Author's Notes: This entire chapter is told in Meredith's POV because I feel like Derek's personal drama is pretty much settled for now. We already know how he feels about everything and the ball is in Meredith's court.

There are closing notes at the very end. I don't want to spoil anything. :)

Chapter Six: "Such Great Heights"

He does the candy thing for three more days before I stop him. "Let's make a rule."

"A rule? We're making rules, now?" He looks so smug.

"You can only give me candy once a week."

"Fine, I can accept that."

"Good."

We don't discuss anything else, and we go about our days like we had before, except with a few more smiles and secret/not-so-secret glances.

-----

A couple of weeks later, we're sharing an elevator after work when my stomach grumbles. Loudly.

Apparently this amuses him. "Meredith?"

"Yes?"

"Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"

My stomach growls again. Traitor.

"I know a place. You know, a little hole in the wall."

I raise my eyebrow. "There are holes in the wall in Seattle?"

Whatever. I'm hungry.

-----

The "little hole in the wall" turns out to be the restaurant in the Space Needle.

"You've never been here, have you?" he asks, as we leave his car with the valet.

"No. I was young when we moved to Boston. But it's not like my mom would have ever taken me if we'd stayed." The disappointment doesn't stop me from missing her.

He kisses my forehead before placing his hand at the small of my back as guides me through the tower base.

As the elevator starts moving, I notice that he's gripping the railing.

Now it's my turn to be amused. "Derek, are you afraid of heights?"

He shakes his head. "No, I'm from Manhattan. Land of skyrises."

"But you lived in a townhouse."

He smirks. "I have no problem with heights. You might even say I enjoy heights. I'm just not a big fan of towering elevators with glass walls."

I step out to the glass and push against it a little. I think he's turning green.

Suddenly, I remember the last time I toyed with danger in front of him. I don't think he's thinking about it, but it's enough that I am. I move over to where he's standing and I turn him around, trapping myself between him and the solid steel wall of the elevator.

We share our first kiss in a long time shooting up into the sky.

As his tongue slides across mine and his hands weave through my hair, I think, this is even better than I remembered.

-----

A few days later, I'm rifling through equipment in a supply closet.

"You know we've never been out to a movie?" It's Derek, of course.

My heart stops and I drop everything in my hands. Bastard, he knows I'm jumpy.

"Sorry," he says while helping me pick up the needles and syringes I scattered on the floor. He smiles that stupid smile, the contagious one.

I get my bearings enough to respond. "And yes, I do know that we've never been out to a movie."

"Let's go to one. Tonight." He takes off before I can argue.

-----

I knew there was a reason we didn't go out to movies.

I open my eyes to find myself resting my head on Derek's shoulder, in a dark theater with names scrolling up on the screen. The few other people in the theater are getting up to leave. His eyes are still closed, and he's breathing deeply. Right, so he can't deal with my snoring but he can fall asleep in the presence of surround sound speakers.

-----

Afterwards, he drives me home and we enjoy the rare, clear spring night on the porch swing.

There's something on my mind, and I guess now is as good a time as any to ask.

"Are we dating?"

"That's up to you," he says, turning to face me.

He is being painfully perfect. The pessimist in me is waiting for the other shoe to drop. The optimist is fighting it out.

"I guess we are," I say with a small smile.

He hums his approval and puts his arm around my shoulders as we both sit back.

"You know, Cosmo says I should wait until at least the sixth date to sleep with you."

He sits up. "Oh, you read trashy magazines now?"

"I'll have you know that Cosmopolitan is an excellent example of fine journalism." I can only hold a straight face for about five seconds. "It was between that, or reading about sham Hollywood marriages at my hair salon."

"I see. So what else do they say?"

I play with the hair at the base of his neck. "I don't know, something about ten ways to give your man the best orgasm of his life."

He turns to face me. "If we're not having sex tonight, this is mean."

"We're not," I say with a shrug.

"This is mean."

"Sorry." I'm not really sorry. I lean over and kiss him, quick. "'Night."

"Night," he whispers back, before getting up and walking to his car.

I'm about to step inside the house when I hear his voice.

"Rule number two," he says. "No teasing about sex if we're not going to have it in the next hour."

I shake my head as I pull the door shut behind me.

-----

Naturally, Cristina makes it her business to keep me grounded.

"Why is he being so nice? Like, doesn't it drive you insane?" We're at yoga, but Izzie's on call tonight.

I stretch my arms above my head. "He was nice once, you know. Way back when. Before I found out he was married."

She scoffs. "That wasn't being nice, that was getting into your pants."

"He'd already gotten into my pants, remember?"

"Whatever, you know what I mean."

We get into the downward dog position and the blood rushes to my head. "It's just... it's nice to have a sense of normalcy. But I'm afraid I won't know what to do with it if it keeps going. I've never had long-term normal."

"Maybe your dad will die or something."

"Cristina!"

Our yoga instructor makes that annoying shushing noise as she moves into the first warrior pose.

We follow and hold. "We were happy before. For a few months, we were happy. And then a lot of things happened and we never dealt with any of it."

"And now that you've dealt with it, everything is sunshine and rainbows?" We open our arms out for the second warrior pose.

"No, there's still a lot on the table. But we're not there yet."

"Look, I've seen you through two McDreamy disasters. I'm just, you know, worried, okay?"

We lean back and look up at the ceiling. "I know. It's just... I love him. And I hate it, but I do."

"Yeah, I know. And I'll probably always be here to mop you up."

We relax back into a normal standing position and I look over at her. "I really hope I won't have to hold you to that."

