I hope you're all still enjoying this story. I'm trying to figure out where to take it next, but please let me know what you like/don't like. Thanks for reading :)

"Meredith," Derek said in a frustrated sigh. "What the hell has been going on with you?"

Meredith rolled her eyes as she looked up from her book. "I'm studying, Derek, there's nothing going on with me," she snapped.

Derek threw his pen onto the desk and turned to stare at her as she lay stretched out on the bed. "Mer, I'm not talking about right now," he said. "There's been something going on with you for weeks now. And finals are coming up, but I can't concentrate while I'm constantly thing that there's something wrong with you. Come on, Mer, talk to me."

"I don't need to talk, I need to study," Meredith replied.

"I just asked if you wanted to take a break for pizza," Derek replied. "You never turn down pizza breaks."

Meredith slammed her book shut and stood, reaching for her backpack. "If you're going to keep annoying me, I'm going to the library," she said. "I can't do this now, Derek."

"Do what?" Derek demanded, grabbing her arm and forcing her to face him. "What can't you do right now?"

"This!" Meredith snapped. "Deal with you constantly trying to protect me from everything when I'm trying to study for finals, get my mom transferred to the home from two hours away and worrying that we'll end up like Mark and Addison!"

"Mark and Addison?" Derek frowned. "Mer, they're great now. Better than they've ever been."

"But they weren't," Meredith argued. "For a long time, they weren't."

Derek frowned as he moved closer to her. "I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, Mer," he whispered. "Can you please just take five minutes to talk to me so I can figure out how to fix it?"

She stared at him for a moment before she sighed and allowed her backpack to drop to the floor. "Fine," she said. "I'm just scared, Derek. Because we're happy. And people who are happy break up all the time. And I'm afraid that something terrible is going to happen and we won't be able to recover from it."

Derek frowned. "Alright, Mer," he said softly. "I don't know what's bringing this on all of a sudden, but I'm going to promise you something, okay?"

She looked at him for a moment before she whispered, "okay."

"I promise you, Meredith, that there is nothing you could possibly do that will ever make me stop loving you."

"Really?" she whispered, her eyes wide.

"Really," Derek nodded. "I'll get mad, Mer, but that doesn't mean that I'll stop loving you. I've told you that before."

"I know," she whispered. "I just need to hear it." She paused for a moment before she asked, "What about if I was pregnant?"

Derek inhaled sharply, and he pulled back, his eyes darting briefly to her stomach before he searched her eyes. "Mer," he whispered. "Are you…is that…are we…?" he felt stupid as he couldn't form full sentences, but she knew what he was saying.

"No," she shook her head firmly. "I'm not, but Addie thought she might be, and I just thought about what would happen if that happened with us because it could. But I don't want it to."

"Oh," Derek nodded. "We're careful, Mer."

"I know," she said. "But I just can't get the fear out of my head."

Derek nodded softly. "I don't know what I can do about that, Mer," he admitted softly. "I wish I did."

She shook her head slightly as she leaned in to press her lips against his. "It's okay," she said. "I really do need to study though."

"Okay," Derek nodded.

"So, I'm going to go to the library," she said, reaching for the discarded backpack. "And maybe tonight we can go out to dinner or something?"

"Yeah," Derek agreed with a smile. "I love you, Mer."

"I love you too," she said as she kissed him again. "I'll be back later."

"Okay," Derek nodded, watching her walk out of the room before falling back against the pillows and sighing heavily. She still wasn't herself, and he had no idea what to do to make his wonderful, amazing girlfriend come back to him and be the girl he had fallen in love with. He'd always love her, he knew that, but he wasn't sure what to do if she wouldn't accept the love he so desperately wanted to give her.

XXXXXX

Meredith trudged up the stairs later that evening as she felt the weight of her day on her back. Between worrying about what she had told Derek earlier and studying for her finals, she was officially exhausted. On top of that, she was terrified that she would see all her belongings packed outside their room and Derek would never want to see her again.

She was very pleasantly surprised.

"Derek," she gasped as she pushed the door to their room open and saw his desk pushed to the middle of the room, a plate of delicious looking pasta sitting in between two plates. "What is this?"

"Well, I know you wanted to go out to dinner," he said, smiling softly. "But I wasn't really in the mood. And I know you've been feeling a little weird about things between us lately, so I figured I'd just give you a little reminder of how I'm the most amazing boyfriend in the world."

Meredith rolled her eyes as she moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Cocky," she murmured before she leaned in to press her lips against his.

"Are you disagreeing?" Derek asked as he looked down at her, his eyes laden with desire.

"Hmmm…no," she sighed as she moved out of his arms. "This looks fantastic."

"I told you I could cook," Derek laughed as he moved to serve some pasta onto her plate.

"Sure, that's why Caitlin used your pancakes as Frisbees," Meredith giggled.

"She did not," Derek rolled his eyes.

"But she wanted to."

"You're impossible," he said as he sat down next to her. "But seriously, Mer, I hope this lets you know how much I love you. I get that you have doubts and you get scared. But you should tell me those things, so I can help."

"Okay," Meredith nodded softly. She was silent for a moment before she said, "I do love you, Der. I love you a lot, and I'm not regretting you or us, but…I guess I'm just scared because people have problems. Even happy people have problems and I have no idea how to deal with problems and be happy with you at the same time."

"Mer, I don't know how to do that either," Derek said, squeezing her hand. "But I love you too. And I happen to know one very good strategy for getting rid of unnecessary worries."

"You do?" Meredith asked, raising a coy eyebrow. "What would that be?"

"Well, first you would come over here," Derek began, pulling her close to sit on his lap. She giggled as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her forehead against his. "Now what?"

"Now…I show you how amazing you are," Derek whispered in a husky voice as he shifted her so that he could pull her sweater over her head and unhook her bra. "God, Mer, you're beautiful."

"Hmmm," she murmured, arching her back to bring her breasts even with his face. "Please, Der."

Derek smiled as he obeyed her request, gently running his tongue along one breast as his hand moved to massage her other one. "You taste so good," he murmured against her skin.

"Derek," she moaned as she reached down to tug at his shirt. "Clothes…too many clothes."

Derek laughed as he gently moved her to her feet and stood up as well. Her hands were immediately on his belt buckle, working furiously as he pulled his shirt over her head. When he finally kicked his clothes off, he reached for her jeans, pulling them over her hips as he gently lowered her to the bed. As he lay over her, gently whispering praises and worshipping her body with his own, she suddenly felt everything was right in the world again.

XXXXX

"Hmmm," Derek sighed in contentment as he buried his face in her hair later that evening. "How are you feeling?"

"Wonderful," she whispered, shifting so that she could rest her chin on his chest and meet his eyes. "I'm sorry I've been weird, Der."

He smiled softly as he pressed a kiss against the hand that was grasped tightly in his. "It's okay," he replied. "I just hope you're okay."

"I'm good," she nodded. "I just need to be reassured sometimes."

"I get that," Derek whispered. "Anytime you need to be reassured, just let me know."

She rolled her eyes as she settled herself back on his chest. "You're an idiot," she stated.

"What?" he asked. "I'm just saying. I will always be willing to reassure you like we just did."

"I'll keep that in mind," Meredith giggled.

"Good," Derek nodded, glad that he seemed to have his Meredith back for the first time in weeks.