking of.

"Not for a couple of days. I'm sure she's tormenting interns or rocking some surgeries," Meredith said. The tone of her voice revealed a hint of longing for her friend still in Seattle.

"Do you want to call her? Tell her the news?"

Meredith fidgeted with her phone, mulling over the suggestion. "No," she finally concluded. "I should wait. Tell her in person."

Derek reached over and cupped his hand around hers to stop her from fidgeting. She set her phone in her lap and interlaced his fingers with his. Her fingertips were cool to the touch, but they seemed to relax under his protective shield.

"Whatever you want to do, Meredith. That's fine," he reassured.

"Are there…? Should we…?" she looked at him quizzically, unable to complete her thought.

"What?" he encouraged.

"The telling people thing…I don't know how we should do it. You've told Mark already, and I'll tell Cristina, but everyone else in Seattle, how should we tell them?"

Derek smiled as he tried to think of a way to tell her that there wasn't any protocol she needed to follow. "We can tell people together on Monday, if you want. We can stop in and see the chief and Bailey, and I suspect you'll just tell your friends as you see them."

Meredith nodded. "Okay, I can do that. And, um, what should I say about wedding stuff? They're going to ask, right?"

"Well, what do you want to say about it?" Derek felt a surge of relief that she was the one to initiate this conversation. He was obviously curious about what their wedding plans would be, but he worried that she'd think he was pressuring her somehow if he brought up the topic of dates and sizes.

"I don't know. We should talk about this, shouldn't we?" Meredith said. For the briefest moment, he sensed that her blissful engagement balloon was deflating as she folded back into her seat.

"Yeah, we should. But Mere, you should know that I'm fine with whatever you want to do. Big, small, whatever – as long as you're there and happy, it will be perfect to me."

The fuel light flashed on the dashboard, and an annoying dinging sound alerted him that he needed to stop for gas soon. He withdrew his hand from Meredith's and started fiddling with the GPS to find the nearest gas station.

"Seriously, whatever I want?"

"Whatever you want," he reassured.

"Because when Burke and Cristina—"

"Meredith," he quickly cut her off. He didn't want her to even begin making those comparisons. "Our wedding will be nothing like Burke and Cristina's. Don't even think about what Cristina dealt with because we won't have any of that. I promise." He could feel his blood pressure rise slightly as he anticipated the potential crises he may need to avert. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel overwhelmed by the wedding, or worse yet, think that he might leave her on their wedding day.

He veered off on an exit with a large mini-mart and gas station and shot the occasional glance in Meredith's direction to make sure she was okay. She resumed fidgeting with her ring, and she seemed to be lost in thoughts completely unreadable to him. He took a deep breath, and pulled into the gas station, hoping that the wedding talk wouldn't ruin the ride home.

As soon as the car was parked at the gas pump, Meredith opened her door and stepped out.

"I'm going to go inside. Do you want anything?" she announced as she pulled her wallet out of her purse and tossed the bag back on the floor.

"Water," Derek replied.

She nodded and sprinted off towards the front door.

Derek frowned as he pulled out his credit card and swiped it through the machine. He hated the smell of gasoline, and this particular station seemed to be riddled with spill puddles. As he unscrewed the gas cap, selected premium gas, and began fueling, he couldn't be certain if his oncoming headache was a result of the gasoline vapors or the fear that Meredith was going to panic about the wedding. She had certainly fled the car at the first opportunity, and she seemed less than enthusiastic about breaking the news to Cristina. Sure, some of it could be apprehension about bringing up weddings with a jilted bride, he rationalized. He sometimes sensed that Meredith felt guilty about her relationship with him and the fact that they were still together after Burke and Cristina had failed. This could just be an extension of that. But he feared there could be something more.

He leaned against the car, waiting for the tank to finish filling, and peered into the store to track Meredith's movements. He saw her standing by the coolers pulling out drinks, but then she wandered into a section obscured by other displays. He frowned and tapped his foot against the cement a few times in restless frustration until the pump clicked off and he finished fueling. He was happy to be able to return to the stale air of the car rather than the gasoline-polluted outdoor air.

Meredith casually walked out of the mini-mart lugging a huge plastic bag by her side. Derek squinted curiously as he started the car and waited for her to get in.

"Successful shopping run?" he inquired as soon as she settled into her seat.

"Maybe. We'll see," Meredith sighed. She pulled out his bottled water from the bag and handed it to him. She then heaved several magazines out of the bag and onto her lap.

