A/N: Last chapter before the wedding. The whole wedding plotline made me get into a very girly mindset and start looking at wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses. It was very fun, but I wanted to pick a dress that I think that the Meredith on the show (and in my fic) would wear, which may explain why it took so long for me to actually write this update when I reached this chapter a few weeks ago. Anyway, I wanted to give you guys visualization of what I had in mind, so here are the links to the dresses: (Sorry, I had to put the spaces in so that the web adresses could be shown. So, just copy and paste, but then delete all the spaces. Sorry that it's such a pain!)

Wedding Dress:

h t t p : / / p h o t o s . w e d d i n g b y c o l o r . c o m / p / 0 0 0 / 0 0 4 /7 7 8 / m / 3 0 8 0 8 / p / p h o t o / 9 1 6 6 2 . j p g

Bridesmaid Dress:

h t t p : / / b r i d e s m a i d . v p o n s a l e . c o . u k / i m a g e s / b r i d e s m a i d d r e s s e s / M F S 1 9 . j p g

One more thing in regards to the dresses, I know that the image I provided is an actual white dress, but I feel as though Meredith would prefer off-white or an ivory color instead. Oh, and imagine an off-white sash around the bridesmaids dresses, I think it makes the wedding more uniform. Anyway, enough about fictitious weddings, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 23

Meredith spun around slowly, a small smile creeping onto her face. The off white colored dress was simple, with only a small bow and square of jewels right below her breasts. The dress was strapless, with an emphasized sweetheart neckline, the material cut in a way to show some of her cleavage. The dress clung to her waist and hips, showing off her curves, before fanning out slightly and coming to rest at the floor. There was no long train, and she would be wearing a very small, simple veil, a birthday gift from Carolyn. Meredith decided against a traditional white dress, going for a slightly off white color, for several reasons. When she tried on white dresses, she felt that she was too pale and washed out looking, and wanted to pick something that better suited her skin tone. Carolyn thankfully agreed with her, and didn't seem too angry that Meredith's dress would not be bright white. Also, Meredith didn't feel she fit the whole virginal bride ideal, and felt like a hypocrite if she wore white.

"Oh Mer, you look gorgeous! Derek is going to freak when he sees you in it!" Izzie sighed from the corner of Derek's bedroom. Five months had passed very quickly; Meredith's wedding was only two weeks away, so Izzie had decided to come to the city for a few weeks to hang out with the friend she hadn't seen in so long and help out with last minute wedding details. The two of them, plus Cristina, had gone to Carolyn's house for one last fitting, since that was where the dresses were being held.

"Thank you," Meredith said, blushing. "And you like your dresses right?"

"They are surprisingly not poufy," Cristina said, staring at herself in the mirror.

"And they look amazing," Izzie agreed.

"Yeah, I like them," Amelia chimed in, also changing into her dress. The bridesmaid's dresses were also relatively simple; they were strapless, forest green, A-line dresses, falling at the knee. They were satin, with pleated folds both at the chest and under the waist as the dress fanned out. Though they would have been fine plain, Meredith had decided to tie an off white ribbon around the waist of each dress in order to better tie it into the wedding. The dress looked perfect on all the girls, and Meredith was actually kind of jealous that she wasn't able to where one.

All four girls turned as they heard a knock at the door. "May I come in?" Carolyn's voice rang from the hallway.

"Only if Derek isn't behind you," Meredith laughed in response as the door pushed open. Meredith had told Derek she was trying on her dress, but didn't disclose the location, which angered Derek. He had arrived at his childhood home an hour ago, hoping to catch Meredith and her friends. However, Meredith was on to Derek plans, and the girls had arrived at Carolyn's in Izzie's rental car, which they had parked down the street. When Derek burst through the front door, they had been very quiet while Carolyn shooed Derek away, falsely hinting that the dresses were at Kathleen's house, and he should check there.

"No, he isn't with me," Carolyn answered. "I called Kathleen after he left, and she'll be sending his to Liz's. She can keep him occupied with baby talk for a while."

"Thanks," Meredith smiled. She twirled around a couple of more times before turning back to Carolyn. "It still fits."

"It does," Carolyn affirmed with a smile. "Now, let's get you out of that dress in case Derek decides to come back."

"Good idea," Meredith responded. "Plus, I have a meeting with the dean of Columbia Med in an hour, and I can't be late."

"Why do you have to go to Columbia? You just got out of class for the summer," Izzie asked.

"I don't know, but it's making me nervous," Meredith said as she stepped out of her wedding dress. "I hope I didn't fail all my finals or they accuse me of plagiarizing a paper or something."

"Come on Mer, you already found out your grades, you know you didn't fail your finals, so stop being dramatic," Cristina shot back.

"You're right, I'm just being paranoid," Meredith said, breathing deeply. "I think I'll just hop on the train down the street to get back to the city, I'll see you guys later." She hung the dress up, and with a quick round of goodbyes, headed towards the train station a quarter mile away.

By the time she got to Columbia, Meredith was twenty minutes early for her meeting. Starting to freak out about all the potentially bad things they could say to her, Meredith decided to call the one person she could guarantee to calm her down.

"Where the hell are you?" Derek's concerned voice filled her ears, skipping any sort of greeting.

"At Columbia, I have that meeting soon, why?"

