Disclaimer- I could never come up with that proposal. That's the legend I'm talking about!

A/N- Sorry for the wait! It's that time of year again, finals and mid semester finals and all kinds of tests and whatnot. But I did my best and hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint! After all that's happened, I decided Mer and Der really do deserve that happy ending. Especially after last night! So here it is, and here's to Mer and Der! All I can say is hallelujah and finally! So here's to them.

Recap- Cass is 12, Nate is 8 and Brett is 5. Happy reading!

"We're here!" Brett shouted as she pressed her nose against the glass of the car window. Meredith heard Cass and Nate scramble towards the windows as the view of their cabin came into view. Beside her, Derek sighed. They had been driving for nearly three hours in the off-roader and he was beginning to feel as though he had made a wrong turn about two hours back.

The cabin looked almost the same since they had last visited in April for a weekend fishing trip. Derek knew that Mark had visited during the summer and it seemed as though he left it in pretty good shape.

"I thought we were lost," Meredith admitted quietly.

Derek laughed. "I thought so too." He swung the car around so that it was parked slightly haphazardly in front of the house. Miles outside of the city, there was no one there to bother them about trivial things like parking. Cass, Nate and Brett were out of the car as soon as it stopped moving and as Derek followed them to the back and helped to unload the bags, Meredith stood in front of the car surveying their house.

It was an absolutely beautiful house, even Meredith who didn't know much about real estate and interior design could safely say that. It had been the first of their vacation homes that she and Derek built together, the second being their beach house in Sonoma. They had built it back when Cass was only three years old as a weekend home but the blueprints quickly escalated to a full blown vacation home. "Mer," Derek called, holding both their bags. "Are you okay?"

Meredith looked towards Derek and Cass, Nate and Brett who were already running towards the house. "Yeah," she said, running up to Derek and taking his hand. "I love this place."

Derek smiled. The cabin had everything he could possibly need for a perfect vacation; his family, fishing and seclusion so he understood exactly what Meredith meant. He opened the front door and smiled instantly at the brown tones that greeted them. Derek found they were surprisingly calming. "Guys, go unpack," Derek instructed as Cass, Nate and Brett dumped their bags in the hallway and ran into the living room.

"Wait," Brett said looking around to the connecting kitchen. "Do we have food?" Brett's eyes looked frantic as she observed the empty kitchen and Derek laughed. Every day after work, he had been making trips to the supermarket to pick up orange juice and chicken and marshmallows and the most obscure things that Meredith requested. The amount of food stashed away in the car was unbelievable; he couldn't believe that a family of five really ate that much and yet he knew it would all be gone within the time they were here.

"We have tons of food," Meredith assured. Brett seemed content with the answer and followed Cass and Nate up the stairs to her room.

He smirked. "That's an understatement," Derek commented as he began to unpack the food in the kitchen.

Meredith smiled. "True, but I'll eat half of it anyway." Derek smiled but couldn't deny the fact that his wife could put away more than him when it came to food. Meredith slid off one of the island stools and took the loaves of bread and put it in the bread bin.

"Thanks for helping," Derek said, a smirk still on his face as he closed the refrigerator.

Meredith's smirked too, one to mirror her husband's "It's my vacation." Derek raised his eyebrows and placed the multiple jars of peanut butter on the counter.

"Oh yeah?" he challenged, pushing Meredith against the island counter and wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. Meredith smiled and responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and locking her lips on his in a slow and deep kiss. Derek smiled and pulled Meredith closer to him so that every inch of their skin was touching.

By the time they broke apart, both Meredith and Derek were breathing heavily. Meredith managed to get in maybe one full breath before Derek's lips were on hers again. This time, his hands moved from around her waist to snake under her shirt and although Meredith savored the warm pressure of Derek's hands on her stomach, she pulled away from him and pushed his hands off her. "We're not having sex on the kitchen counter," she said jokingly.

Derek smiled and kissed her cheek. "We should. It's our vacation remember?" Meredith laughed as she placed the orange juice cartons in the fridge. Derek looked at Meredith with surprise; her laugh sounded more carefree and airy than usual.

"Unless you would like to scar your children for life, we will not be doing that." Meredith said. She walked up to Derek who was placing the packs of marshmallows and candy on the top shelves and wrapped her arms around his waist. She lay her cheek against the soft fabric of his shirt and inhaled the scent that was so clearly Derek; Meredith knew that she could pick it out from a mile away. "But tonight you might get lucky," she whispered for him alone.

Meredith had a little insane way of unpacking that Derek thought was one of the most adorable traits about her. She would dump the entire contents of her bag on their bed and go from there. Derek wasn't in the least surprised when Meredith dumped her whole suitcase worth of contents onto their bed but he did smile when he saw her black bikini at the top of the pile.

