AN: Here we have our next chapter! Thank you to those who are reviewing! Every time I read your kind words, it makes me want to run to my laptop and write even more for you so thank you for that and please keep them up! It means so much to us writers to hear from our readers

Meredith grinned to herself as she spun in circles around her room. It had been a week since her and Derek's trip to Maine and a week since he told her that he loves her. She never expected to hear him utter those words and had to stop herself on more than one occasion from saying them to him. However, he did say them, and Meredith felt like spinning, literally spinning and she was while she laughed thinking of how good it felt being Derek's. She was so caught up in her own world daydreaming about how good life was, that she missed the guy she loves standing in his bedroom at his parents' house with his arms crossed and a sheepish grin on his face watching her in amusement. After a moment, Derek opened his window and threw a rock from his old rock collection at hers hoping to catch her attention. It took a few attempts, but finally Meredith jumped at the noise and turned to see Derek laughing at her. She couldn't help the smile that overtook her face at the sight of her boyfriend.

She moved over to the window and opened it with ease "I thought you were out with Mark" she yelled out, a smile never leaving her face.

He shrugged "I missed you." He replied simply grinning at her like she was the one who made the stars.

Meredith grinned and he matched her smile taking a second to just smile at each other in adoration. "Come over?" Derek asked

Meredith nodded excitedly "Coming!" she told him and moved to close her window and he watched her run from her room.

In less than a minute, Meredith had made it out of her house and next-door to the Shepherd's side door near where their backyard started. Derek was waiting outside for her excited to be reunited with the girl he loved so much. He swept her into his arms knocking her off her feet and held her tightly against him. They had just been together that morning, but he was growing accustomed to unlimited time with her and missed her truly in their hours a part.

"Hi, you" he breathed pulling back and looking at her tanned face.

"Hi" she replied softly before he brought her in for a deep and lingering kiss.

"I thought about you way too much while I was out with Mark and the guys." He told her as he stroked her jaw, and she ran her hands through his dark locks.

"Good" Meredith told him with a slight smirk, and he kissed her mouth again and laughed against it.

"You're cute and insanely beautiful and too good for me." He told her honestly as his fingers moved to her blonde hair that was getting blonder and blonder by the day thanks to the summer sun and all their time outdoors.

Meredith blushed slightly before pulling Derek in for another kiss. They were always like moths to flame when it came to the other and it felt beyond good to finally be fully open about how they felt about one another.

When their kiss broke, Derek took in the sight of her again this time paying attention to what she was wearing. She had on his t shirt that he gave her at the beginning of the summer. It was oversized on her and absolutely perfect he thought. Her soft shorts barely visible and her legs were always so long and tan.

"I love when you wear my shirt" he told her softly as he wrapped his hands around her face bringing her in for another kiss. Meredith deepened it and he smiled pulling back remembering that his parents were just inside. Not that it would stop him, but Meredith was careful around them, and he respected that.

"I love you" Meredith told him as his arms wrapped around her waist pulling her as close to him as he could.

"I love you." He breathed back into her hair taking in the enchanting scent of lavender that he thought about when they were a part.

They stayed like that for a while just holding onto each other, both feeling completely and utterly safe and at peace in the other's embrace.

"Derek, Meredith come have dinner please." Carolyn called from the open kitchen window. They had obviously been seen but neither really cared as Derek peppered kisses to Meredith's forehead and she grabbed his hand pulling him into his own home. The side door to the Shepherd's home opened to their kitchen and Carolyn was waiting with a smirk on her face as the two came in holding on to one another.

"So, anything you want to tell me?" Carolyn asked as she smiled at the two. They were cute together, Carolyn had to admit that, and she known for years now that those two were destined to be together. Call it mother's intuition or something else, but that first summer when she saw how her son looked at the girl next door, she just knew it would be something someday.

"Meredith and I are together mom. Officially." Derek told his mom while shooting a smile at Meredith still grasping her hand in his.

"It's about time. Only took a whole damn summer." Michael stated coming into the room to survey the food Carolyn had prepared. He tried moving the tin foil back on one of her glass dishes, but she caught him before he was successful. Carolyn swatted him softly as he tried to pick at the food his mouth watering just smelling the aroma in the house.

"We're very happy for you. Now boys, please take the dishes to the dining room table so we can eat like a proper family." Carolyn told the guys, and they were quick to oblige. Carolyn made the best food Meredith had ever had so she had no doubt this dinner would be just as good as usual.

"Meredith, why don't you go get Amelia from upstairs and tell her it's dinner time." Carolyn suggested.

"Oh, um-" Meredith began to try and get out of it. Her and Amy weren't in any better of a space and Meredith had now taken to avoiding her at all costs. At this point, Meredith was mad at Amy for Amy being mad at her.

"Go ahead sweetheart, she doesn't bite. Trust me if she did, she would've already." Carolyn told Meredith with a smile.

"Okay" Meredith breathed mentally preparing herself for one of Amy's outbursts.

