70. One Year Anniversary

Disclaimer: I wish, but it's not mine.

This is the anniversary chapter, so there's some requisite MerDer sex found within it. Enjoy. ;)

Twenty-four hours into their anniversary, and most of it had been spent naked. There was no better way to celebrate, really. It was a little before ten when Derek woke up to Meredith making little noises in her sleep, batting at her nose. He rolled over and smiled at her. She still made fun of him for watching her while she slept, but he'd suffer the consequences. She was too cute not to watch. Derek pulled the blanket up over her naked body to keep her warm. It was the middle of summer, but the air conditioned house kept things cool.

"I love you," he whispered into her hair, quiet enough that she wouldn't wake up.

Instead, she just flung her arm across his chest and let out a tiny snore, one that made Derek chuckle a little. She looked so relaxed and peaceful. He always loved getting the chance to watch her sleep in the morning, that lazy time spent after waking up but not quite ready to get up out of bed. When Meredith eventually woke up a little while later, she cracked her eyes open and smiled at her husband. "Hmm...morning."

Derek brushed her hair off her forehead and kissed her. "Morning."

"How long have you been watching me sleep?" Meredith asked with a tired giggle.

"I dunno...half hour?" he admitted.

"Do really enjoy watching me sleep that much?" she asked, toying with the small hairs on his chest.

"I do," Derek said softly before kissing her again. "Speaking of 'I do'...happy anniversary."

Meredith smiled against his lips. "Happy anniversary."

"I can't believe it's been a year already," Derek said, wondering where the past three hundred and sixty-five days went so quickly.

"A happy year..." she added. Meredith rolled on top of him, letting the blanket pool around her waist and giving Derek a view of her nakedness. "And I think we need to start the day how we started everything..."

Derek kissed her neck when she leaned down and threaded her fingers through his hair. "Hmm...sex."

Meredith rocked her hips back and forth and bit her lip to tease him. It was always fun to tease him before sex, knowing she could and that he wouldn't stop her. "Now?"

"Yes...please," he groaned as he cupped her breasts in his hands and rolled her nipples between his fingers.

Meredith moaned audibly at the zing that she felt go through her. "I think we should do number eighteen," she managed to get out before her head got even cloudier.

"What?"

"From the book Izzie got us. Number eighteen. The twist and shout thing," Meredith said.

"Porny," Derek grinned, gently balancing his hands on her hips.

She eased down onto him and threw her head back in bliss. "It's our anniversary," she panted, already getting caught up in the feeling of making love to her husband. "We're allowed to be porny..."

--

When they finally left the bedroom after three rounds of morning sex, and some fun in the shower, Meredith decided she was hungry and wanted breakfast. And because letting her loose with a frying pan was probably a safety risk, Derek was commissioned to make it for her. As Meredith sat on the kitchen stool in her camisole and shorts, she smiled at him.

"So..." she began.

Derek looked up from the eggs frying on the stove. "Hmm?"

"I say we make use of of Mark's basket tonight. You know, the massage oils and the chocolate," Meredith said as she popped a few blueberries into her mouth.

"Sounds like fun," Derek smirked, adding some cheese over the eggs.

"Maybe Mark knows us better than I thought," she giggled.

Derek leaned over the island and kissed her. "Hmm...maybe."

"Izzie's book came in handy last night...and this morning," Meredith said with a coy smile. However embarrassing it was to receive the 'sex book' at the party, she had to admit, it had positions in there that they'd never even dreamed of before, ones that had been keeping them busy for the past day and a half. "You know, last night when you were in the shower and I was waiting for you, I actually looked at the other chapters too."

"Yeah? Anything good?"

Meredith took a sip of her orange juice and nodded. "Well, apparently, missionary is the best for trying to conceive, which we already knew. But the book says I should lay with my butt propped up on a pillow for thirty minutes afterward so the...well, you know how it works," she giggled.

"Pretty sure, yeah," Derek winked. He handed her a plate of eggs, pancakes, and bacon then joined her on the other side of the island with his own dish. "So what else did it say?"

"The basics...getting off birth control, which I wasn't on to begin with; taking prenatal vitamins, which I've been doing for over a month. Uh...that I should lay off on caffeine. Which, let's face it, isn't gonna happen cold turkey. But on days off, I'm not drinking coffee, hence the orange juice," she sighed, holding up her glass. "You know, it's kind of unfair. All you have to do is sex me every day while I'm..." Meredith cringed. "Ovulating. But me? I need to hand over my free will..." she giggled.