"Derek!" Meredith exclaimed as she fished out the two pieces of the bikini and held one in each hand. "Did you put this here?"

Derek shot Meredith a smile that told her yes, in fact he did. "It's for the hot tub," he said. Meredith raised her eyebrows at him and he shrugged. "You're going to need it later."

Meredith walked passed him and whipped him lightly with the bikini strings. "You better hope I wear it," Meredith replied.

Derek laughed and passed Meredith a pile of her clothes. "I took your other one out so unless you want to go completely naked, which I am more than fine with…"

Meredith bumped her hip against Derek's as he helped to place her clothes in her drawers. "You're unbelievable," Meredith said but Derek had a hard time believing her with the smile she was wearing.

"I'm going to go check on them," Derek said, giving Meredith a quick kiss on the cheek. As Derek walked down the hall, he could hear the echoes of Brett and Cass's laughter.

"Go fish," Brett said, shaking her head, her blonde hair bouncing on her back. Nate groaned and took a card from the deck.

"Why do we have to play go fish?" Nate asked as he sorted his cards in his hands.

Cass cradled her arms close to her chest. "Because Brett doesn't know how to play poker, Nate."

"We can teach you, Brett. It's really fun," Nate said. Derek stifled a laugh, a twelve year old and an eight year old trying to teach an inquisitive five year old poker would definitely have its humorous moments.

"I like go fish," Brett said stubbornly. Cass was the first to notice that Derek was standing in the doorway.

"Hi, Daddy!" Cass said with a smile. Derek smiled and joined the circle that they had created, pulling Brett onto his lap.

Nate placed his cards on the floor face down. "Can we go fishing yet?"

Derek looked out the window and frowned. "It's getting dark, buddy. But we can go first thing tomorrow."

Nate seemed to accept Derek's answer. "Can I help with dinner?" Nate asked instead.

"Oh, me too," Brett said letting her cards fall to the floor.

Cass set down her cards neatly. "I'll help too," she offered politely.

Derek stood up and set Brett on her feet. After all these years of knowing Meredith and being married to her, she had never really improved as a cook. But thankfully Cass, Nate and Brett had always been a little more enthusiastic about cooking than their mother was. "Okay, then," he said. "Wear your jackets because it's cold outside. I'll meet you downstairs."

Derek walked back down the hallway to his and Meredith's room and opened the door, "Hey," he greeted, looking immediately to the clothing free bed. "Done unpacking?"

Meredith shut the drawer and turned to him with a smile. "Yeah," she said. "And I'm starving."

Derek laughed and offered her his hand, which Meredith promptly took. "Want to help with dinner?"

It was Meredith's turn to laugh. "I'll make salad, if that's what you mean."

As they walked out of their room, Derek grabbed the two sweatshirts he left lying out on the dresser and handed one to Meredith. "It's cold outside," he explained.

When Derek slid open the kitchen door that led to the deck, he saw that Cass, Nate and Brett were already outside, staring at the barbeque grill. "What are we having?" Cass asked.

Derek thought to the food he had left in the refrigerator. "Uh, steak, I guess. Everything else is in the freezer."

Meredith slid the door open to the deck, carrying the ingredients for salad in her arms. "Who wants to help me?" she asked.

Brett ran over to Meredith who set the ingredients on the patio table. Meredith smiled; it was always Brett who would help her with making the salad, she and Derek wouldn't let her near the stove yet, or in this case, the barbeque grill. "Can I tear the lettuce?" she asked.

Meredith handed Brett the lettuce. "Remember to tear it in small pieces," Meredith said.

Derek lit the flame under the barbeque grill and turned to Nate and Cass. "Can you guys get five potatoes, please?" Derek asked.

Nate nodded and ran into the kitchen, throwing open all the cabinets and drawers looking for the potatoes.

"Daddy, where are the potatoes?" Cass asked calmly as Derek slid open the door to the kitchen where Nate was still throwing open the different bags and cabinets.

Derek laughed. "Next to the bread bin." Cass calmly walked to the counter and picked out five potatoes.

"Hey," Nate said, looking at Cass holding the potatoes. "No fair. That's cheating."

Cass laughed. "No one said you couldn't ask Daddy." But nevertheless, she handed her brother two of the potatoes and carried them out and placed them on the grill. Derek smiled at how easily Cass and Nate worked out their problem; he had been worried that when they grew up, they would fight with each other till no end, but besides the occasional fight, Cass, Nate and Brett got along with each other well.

Without looking over, Derek could sense Meredith at his side thanks to her shampoo. "Salad's done," Meredith said, looking through the cupboards for the dressing. Derek opened the one of the top cupboards and passed Meredith the two bottles.