Meredith made her way up the familiar steps of the Shepherd house like she had done a million times before. She was met with Amelia's black door and the "Stay Out" poster plastered on it. Meredith remembered the day she helped Amy put it up and smiled at the thought. That was years ago. As she was about to knock, Amelia opened the door surprised to see Meredith standing there.

"What are you doing here?" Amelia asked. It wasn't defensive or angry just truly curious.

"Having dinner. Your mom asked me to come get you." Meredith stated blandly meeting her best friend's eye.

"Oh" Amelia replied crossing her arms over her chest not sure what to say to her estranged friend.

"Yeah" Meredith muttered feeling uncomfortable and out of place. Amelia seemed calmer at this point, but you never really knew with her, and she wasn't exactly happy with her either.

"Mer?" Amelia began and then stopped not knowing what to say.

Meredith looked at her expectantly and she mustered the courage to continue "You and Derek seem happy. Like really happy."

"Oh, we are. We're really happy." Meredith told her and couldn't help the smile that took over her features just thinking about Derek and how perfect it had been the past week since they were honest with the other about their feelings. She felt like she was on cloud nine every second of every day. It felt unreal how happy she was.

"I can tell. I uh- I may have overreacted." Amelia stated.

"You think?" Meredith asked. It was going to take more than just a statement of the obvious to get Meredith to get over how Amelia had been treating her the past few weeks.

"I'm sorry, okay? Can you just forgive me because I have a million things to tell you?"

"Fine, but you have to apologize to Derek too" Meredith told her friend with a smirk knowing that was the last thing Amelia Shepherd would ever do in this lifetime.

"Oh, that's never going to happen." Amelia stated and they both laughed loudly and walked down the stairs together. The smell of Carolyn's food was just too inviting and both girls were starving.

Carolyn smiled at the girls reunited and said hello to her daughter. Her little plan worked, and she knew it was only a matter of time before Meredith and Amelia would be back on the path that she liked them best on, best friends and practically sisters.

Michael and Derek were already seated around the table waiting for the rest of the group to join. Meredith always loved having dinner with the Shepherds. They ate like a normal family all seated together and talked about their days. Someone always made the table, and the guys always carried the dishes to the table for Carolyn. Tonight, they were having Italian food. Carolyn made Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Bread, and a Tiramisu for dessert. The smells were heavenly and the spot next to Derek was open. He smiled as Meredith sat beside him and joined in conversation with his family easily. He watched her as she spoke animatedly with Amelia and his dad and Carolyn caught her son's eye and gave him a knowing look. He couldn't help the sheepish smile that overtook his face at his mother catching him watching his new girlfriend.

"Carolyn, this is amazing." Meredith told his mother and Michael chimed in as well how great it was.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it."

"Well, we have an engagement party coming up." Michael stated with a grin

"Ughhhh Kathleen's boyfriend is so boring." Amelia whined

"Fiancé" Carolyn corrected

"Flynn isn't boring, just-" Michael stated and Carolyn grinned at him unable to finish his thought.

"He will make an excellent son in law and Kathleen loves him which is all that matters." Carolyn told the group

"Last summer, during mom's birthday party, he was reading a book on robots during the fire works with one of those book lights." Amelia emphasized

"He's just smarter than you." Derek teased

"Ha-ha good one Der Bear" Amelia bit back

"Enough you two. I need everyone at this table's help getting this place pulled together for the party next weekend."

"I'll help Carolyn" Meredith told her with a smile

"Of course, you will. You're one of my good children. Derek, Amelia you two are on clean up and yard work duty. Meredith, you can help me plant to get the place spruced up and then of course the day of, we'll need help with just my list of little things."

"Ma, can't Mer and me be on yard duty and Amelia help you plant?" Derek asked innocently looking at his girlfriend who smirked at him.

"I don't see why not." Carolyn stated thinking through her list of what all they needed to get done.

Michael looked over at Meredith and Derek lost in each other's eyes both dying for dinner to end so they could be alone together. He shook his head and smiled because it reminded him so much of his relationship with his wife.

Dinner finished with everyone helping clear the table. Meredith snuck upstairs to catch up with Amelia for a while and they made amends. Amelia informed Meredith that she was over Matt and hooking up with a new guy now which wasn't a huge surprise. Amelia had the tendency to drop her boyfriend's when she got bored with them and Meredith was used to this. Meredith told Amelia how amazing things had been with Derek and how he told her that he loved her. Amelia talked about them eventually becoming real sisters if Derek married her and Meredith rolled her eyes and told Amelia not to get so ahead of herself even though deep down, she knew Derek was it for her.

After catching up with Amelia for a long time, Meredith snuck into Derek's room quietly. He was lying on his bed reading a medical book. It was late and she figured Carolyn and Michael had probably gone to bed.

"Hey" he smiled as she entered his room quietly careful not let the door slam.

"Hi" she told him coming to sit beside him. He took her in his arms, and they cuddled on his bed.

"Neurology and Neurosurgery" Meredith read looking at the cover of the book in Derek's hands.

He grinned at her "I finalized my rotations today. I'll basically be spending the year at Mass Gen." Derek told her excitedly.