-----

The conversation with Cristina starts a train of thought in my head that leads to me making the long drive to Derek's, which is a risk without knowing for sure that he's home, but I don't want to call first.

I thought we'd eventually have to have this talk, but I figured it could wait. Now, it seems a lot more urgent. I need to know all the facts before I get any more invested into this thing we have going.

The lights are on in his trailer, and he must notice my headlights because he comes out to stand on his front porch. The Chief's trailer is still there, but he moved back to the city when he realized the outdoor life wasn't for him.

I must look troubled or worried or something because Derek's expression changes from pleased to troubled or worried as I approach him. "Meredith?"

I stop at the front edge of his porch, a few feet away from him. I have to speak before I lose my courage. "Do you have a timeline?"

"What?"

"Like, do you have a plan in your head about how your life is going to go."

He puts his hands in his pocket and kicks at something only he can see. "I did. I used to."

I swallow. "And now?"

"And now," he says, as he looks up at me, "I'm not going to make big life decisions involving you without your input."

Good answer. The best answer. But now I don't know what to say. I step off his porch and look up into the sky. "My past experience says that this whole thing is too good to be true."

He doesn't speak for a minute, but I hear his footsteps before he wraps his arms around me from behind. He buries his face in my hair before speaking softly into my ear. "I will never be able to express to you how sorry I am for everything. But you're it for me, Meredith." He exhales and it shoots sparks down my spine. Being a controlling asshole, thinking I can play god, those are my character flaws. I can't promise I won't slip up, but I know that I'll always love you."

I keep my head up to fight back tears. "How can you possibly know that?"

"I've loved you since the moment we met. And I know people always say that, but it's the truth. When I saw you at the bar, I could tell that you were hiding a lot behind your confident exterior, and I was so intrigued. And then you smiled, and laughed, and that was it." His grip on me tightens. "I've never stopped."

I lean back and rest my head on his chest. "You can't say all these things to me and then run me over with an emotional mack truck later. I can't do it anymore."

"You have to promise me something," he says with a firm voice.

I turn around in his arms so that I can see his face. "What?"

"Whenever you have a problem, I don't care if it's because your hair is frizzy, or you're having trouble with a patient, or your dad suddenly appears at your doorstep, I need for you to talk to me about it. I don't want to guess at what's wrong with you and then worry that I'm going to find out too late." His voice breaks as he speaks.

"Okay," I say. "I can't promise I won't slip up, either."

He nods, and I push myself up against him. We say nothing as we just stand there on his lawn for minutes, embracing.

A rush of feeling floods my chest. I pull back and he loosens his grip. "I love you," I whisper, before bringing my mouth up to his. He puts his hands on the back of my neck and mashes our mouths together.

I'm sure that I will never feel anything like this with anyone else. I don't even want to try.

The story ends here, but if you're an adult, keep reading for an extended NC-17 ending.

He steps backwards, keeping me with him, stumbling when his calves hit the porch. He turns around and steps up before helping me do the same, and our mouths reunite, licking, biting and sliding, as we continue staggering our way into the trailer. He pushes me backwards until my legs hit the bed and I fall back.

For the first time tonight, I can see his face in the light and the intensity there almost scares me. He strips off his pants, pulls mine off as well, and looks at me. Really looks at me. My body has changed quite a bit since he last saw it. He lightly runs his fingers down my toned stomach before he bends over and licks a trail from there to my chest. My hands grip his hair as he kisses all over my face and neck while running his hands up and down my body and it's almost too much. Every nerve in my body is standing on end and I begin to wonder if he has secret neuro sex tricks.

That was an incredibly stupid thought. I want to hate him for having the power to turn me into a puddle of mm and yes and Derek don't stop, but I can't because it's so good. It's so good when he slips on a condom and slides into me, groaning from the effort he's making to hold back.

Screw holding back. I wrap my legs around his waist and pull him close.

"Fuck, Meredith," he growls. "I'm not going to last."

"I don't care," I whisper into his ear.

He pulls my legs from around his waist and pushes them towards my shoulders. He pulls back and my hands scramble to grab hold of something sturdy because I know what's coming.

He slams into me and I see stars. It's been months but we haven't forgotten a thing. He still knows exactly what I need.

I almost don't want it this way because it's hot and kinda dirty and I think I wanted slow and tender, but every single thrust hits just the right spot and it's sending me into incoherency.

We can do slow and tender later.

How did I go so long without this?

He starts to lose what little control he had and I think I scream when I come but I can't really be too sure. He collapses on top of me, slick with sweat, and I lick at a drop on his neck.

"Mmm. Give me an hour," he mumbles into a pillow near my head. He rolls over and tosses the condom before finding the sheets and arranging us underneath them.

I curl up against him, head on his chest, legs twisted with his, and fall asleep.

(For about an hour.)

Closing Notes: There's still a lot for them to work out, but this story was conceived as a "getting Meredith and Derek back on track" thing and that's done, so the story is done. I currently have no plans to write any sort of sequel. I've thought about it, but I'm coming up empty on inspiration. I'm a bit of a minimalist/character-driven writer and while I know what problems they'll have in the future, I'm lacking a reference point for how the characters would go about resolving them. If I ever figure that out, I will put fingers to keyboard and write.

The song I used for the title is Back 2 Good by Matchbox 20. You can take that at face value, or you can examine the lyrics, which end with the line, "There's no getting back to good." Do I think they'll have it easy from here on out? No. Do I think they'll be together in the end? Definitely. But there's a lot of room for your own interpretations.

Thanks so much for reading.