"That was fast," Derek commented as he took the steaks out of the fridge.

Meredith shrugged with a smile. "Maybe I've gotten better at this whole cooking thing."

Derek laughed. "So do you want to help with the steak?"

Meredith laughed too and shook her head. "If you want me to burn dinner, then sure."

"Mommy, are you cooking?" Brett asked slowly. Derek saw Cass and Nate shoot looks at each other.

Meredith sat down on the patio bench and picked a tomato out of the salad bowl. "Do you want me to cook?" Meredith asked innocently.

"No!" Cass, Nate and Brett all said unanimously. Meredith stifled a laugh and looked to Derek who was trying to hide his smile.

"I'm not that bad," Meredith said, picking out another tomato

"Last week, you burned my toast," Cass said, rolling the potatoes on the grill. "And when you made macaroni, half of it was stuck at the bottom of the pot."

Meredith couldn't help it, she laughed. She was a downright horrible cook, she was just incredibly lucky that she married someone who could cook and that her family had no objections to take out from time to time. "Good thing Daddy's cooking then," Meredith said.

Cass hopped up onto the table. "Yeah," she agreed with a smile fishing for an olive. Meredith gave her a nudge with her elbow and Cass laughed.

"That smells really good," Brett said as she looked to the grill. Derek looked to Brett who took a deep breath of the barbeque scent.

Meredith popped one more tomato into her mouth and sat back against the cushions of the bench. "If Mommy made it, it would just smell like smoke," she said. Derek laughed and separated the food onto five plates.

"Okay," Derek said as he turned off the grill. "Dinner's ready."

Brett was the first on her feet as she ran towards the grill and picked up the plate that was closest to her. Derek made sure that the rest of his family had gotten their food before he picked up his own plate and took his place besides Meredith.

He watched as Meredith and Cass cut small, bite size pieces and Nate cut half the steak and attempt to shove half of it in his mouth. Brett had her fork poised over her potato and her head tilted up to the sky. Her blonde hair caught the setting light of the sun and she took a deep breath. "Brett," Derek said, looking over at her. "You okay?"

Brett took another deep breath. "It smells good here," she said.

"Yeah, and if you don't eat it, the smell will go away," Nate said, eying Brett's plate.

"No," she said, using her fork to shove Nate's away. "I mean that the outside smells good. It smells…clean."

Derek was taken aback by Brett's comment. Living on the outside of the city had always been a little more calming, clean, and fresh than the city but as Derek inhaled the air, he couldn't help but agree with his five year old. "Yeah, it does, Brett," Meredith answered. Derek looked at Brett and then to Meredith. He wasn't surprised that Meredith felt that way too.

Meredith's eyes opened instantly when she reached for Derek and was greeted with a cold bed. She pushed herself off the bed and found his side of the bed neatly made. The floor was cold when her feet touched the wooden floorboards and she grabbed for the first item of clothing her hands touched; one of Derek's shirts.

Meredith wrapped it closely around her body as she opened the door to the room and walked quickly down the hallway and steps. As she neared the kitchen, she smiled. Derek always got up early at the cabin to make breakfast. "Hey," Meredith said, walking into the kitchen.

Derek smiled the moment he saw her and handed her a mug. "Good morning," he said, giving her a quick kiss. "You're up early."

Meredith accepted the mug gratefully and slid onto one of the island stools as Derek scooped out another spoonful of batter of pancake mix. "The bed was cold," Meredith said as she took a sip of the steaming drink.

Derek leaned over the counter and dropped a kiss on Meredith's cheek. "Sorry," he said.

Meredith swept her hair back from her face and tied it into a messy bun. "We didn't get to the hot tub last night," Meredith commented lightly, licking a drop of pancake batter off her finger.

Derek raised his eyebrows at his wife. "We made up for it in other ways," he said. As if on cue, they heard a door slam upstairs followed by two more. "Looks like they're up," Derek said.

Meredith smiled and helped Derek line the plates on the island. "Looks like it," she agreed.

Cass was the first one down the stairs, her hands in her hair expertly swirling it into a bun. "I smell pancakes," she said cheerfully as she climbed onto one of the stools and pulled a plate in front of her.

Nate ran to the sliding glass door before sitting down at the table. "It's a good day for fishing, right Dad?" Out of all his children, Nathan was the most enthusiastic about fishing, although Cass and Brett followed closely behind.

Derek looked up at the door and smiled. "Yeah, buddy. It looks sunny outside."

Brett looked up from her maple syrup dripping plate. "I get to learn a new cast today, right?"

Meredith looked to Brett with a smile. Derek had already taught Cass and Nate all the fly fishing casts, even the more complicated ones but Brett was still learning. "Yeah, munchkin. I can teach you a new cast today."

