Derek sighed as he stood at the nurse's station, scribbling over a chart and trying to ignore the stares he was getting from the nurses and his fellow interns. He was going to kill Mark. Apparently even though Meredith didn't even work at the hospital, news had spread quickly throughout the hospital that he was officially of limits now. He had a feeling that his best friend had something to do with the fact that pretty much every female was staring at him with apt curiosity, undoubtedly wondering who had taken their hope of ever becoming Mrs. Shepherd.

"Excuse me, Doctor," a hot voice purred in his ear at the same moment he felt a hand run over his back. "I believe I need an exam."

Derek swallowed hard as he looked around the quiet halls of the hospital at night before he turned to look into the sparkling eyes of fiancé. "Mer," he breathed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not Meredith," she shook her head, taking his hand and pulling him towards a nearby on call room. "I'm a stranger. Who needs an exam. A very…thorough exam. From a hot doctor."

Derek smiled as he pushed her into the room, quickly slamming the door behind them as he pulled on the bottom of her shirt. "Well then…I'm going to have to ask you to strip out of your clothes."

"Of course, Dr. Shepherd," Meredith purred as she pulled her shirt over her head, revealing a lacy red bra.

"Oh," Derek gasped, reaching out to pull her close to him. Before she could get any closer, however, the beeping of his pager cut through the room, and they both stepped back, dejected and disappointed. "Crap," Derek breathed as he looked down at it. "911, I have to go."

"It's okay," Meredith smiled softly. "Go save a life, I'll just go home. It's late anyways."

"Sorry Mer," Derek breathed, kissing her quickly before he ran out of the on call room, leaving her alone.

Meredith sighed as she reached for her shirt, slipping it over her head before she stepped out of the on call room, wondering why she had even bothered trying to come over here. Derek had been busy at the hospital for the past week, and although she understood that, she couldn't help but miss him.

"Hey, Mer," a familiar voice said from behind her, and she turned to smile at Addison.

"Hi," she said as she leaned against the wall.

"It's almost midnight, what are you doing here?" Addison asked.

"I thought I would surprise Derek," Meredith sighed. "I know it's taking a chance to visit him while he's at work, but he got paged."

"That's too bad," Addison sighed. She looked closely at Meredith for a moment before she asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Meredith nodded. "I'm just…thinking about the wedding and then I missed Derek, and this is the second night in a row, he's had to spend here, so I figured I could at least see him. Which I did, but then he got stupid paged."

"Okay," Addison nodded, grabbing Meredith's arm and pulling her down the hall.

"What are you doing?" Meredith frowned, trying to pull her arm out of Meredith's grasp.

"To a conference room," Addison nodded. "Because you need girl talk. And we're in a hospital so I don't have tequila and chick flicks, but I'll make do. I'll be right back."

"Addison…" Meredith rolled her eyes as Addison slammed the door shut behind her. She looked around the empty conference room for a moment before she reached for a file sitting on the table. She smiled softly as she read over the chart, unable to understand anything that was written there, but recognizing Derek's messy handwriting and his obvious determination to do the best for his patient.

"Okay," Addison announced as she walked back into the room a few minutes later. "I've got apple juice and candy bars from the vending machines. And for your viewing pleasure…" She smiled as she dropped a magazine on the table.

"I don't need dirty magazines," Meredith rolled her eyes, reaching for a piece of chocolate.

"Well, you obviously came here for sex," Addison shrugged. "I just figured that you would want something to help you with that."

"I have a completely healthy sex life," Meredith said. "Believe me."

Addison smiled slyly. "I know," she said. "But that's another conversation. What's got you all pouty?"

"I'm not pouty," Meredith rolled her eyes.

"But you are," Addison said. "What's going on with you?"

Meredith shrugged as she twisted her engagement ring around her finger. "I'm excited to be married," she said. "I really am. But…for some reason I can't get excited about having a wedding. Which is weird, I know. But Derek's sisters keep telling me that I have to have a real wedding, but I don't want a real wedding, and I don't know what to do because the wedding Derek and I want to have is apparently completely unacceptable in the world of real weddings. But the last thing in the world I want is to have the kind of wedding that they want me to, but they're my new family and they can't hate me, and I'm afraid that they will hate me if I don't have a stupid real wedding."

