Let me love you | Merluca

11 - care

Andrew's perspective

...

"Are you okay?" Andrew asked as he saw Meredith coming back inside the room they had occupied to work on Mr. Smith case.

The past few hours they had spent with finalizing their treatment plan while hoping they were right with their diagnosis, when Dr. Webber had looked for Meredith, wanting to talk to her in private. And from what he had seen, it seemed to be about something serious.

"I think I am..." She seemed a little distracted, still with her thoughts somewhere else.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He turned with his chair towards her, turning the chair next to him in her direction as well, so she could sit down there

"No." She gave him a small smile while she sat down beside him "I prefer to work."

"Always working." He added quietly, shaking his head slightly with a smile on his lips.

"It helps." She replied, returning his with a full smile herself now before they both went back to finish their work for the day.

...

About an hour later Andrew's alarm went off again, and he could see the curiosity in Meredith's eyes. But she didn't ask him for more details after they had talked about it earlier. For which he felt grateful and at the same time it left him... He didn't know how to describe what he felt. He never liked to talk about it, he even tried to stay away from that topic as far as possible, but with her... He felt like he almost wanted her to know more about him. Maybe.

"You can sleep here, you know." She brought him out of his thoughts.

"What?" He looked at her completely confused "You want me to sleep here, while you're still working?" He frowned, looking at her not understanding what she wanted.

"How do you want to know I'm working, maybe I just go home once you leave..." She looked at him with a big smile, raising an eyebrow.

"I doubt that..." He answered laughing slightly before he added sincerely "I noticed the incredible work you have done in this research." He met her eyes, getting lost in them, not wanting this moment to end.

"Thank you." She answered softly, keeping his gaze for some time until she broke their moment, quickly looking away "But- I just- It's way more comfortable than the ones in the on call rooms." She pointed at one of the couches in the back of the room.

"You don't even want to know why I try to keep my routine, when you let me sleep here... While you're working?!" He asked surprised with a slight apprehension, adding the last part, pointing out that this situation was at least a little weird to him.

"Andrew- You know what you can sleep in the on call room." She answered, laughing slightly.

"Okay. Okay. Thank you." He smiled back at her.

"And 'no' I won't ask, you'll tell me once you're ready to talk about it." She added softly, more seriously, looking at him for a few moments.

"Thank you."

...

Meredith's perspective

Meredith kept working a little longer until she decided to stop for the day as well. She checked in with Maggie to know about the kids. She hated to stay away from them for long and from what she had heard a little earlier, when Andrew talked to Carina, he hated it just as much. But hopefully their treatment works and they can help Mr. Smith soon.

She turned around and saw him sleeping on the couch, he was curled up as if he was cold, she went to the closet in the room and got herself a blanket and took another one out for Andrew and carefully laid it over the thin blanket he already had around him. She looked at him for a moment with a small smile on her lips before she shook her head and went to the other couch a few feet away and laid down there.

She has never been someone to easily open up to other people, not to her sisters, her friends and especially not since her husband died. But Andrew, he was slowly becoming someone she wanted to call a friend, someone she cared about, without her really having noticed it.

...

care / ˈker / verb
to feel interest or concern; to be concerned about

to care about someone