Disclaimer: If I owned it, there'd be a ring on Mer's finger by now. The Joshua Radin Song used for the title is one of my favorites, and I felt like it worked well with this. I don't own that either, by the way. ;)

Just a MerDer post-crossover one shot. Hope you like it.

It's all about the first night and last,
some people say
well I love you so much more tonight,
more than yesterday.

She's not big on holidays. He knows that. That's why he didn't go out and buy bouquets of roses or a teddy bear or anything else that she'd hold against him forever. In retrospect, he's actually thankful that his ex called him, effectively putting an end to the monstrosity of a proposal Mark convinced him to design. The roses and the candles and the teddy bear were stashed away before he went back to the hospital, and eventually, Mark came by and took them all. What he did with them, Derek doesn't know. But that's not so important.

When Meredith found the lone rose petal under her pillow and asked him about it, he cleverly hid his original plans from her, claiming it was his build up to Valentine's Day. He smiled when she laughed at him, and he expected nothing different. She thinks Valentine's Day is a scam-just a way for greeting card companies to make a fortune off of a bunch of men that want to get laid (her exact words).

So when Derek asked her what she wanted for the holiday, Meredith shrugged and told him she didn't want anything. But he wasn't going to get her nothing. That's against the rules, even if she couldn't care less. After a few more unsuccessful attempts, she eventually says that a box of chocolate would be nice-but nothing else, except maybe sex, which is obvious. Sex happens regardless, holiday or not.

But still, the ring remains in his pocket. The past week has been busy and there just hasn't been a good time to pop the question. Now that Addison, her cured brother, and their friends have gone home, Derek gets back to focusing on what really matters-getting that ring on Meredith's finger.

Everyone tells him that proposing on Valentine's Day is perfect. She'll never forget that, they all say. Then again, that's not normally something someone forgets about anyway. And Derek hates clichés-just another reason why he should never take Mark Sloan's advice on anything involving love. Teddy bears and flower arrangements work for most women, but Meredith? No. Proposing on Valentine's Day is the exact opposite of what she would prefer.

Meredith is kind of a conundrum. She prefers nights in to being wined and dined at some fancy restaurant. She doesn't care if the toilet paper isn't on the holder or if the bed is made perfectly, or if there's an occasional dish in the sink, but she does like the house to be, for the most part, clean. She'd rather wear jeans and a sweater than anything fancy, but will dress up if the situation requires it, like a hospital prom or an almost-wedding. Derek has never met anyone like Meredith before, and that's part of why he loves her so much. She keeps him on his toes. Everything new he learns about her fascinates him.

Take proposing, for example. Most girls probably have a sense that it's coming. But Meredith...she's oblivious. There's no doubt in his mind that she'll say yes when he asks, but he knows it's going to surprise her. Take her breath away. And even thinking about it makes Derek's heart pump a little faster. So getting this proposal right is important. It's something she'll never forget.

When the morning of Valentine's Day is upon them, it begins with a quickie. There's no better way to celebrate a holiday, really. Afterward, Derek is tempted to pull the ring box from the nightstand and propose right then and there, but he's determined to hold off.

Clichés are bad. She hates clichés.

They eat together at lunch, per Meredith's request-eating sandwiches in the cafeteria isn't really romantic, but it's her way of recognizing the holiday, however much she makes fun of it. Derek slides a heart shaped box of chocolates in front of her, and she smiles. He thought of going with a rectangular box, but took advantage of getting to be corny, if only for today. Besides, the chocolates in the heart shaped box always tasted better.

"Thank you," she smiles gratefully. No one's gotten her anything for Valentine's Day before, and he knows she appreciates it.

Derek reaches across the table and squeezes her hand. "You're welcome." When she pulls off the cellophane right then and there, his smile grows.

She puts the red box in the middle of the table. "Have some," Meredith says, reaching for a dark, round one without looking at the chart to see what kind it is.

Before Derek can warn her that it's coconut, she's already bitten into it and scrunches her face adorably. He smirks. "Coconut."

"Yeah, I know," she says, spitting it into a napkin. Meredith hates the coconut ones. "Here, want the other half?" she offers.

"Sure," he grins, taking it from her. It's times like these that he knows why he fell in love with her in the first place.

Meredith looks over the chart found in the lid. She pulls a cherry one from the box and pops the whole thing into her mouth. She likes everything besides coconut, but especially the cherry ones.

Derek laughs. "Good?"

