So, surprisingly, I felt all like Christmas this morning. I'm completely scandalized with myself over this. Blame it on that Sixpence None the Richer song because, well, it is awesome. It gave me the title for this after all. (To make me super happy, listen to it while you read. Because well, I'm a coordination nerd like that.) So yes, I needed a break from the angst and sorrow of The World Turned Over. Consequently, I'm writing this. It's set very much in our current season three, or at least the December of season three if Shonda hadn't suddenly gone all crazy with the calendar and cut out our Christmas.

So yes, this is Mer/Der about where they currently are in their relationship on the show. Just, at Christmas. It's going to be a double-shot of a story, with the first part in Meredith's POV. Originally, it was just going to be her, but I got to thinking…you can't have Mer without Der. It's like peanut butter without jelly, cookies without milk…you get the point. (You may also now realize that I have serious problems with my Mer/Der love.) Anyway, I wanted to write both their perspectives, so…I will.

So yes, here we go. Feel free to laugh at my attempt to write something that isn't covered in angst and tears.

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I don't do Christmas. You know the present-wrapping, eggnog-drinking, ornament-hanging thing. That day were the whole world is supposedly framed in picture perfect white snow and wrapped up with a giant bow. Christmas. We just don't mix so well, Christmas and I. I mean, last year I let Izzie go ahead and turn my mother's house into this gingerbread freak show because, lets face it, she was sad. And I was (arguably) even sadder, so it's not like I paid much attention to the lights anyway. Or the mistletoe. Or the little Santa figurines she'd set up everywhere. Besides, the lights actually were kind of pretty. I think I can admit that without risking excommunication by Cristina…so long as I don't say it too loudly. So yeah, my point is, I survived last Christmas. Somehow. But this year, Izzie's at it again.

Only this time, she has help.

…In the form of my boyfriend. Seriously. My. Boyfriend. I know. The world hates me.

Or Derek hates me, and this is his weird twisted way of driving me insane. I think that's likely because it's late at night, and I was at work all day. My legs are tired and my feet hurt, and seriously…I just want to flop down on my bed right now. There's just one problem. I'm miles away from my bed, or any sort of bed really, trudging through this forest. (Not walking, or even hiking, but trudging. Because seriously, I'm kinda small and this snow is deep. I've already tripped twice. I think that qualifies as trudging.)

"Derek," I moan, hurrying forward to where he's been waiting. He just turns around and grins at me. His hair is jutting out wildly from beneath his hat, and if he didn't look so cute and so ridiculously happy, I'd insist we turn around right now. But he does, because he's Derek, and that's always been my downfall. No need to go over how that works again. So I simply make a face, and walk (trudge) over to him, slipping my gloved hand in his.

"What do you think of this one?" he asks, looking up at yet another evergreen tree.

"Nice…" I mumble, already tucking my face into the warm spot between his scarf and his neck. So what if I can't see the tree this way? It's dark out already, and seriously, they're all Christmas trees. I don't think there's that much of a difference.

"Mer," he coaxes, his voice low and insistent as he rocks me back and forth in his arms. "I don't want to get one you don't like." He leans down, kissing my forehead just below the brim of my hat. Reluctantly I look up, my lips briefly meeting his before I turn to study the tree.

"Derek!" I gasp, shaking my head in disbelief. "The tree is huge." And it is. It's towering over us in this completely menacing way, and I have no idea how we would even get it home, let alone into my house.

Derek's grin just widens. "I know," he agrees, sounding for all the world like an excited little boy at…Christmas, I guess. I whirl back around to glare at him, placing my hands on either side of his face, turning his attention back to me and away from the monster tree.

"Derek, we can't get that tree," I say, sounding perfectly reasonable.

And then he pouts at me.

