"Here it is," Derek announced as he navigated his car down the winding dirt drive toward the trailer. His only patient of the day had sailed through surgery that morning, and no other neurosurgical patients had presented themselves, unfortunately leaving Derek free to play tour guide to his family for the entire afternoon. And all Derek wanted to do was drag Meredith out of the hospital at six, and do whatever it took to make all of the events of the previous day up to her. The speed at which things went from wonderful to horribly tense and stressful really hit home the importance of being open right from the beginning.

The morning had been awkward; very few words had been exchanged. After a stressful evening and a relatively sleepless night, they had slept late, leaving very little time to interact as they rushed to get ready for work. And because Derek had been planning on this little tour guide gig, they had been forced to take separate cars. He had smiled supportively at her as she had stepped into her Jeep. She had smiled back and nodded. And that was the last time he had seen her.

"It's a beautiful piece of land, Derek," his mother offered from the passenger seat beside him. She had been relatively silent since they had departed the ferry boat and begun the short drive through the country roads to his land.

He nodded noncommittally as he pulled up to his former, now overgrown, parking space. The sound of his three passenger doors opening filled his ears and he sighed and followed suit. He stepped away from the car and paused as Natalie appeared beside him, her arm looping comfortably through his.

"Derek," she said with laughter in her voice. "I just..." She giggled. "I just didn't believe it until I saw it. You actually lived here?"

Derek nodded.

"I mean, really, Derek? You moved out of the Hampton's and into a trailer? For a year?"

He rolled his eyes as he allowed a small smile to flitter to his mouth.

Anna joined them, also displaying her amusement with the situation. "Yeah, Derek. I don't actually know what's funnier, that you lived in a trailer, or that you made Addy live in a trailer. That is something I wish I could have seen." Although Anna had been friendly with Addison, she was the only sister that had never completely warmed up to her former sister-in-law.

Carol turned and smiled gently at her three children laughing together. "Your sisters are right, Derek. I can't believe you made Addison live out here."

Natalie nodded. "It was a good way to get your revenge."

Derek scoffed gently. "It was never meant to be revenge."

"Oh, please, Derek. This would have been torture for her. I understand why you and Meredith chose to live in town."

"Actually, Meredith loves it out here too. It's just too far away from the hospital for now. She'll have interns and early rounds for a few years yet. We talked about living out here, but it would have meant too much commuting."

"You mean Meredith would actually want to live out in the middle of nowhere in a trailer?"

"What's wrong with living out here?" He asked, suddenly defensive.

"Nothing, dear," Carol responded. "But we're glad you put your time in and have moved on now."

"What did you mean by it's too far away for now?" Natalie asked suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"You said it was too far away while Meredith had so many hours. Are you planning on downgrading back to the trailer in a few years?" She asked sarcastically.

Derek rolled his eyes good naturedly. "No, well, not long term at least," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, hesitating about whether or not to continue. However, his words had attracted the attention of Anna and his mother, as well as Natalie, so the choice was made for him. "We were kind of thinking about moving out here in a few years, and building a house."

"A house?" His mother questioned.

He nodded. "Yeah, we both love the land," he said defensively. "It's beautiful out here; you really need to see it in the morning to fully appreciate it."

Carol shook her head at him. "Sweetie, I didn't mean it in a bad way," she spoke softly, her face taking on an expression he couldn't quite place. "I just hadn't realized..."

"What?"

She smiled at him, her eyes suddenly moist. "I hadn't realized you had thought so far ahead...with Meredith."

Derek resisted the urge to become even more defensive. "Well, I have," he told her. "We have."

"So, you two are... pretty serious?" Anna questioned.

Derek nodded. "Of course. Do you think I'd be living with her if we weren't?" Three pairs of eyes very discreetly avoided meeting his. He scoffed. "Seriously? You think I'm that guy? What, do you think this is just some kind of mid life crisis thing?"

"Well, Derek," Carol began gently. "What are we supposed to think? You disappear from New York, have some sort of affair, go back to Addy, and then suddenly you're getting a divorce and you're back with the intern. And now you've rushed and moved in together."

