179. Prom

Disclaimer: I'm not Shonda. I actually like these characters.

Where do I even begin? I never, ever meant to take THREE months between updates. I'm so, so, so sorry. Turns out working in a hospital almost every day leaves little time to write about characters that do, too. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it slightly. There's a prom, sexy time, lots of nostalgic MerDer moments, and of course Lillybug cuteness. Enjoy, and thank you all again for putting up with me!

The lacy, black gown lay draped on top of the bed while Meredith simultaneously fed Liam and applied her eyeliner. Since becoming a mother, she'd become pretty adept at the whole doing-everything-with-one-hand skill set, and was so focused on getting ready that she didn't even realize when Derek walked into their bedroom, already dressed in his suit.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hmm? Oh, hey," Meredith said. "Where's Lilly?"

"Downstairs with Izzie. She's showing off her pink dress and shoes," Derek said. "I want you to be there when I give her the matching pink corsage."

Meredith eyed him in the mirror. "You promise you didn't get me one of those, right?"

"And risk not getting laid tonight? No, I didn't," he assured her.

"Good."

"You're feeling okay, right? After getting another IUD today, I mean," Derek asked.

"Yeah, I feel great. No pain or anything. And once it was in, Dr. Halloran did an ultrasound to check the placement of it, just to be sure. She said the chances of me getting pregnant with one again are, like, one in a million," Meredith said, brushing mascara onto her eyelashes.

Derek nodded in support. "As long as you're comfortable with it, that's what matters to me."

"I am. Neither of us wants to go back to condoms, and I'd forget to take the pill. An IUD is still my best option. Once it's in, it's in, and I don't have to do anything," Meredith said. "Besides you."

"Counting down the minutes," he grinned.

"Me, too."

"Is there anything I can do to help you get ready?" Derek offered, watching as she struggled to twist the lid back on her tube of mascara.

"Your nipples are no use to Liam, and I don't think you'd be very good at makeup, but if you wanted to take the curlers out of my hair, that'd be helpful," Meredith said as she dabbed her cheeks with powder.

Derek cocked his head at her in curiosity. "Really?"

"You helped me shave my legs when I was pregnant. I trust you with a few curlers," Meredith laughed, pausing her powdering to switch Liam to her other breast. "Good job, buddy. Get Mommy down to a C-cup on this side, now."

Liam latched onto her breast with Meredith's help and began nursing, looking up at her with wide, blue eyes. "I'm going to miss you so much tonight. How about we leave Daddy here, and I take you to the prom instead?"

"Hey," Derek said with feigned hurt as he unraveled a curler from Meredith's hair.

"What? You both have very attractive faces. You, with the chiseled jawline and the stubble. Liam, with these cheeks. How can I choose?" she asked.

"If you go with me, we have a chance at winning prom king and queen," Derek incentivized, though that only weakened his case.

Meredith blinked at him in disbelief. "Did you seriously enter us in that?"

"Every couple that makes a donation gets entered in the drawing. We got nominated as soon as I handed Patricia the check," he explained, gently unrolling another curler and setting it on her bureau. "Could be kinda fun if we won. Matching crowns, our own dance, bragging rights for life..."

"No."

"Does this mean no sex if we win?" he asked.

"Win or lose, we're having sex. Five weeks without sex is four weeks and six days too long," Meredith said, turning around to face him when he took the last curler out of her hair. "You're a good husband-slash-hairdresser. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Meredith looked down when she felt Liam slip off her breast, and she gently stroked his cheek. "Thank you, peanut. Mission accomplished. You have a full belly, and I don't have porn star boobs. For now, at least. They'll be spilling out of my dress by the time we get home tonight."

"I happen to love the porn star boobs," Derek commented.

"Yes, I'm sure you do," Meredith said, passing the baby to Derek. "Can you burp him, so I can put my dress on? Oh, and could you take the pouch of frozen milk out of the freezer? I left heating instructions for Iz, but it has to thaw first."

"Yeah," Derek nodded. He sniffed the air around him, then held Liam's bottom up to his nose. "Right after I change the poop monster. You're giving your big sister a run for her money, big guy."

"Want me to change him, since you're already dressed?" she offered.

Derek shook his head. "No, I got it."