"Yes, but..." Derek countered in an attempt to put a positive spin on it. "You still get sex. And me, waiting on you hand and foot. That counts for something, right?"

Meredith rolled her eyes and laughed. "Ass."

"What?" he chuckled, taking a bite of his pancakes.

"Always finding the silver lining," she said before biting into a piece of bacon.

Derek pressed a kiss to her temple. "It's my job. I do it for you."

"Yeah, I know," Meredith sighed amusedly. "And I appreciate it."

When he walked over to the counter, dumped out his mug of coffee and replaced it with his own glass of orange juice, Meredith smiled at her husband. "What're you doing?"

"Being a team player. If you don't get weekend coffee, I don't get weekend coffee," Derek shrugged.

"Yeah?"

Derek nodded and dropped a kiss on her cheek. "Yeah."

"Thank you," she said.

"Well, what kind of husband would I be if I sat here and drank coffee in front of you when you've cut yourself off from it?" he asked with a chuckle.

"A sucky one," Meredith teased, taking a bite of her blueberry pancakes drowned in maple syrup.

"Exactly," Derek laughed. "So what did you want to do today? You know, before our backyard sex..."

Meredith chewed on her pancakes and thought it over for a minute. When she came up with something, she smiled. "Oh, I know!"

"What?"

"We haven't gone fishing yet. And I bought us all that stuff for Christmas. It's July," Meredith pointed out, giggling. "I think it's time we used it all."

"But you're...an indoor girl," Derek said, hoping it didn't sound like he was mocking her. But it was the truth: Meredith and nature? They didn't exactly go hand in hand.

She scoffed, nudging his arm lightly with her fist. "Excuse me, I jog...sometimes," Meredith paused. "Fine, I used to jog. But that's not the point. You love fishing, and I love you, so I think we should go fishing."

Derek smiled at the adorable ramble and relented. "Okay, okay. Let's go fishing," he chuckled. "Just making sure you're up for it."

"It'll be fun. You know, as long as I don't have to touch anything. Fish kinda gross me out," she admitted.

"Good thing we're going fishing then," Derek winked at her.

Maybe an unconventional activity for an anniversary, but then again, they weren't really fans of convention to begin with.

--

That afternoon, after they'd packed a cooler of food and drinks, lathered on the sunscreen, and gathered up all the fishing gear from the basement, the two of them along with Charlie made the trek out to the dock overlooking the water, only a few minutes' hike from the house.

As Charlie ran a little ahead of them, soaking in the opportunity to explore the land, Meredith grabbed hold of Derek's hand. "I love living out here," she said softly.

"Me too," Derek said, kissing her temple. "It's calm, peaceful. Growing up in a house with five women...not very calm or peaceful. I enjoy quiet," he chuckled.

"Not sure how quiet it'll be when our yet-to-be-made baby is crying in the middle of the night," she laughed.

Though, really, there was nothing more they wanted than that.

Derek wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "Well, that'll be our baby, so I won't mind."

"Good," Meredith said, raising herself up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

When they reached the dock, Derek set the equipment down then took a seat near the edge, just far enough that his feet grazed the surface of the blue water beneath him. Meredith pulled her hair back into a ponytail and tossed her flip flops off to the side before taking a seat next to him. Even if she didn't catch any fish, she was still going to enjoy soaking up some sun, though the SPF 50 she was wearing would make any kind of color highly unlikely.

While she rummaged through the cooler for a bottle of water, Derek pulled a fishing vest from the bag and proceeded to put it on. Meredith couldn't suppress her smirk as she watched him. Behind all of that hotness, there was a dorky charm that she loved about him. "Please don't tell me there's a vest for me in there," she said, wincing as she awaited his response.

"No. I didn't think you'd want one," Derek replied. "Why? Do you? You could wear this one..."

Meredith quickly shook her head. "No, uh...I'm good."

"You sure? You'd look cute…" he grinned smugly.

"Oh sure, so you could blackmail me," Meredith teased him as she readjusted her sunglasses.

Derek laughed. "You really think I'd do that?"

"You told Mark that I snore. I don't know what you're capable of," Meredith said, giggling.

"I told you, it came up in the conversation. Besides, you know I think it's adorable." Derek kissed her cheek and smiled. When she felt the tickle of his stubble against her skin, she couldn't help but melt her resolve. He was just too damn charming for his own good. Meredith knew it, and so did he.