"I thought we dealt with all of this last night." He stated.

Carol sighed. "We dealt with a lot last night, Derek, but it still doesn't explain everything that happened last year."

Derek sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the beginnings of a tension headache coming on. "Mom..."

"Derek, we're your family. We're allowed to be concerned."

"But you have no reason to be concerned," he cut in. "I'm sorry that you don't approve of my choices, but nothing you can say could possibly make me change anything. I love it here. I love Seattle. I love my job. And, most importantly, I love Meredith. And that's not going to change."

"Derek, we didn't mean to offend you. You just can't see it from our point of view. We had no idea what was really going on. You didn't tell us anything. And after last night, Meredith seems like a very nice young woman, and is very good for you, but how were we supposed to know that before?"

"Yeah, Derek," Natalie added. "Without an explanation, a lot of things that we heard about kind of screamed mid life crisis."

Derek stewed silently for several seconds, trying to decide how sincere they were being. He breathed and a small amount of the tension dissipated. "Fine. Maybe from your end it looked like a mid life crisis. But really..." He trailed off and sighed, knowing he owed them an explanation on his behaviour, especially if they were ever going to accept Meredith's place in his life. "I know it looked bad, with Addy out here and everything... but the truth is, I should never have gone back to her.

"I came to Seattle, and I was a wreck, and I met Meredith... and suddenly everything else just...didn't matter anymore. I felt like I could breathe again. And then when Addy showed up...I made a mistake. I felt obligated, but I always regretted my decision. And even though I was honestly trying to work on my marriage, I never stopped loving Meredith."

"And the prom thing Nancy told us about?" Anna asked hesitantly.

Derek sighed, realizing his hope that Nancy hadn't shared that tidbit of information had been sadly misplaced. "I just couldn't live in the facade anymore."

"Don't you regret it at all?"

"Of course I do. Not only did I hurt Addy and sink to her level, but I forced Meredith into a situation she was actively avoiding. I destroyed something that should have been..." He sighed. "I marred something that should have been perfect."

"Awe," Natalie said, smiling at him. "You really did fall in love, didn't you?"

Derek felt his cheeks flush as he rolled his eyes, actively avoiding his sister's knowing gaze.

"Awe, it's cute," Anna added.

"Shut up," he muttered.

"So," Carol started, her eyes shinning. "You're talking about building a house."

He met her eyes and nodded. "Yeah."

"Are you talking about anything more than just a house?"

Derek didn't have to ask for clarification to know exactly what she was talking about. He nodded. "One day," he responded quietly. "We've talked about some things, but in more of a general future way. But we're not in any hurry right now."

"Good," Carol responded. "You moved far too quickly last time." Once they were living together, Addison had pushed very quickly for a ring, although they were engaged for well over a year while Addy planned the wedding.

Derek smiled at her comment, knowing its meaning meant he was gaining his mother's support.

"But you are saying I will one day have another daughter-in-law?" She clarified.

"I hope so," Derek nodded.

"If you've talked about it, shouldn't you be more than hopeful?" Natalie joked.

He smiled. "I guess. We'll get there one day. Mer's just..." he trailed off, realizing he was approaching the line where he may soon begin telling his family too much. But one look at the three sets of questioning eyes and he knew he was committed to telling them something. "Mer's a little...hesitant about moving forward to quickly. She hasn't really had any good experiences on the family front."

"She did seem a little sketchy about her parents," Natalie commented.

He nodded.

"What happened?" Anna asked gently.

He shook his head. "That's not for me to tell you," he said. "Look, she hasn't had a great life so far, but despite of it, she's amazing. She really is. If you just give her a chance, you'll see."

"Yup," Anna stated, nodding towards her sister. "He's definitely in love."

000

Derek turned the key and gently pushed open the door to the apartment, unsure of what type of mood he would find his girlfriend in. After his revelations of the night before, he wouldn't blame her if she wasn't talking to him. It was almost seven, and he knew she was already home because he had parked beside her jeep.

"Hey," he called out, deciding to make the first move to talk and let her direct the conversation that obviously needed to take place.