"You sure? No one's going to vote for you to be prom king if you have baby poop on your suit sleeves..." Meredith teased, securing the clasp on her strapless bra. "Actually, that would go a long way in lessening our odds, so never mind. Change him. And be sure to wiggle around a lot, Liam."

Derek smirked as he walked toward their bedroom door. "Very funny."

After ten minutes spent finishing getting ready, five of which included practicing walking in her heels, Meredith padded downstairs in her bare feet, deciding it was safer than risking a broken ankle before they even left the house. She felt Derek's eyes on her the whole way down, and she couldn't help but blush at how he looked at her.

"You look beautiful," Derek said softly.

Despite Izzie's presence nearby, Meredith made the most of the moment and kissed him. She smiled when he moaned against her lips, then pulled back before they lost all self-control and started doing it on the stairs. "Thank you," she said.

"Mommy pitty," Lilly complimented, playing with the ruffly hem of her pink dress.

"Thank you, Lilly. You look very pretty, too," Meredith said.

"You both look gorgeous. Seriously, Mer, if I hadn't been there, I never would've believed you just gave birth five weeks ago," Izzie added, Liam cradled in the crook of her arm.

Meredith smiled at her friend as she smoothed her hands over the front of her dress. "Thanks, Iz."

"Oh, before we go, I have something for you, Lilly," Derek said. He reached for a plastic container on top of the mantle, knelt in front of Lilly, and opened the lid. "Since Mommy wouldn't let me get one for her, I had to get one for the other love of my life," he grinned, taking out the tiny, pink corsage.

"Fower!" Lilly said excitedly.

"Yeah, it's called a corsage, and you wear it around your wrist like this," he said as he put it on her. Once it was secured, he kissed the back of her hand, and Meredith found herself swooning over the two of them. "You look just like a princess, do you know that?" he asked.

"Pincess," Lilly echoed.

Derek picked her up and set her on his hip. "The prettiest princess I've ever seen," he added. "Are you ready to go to the prom?"

Lilly clapped her hands in delight. "Go pom!"

"Yeah, you guys should get going. Take lots of pictures, and don't call here every five minutes. Liam and I have plans. We're going to make homemade mac and cheese, since it's Mer's favorite, then I'm going to give him a bath, and then I'm going to give him his bedtime bottle while we watch Netflix. By that time, Alex should be back here with Lilly."

"We really appreciate you being here, Iz. Thank you," Meredith said sincerely, wiggling Lilly's arms into her sweater.

"Any time. You guys deserve a night out. And I'll make sure both kids are asleep when you get home, so you can... end the drought," Izzie said vaguely for the sake of Lilly's listening ears.

Meredith felt her face redden as she pressed kisses to Liam's cheek. "That'd be great, thanks," she murmured. "Be good for Aunt Iz, okay, Liam? We love you so much, monkey."

"Love you, buddy," Derek waved to his son before following Meredith out the front door.

"Have fun, guys. Oh, and make sure Mommy keeps her panties on at this one, Lilly!" Izzie called out from the foyer.

"Panty on, Ma," Lilly told Meredith, the pink glitter of her shoes reflecting in the warm light of the setting sun.

Meredith smiled at her daughter, then narrowed her eyes at Derek, whose lips were curling into a smug smile, too. "I'll do my best, Lillybug."

...

Like the last prom, the First Annual Camille Travis Memorial Prom was held on the main catwalk overlooking the front of the hospital. While the decorations were similar, with the shiny black, silver, and white balloons, sparkly lights, and hospital employees dressed to the nines, the whole atmosphere felt different this time around.

"Does this feel weird to you, too?" Meredith asked as she pulled their tickets out of her clutch.

Derek laughed, Lilly on his hip looking at the decorations in awe. "Yeah, it does," he said. "Last time we went to a prom, we weren't together, came with different people, and you could cut the tension with a knife."

"So wrong, yet so, so right. And dirty. And hot," Meredith said with nostalgia.

"Just got here, and you're already talking about sneaking away to board the orgasm train?" Mark asked, appearing behind them with Bridget by his side.

"No. Not yet anyway. That would be suspicious," Meredith said.

"Welcome to the prom; thank you so much for coming. You all look wonderful," Adele greeted as she took their tickets. "And look at you, Lilly. You're a shoe-in for prom queen."

Meredith smiled. "Good, because if by some stroke of unluck, I get picked for that, Lilly is subbing in for me."

