Where You Belong

Epilogue

"Do you think it's safe to go back yet?"

"I don't think it'll ever be safe to go back. Not with Izzie doing what Izzie does."

Derek laughed. "She's not that bad."

"You weren't at her last party," Meredith said dryly. "What she called a small gathering to meet her boyfriend turned into a huge party that almost destroyed my house. We should never have given her a key."

"I was at her last party," he pointed out. "I have fond memories of that party." He raised an eyebrow at her.

Meredith rolled her eyes. "You have fond memories from your car, which was parked down the street. You never made it inside."

"Not for lack of trying."

She laughed. "You were my boss. I was trying to be good."

It was his turned to laugh. "You had sex with me in my car."

She elbowed him in the side. "I was drunk."

He moved his arm to protect his side against any future attacks. "Okay, I think we've gotten a little off topic."

"No, I don't think it's safe to go back. Is the trailer live-able? We may have to stay there for a while."

"It's not going to be that many people."

"That's what she said last time!" Meredith buried her face in her hands. "Oh, I should never have agreed to this. At least last time it was about her and I was new so people didn't really know who I was."

"It's not going to be that bad."

"I don't like being the centre of attention."

Derek was silent for a moment before shrugging. "Tough."

He smirked when his wife's head shot up out of her hands. "Tough?" She echoed. "That's all you have to say?"

"Well, I tried to console you, but that didn't work, so yeah. Tough. Izzie's throwing our wedding reception, so we'll be the centre of attention. It's too late to do anything to change that."

She huffed. "I was really starting to think she had forgotten about it." As the months had gone by after they had gotten married last summer, Izzie had mentioned Meredith's promise to let her throw the wedding reception and house warm party less and less. And then in late February, the blond had presented them with a date. Now, almost a month later, they had been temporarily kicked out of their home so Izzie could set up. They had been told to stay away until called, so they had wandered down to the harbour and settled onto a bench to watch the ferry boats.

"I still don't understand why she kicked us out?" Meredith said, leaning into him. "It's not like this is a surprise party."

"Maybe she wants us to make an entrance, like at a real wedding reception."

"If this isn't a real wedding reception why are we doing it?"

He laughed. "I meant at a reception that takes place the day of the wedding, not nine months later."

Before she could respond, her phone chirped. She sighed and pulled it out of her pocket. "Text from Iz. She said we can come back now," she said, but made no move to get up.

"Should we go, then?" he shifted his weight to stand.

His wife shot him a playful smirk. "She made us wait..."

He laughed and sat back against the bench. "Okay, but just a couple minutes."

She settled into his side again and he wrapped an arm around her waist. Together, they stared out at the ferry boats on the harbour from the bench they had commandeered almost an hour ago when Izzie had kicked them out. "It's nice down here. We should come here more often."