"Avoid the general surgery rotation like the plague." Meredith told him thinking briefly to her mother. She had barely seen the woman all summer but that wasn't out of the norm, and she preferred it that way.

"General surgery is actually my second rotation of the year. I'm starting with peds and then ending with neuro. My professor said to start with the one you want least so that you can work out all your screw ups on the rotations that don't matter as much." Derek told her

"Yeah, Ellis has said something like that before followed up with how when you're extraordinary you should be perfect at every rotation, even the first one." Meredith told him rolling her eyes at her mother's antics.

"Remind me to steer clear of her."

"Good luck with that. She's the head of the department and is involved with everything."

"Exactly, she won't be interested in a measly med student so I should be safe." Derek teased.

"Maybe" Meredith shrugged.

"No more Ellis talk." Derek breathed curling Meredith even closer to him and enjoying the closeness.

"I agree" Meredith told him as he threaded his hands through her hair.

"We only have a few more weeks left before school starts back." Meredith continued with a sigh. He could sense his girlfriend's anxiety.

"I'm not going anywhere Mer. I'll be busy with rotations, and you'll be busy finishing up at Columbia, but we can make this work."

"Weekends" Meredith sighed leaning into him memorizing the feel of his arms wrapped around her. It was a good feeling.

"And breaks" he told her

"Let's not talk about it anymore until summer is over. Let's just be" Meredith told him suddenly feeling the room closing in on her the more they talked about what reality would look like in the next month.

"I like just being with you." He told her sincerely and she leaned up to kiss him.

The feeling of kissing Meredith Grey was not something that Derek could describe easily. He had kissed plenty of women in his life, but no-one had ever made him feel quite like she could. Their mouths were magnets to the other and a mere kiss from Meredith could elicit emotions from him that he had never felt before. He meant it when he told her that she was the only woman he had ever loved. Meredith knew what she was doing when it came to all things sexual. He hated thinking about her with other men, but he had been a witness to it from their years as enemies. Somehow in his mind though, he figured it was different with him. He knew that what they shared was unlike anything either of them had experienced before and he had never been so serious about a person. He caught himself thinking about their future together. Him commuting from Boston down to New York City, Meredith coming in on a Friday night from New York to see him, them meeting somewhere in between. His mind easily drifted to her applying to Med School. Harvard had been an amazing experience for him, and he was already in for a year of rotations at Mass Gen. If he made a good impression, maybe Mass Gen would accept him into their residency program and Meredith could go to Harvard. They could get an apartment together in the city and everything would work. Eventually, he would probably propose to her and then who knows what else.

"What are you thinking about?" Meredith asked softly pulling him from his train of thought.

"You. Us. I know you're scared of the future but I'm not."

"You're not?"

"No, Mer, this is the realest thing I've ever known. I'm completely committed to you and to our relationship. You believe that right?" Derek asked her. He understood that they would have to adjust to long-distance and it would be horrible compared to how much time they were able to spend together now but she seemed so concerned about things falling apart and he wanted to reassure her of his feelings.

"I do. I just never thought we would get here. You know that night of your mom's party when you walked me back to my house and you asked me if this was something?"

Derek grinned at the memory "I do."

"I knew I loved you then. I wanted to tell you, but we've always played this game of never showing the other any weakness and I just never thought that you would be able to fall in love me." She admitted.

"I've never met a person easier to love than you." He told her softly. "I've been in love with you for so long that I can't even think back to a time in the past number of years where I wasn't thinking of you, or you weren't in the back of my mind." He told her sincerely

"Me too." She smiled before leaning in to close the distance between them. It started off slow, Derek's hands began caressing Meredith's bare thigh as she kissed him deeply. She opened her mouth slightly allowing Derek's tongue in and he deepened the kiss moving his fingers up higher and higher up her leg. Meredith moaned at the feeling and Derek smiled into their kiss. He moved his mouth and tongue down her face onto her jaw and onto her neck where he sucked gently as his hands inched towards her panties feeling her wetness through them.

"Derek" Meredith breathed as he began to stroke her through the fabric of her panties.

Derek grinned and moved so he was kissing her thighs using his tongue and lips to elicit sweet sounds of pleasure from his girlfriend.

"Shhhh" he warned her. Neither of them wanted the Shepherd parents to witness this and she placed her own hand over her mouth to shut herself up.

In one move, Derek had her underwear and shorts off so that he was able to navigate her free. His mouth moved to her center, and he began to pleasure her. It took everything in Meredith to keep it down, but Derek's tongue felt too good, and he knew what he was doing.

"God Derek" she breathed as his tongue played with her G spot.

When he knew she was close he quickened his moves and felt her releasing. Her sounds were enough to drive him wild. He watched Meredith out of breath as she came to and grinned before she maneuvered to unzip his pants and take his cock in her mouth.

"You drive me wild Meredith" he muttered easing into the pleasure she was providing him.

TBC

Warning: We have about two-three more chapters left of Part 1 before we are going to timeline jump. Warning: Major tragedy is coming up that will end out part 1 so please prepare yourselves. Also, please review because reading your comments make me so happy!