"Mmhmm..." she nods with a mouthful of cherry and chocolate.

Dropping down on one knee crosses his mind again. But he doesn't; somehow, proposing in a hospital cafeteria in scrubs seems a little too unromantic. And she's eating from a box of chocolates-again, too cliché for Meredith.

Later that day, when they're both scrubbing out of surgery, she asks, "Are we doing anything tonight?"

He grabs a paper towel and shrugs. "If you want..."

"Want to order in or something? Iz and Alex are going to Joe's, I think, so we'll have the house to ourselves for a while."

Derek grins. "Sounds good to me."

The rest of the day passes quickly. Then again, a day spent with Meredith always seemed to go by in a flash. She has that effect on him.

On the drive home, she ejects his Clash CD and opts for something else-anything else, she says teasingly. They have very different tastes in music. But when nothing is to be found on the radio, Meredith puts his CD back in the player and shrugs. "I guess I'll be nice to you today..."

She makes him laugh, too. She always has. And when he can get her to laugh, it's even better. Meredith's laugh is his favorite sound.

During dinner, which happens while sitting on the couch, Meredith pulls a bottle of wine from her bag. "I figured I'd make an effort," she shrugs in explanation. She almost seems embarrassed by her gesture, but Derek just kisses her.

The ring is practically burning a hole in his pocket. A voice in his head that sounds vaguely like Mark's is telling him to do it now. Wine, food, empty house, a lit fireplace. It couldn't have been planned any better. But still, he holds off.

Clichés are bad. She hates clichés.

The rest of the evening is quiet, comfortable, and frill-less. There's no exchanging of gifts or toasting to futures. There's a future together whether they toast or not. Lately, talk of building a house has become more frequent. Nothing specific, just "when we do's," and other little things like that.

They want babies together, too. All of 'em, that's what he said. The number of chatty children is yet to be determined, but even knowing that they both want them-with each other-is actually comforting. Even if they turn out "crappy," as Meredith describes them. They both know it's not true anyway. Those babies are going to be more perfect than either of them could have ever imagined.

Proposing is the next step-not that they've ever done anything in the conventional way, but he's wanted to put a ring on her finger for a long time now. It's not going to be anything fancy; he may not even get down on one knee. Something tells him Meredith wouldn't like that anyway.

After the wine and food are consumed, she rests her head on his shoulder. "Happy Valentine's Day," she whispers.

Derek kisses the crown of her head. "Happy Valentine's Day."

"I love you." She says it without a hint of hesitation. Her voice is genuine, calm. Whenever she says it, it feels like they've made it. It always surprises him when the words leave her lips. Derek remembers the second first time she said it to him. He was just slipping into sleep but heard her whisper it. She kissed his cheek, curled into him, and he said it back. It was simple, almost like they'd been saying it every night for years.

"I love you, too," he responds softly, as if anything above a quiet tone would disrupt the peacefulness they found themselves in, which was hard to come by given that they lived in the next best thing to a frat house at the moment. Especially now that Mark Sloan is "sneaking" up to the attic, even though his sexcapades with Little Grey are common knowledge to everyone living there.

Derek feels the couch shift the slightest bit as she turns to face him. Meredith's eyes search his for a moment before she speaks. "So I know we said no gifts, but I um..."

"What?" he encourages, unable to unable to stifle the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Meredith smiles coyly. "I got some glow-in-the-dark condoms. I figured they'd be fun, since we didn't really do go all-out today. Even though I can't ever go to that pharmacy again because the little punk cashier looked at me like I was a horny eighteen year old. But my point is, I bought them," she rambled adorably.

Rather than make a witty remark about condoms not really fitting under the criteria of a gift, Derek pulls her fully onto his lap and kisses her, hard. A box of chocolates and a box of condoms aren't exactly live musicians and a rowboat, but it works for them.

Sex works for them too. And because of the empty house, it seems only logical to take advantage it. After multiple rounds downstairs (the thrill of getting caught adds only adds to the fun), they eventually end up in bed, safely tucked away from the hustle and bustle that happens outside of their bedroom.

"I think I could like Valentine's Day," Meredith says, her head resting on his chest. The sound of his heartbeat always relaxes her, and Derek is more than willing to provide the comfort, however involuntary the action itself is.

As he combs his fingers through her hair, the intoxicating scent of lavender travels to his nostrils. Whenever they were apart, it was one of the things he missed most about her. Knowing that he never has to go without it again offers just as much a solace to him as his heartbeat gives her.

