Surprise Tuesday post!

This one is a long one, which was not really on purpose but that means more words for you guys to enjoy. :)

"I love you, you know?" She asked as she wrapped her hands around him, spooning him.

"Mmm. I've heard." He muttered.

"Like...extra today though."

"You talked about me lots with...Jennifer? Was that her name?"

"Mmm. Yeah." She kissed him. "Me...and my super hot boyfriend."

"Your super hot, non-traditional-inaccessible-church-going boyfriend."

"She said it'd be fine though. If not, I'll figure something out."

"Yeah?" He asked. "What kind of thing are you thinking of?"

"Uh- maybe I'll spend the next two months weight lifting- How much do I need to be able to press on the bench?" She asked with a big smile.

He returned the smile. "You would never."

"I would-" She paused. "Well, I would definitely try if you wanted me to. But I think it's gonna take a very long time, considering my current stick-figure status."

"It's okay, I'm not asking you to- don't worry. Besides, we have our penguining."

She giggled. "We do."

"Mmm."

"How do you feel about churches?" She asked after a second.

"From an architectural perspective? A religious perspective? Or an accessibility perspective?"

"From a-" She swallowed. "You know- from a...wedding kinda perspective. Like...if you were to get married-"

"Oh. That...that kind of perspective."

She smiled awkwardly. "Yeah. That kind of perspective."

He didn't have anything to say to that.

"Have I freaked you out? I'm sorry."

"No...no. Just...you know, the whole- ruling-out-relationships-and-then-falling-in-love thing has already been pretty...overwhelming, if I'm honest. So...more than that-"

"Very, very overwhelming."

"Mmm."

"But...I mean, you know that you-" She kissed him. "Derek Shepherd, deserve all the love in world. You do know that, right?"

"Mmm. Maybe." He muttered.

"No. Not maybe, okay?" She scolded him. "Definitely."

He smiled, just a little. "You deserve all the love in the world too, you know that, right?"

"I want to say maybe. But you're going to tell me off like I just told you off if I say that, aren't you?"

He grinned. "It would only be fair."

"God, sometimes I say the wrong things."

"Do you want to get married in a church?" He asked.

"I'd like to get married in OR 4, in scrubs."

He smiled. "Now that is a wedding I could agree with. And, ORs are very accessible."

She grinned back. "Mmm. I was kidding, but perhaps I wasn't kidding; ORs are actually sounding like a pretty good venue."

"Do you think Jen will change the venue then?" He joked.

"Mmm- surprisingly enough...no."

"Mind if I join you?"

Derek looked up. "Oh, yeah, sure."

Aaron smiled briefly as a thank as he took a seat at one of the unused microscopes, facing Derek. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good. Busy day though."

"And how's Meredith?" He pondered.

"She's good. You've probably seen her around in a surgical capacity so you know she's been doing well intern-ing and all, and I try my best to help her out with keeping up with all the content and research." He replied. "Other than that, she...I mean, actually, you tell me- how do my eyeballs look?"

"Like...eyeballs, I guess." He replied after a moment of examining them.

"Meredith stabbed me in the eye with the end of a Christmas tree." He explained.

"Ouch."

"Mmm-" He smiled. "Definitely ouch."

"How did she manage that?"

"She put the two piece together incorrectly, and then tried to pull them apart, but didn't realise quite how much force she was using until one end went flying...into my face. She is rather clumsy, if I'm honest. This is not the first time she's...well, she walked into a door frame and broke two toes. But, then again, that was kind of my fault."

"You fault?" He pressed, rather quickly. "You hurt her?"

"No- no, no- I..." He paused. This was a rather embarrassing story for him. "I got stuck in a doorframe. I couldn't get out and she offered to help, and it worked- but involved her whacking her foot on the lip of the door, and both of us on the floor in the end."

"Right. Makes sense." He said, relieved, before moving on, "What are you doing for Christmas?"

"Oh-" He wasn't expecting that question, but he was glad to share because he was one of about three people he could talk about her with. "She's spending Christmas day with her friends, and then coming to mine for Christmas: part 2, and we're doing it all again on Boxing day."

"Double Christmas?" He asked.

"She deserves double Christmas." He returned quickly, without any hesitation. Really, however, he thought she deserved triple or even quadruple Christmas instead.

His eyebrows creased. "You know about her Christmases?"

"I know that she never had one until like nineteen- or at least a proper Christmas. And then from the sounds of it she didn't really have more after that. So...maybe I'll give her double Christmas for the next twenty years so she ends up with the right amount? Although, everything Christmas-y - the tree, the gingerbread - seems to fail around Mer, so maybe she'll decide she doesn't want anymore Christmases after this one."

"The gingerbread?"

"She's not the greatest baker. The fire alarm...yeah, it goes off quite often when Meredith is at my house."

"Ah, right." He smiled. "I don't recall Meredith having baking skills either."

"But, we'll try again on our Christmas day I think, and hopefully we'll actually be able to eat them instead of- uh, throwing a pile of ash in the bin."

"You got her a good present?" He pondered.