"Be sure to take her to the photographer for a picture. No one has been brave enough to volunteer for the cover of the hospital newsletter, so we may need to use her," Adele requested.

"What do you say? Want to be a hospital celebrity, Lillybug?" Derek asked her.

"Ce-bebbity," Lilly echoed.

"She's on board," Derek grinned.

"Good, she'll be perfect. Now go enjoy yourselves. And Meredith, find me later. I want to see pictures of Liam," Adele said.

"Okay, I will," Meredith promised.

She linked her arm through Derek's, and they stepped onto the catwalk, where hospital employees and several of Camille's friends that they recognized from the last prom were gathered in small groups. Meredith scoped out the punch bowl and snack table at the opposite end, and made a mental note to check out the stash before it all ran out.

"Hey, you made it. Mer, you look amazing," Lexie complimented, wearing a floor-length navy gown, a change from hers and everyone else's usual scrubs. "And you're just the most beautiful, little prom-goer ever, Lilly. Speaking of, George was supposed to be my friend-slash-date tonight, but he got pulled into an emergency surgery. So I need to get that cheesy prom picture with her. I'll give it to dad. He'll love it."

"Sure, yeah," Meredith said.

Lilly reached for Lexie, who eagerly accepted her into her arms. "Hey, you. How about we get our picture now while the line is short, then we can dance?" Lexie offered.

"I dance," Lilly nodded.

"Okay, let's go."

Meredith waved as the two of them walked toward the photographer, then smiled at Derek. "What are we supposed to do? Dance? I only danced to, like, one song last time before I ran off with you, so this whole thing is still kind of a mystery to me."

"Yeah, we can dance," Derek said. He extended his hand in an offering, ever the gentleman, and Meredith rolled her eyes at his gesture. Still, she took his hand and they walked to the makeshift dance floor on the catwalk.

"When was the last time we danced like this?" she wondered aloud.

"Not sure. Mark and Bridget's wedding, maybe?" he guessed.

"Probably," Meredith giggled. "Back when I was nine months pregnant with Lilly. You couldn't even get your arms around me."

"You were beautiful. Still are," Derek smiled at her.

She leaned in and kissed him, the feeling of his lips on hers igniting the same tingle down her spine as it had since the day she met him. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

I have to say, it's a little intimidating dancing with a former high school prom king," Meredith teased him.

"Just the junior prom. Mark beat be out for the crown at the senior prom," Derek corrected.

Meredith laughed. "You and I had very different high school experiences."

"Does that mean you wouldn't have dated me if I'd asked you out?" he asked.

"No. Well, maybe. You've been successfully charming my pants off for years, so I guess there's a chance," Meredith decided, glancing over at Lilly and Lexie as they got their picture taken. "I would've married you on the spot if I'd known what cute kids we'd have one day."

"Oh, yeah?"

"I've always had a weakness for blue eyes and curls. When you sat next to me at Joe's, boom. You were fated to be the father of my children," Meredith said.

"Any time you want to make a third, let me know," Derek offered, earning him a gentle but purposeful step on his toe. "Ow. Kidding... sort of. Can't blame me for trying. The world needs more Lillys and Liams in it."

Lilly waved at her parents from her place on Lexie's hip, the two of them swaying back and forth to the beat of the song. "Hi."

"Hey, peanut," Meredith greeted. "Did you get your picture taken with Aunt Lexie?"

"Say cheese," Lilly nodded, demonstrating with a smile that reached her eyes.

"Did you tell Aunt Lexie to get a copy of that for your room?" Meredith asked.

Yes, I did," Lexie promised.

The current song ended, and was followed by one that immediately made Meredith laugh. "Whenever I hear this song, I think of my labor with Lilly."

Lexie narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Love Stoned?"

"Mark was distracting me through a contraction, and since I didn't have a birth song, he started singing the first song he could think of. Love Stoned was stuck in my head the entire time. Not exactly the best song to focus on when you're pushing a baby out of your hoo-hoo," Meredith said, smiling when Lilly reached for her. "But it's okay, because at 3:47 that afternoon, I got my Lillybug."

"Lillybug," Lilly repeated, her tiny legs wrapping around Meredith's torso.

"Hey Grey, isn't this the song I sang to you while you almost broke my hand from squeezing it so hard?" Mark asked, a plastic cup of fruit punch in his hand.

