Chapter 38:
"Where are we going?" Meredith asked. They had driven through a lot of Virginia Beach. Now all she could see were random houses, farms, and lots of empty land.
"I can't tell you that," Derek said.
"Why not?"
"That would beat the point of me keeping it a secret for this long," Derek said with a smile.
Meredith rolled her eyes and directed her attention back to the road. It was a really small two-lane road, which she had noticed wasn't a very common thing in Virginia Beach unless you were in a neighborhood. The houses around here seemed older, but cute. After awhile the amount of houses slowly decreased and the open land became more frequent. Meredith kept looking around as Derek unexpectedly pulled off the road and stopped the car.
"Here we are."
"Where is here?" Meredith asked looking around at all the open land surrounding them.
Derek just smiled at her and got out of the car. He ran over to the other side and opened her door to help her out. He then grabbed her hand and led her down the side of the road. Meredith looked up at him and saw the huge smile on his face, "Derek? Why are you so happy?"
"Because I'm holding the hand of the love of my life and the soon-to-be mother of my child," he said, making Meredith smile as well.
They continued walking in a peaceful silence until they reached a small pathway the cut across one of the fields. Derek turned and led Meredith down it. "Where are we going, Derek?"
He laughed a little, "Meredith, I'm not telling you."
Meredith stopped and pulled him over to her. She kissed him tenderly, rapping her arms around his neck. She pulled away and looked at him, "Are you going to tell me now?"
He smiled and pulled her arms from his neck, intertwining their fingers together and heading down the path again, "Nope."
As they headed down the path, the grass on either side of them slowly began to be covered with beautiful wildflowers. Derek kept smiling and focusing on the path ahead of them and it was driving Meredith crazy. Finally they saw a small gazebo at the end. Derek led her on to the gazebo and he went over to one of the railings to look out over the flowers.
"It's beautiful, Derek," Meredith said as she took the sight in.
Derek smiled at her and watched her golden hair shine in the light and flow in the gentle breeze, "I'm looking at something much more beautiful."
Meredith turned her head and met his eyes, realizing what he meant. She blushed as she turned away and looked at her fingers that were wrapped around the railing. Derek moved close to her and placed his hand on the small of her back, covering her hands with his other. His head was right above her shoulder and she could feel his hot breath on her neck and it was sending shivers through her body.
"I used to come here all the time. It was the one place that I could relax. Just look out over everything and think. I'd come home from college just so I could come here. Everyone made fun of me for it too, but they just didn't understand. I was at peace when I was here and everything in my life was clear to me. After spending a few hours here, I could fix any problem in my life and I knew everything was going to be okay," Derek said looking out at the flowers as Meredith looked up at him."I've never brought anyone here before."
"Really?" Meredith asked quietly.
Derek nodded before continuing, "I stopped coming here. After everything with Addison, before I came to Seattle. The last time I came here was before Mark, but I still new everything was over. For some reason, no matter how much I spent here, I couldn't figure anything out. I couldn't figure out how to fix my marriage."
"Why'd you stop coming?"
"I found a new place. There was a new place that I could go whenever I felt lost, scared, or confused. It became the one place that I found peace and serenity. The one place that I was happy," Derek said.
"Where?"
"You," Derek said looking down at Meredith who just smiled. "I love you, Meredith."
"I love you too," Meredith said as she rested her head against his shoulder.
"I want you to know that I was going to bring you here before I found at about the baby. This was the real reason that I wanted to bring you to Virginia to begin with. I've wanted to do this for a long time," Derek said.
"Do what?" Meredith asked as Derek let go of her.
"This," Derek said as he slowly bent down and took a box out of his pocket. He looked back up at Meredith who was already tearing up, "Meredith Grey? Will you marry me?"
"Yes, I will marry you," Meredith said as Derek stood up and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her into a deep kiss. After a minute, he pulled away from her and slipped the ring on her finger. She looked down at the ring and then at Derek before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him again.