He actually sticks his lower lip out and pouts at me. See, this is what I meant about Christmas. Not only do I have Izzie at home turning my perfectly nice kitchen into some sort of cookie-frosting assembly line, but now I have my boyfriend pouting at me because of a tree that is easily twice his height. And when he pouts at me like that, I usually end up kissing him. And ninety-nine percent of the time, when I start kissing Derek, we end up having sex. Now, while I admit that I may sleep with Derek in some…strange places, I am not about to have sex in the middle of a freezing Christmas tree forest that happens to be run by rather creepy, old, bearded men in giant flannel coats. So yes, not kissing Derek. I am completely ignoring the way he's looking at me. In fact, I'm not even affected by it. Seriously.

"Meredith," he murmurs, turning my name into this low running sound. "Please?" He tilts his head to the side, his mouth just an inch away from mine. I slowly start to lean forward, lips parted, before I happen to catch another glance of the monster tree over his shoulder.

That stops me just in time. "You want to put a hole through my mother's house?" I blurt out, managing to sound scandalized enough that Derek draws back slightly.

"No…" His voice is guilty and a little bit defensive. "I'm not going to put a hole in the house." I just raise an eyebrow at him, the skeptical expression almost lost beneath the white brim of my hat. "Besides, the ceiling in the hall by the staircase is high. There'd be plenty of room there."

"Derek…" I pull away from him, folding my arms over my chest, but he keeps his hands firmly looped against the small of my back. "What about getting that little one over there?" I gesture towards the tiniest tree in sight.

"Izzie would kill us. We promised her we'd get the tree two weeks ago, and now it's already Christmas Eve. If we bring home a crippled midget tree…" He trails off, shrugging his shoulders, but with this ridiculously smug grin on his face. That reminds me, I hate it when he knows he's right.

"She wouldn't mind," I say weakly, but I know she would. The tree is scrawny, and its highest branches barely make it to my shoulders. She would freak out, and possibly begin telling me about the meaning of Christmas again. Of course, making sure to highlight just how the sad little tree would be failing the meaning of Christmas… I sigh and try again. "We could always get a fake tree. There are hundreds in every drugstore between here and my house."

"Meredith Grey," says Derek, sounding absolutely shocked. "You are a strange, strange woman. You can't have a fake tree."

"Okay…well, what about one of those really nice ones in the lobby at work. They're already decorated," I say, shooting him my most helpful smile. "And, you're head of neurosurgery. I don't think anyone will stop you."

Derek just laughs. It's this wonderful deep sound from low in his throat, and I find myself shivering in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with the cold. "So now you want me to commit tree robbery," he says, shaking his head at me.

"No. Well…yes. Maybe. A little. If you want to?" I look up through my eyelashes at him hopefully. Derek's still laughing at me, this little smirk playing around the corners of his mouth, so I back him up until he's leaning against the trunk of the monster tree. "For me?" I ask, standing on tiptoes to pull on the edge of his lip with my teeth as I press my hips hard against him. His response is instantaneous, and just what I'd been expecting, because I'm immediately pulled even closer to him. Somehow he forces my mouth open with his, spinning us around so that I'm the one pressed against the tree. I just moan into him, quickly growing frustrated by all the layers of clothing between us.

When Derek finally pulls away, I'm gasping slightly and curled against his chest. He just grins down at me, kissing the tip of my nose. "I will commit as many tree robberies as you want," he murmurs softly, his voice turning into this low hum as his lips somehow make it past my scarf to find my neck. "Whatever you want Mer…" I'm just shivering (again, in the good way) and staring up into the branches of the monster tree. It's hard to think straight when you have this amazing combination of teeth and tongue grazing up the side of your neck, but I'm thinking that this tree actually smells pretty good. Kinda piney and wonderful… And well, it is very green with this dusting of snow and tiny little icicles hanging from the branches. It's beautiful…seriously. And I'm not just saying that because Derek's already made my knees give in.

