"Can we go now?" Derek asked Michael anxiously a couple hours later, after the presents had all been opened and the wrapping paper cleaned up.

"Go?" Meredith frowned. "Go where?"

Derek ignored her as he stared at his father, anxiously awaiting an answer.

"It's earlier than usual, Derek," Michael said with a laugh. "Why do you want to go now?"

"I want to show Mer," Derek said. "Please?"

Michael glanced at Emma, who shrugged, then said, "Alright everyone, we're leaving in half an hour. Get dressed, bring your presents upstairs, and meet back down here."

Derek grabbed Meredith's hand and pulled her towards the stairs, a grin taking over his face. "Derek?" she asked. "What's going on?"

"You'll see," he said as he pulled her into his room and closed the door behind them. "Dress warmly, you're going to need it."

Meredith frowned as she pulled a pair of jeans and a thick sweater out of one of the drawers Derek had cleared out for her. "Seriously, Derek, I'm not sure I'm okay with this super secret…whatever."

He laughed as he pulled a sweater on and moved over to her. "Shepherd family Christmas tradition," he said. "You'll like it."

"Okay," Meredith said dubiously. "But for the record…I hate surprises."

"I know," Derek laughed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "But so far, you've been pretty accepting of all of them."

She frowned as he pulled her back down the stairs, grinning when he saw his father entering the house, followed closely by Mark. "Is everything all set?" he asked.

"Sure is," Michael nodded. "Just waiting on your sisters."

Derek rolled his eyes and turned to the stairs. "We're leaving in two minutes, no matter who's ready!" he shouted.

"Derek!" Emma rolled her eyes as she came down the stairs. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not being ridiculous," Derek said. "I'm just excited."

"For what?" Meredith asked Emma, in hopes that she could elicit an actual response.

Emma laughed as she reached out to hug Meredith. "Nice try, dear," she said. "But I know Derek wants to surprise you with this."

Meredith sighed as she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest, a pout on her face. "Fine."

"Come on, Mer," Derek laughed, reaching for her hand. "We can go ahead of everyone else. Since the girls won't be ready until after New Year's."

"Stop being melodramatic, Derek," Emma said with a smile. "But you and Meredith can go ahead if you want to."

"Let's go," Derek said, pulling her out the door and towards the car. "Come on, Mer, you're going to love this."

She sighed as she looked out the window, watching as he drove down the road until the houses became more sparse and eventually disappeared. He parked in front of a huge clearing, covered in clean white powder, a frozen lake next to the clearing. "This is it," he said with a smile. "Every Christmas, we come out here and go sledding. Sometimes we ice skate too, but the ice isn't always thick enough."

"Oh," Meredith breathed, looking out over the perfectly untouched snow. "It's beautiful, Der."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, allowing himself to remember exactly how he was feeling in this perfect moment. "I wanted to show this to you," he whispered. "Before the family gets here and everything gets crazy. Because it's one of my favorite places in the world and I just…I needed you to see it."

"Thank you," she whispered, turning in his arms to take his face in her hands and kiss him gently. "I love you."

"I love you too," he whispered, squeezing her tightly. "You want to go sledding?"

Meredith bit her lower lip before she nodded. "I've never done it before," she admitted it quietly.

"It's okay," Derek said, taking her gloved hand as he moved towards the trunk and pulled out a sled. "I'll ride with you."

"Okay," she giggled as Michael's truck pulled up and the rest of the family spilled out of the back. "Let's go."

She followed Derek as he ran up to the top of the hill and set the slid on the ground. He settled himself on the sled and sat down behind her, wrapping his arms around her before he pushed the sled down the hill with his foot. Meredith's hair blew into his face as they sailed down the hill, and her laughter met his ears as she tilted her head back to rest against his shoulder. "Derek," she breathed as they reached the bottom of the hill.

He laughed as he jumped off the sled and pulled her to her feet. "Like it?" he asked.

"I loved it," she exclaimed. "Let's do it again."

"Derek!" Mark shouted, storming over to the two of them. "You broke the good sled!"

"What?" Derek asked, a frown on his face.

"You broke the sled," Mark replied. "Last year. Your dad told you to fix it and you didn't. Now we only have two sleds this year."

"Why are you getting so upset?" Derek asked. "If you cared that much, you could have fixed it yourself."

"Boys," Emma said sharply. "Knock it off. We'll just have to share."

"No it's not okay," Mark replied as the rest of the family began to climb the hill, leaving the three of them at the bottom of the hill. "Because Shep's lazy and whenever anyone asks him to do anything, he conveniently forgets about it."

"What the hell is your problem?" Derek shouted. "Just because you…" He trailed off when he felt something collide with the back of his head and turned to see Meredith standing a few feet behind him, an innocent smile on her face. "Did you just throw a snowball at me?"

