A/N: Well, here it is, the start of the sequel to "Lost and Found". I hope that everyone who enjoyed that story will get just as much enjoyment out of this one! If you haven't yet read "Lost and Found," I would strongly suggest reading it before reading this story as it will make this one much easier to understand.

Most of what you need to know will be in the chapters themselves, but just to set it up, the epilogue of "Lost and Found" takes place at the end of May. This story picks up at the beginning of August, about seven months after Meredith's accident. Although there will still be plenty of drama in the chapters to come, this story will be, for the most part, much less angst-ridden than "Lost and Found" was.

Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy or any of its characters, nor am I affiliated with the show in any way, other than the fact that I really love it. This disclaimer will apply to all chapters of this story, mostly because I don't feel like writing it every time I post a new chapter.

Derek Shepherd was running late. This wasn't exactly an unusual occurrence – his friends and family had long since accepted that Derek was almost always late for everything except surgery. Tonight, though, was not a night to be late. Tonight was a night that had to be perfect.

"Whoa, man, where's the fire?" Mark Sloan laughed as Derek rounded the corner and slammed straight into him.

"What? Sorry, Mark, I'm just running a little late," Derek explained as he bent to help Mark pick up the charts he'd been carrying.

"Hot date, huh?" Mark teased. He knew as well as anyone that Derek hadn't so much as looked at another woman in over seven months, ever since he had finally broken up with Rose and vowed to wait for Meredith.

"Not amusing," Derek grumbled. "I'm having dinner with Meredith."

"She finally came around, did she?" Mark smiled. "I know I don't need to tell you what will happen if you hurt her again, right?"

"I've been sufficiently warned, thank you very much," Derek laughed. "And I have absolutely no intention of ever hurting Meredith Grey again."

"Good," Mark said. "So, what are you standing around here chatting with me for? Get going, or you're going to be late picking the little lady up!"

Derek laughed as he handed Mark the last of the charts before turning around and practically sprinting out of the hospital and into his car.

As he drove to Meredith's, he couldn't help but wonder how things would go when he finally saw her. Would there be awkwardness between them? Would they slip right back to where they'd been before everything that had happened? He'd seen her only once in the past seven months, and even then only for a few hours at the second wedding of George O'Malley and Callie Torres-O'Malley. He needed everything about tonight to be perfect, because he wasn't sure he'd survive another seven months of not seeing her.

Derek stood in front of Meredith's house, nervously staring at the doorknob, just waiting for someone to respond to his knock. He knew the door was probably unlocked and even if it was locked, he knew exactly where Meredith kept the spare key. A year ago, he would have walked right in and gone straight up the stairs to Meredith's room. He knew, though, that although the house looked as if it hadn't changed at all, everything else had changed dramatically since he was last on this porch.

"Dr. Shepherd," Izzie Stevens smiled at him as she opened the door. "Come on in, Meredith's almost ready, so I'll let her know you're here. You can wait in the living room, I think you remember the way. Just make yourself comfortable, I'm sure it'll only be a minute."

And with that, Izzie sprinted back up the stairs, presumably to find Meredith. Derek stepped into the living room and looked around only to realize that he had been completely wrong in his earlier assumption. Although from the outside it looked as though the house were exactly the same as a year earlier, it took only one look into the living room to know that inside, the house was very different.

For one thing, Derek could have sworn that the living room was bigger the last time he was there. He quickly shook that feeling off, attributing it to the fact that it had been so long since he had been there. The décor, however, was something that he couldn't just shake off. Meredith had always avoiding putting any sort of personal touches on the house. She had refused to allow Izzie to paint the walls, move the furniture or even put up artwork and pictures. Because of it, the house had never managed to look like it was anyone's home. Now, however, Derek looked around in amazement at the dozens of pictures that adorned the freshly painted walls and sat in frames on the tables.

Derek smiled as his eyes passed over images of Meredith and her friends at various events. There was a candid of Izzie and Alex engaged in what appeared to be an intense flour fight in Meredith's kitchen. One of George and Callie standing in front of what Derek assumed was the house he had heard they recently purchased. A small one of Ellis standing in front of Massachusetts General. A much larger one of Meredith, Cristina, Alex, Izzie and George standing with Dr. Bailey in front of Seattle Grace during what appeared to be their intern year. There was one of Meredith, Molly and Lexie at what could only have been Laura's birthday party, the three of them huddled around a smiling little girl with her face covered in cake.