"I haven't been a fan of it for a few years," Derek says. "But you certainly make it fun again," he grins.

She lets out a giggle. "Even though I didn't let you buy me anything?"

"I got you chocolate."

"Chocolate's good," she murmurs, kissing the underside of his jaw. "And condoms are nice in preventing the baby thing from happening for a while."

Though her statement is true, the way she rationalizes makes him laugh. "That's usually how it works."

"Hmm...One day," she yawns sleepily. The way she speaks with such certainly makes his heart flutter inside of his rib cage, and he wonders if Meredith can hear it in her ear. "I apologize in advance for the crappy quality of our offspring. You can blame me for that one," she adds as an afterthought, her voice light and teasing.

"I already told you that they're going to be perfect," he corrects.

Meredith raises her head so it rests in the crook of his arm. Kissing his cheek one last time before settling into sleep, she whispers "Our daughters might have split ends though."

"I'm fine with that," Derek grins. He really couldn't be any more in love with her than he was right now. If she wasn't nearly asleep in his arms, he'd be proposing to her. The digital clock reads 12:09, so technically it wouldn't be a February fourteenth proposal, but over the course of the day, he's already decided that waiting until the fifteenth is much more...them. They've waited this long. A few more hours won't hurt.

When each of them meets their respective friends the following morning, it's no surprise that they're all suspicious. As expected, Mark and Richard stalk Derek down the minute they see him, wanting to know if he popped the question. Meredith's friends, of course, have to be a little stealthier. As she enters the lounge, they nonchalantly glance at her left hand, searching for a ring. Everyone is surprised to learn that it's still in the box, and not on her finger.

They tacitly agree that whichever one of them works with Shepherd has to grill him on why he didn't and when he is. The suspense is apparently getting to everyone except Meredith, who doesn't seem to have the slightest clue what's coming, which is probably for the best. Something this huge should be genuine-a "take your breath away" kind of moment.

Unfortunately for Derek, Cristina is the chosen resident on his service, with Lexie in tow. Between Lexie's gentle hinting and Cristina's method of blatant questioning, it was a nice mix of ambushing. But Derek pays little attention. Proposing wasn't as easy as they made it seem in movies. To make it perfect, a lot of planning was involved. He still didn't know when or where or how he'd do it. He just knew he had to do it soon before he ends up blurting it out in the hall.

Surgery keeps him busy for most of the day, and Derek welcomes the distraction. With a scalpel in hand, he's able to concentrate. As he, Cristina and Lexie are scrubbing out, it's almost as if they can feel his hear his mind racing, the sound echoing off the four walls of the small room.

Cristina offers him the smallest of smiles. "She'll say yes, you know. Whenever you decide to do it, she'll say yes."

After getting her blessing, proposing should be a piece of cake. "Thanks, Yang."

Meredith passes him in the hall on his way to the nurses' station. She stands on her tiptoes and kisses his cheek. He and Meredith rarely do PDAs at work, so she's obviously in a good mood. "We're heading over to Joe's, if you wanted to meet us."

Joe's.

"I don't have a story. I'm just a girl in a bar."

"I'm just a guy in a bar."

"Brad proposed to be in a supermarket aisle. He said that was where he...saw me for the first time. So I said yes between the cat food and the tampons."

That was it. After tonight, Meredith wouldn't just be his girlfriend. She'd be his fiancée.

"Okay," he agrees. "I'll be there." Derek watches as she runs off down the hall to catch up with Cristina. Life as they knew it was about to change forever. The funny thing was, none of it was supposed to happen in the first place.

He never expected to fall in love again. After moving out to Seattle, he didn't want anything more to do with love. Love had betrayed him in the worst way, and it felt like the wounds would never heal. Until he walked into that bar. He wasn't even going to go, but decided that a few drinks would numb the pain he'd felt since packing up and leaving his former life behind. Little did he know that he'd walk into that bar for a drink, and walk out of it with the love of his life.

And tonight, he'd walk into that same bar again, and walk out of it with his fiancée. The same girl he'd met so long ago that warm night in July.

It's a little colder when he walks into the bar tonight. The summer warmth is replaced with cold February air, but he barely notices it. The bells hanging on the top of the door signal his entrance, and within seconds of scanning the place, Derek sees her sitting on a barstool next to Cristina. Taking a deep breath, he walks over and sits down on the right of her. Just like he did that night they met.

