Chapter 21: Together We Have It All

"Are you ready for this?" Jenny asked with a smile as she looked at her soon to be sister in-law

"Yeah." Meredith nodded nervously "Yeah I guess so."

"Stop looking like you're about to plunge into a shark tank." Kathleen giggled "It's just Derek, your Derek."

"But…but this is a church, filled with lots of people, and I'm not even Catholic, I'm not anything."

"Derek asked the priest, actually he did a little persuading." Jenny snickered "But they changed the vows a little."

"I…I…" Meredith took a deep breath.

"What is it?" Kathleen asked, "Do you not want to do this?"

"I do." Meredith whispered, "But I don't have anyone to walk me down the aisle."

"Oh." She mumbled "Well who would you want to walk you down the aisle?"

"Derek." She said, "I'd always thought Derek would walk me down the aisle if that day ever came."

"But Derek's the groom." Jenny laughed "He can't."

"Yes he can." Kathleen smiled "I'll go get him."

Meredith wrung her hands together as Kathleen opened one of the doors to the church and walked down the aisle, everyone watched her nervously as she went up to the alter. Derek looked nervous as she approached him, she leaned into him and whispered a few sentences into his ear and his nervousness turned into amusement. He grinned and nodded, then followed Kathleen down the aisle.

"Hi." She breathed as he reached the back of the church "I realize this is very unconventional or not traditional, but it's the only way I'm going to get down that aisle."

"Why's that?" he smirked.

"Because." She sighed "the little girl inside of me is all over the place today. I don't know where the confident snarky bitch went but I need someone…" she gulped "Someone to hold my hand, and I want it to be you."

He smiled "You look beautiful." He breathed.

They started the music, she giggled when she heard the piano playing the chords to Stairway to Heaven. Jenny and Kathleen walked down the aisle with newly revised bouquets and a change of dress. Derek offered her his arm and she smiled warmly as she took it. They walked down the aisle side by side, smiling at the guests who seemed to find the untraditional event amusing enough. They reached the steps and started to walk up them, but on the second one Meredith's dress swept under her foot and she slipped. Derek swooped an arm around her and caught her quickly.

"You never were very graceful about falling." He chuckled.

"It always caught your attention didn't it?" she asked

"Yes." He smiled "Yes it did."

"Shall we begin?" the priest sighed "Or will there be any other distractions."

"I think we've stalled enough already." Derek sighed "Begin please."

"Dearly beloved." He said again "We are gathered here today to witness the holy union of these two people. Derek and Meredith, have you come here freely any without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?"

"Yes." Derek smiled.

"If barging in here and killing the last wedding wasn't enough of a proof of that I don't know what would be." Meredith snickered.

"Mer." Derek whispered "You only have to say yes."

"Oh." She gulped "Yes."

There were a few giggles in the crowd and the bridal party as the priest shook his head and continued.

"Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church."

" I, Derek, take you, Meredith, to be my wife." He smiled "I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."

Meredith gulped as the priest and Derek waited for her to say her vow. She looked incredulous and nervous.

"Just say the same thing." Derek whispered, "Only backwards."

"Oh." She whispered with a nod "I, Meredith, take you, Derek, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life." Derek smiled and nodded that she'd done a good job.

"What God has joined, let man not divide!" the priest called out as he crossed between them "Let us have the rings."

Meredith's hands clamped down around Derek's as more nerves set in, her eyes grew wide, to which Derek found amusing.

"Don't worry." He smirked "You're covered."

He pulled out a familiar platinum solitaire ring, with a platinum band to go with it. She frowned, "How did you…"

"I dug through your bag." Jenny mumbled "Sorry."

Meredith rolled her eyes softly as Derek handed her his ring. "Don't worry, it was my dad's."

"Not a handmedown." She asked narrowly.

"Shall we bless the rings now?" The priest sighed.

"Don't choke on your robe Papa priest." Meredith mumbled "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all."

Derek smiled warmly and inwardly chuckled.

"Place the ring on her finger as you recite your blessing." The priest instructed.

He slid the rings on her finger and smiled at the perfect way they looked on her hand "Meredith, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity."

Meredith took the initiative this time and slid the ring on Derek's finger and repeated, only backward "Derek, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity."

There were a few more snickers and the priest again sighed and rolled his eyes. "By the power vested in me by God and the state of New York I now pronounce that you are man and wife. Derek you may finally kiss your bride." He sighed and then mumbled "And may God be with you."

"God will definitely be with him." Meredith mumbled and smirked at her own inward joke.

Derek chuckled as he pulled her into a soft, deep, meaningful kiss. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders as their kiss took on a life of its own, expanding past the clap of their audience. She felt his hands run down her back and get dangerously close to her rear end before she remembered they were in the middle of a church.

"Whoa." She mumbled and broke free "How about you save some of that for later."

Derek flushed a little as he came back down from his high. He took her hand, just as if she'd asked him to, and they walked back down the aisle, hand in hand, arm in arm, preparing for the rest of their lives together.

What do you think about their wedding?