A/N: Thank you to Josi6704 for the help with this next chapter idea! Happy Valentine's Day!
Nathan's POV
I'm driving the kids to school as Meredith drives Maggie and Amy to work.
"Hey kids, should we do something nice for mommy tonight?" I ask.
"Yeah!" Zola says. "You can ask Auntie Maggie and Auntie Amy to stay home and go to dinner!"
"That's a great idea, Zo. I'll ask Auntie Maggie and Auntie Amy if they can watch you guys tonight." I say.
I drop them all off at their respective schools, then drive to work with Lexie and Ellis since they're both still in the day care center.
"Hey babe." I say when I see Meredith in the attending lounge.
"Hey. How were the kids this morning?" she asks.
"Perfect. Do you know where Maggie and Amy are?" I ask.
"Maggie is in surgery and Amy is getting coffee in the cafeteria.
"Thanks. I'll see you later, around seven thirty tonight, main lobby?" I ask.
"Sure. I have surgery until six thirty though." Meredith says.
"Okay." I say and set off to find Amelia.
I find her walking towards the neuro floor with a cup of coffee.
"Hey Amy." I say.
"Only the kids and Derek can call me Amy." She says, turning around.
"Well, Amelia, would you be willing to watch the kids tonight? I'm going to take Meredith out to dinner and to stay in a hotel tonight." I ask.
"Why?" She asks.
"It's Valentine's Day." I say.
"Shit. Of course I'll watch the kiddos. What time?" Amelia asks.
"Well, the nanny picks Zola and Bailey up at three pm from school and is there until five pm, so if you're not busy, or I can see if the nanny can stay later." I say.
"No, I can be there at five." Amelia says.
"Great, I'll let the day care know you'll pick Ellis and Lexie up around four thirty tonight." I say.
I call Meredith.
"Hey." She says.
"Hey so tonight, do you have overnight clothes?" I ask.
"Why?" She asks.
"It's a surprise." I say.
"Yeah?" Meredith says.
"Okay great." I say and we hang up.
I go scrub for surgery and have a good surgery working with Cristina, who surprisingly is still here.
"So I heard from Amelia you're taking Mer out to dinner and a hotel?" Cristina asks.
"Yeah. Any restaurants she loves?" I ask.
"There's this Italian restaurant she loves, actually a few years ago before I loved to Zurich and before kids were in the picture, Meredith, Derek, Owen and I were going to go there but the roof of a restaurant collapsed. Not the place we were going to but we spent Valentine's Day evening in the OR, which is never an issue for me, but it was an entertaining day." Cristina says.
"Right, well, if you can text me the address of the Italian place, that would be great." I say.
"Of course." Cristina says.
We finish the surgery relatively quickly and easily, without complications.
*7:00 PM*
Meredith's POV
I'm getting changed into my regular clothes from my scrubs when I hear the door open. I turn around to see Derek walking over.
"Derek?" I ask right as he kisses me. I shove him away. "What the fuck Derek?"
"I love you Meredith. I want you back." Derek whispers.
"Derek, no. I'm married to Nathan. Our marriage dissolved the second I saw the monitor show you didn't have a heartbeat anymore. I saw you die. You promised not to hurt me, and you did, now I'm married to someone who I'm completely in love with, and I'm happy. I haven't been this happy since we first adopted Zola. You need to respect my decisions and that the hell away from me." I say, I grab my coat and bag and run downstairs to where I'm meeting Nathan.
I see him waiting there, on his phone.
"Hey babe." I say.
"Hey. Amelia has the kids tonight. Do you have a change of clothes?" Nathan asks.
"Crap, it's in my locker." I say, and take a deep breath. "Can you come with me?"
"Why? I mean, of course but why?" Nathan asks.
"Derek walked in after I changed and kissed me rather forcefully and said he wanted me back and I shoved him away and told him to stay away from me." I say quietly.