"I'm gonna go talk to Hunt. I'll be back," Cristina says, effectively dismissing herself. She must know what he's going to do. Derek makes a mental note to thank her for that tomorrow. Maybe she really is rooting for them after all.

"So, is this a good place to hang out?" he greets her, a smile on his face.

Meredith plays with her straw and looks at him strangely. "What?" she giggles. "What are you doing?"

"Having a drink with you," he replies vaguely, dropping his bag next to the stool. Joe puts a double scotch, single malt in from of him and he smiles. "Thanks, Joe," he nods appreciatively.

He takes a sip and smiles. "How was work?"

"Good," she says simply, before deciding to change her mind. She turns on her stool to face him. "Actually, it was weird. All of my friends were acting like I was the two headed pony at the freak show...they kept looking at me. Izzie and George were all smiley-Alex even patted my shoulder. Then, the strangest thing, Mark went all Shakespeare on me and quoted this line about journeys and destinations. I don't know what the hell was going on with everyone today..." she sighs after ending a ramble that made Derek smile. "Do you know what's going on?"

Derek shakes his head, acting as though he had no explanation for the odd behavior. "I know how to take your mind off of it though."

"How?" she asks curiously.

Now's his chance. Derek pulls the ring box from his coat pocket, his palms clammy and shaking. This is one time when his steady surgeon hands failed him. He opens the black box and smiles. "With this."

Meredith's mouth drops open, her green eyes focusing on his blue eyes. "Huh?" she asks breathily.

"Wanna get married?" he asks. A bit informal, but he knows that a big speech would probably be lost on her anyway. Her eyes go back and forth between him and the diamond ring, but she says nothing. When he sees the moisture brightening up her irises, Derek grins. It's not the first time he's taken her breath away, and it won't be the last.

"Yeah, okay," she finally says, letting go of the straw she's been playing with to give him her shaking hand. That's what she's supposed to do, right? Her brain seemed to forget the proposal protocol.

"Yeah?"

Meredith nods emphatically. "Mmhmm," she murmurs as a few tears leave the corners of her eyes.

He slides the ring onto her finger and smiles at how perfectly it fits. When he leans in to kiss her, Meredith smiles against his lips. She's happy, really truly happy. And he'd do anything to keep it that way forever.

Derek notices how she stares down at the shiny diamond that has now become a permanent fixture on her hand. "My mom gave it to me when she was here. She wanted you to have it."

"So she really did like me?" Meredith manages to giggle through her tears.

Derek laughs. "Yeah. She did." He kisses her temple and Meredith leans into him.

"Why here?" she asks, wiping her eyes with the green napkin Joe discreetly slid to her. Derek glanced over to Cristina a few feet away and she gave him a small nod of approval. He could even swear he saw her smiling a little. Joe was smiling too.

"We met here...right in these seats, remember? It's where I saw you for the first time," he says softly. "I was going to wear my good looking shirt, but I couldn't find it," he adds, laughing.

Meredith shakes her head, as if she's trying to clear her mind of all the racing thoughts firing at her synapses. After a moment of silence, she looks to him and smiles. "You knew I'd hate a Valentine's Day proposal, didn't you?"

She really does know him well. "That's why I waited," Derek admits.

"That must have killed you," she giggles. His favorite sound.

"Almost," he agrees. "You should have seen the original design...Mark isn't helping us plan the wedding."

Meredith smirks a little. "Would that have anything to do with the rose petal under the pillow? And why the room smelled like vanilla?"

"It might."

"I like this a lot more," she says genuinely. She finishes off her drink and grabs her bag off the floor. "Come on."

Derek doesn't ask where they're going, as long as he leaves with her. Joe shakes his head when Derek reaches for his wallet. "On the house," he smiles. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Derek grins, taking her hand. After they reach his car, he asks "Where to?"

"The house. Iz and Alex are on-call. I think this calls for sex on the living room floor," Meredith says, her voice happy and light as she looked to her ring again. Derek glances over to her amusedly. She shrugs. "That's what we did after we left the bar that night. I can be nostalgic too."

Derek laughs. "The house it is."

Chocolates in the heart shaped box were nothing compared to this.

The rest of my life can't compare to this night
and only the heartaches have given me sight,
they bring me to you,
they bring me to you.

Hope you liked it! And Happy Valentine's Day!

Reviews make my day. :)