"Derek," I whisper as he hoists me up, my legs wrapping around his waist as I reach down to tilt his face towards mine. I kiss him again, our mouths melting together as everything else just sort of gets lost beneath the scent of the tree, and the feel of it against my back, and the overwhelming warmth of our bodies linked close together. And I can't help but think that if this is what Christmas is, I might be a fan.

When we pull apart this time, we're both gasping and simply staring into each others' eyes. It's all sort of hazy and wonderful, and seriously, this is the part were I'd go on and on about how I love Derek Shepherd if…you know…I could speak coherently or anything. "See, this is the problem," I murmur once I remember how to string a sentence together.

"What's the problem?" he asks, a slight frown appearing on his face.

"Now I want sex," I say, doing my best to glare at him crossly.

Derek just smirks at me, looking very amused (and rather pleased with himself too). "Doctor Grey," he replies, his eyes laughing at me. "That is never a problem."

"Yes it is." Derek just shakes his head, not looking even slightly convinced by the idea that sex could ever be a problem, and so I move to elaborate. "Derek, we're Christmas tree shopping. In a forest. In a forest that happens to be freezing, and run by some very scary old men."

He laughs. "They won't mind. They're harmless old men."

"No…they have axes," I hiss in a low voice. "And chainsaws."

"For cutting down the trees Mer."

"Or for attacking the people who try and have sex against the trees."

"Meredith…" Derek shakes his head, still grinning at me as if he thinks I might be a little bit crazy.

I lean down and kiss him once more, soft and quick, before hopping out of his arms and down to the ground. "Derek," I answer lightly, already walking back across the snow.

"Wait…you bring up sex and then you just walk away?" asks Derek as he hurries after me. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," I agree. "You know, it's your fault. If we were at home, with a nice fake tree, that conversation would've ended very differently."

"Fake tree," echoes Derek dejectedly. He pulls me into his arms again so that the back of my head is resting against his shoulder. "But Meredith, it's Christmas." He spins us around until I'm staring up at that monster tree again. Only this time, I'm not thinking about how impossibly large the monster tree is. I don't know if it's because Derek's voice is so earnest, or if it's because the moon has finally come out from behind the clouds to bathe the whole tree in pale white light, or if it's the hundreds of baby icicles that are making me imagine just how magical the tree would look once Izzie's done decorating it…I don't know exactly. All I know is that not only did I just used the word magical in conjunction with Christmas (which would be scary enough on it's own), but I'm also thinking that I really love that tree. I mean really love it in that overwhelming, excited, how could we even possibly consider getting a different tree sort of way. Something is clearly wrong with me. "Mer?" repeats Derek softly after I've stood there silently for a rather long time. It's the tree's fault. Blame the magical monster tree for leaving me speechless. "If you really want to go, we don't have to get a tree. We can…"

"No," I cut him off, shaking my head emphatically. "I want that tree." I point my gloved hand straight at our tree, and I swear I can hear Derek smile.

"Seriously?" he asks. "You're not just saying that?"

"Seriously," I agree, turning around in his arms and smiling up at him. "I'm not just saying that." He frowns, still looking slightly unconvinced. "It's Christmas Derek," I say, rising up on my toes and pressing my lips against his as I speak.

"It's Christmas," he agrees.

We stand there in the snow, just staring at each other for a long time. The trees are looming like giants overhead, and we're doing that thing were we somehow have a thousand things to say, but manage to say them all with just our eyes. And suddenly it really is Christmas, it's not just this thing you say. And my boyfriend isn't just this holiday-obsessed tree hunter.

He's the man who can read me completely through my eyes alone.

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Alrighty…that was the end of part one. I actually had a lot of fun writing that. I feel appropriately seasonal now. Anyway yes, part two is left to come. It's just going to be Derek's perspective on the whole crazy tree thing the two of them are doing. It should be up in a few days or so. Whenever I write it… Obviously before Christmas. Otherwise yeah, I do see how it would be kinda pointless.

So yes, that was my take on fluffy Mer/Der Christmas through Mer's eyes. Please review!