"You mean as a six pound human was working her way out of my body head first? Yeah, this is the song," Meredith confirmed.

"Dance, Ma," Lilly asked, bouncing in Meredith's hold.

Meredith started twisting her hips at Lilly's request, and smiled at the way Lilly shrieked in delight. "So easy to please."

Derek reached into his pocket when his phone buzzed with a text, and he smiled when he looked at the screen. "Liam's certainly enjoying himself," he said, showing Meredith the picture of Liam in his baby tub.

"He's such a ham," Meredith laughed. "Text her back and tell her to cover his penis with a washcloth in case he pees. She's standing in the line of fire."

"He has good aim, huh?" Mark asked.

"Impeccable. A couple nights ago, I was changing him on our bed in the middle of the night, and he peed onto his own face. That was a fun mess to clean up at three in the morning," Meredith said, longing to hug and kiss the tiny boy she left at home.

"The way I see it, that impeccable aim can only help us when we potty train him," Derek pointed out. "We've still got a few years for that, though. Lilly's first up to the potty, probably this summer."

Lexie frowned. "I can't believe she turns two in a month and a half. Are you going to pee-pee in the potty soon, Lilly?"

"Pee-pee potty," Lilly affirmed, playing with a curled strand of Meredith's hair.

"Talking about pee-pee at the prom. This conversation is way different than last time," Cristina chimed in as she joined them on the dance floor, still clad in her scrubs.

"I've only ever heard about this infamous prom, but from what I've gathered, there wasn't a whole lot of conversation going on. More moaning and thrusting than anything else," Mark speculated, which was mostly accurate, though Meredith nor Derek would never give him the satisfaction of knowing he was right.

"Tiny ears listening. Let's keep this PG," Meredith requested.

Lilly pointed to Cristina, her head cocked in confusion. "Dess?"

"What? Oh, where's my dress? I just scrubbed out of an emergency triple-A. Halfway through, the guy flatlined and it took us a while to bring him back and set up bypass all over again, which was good, because it meant I got to be late for this."

Meredith rolled her eyes at Cristina's twisted silver lining. "You're a terrible, horrible person."

"Oh, whatever," Cristina shrugged. "I mean, I'm happy to donate money for the cause, but another prom?"

"It's not that bad. I've been home breastfeeding, changing diapers, and doing baby laundry for the past five weeks. This is the first time since Liam's been born that I actually shaved my legs," Meredith shared.

"It's not the same around here without your unfiltered tidbits of info, Grey. We miss you," Mark said as Love Stoned ended, replaced by a softer ballad. "You two are due for a slow dance. How about we go dip some strawberries in that ridiculous chocolate fountain, Lilly?"

"You sure?" Derek asked.

"Absolutely," Mark said, taking Lilly and setting her on his hip.

With Lilly occupied in Mark and Bridget's care, Derek made the most of the moments alone. He wrapped his arms around her lower back, and Meredith rested her arms on his shoulders, her fingers playing with the curls on the nape of his neck.

"Want to sneak away?" Derek asked.

"What?"

"If we're gonna visit our exam room and... reminisce, now might be the time to do it," he said.

Meredith smiled at him as she considered the proposal. "Okay, but we cannot have sex in there, no matter how much we may want to."

"Okay."

"For real, no sex," she warned.

"No sex," Derek chuckled, slipping his hand on the small of her back. After a quick glance around, he gave a subtle nod, and Meredith led them off the catwalk, past the nurses' station, and down the long hallway toward the exam room.

Meredith leaned into him as they walked the quiet hall, the music from the prom fading into the background. "I know it happened so long ago, but every time I walk down this hallway, I think of that night."

"Me, too. Same goes for the exam room. Whenever I have a consult scheduled in there, I try to switch it to the one next door. That room just feels kind of sacred to me," Derek said.

"Sacred and porny," Meredith added as Derek turned the handle, gesturing for her to enter first. "Seriously, it's a good thing this door doesn't lock, or I'd be taking my clothes off right now."

"The door didn't lock last time, either," he reminded her.

"Yeah, well, my head was all cloudy last time," Meredith said. She tugged on the lapels of his suit and kissed him against the exam table where they had sex accidentally on purpose all those years ago. "My brain would've said no, but my vagina was saying yes."

"So, vagina trumps brain?" Derek asked.

Meredith shrugged. "Sometimes. Why do you think I took you home with me the night we met?"