Addison stared at her for a moment before she frowned and tilted her head to the side. "Derek actually understands you when you do that?" she asked.

"He says it's cute," Meredith giggled.

"That man has got it bad," Addison sighed. "Okay, so if I followed that right, you think that Derek's family will hate you if you don't have the kind of wedding they want?"

"Exactly," Meredith nodded.

"Well, it's your wedding," Addison said. "You should be in charge of it."

"I know," Meredith sighed. "But I don't now how to plan a wedding. And if I ask for their help…it's lace and roses and dancing. Derek doesn't even dance."

"I'll help you," Addison shrugged. "And so will Lexie. I mean, when I get married, it's totally going to be Vera Wang and beautiful flowers, but that's not what you want. So I'll help you plan, but you'll make all the decisions."

"Really?" Meredith asked.

"Really," Addison nodded. "There's no reason to freak out."

Before Meredith could reply, her cell phone rang from its place in her pocket, and she looked down at it. "It's Derek," she explained. "Hey, I'm in the conference room with Addison," she said as she answered the phone.

"I'll be right there," Derek's tired voice replied.

"Okay," Meredith said, snapping the phone closed and turning back to Addison. "He's on his way."

"Great, so you guys can have slutty conference room sex," Addison sighed. "I should leave you two alone."

"You don't have to…" Meredith started, her eyes traveling to the door as it was pushed open and Derek's slumped form came into the room. "Derek," she breathed.

"Mer," he sighed, collapsing onto the chair beside her and pulling her into his lap, closing his arms tightly around her.

Meredith frowned as she wrapped an arm tightly around him, the other moving to his hair. She didn't have to ask to know that he'd lost a patient, one that had obviously meant a lot to him. She'd never seen him right after he'd lost a patient before, and she hated seeing the man she loved in this much pain. She'd seen him lose patients before, come home and hold her tightly for hours without saying a word, but this was different. He had obviously just lost a patient, and he needed her. He needed her to comfort her, and there was nothing in the world she wanted more than to comfort him.

"Oh, Derek," she whispered, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "I'm so sorry."

His only response was to hold her tighter, so tight that she tried not to wince at the feeling. Right now he needed her close, but he didn't need to feel guilty for hurting her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she whispered.

"She was raped," he whispered. "Raped and beaten to a pulp. They declared her brain dead yesterday, and now…she's just gone."

"Oh, Der," Meredith sighed. "I'm so sorry."

"She was a baby," Derek whispered. "A little girl."

Meredith felt her blood run cold. It had been bad enough when she had thought he was talking about an adult, but now that she knew he had to watch a child go through that, she had to fight the urge to throw up herself.

"She looked so much like Meg," Derek whispered. "So much like my perfect little niece. I just…how can someone do that?"

"They're sick, Derek," Meredith whispered. "Horrible sick people. I've seen a lot of child abuse. It sucks, it more than sucks. But you're a strong person, Derek. I hate that you're hurting, but I'm glad that you have this much compassion. It's what makes you a good surgeon, and it's why I love you. It's why I feel safe and loved when I'm in your arms. And that same compassion that's tearing you up right now? That's what proves to me that you're going to be an incredible father."

Derek swallowed hard as he looked up at her. "How is it that you always know exactly what I need to hear?" he asked.

"Returning the favor," Meredith smiled. "You've been doing it to me for over a year now."

"Thanks," he said as he inhaled deeply. "I don't think I could do this without you."

"You could," Meredith nodded. "You definitely could. But it's okay if you need to lean on me. I need to lean on you too."

"I love you," Derek whispered.

"I love you too," Meredith whispered. "What time is your shift over?"

Derek shrugged. "I was staying to be with her," he whispered. "Her parents never came after we called them."

Meredith felt her heart twist in her chest at the thought of a parent caring so little for their child. "Let's go home," she whispered. "You don't have to work tomorrow. Let's go home."

"It's a school day," he whispered.

