Where You Belong

50

The air around her was cool when Meredith awoke.

Goosebumps peppered her exposed skin as she became conscious enough to register the temperature. She groaned and pressed her face into her pillow, trying to make the real world disappear, and fall back to sleep, where being cold didn't matter.

A male groan echoed hers, and there was movement beside her before a very familiar – and welcome – arm hooked over her waist. And suddenly she felt warm.

"Mmmrr," Derek mumbled into the back of her neck, in what may be a sleepy attempt to say her name. Or it could have simply been an incoherent combination of syllables. She would never know which.

Meredith sighed, pressed her back into Derek's chest and pulled his arm snugly around her middle. "Sleep," she grumbled, wanting nothing more than to fall back to sleep in his arms; wanting nothing more in this moment than to spend the rest of her life in his arms, where the world was warm, comforting and good.

The past two weeks since her revelations regarding her and Derek's future had been full of pain, grief, and stress, stress, and more stress. George's dad had failed to overcome the great odds against him, which had led to the O'Malley's making the impossible decision to take their loved one off life support. Laura had relapsed suddenly, resulting in a second life saving surgery, leading to Thatcher's nearly constant presence in the hospital, and with it Meredith's life. And Cristina and Burke were still engaged in their silent fight. However, despite the stress of the past weeks, one thing hadn't changed.

Meredith still had Derek in her life. Meredith still wanted Derek in her life forever. Meredith was still ready.

Derek had been there beside her for every piece of bad news in the past two weeks. He had hugged her when she needed, had told her everything she needed to hear and let her do the same for him. Their relationship had reached a point Meredith had never pictured before because it was something she had until now been unable to comprehend.

Not only were they together, committed and happy, but they were stable. She no longer actively thought about the fact that they were together. She no longer started when she remembered she was in a committed relationship. And she no longer weighed the amount of time they have been together with the amount of progress they had made.

She expected Derek to be there tomorrow. Next week. Next Year. Ten years from now. Fifty years from now. Forever. And she expected him to expect the same of her. But she no longer had to overanalyze the concept with her brain going a mile a minute. And she no longer started when she realized she wasn't overanalyzing. She just...was. Meredith was. She was living in the now, preparing for the future and content for once in where her life was taking her.

Derek groaned again, burrowing his face further against the back of her neck, inadvertently reminding her of his constant presence in her life."Make it stop," he spoke into her hair.

"Make what stop?"

He pressed his lips against her bare skin, before pulling back far enough to be properly heard. "Your phone."

She rolled towards him, coming to rest on her back. "What?"

He snuggled close, his chin landing above her shoulder. "Your phone is ringing."

Meredith paused, cocking her head to listen. "I think you're losing it," she finally told him. "I don't hear anything."

He grumbled something incoherent, his arm tightening imperceptibly around her waist.

She giggled, reaching her free hand to run through his hair. "Are you losing it?"

Derek glared at her, and opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off by her ring tone sounding through the room. "Told you."