"I always figured it was the red, good-looking shirt," he said.

"That and the hair, yeah," she laughed, smoothing her hands over his shoulders. "What was it about me? The first thing you noticed?"

"Your laugh," Derek said without hesitation. "First thing I heard when I walked into Joe's. It made me smile, like really smile, for the first time in... weeks. It's still my favorite sound. And Lilly has it, too, so I get to hear it twice as much."

Meredith smiled at her husband, the same man who sat down next to her at the bar in his red shirt. The man who built them the house where they made their two beautiful children, the man who opened her eyes to a life she never knew she wanted all along.

"I wouldn't change anything. From that night in the bar until now. Even the hard stuff, I wouldn't change it, because it got us here. And I really, really love here," she said.

Derek rested his forehead against hers, the moment somehow just as intimate as it was the last time they were in this room. "I love here, too."

The pitter-patter of tiny, clacking shoes in the hallway pulled them from their reverie, and they smiled when they heard Lilly's voice. "Mama Dad?" she called.

"Hi, Lillybug," Derek answered.

"Everybody dressed? Bra fastened and pants tucked? I don't want to walk in on anything like I did last time," Callie said on the other side of the door.

Meredith rolled her eyes in good humor. "Yes, we're dressed. Come in."

Callie opened the door, and Lilly eagerly ran in to greet them. "Hi!"

"Hi, peanut. How'd you find us?" Meredith asked as she picked Lilly up. She briefly considered sitting her on the exam table, but given what happened on it way back when, she decided her hip was the more child-friendly option.

"Lilly wanted to check the potty, but Aunt Callie had a hunch you might be in here, since it seems to be your prom hideout," Callie teased.

"We weren't hiding, just strolling down memory lane," Derek corrected.

"That's one very porny lane," Callie replied.

Meredith sighed wistfully as she glanced at the exam table. "Yes, it was."

"I would've let you guys hang out in here longer, but Lilly told me she peed. None of us had a diaper, or I would've changed her myself," Callie explained, laughing when Meredith pulled a diaper and a pack of travel wipes from her clutch. "Times have changed, haven't they?"

"Yeah, now I carry around baby supplies. You know what I packed in my clutch at the last prom? Lip gloss and a string of condoms," Meredith said.

"Which, oddly enough, we didn't use," Derek chimed in.

"Well, they got used. Just not that night," Meredith added as they walked out of the exam room and into the hall.

Callie frowned. "Now I feel bad for interrupting you guys. You sound like you really need to get laid."

"Yes, we do. Lucky for us, like most horny high school kids, those happen to be our after-prom plans tonight," Meredith said, kissing the crown of Lilly's head. "And even luckier for us, you have no idea what we're talking about, Lillybug."

While Derek changed Lilly, Meredith perused the dessert table, starting with the chocolate fountain. She held a strawberry under the drizzling chocolate, then raised it to her lips, eagerly taking a bite. "Mmm, God this is good. Remind me to tell Derek that we need one of these for home," she told Cristina, who was eating a mini cheesecake square.

"You have two kids and full time jobs. When would you have time to use a chocolate fountain?" Cristina asked.

"I'd make time. Plus, it's multi-purpose. Derek and I could lay down some tarp, and go at it for hours. We tried it once with chocolate syrup. Think of how much more fun we'd have with an entire fountain," Meredith speculated as she sampled her own mini cheesecake.

"I have so many questions. I don't want answers to any of them, but still, I have so many questions," Cristina said.

"Whipped cream is fun, too. It's slippery, though, so if you're gonna use it, just be careful," Meredith advised, waving at Derek and Lilly as they approached the dessert table. "Hey, Cristina and I are shielding the cheesecake tray. Get in on some before we eat them all."

"Save us a couple of the strawberry ones. Lilly and I are going to dance. We only have a handful of these left before I wake up one morning, and it's her wedding day," Derek said jokingly, though they knew that day would come far too soon.

Meredith watched as they walked to the middle of the dance floor, and began swaying back and forth to the slow beat of the music. Despite the two dozen or so other people dancing around them, Derek and Lilly were the only ones she saw. She smiled at the way Lilly leaned against his chest, and how Derek kissed her forehead. Soft, quick, and like a habit, like she'd hope they'd do every day for the rest of their lives. She felt her eyes burn, touched at how much the simple, wordless gesture meant to her.

