Best Friends Last Forever ✔️

Part 38: You're beautiful

"Hey Mer" he said concerned as she walked straight into his arms, putting her head on his shoulder and nuzzling her face deep into his neck. He immediately begun to rub her back, knowing that she was close to have another panic attack. "Shh- it's okay" he whispered into her ear, placing a soft kiss in her hair. He knew how exhausting therapy could be so all he wanted was to bring her home and make sure she would feel better.

After a few minutes of hugging Meredith released the pressure she was putting onto his body. He took her hand and silently walked her to the car. The whole ride home continued to be in silence but he didn't let go off her hand for a single second. It started to rain. Loud thunder cracking in the sky over them. Meredith flinched at each thunderclap. He didn't remember her being scared of thunderstorms so it frightened him to see her jump every now and then, shivering, her eyes closed.

"We're nearly home Mer, just a few more minutes" he whispered reassuringly, keeping her cold, clammy hand in his. The sky kept getting darker and darker and it wasn't even midday. Amelia promised to take the kids today to Links place and do a movie night to give Meredith some space and time to try to eat something without any kind of pressure.

Trying to get from the car into the house as fast as possible without getting too wet didn't really worked out. Both of them were completely drenched in water just from the ten meters between the street and the front door. Meredith, without saying anything the whole time, still flinched at every loud cracking of the thunder. Both of them were shivering due to the cold clothes, clinging to their bodies.

"Come on let's take a hot shower" Andrew quietly suggested, leading her upstairs. As they entered the bathroom and he begun to take of his wet clothes Meredith suddenly froze. "Mer you should get out of the wet clothes, you'll catch a cold. Let me help you" he said, coming closer to her. But she stepped back, shaking her head, fear in her eyes. "Mer, hey what's wrong?" he asked carefully but she just kept shaking her head, looking at the floor now.

"Come here, sit down" he said, placing his hand on the small of her back and leading her back into the bathroom, sitting her down on the closed toilet seat. She kept her head down, starring at her hands, her wet, blonde hair hanging down around her face like a curtain. He kneeled down in front of her, reaching out to bring the lose strands that are hiding her face behind her ears.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?" he said with a calming voice, trying to meet her gaze but she had her eyes closed now. Another thunder suddenly crashed, louder than the ones before, making Meredith shudder, tears coming from her eyes now, slowly rolling down her cheeks.

"Hey, shh- you're okay. You're safe here, you're okay." He said, placing his hands on her legs, rubbing them carefully. "Let's get into the warm shower and then cuddle and maybe sleep a little okay?" he said, moving to take off her pullover but she begun to shake her head, moving out of his reach.

Suddenly he understood. "Meri you don't have to be scared about getting undressed in front of me okay? I promise you I won't judge you. I won't say anything. Just let me say one thing. You are beautiful Mer, you have a beautiful body and even more important you have a beautiful inside. You are amazing. You care so much about other people. You are an amazing mother; the way you care about your kids is just beautiful to watch. It's one of the things I love most about you. Seeing you with your kids always warms my heart. And you are an amazing surgeon; you always give everything for your patients and you never give up on them. You always find a solution to every problem. But now it's important that you concentrate on yourself. That you take care of yourself, and do everything to get better. The love that you give others... it should be the same amount of love you give to yourself okay? It's important to love yourself too Meri. And you have to let others take care of you and help you through this. You have to let me in. I want to help you. I want to be here for you. So let me help you okay?"