Thank you to all who have been reviewing! I love hearing your feedback, and I'm glad you're still enjoying this story. I definitely want to continue writing this story, but I want to know what you guys think, because I have a couple ideas. I'm leaning towards doing a pretty significant jump in time to look at Meredith and Derek in med school, but I do have a few ideas to write about them some more in college. I can't decide what to do, so....it's up to you! Please let me know what you think :)

Derek stared at the ring on his mother's finger, completely tuning out everything around him as his sisters fluttered around Kathleen. Emma was supervising her daughters as they dressed their eldest sister for her wedding, and Derek had been more than happy to stand aside and wait quietly until it was time to walk Kathleen down the aisle.

But then Emma's engagement ring had caught on the light in the room, and he couldn't help staring at it. Because he wanted that ring to be on Meredith's finger. It was crazy, he knew, to want to get engaged at nineteen when they had college, med school, and internships to look forward to, but ever since she had pretended to be engaged at the engagement party months earlier, he couldn't help thinking how amazing it would be to have Meredith Grey wearing the ring that his father had promised his mother with. And the most amazing thought in the world to him at this point in time was the fact that she would be Meredith Shepherd. And that was perfect.

"Derek Christopher," his mother's firm voice interrupted his thoughts, and he snapped to attention.

"Yeah Mom?" he asked.

"You need to go make sure everything is running smoothly downstairs," Emma said. "Make sure the guests are being greeted properly, the boys are seating everyone alright."

"Okay," Derek nodded, moving to walk out of the room. As he made his way down into the chapel, he ran into Mark as he returned from showing some guests to their seats. "How's it going?" he asked as he peered into the chapel.

"Fine," Mark shrugged. "I just seated our girlfriends. Man, they look hot. I say we designate places for us to go during the reception so we don't have a repeat of the engagement party."

Derek rolled his eyes as he moved closer to the door to look for Meredith. She was seated in the first row on the left side of the church, alone until he and his mother proceeded down the aisle to join her. She'd said it wasn't necessary to sit with Kathleen's immediate family in the first row, but he had insisted. He wanted to sit beside her as his sister got married and imagine what their wedding would be like.

"I have to see her," he breathed.

Now it was Mark's turn to roll his eyes. "You're such a chick," he said. "You saw her two hours ago when she had to push you out the door to get here early."

Derek ignored him as he made his way into the church, smiling politely at familiar faces as he made his way to Meredith's side. "Hey," he breathed as he sank onto the pew next to her.

"Derek," she breathed, turning to look at him with wide, surprised eyes. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled as he leaned forward to kiss her gently. "Just wanted to see you," he said. "You look beautiful." His eyes swept over her body as he took in the black halter dress that went down to just above her knees. He swallowed hard as his eyes landed on her left hand. Her very empty left hand.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she giggled as she reached out to straighten his bow tie. "But Kathleen is probably freaking out wondering where you are."

Derek laughed as he leaned forward to kiss her one more time. "I'll see you in a few minutes," he said with a smile before he stood to walk to the back of the church.

"Derek, there you are," Emma sighed as she sank onto a chair in the foyer. "Did you…" her voice trailed off as she caught Derek staring at her hand. "You've been staring at my hand for weeks now, Derek. What's going on?"

Derek shook his head as he sank into a chair beside his mother. "Nothing," he murmured. "It's Kath's day."

Emma stared at him for a moment, knowing something was up. "What is it, Derek?" she gently prodded.

"I just…I remember when I was little," Derek said softly. "And Dad would tell me how he proposed and how lucky he was. And he told me that one day…he was going to have to convince you to part with your engagement ring because he wanted me to give it to my wife."

Emma's eyes misted over slightly. "He told me not to get too attached to it," she said softly. "When he proposed. Because he wanted his son to have it. And when you brought Meredith home, he told me that I should enjoy wearing it while I still could because pretty soon it would be hers."

"I know," Derek murmured running a hand through his hair as he stared at the ring.

"Derek," Emma sighed, tilting his chin up to look into his eyes. "You're nineteen."

"I know," Derek repeated. "I just…I want to marry her, Mom."

Emma's eyes widened slightly. "Derek Christopher, if that girl is pregnant…"

"What?" Derek cried. "No, Mom. Geez. I want to marry her because I love her, not because she's pregnant."

"Good," Emma nodded firmly. "And Derek…you know I love Meredith like one of my own daughters. She's completely perfect, and your father thought so as well. But you can't possibly be thinking of proposing to her when you're nineteen and studying to become a doctor. You've seen how difficult that is from your older sisters."

"I know, Mom, but…God, there's nothing that I want more to marry her," Derek breathed, a smile taking over his lips.

Before Emma could respond, there was a flurry of excitement as the four Shepherd sisters emerged from the stairwell, ready to start the ceremony. "We will discuss this later, Derek," Emma said softly, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. "Alright, everyone, it's time to start."

Derek smiled widely at his sister as he stood, moving to stand in the back of the processional line with her. "You doing okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she breathed. "Just…don't let me trip, okay?"

