XXX

Meredith walked through the halls of the hospital towards the cafeteria to find Derek. She hadn't seen him since he left the house before her. Four months after they'd gotten together they were still in a happy "honeymoon" stage. They had sex constantly and hardly ever fought.

"Hey!" called Meredith, spotting Derek in the hall.

"Hi," he smiled.

"You want to eat with me?"

"No…no… I have an um thing," he stuttered.

"A thing?"

"A surgery," he nodded.

"You're not on the board."

"Oh…well, I should go see about that," said Derek nervously, walking away.

Meredith threw a confused look after him and walked towards the cafeteria. She quickly got her food and found Cristina and Alex sitting at a table.

"Hey," she said, sitting down and opening her sandwich container.

"Hey," said Alex.

"Hey," said Cristina. "I did a humpty dumpty today."

"Cool."

"Yeah…I'm still on my surgery buzz."

"Lucky. All I had today was putting in a shunt. Fun," she said sarcastically.

"Well, not everyone gets to do humpty dumpties."

"Obviously. And to make my exciting-surgery-less day my dumb ass who I call my boyfriend is acting like a total basket case."

"I got sex this morning," shrugged Cristina. Meredith narrowed her eyes at Cristina. "Oh but, let's hear your problem."

"I just saw him in the hall and he said something about a thing and surgery then stuttered something before pretty much running away from me."

"Maybe he decided he wants the horse back," shrugged Alex.

Meredith glared at him. "I don't think so. After she stabbed him with a scalpel and hit him with a remote…"

"Just an explanation," surrendered Alex.

"He's probably just busy," assured her Cristina.

"Yeah but he was kind of acting like he did something bad. Like the time when we were in med school and he scared off my boyfriend…"

"He scared off your boyfriend?" asked Alex with a chuckle.

"He didn't think the guy was good enough for me."

"He was jealous!"

"I didn't get that then but now I realize. But he was acting the same. All nervous and jittery."

"It's probably nothing," repeated Cristina. "He probably just shrunk one of your shirts or something."

Alex let out a laugh. "You really think he'd get all jittery over that?"

Cristina glared at him.

"I mean…it's probably nothing," he said, changing his answer.

Meredith sighed. She really hoped it was nothing or if it were that he'd talk to her about it.

XXX

Derek stood at the nurses' station filling out a chart.

"Hey," said Mark walking up to him.

"Hey."

"Did you get it?"

"Yeah, I got it during lunch today."

"So, how are you going to do it?" asked Mark.

"I don't know," sighed Derek. "I just know it has to be perfect. I only get one chance."

"Well, you know her better than anyone else so, I can't be of much help."

Derek sighed. "I know. I know. But I just know she's not the roses and candles type of person. That's pretty much all I know."

"Good morning," said Owen Hunt walking up to the nurses' station. He'd gotten friendly with Derek and Mark in the previous four months because he was dating Cristina so they were together a lot.

"Shepherd's proposing," told him Mark.

"Thank you for that," said Derek, narrowing his eyes at Mark. "You're just going to tell people now?"

"You need advice. You may know her the best but, you don't know how to propose," replied Mark. "Hunt, you got any experience?"

"I'm not the guy to ask. But, congratulations. It's a big step."

"Thanks."

Mark cleared his throat and Derek looked down the hall to see Meredith walking towards them.

"So, how what you use, like a twist drill?" he asked Derek, trying to make their talk look innocent as Meredith neared.

"Not if you don't want a partial propriatal hematoma," he replied nervously, catching on to what Mark was doing. They began to fake laugh, Derek laughing especially loudly.

Meredith walked towards them, confused.

"Hi," she said, glaring at Derek, perplexed.

"Hi," he smiled back nervously.

Meredith walked away from them. Basket case, she thought.

XXX

"Derek!" called Meredith angrily, storming into their house. He'd been avoiding her all day and she knew it. And when she did see him he was acting like a basket case. "Derek! I know you're here!"

She threw her bag and coat on the floor near the coat hanger and walked up the stairs.

"Derek!" she called out again. Figuring he was in the bedroom she continued in there. "What the hell is wrong with you Derek I swear I'm…"

She stopped talking as she opened the door to see Derek standing in their room surrounded by papers and pictures. "What the…"

"Come in," he smiled.

Meredith took a few steps into the room and stared at him in awe. He wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her over to a picture on the dresser. He'd set up an entire timeline of pictures.

"This is our first picture together," he told her, pointing to a framed picture. "We were going ice skating and mom insisted we take a picture."

"She said we looked too cute, I remember," she grinned, all anger at Derek flying out the window as she looked at the picture. Their five-year-old selves were holding hands and smiling at the camera.

"And this was our first day of middle school," told her Derek, pointing at another picture of them but as eleven year olds. Derek's afro was beginning to puff up and she had long bleach blonde hair. "And this was our first day of high school. I remember mom insisted we take a picture when you came to pick me up and we groaned and complained."

He pointed to the picture with them together in front of the Shepherd's house. Derek's afro was full blown and she thought to herself that the picture could be the last one she had without pink hair.

"Graduation," he smiled, pointing to a picture of them with their arms around each other, both clad in royal blue robes and the hats with the tassels.

Derek turned to his girl friend and looked her in the eyes. "There are a lot more pictures in here but we can look later. I just want to say that I love you. And I need you more than anyone else in the world. I've always needed you. Since the day my father died I've known that," he smiled. "

You helped me get back on my feet and become the man I am today. The person I am is because of you. So, I'm not going to ask you a question. I'm not going to be cliché and get down on one knee so, I love you Meredith Grey. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"And I want to spend the rest of my life with you," she breathed. Derek gave her his trademark 'McDreamy' smile and leaned in to kiss her. They pressed their lips together, Derek's arms going around her waist to pull her into his chest. One of Meredith's arms snaked around his neck while the other gently caressed his face, running into his raven curls. Her lips parted, allowing him to explore the cavern of her mouth with his tongue.

"I love you," she whispered against his lips when they parted a little.

"I love you too," he smiled, resting his forehead against hers.

"So…we're engaged," she stated.

"We are."

"So…I heard about this thing called 'engagement sex'…I figure we should try it out."

"I think so too," he laughed against her lips, pushing her on to the bed and quickly following.

XXX

A/N: Epilogue is next.