She gasped as she looked at him with wide eyes. "Would I ever do that?" she asked, amusement evident in her tone.

"I think you would," Derek replied, moving closer to her.

"Hmmm…what are you going to do about it?" she asked. As she began to slowly back away from him, he suddenly ran forward and gently tackled her, pinning her to the snow.

"You think you can hit me with snowballs?" he asked, holding her hands down at her sides.

She giggled as she squirmed underneath him. "You were acting like you were five," she said. "So I figured that was how I could get through to you."

He laughed as he leaned down to kiss her gently. "At least you had a reason," he said. "Just don't let it happen again."

She shrugged as she pushed him off of her. "Whatever," she said. "And you and Mark were seriously fighting over a sled? It's not that big a deal, Der."

"You never saw that sled," Derek argued as he brushed the snow off his pants. "You want to go up again?"

"Yeah," Meredith nodded, grabbing his hand. "Let's go."

They ran back up the hill, spending the next couple hours alternating between sledding down the hill and playing in the snow at the bottom of the hill. When the sun finally began to set, they dragged themselves back to the cars and drove back to the house, everyone looking forward to warming up in front of the fireplace.

"I can't believe I've never done that before," Meredith giggled as she and Derek changed out of their wet clothes in his bedroom. "Can we do this more?"

"We do it every Christmas," Derek promised, smiling as he watched her towel her hair off. "And you'll be here for all of them."

"I will," Meredith nodded, sighing as she collapsed onto the bed.

"You okay?" Derek asked, sitting down beside her.

"Yeah," she sighed as she rested her head against his shoulder. "It's just…this is a lot. Of family, and Christmas. And I love it, you know I do. But it's just a little overwhelming."

Derek was silent for a moment as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "It's okay, Mer," he whispered. "I know you've got some catching up to do. So if you need some time…it's okay. Just tell me, or whoever's around."

She nodded against his shoulder. "Maybe…maybe I could just stay up here for a little while before dinner? Cause your mom got me that book and that way I could just have some space. Unless there's more family stuff you want me to do, because I can…"

"Mer," Derek sighed, gently pulling away from her to allow her to curl up against the pillows. "It's fine. I'll come get you for dinner, okay?"

"Thanks," she sighed gratefully as she reached for the book she had set on the night table that morning.

Derek watched her for a moment before he shook his head and walked out the door, closing it quietly behind him. He made his way down the stairs to the kitchen, where Emma was scurrying around with Kathleen, getting dinner ready for the family.

"Need help?" he asked as he sat himself on a barstool and picked a carrot up from the vegetable platter.

"Don't eat anything," Emma said, slapping his hand away as he reached for a piece of broccoli. "Where's Meredith?"

"She's reading her new book," Derek shrugged. "Trying to warm up from this afternoon."

"Here, peel these," Emma said, placing a bowl of potatoes in front of him. "She seems to be enjoying herself."

"She is," Derek nodded. "I'm really proud of her. She was so nervous to come here, but she really feels like a part of the family."

Kathleen looked at him closely for a moment. "You're awfully smitten, little brother," she stated.

"That's not exactly a newsflash, Kath," Derek rolled his eyes.

"I mean, obviously you really love Meredith," Kathleen continued. "But…it's more than that. Isn't it?"

Derek glanced at his mother, who was pretending to read her cookbook, but the sparkle in her eyes couldn't be missed. "Yeah, Kath," he said. "But we're nineteen year old pre med students. Nothing's going to happen for awhile."

Kathleen nodded as she continued to chop onions. "But eventually," she said. "Mer's going to be a Shepherd sister?"

Derek couldn't help the grin that came over his face at the thought of Meredith as a Shepherd. "Yeah," he said. "Eventually."

"Hey," Meredith's voice came from the stairs as she walked into the kitchen.

"Hey you," Derek smiled, turning to look at her. "I thought you were reading."

"I was," she shrugged, reaching for a carrot. "But I got bored."

"Don't eat those," Derek said, slapping her hand away from the tray.

"Derek Christopher," Emma said sharply. "Do not treat your girlfriend like that."

Derek frowned. "So I eat and I get in trouble, and then when I tell other people not to eat I again get in trouble?" he asked.

"I'm the mother, dear," Emma said, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder. "Leave the scolding to me."

"Yeah, Der," Meredith giggled. "Let your mom do the scolding."

Kathleen laughed. "You want to help, Mer?" she asked.

"Oh," Meredith said, biting her lower lip. "Um…I'm not the best cook in the world."

"It's okay," Kathleen replied. "I'm not that great either. That's why Mom's here."

"Okay," Meredith said, hopping off her stool to stand beside Kathleen and beginning to help chop vegetables. Derek stared at his girlfriend, the thought of her being a Shepherd sister officially rolling around in his head as he realized how perfectly she fit into his life. She would make a wonderful Shepherd sister. Eventually.