Derek felt a huge grin spread across his face as he surveyed the titles and discovered that the words "bride" and "wedding" appeared in some form on each one.

"Research," Meredith mumbled defensively.

Derek nodded, trying not to reveal the full extent of his amusement, and resumed the drive. He could see her fingers settling on particular pages as she examined dresses, and her reactions to each and every page were written on her face. He thought about commenting or pressing her on her thoughts, but he didn't want to pressure her. They still had most of the drive left, and he suspected she would talk when she was ready.

"What was your wedding like – with Addison?" she finally inquired. She closed the magazine, but left her finger inside to mark her place.

Derek deflated slightly. It wasn't the conversation he was expecting.

"It was a big New England affair, lots of people, pretty standard," he said coolly. He really hoped that she wouldn't let his previous marriage influence her decisions. Games of "What Would Addison Do?" often ended poorly for Meredith because she didn't push for what she genuinely wanted.

Meredith nodded. "Do you want a big wedding for us?"

Derek glanced over in her direction, hoping for a hint of how he was supposed to answer that question, but he couldn't read her. "Mere," he started, "you get that you could wear a neon pink dress and come parachuting in, and I'd be fine. As long as the end result is that we're married, I'll be happy."

Meredith scrunched her nose and pursed her lips together.

It clearly hadn't been the answer she was hoping for.

He decided to try again.

"Maybe we should do something fairly small with just close friends and family," he suggested. "And we should have it in Seattle, unless you want a destination wedding."

"When?"

"When should we get married?" he asked. He understood the question. He just wanted to buy more time to think of a response.

"Yeah, when?"

"Well, what's your favorite season?"

"Summer…maybe fall," she considered. She turned in her seat so she was facing him more, and she clearly seemed less apprehensive about the conversation than Derek had been expecting.

"So, next September maybe?"

"This magazine says that September is the busiest and most expensive month of the year for weddings," she countered.

He glanced over at her in disbelief.

"I'm just sayin'…"

He laughed. "You always have been a quick study. How does October rank?"

"October is good. So next October? Like a year from now, October?"

"Sure," Derek agreed. "If that works for you."

Meredith hugged the magazines to her chest and admired her ring again. The way that the sunshine poured through the windows made the ring sparkle radiantly and dance little rainbows on the interior of the car.

"October, next year. I think I can handle that," Meredith agreed.

Derek reached over and grasped Meredith's outstretched hand and pulled it to his lips. He kissed her tenderly, savoring the taste of her silky skin.

"Sometimes you amaze me," he murmured.

Meredith blushed and pulled her hand away. "Why?"

"Well, to be honest, I just worried that you might freak out a bit more about this wedding stuff," he confessed. He hoped that she wouldn't take the comment badly, and he regretted the moment of unrestrained honesty after he said it, but he genuinely was surprised.

"Oh, I'm freaking out. Believe me, I'm freaking out. Me and these magazines? Seriously terrifying," she admitted. "But it's a good freak out, I think."

"Just let me know if it starts to turn into a bad freak out, okay?"

"Okay," she promised. She flipped the magazine back open and returned to reading about 10 Ways to Be Guaranteed a Perfect Day. She seemed to be reading the article with the same intensity she studied medical textbooks, and it was the kind of moment that Derek wanted to mentally photograph and preserve forever.

Derek started to flip through radio stations in search of something up tempo, leaving Meredith to skim through the several hundred pages of ads and articles she had purchased. He occasionally glanced over if he saw her dog-earring a page, but he decided to let her figure things out on her own for a bit. He knew that this was a giant leap for her – for both of them, really – and he felt tremendous relief in having finally made it.

The fall scenery along the drive seemed to blur by the car in a haze of orange as red and yellow leaves melded together. October. His mind started drifting towards thoughts of fall, then weddings, then family, before he was lost in his own reservoir of memories that included elements of all three.

Sarah had a fall wedding.

Derek paced anxiously outside the changing room of the large church, waiting for his younger sister to decide that she was ready to walk down the aisle with him. She had asked that he be the one to give her away, and he couldn't have been more nervous for her. He thought Matt was okay but not quite good enough for his sister. Not that anyone could be. There were times when he secretly thought that Mark would be a good match, but deep down he knew that Mark was years away from settling down, and Sarah wasn't about to wait that long. Certainly not for Mark.

"Oh, Derek," Barbara Shepherd sighed as she walked in. She hovered near the entry-way in her periwinkle dress. It was her third performance as mother of the bride, and she seemed perfectly comfortable in the role.

"Hi Mom," Derek replied. "Are you okay?"