Nate finished breakfast in record speed and let his fork clatter on his plate. "I'm done. Let's go fishing."

Derek laughed and calmly took a sip of his coffee. "Calm down, Nate. We'll all go after breakfast."

Nate sighed and blew up a puff of air to clear the hair in front of his eyes. "Hurry up," he said, patting both Brett and Cass on the back. They rolled their eyes at each other and broke down into a fit of giggles that no one could understand but yet, it made Derek and Meredith both smile. "What's so funny?" Nate asked looking asked, looking at his sisters.

They both shrugged simultaneously. "Nothing," Cass and Brett said. Meredith noted how alike her daughters' voices were, when they spoke in unison it sounded like one voice.

Derek heard Nate mutter something indistinctly about girls before walking back upstairs, presumably to get ready. When Cass and Brett finished breakfast, they both bounded up the stairs and Meredith helped Derek to clear the plates that they had left in their wake. As Derek turned on the water, Meredith hopped up on the counter next to him and watched as he washed the dishes.

"Are you going to catch us dinner?" Meredith asked conversationally as she handed Derek her cup.

He laughed and took the cup from her. "I hope so," Derek said.

"Good," Meredith said, hopping off the counter and positioning herself between the sink and Derek. His arms immediately came around her and Meredith didn't even mind it when the water from his hands soaked through her shirt. She pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "Because if you do, we can celebrate." Meredith tiptoed so that she was speaking directly in Derek's ear. "In the hot tub."

"Okay," Derek started as soon as he saw the water near. "You can fish by yourselves if you want, but I still need to be able to see you."

Nate shrugged. "Okay," he said, taking off towards the water, his green fly box knocking against his knees. It had been a gift from Derek as part of Nate's eighth birthday present and he had been waiting for an excuse to use it.

"Be careful!" Meredith called to Nate as he dropped his backpack on the rocks before the river and sat down to pick out a fly from his box. "You too, Cass," Meredith said as Cass walked off to the left of the water.

"So Daddy," Brett said, taking Derek's hand when they reached the rocks. "Which cast do I get to learn?"

"Derek, I'm going downstream a bit," Meredith said, giving his hand a squeeze and then detaching their hands. Derek watched as Meredith balanced expertly on the rocks as she walked downstream. He had taught Meredith to fish years ago, back when they had first married, and with the number of trips they took to the cabin over the years, Meredith had quickly become an expert.

"Daddy," Brett whispered, pulling at Derek's arm. "Come on." Derek smiled and led Brett into the water, being careful not to go too far in so her small frame wouldn't be buried in the water.

"Okay," Derek said standing to Brett's side. "I'm going to teach you the side arm cast."

Brett looked over to their left at Nate who was already casting. "Is that the one Nate's doing?" she asked.

Derek looked over at his son casting expertly under a couple large boulders in the middle of the water and smiled. Nate's cast was flawless and as he looked over at Cass who was fishing even more upstream than Nate he saw that her cast was pretty near perfect as well. "That's the one," he told Brett quietly. "This cast is really good for not getting caught in the wind and for getting around rocks," Derek explained. "So, basically, all you want to do is move your arm from side to side and as you reach the front, bring your arm down a little bit."

Brett mimicked Derek's arm motion. "Is it like baseball?" she asked.

Derek held back a laugh. He remembered when he had first taught Nate the side arm cast and he had completely confused his baseball swing and cast, substituting one for the other and consequently, driving everyone a little crazy. "Well," Derek said slowly, trying to come up with an analogy that would make sense to Brett. "It's kind of like a baseball swing, except down here," he said, poking Brett's side. She let out a loud laugh and quickly slapped her hand over her mouth to cover the sound.

"Sorry, Daddy," she said quietly. Derek looked at his youngest daughter, her smile wide, her blonde hair catching the sun and framing her face and her blue eyes looking into his and he smiled.

"Don't worry about it, munchkin." Derek handed Brett her fishing rod, which he had already put together for her. Out of Cass, Nate and Brett, Nate was the only one who knew how to put together, take apart and fix fishing equipment. He had found Derek sitting on their porch back in their Seattle home after a particularly long day at the hospital fixing the reel for his fishing rod. Nate had claimed he couldn't sleep and Derek hand spent a good portion of the night teaching his son about fishing equipment. The next morning, Meredith had found them both sleeping on the porch.

He watched Brett cast her line once and as the fly landed gently on the water, Derek smiled. Brett had always been a fast learner, even when she had been little. "Perfect," Derek commented as Brett reeled in her line and casted again. On her fifth cast, Brett felt a tug at her line and reeled in her line slowly. Derek found himself holding his breath as the fish neared and Brett dipped her hands into the water and easily grabbed onto the trout. She unhooked the trout from her fly and wrapped her little hands around the fish as she set it back into the water.