But she still wasn't wearing a fishing vest.

"So how do we do this?" she asked.

Derek handed her one of the fishing poles then reached for the tackle box. "You just put the bait on the hook and cast," he said, as though it were the simplest explanation ever given. And maybe it was to someone else, but not her. She didn't even have all the lingo down, let alone the technique.

"I'm not exactly MacGyver, Derek. It could be dangerous," she giggled, only half joking.

Derek grinned widely at her, amused. "You've never been fishing before," he guessed.

"You married an indoor girl, remember?" Meredith reminded him. "Water, trees, air...not my specialty."

"I'll show you," Derek offered. He took the fishing pole from her and opened the tackle box next to him. Easy enough, she mused.

"What's in this water, anyway?" Meredith wondered out loud.

"Trout, mostly. Some bass and carp. Nothing too big," he shrugged.

Meredith bit her lip and peered over into the blue water below. There was something calming about the vastness of it all, how it seemed to go on forever. She sighed audibly, smiling at Derek. "Did your dad teach you how to fish?"

"Yep," Derek concurred. "I was five. We went out to Silver Lake, just the two of us. My sisters are very indoorsy like you," he chuckled. "It was fun. We would go a few times a year. A lot of the memories I have of my dad involve us fishing."

She leaned in and kissed Derek's cheek. It was all she could do to take away the sadness he felt every time he mentioned his father. He reciprocated by pressing a kiss to her temple, letting his lips linger there for a few seconds afterward.

"Are you gonna take our kids fishing?" Meredith asked him, calling back the levity to their conversation.

"If they're anything like you, I'm not sure they'll let me," Derek said teasingly.

Meredith nudged him with her hip. "Shut up," she giggled. "One of them is bound to like fishing."

"Let's hope."

"And if we—," Meredith said before stopping herself when she noticed the live worm he pulled from the tackle box. "Derek, that thing is alive."

"Yeah."

She flinched away from him after he showed it to her, all wiggly and slimy in his hand. "Get it away," she winced. "That's gross, Derek."

"Mer, it's bait. What'd you think people fished with?" he asked amusedly while attaching a hook to the end of his line.

"I'm not sticking a hook through a defenseless little worm, Derek. It's cruel," she decided seriously.

Derek pursed his lips for a moment and studied her, wondering what he could say to change her mind. Just as he was about to suggest doing it for her, Meredith reached for the small cooler they'd packed and set it on her lap.

"What're you getting?" Derek asked. While she was momentarily distracted, he quickly attached the bait and casted the line out into the water ahead of them. After fishing nearly his whole life, he was immune to the grossness that had her cringing.

But when she pulled a bag of jellybeans from the cooler, he couldn't help but smirk. "Why do we have jellybeans?"

"Because I like jellybeans," she shrugged in explanation. "It's my bait."

Derek bit back a laugh. "Mer, I don't think fish are fans of processed sugar."

"Don't care," Meredith said. "I refuse to lure fish with a living creature."

"Okay..." he drawled out slowly, figuring it was just easier to let her do what she wanted. The likelihood of her catching anything was slim to none, but still, she looked cute trying.

"There has to be at least one, non-cannibalistic fish in this water that enjoys the taste of jellybeans," she reasoned, knowing full well that the logic behind that probably needed some tweaking.

"Yeah, then maybe he could wash it down with a juicebox," Derek teased her before kissing her shoulder. He could taste the coconut from the sunscreen she'd swathed on her body and smiled.

She splashed some water onto his foot with her own and laughed. "Okay, you can stop with the mocking..."

"What? I love it," he chuckled. "Very innovative."

"Ass."

"Calling me an ass again on our anniversary?" he sighed in jest. "That's mean..."

Meredith rolled her eyes and popped a green jellybean into her mouth. "Fine. You're not an ass...sweetie," she groaned. They didn't do the term of endearment thing, so the word sounded strange as it came out of her mouth.

Derek laughed, taking a sip of the water bottle they were sharing. "Cute."

"So how long does it usually take to catch a fish?" Meredith asked.

"Depends. On a good day, they might bite right away. Other days, it can take a while," he explained. "Although, with that cherry jellybean you've got bobbing below the water, I'm sure they'll all come flocking," Derek winked at her.

"Okay," she warned, but still giggling. "If you want hot sex tonight, you might think twice before making fun of me."