"Because I've been driving everywhere looking for you!" Derek said exasperatedly, and Meredith couldn't help but smirk. "First I went to mom's house, but she let slip that you were at Kathleen's, so I drove all the way to Connecticut to see if you were there. Then Kathleen told me you were at Liz's brownstone, so I drove all the way back into the city just to be trapped here listening to Liz go on and on about all of the things she was doing for our new niece."

"You know Derek," Meredith giggled. "None of this would have happened if you behaved like a normal person and didn't try to catch me in my dress. I told you I wanted to be surprised, so you should respect that."

Derek grumbled about how it wasn't fair for a few seconds before seeming to remember the point of Meredith's call. "Are you freaking out your meeting?"

"Just a little," Meredith admitted. "I keep going over the year in my head, and I can't think of anything I've done wrong. I hope they don't want me to answer questions about the Steve thing."

She heard Derek emit some sort of growl when she mentioned Steve's name. "They won't do that, the police got your statement in October while you were in the hospital. Besides, they can't make you answer questions, so you can leave the minute they ask about what happened."

"Okay," Meredith nodded; despite the fact she knew Derek couldn't see her. "Thank you."

"No problem Mer," Derek said brightly. "I'll be at home when you're done. You just gave me the perfect excuse to leave Liz."

"Oh, good," Meredith replied sarcastically.

"It won't be anything bad," Derek offered his support again. "Love you."

"Love you too," Meredith said as she hung up and headed towards the Dean's office.

XXXXXX

Meredith walked into her apartment an hour and a half later, still going over her appointment in her mind. She was unsure what to tell Derek, how to phrase it, and what his reaction would be. She wasn't even sure what her reaction was yet.

"Hey!" Derek called from the kitchen as Meredith entered the room. "I was just starting dinner. How was your meeting?"

"Umm, it was uh, fine," Meredith struggled to answer, trying to sound calm but obviously failing.

Derek turned away from the stove to look at her, examining her closely. "Fine?" he asked.

"Yeah, fine," Meredith nodded, turning away and heading towards the living room.

"What's wrong Meredith?" Derek asked, following her out into the living room. He followed her to the couch, sitting down beside her. "You aren't in trouble or anything right? The Dean didn't upset you?"

"No," Meredith shook her head. "I'm just feeling a lot of different things right now. It might be because this is kind of big, and combined with the wedding, which is also big, it's…this is just a lot."

"Okay," Derek nodded, wrapping his arms around her small frame. "Let's start with school. What was your meeting about?"

Meredith sighed before turning to face him. "Remember those classes I took over the summer at NYU because my professor thought it would be a good idea?" Derek nodded at the memory. "Well, those classes, combined with the classes I took for my LNA license, mean that I am ahead of my class. So far ahead, that the Dean wants me to try and graduate a year early." She looked up at Derek cautiously, not sure how he would respond.

A wide grin slowly spread across Derek's face as he kissed her. "Congratulations Mer! See, I knew you wouldn't have anything to worry about; he just wanted to tell you how smart you are."

"I don't know if I should do it," she admitted.

"Why not?" Derek asked, confused.

"Because, it's going to be a lot of work for the next two years. I'll have to take a class this summer, basically right when we get back from our honeymoon. And then I'll be taking all of my classes, plus clinical rotations and working all next year, and the year after that. And I really want to graduate early; I want to be a surgeon really badly, and it might make my mother proud if I tell her. But it'll be a lot of work, and you're important to me, and I don't want to be absent or for us to grow apart so you eventually hate me or resent me and then cheat on me or something."

"Meredith, this is an amazing opportunity, and I think you should take it," Derek said seriously.

"But what about you? What about us? It'll be hard to adjust to being married if we're both really busy," she argued.

"Mer, we don't need to really adjust to being married, we basically are married already. You live with me, and we've been together for almost five years. Plus, we were able to figure out how to be a couple when I was an intern, and we had just started dating. If we could handle my crazy schedule in the very beginning of our relationship, we can certainly work around your busy one once we're married."

"Are you sure?" Meredith asked quietly.

"Absolutely," Derek answered firmly. "I love you, and I want what's best for you and what will make you happy. And the fact that you are so smart that you have the chance to graduate early, be a surgeon a year before you're supposed to, will make you happy. So go for it; I'll be cheering you on the entire way."

A small smile graced Meredith's lips. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me," Derek said as he placed a kiss on Meredith's lips. "Just being the dutiful fiancé and impending husband."

Meredith snuggled closer to Derek, her head resting on his shoulder. "We're getting married in two and a half weeks."

"We are," Derek nodded. "How are you feeling?"

"Excited. You?"

"Unbelievably happy, but also a little bit curious. I really want to know what your dress looks like."

"Well, you'll just have to wait another eighteen days," Meredith laughed.

"Come on, just one hint?" Derek whined.

"Nope."

"I'll get it out of you," Derek smirked as he kissed her cheek.

"Oh, yeah," Meredith breathed as Derek's mouth moved towards her ear, biting it lightly. "How?"

"I have ways," Derek said huskily as he moved his mouth lower, to her neck.

"Really?" Meredith half-moaned, loving the feel of Derek's lips on her body.

"Oh yes," Derek responded. "Let me give you a demonstration." With that, he picked Meredith up off the couch and carried her to their room, determined to make her show him the dress.