Derek paused in front of a side table and picked up the framed picture resting upon it, surprised to find it so prominently displayed in Meredith's house. Smiling back at him from inside the frame was Susan Grey, her arms around two smiling teenage girls.

"That's one of my favorites," a female voice said from behind him.

Derek jumped slightly at the unexpected intrusion, turning around to find Lexie Grey standing just behind him. She reached out and took the picture from his hands, running her fingers over the glass.

"That was Molly's rebellious phase, in case the green hair didn't give it away," Lexie laughed. "I always love this picture because we look so happy. It was right before my high school graduation."

"Graduation?" Derek asked, taking a second look at the photo. "It's just…you look way too young in that picture."

Lexie smiled again. "You should have heard the fights Mom and Dad had about it. I was 16, and Dad thought I was far too young to be going off to college on my own."

"You graduated from high school when you were 16?" Derek asked in surprise.

"I have a photographic memory," Lexie shrugged as she set the picture back down on the table.

"So, how'd this picture end up in Meredith's living room?" Derek asked.

"I live here too, you know," Lexie said, noting the look of surprise on Derek's face. "Okay, maybe you didn't know. After George moved back in with Callie, I couldn't afford the rent on our place by myself, so Meredith offered to let me stay here."

"Did Alex move out?" Derek asked, wondering just where Lexie was sleeping.

"No, he's still here," Lexie said. "Meredith had the wall that backs up to the study moved a few feet into this room to make the study big enough for a bed, so that's my room now. Anyway, Meredith found the picture when she was helping me unpack and asked if she could put it in the living room."

I knew this room looked smaller, Derek thought to himself. Good to know I'm not going crazy.

"Oh, and I think you're pretty lucky that Alex is on call tonight," Lexie continued. "When he found out you were taking Meredith out, he kept mumbling something about needing to have a few words with you first."

"Oh, he did," Derek said, cringing as he remembered the awkward elevator conversation he'd had with Dr. Karev that afternoon.

"Did you now?" Lexie asked innocently. "And what did he have to say?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," Derek said. "Something along the lines of if I hurt Meredith again he'll kill me, then bring me back to let Dr. Yang have at me."

"Well, as long as the message is clear," Lexie said sweetly. "I think I'll go see what's taking Meredith so long."

Derek shook his head as he watched Lexie dash up the stairs. Although Meredith's friends, and now, he supposed, her family, got on his nerves sometimes with their cliquey attitude and overprotective nature, he was still grateful that she had such an amazing support system. As much as he hated to admit it, they'd more than once been there for her at times when he'd made it so that he couldn't be by her side.

As Derek once again looked around at the pictures on the walls, a familiar flash of red hair caught his attention in a frame hanging near the doorway. No way, he though to himself as he moved to get a closer look. Why would Meredith have a picture of Addison?

"Derek?" Meredith's voice ripped him from his thoughts as he spun around to find her standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Meredith," he breathed, a smile rushing to his face. "You look…amazing. Absolutely wonderful."

"Thanks," Meredith said, looking nervously down at her shoes. "I guess we should get going, right?"

"Of course," Derek said, moving towards the door to open it for her. "Dr. Stevens, Dr. Grey, have a nice night," he said with a nod towards Izzie and Lexie.

"Now Meredith, don't stay out past curfew," Izzie teased as she hugged Meredith before letting her head out the door.

"Iz, I didn't even have a curfew when I was a teenager," Meredith pointed out as she headed toward the door. "Besides, unlike you two, I don't have to get up and go to work at five in the morning tomorrow."

"Oh, get out of here already," Lexie laughed as she shut the door behind Meredith and Derek.

"So, are you going to tell me where you're taking me?" Meredith asked as Derek drove away from her house.

"Nope, you're just going to have to be surprised," Derek said, smiling as he looked over at her in the front seat.

For nearly half an hour, Meredith and Derek sat in silence, each just enjoying having the other so close for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"Okay," Meredith said, finally breaking the silence. "You know I hate surprises, right?"

"I do," Derek laughed. "But I'm surprising you anyway."

"So why does it look like we're nearly at your trailer?" Meredith asked. "Because this is definitely the way to the trailer."

"Not anymore," Derek grinned, pulling off the gravel road and up a freshly paved driveway. "Now, this is the way to my house."