Derek switched his fishing pole to the other hand and wrapped his free arm around her waist, sliding her closer to him on the dock. "You can't resist me," he grinned smugly, though in reality, it was the truth. "Remember when we had sex on this dock a long time ago?"

Meredith sighed contentedly at the memory and ran her fingers over the smooth wood they were sitting on. "Hmm...yeah," she smiled.

"See? You can't resist," he proved.

Rather than fight him on it any longer, she just rested her head on his shoulder, kissing the slightly stubbled skin at his jawline. "I can," Meredith countered. "I just choose not to."

Charlie plopped his head down on Meredith's lap and yawned. "You bored, buddy?" Derek laughed.

"I think he likes when we're home," Meredith said, petting the top of his head.

"I like being home too," he nodded. "Feels like whenever we're home these days, all we do is sleep."

"That's because this is the first weekend we've had off in months." Meredith pulled her feet from the water and wiggled her toes. "I've wanted to paint my toenails since March. Just got around to it Friday afternoon," she told him, sighing dramatically for effect.

Derek chuckled amusedly. "Where'd that come from?"

"Izzie," Meredith shrugged in explanation. "She bought two of the same color by mistake and gave me one of them. I kinda like it," she giggled.

"I noticed the Berry Splash on the bureau. Very pink and cheerful," he complimented. He felt a slight tug on his line and held it tighter. "Think I caught something..."

Meredith pulled her feet from the water so the slimy fish Derek was reeling in wouldn't touch her. "If it's small, let it go," she instructed.

"Fine," Derek agreed, laughing. When he pulled it from the water, he smiled proudly. "Rainbow trout. This is a nice one."

"Eww."

"What do you mean 'eww?'" Derek asked. "You like trout."

"Yeah, when it's dead. And cooked. And isn't flopping around," Meredith corrected. "Just...put it in the bucket before I throw up."

Derek rolled his eyes, amused at how grossed out she was, and put the fish in the bucket as Meredith requested. "You're cute," he smirked.

"I am not," she countered, nudging him with her hip. "Help me reel this back in."

"Are you sure you don't want to try a worm? You'll probably catch something," Derek pointed out as he reeled her hook back in toward them.

Meredith shook her head. "I'm good," she said. "I think I'll just finish off the rest of the jellybeans myself and watch you fish."

"You don't wanna fish anymore?" Derek asked, watching as she grabbed the bag of jellybeans and laid her head down on his lap.

"I want you to fish," Meredith amended. "While I lay here and watch...and eat these," she said, popping a few of the jellybeans into her mouth.

Derek reached for her hand and kissed the top of it, smiling against her skin. Being married to her was always fun.

--

Summer at dusk in Seattle had never looked as beautiful as it did tonight, except on the night of their wedding. The sun was setting low in the sky, casting everything in yellows and reds and purples. And from their backyard, they knew there wasn't a better view of it. Meredith laid in Derek's arms, gently running her fingers through his hair as they shared kiss after kiss.

"Hmm...I love you," he murmured against her lips.

Meredith sighed. "I love you too."

"We need...to do this...more often," Derek said between kisses. He rolled her on top of him as they laid outstretched on the blanket over top the grass.

"We should," Meredith whispered, kissing him again before reaching for a chocolate covered strawberry, the chocolate courtesy of Mark's gift basket. She bit into it and moaned. "Remind me to thank Mark for his present."

"I made them," Derek reminded her with a chuckle.

Meredith smiled. "Yes, but he bought the melting chocolate..."

"Fine," he gave in.

"So..." Meredith rolled off of him and onto her stomach. She grabbed the book Izzie gave them and flipped to the sex position section, one they'd been picking and choosing from all weekend. "Which one tonight?"

"Twelve looks kinda fun," Derek smirked. "Your bendiness makes it easy."

Meredith studied the picture for a moment and bit her lip. "I think I like twelve," she giggled.

Derek popped the cork out of their sparkling apple cider, their 'alcoholic beverage' of choice since Meredith gave up drinking in the spirit of baby-making, and poured them each a glass. "Twelve it is," he laughed, clinking her glass against hers.

"This stuff is growing on me," Meredith said after taking a sip. "It's kinda...sweet. And the best part: no hangover in the morning."

Derek grinned, pulling her into his lap; she wrapped her legs around his waist. "Then I can't get drunk and take advantage of you," he pointed out.

"Hmm...that's how this all started," Meredith said, placing her hand on his back as she leaned in to kiss him again.

"Best drunken one night stand ever."

She smiled at her husband. "It really was."