Best Friends Last Forever ✔️

Part 16: Stay?

"Mer?!" Andrew said calmly against the closed bathroom door. "Please open the door" he said almost begging. She had been in there for 20 minutes now. At first he had just sat at her bed, deep in thoughts, thinking about what had just happened. "I understand that you're not ready and it's not my intention to push you. I... I just want to know if you're okay" he said, sitting down on the floor, his back against the door. She hadn't said anything since she stopped crying about ten minutes ago.

"I'm okay" she softly said from the other side of the door. Her voice sounded broken and so vulnerable that it made his heart ache even in the given circumstances. He was mad at her. Deep inside he knew that he was mad at her but he also knew that he had no right to be. But he deserved more than a slammed door in his face. 'Stop. This is Meredith. She is worth the pain' he thought. But was she really worth the pain? Was he going to wait for however long it was going to take her to be ready? 'Okay that's it! I have thought about this over and over and over again but it has no use. It's not her fault. Her reaction was... naturally? No idea... Was it?' he didn't know it. He had never lost someone like she did. He couldn't expect her to just move on.

"You're not okay" he said silently as he heard her sniffle again. "Please open the door. I'm not mad at you" he said, waiting for any kind of noise from the opposite side of the door. "You should be mad at me" she said and it sounded like she had started crying again. "You... You're so- so... *sniffle* you deserve so much better." She said against the door, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. "No... Mer you-" but he was cut off from the voice on the other side before he could continue. "You deserve someone *sniffle* who's not running away when the slightest kinds of feelings get involved. You deserve someone who can give you all the love you deserve and who doesn't feel like they're betraying their dead husband when they're with you" she said while starting to sob again. His heart broke. How could she think that she wasn't enough? How couldn't she understand how perfect and amazing and talented, beautiful, kind, funny and so many more things she was?

"Mer. You have to know one thing: Even if there was anyone who would want to be with me and who would be ready for all those relationship-kind of things I- I wouldn't want them. I want you Mer. You. And no one else. You're not ready and that's okay. You don't have to be ready yet. I can live with the dates and kisses and those sparkling thing that happens with your eyes when you smile" he said warmly and heard a slight chuckle from the other side of the door.

"I'm so sorry Andrew. I never wanted to hurt you. But I did, I did exactly what I wanted to prevent because I- I- *sniffle*" but she trailed off and the room was filled with silence.

Suddenly he heard the lock turn and stood up quickly, turning towards the door as he saw her coming out, with red, puffy eyes, swollen lips and with completely wet cheeks. "Oh Mer" he sighed and wrapped his arms around her, moving his hand up and down her back to comfort her as she began to cry again. "I'm so sorry" she sobbed as she clung to him like he was the only thing keeping her alive.

"Shh, it's okay" he whispered in her hair soothingly, closing his eyes, taking in her scent. She was just wearing her blouse and panties while he had put on his shirt again, which was now soaked in tears. "You're shivering, you should change into something comfortable and warm." He said after she had stopped crying and just seemed to fall asleep in his tight embrace.

"I'm sorry" she said again and he knew that she meant it. She felt really bad for what happened, which made it hard for him to be mad at her. All he wanted to do was cuddle her. No kissing, no sex, no talking, no tears, just cuddling. He wanted to take all this away from her. The pain, the guilt, just everything. For just one night he wanted nothing to be between them. He slowly pushed her away from him so that he could see her tear strained face and smiled at her slightly.

He wiped away the last few drops that were rolling down her cheek and she returned his mild smile as she looked him in the eyes. She then picked up a pair of sweatpants from one of her drawers and put on a black sport legging. "You should get some sleep. We'll have plenty of time tomorrow, the next week, month or however long it is going to take you to get ready because I promise, I promise you that I am going to wait until the moment you're ready because I know that the moment is going to come and that it'll be amazing and wonderful and- so many more things because I- I want to be with you no matter what happens" he said chuckling as they sat down on the bed.

"Are you sure? I mean I- Okay. I promise I'll try to get ready as soon as possible" she laughed, wiping her cheeks with the sleeve of the night shirt she had just put on. "I know" he replied, smiling brightly know that she was laughing again. "Good night Mer" he said, kissing her forehead, stroking her cheek with his thumb one last time as he stood up.

"Andrew?" she then suddenly said. "Yes?" he replied, turning around expectantly. "Could you- uhm... stay?" she asked looking at him. "Are you sure?" he asked, slowly walking back into the room as she nodded. "I don't have anything to change in I-" but he was cut off by Meredith: "Wait a second" and she run out of the room. After about 10 seconds she came back with some sweatpants and a shirt from Maggie's room which had Winston left there for 'unexpected-sleepovers'. "Here. They're Winston's but I'm sure he wouldn't mind" she said as she gave him the pack. "Okay then" he said softly as he disappeared into the bathroom to change.

As he came out, Meredith was already cuddled under the covers, starring at the ceiling. He slipped under the covers on the free side and turned on his side to look at her. She then turned to look back at him, her eyes filled with tears again. They just looked at each other for a few minutes until he broke the silence. "Come here already". Smiling she turned around and he embraced her from behind with a big smile on his face as well as he spooned her. All he had ever wanted. 

Sorry for the delay =) trying to write a little more the next few days/weeks

TO BE CONTINUED...