"I don't like watching them die," Brett explained as she watched the fish swim away.

Derek nodded as he stood up and dropped a kiss on the crown of Brett's head. He knew Brett was always lucky when it came to fishing, whether it was at their cabin or down at the water by their house in Seattle and yet she would never come back with a single catch. "Remember not to put your hands anywhere near your mouth," Derek said as he retreated through the water and moved a little more downstream.

Derek managed to cast his line maybe twice before he heard Meredith sloshing through the water. "You know, this is why you never catch any fish," Derek said smiling, holding out his hand to Meredith so she wouldn't fall face down.

Meredith rolled her eyes but accepted Derek's hand. "I catch fish all the time," she said, pulling Derek's arm around her waist. "And I don't see you with any fish." Derek switched hands and easily brought the line behind them and into the water.

"I'll catch something," Derek said, pulling Meredith so that she was standing right in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her while reeling in his line and inhaled the scent of her hair, warmed by the sun. "You smell incredible."

Meredith smiled and rested her head on Derek's shoulder. "You just want in my pants," she accused.

Derek laughed gently and pushed some of Meredith's hair off her neck and attached his lips to the spot he loved best, a little above her collar bone. "You taste incredible, too," he murmured.

"You so want in my pants," Meredith said quietly as she tipped her head so that Derek had better access to her neck.

Derek was close to dropping his fishing rod, a state of the art, extremely fragile, custom made fishing rod that Meredith gave him for his last birthday. But when he was with Meredith, there was not much in the world that he could focus on other than her. "I do want in your pants," Derek agreed, reeling in his line and casting again.

Meredith laughed and looked over to their children. Brett was still dutifully practicing her side arm cast, Cass was varying up her casts and Nate was unhooking his fly from yet another trout. "You better hurry up," Meredith commented lightly, leaning back awkwardly to kiss Derek. "Nate's beating the crap out of you."

Derek laughed as he looked over to the catches Nate had proudly lay on the rocks. With Meredith's sloshing through the water and their combined laughter, they would have to walk far upstream in hopes of a catch. "Either way, we're getting in the hot tub tonight," Derek said.

Meredith laughed and shook her head. "If you insist," she said dramatically.

While Derek and Nate had gone out for round two of fishing after lunch, Meredith had caved and set up the hot tub. When Brett and Cass had gone upstairs to change, Meredith had found one of the bags of marshmallows Derek had hidden and opened it.

Meredith heard Cass gasp when she saw the bag of candy. "Brett!" Cass called up the stairs. "Mommy found the marshmallows!" Meredith heard Brett bounding down the stairs and when she ran into the kitchen, her pink robe billowed out from behind her.

"Where were they?" Brett asked in wonderment, grabbing a handful of marshmallows from the bag.

Meredith smiled and led her daughters towards the hot tub on the deck. "They are somewhere that you shouldn't know about because Daddy and I know that you sneak them to your room at night."

Cass's face reddened as Meredith opened the double doors leading to the hot tub. "Oh," she said with a slight giggle. "You, uh, know about that."

"Yeah," Meredith said, raising the temperature of the water slightly. "We know about that." She sighed contently as the warm water surrounded her, instant therapy for her sore muscles.

"I so don't want to go back to school," Cass said, dipping her head under the water and soaking her hair.

"Mommy, do we have to go back?" Brett asked, grabbing another handful of marshmallows.

Meredith understood Cass and Brett's reluctance to go back to Seattle; their lives were hectic and stressful back there. But here, everyone could find a way to forget that. "Yeah," Meredith said eventually. "But not for three more days." Cass groaned and sank her head under the water again. "Hey," Meredith said. "Let's talk about something else." Meredith saw Brett quickly glace over at Cass and she raised her eyebrows. "Any cute boys in school?" Meredith asked conversationally.

Brett shrugged. "No, not really," she said slowly. "But Jimmy gave me his brownie on Friday."

Meredith stifled a laugh. "That was nice of Jimmy," she said, although she had no recollection whatsoever of this Jimmy character. "Did you say thank you?"

"Yeah," Brett said. "He wanted me to kiss him but I thought that was gross. He always has glue on his face."

This time, both Meredith and Cass laughed. "Brett, honey, I think you have high standards," Meredith said.

Brett's eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that you want a lot of things from people," Meredith explained.

Brett still looked confused. "But Daddy says to never settle." Meredith laughed loudly, tossing her hair back from her face. Derek would say something like that.

"That's true too, honey," Meredith offered. "What about you, Cass. Any cute boys?"

Cass shook her head, her gaze on the swirling water beneath her. "No," she answered quickly.

