Best Friends Last Forever ✔️

Part 2: A lot has happened

She removed herself out of his arms but she was still holding both of his hands while his thumb drawled little circles on the back of hers. "Bailey was giving you a tour? What about we continue that" she spoke softly smiling at him, looking directly in his hazel brown eyes. "Sure why not?" Andrew replied starting to follow her as she began to walk towards the elevator. "I- ... have so many questions" she chuckled slightly as they stood in the elevator both of them facing the door. "I know... and I'll answer all of them" he said tuning towards her again, meeting her emerald green sparkling eyes. "We could uhm... meet for lunch at the cafeteria after the tour" she suggested trying to read his eyes as she used to so many years ago. "Sounds like a plan" he answered clearly doing the same.

About two hours later, after Meredith had shown Andrew around and introduced him to most of the staff except for Alex and Jo as they seemed nowhere to be found, they made their way towards the cafeteria finally being able to catch up. "So... tell me" she said as she took a sip of her water. "What do you want to know?" he asked as he leant back looking at her. "Well... all of it... when did you come back? What did you do in New York? And... why did you broke up any contact" she said getting quitter with each question breaking the gaze looking at the un-touched salad in front of her.

"I'm sorry... Meredith I- I'm sorry I broke up contact it was just overwhelming... the whole situation with my dad. When my mother and I moved back she hadn't told me that it was to say goodbye, she didn't say that we were going back because he was dying. She just told me that we were going back home. I didn't want to shut you out I- never wanted that Mer... and after he died I was... broken and sad and I was very angry at my mother so I stayed with Carina and... I never forgot about you Mer. I thought about you a lot, and I missed you and you have no idea how happy I am right now" he said as she just listened to his words. When he left Boston he promised her that he would come back and all those years she thought he had broken this promise but somehow he came back.

"I didn't know that- about your dad... I'm sorry" she said quietly lifting her head a little meeting his heart warming gaze again. "But- you came back... to New York... why New York?" she continued struggling to find the correct words. "I- went to med school in Italy but I missed the states... and even if Italy is where I was born and where my family is... here is my home... and I applied for an internship at many hospitals on the east coast and New York seemed to be the best. I searched you... in the internet and I read that you won a Harper Avery... but as soon as I saw your face on that article I felt guilty for not texting... or calling or showing any sign of life at all so I thought it'd be best if I- " "if you just stayed away?" she interrupted now having trouble at holding back her tears. But they were still sitting in the cafeteria so she tried her best to not show a single emotion and just shut it all down.

"I'm sorry" she suddenly said as she stood up, taking her tray, throwing everything on it in the trash can and making her way towards the exit as fast as possible. She knew Andrew hadn't done anything wrong... She knew that she'd probably done the same but she couldn't stand any other moment with him. She quickly slipped into the nearest on-call room, locking the door and leaning back against it. Trying to calm herself down she took a few deep breaths and slit down on the floor.

It is not his fault. He didn't do anything wrong. But he was gone for so long... she lived like he'd never existed, she never told anyone about him but still he was here. Now. After everything that happened to her the past few years he came back. He was sitting in the cafeteria where she had just fled from, not knowing a single detail about her life after he went back to Italy when they were 18. He was probably thinking what the hell was wrong with her because both of them knew that it shouldn't be that hard. But here she was, sitting on the floor trying not to have a full panic attack and she didn't even really know why.

He on the other hand was in the same spot as she left him at the corner table a few meters away from the door through which she'd just disappeared. He wondered if he'd said anything wrong but he knew he should just give her some time. He himself was still shocked of the sudden and unexpected encounter with his childhood best friend. He honestly had no idea that Meredith was an attending at Grey Sloan Memorial yet wondering again about the name of the hospital. Grey...? Like in Meredith Grey. The same he'd thought when he first read Baileys mail in which she discussed her interest in him as a general fellow under some of the best general surgeons in the whole country. But he thought it'd just be a coincidence. Well it wasn't. Obviously. About five minutes had passed until the door to the cafeteria opened again and it was her, smiling sadly at him, making her way over.

"I'm sorry I- just needed a minute" she said as she slowly sat back down. He didn't say anything because he could see at her eyes that she was searching for the right words. "It's just... a lot has happened the past few years and... I- ... a lot has happened" she ended her thoughts clearly not wanting to talk about what exactly had happened. At least not now.

"I- have three kids" she suddenly said with a slight smirk on her lips. "Three! That's wonderful!" he said truly happy for her, that she found love since she didn't know that he fell in love with her a few years before he left, but never had been able to tell her. "So... you're married?" he then asked trying to keep the conversation going. "Well... yes- no actually... he died three years ago" she answered with a quiet voice looking at the hands in her lap. "I'm sorry I didn't know that" he said seeing her struggle with the thought of running away again but fighting it. "What about you?" she then asked after a quiet amount of time, looking back up at him, meeting his eyes and he answered: "I had a girlfriend some time ago but she moved to Switzerland due to her career" he said without any emotion in his voice.

"This is kinda awkward" she then said with a chuckle which he replied without any hesitation. "Yeah... it's supposed to be easy but well... it's not..."

"Would you like to go out for a drink? After our shift?" he then asked with the only desire of getting his best friend back and talking things through. "Yeah sure I'd like that" she replied grabbing her phone out of her pocket laying it on the table in front of her. Without saying anything he knew what she wanted to do, took her phone and added his contact with telephone number and mail address. "Thanks." She then said clearly relaxed by the fact that he was still able to understand her without saying a single word.

"See you later then... and have a good first day" she said, standing up again and walking out of the cafeteria for the second time. 'This is going to get hard...' he thought to himself as he finished his sandwich before making his way back to Dr. Bailey office to sign the contract. But even if he thought it was going to get hard to win her trust back, to get to know her again, he knew it was worth every effort. 

TO BE CONTINUED...