They both slept late the next day, they were both exhausted, and neither felt waking the other was a good idea, so it was close to lunchtime when they both decided it might be a good time to wake up. Derek kissed her when he saw her eyelids start to flutter, barely awake himself. She kissed him back before pulling him towards the shower with her for the bendy thing they both loved so much. They wrapped each other in towels and headed back to the bedroom where the towels both came off, not because of any impending sex, but because they had gotten so used to being naked around each other that neither had any qualms about it anymore, and they both loved the other just a little bit more when they were naked.
"Breakfast?" Meredith suggested when they finally left the bedroom "Or lunch maybe?" she decided after looking at the clock.
"How about I take you out for brunch?" he suggested knowing she loved the faux meal even more than the two it was named after.
"Ooh yummy," she said "This is why I keep you around." she smiled. He matched hers with his own, painfully aware of how close he'd come to not being around anymore, but incredibly grateful that she'd let him back in. They jumped in the car and Derek drove to a little private patisserie that he'd found one day when he'd taken a wrong turn on the way home from Meredith's.
"Where's this?" she asked as they pulled into the parking space out front.
"For you my dear," he joked "This may well be heaven." she giggled and put an arm round his waist.
"Its so cheesy!" she whispered taking in the faux Italian decor.
"The owner is part Italian" Derek explained, "The food is good though."
"I guess that's all that matters." Meredith agreed as they were shown to their table by a college aged girl.
"Here are your menus, would you like any drinks before you order?" she asked, and without looking at the menu, Derek said:
"I'll have the house special, and the lady here will have a strawberry Bellini with the works, thank you."
"Coming right up." the waitress smiled at Derek's order.
"What did you just order?" Meredith asked poring over the menu. "wow, look at how many waffles there are, and pancakes and crepes, oh I don't know what I want, is it bad that I want everything?"
"I can order for you again if you'd like." Derek said knowingly trying not to laugh at Meredith's face as she tried to choose.
"Hmm okay, but remember I'm trusting you. With food. So you cant trick me at all." she surrendered curious to see what he chose for her.
"I promise," he said as the waitress came back.
"Your coffee sir," she said as she passed him a coffee with an intricate pattern on the top in foam and chocolate powder.
"That's so pretty," Meredith marvelled, not spotting Derek's smile until the waitress came back with a tray. Meredith's jaw dropped, the glass had so much going on she wasn't even sure how to drink it. As well as the traditional cocktail umbrella and straw, there were tiny streamers, sticks of various fruits and even a sparkler.
"What is that?" Meredith said as she waited for the sparkler to burn out.
"It's your drink Meredith," Derek smirked pulling out the dead sparkler so she didn't burn herself. "Just try it." Meredith took a reluctant sip from the straw, raising her eyebrows as the concoction hit her tongue.
"Oh my God," she said orgasmically "Derek this is amazing, I think we need to move here." Meredith took a few more sips before the waitress came back to take their order.
"Hi," Derek said "I'll have the fruit special, and Meredith here would really like the split stack W with savoury vs sweet please." he passed her the menus and Meredith looked confusedly at him, or as confused as you could look whilst sipping a thick cocktail out of a thin straw. "You'll love it." he smiled sipping at his coffee. He knew how important food was to Meredith, so he couldn't wait to see what she made of his choice. He sipped his coffee again, a foam moustache appearing on his top lip. Meredith smiled before kissing it off, licking any remaining foam from her lips. Derek grinned "we definitely need to come here more often." The waitress came with two laden plates and placed them in front of Meredith and Derek. Derek's meal consisted of a hollowed out watermelon half, filled with fruits of every colour cut into every shape imaginable, whereas Meredith had two small stacks of waffles, one adorned with bacon and eggs and sausages whilst on the other side were marshmallows, chocolate chips and lots of chocolate sauce and syrup along with a tiny jug of maple syrup and several savoury sauces.
"Do you approve?" Derek said as the waitress walked away and Meredith stuck her fork in her savoury waffles.
"I cant believe you've never brought me here!" she giggled moaning in enjoyment of her food. "Yours looks amazing by the way," she said stealing a strawberry and dipping it into the chocolate on her plate.
"You have an entire strawberry cocktail, yet you still want mine" he joked pulling out another one and feeding it to her.
"I only do it because I know you love me enough to let me." she giggled.
"This is true." he laughed back watching as she made light work of savoury waffles, taking a few small sips of her cocktail before starting her second waffle. Forcing a forkful of it into Derek's mouth.
"Good huh?" she said as he chewed it.
"I don't know how you can stomach something so sweet." he laughed. "This is far from sweet," she said seriously, "I once ate a jar of maple syrup on a dare, that was pretty sweet." Derek laughed at her, finishing the last of his fruit and draining his coffee cup as she swallowed the last of her waffles and finished the last of her cocktail offering him one of the skewers of fruit from inside. He took it from her pulling the fruit pieces off with his fingers and eating them as she tipped the glass up to get the last of the crushed strawberry at the bottom.
"I love you." he chuckled as she let out a little burp as she put the glass back down on the table. She'd gotten some on her forehead so Derek kissed it off as she'd done for him earlier before sitting back down and staring at the beauty that was Meredith Grey. The pair sat quietly for a moment, sipping their drinks and enjoying the moment until Derek remembered what he had hidden in his jacket pocket.
"I have something for you," he said with a smile, pulling the longer of the two boxes from his pocket "I saw this and thought you'd like it, so I got it for you."
"But it's not my birthday or Christmas." she frowned at him slightly accepting the box from him.
"Does it have to be a special occasion for me to want to spoil you?" he grinned at her. "Open this one and you can have the other one." Meredith opened the box slowly, the bracelet catching the light as she looked at it.
"Derek," she gasped "it's beautiful, is it the one I looked at in the window?"
"I saw that one, but I preferred the platinum version." he grinned again as her eyes widened at the word platinum.
"I can't believe you remembered, but really this must've been expensive. Should I put it on now?"
"Definitely," Derek said, "but no bracelet is complete without a charm" he pulled out the other box and laid it in her hand. Meredith opened it, unclipping it from its placeholder and holding it up so she could look at it.
"A bird?"
"It's a phoenix, legend had it that when it was time for them to die they burst into flames then out of the ashes grows a new one, so it never really dies, it just goes on forever. Like links on a bracelet. I know its cheesy, I just thought it was a bit like us you know, you know what never mind. It's a bird."
"A phoenix," Meredith said out loud. "I think phoenix is perfect, I love it thank you Derek."
"Well this is our new beginning so I though whenever anything big happens we can put something new on it, and when we're old we can look back on it and remember all the amazing things we did together."
"That's really perfect Derek, really perfect. Even if i get Alzheimer's and forget everyone at least I'll have something to remember it all." she grinned at him, noticing his slight wavering smile. "I hope I don't get it, but if I do, who knows perhaps it'll help." Derek took the charm and attached it to the bracelet before clasping it onto her tiny wrist. He reached for her hand and squeezed it.
"Even if you do forget, I'll be there to remind you everyday. I love you Meredith."
"I love you too." She said admiring the bracelet on her wrist. Derek got the bill and the pair left quietly getting in the car for their new start. The phoenix had burnt and it was time for a new life to begin.