"As far as husbands go, you sure do know how to pick 'em, Grey," Bailey said, barely recognizable in her plum colored dress.

"Hmm, yes I do," Meredith agreed.

"Does watching them make your uterus all a-quiver, ready to house baby number three?" Cristina assumed.

"Can you blame me? Look at him. And that's how he is all the time, with me and the kids. The other morning, he turned off my alarm so I could sleep in. When I woke up, the kids were both dressed and fed, the laundry was done, he had breakfast waiting, and he was painting Lilly's toes. I think I swooned for ten minutes before I was able to speak," Meredith shared, smiling at him when she caught his eye.

She remembered catching his eye at the last prom, and feeling overwhelmed at the love she had for him, and how it overshadowed the months' worth of anger, pain, and loss she'd been grappling with since the night Addison showed up. And while the love she'd had back then felt all-consuming, it turns out that it couldn't compare to the love she had for Derek now.

"Are you going to mount him when he comes back over here? If so, please tell me, so I can grab a handful of these cheesecakes and disappear," Cristina requested.

"No, no mounting. Not here, at least. The second we get home? Yeah, lots of it," Meredith clarified, already imagining the many ways in which she'd be having her way with him later in the evening.

"Who's mounting who?" Alex asked with a mouthful of cookie.

"You too, Karev? What's the point of having a prom if you and Yang show up in your nasty scrubs? And eat all the good food?" Bailey chastised.

"Technically, I'm not here," Alex shrugged. "Just scoping out the prettiest girl in the room, then taking her home."

Meredith rolled her eyes amusedly. "That's my daughter you're talking about."

"So, how is this thing? As cheesy as the last one?" Alex asked, moving away from a cluster of balloons.

"It's a prom. Of course it's cheesy. And I'm missing Liam like crazy, but Derek and I needed a night out. Lilly is having fun, too," Meredith said as the slow song ended and the DJ announced the upcoming crowning of the prom king and queen.

Derek and Lilly joined Meredith and the others gathered around the dessert table, and Lilly waved at the new face she saw. "Hi, Yex!"

"Hey, you. You look gorgeous," Alex told Lilly.

"Tank you," Lilly replied politely before pointing to the dessert tray. "Chee-cake?"

"You look like a short version of Daddy in a dress, but you got my appetite," Meredith said, handing Lilly a piece of cheesecake.

The DJ's voice from the speakers hushed the crowd, and Meredith braced herself for the announcement. Derek had denied any involvement in the choosing of prom king and queen, but that didn't rule out Mark as a possible suspect, or simply luck of the draw.

"I swear, if you rigged this, you're not getting the bendy thing in the shower like I planned," Meredith whispered against Derek's ear.

Derek laughed. "Do you really think I'd jeopardize the bendy thing for this?"

"Maybe."

"Scout's honor," Derek promised.

"I hope you're all having fun so far. This is a great turnout, and the Webber and Travis families want to thank you all for your generosity. All of the money donated tonight is going to benefit ovarian cancer research, and as you all know, everyone who made a donation was entered to win this year's prom king and queen. So without further delay, let's get to the winners," the DJ said, Adele standing next to him with a box containing the names of the donors.

She reached inside, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and smiled when she saw the names written on it. "The prom king and queen of the First Annual Camille Travis Memorial Prom are Izzie Stevens and Alex Karev," Adele announced.

"Oh, thank God," Meredith mumbled under her breath.

"What the hell? Iz isn't even here," Alex said, dropping his cookie onto a napkin.

"Would the prom king and queen please come to the center of the dance floor?" the DJ requested, a crown in each hand.

Cristina held up her palms in refusal. "Not it."

"Take Lilly. She'll dance with you," Meredith said, knowing Lilly would be enthusiastic enough for both of them. "Lillybug, do you want to dance with Uncle Alex and wear a princess crown?"

Lilly nodded at the enticing offer, and she reached for Alex. "I wear."

"You're a little underdressed for a royal crown, Karev," Derek joked.

"Everyone will be ooh-ing and aww-ing over Lilly, not me. Come on, kiddo. Let's get this over with," Alex said as he took Lilly from Derek.

Meredith smiled as Lilly and Alex walked to the center of the dance floor, and she pulled her phone from her clutch. "This is adorable. I need pictures," she said, snapping a few just in time for Adele to place the crowns on each of their heads.

