After Afterall

30

There's nothing quite like pulling together a team of very overpaid, smart, and incredibly nosy people to discuss how to tell the country about your relationship. I thought the whole sit down to reveal to everyone Derek and I were dating was a bad time, but the engagement announcement is even more of a headache.

Lily, the Press Secretary, lords over the rest of us—Derek and I, his Chief of Staff, the Chief of Staff's assistant, Lily's team of three, the Vice President, his Chief of Staff, and three other people who I have no idea who they are or what they do.

"So do we all agree that tonight will be the best time to announce?" Lily asks.

Everyone looks to Derek, who then looks to me.

"Really?" I ask him.

"You usually yell at me when you're not included."

I catch Toby smiling.

I can't help but feel happy Derek's consulting me. I am the one person who holds back a lot of his team's plans. I always have my reasons, though. "Sure," I tell the group. They seem relieved. "It's as good a time as any. So how will you do it?"

"I thought we might just make the announcement at the party," Lily suggests.

"Really?" Derek asks. "Isn't that a little bold?"

"It's all bold," Alan, his Chief of Staff, says. "You're the first President in—"

"Yeah, yeah, a million years," Derek interrupts. "I'm the first President since the dinosaurs roamed the earth to be announcing an engagement."

Lily smiles and then continues, "You'll have photos taken before and Meredith can hide the ring. Everyone will already be in the ballroom and the press will be behind you. We'll announce you as the President of the United States and his fiancé, Doctor Meredith Grey. The press will take photos from behind, which I sort of love the idea of, and then you'll be too busy working the crowd to care what the rest of the world thinks."

"It is ingenious," I tell Derek.

He smiles at me.

"Plus you've told all your friends and family, right?" Lily asks.

"Yes," Derek confirms. "We told the last of Meredith's friends last night. Everyone who is important knows."

Telling my friends and family went way smoother than I thought, but it was still weird. The afternoon Derek and I got home, we went right to my mom and Richard's house. I didn't want to wait to tell my mother and Richard had assured me via text as I left Montana that she was having a good day. It was almost like my mom knew, because as soon as I walked in the door, she said, "You look different."

Derek and I shared a look and I guess the ring was very noticeable on my hand, so my mom lifted my hand and stared from the ring to me and then to Derek. "You're engaged," she said.

"Really?" Richard asked, very surprised I might add.

For a few seconds my mom and I just stared at each other and then she was hugging me. "Congratulations," she said just for me to hear. She pulled away and hugged Derek while Richard hugged me. "What happy news!" she said to Derek.

"Fine choice," Richard said to me and I laughed.

It's funny, I didn't cry when Derek proposed, but I did when seeing the joy on my mom and dad's faces.

When I told my friends, the scene wasn't so emotional. The day after I returned, Alex, Cristina, and I were sitting at our favorite bar after work. Alex was complaining about Jo.

"Wait, Jo?" I asked. "What about Amelia?"

Alex made a face. "Amelia?" he asked, as if he'd never heard her name before. "We were just sleeping together."