"Cristina! Dr. Yang! Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Derek said, pulling the dark-haired surgeon into a nearby linen closet. It had been a month since Meredith had broken the news about her pregnancy and it had been one of the best months of his life.
"Uh... what is this about?" Cristina asked after making sure that the closet was empty.
"It's about Meredith." He said seriously. Her eyes went wide and she shook her head vigorously.
"NO! You cannot leave her! She is pregnant with your McBaby and she gave up everything for you!" Cristina almost shouted. He shook his head.
"No, no, I'm not leaving her. The exact opposite, actually." He couldn't conceal his smile as he pulled the tiny velvet box from his pocket and handed it to her. Her jaw dropped and she stared at it in shock.
"You're proposing?! Already?!" She cried, looking frantically from the small box to him with wide eyes.
"Cristina, you of all people know how complicated our relationship is." He defended.
"Which is exactly why I think you may be rushing this a little!" She said.
"We may not have been together for very long, but we've always loved each other. It's been almost a year, Cristina, and we're having a baby. This may seem ridiculous, but I want to be tied to her forever. I want to make vows to her and promise to love her no matter what. And I want this baby to have parents who can't just break up over something stupid. Marriage is stable. It's solid. It's a promise. That's what I want for this child, and for us. Just... look at the ring." He said, pushing the box in her hand closer to her chest. Cristina sighed and opened up the box.
Her eyes went wide as they landed on the ring. It was beautiful. Simple, just a band with a single large diamond at the top. But it was perfect. Cristina gasped and held her hand up to her mouth. She had forgotten every reason why she was opposed to this. She was only happy for her friend. Meredith was finally getting a chance to be happy.
"It was my grandmother's. I had my mom send it to me a few days ago. It's small, but... she has small fingers, so I guess it's perfect." They both laughed. Cristina closed the box and hugged him, the smile on her face stretching from ear to ear.
"It's perfect, Derek. She'll love it." She said, handing him the box back.
"Thank you, Cristina." He said as she left, trying to keep the smile off of her face.
XxXxX
The next day, he walked into work and saw Meredith standing at the nurse's station looking over a chart. He approached her, summoning his best flirtatious smirk.
"Dr. Grey, a word." He said softly, grabbing her arm gently and giving her just enough time to put down her chart before pulling her giggling into the nearest on-call room and locking the door behind him.
"I didn't see you this morning." He said, approaching her slowly. She smiled up at him.
"I had rounds and didn't want to wake you. You're cute when you sleep." She said, wrapping her hands around his hips as he kissed her quickly.
"Do you have somewhere you have to be anytime soon?" He asked softly, pecking at her neck.
"Not for another hour..." She replied, stepping backward and pulling them both down onto the bed behind them.
"Plenty of time..."
XxXxX
An hour later, Derek dropped down on the bed beside Meredith, both of them panting softly. He turned and smiled at her.
"I want to see you tonight." He said breathlessly. She smirked at him.
"Okay, so meet me back here at.. what, 6:00?" She said. He shook his head.
"I want to take you on a date. Like a real date." He said. She raised her eyebrows.
"Should I dress up for this date?" She asked. He smiled, scooting closer to her and kissing her softly.
"You'll be beautiful no matter what you wear. I'll meet you in the lobby at 7:00." He replied quietly, rolling off the bed and putting his clothes back on. He checked his watch and turned to leave the room, stealing one last glance back at her.
"I love you." He said softly, almost so softly that she couldn't hear him. He left before she could respond. He knew her response anyway.
"I love you too."
XxXxX
That night, Derek stepped into the lobby wearing his best suit. He looked around for Meredith and saw her walking out of the locker room in a beautiful blue floor-length dress. Her hair was braided at the top and flowed down to her shoulders and she had a small purse clasped in her hands. Cristina walked behind her and smiled at Derek's surprise. She had known exactly what this date was about and done everything in her power to make sure her best friend was ready.
"Wow..." Derek said as he approached, his eyes full of wonder. "You look... stunning." He shook his head, placing his hands on her arms and looking at her for a few moments, taking in her beauty. The top of the dress was covered in jewels and sparkles and the bottom flowed in waves down her legs like the ocean. Her makeup was done to perfection and her hair tumbled down and framed her face. She smiled up at him, her pupils dancing in the light.
"Where are you taking me? Cristina told me I would want to dress up but I still don't know where we're going." She said, slight annoyance in her voice. He smirked at her.
"Just trust me. I've been planning this for a very long time." He said cryptically. She turned and looked at Cristina, smiling nervously at her as Derek pulled her toward the elevator. Cristina sighed and shook her head, turning to back to the locker room to go change out of her scrubs.
Richard stood silently at the end of the hall, watching as the girl he had practically raised stood with her arm linked in one of his best friend's. Derek had asked him to make sure that everything went to plan, and it had so far. He watched nervously and prayed that the correct elevator opened when they pressed the button.
Meredith's mouth fell open as the doors to the elevator slid open. Derek watched her, unable to control the smile on his face as her eyes lit up and the light emanating from the elevator reflected off of them. She let out a soft gasp and looked up at him, her face covered in amazement. Richard nodded, satisfied. His job was done.
"You did this?" She asked, turning back to the waiting elevator. Inside the small room, a table and two chairs had been set up, with a candle and a fresh meal waiting for them on the tabletop. On the walls were scans of brains from patients with all sorts of afflictions.
They both stepped into the elevator, with Meredith staring around in awe and Derek smiling at her proudly. The doors closed behind them, but the elevator didn't move. Derek had had Richard talk to the technician about stopping the Elevator after they entered it. That way, no one could interrupt them.
"What are these?" She asked, stepping over to the wall with the first set of scans on it.
"This is Katie Bryce, a girl with a one in a million aneurysm that burst-" She interrupted him.
"After she fell during rhythmic gymnastics, I remember." She said.
"That was the first surgery we ever did together." He said. She smiled at him as he pointed to the next set of scans.
"This is a cerebral cyst. Tough save, but we did it. I kissed you in the stairwell after the surgery. And this right here was when Dr. Bailey kicked you out of the surgery because she caught us, in your driveway, in my car." He smirked at her and she chuckled.
"And right here, this was a seven-hour craniotomy. You held the clamp the entire time, never flinched. That's when I knew you were going to be an incredible surgeon. And here, this is a patient suffering from hydrocephalus, I let you place the ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Everyone thought you couldn't do it, and you did. Your fingers never shook. You looked up at me afterward and that was when I knew I loved you." He said proudly. Tears glistened in her eyes as they looked at the last set of scans.
"And this was today. The patient came in with blood compressing his brain, and you drilled the burr holes that saved his life. His wife and three kids got to see him again because of you." He said. She stared up at him in amazement.
"Derek... what is this? Why are you showing me this?" She asked. He smiled at her.
"I told you to trust me. Just let it happen, Meredith. Now, let's eat dinner, and then I have something else for you." He smirked.
"There's more?" She cried, her face full of excited surprise. He nodded as he pulled out her chair for her.
"Of course there's more."
XxXxX
I just want to say to all of the people who feel lonely on Valentines Day like me, you are loved. If not by the boy or the girl that you like then by your friends and your family. If someone doesn't like you or is rude to you, they don't deserve to have a place in your life. You are beautiful and you deserve every kind thing this world has to offer. Don't let one person stop you from loving yourself, because that's truly all that matters. That you love yourself.
Kisses, and Happy Valentine's Day!
-E