Derek laughed as he squeezed her hand. "I promise," he said.

"Derek, thank you," Kathleen whispered. "I know…this must be hard for you, doing what Daddy should be doing, but…you've been amazing through this whole thing. And I'm so grateful, because you're so much like him, and…it's almost like he really is doing this."

Derek smiled softly as he leaned forward to kiss Kathleen's cheek. "Of course I'd do this for you, Kath," he said softly. "And I know Dad would want to be here. But he liked Chris, and I know he's proud of you."

Kathleen swallowed hard, trying to hold back her tears. "Thanks, Derbear," she whispered.

"Alright, you ready?" Derek asked, offering her his arm.

She sniffled slightly and took a deep breath before she nodded, taking his arm and clutching her bouquet in the other hand. "Let's go," she whispered.

XXXXX

Meredith smiled as she watched Derek dance with his mother as the reception came to an end. Kathleen and Chris had left about a half hour earlier, which resulted in most of their guests departing as well. Even Addison and Mark had left, leaving Meredith alone with the Shepherds, Chris's parents, a few random guests who were refusing to part with the open bar just yet.

The wedding had been beautiful, and after the couple had exchanged rings and vows, Meredith found herself daydreaming about marrying into the Shepherd family herself as the minister droned on and on in a speech about love and commitment that he had undoubtedly recited hundreds of times before.

But now she knew what she wanted her wedding to be like, which surprised her. She had never been the kind of girl to daydream about her future husband in high school, and when Addison had spent hours looking through wedding magazines from the time they were twelve, Meredith had rolled her eyes and moved towards the medical journals, hoping to understand some of the fancy language so she would have something to talk to her mother about.

Derek had turned her into that girl. Now she believed in love and happiness, and she actually wanted a wedding, a day that was all hers. But more than anything, she just wanted to marry Derek.

"Hey," his voice interrupted her thoughts as he came over to her. "You look like you're a million miles away. What's up?"

"Nothing," she smiled as she leaned her head against his shoulder. "Just thinking. About the wedding. It was beautiful."

"Hmm…it was," Derek nodded. "Are you ready to go?"

"Go?" Meredith frowned as she watched Emma sit down with Chris's parents. "Shouldn't we wait for your mom? And your sisters?"

"Mom said we could go," Derek nodded. "And we're not going home tonight."

"We're not?"

"Nope," Derek smiled, standing and then helping her to her feet. "It's a special occasion. I booked us into a hotel in the city."

"Oh," Meredith breathed. "That's…you didn't have to do that."

"Oh, but I did," Derek laughed. "Because you look too beautiful in that dress to not be taken advantage of, and since you have that stupid rule about no sex in my parents' house, I had to."

Meredith laughed as they walked out of the banquet hall. "Your mom's okay with that?" she asked. "Because I know it's not exactly what parents want to know about…"

"Mer, it's fine," Derek said. "So stop freaking out."

Meredith rolled her eyes as they got into the car. "I'm not freaking out," she replied. "I'm just…I want to make sure your mom's not going to think I'm a slut or something."

"Mer, we live together," Derek pointed out. "We're going to get married. I think she knows that we sleep together."

"Oh," Meredith breathed, her heart speeding up at Derek's words. It was the first time he'd spoken them with that much confidence in his voice, but somehow, it made it seem more different, more real. And someday, she was going to be Meredith Shepherd. And she couldn't wait.

XXXXX

Hours later, Derek smiled down at Meredith as she lay sprawled on his chest in the hotel bed. In retrospect, getting a king sized bed was a little unnecessary since she always managed to sleep on top of him, but it had proved to be useful during the earlier activities of the night.

"Der?" she whispered, her chin resting on his chest as her eyes met his.

"Hmmm?" he asked, twirling a strand of hair around his finger.

"Earlier, in the car…you said we're going to get married."

"Well, that's what I want," Derek nodded. "And I hope you want it too."

"I do," Meredith nodded. "I was thinking about it today, because of your sister and everything, and I know we're nineteen and we won't get married for a really long time, but have you thought about it? Getting married?"

"I think it will be wonderful," Derek murmured. "What are your thoughts?"

Meredith bit her lower lip, her eyes leaving his gaze. "No tuxes," she finally whispered. "You look good in tuxes, you do. But…I don't want a tuxedo wedding."

"No tuxedoes," Derek nodded. "As long as you don't wear a dress with millions of layers. Kathleen looked beautiful, but I want you in a simple dress."

"Simple is good," Meredith nodded. "And I know your family is Catholic, and this will probably be a huge battle with your mom, but…I want to get married outside. Not in a church. And not millions of flowers."

"That sounds perfect," Derek nodded. "We'll get there, Mer. If I could, I would marry you today. But with college and med school…it's just not the right time."

"I know," she nodded, then giggled a little. "We haven't even known each other a year."

"Hmm," Derek nodded. "I'm so glad I have you, Mer. This year…I wouldn't have made it through without you."

Meredith smiled as she leaned up to kiss him softly. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too," Derek murmured as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "More than you will ever know."