The next morning Derek woke up early. He knew that Meredith would sleep in, so he ran a few errands. First he went to Saks Fifth Avenue and bought her a new sundress, then to the coach storepurse section to by her a new purse, then off to bakery where she worked and bought two cinnamon rolls from Miranda. He then went to Starbucks and bought two tall hot chocolates. On the way back to Meredith's apartment he made a few phone calls.

He slipped in the door with the wrapped gifts. He sat them on her bed, so that they would be there when she woke up. He sat on the bed and kissed her lips gently. "Wake up Meredith."

"What?" Meredith groaned.

"Wake up." Derek kissed her again with a small laugh.

Meredith finally sat up. "Fine I'm up."

"Here you go." Derek handed her the hot chocolate.

"Thanks." Meredith said. "What is this for?"

"Open your presents first." Derek said.

Meredith opened the presents one by one. She loved them all and as they were eating their cinnamon rolls she spoke, "What are you up to?"

"Meredith get dressed." Derek said with a smile.

"Why?"

"You and I are spending the day together." Derek answered with a smile.

"What?" Meredith asked again.

"We're going out for the day and then we are going to stay the night somewhere, with no sex." Derek was proud. He took her hand in his, "You better pack an overnght bag."

Meredith let a small smile peak through her face. She put the hot chocolate on the nightstand and opened her arms. She embraced Derek with a hug as she began to cry. "Thanky you."

He is the best boyfriend any girl could ask for.

"Is this okay?" Derek asked.

"It's perfect." Meredith said as she held on to him.

Meredith got dressed and ready with the stuff that Derek gave her. She walked out into the living room to find Derek sitting on the couch. She walked over behind him and put her arms around him. She kissed his cheek as she said, "I'm ready Boo Boo."

Derek laughed and stood up. "Good, let's get going."

Meredith walked with him to the door. But Derek Stopped and pulled him closer, "Meredith?"

"What?" She asked as she put her arms back around his waist and looked up.

"I'm here for you." Derek said. "When you're ready to talk about it, I'm here. Izzie, Christina and all of us are here to talk to you. You could even go talk to a doctor Meredith."

"Derek." Meredith answered annoyed. "Just let it go please."

Derek put his hands up, "Okay sorry, I am done."

"Good." Meredith said as she kissed him again.

"Let's go." Derek said as he put his hand on the small of her back and followed her out of the door.

As they stood in elevator Derek noticed that Meredith held on to him. She kept her arms around his waist and laid her head against the edge of his shoulder. It wasn't like she was acting scared, but Derek could just tell.

The elevator doors opened and Meredith stepped off. Derek caught up and took a hold of her hand. He opened the car door for her, and then went around the other side. He got in and looked at Meredith, "You look great."

"Thanks." Meredith said with a smile. "You don't look so bad yourself."

Derek laughed. He enjoyed her smile and missed it. She had rarely smiled since everything happened and he soaked it up whenever she did it. He watched she ran her hand over her stomach, flattening the dress over it, to see the slight baby bump.

"Derek?" Meredith asked.

"Do I look pregnant yet?" Meredith asked.

Derek smiled. "A little bit."

"What about now?" Meredith said as she lifted her dress up above her stomach.
"Meredith!" Derek said as he looked over in disbelief.

"What?!" She asked with a giggle.

"Put your dress down." Derek laughed. "You know that's not very young lady like."

Meredith laughed, "Well I'm not so young anymore."

"Oh you're so old Meredith." Derek said sarcastically, "At the age of twenty six you are barely making it without a walker."

"Shut up." She hit him playfully.

"You do have a baby belly Meredith." Derek smiled as he pulled up to the stoplight. "Its small, but I can tell. Of course you have such a small body frame, there was no doubt you would start showing early."

Meredith smiled. "Well I won't be so small by the end of the pregnancy."

Derek pulled up into a parking spot. "We just have to walk to the end of the block."

I hope she likes where I'm taking her. I was hoping it would temporarily take her mind off of the other things.

"Alright." Meredith said as she got out of the car.

Derek held her hand as they walked to the street corner. "We're going to that store right over there." He said as he pointed to a store with pastel writing on the sign that said, 'The Baby Haven.'

"Derek." Meredith said with a smile.

He led her across the street and opened the door. "Meredith?"

"Yea?" She said as she looked around the baby store in amazement.