She stepped out of the kitchen, a glass of orange juice in her hand. "Hey," she responded quietly, her voice scratchy from exhaustion. She was wearing plaid pyjama pants and her Dartmouth tee shirt, which pointed to the fact that she had already had a shower, and her hair was dry, so she had likely only gotten as far as blow drying before her tired body forced her to the kitchen for some much needed fuel. "Is it seven already?" She glanced backwards at the clock on the microwave. She scowled. "Derek, I'm sorry. I got home late and I just needed something to drink. I can go and get dressed and I'll be ready in five minutes."

He smiled warmly at her. She was exhausted and they weren't quite alright, but still, here she was trying to please him by dressing up and going out with his family, even though she looked like all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for a good twelve hours. "Don't worry about it," he called as she headed for the stairs. "We're not going out tonight."

"But, I thought..."

"Mom and the girls were up for an evening of shopping," he explained. "And we're both exhausted. I rescheduled for tomorrow night if that's okay? We both have tomorrow off, so it'll give us more time to get ready. This wasn't fair to you."

"No, its fine," she countered quickly. Too quickly.

"Its okay, Meredith. They don't think any less of you, I promise. They'll be here for another couple days."

"But they came so far to see you."

He smiled gently at her. "They did," he agreed. "And they spent all afternoon with me, making fun of the trailer," he added. "But right now, it's more important I spend time with you."

She hesitated, as if she wanted to argue, wanted to tell him he was wrong, but her tired eyes thanked him for not making her go out tonight. Because if any shred of him wanted her to put on a happy face and pretend not to be utterly exhausted for a few hours, she would do it in a heartbeat.

"Meredith, I am so sorry about yesterday."

She nodded, placing her glass down on the half way separating them from the kitchen. "I know."

"And I swear, I never meant to not tell you about the Chief thing, I just...it slipped my mind. You got back, and we talked, and things were so good, and I just never thought about it again."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, just, please, don't keep things like this from me anymore."

He shook his head. "I won't. I promise."

She sniffed and stepped forward, her open arms inviting him close. He quickly closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms tightly around her middle.

"How much were you freaking out?" She asked a few moments later, her voice muffled as she spoke against his shoulder.

"Hmm?"

She loosened her hold around his neck to pull far enough back to meet his eyes. "The night you didn't come home. After you talked to Richard. How much were you freaking out?"

He sighed. "More than I should have been. And more because I knew it shouldn't be a choice, but I was having a hard time accepting that."

She nodded. "I understand, why you freaked out, I mean. I understand. If you had thought I'd basically given up on us, then I totally understand."

"It's still no excuse, though." He added, making sure she knew how wrong he knew himself to be.

"Maybe not now, but back then..." She shrugged. "We know we were horrible at doing the talking thing and the communicating thing, but we decided together to let that stuff go and move on. So, I guess as long as you don't still feel that way, which you obviously don't if you gave up Chief..."

"I absolutely don't feel that way anymore," he responded, knowing she knew but still needed to hear it. "And I made the right decision. About Chief, I mean. I made the right decision."

She tilted her head. "Derek."

He smiled and leaned his forehead against hers, his smile widening when she met his pressure. "If I was Chief, we wouldn't have nearly as much time to spend together and we don't have much as it is. And I love spending time with you."

She smiled and closed her eyes and nodded against him. "Me too."

Derek sighed happily at the realization that they had made it through their first conflict since their big talk, and yet, the happy bubble they had been living under still hadn't burst. "So, do you want something to eat, or do you just want to get some sleep?"

"Sleep," she mumbled.

"Good. Me too." He pulled his forehead away from hers and placed a loving kiss on her forehead before releasing her and following her up to their bedroom. Meredith made a beeline straight for the bed, while Derek was delayed with brushing his teeth and getting changed. He stepped out of the bathroom, stripped down to his boxers and pulled an old tee over his head before peeling back the covers and slipping into bed, his arms automatically reaching out to find the warm body he was now so accustomed to sharing a bed with.

She sighed happily as she shifted to accommodate him, linking her fingers through his as his strong arms wrapped around her lower torso. "I do love you," she mumbled.

He kissed the back of her head. "I love you, too."