Barbara shook her head in disbelief. "Some days it still amazes me how much you look like your father." Her voice was calm and quiet as she approached Derek. She straightened his boutonniere and swiped a few pieces of lint off the sleeve of his black tuxedo.

Derek furrowed his brow in concern. He never knew how to handle comments like that, and he never felt certain that it was a good thing to remind his mother of the man she loved and tragically lost.

"You still miss him," he stated in a tone that teetered on questioning.

"Every single day," she answered without hesitation. "These days especially. These are the moments I always expected to be sharing with him." Her eyes got a little misty, and Derek quickly pulled out his handkerchief to offer to her, but she waved it away.

"Addison looks beautiful," she mentioned, changing the subject.

"Yeah," Derek acknowledged. They'd both been working tirelessly the last few weeks and had barely seen each other as a result. Still, his wife looked like she had spent the time relaxing in a spa rather than holding down the neonatal unit at the hospital.

"Is Sarah going to come out?" Barbara asked as she turned toward the changing room door.

Derek arched her eyebrows with uncertainty. "I don't know," he admitted. "She was really nervous when I talked to her a few minutes ago. She just wanted a little bit of time to herself before she does this, I think."

"Second thoughts?"

"Maybe," Derek speculated. "But who doesn't have those…" He had certainly reconsidered marrying Addison more than once in the months leading up to their wedding. He'd seen hints of their relationship settling into a routine that dimmed the sparks he felt when they first were engaged. Now their relationship seemed to cycle through periods of hot and cold with the cold often outlasting the passion. But he convinced himself that all relationships were like that, and he wouldn't find anyone better for him than Addie.

His mother frowned and opened her mouth but quickly closed it when she couldn't get herself to say the words she'd clearly been thinking. "Sure. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," she murmured unconvincingly. "I'm sure it's normal," she reiterated in a way that immediately planted seeds of doubt not only about Sarah's relationship, but also his own. He could tell that his mother had never once doubted her marriage, and a small piece of him ached for whatever it was that he was missing from his own.

The door flung open and Sarah walked out in a swirl of taffeta that seemed to match her skin.

"I'm gonna do this, dammit. Let's go," she instructed. Derek took her arm to head towards thevestibule, and their mother led the way.

The sound of the GPS navigating him home brought Derek out of his thoughts and removed his driving from auto-pilot. They were now only blocks away from home, and there was nothing more that he wanted than to be miles away. He was simultaneously thrilled to be able to share news of the engagement with his family and bitterly devastated that he couldn't talk to the person he wanted to share it with most. Walking into the house and not being able to tell his mother made his stomach clench and his pulse race. It was a reality he wasn't prepared to reenter.

"Derek," Meredith started. "Um, you just…your house? You drove by your house, I think," she accurately pointed out when he continued driving down the residential street.

"I know," he answered with unwavering certainty. "Temporary detour."

Meredith piled her magazines back into the plastic bag and hesitantly looked out the window.

Derek pulled into a large tree-lined road paved with two strips of gravel that matched the tire tracks of decades of prior travelers. Although the road eventually dead ended at the lake, he had no intention of going that far. He found a clearing half-way down and pulled the vehicle off to the side.

"C'mon," he insisted as he raced out of the car. He pulled a large picnic blanket from the trunk and watched as Meredith followed. Her curiosity at the situation was palpable.

"Where are we going?" she asked as she surveyed the landscape.

"My secret hiding place," Derek answered.

"The one Mark mentioned? The – what was it? The pirate's lair?" she giggled.

"Argh, that be the one, and I be takin' you prisoner," he said as he wrapped his arm around her waist and tickled her just below her rib cage. She started elbowing him to make him stop, but that only fed his desire to tickle her more.

"Der…Stop…STOP!" she shrieked amidst fits of laughter. A few birds lifted from the trees amid all the ruckus, but Derek was undeterred. He lifted her easily and threw her over his shoulder as he navigated the uneven terrain into the mossy woods. She kicked her legs and smacked his lower back several times, but eventually she gave up and mumbled things about getting him back for this.

The secret spot seemed largely unchanged by the decades since Derek last visited. A small opening paved the way between the several large pine trees that clustered together and surrounded a ten-by-ten foot clearing. The floor was littered with soft pine needles, and at this time of day, the direct sunlight cast a warm glow over the secluded area. An old wooden bench that Derek and Mark had cobbled together years ago showed signs of tremendous weathering but still evoked memories of the many times they'd spent here over the years, first playing with GI Joes and trading comics and later discovering girls – Mark especially. It made Derek smile slightly to think that Meredith would be a part of this place.

