Can't Help Falling in Love

32

"I can't believe we're at Buckingham Palace," Meredith breathed as they stood outside the palace two months later. "The Queen's right inside there, Der."

"I know," he laughed. "Stand in front of the gates."

Meredith smiled as she moved towards the gate. She'd been surprised the week earlier to find that Derek had quite the eye for photography. He'd insisted on posing her in various places throughout their trip in Europe, and although she'd protested at first, she'd finally realized that she loved the careful way Derek looked at her as he posed her and took pictures of her, and she'd stopped complaining quickly.

"Beautiful," Derek smiled as he lowered his camera.

"See if you can get someone to take a picture of both of us," Meredith said. "I don't want a million pictures of me. I want pictures of us."

Derek smiled as he turned to a man standing beside him, adjusting the zoom for a moment before he handed the camera over and walked over to join Meredith against the gates. He wrapped an arm around her and smiled down at her before they both turned to the camera and smiled widely.

"Thanks," Derek said as he reached for his camera back. He glanced through the pictures and turned to smile at Meredith. "We are probably the best looking couple ever."

Meredith rolled her eyes as she opened her book. "Okay, I want to do the London Eye at night," she said. "We can get champagne. And it's too late to do Westminster Abbey, but we can do Tower of London now."

"Alright," Derek smiled, following her towards the tube station. They had spent the previous two months traveling through France, Italy, Austria, and Germany, and now they were ending their adventure in London. Meredith had sworn by that damn travel book for the entire trip, and although he had gotten fed up with it at times, he couldn't get over how adorable Meredith was as she flipped through the pages of her book, telling him what they should do in every country they had been to.

"You okay?" Meredith asked softly as they sat down on the surprisingly empty subway.

"Hmm," Derek nodded. "Just thinking about the trip."

Meredith smiled as she rested her head against his shoulder. "It's been amazing," she whispered.

"I can't believe we have to go home tomorrow."

"It'll be okay," Meredith nodded. She examined him closely for a moment before she stated, "You're nervous."

"Of course I'm nervous, Mer," he sighed. "I'm going to be an intern. A doctor. In charge of saving lives. That's terrifying."

"You'll be an amazing doctor," she whispered. "You don't need to be nervous."

"I'm going to need you," Derek said. "It's honestly a miracle that I even passed my boards without you last semester."

"I'll be there," she promised, taking his hand, and he smiled as he felt the metal of her ring cut into his hand. "Whatever you need, Der, I'll be there."

"Thank you," he whispered.

"I..." Meredith started to say something, but quickly stopped.

"What?" Derek asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Nothing," Meredith shook her head as the train came to a stop. "This is our stop."

Derek narrowed his eyes at her as he followed her off the train, wondering what she had wanted to say to him. It had obviously been something big. He sighed as he reached for her hand again, squeezing gently as they climbed the stairs to the street. Whatever it was, he knew he had to wait until she was ready to bring it up again.