Can't Help Falling in Love

49

"Hey, Shep," Mark smiled as he appeared next to him at the nurse's station where Derek was scribbling on a chart.

"Hey," Derek said. "How was Christmas in New York?"

"Pretty good," Mark nodded. "I'm pretty sure the parents loved me. Missed the Shepherd craziness though."

"I still can't believe you're serious enough about a girl to meet her parents," Derek shook his head. "Let alone go home with her for Christmas."

"You're not the only one who can fall in love," Mark said.

"Love?" Derek raised his eyebrows as he stared at his best friend.

"Well, we're not getting married anytime soon," Mark scoffed. "But...eventually."

"You're going to marry her," Derek stated.

"She seems to love the whole big wedding thing," Mark shrugged. "And let me tell you I got an earful on the plane about how crazy your fiancé is for not wanting all that shit."

"Meredith isn't crazy," Derek frowned. "She just doesn't want a big wedding. And neither do I."

"Whatever," Mark shrugged. "So I have strict orders to keep you busy this afternoon. And since we're both off in a couple hours, I was thinking we could go check out the entertainment I've got booked for your bachelor party."

"Bachelor party?" Derek asked.

"Don't tell me just cause you're having a small wedding that you aren't going to have a bachelor party," Mark said. "It's the only way I'll get to see strippers without Addison busting my ass."

"I hadn't really thought of it," Derek shrugged.

"Well, I'll make the decision for you then," Mark stated firmly. "Bachelor party. And we're checking it out today."

"I'm meeting Mer at school," Derek shrugged. "She wanted me to surprise her class with some music."

"Change of plans," Mark shrugged as he walked away, clapping Derek on the back. "Addie's going with Grey to pick out a wedding dress."

Derek frowned as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, wondering when that plan had occurred. Meredith had been insistent that he come into her class as a surprise for her students, wanting to reward them for being good for the entire week. He'd been coming into school more frequently in the few weeks since Christmas break, getting to know her students fairly well. Most of the girls in her class were still giggling over the proposal, and he couldn't help but smile at how they all seemed to have major crushes on him, no matter the fact that he was their teacher's fiancé.

The wedding plans were coming along well. Meredith had thrown herself into planning the perfect wedding for the two of them, with Addison and Lexie as her main advocates. Their day was only five months away now, and he could tell she was already starting to get nervous. She'd compromised with his mother and agreed that a priest could perform the ceremony, but only after a long argument with Emma and an even longer ramble about how she couldn't get married by a priest because she'd never been to church and apparently he would hate her because she was, in her words, a slut who screwed boys like a whore on tequila. She'd finally given in when she'd realized how much it meant to Emma, and eventually conceded that perhaps the priest didn't ever need to know that she still screwed only one boy like a whore on tequila.

Derek laughed to himself as he moved towards the intern locker room, wondering who had convinced Meredith to go back to the bridal store. She'd been twice, once with all of his sisters, his mother, and her friends. She'd come back from that shopping trip in complete tears, telling him that they couldn't get married because she couldn't find a dress that she liked that anyone else approved of. He'd offered to help, which had only made her angry because apparently only idiots didn't know that the groom wasn't supposed to see the dress before the wedding.