"So you haven't completely cut yourself out of the world yet," Beth stated as she and Meredith climbed the stairs to their floor of the apartment building.

"Not yet," Meredith sighed. "But it's only been a week. Once there are tests and clinicals life will get crazy."

"Well, I'm personally very glad that you're still able to have a life," Beth smiled as they stopped outside of her apartment. "Because that means that we can still go shopping and have girl talk without hearing about sports and beer."

Meredith giggled. "It was fun," she said. "I'll see you later."

"Bye Mer," Beth smiled as she let herself into her apartment.

Meredith made her way down the hall, shopping bags in hand as she dug through her purse for her keys. Since Derek had been at class this afternoon, she and Beth had gone shopping to relieve themselves from some of the stress of starting school again. It had been good to get back into the real world, to have some girl bonding after spending almost all of her time with Derek.

She unlocked her apartment and stepped into the foyer, stopping when she saw the dimmed lights, the table glowing with candlelight. "Derek?" she called, setting her shopping bags on the floor next to the door.

"Hey," he called, stepping out of the kitchen.

"What's going on?" she asked, stepping forward to kiss him.

"Date night," Derek whispered against her lips. "Have a seat, Mrs. Shepherd."

Meredith giggled as he walked her over to the table, pulling her chair out for her. "Thank you, Mr. Shepherd," she said, leaning up to kiss him. "What's for dinner?"

"Hmm…wait and see," Derek whispered. "I'll be right back."

Meredith smiled as she looked down at the table. A bottle of wine sat in the middle, and she reached for it to pour a glass for both her and Derek. She glanced into the kitchen and when she saw Derek's back turned, she snuck a piece of garlic bread, shoving it into her mouth quickly as he turned to walk back to her.

"Don't pretend you didn't just steal a piece of bread," he laughed as he placed a bowl of chicken fettuccini on the table. "I know you too well, Meredith Shepherd."

Meredith swallowed the garlic bread and grinned sheepishly at him. "I'm sorry," she said sweetly. "Do you still love me?"

Derek laughed as he set her plate in front of her. "Of course," he said, pressing a quick kiss to her lips. "Go ahead and eat, I know you're probably starving."

Meredith grinned as she dug into the food, moaning in appreciation as she took her first bite. "God, Derek," she said. "I'd marry you again just because of your cooking."

Derek laughed. "I'll remember that," he said, reaching forward to squeeze her hand.

"I love that you started our date night today," Meredith smiled. "I wasn't expecting it."

"I promised you I'd do it," Derek laughed. "Didn't you believe me?"

"Of course I did," Meredith sighed. "Just not this soon."

"Well, every Friday, we'll be here," Derek smiled. "Or…at a fancy restaurant in the city."

"Or dancing?" Meredith asked, leaning forward eagerly.

Derek winced. "Mer…"

She giggled. "It's okay, I know you don't dance," she said. "I was kidding."

"We could dance," Derek said, placing his napkin on the table as he stood and walked over to the stereo. Meredith watched as he switched the radio on and turned to her, opening his arms. "Care to dance?"

She giggled as she stood and stepped into his arms, sighing in contentment as she leaned into him. "You are a corny man, Derek Shepherd," she whispered against his chest, her voice slightly muffled.

"You love it," Derek laughed softly against her hair.

"I suppose," Meredith sighed.

They danced quietly for a few minutes, savoring each other's embrace and the time they could spend together.

"So," Meredith breathed after a few minutes. "What's for dessert?"

Derek swallowed hard as he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Whipped cream."

"Whipped cream?" Meredith raised an eyebrow. "Usually that is on top of the actual dessert."

"It will be," Derek groaned, kissing her hard. "It'll be on my body."

Meredith giggled as she stepped away from him, moving her hips in time with the music as she slowly unbuttoned her shirt. "I like the way you think," she purred, slipping her shirt over her shoulders and tossing it to him. "I'll be waiting."

Derek swallowed hard as he watched her make her way up the stairs before he hurried into the kitchen for whipped cream.

He loved date night.

XXXXX

"I swear, Addie, he really has gotten more cheesy…I don't know, maybe it's the whole marriage thing," Meredith giggled into the phone. "He ran out to get a book that was out of stock earlier this week." She looked up to the door as the intercom buzzed. "Hang on, the idiot forgot his key. Can I call you back in a few minutes? Okay…bye."

Meredith shook her head as she walked over to the intercom, pressing down on the button. "Hello?"

"Flower delivery for Meredith Shepherd."

"Oh," Meredith frowned. "Um, sure, come on up."

She waited by the door for the delivery, wondering who would have sent her flowers. Derek knew she hated when he brought home flowers, and the only time he had ever sent her flowers was as a joke when he found out that she and Addison had dubbed him McDreamy.

She flung the door open as soon as there was a knock, and grabbed the vase from the delivery man. "Thanks," she said as she closed the door and searched for a card, frowning when she couldn't find one.

She set the vase on the kitchen table and scowled.

Pink roses.

Obviously whoever had sent these didn't know her at all. She hated pink, and she hated roses.

"Hey, Mer?" Beth's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Come in," Meredith called, turning from the ugly flowers.

