Meredith sighed as she walked into their room a couple nights later, closing the door softly behind her. "You think they're going to stop anytime soon?" she asked, referring to the soft moans coming from Mark and Addison's room.

Derek smiled softly as he looked up from his book. "I'm pretty sure they haven't even left their room all day," he said. "Lucky bastard."

Meredith smiled as she turned the overhead lights off and climbed into bed beside him. "Aw, honey, is someone jealous of all the sex Mark's getting?" she asked as she ran her hands through his hair.

"Maybe a little," Derek murmured, leaning up to kiss her.

"I think we can take them," Meredith murmured as she moved her lips down to his neck.

"Hmmm…me too," Derek replied. "Especially if you do that thing I love so much."

"I could probably be convinced," Meredith giggled as she moved down his body.

Derek sighed as he looked at the ceiling, trying to get himself into the mood. It was rare that he could concentrate on real life while Meredith was littering kisses up and down his abdomen, but at this point, he could only think of the letter he'd gotten in the mail earlier that day.

"Mer," he murmured, tugging gently at her hair as he felt the need to look her in the eyes. "I need to talk to you."

"Hmmm…dirty talk?" Meredith murmured as she ran her tongue along the waist of his pants. "We've never really tried it before, but as you know, I'm very…flexible."

Derek smiled slightly, trying to focus on what he needed to talk to her about. "Not that," he said softly. "But…later we can definitely do that. Please let us do that. But now…I need to talk to you."

Meredith could hear the seriousness in his voice, and she leaned back to look at him with concern in her eyes, still straddling his hips. "Derek, what is it?" she asked softly.

"I got something in the mail today," he sighed.

"What?" Meredith asked, worst case scenarios running through her head. Thoughts of medical tests he hadn't told her about, summons to court, and financial crises all ran through her head. "What is it, Derek?"

"Columbia accepted me," Derek murmured. "And I just…when I got the mail I didn't see a letter for you, and it's just been bothering me all day. I know we're applying to a lot of different schools, but we already know that you got accepted to Sanford and I didn't, and I'm just terrified that we're not going to get into any of the same schools."

"Oh," Meredith sighed, moving to sit to his side. "Derek, I got my letter yesterday. I didn't mean to not tell you, I just…I had that big test this morning and I was concentrating on that, and then I had to come home this afternoon and listen to Mark and Addie, and…I didn't mean to not tell you, I swear."

"Didn't mean not to tell me what?" Derek asked, fear in his voice.

Meredith bit her lower lip as she looked at him, trying to decide how to tell him her news. "I um…I got in," she said softly.

"Really?" Derek asked, the worry fading from his eyes. "Oh, Mer, I'm so proud of you."

Meredith smiled as she leaned forward to kiss him. "I'm proud of you too," she whispered. "I know that's a dream you've had for a long time, but…I still want to wait. To hear from Dartmouth and Seattle. But you should go. To Columbia, because it's your dream."

Derek shook his head softly. "You know, ever since I can remember, I've wanted to go to Columbia. My dad went there, and when I was five or six, he used to take me to walk around campus, show me where he'd lived, where he'd had classes. But now…it just doesn't seem as important. Now you're the only thing I need."

"Derek," Meredith sighed as she pulled away from him. "You can't say that. You can't pin everything on me. We've talked about this. Yes, we're getting married, and of course I love you more than anything else. But you can't…give up dreams for me. Because we can do this. We both want to be doctors, we've got a lot of decisions to make. So if you want to go to Columbia…you should go. We can do this. Even if I decide to go to Seattle, we can do it. I trust you, and we can…do the long distance thing. Get married after med school and decide on internships…"

"No," Derek snapped, moving to get out of bed. "Meredith, you don't get it, do you? We've been together for three years, and you still don't get it. We're engaged. I'm not leaving you to go to med school all the way across the country. I know you didn't grow up with any example of how a marriage is supposed to work, but…usually you can't have a successful marriage if you live across the country from each other."

"But, your dream…"

"My dream has changed, Meredith," Derek said firmly as he paced the room. "My dream is to be with you. And I'll still go to med school, I'll still be a doctor. But I'll get to be with you while I'm doing it."

"But…"

"Meredith," he practically shouted, causing her to look up with wide eyes. He never yelled, at least not at her. "Would you please listen to me? I don't want to be away from you. And we'll make this work. I promise. The schools we applied to are all good. Once we have all our letters, we'll sit down and decide together where we want to go. Together, Mer, that's what marriage is all about."

"Okay," Meredith whispered, trying not to let her tears fall.

"Mer," he breathed, moving to sit beside her and tilt her face up to look at his. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

"I just…you can't regret me," Meredith whispered. "Ever. You can't…give things up for me and then leave me alone because you're not happy. I can't think everything's going okay and then find myself alone with our five year old daughter in the middle of my residency."

"Oh," Derek breathed, realizing for the first time where Meredith's fears were coming from. Her own father had given up so much for her mother, only to be rewarded with caring for their daughter completely alone while she'd advanced her medical career. And once he'd had enough, he had abandoned both of them in favor of a "real" family. Now Meredith was afraid the same thing would happen to her if she forced Derek to give up his dreams for her. "Mer…we are not your parents."

