The door opens and Derek walks in.

"Oh, hi mum" he says "Mark is looking for you." He stops when he sees that Meredith is awake with tears in her eyes.

"Why are you crying? Is your head hurting?" He rushes up to her bed and pulls out his penlight.

"No" she says. "It was just a dream." She keeps her eyes on the bedspread, twisting it in her hands. It is clear that she is trying to keep her distance to him. He looks at his mum with questions in his eyes. She looks at the door and back at him. He gets the unspoken message loud and clear. He turns to Meredith and says,

"I'll be back in a little while, wait for me." He walks towards the door as his mother says.

"It's nice seeing you Meredith."

Meredith is having a flashback. She is suddenly outside, in a house she has made out of candles. She is waiting for someone. Stupid, brainless, brainman. Someone is standing outside the lights. I wanted to build a house, but I am a surgeon and I don't build houses. The man is now standing with her, holding her, kissing her. He stops, looks at her with his McDreamy smile and says. I have to go. In order to kiss you like I want to kiss you, in order to do more then kiss you. I have to talk to Rose. I want my conscious clear. Wait here, wait for me. He walks back into the night. She turns around and is now standing at the nurses' station. Derek's mother walks up towards her and she says to Mrs Shepherd I'm not bright and shiny. I'm dark and twisty. The ponytail and the smiling with the teeth that is fake, it is not me. It's been nice meeting you, Mrs Shepherd says.

Derek and his mum are standing outside Meredith's room.

"Why is she crying?" Derek asks.

"She had a dream about her ex boyfriend's wife showing up."

"Oh, no."

"You have to go in there and answer every question she got."

"What if she doesn't forgive me this time, mum?"

"She will when she gets her memory back in total."

Yang interrupts them.

"Is it OK if I go in there?"

"Please do" Derek says "but please don't make her believe that I am the bad guy. She just remembered when Addison showed up."

Cristina knocks on the door and opens it.

"How is my person doing today?" She asks. Meredith's memory recognizes that line. Cristina is her person as she is hers. It is Cristina who got left in the church by Dr Preston Burke and then found the hot army doctor Dr Hunt who almost strangled her.

"Fine." She answers. Cristina looks at her with a smirk.

"Meredith fine or really fine?"

"You tell me. Addison showed up and told me that I slept with her husband. Then I was standing in a house of candles and Derek told me to wait because he had to speak with Rose and I told Mrs Shepherd that I am dark and twisty and she said it's been nice meeting me. Is this good? It feels really, really bad."

"It is true everything. Your memory is coming back and you are rambling."

"Who is Derek to me?"

"That is for you to remember."

They both look at the door when something or someone crashes into it. They hear load voices that are both male.

"That room is out of limit for you!"

"She is my daughter. I am to decide what treatment she needs."

"No, you are not deciding anything. You had your chance and you tried to kill her."

"She is evil, just as Ellis was."

"Ellis was not evil, just preoccupied with work and Meredith is nothing like her. She is an excellent doctor and has her priorities right. Derek and Meredith spend as much time together as possible. They have a marriage everyone should envy. Meredith also makes time for her friends."

"They are not married, post-it notes, what joke is that?"

"They are married in their hearths. Just because the law doesn't accept it doesn't mean they are less then married." There is silence in the hall. The nurses are looking from their station and doctors and other personal are gathering in the hall. Dr Webber realizes that he is making a scene with Thatcher. He lowers his voice.

"Meredith is almost back to normal and will decide on her own treatment. You should go and sober up. There is an AA-meeting this afternoon and you should be there." When Webber says AA-meeting Thatcher straightens like he's got a slap. He looks at Richard and then the door and turns around and walks towards the elevator. Lexie just looks at him when he passes her. Inside the room is it quiet, Meredith's mind is racing. Cristina doesn't know what to say or do. Meredith curls into a little ball and starts crying, her sobs are shaking her.

"What do you need, Mer?"

"Derek"

Derek and his mother are at rehab and watches Mark balancing on his broken leg. He will be going home soon. Derek looks at his new pager when it beeps. Meredith's room from Yang. He leaves in a run. When he reaches the surgical floor there are a lot of people hanging around. Everybody is looking at Dr Webber who is red in his face and at Yang blocking Meredith's door.

"Let me in Dr Yang."

"No, she only wants Dr Shepherd, Sir." Derek feels a surge in his stomach. She wants him, maybe she remembers them. He pushes forward past the crowd and asks with a high voice if they don't have any work to do or patients to care about. The crowd scatters and returns to what ever they were doing before. He walks towards Yang and Webber.

"What's up?"

"I had an argument with Thatcher out here and we were too loud." Webber confesses.

"Yeah, you were too loud and now Meredith is crying in there and she wants you Dr Shepherd."

"Tell me what she heard."

Yang tells him what she heard sitting inside the room. Shepherd sends Webber a look and opens the door. He closes the door behind him and looks at the tiny person crying in the bed. His hearth breaks when he hears her sobs.

"Mer" he says. There is no response from Meredith. He walks up to her side and strokes her hair away from her face. Her sobs are shaking her but she reaches out for him. His hearth swells as he climbs into her bed and gathers her in his arms. She puts her head on his chest. He lays there stroking her hair until her sobs stops.

"Are you OK, Mer?"

"I am now" she whispers.

They lay there for a little while longer just breathing, not a word is said.