"Liar," Brett began and immediately, Cass splashed water onto her, widening her eyes and shaking her head.

"Wait, wait, wait," Meredith said, leaning forward. "Who is this boy?"

Cass's cheeks immediately turned tomato red. "Tommy from my class. He kind of…" her voice trailed off and Meredith found herself greatly anticipating the end of her daughter's sentence. "Asked me out."

Meredith immediately smiled. She, too, had been around Cass's age when she was first asked out, although Ellis never knew that. "What's so bad about that?" Meredith asked calmly.

Cass shrugged. "It's just really weird," she said. "He keeps following me around and looking at me. I don't know how to make him stop it."

"Well," Meredith said seriously. "Just tell him that you think he's nice and that you just want to be friends."

Cass frowned. "And if that doesn't work? Because he's following me everywhere and it's kind of scary."

Meredith paused, looking for the right answer. "Tell him you don't want to date anybody and that he's not your type."

Cass considered the answer. It seemed harsh but it got the point across. "Remember," Meredith said, passing Cass another marshmallow. "Never settle."

"Your casts were looking really good this morning," Derek complimented his son as they casted into the water. He saw Nate's proud smile as he reeled in his line.

"Really?" he asked, looking up at Derek.

"Yeah," Derek said, whipping his line into the water again. "You even caught more fish than I did."

"That's true," Nate said. Derek laughed. Nate was becoming more and more like him everyday, even Meredith noticed that and Derek couldn't help but feel proud. He watched as Nate cast again into the water, sharp, precise and damn near perfect.

"So," Derek began, looking down at the Yankees baseball hat on Nate's head. "Any girls in school that you like?" Derek remembered when his mother had asked him this very question almost daily when he had been younger and he had groaned and swore his way through his answer. Mark, however, had no problems answering.

Nate shrugged. "No, not really. But girls keep giving me candy and stuff. Lauren gave me a movie ticket last week."

"Did you take it?" Derek asked as he tried a side arm cast to work his way under a large rock.

Nate shook his head. "I felt bad because she wanted to go with me but I didn't want to go with her. So I told her to give it to someone else."

Derek smiled. "Good for you. Make her come after you," he said.

Nate looked up at him, clearly confused. "What?" he asked.

"I mean that the girl should chase after you," Derek said.

Nate was still looking at him as he cast his line again. "But what about Mommy? Didn't you chase after her?"

Derek looked at his son, shocked. "Where did you hear that?"

Nate shrugged. "I heard Mommy and Brett talking."

Derek laughed. All through college and med school, he had been the type A girls-should-chase-after-me-type but when Meredith had so coolly rejected him several times when they had first met, he had quickly changed his game plan. "Mommy was very different," Derek said eventually.

"Hey, Dad," Nate said as he reeled in his line. "Did you and your dad fish a lot?"

Derek instantly thought back to when he was eight years old and his father had taken him upstate almost every other weekend to fish. Often times, Mark came along too. "We used to," Derek said. "But my dad died when I was twelve."

"Oh," Nate said quietly. Derek was surprised, he thought he had told his children about his dead dad long ago. But then again, the moments when he talked about his father, even with Meredith were simply rare. "You're not dying or anything, right?" Nate asked slowly.

Derek pulled his son close to his side and rested one hand on his shoulder. "No, I'm not dying or anything," he answered.

He felt Nate exhale slowly. "Okay," he said. "Because I like fishing with you, Dad."

Derek nodded. There were a thousand and one sentimental things he could say in this moment but he chose not to. "I like fishing with you too, buddy," Derek said.

"Didn't we bring three bags of marshmallows?" Derek asked as he opened another bag of jet-puffed's. Meredith's face went red, although she had opened the bag for Brett, Cass and herself to share this afternoon, she could safely say that she had finished at least three quarters of the family sized bag, if not more.

"We might have finished a bag today while we were in the hot tub," Meredith said, looking up at the ceiling.

Derek laughed and closed the cupboard. "And by we, you mean that Cass and Brett had a couple and you ate the rest."

Meredith rolled her eyes and opened the graham cracker box, breaking off a half for herself. "You assume that because I eat a lot," Meredith said.

"No," Derek insisted. "I assume that because your face is red."

Derek laughed as Meredith rolled her eyes at him again. She walked to the cupboard where they stored their s'mores maker and pulled out the toasting grill and ingredient holders. "Uh, Derek," Meredith said, peeling off the sticky note at the top and handing it to him.

"Blew up a marshmallow and broke the grill. Sorry," Derek said, reading out the post it note. He knew that Mark must have broken something the last time he came here, it would only be so long until he found it. He was just glad it wasn't the heater on the hot tub or anything like that.

