Trapped in my head

Chapter 51

"So- how did this start- between the two of you?" Tom asked from his bed after both Andrew and Meredith sat down on the couch. "We got stuck in an elevator together and- after we spend about four hours together on that little space I asked her out for a date." Andrew explained, trying to appear confident. Internally he was freaking out. Her dads had to like him. Because if they wouldn't he would be scared that they would be able to convince Meredith to break up with him.

"But- you are not- you are not- intimate with each other right?" he added. "Tom!" David exclaimed. Both Meredith and Andrew looked at each other before quickly turning their gaze on something else. "No!" David said, almost shouting, standing up. "Daddy, please calm down." Meredith said, standing up. And all of the sudden the heart monitor went off, indicating that Tom's heart rate had reached a concerning level. Looking over at him Andrew immediately saw that he was about to fall unconscious. Automatically switching into doctor's mode Andrew pushed the nurse button and flattened the bed.

"Pulse is up, blood pressure is up. Breathing is shallow." He said, checking the all the vitals as a nurse ran in. "I need an adrenaline shot!" Andrew said. "Oh my god, is he okay?" David asked. "He's going to be fine." Andrew said, taking a quick look at Meredith, who was facing away, hiding her face in her father's chest.

Taking the shot from the nurse he quickly injected it into the IV, watching as the pulse normalised again. "Okay, blood pressure is coming back down as well. He's fine." Andrew said, moving up the bed again as Tom gained consciousness again. "Tom, are you alright?" David asked concerned, moving closer to the bed as Andrew took a step back. "My daughter had sex!" he said, still shocked. David just chuckled, bending down to kiss his husband. Meredith on the other hand turned to Andrew. "Thank you. I just- froze." She whispered as he hesitantly pulled her into his arms. He wasn't sure whether he could do this I front of her dads. "It's okay." He said, quickly kissing her forehead without anyone else noticing.

"This might not have been the right time to introduce me huh?" he asked, seeing how Meredith adorably bit her lower lip. "I- should have thought this through." She said, observing her dads while staying in Andrew's arms, who chuckled. She was the cutest.

"We never talked about this with her David!" Tom said, trying to be as quiet as possible but both Andrew and Meredith still heard every word. "This is embarrassing." Meredith mumbled, looking up at Andrew for a few seconds who just chuckled again, his cheeks, just like hers, bright red.

"Mer, we- never thought that-" David started, turning around to her again, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "We never thought that it would get to this point." He finished his sentence, looking from Meredith to Andrew and back. "You never thought I would have a boyfriend?" Meredith asked, and he could hear from her voice that she was slightly offended by that.

"Well- yes. You never had many friends and you never showed any kind of interest in- boys." David said. "Don't get me wrong Mer, we're very happy that you are happy but- we are just worried about you." Tom added, still breathing a little heavily.

"But Andrew is amazing. You'll love him when you get to know him better." Meredith said, taking Andrew's hand. "Tom, I think our daughter has grown up." David said, smiling at his husband. "I'm really proud of you Mer." David said, getting up and hugging Meredith before turning to Andrew. "And- I am sorry for all the shouting you just have to understand that- she's is our only daughter and- you have to respect that we want to make sure who she is dating treats her well." He said to him.

"Yes, I understand and respect that sir." Andrew gave back, smiling reassuringly. "As soon as Tom is doing better, the two of you are going to come over for dinner. I trust you Meredith, and I want to get to know you Andrew." David said, sticking out his hand for Andrew to shake. Meredith smiled adorable at them.

"I'm not sorry yet!" Tom said from the bed. "Don't worry he'll warm up to you." David said, smiling, before taking a step closer to Andrew and whispering into his ear. "You better not hurt her or you'll find out how hard I can punch." David said very quietly, making a shiver run down Andrew's spine. He swallowed hard, nodding at the slightly taller, indeed very muscular man in front of him.

"Uhm- dad should probably try to get some sleep. And you should too daddy. I'll see if I can get a second bed in here." Meredith said, quickly hurrying out, leaving Andrew alone with her dads. "Okay. Listen. Meredith may seem tough at first glance but she is very fragile. The smallest things can easily hurt her. And- you don't know her as good as we do. In fact I think that you don't know anything about her-" David started, but Andrew quickly cut him off. Obviously David had only pretended to like him while Meredith had still been in the room.

"With all due respect sir. I do know Meredith very well. We have only been together for one month and there is still a lot I need to learn about her, but I already know a lot. I am aware of how she expresses her feelings, how she copes with trauma, I know how to calm her down during panic attacks or meltdowns, I know her routine by heart and I know how to get her to eat something, even while she is having an episode so although I understand that you are just trying to protect her, you should stop talking to me like that. I love your daughter and I would never let anything happen to her. Because she means so much to me. This between us is so much more than a simple relationship and I can ensure you, that I also respect her, because she is an incredible person. She is a brilliant surgeon and a remarkable woman. I love everything about her. Even all of her flaws."

The whole time while he had been talking, he hadn't been able to stop himself from smiling. Because every single word he had said was true. Meredith was the best that ever happened to him and he loved her so much that he needed to make sure that her fathers would understand that.

Until Meredith walked back in they just stood in uncomfortable silence. "I managed to find a free bed." She said, pulling it in and pushing it through the entire room, making sure it would be standing as close to Tom's bed as possible. "Thanks sweetie." David said, finally dragging his gaze away from Andrew and over to Meredith. "I'll stay in the closest on-call room so that I can be here as fast as I can if something happens." She said quietly, walking back over to Andrew. "We can move our sushi date to, maybe tomorrow?" she asked, taking his hand. "Of course. And I'll stay with you. I'm not leaving you alone after this day." He whispered, smiling at her reassuringly. Meredith just smiled back at him. "By the way, Bailey is okay with me taking a break. She even said that I would get my job back when I'll start working as a surgeon again." She told him, being obviously very excited.

"That's great Mer." He said, resisting the urge to kiss her in front of her fathers. "Okay, uhm- we'll go to sleep now." David said, looking at Tom for a second who was already half asleep. "Night daddy." Meredith said, hugging David before saying good night to Tom as well. "Come on." Andrew said, taking her hand and leading her out of the room closing the door behind him.

After saying goodbye to Alex, Maggie and Amelia who went home again, they made their way over into the nearest on call room. "I'm sorry about my dads I didn't expect them to react like this. I thought they would be happy." Meredith sighed, sitting down on the bed.

"It's okay. They are just trying to protect you. Honestly I am happy that they reacted the way they did. Because it shows me how much they love you and how deeply they care about you. And I am glad that you have them." He said, sitting down next to them, starting to gently rub her back. "How come- you never told me about them?" he asked carefully.

"Because I was scared that they would- interrogate you and scare you off." She admitted quietly, starting to rock back and forth slightly. He immediately realised that talking about this made her uncomfortable which was why she was starting to stim. "Nothing could ever scare me away from you Mer. I love you." He reassured her, kissing her cheek and pulling her into his arms. "I love you too." She replied, slowly relaxing into him. "I- I want to tell you about them now." She said after a few seconds of silence. "Sounds good to me, tell me as much as you want." He said, laying down with her and starting to stroke her stomach as she started to talk.