Lilly's eyes lit up when she saw the sparkly, gold crown, and the look on her face made her parents smile. "Look how happy she is, Derek."

"Now she has two more crowns to use for tea parties. Upholding her princess title well," Derek grinned.

Meredith laughed. "Not even two years old, and she's already a prom queen. She's definitely a Shepherd."

Later in the night after a newly crowned Lilly had gone back to the house with Alex, Meredith and Derek made the most of the time they had left. They looked out over the catwalk, her head on his shoulder. "I'm glad we decided to come."

"Me, too."

"We need to bring Liam next year. I miss him. The first thing I'm doing when we get home is kissing his entire face," Meredith said. "And feeding him, since my boobs are getting huge."

Derek smiled, kissing the side of her head. "I miss him, too. We can leave soon if you want. Things are starting to wind down."

"Hey, you know what's weird?" she asked.

"What's weird?"

"I'm leaving with the same guy I came with this time. And I kept my panties on," Meredith said proudly.

"I'd call that a successful night," he chuckled.

"It was."

"And it's not over yet..." Derek hinted, pressing a kiss to her neck.

Meredith shivered at the sensation, and the reminder of what their plans were later. "Wanna get out of here?"

"I do."

...

Once they arrived home and relieved Alex and Izzie of their babysitting duties, Meredith wasted no time, and eagerly kissed every inch of Liam's face before nursing him. She sat in the glider in Lilly's room, watching her oldest child sleep while she rocked her youngest. Lilly lay snoozing in her crib in her princess nightgown, which served as a substitute until she could put her real crown back on in the morning.

Liam was lazily nursing at Meredith's breast, blinking up at her as he tried to stay awake. "Mommy missed you so much, peanut. That's the longest you and I have ever been apart," she said softly.

Liam stretched his hand toward her face, and Meredith kissed his small fingers. "You've got my vote for prom king next year, you know that?"

"Hey, I have the bassinet," Derek whispered as he came into Lilly's room.

"Okay, good. Just put it next to Lilly's crib. You think he'll be okay in here, right?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah, he'll just be down the hall with Lilly for a few hours until we..."

"End the drought," she finished for him, stroking Liam's cheek as his eyelids grew heavier. "He'll be asleep soon."

Derek chuckled, glancing at Lilly in her crib. "She's out, huh?"

"It's a lot of work, being a pampered prom queen. She needs her rest," Meredith teased.

"Guess so."

Meredith felt Liam slip off her breast, finally asleep, and she hugged him to her. "Goodnight, monkey," she cooed before slowly standing up from the glider. She gently placed him in his bassinet, then kissed his forehead. "We love you."

"Love you too, Lillybug."

She and Derek quietly tiptoed out of Lilly's room, then made a dash toward their own bedroom, more ready than ever to kick off prom night.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Meredith spun around, her back facing him. "Unzip me."

Derek did so, and within seconds, her dress fell in a puddle on the floor, followed by her bra and panties. His own attempt to undress was halted by her sudden nudity. "Wow."

"Sorry, was that too fast? I figured after five weeks, we could fast forward through some of the foreplay," Meredith shrugged, skillfully undoing his tie to help him along.

Derek kicked off his pants and boxers, and once his shirt came off, he picked her up and carried her to the bed. He settled onto his back and waited, wanting this time to be at her direction.

He smiled when she climbed on top of him, her body laid bare for him to see. Meredith felt her face heat in a blush at his staring eyes. "What?"

"You're beautiful," he said, his hands wandering from her shoulders to her breasts, down her sides where they remained on her hips.

Meredith moaned at his touch, all too eager to end the five week drought, especially when she felt him hard and ready against her. She slipped her hand between them to make sure she was ready, then slowly guided him into her.

She bit her lip as she adjusted to his size, sighing when he reached her hilt. "Oh, Derek," she said, unsure how she went five weeks without this kind of intimacy with her husband.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Mhm, just need a minute," Meredith said as she leaned forward and kissed him.

Derek gasped at the sudden change in her angle, and Meredith couldn't help but laugh. "That good?"

"God, you have no idea," Derek murmured against her lips.

"I think I might," she replied, slowly rocking her hips back and forth. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Meredith tangled her fingers through his hair, smiling at the pleased groan that came from his throat. "Best prom night ever."

"Best prom night ever."