"I would like to shower and wash my hair. Can you help me and can you find me some clothes?" Derek rolls out of bed and gathers her in his arms.

"Put me down, let me go?"

"I don't think so." He puts her down on a bench in the shower stall. He turns on the water.

"Do you need help with the robe? Let me help you with the bandage on you head." He helps her unwrap the bandage and puts a waterproof Band-Aid over the scar.

"I'm just going to fetch your bag. You can start soaking." He says with a smile. He is back within a couple of minutes with her shower crème, shampoo and conditioner.

"Just give me a shout when you are ready." He walks back into the hall where Webber is hovering.

"How is she?" He asks.

"I don't know. She is not talking yet. She wanted a shower and I left her in it. Cancel all my work I'm taking the rest of this and next week off. She'll stay here tonight but I'm taking her home tomorrow if the scans are OK. Put a sign on this door 'Knock before entering'. All severe head trauma goes to Mercy West until I am back."

Derek returns to the room and Meredith. He pokes his head into the bathroom.

"Your clothes are in the bag on the bench."

"Thanks."

Five minutes later she returns dressed in her Dartmouth tee shirt and yoga pants. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail. Derek is sitting on the coach reading a medical journal. She climbs on to the coach and snuggles up into his lap. He wraps his arms around her.

"Meredith, I love you. You are the love of my life." He breaths her in, lavender his all-time favourite scent when it is on Meredith.

"I love you more." She whispers back.

"Do you remember everything now?"

"I think I do. Different word has triggered different memories and muesli taste like cardboard." She smiles at him. "Can you explain the argument I heard between Richard and Thatcher?"

"I have to start with the car crash you and Mark were in. Is that OK?" She nods and he starts talking. Meredith's tears starts running when he tells her about Mark's leg. The tears dry up when he tells her about Thatcher and starts again when he tells her about taking her off the ventilator. Derek is also crying now. They both laugh at her first memories and sober up when he tells her about the last argument. They stay in each others arms for a very long time until there is a knock on the door. In comes Alex.

"Would you like some company? There are a lot of people out there that wants to see you Mer." Derek looks at Meredith.

"Would you like to see them?" She nods slowly. Derek makes a quick decision and tells Alex to meet them in the cafeteria.

"Is that OK?" He asks Meredith.

"Yeah, then we can get back here alone when ever we want to."

In the cafeteria they get a table in the far most corner. All their friends are there including Dr Witt. Meredith goes to Mark who is sitting in his wheelchair. She climbs onto his lap and hug him close while whispering in his ear.

"Let's keep the DM-club but keep it resting. Luck is on the dirty mistresses' side in spite of the accident."

"You better get back to Shepherd before he and Lexie makes up a plan to kill us both." He says as he hugs her back. She walks over to Derek and his mum and sits in his lap. With her head resting on his shoulder she listens to all her friends talking and laughing. After a while she falls to sleep and Derek carries her back to her room. The rest of their friends stay and makes some plans for the next day.

The next morning Derek sends her to the MRI and a complete neuro exam. Dr Witt is doing it. When the pictures are back they show that there is no need for her to stay at the hospital. When she returns to her room there is a bag with her jeans and a lavender sweater to wear. Mrs Shepherd has left jeans, a white button down shirt and an indigo sweater for Derek in his office with a note 'Put these on and pick up Meredith in her room'. He wonders what his mum is up to.

Derek walks out of the hospital holding Meredith's hand and carrying her bag.

"Let's go home Mer." His mother pulls up to the curb in his car. They climb in, Meredith in the back seat. She doesn't feel comfortable in the passenger seat.

"We have a small detour to do before going home." Mrs Shepherd says.

"OK" they both respond. After a couple of blocks Derek asks.

"Where are we going?"

"We'll be there in less then five minutes."

The car stops outside a large building.

"Come along, both of you." She says and steps out of the car.

"Follow me." When they walk towards the entry they both wonders what they are doing at city hall.

"Mum, what are we doing here?"

"Fixing a small problem." She answers. When they arrive at the right floor they are shown into a small room. Mark is standing there as well as Cristina, alongside an unknown man. Mrs Shepherd takes a seat in the back of the room.

"What?" They both ask. Mark answers.

"We need fix this problem now. You two are getting married right now." They look at each other in silence before two equally bright smiles appear on their faces.

"Shall we begin?" Cristina asks. The magistrate takes his place and begins.

"We are here to wed Dr Derek Shepherd and Dr Meredith Grey." He continues talking about the obligations and asks them if they want this.

"Yes I do" both of them answers without letting go of each others eyes. Cristina hands them their promises, their blue post-it note and they say them as they did when they wrote them. Mark hands them two platinum rings. The magistrate puts in his final line.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride." Derek gathers her face in his hand and slowly kisses her. Meredith deepens the kiss until Mark and Cristina starts laughing.

"Congratulations Dr and Dr Shepherd." The magistrate says and hands Derek a signed document.

"Party at Joe's" Cristina says.

"Welcome to family" Mrs Shepherd says as she hugs Meredith.

The five of them leaves city hall and at Joe's there is a party waiting with all of their friends.

THE END

A/N Thank you everyone that has read this story. An extra BIG thank you to everyone who has written a review. You have made me very happy since this is my first story ever. My second will be posted shortly and is named Memories of the past.
~mcanna