Meredith leaned forward in her seat to get a better view of the house at the top of the driveway. "Wow," she whispered. "You really outdid yourself with that one, Derek."

"You really like it?" Derek asked as he brought the car to a stop and cut the engine.

"It looks just like I imagined it," Meredith said, not even bothering to catch herself as she gave away that she had once again been dreaming of a future with the man sitting beside her.

"Okay," Meredith said half an hour later, as Derek finished showing her around the house. "When I said this was just like I imagined it, I lied. When I imagined it, it had a bit more furniture."

"Very funny," Derek laughed as he led her into the kitchen. "There's furniture where I need furniture right now – the dining room, the kitchen, the living room, the master bedroom…the rest will come later."

"And what if your sisters show up on your doorstep tomorrow? Where will you put them without furniture in the guest rooms?" Meredith asked.

"Oh, trust me," Derek said. "My sisters aren't going to show up any time soon."

Meredith raised a skeptical eyebrow, letting Derek know she sincerely doubted his assessment of his family.

"Trust me on this one. Kathleen's eight months pregnant, Beth's seven and a half months pregnant with twins, Abby's six months pregnant…they clearly aren't traveling anywhere anytime soon," Derek told her. "And Mom and Nancy sure as hell aren't going anywhere with the rest of them so close to delivering."

"What did they do, all sit around together and decide to get pregnant?" Meredith asked.

"Believe it or not, they didn't plan it this way," Derek laughed. "It just sort of happens with my sisters. Six years ago, the three of them all delivered in the same week."

"So I guess you won't be needing that furniture for a while, then," Meredith said.

"Doesn't look like it," Derek agreed as he set out the plates for their dinner.

"Do you think she's alright with him?" Lexie asked as she sat down on the couch in the new TV room in Meredith's basement. Izzie laughed as she passed the popcorn to Lexie.

"Of course she's alright," she said. "He's her McDreamy, Lexie. They're in love."

"But he hurt her so much," Lexie said. "And I know she's making progress with therapy and all, but what if he does it again?"

"Seriously?" Izzie laughed. "With all of us standing in the wings to attack him? I'm pretty sure he's learned his lesson. He values his nose too much to risk you breaking it again."

"Not that I wouldn't mind watching that again," Cristina shouted from the top of the stairs. "Barbie, where the hell did you stash the tequila?"

"It's in the pantry, behind the flour and sugar canisters," Izzie shouted back.

"That's a really weird place to keep your liquor," Cristina said as she walked down the stairs with the bottle of tequila in one hand and three shot glasses in the other.

"We don't keep all the liquor there," Lexie said. "Just the tequila."

"Hiding it from Meredith?" Cristina asked. "That's a little juvenile, even for you, Barbie."

"She asked us to," Izzie protested. "Said tequila brought up more bad memories than it helped her forget these days."

"So you hide it behind your baking supplies?" Cristina asked.

"Meredith can't cook, and she's pretty much given up trying," Izzie shrugged. "She never even looks at that shelf, so it seemed like a good hiding place."

"Oh my God," Lexie's gasp interrupts the conversation. "Did Ellis seriously just peel that guy's face off?"

"Have you never seen this one?" Cristina asks as she gestures towards the television. "Sit back, Little Grey, you're in for a wild ride. This one's my personal favorite."

"Okay, seriously, Derek," Meredith said as she put down her fork after taking the last bite of her dessert. "How in the world did you find time to make dinner and dessert when you were working the whole day?"

"And just how do you know I was working today?" Derek teased. "Are you stalking me, Dr. Grey?"

"You wish," Meredith scoffed. "No, I just spent the early part of my evening listening to Izzie go on and on about the eight hour surgery she did with you today. And then I had to listen to Lexie go on and on about how she didn't get scrub in on that same surgery. I may not be at the hospital these days, but I definitely still hear all about it. My house is residents' central or something like that."

"Yes, well, Izzie needs the neuro experience," Derek shrugged. "She's only got two more months to meet those distribution requirements before third years declare specialties."

"67 days," Meredith said.

"Excuse me?" Derek asked in confusion.

"You said it was two months until third years declare," Meredith said. "I'm just being a bit more specific. It's 67 days."

"How do you know that?" Derek asked.