He lowered her down to the ground carefully but didn't release her from his grasp. His arms circled her waist, and he dipped his head down, resting his forehead against hers.

"So this is where you and Mark played house," she teased. He watched her eyes scan the area as her eyelashes fluttered, blinking open and shut.

He chuckled softly. "Or something like that," he answered. He drew her closer and wrapped his arms more tightly around her limber torso. He felt her exhale against him, her breath moist and warm against his neck, and she kissed him as she relaxed against his muscular frame. "I just…" his voice trailed off.

"What is it?"

Derek sighed and loosened his hold on her. "You know how you didn't want to have that housewarming party because you wanted to keep the apartment to ourselves? That's kinda how I feel about us right now."

Meredith's face crinkled in disappointment. "You don't want to tell your family about the engagement?"

"No!" he blurted. "That's not what I'm saying at all. I can't wait to tell people, but I also just want to keep you all to myself."

"Hmmm…" Meredith murmured as she pulled away from him. She grabbed the flannel picnic blanket from the crook of his arm and opened it up, fanning it out onto the ground. "I had no idea that you were so selfish. The things we learn about each other now that we're engaged," she joked.

She fixed the corners of the blanket and smoothed it out completely before sitting down in the middle of it. The sun streaked through her honey colored locks like ripples of gold as she leaned back on her elbows.

"When it comes to you, I'm hopelessly, terribly selfish," he acknowledged as he knelt down on the blanket beside her.

"Well, now that you've got me all to yourself, what exactly do you intend to do?" she asked. She arched her back seductively, making the contours of her chest seem larger and more inviting. He felt the first hints of an erection as he imagined his mouth moving back and forth between her breasts, licking and sucking them into hardened peaks. He loved the way her pinkish-brown nipples contrasted with her otherwise milky white skin, just like he loved the scent of her cinnamon body wash that lingered close to her skin hours after use.

Derek moved onto his side and propped his head up on one hand while the other lazily drew circles and figure eights along her clothed torso. The fall air was chilly despite the sunlight, but the warmth of her body so close to his provided all the heat he needed.

"Maybe a little of this," he whispered.

"Mmmm-hmmm," she sighed as she relaxed against the ground. A content smile eased across her soft pink lips.

"I wouldn't mind kissing you either," he added as he leaned toward her neck, targeting the little place below her earlobe that always caused her to murmur in pleasure. She tilted her head to give him better access, and he felt her chest rise and fall more quickly against his hand.

"Kissing is good," she voiced softly between breaths. She snuggled closer to him so he was almost on top of her, and she pawed at the front of his jeans, making him acutely aware of how much he was beginning to strain against the fabric.

He slid his hand underneath her shirt and sweater, snaking his hand beneath the lacy fabric of her bra so he could cup her breast in his hand. He smothered her mouth with his while his thumb grazed against her satiny flesh.

She moaned into his mouth, unable to hide her arousal. Her fingers fondled the outside of his pants with increased intensity as she stroked him. The friction was producing a heat that made him want to bury himself inside her, but he held back, clinging to this moment and the delay it provided as long as possible.

His hand worked its way lower, unbuttoning and unzipping her jeans. He tugged them midway down her thighs so she could spread her legs apart slightly. His fingers traced the outer seams of her panties, feeling the heat and moisture that radiated below the cotton.

"Derek," she softly mewed. If she had a thought to follow that, she was unable to articulate it as Derek's hand slipped below the elastic band and covered the wiry hairs of her pelvic bone. His fingers greeted the slick, delicate skin and strummed against her. Her hips raised and lowered themselves against his hand as she tried to force his fingers into the source of her wetness, but he resisted. A small piece of him enjoyed having the power to make her squirm and whimper and need him, and he silently promised to make it worth her wait.

Her hands dropped to her side, curling against the blanket as she balled it up in her fists. Her eyelids drooped heavily and her breathing came in ragged gasps that seemed to be synchronized with his ministrations on her clitoris. Each stroke was bringing her dangerously close to coming. It was like a game of Jenga, and he'd reached a stage where he couldn't be sure which piece would cause the entire tower to topple. But he knew that he wanted to be inside her when she came. He wanted to fill her and feel her tight walls contract and spasm around him as she rode out the waves of pleasure.