"I have an expensive gift to show I'm not cheap, a little gift- that one was just for fun, and a home-made gift to show I'm really thinking about her, and that I know her. Also bucket loads of orange chocolate. She has a thing for orange chocolate. And strawberry ice-cream, but I can't really buy that for Christmas because it's already so cold around here."

He smiled. "Well, sounds like she'll be having a really good Christmas then."

"Is that why you came here?"

He faltered. "What?"

"Did you come here to talk to me about Christmas because you're worried about Meredith?" He asked. It was a bit of a bold question, but he wouldn't mind being wrong.

"I..." He sighed. "I just want her to be treated well. She deserves to be treated well."

"And...from this conversation-"

He smiled. "It sounds like she's going to be treated amazingly, so I'm going to stop worrying."

"Aaron-"

He looked up. "Yes?"

"Can I ask you to be honest with me?"

"Of course."

"Did..." He swallowed. He didn't really want to ask this question, but he thought he had to. For his own wellbeing, mostly. "Did you ever sleep with Meredith?"

He shook his head, "No."

"Truthfully?" He pressed.

"I didn't, and I never wanted to. There was nothing romantic: no kissing, no sex, no relationships, no feelings." He promised truthfully. "If we had ever had sex or any kind of relationship, you know I'd tell you to talk to Meredith instead of me; it wouldn't be right for me to tell you."

He sighed. "Right. Thanks. For...being honest, and for looking out for her, even now, after all these years."

"So, what's home like?" Derek asked. "In a Christmas-decoration way, I mean."

"It looks like Santa puked everywhere." Meredith said through a giggle.

He smiled. "Right."

"I'm actually blinded by the Christmas tree lights whenever I go in the lounge." She replied, making a quick glance to the tree she could see. It was pretty, in the end, but she wasn't sure it was worth the near-black-eye and the hospital trip. Then again, nothing would be worth that; it was a horrible few hours.

"Does my house look like...Santa puked everywhere?" He asked, looking around.

"No. Your house is just like...normal, but a bit Christmas-y. It's nice."

"I know I guided you through Christmas trees and baking but-" He paused. "This is uh...this is kind of my first Christmas in...quite a while."

She looked up. She hadn't even thought about him, with him too busy focusing on the fact that she had never had a Christmas. "Oh."

"I mean, rehab-Christmas was really nice. I'd been there quite a while so I knew the nurses well and it was good. It was." He reassured her. "It's just..."

"Not a normal Christmas. Not the Christmas you wanted."

"Mmm." He sighed. "And, as we've discussed, I think I was pretty okay about the whole paralysis thing- at least compared to some other people-"

"But Santa didn't bring you some new legs? Or a few nerves for your spine. And that meant Christmas wasn't everything you wanted that year."

He smiled. "I think I may have had a brief moment of wishing for a Christmas miracle involving walking, yes." He confirmed.

"I'm sorry that I didn't even think about it." She replied. "I should have- yeah, considered your experience with Christmas first."

"It's okay. Promise. By that time, I was pretty independent, talking well and back to myself cognitively so...it was more that it wasn't at home that was the problem. But, yeah, my family was there, Mark was there, and the people there were super good at making the holidays feel...holiday-y."

She smiled. "But, if that one day hadn't happened-"

"-that whole year would have been so very normal, yeah." He finished for her. "Normal thanksgiving, normal Easter, normal Christmas, normal...everything. But-"

"But what?"

"Perhaps if I wasn't struggling with a cramp because of my SCI, you would have never helped me home, and we wouldn't have become friends."

"So...being paralysed is worth it because you got to befriend, and now date, me?" She asked with a smirk, joking.

"If somewhere out there is a parallel universe where I'm still walking and we're not friends...then yeah, maybe I would say that."

She sighed. "You're extremely good at this fancy, romantic talky stuff, you know?"

"I have been known to make some good speeches in my time. Never as good as Miranda's though."

She smiled. "I'm not sure a...professional speech maker could out-speech Bailey."

"Now that is something I can most definitely agree with." He said with a grin, before it quickly faded, and his had raised to his mouth as he coughed.

"You okay?"

"Mmm- it's just a cough." He said, briefly rubbing his chest.

"I did notice you sounded a bit raspy, are you coming down with something?"

"I don't think so, but, if I am, it's winter, everyone's got the flu- I'll be fine."

"How long have you felt sick?" She asked, raising her hand to his forehead.

"I said I didn't think I was sick." He corrected, although he didn't think she'd misheard him, but rather just chose to ignore him and jump straight on at the word 'flu'.

"You're warm."

"I've got a blanket on my lap, a long-sleeve t-shirt and long bottoms; I'm not surprised that I'm warm."

"How about the cough? When did that start?"

"I don't have a cough." He returned.

"Are you feeling tired? Do you feel more lethargic? How about any headaches?"

"Meredith. Please. I know you like to worry, but I can cough once and not be ill, okay? I'm okay."

She sighed. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Right now, I feel okay. Now- could I employ you to hang some Christmas lights outside?"

"Uh- I might start a fire, knowing my record."

He smiled. "You won't start a fire, Mer."

She sighed. "I'll try, seeing as I know you can't, but you can't blame me if I burn your house down, deal?"

"Deal."