"Cristina Yang is my person, remember? She's called me every morning since they first announced the date, just to let me know that she is one day closer to officially being on her way to becoming a cardio legend," Meredith said. "It's pretty amusing, actually."

"Yeah, Yang's another one who hasn't met her distribution hours," Derek said. "The chief gave us all a list a few weeks ago. Surprisingly, Karev is the only third year who's actually met his requirements. So, until everyone's met their requirements, it's third years galore in the ORs."

"Well, I'm sure they'll all appreciate the experience," Meredith said.

"Nah," Derek said. "If it's anything like when I was a third year, most of them have already picked a specialty and really don't like having to do hours in anything else."

"Probably true," Meredith agreed. "I just wish they'd tell me what they'd picked, because it sure would make my betting a lot more profitable."

"You're betting on your friends' specialties?" Derek asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Meredith laughed. "Derek, it's a hospital betting pool that has absolutely nothing to do with me. You better believe I'm betting."

"And just what have you put your money on?" Derek asked. "Obviously, Cristina's going cardio, but what about Alex and Izzie?"

Meredith smiled. "This is where I stand to either make or lose a lot of cash. For Izzie, I did a split and put half on pediatric surgery and half on plastics."

"Okay, peds I can see," Derek said. "But plastics? Meredith, are you crazy?"

"Nope," Meredith shrugged. "Izzie is constantly putting herself through an emotional roller coaster by getting too attached to her patients. Sure, she'd be great in peds, but if she can't learn to rein in her emotions, she'll be burnt out in five years, max. In plastics, she'd still feel like she was making a difference, but she wouldn't get as attached to as many of her patients as she would in any other specialty."

"I guess that makes sense," Derek agreed. "Although I'm not sure Izzie will think it through that much."

"She lives with me," Meredith said. "She doesn't have to think it through, I've already explained it to her. The joys of living with me include hearing my opinion whether you want to or not."

"I'll keep that in mind," Derek laughed. "Karev's definitely plastics, though, right?"

"Not necessarily," Meredith said. "Sure, most of the money has him in plastics, but personally, I think he gave that dream up a long time ago. I put my money on neonatal."

"Are you kidding me?" Derek asked, again in shock. "Neonatal?"

"Just wait and see," Meredith grinned. "I could be wrong, but I don't think so on this one."

"I had a really great time tonight," Derek said as he pulled up in front of Meredith's house later that night.

"Me too," Meredith said as he helped her out of the car and walked her to her front door.

"So maybe we could do this again sometime soon?" he asked nervously. "Say, next Friday?"

"Derek, I can't…" Meredith began, but was interrupted by Derek.

"Oh, I see," he said dejectedly. "Well, no actually, I don't see. I guess I'm just getting mixed signals here, because you called me and asked me to have dinner with you, and you said you had a good time. I took that to mean that you were ready, ready to give us another try. Did I read that wrong? Because I'm very confused here…"

Derek's rant was cut off when Meredith softly pressed her lips against his. As she pulled away, she couldn't help but smile coyly at the look of confusion on his face.

"Are you quite through?" she asked, waiting until Derek nodded to continue. "Good, because you didn't let me finish my sentence. And really, you ought to let me finish my sentences before you attempt to diagnose their meaning, Dr. Shepherd."

"Sorry," he mumbled, still quite confused.

"Now you know," Meredith smiled. "Anyway, what I was saying was that I would love to see you again, and very soon, but I can't have dinner with you next Friday night because I'll be in Los Angeles."

"Oh," Derek said in relief. "That's…that's good to know. What's in Los Angeles? Just a vacation?"

"Actually, I'm going down for Addison's wedding," Meredith said.

"As in my ex-wife Addison?" Derek asked in surprise. "Since when are you friends with Addison?"

Meredith just shrugged. "I know it seems strange, but we just kind of are. I certainly didn't plan to become good friends with your ex-wife, it sort of just happened."

"Well, I hope you have a good time," Derek said. "Maybe we could do something when you get back?"

"I'd like that a lot," Meredith said.

"Good, so, I'll give you a call sometime next week, then," Derek said, turning to head back to the car.

"Um, Derek?" Meredith called out. "I think you forgot something."

"I did?" Derek asked in confusion. "What did I forget?"

"My goodnight kiss," Meredith said, laughing as Derek quickly jogged back to the porch and swept her up in his arms, pressing his lips against hers in a kiss that was, for lack of a better word, simply breathtaking.