He withdrew his hand from her panties and watched as her eyes lurched open at his abrupt stop. Her eyes were wild – practically glaring at him – and she licked her lips hungrily. He dangled his glistening fingers wet with her sex in front of her and felt his balls ache as she greedily took the fingers in her mouth, sucking them like she'd done to his cock so many times before.

He fumbled with his belt, trying his best to remove it with one hand. Relief surged throughout his body when he felt her hands batting his away so she could take over the process. She swiftly loosened his belt, opened his fly, and dropped his pants to his knees in what seemed to be one well-rehearsed and choreographed movement.

Her attention then turned to her own underwear as she finished stripping her lower half and nudged him between her legs.

He wrapped his hands beneath her shoulders as he prepared to lower himself into her. A cool breeze blew through the trees, causing Meredith to shiver beneath him. He hesitated, watching to make sure that she was okay, but was immediately reassured as she pressed against his lower back.

He moved his hand down to his shaft, rubbing it up and down against her. He couldn't be sure who he was teasing more by doing this, but it wasn't something he wanted to sustain for long anyway. He wanted to drive himself deep inside her over and over and over again.

"Fuck," Meredith whined desperately.

Derek ceased the torment and eased into her, forcing an elongated moan to escape her lips and fill the air around them. It was all the encouragement he needed to withdraw and plunge in again more forcefully. Her heated core enveloped him like his own personal bonfire, and he felt his body quivering as she squeezed her muscles around the base of his penis. Each time he repeated the movement, the sensation grew stronger, and he knew that if she continued, he'd climax before she did.

"Mere…" he pleaded. "You're going to make me…"

Her body stiffened beneath him, and her face tensed. Her nails dug into the back of his shoulder blades, and he was certain that she would have drawn blood if not for the protective cover of his shirt and sweater. She bucked her hips up at him in quick, jerky motions before spasming all around him. He pounded even harder into her, feeling the telltale signs of his own impending orgasm as his balls repeatedly smacked against her. He grunted with each movement, wanting desperately to stay in this limbo between anticipation and ecstasy forever and knowing there would be no turning back once he gave into release.

Meredith relaxed around him, recovering from her orgasm. Her eyes were glassy crystals of green that seemed to match the color of the surrounding pine trees. She crossed her legs behind him, locking him firmly in place and slid her hand up his spine. Her fingertips were cool against his sweaty skin, and he shuddered from the sensory overload. She smiled up at him as if she knew that she was the one with all the power now. He was at her mercy.

She lowered her hands down to his ass and squeezed as she pushed him into her. Her vaginal walls clamped down on him more tightly than before, and he spiraled out of control. His vision blurred as he pulsated inside her, clinging to the feeling of complete release as long as possible before collapsing against her. His throat was sore, and he felt a little dehydrated, but he didn't care. He had no desire to untangle himself from her anytime soon.

Meredith closed her eyes and sighed. A sated smile spread across her lips, and she seemed delighted to linger in their lust-induced laziness. She started running a hand through his hair, tugging gently as she twisted it into little spikes around his ears. A small tear streamed down her face, contrasting sharply with her otherwise blissfully happy expression.

Derek brought his thumb to the outer corner of her eye, wiping it away. She opened her eyes and stared at him, blinking slowly as her pupils adapted again to the light.

"I'm still waiting to wake up," she confessed.

"What do you mean?" he asked. His fingers combed through her hair before settling behind her head.

"These last 24 hours…the engagement…everything. It feels like a dream," she explained.

"Well," he hesitated as he thought of a response. He smiled slyly, adding, "You guys don't call me McDreamy for nothing."

Meredith laughed. "No, I guess not," she managed.

He kissed her again gently, trying not to irritate her already swollen lips and flushed chin with his stubble.

"We don't have to go back, you know," he suggested. "We could just stay here."

Meredith's eyes flickered as if she was actually contemplating the suggestion. "Nah, I don't think so," she concluded. "It's getting late, and it's a little cold out here, and your family is expecting us."

Derek nodded solemnly in agreement. His family. They'd have to go back. They'd have to come out of isolation and rejoin the rest of the world. He leveraged himself back onto his knees and pulled his pants back up, disappointed with the inevitable turn of events. He could feel Meredith's eyes following his every movement, analyzing him, but he was too lost in his dwindling mood to care.

"Derek," Meredith whispered. She was sitting up, but not fully dressed yet.

"Yeah," he paused.

"We're getting married. We're always going to be together," she reminded him. Her voice was giddy with excitement, and he realized that she needed to say those words just as much as he needed to hear them.

"Yeah," he nodded. The disappointment was instantly erased from his memory as he latched on to her optimism. "We are."