Let me love you | Merluca

19 - smile

1 week later

...

'Good morning.' - Andrew

Such a simple text and yet Meredith found herself smiling widely at reading it.

"Why are you smiling like this?" Zola asked curiously, standing in the doorway, observing her mother.

Meredith quickly put her phone away on her nightstand, focusing on Zola not having noticedher before.

"Because... you are here." She tried to cover, smiling at her daughter, motioning her to join her on the bed, tickling her slightly before she gave her a small kiss into her hair. "Why are you already awake?"

"You are changing the subject, mommy." Zola chuckled.

"You too, I think." Meredith raised an eyebrow, looking at her questioning.

"I am not, I just woke up early this morning." Zola tried to convince her mom.

"Hm... And I am supposed to believe that?"

"Yes. Why were you smiling like that?" Zola sat up opposite to Meredith, so she could look better at her.

"I am supposed to believe you but you won't believe me?"

"You were looking at your phone, mommy."

"Maybe I saw something fun." She had to chuckle at Zola's expression. Her daughter knew her just too well, giving her an unamused smile, obviously not believing her.

"No... You aren't like this. You always say that people should rather live their lives instead of looking at their phones the whole time."

"I think you may be right."

"I am! You know auntie Maggie always looks at her phone like this, when she gets a text from Jackson. I think he is her boyfriend... Do you have a boyfriend?" Zola tilted her head slightly, smiling at her.

"Such insistence today..." Meredith had to chuckle a little at her daughter's comments, despite the panic she felt coming up inside her at that conversation.

"I like to see you happy." Her daughter added more sincerely, giving her another smile, making Meredith get more emotional.

"You know you don't need a man to be happy, right?" She added softly but a little more serious now, looking at her daughter.

"Yes, but if there is someone who makes you happy, you can have a boyfriend, right?" 

"When did you grow up so much?" Meredith had to smile at Zola's words.

"I want you to be happy."

"Thank you, Zola." She took her daughter into her arms, bringing her closer again, embracing her for a few moments, before she added more lightly, tickling her slightly "But you are still way too young to know about boyfriends, yet, okay?"

"I'm not talking about me, mom!" Zola exclaimed, while laughing because of her mother tickling her. 

"Good, we cleared that up." She smiled at Zola.

...

Andrew had just arrived at the hospital as he saw Meredith in front of the OR board, with a smile that he could already see from afar on her face. He went towards her, stopping beside her with a cup of coffee for her.

"You seem happy today." He handed her the coffee, looking at her with an slightly questioning look. Not that he would complain, he loved to see her like this. He had seen her happier more often lately, but he also knew her good enough by now, to know that it hasn't always been like this.

"Let me have my happiness for as long as it stays." She turned towards him with a big smile before she added a little lower as she took the coffee. "Thank you."

"Okay. Okay." He had to laugh at her comment mixed with her expression, as he heard her pager ring.

"I have to go." She quickly looked at her pager before she went to her patient.

He was still looking at her walking away when he heard his sister next to him.

"You look happy, too." She said teasing him slightly.

"Carina." He stated, not even trying to reprimand her, knowing that it had no use. Instead he started to walk away from the OR board, Carina following him.

"You know Theo told me a very interesting story today. About 'Mer' and 'daddy', 'like' and 'kiss'."

"We didn't kiss."

"Mhm."

"So, you decide to believe a one year old more than your adult brother."

"Yes. Because I know that you love talking to him. And I also know that right now he is in a phase where he repeats every word he thinks is funny. So, I'm sorry to tell you, but your son isn't the best at keeping secrets at the moment."

"He really isn't. But I love him."

"I know you do. And however that story really went... all I want is for you and him to be happy. And Meredith seems like she makes you happy."

"Thank you." He answered sincerely, looking at her before he added "We had a moment but we didn't kiss." making Carina shake her head while laughing slightly.

...

Later that day when he saw Meredith finishing her shift he went towards her.

"Do you have a moment?" Andrew asked, suddenly feeling more nervous than he expected.

"Yeah. Is everything okay?"

"Yes." He gave her a small smile as he took her hand in his. "I just want to show you something. A place I found some time ago."

"You do know that I work here for years now? I know every place."

"I know. But what you don't know is that this is my favorite place here." He opened the door towards the rooftop.

They went over to the railing of the rooftop, from where they could see the lights from the city shining in the dark.

"It's so quiet up here. You only see the lights... and the stars... this place gives me peace. I like coming up here." He tried to meet her eyes, feeling how their gaze got more intense the longer they stayed in this moment "I wanted to share that with you." He added whispering, still looking at her, feeling how they both slowly leaned in a little closer.

"Andrew." He saw Meredith looking up at him shyly "I'm scared." She added whispering.

"Me too." He carefully placed his hand on her neck over her hair, caressing it slightly before he felt her lean in closer, looking at his lips again.

"Are you sure?" He asked ever so quietly. And only after he made sure that she wanted this despite her fear, by seeing her nodding slightly, he closed the last distance until he finally felt her lips against his.

When they pulled away after some moments, the only thing he knew to do was to bring her in his arms, hugging her against him. Surprised and overwhelmed by the feelings that came with this kiss, by having Merdith in his arms. He felt how she tightened her embrace around him as well, letting herself lean against him. And maybe they both needed this embrace.

...
End of the chapter
...

I'm sorry, but from this chapter on there will be some time jumps because I couldn't bring myself to write everything in between but I still want to share with you where their story is going and also give you more answers about Andrew's and Theo's story :)