Title: The Sweetest Place on Earth
Summary: Two people leave the hospital tying to escape their past, but what happens when they run into each other. Meredith never chose between Derek and Finn she just couldn't so she didn't chose either. Derek and Addison are divorced. Addison and Mark are together and happy.
Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own Grey's Anatomy or I would be watching it now. I don't own anything.
Tree Chopping
It was December 9th. Derek and Meredith were getting ready for Christmas. This would be the first real Christmas Meredith had since her father was around but she wanted to start celebrating and have some traditions for their daughter. She was getting excited and nervous as the baby's due date was quickly approaching. Meredith and Derek just got back from working at the hospital and decided that that was the day they were getting there tree and decorating the house. Derek basically had moved into Meredith's house and rarely went home.
They dragged there tired bodies up the stairs to get ready to pick out a tree. Derek goes to sit on the bed but Meredith stops him. "We are picking out a tree now and decorating you can sleep later. Up now it was your idea to go today." She smiled and turned to get changed.
"Can't we sleep now and then get the tree later.' He asked yawning and lying on the bed. "The bed is comfortable and has plenty of room."
"I want the best tree for our first Christmas. So get up now before I pull you up. The baby wants a tree. Pretty please Derek. I will let you sleep tonight." Meredith was practically on her knees begging him. She had done that a lot lately since she was pregnant.
"Fine if it will shut you up." He got up and went to grab his favorite jeans and flannel shirt.
"That's not fair you are getting more muscles and I am getting fatter." Meredith pouted and looked down but could no longer see her feet. "I am so fat I don't think I have feet."
"Mer you are beautiful and pregnant you are not fat. I am only getting more muscular because of all the running around for you I have to do." He smiled and got dressed. She put on her dark jeans and boots. Then followed with a flannel shirt and a brown vest.
"How do I look?" She turned around for him and modeled her outfit.
"Sexy we better go before you are out of that outfit before we get a tree." He left the room and went down stairs to wait for her. Meredith looked at herself in the mirror for a few minutes before leaving the room to.
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They were sitting in the car driving to a Christmas tree farm. They could have just bought a tree from a store that was set up but they wanted to chop the tree down themselves and make a tradition out of it.
Meredith was starting to think in the long drive there about hiring a nanny. "Derek we have to interview for a nanny. I want to leave our daughter with someone I trust, who is nice and smart and can cook and has experience and is willing to have weird hours and take her to visit us at the hospital and put up with all our friends." Derek laughed a little Meredith was rambling once again but this was a totally knew experience for both or them.
"We can start interviewing for a nanny after the holidays." She nodded her head and he continued driving. "So what kind of tree do you want to get."
"A really big green tree that's like eight feet tall it has to have room to put lots of ornaments and presents underneath." She smiled. "I also want to hang stockings on the fire place."
"Stockings would be great. The tree will be great." He smiled and pulled into the tree farm.
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Derek is pulling the sleigh that the tree is going to be on. Meredith is walking along side hand on her stomach.
"Derek, when are you going to hang Christmas lights?" Meredith pouted a little when Derek stopped dead in his tracks and gave her a questioning look.
"Mer, have you even seen the house we live in. It really high in the air and I think the chief would kill me if I fell off the house and broke my wrist and couldn't operate." He turns around to walk deeper into the forest but she stops him.
"But I love you. I am doing all this for our daughter." She stopped and sat down on a tree stomp. He stopped pulling the sleigh and stared at her.
"What memories do you want a picture of daddy hanging from the house?" He asked sarcastically.
"No, the lights you put up that spell out Derek loves Meredith." She smiled and he kissed her nose.
"Maybe we will see when we get back from picking out a tree."
"So when are we going to make a gingerbread house and bake cookies?" He looked at her and then frowned.
"I thought you hated Christmas."
"I did but now I want to make it special for my children. The kind of Christmas I never had with hot chocolate and caroling and taking pictures with Santa and church. I want my kids to think back and only have good memories of Christmas and when they ask us about our first Christmas together am I supposed to say daddy didn't want to hang lights." She gave him her puppy dog face and got up and continued walking giving him no time to argue her decision.
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Meredith and Derek were looking at trees for about an hour and the wind was getting stronger and the air felt colder.
"What about this one Mer?" Derek asked pointing to a tree about 7 feet tall that had barely any branches or needles. Meredith almost laughed at half the trees he picked out.
"It is kind of tiny and not very full. Do you want to look back and have an ugly tree in pictures? What if people come for Christmas? The tree is what everyone remembers and the lights." He sighs and continues looking around refusing to go deeper into the forest.
"Mer don't we have other things to do today."
"Well the lights, decorating the tree, making cookies, hanging stockings, gingerbread house, and the picture with Santa I think that is everything we have to do today." She smiles pleased with herself and the look on Derek's face. "Maybe we can just put up the lights and decorate the tree.'
Meredith stops dead in her tracks and stares up. She found the tree but not just any tree their tree. It was 8 and a half feet tall and full with thick branches and needles. It was the perfect green color and had room underneath for presents.
"I found our first Christmas tree." He just stares at the tree astonished it was huge.
"Meredith cant you find a smaller tree. That one will be hard to get back down the hill and it is huge."
"But it is gorgeous and the baby agrees with me. Two against one we are getting this tree. I know deep down you love the tree."
"The baby can't vote and it is going to be really heavy."
"Nope this is the tree pregnant Meredith wants and she will get it. Now let's go and maybe we can have some fun under the tree later." She winks at him suggestively and hands him the saw. "You better start sawing if you want to be out of here before lunch."
Half an hour later they finished at the tree farm and are on there way home. The tree couldn't fit in the car so it was tied to the roof. A very tired Meredith fell asleep on the way home in the car.
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Once they got home Meredith was immediately awake again. She was trying to figure out the best way for Derek to hang the Christmas lights to make the house look beautiful before he got on the ladder.
"Meredith this is not working right." He called down after trying unsuccessfully to hang the lights for twenty minutes.
"Keep trying honey. It is looking great." She smiled and went back to picking the perfect holiday dinner for the Christmas she was hosting. Maybe this year she would learn to cook.
It was getting colder outside when Derek had finally finished the hanging the lights which he said were staying up all year round. She just laughed it off and started to unpack some of the ornaments she brought back from Seattle with her.
"These haven't been used in ages. My mother never had time for a tree and once my dad left we didn't have a tree. I was always in some other country. Since I was off from school we could go traveling in Europe or Africa. I was always alone. She was always busy. Half the time I didn't know if it was Christmas or not with all the changing of the clocks. That is why I want Christmas for her to be special." She said putting on some of her favorite ornaments from when she was younger.
"I understand. Christmas was always so big in my house. Everyone gathered around the fireplace unwrapping presents from Santa and laughing. Then we always would go sledding and have hot chocolate. I want that for our daughter to." He was hanging the last ornament and then it came time for the angel. "Do you want to put the angel on?"
"Yeah it will symbolize my first real Christmas in ages." She smiled and he lifter her up the last five inches she couldn't reach and gently placed the angel on top.
I don't know when the next time I can update is. I am going to my grandmother's house and she doesn't have the internet but I will write chapters. Thanks for the reviews. I really liked this chapter I hope you guys did too.