"I'll call in sick," she promised, sliding out of his lap and pulling him to his feet. "Come on, Der, we'll go home and I'll make you a drink."

"Okay," he nodded, leaning into her. "I have to change."

"I'll help you," she said softly.

Derek didn't protest as she gently led him to the locker room and changed him into his street clothes before leading him out to the parking lot and into the passenger side of her car. He was quiet as she started the short drive back to their apartment, but after a few moments he whispered, "Talk to me."

"What do you want me to talk about?" she asked.

"Anything," Derek sighed. "I just want to hear your voice. I love your voice."

"Okay," Meredith nodded. "I think I'm done freaking out about the wedding. Addie said she'd help with the planning. And even though she said she wouldn't want our kind of wedding, she wants us to have the wedding we want. So we can have the wedding we want and I'll have help planning it."

"I want to help," Derek whispered.

"You do?" Meredith asked, looking at him quickly before she returned her eyes to the road.

"Yeah," Derek nodded. "It's our day. And I want you to have what you want. But I want to help plan it. I want to give us to decide things together."

"Okay," Meredith smiled. "I really like that."

"Good," Derek said as they pulled into the apartment. "We need to set a date."

"Derek, it's the middle of the night," she said softly, reaching for his hand. "We don't…"

"I want to," he argued. "Please, Mer. I need this. I need to know that you're going to have the perfect day. I need to know that I can give you that."

"Derek," she breathed, turning to look at him outside their apartment. "It's not about the wedding. You know that. It's the marriage. It's the fact that I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you, that I'm going to have your babies. It's the lifetime. That's what matters. Not the wedding."

"I know," Derek nodded. "But I want the wedding to be perfect. Please, Mer, let's plan it tonight. All of it."

Meredith looked into his exhausted eyes, knowing that he needed something to keep his mind off of the horror he had spent the last few days witnessing. He wanted this, and she couldn't deny him anything in that moment. "Of course," she nodded, squeezing his hand. "Everything except the dress."

"Because I can't see the dress," Derek smiled slightly.

"Definitely not," Meredith giggled. "That's a surprise."

"As long as it's hot," Derek said, a hint of his true self poking through his depressed exterior, watching Meredith unlock the door.

"It's my wedding dress, Derek," she argued. "It can't be hot."

"It can," Derek nodded. "Maybe I won't marry you if it's not."

"You won't marry me because my dress isn't hot enough?" Meredith raised an eyebrow.

"Definitely," Derek said. "It's my right."

"Your right as an idiot," Meredith sighed, dropping onto the couch. "So um…I have no idea how to plan a wedding."

"We should start with a date," Derek said, grabbing his date book from the table. "June, right?"

"As soon as your test is over," Meredith said, resting her head on his shoulder as he sat down beside her.

"How about the eighteenth?" Derek asked.

"June eighteenth," Meredith said. "That's a good anniversary, right?"

"It's perfect," Derek smiled, grabbing a pen off the table and scribbling "wedding day" over the date. "Done."

"Good," she sighed.

"And on your land," Derek said.

"Our land," Meredith corrected, yawning as she tried to fight off the exhaustion creeping over her body.

"Our land," Derek nodded. "We should probably get a tent, because chances are it will rain."

"Definitely," Meredith murmured.

"And simple food," Derek nodded. "Dad can bring his grill out. We'll have chicken or something."

"Chicken's good," Meredith nodded.

"And small," Derek said. "My family, Mark and Addie, some people from the hospital."

"Lex and Izzie," Meredith said.

"What about your parents?" Derek asked.

Meredith pushed herself off of his chest to stare at him. "What about them?" she asked.

"Do you want to ask them?" Derek asked. "Do they even know that you're getting married?"

"Derek," she said. "My parents don't care. I don't talk to either one of them. Ever. So no, I don't want them to come."

"Okay," Derek nodded. "I'm sorry, Mer, I just thought that maybe you'd like to have them there for you."

"Well I don't," Meredith said firmly. "I don't want them to be involved in my life at all. Our kids? They'll have one set of grandparents. And my father is not giving me away."

"I didn't expect him to," Derek said. "I just thought…"

"I don't want them there," she whispered. "Just you."