"We can do what I used to do," Meredith compromised, breaking off a piece of chocolate.

Derek put the s'mores maker back in the cupboard and turned to her. "Which is?"

"Use the fireplace." Derek's eyes snapped to hers. "What," she said. "You've never done that before?"

Derek shrugged and took a marshmallow from the plates, which Meredith was carefully arranging. "I always used a campfire. Or a s'mores maker."

"My mother never took me camping so I had to find a way to do all that stuff in the house. It worked really well though."

Derek sighed; he had a feeling it was something to that effect. "I'm sorry, Mer," he said to her quietly.

Meredith bit off half a marshmallow and shrugged. "Don't be," she said. "I loved it."

Still, Derek leaned across the counter and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He had never been able to understand how Meredith had grown up with a mother like Ellis and turn out to be such a wonderful mother herself.

"Hey," Brett said, skipping into the kitchen. "You're eating all the s'more stuff."

Meredith laughed and popped the remaining half of the marshmallow into her mouth. "There's lots of stuff left," she assured her daughter while carrying the plates over to the fireplace.

"Mommy," Cass said as she hopped up on a stool. "What are you doing?"

"I'm bringing all the stuff here so we can use the fireplace. Because Uncle Mark broke the s'mores maker."

Cass looked to Derek. "Seriously?" she asked with a smile.

Derek laughed and helped to bring the plates over. "Seriously," he said. They all shrugged and followed Meredith to the fireplace, spearing their marshmallows the moment they sat down. "Two marshmallows each," Derek said as he speared his own and set it close to the fire.

Almost as soon as they had started Nate had lit his marshmallow on fire. "I lose," he said, although he didn't seem all that disappointed. They had always made it a point to see who could produce the best marshmallow, although Nate always lit his on fire and called it quits within the first minutes. Nate sandwiched his marshmallow in between the graham crackers, added a piece of chocolate and took a huge bite.

Brett and Cass were still concentrated on creating the perfect marshmallow when Derek gave up as well and lit his marshmallow on fire. "They taste better this way," he said when both Cass and Brett gave him the 'seriously' look.

Meredith laughed but gave up as well when hers was only a little brown on the outside.

"Just eat it already," Nate said as he speared his second marshmallow and saw that his sisters were still on their first.

"No," Cass said calmly, spinning her skewer. "They taste better when they're all golden-y"

Nate shrugged. "Mine tasted really good," he said to no one in particular.

"I like it when we're all together," Brett said suddenly. She spun her marshmallow quickly and took it away from the fire. "I like it here. I don't want to go home."

Meredith quickly looked to Derek and then at the sparking flames. She understood Brett perfectly; back in Seattle, as hard as they tried, it was hard for them to really spend any time together other than dinner and even that was hard at times. She and Derek were always busy at the hospital, Cass had her soccer practices, Nate had his guitar lessons and Brett had ballet. The moments they got to spend together as a family were rare.

"What are you talking about, Brett," Nate said as he blew out the flame from his marshmallow. "This is home."

Derek had made sure that Cass, Nate and Brett were all asleep before he went looking for Meredith. The last place he knew she had gone was the kitchen to clean up what was left of the s'mores.

He walked quietly down to the kitchen where he observed everything neatly put into its place; the dishes were stacked in the cupboards, the s'mores ingredients were back on their shelves, he hoped and from the looks of it, the bottle of wine he had stowed along with them was gone from the fridge. Derek smiled; he knew exactly where Meredith was.

Derek slid open the glass door to the deck and walked toward the hot tub, where sure enough, Meredith and the bottle of wine. "So you got into the hot tub without me," Derek said to Meredith who had a large smile plastered on her face.

Meredith shrugged and reached for her glass of wine. Derek noted that there were two glasses on the deck. "You could join me now," she said innocently. "I have an extra glass of wine."

Derek shook his head with a smile and in record speed, he had his shirt and pants off. "Derek!" Meredith exclaimed as he got into the tub. "What are you doing?"

Derek smiled and accepted the wine that Meredith offered to him. "You told me to join you," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Meredith laughed and let her head rest on the edge of the hot tub. After this vacation, she would seriously consider having a hot tub installed in their Seattle home; their jacuzzi didn't work half as well on her muscles as the hot tub did. "You look relaxed," Derek commented as he took a sip of the wine and placed it on the deck.

Meredith laughed quietly. "You have no idea," she said quietly.

Derek closed his eyes and let the heat work out the knots in his muscles. "What did you guys talk about today?" he asked eventually.

"Boys," Meredith said, taking a sip of her wine. "They're both really popular with the boys at their school."

Derek smiled. "I'm not surprised," he said.

"We also talked about how they should never settle," Meredith said and she was sure that she could see the slightest bit of color rise to Derek's cheeks.