"Would you like to buy a crib?" Derek asked as he squeezed her hand.

Meredith looked up and smiled. "Yes."

A saleswoman walked up and greeted them. "Hi Welcome to The Baby Haven. My name is Sheila. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Well, we are looking for a crib." Derek said.

"Well you've come to the right place." Sheila said with a smile. She looked at Meredith, "So are you the expecting mother."

"Yes I am." Meredith said with a smile.

"Well, let me see what I have." Sheila said as she led them through a store. "So how far along are you?"

"Almost four months." Meredith answered.

Sheila led them through the store until they finally settled on a crib. It took them a little while, because they spent twenty minutes debating over the wood finish, but they setteled on white.

"Alright, well the crib will be delivered to your apartment on next Friday." Sheila said. "It was nice to meet you and I hope you come back."

"Thank you." Derek and Meredith said as they left the store.

Meredith and Derek went back to the car. "Thank you Derek."

"You're welcome." Derek said.

Derek drove as Meredith fell asleep in the car. They pulled up to a small ocean beach house. "Meredith we're here."

Meredith sat up and smiled. "The beach."

"Yes we are at the beach." Derek got out and grabbed their bags from the car. "It's my f
amilies beach house. I called my mother and we have it to ourselves this weekend."

"Wow." Meredith said as she followed him inside. "Its beautiful."

"I would say thank you, but my mother and my sisters decorated it." Derek said as he walked up the stairs and into a bedroom. We can stay in this room.

Meredith looked around. In her eyes, the room looked more like a Pottery Barn catalogue.

"Well you ready to eat?" Derek asked.

He took her to a restaurant over looking the water, then to an ice cream store down the street. Derek suggested they make a quick trip to the store so that they had a few things to eat and drink in the beach house. Once they got back to the beach house they sat at the counter.

"Let's go sit on the beach." Meredith suggested as she looked out the window over the kitchen sink. "It seems so relaxing."

"We can do that." Derek said as he sat down his glass of water and took her by the hand. He locked up the beach house and handed it to Meredith. "I might lose them, if you don't hold on to them."

Meredith laughed and put them in the pocket of her cream sweater. The temperature had dropped earlier, so she put it on over her new dress. "I think you're right.

The walked down onto the sand and Derek sat down. Meredith laid back onto him, between his legs. "This is so serene."

"It's perfect." Derek said. He could tell Meredith was thinking again. She was thinking about something that was bothering her because she began to play the hem of her sweater. "Meredith."

"Yes?"

Derek decided not to ask her but instead he leaned down and kissed her long and hard. He stopped when she realized she was crying. "Baby what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry its just…" Meredith stopped.

"Just what?" Derek asked.

"When I close my eyes, even to kiss you I see him. Every single time I close my eyes to kiss you or when I go to bed and close my eyes. He's there, his face and what he did is all there." Meredith wiped away her tears.

"Baby…" He tried to calm her down as her tears broke through. He hated to see her cry and he had seen it a lot lately. He couldn't even imagine what it would be like when her hormones came into effect.

I need to do something about this.

"Derek I can't even kiss you without him popping into my head. I just close my eyes and he's still there." Meredith started to calm down, but she was still scared.

"Meredith baby, how about you try and kiss with your eyes open for a little while." Derek kissed her cheek, "That way you know it is me kissing you."

"That's weird." Meredith said rolling her eyes.

"Just until you feel comfortable again." Derek said. "Once you see that it is me and only me kissing you then will close your eyes. But Meredith?"

"Yes?"

"I'm the only one going to kiss you like this ever again." He leaned down and cupped her jaw and began kissing her long and hard. "So please don't worry."

Meredith smiled. "I guess I could try it, but keep your eyes closed like normal. We don't nee both of us looking like idiots."

Derek laughed and kissed her again. He kissed her long and hard.

Meredith kept her eyes open as Derek kissed her, but halfway through their magical make out session she let her eyes fall shut.

I just needed to know he was there.

Derek pulled away and smiled. "Better?"

"Much." Meredith said with a smile. "Let's go to bed."

That night, Meredith slept safely in Derek's arms. There were no visions of Finn when she closed her eyes. She felt calm and relaxed. For the first time in nights, she was nightmare free. She knew it wasn't the complete end of the healing process, but she had taken a big step that night.

12