What Should Have Been From The Beginning

The Only Choice.

DEREK'S POV
Stood inside the venue, awaiting the arrival of my bride, where many people loved by both Meredith and I, were sat patiently waiting to see her and I be wed. Once again, my palms were sweaty and clammy, and apparently according to Mark, who stood by my side as my best man, I had a sudden look of fear across my face when everyone rose to their feet as Meredith stood behind frosted glass windows. Her figure could be seen through the window but no more. I didn't have a clue how she would reveal the pregnancy or when but it was too late to even discuss that, all I knew was that my life as a married man, began in less than 30 minutes and I couldn't be more thrilled. What I saw for a split second was the backs of everyone's heads as they all gathered to watch Meredith walk down the aisle, arm in arm with George, who was obviously the next person to know about the pregnancy. It was going to go from 6 people knowing about 'our secret' to 106. Life was about to get crazy.

The double, frosted glass doors, swung open. Music started playing softly but enough. I watched the love of my life, take a deep breathe before bringing her bouquet of flowers, that were covering her stomach, to just under her bump, making the new life visible to the whole room. Gasps and sounds of delight came from the mouths of the guests and neither of us knew if they were to the surprise or that Meredith looked like an angel on Earth. She smirked and silently giggled at me from the other end of the aisle and her focus never left my presence the whole time. Her foot stepped forward and she made her was, effortlessly and elegantly to me, walking on a white runner down the marble floor of the venue, and through white peonies that decorated the banisters of the seats. Her dress flowed perfectly with her strides and her veil flowed precisely behind her. Everything small thing that other people wouldn't notice, I noticed. Like the colour of blush in her cheeks, that she wouldn't normally wear, and the sheer coat of nail polish on her nails, that wasn't normally there because of her job. Everything about the woman walking towards me was ethereal and felt like a dream come true. Nothing about what was happening right now, I would have imagined to be happening this time two years ago. I didn't even know my fiancé two years ago. Yet it didn't take a brain surgeon to work out that I was madly in love with this her and I would always be. All that kept running over my mind, was that, if someone had told me as a dorky, teenager with braces, a bowl cut and pimples covering my face, that I would be marrying a surgeon and someone who I constantly thought about, someone who brought me more happiness in one hour than I had ever felt in my entire life, I wouldn't have believed them. I nearly didn't marry the woman of my dreams, but now I was joined by her at the alter, for the second time, under different circumstances, but for better reasons.

Meredith's delicate hands rested in mine and gripped in each other's, they settled in the middle of us, allowing everyone to take a seat and the ceremony begin, even though to us, we had already said our vows. Everyone sat silently, thankfully nobody objected, our public vows were said, we placed bands onto each other's fingers, and then I heard the words I'd been waiting my whole life to hear, 'I now pronounce you husband and wife and you may kiss your bride'. I did exactly that. I dipped her gently, holding her securely around her petite waist and resting my thumb on her cheek and my fingers on her neck. Her soft lips pressed against mine for a substantial amount of time, before I swung her back up onto her feet, applied another kiss onto her smile and grabbed her hand romantically in mine. She grabbed her bouquet, the crowd erupted into cheers and clapping, her flowers were held above of her stomach like previously and out we walked through the same double doors we had walked through as unmarried people, but this time as Mr and Mrs Shepherd, even though Meredith way keeping her name.

As soon as we were free of the crowd of people, the doors closed behind us, allowing us some more privacy, where I wished Meredith up off her feet. I picked her up holding her by her bum. She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me passionately, each time she pulled away she would giggle in disbelief, as would I. She ran her fingers through my hair as we carried on doing what we did best and then I let her go, safely letting her feet find the ground and her regain balance.

'I married you, I'm having children with you, I'm going to build us a house and we're gonna grow old together. We're gonna be in each other others arms when we're 110 years old. We get a lifetime. I get a lifetime of loving you more and more every day. I love you Meredith Grey-Shepherd.' She chuckled and smacked my chest jokingly.

'We get a lifetime. I get to spend the rest of my life with you.'

A/N : So you've reached the final chapter of the follow on from 'Do you take thee?' but as you can probably tell, I'm gonna give you all some happiness and make this into a trilogy and continue Meredith and Derek's story a little further. Thank you so much to everyone who has read this novels!! It means so much to me to know that you're enjoying them. When the next story will start, I'm not sure, as I have to go back to college for a month but hopefully there will be more as soon as possible. Stay safe, be kind.

PS - please please please leave suggestions for ideas you want to see in the next story, I have many but you can never have too many ❤️