"They're too beautiful to settle," Derek said simply.

Meredith laughed but she couldn't help but agree. "What did you and Nate talk about?"

"Girls, believe it or not." Meredith laughed again, her son who disliked most girls but his sisters talking to his father about the very subject.

"And?" she pressed.

"And he's popular with the girls too. Although he doesn't seem interested in any of them," Derek said. Meredith was glad; she wasn't sure if she could deal with boyfriends and girlfriends at their young age.

"I guess they take after me, then," Meredith teased, raising her eyebrows at Derek.

"I had my share of girlfriends," Derek argued, draining the remnants of his wine glass and placing it on the deck.

"Right," Meredith said with a laugh. Derek smiled and grabbed her arm and pulled her so that she was straddling him.

"I got you, didn't I?" he said, pressing his lips lightly to the skin above Meredith's bikini top. She wondered how they had gotten from light banter to where they were now.

"You did," she agreed, reaching behind Derek to turn up the heat of the water. She felt his hands snaking their way up her back to tug at the loose bikini strings and when he had undone them, Derek tossed the bikini top off to the side.

Derek felt Meredith breathing heavily against him as he pulled out the elastic from her hair and tossed that to the side too. He waited until her eyes locked on his and when they did, Derek smiled. "I love you," he said softly.

In response, Meredith lowered her lips to his and kissed Derek deeply, her tongue clashing with his. She felt one hand at the strings of her bikini bottoms while the other held her close. "I love you too," she whispered for him alone when they broke apart. "God, I love you."

Meredith wasn't one for waking up early, which didn't exactly cooperate with her career, but when she opened her eyes and saw the glint of the rising sun, she got out of bed and quietly opened the double doors to the excessive balcony Derek insisted they build for mornings such as these.

It was still dark outside, but over the trees, Meredith could see the faint line of orange promising a new day. She smiled and pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to ward off the crisp November air. In a couple hours the sun would be high in the sky and they would all be on their way back to Seattle. Back to their regular lives. Mentally, she counted the dates in her head; it was possible that they could be back for Christmas but realistically, it would probably be near February before both she and Derek could both take leave from the hospital again. And even then, it wouldn't be much.

She sighed and took a deep breath of the clean, crisp air surrounding her. Meredith hadn't understood Derek's fascination with all things wilderness when they had first met, but now she did; the tranquility of being the only ones for miles around, of having just yourself and nature with no lives hanging in balance except your own, that couldn't be recreated anywhere but here. Even in Seattle, their pagers could still get the better of them.

"Hey," Derek said softly, placing a blanket around her shoulders. Meredith jumped, she hadn't even heard the door open.

"Hey," she greeted, taking the cup that Derek handed to her. Coffee the way she liked it. Meredith could always count on him for that.

"What are you doing up?" he asked sitting beside her on the balcony. Meredith opened up the blanket and wordlessly invited him to join her.

"I wanted to watch the sunrise," she said. Derek wrapped his arm around her shoulders and Meredith lay her head on his shoulder. It was no surprise she felt warm instantly. "You know, we don't have to save any lives here or be on time for anything," Meredith said slowly.

"Yeah," Derek agreed. Meredith sighed and wrapped her arm over Derek's waist.

"I wish we could stay here. Like this, forever. Not go home and save lives."

Derek nodded and looked at the land around him. It was around the same size of land that they owned back in Seattle, but the cabin and land here held an entirely different meaning. The house back in Seattle was their lives, their past, present and their future and their beach house was their escape but the cabin was who they were, it was the definition of them. "You're my home, Mer," Derek said to her quietly. "We could live at the beach house or the Seattle house, here or in a box for all I care, but you, Cass, Nate and Brett are my home. You're my home."

Meredith felt her pulse increase, but there was no need to respond. She was sure Derek knew that she felt the same way too. She took a sip of her coffee and pulled the blanket tightly around them, wishing that she could still the moment, stop time and just let everything stay the way it was for a little while longer.

Instead, she hugged Derek tightly and watched the sun slowly creep up in the sky, giving promise of a new day and the future that lay uncharted ahead of them.

A/N- So I hope you liked it! This was such a fun chapter for me to write, it practically wrote itself. What I really wanted to explore in this chapter was what type of family the 'Shepherd's' are and I wanted to show that even though they've got insane lives, they're still an incredibly close knit family. And of course, what better way to show it than in their natural element, the woods. There have been a lot of requests for more MD scenes and although I don't like sporadically throwing one in here and there, I hope that what I've written was okay! I've never brought myself around to writing a full fledged sex scene, but maybe one day. Please review if there's anything you'd like to see more off/less of/good things/bad things. Thanks again for reading!