She rolled her eyes, trying to ward off the inevitable discussion, but he reached forward to hold her hands tightly in his. "Meredith. We are not your parents," he repeated firmly. "If anything, we are my parents. Who understand that they both have to give up things they want in order to be together. Because there is no way we can really be happy if we're three thousand miles away from each other, even if we're both getting our dream education."

"For now," Meredith whispered. "But…what about later? What if…I don't know, we both go to Seattle, but you don't get accepted into an internship because someone else who went to Columbia got it? Then you'd hate me for making you go to Seattle, and I'd be alone with our five chatty kids with perfect hair."

Derek laughed slightly, unable to not be amused at her freak out that was getting worse by the moment. "Meredith," he said softly. "You have to listen to me. First of all, I will never ever hate you. No matter what happens, it will be completely impossible for me to hate you. Second of all, when we get accepted or declined from our internships, we don't know anything about the competition. So I wouldn't know if someone got accepted because they went to Columbia or because their father is a wealthy donor to the hospital board. And lastly…as much as I would love to have five babies with you, we will not be having any babies until after residency. And I will never ever leave you alone with them. I promise."

"I know you're not Thatcher, Derek," Meredith whispered. "You'd never abandon our kids. But I'm my mother, and if I…"

Derek interrupted her by pressing his lips firmly against hers. "Meredith," he whispered. "You are not your mother. Do you think she would have cared at all about what I wanted? Would she have sat up with me night after night for months after my dad died just so I didn't feel alone? Would she have skipped classes when I had the flu to make sure that I had a constant supply of fishing magazines and medical journals to keep me busy?"

"No," Meredith whispered. "No, I don't think she would have."

"But you did all of that," Derek whispered. "For me. And Meredith…I honestly don't know how I would still be standing if it wasn't for you. You've made me into the person I am today, and I'm so grateful for that. I can't imagine my life without you, nor do I ever want to. So please…stop stressing out about this med school stuff. We'll figure it out."

"Okay," Meredith whispered, brushing tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Derek said softly, reaching out to brush some of her tears away as well. "Are you done freaking out yet?"

She smiled softly. "I think so."

"Good," Derek nodded. "Because it sounds like the porn stars are starting up again next door, and I seem to remember my very sexy fiance saying that we could take them."

Meredith giggled as she pulled him on top of her. "We can totally take them," she agreed, reaching into his pajama pants and squeezing him tightly, causing him to moan loudly. "There we go," she giggled.

"Meredith," he moaned before he reached down to kiss her firmly, knowing they were in for a long night.

XXXXX

"Oh my God," Meredith panted as she collapsed on top of Derek hours later. Sweat covered both of their bodies, and her chest heaved against his as they both tried to come down from the high they had just experienced.

"Hmmm," Derek murmured in agreement, somehow finding the energy to press his lips against the top of her head before his fingers returned to gently twisting her damp curls. "Think we finally beat them?"

Meredith giggled as she listened for any sounds of life from Mark and Addison's room. "No, I think we did it," she said. "And I must say, I am impressed. Six rounds in four hours. You, Derek Shepherd, have quite the stamina."

Derek laughed as he reached down to lace his fingers through hers. "Well, my fiancé is incredibly hot," he explained. "It helps."

Meredith giggled, willing her eyes to stay open as they began to drift shut. This was nice, wrapped in a safe cocoon with Derek, and she didn't want it to end. It was times like these when she enjoyed the moment after almost more than the sex.

"I love you," Derek whispered into the quiet darkness of the room.

"Mmm, I love you too," Meredith replied.

They lay together in comfortable silence for a long moment before Meredith giggled. "Your sisters called me today," she reported.

"All of them?" Derek asked with a frown.

"Yeah, they conference called me in," Meredith nodded. "Apparently they all booked the weekend off from work and school so they can come visit."

"Oh God," Derek groaned. "All four of them? At once? It's bad enough at Christmas and Thanksgiving, they definitely don't have to come visit at once, no matter how much they miss me."

Meredith rolled her eyes as she slapped his arm. "Don't be mean. And they're not coming to see you, they're coming to see me," she sighed. "They want to go shopping for a wedding dress."

Derek's eyes brightened, and he tightened his arms around her. "Well, then, I guess they can come," he nodded in approval.

Meredith laughed. "Well, I'm very glad they have your permission, but I already told them they could sleep in the living room."

"Well, it seems you're already getting practice for being married," Derek sighed. "I do, however, like it when you're bossy."

"I did promise your mother I would keep you in line," Meredith smiled as she leaned up to kiss him gently, only to be interrupted by a long yawn.

Derek laughed as he moved her gently to the side and settled into bed behind her. "Sleep, Mer," he whispered. "I love you."

"Love you too," Meredith whispered, searching for his hand blindly under the covers, squeezing it tightly. He smiled as he felt her ring cut into the skin between his own fingers and gently buried his face in her lavender scented hair, knowing that this was the most perfect moment he'd felt in a long time.