"Hey, I think some of our bags got mixed up yesterday," Beth said as she walked into the apartment. She paused as she looked at the flowers sitting on the table, then asked, "Derek didn't get you those, did he?"

"I don't know," Meredith sighed. "There's no card, but I don't think he's that stupid. At least I hope he's not that stupid."

"You hate pink," Beth laughed. "Which is actually why I'm here. I have your jeans, which would never in a million years fit me because you're so skinny. Did my pink sweater somehow end up here?"

"I haven't even looked at my bags since yesterday," Meredith said as she moved towards the door where her shopping bags from the previous day still sat. "Here."

"Thanks," Beth said, taking the sweater and sitting down at the table. "So you have no idea who sent them?"

"No," Meredith replied, sitting down next to her. "No one's ever sent me flowers before. Except for once, Derek sent them as a joke."

"Weird," Beth said with a shrug, leaning forward to examine the flowers for a card just as Meredith had done a few minutes earlier.

"I think I'll just throw them out," Meredith said. "They're ugly anyways."

"Good point," Beth giggled.

"I'll be right back," Meredith sighed, picking up the vase and walking towards the door, hoping she could get the flowers out of the apartment before Derek saw them and went into a blind rage.

"Hey Mer," Derek smiled, opening the door to find her standing right in front of him. His eyes widened as he saw the roses in her hands. "Wow, I'm flattered, but you know how I feel about pink."

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes. "Did you send these to me?"

"No," Derek said. "As comfortable as our couch is, I'd prefer not to be sleeping on it until the end of time."

"Good," Meredith said.

"Someone sent you flowers?" Derek asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Apparently," Meredith sighed. "I was just going to throw them out."

"Okay," Derek said, frowning as he looked down at them carefully.

"There's no card," Beth offered as Meredith walked into the hall. "Mer and I both looked."

Derek frowned as he dropped his backpack on the floor and walked to the kitchen for a water bottle. "I don't like that there's someone sending my wife flowers."

Beth laughed. "You and Nathan were cut out of the same cloth," she said. "It's probably just someone playing a joke. Or someone has a crush on her and doesn't know she's married."

"I don't like it," Derek repeated.

Beth laughed as she stood and made her way towards the door. "Stop over reacting," she said. "Meredith trusts you." She turned and walked out the door, saying a quick good bye to Meredith as they crossed paths.

"So you got your book?" Meredith asked as she walked over to Derek and planted herself in his lap.

"Yeah," Derek sighed. "Which means I should be studying."

"Hmmm," Meredith smiled, pressing her lips to his neck.

"But I can think of other things I could be doing."

Meredith smiled as she pulled away from him, holding out a business card. "Before we start other things," she said softly. "This is the flower company that delivered. It was taped to the bottom of the vase."

"Do you want to call them?" Derek asked.

Meredith bit her lower lip. "I'm not sure," she said. "I want to know how sent them, but at the same time…does it really matter?"

"Of course it matters," Derek said.

"But it doesn't," Meredith argued. "Whoever sent these to me doesn't know the first thing about me. I mean, pink roses? Come on, Derek, even Mark knows better than to send me pink roses."

"Mark better not ever send you flowers," Derek frowned. "And it's up to you, Mer. It bothers me, but if you don't want to know…that's fine too."

Meredith smiled as she leaned forward to kiss him. "We'll just forget it," she whispered, threading her fingers through his hair. "There are more important things to think about anyways."

Derek smiled as he pulled her close, trying to ignore the nagging worry in the back of his head as his wife moved to straddle him, eventually forcing all thoughts besides her out of his head.

XXXXX

Meredith sighed as she walked into her neurology class on Monday morning, somehow finding this the last place she wanted to be. She and Derek had spent the weekend together, and now she realized that med school was starting in full force, with her first test in a week and chapters of reading to be memorized before then.

"Mrs. Shepherd," she heard a voice say, and she turned to see Dr. Brown standing behind her.

"Dr. Brown," she said. "Hi."

"I was looking through your records over the weekend, and I noticed your maiden name," Dr. Brown said. "The daughter of the legendary Ellis Grey."

"That's me," Meredith smiled politely as she internally rolled her eyes. She had hoped that taking Derek's last name would come with the added bonus of masking who her mother was. Obviously she was wrong.

"I was her intern in Boston," Dr. Brown continued. "I hear she's traveling now, writing a book?"

"Yes, she's finally retired," Meredith lied.

"I have some old surgery tapes of hers in my office," Dr. Brown said. "If you'd like them, or you think she would like them, I'd be glad to pass them over to you."

"Thanks," Meredith said, genuinely surprised at his offer. "I'll…ask her whether she wants them."

Dr. Brown laughed. "I'm sure she'll remember me," he said. "She always told me I was a complete waste of time."

Meredith smiled. "She said that to a lot of people," she said.

"Well, stop by my office sometime," Dr. Brown smiled as he moved towards the front of the classroom. "I'd be glad to tell you about the doctor your mother was."

"Thanks," Meredith smiled. "I'll be sure to do that."

She settled into her seat, wondering why she'd been so disturbed by him the week before. He seemed like a pretty nice man after all.