"Oh honey. Okay, come on. If he's there still, he won't bother you if I'm there with you. Why don't we call Alex too, to be near by?" Nathan asks.
"Yeah." I say and text Alex to meet me outside the attending lounge.
We meet Alex outside, and peek inside. Derek is still there, pacing the room.
"Nathan, I can't go in. Can you get my clothes? It's in the locked part of my cubby, here are the keys." I say giving him my keys.
Nathan goes inside and gets my bag with my clothes in it. On his way out he stops and turns around. I see Derek saying something and him walking towards Nathan. I open the door and hear them shouting at each other.
"Meredith, get out of here." Nathan says.
"No. Derek, you can't keep attacking my life. First you kiss me without my consent, and now you're about to fight with my husband." I say. I turn around to see Alex on the phone. He mouths "security" to me. I nod and turn back around.
"Meredith, you know you want to be with me. Arizona said that I was your everything for years. Come back to me, we belong together." Derek says walking toward me.
"No." I say backing away, just as security comes rushing into the room and taking him by the arms and essentially drags him out of the building.
"Hey Mer, you alright?" Alex asks.
"No, I'm not alright. My ex husband just attacked me tonight then almost did again. Let's get out of here." I say to Nathan.
"Okay. Hey Alex, do you and Jo want to join us for dinner?" Nathan asks.
"Uh I'll ask Jo but maybe. Give me 15 minutes?" Alex asks.
"Why did you ask if they wanted to join us?" I ask Nathan.
"Well, Alex is one of your people, and you supported them during through times with Jo and her ex husband, and it's valentine's day and I figured we ought to spend it with people we care about." Nathan says.
"This is why I love you." I say, and kiss him softly.
"Jo said okay, she just needs to get changed and redo her makeup and do her hair. I have no idea why, she looks great to me." Alex says.
"And this is why you two are perfect for each other." I say, winking. "Just don't do anything cheesy."
"Right, yeah totally." Alex says and stuffs his hands in his pockets.
We all pile into Nathan's car and we drive in the direction of my favorite Italian restaurant.
"Are we going to Barolo Ristorante?" I ask.
"Just wait and see, babe." Nathan says.
A few minutes later we pull up in front, we get out and go inside.
It's a magical place where the scent of homemade pasta wafts from the kitchen, there's soft classical music playing and a waiter waiting to take us to the table for four.
We order drinks, Nathan gets a beer, as does Alex, and Jo and I split a bottle of wine. We get our drinks, order dinner, and have a wonderful evening full of laughter and jokes, and finally it ends with all of us drinking espresso and sharing this giant plate of ice cream and a tiramisu.
"Hey Meredith, I'm sorry Dr Shepard was being a jerk tonight." Jo says.
"Jo, it's alright. And feel free to call me Mer, everyone else does." I say, taking a sip of my wine.
"Okay, Mer." Jo says testing my nickname out.
"Okay, I think I'm done. Nathan, can we go home?" I ask.
"No babe, we have to drop off Alex and Jo then we can go home." Nathan says. The waiter comes over with the check and Nathan slips his card in. We wait for that whole process to happen then we leave and drive Alex and Jo home.
"Bye Mer, have a good evening." Alex says winking.
"Haha, you too." I say laughing. "It was great chatting, Jo."
"See you tomorrow, Mer." Jo says.
"Tomorrow, it's Dr Grey though, right?" I say to my best resident.
"Of course." Jo says and closes the car door.
Nathan starts driving again but the opposite direction of our house.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
"The Archfield." Nathan says as we pull into the valet parking.
We take our bags up, order a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries up to our room.
The night ends in us quickly getting undressed, and we all know what happens after this. Looking back, I'd say it was a very good Valentine's Day.
A/N: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope this update is good, I was trying to get it up today (didn't quite make it by East Coast standards but got it done by West Coast standard time)! As usual, thank you to everyone who reads, please vote, comment and share if you like it! If you DM me, I'm also always open to suggestions to work into the story! Xoxo Kallie Grey
